February Pre-School/Pre-K - 1st grade, etc.

[LaraW]

I thought I would get us started this month.

I forgot to mention last week that DH and I took a big step - we went to our first Kindergarten open house. :o Natalie won't start school until the fall of 2009, since she will turn 5 this year.

I have seen in the paper that many schools are doing registration NOW for this fall and so I thought that maybe we should take advantage of the open houses now so that we can have our decision made by this time next year.

Anyway, this one was very nice. It is the school that is connected with our church. I went to a Catholic school when I was a kid, and so the whole "atmosphere" of a smaller (400 students for K-8 which is about double the size of the school I went to) school was familiar to me. There were a lot of things I liked, some things I was "so-so" to. My only 2 things I didn't like were that they only have P.E. once a week and they don't have a gifted and talented program. I would like to see more P.E., and I am really kind of worried about keeping Natalie challenged in school. I know that there were kids in my class growing up who were in the gifted area and we didn't have a special program or anything for them.

Natalie was funny about going to see the school. Since it is attached to the church she has already been through parts of it. But what she wanted to know were: Were we going to see Fr. Hoffman (our pastor, we didn't), was she going to be able to play on the playground she sees every week and is never allowed to play on (she wasn't), and were there going to be cookies (there were).

Our other choices are the neighborhood elementary school which I have not heard great things about, another elementary school that I HAVE heard good things about, and a charter school in the next town over which goes K-12. Our babysitter went there and there are some big positives that may outweigh the negatives (mainly, the location).

Joanne, I do have a question about your kids - do they go to religious education outside of school? When is it, and how do you fit it in to the rest of everything you have going on? That, to me, is a big drawback of a public school, that you have to do the RE at another time. But, maybe its not that big of a deal.

We had a pretty nice weekend. My parents are coming to visit this weekend and I am so excited for them to see Colin. He had not started his speech therapy yet when they last saw him and he has a vocabulary of about 60 words and 9 "sounds" (beep beep, moo, etc).

Happy February, everyone :)

[Sarah428]

Hi Lara!

Here's my monthly check-in at the beginning of the month:o

January was crazy. I had my tonsils out on the 9th and finally went back to work on the 21st. Then Owen had eye surgery on the 24th...basically his eyes over water when he's outside so they unplugged two canals on the sides of his nose where the liquid is supposed to go. Unfortunatly the surgery didn't take so we'll see what's next at his post-op on 2/16.

Last week we went to our first Kindergarten round up meeting for Ella. Registration starts 3/28 but we already know where she'll be going. It was good to find out what paperwork I needed to gather though.

We're having nightmare issues with Ella and Owen is in his "no" stages, fun!

I'm trying to get DH to start working on finishing our basement. The long term goal is to turn our breezeway into a mudroom and add a master bathroom onto our bedroom but we decided to make us of the space we already have and finish the family room & bedroom in the basement.

Hope everyone is having a great Fat Tuesday!

Sarah

[HRJ]

Lara, thanks for starting this month. I think it's great that you're getting a head start by going to the open houses now, especially when you have to decide which school you're going to pick. It sounds like you've got a few promising choices, which is good. And I'm sorry to hear about your dad -- I do think, though, that the doctor wouldn't let him wait until after the wedding if it was a tremendous health risk.

Cheryl, sorry you ended up at the ER -- I'm sure it must have been very unnerving until you saw that Garrett was back to his old self.

Kim, the one "monster remedy" that I remember from old threads is about using a spray bottle filled with water as "monster repellent." Would Jamie go for that sort of thing?

Susan, hope you and DH enjoyed your quiet dinner yesterday. I agree, having a birthday party on a Monday night is very peculiar -- and 9 pm is way too late for it to end.

Speaking of having ESP -- DH tells me the other day that we got a call from the people who run Victor's after-school Spanish class, saying we owe them a payment for the second half of the school year. (I know that we owe them -- I was waiting for a bill!) So I ask him, "Exactly how much do we owe, and where do I send it?" And he says, "Oh, I didn't take any of the information down -- I assumed you knew all that." Yeah, I keep a running list in my head of every single detail of every aspect of our lives. :rolleyes:

Lori, sorry Brian's going through a hard time. ((Lori and Brian)) Do you think some of it may be related to developmental changes -- the child development person we worked with from Early Intervention talked about how kids' personalities sort of "disintegrate" when they're hitting significant cognitive/psycho-social milestones or making big developmental leaps. I understand there's other issues too, though, with sibling rivalry and all.

About kindergarten -- is your district full-day or half-day? I think that makes a difference in what constitutes "readiness." I'd also recommend talking with the principal for your particular school, or the kindergarten curriculum coordinator for the district, to get a sense of what the expectations would be for Brian. I looked at a lot of those "readiness lists" when we were trying to make the decision for Victor, but, especially in retrospect, I think it's more important to get an idea of what the particular school experience will be like. I'd even suggest asking to sit in on a K. class -- I know that this is half-way into the year, and the kids have had a chance to "grow" into the classroom routine, but it should give you another good idea of what K. is really like in your school. Also, can you find out what the "norm" is in your district -- do most parents hold their summer boys back? Because in that case, Brian might be in a classroom with many kids who are a good year, or slightly more, older than he is. That has an effect on what the classroom environment is like.

Sarah, hope you're all recovered from your tonsillectomy. And sorry to hear that Owen's eye surgery didn't work out as well as expected. I hope the next step is more successful, and that he's not too uncomfortable.



Speaking of eye surgery, I was at the ophthalmologist this morning, and she did not have good news -- I need another eye surgery, similar to the procedure I had last summer, but a bit more extensive. I'm scheduled for March 12. I'm rather unhappy and kind of stressed at this news -- I also have to have a minor, but unpleasant, GYN procedure in early March, so I feel like I have these two things looming out there now.


We had a "split" family this past weekend -- Victor and I were rooting for the Patriots :( and DH, who is a lifelong, diehard, loyal Giants fan, was of course rooting for Big Blue. (But he was keeping *very* quiet about it). So he was quite happy on Sunday night -- said he's sorry the Pats didn't get their undefeated season, but he was so glad to see the Giants win.


We were hosts for Victor's class hamster, Peaches, last weekend. (The kids take turns bringing Peaches home for the weekend). Victor was so happy to have her here -- I was terrified the whole time that one of our cats would get to her and eat her or something. :eek: It was really cute to watch her roll around in her little exercise ball, but I was glad to bring her back Monday morning. (We brought her into the classroom before school started, and I cried out to the teacher, "Peaches Lives!" ;) ).


Hope everyone who has been sick is all better!


Helene

[LaraW]

Owen is in his "no" stages, fun!


Colin is right there with him :rolleyes:

Helene, you are probably right that the doctor would not let him wait that long if it was really a health concern, but it sure seems like a long time to wait. Sorry to hear about your upcoming medical procedures and I am glad that Peaches survived the weekend!

I didn't even watch the superbowl this weekend. DH and I said to each other that maybe, someday, we will be able to do something like that again without having to have 20% of our attention on the game and 80% of our attention on watching kids.

I need to go scoop the driveway because I want to watch the SuperTuesday coverage. I could not go to a caucus tonight because I have to declare affiliation with one party and then I have to pick 1 candidate to support all the way through. There isn't ANYONE I like well enough to do that! :o We did caucuses when we lived in Iowa and that was fun. I think DH and I supported Clinton in 2000. I have a friend who is campaigning for a delegate spot at the DNC this summer (in Denver). It will be fun if she gets to go.

[LA98]

Thanks, everyone, for the good words about my stress with Brian. Joanne, it was especially good to hear your story. I know it's not unusual in any way, but it's still good to hear someone else had the same thing to deal with...

"Progress reports" come out on Thursday at Brian's school. I'm pretty sure his won't be very good. I can set up a conference with his teachers (all 5 of them!) after I read it. Basically, they've said he's having trouble sitting still (this has not been a problem before, I think winter has a lot to do with that, he's cooped up way more than usual and is not able to get out all of his energy), he interrupts with comments during story times (my fault I guess, I've always made reading stories with him very interactive :rolleyes: ), and not listening/following directions (not surprising, he's not listening to me at all lately). One teacher also told me that he has not bonded with any of the children in his class (there are 7, I think). That one bothers me a lot. In his old school, Brian was sort of a ringleader. There was a small group of kids who'd been together for a long time; we'd walk in the door, they'd yell out his name and run up to greet and hug him. In the current school, all of the other kids did the 3-year-old program last year. Several of them live on the same street, their moms are friends, older siblings are friends, etc. About half of them are 5 years old already. I've witnessed Brian greet a couple of the boys by name, and they ignored him completely (ouch). I'm not sure if this is where the immaturity might come into play, that his very, um, exuberant personality is turning the other kids off, or what...

The trend in my area is *definitely* to hold boys back. In fact, I'm hearing about boys with spring birthdays who are not going. So Helene, you're right, not only will he be up against kids who have been 5 all year, but a whole bunch will be 6 too. I also heard that some boys were held back last year because there was an unusually large K class enrolled. This year's class is much smaller, which could be to his advantage? It's half day kindergarten in my town, I would send him to his current school to do the other half day K there.

I looked up K readiness on the Internet (thanks, Kim, I don't know why I didn't think of that. Duh!) One site had a little test to take, so I had Brian do it. It said a score of 65 indicated readiness, he scored 88. And I love the idea of contacting the teacher, I'm going to look into that. My best friend teaches preK, she's heard all my stories and thinks the teachers are being a bit tough with their expectations. She knows Brian very well, and thinks that another year of preK (with the same exact curriculum!) will be a huge waste (as do I). On the other hand, I'm thinking ahead to high school, when that immaturity could get him in trouble with friends, etc. UGH. I'm driving myself crazy. I had complained (very nicely) to the woman taking the K registration about our school district not doing the evaluation, and she said in a very snippy way, "Well, he's your son, you know him better than anyone." Yes, true, but I don't think that qualifies to make an educated decision about this!

