Month: August 2006 (Page 1 of 3)

I was just quizzing Natalie on her spelling words.
back, here, come, make, went and will
She whipped through those like nobody’s business, so I just gave her some more.
Spell “envelope” (we had just been licking envelopes, by the way). She spelled it.
Spell “toilet” (I’m just thinking of things I need to do, obviously). She spelled it right. Got to come up with something harder. Ok. Spell “Swashbucklers”. That’s not a word, Mom, she said. Yes, it is. It’s a pirate word. Go ahead–spell it. s-w-a-s-h-b-u-c-k-l-e-r-s. Amazing! Spell “Refrigerator”. She spelled it right! Ok, she may have said E instead of O at the end, but if she got it wrong, I didn’t catch it. Sign this kid up for the spelling bee. She’s in 2nd grade!

I was not blessed with the spelling gene, and have to spell check everything. Ryan is a great speller. Me, not so much. There’s no spell check on this blog, so you’ll notice I misspell words frequently–unless Ryan goes in and edits things for me, that is (thanks, Ryan). I didn’t score 100% on my spelling tests as a kid, although I do know how to study and memorize, so I didn’t do terribly.

What are you kids’ spelling words this week?

This picture has nothing to do with anything, I just thought I’d post it. It was taken one day when the hair was just right.

John has spent a lot of time screaming and throwing things lately. I don’t know if he misses people, or if just having Jenna here all day is bothering him. He gets to go to a playgroup in the park today, and go meet his new preschool teacher later on today, so hopefully that will make him feel special and he can stop the tantrums.

Jenna starts Kindergarten today. She is so excited. I’m just sad that another one of my children is getting old enough to go to school. I know she will have a great time, and I know that John and I need some time without her here (lots of fighting lately), but do they have to all grow up? I don’t want any more children, I really don’t have the skills or the patience to deal with a huge amount of children like my sister, who just had her 8th. I just want to recycle one of them. Maybe we can start over and do the whole baby thing again instead of Junior High. Sigh. Maybe we all feel this way when the kids start new thing and leave their parents. It’s called “letting go”–just a little.

I remember Kindergarten. We had “naps” on our mats–was school longer then? We also had graham crackers and milk that was kind of warm. That was the year Brian J broke his arm in some kind of garage door incident. Tina was in my class, and Michelle. I felt very grown up. I wonder if it was hard on our moms when we left.

So, John just came up to me crying over something that I couldn’t really understand, and when I picked him up to comfort him, he said, “Can I have a rootbeer and a snack after I finish jumping on your bed?”

Um, what do I say to that? “Have you been jumping on my bed?” I just bought a new microsuede comforter so my bed looks all comfy and nice and most importantly, there are no rips, stains or crumbs on my bedspread–yet.

“We had to bunch under the covers,” he says to me.

Well, who could argue with that?

About the snacking thing, this kid is all about the breakfast. This morning so far, he’s had a bowl of cereal and a cup of milk, then had a yogurt (when someone mentioned yogurt for their lunch), then had a piece of toast and a drink of lemonaid (when someone else was having a piece of toast). When I look on the table, I see his lovingly made piece of toast still there, with one tiny bite taken out of it. ERg. So, when not 20 minutes later he asks for a piece of peanut butter toast, I sadly have to tell him no. There will be no more breakfast for you, my boy. At least not until I’ve finished cleaning up the dishes from the first round.

Last night I dreamed I was going to girls’ camp and I had 1/2 an hour to pack. What’s up with that?

The kids seem to be enjoying the back to school thing. Jenna had her kindergarten assesment today and it was pretty hard to sit there and have the teacher ask things like “What sound does an H make?” and Jenna thinks about it and says “eh?” We want our kids to succeed so badly and we’re pretty sure they know these things, or should know them at least. My favorite was when she pointed at a sign for Target and said, “I know this one. It’s Costco.” Ugh. Are we not shopping there enough? Apparantly not.

And speaking of Costco, we here in North Utah County are happy to see the opening of a new Costco in Lehi. I haven’t actually been inside yet, but I did stop and get gas there. And I’m sure I’ll be going soon. I’m almost giddy with excitement!

I had an awful dream last night. In a nutshell, we were going to see a play with the kids–Beauty and the Beast, I think it was. We got some food before it started (there was a little food court like thing in the lobby) and as soon as Ryan got the food to the table, three of the children needed to go to the bathroom. Since they were all girls who needed to go, I took them. I followed a little sign that said bathrooms, and went down some stairs, around some corners, and back up some stairs. Then I asked somebody. Where in the world is the bathroom? Then the place turned into some strange indoor amusement park type thing (underneath the theater?) and I had to climb around rides all while trying to find the bathroom. I asked everyone I could–where is the bathroom? They all pointed me in different directions, and I never did find the bathroom. After walking through a gift shop and having a guy think I was stealing stuff and still trying to find the bathroom, we wandered backstage. The show was starting! And here I was with the kids still needing to pee, no bathroom in sight, and frustrated out of my mind. I started screaming…. WHERE IS THE FLIPPING BATHROOM!?

