Oh how sheltered I have been....
Middle school and high school classrooms are kept in check by a number of rules. One of my favorites is the "finger-tip rule." As in, When standing straight with your arms hanging down by your sides, your skirt/shorts/whatever your bottoms are classified as must reach wherever your fingertips end. And no, you cannot cheat by raising your shoulders. Another rule that most students comply with (for fear of the principal's office, or mommies and daddies being called), is no cursing out loud.
So, the college campus is a little different. I have mentioned before that I really, really enjoy working here. It is pretty, the atmosphere is great, I have a great boss (Love you Maggie!)...but sometimes the lull of happiness brought on by the smell of boxwood is shattered by reality. These are young adults whose parents are not close enough to have an impact on clothing choice or what comes out of their children's mouths...and there are no principals to be afraid of. The result? The finger-tip rule is gone. I think, actually, that some girls think that since they lived under the thumb of dress codes for so long that they are going to break out and experiment. More power to you, girls. Here comes the but.
Yesterday I had to forcibly stop myself from staring at some girl's booty. Not because it was a nice booty that I would aspire to have, not because it was gigantic and blocking my view, but because it was HANGING OUT!!!!! Seriously. If I could see the bottom of her tush while she was standing up and I was in my car, what would happen if she sat down? Where would the skirt go? What would people see? AHHHHH! Where is the finger-tip rule?????
Okay, the cursing. College students must feel like they are obligated to do this. Maybe to make up for all the perceived violations to their freedom of speech that they experienced in K-12 education? I don't know, but somebody needs to give them a bar of soap. Seems like when I walk across campus to the post office, another building (okay, Starbucks), I hear conversations peppered with some very colorful speech. They use the four letter s word like valley girls use "like." Maybe they will grow out of it, or maybe they will at least start to lower their voices. Oh well.
I still like working on a college campus...I will just be more aware of people's rears and people's voices.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A Few Pictures
Sleepy Friends
So Happy...
Greatest Big Sister Ever!
Baby Burrito-Three Days Old-Doesn't She Look Yummy!
Halloween 2009
Just a Test...
This is just a test...I don't make a big habit out of filming my animals...but it the only video I have with me right now (who knows what that says about me)...so I'm trying it out. This is Tori, a.k.a. The Cat Who Won't Die, with Kiley and some catnip. It is a horrible clip, but I'm just trying to become familiar with how this works. Check back later for clips of Kiley and Marianna playing, and also of Marianna walking!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Our New Home
Greg probably got used to the fact that central VA was our new home in a matter of seconds. I'm still on the fence. In the spirit of Rory Gilmore, I have thought about it in a pro/con kind of way. A big pro is that we are now within a 1-2 hour drive of some pretty cool stuff. For instance, late last week, Jessie texts me that they will be in Charlottesville for a Heritage Harvest Festival on Saturday, and could we come? Well, yeah, because it is less than two hours away from our new home. So we went, and we had a great time. It was relatively cheap (free parking, tickets to the event for $20 total). It was at Monticello, so the setting was absolutely beautiful. There were free tastings of produce (Marianna and Greg stayed at the watermelon table way too long, Leah probably ate way too many tiny toothpick portions of tomatoes, and Kiley? Instead of just taking one toothpicked green pepper piece, she took the whole cup.)
We sat in a music tent where the kids could play all kinds of instruments, played in Thomas Jefferson's vegetable garden, and just had a really good time. Driving back to Lynchburg, I just kept thinking to myself, "This is our life. This is where we live. This is okay." It is nice to be able to do these sorts of things. Though, on the con side of the list is of course, the distance from Greg's family. Kiley misses everyone in Wise so much...she talks about Aunty Riss and Aunty Kar all the time, especially when she sees something sparkly or any shade of nail polish. She makes lists of things she wants to get Autumn. She talks about Pappa's cucumbers, which she hasn't had any of this year, and she brings me stuffed animals that desperately need Mimi's sewing needle. When we talk about visiting, she talks about who she is going to visit, when, and for how long. She is a planner. Maybe someday she'll make pro and con lists about her new home. For now, I'm still adjusting.
