Monday, August 15, 2011

School stuff.....

The thing I hate, despise, even detest  most about the kids going back to school.....school shopping!!!  I can handle everything else, but having to take teenagers shopping for clothes and shoes really works my nerves.  I cant even remember school shopping with my mom as a kid, with the exception of two separate occasions.  One where she bought me these shoes

The ugliest shoes EVER made





I was a huge tomboy growing up (my tomboy daughter is my payback) and never wore dresses, skirts or anything girlie unless I was forced to or when I went to church (which was forced also). I would literally throw tantrums and act a complete fool anytime I had to dress up. 

One day we were school shopping and my mom decided she was going to buy me these shoes.  I cried, beg and pleaded for her not to get them.  She told me I ONLY had to wear them one time to some event (I cant recall) and yall know she had me wearing those shoes every chance she got.  I was HOT!!!!  I remember hiding in the alley and changing my shoes on the way to school because I REFUSED to be caught dead in those ugly things.  UGH!!!!  Next time I talk to my mom I'm going to have to remind her of this story.  I wonder if she recalls how mad I was and how I would catch an attitude and not talk to her for days when she would try to make me wear those dreaded things.

I remember being like 13 and up and me and my sister shopping ourselves.  My mom would just give us the money or her credit card and we'd be on our merry way.  I guess my mom didn't want to put up with the mess that I NOW put up with my kids when going shopping.   They are so flipping picky it's ridiculous.  They'll have us out there all day going from store to store to store and find one or two things and then have nerve enough to catch attitude with us when we're like it's time to start wrapping it up so we can go home.  I'm so tempted next time to just give them a limit and let them go themselves but I could really see someone coming home with a $100 pair of jeans and me being P.O-ed.  I don't know what age they'll have to be before I feel comfortable enough to allow them to just go on their own.  

Speaking of kids... girlie is starting her 1st year of high school this year.  We were nervous when we went to registration (which is really just picking up her schedule, locker and bus info) because we were told this year high school students will not be able to ride school buses because they significantly cut the number of buses due to budget cuts.  Since 6th grade she's been taking the school bus because I wasn't trying to drive 50 miles a day...gas is just too expensive right now.  Since the bus was available that was just the best option.

 This year, the idea of putting her on the city bus didn't sit well with me.  Because of the length of time it would take her to get to school on the bus she'd have to leave the house every day about 5:30am to get to school on time and ride 3 separate buses.  Um...not gonna happen.  I was thinking I'd have to bite the bullet and just drive her, then found out that we could fill out an exception form.  I was told it was on a first come first serve basis and wasn't feeling to confident because school starts this week.   I found out on Friday that they are going to allow her to ride the school bus.  HOORAY!!!  Yall have NO idea how happy I was, I think I did a little happy dance after I hung up with the woman at transportation.  That literally made my day. 

Little guys first week ended pretty good and is off to a great start.  He was a "superstar" in both of his classes today and got an award for having doing such a good job.  I'm starting to feel a little more at ease with him being at school and wasn't on edge waiting for him to get home like last week.  Lol  I still miss my baby when he's at school, but most of that worry has subsided so that's a plus. 

Alright...now that little one is in school and has an earlier bed time I'm finding myself getting tired and in bed earlier also.  Time for me to call it a night.  I hope everyone has a great week.  Back at ya soon.

Peace and Blessings!!!!



Thursday, August 11, 2011

It's that time of year again.....

Getting ready.  So not a morning person. Lol

On his way for day 2

We have been awaiting the opening of another school like my little girlies school for K-5 and now that it's happened wouldn't you know it....we're not able to enroll our little guy as planned.  He did really well with home schooling last year and learned so much, but we really want him to be around other kids his age on a consistent basis.  Also since the curriculum at my daughter school is so awesome and it's such a high performing school we wanted my son to attend as well.

