Holiday Cards!

I love holiday cards! I love to send them, I love to get them. I wish we had another holiday-time when sending cards was a big deal. I would so be on it.

We are fast approaching Christmas. I am looking forward to my kids having time off of school for something other than colds/flu. I'm tired and the past two months have been filled with anxiety. This past week has been completely nuts, but I'll save that tale until next time.

For right now I want to bask in the greatness of holiday cards and the people that were willing to send them to us. Such a little thing, but it brightens every day. You people are the kindest, and for that I thank you!

Christmas Time is Here...Sorta

 Christmas trees and Christmas cards. It is slowing starting to look like Christmas here. The tree is up and decorated. However, the tree skirt seems to have moved house sometime since last December. Cannot find it anywhere. The boys did the majority or ornament hanging. This means the ornaments are grouped in certain areas, but I don't care a bit. They loved doing it and love showing us which ones they put on.

Many, many holiday cards were addressed and sent out. I love holiday cards. No one in my family really sends them out, but I still do it. When I was young my mom would hang up the cards we got on the curved archway between the living room and family room. That memory has stuck with me, so I send out cards and hope to get some in return!

Last week was a bit rough. On Halloween I got a 'Juror Questionnaire' in the mail. Apparently, my name has been pulled. I cannot even list all the ways that this is not good. I take care of three kids alone every week. Who would get them to and from school? Dinner? Homework? Not to mention, the courthouse is in Grand Rapids. That is at least 25 minutes from here. Not counting traffic. I have no idea how to get there or where to even park once I did.

I must admit to being in a bit of a panic over this. My kids are 8, 10, & 12. Too young to fend for themselves. Plus, I drive Irene and Gavin to school. UGH!!!!

So, possible jury duty not enough? Well then, on Sunday Mark was driving Henry and Irene home from Grandma's. A suburban pulled out of the lumber company, crossed two lanes of traffic and slammed into the driver-side slider door of the van. Apparently, the guy driving wanted to be in the same lane, same spot as our mini van. Thankfully, Gavin was home with me because that door is where he sits. Henry and Irene were frightened, but fine. Mark was livid.

A young man gave a witness statement to police, so they have down that Mark was absolutely not at fault. The van is a mess and we are trying to get a quote on repairs. 

Just to add to the fun...This week Gavin came down with a hellish cough and cold. Tuesday he had almost no voice and a temp of 102. He spent the majority of the day covered up, watching Ben 10. It was really weird because he is usually all go! go! go! He stayed home Wednesday, but went to school today.

