Green Jello

The Freak Out

I was waiting for it, but didn't expect to burst into tears while I filled out the form for my son's milk card. In a little over two weeks he will start Kindergarten, and to make sure all parents panic, the school sent 50 pages of information, all double sided. Supply lists, important dates, conflicting dates and times, picnics, expectations, hot lunch schedule, pick up times, and the milk card.

His teacher assignment was not my first choice, or my second, but I am trying to be positive about it. I've heard the kids love her, but the parents have a hard time talking to someone who treats them like a child too. She likes to send letters home if your child does not sit with his feet on the ground. I know I will have a problem with those, but I will be good. The good news is, some of his friends are in his class. Nice kids and parents, so I look forward to being surrounded with people we can talk to.

I don't understand why I feel so upset about this. I should be happy for him, but I want him here with me. I don't want them to crush his spirit. Deep down I know they won't, but I still worry. How do you let go of that little hand? The one you spent the last six years protecting? Can someone slap me into reality? How do I approach his teacher so that she feels like I am on her side and not a thorn in it? How do I keep from wailing on the first day of school? Sorry for my absence, I will be back to normal soon.

Now We Are Six

 

When I was One,

I had just begun.

When I was Two,

I was nearly new.

When I was Three,

I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,

I was not much more.

When I was Five,

I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

A.A. Milne

Happy Birthday my dear little one, yes six is a good age to stay at.

I bought him an old copy of Now We Are Six for his birthday, and I think my husband's family thought I was weird. Oh well. Six is hard for me; like he crossed some invisible hump that makes him a "kid" now and not a little boy. Know what I mean? We have the Batman birthday party this weekend, I promise pictures. I'm going to attempt a Batmobile cake - old school with the red pinstripe. Wish me luck...

 

Kindergarten Assessment #2

For those of you who are reading about this for the first time; we decided not to send my son to Kindergarten last year because he has a Summer birthday and felt he was not ready. Our school district has a Kindergarten assessment that takes place in the spring. According to them, they use this assessment to balance out classrooms and adjust their curriculum to meet the needs of the incoming students. I don't like assessments or anything that assigns a number to a 5 or 6 year old before they have started school, but that's another post.

I was interested to see how my son would do this year, since he finished another year of preschool and is now reading. Imagine my surprise when his scores were basically the same as last year. For reading readiness the possible score was 102; last year his score was 54, this year 65. I'm not disappointed in the number he received, just curious as to why it hasn't really changed. I'm not bragging about his ability to read, but he does read. Not chapter books, but most of the words in any early reader book. My guess is this is just a number written down by the woman who met with him for 20 minutes. Maybe her coffee was getting cold, or he was tired that day. What bothers me is this number concerned me last year. It made me wonder if he was ready for Kindergarten, and that is why testing and assigning numbers like this is bad. I know my son and I think he is smart...yes, I am biased, but I let something like this make me think otherwise. I don't like that another parent received this letter today and is now fretting over their child's score, when it is not accurate. I hope that by discussing this here, another parent will feel better or understand this process more.

At the end of the letter it states, "You may wish to work on any skills identified as below the expected level during the summer months." So, are we supposed to cram them with letter sounds and sight words in the next 6 weeks? Make sure they are frightened of school and testing? I think there is more to Kindergarten readiness than reading; can they separate from Mom? Can they put on their coat or tie their shoes? Can they hold a pencil? Know their address and phone number? Are they prepared to be tested until they can no longer think?

Your thoughts? Does your school have Kindergarten assessments? Am I going to survive this without bursting into tears in the Target school supply aisle?

The Frog Whisperer

 

My boys think I am cool because I can catch a frog. I'll take it because I know one day I will be the most uncool person in the world. It's funny the things that can increase your status, no one found it interesting that I learned how to boil the perfect hard boiled egg today (more on this later). First we started with tadpole collecting;

 

and now we have new pets. I'm not sure how long we will keep these, they have been transferred to a fish bowl and we are changing the water with new pond water every few days. If any start looking like they can't thrive in our bowl, they will be put back.

 

I enjoy looking at them while washing dishes, until the day I noticed that something was hatching in the water. Mosquito? Any ideas? I know, gross.

This weekend we went on a nature walk and found frogs along the water. I promised them we would come back and catch one to keep overnight. They are not easy to catch, and I was getting performance anxiety, but we caught one;

 

One huge Bullfrog; which are becoming a problem out here because they eat everything, including the cuter smaller frogs.

I talked them into returning the frog after they got to hold it once. We didn't have an aquarium set up and it would be cruel to leave it in the bucket overnight. I've learned from our experience with the tadpole by mail disaster, that frogs can get sick from whatever touches their skin - your hands should be clean, all buckets free from any chemical residue (new is better), and chlorinated water is bad for them - use distilled. They released the frog back into the pond and I was proud that they understood why.

