Thinking Outloud

I can’t believe how fast this school year has passed us by.  It seems like only yesterday that I was busy rushing around the stores purchasing school supplies and school clothes for the kids to go back to school.  Now it’s the middle of May and the kids are getting ready for their two month break away from school.

I have to say that both kids had a pretty awesome year.  They both got involved with some school activities and they both enjoyed their year there.  I never had any phone calls or any problems from either one of them as far as their behavior.  My kids love school so much that they don’t want to do anything bad there and get in trouble.  They try to be on their best behavior at all times so the teacher’s are always proud of them.

So in a month’s time they will be getting off the school bus with their final report cards and start having the fun that they have both earned.

Last night I started routing through every closet in the house to try to find my son’s sneakers. They were put away for the winter and now with all the snow gone, it’s time for him to stop wearing the winter boots. I spent a lot of time looking for his sneakers and when I finally did find them, I was highly disappointed in the shape they were in. He did go to school today with them on, but over the weekend we are going to have to get him a new pair of sneakers to wear back and forth to school.

I’m really thinking that what this child needs is a pair of Dansko so that they will last more than three months of wear and tear. My son is extremely hard on his footwear and I have to the realization that he really needs a good sturdy set of footwear for his everyday use.

My  daughter  is really starting to enjoy her violin lessons.  They have now begun working on the fun stuff like playing songs so she is really starting to get into it.  Getting her to practice at home is still requiring a lot of patience on my part, but things are starting to  improve.

In the month of April, she has three different violin events coming up and she has one more performance event in June.  She has her fiddle-a-thon, a competition and the spring extravaganza in April and then has a retirement party for a teacher to prepare for in June.  With all these concerts and events coming up in the near future it gives her a purpose to practice hard.   And now that she it totally caught up with her class (she missed a lot of time before Christmas due to a serious illness) and can play everything they can, she is having the time of her life.  So much in fact that she has decided to stick with it for many more years to come.

I can’t be more proud of her than I am right now and I am really looking forward to seeing all her performances.

Although the kids are just getting over a long weekend, my youngest son was looking forward to another long weekend next weekend.  This coming Friday the kids were supposed to be home from school due to parent teacher conferences.  But, because they have missed so much school time over the last few months due to bad weather, the schools have decided to cancel all parent teacher conferences for Friday and have a regular class day instead. 

This information has been on the radio all day and I just received a talk mail confirming it.  Needless to say my youngest son was not impressed and still has a sour look on his face when I remind him that he has to go to school on Friday.  This information did not bother my daughter, but it sure did bother him.

My youngest son got off the school bus this afternoon extremely excited. One of the programs that he’s involved with ended today and they had a pizza party. I really wish that I had of known that the teacher was going to do this. I wouldn’t have sent a lunch today had I known. But, he seemed to enjoy his party. He had three pieces of pizza, two cookies, three pieces of licorice and five glasses of pop. I guess you now know why he got off the bus bouncing. lol

This is one of the reasons why I love this school so much. It’s because of all these little surprises that they are always bestowing upon the kids for a job will done. And, as an added bonus, I didn’t have to make him any supper tonight, he ate his school lunch.

Well March break for the kids is almost over.  Only today and tomorrow left and then everyone will be back to work and school.  And yes, that means me as well.  Having the kids home for the past week has been “fun”, but I haven’t really been able to keep on my working from home schedule with them around.  We’ve been doing a few things as a family and they have been keeping me busy, so my crafting and Internet activities have slowed down quite a bit.  But hey, that’s what March break is for right??

So, come Monday morning I will put them both back on that school bus and then I will get back to doing what I should be doing.  But the break was nice for all of us.  I just wish my husband could have gotten some extra time off to enjoy this time with the family.  Oh well, our batteries are recharged and now were all ready to get back to business.

Many of you may not know this, but I really don’t enjoy driving.  Oh don’t get me wrong, I don’t know what I would ever do without my licence now that I have it, but there is certain aspects of driving that I don’t enjoy.  One of these aspects that I seriously hate, is driving in the city traffic.  I’m pretty good when it comes to driving around our town, but send me into the city and I have serious issues.

This is why I am happy to report that tomorrow I will be stepping out of my comfort zone.  My daughter has a chance to go to a basketball camp at the University tomorrow and she really wants to go.  The drawback is, I need to drive her there and back.  And yes, the University is in the city.  But because she wants to participate so badly, I have agreed to take her.  So tomorrow will be the day that I will start to get over my fear of city driving and hopefully I will feel more comfortable in the future to take a few more trips like this again.

Both of the kids came home from school yesterday quite excited.  Yesterday was the day that the school took all the yearbook photos for all the kids that are involved in extracurricular activities.  My daughter, the social butterfly that she is, had her picture taken four times.  She is involved in choir, violin, fluoride and running club.  She is quite proud that she will have her picture four different times in the events pages.

My son, who is just finding himself, got his picture taken once.  He is involved with the chess club.  But as he is in grade 2, quite shy and hasn’t joined a group in the past, having his picture taken for the chess club tickled him pink.  He hasn’t quite caught up to his sister, but I’m quite confident that he will soon.  So now when the yearbook comes in I will have to buy two copies.  One for each child.

Both the kids got a letter sent home from school the other day concerning Valentines day.  My son’s grade 2 class will be giving out Valentines day cards and having a little party as well.  My daughter’s grade 4 class is leaving it up to the students on whether they want to participate or not.  The only thing the teachers ask is that if they do choose to give out cards, they give a card to everyone.  Now that she is in the older grades, there will be no party.

I have to tell you all though I had a real hard time finding her Valentine’s cards that were not too young for her.  There were tons of cards for kids around my son’s age, but not a whole lot of selection for children her age.  She ended up going with Blue’s Clues which is way to young for her, but it was really the only option for her.  She is happy with her selection, but I’m really thinking that this may be her last year for giving out cards.  If not this year, next year for sure.  That is a shame, as she really does enjoy participating in all the Valentine’s day celebrations.

I have a routine that I follow during the day during the school year.  At 1:20 pm I go out and start my car to let it warm up for 10 minutes.  Then at 1:30 pm I head down the road to Tim Horton’s to grab my daily dose of coffee and then I head down to the bus stop to wait and pick up my youngest son who is in grade 2.  Sometimes we stay down at the bus stop for the hour and wait for his sister, but on other days we will come home and then go back down around 3:00 pm in the afternoon.

Well today was a normal school day (or so I thought), so at 1:20 pm I headed out the door to start my car.  When I came back inside to wait the 10 minutes I heard a knock on the door.  When I answered the door, you can imagine my surprise when I seen my youngest son standing at the door!  Apparently due to the storm that we are suppose to get, they let the kids out early and he arrived at the bus stop early.  So instead of waiting for me, he walked home.  He was so proud of himself and he still has the grin on his face.

Well at least now I know that if there ever is another time that I’m not at the bus stop when he gets off, I know he will come home.  Big surprise, but…a happy one!