A HUG IS ALL I GET

First day of school for the boy!!! All I got was a hug.  I stopped him and his sister on the sidewalk outside the entry and asked if they were okay just going in and he said yeah and started to walk toward the doors.  "Um, can I get a hug," I asked.  "Oh yeah," he replied and they both hugged me and were gone to eat waffles for breakfast in the school lunchroom.  He is the one kid I figured would have a huge crying fit before I left him.  He is just so emotionally off since the episode with the Singulair and it may take years for him to get back to normal again. 

I wasn't sure how he would find his way to his classroom since on back to school night they went to a different classroom to meet the teachers (not sure which one he will get yet, won't know until end of the week).  I can only hope that either his sister was able to help him or the teachers would come to the playground (after breakfast) to pick the kids up. I didn't get a call saying that he was inconsolable from getting lost (school is so small, not sure if it is possible to get lost) so that is a good thing.  I leave here in about an hour and fifteen minutes to pick him up - early out day for Kindergarten today. I can't wait to see him and give him a big hug.  I miss him! And I realized that I had forgotten to warn his teachers about the whole singulair thing and ask them to watch for behavioral issues so we can know what needs to be corrected. So I guess I will be sending an email tonight and hope I get a good report. He is a good boy when he isn't around his siblings and I am hoping that he will be good at school and with other kids.  Because basically, his siblings are brats and he is overwhelmed by all of the estrogen.  Ah crap, now I wish there was a school in town with a male teacher...hmmm. He'll be okay right???

Right now, for the first time in years, it is just me and one of the kids.  I do not know what to do with myself!!!  Here is an example of our conversation after daddy left for work.

Conversation with Lily
Me: Hey Dee, do you want mommy to stop working and play a game with you?
Lily: No mama, me play by myself
Me: Are you sure, Mama wants to play.
Lily: No mama me play by myself.
Me: Want to rock a bye with me?
Lily: No mama, me do myself after I play school

Well, I know where I stand now don't I. My kids have always been independent so I might actually get work done during the day now.  Or maybe she will decided she wants to play after all.  Nah, I wouldn't count on it. ;)

After dropping the little's off at school, I took Gwen to get her drivers license.  Talk about nervous, it was crazy, nausea, shaking the whole nine yards.  That was me, not Gwen.  I was so damn nervous for her I could barely sit still.  But you know what?  She passed and now I have a licensed driver and a kindergartner in my hoard of kids.  Oh and a two year old who doesn't want to play with me.  Sigh...this parenting thing is so emotional. Can I cry yet?  Might not be a good idea until all the kids are tucked safely in their beds.  I hope I can wait that long!!!

Until Next Time...I've probably said this before, but enjoy those milestones no matter how much you want to cry, because someday they will be moving out and getting married and having kids of their own and you will wonder what happened to the years that just seem to slip away. 

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT

Last night was back to school/meet the teacher for the littles. We gathered up all of the school supplies and headed to their little school. Miss Crazy was excited to see old teachers and friends and Mr. Insane was excited to start a new adventure all while being very nervous. And me?  Well, I was just emotional to see my little boy in a classroom and around other kids.

She's going to miss him!

This year they are doing things differently for the kindergartners. The first three or four days of school are only partial days. One reason is to let the little cuties get used to being away from home.  And the second is to be able to do evaluations to see which kids need a bit of help and which kids already know their stuff.  Mr. Insane will probably be in the needs help section, at least for awhile.  As most of you know, I don't believe in teaching kids too early and on top of it all, he learned a lot of stuff from his siblings just through filtering down but he forgot a lot of it when we had the great Singulair disaster.  He literally forgot a lot of stuff he used to know because of that horrible medicine.  But he will catch up quickly (as long as he doesn't rebel by not listening to the teacher. lol)  The knowledge is there, it just needs to come back out.

I don't like the fact that my days will be totally trashed because of the weird kindergarten schedule the first week, but I do like the fact that they won't be trying to teach the kids at the same time as they are doing the assessments to decide which group they are in. That just created a lot of confusion for a lot of kids.  Mr. Insane has his evaluation on the Tuesday which is cool.  Get it out of the way! But the kids are going crazy not knowing which teacher they will have yet.  By the end of the week they will have a 'home' teacher but in this district most of the schools have the teachers share responsibility.  They might have one teacher for math and one for reading and then the other for science etc.

He's going to be doing a lot of this soon!