 

I want them to be kids who are not afraid of bugs or getting some swamp water on them to catch a frog...I think we are on the right path.

The hard boiled egg that is not green. Maybe I am the last person to learn this, but I read this in a cookbook today, tried it and was impressed: place the eggs in cold water, covered 1-2 inches, when the water begins to boil cover the pan and reduce the heat for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat and let sit covered for 13 minutes. Run under cold tap water for 5 minutes, then put a small crack in each egg, return to cold water for another 5 minutes and peel.  

Baseball

 

Tonight we had our first T-ball game and I am so proud of B. I love him so much. I could tell he was trying to run fast and get the ball because we were watching. He couldn't stop smiling. I couldn't stop smiling. We are not competitive people, so I worried it would be annoying to do this for fun while other parents were taking this too serious. There are a few who do, but most of them just want to have fun. They look so flipping cute in the uniforms. It's been an emotional day - preschool graduation and this game, but it's all good. He is growing up.

I announced the winners of the books on the original post.

Becoming the Tooth Fairy

B lost his first tooth today. It's under his pillow in a small tooth box the dentist gave him, waiting to be exchanged for money. It seems like just yesterday I was wrapping my tooth in toilet paper and putting it under my pillow, or watching my Mom perform "magic" by setting a wrapped tooth on fire and finding a quarter in the ashtray. I wanted to make a special tooth fairy pocket and get some glitter, but I decided to keep it simple this time. Our dog is also spitting out teeth all over the house, so I asked him why the tooth fairy doesn't come for her. He said, "She doesn't have a pillow." Details.

I've been quite sensitive lately to all the growing up that is going on around here. I catch myself hugging them a little tighter, or immediately stopping what I am doing for a request to be carried, even though they are getting quite heavy. Have you ever found yourself in a slight panic over time going by too fast? I try to slow down and remind myself each year is different, but still good. Some years you believe in the tooth fairy, while some you become one.

So fellow fairies, what do you leave for a tooth?

Indiana Jones Birthday Party (Part II)

 

Decorations & Games:

It was hard to find decorations for Indiana Jones, until we found an American Science & Surplus store by our house. If you are looking for weird science stuff; spiders, fossils, sealed frogs in a bag, or petri dishes, this is the store for you. We decorated the tables with alligators, spiders, snakes, and fossils.

 

  

The best decoration; my son's drawing of Indiana Jones.

 

We had one game, which was to win clues (letters) to find Dr. Jones' cargo box filled with treasure. You had to fish in the snake pit and make a mummy bear to get a clue. No one seemed interested, except my oldest son - who kept asking why no one was trying to get clues. If they received a clue, they taped the letter on a piece of paper where it was numbered. I ended up putting the answer up after I realized no one was going to finish it. The kids had to form a line and hum the Indiana Jones theme song while we marched around the house, then my husband put the cargo box outside and the kids helped themselves to some candy.

 

The $40 snake pit. I thought I could walk into a store and buy a bag of snakes for $10, but most stores don't have snakes and if they do, they have one or two. So we bought a few here and there and then realized we didn't have enough. It seemed everyone was coming home with snakes and soon the pit was full. I put them in a small blow up pool with a hula skirt inside and used a cheap fishing game for this part of the adventure.

 

The clues and antidote, in case you needed some after fishing in the snake pit.

 

Mummy wrapping station.

 

Cargo box found at  Michael's we stained and painted and covered with burlap fabric.

 

Indy's treasure - Goodwill trinkets and lots of candy.

The Cake:

I don't know how long this took because I didn't do it all at once. I bake the cakes the night before, put the tiers together and slowly decorate. I used butter cream frosting and fondant for the ropes. The rocks are M&Ms I found in the bins at Target. I found a picture on line and will post a link when I can find it, but she used fondant over the entire cake. I like how fondant looks, but it doesn't taste good, so I went with frosting.

  
I taught myself how to decorate cakes through trial and error and there were many errors. For years all my cakes would stick in the pan until someone told me to use parchment paper. It's ridiculous to make cakes like this, but I like trying new things and swearing in my kitchen at midnight. When I showed the cake to E, I wanted to hear, "Mommy this is the best birthday cake ever, and you have made my life complete. One day I will start to take a sip of beer when I am underage and I will stop because I will remember the beautiful cake you made for me and I won't want to disappoint you." 

Instead I heard, "It doesn't look like the picture...where is Mutt? Mutt is the new character who was on the motorcycle in the picture of the cake I was trying to follow. Mutt was no longer for sale at Target - I checked four stores - they must have them in some warehouse with all the snakes. 

