Why my kids should fire me

Busy, busy weekend. CPA and I finally getting some projects done around the house. I {heart} a good project. I am queen of having a list of them to do and never fully getting to any of them. But this weekend we checked off alot.

And to kick off the weekend of projects was a night out courtesy of the Y. I don't know about y'alls YMCA, but ours rocks. Every second Friday of the month they have parents night out. You have to sign up (limited space) and you can drop your kids off at 6pm and pick them up by 10pm. The kids love it. All kinds of activities, games and swimming. Sometimes a movie, I think. Its great not to have to pay a babysitter once in a while.

So, we met some friends downtown for dinner. Got ourselves a drink at the bar, got seated, pouring over the yummy menu and not a kids menu in sight. CPA looks at me and asked, "What did you feed the kids?"

OMG! I didn't feed the kids! And if you know my kids, they are always starving and thirsty. Not to mention its Friday and they both eat lunch {aka brunch} at 11. So, yes. They probably are starving. I feel absolutely horrible. It was not as fun ordering off the menu knowing my children are probably starving and thirsty. CPA wasn't concerned, "they're fine" and then the waiter passed by and he ordered another drink...

Crossing my fingers maybe they aren't hungry and telling everyone at the Y their parents didn't feed them dinner. We go in to pick them up, but before we get out the door they are both yelling that we didn't feed them. I slink out as fast as possible. And that's what the McDonald's drive thru is for late night. So, yes. I fed the children happy meals at 10 o'clock at night. Don't judge. They loved it. I may have just redeemed myself. I also may or may not have got myself a chocolate sundae.

Day Four

Well, Little Man made it to day four until getting in trouble. I was really holding out to get at least a week or two under our belt. But no. The kids are fully aware of the behavior system at school. Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Red, & White. Everyone starts the morning on green {good} and can work your way up to blue if you go above and beyond in behavior and/or helping others, etc. Yellow is the beginning of your downfall. Not too bad, but not good. It means you've been warned once and you continued to misbehave. And you can always work your way back to green before the end of the day... and your mom {a.k.a. me} will never know. Now orange and purple will have you missing activities, red is bad and equals a conference and White... well that gets you straight to the principal and possibly suspended.

Little man's teacher happened to be running carpool today and let me know he got in trouble walking to carpool with another boy. Punching each other, and not stopping after being told to stop, lovely. So, he is starting off the day tomorrow on yellow. Ugh. Day Four. He couldn't wait until next week to start this crap? But, you know what. She apologized to me for having to start him on yellow tomorrow... wha??? No apology necessary, that how he needs to learn the rules! Its the "first day" surcee... see, I swear by those ;)

Little Man gets in the car screaming that he got on green today, which in all fairness was true. So, the following is our conversation:

Little Man: I GOT ON GREEN TODAY!

Me: Great sweetie.

Little Man: I know.

Me: How was carpool line?

Little Man: {confused}

Me: Did you do good in carpool.

Little Man: {thinking: Does she know... no way she knows.} Yep.

Me: Really? You going to start on green tomorrow?

Little Man: {she knows} No. Is daddy going to spank me when he gets home?

Me: Tell me what happened...

And he did. With a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes. You could count on one hand the time CPA has spanked the kids. Clearly that resonates with him. No spanking today, but yellow again for the same offense? Little man won't be so lucky. Welcome back to school....

Back to School {Survival of the Fittest}

Today was the first day of school! Was I ready? Ab.so.lutely. And I'm never ready, for anything. Kids hopped out of bed like it was Christmas morning. That will wear off by Friday... I'm sure of it. But, none the less, I made pancakes {or as Little Man says "panny cakes"} because I rock like that on the first day. Tomorrow, cold cereal for sure.

{walking them into school}

I also like to send treats with the kids for their teachers on the first day. Because I rock like that too. I've done this since pre-school. My sister-in-law is also a 2nd grade teacher and has always told me that treats/surcees are never forgotten about on days when your child has less than stellar behavior in class ;) Big girl has never been a problem, but Little Man needs all the extra help he can get. And this chick isn't above some bribery via treats and surcees. Monogrammed no less.... and yes, I do get their monograms on "Meet the Teacher" night. Thankyouverymuch.

{First Day Survival Kit}

And just so you know... if it doesn't help {Little Man} that I send treats, that's okay. I think teachers have a tough job. So, if anything, I hope they know how much we appreciate them. So, go on... send your teacher a little surcee. She'll love you for it.

Twas the Night Before School....

