Who Put Me in Charge?!?

Today when I showed up at the elementary school for my observation time there was a different teacher in my room. Even though it is only 2nd grade, they team teach. I wasn't sure if I should go looking for my assigned teacher or stay with my assigned class. I decided to stay with my class so that I could observe a different teaching style. This teacher was sitting on the floor with all of the kids going through a workbook that is designed to prepare the students for the TAKS test. She didn't seem very happy and neither did the students. That was not fun for any of us. I could go on and on about it, but I won't.

After about 15 minutes the teachers swapped classes again. A man came in and talked about the food pyramid and he guided the students through analyzing a sample menu. He was really energetic and seemed to enjoy the lesson. When he was done he left. Me. Alone. With. The. Entire. Class. (more about him later)

I was alone with them for almost 10 minutes. I just walked around the room and helped them with their food pyramid worksheet. If they were done I told them to get a book out of their desks and read. I also spent the entire time silently praying they wouldn't get so loud that the other teachers in the classes near ours would be able to hear us!

Then my teacher came back. She got them going on a language arts lesson. It was a pretty easy one (nouns and verbs) and she let me lead the part of the lesson that involved checking their answers. It was easy except that I can't remember half of their names yet and I called on some of the same kids twice. They all raise their hands eagerly for every single question. After a while this one kid said, "You already called on her! Call on someone who hasn't answered yet!" Really, if I can't get through checking one worksheet ... how am I supposed to teach a whole classroom full of kids for an entire school year?!?

By this time it was almost time for the kids to go home. They all line up in various sections of the hallway to go to their destinations (car-riders, bus riders, walkers, day-care, etc) My teacher asked me to stand at the door (out in the hallway ... the door to the outside world) and make sure they weren't too loud. I was assigned the car-riders. Mr. Food Pyramid was standing with the bus-riders. After a few minutes he looked at me and asked me when he was supposed to let them go. He asked me! Uhhhh .... I don't know? Is that the right answer?

He led his group out the door and mine tried to leave. Well, obviously I can't be the person who takes the car-riders out to their parents. The parents who know who their kids' teachers are!! So I just stood in between the kids and the door. Kinda like a sheep dog. That worked until a REAL teacher showed up and took over. A teacher who told me that Mr. Food Pyramid was a sub then promptly asked me who (the hell) I was. (I could see it in her eyes) That badge they gave me at the school disctrict building didn't mean anything to her.

She took over and I got the heck outta there. As fast as I could!

I was there an hour and it only seemed like 10. I need a nap. Or a margarita. Or both!

Challenge Update

Ok, the challenge ... so far it's me, my mom, Lisa, Rebekah, Cindy, D.J., Jennifer, and my Aunt Kathy. Anyone else?

And does anyone know how to make a progress bar/chart for the side of my blog?

Only in the South

Only in the south can you order a "Photo Can Cooler" with your kid's school picture on it. Yep, through the school. A can cooler. For your soda (beer). And it's only $16. What a bargain.

Contest

Thanks Lisa! I entered this contest too :)

The Challenge

Last night while I was in my bed wide awake after taking the puppy outside (for the second time) I came up with a brilliant plan. I am going to walk 100 miles before the end of the year. Lately it seems that I don't make the time for any kind of exercise at all. My weight has fluctuated a little over the years and I don't want it to fluctuate back up into the numbers that I don't like seeing on the scale. So I am going to challenge myself to walk 100 miles between now and December 31. My Aunt Kathy (in Florida) is going to walk too. Anybody else want to join us? 100 miles, in 92 days. Any takers?

Observation

I started my Observation assignment today. This semester I will spend 20 hours in a 2nd grade classroom in a local elementary school. The classroom teacher is supposed to be my mentor. I met her yesterday (she seems great!) and started today. I wanted to share a couple of the conversations I had or overheard while they were painting. I definitely made some interesting "observations" today!

Child A: I can't have Halloween.
Child B: Why not?
Child A: Because it isn't about Jesus.
Child B: I get to have Halloween.
Child C: You get to cebrebrate it.
Child A: I don't get to cebrebrate it. I want to, but my mom and dad won't let me.
Child B: What if you dress up as Jesus? Then can you have it?
Child C: I don't know anything about this Jesus person, but I am going to be a pirate. You should just tell your parents that you want to go. Then they'll let you.