We live out of district so we had to put him on a waiting list which I found is pretty long.  I'm almost certain that it will be several months before we're even able to get him in.  We decided to enroll him in a school in the district that we live in because it would be easier for him to transition to a "school environment" if he did it at the start of the year as opposed to the middle or end of the year.  School started on Monday and we were SO NOT prepared to send our baby off to the wolves, but decided adjusting to school would be better if we did it this way.  He was SO excited about going so that was a definite plus.  He's still such a Mommy's baby and so used to being around me so I was really surprised and excited by his enthusiasm 

So let's go over the incidents we've had so far shall we....

We still allow little one to eat dairy, chicken and turkey because he's so picky as it is and we're happy when we can get him to eat anything at all.  However, will not allow him to eat beef or pork so we thought it best to pack his lunch to prevent him from getting something he SHOULDN'T have.

So...Day 1. he we go to pick him up and find that they were not able to find his lunch bag and he ate a school lunch.  UGH!!!  Lucky it was chicken or I would have been HEATED.  But I know it's the first week things are going to be hectic and everyone is trying to settle into a routine.  No biggie.  His lunch bag got located by the assistant principal, who happens to be new this year, and I actually really like him at this point.

Day 2. My baby says he had a great day, but ended up getting confused and going outside with 3rd graders after lunch instead of going back to his after noon class room.  A teacher and another student helped right away to get to his class so that was great but it made me a little nervous.  The teachers don't get the kids and take them back to class, they are excused from the lunch room, line up with the kids from there class and have to walk with their group back to class.  The lines aren't real distinct so he followed the wrong group.  That's taking him some getting used to.  I'm glad the school is fairly small so that puts me at ease a bit.  Then some little boy spits on him when they're walking with their teacher in the hall to math class.  He told the little boy to stop and he wouldn't...nasty little thing!!!!  He didn't tell the teacher because in his words "we aren't supposed to talk while we're in the halls and I didn't want to get in trouble."  Aww.... my little rule follower.

Day 3.  There's obviously something going on with kids at this age where they LOVE to spit because while they were in a computer class the little girl sitting next to him started spitting on him.  He went up to the teacher to tell her when the little girl wouldn't stop and she got mad at him for not raising his hand before getting up and he starts crying.  Of course I almost want to cry because the idea of my baby being sad at school breaks my heart.  So we had a long conversation last night about raising his hand and how to handle those situations.  UGH!!!  I don't know why little kids have to be so dang nasty and that spitting really IRKS me.  THEN...at the end of the day I'm waiting to pick him up.  I see the teacher coming out with the group of kids that are in his class that don't ride the bus, but don't see my baby.  I ask her and she says that she believes he went in the bus line.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!  So I run off to where the busses are and see another teacher holding his hand and talking to him.  She explains to me that she thinks he lost his line and she was getting ready to bring him to where the kids get picked up at because he told her he wasn't a bus rider.  The good thing is if they don't have a bus tag they aren't going to put them on the bus.   I don't know why I was worried they were going to just throw my baby on a bus.  Silly me.  Lol  We had a long conversation with him about where to go and to make sure he's following his teacher and class to wait for me to pick him up.

I was initially really put off by the whole lining up thing and them just following the kids without ALWAYS being guided by a teacher, but now that I've been up to the school all week...(YES, I said all week)  I'm more comfortable because I can actually see how easy it is for the kids to move through the hallway and get where there supposed to go.   I think it's just been a little difficult because it's such a new process for him, but today he had it down and did really well.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that he doesn't come home today telling me that he's had any issues.  I think if there's one more incident Hubby will be ready to pull him out and go back to homeschooling.  Lol

So... before yall start thinking I'm this overbearing parent that's going to be stalking the school....I was talking to his teacher when we went for the parent/teacher meeting on Friday.  We were talking about volunteering and how much help is needed the first few weeks of school she asked if I'd be willing to help when I told her my schedule was pretty open this week.  So there you have it. 

I've got more news with the other kids, but since this ended up being so lengthy we'll save that for another post.  I will say girlie goes back next week, son #2 goes back the end of August, and step girlie goes back in September.  Where the HECK did the summer go.  I'm not ready for fall.  Boo!!!!  Lol

Alright that's it for now....have a good week and I'll be back at you all later.

Peace and Blessing!!!

Home from school and having fun!  Love this guy!!!