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.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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*
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*
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
First day of school
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...
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.
Monday, September 6, 2010
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)
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)
Friday, September 3, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
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.
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.
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