It went on and on like that for a while until I just left their table! I mean, what do you even say to that?!?

Then I went to a different table and talked to a boy about his painting. He showed me his 4-yr old sister and said, "That's my sister. She's four. And she knows all of the cuss words already." His parents should be so proud!

Next table ... a little girl reading her book (because she's done with her painting already). She looks up at me with very intense eyes and says, "If I focus enough on one word I feel like I am psychic. Do you want me to tell you something?"

Uh.... no, I'm good! Or better yet, tell me how I am supposed to participate in these kinds of conversations!!

Permission Slips

I got a call from the guidance counselor at the boys' school yesterday. She wanted to let me know that she would be sending home permission slips for me to sign. Permission slips that give her permission to test the boys. Do you remember? The testing we did the first week of May? 4 1/2 months ago!?! She mumbled something about covering her barn door or back door or something like that! What?!?

So by that logic I should expect a permission slip in January for the field trip Chase took last week!

Burning the Midnight Oil

Or at least the 8:30 oil! I had a lot of homework to do over the weekend. A lot! Usually I don't procrastinate, but somehow I ended up starting a project at 7:00 last night. A project that is due today, by the way. At 8:30 Kenny decided to help me, and let me tell you ... thank goodness he did! I was creating a phonemic awareness mini-lesson with kindergartners as my target grade. My lesson is focused on rhyming words using the book Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw.

I will read the book to the "kids" (the other students at my table), then lead them in a shared reading using the poster. After the shared reading we'll cover some of the rhyming words with the picture cards. There's a lot more prep to the lesson that I am not showing here. Enough prep that it makes me wonder ... how much prep really goes into each and every seven-hour school day if it takes me almost two hours to prepare a ten-minute lesson for kindergartners?!?

Well, getting your sheep and jeep picture cards to be just the right size isn't easy if you are working on a project too late and wanting to watch the season premier of Desperate Housewives. Apparently it is easy if you are 7 and in 2nd grade. Kenny made this project seem like a breeze and I can't even tell you how much he helped me! I am thinking his favorite cookies might have to get baked this afternoon after we all get home :)

Update on Birthday Gift

If you read my posting on August 28 about my birthday gift you have probably been sitting on the edge of your seat in suspense every day since then ... right?!? Well, Lisa got her gift in the mail this week so now I can tell the whole world that my mom gave us each diamond tennis bracelets for our birthdays this year. I think she must have had a really good summer in the grooming business. Or it could have been a bad day that called for some SERIOUS retail therapy! Maybe she doesn't plan to give us anything for the next 10 years to make up for this gift. Or maybe she just really loves us! Thanks again Mom!!!

Chase's Day at School

We just got home. In the very short drive from the boys' school to the house I learned:

1. 5th grade boys already have beer preferences because that was the interesting topic of conversation at the lunch table today. Oh, and Craig's Grandpa's dog can open the fridge, get out a beer, open the beer, pour salt in it, and serve it to the grandpa. Yeah, right.


2. Don't send Chase to school on ART day with a brand new white Under-Armour t-shirt. At this point I am thinking it would be easier to turn it into a tye-dye shirt than it would be to make it white again.


3. Apparently Chase's school doesn't require parental permission for field trips. Chase went on a field trip to Fort Concho today and I didn't even know about it until after it had already occurred.

STARS program

Students and Tutors Achieving Remarkable Success

I had my first day in the school system today. I went to an elementary school on the other side of town to meet my two kids that I will work with throughout the school year. We'll work on reading all year. (This is different than my observation. I don't have my school placement for that yet.) The kids I worked with this morning were sweet and fun and I enjoyed it a lot. The drive there was a bit of an adventure. If you live in Fayetteville -- think Murchison. But I made it in one piece and made sure my car was locked when I got there!

Hired Help

Chase learned how to cut the grass over the weekend. He cut the entire back field that leads out to their 4-wheeler track. It took him about 2 hours and he earned $10. I am thinking that's pretty good money for a ten year old kid!

Thanks for your help!

