Precision and Order are all that I Ask...

Our family Christmas Present from my brother was a wonderful trip in January to NYC to see Mary Poppins. We had a wonderful wonderful time and the kids just loved the play (it was their first Broadway Show ... and what a great one to begin with!)

Just a week or so ago, my brother asked if I was sure the kids had a good time, because he loves the idea of giving the theater as a gift and would like to do it again next year! Well, I think the "proof is in the picture" ... this morning, beachdude came downstairs after dressing himself with his "briefcase" and "umbrella" singing word for word "Precision and Order" from the play.

Yes, I think the kids LOVED the play!!

no good deed ...

goes unpunished! Is that the quote? Today has just been one of those "through the dryer and still feeling damp kind of days!!"

My involvement with the PTO at the kid's school is not my favorite thing to talk about because it makes me sound like such a negative nellie. But, today has been one of the worst and I just cannot believe the nerve that people have. People who don't volunteer, help out, participate in any way except to send "nasty grams" every time that they can. I just got a new VP, god love him, and his words to me this morning were "The only words that should be coming out of anyone's mouth about the pto's activities should be 'thank you'"! I love supportive people and I love the sentiment. However, I can deal with criticism one on one. I know all of the work that our committees do on a daily basis at our school, so we have nothing to apologize for. Could we do things better? ABSOLUTELY!! Could things be more organized? ABSOLUTELY!! But come to me personally about these issues, or come to one of our monthly board meetings to express your concerns.

getting along with others rule #997:
DON'T VENT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF AN E-VITE inviting you to come to school and judge a children's poster contest!!!!!

The day WILL TURN AROUND ...

4th Grade

When we first had BeachBoy, I was warned about the late nights, colic, the terrible twos lasting longer than just that 12 month period, the heartache of that first day of school. I am in the process of preparing myself for the pre-teen hormones, the teenage years, again staying up late into the night as he drives and goes out, the heartache of his first heartbreak, meeting his future wife and not liking her at all, then accepting the woman he marries. THEN easy street with grandkids and all that joys that my parents are currently experiencing.



HOWEVER, no one, and I mean no one warned me about 4TH GRADE HELL!!!! There is no other way to describe the tumultuous household that we currently have with our 10 year old 4th grader:

No respect ~ No responsibility ~ attitude ~ no drive or ambition ~ doesn't care about school, sports, life in general ~ forgets EVERYTHING

He simply cannot get it together. If he survives to the age of 11, I will be stunned. Beachdad and I stay awake at nights trying to figure out what is going on, where our awesome kid went, and when is he going to come back home. I miss him terribly and I just pray he comes home soon - I will welcome him with open arms! Until that glorious day, however, we will continue to ride him, take away privileges, add to his chores, continue to love him and pray, pray, pray that things will get better!

it was AWESOME!!!

there are times that I am so frustrated by our school that I could just scream ... but then there was this weekend when I was in absolute AWE!!

We survived the 2008 school play this past weekend ... and for only having two lines, Beachboy did a fabulous job. His largest feat was "pretending to talk" while his microphone was on so that no one else could hear anything. I was impressed by his skill! Actually I was impressed by all of the actors skills ... considering we are not an arts or magnet school, our school putting on "The Sound of Music" with 3rd, 4th & 5th graders was impressive in and of itself. The amazing quality of the production was quite a credit to our students and directors! WOWOWOWOW ... is all I can say!

a sidenote:
Off to make dinner ... Daddy is not home tonight so we are having gourmet Chicken Condon Bleu (frozen and pre-packaged) with scalloped potatoes (also frozen and pre-packaged)! Daddy won't eat this particular meal, so whenever he has a late night with no dinner at home, the kids beg for it!

must we not learn from (our mother's) mistakes?

poor beachboy is not having a great week (month, 6 months) by any stretch of the imagination ... and it is driving me batty! Mainly driving me batty because that poor child is living every mistake, screw-up, test and trial that I experienced at the same age. I don't really have a good way to let him know that "everything you are doing to get out of doing homework/being responsible/telling the truth/getting good grades, is just very simply NOT GOING TO WORK ... so you might as well just "hop-to", get your work done, and accept that you currently have no control over your life."

He is insisting on learning all of this the hard way, and frankly, it is starting to piss me off! Definitely not a good day around here today.

gotta be a quickie

snowballs here, snowballs there ... my procrastinating ways have finally caught up with me and I have been way too busy for the last week! Throw in a bad case of pink eye and a respiratory infection (read nebulizer treatments) for BeachBoy and final week of play practice (yahoo) for BeachGirl and the BeachFamily bus service has been in full swing.

Update - I was actually the recipient of the part time job I talked about last week and finally got in all of my paperwork for substituting. Maybe there is light somewhere in the depths of the deep black hole of financial trauma that we are experiencing. I only know that I have slept through the night for two straight nights in a row! How to juggle two additional responsibilities, I have no idea ... but at least I am "doing something" about our problems instead of "hoping" they will go away.

BeachDude is away for the day with his awesome grandparents ... so I have six open hours to finish (well, start and finish) the school play program, a zillion thank you notes and get our health insurance payment in the mail by 2 pm. Wish me luck!