Real or fake.....I just don't know

I grew up with a fake tree, colored lights and ugly ornaments. I always vowed that when I had my own place I would get a real tree with white lights and pretty ornaments. For the last 12ish years that is exactly what I have done.

This year seemed to be a bad one for us with regards to our tree. We picked out a real tree from a produce stand near our home. We typically get our pumpkins there as well. It was a beautiful tree so full that it barely fit in our corner.

We did not get the tree in the stand straight to begin with and after decorations went on it fell. My husband noticed that before Christmas it was not soaking up any water and it was becoming dry. This became very noticeable on Christmas eve. The tree was sagging. So on Christmas evening we had to bring down the tree. What a mess everywhere. I am sure I will be finding needles all over my house for some time.

Now we have to decide if we should buy a fake tree. I do have to admit the trees out now are so pretty. It is nothing like I had growing up. But I love the smell of a real tree during the holidays. My neighbor tells me to get pine scented items and it will give the same affect. My husband wonders if Christmas trees is like giving birth. It is not pleasant but then you forget about it all and do it all over again.

I am not sure at this point what we will do. I guess we will have to wait until next Christmas before I make the determination.

Speaking of falling. I had to run to the grocery store for a few things today. The kids, all three of them, were hanging on the cart. I was driving and I ran into a display of garlic keepers, which went all over the floor. Lovely! We picked them all up and the nice produce guy told me not to worry about it that he would organize it. Why in the heck are there so many of those displays throughout the store? The store is crowded enough without having to manage around them.

Christmas

The boys have had a nice long break from school thanks to the snow. They have enjoyed their time at home especially since Dad was on vacation.

They were very excited on Christmas Eve. The boys had just finished eating a donut. We went to a children's service at church and then came home and had Christmas dinner.

As usual we left treats out for Santa. Jay also wrote a long letter to Santa. Santa sent them letters this year and Jay was responding to his. He also asked Santa 2 questions, one was how do reindeer fly and how does Rudolph's nose glow. We hope that Santa will answer his letter. It was a really cute thoughtful letter.

It was early to bed for everyone to await the morning.

I had the boys sit on the stairs so that I could take them one by one in to see their gifts. We went from the oldest to the youngest and Tee almost started to cry. I guess I can relate to him being that I am the youngest of 5 and my parents did the same thing. Except my parents would make us wait forever or maybe it just seemed that way.

Santa left lots of nice presents for the boys. They are so fortunate to have so many people who love them also that sent them nice gifts. We try to get the boys to take their time. They looked at their Santa gifts first and then emptied their stockings. We then took a break for breakfast, which is always Monkey bread. Then it was back to unwrapping gifts.

My husband and I decided to let the boys finish and we could open our gifts in peace which worked out nicely but we realized they had no idea what we got. We may have to re-think that for next year.

I am not sure what Santa was thinking with the skateboards but they seem to like them. Tee loves his Spider man Scooter and helmet.

We had such a nice Christmas but as always miss being with family.

Why could the snow not have waited?

I just received an email from the school system notifying me that school is once again canceled tomorrow. That means just as it was last year, the boys will have 2 full weeks of vacation.

I am a little baffled as to why they could not attend school today. The roads for the most part are clear. There are a few areas on the side roads that are a little slushy and frozen. We have been going everywhere we need to with no problem. And I can tell you that everyone else is out and about as well.

We ended up getting somewhere between 21 and 23 inches of snow. We had blizzard conditions for most of Saturday. I don’t think I have ever seen this much snow in my life.

We are so fortunate that our neighbors have a snow blower and they cleared our driveway several times on Saturday and Sunday. My husband had to shovel a lot also. The snow is still piled deep on the grass.

We are expecting rain on Friday which will melt the snow a little quicker. But snow is once again in the forecast for the weekend. Not as much snow this time around, at least that is what they are predicting right now.

My husband has the week off. We were hoping to be able to get a lot done while the kids were at school this week but you can see how well that has worked for us.

