Procrastination

I'm not even back to work yet, and I'm contemplating ways to avoid doing the work I know I should already begin to tackle. It's called the art of procrastination, and I'm definitely a level four on the evaluation rubric! It's just so damn easy to do nothing. Not that I'm doing nothing, exactly, but the life of an English teacher is a busy one, one I'm not sure I'm looking forward to returning to with two young boys. But it is inevitable, work I must.

So that means that I've begun to sort through my "stuff" in the basement - which, for not being finished at all yet, is completely full. I'm hoping to have an office soon (read: please, Greg). But I've not really done much with it besides organize it (reorganization is a perfected Herr trait, right James and dad?). I need to do some planning and reading and thinking about school. Obviously I don't want to, or else I would have started (or even stop this blogging business in exchange for prepping school work), because I'd really like to think I've a ton of time left before my maternity leave comes to an end.

However, I don't. Braylon will be 8 months already this weekend. (Although, side note, I don't quite think he's as advanced as he should be at 8 months... I can't remember how Isaiah was, but I don't remember ever feeling as though Isaiah was behind; in fact, it was the exact opposite. But I'm not convinced Braylon is as far in things as he should be. No teeth yet. No crawling. No eating vegetables that I haven't snuck into his cereal. Ahh, but I'll save this tangent for another blog at a later date, I suppose.)

And then there's so much else to do. I feel as though my to do list is always growing. I've got passports to apply for in order to go to Mexico for Richard's wedding, health cards to get (I've still got the old school red and white card, but it's becoming increasingly complicated to make that one work smoothly for me), a second birthday to plan (and then a first a few months later), among a list of so much else. Sometimes I just like to think I have nothing to do at all (wouldn't that be nice)!

And so on those days I decide to stop and enjoy life, especially with the constant reminders of how short life can be. I take a lot of things for granted and I don't always stop to smell the roses. So I'm trying very hard to live life to the fullest, to enjoy each and every moment and do what I enjoy most in life (hence the absence of any real school work).

Side note (I'm notorious for random tangents as a teacher, by the way): I do love teaching, otherwise I wouldn't do it. I DON'T enjoy the planning and marking in terms of the time it consumes, time not spent with my boys (all four if you count the dog).

So what am I spending time doing, you ask? Well, trying to find things to do that the boys will enjoy and hopefully remember when they look back in life. My mom and I took them apple picking on dwarf trees so that Isaiah could help. Weeks after he still proudly exclaims, "I pick apples" (it likely helps that he has a visual reminder of his efforts in that I've still got 1/2 a bag on my kitchen counter despite making an apple crisp, an apple cranberry cake, and apple muffins thus far).

Even Braylon had fun that day, and though he couldn't pick apples himself he held onto one apple for much of the time. When Isaiah decided Braylon should be enjoying a fresh apple directly off the tree as he had (he ate 2 whole apples in less than an hour), Braylon thought he'd relieve some gum pain instead by "gumming" an apple held by big brother.

I really hope I remember these moments when I look back too. I try to take pictures of the big things, but I miss a lot (although I finally got a phone with a camera - in fact, I skipped right through to a Blackberry)! And obviously I can't photograph everything (nor should I). But I do need to get our video camera out - I think we've taken maybe 5 minutes in total since having these guys. Awful. I must change that!

I've also gone with Greg to watch another NFL game live in Buffalo - his beloved Oakland Raiders. I much prefer that to watching 12+ hours of football on the couch on Sundays (though I'd rather do that than mark, which is what I normally do on Sunday afternoons when I'm working)! I am now the proud (please note some sarcasm implied in that as you read, since blogging does not truly allow my rich sense of sarcasm to come through) owner of my own Russell jersey! Actually, to be honest, I did want one, even though Indy is my team and I've nothing to support them, because all the boys wear their Raider gear on Sundays! As you can tell by Greg and Braylon last Sunday, the game was ever so exciting (likely one reason why they fired the head coach since).

Anyhow, I've got laundry to fold and dinner to prepare (work I MUST do), so I bid you adieu for now. I need to upload some new photos so I can fill you in on what else we've been up to. I'll put that on my to do list!