June Pre-k, K and 1st grade

[MrsReber]

Hello! We're slacking off here. It's June 3rd already! :D I figured I'd start. Three more days of school and they're 3 half says, too. I'm in trouble. They had the awards ceremony today. I asked Casey why parents weren't invited. Then she tells me when she got home that parents actually were invited (though I don't recall seeing any notice from the school!) She didn't know if she'd get any awards today, but she got two! She missed the attendance award by one lousy day. However, she got a reading and writing award and she also was the top 1st grade student in the AR program. I told her I'm very proud of her. She got a certificate for a free kids meal at Applebees. I told her we'll try to go this Saturday. Now she has incentive to work just as hard next year.

Kindergarten doesn't go to the awards ceremony. They hand out the awards at graduation on Thursday night. Then there's a slide show after graduation. One of the K teachers puts it together. She's always taking pictures all year. She does a fantastic job with the slide show, but she doesn't give out copies. The demand was too great from the parents!

Lara, I'm sorry you're having such problems with following the rules. We have similar problems that seem to come and go. Last week was definitely rough. For some reason, there was a lot of fighting and no listening to mom and dad.
Then, over the weekend, things calmed down and they're back to normal. I don't know what happened. Brenden was so out of control, hitting Casey every chance he got. We put him in his room, talked to him over and over, and didn't know what else to do. Then I took his computer time away from him. Casey asked if she could play and I told her yes. He asked when it'd be his turn. I told him that his behavior didn't warrant any fun activities. Well, he apologized to Casey for everything and behaved for the rest of the day. I finally found something that got a reaction from him as going to his room rarely works.

Brenden also started a martial arts class. I'm hoping it helps with his self-control. Casey tried a class last night. It's for kids 7 -13 years old. I thought for sure she'd hate it. It started after Brenden's class. She's looking at all the boys lining up and she told me she didn't want to be in the class with all those boys because they were so much bigger than her (most 7 year olds are bigger than her!). There were 2 girls there last night and they had 2 instructors. One of the instructors took Casey aside for the class and taught her some basics. It was great watching what the other kids could do. I was really impressed with them. The instructor had a padded stick that he would swing at the kids. They could duck under it, jump over it and roll away- it was really impressive. Brenden's instructor told me that she might put Casey in her class for a couple of months just to get some basics down, if the older class doesn't work out right away. I didn't think Casey would like it much. She quit karate when she tried it before. However, she told me she likes it and can't wait to go back!! I don't know how it'll work out. Her class meets 2 times each week. Then she has riding 3 times a week. The owner of the farm is yelling at me to put them both back in swim lessons because they have to know how to swim! She also told me "good, school will be out so you can come for morning lessons." I said "uh, maybe." She said "why maybe?" Gee, because I have to actually work in order to get paid?? I'm getting a wee bit overwhelmed with activities already.

I personally don't expect Casey to continue with martial arts training, but I know Brenden loves it. Casey's instructor told me he could tell she's been in gymnastics. He was amazed with her balance. I certainly wouldn't mind both kids having some self defense training. Also, they discourage any kind of violence and try to instill respect. If a child doesn't act appropriately outside of class as well as in class, they may not be allowed back. So it's another bargaining tool for me with Brenden.

I better finish up my work. We were supposed to have a riding lesson today, but apparently it's storming at the farm. No storms here, just some thunder here and there.

[RunnerKim]

I didn't even see this thread until I puzzled over Val's comment about the old one being well "old"!!

Way to go Casey on her 1st grade awards!

I love a good thunderstorm and had several while we were in St. Louis. We rarely get thunder & lightening out here.

There's a Taek Won Do (I'm all of a sudden blanking on how that's spelled) place near our house that I think has classes for 3 year olds and I've been wondering about signing Jamie up. I know Lainey will want to do it too though. I always thought "over-scheduled kids" were because of "pushy parents" but Lainey's game for almost anything anytime.

Kim

[MrsReber]

Kim, I may have to move out your way! We had thunderstorms come through here last night. We were actually pretty lucky in that we got mostly rain and very little wind. Didn't lose power, either. We were under tornado warning until 9:30. The kids were scared. We had the tv on to see what was happening and find out whether or not we should go get cozy in the basement. Casey collected pillows and blankets for everyone. She said she felt better doing something. Brenden asked me to turn the tv off. I told them both that though they found it disturbing, it was much better to know what was happening than to have no warning at all. I stressed that being prepared is extremely important so we can't just block out the unpleasant things. Well, it was kinda cool, too. I find weather fascinating- it's something that we have no control over- all we can do is prepare ourselves. Maybe I like that so much because it's how I live life- don't worry about things you have no control over, just do the best to prepare for it when it happens.

In any event, the warning was called off earlier than expected because the storm picked up speed. There was one tornado in Roanoke, about 25 minutes from here. It touched down for about 30 seconds. They haven't seen one since the 70's. I hope that it's anoter 30 or so years before another comes through. There is another warning until 4:00 today, but it's for an area that's about 2 hours north of us. I hope it doesn't move this way!

Kim, Casey is much like Lainey in that she wants to try things. Especially things her brother is doing. I was hoping that she'd be content to just watch and not want to join, but she insisted. I have a bad case of over-scheduled parent. There's only so many activities I can drive to in one week! She still wants to go back into swimming lessons and she's still asking to go back to gymnastics. I know gymnastics would be Monday nights (martial arts night, too) and that swimming is Tues-Thurs nights or Saturday mornings. Then we have 3 riding lessons each week. Ahhhh!! And poor Brenden only has one activity right now. He doesn't ask for more, either. I'm really interested in him learning discipline and self-control. It's only been two classes. He's been better at home, but his bad behavior tends to come in spurts. He was awful last week so this week he's being a perfect angel. Go figure. Since there's no class for him on Saturday (they're closed) there's a make-up class tonight at 5:00. I'm going to try to get him there. I think having an outlet where he can run around and have some fun is important for him so I'm going to try to do twice a week for the summer.

Some college kid just knocked on my door selling educational stuff. I bought a set of books from another kid last year and Casey and Brenden loved them. So, of course, I bought more stuff. They always get me. I have to say, though, we did learn some things from the books and they're still reading them. I got another smaller set of books and a set of software programs. They claim these things are developed by teachers and they actually do talk to the teachers in the area. I know the kids will play the computer games. One of them looks really cool. You have to sort of manage this frontier family It's callled The Oregon Trail. I think DH would like that game. I can't wait to play. Let's see, there's a math logic, math with number, geography, typing, and one other that's a basic learning game with 10 subjects. He was taking orders today and planning to bring the stuff at the end of the summer. I told him I'd rather have it now so I can work with them over the summer. So he said he actually did have a set in his car. I also feel weird giving someone a check and getting nothing in return on the spot. I also made him stay outside on the front porch.

Well, back to work. The kids will be home soon so I have to enjoy the silence while it lasts. Occasionally (especially in the winter) I eat my lunch while watching a tv movie. I guess that's over for a few months!

[RunnerKim]

You'll have to tell me more about the Oregon Trail game when you get it. We have it (or a version) - I bought it because I remembered playing it in 5th grade. It's different than the one I played back then (or I don't remember quite so well). My nephews enjoy playing it and Lainey kind of can do it. I have to say that my nephews probably enjoying seeing their "family" members get sick/die and then hunting the most. I get mad at them when they purposely kill more than they can carry and thus are wasting the animals. I remember when I was in school that happened once and it made the Indians mad and caused a raid but that's not a part of the version we have. Any way all that is to say that I'd be interested in hearing more about it when you play with it to see if it's a different version than we have.

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Lara, I wish I had some advice for following the rules! I'll usually do the take away privileges thing, too, but I know you said that doesn't really motivate Natalie. Caitlyn has really been pushing our buttons lately. She likes to just refuse to do what you tell her. I do use the taking away of privileges with her and it usually works. She usually goes to a friend's house about once a week and we tell her she won't go if she doesn't listen. DH actually did enforce it a couple weeks ago and kept her home. We haven't had many problems with the boys lately. Although I was so upset at Colin last week and actually had to ground him. That's the first time I've grounded any of the kids. He hit the sweet little four year old boy across the street. I was in the house and I guess his mom saw it and yelled (justifiably) at Colin and sent him home. I was just flabbergasted. It's not like him to do that and this kid is the sweetest little boy. I called and apologized. I'm good friends with her and she said it was OK but I could tell she was upset. Later we made Colin go over with an ice cream cone for the boy and tell he him was sorry and ask if he would still be his friend. He took the cone and said "maybe." :) That was kind of cute. So, Colin had to stay in the house for the rest of the week. We let him go back out Saturday.

Colin's soccer team made it to the championship game. He was so excited. They were really the underdogs and it was amazing they made it so far. Kind of like the Bad News Bears, if you're old enough to remember that movie. ;) They did lose the game - the other team was just amazing. The good thing was that not one of the kids on Colin's team was upset about losing. They were all just so happy to have made it that far. The coach also coaches football and was trying to convince Colin to play in the fall. I'm not too happy about that. I'm leaving it up to him, but I still just think he's too small. DH thinks I'm being overprotective. Jameson and Ian played last year and they didn't like it. It just wasn't their thing. It's really intense, though, two hour practices 4-5 days a week.

This is the last week of school for us, too. Caitlyn had her last day of preschool yesterday. I can't believe she'll be going to kindergarten already. Jameson had his awards ceremony yesterday and Colin and Ian had theirs this morning. They all had high honors for all the quarters. I'm not sure where they get their intelligence, :rolleyes:, but I was really proud of all of them. We're actually starting to think about high schools for Jameson. Just two more years, yikes!

OK, tell me if you think this is weird. Colin's picnic is today. He brings home a note which says everyone in his class should bring a bag of chips/pretzels, etc. to share. There are two other 3rd grade classes, one is bringing fruit, the other sweets. The notes says if you do not bring what you are assigned, you will not be allowed to participate in the picnic. :eek: Just doesn't seem fair. It's not the kid's fault if the parent doesn't see the note or forgets to send something. And, there are about 70 kids. If each kids brings what they are supposed to, they are going to have tons of food. And, most of it will go to waste. Most parents will bring something if asked, if they don't, that's OK. There's still enough to feed everyone. Plus, they were buying McDonalds for all the kids. I was just kind of annoyed by the whole thing, even though I was planning to send the chips. I was tempted to buy a couple extra bags and tell them to "donate" them to other kids who didn't bring anything so they could participate.

We're getting ready for summer. I know what you mean by overscheduling. Jameson and Colin are in three different soccer camps and all the boys are in a sports camp. Caitlyn has camp sunshine and they also have swimming lessons. Although, most of the activites are over in mid-July, so they'll have a good six weeks before school starts to do nothing! We're also renting a cottage for a week in July.

Kim, the boys took Tae Kwon Do when they were younger and loved it. I think it was really good for them. Unfortunately, the instructors moved away and I wasn't able to find another good program.

Susan, congrats on Casey's awards!! Better run...this is getting too long!

[LaraW]

Hi everyone-

Thanks for letting me vent. I think I was having a bad day on Friday and that was part of my frustration.

