I'm going to Hawaii!

Okay, it's weird. I'm going to Hawaii and my husband is staying home. He's been there before though. He said he was bored when he went. He's never been to the Big Island that I'm going to though. I use all kinds of excuses for going without him, but I really wish he could come. I'm going to miss him an awful lot. Still, I'm going to Hawaii with my mom and one of my best friends. We are going to have a blast.

Why am I going to Hawaii? Well, my brother made the reservation with my mom's time share about a year ago. Since that time, things came up and he wasn't able to go. My mom didn't want to give up the reservation because it's really hard to get. She wanted my grandma to go with her, but she just wouldn't. It didn't take long for me to shout "I'll go!"

In my excitement I posted on Facebook that I was going to Hawaii and my friend, Shelley said "take me with you!" I talked with my mom and since the reservation was for a 2 bedroom suite that sleeps up to 6 and she gets along great with Shelley, we invited her to come if she could buy her plane ticket.

Now 3 ladies are taking Hawaii by storm! Two of us are married and leaving our husbands behind with kiddos (though Shelley's kiddos are a lot bigger than mine). Shelley and her husband are celebrating their anniversary this weekend. I think I'd feel worse about going to Hawaii the week after my anniversary...nah.

I love my husband. He's awesome. He's taking a week of vacation off work so that he can come be me at home with the kiddos. While it would be even more awesome if he could come, just the fact that he's letting me go without him is pretty great.

School Bus

This year we have begun again the school bus fight. It's a fight I've had ever since my son started on the bus. It's really annoying.

Micah was never a school bus child until 2nd grade. He begged and begged to get on the bus until I finally allowed him to come home on it...even though it was only a 5 minute ride. I didn't realize at the time that it would turn into a nightmare.

The very next year he was sent to a new school. Literally the farthest school in the district from my house. It was horrible. Every day I still drove him to school. I'm a paranoid mom who really wants to know who is with my child every day and wants a talking relationship with my child's teachers and the staff at the school. This is 3rd grade. I know he could use some space, but I am just not that mom. It was really a good thing I stayed involved that year, though. Micah had the worst bus schedule ever. He was literally on the bus for 2 hours after waiting 30 minutes after school for the bus to even get there. Not getting my kid from school until dinner time was not a plus for me. Besides, he was so agitated after being in that bus for so long every day that he just wouldn't calm down until bedtime.

I debated dropping the bus thing all together. Honestly, it wasn't a fight that I wanted to have. Still, there were other kids going through the same thing. The bus system was broken and no one else was going to be loud enough to fix it.

I'm loud.

I rock the boat. I called an IEP. I requested that a representative of the transportation department be there as well as Micah's bus driver. I also made sure that someone from pupil services was there as well as an autism specialist and the school psychologist and anyone else I could think of that would help this situation. They all showed up and they changed his route and worked on strategies with the bus driver to help Micah learn to be on the bus. Overall it worked because he didn't have to be on the bus very long at all.

Then came the next year. New year, new school, new bus driver. New school not because of any moving that I had done, just because they "realigned classes". I didn't rock the boat again because I really liked the new school and the new teacher. The teacher and bus driver worked together for 3 months to get Micah to get on the bus easily. Plus, the bus driver knew to get Micah off the bus as soon as she could. This worked out well, Micah was on the bus for less than 30 minutes every day. Not bad since the school takes me 8 minutes to get to and she had other kids to drop off.

Then comes this year. Micah is back to a long bus ride. He's on the bus for about an hour and 15 minutes to two hours. Yeah, they aren't real regular with that. Not cool. Micah is starting to get frustrated. He isn't showing it on the bus yet, but I'm waiting for it. I don't want it to get bad again. Micah's teacher has already tried talking to the bus driver who isn't really happy with that. She's also called over her head to no avail. My turn.

Today I'm on the phone again. Pupil Personel, Transportation, if someone doesn't fix this this week we will have an IEP again. You all don't want to know that I'll do this time. Someone do their jobs before I start working the system. I know how to do that and my child will get what he needs. I take care of my kids.

