Summer & Skateboards

No Time

No Miss T

(No Fun)

The boys were so lucky this summer.  Miss T (daycare provider) picked up some hours at the YMCA skate park so the boys spent a good part of their summer skating the day away.  The boys are already missing the long summer days spent at the skate park with Miss T.

 

We miss riding scooters down stairs…

And tying our shoes…

And jumping across dangerous gaps…

   And analyzing scary ramps…

And sometimes wearing the stinky rental helmets…

And practicing jumps…

And analyzing even scarier ramps…

And wearing skateboard shoes…

 

  And working on our tans…

And sneaking junk food treats…

And wearing fun dragon helmets…

And getting all the great exercise…

And showing off for all the (sometimes imaginary) spectators...

And giving scooter lessons to the younger patrons…

And assisting these same patrons when they get scared…

And feeling like we’re on top of the world…

        And watching the real skater boys do their tricks…

And racing each other down all the ramps…

And of course plenty of warm drinks from the infamous skate park drinking fountain (see Brothers for Life post)

We had a great summer and can’t wait to have an even better one next year.

The Troublesome Tommy

I was anxious all day until I received an email from Tommy’s teacher in reply to the email I send yesterday (see yesterday’s post)

Her email was twice as long as mine and brought good news.  Well not really good news, but at least I don’t need to buy a mini jumpsuit and send Tommy of to any special mini criminal schools yet.  Tommy, is not the problem she says, it’s the fact that out of 6 Kindergarten classes, she ended up with all of the rowdy kids.  She claims Tommy isn’t one of them and that he is just distracted by the other kids bad behavior.  I want to believe that so badly.  She said he came up to her this morning after putting his backpack away and apologized for breaking the rules yesterday.  Hopefully, with the first week behind us we can move onto better behavior and better colors. 

  

I’m pleased to announce that this little angel even stayed on green today.  I’m a little worried that just as we start to get acclimated to the new classroom and the shyness wears off the class clown (shown above) might come out.

How Many More Days Of School?

I'm a big picture girl.  I'm wondering if it would be too early to make a paper chain to symbolize the amount of days left in the school year.  I'd probably spend three days making one with the boys, hang it up and cry when I realized it stretched from the kitchen through the dining room and all the way around the living room.  Maybe I'll wait awhile on that.  Backpacks, collar shirts, matching shoes, lunch money, bus schedules, Argggggggggg.................

There was no posting yesterday because I was sitting at the dining room table swimming through a sea of third grade math confusion.  Standard form, expanded form, regular form, I hate them all.  No, I don't hate them, I hate trying to teach them to an eight year old who is starting to get a little frustrated.  I did my best to keep him positive and keep the mood light and keep him motivated.  But it was exhausting.  There's a reason I could never be a teacher.  Actually, I have four little blond reasons why I could never be a teacher.  Every last drop of my patience will be used up. Third grade homework is so intense.  It's not really fun anymore like first and second grade and there's not any room for subjectivity or creativity.  Just plain old black and white math problems.  We made it fun and had white boards and markers and a few computer games to break up the monotony.  Kudos to the very talented person who was able to make a relatively fun computer game out of something like expanded form and standard form.  I'm impressed.  You're probably the same person who invented Velveeta cheese to make bad vegetables edible. 

I really didn't want to live up to our reputation this year, but some things never change.  For the record, an iron on the low setting does a fantastic job of fixing crumpled homework retrieved from the garbage can.  This should be part of the elementary school orientation.  A demonstration on how to iron homework, tips on how to convince your child it's OK to poop at school and an explanation of why the windshield wipers should be turned off when in the parent pick up line (this may spare some other parent the embarrassment of spraying the principal in the face, sorry Mrs Adams).  I hope I'm not the only one who's intimidated when writing a note to a teacher without the use of spell check.  Sometimes I have to avoid big words I know I can't spell like necessary and in this case, retrieved or retreived.  I'm still not sure.  

While on the topic of notes, let me just say I like the notes I write to the teacher much better than the one's they write to me. 

This is what Tommy's teacher wrote me today.  I'm at a loss.  In the heat of the moment I fired off an email to Tommy's teacher.  She's probably reading it right now thinking, "This explains alot, no wonder he has behavior problems."  I'm afraid to open up my email and reread what I sent her.  I think it went something like this:

Dear Miss P,

I have no idea why I am such a failure as a parent.  What are we going to do with Tommy?  Should we check for placement at the juvenile detention hall or does he need a more aggressive intervention? 

Please Advise.

