Errands

The timeframe between when Shawn leaves for work and I have to pick up the kids is the perfect time to run a couple of errands without ALL of the kids.  Ciara is the worst of them, but Ciara PLUS Justin is awful!  He fuels her!  So I can handle one without the other.  Katie is always a good girl.

Anyways...

Yesterday I told CiCi to get her shoes on because we had to run some errands.  She got all excited!  Which is weird, because she doesn't really like to run errands.  Most of the time she's in the middle of a Barbie movie and would rather stay home and watch that.  But she didn't fight me and I was glad.

I ran to the library to drop off some movies that were due and to Kohls to return a few shirts (but not my cute boots!  I kept those!) that I had bought the night before that when I took them home and tried them on they were just too trendy for me.  I forget that I'm not 16 any more.  What's cute for a young single woman is not so cute for a married mom.  I struggle with this.  A lot of the "married mom" clothes look like grandma clothes to me.  I hate that.  I'm not going to wear a sweater with a great big floral print on it!  So I usually go with the plain solid color look. 

In fact, I found it kinda funny.  I was looking through my closet to find what I wanted to bring to San Diego with me.  I found 6 shirts that I really like and aren't just t-shirts.  They are all different colors, different brands, and bought at different times.  And they all look alike!  LOL  They have the same shape, neck, and look to them!  Oh well!  I guess if you like something....buy 6 of them!  LOL

Anyways...back to the story. 

After Kohls I went to pick up the kids.  It took me a little bit longer than expected because I hit a ton of school zones a long the way.  So I was just a couple minutes late picking them up.  Katie was pretty upset with me. 

To get them excited I asked them if they wanted to go to the library to pick out a movie!  I was forgiven.

When we were getting back in the SUV from the library, Justin asked, "Where are we going now?"

"We're going home."

"But CiCi said we were going to Bountiful!"  He was quite upset with me.

"No!  I never said that!"

Ciara in her cute little voice says, "Yes!  We er going to Aaron's!  He's my friend!"

I had to explain that I told CiCi that we were going to run ERRANDS not go to AARON'S!

All of the kids were disappointed!

I told them we will try to stop by on Saturday....that made them happy!

Captain EO

Can you believe it?!?  After 13 years, Disneyland is bringing back Michael Jackson's Captain EO!!  I am so excited!  I much preferred this show over the Honey I Shrunk The Audience!

The show reopens TOMORROW!!  I may just have to do a little sweet talking to Jenn to see if we can make a stop at the Happiest Place on Earth!! 

How awful would it be for us to go without our kiddies??

Katie's Competition

I can't believe I almost forgot to post about Katie's piano competition!

Saturday we found out that not only were no guests allowed, but we couldn't bring the kids either.  So only one of us could go.

I asked Katie who she preferred to take her.  She was a little upset that we wouldn't both be there, but decided if she had to chose just one, she wanted her dad.

Poor thing was so nervous!!  While practicing, she messed up quite a bit.  Which is odd because she's had the songs memorized for awhile now and has been playing them beautifully until Saturday morning came along.

I stayed home with the kids and told her to call me when it was over. 

She called right away.  She said that she felt really good about it and was glad that it was over.  Apparently, the judge didn't say a single word to her, neither in greeting, judging, or exiting.  So I don't know if that is just a judging thing, but I think it's odd.  Katie said she just wrote down a lot of things and Katie tried her best to just ignore it because it was making her even more nervous. 

The judge gives the result paper to her teacher, so we won't find out how she did until Saturday.  Either way, we are proud of her!  She has worked so hard! 

I'll keep you posted!

Peter Jackson and the Lightning Thief

I am under the belief that this movie was adapted by Mr D himself as a ploy to make Percy and his "quest" look ridiculous!  And THAT is why Mr D purposely left himself out of the movie as well as every other key element and plot.

