Internet Safety

It has come to my attention recently that a lot of my children's friends have Facebook pages. My children only being 10 and 7 this really alarms me. What alarms me even more is the things I've been reading on some of these children's pages. And mind you I am not their friends on Facebook, but I can see all of this stuff. If I can see this stuff some other person up to no good can see this stuff too. Just not very safe. And now of course my children are like I want Facebook. And I'm all no way. Facebook is not appropriate for my 10 and 7 year old. There is no reason they need it. They can barely type. Kaitlyn can barely read. I hardly let them on the computer. And aside from all of this Facebook rules state no one under the age of 13.

So anyways, this has all been weighing on my pretty heavy. How do I get these parents to see what they are exposing their children to? Then I thought, hey, I'm the PTA president. The PTA should host an internet safety night. Not entirely sure how to go about doing this yet. I will figure it out though. I will talk to the principal about it too. Never really thought I'd have to be talking to my children and their friend's parents about internet safety at this age, but hey if this is a way to get them thinking twice then we should do it.

Now, I'm not sure that these particular parents who I know are exposing their children to this danger will come. And I of course cannot make them come. I hope all parents will take this seriously. We talk to our children about stranger danger, but they think that person they are talking to on the internet is their friend. They don't know what they could be getting themselves involved with or that the other person on the other end of that computer who is saying they too are 10 years old is some 50 year old sicko preying on little children. And the only way they are going to be saved from this is if parents are watching what their children are doing on the internet. A 10 year old girl should not have a Facebook page with info on it to the public that says she's single, looking for friendship, and interested in men. It's just not appropriate. A 10 year old girl's wall should not be visible to all of the public and on it you can see at one time her "relationship status" was in a relationship with lines of comments on it from other children asking about her relationship and talking about kissing a boy. This is not what 10 year old girls need to be thinking about. This is not what my 10 year old girl thinks about. She doesn't want to kiss a boy. And that makes me happy. She thinks it's gross and boys are gross. I know she won't always feel that way, but at 10 this is a very age appropriate way for her to feel. And that's what I'm all about. Age appropriate behavior.

So Monday, the kids are back to school and I plan on meeting with the principal to talk to him about this. After all, this is part of what the PTA is there for to help the parents. Hopefully the parents that I know are allowing their children on Facebook will come. If they don't come then hopefully a good friend of there's comes and gives them the information. Hopefully this will help save a child.

McDonald's Night 2010

We had our 2nd McDonald's night to help raise money for the school PTA on Tuesday night. We had a great turn out. Everyone was anticipating no school the next day because of the pending storm. And that's just what we got too. Awesome! So seemed that people came out in droves. We managed to raise $407. Not bad at all considering that's 15% of the sales for 3 hours of the evening. And who can resist all of this fun...

CJ

Our friend Hunter eating dinner with Natalie and Kaitlyn

CJ and his "Lola" aka soda

Natalie getting creamed by our friend Ron

Licking off the whipped cream

Still licking

Finally a napkin

Katie

Ron making nice with Natalie

CJ checking out our friend Marybeth's pictures

Natalie not pleased that Noah gave her a hug

Natalie finally got away from Noah and with her BFF Alysha

So seriously, what's not to like? Good friends and lots of fun and a whip cream fight. It doesn't get any better than that.