Completely Paranoid and Absolutely Crazy,

Erin

OK, so maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but the "more aggressive intervention" wording was a direct quote.  Shoot.  I think I came off a little strong.  We need to get that math game Velveeta cheese guy to invent a "take back my email" button.  But seriously, I did want his teacher to know that I don't agree with Tommy tripping another student so he could get to the chair first and I do have expectations for him.  I want her to know I will hold him accountable.  I just can't stop feeling like I've failed in some way.  Gavin was such an easy Kindergartner other than one isolated punching incident.  So this is all new.  Hopefully, this is just an adjustment, test the rules kind of period and it will end quickly.  Tommy did cry when he explained his day to me so maybe there is hope.  I guess I'll postpone his interview at the prison school.

Luckily, tonight Gavin understands his math and is able to do it on his own next to me at the table.  Or is he?  I don't believe there was a story problem about scooters.  I should probably wrap this up and be a better homework supervisor. 

Although from the look of things, he has plenty of homework supervisors already.  The parent handout that I did receive suggested creating a quiet place where your child can focus and study without distractions.  I think this qualifies, don't you?

Blogging is my favorite way to procrastinate these days.  It's seven and I still need to:

Check Gavin's homework (who cares how far it is from New York to Rio Grande? Third Graders I guess)
Lay out boy clothes for the morning
Find boy shoes
Consider sending an addendum email to Tommy's teacher
Talk myself out of sending any further emails to Tommy's teacher without clearing them with Scott
Consider making dinner for my very hungry husband
Convince said very hungry husband that I didn't write this post today while I was supposed to be cleaning the house, "No, that's an old post I had laying around"  (he sometimes believes bloggers have "old posts laying around")
Pack diaper bag
Study for my OB  test I'm having tomorrow (I feel like I'm allowed to procrastinate on this one, haven't I studied pregnancy about 9 mos X 4?)
Feed the cat
Get the skink out of the game closet
Clean the house that is currently being destroyed while I blog away

All this before my head can hit the pillow. 

Good luck to all you regular elementary moms out there.  WE CAN DO THIS!!! Or at least you can do this and I can pretend to be as put together and organized as you.  But for all you PTA super moms out there who dressed up for the open house, just because a dirty diaper or rotten sippy cup doesn't fall out of your van when you pull through parent pick up, that doesn't mean my kids aren't as good as yours.  I may not send cupcakes for the first day of school or volunteer to be on eight bazillion committees but I do love my children, even if they're just average.  For the record, it would be in you best interest to be very nice to me and very careful because maybe your perfect little angels might become best friends with my wonderfully creative average boys and you might just have to come over to my house for a play date.  Scary thought isn't it?

Goodnight!

Fortunately, Unfortunately

Fortunately,
I made it in time to parent pickup for the boys at school.
 

Unfortunately,
this is what the inside of the van looked like when the principal opened the door to put the boys in.

Fortunately,
I haven’t received a call from DCF yet.

Unfortunately,
Fed Ex men had to go to work today in the rain and deliver all day with wet shirts and squishy shoes.


Fortunately,
one of these Fed Ex men delivered my new canner today.
 

Unfortunately,
the boys ripped it open before I even saw it or brought it inside and there was a rather ugly battle over the box.



Fortunately,
everyone gave up fairly quickly, no blood was drawn and the canner survived unscathed.


Unfortunately,
the instructions were removed by a particular little boy and blew away before I could capture them.  Also unfortunate is the fact that canning without following said instructions can lead to fatal diseases like botulism.
 


Fortunately, 
this little boy does cute enough things that I've already forgiven him.



Unfortunately,
I have one small child bear crawling into the street right now.



Fortunately,
I have fairly good voice control over him and our street is quiet.





Unfortunately,
Gavin announced today that he will not be attending college.  He’s just going to be a professional scooter rider (Tommy announced last night that he wants to be a handicapped man when he grows up…it was later discovered that he meant handy man).
     


Fortunately,
this guy isn’t into professional scootering he’s satisfied with his pass me down bent and broken thrift store trike.



Unfortunately,
this very same trike is perfectly capable of running over anything in Finn’s way…sticks, rocks, and small boy children.



Fortunately,
no one argued when Finn announced that after playing outside for an hour and a half it was time to go in the house.
 


Unfortunately,
 the highly sought after box came in also and another battle ensued.



Fortunately,
I was able to sit on the porch for a moment and catch this sunset while retrieving my canner from the front yard before stepping back through the front door, my portal to chaos. 

Fortunately,
I really like these little boys that have created my chaotic life.