Enough about me! Lara, I love how Natalie was concerned about cookies being there. :) I went to Catholic school for grades 1-6, after that I went to public. I had religious ed on Sunday mornings before mass, and some kids had it after mass.

Sarah, sounds like you had a tough recovery from the tonsils. At least they can't give you any more trouble! :) Sorry to hear about Owen's procedure. Brian had his tear ducts probed and that failed too...

(((Helene))) I'm so sorry to hear you need another eye surgery. Seems like you just had the last one done. :( Too bad it couldn't be sooner than March, if just to give you less time to anticipate and worry.... Had to LOL about your DH keeping quiet about the Giants. Definitely not something you want to advertise around there! And glad to hear Peaches survived the weekend. ;)

[hrk]

Helene-
Sorry to hear you have to have another eye surgery and have so much looming in front of you health wise.
Sarah- Sounds like things are very busy. Ari hasn't hit the "no" satge yet, but I am sure it is coming
Lara-
Good for you for getting a jump on schools. I can't speak to religious education, but all the private schools we looked at for Logan, none of the had GATE programs since they pretty much pride themselves on meeting the child wherever they are whether that be high or low. Logan has a ratio of 1-8 in his Pre_k class and will have 1-10 in kindergarten. Considering the public schools are 1-30 it is such a benefit.

Lori- Holding boys back is very big here as well. Logan is the youngest boy in his class with some turning 6 this month when he won't even be 5 til May. But his teachers are very vocal about him continuing on and not being held back just because of his age.

Well we are all finally well in our house, it was a long road back. Luckily DH and I got the worst of it, by the time it hit me I couldn't move for a good five days. But I healed up just in time for our annual Super Bowl Party. We had about 35 people, kids and adults included and went through about 15 pounds of DH's homemade chicken wings.
For President's Day we are taking the kids to Disneyland in Cali for 4 days and meeting my family there so we are all working really hard to stay well. Logan is so excited it is almost contagious.
Hope everyone else is well.
Heather

[RunnerKim]

Lori - I hope the progress report you receive today for Brian is helpful and insightful. I too have very interactive story time - I often stop the story and pose a question or talk about something. That's why I enjoy reading time so much because we have such interesting conversations sometimes. I can see that it would be an issue of the child doesn't learn when it's okay to ask questions and when not too but if the interruptions are on task then I really don't think its so bad at all (considering his age).

I'm struggling with education issues too. I've discovered that district policy is to require not-quite-6 year olds to enroll in kindergarten and then evaluate over the first month or two. There's no process to assess them before the school year starts (at least no readily available process). If we'd moved in to the district a couple of months earlier last year then we could have had Lainey tested to start K early but they don't have anything for 1st grade. DH and I are going to observe the K class and talk in person with the principal next week to get a better idea of what the K experience is there and how well we feel it'll meet Lainey's needs (and thus how hard we will push/explore other options). While Lainey would definitely be young for a 1st grader, the holding back of kids isn't common around here (certainly not spring birthdays!). The whole thing is stressing me out way too much.

Heather - glad everyone is healthy! Have a fantastic trip to Disneyland.

Helene that's rotten about needing another eye surgery. Will it require the same kind of recovery and care that the last one did? Will it be any easier that it's during the school year or does that actually make it worse?

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Kim, it seems silly not to test before the school year to see if Lainey can start 1st grade. I know it's hard not to stress about all of it. Most likely Lainey will wind up in 1st grade next year, whether she starts in the beginning or when they test her, since she seems so ready. It's just frustrating trying to figure out the right thing to do, I'm sure.

Heather, glad you are all feeling well again. We seem to finally be OK, except Jameson has the nasty cough. He's so determined to keep up his perfect attendance, he doesn't want to stay home. He's not running a fever, so that's good. Colin and DH are the only ones who didn't get it. Have a great time at Disney!

Lori, I'd have to agree with your friend - it seems like the teachers are being a bit rough. OK, he's doesn't like to sit still. He's what, 4?? He hasn't bonded with any kids? What exactly is considered bonding in preschool?? It's way too early to worry about that kind of stuff. He's probably bored, maybe they need to challenge him more. Maybe another year of preschool would be so boring for him he'd have more problems. Maybe a whole new environment with new kids and a new teacher in K would be good? I'm just kind of sensitive about this because they made such a big deal about Colin in preschool, making us think he had all kinds of problems when he's just fine and is excelling in school now. I think it's great that they are concerned and are conscious of any issues, but sometimes blow things out of proportion. I so understand how you feel when the boys don't answer Brian when he says hi to them. I've witnessed kids being not so "friendly" to Jameson and it probably hurts me more than him. He's a great kid, but sometimes just doesn't fit in with some of the kids. I just think to myself, go ahead and tease him, when he's rich and famous, then who'll be laughing?? :D Anyway, try not to stress too much about all of it. I know, easier said than done. Whatever you decide, whether to keep him in preschool or move him to K, it'll work out. By the time he gets to high school his age difference really won't matter so much. Now it's a bigger gap, but the older you get, the less it matters, if that makes sense.

Helene, so sorry to hear about your having to have another eye surgery. That just stinks. :mad: I have to have a minor gyno procedure soon, too. I'm nervous about it but DH thinks its no big deal. I had an abnormal pap (sorry if TMI:o ), so, of course, I'm worried there's something more going on.

Sarah, that does sound like a crazy January! Too much doctor stuff going on! Glad you are better, but sorry to hear Owen's surgery didn't work out so well.

Lara, yes, my kids do go to religious education, and to be honest, it's a pain in the neck! It's the only thing I don't like about them going to the public school. It's mainly the time - it's 8:45 on Sunday mornings. And, I really don't like the director. Long story, but I may be moving them to another program next year. So, the only day of the week we don't have to be up and somewhere is Saturdays.

DH is working days this week because of training, so I've been home all week. I must say I love it! I actually have a couple hours in the morning while everyone is at school to get stuff done around here. I can make dinner for the family and be home when the kids get home from school. I'm less stressed trying to deal with work stuff and home stuff. OK, now all I have to do is win the lotto so I can stay home!! :rolleyes:

[HRJ]

Joanne, glad you're having a nice week at home. I just can't imagine how you juggle working outside the home, commuting and 4 kids on a constant basis! I understand your being nervous about your gyn procedure -- I'll be sending you good thoughts! When are you having it done? I wouldn't mind discussing my procedure if it was just among the regulars here on this thread, but it's not something I feel like mentioning for the whole world to read about.

Lara, if you want to watch major sporting events without having to worry about watching your kids, move East!! :D Then all the games are on so late, the kids go to sleep!


Kim, sorry the whole business about Lainey starting public school is so stressful -- it's really ridiculous that it has to be this way. Is there any chance of sending her to a private or parochial school for 1st grade, if you're really unhappy with what the public kindergarten is offering? I know that would involve an extra transition, though, which maybe isn't such a great thing, either.

I've been thinking about whether it will be "easier" this time after the surgery -- the recovery period should be similar to this summer, although the procedure itself is going to be a little more extensive, so, I might be looking at an extra week or so at home -- we'll just have to see how things go. I think it will be easier because during the summer, DH had to drive Victor to the camp bus every morning and get him at 4:30 in the afternoon, which meant DH had to leave work early. But since school is within walking distance, I can drop him off/pick him up, even if I can't drive, which removes a big complication. Also, there are a lot of families in our neighborhood with kids at Victor's school, so if the weather were really stormy or something, I'm sure one of them would be able to give Victor a ride.

I'm thinking I'll continue to send Victor to the after-school program on the days that he's normally scheduled to be there, to keep up his routine and also to give myself some time to rest. And after-care is open until 6 pm, so DH would be able to pick him up without changing his work routine, if need be.

Also, I don't tolerate heat very well, so I'm often a little miserable in the summer, anyway -- I'm thinking I'll just feel better if I'm recouperating in March, rather than August. ;) The downside is that summer is a very slow time for me at work, so it wasn't that bad having to take time off last year -- March is a pretty busy time for me, though, so I'm going to have a lot of catching up to do when I come back.

Heather, glad everyone is feeling better. Enjoy Disneyland!

Lori, hope Brian's progress report was helpful for you. I agree, the expectations for preschoolers and kindergartners often seem to be unreasonably high -- how did things get this crazy? One of the "negatives" on Victor's reports, in both preschool and pre-K, were that he interjected too much during story time and circle time. :rolleyes: It doesn't seem to have hurt him any in kindergarten.

Helene

[Kyra]

I am de-lurking for Joanne. I have been there with the abnormal Pap smears and assorted procedures. Please feel free to PM me if you wish. Disclaimer: not a medical professional, just someone with too much experience in this area!

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - glad you've been enjoying your week! What a treat. Don't you end up with games/sports on Saturday mornings? Or maybe that hasn't kicked in for the year yet.

Helene - it's too late for most (all maybe) private options. All the deadlines were January 1st. I'll know more next week and then maybe I can stop obsessing over something I can't really do anything about! :rolleyes: (well that's part of the problem I feel like there is something I can do it's just not the in-print, readily available process. So how important do I feel it is to pursue etc.) I'm hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised to find out that the K class will work just fine for Lainey and then I can start obsessing about what do with her for the other 6+ hours of the day.

It sounds like other than work this time of year should work out better. Will your Mom come for a visit? I think I'd opt to send my child to after care during the recovery too (or maybe some play dates with your neighbor).

Does any one have Valentine's Day plans for dinner? Since it's during the week, I want to keep it fairly simple. All I'm thinking of at this point are grilled cheese sandwiches cut out with a big heart cookie cutter.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Kim, yea, we usually do have soccer on Saturdays, but the earliest game (at least this session) is at 11:00. And the kids are usually up by 9:00. Well, except Ian, who is already sleeping like a teenager! He'll sleep till noon if you let him. And, of course, they're excited about going to soccer as opposed to school or religious ed. And, basketball is on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Helene, things do get a bit crazy! That's why this week has been so nice - I only have to worry about home stuff, not work added into the mix. But, back to reality next week. We were just looking at the new park district brochure and will be signing up the kids for swimming lessons since they'll be on the boat this summer we thought it would be a good idea. They also want to go to sports camp and Ian and Caitlyn are taking a cooking class together. There'll be more soccer in there somewhere too. This would be much easier if they could drive! My procedure is the 18th, I'll be glad to have it over.

