Week 2 of Christmas Vacation

And it's raining again.

It had stopped raining for 2 days but the rain is back.

I took advantage of the non-rain day to decide to take the kids sledding. After the rain, the smog clears and you can SEE. Really see. snow capped mountains on the horizon. And we'd gone to one of those 2 years ago and it was fun (well.. for the kids) and I said 'ok, today we're going sledding' and made the 2 hour preparation hunting up appropriate clothes and a change of dry ones to go.  Had to explain to Kayla that a summer weight dress without tights or leggings is a poor choice of clothing, to Sonia that shoes with holes in them is not a good idea and to Joey that shorts are not appropriate for winter if we're sledding or not.

Good grief. They've been here 2 years. No wonder 2nd and 3rd generation southern Californians seem to have no sense of winter.

So.. with the truck packed with sleds, snow chains (which we have now) and a tow rope (because if you have it with you, you won't need it) we headed to the nearest mountain which is about 45 minutes away.

Get to it's base, look up and say... 'uh.. where's the snow?!'

It appears the snow capped mountains were not our local mountain. Of course the BIG mountain 2.5 hours away has ski resorts and such that the Hollywood types frequent but the thought of driving 5 or more hours for 2 hours of snow made me decide to aim for the mountain that appeared closer..

yes. that would have been appeared.

So you see.. on the map it LOOKED closer. However, that was how the crow flies. I didn't account that the road I took for 20 miles had stop lights every few feet and a speed limit of 35 mph for many of those miles.

I also didn't account that the road that looks like a straight shot to the mountain in fact circled round to the otherside and to that base and then wound up the side of it.

And I didn't realze all this because
a. since getting GPS's we don't have paper maps in the car anymore. Well. actually I think we have one of the mid Atlantic states, but last my geography was checked that would do me zero good these days.

b. my GPS is broken. And telling it "find me the top of the mountain" was never it's strong suit. Sure it could get you to a Mc Donalds after routing you past 4 other Mc Donalds, but to what you really wanted to go to if you didn't have a street address..no so great. But now it can't do anything. My bad luck with GPSs could be a whole blog post. The GPS I am returning today is our 7th GPS, I think. We had a Magellan which stopped working and was returned. Followed by our second Magellan which we loved and despite the disintegrating power cord it worked fine. Til the slime bags stole it from our car. They forgot the power cord to it. We have a momento of the only GPS we've owned that worked. It was also stolen with the new GPS we'd gotten for my car which we'd had for 2 weeks and for those 2 weeks it had worked. (so far that's 3) replaced those with 1 really cheap Magellan which will route you through a parking garage and through 5 u-turns to get you where you want to get but will get you there 55% of the time. The other was replaced by the same model as was stolen. It stopped working 3 weeks into having it. It went back. (that's 5) Decided we'd try Garmin since our luck with Magellan was 1/5 working well. Couldn't hear the darn thing over the kids. at full volume. It went back. (6)  And now unhappy and unlucky #7 is destined to go back to the store exactly 1 week into it's use.

No, I don't care the box says to not return it to the store I bought it from. Because if they're going to have me send it back and send me a refurb one that's going to stop working within weeks and not be covered under warranty I'm going to let the store send it back and give me my money back and start the hunt for a new one all over again. So far I never have been hassled. We'll see how today goes. I learned about the "replace with a refurb one when dealing with manufacturer tech support" with the Kid's brand new Leapster. I was insanely annoyed with that lesson but I haven't forgotten it.

So anyway... back to our mountain adventure...

I have a Map with some Routing features on my phone. So I planted a pin on top of the mountain and told it to route me there.

I should have thought about it and realized.. perhaps there isn't a road there.

Not to worry.. Google Maps can route you there. Through a campground and up a logging trail.

Which was probably last used for logging in the 1800s. So I got 1/3 up the trail (and yes, it's name was S103 trail) and with the recent rains huge portions of the back top (or what had been blacktop) had been washed away. Now mind you with our 4 wheel drive, tire chains and tow rope I wasn't feeling terribly secure sliding up the hill with a rather steep decline off the side of the trail. And it was about wide enough for a Hyundi. And Heaven help me trying to back down that trail if I met another vehicle.

The snow line was about 6500 feet which explains why we didn't have snow here- our mountain tops out about 6100 feet.

So we gingerly turned around at a somewhat level clearing with the kids loudly protesting that the snow was further up the mountain. Well.. there was some patches were we were- just not the 2 feet deep fluffy stuff- more like the once melted and re-frozen into crusty ice patch. And that was what they sledded on. It was fast. They crashed and cried. They went through every.single.pair of gloves we had in 1 hour because they didn't care for their hands being cold and wet. So about 1.5 hours into the snow adventure they were restless. They wanted dry gloves and more snow. They'd tried a snow ball fight. Well,.. yes.. when it's ice it hurts when you hit each other with it. They had to learn that the hard way. And in case you're feeling bad for them -the outside temp was 50 degrees. It wasn't like it was COLD. They just thought it was. Heaven help us the first year we move back to winter and they try to go out to play in the snow. I fondly remember being a kid and coming in and the pain of the toes and fingers thawing... ahh the fond memories of frostbite.. All that my kids are missing.,

So,... with no further ramblings- or more accurately- the kids have stopped playing nicely together- I am now off.

With a few pictures from today as soon as I unearth the camera

So we were coming down the mountain and saw this windmill farm. I bet you could put that to music.

It's been a soggy week in Lake Woebegone

And Larry's asked me to see if I can find a good used Ark on Craigslist.

Roads have flooded and been closed. Important ones. Like Freeways.
The Main road on Base has been closed and flooded and one whole area of base is cut off from everywhere else.

We, however are at 190-something feet elevation and aside from 3 inches of standing water in our yard, we're dry. The 3 inches of water and 2 weeks of rain are going to put an enormous damper on the 'operation swingset' for Christmas.  This swingset has been quite a feat to obtain,and we haven't yet started to attempt the assembly, which according to the review will take 2 competent adults 10-12 hours. If you add beer and arguing, it could take a week.

This swingset was on sale the day after Thanskgiving and all 3 stores we went to were sold out. Then finally we decided to just bite the bullet and pay full price, found a store than then had them instock and spent, oh, gee, 30 minutes with the cashier trying to figure out how to reserve it because we couldn't fit it in the Civic that night (we had a babysitter with the kids). The next day I go to look up the exact dimensions of the boxes and the swingset was on sale for the After Thanksgiving price. I sent Larry on "operation get a refund" which took him the patience of a saint the determination only he has and he got it done.

So now this 400 lbs of swing set is in the back of the truck. Sometimes it's really nice to have such a big vehicle. It's working as our dry storage shed. Our actual storage shed (is not dry) keeps water out about as well as a wall of sand like the kids build at the beach. Which will be just fine once I don't need to store diapers which need to stay dry in it. (we have wood holding our stuff off the floor. If we get another inch of water in there, not only will I need serious boots, I'll need higher shelves) 

But with all this rain, a really odd phenomenon has happened. The "rivers" which have been just dry river beds as long as we've been here- have water in them. LOTS of water. The water is a shade of poo brown, of course, but it's water. I think it's cool to have water here in drought land.

And that's the news from Lake Bonsall where the kids are playing Wii, the mom's blogging and the dad's stuck at work.

Well... nothing much to say. Still.

Or rather it falls under the 'if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all'
Because sometimes it still feels like there's a black cloud following me around.

For example yesterday...

I had to take our minivan to get "smogged" because we live in CA even though our van is registered in VA. But the base requires it to get our DOD stickers (which are those stickers on our windshield that are our get-on-base-free pass and even get our car saluted). ANYWAY.. we've been in states that required emmisions testing or inspection- that we can get used to, but our mechanic is a first come first serve kind of place. And he charges military 1/2 what other places do to get our Smog certificate. So.. since the kids were up bright and early anyway, we were there at about 9. Apparently there were alot of cars there before us. About 10:45 the kids had exhausted everything we brought to feed and entertain them so we went for a walk.