We did something that turned out to be pretty effective (so far). The kids are "earning" back a toy each day, if they can follow the rules. One thing I have done, that was suggested at our Love and Logic class is when Natalie squawks about picking up toys, I just tell her to feel free to only pick up the ones she wants to keep, and I will pick up the rest. That has worked so far as she says "I want to keep everything". ;)

We also did go over to the rec center on Saturday. DH and I talked about it and we took the kids to the child sitting area. We told Natalie ahead of time that there are rules that she needs to follow at the pool to stay safe and if she can't follow the rules at home, we can't trust her to follow the rules in the pool. It does seem to have made a difference - I have seen a noticeable improvement in the past few days and she has been talking about it as well. And, DH and I got to go swimming by ourselves (and we worked out for a while as well, which we never get to do together anymore!).

Some exciting news - I forgot to post this but DH passed his final test, and as of last Wednesday he is officially a licensed architect in the state of Colorado! Hooray! He had his review with his boss last week as well and got a significant pay increase. We're going to run the numbers this week to see if we can afford to pull Colin out of daycare and send Natalie 2 mornings a week and have me not work. I don't know if that will work out or not, but I"m in a work situation taht is starting to be intolerable, and so we want to see if we can afford it.

Sounds like you had a great trip, Kim. THat is great. I am glad the kids did well on the plane. Our kids have traveled well in the car and by plane. Glad that you had a good trip.

Joanne, that is kind of weird about the picnic. Although I can see if the same people consistently don't bring things to potlucks. That has really annoyed me about office potlucks in the past where the same people bring things and the same people don't, and help themselves to food. But, it is different with kids, and the kids can't help it if their parents don't send something. The school is going to let them go hungry? Congratulations to the boys for receiving high honors for the quarter!

[HRJ]

Lara, I'm glad you've been having some success with Natalie in the past few days -- sorry you were frustrated last week! I don't have much good advice for you -- this is one of the things that I struggle with the most with Victor, and I don't think that DH and I have ever really found a good solution. Like Natalie, Victor does not get too motivated by the idea of losing privileges -- he might momentarily, but it's not a long-lasting thing. And if we take away a favorite toy/game, for example, he very quickly adjusts and makes himself happy with something else, so it doesn't seem like much of a "punishment." Even taking away computer game time, which is the big thing right now, results in a lot of yelling and sulking from him at first, but then he'll get wrapped up in another activity. And sometimes I mete out a punishment in frustration -- ie, "You can't go play outside," and then I regret it, because, to be honest, it ends up being more of a punishment for *me* :rolleyes: Anyway, I guess I'm not much help.

But, congrats to your DS -- I know how hard he has been working on all those tests! And good luck -- I hope you're able to figure things out and leave your bad work situation.

Kim, glad to hear that the flight went well.

Joanne, that is annoying about the picnic -- they would actually deny third-graders food at a picnic? :confused: :eek: Especially when the school is supplying the "entree," and we're only talking about sides and snacks kind of things? As Victor would say, "Sheesh!"

Susan, glad the storm wasn't too bad. I can see how martial arts would be a good activity for Brenden. Victor has been asking about taking karate -- I really like the idea of it, but I was shocked to learn that all the karate places around here require classes twice a week -- that's really going to be hard for us, considering Victor is in after-care three days a week. Also, the places that have gotten really good recommendations around here are sort of expensive -- I was shocked at some of the rates. So we'll see.


Talking about "overscheduled" -- we've got a really hectic weekend coming up (well, at least hectic for us -- it sounds like Joanne's weekends are like this most of the time!) But Saturday is the Spring Fair at Victor's school, which is the biggest PTO fund-raiser for the year. It's a big carnival-type thing. I've been on the committee that's planning it, and I'll be working at the fair all day. I talked DH into being a dunk tank "victim" (Victor is so excited about the idea of trying to knock DH into the water!). But the forecast says it's going to get up to 90 degrees on Saturday, so a dunk in the tank might actually be refreshing. I'm looking forward to the fair -- we've been planning it all year -- but as you all know, 90 degrees is waaaay too hot for my tastes.

I posted a thread on Great Food looking for ideas of cakes to make for the fair's cake walk -- I think I'm going to try the caterpillar cake, which is made using a Bundt pan, and you cut the cake into sections and put it together so it looks like a caterpillar, and decorate with frosting and colored, shredded coconut. I'll try to post a photo.

Victor also has a soccer game before the fair, but DH will take him to that.

On Sunday, Victor is invited to two birthday parties. It's also DH's 30th college reunion (he went to MIT, so it's not like we have to travel anywhere)--months ago, he ordered us tickets to a brunch and barbecue for the reunion, but I'm thinking he might have to go by himself, because I'll need to be taking Victor back and forth to these birthday parties -- one is nearby, for a boy who is in his kindergarten class, but one is a few towns away, for a boy he knows from pre-K, and there aren't any other kids who are invited to both parties, so I don't think I would be able to get him a ride with another parent. And I don't want to tell Victor he can't go to a birthday party because he has to tag along to a boring college reunion! DH also signed up to row in the "Class of '78 Olympics" -- but it's been 30 years since he's rowed, so I'm a little worried that he 's going to pull out his back or something.

Then Sunday evening, it's the start of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (it's about Moses getting the Torah at Mt. Sinai), and we're having a dinner and program at the synagogue. So it will be one very long day.

Helene

[LA98]

Lara, we're having a lot of trouble with house rules here too (especially the "don't hurt your brother" one :rolleyes: ) but Brian really hates losing privileges (TV, computer time, etc) so that works very well for us. I also will remind him (a lot :o ) when there's something special event or outing coming up that he won't want to miss... Congratulations to your DH! Must be a relief to have all those tests done. And fingers crossed for you to be able to quit your job!

Joanne, isn't it weird when your kid does something so out of character (Colin hitting the boy)? Brian hit a boy on a playground a couple of weeks ago. He's never done that before, not even as a toddler! I think it's great that Colin's team made it to the championships even if they didn't win the last game. And I hear you on football. I can't stand watching those pileups... Oh, and very weird about the picnic! That is a TON of food if every kid is bringing a bag of something, not to mention the class bringing fruit! Sounds like a lot of it will go to waste. And McDonald's too? Eesh...

Susan, congrats to Casey on those awards! How fun that they give those out to the kids. I'll be interested in hearing how Brenden likes his martial arts class. I was thinking it would probably be helpful for Brian too, but not for another year probably.

Kim, glad your trip went well. Just curious, did you end up taking Lainey off her Flovent for the summer? I can't remember if you said you were going to. Brian's been off the Singulair, and a few weeks ago he started rubbing his eyes a lot outside and coughing a tiny bit. I was told the pollen was pretty bad at the time, it's calmed down now, and his eyes are better and he's not coughing. I was worried there for a while that we'd be dealing with allergies now too!

Helene, wow, you have a busy weekend coming up. I can just imagine how excited Victor is about dunking Dad! :D And the caterpillar cake sounds very cute.

We'll have a busy weekend too: Saturday is an Olympic type event in town that the boys will participate in. Brian's going to do a race, a soccer ball distance kick, and an egg and spoon race. (Jason's going to be in a 3-yard walk/run :D ) Then in the afternoon is an open house at a rock quarry near us. I think Brian's been counting the days for this since he went last year. You can take a bus tour of the whole quarry, the kids can climb up on those really huge construction vehicles, there's games and activities, etc. It's a lot of fun. Then Sunday we're going to visit friends.

For the summer, he's got gymnastics one day, then for the month of July he's going to do a town "camp" program that's 2 hours twice a week. August is wide open, I'm hoping to sign him up for swim lessons somewhere. He's never even been in a pool before, which is crazy. And there's a one-week sports camp thing in town that looks interesting but I think it's from 4:30 to 6:00 every day. I wouldn't feel comfortable yet leaving Brian there, but an hour and a half is a long time to keep Jason occupied and of course it's dinnertime too. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet.

Speaking of dinnertime, I've got a gripe: The ice cream truck must have changed its route from last year, because it's hitting our street at 5:00 every night. If I have to have the same conversation with Brian every day this summer about why he can't get ice cream 20 minutes before dinner is ready, I might go crazy! :)

Lori

[MrsReber]

Lara, congrats to your DH! It must feel good to have that behind him now. I really hope that you can work out the financial end of things, too. That would be so great for you.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to Casey's riding lesson then went straight to Brenden's class. Since they won't be open Saturday, there was a class last night. Well, I thought the class would be at the regular time, but it was at 6:00 instead. We showed up at 5:00, along with one other child. After 10 minutes, I called the owner. She said the class was supposed to be at 6:00, but she'd come down and open up so we wouldn't have to wait in the heat. Then another person showed up, thinking the class was at 5:30! She didn't want to start until 6:00 in case anyone else showed up. She thinks she may have given out the wrong information. However, until the class started, she played games with all the kids (all the siblings who came along, too!) so it was like a 1 hour class instead of 30 minutes. I was pretty proud of Brenden. When the class was over, another mom asked if he was my son. I told her yes. She said "well, I hope he rubs off on my son."

I'm annoyed with DH today. He's been trying to get in touch with a stump grinder. We have 3 or 4 large tree stumps in the yard that we need to have removed. he called the guy 2 weeks ago and I guess they were just having trouble getting in touch with each other. The guy called DH at work yesterday and told him he'd come by today after work to give him an estimate. Well, tonight is Brenden's graduation, which I told DH about every single day for at least the past week to ensure he didn't work late. I asked when the guy was coming. He told me it was my fault for not reminding him about graduation (?!?) and then said "I'll get down to the school when I can." He feels that the stumps just need to be done and he can't call the guy back and tell him to come on Friday instead! :mad: He better get there on time. He wants to know why the kids don't open up to him. I told him that he places no importance on their activities. They simply don't expect him to be there, but they know I'll be there every time.

I don't have too much planned for the summer, but I think it'll be just enough with the library programs, horse camp, superhero camp (have to call to make sure it's happening!), and the martial arts program. We'll do some things, too- swimming at the lake, camping at least once, playing with friends, and at least one horse show- and then we'll have some family visiting here and there. I know the time will fly by, as usual. I'm tired just looking at that list!

Joanne, that's crazy about the picnic. They ask the parents to bring in food and attend the end of year picnic for kindergarten. They always have a ton of food and nobody is left out for not bringing something. That's just plain rotten! I don't see how they could enforce that without feeling really evil.

Helene, sounds like a busy weekend for you. Hope the dunk tank isn't too cold! We don't seem to get invited to as many birthday parties here- I don't think they throw as many or maybe we just don't get invited?? But anyway, I used to do 2 parties a day with the kids. It was rough running around, but they had so much fun it was hard to say no.

Kim, I'm dying to try that game now. It sounds pretty funny. I would probaly be like your nephews- my curiousity gets the best of me with those games and I have to see what happens if you don't take care of the people. I remember once I played Sim city (way back). My BF at the time had the citizens all happy so he was not too pleased with my building more jails and raising taxes.

[HRJ]

Lori, could you let Brian get ice cream sometimes and then put it in the freezer to hold until after dinner? That's what I do a lot, because we tend to eat on the late side during the summer, so the truck always almost comes by before we've had dinner.

That rock quarry event sounds like a lot of fun -- Victor would love something like that.