Long time No Post

So I forgot my Week In Review post from last week. It's sitting in my list of posts in a draft state only half done. I think I've forgotten just what I did last week though so I'm going to have to skip it. I think I'm skipping this weeks Week In Review post too because the week is almost done and I've written nothing down for that one. And my days are just beginning to mush together. I can't say I've been super busy. Today was a crazy day. I was out of the house by 8 a.m. to bring the kids to school and start popping popcorn. Did that until about 10:30 or so and then sent Joe off home with CJ to meet with my PTA officers and spend our Scholastic money on Bingo Prizes for March. Finished that at about noon and went with my PTA VP to Sam's Club to buy cups, napkins, and bags for our movie night tonight. She dropped me off at home around 1:30 and I finally got to eat lunch. Did a few things around the house before going to pick the kids up at school. We took my friend's son for the afternoon too. Went to Walmart to price some things and get a few things. Then stopped at Wendy's to grab some dinner and brought the kids home to eat. After eating and getting the kids in PJ's we went back to the school for movie night. Being one of the people running the event we had to set up and clean up. We watched G-Force which was cute from what I saw of it. Cleaned up, waited around for some parents to pick up their kids because in spite of our rule of parents must accompany their children they still don't follow that rule. Then we left. Finally home for the evening to relax. It's a crazy weekend ahead though. Lots of fun stuff is going to be happening over the next few months for the Barnes Bunch though so even with my lack of posts I do hope you keep reading to see what's in store for us. I'll try to be better about updating, or at least doing my Week In Review.

Week In Review: January 10 - January 16, 2010

Here is this weeks Week In Review for January 10, 2010 - January 16, 2010

Sunday: Got up and fed CJ breakfast. Joe had to go back to work. It was just me and CJ for half the day. I unpacked the bathroom. Gave CJ lunch. Put him down for a nap. Did some more unpacking. Took a shower. Straightened up the kitchen. Then the girls came home. CJ got up from his nap. Chatted with my parents for a little while and they left. Joe came home from work. We ordered a pizza for dinner. They messed up on the order. Had to wait for another pizza to come. Ate dinner. Got the kids ready for bed. Sent them to bed. Joe and I watched some TV and then went to bed.

Monday: Got up a little late. The girls were arguing over who's fault it was that their alarm did not go off. Had to tell them to stop numerous times. Joe brought them to school, but they were late. He came home and we hung around. Gave CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. Then we did some things in the kitchen we've been meaning to get around to. I prepared for my PTA meeting. We went to pick the girls up from school. Went to the store to get something for dinner. Came home and got the girls going with their homework. Then we made dinner. I went to my meeting. Came home. Put the kids to bed. Joe and I watched some TV. I took a shower and went to bed.

Tuesday: Again the kids got up late. They were dragging their feet. I brought them to school. Told them they have three choices. I put them in the school they are districted for, set their alarm for an hour earlier, or they get up and get ready on time. They chose the last one. We'll see how it goes. Came home and hung around the house. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. Brought Joe to work and picked the girls up from school. Came home and started on homework. Cleaned up the kitchen and got dinner started. Got together a load of laundry. Washed and folded laundry. Ate dinner. Got the kids ready for bed. Went and picked Joe up from work. Came home and sent the kids to bed. Joe and I stayed up watching some TV. I fell asleep. We went to bed.

Wednesday: Had to get up very early to bring Joe to work. Brought him to work. Came home. Got the kids ready for school. Brought them to school and CJ to playgroup. After playgroup CJ and I came home. I fed him lunch and put him down for a nap. Watched some TV. Rested on the couch. Went to get the girls from school. Went to pick Joe up from work. Got gas in the car. Picked up some groceries. Came home. Started homework. Cleaned the kitchen. Cooked dinner. Fed everyone. Played with the kids for a little while. Sent them to bed. Joe and I watched some TV. Took a shower and went to bed.

Thursday: Got up and got the kids ready for school. Joe brought them in. When he came back we hung around the house for a while before going out to run some errands. Went to Sam's Club to buy more popcorn bags for PTA. Went to Walmart to get a few things. Checked out some furniture at Bobs. Got some lunch. Went to Sprint to check out a new phone for Joe. Came home for a few. Went back out to get Kaitlyn from school. Back home. Started homework. Joe went back out to pick Natalie up from Drama. She came home and did her homework. I searched for some old pictures. Got dinner going. Ate. Got CJ ready for bed. Put him to bed and hung out with the girls for a while. Sent them to bed. Joe and I stayed up watching TV before going to bed.

