I Hate Spelling

I hate spelling. I hated studying when I was a kid and I hate studying it with my kids. I've never liked it and I never will. I suspect Davis knows how much I hate spelling because he is slightly perverse when it come to practicing his words.

Me: Okay, spell Cat
Davis: C...A...T
Me: Mat
Davis: M..A...T
Me: Hat
Davis: H..T..E
Me: What? HTE? What? Hat! Spell hat.
Davis: D..C..E
Me: Davis, there is a pattern here. All these words end with the 'at' sound, what two letters make the 'at' sound?
Davis: A..T
Me: Right, so spell hat
Davis: H..T..E
Me: Nevermind.

Davis' First Day of Kindergarten

Davis started his first day of Kindergarten this week.

He's been looking forward to going to school all summer. So it makes sense that  he was pretty disappointed when he found out kindergarten was only a half day so he didn't need to take a lunch.

When we got to the school he got out of the van and said, "Bye mom, See you later!" And started walking off by himself. When I pointed out that he didn't know where his classroom was he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Ehh. I'll figure it out." I went ahead and walked him in anyway.

When I picked him up after school he asked me if he could go to school every day. I think it went over pretty well.

I ♥ Chase

School is underway and last week Chase and I went to his first patent-teacher conference. At the beginning of every year the teacher reads a check list of conduct that the kids agree to and then sign. She asked things like, would he bring his supplies, do his homework, be nice to the other kids, and listen in class.  He responded to all of them with "yes" or "I'll try." Until . . .

Teacher: "Chase, can you come to school each morning ready to learn with a positive attitude?"
Chase: "A positive attitude?"
Teacher: "Yeah, that just means that you'll try to come to school happy."
Awkward silence . . .
Chase replies with a long drawn out: "Nooooo. . . I, uh, don't think I can do that."
After some coaxing he said, "Fine! I'll TRY!"

When we were done his teacher turned to me and asked, "Do you have any questions for me?" Chase said, "I do . . . what's a million plus a thousand." She answered, "One million one thousand." "Good job." He said.

First Day of School

Not everyone was thrilled to start school.

Davis has another week of carefree living before he's off to Kindergarten, but the other three started school today.

When Chase met his teacher at back to school night she asked him if he was excited for 2nd grade and he said, "I guess. The only problem is that I don't really like talking." "Oh are you shy?" she asked. "No," He said, "I just don't like talking."

For his first day of school Chase chose to wear his favorite pearl button cowboy shirt and jeans. He's still hoping for a new pair of cowboy boots while I'm still hoping to find a pair I'm willing to buy.

Kai decided that he wanted to wear what he calls his "skater outfit." This consists of his flying skateboard shirt, red skinny jeans, and blue high-tops. Mike said he's pretty sure boys don't wear "outfits" just clothes. I'm pretty sure Kai doesn't care.

Kai couldn't wait to get out the door this morning. He was excited because at back to school night his best friend, Jane, made sure they were assigned seats next to each other. I told him if he wants to continue to sit by Jane he'll have to be quiet and calm or his teacher will move him. This is no small feat for a 10 year old boy.

Madison is thrilled to be in 7th grade because she gets to take classes like art, photography, French, and P.E. Yep, she's even excited to take P.E. Oh and she gets a locker.

She saved money all summer so go back to school shopping with her Aunt Becca. When she got home with her new clothes Madison decided that she needs three "first day" outfits (she's a girl so she gets to use that word). One for orientation day (today), one for her first day of A schedule, and one for her first day of B schedule. She reasoned that because each of these days involve different classes and different people they were all technically "first days."

She's so old! I remember her first free dress day in kindergarten  when I asked her if she wanted to wear pink or purple socks and she replied, "Mom, they aren't pink and purple, they're coral and grape."

So here's to a new year--lets hope it's a good one.

Another Rousing Program

This morning was the boy's orchestra concert. I went early to get a good seat because I wanted to finally get a good picture of him playing his violin.

Unfortunately, he's short.

But I managed to a great shot of the tip of his bow

and a nice shot of his toes

and a fantastic shot of his shoulder.

Here's looking forward to next year.

100 Days of School . . . Again?

Back when the boy was in first grade he was asked to bring 100 of something to the 100th day of school. Because he is slightly perverse he chose rocks. Now Chase is in first grade and today is his 100th day of school. At first he thought about bringing 100 monster trucks. "Toy ones" he explained, "because,real ones would be too heavy." I pointed out that although we have a lot of toy trucks I didn't think we had 100. So he decided to take 100 recycling bins . . . no wait, 100 fire hydrants . . . . This went on for a while.

