Thoughts on first full week of school

We have all finished our first full week of school. I was hoping for some sleep-in action this morning, but nope. Although it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Macy has learned:
1. If she doesn't finish her homework, she misses recess time.
2. She doesn't like missing recess time, so that lesson has been learned.
3. Chicken Patty tastes better this year.

 Kaylin has learned:
1. It's a little harder than kindergarten.
2. It's also fun.
3. The same kid who picked on her in kindergarten is going to pick on her in 1st grade too.

I have learned:
1. From day one, you can tell which kids are going to be trouble.
2. 1994 must have been a popular year to name your son Zachary. I have 10.
3. Some girls are just snotty Mean Girls. I pray the girls don't become them.
4. After a five year hiatus of "real" teaching, I do remember how to do it.
5. A brand-new high school is beautiful, but lacks the personal touches to really make it feel like home.
6. A brand-new high school shouldn't play the local powerhouse in football for their first game. They might lose 55-0.

Magical Potions

Macy's homework for a book report: create a potion.

Recipe to get rid of my little sis:

Ingredients:
Tomato juice
A sliver of apple
Eye boogers
cinnimon
shampoo
body wash
a sliver of dirt
Rotten milk
Rotten cheese
Mud
A sliver of hair (anyone's hair)

Instructions:
1. Get a cup
2. Put in the following items (lists all ingredients)
3. Cook in microwave for 1 minute
4. Take it out and let it cool down
5. Give it to your little sister
6. Be happy she's gone.

Case of the Missing Lunch

This morning we received an email from our cafeteria manager (who is a fantastic cook) about a new kind of baked chicken she was making today. I had brought my lunch, but decided to try her chicken instead.

During 3rd hour, I was getting hungry, so I thought I'd eat the chips out of the lunch I'd brought, since I was going to buy Michelle's chicken.

Opened my lunchbox--empty.

 I laughed, and guessed that I had grabbed Macy's lunch box (yes, we have the same lunchbox--it was $3 at Walmart and better from the environment than a brown paper bag) and must have left mine at home. I bought Michelle's chicken, and it was excellent.

When I got home, the other lunchbox was on the kitchen counter. I looked inside, and it was empty too! I was confused, to say the least. So I decided that someone at school must have eaten my lunch--crazy as it sounds, it happens from time to time. I called my friend Ronna, and was telling her what happened.

Kaylin overheard me, and interrupted me--"No, Momma, it was Kobe. This morning after you left, before Daddy woke up, I saw Kobe getting into your lunch. I put the lunchbox back on the counter."

The case of the missing lunch was solved.

Interesting first week..

What a week...

Monday I got my 10-year plaque from my school district. Crazy to think I've been there 10 years! I was all prepared to walk across the stage, but this year they changed it up and I just had to stand up. Whew. No tripping across the stage. Frantically finished school shopping after work, then did back-to-school night.

Tuesday the girls started school, the car wouldn't start but finally did, I worked really hard all day, and I can't remember for the life of me what I did Tuesday night.

Wednesday was the opening day of the brand new high school. We had an opening dedication, kids did team-building all morning, a scavenger hunt, and then more activities. It was a full day of no teaching, and I felt more exhausted than if I had taught. 3 kids stayed after school until 6 and put together the first day of school issue. I went home and could barely keep my eyes open.

Thursday was get-to-know-you activities all day, I had a major freak-out and was in a rotten mood, Macy had her second guitar lesson, and I went to bed early.

Friday we handed out the first day of school issue, then we are sent to the basement--the teachers had no earthly idea where the basement at the new school issue was and we had to majorly wing it--for a severe warning alert, and it was an interesting end to the first week of school. We went down to Power and Light with some of Bobby's shift and had a great time. I bowled a strike, four gutter balls in a row, then another strike. What consistency.

Today Bobby is working and we are babysitting our friend's 9-month-old girl and 3 1/2 year old girl. Rather, I should say Macy is babysitting the 9-month-old. She has fed her peas, gave her her bottle, and has entertained her all afternoon. She will make an excellent babysitter in a couple years.

Ready for a calmer week next week.

untitled

Overwhelmed
Stressed
Tired
Unsure
Wanted
Empty
Overwhelmed

First day 2010-2011

Look at my big third grader. I won't tell you about the morning we had before this picture was taken, but just tell you things improved. Of course, she sent her lunch with me because her BFF Kaylee didn't bring her lunch. I'm not surprised in the least. She had a great day, and is excited about her teacher, her friends, and the new PE teacher. She read for 45 minutes in bed, when she only had to read for 20. That's my girl.

