Just a whiney post

I have been is such a funk lately and just can't seem to find anything worthy of a blog post, so I am just going to vent about all the trials and tribulations of what's going on:

. This economy sucks! Yes, I know we're in a recession and all, but I just feel paralyzed to do anything, I want to plan a summer vacation, but feel so uncertain of my job situation that I just can't do it. We are so due for a "real" vacation, I love visiting family and staying there, but having to make my own bed and clean up after myself does not constitute a vacation in my book. (No offense to you Gail, I know you feel the same way).

. I think Chase is outgrowing his dosage of ADHD medication. His behavior has been awful lately and it is wearing on my everlasting last nerve. A call to his pediatrician is warranted and I just need to put it on my "to-do" list. He does have an awesome teacher now and she is so calm and just tells me that we'll give it a week and if things don't change, we'll put our heads together and come up with a plan. I don't know what medication she takes, but I want some of it!

. I have a new blackberry phone with all these fancy features on it and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to download the pictures I have taken. I know I should just contact blackberry, but I just don't want to.

. Because of my first issue (see above), I am not inclined to buy a new house here in Austin right now and the thought of going through a Texas summer without a pool in the backyard is almost excruciating. I know, I am spoiled and my problems could be so much worse.

. My absolute fantastic, wonderful, kind (insert any other great adjective here) brother-in-law is back in the hospital with more complications of a this horrible, insidious, ravaging (insert any other awful adjective here) disease. It just breaks my heart to see what is happening to him and my sister. Godspeed to an end of this suffering.

. I am sick of broken, lost, missing piece toys! And I know this is probably a mommy mistake, but I have indulged my kids with lots of toys in addition to the ones they have received as gifts from family and friends. But dear Lord, if I find one more truck with no wheels, batteries pulled out, arms broken off, naked doll with "I guess I lost her clothes response", broken crayons, markers with no cap, absolutely no remorse, couldn't care less attitude toward it all, I am going to lose it! I had no idea that we have a third child living in this house named "not me", as in "who did it?, not me". I took the drastic step of taking all of Chase's toys away this week related to #2 above and have made it clear that he will have to earn them back one by one. So far it is Thursday and he still has no toys.

. I am tired of my 5.5 year old having to wear pull ups at night and still soaking thru them and the rubber sheet protector and having to wash and remake beds almost.every.day. And before you tell me to get pull-ups that don't leak, the only ones that I have found that do that are the Kroger brand and the closest Kroger is 200 miles away.

Okay, this post could go on for days, I have many, many more gripes, but I will stop and try to get on with my day. Oh how I wish it was 5 o'clock here! And yes, I do know it's 5 o'clock somewhere, but I'm just not in the mood for Child Protective Services to show up today!

The Easter Bunny found us in Chicago

Nothing like waiting until the last minute to finalize our Easter plans. At the last moment, I decided to take Caroline and Chase up to Chicago to visit their Aunt and Uncle and their cousins Steve and CeCe. My BIL's health makes it impossible for him to travel and given the depressive situation that's going on in their house, I decided to liven things up with 2 kids and 3 dogs! Just what the doctor ordered! Since airline tickets at the last minute were prohibitively expensive, we drove the loooong trip. We had so much fun, I think we ate out every meal, we took the kids to one of those Benihana type restaurants and they got to use chop sticks for the first time, and what a show, the kids loved it! We played in the park, went bowling, went on an Easter egg hunt and just had so much fun. Easter Sunday, the big bunny found us and left the kids so many goodies, I don't ever remember getting so much stuff in my basket, I think they are a tad bit spoiled. We spent the remainder of the day gorging ourselves at this massive buffet in this beautiful restaurant that my nephew Steve manages; I think Chase ate 6 cupcakes from the dessert table! Caroline of course was all about the sausage. My cousin Mark joined us for brunch and filled us in on his latest mission trip to Cuba, what an incredible experience. Both kids were just in their glory; I swear that Caroline would rather spend her time at a funeral with family than spend the day at 6 flags! She just looooovvvves being part of a family, she could be the poster child for what adoption is all about! Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures and the ones I did take don't really represent Easter, but here are some from the fun:

This first one is for my nephew Steve. When Steve was in college, I swear he kept this particular bar in business! Here's Caroline drinking out of a souvenir cup, training for her future college days... NOT!

