I had so much fun last night. I went out with Kim and Heather from BHBC. We are starting to make this a tradition. The week after Thanksgiving we get together and go shopping. I got to go to Old Navy, Bath and Body Shop, Michaels, Lifeway, ToysRUs and Target. I got a lot accomplished. We also had a great dinner at a great restaurant. I had so much fun! I am thankful for my new church and the new friends that God has blessed me with, but I also miss my friends at BHBC too! Thanks Heather and Kim....I miss you guys!!! Thanks for a much needed night out of the house!
We have a VERY SPECIAL Family night planned tonight. Tune in tomorrow for pictures!!!! Also, please tune in on Monday, December 3rd!
I guess I am having a blonde moment. Joshua brought his homework for the week home. On his math he had a lot of clock and calendar work, which I can handle. He has one problem though that says" draw a cylinder, draw a cone, draw a rectangular prism". Are you serious? Are they doing this in first grade? I think I know what these look like (especially the cone!!!) but I can't draw a stick person and I have to instruct Joshua on this?? The other problem has three different columns of shapes. It says "circle the pattern UNIT" Joshua has no idea what the unit is, and neither do I. Now, we know all about patterns and how to make one etc, but this is new to me. The second part of this problem says"translate each pattern to letters, numbers or words and show your work on the back of this sheet". Well, to me, they would all look like ABABABAB etc. And I think I could home school???????????
And, I am! I got up early this morning to try to get something for Christmas. I am definitely too old for this, and now I see why I haven't done this in years!!! (I used to do it all the time before I was married, and Jack and I did it a couple of times when we were first married). I spent time Thursday going through the ads and only found one store worth getting up for. It takes A LOT for me to want to get out there and put on my boxing gloves. Walmart had some things that I thought were a REALLY good buy! I checked all over Thursday night to compare the regular price and also checked all other stores and couldn't find anything that came close. So, like I nut, I am up at 4 am, dressed, and the door at 4:30. I get there and it is a mob scene. I look all item for the item I want, and suddenly it's 5 am and everyone is throwing things in their carts! I was lucky and found the item I wanted, and a few extra, waited patiently in line for 15 minutes, and got home at 6 (after a Bojangles run for the family) and went back to bed. I am too old to fight the crowds. I enjoy my shopping from my home computer, and week nights when everyone is home!!!
Yesterday was a warm up to Thanksgiving Day. I had the feast at Jenna's preschool, a dessert feast at Joshua's school, and then desserts at church. It was a busy day, but I can make up for it with 3 days off this week!! The service was very nice last night. We have a great church family. Here are some pictures of all the events: Happy Thanksgiving!!!
My three year old class (Abby, Christian, Loran, Olivia, Emma, Ethan, Ava, Megan, Ashley, Madison)
Jenna and her friend Ashlynn
Joshua and Mikayla
Joshua and Jenna dressed up for their events.
I've been wanting to post about this for some time and decided now was a great time to write about things. I've been really debating about what to do next year with school for the kids. Joshua will be in second grade (oh my) and Jacob will be starting kindergarten (wow). I've been really bothered by things the last few weeks. It all boils down to Joshua's teacher, Mrs. Johnson. Now Mrs. Johnson is nice and she is definitely experienced, however, she does not want to be there. Joshua told me one day "Mrs. Johnson doesn't ever smile, mommy. She just isn't happy". "She only smiles when the mommies come in". That's pretty observant for a 1st grader. He has told me several times that "she doesn't know Jesus". There are several reasons why I am not fond of this year and have struggled with things. First is the reason I just listed. Secondly, she doesn't want to do anything extra. She doesn't want to do class parties. Why should my child be punished because he is in the wrong class? She puts me as room mom in positions that I don't feel comfortable with, things that I think should come from a teacher and not me. She also relies on the computer a lot (don't we all) but she isn't staying on top of Joshua's reading like I would and that bothers me. When you go into the classroom, you can tell that she is very stressed and overwhelmed. I've been tempted many times this year just to pull Joshua and teach him myself, but Jack and I both feel that I made a commitment to preschool and it wouldn't be right in the middle of the year to quit.