Thanks, Kyra, I may PM you.

Everyone have a great weekend!

[HRJ]

Wow Joanne -- no soccer until 11 am? Victor has to be on the soccer field by 8:45 am :eek: for soccer this past fall, and I'm assuming it will be the same for the spring. That's the main reason I'm not so crazy about doing soccer again -- we have school 5 days a week, then Hebrew School on Sundays (which starts at 9:30 am, which means we have to leave the house by about 9) and then soccer on Saturdays -- so, we'll be rushing to get someplace every day of the week.

Kim, I didn't realize the deadlines for private schools would be so early. I hope you find out soon what's what.

I don't think my mom is going to come up this time -- I hate to say this, but over the summer, she wasn't as much help as I hoped she'd be -- it was a little bit like trying to recover from surgery, and yet having a houseguest to look after, too. I'm not faulting her -- she's in her mid-70s, and while she's in good health, she's just not up to doing what she used to. I'm thinking if I stock up beforehand with some freezer meals and prepared stuff; have Victor go to after-care and set up some playdates for him; maybe spend the money to hire a cleaning service for a few visits; use the Stop and Shop grocery delivery service, I should be OK.

About Valentine's Day -- I'm a little annoyed, because I actually have to work late that day, and go into Boston. (But I feel bad about complaining, because I have to work late so seldom.) There's a Bertucci's (fairly decent Italian chain) located at the subway station closest to my house -- so I think I'll get takeout there on my way home, and we'll have a late "restaurant meal" at home.

DH's birthday is a few days after Valentine's, so we usually go out for a nice dinner the weekend after the 14th, anyway.

Have a good weekend!

H.

[tbb113]

Joanne - its only easier if they have a car and are going in the same place/direction/time! Seldom has Michael been able to pick up Alex for me...but at least he can take himself where he needs to be :) Alex is trying to schedule time for his first driving lesson with the instructor....4 to 6 weeks for a weekend, but he can do it over lunch/p.e (since he has p.e. directly after lunch) next week! He can hardly wait......

Also, I've had abnormal pap smears before as well...but in my late teens/early 20s and they always resolved themselves before I needed anymore tests....

[MrsReber]

Hi everyone! So much going on!

I had a hectic work week and some annoying family stuff going on as well with our trip to AZ. I was recruited to get my sister's itinerary in order because no one else (even my sister) has the time or resources to do it. I"ll get reimbursed, but I have to figure out what time works for her, find a decent flight, get a good price, etc. Not really my thing. Last time I flew anywhere was in 2003. We tend to go on shorter trips where we can drive. And most of our vacation time over the past few years was spent looking for somewhere to go live. In addition to that, work has been crazy.

On kindergarten- Brenden started as a very young 5. He turned 5 on July 5th and then started school the last week of August. There was no way I was holding him back and I know I made the right decision. You really don't know how they'll react in certain situations. Although a child may seem "disruptive" in pre-school, that can all change in kindergarten. Here we have full day K and they are changing activities about every 20 minutes. They know that these kids needs to be engaged at all times. The K teachers have been with the school for over 25 years and they're just wonderful. I love them and so do my children. Brenden is currently in the top reading group and scored well over the benchmark for beginning of the year and mid-year state testing. I don't worry about him being younger than the rest. I think most of the other boys and many of the girls are 6 already. I started K at the age of 4 when I began school and I never had any problems or felt strange about any of it.

Our school does have a gifted and talented program. The teachers who know Casey tell me that she'll be in it. I, too, worry about keeping her challenged so we do different things at home. We've started working on multiplication, we joined the patch quest program at the library, we buy workbooks at the store. I do whatever I can at home. I'm a bit concerned with the gifted and talented program. In some schools, it only means that the kids get more work. In our school, the kids get taken from class once a week for an hour. It hardly seems like enough time, however, I hear they do get to do very different and interesting things. I spoke to another mom who has a daughter in the program. Her younger daughter is in Brenden's class. She said that there are trips they can also go on- one is to a place in Lynchburg where the kids actually get to wade in this river to do some scientific work. So it at least sounds interesting, I just worry if it's enough to keep Casey interested.
Brenden is a very bright child, but if you don't ask him to do something, chances are he won't do it. He needs to be gently pushed, whereas Casey is just so proud of herself when she accomplishes something.

I'm debating private school in the future, if necessary. Around here, you'd be hard pressed to finda a private school that didn't have some sort of RE. While I'm not against it, I have talked to people who said it burned them out on religion. One young lady, in particular, is just returning to church now and she's been out of the private school for over 5 years. I'd take a close look at what/how they teach.

Joanne and Helene, I had an abnormal pap a few years back, too. I worried, too. It was nothing. They said it was "abnormal" so they do a freezing procedure just to ensure that it doesn't turn into anything later. It wasn't bad- just crampy afterwards (hope that's not TMI for anyone- I'm just trying to say it was painless and over very quickly). Good luck, ladies. And that reminds me, I really need to find a doctor here and get myself in for an exam!

Helene, sorry to hear about the eye surgery. That's miserable!

Joanne, glad you enjoyed your week at home. I thought I'd be sad when I sent both kids off to school on that first day. I was so used to at least having Brenden home with me. Well, the door closed and there was nothing but silence. Sweet, wonderful, silence. Wow. Unfortunately, I do have to work, but I'm able to take long lunches each day and get things done. Or sometimes I just turn on the tv and relax for a bit before getting back to the computer. And then some days, I have conference calls lined up from morning till afternoon. But I can't complain. I have a great deal going on and I'm so very thankful for it.

Oh, and let me tell you one more weird thing about the party. It started at 5:00, right? They didn't serve anything but cake! I was glad I told them to eat before we walked over. No pizza or anything? I would think 5:00 = dinner time, no??? I dropped them off around 6:00 then me and DH had to go and pick up our car from the shop. We still have 3 vehicles. With the price of gas, DH drives my old 4 cylinder car instead of his truck when he can, but it needed some work. So we did that and DH picked up some pizza on the way home. By the time we got home and ate, it was 7:45 and I had to go get the kids. Yes, I know that even seems late to some, but my kids just don't go to sleep until 9:00 (or so :rolleyes:) No matter what I do. They get around 9 hours of sleep, though since I wake them up between 6:30 and 6:45. I just thought it was very strange that they didn't offer anything but cake! I don't know what to think of these folks. They're really nice, but I never have anything to talk about with them. And they frequently leave their 15 yo daughter in charge so Casey is hardly ever playing over there (she went over twice for an hour each time- when the mom was home).

Well, I've written quite enough! No Valentine's plans here, except to make brownies for Casey's ice cream sundae party at school. I may have to go to that one :D .

[HRJ]

Susan, that is very weird about that party -- no food other than cake, at that time of day? :eek: If I'd been sending my kid, I wouldn't have fed him in advance; I'd have been expecting that they would have pizza or something for the kids. Miss Manners says if you have a social event at a time when a meal is normally served, you should provide a meal. (I think that's a great rule to go by).

When you are going to AZ? (Forgive me if you've mentioned this before).


We're going to Florida next week to see my mom, since it's Feb. vacation week at school. We won't be leaving until the Tuesday after Pres. Day, since it was too expensive to fly over the holiday weekend, though.

Can I vent a little about my crazy day yesterday? It was one of those days where everything relied on split-second timing, and, everything just ended up going crazy.

It was 12 degrees here yesterday morning (not complaining -- I see from the thread on Other Stuff that a lot of places were below zero). But the day before, we had this crazy weather pattern with rain, snow, thunder, white-out conditions, fog, etc. So the combination of very wet weather, and then deep-freeze temps led to a lot of strange icing. So the lock mechanism in my car froze -- it wasn't that the doors were frozen shut, but that the whole interior lock-thing wouldn't work! So when I went to take Victor to school, we couldn't get the car open! :eek:

I ran over to my neighbor's and asked her if she could take Victor to school with her kids -- we *could* walk, but it was getting late by that time and it was also just so cold. But, I was supposed to be at school that morning myself, because I had volunteered to take photos at a cultural enrichment program that the PTO was sponsoring -- a kids' theater troupe was coming to do an interactive program with grades K-3.

So I finally was able to get the hatch open in the back of the car (I have a Honda CRV). I climbed in through the hatch :eek: (I figured either that was a great idea on my part, or I was going to end up as the subject of a horrible story in our local weekly newspaper "Firefighters rescue stupid frozen woman stranded in Honda" :rolleyes: ). I moved Victor's booster seat over; put down the back seats, and leaned over into the front seat far enough to get the key into the ignition and started the car. Then I left it running for about 20 minutes until things thawed out enough to get the locks open.

So I get to school just as the kids are filing in to the cafetorium for the theater program -- except, the theater troupe wasn't there! There was apparently some sort of mix-up on their part, and they arrived more than an hour late -- but I couldn't stay that long, because I had to get to the doctor's office for my pre-op exam (in order to get medical clearance for my eye surgery, my PCP had to have me do an EKG).

Get to the doctors -- they put me in a really cold room, and make me strip down and put on one of those scanty little smocks -- and then they left me sitting there, because it turns out someone else was using the EKG machine! So I sat there, literally freezing my tail off. They finally start to get me ready for the EKG -- and because I'd put moisturizer on that morning after my shower, the little sticky-tape things with the wires wouldn't stay attached to my legs! The tech almost thought I'd have to come back another time, unmoisturized. But she finally got it to work. :)

Then I raced through the grocery store (desperately needed milk and a bunch of other things, and I couldn't go later in the afternoon because Victor was having a friend over for a playdate after school.), shoved some lunch in my face, and raced back to Victor's school, where I have been volunteering in the library on Mondays. But since I was late, the librarian thought I wasn't coming, and she went to take care of something elsewhere in the building. (Guess I should have called). Argh.

