“Here is my secret … : It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~The Little Prince
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Clueless
K comes home tomorrow and I can not wait. Neither can the kids. It's tough when he's gone. I wouldn't do very well as a single parent.
Here is my make up picture of Z on the second day of school.
Z-6th grade
The kids came home a little less energetic today. The days are really long and they aren't used to so many rules. Z, J and S all have teachers who yell alot and throw things at the students so I'm trying not to freak out over that. Is that something that is normal? I'll try it out for a couple more days. Then figure out what my options are. A has a wonderful teacher though.
Some older boys on the bus asked Z if he liked girls . Of course he gave the answer that his mother taught him which is "No way! Girls are gross!" Now he is trying to figure out how to get out of that mess as now no one wants much to do with him except to tease him. I am quickly remembering why I hated riding the school bus. He wants to try it again tomorrow though. I'm once again trying to not over react. I'm open to any suggestions on this one.
As I was headed to bed tonight, I went into my bathroom and there are some things that surprise me enough that I have to struggle to bite my tongue. 
Obviously we will be going to the hair salon tomorrow! The thing that throws me off is that this is a lot of hair and it is long. How did I not notice that someone just scalped them self?
Monday, August 27, 2007
First Day of School
After being home schooled for the last 4 years, our family made the decision unanimously that this year the kids would go back to public school. K flew out at 6am to Houston for a couple of days and so I was left to face this big event on my own. I think I handled things pretty well. The older kids left for the bus at 6:50. And I...went back to bed. (Breakfast is free so I didn't even have to worry about that. Z thought it was great that he was able to have fruit loops with chocolate milk instead of white milk. Breakfast doesn't get much better than that.) I tried to tell the kids that most Mom's take their kids to school on the first day. They couldn't wait to ride the bus. I told them that it was too far to walk with all those heavy school supplies in their backpacks. (The bus stop for our subdivision is a half mile away!) They said they could handle it. I told them that they might get lost trying to find their classrooms. After all, it is a new school to all of them. J said that if it would make me feel better that I could go to the school later and check on them but that I needed to not bother them because they would be very busy learning new things. (Even little A rode the kindergarten bus all alone and she really was the only kid on the bus because obviously mom's really do take their kids to school on the first day.) After they had left for the bus I discovered that J had forgotten his Kleenex's on the table so I decided to drive over to the bus stop because it was very important not to forget your Kleenex's on the first day of school. Can you believe that he was so embarrassed. I told him that if he wanted to see embarrassed I'd just make him kiss me good bye in front of all those friends. He suddenly saw things my way but I guess mom's aren't supposed to go to the bus stop either. I told the principal about our situation when I registered them last week and I warned that there may be some attachment issues that would have to be addressed. I explained that if she received complaints of some crazy lady sitting outside in the parking lot crying, not to call the police, just tell me and I'll go home. Wow, writing this out, I'm seeing myself as being a little bit scary. No wonders my children are anxious to go to school. I think that maybe I need to get a hobby. Here's some cute pictures from this morning.
S-2nd grade
J-4th grade
A-Kindergarten
At this point, you may be wondering why there is not a picture of Z. Well, I thought that I would break things up a little and post a second day of school picture for him. Okay, actually...as I was getting the pictures for this blog, I discovered that, apparently, I forgot to take a picture of him. I'm not quite sure how that happened. Now I'm wondering what else I may have totally not done today. (K, no worries. I just checked and there are 6 kids in their beds asleep, all the doors are all locked and the garage is shut. Who left me in charge anyways?)
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Job Perks
K's had a really "rough" week at work this past week. This week the National Gaurd out of the Dakota's came to help the Sheriff's office conduct their annual marijuana eradication. He jumped out of bed not able to get ready and leave fast enough and came skipping through the door each evening. He couldn't wipe his smile off his face. He made strange happy noises in his sleep. He even woke up drooling. He said he's fallen in love (again). I've put together a little slide show for you. Enjoy! I know K did!!! The main reason K wanted this job was because he loves to fly, especially in the helicopters. Here a few pictures that his team took while looking for marijuana that week.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Issues
Today I was trying to read something on the computer and I couldn't read it. I couldn't see the words! I kept thinking that it was probably the combination of colors that was straining my eyes. Finally, K did something to the screen and it made the words bigger. Physically I can see the screen better but emotionally I'm struggling with the idea that at the age of 20 something I should not have to have the font on the largest setting in order to read. I took the kids in to the eye doctor to have their eyes checked before school and I also had my eyes checked, since it had been 10 years since my last check up, and he said that my eyes are getting older and slowly beginning to not be able to switch back and forth between distances (blah, blah, blah!) and basically said go to the store and by some cheap reading glasses. So, here is me wearing my new "cheap reading glasses".

I bought the "coolest" pair I could find. They don't have a very good selection at Target I decided however neither did Fred Meyer or Rite Aid. I'm only allowed to wear them in the privacy of my own room because, you know, they look sorta dorky which is very damaging to my children's preteen social images. I tried to tell my kids that I bought the kind that make me look really smart and that's much more important then being cool but they didn't go for it. So now I'm trying to adjust with my newly discovered reality. Not only am I not "cool" but I also can't see well enough to know I'm not "cool".
I guess while I'm making adjustments (or confessions) it's time to start adjusting to that fact that I am also not "20 something". In fact in a few weeks I will not only have one 3 in my age but two. The only times I have been grateful for my age is when people find out that I have a son turning 12 and they doubt that I am old enough to have a child that age. I'm thankful I can proudly say,"Yes! I definitely am that old."
Oh!
P.S. Please don't tell anyone my real age. I'm dealing with my aging issues one at a time.
P.S.#2-Ashley, after your post about spell checking your blog I try to make sure I spell check mine. It takes too much effort to remember all the correct spellings and other grammar things I learned in school way back when. (I can't even remember if it's P.P.S. or P.S.S. so, in order to avoid looking really dumb, I just numbered them:))
P.S.#3-Does anyone know how to change the font size back to "normal"?
I bought the "coolest" pair I could find. They don't have a very good selection at Target I decided however neither did Fred Meyer or Rite Aid. I'm only allowed to wear them in the privacy of my own room because, you know, they look sorta dorky which is very damaging to my children's preteen social images. I tried to tell my kids that I bought the kind that make me look really smart and that's much more important then being cool but they didn't go for it. So now I'm trying to adjust with my newly discovered reality. Not only am I not "cool" but I also can't see well enough to know I'm not "cool".
I guess while I'm making adjustments (or confessions) it's time to start adjusting to that fact that I am also not "20 something". In fact in a few weeks I will not only have one 3 in my age but two. The only times I have been grateful for my age is when people find out that I have a son turning 12 and they doubt that I am old enough to have a child that age. I'm thankful I can proudly say,"Yes! I definitely am that old."
Oh!
P.S. Please don't tell anyone my real age. I'm dealing with my aging issues one at a time.
P.S.#2-Ashley, after your post about spell checking your blog I try to make sure I spell check mine. It takes too much effort to remember all the correct spellings and other grammar things I learned in school way back when. (I can't even remember if it's P.P.S. or P.S.S. so, in order to avoid looking really dumb, I just numbered them:))
P.S.#3-Does anyone know how to change the font size back to "normal"?