Unfortunately, Irene, Henry, and I all have the beginnings of the cough/cold. Even Mark, who called me today, has it. I'd like to put my pajamas on and cuddle with LuLu, but needs must. Dinner, homework, and that never-ending laundry.

~~~

I have an Ornaments Wishlist...if that's your kind of thing.

Halloween Happiness

 Pumpkins made with melted crayons

 A dolphin, Godzilla, and Master Chief

Liar, Liar. Pants on Fire.

I once said that if lightning was to strike the school, I would not help in any way. I would not be in the bucket brigade, I would not clear away debris. I would not buy goodies from fundraising bake sales. I would not donate funds. I would not help with the rebuild. I certainly would not help celebrate its re-opening.

Late last night Gavin's teacher finally emailed me. She said that she would not be at school Friday but that Irene could get the homework packet from the substitute. This morning I get an email from the principal saying that Gavin's teacher will not have homework packets ready. She will be coming in during the weekend to get them ready. Not that it should matter because the homework packets always go home on Mondays. What?! For one thing, the homework packets include multiple subjects of homework, including the reading log which starts on Friday! There is also math pages and spelling pages that require at least 5 different online spelling activities be completed.

Why is there a need to lie? If you're not going to have them done then don't tell me to send my daughter to the sub to get it. And don't try to pass me off to the principal as not knowing what I'm talking about. Every week these packets have come home on Friday and are due the next Friday. What is this bullshit accomplishing????

Liar, liar. Your lying liar pants are on fire.

And They blew My House Away

Well. I feel like the school did an end run around me. Ten minutes to the end of school and I get a call. Gavin had an issue on the playground. He refused to talk about what happened, but he hit someone in reaction to whatever happened. The school's response is that I keep him home tomorrow. Well, at least they're happy.

Of course, Gavin is happy, too. He is being rewarded with another day off school. He doesn't have to do the work, doesn't have to make an effort. Gee, this seems like such a great idea. Plus, the school did not send home his homework packet or his reading book which puts us three days behind on homework.

I am doing all I can do. Gavin is seeing someone about his anxiety. I've told all the various people at the school about it. However, I get no input from the school. Just calls. And suspensions. Worse, they don't tell him that they're doing it. Gavin had no idea that he wouldn't be going to school tomorrow. He was speaking about how his day was going to go. According to the principal, she had made this suspension arrangement with Gavin. Yeah, he didn't remember it a bit.

I'm feeling jaded. I greatly dislike this school. I greatly dislike this school system. I feel like we have reached an impasse.

I'll Huff and I'll Puff!

Wednesday started off fairly decently...until it was time to get dressed for school. Then Gavin dug his heels in and that was that. There was no getting dressed, I hate school, my tummy hurts, stomp-stomp. Monday and Tuesday had been good days for him. He did well, was in a good mood, but Wednesday was just not happening.

I kept Gavin home. Unhappily. However, I just couldn't justify manhandling him into clothes and shoes, and then just dropping him at the curb at school. His bad day would start before he even walked through the door. We did managed to do spelling work and read, so at least a little bit of learning happened. Today he was much more willing to go to school since the second grade was going on a field trip at an apple orchard. I'm hopeful that the day continues to go well.

Tomorrow his teacher will not be at school. Gavin does not always do well with substitutes since they don't do things exactly like the teacher. However, his teacher has angered me a bit by asking me, twice, if I wanted to keep him home tomorrow. I adamantly do not want to keep him home. These absences do count against him. Pretty soon the school system will be sending me a letter about the number of absences the student is allowed to have...blah blah blah. The only I way I will keep him home at the behest of the school is if they clear his absences, otherwise this child is going. And let's not forget that he is there to actually learn things. It's not just a playdate.

And so we go on...a lot of hot air to be had by all.

Birthday with Godzilla

 Gavin's birthday was on Friday. This year he wanted Godzilla cake for his party and Godzilla cookies to take to school.

The Godzilla cake topper, and cookie cutter, I found on etsy. Grandma Pat made the cake. It turned out better than what I would have been able to do. And her frosting was terrific. She also made the cookies. She, and her sister, spent four hours making 30 cookies. The cookie dough did not want to come out of the tail and arm sections of the cutter. I was amazed that they stuck to it. As pictured above, we got the leftover (some arm-less, some tail-less) cookies while the picture perfect ones went to school.