So, it was that kind of a day -- behind the 8-ball from the very beginning. I find it so much more relaxing when I'm at work. ;)


I'm not dealing with an abnormal Pap -- actually, I've been having very short cycles (fun, huh?), and while it's most likely perimenopause, the doctor wants to run some tests. I'm not entirely sure it's necessary, because this is the same age that my mom started menopause, and I've been having some other symptoms, too -- but, once the doctor suggests something ike that, I'd be uneasy if I didn't follow through.


Today was the 100th day of school (when did that become such a big thing?). The kids were asked to bring in 3 things each to donate to the food pantry -- they are trying to get 100 items per grade.


Lori, can you stand another comment about kindergarten? If you decide to wait with Brian (and I'm not saying you should, but that if you do ... ) is there something you can do with him next year other than just repeating the program he's in now? Because it definitely sounds like another year of status quo isn't what he needs -- are there any programs near you that are pre-K programs designed especially for "young 5's" with summer and fall birthdays? That's what Victor did last year, and I found it to be very worthwhile -- exactly what he needed as an "in-between" step.


Also, about reading -- there's a site called Gamequarium.com (hope I spelled that right) that has links to lots of games that reinforce early reading skills -- we've been doing the stuff to reinforce initial and final word sounds; "chunks" and sound blends. Also the author Jan Brett has a nice site with lots of attractive word lists -- Dolch, etc -- to print out. They're the same lists you'll find everywhere; I just think the illustrations are gorgeous. It's janbrett.com


Helene

[MrsReber]

Helene, what a day! I'm sure you were glad when it was all over. I had to LOL at your climbing in the hatch of your car and thinking you'd have to be rescued.

I agree with Miss Manners---and I think you should always have something for guests to nibble on. I tend to feed Casey and Brenden before we go places, unless I am sure of what's on the menu. Casey is so picky. I got a call from her at 8:30 this morning. Because the school was closed yesterday, the lunch menu was changed. She refused to eat anything on it. In addition to 2 lunch choices, they also have pbj, a yogurt lunch with animal crackers, and chef salad. Brenden just gets the pbj when there are changes to the menu. Casey calls me from the school. I brought her lunch and stayed to eat with her and then sat with Brenden during his lunch time.

Yesterday was supposed to have been the 100th day of school. I learned about the celebrations last year when Casey was in K. Never had that when I was a kid. The K classes seem to do more with it. So now today is the 100th day. They do fun stuff all day. Each child in the class brought in 100 of something. Brenden brought 100 hershey kisses. I'm sure he'll come home with a ton of junk food.

I think I posted before, but the school was closed because it was being used as a shelter for the people who were evacuated because of the fire nearby. The one near us started on Saturday, but the winds were so bad Saturday afternoon and even worse all day Sunday. There were power outages all over the place, too. We were lucky enough to have no problems with power. The fires are still burning. It's across the highway from the school.

Helene, we're going to AZ the last week of March. My little sister's wedding is on the 29th. Spring break is the week before the wedding so I'm trying to stay out there that whole week and fly back on the 30th and hopefully send the kids back to school the next day. I hope! Casey hasn't missed a day yet and she's proud of that. I know it's going to cost a fortune for us to go. DH is staying home. I know he doesn't want to hang out with my family for a week. I can't complain- I wouldn't want to hang out with HIS family for a week. So now I have a free pass in my back pocket.....I think he would've come with me if it were for a shorter time. We have the pets to worry about and DH only has 5 vacation days for the year :eek: ! I won't get paid while I'm gone, but I haven't flown out there since 2003. I want to really spend some time there. My last two trips to visit were only 3 or 4 days. I'll stay with my dad for the first part of the week, then I'll go to my brother's new house for the second part of the week. The wedding party will be taking over my dad's house, so I'm going to get out of the way when that happens.

Well, I better get back to work. We have a book club at the school tonight. Casey really wanted to join. We got a Magic Treehouse book to read and the fact book that goes along with it. I was amazed that I had to force Casey to read the book. She was taking her sweet time with it when me and Brenden already read the whole book together. She finally finished it this morning. Tonight at 7:00, we go to the school for dessert and book discussion. Should be interesting.

[cchhbb]

Helene, I've climbed through the back of my Explorer before so I know exactly how you feel. A friend of mine started her car to warm it up and had it stolen out of her apartment complex though. When I warm my car, I always make sure I lock it first. The explorer was handy since I could just use the keypad to unlock it.

I have had the day you described. I think mine was on Sunday where I had things booked back to back and nothing went exactly as planned.

Susan, I was surprised about what a big deal 100 days of school were. Garrett had Mr. 100 come visit and he gave them pencils. That was all that they did. Garrett's school doesn't even want to have a treat for Valentine's Day in the classes. I feel sorry for the kids.

Today, Griffin woke up with his eye hurting again. It was swollen and red so he must have had another allergic reaction. I was at church working on something when the office manager of the preschool came to get me to take a look at Griffin. After he saw me there was no way he was going back to school so we left and went to Costco.

Helene, it sounds like you have a good plan for when you have surgery. I'm so sorry for you. I wish I lived closer as I'd bring you a home cooked meal and have Victor over to play.

This weekend, Griffin woke up both nights and started wandering around the house. I heard him go downstairs and when I got there, he was trying to go into the garage. I think he might be sleepwalking. He's done this before. I'm glad we have an alarm system so I'll know if he tries to leave.

Garrett is being sassy about writing names on his Valentines. He just doesn't want to do it so it looks like a real mess. We still have another 10 to go. We're doing tattoo ones this year. Griffin has some Elmo ones and I think we've used them 4 different times now. They are finally done. Do you all give teacher presents for Valentine's Day? It seems to be popular around here. I'm giving some jalapeno jelly to each of them. I had a bumper crop of them this year so made a ton and really need to give it away.

Cheryl

[JoanneOR]

Cheryl, we'll be tackling the names on the valentines tonight with Caitlyn. Her teacher gave everyone printed copies of all the kids' names so you can just cut them and paste them on the valentines. I know Caitlyn can write all the names, but the pasting might be easier! We'll see how we're both feeling tonight. Colin and Ian can only write "classmate" on theirs, or leave the name blank. I need to go get some treats to send with them, too. Oh, I just remembered for Colin's party we need to come up with 30 terms that relate to Valentine's Day and write them on index cards for a pictionary type game they're going to play? Any suggestions?? That's probably a good other stuff board thread. Jameson doesn't do valentines in his school. One less thing to worry about!! I got the :rolleyes: when I asked if he wanted to get any to pass out at school.

I sometimes give the teachers small valentine gifts, like those chocolate roses. I'll have the kids make them a valentine with some candy, too.

I remember the kids celebrating the 100 days of school in kindergarten, 1st and maybe 2nd grade. In kindergarten they had each kid bring in 100 of some type of snack, then they mixed it all together and ate it. Another year they had to form the number 100 with 100 of some object, like buttons, or macaroni.

Susan, Casey and Colin should meet. They'd probably get along really well! Colin is a really picky eater, too. He told me yesterday the only lunches he likes are chicken nuggets or chicken sandwiches. He gives the other ones away. :eek: I'm glad I'm buying a 2nd lunch for someone else's kid four days a week! :( He told me the lunch lady tries to get him to eat and sometimes takes him to the office to get pretzels. :rolleyes: Sounds like he has her wrapped around his finger. I would rather make him a lunch I know he'd eat but DH says he should try whatever is on the menu. Maybe it would expand his appetite. That's fine, but it's been over a year - I don't think he's going to start eating it now!

I'd definitely expect a party at 5:00 to serve food. I would have pizza or something dinner-like. If not that, at least some snacks or something. Who wants their kid to skip dinner and then have cake??

Helene, yikes, that is a bad day!! Hopefully, that's your quota and nothing else will go wrong for a long time!

Ian is going to be in the school talent show. A couple girls in his class are doing a dance from high school musical and they wanted him to be the "cool dude". :D They auditioned and made the show, but haven't practiced since! The show is the end of the month, so they still have time. We've tried to get the girls to come practice at our house, but Ian is adamantly against it. He feels his brothers will embarass him. His fears are probably legitimate! DH called the moms last night and the girls are coming Friday after school. DH said he'd keep his brothers out of the basement. Should be interesting!

I don't know if I posted about seeing High School Musical on Ice?? I took Caitlyn last weekend. She really enjoyed it - kept her attention the whole time, although I don't think she really got the plot, which is fine! It's just nice to do things one on one every once in awhile. Friday I'm taking her to a show and lunch at American Girl. Her godfather got her gift certificates for Christmas. She'll be able to get a doll, too. I would have waited another year or so to take her, but since we have the tickets, we'll go this year.

Better run...have lots of work to catch up on after being out last week....

[MrsReber]

Joanne, that's funny about the talent show. I had to chuckle. Poor Ian, worrying that his brothers will torture him.

We were supposed to only put Brenden's name on the Valentines, but he of course wanted to write out all his friend's names. He did half of them and then just signed the rest. I'm going to go in to Casey's class tomorrow for the ice cream sundae party. I'm, uh, helping out :D . I don't ever give the teachers Valentines presents. The kids will give them cards and I'm sending Valentine peanut butter balls for Brenden's class- it was his request. They're not having a party, but his teacher said she'd serve any snacks that were sent in. And I know she loves when parents send in snacks.

There was a 1 hour delayed opening this morning because of the ice we had last night. The book club was also cancelled so the re-scheduled for Thursday night (Valentine's Day?) Poor DH will be alone most of the evening, but I'm sure he won't mind the quiet. I'm running Casey to her riding lesson after school since we had to cancel for today (too rainy and muddy). Then we'll come home, grab dinner real quick and run to the school for the book discussion.

Joanne, I wouldn't dream of telling my kids they had to eat the school lunch. They'd rather not eat than try something they don't like. I see how little of the school lunch they eat when they actually LIKE what's being served. I'm slowly getting them to try more things at home. Brenden is much more open to trying things than his big sister is.

