Cub Scouts,,and Camping

It has been quite a while since I last put anything up.  School started and all of a sudden it’s October!  Here I thought with the kids in school full time I would have all this time!  Well,,I have filled that time up pretty quick!  Between room mom duties, volunteering at the school and keeping my nice one afternoon a week my time gets used up pretty quick!

Not long after school started Parker brought home a packet about Scouting.  He informed that “Mrs. Walker wants me to be a Cub Scout”.  Well that was not completely true.  She just gave him the packet along with all the other boys ;-)  So we went to the meeting and signed up for a Pack.  It has been fun.  There are 3 other boys in his Den and they all get along very well.  Scouting at this age is all about family.  This means that not only am I involved but so is Holly.  She gets to go to the Den meetings and participate in the activities.  I suppose in a few years I will have to add Brownies to our evening routines!

This last weekend we took our first camping trip.  The Spook-O-REEE.  We went to the Gerald I Lawhorn Scouting Base.  This is really neat thing.  Scoutmaster Lawhorn bought a large tract of property along the Flint river (not sure of the acreage) solely for Boy Scouts.  They have tents there, bathrooms (some with running water and flush toilets a dining hall, pavilion and huge playground.  They also offer the scouts canoeing, a rock climbing and repelling wall  and lots of river front for fishing.  It is a place for the scouts!  Though the little guys can’t use some of the things yet they can enjoy camping.  The event had fun games and activities for the boys along with a Hunted trail for the older boys and a Tiger Trail for the little guys,,,like ours.  The boys got to sit around the camp fire and for my little guy got to roast his first hot dog and marshmallows over an open camp fire.

For mom here this was a bit of a challenge.  As I told the dad’s I am not an outdoors person.  I would have been content to just send dear old Dad with our son and stay home or go to work :-)  However, since I take Parker to the Den meetings he really wanted us all to go.  It rained, it was cool, there were bugs.  Thankfully, I didn’t see any snakes,,,even though I knew they were there.  Yet even for my “not liking” camping to much, I had a good time as did there Dad.  As for my little Princess,,well you don’t always wear a teara when you are a princess.  She enjoyed the activities as much as the boys and got just as dirty.   Even costume for the costume contest (a barbie bride dress) is filthy from playing with the guys!

I am even looking forward to the next camping trip.  I will be a little more prepared though, as I am learning this stuff as well!

17 Years? And Guess what our gift is :-)

Yup that is right!  17 years ago today we made the biggest decision of our young lives and said “I do”.  My dad told me we could leave the church and no one would ever hold it against me.  I didn’t have to go through with the wedding.  We did.  We had our first “discussion” on our honeymoon because I am not that great with reading a map.  Every year we laugh about it and no I am still no better,,,but at least now we have GPS

Here we are on our big day.  It was a very hot and humid August 17th.  Our reception was at an old home that had no A/C which thankfully made for a short reception.  We love our family, but neither of us have ever liked being the center of attention.  So all the outpouring of well wishes, even though we appreciated them, was overwhelming.  We were both more nervous about everyone watching us that then the commitment we were about to make.

About 1 month before we got married my spouse gave me a pretty grey kitty.  Our Patches is still with us.  We always tell folks she was my engagement ring.  We had very little money so our rings were not spectacular.  I knew my gem of a guy was serious when he brought the kitty to me for us to “raise together”

Here she is now,,still very healthy at the ripe old age of 17

Yesterday we went as a family to bring home a new addition.  This time he is a 6 yr old Italian Greyhound named Gio.  Short for Giovannie.  He is a rescue pup from a breeder.  He is very sweet and is hopefully going to continue to settle in nicely.

17 years has flown by for us.   I am still happy I walked down that isle.  I am still happy that we made this commitment to each other.  We have been teasing each other this weekend about it being 17 “long hard years” but in truth they have been easy.  In all the bad times as well as good the easiest thing in my adult hood has being married to my best friend.  We moving forward for another 17 years.  Hmm,,,I wonder if I will get another pet

First Day of School

We had a great first day back to school.  The kids were excited and came home exhausted.  Our little boy already has homework and so does our daughter.

