Back to School

Well the kids started school. I can't even begin to vent my frustrations with the school. Little man was in one class and then next thing we know he's in a different class. Then he's moved from the relocatables into the building.  So frustrating. Baby girl started 3 year old pre-school. She is so smart I don't know that they'll teach her much but at least she can socialize and make friends to go with her throughout school.

Here is a layout I did w/ the coffee and cream kit by Michelle at Crafty Scraps. 

Lost Tooth

I almost forgot little man lost another tooth. He is so lucky that his adult teeth are actually pushing his baby teeth out of the way. I hope this new one straightens itself out.  I was toothless for a long time when I was little.

I didn't order DIRT!

So we went to TGIF for "D's" B-day. His step-mom works there and she had to work that day.  She has another waitress bring out cup of dirt desserts for the kids. She gets to the table and asks who ordered the cup of dirt. Little man looks at her like she has totally lost her mind and tells her - "I did NOT order DIRT!"
He ended up eating the gummy worms off of it but we couldn't get him to eat the pudding w/ oreos.

Little man decided he wanted to try Coconut Milk. Well I don't eat exotic fruits. We are bannanas, apples, oranges, grapes and an occasional melon types of people. So we watch a youtube video on how to drain the coconut and have him try the coconut water. He detested it so much we couldn't get him to try the meat.  I found a cake recipe to use the meat on so I didn't make Coconut Milk- I'm sure he wouldn't have tried it after the water.  The cake was so good, it was so moist.  The grated Cocunut went on the outside of the cake so I made one w/out for the kids.  It was supposed to have 7 min. frosting but since I've never made that before and the instructions weren't the greatest I WAY overcooked it and basically made a caramel type substance so I spread it on like frosting topped it with Coconut and it was fabulous. A little sweet but nothing like normal frosting. I think that might be favorite cake of all time.  Add a little chocolate to the cake mix and I think I'd be in Heaven.  I think Pinterest has definitly made me start cooking a little more adventureously.  I feel crafty even if I haven't crafted much. LOL I did sew some really cute Peeps that I saw on Pinterest.  My co-worker loves stale Peeps so I made her one and my kids saw me making it so they wanted one etc. etc. Now that I have a week of breathing rooom at work while my bosses are at a trade show I can finish them over lunch. I told my other co-worker I'd make her a pink one. Better late than never.

Updates

Hmmm, so it's been awhile, again.  Let's see. Hubbby cut the top half of his thumb off at work last month. It was on parent teachers day so I made Mom go with me. He was really lucky and missed the nerves on the sides of his thumb and they think at least part of the nail will grow back.  He was using a sawsall and it bounced landing right on his thumb. He took his finger off the power but momentum kept it going to the bone. He chipped the tip of the bone stopping the saw.  It's really disgusting right now becuase his thumbnail isn't attached but he's keeping it in place with a bandage to help protect the sensitive skin.  He takes it off in the evenings to let it get some air. I'm glad he's good with that sort of stuff. I see blood and instantly panic.

