Brain Overload

This past weekend I went with my mother in law to her Montessori class. It was awesome. I learned sooo much. I can't even tell you. I think I am still absorbing it all!

It probably didn't help that we left at 6am on Friday and were basically going non-stop until Sunday afternoon, with that darn time change thrown in there just to spite us even more. My sister in law had a weekend off of work and was needing a break from school, so she decided to tag along with us and use the time while we were in class to get some serious homework done, so it turned into a really fun girls weekend too :) 

We left Friday morning and got to Adrian around 8:30 to observe one of Kathy's teacher's classes. We stayed there til 11:30, grabbed a quick lunch, and then were in class by noon.

During observation, I was watching these two little girls as they sat at a table working on some math sheets. They were talking about what they like to do during free time, and the one girl said "I like to play Mom, not princesses. But I don't want any babies. They are loud and sometimes they smell funny." I started cracking up...hilarious! 

Friday's class was all about psychology. I was reminded just how much I love psychology! They are learning about morals and ethics and how to instill good morals in children without them even really knowing it, just by being a good example and living with grace and courtesy. The other big thing we discussed was conformity and dissent, and how most of the time they are given negative connotations when they are both necessary in society. We talked about a lot of psychologists and experiments that I remember learning about in college, but it was cool to talk about it again and see just how much my views of things have changed since then. Completely different!

Friday night we went for dinner and drinks at Chili's and then headed over to Canton (about an hour away) to hit up Ikea. (I bought that shoe cabinet I mentioned here! Yay!) We got there about an hour and a half before they closed, so it was definitely a quick trip considering how massive and full of awesomeness Ikea is, but I got what I went for and Kathy got quite a bit of stuff for the school, so it was a success :) 

Saturday we were up bright and early for class again. We discussed the importance of play and how sometimes it can be challenging to convince parents that it is necessary and crucial to development and not at all a waste of time or money. We had to watch a really dry and dull movie straight from the 60's and I think we were all falling asleep...thankfully that was right before lunch, so during break Nichele and I went outside and did some jumping jacks to wake ourselves up again :) 

Saturday afternoon was spent discussing empathy and a bit more about conformity and dissent. We watched a video about a few different experiments done in the 70's and then revisited a few years ago and just talked about our reactions to the film. A couple of the experiments were pretty disturbing so we got some really great discussions after that!

Saturday night we went to Applebee's for dinner and then walked the 'mall' to kill some time. I say 'mall' because there was literally 5 stores left in it! So basically we spent an hour at Bath and Body Works smelling everything because the other stores were not our cup of tea...ha. After that we went to see Safe Haven. It was so good. But in that sad kind of way. We were all tearing up and the ride back to the motel that night was pretty silent except for sniffles. We stopped for ice cream to cheer ourselves up :) Ice cream cures all!

Sunday morning class was all about music and movement, so that was fun. That was basically the whole reason Kathy wanted me to go that weekend. We learned lots of fun silly songs and dances and music games to do to not only teach the children more, but also as a way to release energy and whatnot. I felt like I was in kindergarten again singing some of those songs! 

Then we made the drive home, I cleaned the house, ran, and pretty much went straight to bed. I think we were in bed by about 9:00 which is super early for me. Didn't take me long to fall asleep, either! I am so used to sleeping with 2 lumps (read: cats) in my bed that I don't sleep well when they aren't there. I even took my sleeping pills and that didn't seem to help, so needless to say - I was ready for my bed, my lumps, and some actual sleep for sure!

All in all it was a great weekend and I'm glad I went, even though my brain feels like it is going to explode. I learned so much and I know it meant a lot to Kathy that I was there and I'm getting fired up about it :) She's getting a little burnt out! She only has two more weekends left, so I think I might go one more time if it works out. 

Today I got to hang out with my good friend Mike :) Poor guy had one leg amputated last year and has the other foot in a walking boot this year! Hopefully that one will be okay and heal well, but if not, he is already cracking jokes about having two stumps instead of one. It is so great to see him back to his old self again. He was pretty depressed there for awhile (no job + no insurance + repossessed car + bankruptcy + moving back from Arizona to live with Mom and Dad again + leg amputation + eye troubles and near blindness = super sad Mike!) but he is getting caught up again and has really adjusted  quite well to the whole situation. He was even in a pretty chipper mood considering someone got ahold of his debit card number and charged up a storm (about $800) at a Meijer store in Auburn Hills this weekend. Thankfully the bank caught it before anything went through and we were able to cancel his card and move his money around today to make sure they don't get any of it, but still. Annoying!

Tomorrow I am going to IHOP (best ever!) and then thrifting with Mom so I'm pretty excited about that. I'll wear your granddad's clothes, I'll look incredible, I'm in this big old coat, from the thrift shop down the road... Anyone know that song? No? Oookay well it's one of my faves these days. The edited version, of course ;) 

Spring is in the air and I am really itching to get out and take some pictures. There are only so many pictures you can take of the snow... I'm over it. And that is why I rarely have pictures on here anymore! Especially now with everything all melty and brown and ugly.  I'm ready for buds and birds and pretty flowers and all that! Can't wait to go out exploring with my camera! Hopefully soon :) Although I heard rumors of snow tonight so who even knows...

And with that... I am going to bed. Hubby and the 2 lumps have been up there sleeping for about an hour already and I'm finally starting to feel tired so here's hoping I get another good night's sleep :)