 And normally going for a walk would have been the first thing we did. HOWEVER.. southern CA must have alot of out of town visitors this week, since it's cold and windy all week. OK.. cold by our standards. I know whining about it being 50 degrees and rainy sounds like paradise to my New England and Wisconsin friends.  And to the Califiornians worried about drought complaining about rain seems dumb, too.. so I'm not complaining. I'm just explaining why walking wasn't exactly fun.

So.. we were in the toursity part of town. And none of the tourist shops were open. Apparently they knew that tourists aren't out before noon on a cold windy day. But there was a store open. A woman's clothing store. And since I'd hear a whole lot of "I'm cold!" we went in there to browse. And came out of there with a bottle of nail polish.

So we wandered further and found only the high end clothing stores and coffee shops open, so we wandered back to the repair shop lounge. Painted Kayla's nails.. Sonia wanted to hold the nail polish.
NOW.. the functioning part of my brain should have said "hello! you're letting a girl with impulse control issue hold NAIL POLISH?!' but at that point my brain had dissolved in the oil and gas smell of the repair lounge and what was remaining had been eaten away by the acid of the whining..

ANYWAY.. the van got done, we got through the line on base and got the stickers, ran several other errands. And at least twice the smell of nail polish permeated the van and I had to remind (in a forceful voice) to leave it shut. Again.. if my brain was on, I would have thought "just take the dang bottle from her" but.. perhaps it was wishful thinking, but I was thinking she'd manage to not get it everywhere.

We got home and Sonia said shes wanted to paint her nails. I told her to do it over a paper towel and place mat. What I didn't mean was to PAINT the paper towel and placemat. But I walk by and see nail polish everywhere.  In a humph I took the nail polish away and put in on a shelf in the hallway and shut the door.

And then the fun really began. It bounced out onto the cabinet and shattered.

I had bring pink nail polish on my coat, pants, cabinet and even the rug. The brand new rug.

So...

Have you ever had to get nail polish out of clothing and a carpet?

I used the entire bottle of nail polish remover and had to scrub the fibers of the rug individually until it went from bright pink to faint pink back to beige. It took forever. Or at least an hour. And the entire bottle of nail polish remover.

So without more nail polish remover I decide to look into the garage for something that might remove it- like paint thinner. Except we never use oil based paint because I'm a klutz and get it everywhere.

BUT... I did find a rusted bottle of Goof off.

Have you ever smelled Goof off?

Our entire neighborhood has now, after our afternoon.

So I spray the parts of the coat with it and scrub and scrub. And it fades but never disappears. So with a surrender I wash it in the sink and hang it to dry in the tub.

However.. the house reeks of the stuff. Especially the coat.

I scrubbed it out of the sink repeatedly til the sink was clean and Larry took the coat and tossed it in the washer with every sort of laundry additive we had- borax, tide, and I don't know what else.

Pull it out of the washer- and the WAHSER now reeks of the goof off.

The coat's in the garage now. I'm thinking of taking it to the car wash and hosing it down wiht the hand nozzle. It's worked for lots of other things.

And realistically I need a rain coat 7 days a year. I don't really need one. I have a coat and an umbrella.
And I'm thinking with time, the smell will fade.

But... except for one seam of cotton thread..

The nail polish is out.

And it will be a cold cold cold day before I ever buy more.

so if you're wondering where your Christmas card is... it's sitting here on the table by the front door. Unaddressed with the pictures to put in them still to be developed at some one hour place I still need to get to and without a letter or anything to put in it.  But my house is now free of nail polish stains. You gotta pick your battles.  I wish I had less options as to the battles I'm picking.

Parent brag here

So this is really for the grandparents, since it's really only the grandparents who will really really care about it...
And since it's only my parents who check my blog..

hi Mom and Dad!

Joey was awarded Student of the month this AM. His teacher had called me earlier this week to let me know, so we could be there to take pictures of it.

I took video

here it is

So it's been almost a month.

I can't believe I haven't updated this thing in this long.

*sigh* and of course I can't remember a month ago to fill in the details.

So I'll hit the highlights of what I remember- there was a holiday that involved eating Turkey. We made a turkey and ate it with stuffing, yams, and cannoli's. Oh, yes.. I should share the Cannoli's- because they're a treat that we haven't been able to get with any consistency since we've left CT. And while shopping in Costco, I saw this kit of about $10 that makes 24 Cannolis. And I thought 'well, can't be worse than the awful one I bought at little Italy here or the ones from Stop and Shop in CT...' so I bought it. And it was devoured in minutes. The kids each ate 4. I went out the following week and got another one and that one was eaten in a week as well. Yummm...

OK back to the update that doesn't involve food..

I passed my sailing class. I ended up sicker than a dog for the test, but Larry encouraged me to take it, so that I hadn't wasted the time and money on the class. So I went coughing and sharing my germs with the class and the entire water basin. We did our capsize the boat drill in 55 degree water in 50 degree air. I was trying to get myself a mini vacation in the hospital with pneumonia. It was so windy that the boats were leaning so far to the side that about 1/2 of the class fell or slid out of the boat on the sailing practical portion. It was pouring rain, and incredibly windy and well.. if I wasn't there to share my germs, I'm pretty sure the rest of the class was working on finding their way to pneumonia as well. I'd been sicker than a dog the better part of the week leading up to it- the kids, Larry and I all took turns being miserable. Larry started it and after putting himself on 2 antibiotics as well as trial and error on his patients, he deemed it viral and bought home the Robitussin. We're finally all better and waiting for the next round of plague to come to our home.

In other news- our van has been fixed. And the first whole day I was driving it and dropping the kids off at school, I was in a fender bender. Can I say my luck hasn't been great this year? Anyway- the insurance companies are still hammering out who is at fault. I thought it was me initially, thinking I hit a parked car but when she got out of her car cursing at me about how she was driving, I realized it may not have been me after all. Anyway. As long as I don't bother to fix the scratch on my side, I'm not out the money for our deductible. However.. if they find her at fault I might consider it. I could even get a new car seat out of the deal. She's been a peach to deal with. The day after the incident, she was at the school stalking me. As I pull up to let the kids out, she's rushing there to take pictures with her camera phone and use her body language.... anyway her new nickname is crazy psycho chick. So if you hear me refer to that, she's who I'm talking about. I wish I listened to the little voice in my head that morning that said 'take the Excursion' then she'd have been waiting all morning.... j

In seasonal news- we went to San Diego Navy Base's Christmas party. To see Santa. Because he was giving out Legoland tickets. Of course my kids weren't at all interested in seeing Santa or telling him what they wanted for Chrsitmas and as we were waiting in line, they figured out that the Santa on stage singing and dancing can't be the same Santa that kids are seeing and infact to get all the kids through the line, there were 6 Santas seeing kids, each in their own little tent.. Which Joey also figured out. But they had blow up slides and bounce houses and carnival rides, horse drawn "hay" rides, bowling, arts and crafts and... snow. of sorts. I'm not sure exactly how they did it but they had a hill of somewhat frozen wet stuff. (it was 65 degrees, so snow wasn't going to stick around for long...) They made a hill of hay bales and then covered the front of it with snow, put snow on the ground, fenced it in and put foam pads on the fence and handing the kids sleds to ride down the hill. Our kids thought it was fun. Mostly, although they complained that it was so cold it burned their hands and they weren't all that fond of getting wet when they slid off the sled coming down the hill.

But the few hours we spend worked out well, so I have 4 kid Legoland tickets I can use sometime between now and April. I was a little concerned they'd run out before we got through the line, but was happy they hadn't. And the kids got to have fun.