I better finish up with work. I have to get these kids to do their homework for tomorrow night since we'll be short on time tomorrow after school. Then I have to start making peanut butter balls with the kids. Brenden wants to put Valentine sprinkles on them. We tried it before and they looked cute. And they're always tasty!

[JoanneOR]

Yikes!! What a night last night! It's my own fault for not planning ahead and putting everything off until the last minute. I came home from work and had to help DH finish his and the boys Valentine's for the grandparents and for some friends, then run out to two stores to get gifts for the kids and a card for DH, treat bags and candy for the treat bags for the kids to give out at their school parties. Yea, me and 500 other last-minute people! :rolleyes: There was hardly any Valentine candy left. I did manage to finally pick out some stuff and get home in time to pick up Jameson from basketball practice. Then I got the kids going on signing their valentine's and stuffing the bags. Got them in bed. Then I had to write out the 30 index cards for the valentine pictionary game in Colin's class. Then I got DH's gift and card together and the kid's gifts together and snuck them in their room. By that time it was 11:30! It was worth it this morning though when they all woke up excited about their new stuffed animals. And, they gave me this really cute card and some roses.

Susan, enjoy that ice cream sundae party! DH is going to Colin's and Ian's parties at school. I'd like to go, but I've missed too much work lately and I'm off tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

[RunnerKim]

Happy Valentine's Day

Wow Joanne, you go all out for V-day! I want to live in your house! I'm so thankful for my MIL who sends holiday packages for the kids. I did make each of them a valentine - we had a "craft" staff meeting at work where we made valentines while discussing regular business - I love the people I work with :D

Lainey's class did a big 100 day thing too. They each brought in 100 pieces of a snack food. The teacher had put 100 dot stickers around the room and they had to find them all (numbered) and write the numbers on a sheet. Kids brought in puzzles with a 100 pieces. Lainey picked out a Thomas puzzle that Jamie dumped in the bench where we store our backpacks/work bags. I counted pieces and came up with 103 two times. We were in a hurry so I couldn't get DH to count too - 103 in a "100 piece puzzle?!!!" or is my counting that bad?? Alas, there was 1 piece still buried in the bench so she was a little disappointed when they put it together at school.

Helene - sorry about your off kilter day! It is pretty funny to picture you climbing in through the back of your car though!

Cheryl - that's a little scary about the sleep walking. Glad you have the alarm so you at least know if he's trying to leave the house.

It's been a challenging week for us. Monday morning I heard on the news that the center director for Lainey's school was missing. I was scrambling around on Monday morning (saw it while riding the bike and by the time DH made it in to see the TV the segment was pretty much over). We had to dig up some info to make sure it was really her (I wasn't exactly sure it was her last name). Quite shocking. I didn't know what, if anything, Lainey would hear at school but decided I wanted to talk to her about it. All we knew was that she'd last been seen late Friday afternoon and her family reported her missing on Sunday. There was possibly some kind of medical (mental?) condition that might have been the cause of her getting out of a car with friend(s) and getting on a bus.

Lainey could understand that she was "lost" - I wasn't sure if she'd question how an adult could be lost. I also talked with her about how people who are scared, in pain or sick can make decisions that they normally wouldn't make. She'd just been to the vet with our cat and the vet had warned her to keep her distance from the cat in case he struck out (it was a regular exam) and we'd had a conversation then about how animals will strike out when they're scared even though they wouldn't normally hurt you. So the concept was already there.

Needless to say it's been pretty rough time for the staff at the center. Some news reports talked about "paranoia-like symptoms" which freaked a bunch of parents out but the executive director was adamant about her history - she's been with the organization for 11 years with several extensive background checks etc. etc. It was really unfortunate how the news overly-dramatized the situation. :( The only additional news is that someone found her coat, hat, phone and ID in a park on Sunday. :( :( :(

Lainey's class did talk about it on Monday - she mentioned that they talked about her at snack time and hoped she had food and water. Then at bed time she mentioned hoping she had a bed too. Lainey's had a rough time getting to sleep this week. She just doesn't want to be alone. So we've let her sleep in Jamie's room which has worked for her. She did ask about doing her valentine and I said we could just leave it on her desk for her. "What if she never comes back" - then her family will appreciate having it.

I can't help but think that we're not going to hear good news at some point. Maybe she was upset/overwhelmed or whatever and got out of the car and on to a bus. Maybe she wandered around for a while to blow of steam/collect her thoughts whatever and then something happened. :( :(

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Oh, Kim, how horrible about the center's director. I really hope they find her unharmed, but you can't help but think the worst. And then to have the kids at the school trying to figure out and understand all of it. Does she have children of her own?

Wow, that's pretty impressive to find all but one of those puzzle pieces! At our house, it would probably be five different puzzles all mixed together at the bottom of the toy box!

[MrsReber]

Wow, Kim, that's awful. I will hope for the best, but it doesn't look too good if they found her belongings like that. How sad. Poor Lainey. Sounds like it's worrying her a bit. That's a tough thing to explain to a bunch of children.

The ice cream party was fun. I did help out, too, with serving. There are 15 kids in Casey's class, which is so nice. After the party, we stopped home for about 20 minutes, then went off to Casey's riding lesson, then back home at 6:00 for dinner, then off to the school library for book club at 7:00. In between all of this, Casey and Brenden were consuming candy like crazy! I had to tell them to stop a few times. They were eating it on the way home while I was driving, then at home. I told them they had to start eating some healthy snacks, so they did. I knew the library was serving dessert, too. I somehow managed to put together a nice dinner for DH. He loves the CL chicken enchilada casserole. Very time consuming to put together. He didn't come to the book club with us.

They had cake, fruit, and ice cream for dessert!! Only three families showed up for the book discussion. Since they changed the date due to the bad weather Tuesday, about 6 other families couldn't make it. It worked out well, though. There were door prizes and each child was able to get one. Casey got a set of the books we read (a Magic Treehouse book and the companion book). Brenden's name was the first one pulled from the basket so he got first choice at a prize. He chose a $10 B&N gift certificate. I wasn't expecting prizes. We talked about the book a little, then did a polar bear quiz together and the kids made polar bear masks. They had a great time.

When I walked into the school yesterday afternoon, I saw one of the K teachers. She takes all the pictures for the school. In the beginning of the year, they send a ton of forms home. One of them is a release, if you will allow the school to use your child's picture for publication in the local paper. Well, I said no on the forms and then Casey got upset because she figured she'd never be in the paper. The K teacher asked me yesterday if she could use a great picture of Casey from the 100th day celebration. I told her to go ahead. Casey was on the stage counting to 100 by 5's. Apparently she was couting so fast they had to slow her down so the other kids could count with her. They have the School House Rock dvds. In one of the songs, they count to 100 by 5's and they go really fast. Oh, and Casey has a speaking part in the spring program next month. She already learned her line. I hope she can remember it on stage. I'm trying to get her to speak slowly, too. She says it so fast! She enjoys being on stage as much as I do (not at all!!).

I better wrap things up with work and get my time sheet in. Everyone will be home soon and I need to run to the library to drop off a tape the kids took out last weekend. Only 7 days on videos and dvds.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend

[JoanneOR]

Kim, any news on the center's director yet?

Susan, sounds like a busy few days!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

Friday I took Caitlyn to American Girl with the certificates she got from her godfather. We were there 4.5 hours!! She absolutely loved it. I took her down on the train I take to work and I must say it was quite a different experience having her with me than being alone. Kim, I know how it must be for you everyday now! She was just the little chatterbug all the way there. Things I see every day and don't pay any attention to were so new and exciting to her. Kind of refreshing. Once we got there we looked around and she got the doll she had picked out from the catalogue. We saw a show and had lunch. We spent most of the time just walking around and looking at all the displays. When I get my pictures on my computer (along with the 400 others I haven't downloaded yet :rolleyes: ) I'll post one of her with her doll. Of course, she's asking when we can go back again.

We're all battling colds and other junk around our house. Colin has an ear infection. Of course, it manifests itself at 8:00 on Sunday night. The poor guy was running around just crying in pain. We almost took him to the emergency room, but I knew we'd be there all night. He did finally feel better with some Motrin and holding cold packs on his ear. We got him into the doctor yesterday and he's on antibiotics.

Jameson's school was having a charity volleyball tournament Friday night for Make a Wish with the teachers, students, police dept. all playing games against each other. Jameson wanted to go, so I took him, Ian and Colin. I think I need to learn to let go a bit. Most of the kids (probably 90%) were there without parents. Jameson didn't seem to care, but I realized he's at the age now where I don't have to go everywhere with him! I didn't even think of just dropping him off and picking him up. He just brought home a note from school that there is a dance after school on the 29th and he wants to go. So, I gave him the $3 and permission slip. A dance!! I don't know if I'm ready for this!! He did go to a dance for the football players earlier this year and seemed to have a good time. The kids at the volleyball game just all seem so much "older" than him. I know he is a year younger than most of them, but it's just kind of weird! It's all just me, analyzing things too much!

I had my procedure yesterday. Not fun. It was actually worse than I thought, but I'm glad I didn't know that beforehand! Now I wait for the results and the doctor said most likely he'll do a LEEP next. I know this is all common and most likely that's all that I'll have to do, but I just broke down on the way home from the doctor's office (by myself). I came home and DH didn't even ask how it went or anything. He finally noticed I was upset and then was very supportive. I think I worried him more than he needs to be. He understands all this less than I do! He came home from dropping Ian off at a friends shortly after and it looked like he was crying. :( Maybe the results will be good and I won't have to do anything else. That would be nice.

[RunnerKim]

(((Joanne))) I really think that being alone for medical procedures can really get to a person - even if you *know* it's minor. Even more hugs! I hope your wait isn't too long.

Your American Girl trip sounds like it was a lot of fun. I'm always so impressed with how many "targeted" activities you do with your kids. I only have 2 (most of the time!) and it just doesn't happen!!