Joanne, I forgot to congratulate Colin on his soccer success!! And yes, it's hard when your kid does something out of character. About a month ago, Victor got sent to the principal's office at school, because he spit on another kid on the playground at recess. (He claims it was because the other kid was blocking him and intentionally preventing him from being able to get off the play structure -- but DH and I told him that in no way excused his behavior, and we talked about how there are other ways to handle situations like that. And really, after all those years in day-care, he should know better.) He had to go sit on a bench in the office for half an hour -- the school secretary later told me he cried and cried and covered his face with his hands the entire time! I don't feel too bad about that -- I'm hoping that the experience shook him up a little, and will get the message across about misbehavior at school, and maybe we won't have to deal with it again in the future. We didn't punish him at home, since he'd already had his punishment at school, and it was a "first offense." We told him the situation would be different if he was ever sent to the principal again. (What's so funny is that our principal is such a mild-mannered guy, it's hard for me to imagine him being a disciplinarian.)

I posted on Other Stuff looking for party-favor ideas for Victor's birthday party -- I don't want to do goody bags full of little things, but rather one more substantial item, without spending a fortune. Any ideas?

Helene

[RunnerKim]

Way to Go Lara's DH! What a huge relief to have all those tests done!!!

Joanne - I'd have the same inclination as you - to send extra bags. That just seems so wrong. Even the most "responsible" parents could forget one time. And that does seem like a tremendous amount of food! Wonderful to hear how Colin's soccer team did and even better that they could enjoy their accomplishments.

Lori that sounds like a really fun weekend you have planned. Can't wait to hear how it goes! I have not started reducing Lainey's Flovent yet. I wanted to wait until after we returned from our trip. We're going camping with my family in a week and half so I'll probably wait until after that too. We're really not feeling summer much yet here.

Yes, Susan I think you'll enjoy the game! Lainey would get so upset when "she" died and her cousins were laughing about it. The version we have is pretty old (computer game -wise).

That was really nice of the instructor to start early and include the siblings during that time.

I hope your DH makes it to the graduation ceremony.

Oh Helene - poor Victor. I know, I know, he spit on someone but the picture of him sobbing his heart out. I'm sure he won't ever do that again though! (and maybe the kid won't block others from getting down either)

Kim

[JoanneOR]

DH said the Colin's picnic just went on forever yesterday!! It was from 11-3 and by the end all the kids were really hot, sweaty messes. But, they all had fun. I really don't think the teachers would have excluded anyone from the picnic if they didn't bring anything, but it was the threatening tone of the note that annoyed me. They did say in big capital letter that the kids wouldn't be able to participate if they didn't bring anything. Colin said everyone in his class did. Today was a half day and tomorrow is an hour and a half :confused:, then they're out for the summer. Why do I have that Alice Cooper song in my head?? :)

Helene, I felt kind of bad for Victor reading about how he cried in the office, too! I think kids just do things so impulsively sometimes, obviously not thinking it through. I think your weekend sounds just as busy or more than some of mine! I'm racking my brain trying to think of ideas for goody bags. You'd think I'd have some good ones, having had and been to more kid parties than I care to remember!! I'd actually rather give the kids candy or snacks than some cheap plastic stuff their parents will throw away soon (like I do!) How about gift certificates for ice cream cones or even McDonalds? Maybe water guns? I'll keep thinking...

Susan, I have to constantly remind my DH of stuff, too. Hopefully yours can make it to Brenden's graduation. Jameson still remembers when DH didn't make his band concert last year. DH hadn't hardly slept the whole week and just couldn't make it. I didn't think Jameson really minded, but he has mentioned it a couple times.

Lori, that Olympic event sounds fun. I had the same idea as Helene, save the ice cream in the freezer for after dinner. Then it's another bargaining tool, too. ;)

Lara, congrats to your DH!! That's totally awesome (to quote my kids ;))!!

We actually don't have much planned this weekend. I am doing a 5K on Sunday (not sure what I was thinking!), but no games or events or anything else.

[MrsReber]

Helene, how about some kind of a craft rather than a goody bag. Not sure what your doing for the party with a theme, but I hear of people having a craft that the kids make and then take home. I bought a couple of things for Casey's party- a necklace kit and those little fuzzy velvet pictures with the markers- oh and bandanas that they could color with fabric markers. Since I didn't have any games planned, the girls all got to work coloring things. Oriental trading has a lot of good things that are reasonably priced. If you aren't inviting too many kids, it'd be easy to get one big thing. At one party, Brenden got a little football and a hershey bar as a treat. They may have had a pinata, too.

That is sad about Victor crying, but I know how you feel when you say you didn't feel bad about it. I think I'd be much the same way. If my child did something wrong, I'd want him to feel bad about it. It's good to know that he was remorseful, at least, and afraid of the consequences of his actions. That in itself should keep him in line.

We just got back from graduation. DH went with us. The stump grinder guy was still here. I walked outside with the kids and told him it was time to go. He said "okay" and got in the car. Good husband. As it turns out, my kids are excellent spellers. Brenden also got a spelling award! Apparently he aced the spelling portion of the state test- not only spelling words, but capitalizing the right words in sentences and using the proper punctuation! I was pretty surprised. I've been reading to them since they were born and pointing out things along the way. Now I know they were paying attention. He also got an honor roll award. They obviously don't get actual grades yet, but the students that got consistently high marks on their report cards got the honor roll award. One boy was made a paper airplane with one of his awards while the ceremony was going on! I was pretty proud. It just gives me more incentive to keep on doing what I'm doing. We talked to one teacher as we were leaving. She said she's the special ed teacher and she works in both kindergarten classes. She knows Casey and Brenden and she said she can tell that they learn plenty at home. It's just really great to hear that from the teachers. I hate when I hear parents who aren't involved in their children's education complain about teachers not doing their jobs. It should really be a partnership.

Well, enough rambling from me! I'm tired. Just trying to unwind a bit before going to bed.

[cchhbb]

Susan, I'm so happy that your DH was able to attend. My DH missed Garrett's Pre-K ceremony since he had a dentist appointment. The school he was at did a terrible job letting people know the time/date of events. I used to have to ask his teacher many times what was scheduled. They just don't realize that people have lives. Congratulations to both kids on their awards.

Helene, I don't think I would feel sorry for Garrett either if he got sent to the principal's office due to bad behavior that he admits. I usually give one big thing instead of a goody bag with a lot of stuff in it. I highly recommend books. I gave Thomas hats to each person at Griffin's party and at Garrett's party the kids got a book, a sticker set, a small flashlight, and a small ball.

I can't believe that you all still have kids in school. We've been out for two weeks. I seriously hate how early our school starts and gets out. We survived our trip to my parents for a week. It was a great, easy drive on the way up (9 hours 15 minutes), but the way home took forever due to constructions (13 hours). I was ready for a vacation by myself after I got home.

Garrett qualified for an academic camp which also has sensory therapy during it. Some teachers saw the need for this type of class and started it this year. It's MWF from 9 - 12. It's about 10 miles away and takes me 15 minutes to drop him off and 45 minutes to get home due to traffic. He's also getting some tutoring on TR at the local school to aid in following directions. They say that he is doing fabulous. I'm finding that I am able to give him more space now that he is less impulsive.

Griffin is really sad that he doesn't get to go to camp. Maybe I can find a class for him during the later part of the month while Garrett does his academic camp.

Joanne, that party sounds crazy. I can't believe that someone sent home a note like that. What about kids that are low income. I'd be inclined to buy a few extra bags and send them in.

Lara, congratulations to your DH. Good luck on quitting work. I've really had to customize my discipline process for each child and it has really changed over time. Right now, Garrett is really motivated by a sticker chart. They used it in school and it finally meant something to him. I made the same thing and we use it. A threat that I will put a mark on his chart usually solves the problem. Griffin does much better being sent to his room. He's so social that it about kills him to have to spend time by himself. Garrett would just go in there and read.

Kim, glad to hear your trip went well.

I hope things are going well for all of you.
Cheryl

[HRJ]

Susan, I'm glad your DH made it to the graduation -- I'm sure it meant a lot to Brenden, too.

I can't believe that Virginia has state tests for kids as young as kindergarten, though -- iin Mass, the state tests don't start until 3rd grade, and I think that's excessive (not because I object to having standards, but because I think this sort of thing leads to too much "teaching to the test."). I think there has been some talk of starting the tests earlier, but I hope that doesn't happen until Victor gets through second grade.

I'm curious about the rest of you -- when do your states start standardized testing for elementary school kids, if you know?


For Victor's party, I've hired a Rec. Dept employee to lead games for an hour -- I'm assuming s/he will come with some age-appropriate games already prepared (but maybe I better check!). Since it's at one of the Rec. Dept. gyms, I'm also assuming we get to use the equipment. I can see a group of girls wanting to do crafts, but I just can't see boys doing that at this age, though -- I just don't think they'd sit still for that, and we'd probably end up with a big mess more than anything else. At the boy birthday parties I've been to lately, all the kids seem to want to do is run around and move. We only invited a few girls -- a couple from his class, and also the twin sisters of some of the boys he is friends with -- can you believe that there are three sets of twins invited to his party?

In general, I'm shocked at how many invitations I actually sent out -- and, I didn't even invite Victor's whole K. class. (I mailed the invitations, instead of handing them out at school). Since the two K. classes tend to do a lot of things together, particularly lunch and recess, Victor is friends with several boys from the other class, too. Then there are some first-grade boys he's friends with from the after-school program; some boys from his Hebrew School class; and a few kids from pre-K that we still have playdates with. (In general, Victor is just a really social kid -- he thrives on connecting with people. We'll be walking to school, and kids of all ages will go by, calling out, "Hey, Victor! How ya doin?" or whatever. It amazes me, because I am *so* not like that.) But I figure since the party is after school lets out for the year, a lot of folks will be leaving for vacation or whatever by that weekend anyway.


About Victor crying in the office -- I'm sure a lot of it was remorse and shame, but I also think some of it was that he felt he was being treated unfairly, because the other kid, who was blocking him on the structure, wasn't punished. I told him that as soon as he stopped using his words to resolve the situation, and resorted to being physical -- whether it was spitting, hitting, pushing, etc -- he became the "bad guy" in the eyes of the teachers (I tried to explain what it means to "lose your credibility") -- that the way to get people to listen to your side is to continue to follow the rules. I also tried to explain that spitting is particularly disgusting and spreads germs, so he's going to get in trouble for it no matter what.


Cheryl, when do your kids start school in the fall (or, I guess, they probably start again while it's still summer?) We don't get back until after Labor Day, so it's not surprising we go this late in June. Sounds like a good camp for Garrett--I hope he enjoys it. And I give you mucho credit for spending that long in the car with two kids!!


Today is Colonial Day at Victor's school -- the older kids come dressed in these really elaborate costumes (there is a parents' committee that works all year putting these outfits together) and all the staff people, lunch ladies, etc. are dressed up, too. The older kids will spend all day doing everything the way it was done in the early 1700s -- making food that they'll have for lunch; doing handicrafts like candle-making, etc. This morning, instead of the electronic buzzer going off to signal the start of school, one of the teachers went around ringing a big hand-bell. It was really something.

Helene

[JoanneOR]

Our state tests start in third grade in Illinois. I think it's kind of early, too. Mostly because of what you said, Helene, about teaching to the test. I understand their funding is tied to test scores, so they do need to make sure the kids score well and it's not the teacher's fault. But, I know that for a couple of weeks before they had the tests this year, they were doing lots of practice worksheets at school and also bringing them home for homework. That's a good 2-3 weeks of the school year devoted to the tests and not during regular school work. The testing itself lasts a week. I think we actually get the results today sent home with their final report cards.

Susan, that's great that your DH was able to make it to the graduation. And, no more stumps, right? :) Congrats on the kids' awards!