That's why I'm Supermommie.

Clever Container

I promised myself I wouldn't do too many blogs about my business. This whole business will not take over my life. Still, it's something I'm doing so it's part of my life, so I still have to share some stuff sometimes.

One of Clever Container's catch phrases is "Organizing Just Got Fun!". I have to say, I am having fun. That's not even a pitch for my company either. Sure, I'm a little stressed out. Things are kind of overwhelming and starting a business really wouldn't be my thing if I wasn't so determined. Overall, however, just having to take the time to do the parties, talk to people about organizing stuff, and organizing myself has really been a good experience. I like talking to people and giving tips on organizing. It's funny when people who know me see the differences and say something. I get to tell them about my products and show the results. Of course, the products aren't what make organization happen. It takes a lot of work. I know, duh!

I am reading a book that I found at Borders (anyone else sobbing at their closing?) on a great clearance. It's all about organizing. I haven't finished it yet, but it's good so far. It's called Go Organize! by Marilyn Bohn (yes I do feel the irony in the fact that my link was to the book on Amazon). I am enjoying the read. It's a step by step guide to organizing your home. I'm going to use the methods for one room in my house and see what happens. If it works for me I'll share.

One of my favorite things about starting my business has been the advertizing. No one I have encountered has ever heard of Clever Container before. It's nice to be able to pull out one of the products from my purse and show them something that will make life easier for them. The line of products for organizing your purse it pretty good. There's a whole party that I was trained on designed around organizing your purse. It really sounds fun and I can't wait for someone to ask about it.

Okay, I promise, I won't have too many plugs for my business on this blog. I'm actually debating the merits of starting another blog about my before and after organization and the process. This one would have lots of pictures. I'd just do a vlog, but I don't like to look at myself. If I do it, I'll post a link later.

What are you going to do today?

Every school day, as I let my girls out of the car, I ask them a question in a loud (and probably embarrassing) mom voice: "What are you going to do today?" I've asked this question to Becca since she started Kindergarten and the girls all know the correct response "listen and obey". Ali and Zoe love it. It starts off their day with a smile because they have seen me do this with Becca all the time.

Becca doesn't love it. She rolls her eyes, but still gives the correct response. I keep waiting for her to come up with a witty retort like "find a boy and run away" or "ruin my teacher's day". Still, she's got it in her head what I expect of her. She knows that she is to listen to those in authority and obey them.

Zoe and Ali are having more trouble in school than Becca ever did. Not that they aren't keeping up with the educational stuff...more like boredom there. Their problem is that they just aren't getting their way enough for their tastes. Zoe had her incident the first week. She hid under the table when she didn't get to be the line leader. This happened two days in a row and the teacher learned that she should tell me when my child does something wrong right away so that she won't do it again. Ali's incident happened this week. She decided that since she didn't get to be behind her friend in line, she just wasn't going to get in line. She cried and laid herself down on the floor. Her teacher told me that day. It worked. She's not had an incident, and she isn't likely to. My girls HATE not getting dessert. If teachers have to tell me about bad behavior, they don't get dessert. It's kind of double consequences because she had to lose recess too, but my kids had to learn that the teacher and I are on the same team.

Yesterday and today I added something new to our morning chat at the top of our lungs. After asking them what they are going to do today, I got my response, then I asked again "even if you don't get your way, you still" and they knew what to say without even being prompted "listen and obey".

I've learned that this concept, when reminded every morning, has helped Becca. She knows that I want her to do well in school, and she does, but the part that so many kids seem to lack that she doesn't is respect for authority. Don't get me wrong, she and I have our struggles, but they don't play out in front of others nor does she struggle with anyone else. She is eager to please her teachers and the staff at the school and other adults around her. She listens to them, and they all know it. Have I turned my child into a brown-noser? Probably. Being that way has served me well all my life, though. I just pray that this will play out as well in Ali and Zoe's lives as well as it has in Becca's.

Dear My Child's Teacher,

Dear Teacher,

Please don't put off until tomorrow to tell me about the discipline problem that you had with my child. If she hid under a desk and told you that she wasn't coming out, there's a problem that needs to be addressed today, not tomorrow when she doesn't remember why she went under there in the first place.

