Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Who's In Charge Here, Anyway?

From the time our kids are about two years old, until they are about five, it seems, we spend a lot of time reinforcing who is (and who isn't) in charge.

When Jack was about three, we had been saying (a lot), "You are not in charge."

One day at the table, he said, "Grammy's in charge, and PawPaw's in charge, and Daddy's in charge, and Mommy's in charge. I ... am NOT in charge." We laughed and laughed and still say that to each other and to him.

So now Charlotte and Mitchell think that they are in charge all too often and we've taken to reinforcing with them that "You are not in charge".

The other day, Charlotte and John were sitting on the couch having some sort of serious discussion and he said to her, "You are not in charge." Without missing a beat, she fired right back, "You aw not in chodge, eedah." Oh dear, we still have some work to do. We had to hide our faces while we cracked up.

This morning, I went to turn on a show for her in my bedroom and we were laying on my bed "chatting". She started getting all bossy on me, so I reminded her, "You are not in charge." She quickly replied, "I not in chodge. I just tawkin'!"

What a mess.


Monday, August 17, 2009

First Day of School


Nothing says "first day of school" like new shoes!


The obligatory full-length body shot.


Head shots only


I think this one is my favorite.



Walking into school. They met up with their friends Sam and Ben in the parking lot and left us (the parents) in their dust.

Really? Why did we walk them in? This is the one and only time I do it. The rest of the year, I just slow down in the circle drive and push them out.

P.S. Scrapbookers - imagine how CUTE these pages are going to be. I get to work with GREEN and PINK! My two favs! Although Jack may not look on it too kindly.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

My life in bullets

It seems like I just can't make the time to sit down and write a blog entry lately. (Or, really, for a long time.) Every time I think I want to say something, I can only come up with a "facebook-status-like" line for it. I remember when I was in high school, one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Noto, always complimented my friend, Stephanie, because she was so concise. I gotta admit, it always made me a little bit jealous! Well, I think I'm getting there. Look out, Stephanie!!!

  • My mom is at the cabin this week. Alone. I'm a bit envious.
  • I've spent the week doing all the last-minute prep stuff for school. The kids start on Monday. Ordered the brown uniform shoes from Land's End. Ordered the Grammar workbooks and hardback textbook for Holly to the tune of $60. Ouch. Ventured out to multiple stores to buy white tennis shoes for the kids (Converse leather at Dick's - $24.99!)
  • Went to parent orientation yesterday for both kids. It's a long day, but I always come home excited to start the year. I really think Jack is going to thrive in fourth grade. He's reading some great literature this year, including The Witch of Blackbird Pond and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. We're going to breath a deep sigh of relief and hopefully have an easier year with Holly this year. It's funny - I should have sighed that sigh at the END of last school year, but I didn't. I was still all bunched up. Now I have, and it's nice.
  • I think parent orientation may be my favorite day of the whole school year. There's a group of us that have 4th graders and younger siblings and we all get together for lunch in between our orientations. We've been together since our oldest kids were in Kindergarten. It makes me happy. Wendy, LaNita and I were there yesterday. We were sad that Kerry could not join us, they've moved schools and she couldn't make it work.
  • I did NOT sign up to be room mom for either of the kids this year. When the teachers mentioned it, I got a couple of "nudges" and "looks", but I stayed strong. I promised John I would not do it again, since it just takes up too much time - time that I don't really have. (Time that I could be blogging!)
  • I went to Gymboree to get school socks for the kids. They did not have Mitchell's size out on the rack, so I asked if the salesperson could go to the back and check for more. She said she couldn't because there was no one else there to watch the floor. But she could call next door and see if there were two people working. If so, one of them could come over and she could go to the back. Now, let me just say, the store next door is Janie and Jack. Janie and Jack is a Gymboree Corporation store. So that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that I WORK AT JANIE AND JACK!!! And she knew it! I'm still a little baffled by it.
  • John has been traveling this week. And I am thankful he has a job. That's all I'm going to say about that.
  • John's trip to Toronto next week got canceled! YAY!!!
  • The kids' last day of indoor soccer is Saturday. I'm kind of sad, because I really did enjoy watching them play. Holly Grace surprised us most of all. She has natural ability. (Thanks to John, because she most certainly did NOT get that from me.) All the kids have scored this season (Mitchell, Holly and Jack). We will be glad to get our Saturdays back, though. We've been committed to soccer from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Saturday for six weeks, now.
  • I got popcorn ordered for our Cub Scout Pack. Come see us at WalMart on 407 the last weekend in August and the first weekend of September. We have $6500 worth of popcorn to get rid of!
That's all for now. I'm off to find a Sharpie and start labeling those school supplies.