Report Card

Ava has gotten her first report card and I had a parent teacher conference to discuss it. Overall she did very well. She got S+'s in just about everything. S stands for Satisfactory. She got a couple E's for Excellent for sight words and music. During the parent teacher conference her teacher described her as "thriving" and does not have any concerns. She says Ava talks too much sometimes, but it is with a girl who is normally painfully shy so she doesn't really want to stop it.

Ava has also had her first laser treatment while attending school. It went really well. The class had a question and answer session with her before hand. Most of the class told Ava they would be praying for her. The cute thing is, they really did! Tonight we were at the Annual Fall Benefit for the school and we had a couple parents from Ava's class at our table. They recognized Ava's name because their son has been praying for her and the laser surgery. Ava also brought home a picture a classmate drew of her. The little girl told Ava that she drew a picture so her family could see who they were praying for.

Deciding on what to do for school was something I agonized over for years. Seriously, years. I could not be happier with the decision we have made. It is the little things that make it so good. The librarian usually ends up being the person who opens our car door for Ava during morning drop off. She always said hello, but after about a week asked me Ava's name. She hasn't forgotten it. Every morning she says hello to Ava, even if she isn't the one opening the door. Ava has stopped being shy with her and says hi back and usually gives her a big smile. I think I am going to have to find out her name sometime soon.

We got in!

I know this news is a little late in coming, but Ava was accepted into the private school of our choice. I know, it was touch and go for a minute there. They did mention a lack of Harry Potter in the library during the tour and we must have made faces. So now we have to gear up for a lot of school events and fundraising. The same thing I love about the school, a close family/school relationship so we are always aware of what is going on, will also be pretty time consuming. We will be selling cookie dough, living off of gift cards, going to banquets, and all sorts of things.

I am still chugging along on my sweater. I will hopefully finish it sometime in April. I haven't had as much time to work on it. I really just don't have the focus to all things at once. I am either taking up my free time knitting or reading or going to the gym...or cleaning. I have been doing the gym thing again lately.

***
currently reading: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. I am about 80 pages in and really enjoying it so far. It is 600 pages so it really is just the intro.

school days

A week ago Ava was the special person at school. That means she gets to bring in something for show and tell, bring the snack, and do all the special things that day in class, like be at the front of the line and other very important 4 year old things. She must have been slightly confused about the fact that this honor does not cross over into regular life. All morning she was saying, "but I am the special person!" "Rhys is trying to sit in my chair and I'm the special person." "Don't yell at me! You never yell at the special person!!!!!!!!" "Don't tell me what to do, I'm the special person!!!!"

*******

I am confused as to how this actually happened. I am sure every parent feels this ways, but this morning I am going to be lining up to turn in Ava's application for kindergarten. We have officially decided to send Ava to a local private school. Since until adulthood, I never really knew anyone who went to a private school and always thought our public school provided a good education, I find it still somewhat odd that we have decided to go with private school. Anyway I break it down, I know this is the right decision for our family. The state budget is going nowhere fast and that definitely doesn't mean amazing academics with small class sizes and art, music and foreign languages. I have been loving getting to watch Ava enjoy school. She comes home so happy almost every day. She talks about what they have learned and is excited to learn more. I really did love learning new things in school and I just want to continue to provide an environment for her that makes it fun to learn.

Then I start to think about the fact that she is going to be in kindergarten. She will be gone five mornings a week. I will be getting up, getting her dressed and ready for school five days a week. I will be dropping her off or setting up a car pool five days a week. Then I start to think this is possibly one of the strangest feelings ever. How did I get here? Carpools? Do people really do that? I thought that was just on tv. Seriously, there are going to be class parties, school volunteer hours to complete, fundraisers through out the year, all sorts of stuff. I just had my first child!!!!!!!! How can I already be doing the whole school mom thing? Ava and I are currently reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingles Wilder before bed. Almanzo didn't go to school until he was 9. That makes a lot more sense to me!

spring

I always have these big plans for a garden...and then I forget to water it or the landscapers plow it down. I have some decent success with potted tomatoes, though they tend to blow over in windstorms. I put rocks in the bottom of the pot for better drainage and extra weight and it helped quite a bit. This year I have been considering some raised beds. I still might do it but I am torn as to what to grow. I only want to grow things that I know we will actually eat. I am thinking green beans, broccoli, and maybe some lettuce, in addition to tomatoes and our strawberries. We have fun going to pick fresh stuff at this local farm, so it is ok if I never grow anything real, I just don't want to waste the money.

I am almost done with this class. I just have the part left that is a lot of work. Justin and I are taking a class together immediately after that and then I am done for the summer. I am definitely looking forward to just being done with school for a little bit. I have other things I want to do. I know I could do them but then I feel guilty when I know I should be doing things with school. I could be knitting, I could be scrapping, I could be blogging! I am also playing softball this summer so there goes more time. I think I am going to have to start getting up earlier to be able to actually get things done around the house.

