Just doing my job

Last week my boys' teachers sent home notes requesting volunteer parents to come in and read Dr. Seuss books to the classes in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday tomorrow. I knew I couldn't make it to all of the classes so I opted to choose Sheriff's class as they are often low on volunteers and this is his last year in elementary school. I will have plenty of opportunities to still volunteer in the other boys' classes in the years to come.

The thought did cross my mind that it was a little odd to have a reading of Dr. Seuss books to 6th graders but it was a fleeting thought.

I should have thought harder.

When I told Sheriff last night that I would be coming to his class to read to them he almost died on the spot after saying, "that is sooooo embarrassing!"

What?

Of course it is!

Why didn't I think of that?

I told him that if he gets beat up after school for this it will motivate him to lift weights so that his rippling muscles will scare off any would-be bullies.

Don't worry Sheriff... we have a whole weight-training system at home. Barring that, maybe we'll head over to the store tonight and buy you some new running shoes so you can outrun the bullies.

I admit I made a mistake.

But I'm not the only one who sets themselves up. Wannabe came home today from school with this...

Really?

Field Trips

Last week I went on my first school field trip for this year. I made the mistake of going on the bus. I knew it was a mistake within the first minute of taking my seat. I had no idea fourth graders could hit the sound barrier the second they set foot in a bus.

My bad.

I WAS armed with a water bottle and some maxalt.

My salvation.

While Wannabe was sandwiched between a couple of friends laughing and giggling I spent the half hour of head-pounding torture in conversation with a couple of girls in my assigned group.

As any parent knows you can't just go on a field trip, you must LEARN something so we were handed out pencils and papers with questions to fill in and then set out on our own to find the answers. Even having a couple of girls who had been to the mine before - "hundreds of times" according to them, it was still a challenge to find a few of the answers. Wannabe and I scrambled during the movie to fill out one answer as the six-part answer was shot off in rapid succession making it difficult for him to write down fast enough in his giant hand-writing.

Still, I loved the excitement as the children showed me their favorite things, and why they love to come visit the mine again and again. I was a "newbie" which had them amped up even more giving them the opportunity to be my tour guide.

All too soon it was time to get back on the bus for another 30 minutes of jumbled up ear-shattering noises for the return ride to the school. This time though I sat with Wannabe who didn't mind being with his not-so-cool mom.

When he arrived home from school he handed me thank you cards made by my group including one from him that read as follows:

I love you mom and I thank you for leading us to wear we went and it ws fun to look at the smok and the giant hole. it was a blast. (spelling errors included)

He included a picture of a monster with sharp teeth eating a person. All of his pictures include something with sharp teeth. I'm not sure if I was the one being eaten and I'm a little afraid to ask.

I'm pretty sure that if it was Smiley who drew the picture it would definitely be me being eaten because he has been in the doghouse lately and probably wishes that a monster would eat me. No such luck. He is stuck with a mom who is actually trying to teach him to make good choices and doling out the consequences when he doesn't. Poor kid.

Overall it was a great day and I hope to go on many more field trips with my kids. I'll just remember to drive myself there next time. :)

Support you local school?

For some reason our school thought it would be a great idea to have three days of no t.v. right before spring break. Because that's what we want to do to our kids right before we have them home for 5 1/2 days straight 24/7 ... get them super mad and frustrated with you as you ban them from t.v. and video games for 3 days straight, and then you reap their vengeance as they bicker and quarrel with one another during the ensuing days.

Sheriff was the most affected by the ban...

this picture doesn't do his reaction justice. Really there was more weeping, wailing, etc. only I preserve his 11-year-old dignity and not take a picture of him during his tantrum. When he calmed down he asked if we could burn the paper at the end of the three days. I try to be accommodating when I can so I agreed.

I realized in the process of turning the t.v. off for 3 days that it wasn't easy to do. I actually have a couple of favorite shows that I missed and I have a habit of having the t.v. on when I clean up. It is a comforting filler to hear voices (not the kind in your head mind) when I putter around and clean up the house. But I committed to the kids that if they went without t.v. I would do the same. And no, I didn't cheat (although I was tempted to while they were at school) :)

I found it ironic that on the paper sent home it encourage kids to "get creative". Sheriff and Wannabe "got creative" and were passing a ball back and forth across the kitchen counter on Tuesday night - the second night of no t.v. Sheriff went for the ball and fell but his hands didn't make it in front of him in time. His face hit the kitchen floor first...

He would normally have been watching t.v. during this time. Should I send the dental bill to the school?

Don't get me wrong... I love to support my school in their programs but this one caused a lot of strife in our house and a dental bill to boot. Thanks to Brett who had already swallowed part of his molar over the weekend and so had a dentist appointment already set up that Sheriff could take from him. Talk about providence - for Sheriff - not Brett. :)

The paper burning was a success. Maybe we should have those more often - like when I get letters from my insurance company that I don't like - but that's another story...

Getting Older

This year I'm trying to deny that I will soon be leaving my 30's. My husband's family loves to tease me with the fact that I am soooo much older than Brett (by 3 years). So Brett will get to say that he is in his 30's for another precious 3 years.

The fact that I am getting older was brought to home when Sheriff was doing homework a couple of weeks ago and we were actually having to correct some mistakes that he had made. The answer had to do with the number of baby chicks that you would have and the correct answer was 15 chicks. Well Sheriff wrote down the answer then looked up at me... grinned... and inserted an arrow with the word hot in front of the number 15. I think I almost fell off my chair!!! 15 HOT CHICKS!?!

Trying to keep a straight face and at the same time freaking out inside wondering what happened to my little boy ... I calmly say... "do you really want to keep that answer? Your teacher is going to see that." He reluctantly erased it. Maybe I should have had him keep it and turn it in to his teacher so she could fall off her chair.