The night before school when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, got rid of the mouse. The lunches were made by mother with care, in hopes that morning would soon be there. The children were nestled all snug in there beds, while visions of the school yard danced in their head. CPA was catching up on the days' news and I had just settled down with a hot cup of decaf {and a brownie or two}...

Ahhh.... first day of school for Big Girl {2nd Grade} and Little Man. Who, is not that little. Tomorrow is his first day of kindergarten. Tomorrow is my last, first day as a kindergartner's mom. This makes me full of emotion. Soooo happy for him! He could not be more excited! Sad a little, because I have no more preschoolers in the house. Happy a little, because I have no more preschoolers in the house. You get that, right?

Well, I'm back starting tomorrow. To doing lots of things with my new found 8 hr/5 day/week freedom. Back to blogging. But really, back to work. I've been working on my newest baby.... no not number three. Lawd. My website. It's been a long spring/summer. Full of mayhem. Of course. But she finally should arrive just in time to celebrate Simply Stitched Monograms' 5 year anniversary in the next month or so. I am so excited to share her with you when she arrives. Until then, I'll be getting back to routine, getting our lives {and house} back in order.

Silly Putty, really?

Big Girl and friends are getting hustled at school by a girl with silly putty. Really. I pick Big Girl and the BFF up at school the other day. They get in the car and excitedly show me their silly putty. They each have in their tiny hands what amounts to the size of a nickle. Really.

Me: Where did y'all get the silly putty?
Girls: Grace! Isn't it cool? (In unison).
Me: Sure. Cool.
Big Girl: We traded for it.
Me: Traded what?
BFF: Tic Tacs!
Me: Okay.
Big Girl: A bracelet!
Me: Heart sinking, thinking its the silver charm bracelet given to us from Nana, you know the one filled with memorable charms. WHAT bracelet?!!
Big Girl: The one I made at BFF's house.
Me: (Whew, that one's plastic) Okay. But, girls I don't think you should be trading stuff at school with your friends.
Girls: But, its silly putty!
Me: Yes, yes, I know, but really. Let's not trade our things, k.

Fast forward to the weekend. At the bookstore with Big Girl shopping for a birthday present. She brings her tooth fairy money. She wants to buy a new book for her. Great! We get in the car, Big Girl excited about her new book....

Big Girl: I'm so glad I got this book. I was going to give grace my $10 for silly putty!

Put car back in park. Turn around for a discussion about Grace a.k.a. the Hustler and silly putty.

Me: We are absolutely NOT trading $10 for silly putty. Why would you do that? You seem to be getting a bad deal, if Grace is getting money, bracelets and what not and you're getting a dime size of silly putty.
Big Girl: But everything is worth points and the more you give her, the more putty she'll give you.

REALLY? Am I having this conversation?

Me: What else have you given her?
Big Girl: A watch. My purple purse. Other stuff.

Back up....REALLY? The purple purse she is referring to is the purple HOBO wrislet I bought her last Christmas. Mind you, it came from Gift Market, I did not pay retail, but REALLY! Now I'm going to loose it that some 1st grade chick has my Big Girl's HOBO. That's where I draw the line.
No more trading, I tell her. I continue to explain to her why its not right for friends to ask for your things in return for silly putty. NO TRADING. (Also known as hustling - no, I didn't tell her that about her friend.) I told her to go back to school on Monday and tell Grace she needed her purse back and she would not be trading for silly putty anymore. BFF's mom and I both agreed, and told the girls to not trade with Grace or any other friends. There's strength in numbers, right?

What did Big Girl do this week. Came home Monday with her purple HOBO. She told Grace she wanted her stuff back and she wasn't trading with her anymore. That's my girl. Strong, confident, and unwavering. Really!

Big Girl: Mama, will you get me some silly putty? Please?
Me: Yes, but no trading. K.

Thepast28daysofmylife

Highlights from the past 28 days of our life... When I last left all twelve of my readers I was headed to Disney. The following is in no way exaggerated.

Oct. 1: Packing. No, throwing stuff into the basement and POD before we leave for Disney. The hardwood floors in the whole house are getting sanded and stained while we are gone.

Oct. 2: Morning: Still throwing stuff in the basement. My sweet builder and crew are going to move all furniture in the POD for us, as he can see we are in no way going to be able to leave for our trip if its up to us to get it all out of the house. We love him.

Oct. 2: 4:30p.m.: Little Man falls down the stairs. Backwards, I'm being told by the 6 year old, who swears she had nothing to do with it. My builder was present. Little Man was bleeding, we think he needs stitches. We are leaving in about 3 hours to go out of town. My electrician shows up, while I'm on the phone telling the nurse we need to come in immediately. I'm on hold and ask him to get the chandelier out of my car. I'm calm and able to multi-task.
5:00 p.m. Little Man gets a staple in his head. He proceeds to call its his "stapler". The doctor's office is a whole other post in and of itself.

