The Apology

Yesterday we got a call home from Finn's Kindergarten teacher.
"Finn has been very playful today...was not able to focus....fooling around..."
THEN came the kicker: "He really took it over the edge when he decided to test how far he could spit."

I am picturing it now in my head. I can just see him in his classroom, elbowing his buddy J_____, and saying "Hey J____, wanna see how far I can spit??"
then hock-tooey.

I dont know how many times he spit, or if he had a little gang around him watching, or when he decided to do it.

All I know is he was toast when he got home. I made him stay in his room with nothing but his books until dinner. Then we had some family time and he went back up to bed.
There is no TV and no Wii for 3 days. I even made him write the apology letter above.
I dont know if you can see the little tear stains on the paper or not. He was so mad at me.
"It's too hard" "I am just a little kid, I cant write such a long letter"(Well if it wasnt to hard to hock a loogie halfway across the classroom, then it isnt too hard to write a three sentence apology to your teacher.)

Then when he saw I was unmoved by his plea, he launched into the classics:
Im not your friend anymore" , "You are a mean mom. Im going to live at Amy's house!" and my personal favorite "I just dont want you anymore"
He ran the whole gamut of emotions:pleading, crying, yelling, screaming, apologizing, sweetness and light, back to screaming. It was a really fun day. No really, I enjoy my normally mild mannered sweet boy acting like a total jerkface. Makes me feel really good. I really feel like a good mom when he screams "I dont like you anymore" or "I dont want you anymore"(actually I think it is kind of funny. I keep my cool and he gets more and more frustrated trying to come up with insults and things he thinks will get him his way)

So Ms V, I apologize as well for my sons behaviour and his little salivary escapade.

Finn explains The Oobleck

ok so in school(kindergarten) Finns class read about Oobleck. (dr Seuss gooey sticky rain or some such stuff)
His teacher brought in homemade Oobleck(cornstarch and water to make the gooey solid/liquid.)
The kids could use their 5 senses with it and then write down their observations on a piece of paper. It was all very sciency.

so I am re-creating what finn wrote in his boxes:

Sight: Mese
Touch: Stece
sound: Nuffing
Smell: bad ewwwwwww
taste(teacher typed WE DO NOT TASTE IT.)

so as a quick translation, for those of you who dont know how to read Kindergartener:
It looked MESSY
It felt STICKY
It sounded like NOTHING
It Smelled BAD(ewwwwwwww)

that kid. Nuffing. Thats what I am going to say from now on.
Hey, whats going on? eh, nuffing.

2 weeks until school starts!!

Can you tell I am counting down to school starting back up??

I love my boys. i really do. But they drive me crazy.

Yesterday was a "getting ready to go back to school" day. I am actually giddy about it. I always loved going shopping with my mom and buying school supplies. That was the one day of summer I really looked forward to,. It made me excited for class and a new teacher and new friends. There is something so unexplainable about the newness of the supplies. The sharp pointy crayons. The pencils with erasers still intact. A brand new trapper keeper with the crisp ZIP sound still in the velcro and the perfect shiny folders inside. The rubbery smell of the pink pearl erasers. It was almost a rush for my younger self.

930 AM:
Finn had his 5 year physical and dr appointment. he had to have it before he started school.
His regular pediatrician Dr. R ____ was booked. So we had to see a new dr who just started at the practice. So we are waiting and Dr. B_______ walks in and says "I know your brother, Finn!"
She had done her residency at UNC and took care of Peter pre and post transplant and had been on call if he went in for treatment etc. She said "I remember seeing you when you were just a little guy coming to visit your brother!" So it was nice to have a familiar face.
BUT poor little guy had to have 5 shots. DTP, Hep A, MMR, Polio and Varicella. But he was a trooper...although refused to talk to me for about 2 hours. Boy was he mad. But he milked it for his grandma. "I got 5 shots and they hurt. I cried and cried. my arm still hurts...cough cough" (I dont know why giving him shots would make him cough)
But to make up for the injustices of it all we let him choose where he wanted to go to lunch. yesterday was Charles day off and since Finns birthday is Friday we made this his birthday choice and he was happy with it.

400pm:
My mom, the boys and I all went to walmart to get school supplies. Having one kid in school was expensive enough. Now having TWO is double the trouble. And they each had a list a mile long of things needed.)
#2 pencils, chubby pencils, crayons, fat crayons, colored pencils, markers, erasers, glue sticks(the big fat ones),tennis balls, a ream of paper each, various sizes of zip lock bags, clorox wipes and hand sanitizer, folders, composition notebooks, baby wipes, kleenex , scissors, pencil boxes, highlighters, dry erase markers blah blah blah.
so 72$ and a kitchen full of school supplies later I am having quite the time sorting them out.

TODAY:
I am going thorough their clothes drawers. They have plenty of jeans and shorts. but MANY of their shirts are too small now. My boys grow long in the torso. SO the pants still fit, but the shirts are now half shirts a la Homer Simpson. So i have some clothes shopping to get done as well. Another excuse to spend money!!

I know I will miss them once they are gone, but right now I am impatient to get them out of the house!! I am so tired of fighting over Transformers and fighting over who plays the video games and fighting on the trampoline and fighting at the pool and fighting on the computer and fighting about taking the dog for a walk. I am tired of Peter telling Finn what to say and how to play. i am tired of Finn trying his darndest to get Peter in trouble.
i am so sick of hearing "Im Thirsty!" or "Peter hit me!" or Peters saying "Fine Finn! You wont play it my way? Then I quit!" GAH shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup.

Lord grant me patience to last two more weeks.

LIFETOUCH STRIKES AGAIN

One of my favorite blogs to read is http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/
A week or so ago he had a blog about the worst Olan Mills pictures out there.
I laughed so hard I was crying. This guy has a wicked sense of humor, and his captions were just so hilarious. Here is the link:http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2007/09/great-olan-mills-photos.html

Well he has since advertised for more bad pictures. Apparently he has been approached by a publisher to create a whole book of these bad pictures with captions and has asked for submissions from the public. Now I think I may have a pretty good shot at getting into the book with any one of the followiong 3 photos.


This was 1982. I loved this shirt. It was shot through with threads of gold and the ruffles down the front really made my day. I had the typical early 80's haircut. I was growing out my Dorothy Hamill and had sprouted wings on the sides of my head.

I was not yet self conscious of my teeth, which were bucked AND gapped. My BFF Lindsey dubbed them "scissor teeth".

Apparently my school in central Ohio is in the middle of the mountains in this photo.







I am in 2nd grade in this photo. My mother took me to Shotteinsteins to get my outfit. This STUNNING striped turtleneck and matching green pants. My teacher, for some unknown reason, decided to comb all of my hair forward, giving my shag a helmet look. Still not quite conscious of how bad my teeth were...or how hideous this turtleneck actually was.

4th Grade. 1985, by this time I had become more aware of my teeth and tried not to smile with my mouth open. I had a haircut that I now refer to as a "shaglet"
It was a shag/mullet mix. I was trying really hard to NOT smile(see my dimple chin?). The photographer was trying to make me laugh and making my eyes water. All around it is a stellar example.

Now I realize I will get made fun of. I accept that. I can make fun of myself...then go eat a pan of brownies and drown my sorrows in chocolate.
Seriously though, I am going to submit one of these and hope for the best. Wouldnt that be awesome to be in a book? As I said in my very first blog 2008 is the year I go for my dreams. If I dont try I will never know. Just imagine, my bad pictures could be preserved forever and ever! My kids and grandkids and great grandkids could have that book and show their friends "Hey want to see how ugly my grandma was when she was little?"
ahhh, The glory of fame.