Little man got some yellow notes sent home in Feb. He'd been really good after he got in so much trouble for those. Then just last week he got another yellow note. He has two teachers, an afternoon and morning teacher. They share the class and have a pre-printed form they fill out and send home. I have no idea which teacher this is coming from and the note is so vague I really have no idea what he did.  I e-mailed his teachers asking for more information and based on their replies I'm a little annoyed with them.  He's been a little rambuctious the past few days (umm, it's the week before spring break and he's six) he kicked a kid at receess (her follow up e-mail says the kids were all pushing and shoving so he kicked a girl) OK not good but a yellow note, really? Then her main complaint. He gets done with his work much quicker than the other kids so we ask him to turn his paper over and draw on the back while they finish. When the rest of the kids are done. He makes us wait for him to finish his drawing. - I've talked to little man, although honestly I know exactly how he feels. I read a book during lunch and I'll take a few extra minutes now and then so I can get to the end of my chapter or stay up a little later than I should so I can finish this project etc. He wants to finish what he's started. That is a good attribute he just has to put it away temporarily and finish it when his homework gets handed back. Did these things really need a yellow note sent home? (yellow is a serious note from his teachers, the next step is a parent/teacher meeting.)  Am I being a little over-protective and biased on his side? I had originally grounded him for a week but after getting the replies from his teachers decided all he needed was a stern sit down. I told him he wasn't grounded because I didn't think the things my six year old had done were really that out of line for a six year old.  No, you shouldn't hit or kick but did the other students pushing/ hitting in line get notes? I feel like once the teachers realized he gets severely reprimanded if he gets a yellow note sent home it was like it became okay to do a yellow note for every little thing so I would keep him in line.  I've asked them to please e-mail me updates if he's acting up so we can deal with the issues one on one instead of grounding or lose of a special treat, event etc. when I feel what he did wasn't equal to that harsh of a punishment.  It's frustrating how in-accesible I feel his teachers are.  I know he really dislikes his afternoon teacher he refers to her as the mean teacher. I was talking with my very good friend who is trying to get her kids into a charter school about how much I dislike his teachers this year and in my discussion with her I realized how stupid their disciplinary tactics are in his class. He has a girl who since last year has been leading in the race for school bully (yes this preschooler was in the top contenders of school bullies)  His teacher last year was trying to get the other students to understand the difficulties she has with her life at home and she has anger problems and the parents were assured that she was in counseling to help with the anger issues etc.  This year the same girl is in his class again. Her desk is up against the wall facing the chalkboard. The teachers can't handle her in groups with the other students so this is their solution. Completly isolate the poor girl. There is a boy in his class who sits behind an easel facing the windows.  I'm upset and these aren't my kids.  I wish I could afford private school.  It sounds like a much better alternative to public school.

My little Princess is sweet and funny. She's started telling everyone they are being a bossy boss.  She wants to do her reading lessons at night and after sounding out C-A-T figured out on her own that is was cat.  That is the first one she's figured out on her own what the word was instead of the sounds and me telling her what the actual word is.  She spaces the sounds a little too much and doesn't let them flow together so it's difficult for her to figure out the actual word.  She loves books so much and has several of the simpler ones memorized.  I'm hoping to have her reading before pre-school but maybe we won't do so much with math as we did with Conner. I don't want her bored and acting up in school as well.

The kitchen light stopped working the other day. I can't tell you how excited I am. Hubby wouldn't let me paint until he'd put can lights in the kitchen. He had no incentive to put can lights in the kitchen so I figured I'd never get to paint. Woohoo it's pointless to replace the light that stopped working so he's getting the can lights and then I can paint. My kitchen was painted when we first moved in and hasn't been painted since. I've lived there for going on 11 years. Speaking of Dave and I started dating 17 years ago yesterday (yes, every year he tells me it was a great April Fools Joke).  It's crazy it's been that long. Luckily I love him as much or more than I did.

Conner's first sleepover

Conner was invited to his friends birthday party. It's a sleepover because they are going cosmic bowling tonight.  He spent one night at my parents when Kiera was born but he's never slept anywhere else. Since he's at my parents every week day it's a second home for him.  He's so excited and I want to cry.  He's growing up too fast. We measured him on the growth chart the other day. He's 6 1/2 now. He's just over 4'. 
Kiera is registered for Pre-school next year. I can't believe how expensive it is. $110.00 a month. They only drop 10.00 off if you volunteer and you have to volunteer once every 3 weeks for that.  I anticipate my children growing up and the things they will do with their lives but I wish they wouldn't grow up so fast.  I miss so much working full time.

Kieras 3

We decided to have a "Tangled" themed party for her birthday this year. Mom helped a ton. We made hair ties for all of the girls and the boys got lizards. I wanted to do something more constructive for the boys but couldn't think of anything that tied in w/ the theme that I thought I might have time to accomplish.  Of course Fri. I got sick and Sat was sicker. By Sun I was so sick. Thankfully I have absolutely wonderful family and friends. Everyone helped the kids make their lanterns and keep the kids under control. I was able to sit back and enjoy the party as much as I was able.
The cake was made on Thurs. I thinned the frosting a lot to sort of glue it together on Fri. night. I heated the frosting on Sat. morning and it frosted fairly well. It was two boxes of cake mix and it rose higher than the bowl. I had trimmed it to make it flat and used the cut off pieces to build up the top of the cake around the doll.

