The many faces of a Rackley

I love when the girls want Daddy time. LOVE IT! So the other night after their bath, they got some good cuddle time before bed. I felt the need to document this rare moment where they were not following me around the house begging for juice.

Beautiful Minds

This morning I volunteered to listen to some of the older children in Mia's class practice their reading. I was excited to be part of the classroom activities but dreading sitting and listening to a dozen or so kids struggle to phonetically sound out cat. I was so wrong. With just a couple exceptions, the students were amazing. One kid sped through words like sunscreen and bathing suit. One kid came back up to me about three more times asking to read more books. Even my own daughter, whom the teacher had assured me was not at the reading level, sounded out an entire book. And I didn't sigh with frustration a single time.
In addition to being listening, I also served as the "Mystery Reader" for the class at the start of the day. Of course, I had to call my office to remind them that I'd be late so Mia heard me on the phone say that I was going to be in her class so I guess it wasn't such a mystery after all. But I digress. Sitting in my wee blue chair, waiting for the students to get settled and in their circle on the floor, I observed the craziness that is a room full of 4-6 year olds. This is what I heard:

Eron: You're my best friend!
Alex: I am your friend but I'm not your best friend.
~
Alex: I'm going to beat you up.
Isaac: Ok Beyonce
~
Hayden: I scared everyone in the bathroom
Me: How did you do that?
Hayden: I went to the door and yelled "I'm the ghost of Willy Wonka!!" And they thought it was a real ghost. Ha ha ha ha ha!
~
Isaac: Hey, you made me suck my thumb.
~
Khalil: My leg is all hanging out. It hurts.


I have to visit this class more often. I never knew the comedic gold that I was missing.

Answer me this

Can my daughter still be in the Marines, even if she is a fairy??Don't ask, don't tell right?

(Thanks Tara for all you do for our country! Ooh Ra!)

Plate lickin' good!

It's becoming a near weekly tradition in our family to eat at Vallarta Mexican Grill. This place is the best (sorry Chamblee folks, it blows La Botana out of the water!)

I love it for the bottomless margaritas and delcious nachos. Mia loves it for the free cheesecake bites.In other news, in case you were wondering how I finished off the cinnamon cream cheese icing. And don't kid yourself, you know you were dying inside to know! I spread it on some Pillsbury Grands and they were divine!

Win win win

Last night we went to the last PTA meeting of the year for Mia's school. It featured an "art show". It featured one painted picture from each student. They were all lovingly matted and framed and hanging neatly in rows. You could take your child's picture and buy it. For $32.50. Now they have told the kids about this show. Sent them home with stickers on their shirts that read "Aske me about my art show!" To tell your child that you do not want to spend over $30 on an item that gets sent home each week for free is like stabing a knife through her head. At this point I would have given in and bought it. But Mr. "it's quite a racket they've got goin' on here" was not falling for it. We were close to melt down right in the middle of the elementary school gym. Luckily I married a genius who said, "Mia, you know the painting I did above the fireplace? Why don't we go to the store and buy a small canvas for you and you can paint one for your room?" Tears evaporated instantly and we left for the cafeteria to pay $4 for a slice of pizza.

New Feature!

Oooh - look to the left. I will feature a quote of the day, most likely from one of my many e-mail conversations with my Converse Connies but anyone could fall victim. Today's quote is from Kim who is a walking miracle of life and science - hooray!! We're now taking bets on just how many puppies she'll push out due to said miracle. My money's on 4. Emily suggested 17 but I think she just wanted to see Kim's head explode.

You've been a perfect friend

This weekend we bought new living room furniture. It was in future plans to get a new couch, leather, to help Chuck & Mia with their allergies. But the future came to us quickly once Bella decided that a frayed couch was too irresistible and turned the fray into a giant hole! We flipped the cushion and she was like, "hey, what happened to my hole?!" and created a new one. So we sucked it up and bought a beautiful leather sectional with a matching coffee table. It's gorgeous but I'm a little sad for our old couch. I got engaged on that couch and was thrilled when we got it handed down to us from Chuck's dad. I spent many hours curled up with good books, good movies, cuddly kids, and a cuddly husband. Before kids we had a Saturday morning tradition of blueberry muffins and TV watching, wrapped up in an old comforter, not a care in the world. I feel like I need to be more grown up now with this fancy new couch and functional table. So good-bye old pal. You were very good to us. I hope the movers put you in a nice new home for some other family to love. And hopefully reupholster.