Friday: Got up and got the kids ready to go to the school early for popcorn Friday. We started the popcorn and the kids went and ate breakfast. We had a really big week with popcorn and didn't finish until after 11 when we're normally done before 11. After we finished we came home and had lunch and put CJ down for a nap. We relaxed for a little while before having to bring Joe to work. Brought him to work and then went and picked up the girls from school. Came home and they played. I did some stuff on the computer. Then I washed dishes and cooked dinner. Then we watched some TV and went to pick Joe up from work. We rented a movie. Came home and sent the kids to bed. Joe had something to eat and then we watched our movie. After the movie we went to bed.

Saturday: Got up kind of early. Had to get Natalie ready for her Science program. Brought Natalie to her science program and then went to the bank to make a deposit. Came home for a few before having to go back out and pick Natalie up from the science program. Came home so she could show everyone what she learned. Then we all went out to the library to get the girls some new books to read. After the library we went to the store to return our movie and rent another one and get something for lunch and dinner. Then we came home and had lunch and put CJ down for a nap. Then I took a shower. I got dressed and ready to go meet my cousin. Brought Natalie with me to go dress shopping for a bridesmaid dress for my cousin's wedding. I found a few I liked, but they didn't have the right size. We looked at some shoes for my cousin too, but she has hard feet to buy shoes for. Then we went to another store and ended up finding a dress there. It was a little more than the one I found originally and was just going to order online. We decided to see if we could find me a new bra that might help me decide if the dress was the one. We found one. Decided to go ahead and get the dress. Looked at some more shoes and some jewelry to see what would look good with the dress. Then we left. It was 8:00 by the time we got home and Joe was not happy because we had been out so long. I talked to him about it and modeled the dress and all was good. Natalie and I ate dinner and then we watched the movie. Then we sent the girls to bed. Joe and I stayed up a little while later before we ended up going to bed.

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Week In Review: November 29 - December 5, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for November 29 - December 5, 2009

Sunday: Got up and got the kids breakfast. Joe went to work. The kids and I just hung around at home. Fed them lunch and put CJ down for a nap. A relaxing Sunday afternoon. CJ got up from his nap. Joe came home from work. The kids watched the Tinkerbell movie while I got dinner ready. We ate. The kids finished watching their movie and I gave CJ a bath. When the girls were done watching their movie they took a shower. Got everyone ready for bed and sent them to bed. Joe and I watched some TV and then we went to bed.

Monday: Got up early to bring Joe to work. Had to wake the girls up. Got them ready and we left. Came home and the girls and CJ had breakfast. Finished getting ready for school and brought them to school. I went in with them and got a fundraiser out of the closet for someone who was supposed to come pick up a fundraiser. They were a no show which was a huge waste of time. Came home for a few before having to go back out for my WIC appointment. After that I stopped at the bank and then home for lunch and CJ's nap. Put CJ down for his nap and then made some phone calls. CJ got up from his nap and we went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and they did their homework and we went to pick Joe up from work. Then we went to look at an apartment, but the person didn't show up. So we came home and had dinner. Searched for other apartments and called about a few and decided to go out and see if we could find one that we set up to look at the next day. Found it and then went to Job Lots to look at Christmas lights. Then we came home and got the kids ready for bed. The girls weren't going to sleep though because they didn't have their night light. So Joe was trying to fix that problem when the breaker popped. So he had to go fix that and then reset the clocks and finish changing the light bulb. Finally they went to sleep and Joe and I watched TV. Then I took a shower and we went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up and got the kids ready for school. Joe went to work. He took the car. So I bundled everyone up and we walked to school. Came back home and unfroze mine and CJ's frozen hands. Then he spent the morning driving me nuts by getting into everything. I washed some dishes and cleaned up the counters a little. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I went through the cabinet under the sink to clean it out. Before I knew it it was time to go pick the girls up from school. Joe called and said he'd get them on his way home from work. So I changed CJ and got a call from someone about an apartment. Arranged to go look later in the afternoon. The kids came home from school and started on homework. They were both in combative moods though and were fighting my help. I finally got Joe to help Kaitlyn with hers while I helped Natalie and got her to understand and then it was time to go. We looked at the apartment, but not the one that's actually for rent. We weren't over the moon about it or anything. On Monday we should be able to get in to see the actual apartment though to see how well it's maintained. We left there with the application and drove around before having to go look at another apartment. That one was not what it was advertised to be at all. It was a good size, but really not a 3 bedroom like it said. So we left with not much intentions of getting that one and feeling defeated. Came home and cooked dinner. CJ wouldn't eat so after fighting with him over that he went to bed early for the night. The girls stayed up a little while longer before going to bed and then once they were in bed Joe and I watched some TV. I did a couple loads of laundry too. Then we went to bed.