Mommy Mondays have been in a slump lately, but today we are meeting friends at a park. I am thinking of planning out some real activities for the summer....or taking the summer to plan stuff for the fall and winter. We are going to have pool passes for the summer, so I am sure they would be pretty happy with just going to the pool. Stuff to think about I guess.

tea cup pig

I am currently watching a show with a tea cup pig. I thought it made a nice title. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a tea cup pig.

Anyway, my class has finished up. I am still waiting on my final grade, but my final project paper was a success. The question is...did I blow my A with my final. I don't think I did, but you never know. I have started my next class already. I like having classes that only last 8 weeks. For one if it is horrible, it is over quickly. For two, I get the motivation to be ahead in the class, to actually do the reading and actually get a lot done before that motivation is lost.

I have finished Ava's bag, within in allotted Olympic time slot. She has at least liked it enough to carry it around for a couple of days, which means it has been a success.

I am currently working on another handbag, but not for me. Someday, I will make something for me again. Maybe some socks! Good news is my hand hasn't been hurting as much. I think that is because of two things. I have stopped playing farmville on facebook. I have also actually made an appointment with the doctor for Wednesday.

Two weeks until vacation! I am so excited to go. I am looking forward to the adventure of a 9 hour drive with children... Well not really, but I am up to the challenge. I am looking forward to hiking and hot tubs and hanging out. Bummer about the scheduling of vacation, I have a midterm that week. I am going to have to go crazy and get stuff done in addition to the packing, so I can get it all done before we leave. Then I will have a full vacation of no work or homework!

What car snacks should I pack for the kids? I wish there was a net I could put around Rhys' seat to catch all the toys that he will throw down repeatedly. I wish I could get a sound shield like in limos...it is going to be an awesome trip.

Just because I'm dumb, doesn't mean my kid is

So today was preschool registration. It seems small, but a big event in Ava's life. She has been talking about going to school for the last year. It is her dream. She actually was willing to get up and get dressed and listen to me for the most part this morning. That means she was serious about going. I read on the website last night that the preschool is in high demand so we might want to come early to get our first choice. Pffft. This is preschool in the suburbs, not Manhattan! So my goal was to try to get there a few minutes before 9. I was not about to line up outside for a couple hours with both of the kids, especially when I was up late.

So I get in the building and see a sign directing me to preschool registration. I get in line. I am the third person in line and feeling pretty good about myself. Other people start coming and getting in line. One person has a little laminated number in her hand...what? what is this??? Someone from the school goes and gets us numbers that were apparently in front of the sign directing me where to go. It is ok, the two moms in front of me didn't have them either, so I am not the only one who missed that. I was a little nervous and then I see that my number is 28. Well that is easy! Most people around me seemed to have the 3 year old form with them (they were color coded) so I didn't have a lot of competition. They then have us sit down in the auditorium and there is a table up front and a dry erase board with a tally of available slots in each class. Total number of 4 year old preschool available: 4. 4!!! Suddenly 28 is not looking so good. They announce that if we can't get in at our desired location, we can register for one of their three other locations. That is good because I was worried that I would then have to pack up and head across town to register at the other school and hope to still find a slot available. We wait and we wait and we wait...really it was only 25 minutes. Anyway, our number is called and I am told there are still slots available for the afternoon class. I hand over my k4 form and check. She tells me my check is for too much, so I write her another check. (I had gone looking and found the starter set of checks from a random checking account, we just transfer money into for bill payments...) The woman handling our registration introduces herself and says that Ava will be in her class. They chat for a while and Ava attempts to wow her with her great knowledge of colors by talking about Rhys' hat. I pack up and head out, because people are still waiting and everyone is a little tense that I am going to take their slot in the class they want.

In the car, I do the math and figure out that she had me write the check for the registration fee for a k3 class. I come home and look online and see that she is also the k3 lead teacher. So I call and leave a message asking them to verify which class Ava is registered for. While I am doing this someone is beeping in on the other line, probably making my message sound very disjointed. It is a co-worker. She is telling me that the school just called there to verify my home number because they had been trying to call me and couldn't get through. I had combined the first half of my home number with the last half of my cell. Excellent. So I go to get the home phone expecting them to call me at any minute and see there is a message on the machine. I listen to it and it is in fact the school calling to say there seemed to have been a mix up. Not only is Ava now registered in a k3 class with the k4 form, the check I wrote had the date in the amount section. I finish the message and go get my cell to call her back and see that I had a missed call on my cell from her. I am leaving her a message and I see the woman from the school is beeping in. I end up saying something really dumb on the message like, "this is you beeping in now so I will stop talking." I explain to her that the woman registering me told me to write a new check and must not have paid attention to the fact that I turned in a k4 form, since pretty much nobody there was registering for 4 year olds. There were 2 more slots available, so Ava got in the correct class. I just have to go drop off a valid check.

So the school's first impression of me: I can't fill out my phone number, I can't read forms (though really their teacher couldn't read, not me) and I can't write out a check correctly...don't worry, Ava knows her colors.

soooo frustrated!