I am almost finished with my resource file. I am very pleased with the way it looks. I am also looking forward to being done with it! I need to finish my Poetry, U.S. Presidents, Texas State Facts, and First Month of School files. Then it's done! Woo-hoo!

Making a mountain out of a molehill

We had a tiny problem with our air conditioner. Now we have a huge problem in our closet. A little bit of dripping and overflow water turned into this:

Which turned into this:

The problem with the a/c is fixed. That took about 5 minutes. The problem with the ceiling in my closet ... well, that'll take a little bit of work. Lucky me, I have a huge walk-in closet with 11-foot ceilings. Those metal rods you can see in the pictures -- when we hang clothes on there we have to use a ladder to get to them. The previous owner had one of those tools that you see in the department stores to get to the clothes up high on the displays. So ... un-lucky me ... this is not going to be an easy job!

HELP ME PLEASE!

I have a huge assignment to do. It is the first of many huge assignments I will have to do this semester and over the next 2 years. This first huge assignment is: a resource file that I am supposed to make and keep to use as a teacher. It will consist of ideas, songs, crafts, activities, etc. It has to be organized, color-coded, blah, blah, blah... I have to have 1200 cards in this file! Yes that is one thousand, two hundred cards! Our teacher gave us some great ideas in large files that I have spent the last four days formatting into 4x6 inch microsoft documents so that I can print my cards instead of handwriting them all. I sweet-talked the computer lab tech into printing them for me so that I don't have to use $50 in ink toner at home. So far I have 952 cards. That leaves me 248 short. No, she isn't going to count them. But I am pretty sure she'll be able to tell if I am almost 250 short. So ... if you have any ideas, please send them my way. I will take poems, songs, craft ideas, activities, book ideas, anything that would go with a school theme (seasons, holidays, first day of school, etc). And... even if you are someone I don't know who is reading my blog because you got to it through your friend's blog -- you are invited to participate also. I will take all of the help I can get here people! Thanks so much and have a great day. I'm going back to the dining-room table to color-code some more cards.

*UPDATE*
I am up to a little over 1,000. Thanks for the great ideas and websites. Keep 'em coming!

New Habit

The boys and I have a new habit. Airborne. Every day. Whether they like it or not!

We are two weeks into the school year and Kenny is sick already. I knew this would happen. We've been home together for 15 months. So going back to school now is just like going to kindergarten for the first time ... germs, germs, germs!!! Airborne is supposed to help boost your immune system. So we're all going to start taking it and hope it really works. I just looked at their website and apparently they have a new type of Airborne called "Power Pixies". Maybe it tastes better than what we have (it can't be worse!) If you want to send away for a free sample of Power Pixies go here.

9th day of school

So today was the 9th day of school. The end of the 2nd week. You'd think we'd all be used to our new schedules and settled in, right?!? Nope! Not us ...

2:30 AM
me: "Kenny, why are you out of bed and waking me up, honey?"
Kenny: "Mom, can you homeschool me?"
me: "Go back to bed and we'll talk about it tomorrow."

3:17 AM
me: "Kenny, why aren't you in your bed?"
Kenny: "Mom, please can you homeschool me?"
me: "Kenny, go back to bed. You need your sleep."

3:39 AM
me: "Kenny, please stop waking me up!"
Kenny: "But mom, why won't you homeschool me? WHY?!?"

At this point I get out of bed, give him a vitamin, tell him it's a sleep aid, tuck him in, and lock my bedroom door when I go back to bed. After that the rest of the day is a blur.

Exercise

Actually I should say lack of exercise! I worked really hard last spring to look good for the Army Ball. Then I went on vacation. Then I decided it was more fun to get a tan in the sun next to the pool than it was to walk/run in the 100+ degree heat of the summer. Now it's starting to cool off and I had big plans to get back in shape again. Well, it's not going to happen! I am way too busy with my 18 credit hours of classes at the college. And I just signed up for a program in the local elementary schools that partners students majoring in education with kids having trouble learning to read. I'll have two kids that I go see every week for the rest of the school year.


So...

If I promised to walk with you (Jennifer), I am sorry I won't be able to do it.

If I promised to go to the gym with you (Precious), I am sorry I won't be going there either.