Another thing, please stop telling me and my child that she is the smartest in your class. I don't care if you tell every child that, it's just not right. I don't want my child compared to others. She may be your favorite already, but she doesn't need to know that. She is very manipulative, all my kids are. They are smart and want their own way, so they use their intelligence to find your weakness and if you put up with it, it gets worse. Build up my child's self esteem in different ways. She likes challenges, give them to her. She's smart, but she's still in Kindergarten, there is a lot for her to learn.

I know that you attempt to phrase your parent feedback in a positive way, but if the only thing positive about my child that you can think of is how smart she is, try harder. There are a lot of awesome things about my kids. I know that she is intelligent, I've been her teacher for 5 years. Don't make me dread hearing you say "she's so smart BUT". Try giving me something specific that she has done that day that is positive, then give me the specifics about the negative.

Thank you for all your hard work. I'm sorry that you had to physically grab my child out from under the desk today, but if you would have told me about the incident from yesterday yesterday, this would not have happened. My daughter needs consistent discipline. The first week is filled with grace, I know, but my child tests limits from the beginning while most kids are still getting used to being without their parents. It's odd because they haven't been in preschool for them to be like this, but they are very independent. It comes with the intelligence.

My expectations for my children are very high, so your job is going to be tough. Don't worry, I have your back. I'm there to enforce in ways you can't and teach right along with you. Please know that I appreciate everything that you do for my child.

Sincerely,
Supermommie

Time for School!

It began Monday morning. All was organized. Sunday night I had laid out all the clothes, packed backpacks, and got everything ready. Monday all 4 of my kids went to school. To be fair, the twins just had orientation that lasted only a few hours and my mom and I went with them. Still, it was a beginning. The girls met their teachers and had a blast meeting classmates. They loved it.

Today was just as organized. This was a surprise for me because I usually have a great first day and then blow it the rest of that first week, only to go back to getting it right the next week, determined to not blow it again. It was new to finally get it together 2 days in a row.

The twins had their first day without the help of a parent there today. Apparently they did great. Not a surprise for me, but most people who know the twins have rarely seen them apart and don't know that they really are good kids when they aren't conspiring against me.

Last week I was at the school helping our PTA president with stuffing envelopes and asked about the twin's classes. They had them in the same class...I fixed that quickly. Not that I minded the teacher, but the twins needed to be separated. The Ali and Zoe never knew. I love that Ali is in Mr Cunanan's class. He's so fun and she loves him already. Zoe is having a great time with Mrs Brace who also adores the color purple just as much as my daughter. Zoe found that out when she was coloring during her own face during orientation. She wanted to be purple, so she drew her face that way. Mrs Brace told her that she loves purple too and that they were going to get along quite well!

Becca has begun 3rd grade. She is in GATE now (Gifted And Talented...something). She is in an interesting class. I found out from another teacher friend of mine that there was going to be a little boy with autism in that class. The teacher was reluctant to have this boy in her class because she just doesn't know anything about how to work with him. When my teacher friend found out that Becca was going into that class, she told the teacher that Becca would be a perfect fit for a buddy for this little boy. It made Becca feel good to be a help, made the teacher a bit more comfortable having the boy in the class, and the little boy has an automatic friend in Becca. I'm going to be monitoring her grades and attitude through the year closely to see if it's too much for her. I'm not terribly worried, though. I don't think Becca will have a problem. She's always top of her class in practically everything, and it won't hurt her to do a little extra. I know she is getting more being in GATE, though, so I'm still watching close.

Micah is in the same class as last year and his aid will be the same as soon as she gets off maternity leave. The problem is that the summer was just a bit too short, so Melissa (Micah's aid) just didn't have time to recover completely while Micah was off. Fortunately, Micah's teacher is awesome and she has a small class and plenty of help at the moment. Micah will start mainstreaming tomorrow with or without his regular aid, but it would be nice if someone he knows is with him when he starts.

Good start, huh? I'm so proud of my kiddos.