So this past week I had my first paper due for this new class I am in. It isn't exactly new since this week is the halfway point, but still, the first paper. I finished it, felt pretty good about it and submitted it, right on time. I actually had an hour to spare, which for me is doing pretty well. I check my grade tonight and it was a 0. That is right, a big fat, 0. I was slightly confused by this and went to look for comments. Even if the paper was horribly bad, I should have at least gotten half of the credit. It showed that I submitted something with no attachment at 5:44am MST MONDAY! I promise you, I was not even awake at this time. Plus why would I submit nothing that late? It was already late, so if I were going to do the whole fake attachment thing wouldn't I have done it on time????? I wrote my teacher an email, so we will see what he says. I might just have to eat it, though I will definitely go above him if that is what he says my option is. At this point, I can only get a B if I earn all my points from here on out if this zero sticks around. A B will be better than wasting my tuition though, I guess.

I am also frustrated with this sickness surrounding our house. Last week Justin and Rhys both got sick on Thursday with fevers and general crappy feelings. They both went to the doctor on Friday. Justin thought he might have the flu or pneumonia and we thought Rhys' ear infection from a couple weeks before just hadn't cleared up. They were both fine, just a virus, come back if it gets worse. Justin is pretty much back to normal, with just a lingering cough. Ava and I both got fevers Friday night and Ava got the cough and I got a headache. I started to think Rhys must have had the headache version too since he was clearly miserable for no particular reason. Then he started in with the cough and snot pouring from his face. He has been sleeping a lot and last night he was just mad at everything. He is clearly not feeling well at all still and has very little energy to do a whole lot of playing. I feel bad for hte little guy. I think he has been sick or getting over something everyday except for like 5 when he was on antibiotics since mid-December.

the best laid plans...

So my plan of taking my final and writing my paper all weekend didn't exactly happen. I did finish my paper at 11:45pm. I am going to take my final tonight because in reality, it is the last chance I have to take it since I work tomorrow night. I am hoping not to destroy my grade with it but I should hopefully be fine if I take my time. I can't wait for it to be done. I just don't want it hanging over my head anymore. I have all these things I want to do in my "free" time that I haven't gotten to do for the last two months because I haven't had the time or haven't been able enjoy because I knew I had school stuff to do. If only I didn't have the rest of my other things to catch up on, like laundry and the house. It needs to be in order before the influx of more stuff at Christmas and we need to get Ava's room moved around. Either way, I see myself with some knitting needles and yarn in the future...preferably in a very comfy chair and a fire place, like at Caribu! Who wants a yarn play date with no children?

In other exciting news, we are about to begin our Christmas gift making tradition! We are really trying to teach Ava that to focus on giving gifts instead of receiving them. Since she has zero concept of money it doesn't always work for her to go out and buy something for someone plus it would be very random. But she does understand that she is making something for someone. So if you are lucky enough to be on a receiving end of a gift from my kids, know that we discussed who we were making it for the entire time it was being created.

By the way, why do I keep hearing about people wrapping gifts already? What do all these people do on Christmas Eve if all their gifts are wrapped?

Don't worry, I have a plan

I have my final and paper left and I am done with my class. I technically have until Thursday to finish my final. My paper is due Sunday. I have the outline done, so I have a general idea of the content (veerrrrrrrrrrrry general) and that is about it. So my plan is to take my final tonight and spend Saturday and Sunday during the day writing my paper and just be done with my class. That will buy me an extra week off in between classes. I am so looking forward to it. Justin will be off work the week of Christmas and New Years. That means we get to do our Christmasy things together, work on Ava's room, and just hang out. I hope to catch up on some shows and movies, finish a few yarn projects, and I can't wait. I figure this weekend might feel a little intense but it will be worth it to have it all over with. We have big plans like Chuck E Cheese and maybe the zoo if it isn't freezing freezing, so we should have a fun at home vacation.

I ordered glasses this week. I am looking forward to getting them in. My current glasses are 2 prescriptions ago and have been banged by kids about 10 too many times so aren't very straight anymore. It will be nice to be able to see and not have them fall off my head if I bend over.

finished

I have officially finished knitting my second scarf. I am ready to move on to another project. I am thinking hats are my way to go this winter. My only thing with that is, hats are best when they are crocheted. This is even from the lady who taught my knitting class. Maybe I can make a hat and knit the matching scarf?

Pepe almost got a new home today. Instead he will be losing his claws and his nuts in the next couple of days. I am still reserving the right to send him to a shelter. He is on probation.

Rhys has figured out how to go up stairs. My life has just gotten significantly more difficult. He is getting so much better at walking, rarely crawling anymore. Top teeth are also on the horizon. He is just getting so old so fast.

I think I will be starting school next week. Unless I miserably failed my entrance writing exam, which I would like to think is somewhat impossible, I am accepted into the school. They are currently waiting on my transcripts to show up to verify that I do in fact have a bachelor's degree. This school seems to be one of those, easy to get into, but if you don't get good grades you are out, kind of place.

I have had about 7 hours of sleep in the last 2 days. Some of that was my fault. Either way, I am exhausted and can't wait to go to sleep in about 2 minutes. Bed time before 10pm. That is proof that I am tired.