Susan - sounds like a great 100 day celebration. If the picture of Casey is online let us know - it must be pretty cute!

No news on the center director. It's all incredibly strange and disconcerting. Even the missing people police indicate that it's an unusual situation. Doesn't appear to be foul play involved but yet there's absolutely nothing to indicate why she'd up and vanish willingly. Lainey seems to be past the initial focus of it. I wish the executive director were being more communicative (not that there's really anything to say) but I am impressed with how well they're carrying on in a normal way for the kids.

We've pretty much decided that Lainey will be in K next year. The district policy is hard on start date for 1st grade (they have a test option for K but not 1st). I'm resigned to it but still have fairly strong mis-givings about it. We really liked what we saw at the school but the K class was reading a book (group time) that Lainey has been able to read by herself for quite some time (Jog, Frog, Jog). It was quite the coincidence when she selected it to read a couple days after our visit (she didn't go with us) and it confirmed those feelings for me. She even commented about the rhyming words etc. etc. The option is there to pursue the "acceleration process" once the school year begins but we'll wait to see how things go to make that decision (not that it would make any difference if we said we planned to initiate it on day 1 now).

Figuring out what to do with Lainey when she's not in the "half" day program (isn't 2.5 hours more like a 1/3 of school day?!) has been a challenge. We visited 2 daycare centers that pickup/drop off at the elementary school. The one that is most convenient and that we like a little better (and is NAEYC accredited) will cost us MORE than what we're paying now for her all day K. Lainey will be thrilled that she gets to ride a bus though! We live so close that she wouldn't get to ride from home.

There was a 3rd after school option but the online comments scared me away. Normally I read those with a pretty big grain of salt I know it's generally dis-satisfied people who post (I'd never thought to do it for my kids' centers and I am thrilled with them). But what got me was the "positive" comments - one of them was refuting the negative ones by saying the kids must be bad and deserve the treatment they were getting. :eek: :eek:

The allowance/chores thread... Lainey was so excited to spend some of her allowance money at the aquarium gift shop yesterday (we made a trip to the coast). We didn't bring her cash with us as I didn't want to have to keep track of it and thus DH paid for everything together and she quite happily played with her 2 little stuffed animals. When we got home in the evening she wasn't so happy to part with her money though! She would have been fine if she'd paid with her money but to have to hand it over after she had possession didn't sit well with her. Good thing it's going to be a long time until she has access to a credit card! It was a good lesson for her and fortunately she's still quite pleased with her purchase.

Kim

[LaraW]

Hi All

Kim, sorry to hear that there isn't more/better news about your center director. That is a tough situation, and its probably hard for the administrators to know what to do.

And, sorry to hear about Kindergarten as well.

(((Joanne))) hope you hear some good news soon. I agree, that it is hard to be alone for medical procedures.

Well, DH took the last (hopefully) of his tests last Saturday. Hallelujah. We will find out in 6-8 weeks if he passes. He finished it quite a bit faster than I was expecting him to, but he said that he didn't think he would change anything by working on it longer.

Natalie got her cast off today and so she is enjoying walking around without it. She said that her foot is a little sore, and the doctor said that is normal for it to ache and for her to limp a little bit for a few days, but to come back if its still going on in 2 weeks. DH actually took her to the doctor because I was not able to today. She said it was funny to have him take her to the doctor. I guess the "saw" that they used was kind of scary but that was the worst part. They did another x-ray (which she took back to school for show and tell :p ) and it has healed just fine.

Sigh.

Colin was sick with croup about 2 weeks ago. I had heard him cough in the night on Tuesday night once or twice but didn't really think anything of it. He kind of deteriorated during the day on Wednesday and had a bad night Weds night. I took him in to the doctor on Thursday, he got an oral steroid and he was like a new kid once he got a nap, etc. My parents were here to visit that weekend so I was glad he was feeling better by then. But then last Weds I woke up with a sore throat and had that for 4-5 days. I'm just now feeling better. I only had a sore throat, nothing down in my lungs or in my sinuses. I figured I got the same virus as he had, since I spent a lot of time holding him and him coughing in my face :rolleyes: But, I think we're all on the mend now.

[hrk]

Good morning everyone

Kim- I am so sorry to hear about the director being missing. That is very strange, but at least the center seems to be handling it with the kids. And trying to figure out what to do about 1st grade must be a big pain. I didn't know there were many places that still had half day kindergarten- everywhere around here is full day.

Lara- I remember those saws to have your cast taken off, I can see those being scary, but glad to hear Natalie mended well. Sorry about everyone not feeling well. And congrats to DH and hopefully great news on him passing.

Joanne- Sounds like a fun day at American Girl.

Well this weekend was fantastic but exhausting. We flew out to California on Friday evening and spent the weekend at Disneyland with my parents and my brother and SIL. I must say a 6 adult to 2 children ratio is the way to go to Disney:D We did both Disneyland and California adventure and stayed there Saturday night and Sunday night. The kids did great even with the time change. Logan could go on most of the big stuff and he really liked the roller coasters, yet at the same time he still loved seeing the characters and doing the small stuff. And Ari just took it all in and really loved it.
We got back into town last night so this morning was hard, but back into the routine we must go.

Hope everyone else is well.
Heather

[JoanneOR]

Heather, sounds like a great vacation! Yep, that's definitely a good kid/adult ratio. ;)

Lara, glad to hear Natalie's cast is off and she's healed. I remember Caitlyn being a bit sore and tentative with her leg when the cast came off. Only lasted a day or two, though, I think. Congrats on the last of your DH's tests! What a relief that must be.

Kim, sorry to hear about the K situation. Hopefully they do have a good acceleration program. The half day (really 1/3 day) stuff stinks! Just keep thinking "it's only a year" and it'll get better after that year is over. That's how I've been this year with Caitlyn's school. I love her teachers and she's doing fine. But, they moved the location and it's really inconvenient and impossible to park. Also, the class size increased and they are down one teacher. I really don't think she's reaching her full potential there because there are 3 and 4 year olds mixed in at all different levels (and she's 5). But, next year she will go to all day kindergarten in the same school with Ian and Colin and DH will be able to sleep.

There is a glimmer of hope that Colin actually likes his sister :rolleyes: . He fights with her constantly. But, they are having the Jump for Heart fundraiser at school again this year. Colin said he wants to do it and raise money because of Caitlyn. Well, last night he went through his room looking for spare change and took all that and his money he had left from his birthday and communion, about $50 all together and put it in the envelope to turn in for the fundraiser. I told him he didn't have to give all his money, but he said no, I want to. Ian also wants to donate the last $20 he has. I'm torn about whether letting them do it or giving some of it back to them and donating more myself. I'm planning on giving them each some money, but I hate for them to give all of theirs. It is heartwarming to see they want to do it, though.

[MrsReber]

Finally I'm able to visit and catch up here!

Kim, I'm so sorry to hear that the director is still missing. That's so strange. As for the kindergarten issue, that's really tough. It seems so unfair that they're so strict with things. Casey started in NJ with 1/2 day kindergarten. I agree, it was more like 1/3 of a day. It started around 12:00 and was over before 3:00. In that time, they had recess and snack! What could they possibly learn in 2.5 hours with time for recess and snack?? She was in the afternoon session so DH dropped her off at daycare in the morning, then a bus came to get her for K, then brought her back to daycare afterwards. The homework they gave her was pitiful- all stuff she already knew. When we came to VA, K was all day and the work was more suited to her abilities- and the teachers worked with her when they saw she was so advanced with her reading. It's just funny to me that everyone in NJ said I'd be so disappointed in the quality of the schools in VA, as if NJ was the pinnacle of education. I just talked to a co-worker last week who told me I should see if the standards are the same, insinuating that maybe Casey wasn't really so advanced; maybe she's just the best in this particular school because they don't expect much from the kids in this area. Uh, no. I was angry, but reacted calmly. This particular co-worker has no wife or children of his own.

So, anyway, Kim, what you've done at home is important. I continue to teach things that they're not currently learning in school. We took out some biographies from the library and now Casey understands that they're not fiction and these people all lived at one time or are still living now. We also go over multiplication basics (1+1+1 is the same as 3 x 1, etc.) I figure that way the concepts will be familiar when they're taught in school.

Joanne, we just had the jump-a-thon on Valentine's Day. Casey wanted so badly to do it last year, but she couldn't jump rope. I think she learned how the following week. She was determined to do it this year. She raised $100! I didn't think she'd make it, but she did. I had to go over the reasons behind it a few times. I imagine your sons understand it all having Caitlyn in the family. I had to explain that the money went to the AHA to support research and awareness programs for heart disease and stroke. I think I finally drilled it into her head. She kept asking me what we were going to do with the money. And she wants to know when she's getting her prizes :rolleyes: . Brenden didn't want any part of the jump a thon.

Glad to hear that Natalie got her cast off and is doing well. Time sure flies. I feel like the whole thing just happened last week! Good luck to your DH on his test!

Heather, I'm impressed with your plane trips. I'm becoming frantic over our trip to AZ. But then, we don't fly much. I'm so worried about getting to the airport on time. I booked nonstop flights both ways, but I have to drive to the airport in Raleigh. The flight choices from Roanoke weren't so good. Going out wasn't too bad, but the flights back were at horrible times and they had one or two stops. I couldn't afford the shorter flights and the "reasonably" priced flights were overnight! So Raleigh it is! I'll fly back home with my sister and her 2 kids. The airfare was very expensive. My dad paid for my sister's (I had to book it and charge it and he's reimbursing me). I don't think we'll be flying out there again any time soon! It coincides with spring break for my kids so I guess it's just a bad time to fly if you want cheap airfare. We'll be out there for a week.

Now I have to figure out how to make life easy for DH with the pets. I fear he's not going to watch them carefully as he's always trying to get me to put the kittens outside. There are large wild animals around here and I don't want my kittens to become dinner or run off after being chased. Casey and Brenden would be heartbroken. I'm actually considering boarding them or getting Casey's trainer to take them for the week.