Helene, that sounds like a fun day at school!

Cheryl, it's great to hear how well Garrett is doing. Wow, your kids do get out early. We start the week before Labor Day, but I think kindergarten starts right after.

The kids are actually getting out of school right now. DH may take them to see Kung Fu Panda as an end of the year treat. I was the bad guy last night. DH told the boys he would take them to the midnight showing of the movie. :eek: My first reaction was no way, they have to get up in the morning, even if it's only for an hour an a half of school. So I nixed the idea and suggested they go today instead. They were dissapointed. Later on I was thinking maybe I should have let them go. Sometimes you just need to be impulsive! Although all of them probably would have fallen asleep during the movie, especially DH. And I would have been the one dragging them out of bed this morning after a few hours of sleep for an hour and a half of school.

[cchhbb]

Helene, We go back to school the second week of August. I HATE HATE HATE it. I know someone asked last month, but Garrett's school has between 700 & 800 kids in it. I live within 5 minutes of 5 elementary schools with 500 - 800 kids. Garrett is going to be going back to our home school this year which will be great since it is about 2 miles away at the beginning of our neighborhood. They just added an addition and are redistricting so hopefully all the portable classrooms will be gone.

I think they do some standardized testing at the K level. The big test is 3rd grade where if they don't pass they don't get promoted.

The drive wasn't too bad today for Garrett's camp. I think I only spent about 1.25 hours so far driving. DH wonders what I do all day sometimes. I told him I spent a lot of time in the car so far this summer.

Helene, wow, that sounds like a cool day at your school.

Joanne, There is no way I would let my kids go that late to a movie. Frankly, I'd be sound asleep. I would have hated to drag people our of bed and they probably wouldn't have enjoyed their 1/2 day of school. It does seem crazy that the last day is only 1 1/2 hours long. What do they do?

[RunnerKim]

Wow midnight. I would surely be snoozin' in the seat and probably wouldn't even know the show was over! My sister is planning to take Lainey to see it - she takes her along to movies every once in awhile and is kind of a special thing she gets to do with her aunt/cousins.

I'm pretty sure we don't have a standardized test until 3rd grade. School gets out here next week and we start right after Labor Day. Oregon is notorious for having a very short school year. :mad:

Susan - I'm glad your DH was able to make it and that it was such a rewarding night for both you and the kids! Good job Mom!!

Helene - oh I know Victor should have been crying and it's actually a "good" thing but it's still quite the mental picture. Lainey has a strong sense of right and wrong and I know sometimes is very upset about unfairness and being wronged. Tough (but important) lessons about getting along in the world.

Colonial Day sounds really cool!

You've reminded me I should start asking some questions about party norms so I know what to do for Lainey. I've considered just having a party with her old classmates but I think it might be a nice way to get to know her new ones too. But there's no way we'd be able to pick just the kids she plays with since I'll need to give out invitations a week after school starts (and I don't even know if I'd have addresses to mail them). And a party for 25 kids? :eek:

Kim

[JoanneOR]

Cheryl, wow, there sure must be alot of kids in your area! I'd hate going back to school so early, too.

Kim, that's tough to figure out about the birthdays. I'll be in the same situation with Caitlyn. Her birthday is right at the beginning of the year, so she's not really going to know the kids in her kindergarten class very well. There's one or two girls from her preschool class we'll probably keep in touch with, so I'll invite them. The rest might just be family and a few neighbor kids. I don't even know what we're doing yet - I guess I have some time to think about it. Actually Colin's birthday is the end of July. The poor guy has a hard time every year. It's hard to invite kids from school because I don't have addresses for them. The few times I've tried, most didn't show up or even call. I know alot of people are on vacation and just have other things going on. I'll have to figure that out in a couple weeks. I told the kids after they turn 10 there's no more big parties. They can do something with a couple friends or we'll all do something as a family. So, thankfully I don't have to worry about Jameson and Ian's birthdays this year!

Well, we finally let go of the reigns a bit. ;) Well, DH did, actually. The kids were out playing with the neighbors and I guess they were starting to fight and everyone was a bit cranky. So DH told Ian and Jameson to ride their bikes for an hour and go to the park if they wanted. Ian was all for it, but Jameson wasn't into it. DH actually went to check on them and said Ian was riding his bike all over the park and Jameson was sitting on the bench. He said there wasn't anyone around he knew. Well, there was one boy Jameson knows from school, but he said he was hanging around with a bunch of teenage girls. OK..... I think we waited too long to let them go off on their own and now they don't know what to do with themselves!

[MrsReber]

Joanne, it was only an estimate for the stumps so we still have stumps! Until whenever the guy comes back :rolleyes: . DH tells me that when it's done, the lawn will be a mess in those areas and we're going to have a huge pile of woodchips up by the road. Gee, sounds great! And I get to pay how much for all this?? Well, anyway, I guess it'll be better after a while.

Cheryl, that's a lot of kids in each school! The elementary schools here tend to be small. When they kids get to 7th and up, the schools get larger as a few elementary schools will be combined in one middle school. I dread them leaving the elementary school because it's so nice. Everyone seems to know everyone, the older kids are very kind to the younger ones, and everyone pretty much looks out for each other.

In NJ, we started the week after Labor Day, but here, they start the last week of August (is it here yet? They were driving me crazy today!).

Brenden was so sad when we left. He said he's really going to miss his teacher. I told him he can go visit her when he's in first grade. She's a wonderful teacher. I can see why he's sad. I felt so bad for him. The school picnic was fun, too. The kids love it. I think I'm still full! It was too hot outside for them to run around too much. I talked to a few other moms and we talked about getting together for various things over the summer. I hope we do! There are some great moms in his class- more than in Casey's class, actually.

They do testing here from K up, but the k, 1, and 2 tests are not the same as the grade 3 tests. That's when they start the Standard of Learning (SOL) tests. They have what they call PALS testing for the lower grades. It's more of an interactive test with the teacher since they're not quite ready to sit down and fill in the dots just yet. They spend about two weeks on it three times during the school year. The teachers explained a little bit of it to me. For instance, the teacher will show the students word lists and they have to read as many of the words as they can. I know they did a math test based on all the material they covered in 1st. However, the test scores are put in their school record and I know there are state standards they have to meet. When Casey started K, they only did the testing at the beginning and end of year, but now they do a mid-year one, too. I think at that level, they use it mostly for benchmarking. They're not looking for high scores at the beginning of the year. The state mandates that they have certain skills at the end of K, so maybe it's not true standardized testing. Do they do any testing like that in anyone else's school?

It's late and very hot here. Casey's friend went with us to her riding lesson. Then the friend got sick on the way home and was crying. I was a bit annoyed (I hate to admit). I had to stop at the store and I had a crying 10 year old with me. The thing is, she ALWAYS wants to go everywhere with us and it's a bit of a hassle for me at times, like when I have things to do. She's just very slow. She's also extremely overweight and not the heathiest child. I think the heat got to her today. She doesn't get any regular exercise and she eats a lot of junk. It's sad. I do try with her and I hope that my kids healthier habits will rub off on her. It also bothers me that her mother doesn't seem to mind that she's always over here or going to Casey's riding lessons. It's kind of weird. At times, the girl really annoys me because it seems she's always here, but at the same time, I'm hoping she can learn and become motivated by being here. I'm trying to get her to sign up for the summer reading program since she's not doing well at all with reading in school. We'll see what happens.

Midnight show? I agree- everyone would probably fall asleep! Think about it- late night at a dark theatre. Personally, I'd feel that it was a waste. And I can relate to having to wake up tired children for school. It's not fun!

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - glad Jameson & Colin managed by themselves! I remembered Jameson's comment about going to the grocery store by himself. Alek & Corbin were with us on Sunday and when my sister got off work they were all having dinner with us before going home. Alek wanted watermelon which we didn't have so I told him to go to the store and get it. :D After he realized I'd give him the money for it (apparently he didn't want it enough to use his own money) His biggest concern was bringing it home so I was telling him he could take the wagon. He was really bewildered. He wanted the watermelon but it seemed sooo unfeasible to him. He and DH ended up riding their bikes there as DH wanted to get some potatoes too (we were grilling salmon). DH didn't bother with the trailer so apparently almost wiped out bringing home 10lbs of potatoes and one of those round watermelons. :rolleyes: But Alek thought it was really cool and promptly wanted to move so they were closer to a grocery store. Next time they're over, I'll have to "need" something from the grocery store. Something smaller and lighter though!

Susan - you've really taken on quite the responsibility for that other child. I'm sure the mom is thrilled to have someone entertaining her kid so much of the time! :rolleyes: It's a little sad - I wouldn't think most 10 year olds would want to hang out so often with a 1st grader.

My parents and neice/nephews are coming this Friday. We're going camping on the coast (my folks stay in yurt) for 3 days. Lots of plans to make and food prep. These will be our first overnight guests in our new house so I need to spend the week thinking from their perspective. We actually have a guest room now so that's a huge improvement for them!

Kim

[LaraW]

Kim, good luck with your upcoming guests. That sounds like fun to go get a watermelon, but I agree, probably not the easiest thing to carry on a bike! We have a grocery store within walking distance of our house, and so we walk up there sometimes when we need something from the store, and need something to do to get some exercise. It helps that there is a Sonic on the way where we have been know to stop for an ice cream. ;)

Natalie has been asking me recently about staying home alone :eek: I am OK with her playing outside in the back yard by herself but I don't know about staying home alone. Our mailbox is about 1/2 a block away, and I have thought about letting her stay home while I go get the mail. It is probably only 5-7 minutes to walk up there and back. She thinks she is "staying home and watching Colin" while I drag the garbage can from the garage to the curb - that is about 1-2 minutes (more if its windy and I have to chase the lid to the garbage can).

Well both kids have been sick this weekend. Of course they didn't get it at the same time though. Saturday afternoon, Colin took a massive long nap - almost 3 hours. Natalie was scheduled to have a friend come over Saturday afternoon. Colin got up from his nap at about 3:00 with a temp of over 101. I wanted to give him 10-15 min though to see if he'd cool down. His room was a little stuffy and I thought it might be just that he was hot from sleeping. But, he was really crabby and clingy. He didn't want a snack and then threw up, only about 15 min before our playdate was to start. So, I called the mom to see if I could bring Natalie over to her house instead. We ended up going over there at 4:00pm and didn't get home until after 8. The girls had a great time.

Colin had gone back to sleep at 4, and woke up at 6, had some dinner and was back in bed by 7:15. He was up a little in the night but slept pretty well overall. He seemed better yesterday, still clingy, etc but acting better overall and he is totally fine today.

Natalie, on the other hand, woke up with a fever of 102 and just has laid around all day. She has been in my bed asleep for almost 2 1/2 hours. She ate some toast for breakfast and didn't really eat any lunch. She'd started a banana at breakfast but only ate 1 or 2 bites out of it. So I saved it and cut it up and put it in a bowl with some strawberries for lunch. She kind of picked at it and didn't really eat any though.

So, she will be home from school tomorrow and DH will probably work from home. Hopefully she'll be better by Weds, though.

I am glad the girls didn't come over here on Saturday. I had been wondering if Colin was having a hard time with molars that are coming into his mouth, and he kept putting his hands in his mouth and acting like that was what was bothering him. But it looks like he had some kind of actual bug. Hopefully DH and I don't get it!