And school. Ugh. Gavin is at school at the moment. I am still looking into homeschooling. I don't really want to homeschool. I feel like I don't have the wherewithal to do it well. Still, I can't keep sending my child to a place that is making him physically ill. The search is ongoing.

Sometimes I feel like there is no right answer.

FRUSTRATION!!!!

Anyone in Michigan that homeschools? I am in need of help, tips, pointers, etc. Today is pretty much the limit of shit I can take from this school. They are actively making my child sick and blaming him. It is one step forward and twelve steps back. I cannot keep sending my child to a place that is making him so miserable.

Done. So flippin' done.

And so it goes...

Where to start? This week is a busy one. Yesterday, Gavin had an appointment that required our going into GR. Today I have Irene's parent/teacher conference. Tomorrow I have Gavin's speech evaluation meeting. Thursday is Gavin's well-child check up (also in GR) and Friday is Gavin's birthday. 

I am still having issues with the school. Friday was a mess of incompetence. I emailed the teacher about what actually happened and got multiple emails of such condescension that I finally stopped reading them. I did save them though. 

Yesterday, Gavin was diagnosed with a form of anxiety disorder. His stressor is school. School stresses my child out to the point of making him sick. Granted, there are two particular things at school that really stress him. Still, I am heartbroken that I have to send my child to the thing that upsets him so greatly. I don't know how, or even if, the school will work with this information. I think I would consider homeschooling at this point just to save him the ridiculous amounts of anxiety he suffers. Unfortunately, I don't know the first thing about homeschooling.

Hopefully, Gavin should have 20 counseling appointments. These will be every other week. They'll deal with working through the stress and come up with ideas to help manage it. The gentleman working with Gavin was very kind. I am tentatively hopeful in regards to the counseling.

In other health related news, my brother has been diagnosed with a fairly rare syndrome. He went from a spinal tap on Monday, to official diagnosis on Friday, to treatment starting Saturday. I am frustrated that, even though we live in the same state, I am not close enough to be any kind of real help. Even something as simple as making some food and taking it over is not doable. Instead I have been sending restaurant gift cards (trying to find places that deliver or do take-out) and texting as much as I can. And knitting him things, but you can read about that on my knitting blog.

It is funny how many forms there are of love and devotion. With Gavin, I want to be a giant bear that eats whatever dares to upset him, then take him home, roll him around, and teach him how to fish. I want him to still be hopeful in this world, but help him to get by. With my brother, I want to cry for and with him, then make a blanket fort, and give cuddles. He knows how the world works. I can't make any of it go away, but I can spread some cushions around to ease the discomfort.

And there it is.

Woe is Me!

"You are your child's best advocate" is such a cop-out. Really, it is an infuriating phrase. I can only advocate so much for my child. If I do not know what is available, or what each institute is supposed to do/be responsible for,  and that information is not forthcoming/readily available HOW CAN I ADVOCATE???

We are into our third year at this school. And for the third year in a row they are completely unhelpful. I am beyond frustrated with them. Unfortunately, I am the one that moved the kids to this school when Henry was being physically bullied on the playground of the other school. If the other school had actually done something about the abuse we would have stayed there. I had to jump through paperwork hoops to get all three moved to another school. The school I wanted to move them to could only get two of them enrolled, so we had to go with the school we're currently at.  And it has been three years of complete shit.

With Henry now in middle school, I really want to move Irene and Gavin. Currently, Irene has an all A report card and has many friends. I hate to take her out of that. I'm seriously considering moving Gavin next year when Irene goes to the middle school.

I am tired and fed up with the lack of any support. I feel like they don't want to address any issues because that messes up their 'affluent and awesome' persona.

Ugh. I'd knit to release my frustrations, but last night, in a bid to relax, I managed to mess up the sock I'm knitting. Okay, Okay. Rant over.

School Picture Day...Oops!

 Last year, two days before picture day at school, Gavin hit his head on his bed and gave himself a black eye and concussion. Last year's school picture features his very black and blue eye lid and cheek. We laugh now because we figure it'll be a great story that we'll always remember.