Wednesday: Got up and brought Joe to work. Came home and got the kids ready for school. I dropped the girls off at school and then went to run a quick errand and back to school for playgroup. Had a nice time at playgroup and then came home. CJ had lunch and then took a nap. I laid down for a little while too. Then it was time to go get the girls from school. Got CJ and we left. Picked up the girls and then went to get Joe from work. We did some shopping and then came home for the girls to start homework. Then we had to leave to look at another apartment. We loved this one. We filled out the application right then and there. We are hoping to get it. He's supposed to make a decision by the weekend. It is in much better condition than where we are now. And it's bigger. The bedrooms are much larger. There's lots of storage. Including storage in the basement which is locked storage so you don't have to worry about anyone taking your stuff. So we left there and came home discussing what we would like to do with that place if we get it and made dinner. Ate and played with the kids. They went to bed and Joe and I watched TV. Then we went to bed.

Thursday: Got up and got the kids ready for school. Joe went to work and I walked to school. Very shocked at the 60 degree weather in December. Got the girls to school and walked back home. Cleaned up the kitchen. Played with CJ. Fed him lunch. Put him down for a nap. Got a phone call from the owner of the apartment we had looked at yesterday. He was interested in moving forward with us. Very exciting. I got CJ up from his nap and went to pick the girls up from school. Walked back home and worked on homework. Joe got home from work and we talked about moving. I cooked dinner and we ate. Then I gave CJ a bath to get all the cheese out of his hair. Got him ready for bed. Sent the girls to get their pj's on. They watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and then went to bed. Joe and I watch Four Christmases together. I went and took a shower and then we went to bed.

Friday: Got up and got the kids ready for school. Out the door early to go pop popcorn. I went to talk to the principal about our moving and letting the kids stay at the school. We popped the popcorn and our friend's took CJ back to their house while I went down to the FRC to talk to someone. Then we went back to our friend's house so we could go out to lunch together. We had a nice lunch and said our goodbyes. Then Joe and I went to get gas, to the dollar store, and then to get some soda. Then home. I counted the popcorn money. Got change together for the Craft Night that night. Went to pick the girls up from school while Joe stayed home with a napping CJ. Then we came home and hung around until it was time to go to the Holiday Craft Night. Had a nice turn out. A good time. Cleaned up and Joe and I went to get something for us to eat. Came home and put CJ to bed. The girls stayed up working on the activity sheets from the craft night. Then they went to bed. Joe and I stayed up watching TV a little while longer and then went to bed.