We sat in a music tent where the kids could play all kinds of instruments, played in Thomas Jefferson's vegetable garden, and just had a really good time. Driving back to Lynchburg, I just kept thinking to myself, "This is our life. This is where we live. This is okay." It is nice to be able to do these sorts of things. Though, on the con side of the list is of course, the distance from Greg's family. Kiley misses everyone in Wise so much...she talks about Aunty Riss and Aunty Kar all the time, especially when she sees something sparkly or any shade of nail polish. She makes lists of things she wants to get Autumn. She talks about Pappa's cucumbers, which she hasn't had any of this year, and she brings me stuffed animals that desperately need Mimi's sewing needle. When we talk about visiting, she talks about who she is going to visit, when, and for how long. She is a planner. Maybe someday she'll make pro and con lists about her new home. For now, I'm still adjusting.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Band-Aids and Black Eyes (Warning, lots of complaining ahead...)
I seem to be on a once weekly posting schedule...lots has happened in the last week though. The biggest event was that Kiley started Kindergarten. This was a three pronged approach to kindergarten. Wednesday night we went for "registration." Kiley met her teacher, saw the room, and us parents were supposed to feel a little more relaxed upon leaving. Not so. Thankfully, the desks/chairs were in small groups of four rather than the rows we saw when we first visited the school over the summer. The teacher seemed nice and the room was, well, kindergarten. I was hoping for a nice printed out schedule of what the kids would be doing each and every minute of the day. You know, circle time, math, science, art, music, snack, lunch....no such schedule greeted me. We went home a little bit disappointed and worried about sending our first out into the the world.
The second prong was a two hour special on Friday morning which was highly disorganized. We arrived and hung out in the foyer until someone noticed us and said "Oh, didn't you know? You are supposed to go to the cafeteria." We would have stood there all day because the letter didn't say anything about reporting to the cafeteria. Once in the cafeteria, we were encouraged to eat breakfast (this was not in the schedule). After about 45 minutes of waiting in line and eating deliciously healthy school food, the principal introduced the staff and each kindergarten teachers began calling their children to come stand in line. This took FOR-EV-ER. On the letter we received, it said that each teacher would be wearing a special sticker (Kiley's teacher would have a rainbow sticker) and Kiley was also sent a rainbow nametag. This is how she was supposed to find her teacher. Instead, we waited, and waited, and waited for her name to be called. Meanwhile, everyone else who wasn't being called or whose child had already been called was talking...loudly....you couldn't hear a thing! After the kids left, we were introduced to everyone again and treated to an extra-special PowerPoint on making school a success though positive parenting. Let me tell you, the people listening were the ones who didn't really need the lecture. It was the groups of moms/aunts/grannies/whatevers that were talking over the presentation that needed to hear it. Of course, no one said anything to them. Sigh. We finally were released and we went to the classroom to pick up Kiley. Every other kindergarten teacher EXCEPT Kiley's had their classes lined up by bus load and waiting in the foyer. Kiley and her classmates were still wandering around the classroom slinging book bags and forgetting forms. We made it to the bus, and onto the bus, where the driver proceeded to tell me that Kiley was not on her list....finally her name was located and we made it home (to the baby sitter's, where Kiley will get off the bus in the afternoon).
Oh yes, there is a third prong. The actual first day of school was Monday, August 23. Since this was Greg's first day of school too, I graciously/stupidly offered to take Kiley in to school because no one had told us where the kids report to in the morning or what time they are allowed to get there. Dropped the baby off, no problem, get to a parking spot at the school no problem...walk up to the school...Hmmm...where are all the teachers? Why are there kids milling around without supervision so close to where giant yellow buses are coming and going. I went in, clutching Kiley by the hand. I was greeted by people wearing Happy New Year hats and blowing noisemakers. I was not amused. Kiley, on the other hand, was thrilled. (Try to remember, Leah, they do these things for the kids.) The problem, though, was that they were telling all the kids, with the exception of Pre-K to go back outside to wait. For what? Some child napper to snag them????? I don't think so. I walked Kiley to her classroom where her teacher greeted her with her meal pin number (six digits, mind you) and her name was spelled wrong on the card. The teacher then asked me if we had been practicing the six digit pin number. Ah, no. we have been working on the three digit bus number so the kid can make it home. Screw the the six digit pin number, she can give them her name if she happens to get lunch. I was beyond irritated at this point, but I left Kiley and went to the car, where I cried and contemplated quitting my job, homeschooling, and no schooling. Then I remembered that Greg and I are sort of in the business of public education, as are numerous relatives...so, the home school/no school thing probably wouldn't go over well.
I held off calling the school, the school board, the central office, a lawyer (just kidding). I did call the sitter at 3:15 to make sure Kiley had made it there, and wonder of all wonders, she had and she wanted to chat!