If I promised to get skinnier with you (Aunt Kathy), well -- that ain't gonna happen if I don't do the first two things on this list!

And last, but not least ... if I am worried that you are going to get skinnier than me (Mandy), well -- you probably are. But I'll try not to be too jealous!

If anyone knows of a way to stay thin through the winter with the power of thought or really strong wishful thinking, feel free to send your ideas my way. I think I am going to need them!

Shih Tzu Grooming Lesson

I took PJ to the groomer on Thursday. I was worried all morning that they would not do a good job with her. I wanted her bathed and trimmed a little bit around her feet. Most shih-tzus end up getting short hair cuts because they are easier and end up looking like this:

I can bathe her and comb her out but I just don't know how to do the trimming.

I think they did a pretty good job. Her feet were a little too short, but I can't do it so I am not going to complain. She was very clean and looked nice.

When she was a little younger and her hair was a little shorter she went to Puppy Pals (my mom's shop). When they were done with her she looked super cute:

Someday when her hair has grown out all the way I will want to keep it styled like this:

It's only been two days since her grooming and already she looks like this:

Which is funny because it reminds Brian and I of a cartoon that we both loved as kids:

See the similarity? I think it's amazing how close they are. Maybe the artist for this cartoon had a liver colored shih-tzu at home whose grooming consumed way too much of his time too!

Birthday gift

My birthday was in July. The 20th to be exact. Last Friday (yes, late in August) I got a package from my mom that had my birthday present in it. It is wickedly awesome (yes, I really do still say that), and definitely worth the wait. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it is because she bought something similar for my sister-in-law Lisa and didn't send it yet. Lisa's birthday was July 8. So, if you happen to be one of the people I see on a regular basis, ask me if you can see my gift. I will be happy to show it off. If you aren't one of the people I see on a regular basis and you promise not to call/email/talk to Lisa then call me and I will tell you what it is. If you are Lisa don't bother asking. I am not going to tell. Have you wondered why I haven't talked to you in a few days? It's because it is killing me not to tell you!! But trust me, it will be worth your wait too :)

Thanks Mommy!!!!

Second Day of School

Me: Good morning, Kenny

Kenny: Mommy, will you homeschool me?

Me (thinking about this and this): Let's have breakfast and talk about that one!

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. They both had a great day. Their school seems really nice and so do their teachers. Chase changes classes just like a middle school kid. If you want to see their school click here. The website doesn't seem to be very up-to-date though.

I also started classes today. I enjoyed them, but parking was a mess. I am definitely going to get my exercise walking from the parking lots to my classes.

I'm done at noon on MWF so I'll have plenty of time to do my studying and get my errands done before I pick up the boys from school. Waiting until 2:45 was torture today. Leaving them at school after being together for 15 months was harder than the first day I sent each of them to kindergarten. Although I think I was the only one who felt that way because they sure didn't seem to miss me as much as I missed them!

Texas Friends 101

Last night Brian and I had a couple of people over to watch UFC 74. I decided to take a few pictures to help out my family and friends back east with name/face recognition. It seems that I'll be talking to someone on the phone and instead of being able to say "Kelly and I took the kids to the pool" or "Jennifer and I went to Hobby Lobby" I end up saying "The other first sergeant's wife" or "The commander's wife" So this posting is Texas Friends 101. Now you'll be able to put a face with the name :) The above photo is all of the girls: Precious Jumper, me, Kelly Ludwigsen, and Jennifer Starr.

This is Eric and Kelly. He is the B Co. 1st Sergeant. I have also referred to him as "the hunter" and "the family that lives in our neighborhood" Brian and Eric were platoon sergeants together at Fort Meade in 2001 and they were also at Fort Bragg at the same time as us, although Eric was in 3rd Group, not 7th. They have three kids: Austin (10), Hayley (8), and Matthew (6). Kelly is a speech pathologist and librarian. In their spare time they like to ... he he he ... just kidding!