Saturday: Got up early while Joe was getting ready to go to work. CJ got up and shortly after the girls too. Joe left for work. I hung around most of the morning. Fed the kids breakfast, but didn't really do too much. I washed dishes and bagged up all of the bottles and cans. Put CJ down for a nap. Joe came home from work. We had lunch. Got CJ up from his nap. Got him dressed and the girls dressed and I got dressed. Then we went and met the landlord of our new apartment and gave him a deposit and checked around to see if we needed anything else fixed. We can move in as soon as we get him the rest of the money. Then we went across the street to Once Upon a Child to do some shopping. I found Christmas outfits for all of the kids and a few other things they were in need of. Met some friends there. They didn't have as much luck as me. Then we went up to the Christmas Tree Shop. Got some ornaments there and Advent calendars for the kids. Then we went to Hometown Buffet with our friends for dinner and came home. Driving through the first real snow of the season. It was a bit scary. Got home and safe and cozy. Got the kids ready for bed. Sent them to bed and then Joe and I just hung around on the computer and watching TV. I took a shower and got ready for bed. Kept thinking about what I was doing One Year Ago Today.

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Holiday Craft Night

Every year in December our PTA does a Holiday Craft night. We get together and decorate little wooden ornaments with glitter and sequins. Our tree is covered with these ornaments. At four for a dollar who can pass up all of those ornaments? The past two years we have had problems with the weather and have had hardly anyone attend. So we weren't exactly prepared when all of the people came walking in that door. We checked our supply of ornaments and were sure that the 200 or so we had would be plenty. We quickly were running low though. We did manage to give everyone what they wanted, but the late arrivals had to be turned away. Still, it was a nice night of crafting, popcorn, juice, and candy canes. And right after Christmas I will stock back up on those ornaments for next year. I figure 500 or so should be good.

Week in Review: November 22 - November 28, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for November 22 - November 28, 2009

Sunday: The kids woke me up way too early. Got up and wasn't feeling well at all. Got them to get their own breakfast and then spent the rest of the day either on the couch or in the bathroom. Not fun. Joe went to work. I got the kids some lunch and put CJ down for a nap. Then slept a little myself. Then Joe came home from work and I was feeling worse. He made dinner and washed some dishes. Joe got the girls in the shower and got them ready for bed for me. Sent the kids to bed and watched some TV and then went to bed.

Monday: Got up feeling better. Although I had a bad headache still. Got the kids ready for school. Joe brought them to school and I went to run a bath for CJ. I got a phone call from someone who I completely forgot I was supposed to meet to pick up their fundraiser. We arranged something else. I gave CJ a bath and then Joe got home. So I went and took a shower. Got ready to go meet this person for their fundraiser. Gave out the fundraiser and came home. Joe left for work. I swept the kitchen floor. I fed CJ lunch and put him down for his nap. Cleaned up the kitchen a little and then took it easy. CJ got up from his nap and we walked to go pick up the girls from school. Came home and got them going with homework. I washed dishes. When Joe got home from work we headed over to a friend's house who had invited us over for dinner. So we enjoyed a nice evening with friends. Left kind of late. Came home and put the kids right to bed. Joe and I stayed up and watched TV. Then we went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up and got the girls ready for school. Joe had already left for work. I cleaned up the living room and kitchen. Walked the girls to school. Came home and vacuumed. Then we had CJ's PAT (Parents As Teachers) visit. Things went well with that. She left and CJ and I played. I gave him lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I just hung around. Joe called and said he was getting out half an hour early (got to take a half hour lunch instead of an hour) so he'd go pick up the girls. So that saved me another walk. Then I got a phone call from someone who had ordered something from the fundraiser from someone but she didn't know who. She was angry with herself I think for not knowing who she ordered from, but seemed to expect me to fix the problem. I called Joe to have him find my PTA VP though so she could get in the closet to get me the list of who picked up and who didn't. He came home with the girls and that list. I tried to see if I could figure out who this lady ordered from, but all of the girls with a name even similar to what she thought her name was had picked up their stuff and I couldn't find any girls who even lived on the street this woman said she lived on. So not sure what's going to happen. If she calls back she's going to have to get me a lot of stuff before I can reimburse her. Then I helped Kaitlyn with her homework. That took forever. It was a big homework assignment for her, but her reading ability definitely made it harder. Finally got her through that though and then we had dinner. We played with the kids and then got them ready for bed and sent them to bed. Once they were in bed Joe and I watched some TV and I played on the computer. Then we were going to go to bed, but I realized I forgot to do something on the computer. So I went to do that and ended up staying up way later than I had planned on. Just as I was going to go to bed CJ woke up. So I went in thinking he lost "Bob" and found he had no diaper on. He was wet. His crib was wet. His blanket was wet. So I took him out. Stripped the bed. Stripped him. Put him in the tub. He was screaming and shivering. Washed him real quick. Joe woke up. I dried CJ off and put a nice warm sleeper on him and Joe took him into our bed to warm him up while I finished cleaning the mattress and remaking his bed. Then he put him back in his crib and I went and washed the sheets and blankets from his crib. Stayed up so I could put the stuff in the dryer and finally went to bed at about 3 a.m.