Chase checking out his loot:


Forgive me for this one; my BIL Larry is such a good sport and enjoyed, I mean tolerated the kids doing funny things to him:

Can't leave the fur babies out. Here's Violet "smiling"!

Bragging on my little Care Bear

Caroline and Chase have started playing soccer this season, this is the first time either of them have played in any kind of team sport. Now Caroline, God bless her, is not the most athletic of kids, whereas Chase seems to have much more coordination and speed, but Caroline gets an "A" for effort and getting out there and trying.

This morning was their second game of the season; there are about 10 kids on the team (Caroline and Chase play on the same team). There is one little girl who is probably the youngest kid and is extremely shy, she has yet to do anything but sit in her mother's lap and eat apples! The coach has tried to coax her onto the field, but she just buries her head in her mom's chest and will not even look at the game let alone play in it. Well, my little Caroline just took it upon herself to be this girls friend and came over, said "Hi, my name is Caroline, let's go play, grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the field and ran up and down the field holding her hand! Oh.my.God! It was about the cutest thing I or any of the other parents have seen! I was so proud of her! She didn't care if she didn't get to kick the ball, all she cared about was making sure this little girl was out there and having fun. What an incredible mommy moment! She should get the award for best sportsmanship! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to capture this sweet scene, but here are some pictures from last week in their first game.



Gotta give equal time to Chase!

The weather forecast according to Chase

Chase: "Mama, we had to go into the hallway and curl up in a ball and put our hands on our heads today."

Me: "You had to do what????"

Chase: Repeats himself, then adds: "We had a Potato Drill"

Me: Laughing, "You mean you had a Tornado Drill"

Chase: "Oh yeah, that's what I meant"

I had visions of swirling potatoes in the air! Maybe that's what they do in Idaho!

p.s. If you looked out my window right now, that "Potato Drill" may come in handy soon, we are having strong storms as I write this.

Where in the world is...

Caroline has a really neat project going on at school. They are learning about geography and where places are. Back in mid February the kids sent out letters/valentines to a few select family members in different parts of the country and asked them to send back small tokens to pass out to their classmates representing where they live. When the packages come in, they put a little flag on their map indicating where it is from. For the past month or so, Caroline has been coming home with all kinds of trinkets from her classmates families; she's gotten shells from Florida, beads from Mardi Gras, silly sunglasses from Las Vegas, postcards from Belgium and tons of other things. Caroline has been asking when she will get her packages and she finally got hers today. Her Toycha Gail in Chicago sent the cutest little teddy bears with Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls hoodies on! Caroline was so excited to get her package and I went up to the school and took pics of her passing them out to her class. The kids loved them!

And a big shout out to Toycha Gail... Thank you!!!!




Of course an extra one was sent to Chase as well!

Spring Break

I feel like we have been on the Texas tour of Theme Parks for the past few weeks. It started out with our birthday trip to San Antonio to see Shamu which included a great surprise when Caroline and Chase's Toycha Gail flew in to help us celebrate! We had so much fun and the kids had a blast too. We got to sip margarita's by the pool while the kids played, ate great Mexican food and just kicked back and relaxed.




That trip was followed by a week of school and then Spring Break. Since we didn't make plans to go out of town for the week (I know, bad mama, should have planned ahead!) we were stuck here and decided to make another trip to Sea World to see some of the sights that we didn't get to the first time. We followed that up with a day spent at the Austin Rodeo and then to top it all off as if we didn't get our fill of thrill rides, we went to Six Flags on Friday. I am theme parked out! I've had my fill of crowds, long lines, fast food and what not! Put a fork in me, I am done!! The kids had a blast, Chase has decided he wants to be "Mr. Six Flags" when he grows up, you know, the old bald man with the big glasses who dances, Chase thinks he is "da bomb"! I'm sure that will be right after he finishes his apprentice with Jose the yard guy, his other career aspiration. Some pics from our week:

 

 

And you know what the number one best thing about spring break is for me???