Oct. 3: We successfully leave from the farm with Aunt, Uncle, cousin, friend and our children in their mini van. CPA and I drive ourselves to Disney in peace and quiet. We arrive at the Disney resort. The kids think, and I quote, "this is the best vacation EVER!". We haven't even been to the park yet. They are going to have a heart attack.

Oct.4: Disney Day 1: It's hot as hell in Orlando. Like record breaking hot. We start in Animal Kingdom. The kids think this place is awesome. It is. Its Disney. The kids rode all the roller coasters. Like twice. I rode Mt. Everest once and threw up 3 times after. I had to go back to the hotel. Motion sickness.

Oct. 5-8: Remained hot at Disney. Kids did great! They asked for snacks and juice between all the rides and drove me crazy doing so. Although Disney could be the happiest place on earth. It doesn't make whining for juice and snack less annoying than when at home. Btw Disney, your Nescafe coffee sucks. You know about Starbucks, right?

Oct. 9: We headed back to the farm for the weekend because we knew the floors needed extra drying time. That is until my builder called and said it rained all week in Greenville. Which set back the drying time on my new dark floors. Which set back the day they put the first of three coats of poly on the floors... which was today. We can't stay at home until at least Thursday. Frick. Frick. Frick.

Oct. 11: We check into another hotel in Greenville. They call it a two bedroom with kitchenette. I called it "gross". This was not the Ritz. And I am pretty much over sleeping in confined spaces with my kids.

Oct. 12-14: I'm working from the new basement studio, trying not get high off the coats of poly. This totally sucks.

Oct. 15: Kids have no school today or tomorrow, so are off to the farm again, so CPA and I can get us moved back in.

Oct. 16: My AWE.SOME builder and crew move us back in from the POD. We spend the weekend trying to reassemble our lives.

Oct.17: My birthday is Tuesday, so today is Saturday and CPA says we'll go out for a nice dinner since the kids are away. We end up spending the day in Charlotte at IKEA getting more furniture for my new studio... we are there until about 7. We ate dinner at IKEA. We were those people. And I was okay with that. We were alone ;) And just to be clear, this was not CPA's original plan for my birthday dinner. He's not that frugal.

Oct. 19: One of my sweet friends took me on an early bday lunch. She is super cool and a load of laughs to hang out with ;)

Oct. 20: I'm 36 today. I was okay with my age up to 35. Suddenly my ob-gyn is telling me I need a mammogram and I'm that much closer to 40. The carpet came for the rec room. Finally! CPA tells me that my birthday present. Funny. I don't recall my birthday present being in the itemized budget from my builder. grrrr.

Oct. 24 & Fun Facts: Today is my niece's bday! She is exactly 4 weeks older than Big Girl. On a side note, my nephew (her brother) is 4 weeks older than Little Man. My sister (their mom) is 4 years younger than me and we got married the same year, just 4 months apart. Crazy, right?! CPA took me and the kids out for a late birthday dinner. I do like to celebrate my birthday for at least a week... He also got me the Keurig coffee maker I've been dying to have. This thing makes a cup of great coffee in less than a minute. Its AWE.SOME.

Oct. 26: Today. I'm starting to breath a little. Get caught up a little. Enjoying the space ALOT. It was worth the wait. Thanks CPA ;)

Sunday, Nov. 1: My littlest sister is getting married. My sister and I will be standing beside her. Big Girl, Little Man and cousins will be her flower girls and "ring buriers" (as Little Man keeps calling it).

Sick & Tired

Evidently you can't stay up until 2 in the morning (monogramming, cleaning up, doing laundry, just catching up) and get up with the kids at 6:45 everyday for school for a month and stay well.... I am sick, run down, just bleh! Not flu sick, just cold, snuffy, cough, sore throat sick. Oh, and we're leaving for Disney World (our first trip) on Saturday....


Not to worry. I'm totally resting. While I cram in last minute monogramming, do laundry, pack for trip, and move my house into the POD sitting in our driveway. Moving everything out because the hardwood floors are getting done while we're gone. And yes, its quite like moving. I have to pack EVERY.THING.


I did have one of my sweet friends take little man to the park with her boys the other day to help me out while not in school. And I'm on the ball and have another play date lined up for him tomorrow. I'm just taking one day at a time and trying not to drown before we leave.