this is reality?!

An update on the school front. If you think your kids are sweet and innocent... that ends at, oh, about 3rd grade.

Friday at school we had a drug bust on a ... get this... 4th grader. Yup, he had pot. Bragged about it to classmates. Bought it from a 5th grader.

And we don't go to some huge inner-city school where kids get lost in the cracks. We're pretty straight down the middle, middle class, average class size of about 100 kids, K-12 in the same building.

They're losing their innocence at a younger and younger age. Cherish the times your kids will sit with you and watch Elmo or Scooby Doo, or whatever kid-ish thing they're into. It ends all too soon.

Running interference...

Ok, yet again I need the advice of the girls:

Situation:
Alex's girlfriend (mind you, they're 11) started rumors about herself that she was making out with a 10th grader. Why would you start rumors about yourself, one wonders. I guess she's trying to earn herself quite a reputation. (again, I remind you, they're 11).

So, I heard these rumors around school and asked Alex about them. She said, "yeah, mom. She told me she did. She goes to one of the classrooms afterschool and makes out with boys. (plural)" (did I say they were 11?) So I ask Alex if her friend had told her these stories and she said yes, face to face, not heresay. And it gets better... Apparently this friend (with whom she'd been friends with since kindergarten and her dad is a preacher, mom works at school, nice family!) considers herself to be "emo" (I am so out of touch, i had to look this up) and she cuts herself.

Now I don't know if these are true stories, but does it matter? I tried to explain to alex what matters is that she is actually telling people these stories about herself. So I tell alex she's not allowed to hang around her anymore.

Now here's my dilemma: Her mom works at school with me. We chat every day, multiple times. And we've told each other that we would keep each other posted on the girls so we can keep track of what they're doing, etc... So what do I do? I really need help here. If I go to her and tell her these stories from Alex, it comes down to the fact that one girl is telling the truth. I say this because I'm sure her daughter will deny everything. Will she believe my daughter or her own? Who would I believe? Would I want to know if it were my daughter? What will it do to the friendship (ours and theirs) and should I care?

(Oh, the room she supposedly sneaks into is one that her mom aides in every day and that teacher did tell me that she saw the friend and a boy in there one day and she jumped off this boy's lap when she walked in on them - so I know that much is true.)

Ok ladies, I am so not ready for this teenage thing that seems to be happening way too early!!! Again, I say.... they're 11!

thanks for your help! I need it!

oh, it's starting...

I get home from Wal-Mart last night, check my Facebook and this is the message waiting for me:

"Mrs. Daly, I asked Alex to be my girlfriend, and I wanted to make sure it was ok with you."

Too cute :) Alex has been friends with this boy for years, since about kindergarten. They email, chat, hang out... So my question to you is, how young is too young to "date?" That's what she told me, that her & Kevin were "dating."

I have no problem dropping her off at the skating rink to meet him there, or going to a movie. What do you think? Am I being too lenient? She's liked other boys before, but this is the "first" boyfriend. You know, now they're in Middle School... they're so "grown up" (or so they think).

Update: as of 6:30 tonight, she's already broken up with this poor boy. Yesterday they were in love, today it's no more. I don't know if I can handle the pre-teen hormone roller coaster, what will I do in the teenage years?!

startling confession

I'm sitting here in my pj's, curled up on the couch watching Jay Leno. Marc is working late, kids are in bed, one dog is sleeping on the recliner and the other is laying on the floor curled up on a blanket. I'm watching them sleep, in all of their cute furriness, and have finally come to the realization that I've been trying to bury deep down within...

I don't like my dog.

I know. I'm a horrible person. I love the other one - more than anything. He's my big, cuddly, lovable, dumb, lug of a baby. The other one - not so much.

Now anyone who knows anything about me knows that I LOVE animals. All kinds. And I've always had dogs, forever. Our last dogs were 11 and 12 when they died. They were a huge part of our life, as are these 2. But I just don't like one of them. She's bitchy, always causing us headaches, and I just have no tolerance for her. I've tried to get past this feeling for a while, but it just keeps festering and I'm not quite sure how to change it. And the more dominance and bitchiness she shows towards the other dog, the more and more I dislike her.

So, am I a horrible person? What do I do to change this feeling? I feel like I've turned on one of my own children!!!

the start of a wonderful week (?)

We had a really good weekend. Flag football started and, with the exception of a few stressful situations, turned out pretty good. 110 kids and only a few minor mishaps. Not bad.
My mom and dad came down on Saturday to watch Sam play. Later that day I had a cake to deliver, Marc had a wedding to DJ and my dad checked off a few things on our "to-do" list - namely the ice maker and garbage disposal I've gone 2 years without.

Saturday night after my parents left, the kids and I went to see "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" while Marc was at his wedding. Sunday we got up and went to church, went to the local orchard afterwards for the corn maze, came home and relaxed. Sounds like a nice, relaxing weekend, huh?

Now let me fill in the blanks.

* At football I had 16 irate parents whose kids didn't bring home the information because their teachers didn't give it to them.

* The cake I had to deliver went off without a hitch. Even though the lady wasn't home and she told me she'd leave the door unlocked, and not to mind her dog, she wouldn't hurt the cake. Well she didn't... until about 11:30 that night. The poor lady FB'd me about 10 times asking if I could "fix" the cake her dog ate half of. Sorry...

* Marc came home from his wedding and gave me the check the next morning, which was considerably less than I had budgeted for. For some reason he charged this wedding less than normal and I had no idea.

* Being thrilled about having a garbage disposal and an ice maker again after 2 years was nothing compared to the mess I found when I got home from school today to see something in the water connection had caused my dishwasher to empty out 2 cycles onto my kitchen floor, thus seeping down into the basement by the bucketload!

Happy Monday!

New Year

It's a new school year! We've ventured into middle school territory now... whoa! But it's also a time for new schedules, new habits, new beginnings. I just hope we can keep it all up. I'm starting it all with a positive attitude!!!

summer's almost over...

I can't believe how fast it's gone by. When I took my job at school, I was in complete amazement that I would get 3 full months off work - while still collecting a paycheck! Oh the perks of that! No more outrageous summertime daycare payments, and TIME - time to organize, time to clean, time to visit family & friends, time for EVERYTHING.

Well, we go back to school in 3 weeks and I can't even grasp that the time has gone already. What did I get done? I'm tempted to say "nothing". But then I think back and I guess I did get quite a bit accomplished, but of course nothing that I had planned to!

I didn't really even get to start my summer until 4th of July weekend because for the first 4 weeks after school got out I was so busy baking cakes every single day and night. I am thankful for that business, but I'll never overbook like that again.

I did some babysitting for a friend 2 days a week. We usually spent those 2 days finding something fun to do outside, which meant I spent some time at the local swimming hole.

I took on an extra job painting that took about a week. Not bad. Got a little extra money for that. But all in all, my expectations were high for my first summer off. I didn't organize my closets or my basement, I didn't get my house clean, I didn't get my books read. I did get to sleep in until about 8:30 on a regular basis though.

One of my principals told me this just before school got out: She said one summer she made a list of everything she wanted to accomplish then she spent the whole summer making sure she got everything crossed off that list. She said it was the most miserable summer she'd had. So I guess I have to learn not to have any expectations, to enjoy it day by day. And there's only about 22 more of those left.