Summer School

I have a child failing a class.  She didn't do and turn in her homework.  Her teacher wants her to take summer school.  That class will conflict with her dance team practice.  The child is pretty sure the teacher just doesn't like her and wants her to fail, too.

I don't want to be the mom on this one.

prom and why I'm the meanest mom ever

My oldest is going to prom.  A week from tomorrow.  She's 15 and a freshman.  Her date who is now also her boyfriend is 17 and a junior.  She has a dress.  We have a plan for hair and make-up and shoes.  We need to get earrings and a cute little purse.

And a curfew.  She has just barely started dating.  And so far, her "curfew" has always been directly related to what they were doing.  Be home within a reasonable time of the activity being over kind of thing.

But now we are talking about prom.  And there's an after prom party at the school from 12-4.  This is where the mean part comes in.  Her dad and I aren't letting her go to the amazingly awesome after prom party at the school.  Because she is only a freshman and we want to save something for her.  It feels like the right decision and it feels so super crappy at the same time.  I want them to experience it all.  But I want her to have something to look forward to next year too.

Being the mom sucks sometimes.

catch up

I swear life just zooms by.  There are things I want to say that never get said.

We are in a new phase here with 2 teenagers, one is in high school.  Oh, my is that throwing me for a loop.  I read the funny blog posts about potty training and getting your kids to do eat something other than noodles and chicken nuggets, and while they are fun and give me a giggle, where is the blog post that finds the humor in my 15 year old daughter dating a boy who turns 17 today.  17.....17!!!!  I know what I was doing at 17, and that just scares me.

Motherhood is hard.  Juggling the schedules, meals, homework, free time, play dates, sleepovers, big girl dates, prom dresses, carpools...it is making me tired.

On an up note, we have 9 new baby chicks!  Our 10 hens from last spring are laying beautifully!  We get anywhere from 5-8 eggs a day from them.  I haven't bought eggs in quite a while, even for baking.  We try to sell eggs to the neighbors, but I get greedy!  Of our new girls, 3 are "straight run's", which means we aren't sure if they are pullets or not.  We should know around 6-8 weeks.  And they are 4 weeks old now.  We already have them outside in their big girl brooder.  They are getting really cute....I'll have to post pictures.  We got some fun breeds this time, too, and some that lay actual white eggs!  And more of the Easter Egger's.

I must say it's a little strange to eat something you found in your backyard (even if it did come from a nest in a coop), but I am getting used to the idea!

I just wanted to poke my head in here and say hello.....

Monday morning

It was nice to hear from my cyber friends after I posted last.  Ironic, too, that both of those friends are online only friends....I've never met them.  But they understood where I was coming from and could speak to that.

I am still dealing with feeling adequate.  I think that has to do with having 6 kids.  They all have such different needs.  And I'm only 1 mama.  I can only do so much.  I am in a crazy work schedule right now, too.  I should be doing my morning chores so I can sleep later.  I'll sleep later anyway, even if the chores go undone.  My kids would rather have a messy house and a sane mama than a tidy house and a miserable mama.  Besides, if we all take 10 minutes, the mess gets picked up quickly.

I've been knitting more, too.  That soothes my soul.  I have really enjoyed meeting with my knitting group.  It's so fun to talk about patterns and yarns.  There's a teen girl in our group that had 12 projects going last time we met.  We told her to finish stuff up.  She brought 10 things to show us!  But she had also started a couple of more, too.  I am still working on the sleeves of my sweater and really want to finish it up.  Soon.  I won't let myself start anything until it's DONE.

The weather over the weekend was really nice.  We are really flirting with spring here.  I love it.  Then again, it's Colorado so it's still possible to have a huge snowstorm.  My birthday is Wednesday and the forecast is to be in the 70's.  That is my bliss!

OK....I have to at least start this week's laundry by carrying it all downstairs.  That counts as my workout for the day!  =)

guilt

I don't have much time because I have stuff that needs to get done.  And this week my daily nap is essential so I have to squeeze the to do list into the morning.

I have been feeling the mom guilt so much these past couple of weeks.  The things I want to do, the things I should do, the things I haven't done.  It's so easy to get bogged down with all of that.  And that's where I am right now.  Bogged down, feeling guilty for not being good enough.  Then one of the kids says one of those things kids say and I feel even worse.  No, they probably don't think I am the meanest mom ever, they are just venting frustration.  But to a mama who is feeling like a lousy mom, those words go deep.

morning mayhem

When we enrolled Jack in preschool for this year, he was put in the afternoon class since he's an "older 4"...meaning he was 5 less than two months after school started.  I wasn't sure how this would work.  He gets out at the same time the elementary bus arrives at our house.  Then again, if he was in the morning class, he would start at exactly the same time the elementary girls do.  That means they would get on the bus and we would leave immediately for the trip to preschool.  Which would be great for most people.  Not me.  I barely make it out to the bus stop most days because I'm still in my pj's.  So....I'm not here when the little girls get off the bus Monday through Thursday.  There are other kids here, though.  And I'm home about 15 minutes later.  Just enough time for them to eat enough junk food for snack that they can eat something healthy as I walk in the door.

(And quite honestly, this afternoon thing works really well for me with working overnights.  I do my stuff in the morning with my little helper and then take him to school and NAP until the older kids start trickling in.  It's so good that I requested afternoon kindergarten, too)

Since I don't have to get the littlest one dressed and fed and out the door, mornings go in stages here with relatively little stress.  The high school bus comes at 6:50 so Bella is up and at it early.  But she is also out the door before most of the other kids are even awake.  Once she's gone, the middle school boys are usually up.  Their school is a block away and starts at 7:54.  That means Trey usually leaves at 7:20 (oh, I remember those days of walking the halls before school....seeing and being seen!) and Clay leaves at 7:40.  Somewhere in the middle I make sure the little girls are up.  Their bus comes at 8:10.  Kelli is usually pretty easy to rouse, but Emma has been know to hear me say, "The bus is coining in 5 minutes.  GET UP NOW!!!"

Then the drama is over and Jack plays while I check my Facebook.  Easy peasy.  

Catching up

It was quite a weekend....lots of fun and not enough sleep and now we are paying the price.  D feels like he's getting sick, some of the kids are feeling sick.  For them, especially the younger ones, I think it has more to do with the amount of sugar they consumed yesterday than anything else.

We had planned to do a chocolate fondue after dinner last night, but there were too many of them feeling icky or just plain tired for that to happen.  I had given all the kids a chocolove bar so they had a little treat at home too.  I think we will plan a fun night Friday with chocolate and maybe pizza before that.  There's no school on Friday.  Or Monday for the President's Holiday.  I love February.  Not only is it the shortest month, but it seems the kids are out of school all the time.  And in the winter when we are tired and feeling puny, all that extra sleep is so nice.

I met with my knitters on Saturday morning.  It was nice to sit and talk about our crafting.  There are couple there who like to start things but aren't good at the finishing.  Now they have some accountability to get something done before we meet again in 2 weeks.  I like to finish a project before moving on, but I also like to have something small to do during car rides or in church so sometimes I need to have 2 projects going.  Then there's that sock that I need to work on.....

We have been having a February thaw the past few days.  After the beginning of the month when it was so cold and we were getting snow, we have been into the 50's for a few days now and it looks like we have a couple more.  It's so refreshing after the brutal cold.  The kids have been playing in the snow in their shirtsleeves.  A little funny to see, but they are outside and that's a very good thing!  They've been using the snowball maker contraption to make piles and piles of snowballs, too!