We also put up a Christmas tree. We initially planned on driving up to the mountains where it would have snow to find a tree farm, but there was a tree farm 3 miles away and we were getting off to a late start to get to the mountain tree farm. And the trees here are all the same, even the the mountains. And nothing like what we were used to as New England kids. They have long needles and are bushy or are like flat needle bushes that are grown and trimmed into tree shape. Anyway.. we went hiking up and down the hill looking at trees until we found one that was not too lopsided and they cut it down for us. They had a 'tree shaker' there - so in theory all the dead needles fall on the ground there. In theory. In actuality, there's an awful lot in the Excursion, in the driveway and in the vacuum. And our house smells like pine. And I realize I'm not a huge fan of the pine smell. And trees you go and cut from a tree farm here cost what a decent fake tree would cost. So we've done it once. Can't say we'll be doing it again anytime soon. At least not here.

Remember the Charlie Brown Christmas show where he goes to a tree lot to buy a tree? That's the norm here- they put up fences and lights and sell trees from a lot that they have shipped down from somewhere that real Christmas trees grow... somewhere like Canada, I think.

We also realized that somewhere between VA and house #2 in CA our outside lights have disappeared. So we bought more and put them up. We have plans to turn our flagpole into a enormous Christmas tree and vie for #1 on the more outlandish Christmas decorations on the street. I might have to post a picture when we're done. Sadly the icile lights we bought are the flashing kind, so all the pictures I took only have some of them lit because those were the ones flashing off. Next year we'll replace the bulbs so they don't flash. This year we've already put the ladder away.

We've done the majority of our Christmas shopping. I think. I hope. We haven't yet started making Christmas cookies, mostly because Larry and I don't need to be eating them. I made Fudge that he brought to his BAS (Battalion Aide Station in civilian English that would mean clinic or office) this week.

I have my apt for Lasik this week. I'm about as nervous as I could be. The re-check is Thurs and the actual procedure is Friday. In theory by Friday night I'll be seeing normally. I still want to chicken out but much like going to the Sailing test, I think my other half will get me there come hell or highwater with me hyperventilating in a paper bag.

Other than that... things are good. Bought Christmas cards (again, since I can't find the ones I bought and didn't send from the past 2 years..) and plan on actually mailing some this year.

But if I don't make it back to this blog between now and then.. I wish you a Marry Christmas and joy, peace and love this holiday season

XOXOX

~G

Guess what I'm doing this weekend?

I'm going sailing. Literally.

On a sail boat. On real salt water.

Sans Kids.

I'm taking the Learn to Sail class. It's 2 weekends, starting tonight and I'm not sure what I'm more excited about- leaving the kids home with Larry for that entire time or learning to sail so I can rent the sailboats from base and take off on my own.

I'm going to ask for a raise when this is done. Because I'm pretty sure after 2 weekends with the kids, he's going to appreciate me all the more.

And since I'm asking for that raise, I already scheduled a consultation for me to get Lasik. The thought of them touching my eyes, pain, and threat of blindness is kinda scary, but the thought of being able to find the alarm clock without trying to find my glasses is awfully tempting. I don't ever remember not wearing glasses. I think it would be amazing to not wear them. I remember one time I was about 14 I fell asleep after school wearing my contact lenses and woke up in darkness and was able to see. It was amazing. I thought Jesus healed me. Sadly, He hadn't. A few minutes after waking up, I realized the eye pain came from the contacts still in my eyes, not from the divine hand of God. I've tried the extended wear soft lenses, but couldn't see well enough to drive safely or read at all. So I'm talking myself into Lasik. If I'm going to go for cosmetic surgery, I guess it's the most practical.

It also is playing into my early-mid-life crisis. I have it in my head that I need to start running somewhat competively- to get in shape, mostly, so I'd been jogging but not quickly until 2 girls from my bible study talked me into joining them on weekends. They're training for a 1/2 marathon and have been for 2 months now. I'm no where near their fitness level. They're running 9 miles this weekend and if I wasn't going sailing, I was considering it. Cept they'd have to come pick me up when they're done. Maybe with paramedics.

In no other news- well.. I don't know that there is other news.

Nothing exciting anyway, or nothing exciting enough I can think to write it down.

So.. off I go to make a list for Larry to take the kids to Soccer, birthday party and church with cupcakes for the soccer game, card for the soccer coaches, and if he can get the rest of the parents to sign them.. a gift for the brithday party and the operation christmas child shoe boxes on Sunday. Plus he'll have to feed them and if he has any interst in eating off dishes, he'll have to put the dishes in the dishwasher and run it at least 1 or 2 times.

Maybe I'll run out and buy some peper plates now that I'm thinking about it.

Ever feel like the universe is plotting against you?

Because I have. This week. Especially yesterday.

It started going downhill when I went to the Farmer's market to buy Pomegranates. I made the mistake of buying some last week and the kids loved them and devoured them. And they were $.50 each. Seriously. they're $4 in the store, but here in So Cal people grow them in their yards easily and they're cheap. LAST week they were $.50. This week they were all $1 each. Which is still cheap for a Pomegranate, it was still double what I was hoping to pay for them.

But anyway, we really were going because we had books due at the library yesterday and I was going to be there, anyway. And I had to beg and plead to renew a book for the 3rd time that I still can't find. But it's been 6 months since I've had an overdue fine. I'm still on a payment plan for our other overdue fines. Never ever ever keep 30+ books out past their due date. Because at .25/day/book it gets expensive. Fast. 

 They set up the Farmer's market on the street next to the library. And all the vendors parked their cars and booths so close together that to get from library to the Farmer's market, I had to go to the end of the block. Usually they're no problem getting from sidewalk to street, so it bugged me. And then once I got there, I was annoyed to find the price increase. On the way home I stop at the roadside stand in front of the feed store to buy avacados hoping for non-ripe ones and they're all ripe. But she had $.50 Pomegranates. After I just bought 3 of the $1 ones. And the sign says 15 Avocados for $2. 'Cept I get home and count and there are only 10 Avocados in the bag.

Anyway after I get home... I put the car keys down and misplaced and couldn't find them. (still can't) While I'm tearing the house apart looking for the keys, Larry called and told me a friend of his was coming over at 6:30, which meant I needed to get the house picked up and plan something for dinner. Go through the freezer and realize I don't have much that will work. Decide on baked pasta and bread. Since I had the makings for lasagna I'm supposed to bring to our small group on Monday. Start making the bread. it's not rising. at all. in 3 hours. decide I'll probably just buy some.  I'll have to buy more ricotta, anyway.

But that'd be small time annoyances adding up.

The universe kicked into high gear on my way to school to volunteer.

As I was sitting at the stop light waiting to turn, a big water delivery truck forgot to keep his foot on the brakes and proceeded to run into us.  The first jolt made me take my foot off the brake so we lurched forward and then he banged into us again. There is nothing quite as disturbing to feel your car get hit and look in the rear view mirror and see a massive international truck there. We're fine. The bumper has 2 imprints from the bolts from the front of his truck and it appears to be bent. But overall little damage. If only I was driving the minivan, I'd be getting a new one this week. I only say that because there weren't occupants in the very back seat..

The frosted bar cookies sitting on the front seat didn't fare as well as the humans in the car and slid to the floor getting the frosting all over the cover of the baking dishes. They were on their way to school for the pumpkin festival I was on my way to volunteer at.

And it gets better... so I was in Joey's classroom volunteering and at the end of school, I left him, Kayla and JM with the other mom and went to get Sonia. She's supposed to be across the hall. Her room was empty. I go to the front of school where the classes wait for parents to drive up, her entire class is missing. Back to the courtyard to wait and they never come. I panic about how an entire 2nd grade class can disappear. Consult Joey's teacher who also starts looking....  eventually they're found outside at parent pick up area. The student teacher took them out the kindergarten area, apparently. I think I have about 9 more grey hairs for the time it took to find the missing 2nd grade class.

But it didn't end there. That got us to 1:30

On the way to soccer practice I decided the wash the truck since the automatic car wash was working. Larry took the truck off roading last weekend hunting and apparently there was alot of mud and deep mud. It was in the door wells and windows. He washed it but it still had quite alot of mud. So I pay for the 'really scrub it good' car wash. And it gets 1 pass into scrubbing and soaping up 1/2 the truck and it stops. It gives the green arrow to move on. I'm covered in soap. Who has this happen to them? I never heard of such a thing.

