Back to School

We are 3 days into school and it appears that everybody is happy with their new schools.
The following was not written by me, it's just making the rounds right now and wanted to share it. I think *most* of them are funny! I've made a few comments in bold as it applies to us.

10 Misconceptions of Moms and Back-to-School


Misconception Number 1: Moms miss their kids when they go back to school

Seriously. I've had enough of you by now. Every morning with the "what are we going to do today, Mom?" is finally over. I've had looked at your face twenty-four seven for the last 77 days. It's time to go learn something. No more asking me about the pool, when is the next snack or if you can stay up late and watch a movie. It's over..You're going back to Hogwarts and I get to have a life again. There is a Christmas morning for parents and it's called "back to school".



Misconception Number 2: Moms like to go school shopping.

Are you freaking kidding me? Why do I pay taxes?.so I can rack up a 200 dollar bill at Staples for crap that we have laying around my house in junk drawers. Why does it have to be new pencils? What's wrong with the chewed up, broken strawberry shortcake pencils sitting in the bottom of the toy box for the last 6 months? And how many subject books can you possibly need? What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic. If they added a couple of things for parents to that list I wouldn't mind so much..why not pencils, erasers and vodka ...or some Nyquil.
We got no school list before school so I stocked up on some basics (like $100 worth) to tide them over. Still I had to face the crowds to find a spiral notebook with 100 pages because the 70 page spiral would not work and of course, just one day notice. grr....

Misconception Number 3: Moms like back to school night.

Why must we do this every year? I got it already. You're the teacher.I'm the parent. My kid is either going to be smart or dumb. If he gets a certain number or colored dot on his discipline chart, he can't get a prize from the prize box. Pretty simple stuff. Listen, I'm pretty old school. If he doesn't listen to you.you can throw something at him. I don't care. But I got a lot of work to do at home and I'm paying a babysitter right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure you are going to assign some project on wigwams made by some Indian tribe I've never heard of, so I need to get home and start my research. So, I got it. We're all here for the betterment of the kids. Blah Blah Blah. Can I leave now?
I used to be a teacher, I love teachers, but I've been a parent longer and side with this.


Misconception Number 4: Moms like school paperwork.

How many trees are you planning on killing to tell me the same stuff I had to pay a babysitter to listen to the other night? You know our name, where we live and our emergency phone numbers. He doesn't have a nickname..call him "stinkbutt" for all I care. We don't have any "special circumstances" that you need to know about. He lives in a home with two parents who may or may not like each other at any given time and they will fight. If that qualifies as a reason he can't get his homework done on time then he won't be able to function as an adult and have a real job so you may want to "educate" him on that life lesson.


Misconception Number 5: Moms like covering books in that annoying sticky paper.

What exactly will you be doing with these books that I have to cover them in a plastic laminate? Do you often teach in the rain? Or while the children are drinking soda and eating soup? Do you know how long that takes? Has any parent in the history of education been able to do it without any air bubbles in it? From now on I'm covering it the old way.brown paper bags. That way I can cover the books and pack their lunches at that same time. Who says moms can't multitask?



PS. Please tell my son if he can't find his lunch to look in his science book.



Misconception Number 6: Moms like helping you with your homework.

What? I am scared out of my mind. I'm pretty sure that I forgot everything I learned in fifth grade by the time I was in sixth grade. I have no idea what you are talking about most days. I don't really know my 12 times tables, I read the cliff notes to all your summer reading and I don't know how to conjugate anything but I do know that song "conjuction junction what's your function" if that helps at all. And please don't even say the words "new math" to me. What the heck was wrong the old one?



Misconception Number 7: Moms can't wait to pack your lunch every day until we die.

I hate doing laundry. Making dinner every night is the bane of my existence, so making your lunch every day for an entire year, in terms of "mom fun", lies somewhere between brushing plaque off the dogs teeth and scheduling my annual pap smear. Listen, as a child I hated what my mom packed me for lunch. But, like every kid before me, and every generation to come you will find a kid to trade with.I'm sure someone likes sardines.



Misconception Number 8: Moms love after school activities.

I don't know who made up this idea of organized clubs and sports but they should be the ones in charge of carting your A$$ around. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against all after school programs. I just wish they would offer it during hours that would work best for me so that dinner wasn't at 8:30 at night followed by 4 hours of homework. Why not do it on the weekends and call it "after-hours activities" so mommy and daddy could actually go out one night and pretend that we have a life of our own. Don't worry about us though I'm sure that me and "what's his name" will be married a very long time.