"Mommy, I went to the nurse because I hurt my arm!" Where's the lawyer's number!!!!! Okay, breathe. "What happened?" I asked, trying to raise my voice in alarm. "I slid down the slide on my elbow and I have a band-aid." Okay, stand down. Not a big deal. She seemed to be happy and even said she shared her snack with a kid that didn't have a snack. That's our little girl.
And then I pick her up. Her left eye is red with purple speckles. "What on earth happened to your eye???" I said, not able to keep the panic out of my voice. "A boy named A.J. hit me." LAWYER!!!!!!! SPEED DIAL!!!! "What did he hit you with?" I ask. "His lunchbox." Well, at least it wasn't his fist, I think. She then explained that he was swinging his lunch box around while waiting for the bus and he accidentally hit her....whew. So now I have to worry why the nurse didn't call me and I didn't get a note in the folder saying what happened.
So many things to worry about...Seriously, all you people reading that don't have kids...just wait. You think the pregnancy and the giving birth is bad? And then the handing over to a babysitter? No. This has got to be the worst so far. And then she'll grow up and go away to school or get married or something. AHHHHH! Oh, and I still have no idea what Kiley is doing in school. I still don't have a schedule.
I'm just little Miss Sunshine today, huh?
The second prong was a two hour special on Friday morning which was highly disorganized. We arrived and hung out in the foyer until someone noticed us and said "Oh, didn't you know? You are supposed to go to the cafeteria." We would have stood there all day because the letter didn't say anything about reporting to the cafeteria. Once in the cafeteria, we were encouraged to eat breakfast (this was not in the schedule). After about 45 minutes of waiting in line and eating deliciously healthy school food, the principal introduced the staff and each kindergarten teachers began calling their children to come stand in line. This took FOR-EV-ER. On the letter we received, it said that each teacher would be wearing a special sticker (Kiley's teacher would have a rainbow sticker) and Kiley was also sent a rainbow nametag. This is how she was supposed to find her teacher. Instead, we waited, and waited, and waited for her name to be called. Meanwhile, everyone else who wasn't being called or whose child had already been called was talking...loudly....you couldn't hear a thing! After the kids left, we were introduced to everyone again and treated to an extra-special PowerPoint on making school a success though positive parenting. Let me tell you, the people listening were the ones who didn't really need the lecture. It was the groups of moms/aunts/grannies/whatevers that were talking over the presentation that needed to hear it. Of course, no one said anything to them. Sigh. We finally were released and we went to the classroom to pick up Kiley. Every other kindergarten teacher EXCEPT Kiley's had their classes lined up by bus load and waiting in the foyer. Kiley and her classmates were still wandering around the classroom slinging book bags and forgetting forms. We made it to the bus, and onto the bus, where the driver proceeded to tell me that Kiley was not on her list....finally her name was located and we made it home (to the baby sitter's, where Kiley will get off the bus in the afternoon).
Oh yes, there is a third prong. The actual first day of school was Monday, August 23. Since this was Greg's first day of school too, I graciously/stupidly offered to take Kiley in to school because no one had told us where the kids report to in the morning or what time they are allowed to get there. Dropped the baby off, no problem, get to a parking spot at the school no problem...walk up to the school...Hmmm...where are all the teachers? Why are there kids milling around without supervision so close to where giant yellow buses are coming and going. I went in, clutching Kiley by the hand. I was greeted by people wearing Happy New Year hats and blowing noisemakers. I was not amused. Kiley, on the other hand, was thrilled. (Try to remember, Leah, they do these things for the kids.) The problem, though, was that they were telling all the kids, with the exception of Pre-K to go back outside to wait. For what? Some child napper to snag them????? I don't think so. I walked Kiley to her classroom where her teacher greeted her with her meal pin number (six digits, mind you) and her name was spelled wrong on the card. The teacher then asked me if we had been practicing the six digit pin number. Ah, no. we have been working on the three digit bus number so the kid can make it home. Screw the the six digit pin number, she can give them her name if she happens to get lunch. I was beyond irritated at this point, but I left Kiley and went to the car, where I cried and contemplated quitting my job, homeschooling, and no schooling. Then I remembered that Greg and I are sort of in the business of public education, as are numerous relatives...so, the home school/no school thing probably wouldn't go over well.
I held off calling the school, the school board, the central office, a lawyer (just kidding). I did call the sitter at 3:15 to make sure Kiley had made it there, and wonder of all wonders, she had and she wanted to chat!
"Mommy, I went to the nurse because I hurt my arm!" Where's the lawyer's number!!!!! Okay, breathe. "What happened?" I asked, trying to raise my voice in alarm. "I slid down the slide on my elbow and I have a band-aid." Okay, stand down. Not a big deal. She seemed to be happy and even said she shared her snack with a kid that didn't have a snack. That's our little girl.
