I Hope You Like Bullets

Even though Jason was home most of the weekend, he still wanted a blog post so he knows what’s going on around here.

My life in Bullets:

• The Proposal was better than The Hangover or Year One, but not by much.  At least is was sweet & had no gratuitous crotch clobbering
• The laptop is sort of not working.  It probably needs to have a bunch of stuff moved off it to the external hard drive but that is safely locked in The Safe Which Cannot Be Opened.
• Don’t buy a Honeydeepplacewhereyoudrawwater firesafe with an electronic keypad.  It eats batteries & when it dies, it dies.
• On the other hand, if you are a burglar, a Beenectarwell with an electronic keypad can be opened with a drill.  You have no idea how reassuring that is…
• I hate typing on the desktop.  The keys are too soft & are at an angle.
• I need a recipe for Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup.  There’s a restaurant here that serves it on Thursday’s & I should probably learn to make it instead of going broke buying it by the gallon.
• I’m really looking forward to Tuesday – no MOPS, no volunteer workshop at school, no class at the Y;  Tova & I might just stay home.
• Ethan is very patiently waiting for his aunt (*ahem* Jenny) to get her check in the mail so he can buy his ridiculously expensive Lego Star Wars thing.  He’s very cute about it.  Whenever he talks about his future purchase, he always phrases it “If I get any more birthday money, but I’m pretty sure Jenny said she was sending me some…”
• I was looking at ESPN The Magazine’s Naked People Edition & Tova was reading over my shoulder & singled out Adrian Peterson.  Peterson, as he’s known around here, (he even has 2 Mii’s, one is a righty & one is a lefty) was moderately dressed.
• Jason is very proud.  Not that Peterson was dressed, that Tova knew him by sight.
• I’ve decided to paint the trim in our house.  Yes, I realize it’ll probably take me a year & yes I’ll be sick of the project in a week, but it needs to be done.  The house looks so dingy & beat up, I think fresh trim paint will go a long way.
• I keep seeing more & more Rural City people at Target here in Metropolis.  A friend said that always happened to her at about 6 months post move.  Today it was you Jen E.  I have no idea why you didn’t say hi
• Facebook’s Visual Bookshelf recommended Somebody Else’s Daughter.  I read the whole thing but it was not enjoyable.  The author tried to pack way too much stuff in the book & didn’t cover any of it well or make me care for the characters at all.  I finished it but only because I hate to leave books unfinished.
• Tova’s bedtime routine now consists of a story with milk, prayers, a song (I’ll post a video of her singing it later), tucking in, & now counting to 10.
• She can also skip, just not in her bed.
• Gavin has impetigo & yes, I’ve been sending him to school all week with it, because I thought he was getting Kindergarten acne.
• I fully expect to start some sort of epidemic at the boy’s school.  We tried Hand Foot & Mouth earlier this month & we hoped to introduce the plague that has ravaged the Rural City schools, but that didn’t take, so we moved on to Impetigo.  After that, it’ll be strep or pink eye.  We haven’t had those yet this year.

How was that J?  Are you caught up now?

K~

The List

Where to start.

Gavin had his 5th polio shot because I am a bad mom & don’t think quickly on my feet.

Tova had her first major meltdown since the middle of September.

Ethan has finally realized he can have a fulfilling life without Little Orphan Abbey over at our house every single minute of every single day.

Tova & I attended our second MOPS meeting & Tova was very brave about going to her classroom.  I could tell she didn’t want to go but the promise of Play-doh & the energetic grampa-type volunteer won her over.

We had the boy’s parent teacher conferences this week.  Gavin is doing very well except for he’s completely exhausted.  He looks to be the complete Kindergarten-readiness package, he knows all his letters & numbers, he loves to learn, he’s very social, & he’s ‘old’, but he’s why we still need half day kindergarten.  The kid is tired.  And it’s only Wed.  Other than the tiredness thing, he’s doing very well.  He’s reading, his handwriting is pretty good for a newbie, & he loves his classmates & they love him.  Ethan is doing very well too.  He’s smart & nice & well liked.  He has some amazing test scores.  But, & I hate having the but, why can’t I just be happy he’s smart?  But, he’s lazy.  And messy.  And unorganized & this year it’s hurting his grades.  Does anyone have a cure for any of those?  (I don’t think he’s lazy because he’s bored.  He probably is a little bored but I don’t think he’s a genius & light years ahead of his classmates.  I think he’s lazy because he can be & he always chooses the path of least resistance.)

