Common Mom

Or not! Conversation with Keira - 4 year old . . .

Mom: Hey, how was school today?
Keira: It was good. We had lots of fun.
M: Excellent. And how was lunch?
K: Good. Did you know that Ms. Lupita doesn’t let us do funny stuff at school?
M: What? I think that’s not true. I know Ms. Lupita and she’s a great teacher with a great sense of humor. She loves funny stuff!
K: No she doesn’t. Like when I do funny stuff like fart and burp to make the other kids laugh, she says that’s not appropriate.

My little princess shines through again.

It’s only a week late, but I’ve finally gotten around to downloading pictures from Jason’s birthday party. What fun we had! The kids had a lot of fun running around in army gear, rescuing the kidnapped cake by finding clues around the yard, and rescuing the wounded soldiers. Of course a pinata is always a must, but I think this is the last year for Jason - they can hit too hard and not everyone gets a chance! That’s why this year we played a little joke and made them all take a turn hitting it with a pretzel stick - much to my surprise they actually broke it - and out came the gazillion plastic army men

I made an attempt at an army tank cake . . . this was my Martha Moment

Here are all of the kids in their army gear - I’m not sure we’ll ever see Jason stand at attention so well again!

Of course my little warrior princess is right in there with the boys! And here is Keira after being rescued from life-threatening injury and carried back to home base on her stretcher. You can tell she’s injured because her tongue is sticking out

Whew - no more birthday parties until Keira’s in December! Well, that is if you don’t count my 35th. My friend T and I always have a bash every 5 years (we’re only 3 days apart in age) . . . this year we’re going retro and having a roller skating party at Skate City - I always wanted a roller skating party!

Happy Monday!

We made it! It’s Friday - I still have to work all day, with my little dude at home, but he’s got a friend coming to play, so that’ll make it easier. A big thank you goes out to my boss for allowing me a flexible schedule so I don’t have to pay sitters or take PTO when my guy isn’t in school!

Jason had a great first 3 days of school - he didn’t miss the bus, he didn’t get on the wrong bus home, and he made his way in to the garage and house all by himself, even though we beat him home every day He had his Adams 50 testing yesterday and did great - woo hoo! Here’s my little dude on his fourth day of 2nd grade:

He’s a having a little trouble adjusting to the early rising and full day of school after summer camp, so he’s pretty tired and not making the best decisions of his life, but he’ll get there. He’s a good kid and will do just fine

Keira had her first soccer practice yesterday and it was a blast! She was SOOOO excited after school and couldn’t wait to get her gear on . . . even though practice was 90 minutes away. She got all dressed and waited patiently while I figured out the new soccer goals I bought - they’re the coolest portable goals ever, and they were on sale, and we all know how I can’t resist a sale - and while I wrote our name on the cones that I bought for practices, she spent her time in the bathroom picking out pretties that matched her soccer uniform. All I can say is that she was VERY red, with a pink ball:

Practice was great - the parents are all great and all of the girls were so cute and so much fun! I think we’ll have a blast. Jason doesn’t start practice until next week, so he was very helpful. I’m thankful that they chose the Ladybugs as their team name . . . other options were the flying grasshoppers (pretty cool!), the Barbies, the Daisies, and the Cheetahs. I wasn’t so fond of the Daisies and the Barbies, but they all voted and ended up with the Ladybugs - very doable. The one little girl was very disappointed that they didn’t choose Cheetahs, so we use that as our magic word. I asked the girls to choose a magic word so whenever I say that magic word, they dribble their ball to the center circle and sit on it so we can talk - every one of them chose “please” as the magic word - yeah parenting!!! In the end we went with Cheetah because please just didn’t resonate so well through the gaggle of giggling girls - and cheetahs are fast, so when I say cheetah, they all run really fast to the center circle. After choosing a name, having 4 minor injuries while the girls climbed trees during our short parent meeting, and practicing some dribbling and shooting, we ended early because of lightning. But, we’re ready to go for next week and I can’t wait!