It took a lot of convincing but I talked him into taking something I saw on Simply Modern Mom--a monster shirt with 100 googly eyes on it. The only problem was the Madison and Kai liked Chase's shirt so much that they insisted I make them one to wear to school today too.  Unfortunately, Kai got sick this morning so he'll have to wear his to the 101st school day tomorrow.

Chase is quite possibly the cutest kid in the world.

Learning's for Dummies

Davis is four and has already decided its not cool to learn things in school.  When I ask him what he learned in preschool he says things like, "Nothing. My teacher has a TV hidden in the cupboard and she just watches it all day while we do whatever we want"  or "Today my teacher brought a pillow pet from home and took a nap" or "Today we painted, but I already know how to paint so it isn't like I learned anything."

But yesterday when I asked him if he learned anything in school he very casually said, "I did learn something today.  Today I learned that I don't really like people."

This shouldn't have shocked me because that morning during an episode of Super Why after Wyatt said "and YOU-Super You, with the power to help!" Davis said, "The power to help? Who wants the power to HELP--people will just ask you to do stuff for them all the time!!"

So yeah . . . not really a people person.

Back To School

As the first week of school draws to a close I am finally getting around to posting our first day of school pictures.

Thanks to many bags of awesome hand-me-downs Madison didn't really need any new clothes for school. I love hand-me-downs.  I did, however, agree to buy her a new outfit for the first day. Did I mention that she is in SIXTH GRADE now!  This is her last year of elementary school and I'd be lying if I said that didn't scare me.  In fact, lets not talk about this anymore.

Kai is now officially growing like a weed.  He's grown so much the doctor said his friends won't recognize him when he goes back to school.  That ended up being a moot point because a few days before school started he was offered a spot in the 4th grade class at the same school Madison goes to.  He was, of course, thrilled to be going to school with his sister.

A few weeks before school started Chase fell IN LOVE with a pair of bright blue skinny jeans at target.  He begged for them.  You have to understand Chase doesn't really ask for things, especially things like bright blue skinny jeans.  But he was determined to wear them on his first day of school so I bought them.  He put them on in the morning and I tried to find a matching shirt (it wasn't easy but I managed) and he finished getting ready for school.  Only, he wasn't very happy.  In fact, he was down right moody.  When I asked him if he was nervous he said, "No.  Only I don't think I like these pants like I thought I did."  I was so relieved.  Frankly, I think he looked a little funny in those pants.  So we did a quick wardrobe change, took a new picture, and ran to school.

And of course there is Davis.  Davis is now going to preschool three days a week--in the afternoon.  Which means I can go to lunch with out him.  I told Michael I need a stipend.  He thought I was joking.  He was wrong.

Life just gets better and better.

More Firsts

Twice a week for two hours a day I have no children. Davis and Chase have both started school.

Davis started his first year of preschool and though he seems to really like his teacher, Mrs. Brown, he said next time he'd like to try Mrs. Yellow.

However, I think he might just be a little upset because he was asked to stop bringing his imaginary friend Dee Dee #2 to school with him.  Dee Dee #1, 3,4,5, and 6 are all still welcome but Dee Dee #2 likes to pretend she's a dog and has a tendency to lick.  Apparently that is frowned upon in preschool.  Go figure.

On Chase's first day we decided to walk to school.  We live less than a mile from the school and we had a good 30 minutes to get there.  I was hoping to arrive early so I could talk to his teacher.  Unfortunately, Chase doesn't actually like walking.  Less than a block from the school Chase sprawled out on the grass in protest.  "I. Can't. Take it.  Any . . . (sigh) mooooore!"  Even with a good 30 minutes in our favor we arrived a few minutes late.

After Chase got home we decided to celebrate his first day of school by going to lunch with Mike.  Mike asked him what he wanted for lunch and he said, "Pizza.  But from a restaurant.  Not Costco."  One day of kindergarten and he's already becoming refined.

School Days

Summer has come to a screeching halt.

I love the first day of school.

This morning Davis asked Kai if he'd play with him after school.  Kai said, "I'm sorry Davis, I'm going to school now and its a lot of hard work.  When I get home I'll be exhausted and too tired to play.  But I'll still be available on the weekends."

The Party Is Over

Today is the kids first day back at school. As I watched them finally get out the door I was reminded of the love/hate relationship I have with school.