And of course our pony saga continues. Major will be going back to his previous home next weekend (not this Saturday, but the following Saturday). Then the woman needs to get her parents to write us a check for him so we can give her the paperwork. It's sad to see him go. Casey said it was Major's plan to misbehave so he could go back to his previous home. I told her she's probably right because he really loved it there. She says she'll still miss him.

Tomorrow night, we're going to see Joseph and the Amazing dreamcoat----whatever the title is! It's the Lynchburg College production. Casey's trainer is in it. It's an evening out, anyway. It should be a fun show.

Today there's no school because of icy roads. This is their 6th unscheduled day off. I'm wondering if the school year will be extended.

Well, that's about everything, I think!

[RunnerKim]

Happy Friday everyone!

Heather - a 6 to 2 ratio sounds great! Glad you had a good trip.

Lara - I hope everyone stays healthy. I remember getting a cast cut off my arm when I was a kid and that saw is scary! I remember it getting pretty warm too. Yeah to your DH for taking his last test - and yeah to you too! I know it's a team effort to accomplish big endeavors such as that.

Joanne that is quite heart warming that they want to give all their money. Maybe you can find a reason soon that they'd get/earn some money. Your family schedule will get so much better this fall!

Susan - it must be sad to say good-bye to Major but it sounds like Casey is handling it really well and maturely. Wow that was a fairly rude thing of your coworker to imply :rolleyes:

Lainey's been big of understanding Fiction and Nonfiction lately. Not that she uses those terms but knowing what's true and what isn't. We've read several things (including Magic Treehouse books) where there's a mix of true and not true. We have several sports books that are about real people. Have one right now from the library that's been interesting about Jackie Robinson written from the point of view of the bat boy. It uses "N-word" in it - not spelled out which of course leads to Lainey asking what the N word is.

The down side to your child learning to read is some of the things they read! Someone wrote "eat ****" (wonder if that will get censored) on a pole on the train shelter. Lainey noticed it right away and wanted to know what it said then read it herself - well the eat word, all she could make out was the sht. Thankfully those that do graffiti don't always have the best penmanship.

There's been some "non-updates" about the center director. They're draining a large pond in the park where her jacket etc. were found. They don't really have reason to believe her body is in there but no other ideas. They've also found video footage of her being on the bus (last known location) and everything appeared normal. Pond probably won't be lowered enough until Monday to know if there's anything there. It's just so 100% bizarre - no evidence of foul play (according to the media) and no reason to believe to she'd take off. Fortunately Lainey doesn't appear to think about it too often.

Kim

[hrk]

Happy Monday all

Susan- How was the show? I saw Joseph when I was pretty young, I remember I really liked some of the songs.
As for the plane trip to AZ, when we travel with the kids, I bring a DVD player on the plane, lots of food and a package of the color wonder books and markers. The boys get to watch 1-2 movies which kills most of the time, we eat either lunch or dinner depending on the time we are flying and after that most of the trip is done. I am sure all will go smoothly just allow yourself lots of time in the airport and don't be afraid to ask for help.

Kim- Any news on the director. I can imagine that the downside to reading and spelling is a lot of info we don't want our kids to get. Already there are some words that I usually spell that Logan has figured out.

Joanne- That is great about the fundraiser and the kids wanting to donate. But I think I would tell the kids to only donate half and keep the other half and you will put in a little more.

Well we had a quiet weekend for the most part. We are celebrating Ari's birthday next weekend, since it is the 10th and we will be out of town, so we were busy running some errands for that. We went to the party store to pick out the plates etc and we gave Ari a choice of Tonka, Elmo or Thomas. Well he picked Tonka just like his brother did at 2 years old. Scary.

Oh and Logan watched his first non-animated film over the weekend- Night at The Museum. DH said he really liked it but he asked a ton of questions. So if anyone is looking for a cute non-animated movie for younger kids, it should be a good choice.

Hope everyone has a great week.
Heather

[HRJ]

We got back from Florida yesterday -- it was a very nice trip; Victor had an absolute blast. We didn't go to too many attractions or anything -- mostly spent the time at the pool at my mother's condo. I still can't believe that the kid who was so terrified of going in the water has become such a fish! We did go to the Palm Beach Zoo one day -- it's quite a nice zoo and we all had enjoyed ourselves -- I'm sorry that we didn't discover it before this trip, because I know Victor would have liked it a lot when he was younger, too.

Susan, I think your kids are old enough at this point that you don't need to be too worried about flying with them. We flew JetBlue, which has individual TV sets at all the seats, so Victor basically turns on the Caratoon Network and we're good for the rest of the ride. If you're not traveling on an airline that has TV, I definitely agree with the idea of bringing a portable DVD player. And lots of snacks, since the airlines are so chintzy about providing food these days. (But, be careful if you're planning to bring any beverages -- I had packed a bunch of orange juice juiceboxes in my carry-on bag for the trip home, and they took them away from me at security. :mad: ) The most useful thing I find when flying is having my hands free when I'm at the airport -- I use a backpack for my carry-on stuff.

I guess I missed part of your pony saga -- I didn't realize Major was going back to his old owner. I'm glad Casey is handling it well, though. Are you getting a different pony instead?

((Joanne)) Sorry you had to go through your medical procedure by yourself. If it's any consolation, I was thinking of you this morning, when I had the first of my procedures -- I went by myself, too. (Then I went straight from the gyn office to the ophthalmologist for a pre-op appointment -- obviously, not the most fun morning I've ever had.)

That American Girl trip sounds wonderful. And how wonderful that your kids want to donate so much money to the Jump-a-thon! One Sunday morning back in the fall, when we were driving to Hebrew School, our usual route was closed off because they were using it for some sort of a fund-raiser run, for one of the cancer charities, I think. Victor was asking why so many people had decided to go running that morning, and I was trying to explain that they were running to raise money to help cure diseases. He kept saying, "But if they need money to help cure diseases, why don't they just ask people for it? Why do they have to go running?" It was a little harder for me to explain that part.

Kim, how strange and disturbing about the center director! I hope there's some kind of resolution soon, for the sake of her family and also the kids. Glad that Lainey doesn't seem to be focusing on it too much.

I also think it's odd that your school district provides testing for kids to start K early, but not 1st. Sorry that Lainey is sort of caught in the middle.

Lara, glad to hear that Natalie got her cast off, and that your DH is nearing the end of his tests. Sorry to hear that Colin had croup -- I certainly know what it's like to hear that croupy cough in the middle of the night. It's amazing what a dose of those steroids can do!


I think I'll put up a post on Great Food, but, what are some of your favorite make-ahead freezer meals? I want to spend a chunk of time this weekend preparing stuff for dinners while I'm recovering from my eye surgery. The weekend before we went to Florida, I made this spinach-pasta-cheese bake thing from the old CL Complete cookbook and froze it (I actually made two trays of it, and brought one over to a neighbor who recently had a baby). I'm also planning on making some calzones using pizza dough with various fillings. And there's always lasagna. But I'd like to try something different, too.

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Sunday, the body of the center director was found at a local park (in a pond). There's still a lot of unanswered questions. Lainey's been handling it okay so far. I think her being missing was a bigger issue for her - she can understand the fear of being lost. She even said at one point that there was both a good thing and a bad thing about Heidi. The good thing being that we knew where she was and the bad thing being that she's dead. The school was closed Monday & Tuesday, so today is her first day back. I expect she'll be affected by seeing the grief that I'm sure the teachers can't hide. The older kid classrooms are having discussions today about Heidi and also doing some kind of memorial craft. The memorial service is tomorrow and we're going to go. Lainey's written a little note (and I took some additional stuff in dictation from her) and tonight she might add a picture. She wants to give it to her parents but I've warned her that we might not be able to do that at the service but the staff can make sure her family gets it. Yesterday they had a meeting for parents and had been meeting with the teachers in the morning (and again in the afternoon). A child psychologist was there and I felt like they were approaching it in a really good and age-appropriate manner. I feel so bad for the teachers. I was able to see Lainey's teacher yesterday which helped me feel better about acting "normal" this morning during drop off.

Helene - I'm glad you had such a nice visit! I remember all Victor's water issues and it's great to hear that they're so far behind him!

Our freezer meals include: Mac&Cheese (homemade); chicken enchiladas, baked "ziti", soups, calzones... I've been messing around with bean burgers recently too. Nothing very different or exciting!

Heather - Tonka trucks have stood the test of time for a reason I guess!

It was kind of funny the other day, Jamie walked in to the room while I was talking to my sister on the phone. I said a quick "Hi Jame" to him and he assumed i was talking to James the train on the phone. So I passed him the phone and my sister was "choo chooing" etc. to him. It was hilarious.

Kim

[LaraW]

Kim, I'm so sorry to hear what happened. But, I am glad that at least you're getting some closure with the whole thing. How sweet of Lainey to find the good in the situation.

Too funny about talking to James on the phone. So funny. :)

Helene, glad you had a nice trip. I gave you some suggestions for freezer meals on your thread on the GF board. Hamburgers and meatloaf - nothing too exciting but you can get dinner on the table with a minimum of effort. We rely on our freezer for those kinds of meals once or twice a week.

Susan, I missed the thing about Major going back to his previous owner too. Good luck with your plane trip, I think the kids will be fine. They are old enough to know how to behave ;) We have 3 trips planned this spring/summer and I'm considering adding 1 more in Sept to go to PA for my cousin's wedding. I will have to see how much airfare is and if I can get cheap tickets. If my sister goes, I will be able to share a hotel room with her.

We are doing well here. We had speech therapy this AM, and it was our 6-month evaluation. Colin has met the goals set forth for him last summer, and we set new goals for the next 6 months. He will get the "big" evaluation next fall and it will then be determined whether he qualifies for services after he turns 3. The therapist said that he is right on track, if not ahead, for other gross and fine motor skills.

We are having a beautiful weather day today. I think that we are going to go over to the park later and get some good outside play in. I know some of you (Joanne!) are having a tough winter. My sister has been stuck inside w/ a 15 month old for the majority of the winter (in Iowa) and its been tough to do much of anything.