[JoanneOR]

Kim, that's a funny story about the watermelon. I could just imagine your DH trying to balance 10 lbs. of potatoes and a watermelon on a bike. I don't think I could do that walking. How old are your nephews?

Susan, we do have some testing in K-2, kind of progress reports like you were mentioning. I can't remember what they call it, but it's not statewide testing or anything like that. I think they do it for math and reading. That's a tough situation with that girl. It's hard not to get annoyed with the situation, but then you think it's not the girl's fault. She's probably a really lonely kid. You're doing a good thing by "taking her in", but you have to wonder how her parents don't feel like they're imposing on you always having their daughter around.

Lara, I'm a big "nervous Nelly" :rolleyes:, but I'd probably leave Caitlyn if I had to walk to the mailbox. Yesterday I left Ian in charge of her while I took Jameson and Colin to soccer camp. DH was asleep upstairs, but Ian felt good thinking he was in charge! I was only gone about 15 minutes. We're finally to the point where we would leave Jameson at home alone, but probably no more than an hour or so. But I wouldn't leave him in charge of Colin and Ian - that's just too much responsibility. And, I'm afraid they'd start fighting or doing something goofy and he shouldn't have to referee that. It's kind of awkward now getting babysitters. Probably more so for him than us! Since he's getting a bit too old for a babysitter, but not old enough to leave alone for long periods of time and we still need a sitter for the others.

Well, summer vacation started off with a bang! Ha - pun intended! :) We spent alot of time in the basement this weekend during heavy thunderstorms and tornado warnings. A few tornados touched down in suburbs pretty close to us and our sirens went off, but we were fine. The boys played Monopoly - Colin won every time. We started calling him Colin Trump. Since they finally seemed to be able to play a board game without fighting :rolleyes: I went out and got Sorry and Clue yesterday - two of my favorites when I was a kid! Last night I played Sorry with them. Clue should be interesting since they just like to jump in and play the games and not worry about the rules!

We did see the Kung Fu Panda movie - not at midnight, but Saturday morning before the storms. It was cute. It's nice now that Caitlyn is old enough where she'll actually sit through a movie.

[RunnerKim]

Joanne - I'm glad to hear that Kung Fu Panda is cute. I wasn't sure from the preview I saw and I might end up going along as I'm not sure my sister wants to be the only adult taking 7 kids.

My (in town) nephews are 8.5 (finishing 2nd) and 10.5 (finishing 4th). DH suggested that we plan one more practice run to the store where DH would basically just tag along and let Alek (the oldest) make the decisions/indicate what he's going to do/pay himself (while DH waits at the front of the store). And then next time send him by himself. I'd feel a little better if both he and Corbin would go together but Corbin's still wobbly on his bike (and needs help getting started - it'll just be a couple more weeks I'm sure). They could walk it easily too but I don't think that's as appealing to Alek.

Glad you survived the thunderstorms/tornado warnings. We had to go in to the zoo gift shop while we were in St. Louis because of a warning. Lainey loves Sorry. We don't have it but I've been meaning to pick it up. Does Parcheesi still exist? - I remember playing that a lot as a kid (along with Clue).

Lara - I hope Natalie and Colin are all better soon! You must be exhausted.

Kim

[MrsReber]

This better be our last hot day for the week, as the weatherman says. It's been in the 90's for about a week now. I am so done with the heat and humidity and it's only June!

Casey's barn management camp was cancelled. Two girls couldn't go. Their parents are divorced and the riding lessons and horse camps seem to be an issue with the father. The weeks that he has them, the girls never get to do anything that he doesn't want them to do. I feel bad for them because one daughter is getting to be a good rider, but her father keeps her from the lessons. Anyway, the instructor emailed me to say she'd have a 3 day "camp" just for Casey for less money. It's today, tomorrow and Thursday from 9-12, before it gets too hot. Today, Casey learned how to load her pony on the trailer, clipped another pony, and played with the new foal. She also got to have a lesson before it got too hot out.

I wish we had a store we could walk to here. The closest one is about 4 miles and you wouldn't want to ride your bike there. Going there might be okay, be coming back is mostly uphill! I used to love going to the store after school when I was younger. There were a few different stores around that I could walk or bike to. Kim, that's great that your nephews are learning to go. I think it's pretty important for kids to learn about basic transactions in stores- how much they're paying, if they should wait for change.

Joanne, glad you didn't have any tornados in your neighborhood. I'm impressed that your kids stay so calm and just played games. I'm guessing you've had warnings before? Casey and Brenden were so freaked out when we had that bad weather come through here.

Lara, I hope everyone is feeling better!

I have my hands full this week with the kids being home. On Sunday, we went to DH's friend's house. He has 3 little girls. Casey and Brenden play with the older two. They're 8 and 4. I went along because they have a pool and I didn't trust DH to fully watch the kids instead of having a beer with his buddy. We were out there and their mom was inside. The youngest daughter is around 2. I see her on their trampoline all by herself, running around. DH's friend was facing the pool nd not the trampoline. I thought maybe he didn't know she was on it so I asked if she was okay by herself. He said "oh, yeah, she just loves it. We used to have two trampolines." I'm sure he noticed the shocked look on my face. He went and got her down after a couple of minutes. Yikes! They let their 8 year old swim in the pool by herself, or so the dad says. When his wife came out, she was a bit more strict and confided that she doesn't trust him to really watch the kids (the same issue I have with my DH). Well, I'll just have to go with them every time. I had a long talk with Casey and Brenen about safety and how the rules are there to keep them safe, not to prevent them from having fun. I also told them that if I am not there and there is no adult at the pool, I expect they will do the right thing and not go in. I hope it sinks in.

The woman across the street from me is going back to court today- the one with the down syndrome daughter. I wrote a letter for her, but I was still kind of working on it. She just knocked on my door and asked if I had finished it by any chance because she was leaving for court! Whoops! I told her I'd give her what I had and they're welcome to come talk to me. She somehow found out who made the call about her daughter running all over the neighborhood with no supervision- she said she hates to gossip, but it's killing her so she's going to tell me later. It was a malicious call. I just can't understand why anyone would think it was okay to call CPS on someone and potentially have a special needs child taken away from her mother. That girl is a challenge and I think her mother is doing a great job.

Well, I better get back to it. At least the kids don't want to go anywhere in this heat. They're content to stay inside during these hot afternoons. We go out around 6:00 or 7:00, when it's finally starting to cool off (relatively speaking!)

[JoanneOR]

Susan, how nice of the instructor just to have a camp for Casey. I'm sure she'll learn alot. Actually the kids didn't stay that calm during the storms! Well, the boys did, but Caitlyn was a bit scared. I had the weather on and you could see where the tornadoes were and where we were. She kept asking if it was going to get us. I would have turned it off, but the area worst hit was where a good friend of mine lives, so I wanted to see what was happening there. It was reassuring though, because you could look at the weather maps and see that we were up at the top and the tornadoes were going the other way.

I had a similar pool/supervision type issue this weekend. We were all at one neighbors house (4 families) for a birthday cookout and it was steaming hot. Another neighbor across the street has a pool, so the owner of the pool said all the kids could go down to their house and swim. Well, Jameson is the oldest kid and he's 11. There's no way I was going to send my kids there without supervision. The boys would probably be fine, but why take a chance? I think the other parents felt the same way. Caitlyn decided she wanted to swim, too, so I said I'd go over because I wasn't going to let her swim alone obviously. So it wound up that we all went to the house with the pool. There were 14 kids in it at once. :eek: I was really happy that Caitlyn was eager to go in. She was wearing her suit with floaties in it (I'm not sure what it's called, but someone said she looked like a pink Hulk!). She loved it. Last year she wouldn't go near the water.

Kim, your nephews are just about the same ages as Colin and Ian. It's funny, but Ian is more eager to do things on his own than Jameson. He was thrilled to be able to ride the park by himself last week - Jameson didn't really care. We're thinking about having Jameson and Colin ride their bikes to their soccer camp the rest of the week. DH rode with them today. It's about a mile away. The only thing is they have to cross a busy street. That makes me nervous. We'll see - it's up to DH tomorrow.

[MrsReber]

Joanne, that's why I had the tv on, too. It made me feel better to see where the tornado warning area was. We were on the very edge of it, so I figured we were pretty safe.

I have to get some more generic board games, too. We seem to have princess games (poor Brenden!) or boy games- Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, battleship (although Casey likes that one), and Junkyard Jalopy which is like operation, but with car parts. I need a game that I can enjoy. My mom still has the Sorry and Parchesi games we played years ago. I love Life, but I think they're still too young for that. I want the old version, too, not the newer version.

People get funny with pools. I think they have a certain comfort level when their kids swim and nothing bad happens. My feeling is that it only takes a minute for something tragic to happen. I always have these talks with the kids because they truly don't understand what the danger is. They think as long as they can touch the bottom of the pool, they're not in danger.

[JoanneOR]

Susan, we had the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em robots a few years ago. Unfortunately, the boys destroyed them rather quickly. :( I don't like what they're doing with some of the board games now. We have the Monopoly Here and Now game and it's just not the same! Properties are in the millions of dollars and the dollar denominations are similar. And, it's not the same properties. And, maybe I'm crazy, but I remember playing Sorry with dice. The new game I bought uses cards?? :confused: We played it and it was kind of weird. The boys also have an electronic Battleship game. I played with Ian last night and that's weird, too! I prefer the old-fashioned one. Maybe I'm just too stodgy! Is that a word?! Gosh, I sound like a grandparent! :)

OK...I'm bored and am ready to go home!! Everyone have a great weekend. We're supposed to be going to the Bean Blossom festival in Indiana. Really have no idea what it is - DH planned it. It'll be nice to get away. Although I think there's been flooding around it, so we need to check on that.

[RunnerKim]

Hmmm - my MIL still had the Sorry board game that they had for their kids and it used cards. It felt odd to me and I thought the newer version perhaps had a die?!! :D (we don't have it but my sister brought it camping last summer so I'm not overly familiar with the "newer" version).

We're about to head off camping again so hopefully she'll bring it along (although, knock on wood, the forecast is looking dry and we might not need board games).

Kim

[MrsReber]

We used to play Sorry and I only remember it having cards. The cards told you how many spaces to move. Then you'd sliiiiiide down the slide and knock other people back to start. Hmm, I am imagining how that game would work and the crying and screaming I might here. Maybe it's not a good idea....Why can't they just play nicely?

This morning, we went to the library reading program kick off party. They always do a nice job there. They had a bunch of bug crafts so I have a bag full of them. Two of Brenden's friends were there and one of Casey's friends. After the party was over, Brenden and his friend (another boy) played on the playground for a while. I'm so happy that I met his friend's mothers. These are 2 of the ones that I rode to the zoo with. We're talking about doing stuff over the summer. They're both really nice and much like myself. There are parents here who are so un-involved with their kids lives, these moms are into sharing ideas and all, so it's really nice. One mom offered to help me with transportation for Brenden if he wanted to go to some of the weeklong camps at the school. She has one daughter of her own and 2 step children that they're trying to get custody of. They'll be going to the camps and she's got a huge company car. That was really nice of her. I told her I'd love to send him to some, but I know Casey has 2 horse camps in July and I don't know how I'd manage both everyday. I wasn't hinting, but she jumped right in and offered. She wants to have a bbq for our little group and invite the K teacher, too. I hope that works out.