Here’s to hoping you have a great weekend.

It happened. I promised myself it would never happen, but it did. Against every fiber of my being, it happened. Today, I officially became a Soccer Mom. My son has been playing soccer for 3 years now, and we’ve had lots of fun watching him, and learning about soccer. My daughter is finally old enough to play, so we signed her up this fall, also.

Really, what’s better than watching a pack of little kids chase a ball around a soccer field, try to kick it but swing and miss and end up on their tooshy? What’s better than watching little boys pick dandelions while the ball sails past them for a goal? What’s better than spending an hour every Thursday evening at the park while they practice - in the heat, rain, and yes even snow? What’s better than sitting at the park every Saturday morning watching little kids have a blast playing soccer - in the heat, rain, and snow? Does anything compare to the looks on their faces as they run through the “parent tunnel” at the end of the game, not caring whether they won or lost, but caring only that they got to run through an actual TUNNEL?

Today is their first practice of the season. I thought I was being smart signing them both up for the same practice day and time. Easy to float back and forth between their practices since they’re at the same park. AND, it’s only one hour one evening that we waste - um I mean spend - at the park playing soccer. Man I AM smart I told myself!

Then I got the Call To Action from the YMCA and the stupid gene kicked in. I became the coach of my daughter’s team. Last week I found myself typing those words that will haunt me for the next 10 weeks “Sure, I can coach my daughter’s team if you don’t have anyone else.” How EVER did this happen? I’ve never coached soccer before! Heck, I’ve never even PLAYED soccer before!

But, I found myself at the coach’s meeting last Saturday - thankfully the guys from the Y are VERY helpful! I actually feel like I know what I’m doing I’m sure that feeling will go away around 5:15 this evening when I actually have to gather 9 little girls, which I can only imagine is much like herding cats, and teach them about the game of soccer.

All this while my little dude practices with his team on a field far, far away. Not really, luckily it’s the field right next to ours, but I’m still kind of bummed that I won’t get to watch him practice. And I’m hoping that their games aren’t at the same time too often - at least not when Dan is gone flying.

So, wish me luck as I venture in to the world of pigtails, ponytails, and pink cleats!

Many thanks to Pam for giving me a Nice Matters award! Pam and I ‘met’ in the blogging world a couple of weeks ago. She’s an elementary teacher and has been really supportive of me rambling on about our move to public school this past week Pam, thank you!

 

“This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

I’d like to pass this award on to some of my other blogging buddies… Ami for her positive outlook on almost everything, Melanie for being so honest on her blog, and Amy for making me laugh every single day.

Happy Thursday to everyone!

Another toy recall . . . this one involving Sarge toy cars (from the movie Cars), Barbie and Tanner (one of my personal favorites) as well as others. There is an article on MSNBC and the one on the Mattel site. There have been multiple recalls by Mattel lately - regarding lead paint as well as magnets that pose a hazard. Just like with the Magnetix, if a child were to swallow a couple of them, they are so powerful that they could possibly seal the windpipe and stuff like that. We kept our Magnetix because our kids are old enough, but definitely check out these latest recalls.

Do any of you remember that “excellent” show Xena - Warrior Princess? Well, I think I have one of those growing up in my house K might love to wear pink dresses, but don’t let that fool you into thinking she’s not tough

Jason: Hey Keira! Let’s have a sword fight with my new sword - the one that makes the cool noise.
Keira: OK. Which one can I have?
Jason: Well, first you have to put on the army shield and stuff and I’ll put on the Gladiator stuff.
Keira: (stomping foot) Why can’t I just be Cinderella?
Jason: Oh, whatever!

The compromise…

It’s Monday!