This is Scott, Jennifer, and Skylar. Scott is Brian's commander. I am done referring to Jennifer as "the commander's wife"! She is the funniest blogger I know. They have four kids: Ashlyn (8), Hailey (6), Owen (3), and Skylar (7 mo.) We never knew them before we got here, but they have filled us in on lots of funny stories about their adventures all over the world. They have been stationed in Alaska and Hawaii and are still trying to decide where to go next. Fort Bragg is too muggy, Fort Lewis is too rainy, Germany is too far away, .... suggestions anyone? (Amber, this is where you vote for Italy)

This is Will and Precious Jumper. He is Eric's commander and the most recent addition to our little group. They just got here last spring. Will has a 12-yr old son from his first marriage and they have a little one due to arrive in early December. Brian, Eric, and Scott have 11 kids between them so Will & Precious have a little bit of catching up to do!

Chase and Austin

Hayley L. and Ashlyn

Matthew and Owen

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Kenny and Hailey S. are not pictured because Kenny fell asleep before the end of the night and Hailey was too tired to pose for me.

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Ok, that's it. No more explanations involving adjectives or adverbs or anything like that. All you get from now on are names. If you are confused, just pretend you aren't!

Ebay as entertainment

Jennifer sent me an email this morning with a link to the (second) funniest ebay listing I have ever read. The first would have to be the guy who listed his ex-wife's wedding dress a couple of years ago. That was pee-your-pants hilarious and if I can find a link to the story on the internet I'll post it. Anyway, if you want a good laugh, check out this lady's ebay listing for some pokemon cards. Sadly, her grocery store trip really reminds me of recent shopping experiences Jennifer and I have had together, but you know that misery loves company, right? So that makes it even funnier. Here's the link to her listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675description

And if you look at the places I visit you'll see her blog has been added. It's called "Because I Said So" and I am sure it will continue to be a fun place to get a good laugh.

Ok, I just did a search for the wedding dress guy and guess what I found .... Yep, www.weddingdressguy.com Seriously! If you decide to go, the link to the original ebay ad is on the left, near the top. And now that I've read it again I will have to say that the pokemon card lady is probably funnier. Or maybe I can relate to her better than I can relate to wedding dress guy. Either way, it's nice to know that ebay is a good source of entertainment once in a while, instead of just serving as a funnel for Brian's hard-earned money.

Priceless

Cost of tuition for fall semester: $2,250
Cost of fees for fall semester: $799.32
Cost of books for fall semester: $362.85

Being busy every minute the boys are at school: What the heck was I thinking?!?

Happy 1/2 Birthday PJ

My little Penelope Jean is 6 months old today. She is quite a character and has gotten into the habit of getting me up early the past couple of days. I think someone forgot to tell her that summer vacation isn't over yet. On the plus side: she can 'sit', 'lay down', 'speak', and give 'high fives'. She loves the kids and the other pets and although Sammy has definitely warmed up to her the cats are still running away at warp speed. Oh, and she's extremely spoiled ... as you can see she is sitting on the dining-room table for her picture.

The White Stripes -- We're Going to be Friends

Our new life

I heard this song this morning and instantly loved it. It made me think of our new life in Texas. We miss our friends in NC like crazy and we miss being within driving distance of my family even more, but we just love our Texas life. My neighborhood is very quiet and safe. My kids play outside more here than they have since we were in Germany. They choose basketball, biking, swimming, and playing in the woods before they even think about playing video games or watching tv. I can't tell you how many times I used the garden hose to clean mud off from them this weekend. And I love it!

Building the Taj Mahal

These are Chase & Kenny's friends: Haley, Matthew, and Austin. They have spent many days working on their many forts out back. Today we went to the pool to swim and after about an hour they were asking to leave so that they could continue working on their fort. This is my idea of good, healthy, active fun! Oh, and it keeps them out of the house and makes them sleep like babies at bedtime too :)

Moms of the Year Award

Yesterday I watched Jennifer's (FOUR!) kids while she went to a doctor's appointment. They are Ashlyn (8), Haley (6), Owen (3), and Skylar (7 mo.) She wasn't gone very long and everything went fairly well.

Owen slept until about 2 minutes before Jennifer got home.

Skylar was easy as pie and happy to be entertained by Ashlyn (a.k.a. little mommy).

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And Haley was ok after she woke up all the way.

