Ah, the Annual Senior Parade

This morning, after dropping DQ at 4K and PM at his after school care location for the whole day (which he was fine with, woo-who!), I got stuck in traffic in my little town. All of the traffic was due to the annual Senior Parade. I think this is really the neatest little thing. Today is the first day of school and all of the new seniors meet up the road and decorate their cars. Then, they drive down the main road to the school with flashers on, horns blaring and their windows down. Their parents line up along the road waving. Some even have signs made up! Just makes me realize that one day, I will be one of those moms and those will be my kids driving down the road...

My poor baby!

We went to PM's kindergarten orientation last night. We walked up to the posts for which child is in which class and I almost burst into tears when I saw who he got. You see, all along, I have been told by several parents that you do not want your kid in this one teacher's class. Apparently, she is pretty mean/stern. She isn't the warm and fuzzy type. Well, that's who he got. I kept the tears in and went to meet her. She has zero personality. I don't think I saw her smile one time. All of the other classes got a full folder of information, including the student handbook. We got nothing! The only thing she handed out were the drop off circle picture, showing where to drop them off, and a one page sheet about the cafeteria payment system. His bf is across the hall. His class, like most of the others, even had their assigned seats already. I am just sick over this. I know it can't be all that bad, but my little man needs the warm and fuzzy!!! I also heard that she was talked to by the administration when she came from the other elementary school to this one (when the split the two schools from both doing K-5 to one K-1 and the other 2-5). Apparently, she is a very black/white person and there is no middle ground with her.

I have to be positive and keep an open mind in front of PM, or it will just add to his anxiety. But, I am so worried about him! He is a go with the flow type of kid, so once he gets over the initial anxiety, I think he will be fine. Mommy on the other hand, I don't know about...

New Starts

DQ is beginning Pre-K on Monday morning. I am not ready for it.

PM is beginning Kindergarten a week from Monday. I am not ready for it.

I think I am avoiding this blog so that I don't have to talk or think about it. Here is a wonderful poem written by one of my mommy friends. Thanks for the poem Edie!!!

His little nose pressed to the glass,
how did the time pass by so fast?
His little hand goes up to wave,
I will not cry, I will be brave.
Almost six years have passed by since
the day we brought him home,
and now the big bus rolls away,
my little guy is gone.
A school boy now and off to see
the wide world waiting there.
I hope the world is kind to him,
it can be so cruel and unfair.
I stand alone and watch the bus as it rumbles down the street.
My smile fades as a tear slips out,
have fun at school, my Sweet.

Off Color Topic

If you came here today looking to find pictures of the kids, sorry. I have a different topic to discuss. I have been wanting to post this for a while, but have been putting it off. The subject isn't a very polite one, but this is something that I think of every day.

Farting –verb (used without object)
--to expel a flatus through the anus; break wind
pass gas
cut one
cut the cheese
let her rip
rip one

You get the picture I think (although, I really hope not). Anyway, what I am talking about is bathroom etiquette. There are basically three types of people. First comes the "concealer's". At my office, these women are obsessed with flushing the toilet every time they pass gas or poo. Why? When you are in the bathroom, isn't that what you are supposed to do? Then there are the "piggy backers". This is me. Personally, I hate to do flush when I have to pass gas or the other, because if you are sitting down, your bottom gets splashed with toilet water. So, I sit and wait and hold it until someone else flushes and I can let it out very quietly. Lastly, there are the "men". We'll call the last group this due to the fact that they just let'em rip and don't bother with the cover up of a flush of either their own toilet or someone else's.

Which group are you in?

Pest Identified

The culprit in the previous post that is killing our shrub is called Cottony Cushion Scale. Ewwww!

Bugs

So, one of our bushes in front of our garage has become infested with some type of bug/grub/worm... I don't know what it is. If anyone knows, can you let me know???
So far, the closest thing I can find are mealybugs, but ours aren't really flat, nor are they cottony. These things look like some type of sucking insect, like a leech. They seem to have a "head" that is stuck to the plant with little antennae and then a white curved body. So far, BD has sprayed the plant with a pest killer. I think I may try a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water on it tonight, just on the actual bugs, not the whole plant.

Rodeo

Saturday evening, we packed up the kids and headed about 40 minutes down the road to a rodeo. They have never been to one, neither has BD. I have only been to one rodeo in my lifetime and that was all the way up around Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.

We arrived at about 6:15pm. The rodeo wasn't supposed to start until 8pm, so we figured we had time to eat and ride some rides. Little did we know that the rides were so overpriced! The whole darn thing was expensive. We paid $16 for each adult and $8 for each kid, so $48 just to get in. We went to look at the rides (the fair kind) and saw they took 4 tickets. When we went to the ticket booth, we found tickets were a dollar apiece! So, instead of riding rides, we let them pick food and they did the bounce house thing (only $2). Here is DQ with her greasy/yummy corn dog:
Here she is post corn dog:
We rarely give PM soda and when we do it is only Sprite. He didn't want anything to eat (he later ate some of my burger), but he just wanted a soda:
Happy DQ waiting for it to start:
Happy PM waiting for it to start:
Like I said, we had lots of time to kill, especially since they delayed the start by 30 minutes to get more people in from the parking lot. The kids got cotton candy: Here is the start of it: After that, it got too dark and I couldn't get any good pictures. The kids loved it. Even BD enjoyed himself. We ended up leaving at halftime, due to DQ being overtired and unable to last any longer. We were home by 11pm.

More Pool Fun

DQ has mastered swimming in deep water and now is jumping off the diving board. Watch the below video to see her. She basically just runs and keeps on going...



PM has figured out if he starts with a dive that he can do a somersault flip into the water:



Also, sometimes cameras capture a little bit more than what you really wanted to see:


Here is PM working on an actual dive. If we can just get him to bend his head down a little more (chin into chest) and straighten his legs, he will have great form!


Here's one of DQ doing her run off the end. She is so proud of herself and we are too!


Lastly, it isn't often that you want to see your kid like this, but in this case it's ok.