NEW BEGINNING #1 - MIMI
The first new beginning for us this week happened on Saturday morning. Jason’s birthday party was Saturday evening . . . an Army theme with 10 kids coming to play and eat pizza - fun! I got all the laundry ready Saturday morning and went in to the kids’ rooms to bring down their mimis and blankets (mimi is the ’special’ blanket each of them has slept with since day one). I found Keira’s where I expected . . . on her bed along with her gazillion babies, stuffed things, and books she takes to bed each night. But when I got in to Jason’s room, I could not find a mimi or blanket anywhere. It’s been a long time since he’s taken any of them out of his room, and really, in the past month or so, he hasn’t even “used” them - when I fold them after laundry and put them on his pillow, they stay folded and he mostly uses them as his pillow . . . but he still likes to have them there. So I asked him where his mimi and blankets were and he said “In my closet. The guys are coming over tonight and I don’t want them to think I’m a baby.” Ahhhh, the 7 year old peer pressure. My dude has officially shunned his mimi and blanket. Of course it makes me sad, but how exciting that he’s growing up at the same time. I think I’m OK with it because I still have Keira . . . but when her lisp goes away and she can say the letter R, I know it’ll be a sad day in the Boedie house. I was sad when my “yegs” started being “legs”!

NEW BEGINNING #2 - THE BUS
As planned, we all got up together, got everyone ready for school and work, and headed down to the bus stop. Jason was so excited to go that we left 20 minutes before the bus was due to arrive . . . it’s only 4 houses away! It was fun, though - we got to meet the other kids at the stop and their parents. And when his buddy Hayden came walking down the hill, Jason was beside himself. He ran up the hill to meet him and they skipped and hopped to the bus stop. I of course made them stand still for a picture - I couldn’t miss out on that! Then the bus shows up . . . without missing a beat, or stopping to say goodbye to his mommy or give any hugs (I hadn’t planned on hugs, but it would have been a nice surprise!) he fell in step behind Hayden, in between the older kids, and disappeared on to the ginormous yellow bus. He squished himself in to the front seat next to Hayden and one other boy about their age and was laughing and giggling - thinking he’s the luckiest kid on the planet to be on an actual school bus! And with Woody driving it! Yes, his bus driver is the same one that drove the route last year - a young 20-something named Jonathan who wears a cowboy hat . . . so the kids call him Cowboy Jonathan As the bus pulled away, I saw Jason’s arm stick up above Hayden’s head to wave furiously. Amazingly, there were no tears. I surprised even myself!

NEW BEGINNINGS #3 - NEW PRESCHOOL TEACHER
Keira started preschool today, also. She’s been there all summer in summer camp, but today she started in a new classroom. We decided to move her to a new classroom this fall when her other teacher left at the end of last school year. The replacement teacher has been at the school for years in one of the 2s rooms. We’ve heard nothing but good things about here . . . she’s sweet, she’s intelligent, she’s loving, and she’s very laid back. However, after having Keira in the classroom with her for the summer, we realized that it most likely would not work out well. Quite frankly, the main reason was that we thought Keira would eat the replacement teacher alive. My sweet, loving, caring, independent child can be a real pain if you don’t set boundaries. She’ll take anything she can get from you . . . in return, if you set firm boundaries and let her know the rules, she’s great and tons of fun. We had all kinds of fun last February when she decided that she was in charge instead of her teacher . . . so we had to work with her teacher a lot to get that all straightened out. So, we moved Keira to a different classroom with a teacher that had subbed for my son’s class as well as Keira’s before she became a full time head teacher. Keira is OK with it because it’s the P5 room . . . she always wondered why she was in the P3 room if she was 4, and we had to explain that the numbers had nothing to do with age. But now that she’s in P5, she thinks where she should be since she’ll be 5 in December I’ve always had the thought that there will always be teachers you don’t like or that your kids don’t like, but you have to live with it. It’s part of growing up and learning to deal with things. So maybe moving her to a different room wasn’t the best move, but she loves Miss Lupita and is very excited about it - and I feel better knowing that she’ll be learning tons and having a lot of fun.

So here’s to a new week with lots of new stuff happening!