At soccer practice, S+J's assistant coach show up limping and the coach is running late. The toy I brought for JM to use doesn't work and I was planning on running around the track during practice but instead it was being used by the Marines for training. And they weren't willing to not stand across the entire track to let people pass by, much less people with jogging strollers.

I stop at a grocery store on the way home because a. it's back to school shopping night and the school gets credit for the 3 hours that night and b. Larry's friend was supposed to be coming to dinner and the bread I had made to go with dinner wasn't rising right.

I get to the truck. Unlock it and can't find the keys. Empty the trunk, the grocery bags, my purse. Panic because it's Larry's keys since I lost my keys earlier that day. Finally find them. The kids complain they're starving the entire time home.And I forgot the ricotta.

Fed the kids dinner and decided I'd had enough of that day and we all went to bed. And Larry's friend didn't come at all. Supposedly he'll be here tonight. I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Today the universe hasn't plotted so much. I spent an hour waiting on hold for customer service to tell me that they don't actually service the treadmills they sell the extended warranties for and that I have to go back to the place I bought it at to request service. But apparently the problem I has was merely that the instruction manual for resetting the lube belt message was wrong.

I volunteered with Joey's class again and have vowed that I could never. ever. ever. be a teacher.  But I wasn't rear ended waiting at the light to turn today, so that's always a good thing.

But after 2 days at school - Dear Lord. I understand why some teachers are really whiny. I'd be whiny if I had to deal with some of those kids all day. What do you do with kids that refuse to listen and run off?Not figuratively. Literally. Runs out the door of the classroom and no one know where he's going sort of running off. I wanted to strangle them or perhaps duct tape them to a chair, but I think that's not an option. Joey said one of the kids has been in detention weekly but I swear there were 6 that I thought were likely suspects for that.  Again. Glad they're not my kids and that I'm not the teacher trying to make them stay in the class room and not get up and run around when they're supposed to be sitting. I think I'd be an advocate for equipping the teacher with  IM haldol or tranquilizer dart guns.

Anyway...

Since I don't have a tranquilizer dart gun here, I guess I better go reinforce the 'you need to clean up your own stuff before we do anything fun tonight' rule.

Another week has flown by

And the phrase minutes drag while months fly pops back in my head.

Things remain at a lightly less than frantic pace. I'm proud to say that I did not volunteer for any further responsibilities. They needed a Daisy troop leader and I just.could.not. bring myself to do that no matter how much Kayla thinks I love Sonia more because I'm her Brownie troop leader. So Kayla's become an honorary brownie. She'll even get a vest as soon as I buy one. Joey's passing on that option, although he had a good time making Smores with the girls this week.

We have 3 weeks left to soccer. Not that I'm counting or anything. Or celebrated canceling practice for rain this week.

We had parent-teacher conferences yesterday. This being our first year in public school we weren't sure what to expect, but it was fine. (At this point friends can stop reading, this is mostly for the grandparents...) Kayla's teacher said she was doing well, smart and getting along well with other kids, no matter what Kayla's come home telling me that kids weren't her friends.

Sonia's teacher likes her. And surprisingly Sonia's been mostly paying attention in class. Her seat was moved to move her away from trouble prone boys to near girls, so I think that has helped a bit as well. Not bragging, but she's reading at grade 5 level. The books they take computer tests on are through grade 3 or 4 (AR testing) so she has little challenge there. Math, on the other hand... we're still working on getting her to focus. And writing. God bless the teacher that gets Sonia to write legibly. And her standardized test results should bring up the entire 2nd grade average a few points.

Joey's teacher had nice things to about him, he's sweet and well mannered. Joey's come home with 'excellent' behavior days pretty much every day. Joey really liking rules, order and structure, he's the one to remind the kids he sits with to be quiet and listen.  So far his classmates seem to tolerate him doing this. I volunteer in his class for 1 hour a week every other week to see how he's doing. Not to say I love him more than the other kids. Nope. But his teacher sent out 'can you volunteer; forms I filled it out AND Joey remembered to turn it in. I filled them out for Kayla's and Sonia's classes as well, but I haven't heard back from their teachers or room moms, either. He tests poorly, still. Even worse than the standardized test at the end of last year. It's the same exact testing system, so it's not comparing 2 different tests. (MAP testing) *sigh* We'll have to find a way to work that out. Alot of it comes from his anxiety and rushing through things.  Amazing how differently the kids react to the same situation.

Anyway.. That's about all the school related news.

In weather news.. we had rain. REAL rain for 2 days. incredible.
Of course it started with a thunder storm at 3 am. And I know for certain it was 3 am because it had everyone of us up at 3:12 am. There was a loud flash and crack of lightening that shook the house and had me thinking "are there any trees nearby that just fell on the house after getting hit by lightening?" Larry was thinking "oh, crap, I should have unplugged all things electrical, especially the TV because the house might have gotten hit by lightining" and the kids woke up. Not sure from the bang or the resulting howling dog who was as scared if not more so than the kids. Anyway. It was excitement. We almost never get real rain, much less downpour and thunder and lightening. Next time, if there is a next time, sometime in waking hours would be nice..

And as I was standing in the cool rain waiting to pick up the kids, one of the other moms said "you know why we have this rain?" and I said, no. and she answers "it's because my family is visiting from Canada. They called last week and asked what they should bring and if it rains. And I said it never rains and it's pretty hot in October" And I laughed. Apparently my parents aren't the only ones who can bring bad weather with them. And here I was thinking they were unique in that.  At least her family only brought rain. My parents have managed to cripple transportation in Chicago and Philadelphia for snow and ice. Overachievers.

Time Flies

Even if you're not having fun.

Well.. not that life is bad or anything, but there's alot more fun in this world to do than what I've been doing lately.

But there has been some fun..

Like last week we went to the Air Show. It's occurred to me that so many people don't ever get to see an air show, let alone the Blue Angels and The kids and I have seen them at least a dozen times. I'm not THAT into jets, but I AM that excited about getting great photos of them. I didn't do that much of that this time. It was hot and the kids were complaining they were hot and bored so I was doing more juggling complaints and water bottles than messing with the settings on my camera. sheesh. Lack of gratitude, I tell ya. I bet their boy cousins would have thought it was uber cool.

And of course there was Soccer Saturday. It was picture day which meant we were up at the crack of morning getting in uniforms so we could be there 1.5 hours before the first soccer game.. fun times, I tell ya. And lot of cat herding. And someone didn't plan all that great when they scheduled. Or they did.. but the teams all have different color jerseys. Sonia and Joey are black and Kayla's bright green. And wouldn't ya know.. the older team with black shirts had their picture taking time slot at the same time as Sonia and Joey and both bright green teams were at Kayla's team time. Made herding cats by color shirt all the more challenging.

And this week we had rain. Real live rain. Whoot. Enough to cancel Soccer early Tues and completely on Wed, although not because it was raining, but because when you get rain on the sod fields they get soggy and muddy. Today.. it's back to soccer.

The first brownie meeting was Monday. I did little other than keep the girls in the room and try to field complaints of boredom and hunger from my 3 non-brownie kids. I'm in charge of planning the next meeting. They have badges they can earn, and we're going to finish up a badge. It requires making s'mores. Great. We meet indoors and I'm trying to plan something that requires fire. I'm thinking of using the sterno things we use for our fondue pot. I'll let you know if I get arrested for using fire in the community center. We meet every other week, so I have about 10 days to think about it and talk myself out of it.

Other than that, it's our 11 year anniversary this year. It's a bit hard to believe that 11 years can go so fast. We don't have any special plans. Larry was thinking of taking the all day hunter safety course and I don't really care if he does. Guess that's how we've stayed married this long with relative ease. I did tell him he will take me out to dinner. But I haven't even though about calling a babysitter and/or where I want him to take me. I'm thinking about the Brazilian steakhouse he took me to last year for my birthday. It was tasty and about as affordable as a one time a year event.  Of course if he doesn't do the hunter safety course, I have a van that's parked in the driveway broken again he can use the time to fix. This van is getting on my nerves. But I have the Excursion and I'm 1 of 12 of them who pick kids up at school. When you add the 15 Suburbans who also sit in the pick up line, it's a regular large SUV parade. I haven't run anything over with it other than a few curbs. We'll call that success.

