The scoop on Mutton Busting 2010

So, I'm ready to move on already from my last post--thanks again for your kind words. Here are the pictures from the county fair from a few weeks ago. It was a HOT day, but we had gotten this bee in our bonnet to sign the kids up for the mutton busting. See, many eons ago, Jared took me to his hometown's Strawberry Days, where we loved to see the poor little kids riding the sheep like it was a rodeo. So hysterical! They had them all released at the same time, and then they were tossed off into the soft dirt of the big ring, so it was quite a show, but very safe, albeit messy. So I did a little research to see if such high culture was available in my county, and it was! I was so excited! So, I made them wear pants and real shoes and we discussed strategy and headed off to the fair, helmets in tow. We did wander around for a while...here's the pix from checking out the swine barn...

And we did pass on this delicacy-dang!

Not exactly the "wild animal petting zoo" that we anticipated--thank goodness! Those are wolves.

And they went crazy over the chickens, just like their dad. I did not try to put my fingers in--not even a temptation.


And, then it was finally time for the mutton busting! And they had a jimmy-rigged "arena" set up on a patch of grass that was pretty tiny, and a teeny set of bleachers set up for the crowd. Needless to say, that was unimpressive, but they were excited.




And then it was Sara's turn..

And she got bucked off and then stepped on, so she was hating on all things mutton busting. I had the camera on video and have yet to figure out how to put videos on here, but it's pretty sad. I was not feeling so smug about my decision to push them into this. Oops. John still was ready to go, though.



And he stayed on 7.6 seconds or something and LOVED it! Half of that time he was completely hanging off to one side, but still held on pretty long. It was really adorable and the crowd really cheered him. It was so cute!

Sara's "I'll never forgive you, Mom" face.

Until you take me on the Ferris Wheel! All better! Whew.


John also did the crazy house thing, but I had the camera on video again. After that, we took off pretty quick, because it was so humid and hot, but it was a pretty fun day. Should I sign them up next year? :o)

I didn't know Kindergarten would be so hard--for me! :o)

Well, school has been kind of a roller coaster ride so far, and I've decided I'm not tough enough for this whole ordeal. John's had a few hard days, and my heart just can't take it when he's upset!! And I really don't like not being there to know exactly what happened, so then going back and forth between John and the teachers all the while trying to seem like I know what I'm doing is a tad stressful!

Here's the rundown on the run-ins so far:
Week 1 went well enough, but then week 2 started off with a "red" for behavior, which is not good. What the? John's teacher had a note in his planner that he had hit a girl while they were in line. What the? As I tried to stay calm and get John's side of the story, he just cried and cried about being in trouble, so then I cried, and it took a long time to get all the details out. Evidentally, he was trying to get this girl's attention to tell her about how he had gone mutton busting at the fair (oh, yes, you heard me!) over the weekend, but she wasn't paying attention. So, he knocked on her forehead (you know what I mean?)--kind of a weird thing to do, but not exactly "hitting." So, we had a long chat about keeping our hands to ourselves, and I had him draw her a picture to say sorry, but I wasn't upset with him or anything. Oh, the drama!

Then just two days later when he was brought out to my car he tells me he had to go sit with the director (aka principal). What the? No note from the teacher this time or phone call, so I'm on my own to try to drag the details out of this poor little boy. He starts by telling me that he walked in on someone in the bathroom.

--"So, you got in trouble for that?"
--"I don't know."
--"Okay, what else happened?"

I don't remember exactly how it came out (except that we did go back and forth calling and emailing the teacher also), but I guess this time he didn't want to line up to go get a drink with the class. "I wasn't thirsty." I can see his side of things, but then he threw a big fit, and so the teacher said she was going to call me, so they walked down to the office. Then somehow they didn't have my number (which I'm sure I filled out at least 253 times with all the registration stuff, right?) and it was almost time for pick up anyway so she left him with the director to cool down. He wouldn't even go out for recess, so it sounds like this was a pretty bad fit. Sigh. Another chat about proper behavior with John and also some loving reassurance that all teachers are bossy and he still has to go back to school the next day. Anyone else think the teacher could have handled this differently? I was kind of upset, but I really didn't want to confront her, but I just thought it was strange to head right for the director.