Not having to make lunches for an entire week! Yeah!!!

The Birthday Girl

Yesterday, Caroline turned seven years old. As soon as she got out of bed, she instructed Chase and I to only refer to her as "the birthday girl". And she in turn only referred to herself as "the birthday girl". The entire day we got to hear her say "the birthday girl would like to eat sausage and eggs for breakfast", "the birthday girl has decided she does not have to make her bed on her birthday", "the birthday girl would like to wear her birthday tiara to school please" and my favorite; "the birthday girl has to go potty"! Caroline had a great day, she did wear her tiara to school, she received lots of presents and birthday wishes and she got her favorite cake amoung many other things. Everything a seven year old could want. This morning she woke up and told me she needs to "go back to normal, she wasn't the birthday girl anymore".

Since tomorrow is my birthday, I think I will only refer to myself as "the birthday girl" and I wonder if Caroline will let me borrow her tiara?

"My Last Day of Being 6 Years Old" by: Caroline

Me: "Caroline, this is the last day of your 6th year."

Caroline: "Mommy, this has been the best year ever!"

Me: "Well, why do you say that?"

Caroline: "I never had a birthday at the Detsky Dom, and now I have a BIG family who loves me and I love them. I have 3 doggies who love me and I get to eat a lot of sausage; oh and I know I will get lots of presents!"

This girl just oozes sweetness. She is simply delicious!

Here is Caroline's referral picture, I have no idea how old she was in it, I am guessing about 3 years old:

And her recent school picture:


Tomorrow I will have a seven year old! That is just so hard for me believe. She is so excited about her birthday, that is all she can talk about. She gave me strict instructions on what kind of cupcakes to bring to her class tomorrow, as well as what kind of cake she wants. She planned the menu for her birthday dinner, and no she didn't ask for sausage! She wants filet mignon, baked sweet potatoes and caprese salad! This girl has developed into quite the foodie.

Since this is a big birthday week for our family, mine is on Thursday, we decided to celebrate this coming weekend with a trip to San Antonio to see Shamu! We'll be staying at a beautiful resort and spending Saturday at Sea World with reservations to have lunch with Shamu! Hopefully he won't have us for lunch! We are so excited. Stayed tuned for more birthday bash pictures from tomorrow.

Cooker Man

I realized I have had too many picture-less posts, so here is one of my little man doing what he loves, being "Cooker Man"! Chase came running out of school yesterday with both thumbs up yelling "Mama, I had an awesome day!" Yeah! He gets lots of rewards when he has a great day and one of them was he got to cook spaghetti with me for dinner.