Tova can zip all by herself.  She’s still only 2.

I nag Ethan way too much.

I am having two neighborhood moms & their 3 & under’s over for lunch tomorrow & I’m trying really hard to not stress over what to make for lunch.  I’m debating whether I should impress them with my culinary skills or go the quick & easy, but also tasty, route since I also need to workout Thursday morning.

Gavin needs new shoes.  Why is it the boy’s never tell me their shoes are too tight?  Why must I find out when their toes poke out the tops of their shoes?  Why are light up Skecher’s $50?  Why are those the shoes Gavin has his heart set on?  Why does he insist on keeping his old shoes ’so his kids can wear them’?

I need to get cracking on my fall gardening.  The kids & I dug up a rock garden so we can plant bulbs but I’ve been waiting for a day that’s more than 59° to do any planting.  And I still need to buy the bulbs.

That’s my list of things I was going to blog about but never got around to it.  Aren’t you sad you missed whole posts about each of those topics?

K~

Updates

We’ve finished our first week of school & it’s gone very well.  Gavin loves kindergarten.  Friday was his first day with his whole class, &  as I dropped him off in his line, I heard him say to the kid behind him “My name is Gavin, who are you?”  I think he’ll have no trouble making friends.  Gavin also tells me about his day.  So far he’s had PE, Music, Assembly, & Art.  He read a book about the first day of school, wrote his name a bunch, colored, ate lunch, had recess, & did rest time (without a movie!  Our old school plugged the kids in during rest time.  Ethan saw every Disney movie ever made that year.  I hated it.).  He’s starting to remember kids names & he really likes his teacher.

Ethan has had 3 days of school.  He continues to say very little about what he does during the day.  I did pull out of him that they are starting cursive.  Thursday, Ethan & an classmate encountered a playground bully & Ethan handled himself very well.  He & his friend alerted the playground teacher & then told their teacher & I was really proud of him.  Last year he was being bullied & it was weeks before his teacher & I figured out what the problem was & were able to do something about it.  It seems the lesson of Ask An Adult For Help stuck.  If only he could learn to bring home his Take Home Folder…

The other update is on the cat.  Jason is the best husband ever & has decided the cat can stay.  Jason’s very clear that he wants nothing to do with the cat, & I can live with that.  Our goal is to have Pablo’s back claws removed but for right now, we’re going to try these.

Have a Great Weekend!

K~

Two Down, One to Go

It’s official.  I now have 2 kids in school full time.

The part of me that goes grocery shopping is very excited about the start of school.

The other part of me misses the boys already.

I don’t know how they grew up so fast.  I know it’s cliche, but I truly don’t know where the time has gone.  Ethan started 3rd grade today.  3rd grade!!  That’s old!

Our handsome 3rd grader

I thought I put this guy to bed last night.

~

But this is who woke up this morning.

Our proud Kindergartner

I did surprisingly well at drop off.  With Ethan I cried for 3 hours.  Yes you read that right, 3 hours.  I finally had to call the office to make sure he wasn’t traumatized & cowering in a corner.  Turns out, he was having a great day despite the fact he’d seen me crying when we left him in the huge gym full of rowdy, poorly parented older kids (or so it seemed to me).

Gavin was super excited this morning.  He was packed up & ready to go 30 minutes before we had to leave.  If only all mornings would be like this…  Anyway, Jason came home & we all walked to school. Ethan was doing his best to traumatize/encourage his brother.  Gavin was practically skipping he was so excited.  As we got closer to school he slowed a little & held my hand.  We dropped Ethan off at his door & then deposited Gavin in his line & waved as he proudly walked into the building.

I didn’t cry at the school but am feeling pretty weepy now.  I had Gavin home with me for 5.5 years & today, it doesn’t feel like long enough.

*sob*

Okay, I’m done now.  I felt the same way about Ethan starting school, so I know I’ll survive.

Tova & I have a busy day planned.  We have some groceries to get.  I have a haircut & if it looks okay, I may get a new drivers license.  I really hate having to find a new stylist.  I need to get a new phone number & then I have to pack for an overnight in MN for a funeral.  Gavin doesn’t go to school tomorrow, the non-older-sibling classmates start tomorrow, so he gets to make the trip to MN with Tova & I.  He’s not real excited about that.

*sigh*

The house is so quiet…

K~

182 Miles in 8 Hours

That’s right, 8 hours.  It should have taken 3.  Granted we stopped at a little zoo & numerous towns in search of apples & crackers.  But still.  It took me 8 hours to drive from my parents house to my sisters.  I’m not looking forward to the return trip.  It should take us 6 hours.  Any bets as to how long the actual trip will be?

