back to school

we've done it! the first week of school has begun for everyone now. we officially have a kindergartner and third grader. i am minus two at home now....for a little while anyway. kylee's first day was great! which makes me smile and my heart happy. lainey had her first day this morning. it is so hard to tell whether everything went okay...she is so quite and doesn't like to talk about how she is feeling (a stuffer). i pried as much as i could, and it seems that she had an okay time. nothing very climactic. guess, i will have to keep asking.

i have such fond memories of elementary school. sitting in front of the school waiting each day for the girls to come out...i sit and reminisce of those days long ago ;-) some days i wish i could do it all over again....just without the mullet and little better fashion sense (okay, just not in the eighties). my two favorite years were the 3rd and 4th grade. it helped that i had really great teachers those two years (i will never forget them). i remember racing through multiplication times test to win the best prize, falling in love with the box car children and lots of little crushes. third grade was the year that the boys separated from the girls and vice versa. that is when cooties and crushes began. i am assuming that things haven't changed that much...i am only 22...right? yeah right! with that being said...about the separation of boys and girls...i hope and pray that that won't bring any added challenges to kylee's year. kylee is our little tomboy...nothing frilly or pink!!! she likes to hang out with the boys and play star wars...yet she loves to hang out with her girlfriends too. speaking from personal experience, it's easier to hang out with the boys, there is no competition and they are no nonsense! of course i liked hanging out with them because i was the one who always had the crushes. oh, how proud i am of myself ;-) anyway, kylee came to me one night this summer and said, "i know God made me a girl, and i like to play star wars with the boys and that's okay, but they don't want to play with me...and i don't want to play what the girls are playing." ohhhhhh, lump in throat! immediately i want to try to talk it out and fix it...i don't want my baby being stuck in the middle and getting left out. that breaks my heart....but....what if that is where God wants her. what if that is where he can use her? okay, that literally just dawned on my now (not this summer when we were actually having this conversation). i need to step back and rejoice in the child God created (that He created in each one of the girls), not try and change them, but help mold them, encourage them, LOVE them. it is sometimes so much easier to right these thoughts than to actually put them into practice. Lord help me! i need wisdom that is for sure and a better attitude. she will be fine...and i know she will shine (ooh i made a rhyme).

as for miss mya she has reminded my of my place in life right now....that is on the floor. as long as i am on the floor life is pretty good. if i dare get up, the world comes crashing down. what am i to do? she is getting so big. climbing up the stairs, not listening to a word i say, finding wonderful treasures in the trash can, locking herself in rooms (because she likes to close doors), growing out of all her clothes, NOT speaking a word...though she does lip sing....literally! when music is one, the lips are smacking, but nothing is coming out. we have a little milli vanilli! maybe i should play "blame it on the rain" for her and see what she does....ha!! she is too cute. things in her little world are becoming funnier and more adventuresome. i am glad i have her here at home with me while the big ones are off at school...she can keep me grounded a little longer ;-)

i am such a lucky girl. married to my best friend and the mom to three awesome little girls....excuse me, two big girls and a baby! what more could a girl want! homework....yeah!!!

hard

yesterday was one of those yuck days. it started off fine. the kids were excited because they were going to find out who there teacher was...and of course, who was in there class. after a visit and several text, the kids found out who they had...no real need to even go up to the school. but we still wanted to see who was in who's class. i wasn't worried about alaina because we had already found out that two little friends were in her class (yeah!), but we hadn't heard about kylee. needless to say, we got there, we saw it, we were sad. none of her girlfriends from last year were in her class...the only other girl from her class last year is someone who doesn't mesh well at all with kylee. the look of disappointment on her face...which then turned to anger and a little anxiousness just made me sick. i felt horrible! she wouldn't let me touch her or talk to her, she just wanted to leave. the first thing i did when we got to the car was pray! i prayed that God would give her peace and comfort...and strength to stand strong....to embrace the situation. we left the school and as we were pulling away she asks me if i can call and have her moved to another class. i took a deep breath and swallowed the big lump in my throat and told her that i could not do that. as much as i wanted to say "yes honey, i will call when we get home" i couldn't. i know that there are parents out there who would be on the phone immediately, but i am not that parent when it comes to this. everyday we come across people who are rude, bossy and inconsiderate. how do we learn how to deal difficult people/situations if we are completely removed from them? alan and i both want her to learn how handle situations such as these...stand up for herself, be an affective communicator. but boy is it hard to swallow that and say, "here my little third grader, this is the hand you have been delt right now...we are going to figure this out and pray our way through it." ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