One thing that really irks me...On thursday I think it is, I will literally have to pick up the boy and come home only to have to leave again a half hour later to pick up The Sophomore and then head over to pick up Miss Crazy.  It's just too hot to head to the school to sit in the car with everybody to wait for The Sophomore to get out.  At least Little Butt can crawl in and out of the car by herself now and all I have to do is hook her in. Yay for kids getting older. haha

SIDE NOTE: Sent an email to the high school protesting some bogus fines and they erased them all, even the ones we were willing to pay.  I love making people fear me. :p

Until Next Time...Don't let your kids see you break down on the first day of school, it just makes them anxious. I never really broke down with my kids until Miss Crazy and even then it was only a couple of tears in the car after I left her in her classroom. But with Mr. Insane I'm getting teary eyed every day leading up to it.  I'm going to have to kick him out of the car and let his sister remind him where his classroom is and then boob all the way home and have Little Butt say "it okay mama, you no cry please." :D

LOTS OF RANDOM CRAP :D

BIRTHDAY PICS - I was asked for some pics of our birthday celebration for Miss Crazy. Here are the only ones I can seem to get uploaded at this point. :D

Hugging one gift while sharing another with friend

Rapunzel wig.  It reaches the floor! :)

Princess ring birthday cake- chocolate!
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SCHOOL SHOPPING: School shopping is DONE DONE DONE!!! We got all five kids clothes today for under 200 dollars. Some bought at big box store and some at our favorite charity thrift store. :D  I was so proud of us.  But....Next year I will remember to try to get the clothes earlier in the month because the thrift store had no shoes for any of the littles and no pants for Mr. Insane. But the expensive part is stuff we dont' usually buy at thrift stores. Socks (pairs never really match) and underwear (new are much better unless all you can afford are used). those right there were fort five dollars. (Of course we had to buy Little Butt some too. :)

LITTLE BUTT Well, she is doing much better but because she is under five they have to do an ultrasound on the 30th to make sure there isn't something structurally wrong.  I'm pretty sure it is from her sitting butt naked in the yard when she sneaks her diaper off, but no one listens to the mom. :/

RELEASE DATE: Well, the release date for my next novel is August 24,2013. Hopefully won't have to change it.  As long as editing is done and formatting isn't as difficult as I think it will be, we will have it out.  Hop on over to http://www.facebook.com/writerjjellis to find out about our relase day event!

OTHER BUSINESS: So, I got this email yesterday and I wanted to know what you all think about it.  They asked me to find beta testers for their product.  I will post the email here and let you check it out and I ask you to let me know what you think...(I in no way am endorsing this as I don't know much about it yet) I like the idea but am always wary of uploading my pics to strange places (I felt this way about dropbox at first too)

KairosLife.com is a place for families to save digital memories and heirlooms for kids and loved ones. Then digitally deliver those keepsakes to them at a predetermined date in the future, kind of like a digital time capsule or gift. 

Our founder recently lost a close friend who passed suddenly without warning and was again reminded of how quickly life can be taken away, at any age.

He woke up one night with the idea of this site.  He is a father of three and was thinking about the memories we want to keep forever - and how could they be stored, kept for the future, and delivered at just the right moment to have the greatest impact.

How does it work?

1. Upload photos, videos or letters from your PC or mobile device to a “KairosMoment” which is the album or capsule that will be delivered to your loved one on a future date.
2. Tag your loved ones to that KairosMoment and set a reveal date when it will be delivered.
3. As the reveal date approaches, if desired, other family members and friends can share their thoughts on that KairosMoment to add to the memories for that loved one.
4. Then on the reveal date, the loved one will get an email notifying them of a KairosMoment that has been unlocked.

We are still polishing up the site and are giving complimentary memberships to people who can help us. Just visit www.KairosLife.com and enter your email address.

Until Next Time...unplanned busy days lead to BS blogs, haha.  Do I hear complaining? ;)  See ya Friday! :)

SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND POLITICS

We just got back from school shopping for the kids (supplies, not clothes yet)  We spent almost eighty dollars on supplies for a kindergartner, second grader and maybe 1/2 of the supplies the 10th grader might need.

Holy cow.  That is insane.  I remember when my dad used to freak out if he had to spend more than five dollars for my school supplies.  Of course back then we didn't have clorox wipes and the school supplied the tissues and ziplock baggies and their own chalk (now dry erase markers). I complained for years about the Clark County School District because truthfully it wasn't that great, but now after having my kids in Wyoming school districts for the last nine years, I will never complain again.

You know, the joke used to be if we messed something up we would say, "well I went to the Clark County school district after all."  Now I'm seriously thinking of changing it to, "well, my kids went to NCSD1 after all" but then that wouldn't make much sense would it. But it would still be fun as hell to say.