As soon as Jennifer got home we unpacked all of her new Creative Memories stuff and realized she was missing one thing. She got on the phone and called a Creative Memories consultant that lived only about a block away from her. While she was on the phone Kenny and Haley used every tool she bought and shredded about 50 million pieces of paper onto the floor. Jennifer made an appointment for us to go to the consultant's house after lunch and we headed out the door to find something to eat.

Six kids in the car and the batteries for the DVD player were dead. That was fun.

We bought Sonic for ourselves, our kids, and our husbands. I think we spent almost $50 between us. Yes, at Sonic!

Then we lost Skylar's pacifier and had to run back to the house for another one. She only screamed when we stopped at red lights, stop signs, slowed down for corners and tried to navigate around all of the retirees that decided to drive the same streets as us.

We took lunch to the guys and headed over to Hobby Lobby. That was an interesting adventure. I let Chase, Ashlyn, Kenny, Haley, and Owen to go to the kids' crafts together (without us). It was very relaxing for us, but not so much for the Hobby Lobby employees. We bought what we needed and everything went ok -- that is, other than Owen running out of the store and almost getting run over.

As if all of this isn't bad enough, after we got back to the house we decided to go to the Creative Memories consultant's house without the kids. Skylar was asleep and we were only going to be about 100 yards away. If you want to read about that adventure click here. Trust me, it's funny. And by the way, you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever nominate me or Jennifer for a Mother of the Year award after you read what she had to say about the last 45 minutes of our day together.

Oh, and one more thing ... please don't tell Brian or Scott! They don't really need to know what goes on while they are at work, do they?!?

More Critters

Yesterday when Kenny tried to put on his sneakers he found a spider in his shoe. He is usually pretty tough about all of the critters we have seen here in Texas, but I think anyone would be unnerved by sticking your foot into a shoe with something like this and feeling it on your toes! Chase got a coin to put on the floor next to the spider so it would be easier to see how big it was. It wasn't huge, but big enough. And by the way, it's about 1/4 the size of the spider Bethany found in Chase's room last week. I didn't even have time to get the camera because I was busy yelling for Brian to get it out of my house right that very instant.

See you next time!!

Dylon and Bethany went back home to Oklahoma on Sunday. We really enjoyed having them here and our time together went by way too fast. We love you guys!!!

Who says

You can't teach an old dog new tricks?!? Sammy turned six last month and he learned how to catch a frisbee today! He'll probably sleep for three days, but at least he had fun tonight.

You Tube

A couple people have mentioned that they can't view our videos (Kids vs. Wild and Staying Cool). I went in to my You Tube account and changed some of the settings. Hopefully it will work now. Please tell me if you can't get them to work.
Thanks!
~Amy

Staying Cool

It is 96-degrees here right now. (And I think it's cooled down a little since this afternoon.) The boys decided to use their ingenuity and find a way to stay cool. All they needed was a broken water hose and a trampoline.

That's not redneck at all, is it?!?

Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice

I am so ready for Grey's Anatomy to start back up and for Private Practice to start. If you are a Grey's fan (who isn't?!?) then check out these websites that I just spent way too much time on while the dishes sat dirty in the sink and dinner went uncooked:


http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/privatepractice/index?u=0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Practice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey

Perks

Even though Brian works such long hours (44.5 in the first three days of this week) and has to deal with phone calls in the middle of the night (we had four incoming and four outgoing last night), there are some perks to the job. For one, he is a first sergeant. That is pretty cool to be able to say that my husband is a first sergeant with 390 people in his company. And, he gets along really well with his commander so that helps. Oh, and when he passes the students they all have to stand up and yell "At Ease!" which is highly entertaining considering the boys think the students think Brian's name is "EDDY" and are simply yelling a loud hello! But by far, my new favorite perk is the free food. Yes, free food. Drill Sergeant McDaniels gave Brian this:

Included in this gift was:

• One package of deer backstrap filet (???)
• One package of Elk steak
• Two packages of deer hamburger
• One package of deer butterflys (???)
• One package of Elk hamburger
• Two tubes (???) of wild game summer sausage (???)
• Two packages of wild game uncooked sausage
• One tube (???) of wild game jalapeno cheese

Now, although I am grateful, I am also at a loss. What do you think wild game jalapeno cheese is? And deer butterflys (yes, that is how it is spelled on the package) ? I am not sure what any of it is. But it was super nice of SFC McDaniels to think of us and share. And if anyone else finds themselves wondering what to make with Elk hamburger you should try this recipe for Elk Chili. We had it last night and it was absolutely delicious!!!