Preschool Update

He is being moved to a different classroom! WhoooooHooooooo

The wheels of preschool justice turn slowly

I had my meeting with Cruella, aka: Chase's teacher and the principal of the school and we still have not come to a resolution as far as placing Chase into another classroom with another teacher. The principal acted as a mediator between Cruella and myself and I really felt like I came up on top. I think the principal was very unimpressed with Cruella's behavior during the meeting. Cruella wouldn't even make eye contact with me from the time she entered the room until we finished an hour later. She was extremely defensive of every point I brought up and came up with the most lame excuses I have ever heard. At one point when I was indicating that she would not help with getting Chase settled in the morning she denied ever even seeing a problem, then in the next sentence she said she never wanted to intervene because it would harm the "sanctity of the parent/child relationship"! I think even the principal had to bite her lip to try not to laugh! The principal told Cruella that herself and every other educator at that school would and should intervene in a situation like that and that it was her expectation moving forward that Cruella do that; nothing like getting reprimanded by your boss in front of a parent! The meeting went on to discuss Chase's increasingly impulsive behavior with the Principal's suggestion being made to bring in a behavioral specialist to observe Chase and see if we can get to the bottom of this. There were several other suggestions made by the principal, all of which I thought were good ideas. The principal indicated to Cruella that she needed to instigate these suggestions along with the referral to the behavior specialist immediately at which point I interjected and told them specifically that in no uncertain terms did I want Chase to remain in that classroom with Cruella, I had indicated that in the first meeting I had with her. I wanted him moved asap and thus there was no reason for the principal to direct Cruella to do anything. At that point the meeting was pretty much over and the principal indicated to me that I would hear from her by tomorrow afternoon as to what accommodations can be made to move Chase to another classroom. She asked if I wanted to add anything else and I brought up the day that Cruella told Chase that because he coughed on her, it made her sick and she had to go home and how I had to spend the entire weekend consoling Chase because he was so upset; Cruella flat out denied that ever happened! I told her that Chase in no way has the capacity to make anything like that up, he doesn't have the vocabulary or the knowledge for anything so ridiculous. She finally admitted to saying something to the effect to the entire class, but she didn't single Chase out; whatever!

I am just so over all this drama, as I'm sure you all are too!

Cruella Update:

This woman took 4 days to get back with me to set up a meeting with her and the principal. We are meeting next Wednesday morning with her, the principal and myself. I just don't think she gets it. She seems to think this is a meeting to discuss Chase; when in actuality we are meeting to discuss her! I just want her out of our lives, she sends me an e-mail this week chastising me for sending Chase in tie shoes instead of Velcro shoes! (His velcro shoes were in the wash and this was the first time he has ever worn tie shoes to school) In the time it took her to write and send me the message, she could have tied his shoes, instead he comes out of school tripping over the laces. She then sends a behavior report home with a note stating that Chase had bad behavior for putting a toy in his mouth! I will be lucky if Chase stops sucking his thumb by the time he is twenty years old, he has huge oral sensory issues! Honestly, this woman grates on every last nerve I have.

p.s. The dogs all survived, but I probably went thru a whole bottle of Resolve carpet cleaner and Clorox Clean Up cleaning up their messes!

Jane

All that's left

This is what is left of the Valentine candy that I had got for my kid's valentine surprises! Nothing! I had it in my bedroom closet on top of a mid size dresser and apparently one of the dogs got into the closet, dragged it onto the floor and all three of them went to town! All of this happened while I was writing my last blog post. I am just sick over this, as are they! I've already called the vet and since I can't identify which one ate it, we're assuming it's probably all three of them, I just have to wait and see if anyone has a reaction. Most of it was chocolate, which I know can be really harmful to dogs. I've found one pile of puke (sorry for being so gross) but it's not like I can tell which dog it belongs to! They are all hiding under the bed right now, they know they've been baaaaad dogs!

Oh please let this day get better!

Met with the Principal

I met with the principal of Chase's school yesterday and it went about as I expected. I outlined all of the issues we have had since starting there about 6 weeks ago and detailed some of the more ridiculous incidents. She listened and took lots of notes. She indicated to me that while she does believe that Mrs. C is a good teacher, she does have some issues with "warming up" to parents. I told her that perhaps if this was just a personality conflict between Chase's teacher and myself, that I could rise above the situation, but I really felt that her attitude was detrimental to Chase's issues and as a result Chase was acting out much more than usual. I told her I really wanted Chase to be moved to another class. Although I think it will happen (and I told her I wanted it to happen sooner than later), she wants to have a meeting with all three of us present; Chase's teacher, myself and the principal. I agreed to that and was told that Mrs. C would be in contact with me to set it up. Haven't heard from Cruella yet! I don't really think she could say or do anything at this point to make up for her behavior over the past 6 weeks, but I'm interested in seeing how she defends herself in front of the principal.