The Navy Ball is the following weekend. I still don't know if we're going to go to it. He said he's supposed to go, but hasn't been able to get tickets. Last year's Marine Corp Ball wasn't very exciting so I doubt the Navy one will fill me with excitement. It'd be more fun if I knew anyone there. I'll have more chance of seeing some of the people Larry did his internship with, I think, but they're kinda cool towards us. Whatever. We never really fit in with them anyway, being the only family starting internship year and Larry's not exactly a social creature, particularly under stress and his first year was alot of stress.

JM's been complaining of stomach pains again, so after a week of that he was dragged back in to the peds clinic. He's back on his reflux meds and they ran blood work because the NP who saw him must have needed to rule out appendicitis and pancreatitis. Eitherway. He didn't have either. I told her that. So did his labs.  But it took the entire AM to accomplish the visit, the lab visit and the 2 hour wait at the pharmacy.  I still can't believe that my cousin thinks government run health care will make her life better. She has no idea.

So.. with no other rambling ideas in my head it's time for me to get something accomplished in the next 15 minutes before it's time to get inline to get the kids. I think I"ll try walking today. I'm in a risk taking mood. Not skydiving or anything crazy. Just walking. And listening to the complains of "I'm too tired to walk...." the entire way home. The risk is more loosing my mind than anything else, I think.

Propaganda

So we have "Handy Manny' on TV today and it's topic today was about conserving water.
It wasn't ok to have a garden because it wasted water. So they planted a cactus garden instead.

Bah.

In other news.. it's air show time again.

We'll be heading down to see it shortly. Something about watching the Blue Angels calls be back to 8th grade when I thought "Top Gun" was the most awesome movie in the world.
In fact. I think it's based on Miramar. Miramar is where the air show is.
Maybe I'll rent it to watch again sometime.

Oh the Irony

So I finally introduced myself to the mom down the street with 4 kids our kids' ages. They're military, too and we'd met the kids and dad but not the mom. I'd see her driving to and from school and kept thinking I just need to go knock on her door and say 'hi'

So I saw her sitting parked in front of the school after dropping the kids off and having a brief browning planning meeting.. and I introduce myself, we chat and compare kids' classes. She seems pretty nice..

AND.....

The girl Sophia who 'divorced' Kayla's friendship. Is her daughter.

muaaa haaa haaa.

Oh now what to do about it?

I haven't decided.

Sunday Edition Update

Well the days seem to race by these days. Morning are filled with racing to get the kids ready for school, followed by waiting to pick them up then homework and soccer practice. Saturdays are soccer games and Sunday's church and Monday it starts again.

Soccer is going well for Joey and Kayla. Joey is Mr. Competitive and anything he can beat someone in is a good sport for him. Sonia on the other hand spends 1/2 the scrimmage or game watching anything but the ball and the other 1/2 skipping behind the others in a dead heat for last with the other girl on the team who doesn't seem to care at all about soccer.

Kayla loves competition, too, so she's more than happy to plow through a pile of kids to get to a soccer ball and kick it. JM spends his soccer practice waiting time playing with the other 3 year olds or riding around the track in the jogging stroller.

The getting-back-into-shape project was going pretty well this week. I'm no longer suffering any delusions about running a 1/2 marathon. I'll be happy to be competitive in a 1K. Haven't found a 1K to run in being over the 5-6 year age range, but I'll continue to look. I went to get fitted for sneakers and was surprised to be told I have high arches. They collapse so it looks like I have flat duck feet. Apparently not and it made a difference to get sneakers intended for non-flat feet. Not enough difference to think I can run in a race, however.

School with Sonia hit a bump in the road. I'm sure the first of many. She brought home her school work form the previous week and 70% of it was incomplete with the teacher writing "I know you can do better than this" on it. Ah.. yes.. you and I both, sister. Good luck getting her to reach that potential. I failed for 2 years. On the bright side, she tests really really well on standardized tests, so it doesn't matter too much how little she does, she'll test well. As long as she doesn't get bored during it and forget what she's doing.

Joey's been no trouble at all for his teacher and has made a new friend who he hangs around with at lunch and recess and go to find Sonia to annoy her. I think it's their way of saying they love each other. At least that's what I'm telling myself.  She seems to enjoy the attention, they like to give it.. the teachers don't seem to interfere.. until they reach dating age I'll just let it go.

Kayla still hasn't been "friends" with the "friends" that divorced her last week. She's made 2 boy friends to take their places, in addition to the other girl friends she had despite the messy break up last week.  And yes, there is a space between the boy and girl and the word friend. No dating in kindergarten allowed, please.

JM still is my shadow and annoys me to death when he tries to roll a ball up the treadmill while I'm on it. The treadmill still gives error messages and the dishwasher repair guy stood me up last week. Or rather.. at 11:30 I got a call from the dispatch office saying that they had too many calls that day and that he wouldn't be coming. Of course it's been working this week, so it was rescheduled until next week. The air conditioner decided to not work this week as well. So this following week I'll be waiting this week for dishwasher guy and air conditioning guy. Of course it isn't going to be on the same day.

And it's been hot today. And while the phrase "it's a dry heat" comes to mind, but it's still heat. There was an article in the paper today about the tourism industry in VT and how the next few weeks will be the busiest and I think... oh.. cool weather.. changing leaves.. fall.. it's a vague memory. OK. it's not vague. And with a little luck we'll return somewhere there is seasons at some point in the future.

This week's update

Since about one time a week is all I seem to have time for this blog these days.

School is still going mostly OK. I'm a little dumbfounded that Sonia- my absolutely most difficult child to get school done with when we were homeschooling- is getting her entire week's worth of homework done in 1 night. Joey takes longer with more pouting involved. Their level of homework has essentially evened out, but it takes him longer to sit through the process of getting it done so he pouts that Sonia gets to "do what she wants" which of course is read while he'd rather be out riding his bike instead of reading.

Kayla hit a bump in the road of life this week. She came home yesterday saying that her friends from her class told her they don't want to be her friend anymore. I sensed something brewing on Monday when she said they were having a "battle" on the playground on Monday, but I thought it was more of a game. Today they said they can't be friends. I'm a bit annoyed, remembering that happened to me in school, but I was 13 when that happened. And I might still carry a little grudge about that. 

Anyway, in true Kayla optimism, she said she's getting more and better friends and said "it's ok, that happened to Joe in the Bible" (uh.. Joe? who was Joe? is she talking about Job or about Joe and the multicolor coat that was sold by his brothers?) I dunno. Anyway, she thinks God'll take care of her and that she's in good company, so we'll go with it. And besides if her siblings sell her into slavery, I'll wring their necks.

I'm waiting for Mr Dishwasher repair guy, which is why I'm sitting here. I'm afraid to load and run the dishwasher since he might actually need to get into it and the laundry just isn't making me want to move off the couch. The rest of the house isn't in too horrid shape since we had a babysitter here Monday for our growth group night and I hate having anyone see the house a mess, so it was clean 1 day ago and most of that day the kids spent in school.

I've also discovered Kindle for our Iphones. It was free, which was cool, and even cooler is there are free books on it- many classics and ... the 2011 fiscal year US government budget.. in case you're looking for a good headache, indigestion and a mild case of insomnia. It's not in budget form. No siree. It's a Three- thousand page (kindle pages) essay.  I'm sure congress and the president (who's responsible for the opening essay) didn't actually consult an accountant for how you make a budget or there'd be something like columns of numbers- one for red, one for black- and a line item description for each number. Nope. I can't find any of that here. A few graphs, some babble about green house gasses, GDP and depression, and why they need to encourage small business.. but actual numbers and math that you'd expect in a budget. I can't find it. Of course I haven't poured over the 3179 pages in their entirety. It could be hidden in there somewhere.

