Gotcha' Gauchos

Back to school clothes shopping is horrible! I know that sounds so negative. But I am so tired of purchasing school shorts that are long, then short shorts for the real summer and then having to buy another round of school shorts because the ones that fit in April no longer fit. Arrgh! This is when I begin to growl...for real!

Today I was on the quest to find Gaucho pants for Emma who still prefers polyester and no zippers. We found them and she was so happy. We got 2 pairs, so now she has 3 pairs total. I am thinking they will look great with her pink hi-tops or with boots in the winter. I gave her great mom advice, "Hey Emma, the only rule is that you can't wear both black pairs on back to back days." Because then people will think you have a slacker mom who can't even wash your favorite pair of black gaucho pants! HA!

Other than that one little rule, I hope she wears them out.

How I compare my dog to the 2nd grade steno

It is the fall. The start of school brings all new sorts of ways to measure performance. We have stars, numbers, incentives, fun Fridays, notes sent home, laps to run, etc., etc. Teachers have all sorts of ways of trying to whip kids in to shape. I know these measures work, even though I have never found myself good at using them at home. Once past potty training, I was glad to never see a sticker chart around this house ever again.

I have decided that if I were to make such a performance/behavior measure it should be for my dog. Truly at this stage of my life he can cause me the most grief. Some days, but not always. Let's imagine that Blitzen had his own steno for me to sign. Across the bottom were the numbers 1-5. He would lose a number for disobeying and have a consequence.

1. Does not get along well with others (dogs that is!)

2. Does not urinate in the appropriate stall or at the appropriate times

3. Is destructive to property

4. Barks when not called on or when not raising his paw

5. Sleeps during class but is ready to play at 4pm!

So those who know me know that I do not love my dog. I tolerate him. He is cute and that is the only reason he is still around. OK Claire and Scott like him too! He is disobedient and impossible to control. So today I made him run laps. 6 miles in one lap around Forest Park. It was the first time I have ever taken him there and by he end he was pooped! I frequently idealize what it is like to have a dog. I see people running with their dogs and I want their dog. Today I think some crazy people might have wanted my dog. I got a few head tilts or "oh he is so good!" So maybe the running laps part maybe will really fix the bad behaviors. Maybe what works for kids, does work for dogs. Who knew?

This brings me to the 2nd grade steno...
At CCS in 2nd grade you get to write your daily assignments in a steno pad. Below the assignments the kids write the numbers 1-5 and then there is a stamp where the parent signs that the child has completed the assignments. If there is bad behavior numbers will get crossed out. Claire and Emma had one number crossed off the ENTIRE year of second grade. Sam got 2 numbers crossed off on Monday and another one yesterday. Seriously. Once was for writing in his steno when he was supposed to be praying. The other one was for talking loudly when he was supposed to be whispering. HA! Do you know Sam Smout? He does not have a whisper voice. He talks loud all the time. He only has one volume and it is on max!

When I talked to Sam about his loss of numbers on his steno, he did not seem upset at all. He just said, "I just had to run laps mom. It's no big deal."

So there you have it.

Claire is Eleven!

Blogging has taken a backseat this summer. It has been a really good summer. We have had a lot of fun and I have had a lot on my mind. Some of it I just can't blog about and some of it is so heavy that by the end of the day I just don't have anything left. I know lots of moms out there can relate to that! One of the heavy things on my mind is Claire and the fact that she is getting older and turning into a young lady...

She is beautiful to me in so many ways. I love her so much. She is a pleaser, a helper, a great big sister, a nurturer to many and smart. While these are great things, there are also hard things about Claire. She is anxious and stuffs many of her emotions inside, she can be difficult to read, I have to work to get her to share deep things with me. As she gets older I am realizing that I need to make a conscious effort to dig deeper with her and not allow her younger and more verbal siblings the chance to take over. If I do not ask, she will not tell, usually. And I am a mom who needs to know, therefore I need to ask.

Claire with her "more verbal" siblings!

August 10th was Claire's 11th birthday. I got a sitter for the other 2 and took her out. The first event was visiting a new pediatrician, followed by 2 shots and talking about the (.)! That proved to not all be so fun, so after that we headed to the cupcake bar for lunch and then some shopping! She got oodles of new earrings, 2 pairs of skinny jeans, new shirts and a jacket. I think she was tired. So tired that she kept saying, "Let's leave now." What?? I know it takes time to create a good shopper and she is not there yet. She is not yet in for finding that just right item, no matter how many stores you have to visit.

We shared the Raspberry Fusion cupcake at Jilly's Cupcake bar. It was one of their cupcakes that recently won on food network's Cupcake Wars. It was de-lish!

When we walked out of the cupcake bar we spotted this and just had to take a picture...
You got it, a coral pink Honda Odyssey! I first thought this must be the van that Jilly's uses to transport cupcakes for catering, etc. But NO, this had a mom and her 4 kids inside and no Jilly magnet attached. Claire and I got a good laugh and she quickly said, "skittles". This is a game she plays when she sees a funny color car, like yellow. We both agreed this was the ultimate skittle and she insisted that I take a picture to show Emma and Sam. I think this is totally the answer to not getting your odyssey lost in the school parking lot. I mean really Honda, come up with some better colors or obviously Maaco will! Kudos to this mom...I love it!

Thanks Claire for laughing with me today. Hopefully it is still fun to hang out with your ol' mom!

Toothless

Sam has reached the point of ultimate cuteness for a 7 year old! This happened the first night of our vacation. We had just arrived to our hotel and he was jumping on the bed. Suddenly he shouted, "I think I lost my tooth!" Then he found it and it was confirmed that he had hit his mouth on the edge of my computer that was lying on the bed that he was jumping on. Considering I don't think it was really ready to come out, I think he might still have them missing on school picture day. This makes me really happy as a parent. I might have to buy the 16x20 package with 100 wallets to give to only my closest friends and family!