The biggest crime against this movie is the lack of mention Kronos, except for the brief classroom discussion in the museum about how the Gods defeated him.  That would be like Harry Potter with no Voldemort!  And that is only ONE of the many many faults in the movie.

The other huge mistake was removing the Oracle from the story.  Again, that would be like Harry Potter without the Prophecy. 

Luckily, I was forewarned that the movie was lacking in main characters, but I still was hoping the book would not be slaughtered.  But then again, the only likeness the movie had with the book was names of characters (that they decided NOT to throw out the window) and names of places.

I believed that they merged several characters together.  Clarise with Annabeth.  Ares with Hades.  And then they completely changed other characters.  What happened to my clumsy, emotional Grover?  He turned into some cool slick goatman!  I must admit though...I did enjoy Grover in the movie..but he wasn't MY Grover.  It was like some new character that I enjoyed.

And I still don't know what to think about Camp Half-Blood (Did they even mention the camp name?) and the cabins.  And I'm still scratching my head about Luke.  The fight scene at the end was a bit ridiculous to me.

I could go on, but why?  I don't see how they can continue with the sequels with so much of the story missing.  But hey, they continue to find a way with HP.  I do think though that a movie finally crossed a line with me and I don't have any want to see any future Percy Jackson movies.

I Wanna Text Daddy

Almost every night, right around bedtime, my kids want to call their daddy.  Sometimes I let them...sometimes I don't.  If it is around his break time - they can call.  Or if he texted earlier and said they weren't busy - they can call.  If he's had a busy night, they can't call. 

Last night though, Katie asked a different question.  She wanted to text him!

I told her that she couldn't actually do the text, but that I would send a text to him saying EXACTLY what she wants.  This was her text to her daddy.

Hi Dad.  This is Katelynn.  I love you.  I miss you.  I want to cuddle with you when you come home from work.  I love you.  Love, Katie.

So from there, of course, Justin wanted to send a text too!

This is Justin Ewell and I love you so much.  And I want to cuddle with you and I love you Dad.  And I love you Dad.  I love you so much Dad and I want to kiss you Dad.  And I like you very much and I love you very much.  And what is your favorite movie and can you wake me up in the morning?  Love, Justin.  And do you love me?

And here is CiCi's!  She cracked us all up! 

Daddy!  I'm a CiCi!  How about Daddy!  I love Daddy!  I'm not Daddy's friend.  I'm Katelynn's friend.  And Mommy.  And Justin is.  I love Daddy!

The kids couldn't stop laughing at CiCi!

Sadly, it must have been a very busy nigt because we never got a response, but I'm sure he'll tell me about it when I get home!

Playroom

As most of you know, my basement is basically just the kid's huge playroom.  There is the section for our laundry and our gym equipment, but most of it is just a place where the kids can be kids. 

They keep it pretty decent most of the time, but they have so many toys that it's hard to put things back where they go.

So Shawn went out and bought me a couple of totes as well as a rod to put up.  His part of "organizing" the basement was completed once that rod was up.  The rest was up to me.

So that is how I spent my Friday evening!

First came the mess.  I hate that.  Why do you have to create a bigger mess in order to clean one?? 

I dumped every box and toy in the middle of the toy room.  I was knee deep in toys and junk!  I picked up the immediately seen garbage (why do children pack away garbage??!) and went to work.  I hung every dress up dress.  Put Barbies in one tote, ponies in another.  Hotwheels and trucks in a large tote.  Seperated the rest of the dress up between boys and girls and put them in their seperate totes.  Baby dolls and clothes got their place.  And of course I got rid of any broken toy and toys that aren't being used any more went in the D.I. box.  I'm still not sure what to do with all of my baby toys.  Ciara has outgrown them, but I'm still just not ready to get rid of them.  I haven't given up that there is another one waiting for me!  So they got their own tote too...I just didn't put it in the actual playroom.

I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me...TONS better!