Stolen Posting

Ok, I totally stole this posting from Jennifer. I mean CUT & COPIED it because it was so funny. So while you are reading it, keep in mind that "I" means Jennifer and "Amy" means, well, me.



Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Jeez

Today Amy and I took all our kids to Mr. Gatti's for some lunch and good fun. So let's see...there was her two children and two step-children and my er, 4 kids, so that's um, 8 kids total: Dylon (13), Bethany (12), Chase (10), Ashlyn (8), Kenny (7), Haley (6), Owen (3), and Skylar (6.5 months). Amy and I are both 33, in case anyone out there is wondering or cares. And yes, we deserve medals, bight shiny medals. Or cash.

3 hours later Amy and I were both broke and I'm pretty sure Mr. Gatti's will never be quite the same. And because the playdate was so successful we decided to cap it off with a trip to WalMart to finish up buying school supplies. With all 8 kids. Apparently all that Dr. Pepper and dessert pizza went to our heads.

I have come to accept the fact that I will never be able to find a spiral notebook that does not have perforated pages (it MUST NOT have PERFORATED PAGES, NO, don't try to send your kid in with a notebook with perforated pages) for Ashlyn so my school supply shopping will never ever be complete. I know this because WalMart doesn't have them. And if WalMart doesn't have them then they must not exist anywhere except in some 3rd grade teacher's twisted mind. Also, there is some type of folder that Chase needs that is on the shelf right next to the spiral notebooks that DO NOT HAVE PERFORATED PAGES. You know, right beside them. In La-La Land.

At some point during the time at WalMart Owen decided to lay down on his back on the bottom of the buggy that Kenny was pushing at warp speed around the store. Some time after that his shoe became lodged in the bottom of the buggy. Owen became upset and Kenny started lagging behind us, pushing the buggy while bent over trying to help Owen get his foot unstuck. This, in case you don't know, causes massive weaving of the buggy, which can then crash into displays and/or other unsuspecting shoppers. And Kenny's all pointing and gesturing to Amy and me and we're up ahead kind of pretending we don't know them and nodding and saying "Yeah, we see Owen! How cute is that!" not knowing he was stuck until some stranger stopped and began to help. So Amy and I ran back and to make a long story short we had to take the shoe off to get Owen out. Not a big deal, but attention grabbing for sure, as people heading towards the check out lines all gawked at us as they passed by, probably thinking we were on some day-care center field trip.

Then Amy forgot that she needed some butter and so she went back to get it while I mama-ducked my way to the front of the store with all the kids straggling behind me. We passed a man whose smile faded as the line of children parading in front of his buggy seemed to go on for miles. And he asked me. You knew he would ask me. Somewhere inside everyone there's a little bit of class that somehow flies right out the window as soon as you pull into the WalMart parking lot. That's why you see all those freakin weirdos in WalMart all the time.

"Jeez lady, are all these kids yours?" (eyes bugged out)

And I got to say "Er, no, only half of them are mine." (weak smile)

But you know, somehow that didn't make it any better.

Blogged by Jennifer at 9:12 PM

My $88 Box of Tissues

Today we bought most of our school supplies. I am having trouble finding the specific folders that Kenny needs and the specific scissors that Chase needs. So we are almost done. I spent a little over $88. And just think, I bought a ten-pack of tissues and the kids only need nine boxes so I get to keep one box for the house! Woo-hoo!

The Sunday Paper

This morning I asked Dylon & Bethany to walk to the store to get the Sunday paper for me. I wanted to look through the ads to see where we should go shopping for our school supplies. This is how the paper came back to me five minutes later! Bethany said, "It was really windy outside." and Dylon said, "It was Bethany's fault!"
TOO FUNNY!