Susan, you are so right. I really don't think she wanted Chase (or any other kid for that matter) in her class. I also don't think this woman needs to be teaching preschool. She is so detached from the kids and I can't imagine wanting to be a teacher, yet not even connecting with them on such a basic level. I am in contact with Caroline's old Kinder teacher from Dallas (she became such a close family friend) and she indicated that teacher's are taught to physically guide and redirect the student's attention to something else if they are having a hard time in the morning separating from the parent. Chase's teacher refuses to do this, even though she sees us struggling every morning and like I said before, it just sets up the day for disaster.

So the drama continues until this next meeting. I keep y'all posted!

Jane

p.s. Thanks for all the feedback, it's nice to know that I'm not the crazy one! (at least this time)

Cruella DeVille is going down!

I have reached the end of my rope with Chase's pre K teacher. I think this woman is certifiable! Chase has had a really hard time with the transition to his new pre K class and his teacher has done nothing to help facilitate it. She still does nothing when we get to her classroom, Chase is clinging to my leg or else he is completely "squirrelly" and all over the place and she just sits at her desk pretending not to notice, blasting her classical music. It just sets up the day for failure. He is being sent home with "behavior reports" daily, most of which have not been good. I know my child and know that he is capable of some of the things he has been reported doing; i.e. hitting, spitting, etc. But she is sending home "bad" reports for talking during rest time, throwing rocks on the playground (onto the ground, not at anyone), holding his crayon incorrectly, not sitting with his feet under the table at lunch, etc. Obviously, some of the reports are justified and hitting and spitting will not be tolerated, but the others??? Come on! Chase lives and dies by these reports and comes home so dejected when he gets a bad one, which is almost every day. And to try and talk to this woman is futile, she is completely unapproachable and very defiant when I do speak with her. The final straw was yesterday; when I picked Chase up from school, he told me his teacher had gone home sick, he proceeded to tell me in the car that Mrs. "C" told him that because he coughed on her, it made her sick and she had to go home! She is nuts! Chase may have gotten the wording mixed up, but the gist of the conversation was there; and Chase does not have the vocabulary to make that up on his own. I was so angry, I called the school and have an appointment with the principal on Monday morning to discuss transferring him to a different class. Stayed tuned to this soap opera: "As the Preschool Turns"!

New year, new city, new house, new school, new everything!

We are alive for anyone who was wondering! Just trying to unbury myself from all the boxes. Every time I move, I always say I will never do this again, but it always happens again. This time was no different. Moving right before Christmas was so stressful; I had great movers, but the move into our house in Austin was so difficult. Since we are just doing a short term lease until we decide where to buy a new home, this house is a lot smaller than our old one and I feel like I am trying to shove a size 10 foot into a size 6 shoe! There are boxes everywhere. To add to the stress, the furnace did not work when we moved in, so we were stuck in a hotel until they could fix it, then we left for Chicago for the holidays, which were great by the way! So we didn't even start to unpack until we got home and that was just over a week ago.

I got the kids registered at their new school and Chase ended up being accepted into the school's preschool program, so both Caroline and Chase are at the same school for the first time; they love it, they see each other at lunch and in the hallways and give each other big hugs! Caroline's teacher seems really nice and Caroline is adjusting beautifully; it's like the girl just never skips a beat! I'm so proud of her. Chase is doing great too, although I'm not really impressed with his teacher. For all you other parents of preschoolers out there, tell me if you think this women is strange:

. She doesn't greet the students or parents at the door, just sits at her desk or computer keeping herself busy with other tasks, virtually ignores the kids coming in.

. Does not like to be spoken to in the morning when approached with a question, seems really "put out"

. Chastised me for bringing the wrong pencil box to school for Chase. Yes, I kid you not, it was soft sided instead of hard sided and was a "Spacesaver" brand vs. a "Spacemaker" brand, even though it was the exact same size. She took everything out, handed it back to me and told me to bring the correct one. When I asked her where to get the correct one, she couldn't tell me and told me to contact the parents of other students in the class and ask them!

. Chastised me for bringing his library book back on the wrong day, handed it back to me and told me to bring it on the correct day.