It took me about 3 hours.  AND Jennifer came over in the middle and helped me out!  I was just teasing when I told her that if she was really bored she was welcome to come clean my basement with me, but I'm glad she showed up!  Even though she was making fun of me the whole time!

So far, the kids have been able to keep it organized.  So hopefully, it will stay that way now that everything has a place!

I know it's early

I know Valentines isn't over yet, but changes my background, colors, and quote seemed like a Friday thing to do!

Please let me know if you have any difficulty reading.  I know that "luck o the Irish" clover can get in the way....but I can't remove it so....it's here to stay for awhile.

Love you!!

So here's the deal

I'm kinda upset.  I had to keep myself from tearing up last night.  I was not able to record Katie's dance yesterday.

First, I grabbed the camera on my way to pick up Justin.  We would only have 45 minutes between when school got out and when we had to be back at the school.  So I decided I wasn't going to come back home.  I was going to run up to Little Ceasers, grab a $5 pizza and have the kids eat in the car.  Katie had to stay after school.  Her teacher wasn't releasing the kids until AFTER the performance and so she was feeding the class pizza as well.

When I was waiting for the bell to ring, I decided to check the camera to make sure it was in the right spot.  Guess what?  Battery dead.  Are you kidding me!?  We just fully charged that thing last weekend.  We had about 2 minutes of footage and I shared it once! 

So I picked up Justin, ran back home, plugged in the camera and left to go get the pizza.  We ate at home quickly, made everybody go potty and were back out the door.  So I knew I didn't have much of a charge but was hopeful that I would have enough for the few minutes to tape Katie.  Especially since I wasn't able to tape it last year because we ran out of tape!!  Video cameras are not my friend.  I need to invest in a digital!

When we got there the place was already filling up.  I was able to grab 4 seats (Grandma DeeDee was coming too!) a few rows back.  Grandma made it just in time before they were going to make me give up the extra space because the lunchroom was packed wall to wall.  When her class started to perform, I pulled out the camera.  There was some weird indicator light in the middle of the screen - I'm not sure what it meant.  The boys danced first.  They did this cute little dance about little old Mexican men with canes and masks.  Very cute.  I couldn't see hardly anything.  Espeically with the camera.  Just a few seconds into it and I knew it was useless.  I fought back the tears and put the camera away.

After the first dance, I saw a fellow mother in the class video taping.  I asked her for a copy and she said it was actually the teacher's camera so she thinks everyone should be able to get a copy!  Great!

Then the boys and girls did a Spanish polka.  Katie was wearing the same outfit of last year.  She looked so cute!  Although her bun did not stay in all the way...oh well.  I tried.

The dance was a lot of fun and the audience seemed to really enjoy it, clapping along with the music!  It was cute!

Then all the kids got to pick a member of the audience to teach them an easy little dance to do with them.  Katie grabbed CiCi.  My first thought was, Ciara isn't going to be able to do that!  Boy was I wrong!  I don't think those two girls had more fun!  It was the cutest thing!  Of course they had to be in the very back and most of the kids picked their parents so it was awful to try and watch, but what can you do?

Then it was a fight through the masses to meet the kids back in the classroom.  I waited for most of the parents to leave with their children so I could talk to the teacher.  When she had a moment I told her I was a little bit concerned.  Her immediate response was, "About recess?".   She explained that because the school is a title one school (which usually means lower income) the school gets extra money from the district.  Because of that the school is held to higher reading test results.  So the school (except for the lower grades K and 1) doesn't participate in 1st recess.  So that was not a punishment by any means.  It was simply aligning with the rest of the school.  At this point I was already feeling better. 