Misconception Number 9: Moms don't mind taking you to school if you miss the bus

Your bus comes at 7:10 am..which means that you should be standing by the door at 7:05 am. Not eating breakfast , chasing the dog around the house or in the bathroom, asking me to check your homework while I'm taking a shower. Get it together! I don't like running down the street in my jammies at 7:12 screaming "Please wait" or "If you stop I'll show you my boobies."
On this one, I just wish I had the choice to go running after a school bus in my jammies. Currently I spend 1 hour EACH WAY taking my kids to and from school. Not 55 minutes, not 58 minutes. 1 HOUR. So yep, I'd trade 2 minutes of chasing after a bus for 2 hours in the car a day.



Misconception Number 10: Moms cry on your first day of school

We do cry but they are tears of joy. I have done my job. I have successfully kept a human child alive for at least 5 years without doing any major damage. Motherhood is the hardest job in the world!! Sure, doctors save lives and CEO's run million dollar businesses but.you teach a kid not to poop their pants and then you can say you've made the world a better place."

Well said unknown author. I think we could be kindred spirits.

Right Now...

He


registered for high school
has no classes with his best friend
just put a message on his cell phone voice mail (guess he realized you can actually use it to talk to people)
is way more particular about clothing brands than I ever expected a boy to be

She



is obsessed with open face sandwiches
is already planning her Halloween costume
bedazzled her boot
actually listened to my input when it came to clothes shopping
doesn't seem to think starting middle school is a big deal

And he
loves his trains

has commandeered my iPhone to watch videos about trains
still has sand in his hair

might be more than a little excited for his sister to get busy with school


Right now we're busy getting ready for things to come and savoring those last summer days.
Right now we're excited for change and nervous about the unknown (okay, maybe that's me).
That's us right now.

Soccer By the Bay

Another tournament weekend for us. This is the largest tournament in Northern California and we won our age bracket-only allowing one goal in the entire 4 games. Hope this is a sign of the type of season to expect.

Here's some pictures of Garrett. He played really well (proud mom bragging)! Really, this is a new team for him and he's been feeling like he has something to prove. I think he's finding chemistry with his new teammates and stepping up to the challenge of playing different positions as needed in each game.



And I was busy clicking away. None of the pictures below are Garrett, but just some of my favorite shots from the weekend. I love my 70-300 lens!




A quick little funny...
This tournament was an hour away with long gaps between games. We hired a sitter for the morning games and then came home and picked up Jack watched the second game and then came home again. Long days. On Saturday, we were laying on the couch around 7:00 and Chris wanted to go get yogurt and I say, "I don't think we fed Jack any dinner." So Chris says to Jack, "Did you eat your dinner?" And Jack replied, "Yes, I had Gold Fish and candy." Good enough. Off we went for yogurt. Third child, anyone?

Some July Scrapbooking

It's the 12th today...I should be taking pictures, but forgot to share some scrapping from July. Summer is a really hard time for me to scrapbook, but my friends usually organize an all day crop for me for my birthday. This year they planned it for July, the week after we got home from our trip and the week after we found out there was a mouse where I keep my scrapbook supplies. Yes, I said mouse! Needless to say, I did not go into that room and by the time we caught the little guy, we had company for a couple days so on Friday night I was throwing all my supplies in a bag wondering how I was going to take advantage of a rare scrapbooking day. Well the solution was a lot of sketches and a lot of copying!


These two two page layouts are both lifts of Jana Eubanks. The first used paper from Pink Paislee's Starlight collection and the second Basic Grey's Max and Whiskers.


October Afternoon papers and a sketch made this a quick one. This is one of the last pages in Morgan's album~yay!

Inspired by a layout by Jana Eubanks, I used my Cricut to cut the shapes and some Sassafrass supplies.

This is a rare one. First I used year old supplies-gasp! And, get ready, I did this all by myself.

These are some Lily Bee papers. This was part of a challenge to scraplift some from the recent Creating Keepsakes magazine which proved to be difficult because I'm not enjoying this magazine at all anymore.

And this one is adorable and I can say that because it is a (pretty darn close) copy of a layout by Nancy Damiano. I just think she's my favorite scrapbooker right now and hope she thinks that imitation is the sincerest form or flattery (or I'm in BIG trouble). I had all those My Little Shoebox papers and with her inspiraton, this just came together so quickly.

I have a couple more in my almost finished pile (which seems to be growing!). Pretty productive for a busy month.
Happy Birthday Nana! Hope you're enjoying your little album.