I'm now baking CL's black forest cherry cheesecake for Father's Day. I was going to buy an ice cream cake, but Brenden said he wanted cheesecake with cherries. This is one of DH's favorite recipes, so it worked out well. It just takes time to make it.

I searched and searched on Friday to figure something out for Brenden's birthday. I finally found a couple of links to museums in Roanoke that do birthday parties. One is the art museum and the other is the science museum. I've never been to either, but it sounds like we really need to go visit. They have great interactive stuff for kids at both places. Brenden decided he'd like to have his party at the science museum. They have an "animal party" where they bring reptiles into the party room. He went crazy over that idea. I'm actually going to schedule the party for after his birthday. Since July 4th weekend might be pretty busy and people might take advantage of the time to go away. I thought some of his friends wouldn't be able to make it. I'd love to have the party on his actual birthday, the 5th, but I think we'll have a better response the following week. I hope! He's got a list of 15 that he wants to invite. I really hope most of them can make it. This is only the second party he's had. For some reason, things just never worked out and he's had family parties at home.

Kim, I hope things worked out with the weather for camping! We need to plan a camping trip. The summer seems so long, but the weekends get booked up so fast with activities.

Well, my cake will be done in 40 minutes- then I have to put hte topping and cherry halves on it. Now I just need to figure out what's for dinner!

[JoanneOR]

Wow, I guess Sorry has always had the cards. Maybe I was thinking of Parcheesi? Hmmm....the mysteries of life! ;) Can you tell I'm bored??

Susan, that party at the museum sounds fun. Reptiles, every five-year old boy's dream!! Colin has a July birthday, so I sympathize with your problem of people not being able to come.

We went away this weekend to southern Indiana. I know, exciting stuff!! Actually it was fun. DH planned it all and told me to just go along with it since it was Father's Day weekend. We went to a bluegrass festival (not my thing, but I went along with it ;)). It was OK. It was in a campground and everyone was soooooo laid back. Relaxing, but it was hot and the kids got restless. They started playing soccer and having fun. Well, five minutes later we notice they've been gone awhile. Well, Ian had kicked the ball into the lake and Jameson actually walked in with his shoes on to get the ball. :confused: We left shortly after that. We stayed at a really neat ranch. They had horseback riding, but we never went. Now I'm regretting that we didn't. We really didn't have alot of time and Caitlyn was afraid to go. Also, it was pretty expensive. But I should have just went with the boys. Oh well. They have lodging above the horse stables. So you can look down and see all the horses when they were out. They also had a couple lakes, basketball court and playground and the coolest St. Bernard that just walked around and greeted all the guests. The kids had a blast just exploring. We only stayed one night since the kids' camps started today and DH and I had to work. It was a nice getaway, though.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and Father's Day!

[hrk]

Wow middle of the month and I am just getting around to posting.

What a month it has been so far, but more on that later.
Susan- Congrats on Brenden graduating and glad your DH made it there. I think that was one thing that made me sad about taking Logan out of Goddard and putting him in a school that started at Pre-K and went forward- no graduation.:rolleyes: Oh well.
The reptile party for Brenden sounds great. Logan has been to a few parties where they have reptiles there and it is a big hit with the kids.

Joanne- That Father's Day getaway sounds great and how nice that DH planned it all. Sometimes I wish DH would take over like that.

Lara- CONGRATS to DH on passing his last test. I am sure it is such a sense of relief for all of you. Hope that the job/staying at home all works out for the best.

Kim- How was camping?

Well the 6th of June was Logan's last day of school. It was a crazy week to begin with with two half days and a party or other activity almost every day, but Wednesday night the 4th we got hit with a crazy storm system. I had the joy of driving through it while it came through. Got to Ari just as it was letting up a little and Logan was on a playdate at a home where they lost power so they were hanging out playing a board game. Wake up Thursday morning to a phone call from Logan's school that they have no power and school is canceled for the day. So he and I got a free day to spend by the pool. Friday was his last day, it was supposed to be half day but got changed to whole day cause of the 8th graders and some of the things they had to fit in. And the school still didn't have power so the kids spent the whole day outside basically. But he is very excited to be finished, although this whole idea of camp and seeing new people etc is new to him since he just went year round at Goddard.

Last week he went to a week long sports camp where they did five different sports each day and he loved it. They run one week sessions all summer long so I told him we might look into again for the end of the summer.

But speaking of swimming and supervision, we had quite the episode last week. Logan went to sports camp with a friend of his from school. This friend and Logan have played together a handful of times over the school year and the mom and I were room mothers together for the class. And at the sports camp they had heavily supervised swimming so Logan and the friend were swimming each day together. Well one day the other mom offers to pick up Logan and the friends and bring them to their house for a playdate and I would pick them up later. I was fine with that and didn't give it another thought. The afternoon rolls around and I get a phone call from the mom, telling me that Logan doesn't want to go swimming and she is not sure what to do. I am so confused, I am asking her if something happened at camp. Finally I say "what are you talking about". She says "Oh did I forget to tell you that I planned to take the boys to my fathers house this afternoon and have them go swimming?" UH YEAHH, I think I would have remembered that. Anyways I ended up getting the fathers address and driving over there to pick up Logan. Pull up to find five kids in the pool with just this one mom and a completely unfenced yard and pool, which I thought was illegal first off. I was fuming when DH got home about how someone could presume to take my child swimming at some strange house and not even mention it to me. it still gets me mad thinking about it.

Father's Day was very nice and quiet. My MIL is out of town so FIL came over and spent the day with us. We gave DH a miter saw he has been wanting, so he was very excited and I made this great ice cream cake he loves for dessert.

And yesterday life got interesting again. There was a huge water main break in the county, so yesterday many places had no water, and Ari's daycare shut down, so I had to go pick him up. We never lost water, but they can't say if the water is safe yet, so we have to either use bottled water or boil the water before we use it for everything from doing dishes to brushing teeth and drinking for the next 3 days, and that have shut down all the restaurants in our county because they can't ensure the water. What a mess!!!
My kids go all year without a single snow day and then in a matter of two weeks they are out of school for power outages and no water. Go figure.

So hope everyone else is enjoying their summer.
Heather

[JoanneOR]

Heather, oh yea, I would be furious about the swimming, too. How irresponsible. Did you say anything to her? A family down the street from us has been letting their just turned 11-year-old son and 8 year old daughter stay home alone during the summer while they are at work. They have a pool and are allowed to have friends over swimming. How crazy is that??

Sorry to hear about all your escapades lately! The weather everywhere has just been crazy. Hopefully things will settle down soon.

The boys are going to a sports camp that sounds similar to Logan's. It's a four-week session and they do three different sports a day. Colin is going five days a week and Jameson and Ian just three. Today they are playing whiffle ball, sand volleyball and something else. They send home a schedule for the week and a few of the sports I have no idea what they are.

[MrsReber]

What a week already! I spilled some water on my laptop yesterday (I have a thread on the Other Stuff board about my woes!) so I'm on a 10 year old computer in Casey's room. She's telling me I lied about not being able to go on the internet. But I didn't exactly. I just didn't plug in the phone line so they couldn't get on themselves! I hope to figure it all out or just let it dry out some more.

But anyway, Heather, that's really weird. I would never take someone else's child swimming without express permission from the parents! Especially at such a young age. Here's another weird situation. SIL, whom I am not very fond of, has a 12 yo son. She's a bit wacky and has made some mistakes in her life that just make us all shake our heads. However, this year, she thought it'd be great to send her son to a 3 week summer camp to learn how to dive. For $4,000. In Tortola. By himself. The whole family is worried about him, except for his own mother. She thinks it's going to be great. Ahhhhhhh!

I took the kids to the insect library program today. It was an hour long presentation. A woman from the museum came and showed them all kinds of insects, most of them dead, thankfully! She brought 2 Madagascar hissing cockroaches which were very much alive and very large. But I touched it! I felt obligated since my kids touched them. It was pretty cool. Next week is a magic show at the library.

Joanne, I agree, that's great that your DH planned a trip. My DH consults his trip advisor (me) and waits for me to tell him who is watching the pets, when we're leaving and any other details. Sigh. Too bad you missed out on the horseback riding!

Heather, the weather has been crazy. I think many of the storms that hit your area come through here first. There was another tornado warning yesterday, but it was for counties north of us. Oh, and about the graduations-I kind of think it's a bit much. When I was in school, we graduated from 8th grade and HS. Nowadays, it's pre-k, k, 6th grade, 8th grade and HS. I think it loses some of the meaning when they have so many. The pre-k is fun for the kids, but I don't really understand why you'd graduate from K when you're going back to the same school for 1st grade. I was actually surprised when I saw the notice come home last year for Casey's graduation. I had no idea.

I better get back to work. I signed off, but I have a lot to do and with my computer problems yesterday, I didn't get a heck of a lot done. I was afraid there wouldn't be enough for the kids to do this summer- now I'm wondering how to fit it all in and get my work done and do everything else! (and I applied to a college nearby over the weekend- am I crazy????)

[JoanneOR]

Susan, yea, I'm usually the "trip advisor"! Although I did have to make sure some details were taken care of. Like, what were we going to do with our dog?? I asked DH the middle of last week what we were going to do with Tully and he had forgotten all about it. Luckily, our vet had one more boarding space available for the weekend. They all love her there, but I feel bad leaving her. I guess it's a reality check for her, though, she realizes how good she has it when she comes back home! :)

Our kindergarten has a graduation, too, and they go right back to the same school for 1st. It's pretty low-key, though. I've heard of some with caps and gowns.

I forgot to mention this before. We're all talking at dinner last night and I was asking about the other kids in the sports camp and whether they knew any of them. Ian says the "crazy kid" from his gymnastics class is there. We ask why he's so crazy. Well, for one thing, Ian says, he swears alot. OK...he's like 10 years old. :eek: Ian says he counted how many times he said the "really big swear word" and it was 28!!!! (Ian likes to count things!) Needless to say, DH was going to talk to the camp counselor this morning.

[MrsReber]

Oh we had caps and gowns. Casey has 2 tassles already. I didn't have 2 tassles until I graduated from college!

And about the "big" swear word- yikes!!! I hope they can tone that boy down. That would be so embarrassing to me as a parent if my child were talking like that! It's sooo disrespectful.

[cchhbb]

Heather, Garrett did the same thing as Logan transferring schools for Pre-K. No graduation. My girlfriend's twins went to about 10 large graduation parties for their friends who graduated from pre-school. I couldn't believe it. We just went to have ice cream at the local ice cream place.

Heather, I would have been furious if someone took Garrett swimming without telling me, especially to a private pool. A couple of years ago, one of Garrett's friend's grandmothers was going through chemo so I would have Cole for 10 hours at a time while his mother took his grandmother to her appointment. I couldn't reach here easily, but I generally tried to give her a schedule of where we were going to be going during the day and I always had my cell with me.

Joanne, I taught Vacation Bible School last week and was amazed by the language of some of the 5 year olds. I had one boy who was constantly rolling his eyes at me. I hope it was a better day at camp today. Sometimes the first day is the worst while testing boundaries.

Susan, I don't know how you can work during the summer and have your kids at home. I know I never get anything done.

I taught VBS last week and I think it has taken me almost another week to recover. I was totally exhausted. My IL's showed up Saturday morning and that is always stressful. Susan, I think my MIL should be your MIL's best buddy.