And here's my beautiful 1st grader. She too had a wonderful day, ate the lunch I sent her, loves her teacher and her friends, but is sad that her two BFF's are in another classroom. This one, while she can talk to a brick wall, has a hard time connecting with people, and it broke my heart to hear her say, "I didn't have anyone to play with a recess." It'll get better. I know it will. 

And me? Well, classes start tomorrow, and I think I am ready. I have to be, right? The kids are coming whether I am ready or not. We are actually not teaching tomorrow, but doing a day-long celebration for the first day of the brand new high school. This is going to be a challenging school year, and one I am dreading and looking forward to at the same time. 

And I'm disappointed in you, my readers. I usually average 27-35 readers a day, and ONE person, my beloved friend Sarah, told me which pictures she liked. Thank you, Sarah, for following directions. The rest of you? Shame on you. :) 

Watch out--Massive Amount of pictures ahead

A former student of mine is very talented in photography, and took some family pictures of us last Sunday. It was HOT, but she did a fantastic job, and a great job photoshopping the sweat and redness out of our faces.

I looooovvvvveee them, and wanted to share them all, but I narrowed it down to my favorite 15 or so. :)

Which one is your favorite? Come out of hiding and tell me!

Back to the grind

Back to work I went today. Boy, it was rough when that alarm went off at 6:15 after 2 1/2 months off!!

It was a very frustrating day--lots of things not right, not finished, non-exsistent, and so forth and so on. Let's just say it was a very long day. Tomorrow is a new day, however, and I have the ENTIRE day in my classroom (my BRAND NEW classroom) to work and get things set up.

Macy had her first guitar lesson tonight! She did very well, according to the teacher. I was in the room and trying to listen without looking like I was listening. She seemed to do well, from what I (a non-singer, non-musical person) could tell. She did play a little song at the end!

Here's to a bright Friday with things looking up.

Excessive Heat Warning? No problem.

Yesterday, in the midst of an excessive heat warning, I took four little girls to Worlds. I had 2 free tickets that expired soon, and with school starting, we needed to do it soon. The day was arranged before I knew the forecast. Rather than deal with 4 broken hearts, we trudged on and headed out.

All four girls on the Sea Dragon. I can't ride this, so I watched from the side. 

All four girls on the Mamba. Flannery, Kaylin's friend, was just a smidge too short, but we practiced taking deep breaths and stretching our shoulders, and she made it on. Several people around us clapped when the guy cleared her. That same strategy did not work for the Prowler, however. 

Macy and her friend Paige on the Fury of the Nile. We didn't get as drenched as we wanted to, and dried pretty quickly, but it was  nice while it lasted.

Kaylin and her friend Flannery.

There are many more pictures to share, but I won't bore you with all of them. All was fine until after lunch--I started feeling sick from the heat. We'd been chugging water, but I could feel it (bad things) coming on. So I forced the kids into one of the air-conditioned theaters for the 30 minute show, and they had a BLAST!! I got cooled off, and didn't ride any rides the reminder of the day to keep things in my stomach where they belonged. 

Alas, this is the last time we saw Paige smile, on our second-to-last ride. The wonderful ride operator on the Scrambler decided to let the riders go for at least 3-4 minutes extra, and that did Paige in. We drank water and put wet paper towels on her face, but she didn't make it and had to visit the restroom. It took us a long time to walk to the car. She pressed her face against the window and held the empty small cooler on her lap the whole way home.

And we'd been home 5 minutes before the same thing happened to Kaylin. I'd personally like to thank the ride operator who decided to let the ride go for extra minutes ("Do you guys want to keep going? Okay!")  when an excessive heat warning was in effect. I'm sure Paige and Kaylin really appreciate it.

Up until that ending, they really did have a great time. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the girls and their friends. There was no fighting, no crying and no arguing. And hopefully I didn't embarrass Macy.

The one advantage we had? No lines.

Mommy Day with Kaylin 2010

Another installment of Mommy Day! Here's the link to my Mommy Day with her last year. 

So, of course, because she is Kaylin, she had to do EXACTLY what Macy did.  We did, however, do things backwards from the order in which Macy and I did them on Thursday. I won't complain much on here because this is about Kaylin, but I made a crucial error in choosing today--it was the Saturday of Tax Free weekend. Enough said. It wasn't pretty.

First stop was Justice--you know, THE store. I carried the clothes around, she tried on a ton, just like Macy, but went with the first outfit she tried on. It's darling. Because I am the coolest mother around (cough store still 40% off cough) she also got a Justin Bieber tshirt. I had to wait 30 minutes in line to purchase items. She was a hoot in the fitting room; prancing around like a model. She was worried someone would see her underwear through the curtain!