But aside from the Budget there were many classics- Jane Austin, in particular, Little Women, The Scarlet Letter. A bunch of other stuff I'm not sure I'd ever read, but now I always have something to read while waiting in the school pick up lines or at the side of soccer practice. The letters are too small to try to read it on the treadmill. At least for my pathetic eyes. I've been debating hitting the large type isle at the library some nights. And now the tread mill is giving me a "lube belt" error. I've lubed the belt. Twice. grumble. It's out of warranty and I'm not sure what to do about it. I'll probably end up calling the support number and seeing what they say. After dishwasher guy shows up. If he does show up.

And now that the majority of the house and landscaping projects are done, Larry decided to splurge and get a DVR. It was supposed to be $5 more per month with our cable company. Supposed to. Anyway.. today it was so cool to be able to rewind Mickey mouse for JM. He generally gets to watch a little Mickey while I'm catching up on email and every.single.time. he asks to watch it again and I have to explain that it's over and you can't rewind it. Now I can. Yippeee.. I can get 40 mintues of peace from Mickey today. Well.. could. Cept he's bored of TV  in about 32 minutes and wants to play on the computer.

So.. With that I'll be turning it over to him so I can do something more productive than rambling in type online.

Well 1 week into burn out

(just kidding mom. I'm fine. I'm not burned out. Actually alot further from it than I was homeschooling.)

And things have settled into a reasonable rhythm. HOWEVER...

My house is not as clean as I would have expected it to be.

And my carbon footprint has gotten massive from idling in pick up line 2x a day.

Part of the house mess is that JM is still a whirlwind and if my back is turned he's likely to have taken out 4 games, a huge tub of Joey's legos and will find huge entertainment in launching matchbox cars off the dining room table.

And other thing I realized...

Not all teachers are created equal.

Joey and Sonia are both in 2nd grade. Joey has serious homework nightly. Math, a writing journal, a daily reading log, etc...

Sonia has a reading log. And only a reading log which in her case is a joke. They have books in the classroom and each kid (in both classes) is supposed to bring a new book home daily to read. Sonia devours chapter books. Inhales them. She's bringing home Henry and Mudge and other beginning readers. And mad/disappointed when she's read them all by the time I get though the pick up line.

Kayla comes home glowing how she loves school. It took her til Friday to have her teacher wrapped around her finger. Her teacher saw me picking her up and I saw the smile on her face that Kayla seems to put on everyone's faces when she called her name. And sure enough she tells me Kayla is a love and delight to have in class. Yep. She's definitely a charmer.

Sonia and Joey still think I'm asking too much for them to walk to their classrooms by themselves. Nevermind that most places in kindergarten most kids ride busses and get to their classrooms without their parents, mine are nervous nellys and "need" me to go with them.  They have until the 22nd to be able to get themselves from the sidewalk to their classes.That's because Sears is supposed to be here between 8 and 10 that day and I'm not going to be able to get out of the car and monkey around and get back home to wait by 8am to sit and wait for mr. dishwasher repair guy.

And I have a bone to pick with Consumer Reports. Before they go "recommending" anything they ought to try using it for a few months.;  Because this isn't the first time I got something they recommended and about 6 months into use it breaks. tragically. And a broken dishwasher here is tragic.

Anyway.. other than that..

I changed soccer practice from Wednesday to Thursday for 6-7 year old team. Because being team mom needs to have some advantages. Probably more the issue was that we had JUST enough kids to play without forfeiting the game and 1 kid can't make it at all on Wed or most Fridays. So using her as leverage I bought myself 30 minutes to feed the kids and teleport them to Awana.

Soccer's going well. They enjoy it more than TBall. Far more. More action. Less standing and playing with dirt waiting for the ball to not be hit to them.

Awana would be going well if we didn't have a total collapse of life Wednesday and decided that being 90 minutes late to Awana wasn't going to work for us. Because someone was too nervous to ask to go to the bathroom at soccer practice.

School's going mostly well. Kayla loves it and comes home reporting her new friends and how wonderful school is. Sonia is happy to have access to tons of books, even though they are too easy for her and happy she's made a friend - Sophia. Funny since when Sonia was born about 1/2 the people who knew called her Sophia. Anyway.. it makes it an easy name to remember. Joey is just taking longer to find his comfort zone. We have back to school night, so I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I think it means that we meet the teachers, if not one on one it's more an introduction to them and their teaching styles and an opportunity to get to know the parents, however briefly.

So.. with that brief update I'm off to get control here before it's time to go back to school. Again. Good thing we live close, this back and forth stuff would make me nuts otherwise. Oh.. speaking of.. they put in a crossing signal to get there from here. I *might* try walking there this week after all.

Real School, Day 2

So with less apprehension today, we entered into day 2.

And in an unlikely turn of events it was "raining" this am. meaning there was something between a fog and a light drizzle happening on the way to school. And also meant that kids weren't meeting on the playground.

We discovered, or rather, i asked and they realized, that the other kids drop off their backpacks on the hooks outside (yes. that is outside. as in outdoors, since the classrooms open to outside not to an inner hallway. We don't have winter here, remember?)  their classrooms before they go to the playground. And we realized today that kids go straight to their rooms when it's raining.

Joey's been talking to a boy in his class and although he doesn't know his name, he's been sitting near a boy, talking about boy things, I consider that making friends in boy-world.

Sonia's been studying the other kids. She says the kid who sits next to her is named "Saul" but pronounced "S -owu-l" like Raul ( with the little upward accent over the last u), There is also a Phillip. I asked if she could maybe be friends with the girls rather than the boys.. we'll see.

Kayla is just Kayla. Everything is "great" or "awesome" or some other superlative.Her teacher asked me if she had a twin at pickup today, so I'm guessing Kayla's been sharing in class. What she's sharing I'm not 100% sure of.

And today I met with the Brownie (girl scout) leader which I'm now a co-leader to. They needed a leader and co-leader to have a troup and I thought fondly (or that pesky nostalgia i have) for my days as a girl scout and said I'm not up for the challenge of leading a group myself but could certainly be there and co-lead. In fact I think the meeting will be over before the parking lot traffic jam clear out afterschool anyway.

So.. as I'm trying to find the correct mom I'm supposed to meet at the planter in front of the school... I find myself seeing all sorts of mom waiting to meet other people they don't know what they look like and I see a group of moms. I recognize my (PTA president) neighbor and guess it's a PTA gathering.

And after I meet up with the girl scout leader mom in conversation of waiting for the other mom who said she'd volunteer to help but who's daughter told the leader that she's not doing girl scouts this year afterall.. anyway. She didn't show up.

But the Girl Scout mom says "oh, those are PTA supermoms"

huh?

and the tone of voice and the rest of the sentence I wasn't paying enough attention to catch exactly what was said led me to realize..

OHhhh.. this is just like highschool.

Those are the popular cheerleader girls. (well, in theory. In my high school I can't say being a cheerleader made you popular or anything close to popular. But this is California and I believe all those TV shows and movies with popular cheerleaders were in California.)

We're the nerdy girls here with the girlscout troop.

Right.

So I mull that over through the day and decide maybe they're just the sorority sisters of elementary school. And of course PTA president lady is tall, insanely skinny, tanned from sitting on her yacht (which parks behind their house) and blonde straight from the salon. She's a real life walking Barbie. No. not jealous. not of that. their Porche, on the other hand...but anyway...


They were having PTA membership drive at the pick up time today. So.. for $10 I joined. And I'll see for myself what the fuss is about. If there is a fuss. For 1 Wed Am a month, I think I can handle the time commitment. And since I'm not the one trying to teach my kids right now, I feel like I'm rich in time. And I never joined a sorority before. This might be something to blog about.

But in reality, I don't feel rich in time. In fact the past 2 days I've been more stressed about time than before. Mostly because 3 times a day I have to be somewhere at an exact time. (drop off, Kindergarten pick up and grade school pick up). Add to that the stress of soccer and Awana and I'm 1 week into burnout.