Not Me Monday

Since I work every weekend at the hospital I miss going to mass.  I do however receive communion from the traveling communion lady (a good Catholic would know the proper name for these people) each and every Sunday in the ICU.  I also fail to make it to confession on a regular basis so I'm hoping this will suffice for my way past due reconciliation.  GOD, if you happen to read this, please become a follower.  I really would like some input from time to time.  Here's a look at my latest week

This week a stray puppy didn't find us and I didn't let it in the house and I didn't tell the boys to name it.  I also didn't secretly hope Scott would fall in love with him and I most certainly wasn't a little disappointed when his owner came looking for him later that night.

This week I didn't find a pregnancy test while cleaning the van (I also don't have a van dirty enough to have a pregnancy test hidden in it) and run in the bathroom to use it.  That would be silly!  For all my family out there praying it was negative, you win, it was (I promise, the vasectomy will be soon, right after I finish my 2009 taxes and get Finn's speech screened)

This week I didn't ignore the low fuel light in my van knowing that Scott would be the next one to drive it and would have to fill it up.  That would be mean. 

This week it wasn't me who fed a stray cat and tried to tempt it up onto my front porch every night knowing that Scott doesn't want any more cats.  I wouldn't do that, but in the event that he figured out, all on his own how to use the cat door?  That wouldn't be my fault.

It wasn't me who fasted for two days before seeing my nutritionist.  That would be pointless, I've been eating all the right foods and definitely didn't find a new favorite cookie at Publix the other night.  What kind of person would go to a nutritionist for six months only to gain two pounds?  Someone with no self control, that's who.  I also didn't celebrate when she changed my goal from losing two pounds this week to not gaining any weight this week.  I would never premake excuses for why I probably was going to have a bad week.  I would never tell her I was being audited by the IRS and I would be really stressed.  That would most certainly bring bad karma. 

This week it wasn't  my husband who admitted that he loves watching I-Carly.  That would be childlike.  I would never marry a child.  I already have enough of them.

While in the ICU during rounds this week in front of several doctors and a cardiothoracic surgeon I didn't fall out of my rolling office chair behind the desk.  I'm not a klutz.  However, for those of you who may have done this at any point, I think it's ridiculous that any chair manufacturer would have a "dump" lever located very near the height adjuster. 

I didn't stop at our new favorite Mexican restaurant and pick up chips and salsa to surprise Scott with a late night dinner date snack and then eat them all before I got home.   Hypothetically if this did happen, I would never carefully hide all the evidence in the garage before going inside.

I would never leave a skink trapped in the game closet because I was too tired and lazy to get it out of the house.  If there ever was a skink in my game closet, it wouldn't be there because a certain orange cat brought it in through the cat door.  My cat would never do that (twice).  He is far too sophisticated to associate with skinks.  A blog about this second round with the skimk won't be showing up on this blog anytime soon!

It wasn't me who waited until this weekend to finish my 2009 taxes.  That would be irresponsible.  I would never procrastinate like that.  Speaking of procrastinating, I also wasn't the library patron who checked out an audio book last month from the library called "Stop Procrastinating and Start Living".  I would never check out a book like that and never listen to it and owe three dollars in late fees on it and still do nothing about it. 

I need to go now because it's late and I don't still have two little boys who should have been asleep hours ago in their own beds.

Nope, not me!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow

Skies are blue

And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

15 minutes tearing through the garbage in the garage...

Another 10 minutes of ripping and fitting...

And then he's transformed...

into a carefully crafted...

Bionic boy robot.

And then he was off to save the world (or maybe conquer it).

Handyman Wanted

Crazy, loud, destructive family in desperate need of a handyman

Lovely family in need of a handyman

Must not get upset if children watch you work and touch your tools

Must like small children

Must be able to acquire rare missing lampshade hats

Must be resourceful

Must know how to get crayon off all surfaces

Cleaning knowledge a plus

Must fix this right now before Scott sees

Prompt attention to family heirlooms appreciated

Must be able to reinforce towel bars to withstand the weight of 40 pounds

Commercial quality construction experience wanted

Must be able to tell me what this wire is, 5 years and I still don't know

Expect some light electrical repair

Must be willing to undo some of my shady construction errors without laughing at me

Looking for a sensitive, non judgemental candidate

Alright, just make all the towel bars strong enough to hang on (it rains alot, we need some form of exercise)

Once again extreme durability in all repair jobs a must.

This job doesn't necessarily pay actual cash.  Consider it a resume building reference and experience.  Think of it more as a community project.  It's time for you to give back  a little.  I will be more than happy to pay you with dinner.  Please see attached invite. 

http://thetestosteroneadventures.blogspot.com/2010/07/wed-be-honored-to-have-you-for-dinner.html

If interested, apply in person and bring your tools, no point in wasting any one's time.    Also looking for a cleaning help, a nanny and a personal assistant.  So if you have friends, bring them (all).