August 6, 2004

• Nope - still won't let me upload a picture ... rats ... I survived the first day of school.  Kept very busy unpacking and organizing my books.  The boys were excited to go and had a good day.  Before he left yesterday, Tucker asked me, "Mom, are you prepared for me to come home this afternoon?"  He was checking out the fancy after school snacks in the new Family Fun magazine. 

  
  

  It wasn't one of the featured snacks, but I stopped in at the grocery and picked up ingredients to make "dirt" cups.  He loves gummy worms so he was thrilled.  I got hugged and kissed and told that I'm the best Mom ever.  I'm a happy little clam. 

  
  

  So today ...

  
  

  Michael: "Mom!  It's 8:19"

  
  

  "Yes, I know, Honey, but you don't have to be there for 20 minutes.  Here's your backpack."

  
  

  Tucker: "Mom!  It's 8:20!"

  
  

  "Wow, you're doing so WELL with telling time.  I'm proud of you, Baby.  Did you eat anything yet?"

  
  

  Together:  "MOM!"

  
  

  "All right, all right, let me find my keys ..."

  
  

  I looked up to see Tucker dangling my keys from his finger, Michael holding my purse, and the two of them standing by the open door with looks of long-suffering tolerance on their little faces.  Made me just want to SMACK 'EM with great big red lip-sticky lips. 

  
  

  

  
  

  "MOM!!  Ewwwww! it's 8:21 already, we don't have time for this kissy stuff."

  
  

  

  
  

  The pleasures of parenthood kept me laughing for an hour after I dropped them off.  The school is SO crowded.  The front page story of yesterday's Gazette is that our district (which is practically BRAND NEW) has already outgrown the facilities.  Voters last year defeated a measure that would have provided money to build more or add on.  Well, I registered to vote yesterday.  But in the meantime, the kids are loving it. 

  
  

  Now if I can just figure out how to get there without getting turned around.  The neighborhood has these winding streets that twist around until you don't know whether you are heading north, south, east or west.  As the crow flies, that school can't be more than a half mile from our front door, but the best I've been able to do finding my way there and back is to go out to the main road and drive a mile around this development to come in from the back (exactly a mile).  The path through the neighborhood is 1.6 miles.  o_0

  
  

  Yeah, I'm a geek.  I drove the routes three times yesterday trying to figure out the shortest and easiest.  And as I stood outside the school with the other parents, I spent my time  thinking of all the ways that the design of the facility could be improved.  First on my list is that the bus lanes need to be moved.  They are way at the end past the area where parents pick up kids.  SO when the teachers brought the kids out there was this massive crowd of parents milling around.  The teachers had to try to herd their charges through all the adults and get the bus riders out the other side.  It was scary seeing how little control they had and how easy it would have been for a kid to leave with the wrong person.  No one would know until it was way too late.

  
  

  For Dirt Cups ...

  
  

  Buy the cheapo clear plastic cups
  put dark fudge pudding in each cup
  sprinkle with Oreo cookie crumbs
  place gummy worms in each cup so that it looks like the worms are coming up out of the ground

  
  

  keep a tight grip on yours or some kid will have "seconds"

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 12:38 pm
  • 13 Comments