Wednesday: 7 a.m. comes quickly when you've only been in bed for 4 hours. I reluctantly got out of bed and got the girls ready for school. I got dressed. Joe brought the girls to school and came back and we went to the grocery store. Did some shopping. Then went to my Avon lady to get some fundraiser sheets she had for Avon to help the Make a Wish Foundation. Came home and put the groceries away. Gave CJ lunch. Put him down for a nap. Did some stuff around the house until it was time to pick the girls up from school at 1. Went and got them and talked to the principal and then came home to feed the girls lunch. Joe went to work. I laid down while the girls played with their brother and dozed for a few. Then I got up to someone pounding on the door. I didn't answer. They continued pounding. Do you know how hard it is to try to keep a 2 year old quiet in hopes that someone will leave? I hate answering the door when it's dark out, Joe's not home, and I wasn't expecting anyone. So I just don't do it. Whoever it was finally left and I washed dishes and started dinner. Fed the kids and then just hung around. Put CJ to bed and was watching TV with the girls when again there was a knocking on the door. Grrr, take the hint I'm not answering. I sent the girls to bed. Joe eventually came home from work. I washed dishes and started on my White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake squares. When they were done it was time for bed.

Thursday: Got to sleep in. Joe had already gone off to work. The kids were up. I made them pancakes for breakfast. Fed them. Did some laundry. And sat around not knowing what to do with myself. I put CJ down for a nap. Gave the girls a snack. Took a shower. Got dressed. Did more laundry. Sent the girls to take a shower. Woke CJ up from his nap. Gave him a bath. Got him dressed. Joe came home from work and changed. Got everything together and left to go to my parent's house for Thanksgiving. Got there as everyone was having dessert. We served ourselves what was left of the food which wasn't a lot. The kids played. We chatted with family. Everyone left and as soon as they were out the door our issues between my parents came up again. So we got the kids ready to leave and got out of there to go to Joe's brother's house. Then we went home and put the kids to bed. Joe and I watched some TV before we went to bed.

Friday: Got up and Joe and I talked about some things. Made a phone call. Checked some e-mail. Fed the kids. Did some laundry. Just hung around. Gave the kids lunch and put CJ down for a nap. Joe went to work. I did more laundry. CJ got up from his nap. I made dinner. Leftovers for dinner. I let all the kids stay up late. Joe came home from work. Put CJ to bed and the girls stayed up a little while longer before going to bed. Joe and I stayed up watching TV and on the computer. Then we went to bed.

Saturday: Finally a day off for Joe. We got up and ready to go. Went to pick up a TV from a Freecyler. Brought it home and went back out to get some gas, something to eat, and go to Walmart. Got the things we needed and then headed over to Old Navy. Got some really good deals there. Then went looking around for rentals. Found a few and came home. Did more laundry. Cleaned the house. Started some brownies. Joe called about the apartments. Most of them are too small for us. I started dinner. Did more laundry. Went and took a shower. Got dressed and waited for our company to come over. Had a nice dinner with friends. Then watched a movie. They left. I did some stuff on the computer and folded some laundry and then we went to bed.