well, it gets better! we go up to the school later last night for the actual meet the teacher night. we get their supplies and head off to meet alaina's teacher. as we are walking up to the room, the grapefruit size lump reaches my throat. my second baby is going to start kindergarten....boo hoo! so, we go in, look around (mind you, alaina has a very firm grip on my hand telling me how nervous she is....awesome!) after spending a little while in there i think she felt a little more comfortable so we decided it was okay to go find kylee's classroom. we head over to the third grade pod....we look, and look, and look and can't find kylee's class. hmmmmmmm, where is it? alan finally finds it down the hall next to the fifth grade pod (not even in a pod, in a classroom off of the hallway). okay. so we go in and meet her teacher (very sweet) and find her desk. we put her things away and look around a minute. the teacher happens to mention that she hears (she is new to the school) that this classroom they are in can either be hot or cold. okay. i stop and talk to the teacher for a minute. she notices that kylee has dairy/gluten allergies, so she tells me that they put the other girls with those allergies in her class as well. okay. we leave, i get out into the hall and i want to cry. why you may ask? it may sound ridiculous to some, but what the heck. were they the left over kids and they didn't know what to do with them. they isolated them from the other third grade classes (and next to fifth graders....nothing wrong with fifth graders, but not necessarily an appropriate place to put third graders), when there is a fourth grade class in the third grade pod???? i don't understand. it also concerns me that they are secluding kids with certain allergies. i understand that it would be easier on the teachers, but we the parents are responsible for our children's allergies....and we teach our kids to be responsible as well. so why can't they be with everyone else.

at the end of last year during conferences, i was excited to hear that they were asked, if they could have anyone on there class with them next year, who would it be? we were told that they were really going to work hard to pair kids together to make things a little more comfortable, and an easier transition. i guess what i should say is that i feel that kylee keeps getting overlooked. what i mean by this is that because she is a "good" kid and pretty easy going (at school) she gets passed over. just like she was her first grade year when we had all that crap going on with all the girls in class being mean and cliquish. she never spoke up, yet she got dragged down...she was overlooked. oh, i don't even know what else to say. i feel that there is so much more....i am so frustrated. she had such a good year last year, she made some really nice friends....i don't want her to endure another year like first grade (yet, in a completely different way). it hurts her and it hurts our family because guess who she takes it all out on....us. not that i wouldn't gladly take it, but it's not fair that she would even have to internalize stuff.

i know i am jumping the gun in saying a lot of this.....i think i just need a place to vent. this year could be a terrific year....that, i am praying for!! God does not give us what we cannot handle. and He has a plan for kylee, plans for her to prosper, not harm her....plans to give her hope and a future. i love that..........

PAUSE.......

i just got off of the phone with the principal (i forgot to mention in the midst of my venting, that i did email her regarding the room situation....not with the intention of having her moved)....we talked and she offered to have kylee moved to another class. God just opened another door! yeah God!!! wow, thank you so much! i feel the weight being lifted. thank you mrs. hite for listening and understanding, it means more than you know. i think i am done now ;-)

PS. the allergy grouping was a complete coincidence.

okay, i know i said it was hot, but man....108 degrees...WOW! something i have always wanted to try was to fry an egg on the ground when it was hot. well, it's HOT, so i thought i would give it a go. obviously, it didn't work, but i took a picture anyway...it looked kinda cool! i should have tried it in the street, but didn't want to further embarrass myself. needless to say, we stayed inside today. had our daily "let's let mya sleep as long as she can movie afternoon." i really hate that we have watched so much tv, but with it being so hot...and finally figuring out that if it is super quiet in the house mya will take a decent nap...what does a mom do? todays movie was "guys and dolls." the girls love musicals, and so do i! this past winter when it was so cold and blizzard like outside "bye, bye birdie" was playing. i am looking forward to the tv being non existent here soon when the girls go back to school.

i must say that staying inside has helped me to be productive in areas i have wanted to since we have moved into our house. i have organized all their craft stuff, organized junk drawers, cleared out the "throw everything in there" guest room. it feels good. next on the agenda is our bathroom....we have so many cabinets and stuff just thrown in willy nilly (it drives me crazy that it is not organized). we'll just see if that gets done in the next...i still want to paint our bathroom off of the kitchen. so much to do.

HOT

it is SO hot!!!!! i have tried to hold my tongue and not complain, but seriously!!!! i am done! i am tired of staying inside. the pool isn't even fun...it's a warm hot tub...YUCK! okay, i am done......

school is about to begin. next week we are in full transition mode....early to bed and early to rise. we will just see how that goes. kylee is ready to go back (for the most part)...lainey on the other hand won't even talk about it. that makes me a little nervous. she is not one to really like school, she would rather be home with me. luckily she has a big sis to walk her to her class and give her a hug before she goes in (per daddy's request). i am still in shock that kylee is going to be in the third grade and lainey in kindergarten. it goes so darn fast. i have been watching alaina the last few days and have noticed a few changes in her over the summer. the way she talks, so much more mature....and her little baby body is no more, she is longer and leaner....and very tan! something she said the other day made my heart smile (something she has said before....and i will never try and correct this), she was laying against my chest she told me that she could hear my heart "beeping." AWESOME...love it.

speaking of funny things...we were all lying around, alan was channel surfing...stopping at "the three amigos" when kylee excitedly pops up and says, "it's the four francesco's!" i about lost it...the four francesco's....where did that come from? i am not sure, but i am sure it was funny.

okay, side note....as i am sitting here writing this alan pointed out that my left foot twitches when i am on the computer (he said all of my toes are always moving...great!) now i am trying to type without consciously doing it....and i can't think straight.....i am laughing. i may not be able to finish this post. yes, i know that i am WEIRD!!

anyway, my tail is still following me every where, kylee has just hit her reading goal of 1500 minutes this summer, and lainey...she makes my heart "beep."

i know there was more i wanted to write, but i lost my train of thought with my foot twitch. good night!