It’s a good thing we are at my sister’s.  She lives on a dairy farm & my kids are truly ignorant of animals.  Mostly my sister has cows, but they also have a couple of goats, geese, & cats.  My boys keep calling the geese chickens & Tova refers to the cows as horses.  We could not have picked a better time to get some real world animal experience.  In defense of the boys, about the only meat we eat is chicken & there is endless confusion when we have pork.  Silly kids.

Speaking of kids.  Kindergarten camp went well.  Gavin was not surgically attached to my leg when we needed to leave him with the other kids, it only took a crow bar to get him off.  He had fun though.  When he was brought to us in the library he had a huge smile on his face & even waved at a few kids.  Every time we’ve been at the school on official business, a particular kindergarten teacher has always made a point of talking with Gavin.  I had really hoped we’d have her as a teacher as Gavin thinks he ‘knows’ her.  Classroom assignments came out today & Gavin actually ended up in Mrs. Nice’s class!  He was really excited when I told him. 

Ethan knows nothing about his teacher which is as much as I know about her too.  I hope he has a better teacher in 3rd grade than he did in 2nd.  His Rural City teacher was lovely, the Metropolis one was a piece of work.  I know the kids are going to have poor teachers.  Everyone does.  But do we really need to pick on the new kid in school?  She was awful & had waaaaaay too much time on her hands.  Luckily, Ethan offset the rotten teacher by making friends so it wasn’t a total waste of 2 months.

I cannot believe we have only 2 more weeks of summer left.  I have a lot of swimming, hiking, parks, & a zoo trip to squeeze in yet.

I’ve finally screwed up enough courage to read A Long Way Gone.  We’ve had the book since our Vietnam trip  & Jason was very moved by the book & frankly, that scared me.  He wasn’t so much moved by Harry Potter, which really moved me so you know it has to be deep. 

It is.  I’m only a few chapters in & Wow.

I’ll let you know if I sleep tonight.

My sister is trying to either kill my child or earn the title of Greatest Aunt Ever by letting Ethan try & drive a kid-sized 4wheeler.  We are such city people…

K~

The Dangers of Walking to School

No, not cars.

Or strangers.

Or 5th graders on bikes.

The danger I’m talking about is sidewalks paired with running feet in sandals.

Gavin took a nice spill while ‘walking’ Ethan to school & I had a decision to make.  Gavin’s bleeding from his elbow & his knee & screaming his head off.  Ethan’s halfway to school & I don’ t have anything with me telling me what time it is.

What was I to do?  Hustle them all back to the house, quickly clean Gavin up & then rush everyone into the van for a quick drive to school, hoping we make it before the bell?  Force Gavin to walk the rest of the way there & back with a bleeding elbow & knee, not to mention the wailing?  Or, send Ethan on his merry way & take Gavin home & get him cleaned up?

I sent Ethan on his way.

It was really, really hard to watch him walk away from me.

I know our neighborhood is safe.  There’s a crossing guard & a light at the only major intersection.  There’s usually kids & parents walking along the route too.

But I wasn’t with him.

I refrained from calling the school as soon as I got home to make sure Ethan had arrived.  I also didn’t email his teacher.  I felt like I needed to trust Ethan enough to not check up on him.  It was really hard.  I don’t think my heart dislodged itself from my throat until 9am when I knew the school would have noted his absence.  It felt wrong to let him go on his own, but the kid is 8.5 & was 3 blocks from school in a neighborhood full of kids walking to school.  I suppose at some point I need to trust him enough to do things on his own.  I was hoping to wait until he’s in college but I bet it’ll be harder if I start then…

Ethan wasn’t at all traumatized by his solitary walk.  When we picked him up after school the first thing he asked was if he could walk by himself tomorrow.  HA!  I dont think I can handle the stress!

K~

For the Birds

We’re breaking in the van this week.  It’s done the city miles quite well & today was the first opportunity the Toyota had to stretch its legs.  Today, Ethan joined his old class for their zoo field trip.

It was a blast.  The zoo was about half way between CSS & Rural City.  It was the perfect opportunity for Ethan to see his friends before Summer.

Ethan’s favorite parts of today were seeing his friends & riding the train.  Gavin’s was the train & watching the Monitor Lizard try to scale the glass in his cage.  Tova liked seeing our neighbor K~ & the aviary.  My favorite part was seeing Ethan’s smile when his classmates caught sight of him & the greeting that ensued & watching Tova feed some birds.