I love that if planned on the right day at the right time I can go to lunch with only one child tagging along. In fact, today is one of those days and I can't wait!

I hate trying to figure out what to put in the boy's lunch box. However, he usually comes home with 98% of the lunch I send him to school with so if he isn't eating it, why am I agonizing over it?

I love that if I clean my kitchen in the morning it will stay clean until about 3 o'clock. Not that I do clean my kitchen every morning, it's just nice to know that I could.

I hate trying to get the boys to choke down breakfast so I can get them where they need to go on time. I felt downright mean this morning when I told Kai he couldn't have anymore pancakes because he still had to get dressed. Of course that changed when he told me he had eaten 8 of them. What kind of a 35 pound kid can eat 8 pancakes?!

I love that if I give the Dave a glass of milk and put him in front of Super Why I have a good 30 minutes of uninterrupted knitting time.

I hate homework. I didn't like homework as a kid and as I have gotten older and more mature my feelings for homework have remain unchanged.

Most of all I love the quiet. In fact, I'll put up with the morning rush and all the other frustrations for just a little bit of quiet.

All About Chase

When Chase got home from school this morning he had this in his backpack.


Isn't it cute? They traced his body and then wrote out some of his favorite things.

Did you know that Chase's favorite animal is . . .

. . . a cow? I did not know that. Though, cows are found on farms and he loves a good farm so I'm not in shock.

Did you know that Chase's favorite color is . . .


. . . yellow? I totally knew that one. Yellow and Green? John Deere? You see where I'm going with this.

Did you know his favorite toy is . . .


. . . race cars? Again, not surprised. You thought he would answer some type of tractor didn't you? Well as he has learned from the John Deere for Kids website a tractor is not a toy*. Now a race car on the other hand . . . .

And finally, did you know his favorite food is . . .


. . . whaaaat? I think Kai said it best when, in one breath, he said, "What the heck are hod dogs? Who wrote that? Was it his teacher because why would she write hod dogs? That doesn't even make sense! HOD dogs?"

*The above link will take you to a John Deere Lawn Safety Quiz. If you haven't already, I suggest you take it. It could save your life one day.

Morning Preschool Starts

Mr. Chase started morning preschool on Monday. He had morning and afternoon preschool last year too and I swore I wouldn't put him in both again . . . but here we are.

I think they have new bus drivers this year. On Monday His bus pulled up to our house at 9:05 (school stars at 9:00) and after Chase got on the driver asked, "so how do I get out of here?"

On Tuesday the driver who brings him home called and asked if she was supposed to bring Chase home. When I told her she was, she told me she was asking because she didn't know where he was, and then said, "well . . . I guess I'll go look for him." And YES, that freaked me out. Remember I'm the person who checked to make sure Madison's bike was at school the first time she rode it. Fortunately, Chase did make it home on Tuesday-- he was even ten minutes early.

Each child in his morning preschool class was given a backpack. They had been donated by Costco and they all looked exactly the same. I didn't want Chase grabbing some other kids bag, or some other kid grabbing Chase's bag, so I went to JoAnns and bought a patch to sew on to his bag so he would know it was his.

Because I tend to leave somethings for the last minute I sewed the patch on his bag Sunday night and told him I had a surprise for him Monday morning.

Me: "Look Chase, I put a race car on your backpack!"
Chase: "Thanks mom!"

Chase (a few minutes later): "Mom, next time you have a surprise for me can it be a toy motorcycle man?"

And They're Off!

That's right. It's the first day of School.

Here she is, my little girl, ready to start her first day of fourth grade. Even though she is starting a new grade at a new school she says she isn't nervous-- though I suspect she is.

This year she's going to school with a super smart, some might even say nerdy, group of kids. At back to school night one of the parents asked how much reading the kids were required to do each night. The teacher responded with, "We don't have a reading requirement because we've never needed to persuade this group of kids to read."

Oh and yes, I realize that outfit B won the poll and she is wearing outfit A. Madison asked your opinion and then did something else. Welcome to my world people. Welcome to my world.

But seriously she's adorable.

And now on to the boy!

I told him he can't wear red spikes to school, so in memory of his red spikes he wore a shirt with a guy who has a red Mohawk. You can't see it in the picture very well because he is wearing his pinstriped vest over it.

On the way to school he told me he was nervous. When I asked him what he was nervous about, he said, "Everything." Oddly enough, I suspect he'll be just fine.