The boys have LOVED playing in the snow. My husband and niece took the two older boys sledding (on a hill in the neighborhood) several times this past weekend. They loved it. Of course, the camera was not taken so I don’t have any pictures. Tee liked playing in the snow as well but he could not stay out for too long.

Well, I think we will have to work hard tonight to get all of our stuff done.

Snowed In

The snow started falling last night and has not let up one bit. We probably have over 24 inches right now. And snow is expected to continue until tomorrow morning.

The boys got ready for their first adventure outside to play.

Jay playing in the snow that Dad shoveled off the driveway!

EE was doing flips while Tee was shoveling snow on the grass.

How fun!

Rosy cheeks and a runny nose.....lovely.

The kids went out again after lunch. They had fun. Then Dad took the older two down the street so the boys could sled down a hill. They had a blast.

We have heard that the last time it snowed this much it took them 3 days to get dug out. I am so happy that my husband is off of work next week.

The last few days

I won and yes I do like winning. My husband brought home HIS gift. It is one of those brownie pans where you put the divider down before you bake for perfectly cut brownies every time. My husband pointed out it has many more uses.

I spent the entire day yesterday baking. And today I sent all of my packages out. I am now worried that all my cookies will be destroyed before reaching their destination. The postal worker was not very kind to them. So if you are a recipient sorry. I need to find a better way to mail them out for next year.

I think there is something wrong with having to smell food while you work out at the gym. I do the StairMaster which is near where it is open to the bottom floor. And wouldn't you know that is where the cafe is. Maybe this is how they keep gym membership up.

Speaking of being wrong. This past weekend, EE was invited to a birthday party of one of his good girl friends in his class. The invitation did not request a RSVP and the time was from 1-3:30. My husband dropped him off at the house which is in our neighborhood. The Mom said that she had things for the kids to do so pick them up between 5 and 5:30. I thought that was a bit much. So at 3:30 I started pestering my husband to go pick him up. He finally left and when he didn't come home right away I knew I was going to be in a little bit of trouble. He has gotten there right when they were doing the cake.

I found many things about this party bizarre. A 2 1/2 hour party is good a 4 1/2 hour is a bit too long for everyone involved. EE came home with nice gifts. Imagine getting a gift for going to a party. He got a boxed set of 3 small balls (football, basketball and soccer) along with a winter hat and a little bag with chips, candy bar and a truck.

Later in the evening, as we sat down to eat our pizzas EE asked if he could have something else. He didn't want to eat pizza again. So somewhere in that time frame she fed them pizza. They played games but not sure what they did the entire time. He had a great time from what he tells us but I still think it was a little weird.

Christmas re-gifting

Yesterday, I prepared a few hams and about 10 lbs of pork BBQ and picked up a few chicken nugget trays for my husband's work office pot luck lunch today. A few years ago, I opened my mouth about how much they were having to pay for a catering company to bring in meats. It is not a big deal and I get to eat with them.

After the lunch they feast on desserts. I opted not to make anything this year. I had enough with the meats and I still have to get my Christmas cookies made and sent.

The last part of the work party is a gift exchange. I spoke with my husband a few minutes ago and asked what he got as his gift. He said he would not tell me because he was going to wrap and put under the tree as a gift for me...a Christmas gift. My response was that he could not re-gift his gift to me, but that he could bring it home and just give it to me.

He goes on to say that this item was on his list so he went after it with that in mind. I gave him more grief. His response was that he should have gotten the $20 Target gift card in order to go buy this item instead. He was being facetious. What do you think?

Baby it is cold outside

Last weekend we had our first snow of the season. The boys had a great time making a snowman. Luckily, Dad was home to help because Floridian Mom is no help in that area. I had to search for items to make eyes, a nose and mouth. We settled on cherries for the eyes and nose and apple slices for the mouth.


Men at work

By this time Tee was way to cold to still be outside.

Later on in the day we decorated the Christmas trees. The boys have a small one in the basement. The snow got us all in the Christmas spirit. The tree turned out so nice.