And then I pick her up. Her left eye is red with purple speckles. "What on earth happened to your eye???" I said, not able to keep the panic out of my voice. "A boy named A.J. hit me." LAWYER!!!!!!! SPEED DIAL!!!! "What did he hit you with?" I ask. "His lunchbox." Well, at least it wasn't his fist, I think. She then explained that he was swinging his lunch box around while waiting for the bus and he accidentally hit her....whew. So now I have to worry why the nurse didn't call me and I didn't get a note in the folder saying what happened.
So many things to worry about...Seriously, all you people reading that don't have kids...just wait. You think the pregnancy and the giving birth is bad? And then the handing over to a babysitter? No. This has got to be the worst so far. And then she'll grow up and go away to school or get married or something. AHHHHH! Oh, and I still have no idea what Kiley is doing in school. I still don't have a schedule.
I'm just little Miss Sunshine today, huh?
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sorry it has been a while since the last post. Readers will be pleased to know that we have had no more rodent invasions during the past week! Yippee! A couple points of interest...Marianna had her 9 month old check up and her head is in the 90th percentile. The rest of her is in the 50th. I blame Greg for the 90th percentile head measurement. Maybe it means she will be uber-smart. Or maybe she will have a big ego...or both, who knows. The doctor mentioned that Kiley was five going on fifteen. Yeah, tell us something we didn't already know. Hopefully this means that she will skip the evil teen years and go straight to young adulthood....but we probably aren't that lucky.
Greg has been reading too much Dr. Seuss. How do I know? I never thought you would ask....while walking the dogs over the weekend, this is what he recited:
Piercey Pie will poo
He will poo on cue
He will poo in the dew
Watch out, he might poo on you!
Put down the book, Greg, and back away slowly. Greg keeps doing things or saying things, and now he just says, "Is that bloggable?" Well, yes...Dr. Seuss style rhyming inspired by poo is definitely bloggable.
Another poo note, we went out to dinner with some new friends Friday night (go us, we have friends!). I tend to forget that the baby enjoys food now, and I forgot to ask Greg to pack her any. We were at a Mexican restaurant, so I figured that refried beans without cheese would be okay. She did like them. A lot. Greg, being so in tuned to poo proclaimed that I would be changing all the diapers for the next few days as the refried beans made their exit....well yes, I did change a whole lot of pretty gross diapers, all of which smelled like double refried beans. Anybody wishing they had stopped reading this already???
Greg has been reading too much Dr. Seuss. How do I know? I never thought you would ask....while walking the dogs over the weekend, this is what he recited:
Piercey Pie will poo
He will poo on cue
He will poo in the dew
Watch out, he might poo on you!
Put down the book, Greg, and back away slowly. Greg keeps doing things or saying things, and now he just says, "Is that bloggable?" Well, yes...Dr. Seuss style rhyming inspired by poo is definitely bloggable.
Another poo note, we went out to dinner with some new friends Friday night (go us, we have friends!). I tend to forget that the baby enjoys food now, and I forgot to ask Greg to pack her any. We were at a Mexican restaurant, so I figured that refried beans without cheese would be okay. She did like them. A lot. Greg, being so in tuned to poo proclaimed that I would be changing all the diapers for the next few days as the refried beans made their exit....well yes, I did change a whole lot of pretty gross diapers, all of which smelled like double refried beans. Anybody wishing they had stopped reading this already???
Monday, August 9, 2010
Household Updates
No mice in a week. Victory!!!! Do I dare put the dishes back?
On Saturday we braved Target for the first ever Mullins family school shopping extravaganza. Oh boy. First of all, I think any family who brings the father with them to do the school shopping should automatically qualify for a 50% discount. Seriously. There were like two dads there, and one of them was Greg.
Silly us, we went to the regular school supplies aisle. A more experienced mother, who happened to have a daughter named Kyleigh, directed us towards the mondo display of school/college items. We should have just stayed in the small aisle. Our Kiley, of course, was super-excited about an even bigger display of puppy and kitten adorned folders, so off we went. Here is what we purchased:
1 70 page spiral notebook (pink glitter) Brookneal Elementary needs to know that spiral notebooks come in 70 pages, 90 pages, and 120 pages, but NOT 100 pages as requested on the list
1 pack of glitter pencils (which by the way was over five bucks)
1 pink pencil case (79 cents...appropriate since the pencils will cause us to have to get a loan)
1 (hold your breath) Littlest Pet Shop lunch box. A part of Leah died when Kiley picked that.