The doughnut tower probably should have been made a LOT later in the day. The weight of the doughnuts stacked actually compressed the bottom doughnuts and the tower was constantly leaning from one side to the other. 

Kiera received My Little Ponies, A color wheel puzzle, Littlest Pet Shop toys, a Dora movie, a Dora puzzle, a sticker book, a Doodle Bear, a Barbie fairy toy and some clothes. She got money from Aunt Krista and Great Grandma. Grandma Irene hasn't made it over yet as I didn't want to get her sick Sun. and Grandpa Greg hasn't made it over yet either. It was a really fun party and Kiera had a blast.

I think we will never buy from Papa Johns again however.  We had coupons we had purchased from the scouts for buy large pizzas get breadsticks free and buy large pizzas for the cost of small. So the charge should have been 2 large supreme and 2 small one topping pizzas. 40.00 seemed expensive for that. Dave and Shaun got back with everything and realized we'd gotten 4 pepperoni pizzas and no Supremes. Dave called and argued with them. They said bring back the two pepperoni pizzas and we'll give you the Supreme's. Okay, fine I think for the inconvenience they should have given us the pepperoni pizzas for free but I can see that people might take advantage of that. Dave took the two pizzas back and the guy's like so both of those are Pepperoni? Are you sure? We're missing a meat pizza. They took the two pepperoni pizzas that Dave had handed them and put them on the counter where they pull the pizzas they are selling. Um, isn't that a health code violation? I mean I'm sick, Krista's been sick. Mom ended up really sick on Sun. I plan on reporting the issue I just have to figure out where I report something like that to. I don't know for certain that they sold them to someone else but that place was so disorganized I don't know how they couldn't have given them to someone else.

So, I think Conner was a little jeolous of Kiera. I have some wonderful black mail photos for when he is older.

October

Started the month off with Frightmares at Lagoon.  Kiera is almost fearless. She had so much fun on all of the different rides. She'd be all excited in line, get a death grip on your arm during the ride and then be all smiles getting off. It was so difficult to tell if she was enjoying herself during the rides.  Conner still like the kids rides. He really not into roller coasters. Not sure Lagoon will be much fun for him anymore when he gets to big for Kiddie Land.  It was such nice weather. Conner's favorite part of Frightmares was the Chainsaw Dancers. Dave had bought Conner a Frankenstein hat and the dancers stole it and played around with it while waiting for their show to start. Conner loved being the center of attention for a few moments. Surprisingly Kiera actually fell asleep and slept through "Hack N' Slash". She was one amazingly tired girl.

Went to Gardner Village for the Witches Festival. The kids had fun with the Witch Scavenger Hunt but there were so many people there it was just insane.

Went Deer Hunting for the first time. Wow that was a lot of people in Krista's motor home. The kids had fun hanging out with Gadge and we went for a little nature hike.  Dave didn't get a deer but Shaun's brothers friend did. It was fascinating and disgusting at the same time.  We're trying to teach Conner you don't kill anything unless you are going to eat it and then you do so only with respect.  Mayfield was GORGEOUS and the weather was still really nice.

Shaun took this pic with his phones camera. I love my Canon (except it needs to be repaired) but I'm very envious of the quality he can get from something so much more convenient.

Went to KOPFC instead of Conners school Halloween Carnival. KOPFC is not as hot and doesn't seem as crowded. We enjoy it a lot more than the school festival.
Went to Boo at the Zoo. that was interesting. The kids got to trick or treat at the zoo. However, it was FREEZING. Conner was a warewolf again so his costume is warm but Kiera was a U of U Cheerleader and I was Alice so we were cold. The big Cats seemed to like the weather as they were pretty active. I think Shaun said it was the first time they'd ever seen the Wolves out. It was fun but it was so crowded it was insane. Shaun guessed it was probably the biggest day of their entire year. I don't know if that's true but I've never seen it that busy any other time I've been there.

Went trick-or-treating around Mom's neighborhood.  It's cool how many people or at least the parents still live in the neighborhood. Mom still knows more than 1/2 the neighbors on her street and the street going out to 40th.  They got so much candy that I'm sure I'll still have candy come Valentines.