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Week In Review: November 15 - November 21, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for November 15 - November 21, 2009

Sunday: Got up and everyone was still sleeping. So I did some blogging. Then the kids got up. Got them breakfast. Joe got up and got ready for work. He left. Me and the kids were just hanging out. I fed them lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Really didn't do much of anything. Joe came home from work. CJ woke up from his nap. I washed some dishes. I did a few loads of laundry. After dinner I put CJ in the tub for a bath. Sent the girls to take a shower. Put them all to bed. Finished up the laundry. Watched TV with Joe. Took a shower and went to bed.

Monday: I woke up early. I wasn't feeling too well. My stomach was a little funny. Not terrible just not really feeling right. The kids got up. I counted some money to get ready for a deposit I needed to make. Got the kids all ready for school. Joe brought them. I got CJ dressed. Shortly after Joe came home we went to bring CJ to the doctor for his iron recheck. We were there for a while just trying to get some information we needed for the lead tests we had done. The doctor does want us to get the apartment checked. Natalie's lead was 3, Kaitlyn's was 4, and CJ's recheck with the finger stick was 3.4. So they all do have lead in their system. Not really something they worry too much about, but given the state of our apartment the doctor would like us to have our landlord fix the problem. So we got the phone number for the CT DPH Lead Program. Left the doctor's office and went to the store to get something for Joe to make for dinner. Came home and had lunch and put CJ down for his nap. Then I waited for the school to call me to tell me that our fundraiser was in so I could go pay for it. Spent the afternoon at the school handing out fundraisers until 6:00. Joe came to pick the girls up. Went home and had dinner. Got the kids ready for bed. Sent them to bed. Then Joe and I watched some TV. I was so exhausted though that I fell asleep. Got up and got ready for bed and went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up early. Called the cable company to pay a bill I forgot to pay. Went and took a shower. Checked on the kids progress in getting ready. My friend dropped her kids off for me to bring them to school for her so she could take her boyfriend to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. I got all seven kids together and out the door to walk to the school. Walked them there and walked back minus five kids. Came home and CJ played with his friend while I swept the kitchen floor. Then I did some things on the computer and my friend arrived to pick up her son. They left and CJ seemed lost. He had a fit. I calmed him down and then fed him lunch and he fell asleep in his high chair. So I put him down for a nap. Made a few phone calls and just hung around. CJ got up from his nap and we headed out to pick the kids up from school. I had to get a few fundraisers out of the closet to hand out. We handed out some flyers for our McDonald's night tonight. I picked up one of my friends kids. Got my kids. Gave the fundraisers to people. And then we walked home. Got the kids started on homework. Waited for Joe to come back with my friends other child who got out at 4. They stayed for about half an hour playing and then their dad came and got them. They left and the kids finished up their homework and we left for our schools McDonald's night. Got there just before 5 when it began. Waited until we could order to go towards our fundraiser. Stayed there for the whole 3 hours chatting with people and monitoring the ice cream topping table and of course eating our own dinner. We had a nice turn out. The person who usually runs it was not there and left people in charge who had no clue, but it all worked out. I did have to get a correction on the amount of money we earned. They shorted us $100, but I got that taken care of. Came home and got the kids ready for bed and sent them off to bed. Then Joe and I stayed up watching some TV before going to bed ourselves.

Wednesday: Got up and got the kids ready for school. Went to playgroup with CJ. Had to get a fundraiser out of the closet for someone. Then I got a phone call while at playgroup from another parent about wanting to pick up their fundraiser. They were able to come right then so I went and got her fundraiser out of the closet too. She came and picked it up. We finished at playgroup and left to go to the grocery store. Got some groceries and came home and put them away. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I just hung around the house. The phone rang and it was another fundraiser person. Arranged for a pick up for him, but realized we didn't actually have a fundraiser for him. Hmmm. Went to the school to pick up the kids. Talked to my PTA VP and the person who was supposed to show up to get the fundraiser that we didn't have didn't end up showing up. Maybe he realized that someone else had picked it up? Lets hope. Came home and got the kids started on homework. Cleaned up the kitchen and the living room. Some friends came over to put a new power source in our computer. Then they left and I cooked dinner. We ate dinner. The girls cleaned their rooms and then played a Nintendo game before they were sent to bed. Joe and I watched TV. I fell asleep. Joe woke me up because he dropped a glass and needed to vacuum. I got ready for bed. We went to bed.

