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.