Griffin was sick early this week so that has made going to the pool difficult. Today is the first day since we've been home from my parents where we don't have anything on the agenda. I can't wait. I think we are going to run to IKEA to return something and then go to the pool for a few hours.

I just got the supply list for kindergarten this week when I took Garrett to his school for an academic class. I couldn't believe what they were asking for. We have to send in 2 reams of copy paper even. You really have to have the supplies ready for back the school night because there is no way that these little kids can carry all the stuff. I bet the supplies will cost about $200 even when things are on sale. Wow!

Cheryl

[MrsReber]

Cheryl, we got the K and 1st grade supply lists on the last day of school. I learned, however, that if I wait until the big sale at Walmart, I can get everything very cheaply. They have all the lists for all the county schools there and all the supplies are unbelievably priced- glue sticks, markers, pencils, composition books- all for less than fifty cents a peice. The most expensive items are usually the Clorox wipes. Even the copy paper gets real cheap.

I don't know how much more summer vacation I can stand. Casey and Brenden are at each other constantly. They had one really great day where they played nicely all day. Now we're back to bickering all day and Brenden hitting Casey (though I have to admit, she was being quite obnoxious a few times and she knows how to push his buttons)

I'm putting Brenden in camps for the same two weeks that Casey will be at horse camp. Maybe I can regain some of my sanity! The camps are run through the Y, but his camp will be held at the elementary school. Because the school got a grant, it only costs $40/week! The first week is Fear Factor week and the second week will be Trip Week- they go somewhere different each day. It should be fun for him. I know a couple of his friends will be there for those weeks, too.

So, yeah, having the kids home and working is quite a challenge as I'm the referee most of the day. We've been doing stuff. They've gotten out every single day to do something. Yesterday, one of Brenden's friends called while we were at the store. I called back and told his mother that I had to get on a conference call. She offered to come over and pick him up, which worked out great. I went to pick him up a few hours later and he was flying around on a 2 wheel bike! I knew he could do it. He's been begging DH to take his training wheels off for weeks. And, true to his personality, his friend's mom said he just got on the bike and rode it like he's been doing it forever. I knew he'd have no problem because he pedals fast enough. Casey is always so busy talking that she stops pedaling and the bike wobbles. She still won't ride around on 2 wheels! However, I finally got her to tie her own shoes. Seems like that took forever.

I just love Brenden's friend. His mom is great. She was told she could never have childrend and, if by some chance she got pregnant, she'd have a miscarriage. Well, they were obviously wrong. She didn't find out she was pregnant until she was at 6 months! The doctors wouldn't believe her. They had less than 3 months to prepare for their son. Anyway, their son says that Brenden is his school brother. There are so many similarities between them, it's eerie. They even got ear tubes during the same month (though we were in NJ at the time). Then, their son wound up with a hole in his eardrum from the tubes, just like Brenden. That's just one of many things. Brenden had a blast over at their house. They have 28 acres of land and 14 little goats. I really like his parents, too. They're a couple of years older than DH and me. Some of the parents around here are really young.

I should get these children some lunch. Maybe they'll calm down. I went to the chiro this morning- I'm down to twice a week and feeling so much better. The kids love it there so Casey told me "whatever that guy does to your back, could you tell him to do it longer so we can play?"

[JoanneOR]

We got our school supply list on the last day of school, too. I glanced at it, got scared, and put it away for a couple months!! Although we don't have to get reams of paper! You'd think that would be something the school district would supply. We have crazy stuff like 36 pencils. OK, do you really think they'll go through 36 pencils?? They do sell school supply kits which include everything on the list and they're passed out to the kids the first day of school. I didn't do it because I wasn't really sure if it would be cheaper. Although it would have been worth it to not have to go out with everyone else and buy it. Susan, I agree, Walmart is the best place to go. Much cheaper.

Susan, I don't want to say I'm glad to hear your kids bicker, but it makes me feel better that mine aren't the only ones! ;) Mine do it ALL THE TIME and it's the one thing that drives me absolutely crazy. And, I'm at work all day! Occasionally they will really get along and I just love it. I make sure I tell them, too. You know, that positive reinforcement!

Poor Jameson. I felt so bad for him the other night. He's made quite a few friends at his middle school, but really doesn't hang out with any his age around our neighborhood. Well, the other night two kids came over that play with ours all the time and asked if the boys could come over and play cops and robbers. I said OK and let them go around the corner to play. Well, it turns out their older brothers were playing with some of their friends who happened to be on the same football team as Jameson and Ian when they played last fall. Jameson missed a couple games and practices because he was also playing soccer. They gave him a hard time about it at the time. Well, Jameson comes home clearly upset about 10 minutes after he left. He finally told me that when the kids saw him they told him to get out of there and go play soccer. :( Kids really can be cruel! Ian hadn't gone yet, but Colin was still there. I didn't want Colin there playing with older kids where I couldn't see him, so I sent Ian over to get him. I tell you, this parenting thing doesn't get any easier!!

Susan, that's an amazing story about the mom of Brenden's friend. Talk about a miracle baby!

Cheryl, enjoy your free time! Did your ILs stay for long?

[hrk]

Happy Friday.

Thanks to everyone for reassuring me about how I felt about the swimming and this other mother. Unfortunately it is a real delicate situation because the mother and I are room parents together and Logan is really good friends with her son. But they travel almost the whole summer, so we are just going to let things be until the fall.

Susan- Sorry to hear the kids are driving you crazy. I can imagine Ari and Logan being the same way after a few days off. They are used to structure and sometimes I think they miss it after a while.

Joanne- Yes kids can be cruel and it is amazing how early some of them learn it.

Cheryl- Sorry to hear the IL's are hard on you.

Some of those supply lists do sound a bit crazy, but with a mom who teaches public school, I also know how tight things have gotten. I remember my mom sitting down at the end of the school year and just filling out an order sheet for what she needed, no questions asked and the PTA also giving teachers some supplies as well. Nowadays things are so tight, my mom has to justify everything she orders and the PTA no longer chips in anything. I think teachers have a couple of choices and most of them choose to try and get parents to contribute rather than not do things.

Well we have had a very busy week. On Monday Logan decided he was done with his training wheels and wanted to learn to ride without them. So we headed over to a large parking lot and started. He was up and riding within minutes. He has turns , stopping and everything down now and is just working on starting without our help. But yesterday he rode home from the parking lot and did great. He is really proud of himself. Of course now Ari thinks he should be on a big bike too:rolleyes:

Today we are leaving at noon and heading up to NYC for the weekend. My parents are flying in and meeting us and we are going to a Yankees game tomorrow. DH is a HUGE Yankees fan, so my parents bought him ( and all of us) tickets to a game since this is the last year of the original Yankees stadium. The boys (DH, LOgan and Ari) are soo excited, so it should be a fun weekend. And then my mom will come back home with us, and be here for 6 weeks now. I am so excited to have her around and the boys just love having the extra attention.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Heather

[MrsReber]

Heather, congrats to Logan on riding on two wheels! Brenden has been flying around our yard for the past couple of days, having a great time. Of course, Casey yells at him to put his bike away. She said he's just doing it to make her mad :rolleyes: .

The bickering has stopped today. I don't know why. I took them to the store and told them I had to get back to work. Well, they unloaded the groceries from my car and put them all away! Casey told me to get back to work and they'd take care of it. Heather, I agree with you on structure. When they have a job to do, there is so much less fighting. They need to be productive and to feel good about what they're doing or else they're at each other all day.

Not much planned for the weekend, except riding lessons. Casey is doing so well. I'm trying to get here there as much as possible in preparation for a show on July 8th.

Heather you're lucky to have your mom stay for so long. My mom will come down over the July 4th weekend, but she'll only stay a few days. I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving, but we talk on the phone probably 4 times a week for over an hour each time. I can't believe it's been so long since I've seen her. I feel like we're always talking!

Joanne, I was just thinking today how tough it is to be a parent. I just want to fix everything for my kids all the time and make the world a happy place. But I can't. I have to tell them that bad things happen and that's just how life goes. It's a shame that other kids have to be mean. I guess they can't all get along all the time. It's so nice when they do, though!

Heather, I hope you have a good time at the game! We haven't been to a ball game in a while.

[hrk]

Susan-
You are right, I am very lucky to have my mom here for 6 weeks over the summer and the boys just love the extra attention.

Well we had a great weekend. Drove up Friday night and made great time until we hit the Lincoln tunnel, oh well live and learn. Had dinner Friday night and then put the kids to bed. Saturday we had breakfast and then headed out to the game. Despite getting to Yankee stadium over 2 hours early we could not get out to see monument park, so DH was kind of disappointed, but it gave us time to properly outfit the boys in hats, and shirts and Logan loved watching batting practice. We had great seats along the third baseline and the boys sat and watched the whole game before both falling asleep in the 8th inning. People kept asking us how old the boys were and were amazed at how well they did through the game. DH just keeps saying it is in their genes. Unfortunately the Yankees lost but oh well. We also got to see them play the Reds so we got to see Ken Griffey Jr. which was a plus.

Saturday night it was a quick dinner since the game let out late and then Sunday we drove home. The kids did really great, but Logan who is five, still gets tired of walking after a while. What do you guys do when you go places for the day etc and have two of them. In New York it wasn't too bad, but we are going to Florida and Disney in two weeks and DH are trying to decide what to do. We ahve a double Aria, but Logan is really to big for it and we are traveling by plane so we are limited in options. Anyone have one of those sit n stands?

Hope everyone had a great weekend.
Heather

[cchhbb]

I just have a minute.

Heather, My friend swears by renting the double Disney stroller when she went with her nearly 5 year old twins.

Or you could get a caboose which attaches to your regular stroller and allows the older child to ride on it. It's like a stand. I think I saw them at one step ahead, but am not sure.

Or the Peg Plinko has a place for the older child to ride. I had this stroller for awhile and it was great for Garrett to ride on.

[MrsReber]

Heather, we make Casey and Brenden deal with it. If it gets too terrible, we'll end up carrying one of them. For some reason, I thought they didn't allow strollers at Disney? Am I losing my mind? I've never been there, but I thought I read that somewhere.

Anyway, I am about ready to kill my children. Brenden thinks it's okay to hit Casey (punched her in the face twice, threw a book at her and scraped up her whole side, smacked her hard enough to leave hand prints). I don't know what to do. I shouldn't have to hover over them constantly, but I'm afraid he's going to hurt her pretty badly. This week, I'm taking a dollar from him for each time he hits her. We started yesterday and he lost $2 already. I took them to the chiropractor's office yesterday. We were there for maybe 15 minutes. They were cleaning up some things they were playing with and Brenden flipped because Casey wouldn't let him stack these cups and put them away. He was so angry he was shaking and he was about to go after her! I pulled him back and had to hold him. I seriously don't know what to do.

On the other end of things, they played together nicely most of today. Then they went down the hall while I was working. I thought they were in Brenden's room, but they were in my room. With the door closed. I walked in and found Brenden lying on top of Casey on my bed. I told them that was not appropriate for a brother and sister to be doing (come to think of it, it's not appropriate even if they weren't related!). Brenden says he was just "rolling over" her and not lying on her. I think I caught them acting out what they believe adults do. They told me several times after that he wasn't lying on her (in a guilty sort of way) Oy! What to do??