All in all, a great day!

Gavin & Crazy Hair Tova looking at baby goats

Tova feeding a bird

Give me some you pig!

I want to shoof that big kitty's belly.

Gavin taming a rhino

I don’t have any pictures of Ethan because he was off with his classmates & I think I saw him twice the whole time.

Up next, a quick trip home for Gavin’s last day of preschool picnic.

K~

A Big Hug

I wonder what the record is for the first return trip ‘home’ after a move?

I made it 9 days.

Gavin had his preschool field trip to his teacher’s sheep farm on Wednesday so Gavin, Tova & I dropped Ethan off at school & headed out of town so he could go.

For Gavin the trip was well timed.  He’s bored & missing his friends.  The trip back to see his classmates seemed to put the sparkle back in his eyes & greatly improved his mood.  I think he needed to see that his friends remembered him & still liked him.

For me, it was probably too soon.  I felt so sad driving down our old street & seeing our old house (which Tova excitedly pointed out).  It brought tears to my eyes seeing Gavin run to his teacher & throw his arms around her.  It brought more tears to my eyes to see Gavin & his buddy A~ holding hands & acting like long lost twins.  I couldn’t bring myself to stop by Ethan’s school & see friends there or stop in at the neighbors for a quick visit.  I ache to go ‘home’ & I think seeing all that we’re missing is just adding to my melancholy.

It was a beautiful day & here are some pictures.

Gavin & A~, Kings of the Tree House

Petting the Baby Lamb

Gavin's Class

I hope the funk clears soon.  I’m getting a little tired of myself.  I’ve been looking for MOPS groups or story time at the Library or some sort of playgroup in hopes of meeting a few people.  I found a few leads & am hoping to try them out on Thursday.  I haven’t told Gavin yet.  He’ll just make me more nervous by also being nervous.  Wish me luck!

K~

No Comment

That’s all I got from Ethan on our walk home.  Eventually I was able to glean that they had done Roller Skating in PE, he drank most of his water, & he’d done a math worksheet on multiplication.  He was in a good mood on the walk home so I took that to mean he had a pretty good day.

Unfortunately, he’s back to his usual tricks & the one thing he was supposed to remember to bring home is sitting on his desk.

Later, I had my dad call to see what he could get & while he had a nice chat with Ethan, he didn’t find out anything new.  Right at bedtime, Ethan’s friend G~ called & the flood gates opened.  I think they talked for 15 minutes.  Lesson learned, next time I need info on Ethan’s day, I’ll eavesdrop on his conversation with G~.

K~

Things I Cannot Find

Things I didn’t remember to pull out:

• dog leash
• sidewalk chalk
• band-aids
• toilet brush

Things they packed which I didn’t intend for them to pack:

• Tova’s shoes (no idea where she took them off)
• The necklace Jason gave me for our 10th anniversary (had been wearing it all the time but took it off  Tuesday night for some unknown reason)
• A CD of pictures I was supposed to deliver to a friend

I’ve had a few people give me hints on what to do first when our stuff arrives at our new house.  So far, my plan is to make the beds, set up the kitchen & unpack clothes.  After that, I think we’ll be able to function.  I’m not saying that’ll all get done on Thursday but for sure by the weekend I should be able to cook again.  Maybe I’ll break in my new oven with a ham for Easter.

The school stuff went fine.  I was on the verge of the ugly cry while dropping Gavin off but was able to pull it together for pick up.  Ethan was all done packing up his desk when we got to school & while I like his teacher a lot, I’m not as emotionally attached to her as I am to Gavin’s teacher.  No risk of tears there until my friend C~ who teaches at the school walks by.  We just didn’t look at each other, ‘cuz nothing make me cry easier than looking at C~.

I had a great night out with friends Friday night & Saturday night we went to a shindig our church family threw.  We’ve had such fun saying goodbye to our friends!  They all know how to throw a good party.

I suspect Sunday will be hard.  Our church family is so important to us, it will not be easy to find a church that will measure up.  We also have our buyers walking through in the afternoon.  I’m trying to get motivated to clean the kitchen but that room probably has the most of our junk spilling out of the totes making it hard to clean.  Where am I supposed to put all my stuff when I empty the room out?  I feel like I’m just moving the mess around the house as I clear out rooms.

Enough procrastinating!  It’s time to tackle the kitchen.

K~