So, the next day went okay except that he tells me that he went to the nurse's station to rest, because his tummy hurt. It was hard to keep a straight face, because I was pretty impressed that he tried this--I didn't figure out how to use that line till high school! :o) So, one more chat that he can't go to the nurse unless he throws up. I hope I didn't scare him off from telling us if there is really something going on, but anyway...

Whew. I thought we'd worked out the kinks and things were going okay, but then comes his birthday. Just because things can't be simple lately, he shares his bday with another boy in his class, which they think is cool, and of course that's not the problem. Well, I (selfishly, I guess) wanted him to have his own moment in the sun with cupcakes and sillybands to give out I guess, so I wanted him to bring treats the day before rather than sharing the spotlight. I also thought the teacher would prefer to not have two goodies going on in one day. But of course I didn't email the teacher till early Wed. afternoon, but I didn't think this was a problem. I really am not trying to be complicated here!! :o) Anyway, she emailed back that Thursday is actually tightly scheduled and that she does need 24 hours notice and that the other mom had already told her we'd be doing it together and if I didn't want to do it Fri, could I wait till Monday. Well, John really didn't want to wait till Monday, and we had already baked the cupcakes. Such drama!! So, I emailed back that we'd do it Friday with the other boy.

So, we excitedly march in this morning with homemade cupcakes that John had picked out and helped make and our sillybands, and I hear the teacher say "oh, no" as she walks by without even acknowledging me. Excuse me? Did she just say that because I came in? Was I not supposed to do it today? Did she email back a reply that I missed? Did she not want cupcakes--we brought napkins and they have a sink right in their room for kids to wash up and I didn't dye the frosting and I know two other kids have brought them so far! Was it the sillybands?

I try to tell myself it could have been something completely unrelated and try to dismiss it, and I hope that John didn't pick up on it, right? Another teacher tells us to bring the treats to the back table, which we did and then I was trying to find the main one to see if there was a problem (not that I actually had the guts to confront her about what she had said, but I wanted to see if she was weird when I talked to her), but also to tell her that we had brought sillybands if that was okay. She said it was and didn't say anything more, so Sara and I left.

Then I called Jared to explain what had just happened to see if I was totally crazy and to cry. Poor Sara was a little confused by my blubbering, and I tried to be reasonable, but I just couldn't stop a few tears from coming. Jared encouraged me to talk to the teacher, but I knew I wouldn't be able to without crying and I didn't want that. He offered to email, but I didn't want that either. I planned to just assume it was unrelated and try not to let it eat at me. Good plan, right? (Can anyone see how John seems to get his sensitivity from me--sorry, John!)

So, a few minutes later while we're at Target getting one more bday thing for John, the phone rings and I knew even before looking that it was the school. It was. It wasn't the teacher, though. I think it was the secretary and she said it was district policy that we can't bring in homemade treats. They have to be store bought. What the? And why didn't the 2 teachers in his class tell me or the other handful of parents and teachers that we paraded past on the way in? Awesome. I remember at the parent night they talked about bday treats--please give 24 hr notice, please bring napkins, plates, etc if necessary, etc. I do not remember--obviously--anything about being store bought. Maybe it was in the "manual" that I signed that I had read, but had only skimmed. Sigh. Oh, and there are peanut allergies to work around in John's class, too. I didn't want John to be disappointed, so I wandered Target looking for cool treats. I just couldn't bring myself to pay for the big bakery cupcakes that I think usually taste barfy, and they didn't have any mini ones, and I didn't know if they were okay with the allergy issue. I even called the secretary back to ask if Ding Dongs are okay, but she recommended something even smaller for kindergartners, like fruit snacks. Well, those aren't as exciting if you ask me, but I went for it. I just hope John wasn't bugged by it--but he has 24 cupcakes of his own to eat now to help him feel better!