Page Maps Contest

Got started on some vacation pictures using an awesome sketch from Page Maps. I love using a sketch, but somehow having a deadline prompts me to get to my stack of photos much sooner. Thank you Page Maps.

Victimless Crime?

You may recall that I wrote about a little tradition in my family with this elf pictured above. The short story is he was a gift to my mom and because he qualified as one of the tackiest gifts ever received, she thought she'd share him with other family members. Because my entire family has such exceptional decorating taste, they declined the offer to decorate their homes with him. So sneaking him into homes, cars, suitcases, etc.. became the game and he was passed unknowingly from person to person for the last several years. He seemed to be accident prone and occasionally an injury would occur, but he was quite the hearty elf.

We last had possession of the elf last January and then packed him into a suitcase and flew him down to Southern California for my sister's baby shower. During the shower, Morgan stole the keys from my cousin's purse and being quite the clever girl, kept pressing the unluck button until she found her car and sneaked him into the trunk. My cousin discovered him a few days later.

Last week while visiting family we were informed that my cousin's car was stolen. Six days later it was recovered, but the elf was missing.

There was a collective round of groans when she announced this. The end of a tradition.

I'd like to think that the elf found a better home-one that was more stable and perhaps a "bit" more loving. My instincts lead me to believe that his ultimate resting place may have been eerily foreshadowed...

A Day Out With Thomas

Thomas came to town a couple weeks ago. When I say my kid is obsessed with all things Thomas, I am not exaggerating and I bought tickets months before in anticipation of what I thought would be his most favorite day.

Roaring Camp is in the small town of Felton located in the redwoods above Santa Cruz. On most visits to Roaring camp you could select a train ride through the redwoods or one that takes you to the boardwalk. It's a great way to spend an afternoon.

And our little train lover sat in the car with a train in each hand and chatted about trains the entire drive. And I sat in the front seat smugly aware that I was making my child's dream come true.

And we got there and my smugness was exchanged for exasperation when all he wanted to do was play with the trains. We have a train table, tons of tracks and I don't know 30 to 40 trains at home. I paid $18 per person, Chris took a day off of work, drove an hour each way and we came to play with trains?
Pictures you will not see:
Jack in one of the three train bounce houses.
Jack in front of the giant inflatable Percy.
Jack getting a train tattoo.
Jack at the arts and craft table coloring trains.
Jack singing train songs.
Get the picture (pardon the pun!)?
Anytime we tried to drag himto one of the above activities, it was tantrum time. So we did what all parents who are trying to coerce their child to do something they are not interested in doing does...

Buy two more trains!


Our day ended with a 25 minute train ride in an open car being pulled by Thomas. The entire ride had recorded songs and stories and Jack enjoyed the ride, but loved playing with his new trains on the train :-)

And while the day did not go quite as I had anticipated, for days and days he has talked it. So maybe it was his favorite day after all.

An (almost) Freebie

Came across this almost free deal and wanted to pass it along.

Get a free personalized party banner from ShindigZ.com through Thursday, August 12 for just a penny using the coupon code SS2R3M at checkout.


To order your banner for one cent, follow these steps:
1. Click on the blue "Banner" tab at the top of the ShindigZ.com home page
2. Select a banner design theme from those listed on the right side of the page
3. Select a design style from the many examples images that are shown
4. Look for the large yellow oval button that reads, "Add to Cart" - and under that, click on the small circle for option "18 x 54 Horizontal Vinyl Banner.... Item: B1118 $14.79 each"
5. After you've selected the $14.79 banner size, click, "Add to Cart" yellow oval button and here you can add your own wording, edit colors, text and more.
6. Proofread and click the "Add to cart" green oval button.
7. Add other party supplies items to your cart or click the "Check Out" green button in the upper right.
8. During checkout, enter Promotion Code SS2R3M when prompted to apply the $14.78 credit to make your banner purchase just one penny.
9. Shipping is $7.95

Here's a look at the one I made for our almost birthday boy.


I picked a somewhat generic theme so we could reuse it from year to year.

And here's another tip I read somewhere in the blogosphere. One mom created a very generic birthday banner that she hung for each child's birthday. And on the back of the banner she had the child put their handprints on it each year so you could see the growth of the hands. Brilliant!

Breakers Cup Tournament, Santa Cruz

And with this, the soccer season begins.


I guess Garrett is taking a "hands off" approach this year. 5 yellow cards in 3 games and none of them were on Garrett. Phew!





Not the best picture, but I got a picture of the ball going in the net and found out later, Garrett headed it in. Go Garrett!



And the little man kept busy too.