More Scary Bridge Info

This is from an article I just read online:

More than 70,000 bridges across the country are rated structurally deficient like the I-35W bridge, and engineers estimate repairing them all would take at least a generation and cost more than $188 billion.

Here's the link to the article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070803/ap_on_re_us/bridge_collapse

I don't know about you, but it makes me want to just stay home!

School Supplies

It's that time of year again ... time to go out and buy a bunch of stuff that our kids need for school and that the school doesn't provide. Like tissues, paper towels and soap. I can see buying paper and pencils for your kids, but Chase needs 48 #2 pencils -- 48!! There are 175 days of school here. So I guess that means he only has to use each pencil for 3.6 days.

Trying to make sense of school supply lists created by four different sets of teaching teams in two different schools was overwhelming so I let my slightly OCD tendencies take over for a little while and made one master list of school supplies. Different teachers described things different ways. Some have more specific requirements than others. So I decided to make one list and try to consolodate as much as possible. We went to Sam's Club already, but the only thing they had that fit into our list was the tissues and pencils. I spent $27 on tissues and #2 pencils!! I think I will have to close my eyes when it comes time to pay the bill for the rest of this stuff!

Binder 3 ring, 1 ½“ size 2 Dylon
Binder 3 ring, 1” size 2 Bethany
Colored pencils 12 count, full length 2 boxes Bethany
Composition notebook 2 Chase
Composition notebook Hardcover, no spiral edges 2 Kenneth
Crayons 24 count 1 box Chase
Crayons 24 count, Crayola 2 boxes Kenneth
Eraser 1 Dylon
Eraser 1 Kenneth
Erasers Pencil top ? Chase
Glue stick 1 Chase
Glue sticks Large 3 Kenneth
Highlighter 1 Chase
Liquid hand soap 1 bottle Kenneth
Markers 8 count, Crayola (regular) 2 boxes Bethany
Markers 8 count 1 box Chase
Markers 10 count, Crayola, Primary colors 1 box Kenneth
Notebook spiral, 70 count 1 Dylon
Notebook Spiral, 120 pages or larger, with pockets 1 Chase
Paper graph paper 2 packages Dylon
Paper regular ruled notebook 2 packages Dylon
Paper wide ruled notebook 2 packages Bethany
Paper Wide ruled, 200 count 3 packages Chase
Paper Wide ruled notebook 1 package Kenneth
Paper towels 1 roll Chase
Pencil pouch Zippered 1 Chase
Pencil sharpener hand-held with cover 1 Dylon
Pencils #2 wooden 24 Bethany
Pencils #2 wooden 24 Dylon
Pencils #2 wooden 36-48 Chase
Pencils MAP COLORS (colored pencils) 1 box Chase
Pencils #2 wooden, solid yellow 1 box Kenneth
Pens black 2 Dylon
Pens red 2 Bethany
Pens red 2 Dylon
Pens Black, erasable 1 package Chase
Pocket folder with brads 6 Dylon
Pocket folder PLASTIC, Mead, with brads 1 Kenneth
Pocket folders without brads 2 Bethany
Pocket folders With brads – different colors 5 Chase
Pocket folders With brads, Mead 6 Kenneth
Ruler wooden 1 Dylon
Ruler Customary & metric 1 Chase
School box Plastic 1 Kenneth
Scissors Fiskar 1 pair Chase
Scissors Fiskar, pointed student scissors 1 pair Kenneth
Tab dividers 5 count per package 1 package Bethany
Tab dividers 8 section 1 Dylon
Tissues 3 boxes Bethany
Tissues 2 boxes Dylon
Tissues 2 boxes Chase
Tissues 2 Kenneth
Watercolors 1 set Kenneth
Ziploc baggies Sandwich size 1 box Kenneth

Scary Bridges

Do you remember my posting about my 7 things? (see #7)

THIS is why I obsess about how to save my kids if we are ever on a bridge that collapses!!!

THIS happened while we were moving from Maryland to California. The boys and I were driving from NY to Oklahoma to meet Brian who was driving from Airborne school @ Ft. Benning, Georgia. Ever since this happened I have been panicky about crossing large bridges with the kids. The boys and I were coming from the NE so we weren't on I-40 until OKC, but Brian was on this bridge just a few hours before it happened!!!