She's all growed up.

So this morning Brad woke up at 6:30 to go to Walgreens to get Tori's school supplies. Can you believe I forgot to get those last week? And of course I remembered on Sunday, the one day I can't go. Shame on me.

So we got there on time this morning with school supplies in tow. Tori looked adorable of course, and the uniforms could not hide the fact that she was the ONLY white child in the school. She made a friend instantly named Brooklyn, who was the only African American child in her class, so they had something in common, they were a little different from everyone else, but Tori held her hand and put her arm around her friend as Brooklyn cried, it was the cutest thing. Tori was so brave, and so was I :) So she was off into the world of never ending schooling.

They have half day this week and then next week they go to full-day, so at 11:45 I left to go pick her up, I turned the key to my Honda and low and behold, the battery was dead. So of course like any normal mother of a new kindergartner, I FREAKED OUT! I panicked, I called Brad and freaked out at him, flagged down a stranger to help me open my hood cause I couldn't unlatch it, Called the school, told them I'd be late, called Brad to have him come pick her up, in the mean time I found our battery charger, so I charged the battery after help from Brad because I pushed the air button not the battery switch (I was wondering why it was making that air sound), and finally, the car worked... phew! So I rushed over to her school as fast as I could, I was about 10 minutes late, I know, I'm a horrid mother. I was so upset. How could this happen on her first day of school?! Well, by the time I got there there were still other kids there, and she was happy as can be, with a filled backpack and a bag full of her school supplies. Her teacher explained to me, "Tori said that her Daddy bought these special for her and that she wouldn't let us keep them here at the school, she had to bring them home with her because they are special." I was kind of surprised at that and realized, how is she supposed to know what these are for, and that they are supposed to stay at school. So we got to bring them all back home and the teacher said she'd work her way into leaving things at school and Tori frankly said, "Tomorrow... I will leave my ziplocs." I laughed as I'm sure you are too. I thought that was adorable. Tori's words as we walked out of the gymnasium this afternoon were classic, "That was GREAT!"

Then we got in the car and I tried to explain to her about the whole school supplies situation, that we have to leave them at school, that's what they are for, etc.etc, so she go upset and she's been mad all day ever since. She did get sent to a different class though with the only White teacher there and Tori said there are 10 boys and 5 girls in her class. So it sounds like her class is very small and I met her teacher for a brief second, although I didn't know at the time it was her teacher, but she seemed very nice. But her friend Brooklyn is not in her class which I'm pretty sad about.

She enjoyed eating at the cafeteria, and she said kinda confused, "They took LOTS of potty breaks." She said that all the kids were mean to her. I didn't think that was true so I asked for more details, "What did they say, how were they mean to you?" She said, "Well, this one girl pushed this other girl to get to the sink and I told her she should use this other sink that was free and that she shouldn't push. *pause* And she didn't listen to me!" I said, "So she didn't push you or say anything mean to you?" Tori: "No, but she wouldn't listen."

So there you go. She enjoyed herself, and looking at these pictures, its amazing how much she looks like Brad, huh?

Some call it Creativity, Some call it Cruelty...

So today I'm trying to calm Tori from a tantrum, I decide that we need to "talk it out". So Tori begins to explain that everyone in her family is mean to her. Upset over the situation, trying to gain understanding, I ask challenging, "How have I been mean to you?" (She's had a scowl on her face ever since we came home from church and just very grumpy). She says, "You're making me clean, and I hate to clean, and that's not fun." So I come back with, "Cleaning is not a punishment Tori, it is not a consequence. Cleaning is a responsibility. Do you clean up after me?" Tori answers, "No." So then I went on explaining that we all clean up after ourselves and that I am not a maid, but that she has to learn to clean up after herself and its a part of life that she needs to understand is a responsibility, not a punishment, but that there are consequences if we don't clean up after ourselves... So she freaks out and runs into her room and shuts the door loudly (her latest rebellion). So I put on Veggie-tales for Abbie and go into Tori's room to talk... (here is where my idea comes)...

I pick her up and hold her in my arms and explain how much I love her and tell her that her room will be clean either her way or my way. Her way, is that she cleans up after herself and it is always clean... My way is this. Every evening I will bring up an empty bin (we have tons from moving) and fill it with whatever is on the floor of their bedroom. We'll store it in the Garage for one week. We'll have 7 bins, one for each day of the week. So everything I put in the bin this evening will stay in the garage in the bin marked (SUNDAY) and next Sunday after church we'll bring it out for them to put away. So this way the room is clean at least every night, and its rather easy for me to keep it clean. I'm hoping that after two weeks of this, they'll start learning that if they don't put it away, it goes away for a week, so we'll see how it goes. I've got to change their habits in order to keep my house clean and right now its just not working, so I'm hoping this idea will work. I'd like to thank my Mom for all the creative ideas that she had while growing up to get us to clean. She is my inspiration. And just so you know, most of the stuff in the bin today was Abbie's, but she didn't care much. So we'll see if this works for her too.

She's got it good.

So I was just sitting here daydreaming in my own little world about Tori starting school tomorrow as I'm preparing her school bag and her school lunch money and all that when I had this thought, "Man, She's got it good." The reason I thought that is because she gets to go to Kindergarten and play games and read books all day, and her lunch only costs $1.50! You know, I think her lunch would probably cost less if there were another child in her class paying for school lunch, but I think almost all of them get it free. i think the school rate of free lunch is 85%! So anyway, I was just thinking how nice it would be to have someone make my lunch and have it only cost $1.50. Granted I could get a 5-piece chicken nugget at Wendy's for only $1.00, but she gets an entree and 3 sides and a dessert! I'm jealous! Anyway, so the thought crossed my mind, "Wouldn't that be funny if she gained like ten pounds in a month from eating school lunch, maybe I'm starving my poor child at home!" I'll let you all know how it goes. And for those of you who never found out, she is going to Public School, so we'll see how it goes. Pray for her!!!