And to speed burn out along, I semi-volunteered to be soccer team mom for Sonia and Joey's team. In truth they didn't have any other volunteers and well after the fact I said I could do it if no one else would. I guess that's the way it works the one with the most guilt the fastest becomes team mom.  I learned, tho. And I waited for another mom to do it for Kayla's team. Messing it up for 1 team is more than enough.

Anyway.. at 1pm I got a call from the coach asking if I was willing to be the team mom, I said sure, and he asked if I could tell everyone we had practice that night at 5;30

OK. first of all.. when we signed up our practices were supposed to be Tues/Thurs. Today's Wed.
Second of all, we have Awana at 6:30 and it's 30 min away from the soccer field, Unless you can somehow teleport my kids and feed them at the same time, this is a problem.
Third of all.. ok. what are the phone numbers of the families?

He'll email them to me.

2pm rolls around. I don't have an email. I call him at work and he says he sent it. I Check. nothing there and wait while he re-sends it while I'm on the phone.
Finally I have it in hand and get it printed. I figure I'll work on it while sitting in the parking lot at school waiting for the kids.

Cept JM brings a harmonica with him in the car. Oh, yeah, and he's playing it.

So I get call #1 done. The phone number is for the dad's work number. I ask "uh, is the parent of Ashley Smith (ok changed to protect the innocent) there?" and I get the flurry on the other end of the line and hear "Major Smith here" and think. oh, great. I think this is a bad bad thing. WHY am I calling the fathers at work? Don't these kids have mothers with phone numbers?" Apologize for the calling at work, explain they have practice and the coach needs to collect the $20 for shirts and banners and get asked "what team is this?"
-uh... coach Julio, the kids named the team the blackhawk lightening team.
"what age is this team?
(sheesh.. I didn't expect to have to answer this kind of question!)
-well, sir, I think it's the 6-8 year team. My kids are 7 on it.
"well, my daughter's only 5 I don't think you have the right team"
-I'm sorry for the confusion, It looks like she was at practice last week, she has the number 2 jersey. (and I have her birthday in front of me and she turned 6 on friday. But you're her dad, you probably forgot.)
And them I'm told  "well, wednesdays are not going to work for us"
(well.. ya know it doesn't really work for us, either, but that decision isn't mine to make.)
-uh, yes, sir, I understand, it's not ideal for us either, shall I let the coach know Ashley won't make Wed Practices and we'll see her friday?"
"well, I guess so"
-thank you, we'll see you then. (hang up and wonder if I needed to remind him to bring $20.

And after that call, i realized it wasn't going to be a 30 second "hey, practice is tonight, bring $20) call.

Although for the most part I talked to voicemails and answering machines.

Of the 23 phone numbers I was given, 2 went to voice mails that in no way resembled the names on the list, like Allen Smith's voicemail  answered the phone for some named Juan Martinez. At least half were work numbers that went straight to voice mail and the rest I left messages on what ever voicemail I got, hoping it was the right one. Half the kids showed up, So I guess some of the numbers were right. And if you account for the father I talked to (work number again) who said he didn't think his son was on a soccer team, that he was called by a football coach last week, the above Major who said Wednesdays don't work for him, the father (work # again) who said his son was already at home and he didn't think they'd bring him back for soccer, (not sure where the boy goes between school and soccer on a soccer night, but we go home in our family...) and the mom who called me back to explain that it's the last weekend of Motorcross (???) and they would be able to start the soccer season next week it looks like only a few may not have gotten the message. And since no non-team kids showed up ( I assume there were still 5 other teams practicing there) I guess I may not have inadvertently invited too many kids to our soccer practice.

And tomorrow it starts again.

*yawn*

First day of school

Very first day of very real school.  The expressions pretty much sum it how they were feeling about it.

In front of the school.
It was a mad house.

And I guess I'll describe the school and borrow some pictures from their website to do so..

First of all... it's a "campus" When I went to elementary school, it was essentially a tunnel of a building. A hallway with classrooms on either side in a big rectangle. As a little kid it seemed enormous, of course, but in hindsight it was a big rectangle. The gym and lunch serving area was at one end of the triagle, the kindergarten and library at the other, the school office in between and all the elementary classrooms in between.

Here.. it's a 'Campus'. With.. I dunno.. 9 buildings. all surrounded by fencing that makes it feel like an upscale prison.

(borrowed picture) below from the inside of the prison campus, the buildings are mostly centered around this patch of green grass surrounded by concrete sidewalks. That's the library building I think. To the left of the picture is the cafeteria area. so from the inside of the prison it looks not much like a prison and more like a farm with many barn buildings

 Below is the cafeteria area. I imagine the noise level will be deafening when kids are in there...

Kayla waving good buy from the kindergarten playground. She has no fear or apprehension. And didn't manage to wrap her teacher around her finger in the 3 second interaction she's had with her. I'll give her until tomorrow to have done that.

Sonia's lined up with her class. The adult in front of the kid with the green backpack is her teacher. The rest of the adult are parents milling around. She picked out the "first day of school" outfit that Grandma got her. And the shoes I bought her for Christmas (2010 or 2011, depending on when they fit, since I found them for under $3 last week shoe shopping, we bought them. I didn't expect her to expect to wear them today, much less insist that they fit), but I think they're probably too big. But of course they're sparkly, so she had to wear them today.

Joey's with his class group. He's looking less apprehensive. He's a boy, standing near boys. I think he'll be ok. Not too many moms hovering over this class. Or perhaps they were done hovering and I went back to take a picture.

The non-kindergarten classes were very inconsistent. Some teacher had their names written in chalk on the concrete in the line up areas, but the second grades were 3 basket ball courts away from the playground.  Sonia's teacher wrote the room number instead of her name and Joey's teacher had nothing on the ground and expected the kids to go directly to the classroom. Of course it would have been Joey's teacher who didn't have things exactly like the orientation said it would be like, because Joey's the one who need advance warning and consistency the most. We'll see how today went.

And then there was the traffic jam. 3 sheriffs were directing traffic, but it was backed up past the entrance to our neighborhood. Walking would have been faster. More dangerous considering how hard it was to pull out in a car into/across the traffic, but perhaps a mom dragging 4 kids on foot would have let someone let us across the road rather than being a mom in a minivan with 4 kids... (well..3 since Larry isn't working this AM and I made him get up so since he was awake, he could veg on the couch with Mickey Mouse and JM just fine..

T Minus 22 hours

Until the first day of public school.

On Friday there was a list with the class rosters of what the kids needed to bring with them the first day and since I don't happen to have 3 tubs of anti-bacterial wipes here in my supply closet, I guess I'll be finding a store today that does have them. My future school supply guessing didn't guess those, but I did pretty good on the pencil case, crayons, color pencils, and glue sticks. I didn't think to add tissue box to the list, either, but.. I guess it does make sense. The one thing NOT on the list was normal pencils. That surprised me. Maybe I was supposed to fill the pencil case with them?

In other news, we fired up the grill yesterday. Nothing fancy, but it seemed appropriate for a holiday weekend. .After church we stopped at the grocery store and for a cook-out lunch I needed to run in get burgers, buns and cheese for the burgers. And Milk since we were out.

I came out with burgers, buns, cheese.. plus figs (cause it was a recent conversation that we have a fig tree and actually don't know much about figs other than they are a component in Fig Newtons), strawberries, a pineapple, green peppers, ice cream, frozen french fries, and... no milk. Yep totally forgot that one. I'd like to say it's the first time it's happened. But that would be lying.

About the figs..I'll have to take and post a picture of them. They have the shape of large purple-ish cloves of garlic, but with the softness of a grape. However.. you cut it open and it looks like a sea urchin or something else found in the depths of the sea. And they taste alot better in Newtons than they do fresh. However.. when you live in a Mediterranean climate you can plant such things so we did. Just because we could. I also planted a pineapple. More on how to root a pineapple plant from the green top of a fresh pineapple later.. (have a new one rooting now after yesterday's grocery store impulse buy)

So not much else happened so far this weekend. Took the kids plus Sonia's friend to the splash pad playground yesterday it was busy as usual. On the way home, they were "starving" and since it was dinner time and we had a non-family member with us and I didn't want to be a mean mom.. I stopped at McDonalds. They have 20 pieces of chicken nuggets here for 4.99 which isn't a huge price to pay to keep them from telling non-family members that they're starving and I didn't feed them.  But then I have 2 non-conformists who insist on cheeseburgers, get the bag and have to go back because 1 of the 2 cheeseburgers didn't make it in the bag...

