Ugh

I am so NON-confrontational. Really mom, I'm not. But when it comes to my babies I guess I'll just have to make an exception. Among the many reasons I'm glad to have Abbie back at our neighborhood school is that she is keeping an eye on her little brother. In the 6 short days that she has been back, she has come home at least 3 days to tell me about a boy that has been shoving, kicking, and hitting Cooper in the afternoon bus line. It's a boy just down the street that we know. I was in a Bunko group with his mom and the mom I trade morning carpool with is one of her best friends.

Ugh, I don't want to make this phone call.

I waited the first week to get more info from Abbie and from Cooper. Over the weekend we had a "Bully Seminar". It was all about speaking up for yourself and when it's okay to defend yourself and that mommy and daddy would not be mad about that. But today when they came home and told me that Cooper got kicked again, I knew I had to make the call.

She wasn't exactly surprised. Mostly just disappointed that her son would be acting that way towards his friends...we did just go to his birthday party a few weeks ago. Also disappointed that the adults in charge of the bus lines were apparently not doing anything to discourage what was happeneing. Hmm, hadn't thought of that.

The phone just rang. It was her. She talked to her son and he admitted that, yes, he had been hitting and kicking Cooper, and other friends, for no good reason. She had me put Cooper on the phone so her son could apologize. It was a very nice gesture and I am hoping that this won't be a problem in the future.

I'm sure this is only the first time we'll be put in this type of situation. It was resolved in the best way I could have hoped for. And in the future I'm sure I will be longing for the day when we were just worrying about one of the kids getting "socked" in the arm.

Grateful Friday

This first full week of 2010 (do you say "twenty-ten" or "2 thousand ten"? I haven't decided yet) I am grateful for:

• Abbie has had a wonderful first week back at her old school. Feels like we are "back home". The program at the other school was an opportunity that presented itself, we gave it a try for 16 weeks and it wasn't the right place for her. So glad we made the right choice to bring her back to her old school.
• That Tim will finally be back home after a week out of town. That's the longest he's been gone in......well I can't remember. One of the kids actually asked me if he moved!!!
• My shopping trips to Charlotte this weekend. Saturday with Tim and Sunday with the girls.
• That I didn't accidentally schedule my hair appointment and my dentist appointment on the same day.
• For my new washer and dryer.
• That I am finally starting to feel better this week after being sick since the week before Christmas. Some kind of viral sore throat (2 trips to the doctor) then a sinus infection.
• Oh yeah, and Cooper is grateful that the tooth fairy remembered to come the 2nd night since she forgot to come the 1st night ;)

Merry Christmas

Kids are playing with toys that daddy just helped open and assemble. Somebody already got shot in the face with a Nerf dart, and sombody already had a time-out. Everybody is taking turns on the "wiggle car". It's rainy and cold. And I can't wait for this year to be over.

My last post was the end of August. The last 4 months have been stressful in a variety of ways and I am believing right now that all that stress and turmoil has weakened me in every way possible. Emotionally, spiritually, physically, medically. I am sicker right now than I have been in at least 10 years. If I could have pushed Christmas back a week I certainly would have. I just want to go to bed and get up on January 4th when the kids go back to school.

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to get back to blogging. In addition to being my "scrapbook" of my kids, I think it helps me vent the aforementioned toxic situations and maybe they won't stew inside me and turn my emotional ills into physical illness.

Thank you to Lisa, who checked in on me a couple of times and I never responded even though I wholeheartedly meant to.

Merry Christmas and a Much Happier and Healthier New Year to us ALL :)

Grateful Friday

Yay! I actually remembered 'Grateful Friday' while it is still Friday! We had such a great week of "firsts" this week that I have a lot to be grateful for.

• For the 16 amazing years that Tim and I have been married and the 20 years we've been together.
• That Abigail is enjoying her new school and making lots of new friends. And after just 4 days, seems more mature and self-motivated.
• That Cooper is loving Kindergarten. His favorite part is getting to ride the bus home. (pictures to come soon)
• That the 3 carpools are running smoothly. One more to add to the mix on Monday.
• That mom's Alaska trip, the one that has been planned for over a year, is finally here!!!
• That Cameron was SO good at his first dentist visit. Laid back and opened his mouth so big that the hygienist even chuckled :)
• That I got my beach portraits back and they look so good

First Day of 4th grade

All packed up and ready to go! Abbie was really nervous about atarting a new school. At Open House last week she was adhered to my side, which is normally not her style. But I understand. All new school, all new friends. She does know one girl in her clas from basketball last fall and her basketball coach's son is in the other 4th grade class along with a friend from her Brownie troop. The classes will do many activities together and she'll get to know both teachers as they are going to try sometrhing new this year and switch off teaching science and math, i.e. Mrs. A will teach both classes math and Mrs. Campbell will teach both classes science.