This year, I figured picture day would be easy. Ha! Not only did we have temps of 100 degrees, making the kids sweaty and red faced, I also got an email from the school office the day before picture day. Gavin got hit in the face with the tire swing. They gave him two ice packs, but there was definite mark on his face. The picture below is the cut/bruise on the day it happened. They next day (picture day) it had darkened and bruised more. 

Once again, we will have a story to tell about picture day. And, as Grandma Pat says, at least he is consistent!

Heat Wave!

We have had a ridiculous heat wave here in lower Michigan. Temps between 90 and 100 degrees. It has been so hot that the schools actually had two half days and cancelled all sport activities. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to be in the lower seventies. Still high for this time of year, but a respite from the crazy heat. It is supposed be in the sixties by Friday, but next week we shoot back up into the eighties. I really want my 60 degree fall weather. I've got flannel shirts and knitted socks that are ready to be worn!

Henry's birthday was last week. We had a small get together at Lou and Pat's. We used to try to do something special for his birthday. Unfortunately, every year since we moved here we have horrible weather on his party day. We'll try to go to a zoo, orchard, park, etc. and it'll be tipping down with rain. This year I almost felt bad since it was sunny...then the heat climbed up to 98 degrees. Yeah, no one wants to be outside in direct sun with temps like that. Instead we had a nice lunch of hamburgers, salad, and cake while we enjoyed the air conditioning.

Here's hoping that October will bring us some fall-like temps.

Yeah...

It Keeps On Going...

We are all still stepping along here. Gavin's cold/flu managed to grab a hold of everyone but Mark. Thankfully, Henry and Irene only suffered for a day, but I have a cough that just will not let go. 

School keeps moving along. We are starting to get into an actual schedule with the schools. Having so many short weeks meant that the homework schedule was rather up in the air. I think we may be finally seeing what it is actually supposed to be. It'll help us get set into a routine.

Henry's birthday is next week. He wants a laid back day of cooking hamburgers on the grill followed by cake. I think we can handle that!

Aside from the short school weeks, and the illnesses, September has been mostly us trying to get back into a school pattern. 

First Week of School

I think this picture of Captain sums up our week.

Got up at 5:30 am Tuesday and got Henry to the bus. LuLu took off as we were walking out the door. I finally got her back only for she and Captain to have a huge fight. The fight, and clean up from it, put Irene, Gavin and I behind schedule a bit. Thankfully, I did managed to get them to school before it started.

Thursday morning, Henry's bus showed up five minutes early. As I was walking home a boy came running up to the stop. Even though he was technically on time he still missed the bus. I gave him a ride to the middle school. Talk about a crazy mess of cars! There are a lot of people that drop off middle school students each day.

Thursday afternoon, as I was waiting for Henry's bus, a stinkin' wasp stung me on the thumb! Ouch!

Friday dawned with Gavin not feeling well. Yeah, in the three days of school the kids had, Gavin managed to catch the flu. The weekend has been full of....well, all those lovely bodily functions that having the flu ramps up. The Flu; the gift that keeps on giving.

I have been frantically trying to have everyone hand sanitize while cleaning as much as possible. I do not need to have anyone else come down with it!

So yeah, not quite how I pictured the first week of school going. Although, we did watch all 7 hours of the Slow TV Bergen to Oslo train ride on Netflix yesterday.

First Day of School

First day of school is over and we survived it. Henry's school starts an hour earlier this year so he and I had to get up before everyone else. I walked him to the bus stop which is half a block from our house.

I am driving Irene and Gavin to school this year, although they do ride a bus back into town. We were about ten minutes late leaving this morning due to a fight between the dogs of all things. Still, we got to school with ten minutes to spare.

Henry's afternoon bus was about ten minutes late. No big deal. Irene and Gavin's bus was over twenty minutes late. Again, no big deal, but I started to worry I was at the wrong place.

Only three days of school this week. I'm hoping it continues to go well!

Lions and Tigers and School Meetings, Oh My!

We had to go to Henry's school for schedules and lockers and pictures and a lot of walking. Apparently, we were supposed to talk to the transportation department as well, but I missed that.