  
 

I think I am running out of room on this post - can they be too long? Random thoughts; I swore I wouldn't have theme parties when my kids were younger - I didn't want the corporate man telling my children who to worship, that was my job. Now I let them have a theme party if they want - I still enjoy non-commercial themes - pirates or robots, but Indiana Jones was a lot of fun. One little boy told me he couldn't eat the cake because he gave up chocolate for Lent, which I thought was cute. Another told everyone while we were eating that he had diarrhea. Always an adventure.

The end...next party is this summer and the Riddler has escaped from Gotham City Jail...

 

Indiana Jones Birthday Party (Part I)

I'm going to break down the party into two posts because I have too many photos to process, my computer is slow, it's late, and I can stretch this out and force you to look at my photos. The party was a success; no one got hurt, there was lots of laughter, and the weather was perfect. I went a little overboard with this party and I always say that I won't do it again, but I will. I love planning parties and I would do it for a living if someone would pay me. I don't like the frantic last minute moping of the floor or shoving dirty dishes in the stove, but I enjoy the days before; the day my kids and I were shopping at Goodwill for "artifacts" and were planning what color wax candy bottles we could buy for "antidote." Those are the times I want to remember. I think Visty summed it up best in her comment on my last post, "...you will find yourself addicted to the rush of the potential failure and humiliation of a bad party, and every year there you'll be again." I'm addicted.

The invitations:

 

  

I bought scrapbook map paper from Joanne Fabrics, glued them together, cut them to 5x7, and used Word for the directions and my useless picture processing software to print the little picture of Indiana Jones on the outside. I found the idea from Sippycups are for Chardonnay. Then I spent hours standing in the garage burning the edges. Perhaps when Martha tells us that burning the edges for effect is simple, she is talking about making 4 invitations, not 12. Even though there was a lot of effort in these, I'm happy with how they turned out. I rolled them up and tied them with twine and stuck a vintage stamp on some card stock and put their names on each one. The kids loved their invitations; one mom told me her son yelled at his brother for not rolling his map the right way with Indy on the front. Always glad to help out with family harmony. Tips: an eraser will remove some of the excess burn marks if you get a little carried away with the burning, when it comes to fire-less is more-don't let it flame up, just start it on fire and put it out with your fingers (if you are tough) or use a spoon or something hard and non-flammable.

The Treat Boxes:

 

 

 

 

 

I found these plain wood boxes for $1.99 at Michael's and used a stamp pad to personalize them. Then I filled them with some shredded brown paper, chocolate gold coins, nugget bubble gum, and a compass. For the book, I bought blank Moleskins and put their names on each one. I added some travel stickers later, but I forgot to take a picture. Everything was tied together with twine and an Indiana Jones "whip" to annoy their parents with. Kids love it when their name is put on something, especially if "top secret" is also there. My kids carry their little moleskin books around all day and have me write their stories in them ($7.99 for 3). Putting these together was easy and I spent a little more than I usually do on take home treat bag/box, but I think the kids really liked them.

Tomorrow: cake and the $40 snake pit.

If you were wondering from my last post who changed the garbage bag, my husband did, but he used the passive aggressive move of not putting a new bag in...so I guess that makes it a draw.

I'm trying

...to hold it together. Tomorrow is the big birthday party - the one where I invited too many kids and planned too much. I passed out on the couch last night, when I was supposed to be baking cakes. The lights were still on and Noggin was on TV when I woke up...I thought it was morning, so I did the sh*t, sh*t, sh*t dance around the room until I realized it was 3:44. I wanted to go back to bed, but I stayed up and baked cakes, wrapped presents, and made treat boxes. I have to re-evaluate my urge to make their birthday cakes.

I still have a lot to do, so wish me luck and calm feelings. Oh, you are wondering why I am on the Internet? Me too. I just needed a wee break, and then back to work. Here are fun things happening in our house;

My little angel threw a fit when I bought him a Yoda Pez instead of Anakin Skywalker.

My husband and I are competing in a contest of "who can not change the garbage bag." It's kind of fun to see how crazy big the garbage is piling up. Oh, it's even on the floor. Who do you think will win?

It's amazing how every store I go to is out of what I need...need a small cake for your in-laws poorly timed visit? - the grocery store freezer is broken and a man with a hose is standing there trying to fix it, with no cakes. How many phone calls like this have you made? "I need snakes, do you have any, a big bag of them?" "We have snakes, but you have to buy them individually." "How much are they? "$3.99 a piece." "How big?" "(sigh) hold on...let me go check."......."21 inches!" At Target; "Two days ago you had an Indiana Jones Lego set with a tent and a lady running after Indy, do you still have it?" "Some Indiana Jones stuff is being discontinued, because the movie was last year, so we are no longer selling that set." This is just a sample of this, it's been especially bad this week when I need it to go smooth.

See you next week for Indy party update and the garbage bag contest winner.

Ice Cream Social

Visty needs your feedback for a meeting with her school. Read her story here.