Our son loves his teacher and made a new friend.  Of course his favorite parts of the day were lunch and PE.  He also told me that I don’t need to walk him in,,he can find his own class.  So grown up already!  Our daughter got to go the gym were apparently she did jumping jacks as that is what she demonstrated was her favorite part of the day.  OH, and she liked lunch to, she told me she had a Chicken Hamburger

As for me it is strangely quite in the house.  I am starting to work of some cleaning and de-cluttering projects.  This should fill up my time nicely until the cooler weather gets here.  Then it will be time to try and paint bedrooms.  Both kids are tired of there “baby rooms” and ready for something different

Our son in his classroom. He thought the desks were pretty cool to.

Ready to go to school!

One little girl + one pair of scissors =……

A new hair style

I get a phone call at work yesterday from my DH.
“Something bad has happened”

My thoughts start spinning as to what it could be,,kids,mom,dad, sisters, family, pets etc

“Holly got Parker’s safety scissors and cut her hair!!!!” 

I know I did this as a little girl,,,well my older sister and I played beauty shop.  I wasn’t so beautiful in the end!

Luckily mother in law came to the rescue!

OH and today was the first day of school!

This is what she looked like after she cut it

Waiting to get her hair cut

Getting her hair styled

Finished bob

I didn’t see her yesterday as I worked a double shift so I got to see it this morning.  I felt a little sad because she pointed to one of her pictures and said “hair, gone”  So I made a big deal about how cute she looks and told her it would grow back.  I then asked her if she liked her new look and she said “no”.  She wouldn’t even let me put a haribow in it, even though I still can.
Oh, well she will get used to it and I do think it is cute on her.  I am a bit thankful because the “damage” could have been so much worse!

Last Day of Summer Vacation :-(

It is so hard to believe the kids start back to school on Monday!  Yup, summer break is over!  We live in a county that follows a year round calender so we have more breaks throughout the year and a short summer.  The idea of course is that the children will retain what they learned the year before with the shorter break time.

Yesterday was open house at the school.  I got to meet the teachers and see the school.  Though I have drove past our elementary school many times, I never realized just how big the building is.  We have a rely nice gym, library and computer center.  I met with the school nurse, which was important to me due to our son’s history of febrile seizures.  I had already met the principal and our daughter’s teacher in the spring so I felt comfortable with them.  However, I had not met our son’s teacher.

In my true style I walk into our son’s classroom and started crying.  I am such an emotional person when it comes to my children.  Luckily his teacher was very understanding and supportive of good old blubbering mom here.  Our son loved his classroom and keeps saying he is really happy he is in her class.  One of his friends from Kindergarten is also in his class and he is happy about that as well.

I have always been told that public school is just fine, and honestly I went through public system and I think I have done just fine.  The biggest thing I have been told is that I need to be involved at the school so the teachers know me and I know what is going on.  So, I may have filled my plate here, but what else am I going to do while the kids are at school!  I have joined the PTO, signed up to volunteer and signed up to be the room mother in our son’s class :-)  As long as I don’t end up like Erma Bombeck, you know leave the meeting and come back to find I have been voted chair or president of something, things should be ok.  I am looking forward to being involved in the school and of course my kids are excited.  Our son is so happy I am room mom for his class.

Another exciting peace of news for us is whom the speech therapist for our daughter would be.  The therapist at that school had to leave due to her spouses re-location.  At the end of last year they were not sure whom would be covering our school.  Well…..it is going to be the same therapist our daughter has had for the last two years :-)  When I found out I just couldn’t quite smiling!  He even came by the room while we were visiting and my daughter was so happy to see him.

I am at ease now and even though I will miss them while they are at school all day, I am ready for this new adventure in there lives.  Soo,, FIRST GRADE AND PRE-K, READY OR NOT HERE WE COME!!!!