The reason 3rd recess has been taken away is because the kids are supposed to be speaking Spanish only during the Spanish half of the day.  If they do not, they lose recess.  So I asked, is Katie not speaking Spanish.  The teacher said she was doing very well and was not one of the students causing them to lose their recess.  She continued to say that she knows it's not fair to "punish" all of the children for the majority and that she is trying to work out something to reward the other kids, but hasn't been able to yet.  I explained that Katie came home very upset yesterday because of it.  The teacher again acknowledged that she has to find a better way to handle it as she can see it in her "good" students.  She also thanked me for bringing up my concerns because if we do not bring them up, she continues none the wiser and/or as a parent, you just fester. 

I then moved on to the Valentines day party.  She said she is still not sure if they will be able to have one.  And this is why.  This week they have spent a lot of time practicing for this performance and need to catch up on some other things.  They only have about a 20 minute time frame at the end of the day to play a couple games and have fun.  If the kids do not cooperate, they will not have any time.  So it's not a punishment, it's a time constraint.

I also asked about getting a copy of the dances.  She said definately!  The camera is for the classroom and will be giving a copy on disc to each parent at the end of the year.  So I have to wait, but at least I get it!

I feel much better now that I had a few minutes to talk to her.  I've always liked her and I'm glad I can continue to.  Although Katie is still being lumped in with the others, I know she is working on a plan to reward her.

I did not go into Fabulous Friday simply because I forgot, but I will bring it up in SEP conference next month.

So there you have it.  I wasn't able to tape the performance, the kids had a lot of fun, I talked to the teacher, I feel much better!

Recess

I am getting a bit frustrated with Katelynn's teacher.  She is the same teacher Katie had last year, but this year there are a few things going on that I do not agree with.

Katie came home from school yesterday crying.  When I asked her what was the matter, she said that they (the whole class) didn't get to have recess yesterday. 

What?!  Why not?

She informed me that a few months ago, the teacher took away their first recess for the rest of the school year because the class couldn't be quiet.  And that they lost their last recess yesterday because again, the class couldn't settle down.  So she only got lunch recess, which means the kids have to either not eat, or choke down their food as fast as possible to have time to play outside.

I asked her if she was being rowdy in class.  The teacher has also praised Katelynn and she never has to switch her color card (that is how they do it in her class...for every warning you switch colors until you've had so many warnings, you have to see the principal).  So I couldn't imagine Katie being disruptive in class.

Katie, of course, said no.  That it is really only a few boys in her class.  She named them, but I can't remember.  There were about 3 or 4 names.

So now I don't quite know what to do.  First off, I've always thought that "taking away" recess was the dumbest thing I've heard of.  Most of the time it's for exactly what Katie was describing which means those kids now have no outlet to get that energy out!  And second, why is Katie - and the rest of the class for that matter - being punished for the few??

Another thing that is bothering me is along the same lines.  The whole school has Fabulous Friday's - Katie's class used to call them Fiesta Friday for the Spanish theme.  On Friday, the kids who have been good all week get to do something special.  Sometimes it's extra P.E. time, games, treats...whatever have you.  But the teacher took away Fiesta Friday for the whole class for the whole year because, yet again, the class is too rowdy! 

And now her teacher is threatening to take away their Valentines Day party!  

I'm sick of it!  I was trying to wait until Parent Teacher conference so I could sit down and discuss it, but I think I'm going to try and pull the teacher aside tonight after Katie's performance to find out what is going on.  I do not like that my daughter is being punished for other's bad behaviors instead of rewarded for her good behavior!  This is a gifted class.   If there are a few students who are out of control...remove them from the class.  Maybe it's just too much for them!  Why hold the whole class back??

Anyways..so there is my vent for the day! 

Love ya!!

Katie's a busy lady

February is a busy month for my sweet little Katie. 

Last Saturday she had her first piano recital.  Today she has a little performance at school for Literacy Night.  Her class will be doing 2 dances.  And on the 20th she has her first piano competition.

She's been a bit "stressed" - if that's the right word - about all of these functions.  But she is handling them beautifully.  And I am so glad that she is learning to perform in front of an audience.  I hope this is a skill she can conquer and keep with her for the future. 

Love ya Katie Lady!!