So, after that, Casey's friend came over. We were out last night at the martial arts class. DH met us there and we went to dinner. Got back home and there were 7 hang ups on my answering machine and one message from Casey's friend's sister asking us to call. Apparently, Casey's friend walked over to our house 3 times and apparently called us at least 7 times in a span of about 3 1/2 hours. Hello?? We weren't home!! Anyway, she's here now, as I knew she would be. They were outside playing (all three kids) when I hear blood curdling screaming going on. They were all fighting. I know the girls were making fun of Brenden (calling him stupid and saying he wasn't creative when they were drawing), although Casey denies it. The friend is the 10 year old girl and I know she says mean things and has even hit Brenden in the past. I brought Brenden inside, but Casey was soon inside to tattle on him and ask for ice pops! I of course told them no. I just don't know what to do. Summer camp all summer next year. It might be the only way to keep my sanity! I've separated them, yelled at them, punished them, took away computer time, now I'm taking money from Brenden and they STILL won't stop! I don't know how to get through to Brenden that hitting and hurting is just plain wrong. I mean, I think he knows, but when he's in a situation where he gets angry, he just loses it. Does anyone have any miracle solutions??? Should I seriously look into some type of anger management? Or is this normal? I'm sad because I so looked forward to having them home and doing fun stuff, yet it's been agonizing. Throw in some PMS on top of it and I'm going to have a miserable week! Casey does taunt him at times and I'm trying to get her to stop, though she swears she doesn't antagonize him :rolleyes: . I told him (and so did his martial arts instructor) that Casey is learning self-defense and one of these times, she just might over power him. She's in the 7-13 class and learning some more advanced stuff.

Well, enough about me. I just need to vent and if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Heather, that does sound like a fun trip, even though it must've been pretty hectic! I remember many, many times sitting in traffic in the Lincoln tunnel. My parents divorced when I was 5 and my mom used to send us on the bus every other Friday night into NY to see my dad for the weekend. Crazy, I know, but luckily we survived!

[tbb113]

Susan - is Brenden taking Martial Arts as well? If not, I would enroll him because the discipline would do him a world of good! I think he needs to channel his energy and I would make sure you have him running around outside as much as possible. Good luck...I remember being very glad when Alex and Michael were in different programs during the summer so they couldn't bother each other all day long.

[LaraW]

Hi everyone

Hope everyone is having a good June. Susan, I can understand the kids driving you nuts with the bickering, etc. I wish I had some advice for you. I know we drove my mother nuts during the summer. Maybe that was why we went swimming every day ;) Do you have any kind of structure to your day during the summer? Like from 8-9 we will do this, then from 9-10 we will do something else, etc? That has helped me in the past but I am really a creature of routine. :)

Heather sounds like you had a nice weekend. That is so nice your Mom stays with you for 6 weeks during the summer. That would be so great.

Well, we had quite the adventure over the weekend. We went to Iowa last Friday for DH's 20th High School reunion. It was a lot of fun. We left our house around 5am and got into Des Moines around 6:30 pm. It was a long day. We had mostly a good trip out there. There was a car accident that slowed traffic down for 45 min or so around Lincoln, NE but that was really about it. The kids did great.

The reunion and our visit were both really fun. We were basically at reunion things all day Saturday. There was an event at the zoo at lunchtime and then we went back to my parents' house and got cleaned up and went to a dinner event. There was a nice turnout at both places. My mom's work had a picnic Sat night so they took the kids to that. It worked out really well. Sunday we just relaxed, we took the kids to the Science Center which was fun b/c neither DH or I had been there since we were kids. It was fun to see how much it had changed, and the exhibits that were still the same.

We came back on Monday. The trip back started out OK but when we were almost to the NE/CO border we got a message on the car that the coolant level was low. So, we stopped at the next rest stop, called our mechanic to find out what to do. He said that we could let the car cool down for 30 min and then add water to the reservoir and that should be good. We did that, and then maybe an hour later we got the same message. Unfortunately we did not have anywhere that we could really stop to check that reservoir. A few minutes later there was an additional message that the battery was not charging properly and so while I was looking that particular warning message up in the owners manual, the temperature gauge needle shot up to the H so we really had no choice but to pull over immediately.

So, we did that, DH looked at the reservoir and it was empty. There was also a belt that was broken that we could see, so we thought that was the problem.

We used to be AAA members years ago, but we let our membership lapse a few years ago b/c we never used it. We happened to have an old AAA map in the car that had a phone number for emergency roadside assistance. We called it and got our membership reinstated: $70 for the membership, a $35 fee to use the service immediately and a $200 fee (:eek: ) b/c it was a lapsed membership. Eek! So, they got a tow truck which thankfully could accommodate all of us to bring us back home. We had 100 miles of towing included as part of our membership but we really had to have the car towed about 180 miles, so we also paid $3.50/mile for those last 80 miles.

So, we have spent all this money and haven't even gotten the car fixed yet. We did that yesterday and after a water pump (that is what failed, causing the belt to break) the broken belt, the pulley things that the belt runs on, antifreeze, a thermostat that was damaged when the car overheated and a few other things, we paid over $800 to get the car fixed.

I am thankful that it was the middle of a Monday afternoon when we had this problem. We have made that drive so many times either in the middle of the night, or on weekends or holidays that it probably could have cost a lot more money. And, we were not in an accident where someone got hurt in addition to all the damage to the car. So, we are thankful for that, even though shelling out all that money is not fun!

We are home now for 2 weeks and then we go to Yellowstone over 4th of July and then we are back for good. Yay!

I'm going to be talking to a friend of mine about some PT recruiting work that she needs done, and if that will work out, I will probably be able to quit my job to stay home with the kids. We are touring a church-based preshool for Natalie to go to this fall if it does all work out. I'm excited for that.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

[MrsReber]

Tyra, Brenden is in the little ninjas class for 4-6 year olds. One reason we put him in is because of his self-control issues. I talked to the owner about it at length so she understands the problem. Of course, he's a perfect angel in class and other parents compliment me on his behavior! Yes, when they're both in camps for the week, I will miss them, but I assure you I'll be enjoying the peace.

Lara, I don't have too much structure when the kids are here all day. I take them once a week to the library programs. This week, it's Thursday at lunch time. Next week, we'll have some company with the holiday weekend. I have scheduled the camp weeks for them, which will be good. Today they're pretty much fine. We only had one incident and I was right there, so I was able to prevent anything from happening. I asked him what the second little ninja creed was (it's "I promise to develop my self-discipline") and I made him tell me what it was. I know he understands what I'm telling him. the problem is when he gets really frustrated, he lashes out. I'm working on getting him to just walk away and calm down. He did walk away after a few minutes of me asking him what he should do.

Wow, that's a lot of traveling and even worse for you with the car troubles! I can't imagine. Glad you at least had a great time being away.

My mom is coming here next week. My sister, her 2 kids, her boyfriend and his son are coming, too. DH is going to go crazy with everyone being here. It's always fun, though. After my family leaves, he always comments on how they actually come visit and call (my mom calls all the time, but I love her to death). I guess we'll have a full house from Thursday night until Sunday. My mom is staying till Monday, most likely. It's never long enough. I hate when she goes home, even though she can drive me crazy when she's here. The kids are real excited to see her. Plus, my mom hasn't met my sister's boyfriend. He's anxious to meet the family as he insists that he's going to marry my sister. We'll see! He may change his mind after spending time with all of us! I met him briefly at the airport when we came back from AZ. He picked my sister up.

Lara, I hope things work out with the part time work. That would be great for you. It's rough working from home at times, but I still wouldn't change a thing. I love that I get more time with the kids. And you're right about the structure- if we have something to do or they have a job to do, there is much less trouble!

[HRJ]

I"ve been MIA here for a while. But I did want to check in.

We had Victor's birthday party last weekend, even though his real birthday isn't until next week. The party went really well -- had it at one of the gym's from the town Rec. Dept., and the Rec. employee who came to run the games was just great -- the kids had a blast. We had 15 kids, mostly boys, and it was generally just games, cake (beautifully decorated by a bakery near my office, which is famous around here for its kids' birthday cakes) and then more games. The gym had these little ride-on things called scooterboards -- I'd never seen them before, but it's sort of a triangular-shaped, low board with wheels and a little steering "stick" and the kids make them go by moving the steering thing -- the kids loved riding around on them.

For favors, I gave out Pokemon cards (along with a few pieces of candy), and it was a huge, huge hit.

My mother came up from Florida for the party, and stayed for five days. Maybe because my mom is older, and can't really help much with the child-care aspect of things, but there's no way either she or I could handle a six-week visit! (It makes me alternately laugh--and shudder--to think what that would be like. ;) ).

But Heather, I'm glad it works so well for you to have your mom there for most of the summer -- and I'm sure your boys must be thrilled. I didn't realize this was the last year for the current Yankee stadium -- I know this is also the last year for Shea Stadium (where the Mets play).

I agree, it was totally out of line for that mom to take Logan swimming. On occasion, I will have my friend's twins with me when we go to the town beach--with my friend's permission, of course!--and it makes me a nervous wreck to be watching someone else's kids by the water, and that's even when there are lifeguards.

Lara, yikes, that's a lot of expense for the car. I always tell DH that if it were possible, I'd just take a hunk of money and bury it in the back yard every so often, if that would just guarantee that nothing would go wrong with the house or the car, because it's the inconvenience, as much as the expense, that's the problem.

I'm glad you had a good time in Iowa, though. I was thinking about you, reading about all the floods in Iowa--I was hoping that your family wasn't affected.

Susan, sorry to hear that Casey and Brenden are bickering so much -- sorry I can't offer any advice, though. My problem is dealing with boredom and whining from Victor because he *doesn't* have another kid around. So basically, I guess he moral is that as a parent, you just can't win! ;)


Victor got his class assignment for first grade on the last day of kindergarten--he's a little upset, because his two best friends from K. are not going to be in his class next year. I had figured it was unlikely they would put all three of those boys together again. I'm not too worried, because Victor knows a lot of other kids who will be in his class next year, and he's very social, so I'm sure he'll get along fine. And he can see the other boys at recess and lunch, which both classes in the grade have together.

I've also heard a lot of good things about the teacher Victor will have next year -- she is the more experienced of the two 1st grade teachers, and since he had a new, young teacher this year, I think that will be a good change. She has a reputation of being super-organized -- we already have our supply lists for next year, along with a list of things that we should *not* buy because they will be supplied with PTO funding. The supply list is very specific -brand names and everything. At least I can keep my eyes open for sales during the summer.

Speaking of the PTO, our school Spring Fair which was held a couple of weekends ago was a huge success -- the PTO made considerably more money than it had expected. I think part of the reason is that the temps went into the mid-90s, and we sold a *ton* of water and slushies! DH was a dunk tank volunteer -- he had a great time doing it -- said it was so hot, it felt great each time he got dunked. It was so funny -- the boy from next door (Victor's friend) was there, and he really wanted to dunk DH, but he couldn't throw the ball with enough force to hit the dunk-tank button. So he finally just ran up to the button and slammed it with his hand!


Victor started day-camp on Monday -- unfortunately, we've had on-and-off rain for the past few days, so they have missed some swimming at camp, which is his favorite thing there (they have free swim once a day, and instructional swim once a day). But this year his unit gets to do boating and fishing (the camp is on a lake), which I think he'll really like. He's also complained that they spend too much time doing arts-and-crafts type stuff -- they do something like that at least once a day -- he would much rather just be running around and doing physical activities. Wish I had half his energy!

Helene