Late Sunday evening as we were all upstairs I heard something. I wasn’t sure what it was so I went along with what I was doing. My husband goes running downstairs calling for my assistance. The tree had fallen over.

We had a hard time getting the tree in the stand (especially with the husband’s hurt arm). The tree stood a little crooked. When we added the ornaments, mainly on the front, the weight was too much. I was so shocked and upset but I couldn’t cry. I did say a few choice words though.

Many of our sentimental ornaments broke. It was very sad to have to throw all of the broken glass in the trash. It took us close to 2 hours to get it cleaned up and the tree back in the stand, straight this time. For security the tree is also tied.

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The weather has been unbearably cold here for the last week. The winds have not let up. I am trying to spend as much time as possible inside.

The two older boys have been wound up. I know the excitement of Christmas has a little part in it all. Some days I wonder if the punishment they receive is really MY punishment. They lost their gaming system the other day for misbehavior. They were awful all afternoon. Two more weeks!

Wow, that is right two more weeks. I still have a bit to get done. I hope to have a productive weekend.

Almost busted

The boys like to play a game where one of them hides these army men and then the other one has to find them. What normally happens is that they hide them everywhere and the other child doesn’t find them all. So I will find them all over the place at different times.

Thanksgiving weekend they decided to play the game. I requested that they only hide them in one space, whether it be in the sun room, family room or one of their bed rooms. They took off and I cleaned up the kitchen.

I headed upstairs to get ready for the day and as I did my husband walked out of our bathroom to find our closet doors wide open with the boys in our room. He got incredibly mad at the boys and sent them to their rooms. We had some presents in there that we had not had a chance to move yet. Not one of them was in a bag. We thought about moving them the previous night but I was really tired and thought it could wait one more day.

My entire shower I was trying to come up with something we could say. Yes, we would probably have to tell a few white lies but what could we do. My husband came in a few minutes later and said he talked with both boys. They did not see anything. They were probably wondering why we were so upset.

This led us to our discussion of when is it time to not believe any more. I have friends whose kids in 5th grade still believe (or else they are playing along). I personally think that 5th grade is a bit too late. A 5th grader has so many more reasoning abilities.

I stopped believing early on thanks to be the last of 5 children and having an older sister who I would overhear talking about gifts. That and the fact that I would hear the rattling of the bags as my parents brought gifts from their bedroom. We lived in a small house and I shared a room with my 2 sisters.

I am not going to tell them anytime soon. I enjoy their excitement of Christmas and the crazy ideas that pop into their heads about Santa. I know at some point it will happen.

So on December 24th, we will leave cookies on a plate and a glass of milk for Santa and reindeer food on our driveway for the reindeers.

Media....really?

Who knew that Media (Library) class could cause such problems in our household? I will start off by saying the media teachers are all new this year. Last year the media teachers were horrible and I am trying to figure out if they are much better this year.

In Media, EE got a grade of W (with assistance) and a 2 (Satisfactory) for conduct. The highest grade is I (independent) and 1 (great) in all of their courses. I found it odd that he would be struggling in media and questioned his teacher. She forwarded my concern to the media teacher who called me one evening.

She was on the defensive for the duration of our call. My approach was to determine how I could help him do better in class. She went on to say that W2 is average and NOT bad. She has a curriculum she follows from the county. And she is teaching lifelong skills to the kids. The kids must contribute in class and they must be able to answer questions. She did feel bad because she scored EE incorrectly. He was tied in both the grade and conduct and she typically moves it up. His grade has been changed to I1.

That was the end of our conversation. I didn’t get a good feeling and felt she was talking down to me the entire time. My feeling is that media should be fun learning especially for a 2nd grader. EE loves the library and I don’t want him to dread class every Monday.

I wish it ended there but there is more. On Monday, EE received a work paper home from Media with the following note: a drawn sad face followed by “I know you can do better. I expect more from you”. It was a map of the library and the kids were to color code the different areas as stated in the instructions. He did not complete the assignment and may not have gotten much correct. There were 10 areas to identify.