As you can see, Abbie was all set with her Wake Forest backpack she picked out. We took it to the mall yesterday for monogramming. She picked out the font and the Hot Pink color. Itried to let her pick out her stuff this year. Although, she did not want to pick out her notebook and school supplies. I think they passed her inspection. I scored big points with the recycled pencils made from Chinese newspapers.

The pink bag has her 4 items that she was to bring as a "homework" assignment. They were: 1 item to describe her hobby: her astronomy book; 1 item to illustrate a goal she has for the year: a friendship bracelet she made to give to each new friend she makes; and 2 items to represent 2 character traits she possesses. This was a tough one. I realized that at this age they don't really understand the concept of character traits, much less how to represent them with a tangible object. So we went through a list and she picked "curious" and "adventurous". She took a toy cat to represent her sense of curiosity and a flashlight to represent to represent a sense of adventure.

I can't wait until she gets home so I can hear all about her day!!!

Happy Birthday Cooper-man!

My big boy...little man! You are 6 today and you are so super excited about it! You got to visit your kindergarten class yesterday and you are so ready to go to the Big Kid school on Wednesday. We still have to measure you and see how much you've grown since last year...

You chose McDonanld's for your birthday dinner. What could be better than a LEGO Happy Meal? You're current obsession is LEGOS. We probably have 1000's of LEGOs already.

You are my sweet boy. Always listening and following the rules. Unless, you see someone else doing "it". Then you will follow along, even if you know it's going to get you in trouble. I hope you grow out of that quickly!! At this age I would definately call you a "follower". Much more introverted and observant until you feel comfortable with the situation you are in. But at the same time not shy or clingy. Last night you were very curious about your new classroom and went exploring into all the different areas. I'm looking forward to seeing you blossom this year.

You turned in to a little fishy this summer at the pool. You'll venture up to about 3 1/2 feet but still get nervous about jumping into the deep end, going down, the slide or juming off the diving board. You'll get there...maybe next year.

You got 2 cavities this year, oops! You've also lost 2 baby teeth already and I love hearing your little toothless lisp.

I hate to see any of my babies cry, but when you cry my heart just rips in two. You don't use your tears to manipulate or to show anger. You are a sensitive soul and when you cry it's because you are devastated. You actually try hard NOT to cry but your little chin starts to quiver and your sky-blue eyes fill to the brim and then a huge tear will hit your cheek and I would do anything to stop the next tear from falling.

You are a bundle of 100% pure innocence. I'm going to try to keep you that way as long as I possibly can. I love you from the depths of my soul!

Reaching "low-gluten" status

Well, it's slow going on the gluten-free homefront. I am officially "low-gluten" if that counts. No bread or anything with breading. Still doing a lot of reading and internet shopping/browsing to find GF options. I am a granola-bar-breakfast kind of girl and I found these reallly yummy GF nut and fruit bars from Mrs. May's Naturals called Trio. I'm also experimenting with a bread machine thanks to my aunt Cathy :) Too bad I have screwed up both attempts so far. And at $4.00+ a loaf (boxed mix) I can't afford to make too many mistakes. I plan to mix up my own GF flour/baking mix once I get more comfortable with the whole process.

I'm also happy to know that many "mainstream" companies now clearly label their products as GF. All CHEX cereals are GF. So I will be making some CHEX crispie treats this week. I was disappointed to find out that Rice Crispies are sweetened with (barley) malt flavoring which is "glutified".

Tonight for dinner I made spaghetti. I had corn flour spaghetti pasta and we all ate the GF chicken meatballs. The pasta tasted completely the same to me. I didn't really care for the meatballs. I'd rather just make my own meatballs next time.

We had the freshly baked second loaf of bread. I forgot to put the water in until about 2 minutes after the cycle started. Not sure how much it hurt anything because it was nearly identical to the first screwed up batch that I forgot to put the eggs in.

Both loaves had the texture of cornbread, which isn't bad, I like cornbread. But not to try to make sandwiches out of. Not sure what I'm going to do once school starts. I wanted to just make the whole house GF for the sake of convenience but it seems like buying a loaf of bread for sandwiches may win out. Not sure yet.