So, we are thinking about next year. I am ready to home school Joshua. I think I could do a great job. I am worried about Jacob though. Kindergarten is a year that he gets a lot of basics and structure. I think Jacob needs a year of that. We look into the Christian School for next year. We found one that was affordable for the two of them and I drove by it yesterday. The problem is that it is 17 miles one way. That would be about 350 miles of driving....wear and tear on the van, not to mention gas prices. You could tack on about $65 a week in gas with prices going up. There is a school closer, however it is $150 more a month and still 14 miles away. I have to take the boys, come home, pick them up, come home, and of course, that is how the mileage gets tacked on.
Then we thought about home schooling Joshua and then taking Jacob to school, but how would Jacob think (in the mind of a 5 year old)...I have to go to school and Josh stays home with mommy.? I think he would have a hard time with that.
I ask Joshua what he wants and he says he wants to go back to his school next year. Maybe it's just that we have a really bad teacher. Maybe next year would be better??? Oh, this is so hard. I know you think "this is next year, why is she even so concerned?" Well, if you want in the Christian school, you have t be ahead and start the process in February or you won't get in.
Today is one of those days where I will be running around like a mad man. We have a field trip at Clemmons Forest here in Clayton for the three year olds. We will be freezing our tails off. Maybe parents will leave early!! We have to go again tomorrow too. It gets pretty boring walking around the forest, but I guess it's easy money as the parents will be there. Anyway, after that, I have to run to Raleigh for something that came up. Then, it's back to get in carpool line to get Joshua, and then over to Garner to get them their flu shots (I haven't told them yet), back home, prepare dinner, and then Joshua and I are going to his school to hear about how to improve his reading (a presentation just for first grade parents and their kids). Maybe after that I can breathe again!
We've been busy making Thanksgiving day crafts in preschool. I have a little boy in my four year old class, Jeremy, who has a lot of problems. The sad thing is, I think mom is in denial. She acts like nothing is wrong with him. I am not sure if he is autistic or what. I know that he had a hearing problem when he was born, but is fine now. This child will not be ready for kindergarten, and I don't know if mom realizes that or not. He won't talk, only to tell me "no", and you know that doesn't go well with me. He can't cut, doesn't know his letters or anything. You ask him simple questions and he stares into space. The sweet thing is that Jenna has taken to him, and Jeremy to her. The mom came in yesterday and said "he probably won't talk much today and will be very quiet". I wanted so badly to tell her that he never talks in preschool. We had a new little boy start last week and he walked up to Jeremy and said "what's your name" and Jeremy would not answer. I just feel bad because I think the mom expects us to work miracles with him, when she is totally in la la land about her son. He needs a place that can give him the help he needs and can give him the help he needs for kindergarten.
This was taken at Bethany Hills Baptist Church for their directory. If you look closely, you can see Jacob had some beautiful curls at the end of his hair. We didn't cut it right away as the little guy was bald for a year. Jenna was probably a year old. Our family is getting bigger. Last night we got one of those XL pizza's at Papa Johns, and it was not enought to feed us! The kids wanted more!
Sorry....I don't think anyone missed me, but I haven't had a chance to blog in a couple of days. I don't have any photos to post at this time. I have been very busy. I left preschool early yesterday to go get Mikayla. She sat with Jacob and Jenna while I went to Joshua's school to help. I had a great time in his class. Last night for family night Jack and the kids went to Wendy's with their free coupons and I ran to Target. We went to Kohl's and found some great clearance items. Today we went to about 3 yard sales (we woke up late) and then ran some things over to mom's. Jack and I got an unplanned couple of hours to do some Christmas shopping. I got a good start on Jenna. I am still trying to figure out what everyone wants etc. After that we went and got our free hot dog at the meat sale and then I have been cleaning and catching up. I've had about 3-4 loads of laundry, I went through Joshua's drawers to get out all the summer items (I think fall is here to stay now), cleaned the kitchen etc. It's been a good, busy weekend. Hopefully something exciting will happen next week and I can have more pictures up.
Traci on too much sugar (ha ha...just kidding)
Traci, the snow princess