There are other things as well, but you get the picture. I just don't get a warm and kind feeling from this women. I really thought most preschool teachers were super sweet, outgoing and happy. Not this one! I'm not going to make an issue of this to the school since Chase will only be in her class until June, but dear Lord, what is her problem???

Lot's of other stuff happening, and I have pictures to show off, but I just wanted to let all of you know who have been calling and I haven't returned your calls that we are fine, we are alive and doing great. As soon as I find my way out of this maze of boxes and stuff, I will find my phone and call you back!

Jane

So bittersweet

This saying goodbye thing is so hard. It's not like we are moving across the country, just 3 1/2 hours away, but it's still hard to say goodbye to such good friends. Today we were invited to a luncheon at the Zodiac Room in the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus with some friends and had just a wonderful time. The kids did great considering there were numerous forks, knives and utensils for them to choose from; along with white tablecloths, linen napkins and crystal glassware! This looked like it could spell disaster, but both Chase and Caroline did their Mama proud and didn't break anything! Only one instance of spilled soup, but that was it! After our beautiful lunch, we made a visit to Santa, the kids were just beside themselves with excitement. Chase nearly hyperventilated when he saw him. This whole week is filled with goodbyes to good friends, I better get the waterproof mascara out. Here's some pictures of the day:

Funnies from C & C's World

I really should be packing, but it's hard to get motivated when the task seems so daunting!

This morning, as I'm trying the hurry my kids off to school, I tell Caroline that she has 5 minutes to finish her breakfast, she looks at the clock and it says 7:17, she wants to know what time it will be in 5 minutes. I ask her what is 17 + 5 ? She thinks about it and looks kind of lost, so I ask her what do you get when you have 17apples and add 5 more apples to them? She still doesn't answer, but Chase pipes in and tells me "You get to eat them"!!!

The other day in the car we see a lady walking her dog around the neighborhood and Caroline remarks the dog looks like Delgado from the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua, my head spins around mostly because I'm surprised she remembered the movie, let alone the dog's name. I answer her, "yes, that dog is called a German Shepard". Caroline responds by telling me "oh no mama, Mrs. Figueroa (K. Teacher) says we cannot have any Germans on our hands"!!! (she means germs)!

Day after the election: Caroline comes home from school and announces that "Rock Obama is our new resident"!!

Really must get back to packing, movers will be here in two weeks and I have packed 1 box!

Big Fun!

My kids had such a great Thanksgiving, it just amazes me how far they have come in the past year. They absolutely get holidays this year and what family and tradition means. We spent Thanksgiving day at their Aunt and Uncle's with their cousins from Austin and Arkansas. They played and ate, played and ate and then ate some more! Friday we all went to Six Flags for Holiday in the Park! This was Caroline and Chase's first time to an amusement park and they were blown away! I really thought my little "Miss Cautious" would not enjoy herself at all, but she turned out to be quite the dare devil. Her first time on a roller coaster and she puts her arms up in the air on all the hills! How she learned this, I have no clue; it's not like they were taking field trips to Gorky Park from her Detsky Dom! Here's some pics from the past few days:

Caroline and Chase with their cousins Jack and Kate


Eating some more!










In other big news: We are moving! We are moving to Austin. I put my home on the market and almost unbelievably it sold in 4 days! I closed on it about a week and a half ago and we are leasing back from the buyer so the kids can finish out the rest of the year in their schools. The movers are coming on December 18th and we will leave on the 19th. Not the best time in the world to move right before Christmas, but we will make it work. We are so excited, just the thought of going back to Austin puts me in a happy mood.

My little goblins!

Halloween was so much fun this year. My kids totally "get it". Last year was okay, but they were not really into it as much as this year. I can only imagine what Christmas will be like! Caroline was a cat and Chase was a fireman. Caroline has a little parade at school and Chase had a party at his new day school (yes, another child care provider. That needs an entire new post all together!). For whatever reason, the school district put a ban on Halloween parties this year at their schools. All Caroline had was the parade and then she had to change into regular clothes, bah humbug! Here's my little goblins all dressed up and ready to trick or treat!