Got Henry's school picture taken. Had to carry his sweater with us since it is 85 degrees out. I was under the misapprehension that picture day was in late September, so the sweater that would have been great for then was rather warm for now. Oh well, it was easily put on and taken off and it is one less thing to worry about in September.

Henry decided that he no longer wanted to take Orchestra. My heart broke a little over that decision, but he was adamant about it all summer. I didn't feel it was worth pushing the issue since he really didn't want to do it and I didn't want to pay for an instrument he wouldn't use. We did manage to change his schedule really easily which was a relief.

The locker was easy to find, but it took two adults and two children to get it to open. Yeah, feeling really smart today! Once we got it open it was pretty easy to do again.

Found all of Henry's classes. Holy cow is that school bigger on the inside (feel free to insert Tardis jokes here). Henry is going to be doing a lot of walking each day. He will have to hustle to get between a couple of them.

I missed going to the bus info section. I know he is on a bus to and from school since I spoke directly with the bus garage a couple of weeks ago. I just don't know what bus number he is on. And yeah, missing that is really making me feel like a crap mom right now.

After all that school fun, Grandma took us to McDonald's. The kids felt the need for silly faced pictures.

Special Pillow

Gavin's teacher wants everyone to have a 12x12 pillow that 'isn't too thick' for them to sit on in the classroom. At first, I was kinda annoyed because this would be yet another thing I would have to buy for school. Thankfully, Grandma Pat is a sewing wizard and said she would make him one.

Grandma had Gavin over to look through all her fabric. He picked out the dog fabric and dog print/heart fabric. She added a red border and had it completed in an afternoon. I am very impressed as well as jealous of her sewing skills.

Now, Gavin has an awesome and unique pillow for school. Just a week to go before it starts!

Bag Tags

I have been buying these name tags for several years now. They are from The Paper Shamrock on Etsy. Each tag is $5 and is nicely laminated. I get them each year for the kids to put on their school backpacks. These things are tough. They survive the school year better than the bags do.

First names on the front and first/last names on the back along with the school they go to. I highly recommend!

School Supplies

It's no secret that I love Target. Love it! This year the school Irene and Gavin go to actually supplied the school supply list to Target. Henry's school didn't add their list, but I was able to find everything with just a little bit of looking. I was able to buy their school supplies online! Plus, they offered free shipping.

Our supply lists this year are ridiculous. It came out to be around $170. That is A LOT of money for us. And that is before new school shoes, jeans, jackets, etc. Still, it's done....unless the individual teachers add to the lists. I may lose it if they do.

Now we just have multiple school open houses. Seriously, Henry has two. Ugh....people.

Organization...What?!

School for the kids starts early this year. It angers me a bit because it feels like it is chopping a good two weeks off of summer. Plus, the first week is only three days, the second and third weeks are only four. Ugh. Anyway, my issue etc., etc. I did call the school transportation department. Henry will be riding the bus to and from school this year. He will be at a new school. Thankfully, the bus stop is right near the house. Even better, the woman I spoke to managed to get Gavin and Irene on the bus home in the afternoon! I will still need to drive them out in the morning, but I won't have to spend an hour in the car every afternoon. I was so stinkin' elated when I got that news. I had to laugh with a friend that it was such a parent thing to be so happy over something like that, but HOLY CRAP IT IS SUCH A HUGE RELIEF!

Last week I got all three kiddos into the dentist. Good reviews on all, so that was awesome. Cross that off the list for the next six months.

New spring/fall jackets were purchased for all three kids this week. Very nice and didn't cost a fortune. Still need jeans for the boys and new shoes for all.

Today we were at the doctor's office. Medicines are squared away as well as forms needed for school. The office now charges $10 for all school forms that need to be filled out. Considering I filled out all the info except for the doctor's signature I thought this was a bit nuts, but I paid it with a smile. Henry needed a shot that I did not know about, so he blamed me and was very upset over it. Eh, being the 'meanest mom ever' is nothing new here.

After the doctor we had dinner at Wendy's. Our town doesn't have one, so this has become our 'we survived the doctor' treat. Gavin ate like I haven't fed him in three days. It was amazing the amount of food he put away for such a skinny kid. I let all three get a frosty so I was soon back to being a 'good' mom. The entire dinner conversation revolved around Godzilla and company, and King Kong. It was...entertaining.