1 two pocket folder with a Dalmatian puppy sporting hair bows
1 two pocket folder with a fluffy kitten in a basket
1 pink striped towel for "rest time" to which Kiley stated, "I'm not taking a nap!" Yeah, sure you aren't.
We made it out of Target after only one meltdown. Kiley has a perfectly good Hello Kitty bookbag, but I stupidly decided to ask her if she was sure she didn't want to get a new one. She said, "I guess." and then turned to Greg and burst into tears. What did I do? What did I say? Apparently, she really didn't want a new bookbag and was feeling a little pressured to choose a new one. Ah, girls and their bags. It can only get worse. By the way, one of the school lists we saw there had "large bookbag" listed for kindergarten students. Are they nuts???? What on earth is a kindergartner going to be carrying that he or she needs a large bookbag?
Bottom line? School shopping stinks. You stand there debating whether or not to let your five year old get glitter pencils for $5.00 when the ordinary yellow ones are 59 cents. All research shows that kids write best when they have cool stuff to write with, yet a part of you is saying, "Oh, can't we get the cheap ones?" You are also constantly comparing yourself to all the other moms and kids that are shopping at the same time. What does it say about you that you are looking at the cheap pencil cases? That you choose the cheap towel over the plush one? Why is everything such an issue!? The whole time we were there I was thinking that homeschooling might be a good idea. At least for kindergarten.
Anyway, we made it through the weekend in mostly one piece. Both girls have their first doctor's appointment here tomorrow...should be interesting. Seems like the closer you are to a city the more forms you have to fill out. There were five each that I had to do in preparation for tomorrow's appointment. Who knows what they will give me when I get there. Maybe Kiley will let me borrow one of her glitter pencils.
On Saturday we braved Target for the first ever Mullins family school shopping extravaganza. Oh boy. First of all, I think any family who brings the father with them to do the school shopping should automatically qualify for a 50% discount. Seriously. There were like two dads there, and one of them was Greg.
Silly us, we went to the regular school supplies aisle. A more experienced mother, who happened to have a daughter named Kyleigh, directed us towards the mondo display of school/college items. We should have just stayed in the small aisle. Our Kiley, of course, was super-excited about an even bigger display of puppy and kitten adorned folders, so off we went. Here is what we purchased:
1 70 page spiral notebook (pink glitter) Brookneal Elementary needs to know that spiral notebooks come in 70 pages, 90 pages, and 120 pages, but NOT 100 pages as requested on the list
1 pack of glitter pencils (which by the way was over five bucks)
1 pink pencil case (79 cents...appropriate since the pencils will cause us to have to get a loan)
1 (hold your breath) Littlest Pet Shop lunch box. A part of Leah died when Kiley picked that.
1 two pocket folder with a Dalmatian puppy sporting hair bows
1 two pocket folder with a fluffy kitten in a basket
1 pink striped towel for "rest time" to which Kiley stated, "I'm not taking a nap!" Yeah, sure you aren't.
We made it out of Target after only one meltdown. Kiley has a perfectly good Hello Kitty bookbag, but I stupidly decided to ask her if she was sure she didn't want to get a new one. She said, "I guess." and then turned to Greg and burst into tears. What did I do? What did I say? Apparently, she really didn't want a new bookbag and was feeling a little pressured to choose a new one. Ah, girls and their bags. It can only get worse. By the way, one of the school lists we saw there had "large bookbag" listed for kindergarten students. Are they nuts???? What on earth is a kindergartner going to be carrying that he or she needs a large bookbag?
Bottom line? School shopping stinks. You stand there debating whether or not to let your five year old get glitter pencils for $5.00 when the ordinary yellow ones are 59 cents. All research shows that kids write best when they have cool stuff to write with, yet a part of you is saying, "Oh, can't we get the cheap ones?" You are also constantly comparing yourself to all the other moms and kids that are shopping at the same time. What does it say about you that you are looking at the cheap pencil cases? That you choose the cheap towel over the plush one? Why is everything such an issue!? The whole time we were there I was thinking that homeschooling might be a good idea. At least for kindergarten.
Anyway, we made it through the weekend in mostly one piece. Both girls have their first doctor's appointment here tomorrow...should be interesting. Seems like the closer you are to a city the more forms you have to fill out. There were five each that I had to do in preparation for tomorrow's appointment. Who knows what they will give me when I get there. Maybe Kiley will let me borrow one of her glitter pencils.
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