I have to say I was very upset that a teacher would write this on anyone’s paper. The school has symbols used for grading papers. I have NEVER seen anything like this written on my kids papers.

I asked some of my friends what they thought about the comment and they all felt like me. I felt it needed to be addressed with her. Then if I didn’t feel satisfied I would talk to the principal.

I sent her a note letting her know that EE was confused by the map and told me he could not walk around. I then said that I thought her comment on his paper could have been worded more appropriately for a 2nd grader.

She responds with details (very detailed) of the assignment. They had been given 2 tours of the library and they were told they could get up if needed. At the end of the explanation she writes the following “If you can think of a way I can adapt my instruction to be more supportive, I would gladly welcome your feedback.” That is really the part that made me mad. She goes on to say that she is sorry I feel the way I do. She has high expectations for her students, like she knows I do.

I do think that it is important to not discourage children. This is just media class and in the whole scheme of things not as important as reading and math.

I have witnessed and have had other people tell me that she is not nice to the kids. In class, she often raises her voice. That really bothers me also.

I am not sure what to do at this point. My friends think I need to take it to the principal. I will think about it for a while, but I will definitely file this correspondence for safe keeping.

First Quarter

Report cards came home a few weeks ago for all of the boys. First quarter has flown by.

Even Tee received a report from school. It was funny to read. Imagine this….he acts like a 2 year old. He still tends to play on his own a lot but listens and follows instruction. The biggest shock is that he is quiet in class. No wonder he talks non-stop with me. The teachers are great and he loves going to preschool.

Last week conferences were held for the boys. It is always nice to speak with the teachers to get their perspective of your child. We typically only meet with the home room teacher but I try to meet with their Math teachers at least one time during the year.

Both boys did well on their report cards. They both are a little ahead in Reading and Literature. They have a few things to improve for next quarter but over all they are doing well.

Jay’s home room teacher loves him. This is obviously a good thing for him. She is definitely strict but I feel is a very good teacher. His Math teacher this year is the teacher he had last year. He tends to be a little chatty in class but I think that the majority of the class is the same way. It is hard not to be sucked into a conversation here or there.

EE’s home room teacher is great as well. She thinks Ethan is a neat kid. She is surprised about his love of reading and his ability to comprehend so much. EE has to work on his penmanship.

I have 2 dilemmas with the school and EE. I will start with Math. We met with his math teacher. She is in her first year of teaching. She seemed a little disorganized. We were there to discuss math and she didn’t have any of his 1st quarter tests. She was able to pull up his scores on her computer but we couldn’t see them. She rattled off some numbers. I feel that he could be pushed a little harder in Math. He picks up on concepts very quickly. He could be moved into a class that is a bit faster paced. They review topics quicker and may take them a step further. My experience from last year was that the class was too easy for him and I feel like it is happening all over again.

I voiced my concern to the teacher and she said she would follow up with the other teacher. The other teacher already has 20 students whereas his current class is only 13. We are concerned that if we move him he will not do as well. We have talked with him about it and he does not want to change his Math class. He tells us that Math is his favorite subject.

I have followed up with the teacher because I never heard anything from her. He is on the agenda to be discussed at a team meeting soon. I wish I knew the right thing to do.

The other issue I have is with Media (Library) of all things. This has gotten out of hand and needs its own post.

Thanksgiving

My husband was off of work all week last week. We had so many projects we wanted to complete and got little to none of them done. My husband's arm (above the wrist all the way to his thumb) started hurting him on Sunday and he was unable to use his left hand very much. The Drs. are baffled. He is being sent to an orthopedic specialist.

We were so happy to have my MIL join us for Thanksgiving. The kids love having her here. We had a huge meal with a ton of food. We got a little shopping done while she was here. We also went to a festival of trees event held annually. It was a fun time.

The kids and Grandma in front of the MANY trees at the festival.

We were lucky to be able to see Santa there also. EE was a big grumpy but we forced him to sit with Santa.

It seems like the time went by so quickly.