I've come to realize that all districts have politics that I won't like, but you have to look deep down and see HOW and WHAT your kids are learning.  Now I truly wish the heat hadn't bothered me so much because I truly wish my kids could go to CCSD again.

The only good thing is that the colleges here in Wyoming are really good.  Casper College is a top rated community college and UW is a great school especially for certain majors.  Their education department is fabulous so hopefully we get some great teachers and future administrators that can affect changes here. Unfortunately my kids won't see it.  Unless they are willing to stick it out here and become teachers (Gwen's going to be a teacher but I have no clue where she will end up).

The good thing in all of this is that I got to go to the store and soak up all of the lovely school supplies.  You all know from previous blogs that paper and pens make me very very very very happy. :)  I even bought myself some! You know, if you go to our walmart at this time of year you will see this strange lady standing in the middle of the school supply aisles with stars in her eyes and I was going to say sniffing the air for the scent of paper and pen and glue but I really don't do that...much. ;)

Until Next Time...I know it's hard but when it comes to things like jobs, hospitals, schools and other things like that, sometimes you have to look really hard past all of the politics to see the good.  Sometimes you won't find any good, but sometimes you might just be surprised.

THE EXCITEMENT OF GETTING READY FOR BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

Well, it's that time again. Nope, not time for school quite yet, but it sure is time to get ready for school. And there is so much to do.

First we need to get Mr. Insane ready for school. I taught him his ABC's years ago but now he isn't grasping them so much.  That is why I will never again teach a child under the age of 3.5 anything of importance. The chance that they will have academic trouble later in life is too great, but that is a story for another time.

Miss Crazy is going to be the easy one this year. Just buy her school supplies (OMG so many needed and little money to do it on. I miss my old district where you needed pencil's paper and crayons...the end) and send her on her way.

The Sophomore has to go to schedule change day because they were once again stupid and gave my kids a teacher I will not allow them to have.  Gwen had one history teacher who didn't teach fact, but his opinion and tried to convert everyone to his political party.  Yeah, not putting up with that crap. He passed all the jocks so he was allowed to stay until he retired a couple years ago.  As for The Sophomore, she had a teacher last year who only went by test scores not previous experience or recommendations from other teachers. So the minute she stepped into this woman's classroom, not quite meeting the test scores, she was doomed and when the woman found out she was autistic well it just got worse.  I guess the teachers in this district aren't taught that autistic kids can be brilliant just like other kids.  So The Sophomore kind of stopped trying in her class and couldn't put up with the treatment so we had her drop with the official reason of teacher conflict.  Well, she got her schedule yesterday and guess who her math teacher is again???  Yep, isn't going to happen on my watch.  I usually let teachers do their job and teach, If my kid gets in trouble or a bad grade it is because they deserved it, but this isn't about grades or discipline. These two are just horrible and I truly believe they are two of the few teacher's I've met in the is district who really can't teach. And then there will be registration which will be a fight because they broke her computer and are trying to charge us for repairs. Yeah, again, it isn't gonna happen.

Then we get to Gwen.  She has books to buy ...OMG have you seen the price of text books lately?  Holy cow, easily double what I spent in college twenty years ago! RIDICULOUS. We will probably get her a few school supplies because her scholarship doesn't cover them and then it is off to college with her! How exciting. She gets to experience the joys of long boring lectures, long exciting lectures, crazy professors and the indescribable feeling of being part of a college community.  Damn, now I'm jealous, can I go back to college??? ;)

So, as we go broke shopping for  paper, pens, pencils, crayons, rulers, pencil boxes, kleenex, hand sanitizer, erasers, glue, calculators, dry erase markers, highlighters, colored pencils, scissors, and school clothes (And yes those are all actual supplies that we have to buy for all four kids - The elementary supplies just times by two) we are also a bit excited because of all of the fun and crazy adventures four of our five will have starting later this month.  Kindergarten and college adventures for the first time, second grade and sophomore adventures, just continuing along.  And then there will be me at home with only one child. My last baby. As the tears begin to fall at this bittersweet moment I get sad of course and excited too.  My baby and I will have such fun together but in a few short years it will be just me. And then the tears will really fall.  Heck don't be surprised if I'm writing novels every week at that time because what else am I to do without a kid at home.

Until Next Time...No matter how much something bothers you, if any part of it gives you joy don't deny it, embrace it!  Back to school is like that for me.  I hate the district and I miss my kids (sometimes) but dang the whole back to school excitement thing is just indescribable!!!!

GOOD NEWS, GOOD TIMES, GOOD DAYS!

