Reason #548

I have often thought that I have one of the best jobs in the world. 

11 years in and I still love to teach little kids. 

Yes, some days are harder than other and I do get tired of all the meetings we seem to be having these days, but when it comes down to just me and a classroom full of kids - I love it. 

There are other bonuses as well. Some of the parents of my students are now good, close friends of mine. And of course, you can't overlook the vacation package! I don't think I would survive without summers off now! Students treating you like a Hollywood movie star every time they see you outside of work - priceless. And then there are "snow days" or in the case of where I live "freezing rain and black ice" days. 

Yesterday was starting to show the signs of a slick night ahead and since Mark is working graveyard right now, I had him scout out the situation for me.

"How are the roads? Anyone sliding? Any accidents?"

He kept me posted and by 10:00 I had a good feeling that we would have at least a 2-hour delay. It was a pleasant surprise to get the call that school was canceled for the whole day. 

First thing I did was sleep in of course!

To the point where I worried my children. 

Caleb woke me up by anxiously knocking on my bedroom door,

"Mom! Mom! It's 7:55 and it's a THURSDAY!"

The boys had gotten up around 7:30, got dressed, made their beds, brushed their teeth, ate breakfast and had their backpacks and coats by the door ready to go. 

Gotta love those kids!

I let them play the Wii as a reward for being so good and I am now relaxing with a cup of special Russian Tea that my cousin Hannah made me, brownies baking in the oven for company tonight and some extra time to go through the pictures on my camera card. 

My job is seriously the best! I'm getting paid to do this!

The first pictures up are harking back to wrestling season. 

Owen was so excited to wrestle this year and even though Caleb said he would rather have this toenails pulled off than be beat up and pinned by other people, we were all supportive of Owen going for it. 

Practices were two nights a week, which I can handle.

Wrestling meets were each Saturday starting at 8:30, which I can handle. 

However, there was only one meet in Pendleton (that I had to miss to go do the Poplar Run - more on that later) and the rest were all away - some, very far away.

Not so cool for a girl who doesn't like to get up early nor one who hates to drive anyway in the winter when there is snow and ice on the roads. 

But I did it. And my son Owen thinks I am pretty cool for doing so, so I guess those 5:30 wake-up calls - ON A WEEKEND - were worth it.

Our first meet was in Hermiston and Mark and I were totally unprepared for the amount of people there as well as the intensity displayed for this age level. Also the tears - lots and lots of tears. 

This is the gym when we first showed up. Not very many people yet because before another half an hour had gone by, the bleachers were completely filled up and you could barely move. 

Owen was a wee bit nervous, but Mark took him out there and they warmed up and he started to relax. Then it was his turn. His nerves started to act up again. (That and he was embarrassed at having to wear the singlet).

The ref velcroed a band around Owen's leg which would show the judges who to give the points to when he awarded them. 

Then they begin to wrestle. Now, I have never wrestled but I can yell with the best of them so I just repeated everything Mark said at a high volume and tried to snap pictures at the same time. I have no idea what I was yelling so I can't really walk you through these pictures but as you can see there were arms and legs involved and twisting/pulling and grappling on a mat. Use your imagination for the rest!

Mark and Caleb were glued to the action.

And Owen did some more pulling and grappling and rolling and twisting. 

And then he won his first match!

Yeah Owen! 

That was all it took.

One win and Owen was hooked. 

It didn't matter that he got worked over by the next kid he wrestled against. 

He was in love with a new sport. 

The season lasted a couple of months and while we didn't make it to every tournament, we made it to quite a few. They were all fun and I even got to see a few of my good friends from college as they were either in the vicinity visiting family (Sarah) or watching their own little boy wrestle (Hailey). 

That definitely helped pass the time!

Sarah even used her new super zoom lens and snapped some pictures of Owen for me.

And when Mark and I weren't looking, she snapped some pictures of us as well!

I am still worried about Owen wrestling girls (he didn't this season at all) and of course, me being me, I am still worried about ring worm (I made Owen SCRUB after every practice and meet) I think that I am starting to warm up to this sport. Who knew!? 

Now, I am off to enjoy the rest of my "snow day" with my family. 

We have a new game to try out - Wits and Wagers, some books to read together for Caleb's Battle of the Books competition that is coming up, some organizing and cleaning around the house and some plain old curl up into a comfy chair with a warm blanket and good book to read!