So.. Hand them the nuggets and they're clamoring for ketchup.  I look in the bag and there are 2 little packets in there. I think, well.. 2 packets is better than none, I guess and open them and spray it in one of the boxes I handed to the kids to share and I get a whiff of the said condiment..... Salsa.

At that point I'm torn between "it's my own fault for not looking" and "oh what the HECK?! is this a joke?!!"  and decide in the interest of not dragging all 5 kids into McDonalds (again) that they can eat the non-contaminated nuggets for a snack and dinner when we get home.
But I toy with the idea of writing a letter. I still might. But more likely I'll just learn to double check ketchup shaped condiment packets with red writing on them to make sure they say "ketchup" before applying them to my kids food in the future.

Do the McDonalds not in the southwest stock salsa packets? Is this a regional thing? probably. Sometimes I miss living in rural VA where Larry and I were the ethnic minority. Sometimes. But then I'd have to go back to hearing in that slow twangly drawl "welll...... you must not be from 'round here"

No. As a matter of fact I'm not. In fact if I was in my hometown, you wouldn't have to ask me where I was from. Instead you'd see me in town and ask how California was, how my brother was, how did he like Brooklyn, and you'd say "boy, can't believe how big your kids have gotten, why the last time I say you, you didn't have your youngest..." and then I'd know I was home. And this weekend I'd be mumbling about the curse/blessing of the annual fair gumming up the traffic but I'd still manage to get there and see everyone I knew and get myself some fried dough with powdered sugar getting everywhere.. Not young enough to be working in one of the half dozen school booths peddling roast beef, sloppy joey, and not old enough to be working there because one of my kids was there.. (shuddering at the thought of my kids in high school. 2nd grade is giving me a nervous ulcer)

So to answer yesterday's unresolved issues

Kayla's coach is Isidro and I have his phone number

And Orientation for kindergarten was at 2 pm.

And it was, uh, interesting.

And I was stunned by the number of families there. Yes. Families. As in Mom and Dad were there with their offspring. Don't these dads work?

Anyway...  I still have unanswered questions but it seems my best plan of attack will be to just blindly guess along the way.

One of the bigger differences between here and growing up is the lack of school buses.

So if it weren't for the state highway it's taking my life in to merge and cross traffic in a vehicle standing between us and the school, I'd consider walking there.. but.. I think we'll go with the slight protection that a little bit of plastic and steel might afford.

So.. I get to drop off the non-kindergarten kids in 1 parking lot, then make it to another parking lot to drop off the kindergarten kid. If we're late I have to escort them to the office, sign them in tardy and take them to class myself. They lock the gates promptly at 8. I think I might as well just plan on walking the through the office, given the propensity for promptness we have. Especially since Sonia's refused to fall asleep earlier than midnight this week. I've been waking her grouchy self up in the morning yet she still is up and bouncing off the walls while the rest of the sane world is sleeping. Somedays I really really think they're something abnormal with her and then I remember who her father is and realize it's genetic. (he takes being a night owl to a new art and could sleep past lunchtime given the opportunity).

So.. it's a holiday weekend and of course I have absolutely nothing planned. nada. Maybe I'll turn on the grill or something. Not like I can listen to the sounds of the Woodstock fair from my yard and head down there for fried dough this weekend. I miss fried dough. I wish the west coast would 'discover' it in stead of peddling all this healthier for you stuff they seem to peddle. Darn health conscious skinny blondes. No not jealous. ok maybe alittle but not about the hair color, real or from the salon.

Well... Orentation should be tomorrow

For Kindergarten.

Cept that no one told me what time it was. Stopped by the school this afternoon, but despite cars in the parking lot there was no sign of life.

So.. supposedly Kindergarten orentation is tomorrow.

Supposedly the Class Rosters were supposed to be posted on the school gate this week as well and I couldn't find those, either.

This try to send the kids to public school effort is not going well.

Nor have I gotten a list of what we're supposed to send to school with them..

Anyway... I'll update you on the Public school Fail later..

In other news...

Soccer team fail.

Signed the 3 olders up for soccer, on base since it's a know entity and it's reasonably priced.

And I got a voicemail from a coach for Sonia and Joey saying there was a team meeting/practice tonight.

At a field with easily 100 other kids and 24 coaches and several dozen parents there.

Nothing like wandering around the field asking "uh, do you know which coach is Jorge?"
"which Jorge?" 
"uhhhhh......."

Answer: he was the one in blue.
With the team not assigned to the field that day.
So the kids played duck duck goose between soccer fields while he went over the basics of ordering a team banner, who's going to collect the money for it, who's going to get and take the Jersey's to get the kids' names on them... etc...

At least it was a short practice.

And Kayla's in a different age team. Whom I have not heard from.

so Tomorrow I also hunt down the Youth Sports Department to see if I can get that resolved.

And all this the day before a holiday weekend. I'm sure it'll go smoothly and easily.

So we now have a garden

I know the rest of the world is thinking "uh, isn't the last week in August a little late to start a garden?"

To which I reply- Yes it is. For you. (And I remind you we have a guest room with a vacancy sign on it.)

For us, the hottest part of the year is still coming- October. October is the month when God turns the blow-drier on hot because Lord knows it's just not *quite* dry enough to burn hundreds of thousands of acres spontaneously without it. 

So we have 2 olive trees, 1 fig tree, 2 orange trees, 1 mandarin orange tree, 2 apple trees, 2 date nut palm trees and 1 blackberry bush in addition to the 3 peach trees that the squirrels ate everything off of.
AND: 6 tomato plants, 6 various pepper plants, 1 jalepeno pepper plant, 6 zucchini plants, 6 strawberry plants, cilantro, basil, pumpkin and something else I'm forgetting. Right -  lettuce. 

And seeds to plant more. We'll try peas again when it's cooler. And Spinach. And I want to try potatoes and carrots which I've never successfully grown before.

To do this in our clay soil, we decided to get compost. Actually Larry thought manure would be good, but I'm glad we couldn't find any locally. We opted for the local organic compost. And boy.. even it smells. A whole lot like manure, in fact.

And we got worms. And plan on getting more if I ever do get a compost bin going. I tell myself I want to, but I'm full of good intentions and not so full of the follow through of those said intentions.  I guess recognizing the problem is the first step. Which is why I didn't actually buy the composters I've seen knowing full well that the chances of any long term follow through on it is pretty low.  Heck, even with curbside recycling and 2 massive recycling cans, I still often have our crate of recyclable stuff sitting in the kitchen and it doesn't smell like manure.

I don't believe for a heartbeat that those countertop or indoor kitchen composters are truly odor free. And I'm not about to test that theory.

Other than that that's about all that's new here this weekend. Nothing terribly horrible or funny.
Well.. other than the new game the kids developed in the back seat of the van.
 
It's the newest version of rock-paper-scissors... Its rock, laser, gun. Paper and scissors just weren't destructive enough. So as I'm driving I hear fighting in the backseat about the lethality of a gun vs a light saber/laser and who has killed who in the latest dual. I swear they make me think they're being raised by savages. hmmm......

An ENORMOUS public thank you

To my real life quilting fairy godmother.

A real life thank you is coming but here's my public one :-)

Words will never express the gratitude I have for your presence in my life- both the past and present and future.  Word do fail me but I know my life is a better place because of you and the reminders I have here bring great joy and more gratefulness that our lives have intersected and hopefully will continue to do so.

It is my prayer and wish that my kids have a wonderful influential person in their lives as you have been in mine.

With much love and hugs~~~

XOXOXOX
Gina