We had our little “breakfast at the bus-stop” this morning, and it was very low key. Muffins, juice, sweet rolls, grapes, and lots of excited kids with new clothes and backpacks. When the bus came (thank goodness my elementary kids still HAVE a bus), the girls climbed happily aboard, ready to start the journey that is 5th grade and 2nd grade, with barely a backwards glance at mom.

The beginning of the school year is always exciting, both for the kids and for the moms. The kids, even though they won’t admit it, are glad to get back into a routine. They are glad to see their friends again, and glad to get away from the siblings and mother who have been pestering them all summer.

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I’m glad to see them go. All the bickering and whining and the I’m boreds and the “you always make us do jobs”s are getting a little old, and I’d like to be able to clean the kitchen floor and have it stay clean for 6-7 hours (I said I’d LIKE to, not that it will). But on the other hand, I’m sad to see summer ending. We’ve had a lot of fun this summer, and I think we’ve really made the most of it, with lots of trips to the library and the park and the zoo and fun things. They also spent a week away from us when we went to NY, and that was a nice break for everyone. But I’m sad to see it end. We could have done more, we could have had more fun experiences, more memories, more pictures. I also dread the extreme business that comes with the school year. Three soccer practices a week and two or three games a week will not be fun. Piano lessons times 3. Band, choir, dance lessons and recitals, plus homework and the nagging that comes with that. Kindergarten field trips and PTA stuff. Oh, Calgon–be prepared to take me away.

But the good news is that Cole said his first day of 7th grade (they start a day before those mean and nasty 8th and 9th graders) was (and I quote): “Great!” That’s about all the information I got from him, but I’ll be happy with that much.

So are YOU ready for school to start?

This morning after yoga (speaking of yoga, it’s probably the last time I’ll get to go now that school is starting. Sniff.), I unlocked my car with the little clicker on the key chain, and climbed in. On the floor were some sunglasses that I didn’t recognize, but I figured Ryan must have left his in the van, and they had been hiding under the yoga mat. I closed the door and it made a weird double click, like it wasn’t closing all the way. Oh NO, I thought. Not something else going wrong with this vehicle. I’m already frustrated because it has some kind of muffler problem and I sound like I’m driving a hot rod. Ugh. I opened the door and closed it again another time, but it still made the weird noise.

A lady from yoga comes up to my car and says, “I think we switched cars.” What in the world? Oh. my. gosh. This isn’t my car! Come to think of it, it is a little bit cleaner than my van, and where’s the garbage can that I always keep in the front of the van? It’s not my car! I’m so embarrassed as I slink out of her green caravan and get into my own. “I’m so sorry!” I say lamely. “Don’t worry, I’ve done this before”, she says. I don’t know if she got into my van or not, but I’m just mortified.

Oh, no! These aren’t my sunglasses, so I have to step out of my own van and go to hers again (we parked right next to each other), and hand back the sunglasses that I just about drove away with.

Maybe it’s a good thing that I won’t be able to attend that yoga class anymore. I’m too embarrassed to face this unknown woman and her green caravan again.

Yeah, go ahead and laugh. Someone should get a good laugh out of my stupidity.

A study conducted by UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the
kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on
where she is in her menstrual cycle. For example, if she is ovulating, she finds a man more attractive if he has rugged and masculine features.

However, if she is pre-menstrual, menstruating or menopausal, she tends to find a man more attractive if he has scissors lodged in his temple and tape over his mouth while he is on fire.

Tests were conclusive, and no further studies are expected.

It’s good to have my parents back in the state. So far we’ve had them over to dinner, and they went to the Motab Concert with Ryan and the two oldest kids on Saturday night. They say they saw me, and that I was smiling (always a good thing when you are in front of 19 thousand people–eek!) Ryan’s working on getting their computer working and is waiting patiently for his payment of chicken enchiladas (he’s so hard to please, that one).

This is the week to get organized. Back to School Night is tonight. I have the poster done, at least–thanks for Chet for whipping that up for me (Michelle and Chet were our fabulous dinner guests last night, and we had a delightful time with them!) I have to “work the crowd” and hopefully get people to sign up to help with Reflections. Cole starts school tomorrow, although I’ve just learned that they took away our neighborhood’s bus stop. So, add “call the transportation office to my list today.” The girls start school on Wednesday, and I’ve got to organize the neighborhood “breakfast at the bus stop”, I guess. But what is most important to me is figuring out a specific schedule of when everyone needs to be up, practice the piano, and read scriptures. If we don’t get it right on the first week, it’ll never happen. So, wish me luck in my organizing!