Before heading back home we stopped at the grocery store there. Very jealous of that store. Wish we had one here. I only needed two things so we were in and out quick. On our way out a woman came up to me to tell me what sweet and nice kids I have. She couldn't believe how well they behaved and got along. I wanted to laugh like crazy since this behavior was an anomaly. Instead I thanked her and carried on.

Got back into town and stopped to pick up the newly squared away medication. Also got toothpaste and mouthwash, so exciting. Got ten dollars off with points I'd earned, so you know, woohoo and all that.

Now we're home and I am tired. Can I go to bed early?

Growth Spurt, Nooo! Part Two.

 Above are the many jeans that no longer fit Gavin. There looks like a lot...and there is, but many of those were hand-me-downs from Henry and cousin Eric.

Now Henry and Gavin are in need of school jeans and play jeans/pants. Ugh. Kids are so stinkin' expensive.

Irene's jeans still fit her well. The knees are a bit worn, but they'd be great for play clothes.

Unfortunately, all three kids need new fall/spring jackets. Oh well. I did find some well priced ones at Target. Shop, shop, shop!

The pic above is of the three bags of jeans and the three jackets we'll be dropping off for donation.

Growth Spurt, Nooooo!

Grocery bag stuffed full of jeans. I had Henry try on all his school and play clothes jeans from the last school year. None of them fit. None.

Usually, the school jeans from the past year become the play clothes jeans for the next. Yeah, totally not happening. Henry had one heck of a growth spurt since school ended. Can't get any of the up over his hips.

I will be donating the bag of jeans. At least someone will be able to use them! Now, we've gotta come up with jeans for this school year.

Kids. How dare they grow!

Blue Hair

Irene wanted blue hair. Then the boys decided they needed it, too. I, however, opted out.

Ducks and a Wolf

Walked to the library. Had fun checking out all the new science and art stations. Irene found two books from the cat series she reads.

 After, we walked over to feed the ducks. So many! We ran out of food, and ducks were still swimming over.

Irene got wolf ears and tail for being very helpful last week. She has been wearing them every day. She gets a lot of compliments on both.

Caged!

We keep our computer programmers caged so they are always available to help you!

Walked into the dining room to see Gavin in the dog crate with the computer and a bottle of water. He spent most of the evening in there playing.

At bedtime he was angry with me because I wouldn't let him sleep in it. Crazy kid.

Bein' Silly

Had to do some shopping at Costco and Target. Stopped for lunch at Steak and Shake. Told the kids they had to pose for silly pictures in order to get milkshakes.

A surprisingly good time was had by all. No major meltdowns.

50 States Quilt

Many, many, many years ago, my mom bought this counted cross stitch set from Mary Maxim. Each state had a square to cross stitch with their flag, flower, bird, etc. My mom worked off and on for years on it.

Once she finally finished it, she packed it away until she had the space and time to turn it into a quilt. Unfortunately, she passed away before that could happen. When we were cleaning out her house my older brother almost threw the tote holding these squares away. It just happened to topple over, these 50 squares spilling out. I took them in the hope that, one day, I would be able to afford to have them made into a quilt.

My mother-in-law is incredibly talented in quilt making. I am crazy jealous of her skill. I left the squares and small amount of fabric with her. I hoped that if she ever had the time, and inclination, she'd put it together. Of course, Mary Maxim directions are sometimes a bit...incomplete. I didn't worry about the squares. I knew that even if she didn't work on them that they'd still be safe in her hands.

Then last September, she surprised me with this giant, completed quilt. It is huge! She worked so hard on this, using those incomplete directions, and turned it into something fantastic. The quilt is so big that she could not get it to work with her machine. She had to take it in to a quilt shop (and paid for it!) and have it professionally quilted on a big machine.

On the back, she added a red square that gives some info about the quilt. It has my mom's name as having made the squares, my mil's name as having put it all together, and the quilt shop name.

I was blown away by the amount of time and skill that she put into this quilt. I wish I could display it for the public to see. It is a beautiful feat made by multiple talented women and deserves a ton of recognition. It makes my heart happy to look at it.

What? No!

So...I'm guessing that brand new dog bed didn't meet with your approval?

Injuries...Why must you visit here?

Injuries. Boys jumping on beds. Heads hitting sharp corners. Trips to emergency rooms. Concussions.

Massive bruise and black eye just in time for picture day at school.

Yes. This will be a school picture that will have one heck of a story.