Oh, so then Sara and I go back to bring in the fruit snacks and pick up the 24 contraband cupcakes, which will now be our dinner I guess. A different teacher (I really need to figure out who all these ladies are) cheerfully greeted us as we came in, and made me feel so much better as she said she had done it before, too, and she fussed over Sara and she walked over with us to the back table, where the main teacher was sitting working with a student. I uncharacteristically blurted out something like, "Oh, is this why you said 'oh, no' when we came in?" I guess that was my effort to see if I had really interpreted the situation correctly, and she did seem a little surprised that I said it, but said no and we were all smiling and laughing off my goof. I guess I'll never know if that "oh, no"was meant for me, but I promise I'll get over it--now that I've blogged to you.

Anyway, there you have it. What do you think? Have you had any tricky situations with kids' teachers and how do you handle it?

PS--Yesterday John said his school was the best school ever, so overall, I think things are going great. I just wanted to vent about these little weird things, but I feel like things will keep getting better. Right?

And he's off..

Well, John is at SCHOOL right now. I can't believe it, and yet, I am quite ready if I do say so myself! :o) I didn't even cry--I promise. I did feel it kind of start after I waved goodbye, but I held it back and marched on out of there just in case I couldn't hold it.

He's so ready, and you can see from the pictures that he is just a tad excited. A boy from his class at church is also in his class, and he is super excited about that, too. They even have the same birthday and have last names with M, so their backpacks hang by each other, so of course that is very cool to John.

For "security" I suppose I shouldn't say too much specific stuff about the school, but let's just say it seems pretty impressive. They wear uniforms and emphasize arts, music, languages, and literature. They start Spanish in kindergarten, so I'm way excited about that. Maybe it will help ease the guilt I feel for not teaching the kids more diligently something that I LOVE and always wanted to share with my kids. I think I never knew the "perfect" way to teach them Spanish, so I did nothing instead. Awesome. Good job, Katelin!

Anyway, I don't have other "real" school experiences for my kids to compare this school with of course, but we're looking forward to a great year! Since John is used to much smaller classes (from Joy school with 3 kids and church with only a few), I'm a little worried he will want to comment on every little thing (what? my John?), but I hope he'll adjust soon to a bigger class and know when he can and cannot talk. I think he's a good kid of course, and I think he'll really love all this learning.

Oh, one more cute thing--even after being up pretty late on Saturday night because we were at a going away party for some friends, he could NOT fall asleep last night. He kept coming out of his room with more questions about school, or art things or computer things, or gym things, etc. Of course we tried to get him to bed early so he'd be well-rested, but it was after 10:30 I think by the time he finally zonked out. Jared even gave him some warm milk to see if that'd help, and it seemed like it did. I don't think he was nervous, just excited.

Sara is being a sweetheart about all this attention for John, and in typical style is very excited for him. Even when shopping several times for things for him, she rarely even asked for things for her, and seemed fine with the idea that she'll get it all next year. Although, she did really want a new backpack and some obnoxious light up princess shoes she found, but I didn't give in. I did give in on some new markers for her, although I didn't realize they weren't washable, so she is almost constantly bathed in marker lately. Oh, well.

Here's the handsome guy, who is quite into spiking his hair lately...


This picture below is from the open house last week where he got to meet his teacher, tour the building, and check out everything. He was probably the most impressed with the art room, and he can't wait to have art. That's quite the understatement, actually. He'll only have it one day a week, but I'm sure he'll love it.

Oh, and just to make the first day more interesting, my car gave out last Saturday (the clutch), so we had to take Jared up to work early and be back in time for John to start so that we'd have a car (no bus for this school). Fun! It worked out fine, but was definitely a pain and I got up at 5:45 just to make sure we wouldn't be late. Hopefully it won't take too much time (or money, right?) to get the car fixed. I won't complain, because it didn't happen while I was driving or anything, so at least there was no safety issue. It just wouldn't go into reverse on Sat. when I was going to run to the store, and it had been a little funny for a few days, so I knew something was happening. Anyway, it's all good, and could have been very bad I'm sure!

Well, it's already almost time to go pick him up, so I better head off. By the way, it didn't take me the whole time to write this--I also did the bathrooms and laundry already, so I feel like I've been productive this morning.

Maybe I'll get back to blogging a little better with some quieter mornings around this place... :o)