Better Late Than Never

School starts tomorrow. The girl and boy spent a good chunk of the afternoon laying out clothes for the first three days of school. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon trying to explain that even though it may be cool, you can't wear red spikes to school.

We also had this conversation . . .

Boy: "My teacher is going to LOVE me."
Me: "Really? Is it because you're going to be so well behaved?"
Boy: "Uh . . . NO. It because I'm sooo cool."

If nothing else, I've managed to instill a healthy dose of confidence in him.

Why I Love the Mail Carrier

Today I love the mail carrier.  Why?  Because he brought me this--

and it had this inside --

That's right.  I treated myself to a new mini laptop.  It's pink.  Does that bother you?

He also brought me an envelop from our old school that had this inside--

Need to see that closer?

Yep.  Today I love that man.

Westridge: Day Two

This is what they wore on day two . . .

Don't worry, it was crazy hair day.

First Day of School . . . Again

I know you're all dying to know what the girl and boy wore to their first day of public school.  First day outfits can make or break you.  So with out further ado . . .

Kai is sporting a Yoda shirt complete with glow-in-the-dark light saber and camo sleeves.  He chose black pants with cargo pockets and sneakers.  That's right, sneakers.  Oh and don't tell anyone but now that he doesn't have to wear socks that match his pants, he totally isn't.  They aren't black, navy blue, or even white.  They're tan.  Yep, tan socks with black pants.  It's anarchy I tell you--pure anarchy, and the boy's loving every minute of it.

Just as I predicted Madison went all out.  She wore pants under a skirt.  This is something her grandma was reported to the honor code office for in college.  So this ones for you mom.  She is also wearing a light blue polo and a pink vest with green trim.  I know what your thinking khakis . . . a polo . . .  a vest . . . kind of school uniformish.  Perhaps, but what you can't see in the picture is that the logo on the vest is a small green skull and cross bones.   And lets not forget that she's wearing her flowered Doc Martins.  She's gone completely public school and don't try to convince me otherwise.  

Advantages and Disadvantages

Wednesday was the kids last day at Freedom. When I picked the boy up from school he was crying, his teacher was crying, the teacher's aid was crying. I was bombarded by people who were sad we were leaving. It really didn't make for the start of a great afternoon. Thursday and Friday is fall break for both schools so they start the new school on Monday. They've met their teachers and they know where their classrooms are.  It should go off with out a hitch!

That brings me back to fall break. They are home today. They were home yesterday. I don't know if I like fall break just like I don't know if I like summer. I like not having to drive them to school, or worry about getting Chase on the bus. But I also like not having to drag four kids to the store and break up arguments.  

boy:  Maddie won't let me hold pretend school at 9!  **Whaaaaaaaaa**

girl:  Well my pretend club is at 9:30 and I need time to prepare! **glares with hands on hips**

davis:  Hello! **drops Nintendo DS into toilet** 

chase:  The potty a boat! **drops a toy boat into the toilet**

It didn't really all happen at once (an advantage) but it did all happen (a disadvantage).

Fresh Start

I registered the boy and the girl at the public elementary school this afternoon,  and now I'm getting nervous.  I hate having to make big important decisions--especially ones that have an impact on the lives of my children.  

We have been going to Freedom, a charter school, since the girl started kindergarten.  Wasn't she cute?  I loved that jumper.  Wednesday will be their last day of school at Freedom and their first time at public school.  

I went to a small private school for kindergarten and first grade and was moved to a public school in second.  Why?  I don't know--I was 6.  But, maybe it was because we were taken to the front lawn, told to spread out our arms, face the sky and feel the spirit.  Or maybe it was just the black widows in the blocks.  I do remember being thrilled because the public school had a cafeteria.  No more eating home lunches at my desk!  Score!

Madison is excited about the lack of uniform at the new school.  She plans on doing something completely crazy the first day, like wearing pants under a skirt.  That is sooo against the rules at Freedom.

Kai is looking forward to going by his middle name, MacKay (pronounced the Scottish way Ma-Kai) or just Kai for short.    Most of the world (including everyone at Freedom) calls him Brigham or Brig (his first name).  I call him Kai and have for a long time.  But he wants a new name at his new school.  It's his fresh start.  Though I understand, it does make me sad.  I was really the only person who ever called him Kai, so when I hear other people calling him that it seems wrong.  

We have good memories of Freedom, but we know its time to move on even if that means leaving teachers and friends that we love.