Things Have Changed in “Lunch Lady Land”

Last night was new parent orientation at the school and Pre-K orientation.  Most of this meeting was finding out about times that school starts and ends, volunteer opportunities and how the drop off/pick up process works.  We also learned about there “Specials”.  These are what I would call call extra curricular.  My kids will get to have P.E and Computer class.  Sadly music is out :-(  What I found most interesting though was the school lunch program.

Now I will start this by stating that I started 1st grade in 1976, so things were very different from what my children will experience.  First off,,and yes sounding like my parents, when I was in elementary school lunch cost $.50.  Now my kids will pay $1.75 for there lunch and 0$0.50 for a carton of milk.  They also get choices and can pick from two different entry’s and have some choices of sides.   Yes, you can even have it “your way” in the school cafeteria. 

When I was in school if you knew were going to be purchasing lunch everyday for a week or a month you could purchase a lunch ticket.  The “lovely” lady that took the money would check off each day of the week on your ticket so you didn’t have to remember your lunch money.  Another, thing that periodically happened was the dreaded “I forgot my lunch” then you would simply ask the teacher for a charge slip.  You turn this into the lunch lady and would get the lovely cafeteria meal of the day.  The next day you would bring in the money you owed for the previous day’s meal.

Well now the local bully whom steals lunch money has to work a little harder at for the change.  Both of the kids will be issued a “lunch number”  For my daughter I will send her lunch money in an envelope that has her number.  I am sure it will be similar for my son, as he is only in the first grade.  The teachers collect the envelopes and turn them into the lunch room attendants.  Then each time they purchase lunch they tell the cashier there lunch number and she then debits there account.  To make matters even easier and harder for the lunch money stealing bully I can go on line and set up an account for each child.  This account would be attached to my debit card and they would debit my card each time my child makes a purchase!  I can see the ice cream cart taking up any raise I hope to get in the future, so we will think about that before we sign up!

I have just sat down with my son and gone over the menu for next week and he has decided to purchase his lunch all but one day.  With our daughters speech and processing delays I will have to ask her on a daily bases, but since she is such a good eater I may just go ahead and have her buy when he dose.  I imagine after a few weeks when the novelty of school lunch wears off on my son I will be packing his Goober jelly sandwiches or ham sandwiches.  Unless the actual quality off the food has gone up with the price and new payment technology.  Hmm,,, we shall see……..

Getting Ready for School,,,What to wear!

As the children attend year round school now our summer is fast coming to an end.  Yes school re-starts in just a few weeks for us.  I find myself in the usual situation fighting the crowds at local stores to obtain everything on the back to school list. Pencils, note books, erasers, book bags and lunch boxes!  Well that has actually been the easy part!  The other part of back to school with two growing children is finding clothes for them to wear, that I find appropriate for a 6yr old and 5 yr old.

I spent several hours yesterday hitting all the children’s clothing stores looking in particular for my daughter.  Sadly we have left the toddler clothing and moved into the little girls section.  UGGHHH!!!!  We wonder why children are so promiscuous these days!  Most of the clothing for little girls is awful!  I vote for school uniforms!  The fact that designer’s think a 5 yr old should were low rise and bare her midriff is disgusting!  However, this is what is in the girls section.  Spaghetti straps and low neck lines, even the shirts to wear under such necklines are two low!  Whats more is my daughter is an average size 5 yr old girl, she is not by any means large.  Finally after many shops I found a few outfits that I thought were appropriate for her (THANK YOU OSHKOSH!!)  and hopefully she will like them.

Now to vent about boys!  Honestly the boys clothing is not that bad.  It is hard to find a nice plane shirt though.  Everything has something sports on it, which my son doesnt really care about.  Luckily he can still wear all of his shirts and shorts from the spring time.  Boys apparently tend to grow slower then girls at this age.  I am basing this on the fact that all my friends with children the same age as mine are in the same situation.

Again I find myself looking at he sewing machine in hopes that I can actually finish a project and make some dresses for my daughter.