So, I was sitting here on the couch fuming because I am not getting the drive free summer I had planned, and no one was listening to my directive that I would not be giving rides, when my phone rang.  I had no clue who it was, but I answered it because the first three numbers indicated it was from the school district. Boy am I glad I did answer it!  They were calling to let me know that they now had room for my son in our school of choice!!!  Woo hoo, that means I don't have to drive all over the place next year getting both of my smaller kids to different schools and different activities at the exact same start and end times. (You know it would have been painful having to get Little Butt in and out of the car an extra time when I would have to take my son into the school because he's not quite ready to just go himself.

I cried tears of joy. Really, I did. You guys don't realize what a relief this is to me.  With the snowy roads that aren't plowed worth a crap, and having to drag a sleepy, cold two year old everywhere, my life will now be so much better and easier and better, and did I say easier?  :D :D :D :D Oh yeah, and less painful too!

And in other great news, Gwen got a clean bill of health from the doctor. We are thinking her feeling 'off' is caused by stress and low blood pressure, which she is treated for.  That is a huge relief and weight off of our minds.

So now that the family is (maybe) finally getting healthier, we can move on to have a good summer.  I am going to be busy getting Mr. Insane ready for Kindergarten and writing my books - I have decided that I am completely insane.  I am writing the last three books at the same time.  I wrote chapter one of all three books and then onto chapter 2 of all three books and so on.  Oh, and I am also still writing that book with my daughter.  Did I mention that I am completely insane?  I do believe I did above and have many other times. :)

I am also starting a new program to try to get healthy.  I will tell you more about it when I get everything finalized, but I must say that the change I have seen in my college friend who is helping me get involved in this, is amazing.  I think she is down 121 pounds now and is feeling great. Her whole family is much healthier and that is exactly what I am hoping for my family too.  Stay tuned for details!!!

Overall things are going good now...thank goodness. I'd hate to have to bore you with my complaining again. ;)

Until Next Time...Please, please, please, enjoy the good times to the fullest!

KINDERGARTEN - MY KIDS ARE DROPPING LIKE FLIES ;)

Today I am happy. Today I am sad. Today I signed my son, my one and only boy, up for Kindergarten. :'( 

We usually do online enrollment here in this open district but I forgot. Then I had them send me the paperwork, then  it got lost, then I called and asked them to send it again, then they never returned my call. So, we trudged across town and filled out the paperwork.  The good news?  It's an easy thing to do. The bad news? The school we wanted him to go to is full so he will be going alone, without his sister. This is the one thing that I was afraid of, he is a shy boy and doesn't like people very much and now he won't have his sister there to back him up...yet.

We signed him up for a different school relatively close to our house and put him on the waiting list for the one his sister goes to. 

We thought about transferring his sister to the school he is going to, but their second grade is full.  Not only is this a pain in the ass because they will be receiving two totally different educations, but now I have to drive to two different schools and I HATE DRIVING KIDS TO SCHOOL DAMN IT!!!!!. I love school busses. ;)

He can be bussed, but I would have to drive him to the nearest bus hub which is about as far away as his school is.  So there goes that idea.

So here is what we know:

 Mr. Insane will be going to school A but is on the waiting list for school B

Miss Crazy will be going to school B but is on the waiting list for school A

One way or the other the kids will be going to the same school eventually!!!! 

And this is important not only because I want older sister to help younger brother to acclimate  but because both schools start at and end at the exact same time so one will always be left waiting.  So annoying! 

I need to put all of this aside and focus on the fact that my baby boy is GOING TO SCHOOL FOR THE FIRST TIME SOON!!! Oh my, it is one of those mommy moments that brings tears to the eyes, especially since he is my only boy. I will stop the proud tears from The Senior's graduation just in time for the proud tears for Mr. Insane going to Kindergarten to start.  My head is going to be stuffy a lot this year. :/

We have so much to do. Make sure he knows his ABC's properly and his first 15 numbers and make sure he can write his name and know his address and phone number.  Dang!  This will be a busy but fun summer I think.  Come August I will only have one child still at home, it will be bittersweet. I will get to have alone time with my last baby, which will be great, but I'm going to miss my son. We've had some great times together the last five years!

Until Next Time...Do not take things for granted when it comes to your kids..  Children  hit milestone after milestone so quickly that we blink and they are grown up, married and have kids of their own. (It seems like just yesterday The senior was starting Kindergarten and now she's graduating!) 

Also, if your kids go to an open school district, if you can't run away screaming, do not ever miss the open registration days or you may be spending your whole life driving your kids to different schools, which when they are involved in activities, is such a pain in the butt.  And bussing will be a nightmare too. On second thought....JUST RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!! ;)