[JoanneOR]

Lara, yea, our weather has been horrible this winter. Even the kids weren't too excited about the latest snow storm Monday! We're so ready for it to be over already!! The kids like to go out in front and play football/soccer/whatever they can think of to tackle each other and act crazy. Which is fine, except whenever it's been warm enough to actually go outside, that means the snow is melting and our front yard has turned into a huge mud pit. :eek: Jameson and Colin were out there Sunday (it was actually 40 :rolleyes: ) and were covered in mud. That's great that Colin has met his speech goals. Are you noticing a big difference in how he's communicating? Where are you going this spring/summer?

Kim, so sorry to hear about the director. It's sad, but at least there's some closure. But, I'm sure it's hard to not know what happened. Lainey seems to really be handling it well - that's so thoughtful of her to want to give the note and picture to the parents. It's so hard to understand why people do what they do and why horrible things happen like that. I graduated from NIU so I've been thinking about stuff like that over the last couple weeks.

Helene, yea, those two doctor visits back to back don't sound like fun. :( When is your eye surgery? That's great that Victor is taking to the water so well now. Maybe there's hope for me. :o (I'm terrified of water!).

We have a busy week. Tonight Ian is in the talent show at school. He's doing a dance to a High School Musical song with three girls. Tomorrow night Jameson has a basketball game at 8:30. He won't get home till 7:00 from Oz practice. Then Friday night is the first performance of Oz (Jameson is a Munchkin). I'm working the box office, but now I'm a bit concerned. Jameson is only in the first act and the last. I hope I don't miss him in the first because I'm selling tickets. :(

DH signed Caitlyn up for kindergarten today. Wow, I can't believe it! My baby is going off to school! She seems to be excited about it. It'll be nice to have her, Ian and Colin in the same school next year.

[MrsReber]

Kim, I am so sorry to hear about the director. That's got to be sad and a little scary at the same time. That's good that the school is handling it so well, too.

Thanks for the plane advice. We're flying Southwest. I don't think they serve meals anymore. It said something vague on their website about serving a snack or something. Do the airlines still have beverage services, even if they don't have food? Okay, so I can bring plenty of food, but I can't bring drinks? My mom said something about having to buy water after she passed the security checkpoint. I just wasn't sure if they'd serve any drinks on the plane. I think the kids would just love that. We do have a dvd player, but I don't think it runs on batteries. I have to see about that. I know they've come down quite a bit in price. I'm planning to bring my laptop along, however, if they're using it, my battery will run out way before we land.

The pony saga is like this: Casey's trainer found another pony for Casey in November. The only catch was that we had one week to try the pony out. They owners were (still are) in serious financial trouble and they're selling everything off. I saw their website. They have tons of horses, pregnant mares and ponies for sale. Anyway, our trainer's mother had her eye on this pony for a while. She's pure white (okay, a bit orange with rolling in the mud!), and a little bigger than Major. We tried her for a week, went each day, in the worst riding weather you can imagine. Freezing temperatures, mud out in the ring, very high wind gusts. The pony was bomb proof. We paid for her, since Casey was in love with her. And so is DH! That got me most of all. He's not a horse person, but he loves this pony. Casey has been doing great with her. It's a different way of riding since she likes to be talked to more than anything. The pony has been shown by 2 young girls until the out grew her. They had a lot of success at the shows so this pony knows what to do in a show ring, as opposed to Major who does what he wants. She was about 1/3 of the price of Major. There's only one (sort of) problem. The pony is pregnant. Due in August, so Casey's show season will be cut short. The farm where we board is a breeding farm so we'll be well taken care of. Casey will get to camp out there and be on watch for the birth of the baby. She's bred to a well known stallion and we've been told that we'd be able to find a buyer for the foal. Well, this whole thing should be quite interesting. I'm happy that Casey will get to go through all this. I'm still scratching my head wondering what I've gotten myself into. My step mother told me to just go with it, nothing in the horse world is practical and I should just enjoy it all. I know we can do that! With the price of gas, I'm not too upset about the short show season. It'll cost a fortune to trailer a pony! Casey can ride her at least until the end of June. She can ride soon after the foal is born, but we'll have to bring the baby up to the ring. Casey will just hate that ;) . If the baby is a girl, the tentative name is Moonlight Serenade. The mother's name is Shenandoah Goodnight.

Meanwhile, we had to figure out what to do with Major. His previous owner has the right of first refusal, so I got in touch with her. She's also having financial problems so she wasn't in a position to buy him back, but offerend to board him, train him and help find a buyer- and then be reimbursed for all those costs out of the sale proceeds! Yikes! The horse/pony market is very bad right now. Well, just after Christmas, she told me that her parents would buy Major back for their granddaughter. I was thrilled. We'll get most of our money back. She's going to buy him back less one year's lease fee, which is fair, I think. If we hadn't purchased him outright, we would've spent that money anyway. He's just clearly not the right fit for Casey. He needs to be ridden more often and by someone with more experience. He's so small that we didn't really have anyone who could get on him to straighten him out. Well, he should be leaving on Saturday. Casey will ride him one last time this week. We're not switching the paperwork over until we have the payment, though. She'll keep him free of board until we've settled the money part of things. We can go there to visit Major, too, which I know will make Casey quite happy.

So here's a picture from last month. My father asked me to please stop sending pictures of my child in the air as it's making him nervous! My step mother has 3 horses in their backyard at the moment. She doesn't jump any of them, though.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df10b3127cceb4dbef14706200000026108AYsWrRw3bOU

I can't wait until I can sign Brenden up for T-ball. Poor kid. Seems like it's all about Casey right now and he gets shuffled off to riding lessons when DH isn't home. I can't wait until he has an activity of his own. Meanwhile, I've been putting money in a savings account for him for a go kart or something, when the time comes. I feel it's only fair with all this pony buying and selling going on.

Joseph was awesome! The lead is very good. I hope he does something with his acting talent. He's going to graduate this year. Casey absolutely loved it and keeps asking if there's a cd we can get. I've never seen her so excited about a play and we've seen quite a few. It seemed to be over so fast!

Joanne, I can't wait to hear about the talent show! Wow, the game is at 8:30? That seems so late. What a busy night.

Oh, I forgot to mention this last time. Casey had to turn her apple last week. Each student has a green apple. It goes to yellow and then to brown. Casey has never, ever turned her apple or lost her sticker. Her teacher emailed me to tell me. She was in the hallway with another girl. Apparently they were making noise on the way back from the bathroom. Another teacher said something to them. The rule is that if another teacher fusses at you, you have to turn your apple. Casey was mortified. She didn't know that I knew when she got home. I asked her how her day was and she wouldn't really talkk to me. She finally handed me a 2 page note that she had written about how she had to turn her apple. She was so disappointed in herself. She's still upset about it and it happened last week! She asked me if I could email her teacher to ask if we were going to talk about it at our conference next week. She's just so unhappy about this mark on her record. I feel bad for her. I'm sure I don't have the whole story. She keeps blaming it on the other girl, which could actually be true. The other girl is always in trouble for talking or doing crazy stuff.

Helene, I have to go check out your frozen meal thread. I'm going to make some things to put in the freezer for DH for when we go to AZ. I can't stand the thought of him eating a can of soup or Burger King every night. I am planning to make Spaghetti pie and CL's chicken enchilada casserole (DH's favorite). I need a couple of other ideas. Those two dishes should give him plenty of leftovers, at least.

I better run. I have sooooo much work to do. I can't believe all the contracts I'm working on, but it's all good. I need to be useful so the company keeps me on- but I'm good for 2008, as far as I know. Or maybe we'll just go into the pony breeding business??

[JoanneOR]

Susan, definitely sounds like a good decision to sell Major and buy the new horse. How fun for Casey to be a part of the new foal's entrance!! Wow, that picture is amazing. Is that Major or the new horse? You're a good wife ;) to worry about what your DH will be eating while you're gone! I'm afraid I'd go to all the trouble and mine would eat takeout anyway :rolleyes: . Poor Casey with the apple. In kindergarten and I think 1st grade they use the green, yellow, red light system. I know that Ian and Colin got the yellow light once or twice and there was much drama about it. They had to bring home a note and have it signed.

The talent show was fun. They really did a nice job with it this year. In the past, it would run over two hours. This time they limited the acts to about 18. Some of the kids basically did lip synching, but alot actually sang and danced and were pretty good. Ian actually did a dance to Hairspray, I think I said High School Musical yesterday. He was really good and so were the girls he was with! I took some pictures, but they don't look too good on my camera - pretty blurry. He didn't seem nervous and a couple parents told me how well he could dance. Who knew?? :p

Back to work...

[MrsReber]

Sorry - that's Goodnight in the picture. That's Casey's trainer in the background. I look at that picture and can't believe it myself. She's made a lot of progress now that she has a coopeative pony.

That's great about Ian. I don't think either one of my children will ever willingly get on a stage to perform. There's a spring program coming up. Casey has to speak one line on stage and she's already dreading it. I can't blame her too much. I'm the same way with public speaking. I told my sister I'd do the maid of honor speech at her wedding. My 89 year old grandmother is the maid of honor so my sister wanted me and my other sister to do the speech. I still have to work on it, but I am so nervous about getting up there! Brenden has a non-speaking part in the program. He's a weed that strangles the flowers! Casey will be a ladybug. So weird. When she was born, DH started calling her Ladybug. Now it always seems that we have ladybug themes with everything around us.

And I am nice to think of DH eating well while I'm away! I'm not sure how the laundry will go. He's only used the new front loader twice, under close supervision :D . Well, he'll definitely see how much I do around here, although without the kids around to make a mess, it won't be as bad.

Does anyone else have any Webkinz pets? We have 4 now. I'm finally able to get back to them on line. I was having trouble logging onto the site, but it seems all better now. Brenden has 2 dogs and Casey has a pony and an alley cat. The website is actually a lot of fun. I keep playing this one word game in order to get more dollars for them to spend on their pets.