Next stop...yep. ear piercing across the street. 

Here she is, about to get her ears pierced. She was sooooo scared. She tried to hide it well, but she was a nervous wreck. 

I think this was afterwards, when I'd wiped away the tears and given her hugs. She cried briefly, said it "stings", then hopped down to look at earrings. 100% fine.

Here she is with her newly pierced ear. We had to go show Grandpa and Grandma, and she had to call all the aunts and uncles. Every one of them. 

Next stop...Panera. Because Macy picked it. Here we are...

Here she is with her grilled cheese...

And her Mountain Dew.

It was a fun day. I do hope next year she comes up with her own activity, instead of just copying Macy. Maybe I'll make her go first, so she has to decide. That might work.

This little girl is a spark plug of energy who rarely is calm. She cracks me up and I love her.

Mommy Day with Macy 2010

Last year I started the idea of Mommy Day--a day where each girl gets to do something special with me, without the other one. You can read here about last year's Mommy Day with Macy. (Wow, was my hair really that short? I didn't realize it'd gotten so long!) It's a time for each girl to feel special doing something. 

We started with Panera for lunch. If you read last year's post, you will notice she almost choose Panera. This year, she did. 

Here she is with her Mountain Dew--a new favorite of her's. We don't let them have it very often, so she was excited. 

Here she is with her yummy baked potato soup and bread. She loves that soup!!

Here's both of us. I didn't download all the pictures of Macy trying to cross her eyes. 

And the next stop--Claire's at Zona Rosa for ear piercing!!! What, you say? You thought Macy already had her ears pierced? You might be right. Read this post about the Saga of the Earrings. They are now closed up. So she decided she wanted to get them re-pierced. 

She was very brave...but held my hand in a death grip. 

And the pierced ear... rainbow daisy earrings. (I did say no to the $46 December birthstone earrings.)

Last stop was the ever-popular Justice.

 Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles reading? Justice is THE PLACE for Christmas and birthday presents. 

Anyway, we went to get her back-to-school outfit. I don't spend lots of money buying all new clothes for school because I think that's silly (in my personal opinion) but I do let them pick them out a new outfit. So in honor of Mommy Day with Macy, I let her try on tons of clothes and decide what she wanted (after two trips to the fitting room). Everything in the store happened to be 40%, which was wonderful. 

I didn't take any pictures in Justice. I was too busy carrying armfuls of clothes to the fitting room, in between talking to the entire town of Kearney that was in Justice, it seemed. But she did pick out an outfit (not my first choice, but again, it's HER decision, not mine, and I didn't say a word trying to make her pick out something else) and since I am such a cool mother (cough 40% off cough) she also got a Justin Bieber t-shirt. 

I love my Macy. What a sweet, wonderful child she is. 

Alter Egos

Macy has two personalities right now--I call them Sweet Macy and Snotty Macy. (There is also Whiny Macy, Tired Macy, Hyper Macy and Grumpy Macy, but I'm only talking about these two right now.)

Sweet Macy is my lovable, climb in my lap, "oh, let me feed the dogs for you", "can I please help?" daughter. I love it when she is around. She is agreeable, laughs at my jokes, willingly gives her sister whatever she wants, and uses please and thank you in abundance. Sweet Macy is a joy to be around.

Snotty Macy is an 8-year-old version of a Teen Girl. She is not lovable, refuses to look at me except in disdain, rolls her eyes when I attempt to say anything mildly humorous, refuses to help with anything, fights with her sister constantly over stupid things like gum wrappers, and talks back with a voice filled with teen angst. Except that she's 8.

Snotty Macy was with us all day yesterday, and after Bobby worked for four days straight, I was about to lock Snotty Macy in her room until she turned 18 and moved out.

Enter Discovery Channel, Shark Week. Macy was mesmerized. Kaylin went to bed, and Macy was glued to shows about shark attacks. I let her stay up way past her bedtime, because Sweet Macy had appeared and was literally fascinated.

She slept with me, since Bobby was the fire station, and she was all cuddly and sweet. I said to her, "I like this Sweet Macy. I don't like the way Snotty Macy acts."

She says, "I like Sweet Macy too. I can't help it, but sometimes Snotty Macy just comes out and I can't control her."

I just pulled her closer and prayed for the next 10 years to go smoothly.

**** I know I didn't do a #b90 days entry yesterday, but I am still caught up on my Bible Reading. Just read the first 9 chapters of 1st Chronicles and was bored to tears.