All that said, sadly the summer is coming to an end and soon the school will have my children the majority of the day :-(  A fact I am having to face, but am not happy about!

First Competition

Last Saturday we attended our first and most likely last ATA tournament.  As Tiny Tigers the kids competed but weren’t judged.  According to our instructor the idea of Tiny Tigers competing is to let them see what it is like and then help them gain confidence.  And that is exactly what was going to happen.  However, we found out that our son is just like us.  Happy and content to preform away in class and home but put him in front of strangers,,,and a lot of them at that,,and he get nervous!

I don’t think that Holly was nervous.  However, the noise level was loud so it was very hard for her to hear things.  At first I was only going to have her do her form but after a one on one session with one of the instructors she seemed ready to compete with her weapon.  I go so tickled because she did most of it correct but then made up the rest.  Her instructor laughed and said he sees kids make up there own form all the time, but they still cheer them on

I was very proud of them for trying, but we may delay competing for awhile.  It doesn’t matter to me if they are Olympic Champions, just that they have fun with what they do.

Oh and on a different note I sat next to a mom that adopted from Guatemala.  She is a member of the same web forum as I am through our agency.  She viewed my post about the tournament and sent me a PM to see if was really the same tournament,,,small world!

Very Sad day for our family, we lost one of our greyhounds

My sweet Vinnie has gone to greyhound heaven.  While I was cooking dinner he fell down the stairs and broke his back. We were faced with the decison to have him put to rest rather then suffer.
We found Vinnie in a pet store shortly after learning we were infertal.  He became our child, we even used to give him birthday presents and christmas gifts.  After Holly came along he fast became her dog and her companion.  It was as if he understood she is special.  Her “bennie” slept with her, sat with her and let her do all sorts of things most older dogs wouldn’t let a child do.
We were with him to the very end and able to tell him how much we loved him and how much he brought to our lives.  We were so emotional that the vet gave us information on grief counsaling if needed.  The emergancy vet clinic was so great and I am greatful that they were there for us.

Who am I??? I think I am my Mother

In my mind this was going to be a post about my personal identity and how I lost it over the years. It also tied in nicely on how, though I have tried not to, I have become my parents.  I used to have a first and last name.  I got married and became Kevin’s wife.  Though I had always been a Daughter of Dot or Wendy ___ little sister, that was ok. However, simply being Kevin’s wife for a bit was bothersome.  Then I realized just how big his family is and found my self referring to cousins as “ya no so and so’s kid”.  Now that I have children I am simply Parker and Holly’s mom.  Many of there friends and classmates as well as classmates mother’s refer to me only as “Parker’s mom or Holly’s mom”.  I have even called a parent and said “Hi, this is Parker’s Mom”.  So somewhere over time I have lost who I am (what is my name again? I know my parents gave me one”) And it is good I am happy to be a “daughter of Dot, Wendy’s little sister, Kevin’s wife, Parker and Holly’s mom”

Today, I found out what I have become!  I am (and I say this with pride) my mom and my dad.  We had our BIG grocery shopping trip today.  It happens about 1-2 times per month.  It can be stressful navigating the grocery store with shoppers like I used to be.  The ones that are in a hurry and don’t have time for a mom with kids.  Oh, and believe me I try to let them  pass by because I used to be that shopper with out kids.  So as I am navigating the isles with the kids, trying to keep them with me, I am saying things I heard my parents say to,, and I think in the same tone!

“NO we are not buying candy, you have some at home”

“No you don’t need that cereal it has to much sugar, your teeth will rot out”

“No you cant have that” followed quickly with ” Because I said so that’s why!”

“Get up off the floor”

“Watch out for other people”

“Keep your hands to yourself”

“Don’t’ hit your sister”…..”Don’t hit your brother”

“Stop bickering,,,and I mean now!”

So 2 hrs latter and a lot of money less we made it out of the store.  I realized,,,It’s not so bad being my parents.  If I was just plain old me, I would have crawled in a hole after the first 10 min.

So Mom and Dad,,,thanks!  I am glad I am turning out to be like YOU!