Thursday: Got woken up by my phone ringing at 5:30 in the morning. I have no idea who it was. Tried to go back to sleep, but our upstairs neighbors were making noise. So I tossed and turned for the next hour and a half or so. Joe had to get up and go to work early. I got up shortly after he left. The kids had trouble getting going for some reason this morning. So I kept having to push them to get ready. We left the house and walked to school. Got them to school and came back home. Just hung out with CJ for the morning. Fed him lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I went and took a shower. I cleaned up the kitchen. Then went to get the girls from school. There was some drama in the parking lot so I hung around to see that it got resolved. Then I was chatting with some friends before I finally headed home. Got the kids going with their homework. Then we brought the kids over our friend's house to watch while Joe and I went to a meeting for newly identified gifted children. After the meeting we went back to pick up the kids. They were finishing up dinner at our friend's house. We hung around for a little while and then left for me and Joe to get something to eat. We got a pizza and came home and put the kids to bed and ate our dinner. We watched some TV and then went to bed.

Friday: Got up early. Got the kids ready for school. I brought the girls to school and then got ready to start popping popcorn. Spent the morning at school selling popcorn and handed out a fundraiser. Then I came home. Joe had to leave for work shortly after that so I brought him to work. Came home and CJ didn't want lunch so I put him to bed. I had something to eat and counted the popcorn money and cleaned up the living room. Then I got CJ up from his nap and went to pick the girls up from school. I asked Natalie's teacher if we could have a conference next week. She said we could do it now. So I got Kaitlyn and went up to Natalie's classroom. Natalie has been getting discouraged with her writing in her "Reading Response Journal" which is letters she writes to her teacher each week about what she has been reading. So Natalie hasn't been pleased with her 90's she's been getting lately on this because well you know a 90 isn't a good grade in the mind of a student used to getting 100's. I've been explaining to Natalie that her teacher is pushing her. Which is exactly what she told me she was doing. And I'm glad she's giving her a challenge. So she talked to Natalie about it and explained to her that she knows she can do this which is why she expects more of her. I think she got a better idea of just what her teacher expects out of these letters and better yet I know just what she wants so I can help her accomplish this. We left the school and went to the store. Got Joe and came home. Figured out dinner. Ate and the kids played while I caught up on some things on the computer and Joe watched TV. Then we put CJ to bed and the girls stayed up a little while watching TV with us. Then we sent them to bed. I washed a load of laundry. Wrote my Nintendo Wii video game review. Watched some TV. And went to bed very late.

Saturday: The kids slept in which meant I got to sleep in. Good too since at 5:30 a.m. someone was outside our window screaming that they fell and hurt their ankle or something. They were very loud. It didn't last too long. At least not that I know of by the time I heard it. I was thinking maybe I should call an ambulance or something for this person, but then it stopped. Got up and cleaned up a little. Got the kids breakfast. Played around on the computer. Joe went to work. I just hung out at home with the kids. Fed them some lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. I laid down on the couch and fell asleep. CJ got up so I got him out of his crib. Washed dishes and started dinner. Joe got home from work and we ate dinner. After dinner I was very crampy so I laid down on the couch. Joe got CJ ready for bed and put him to bed. The girls stayed up a little later. I brushed Kaitlyn's hair and then she brushed mine. Then we sent them to bed. CJ wasn't really going to sleep and we couldn't figure out why until we realized the girls light was on. So we had to break up the little party and get everyone to just go to sleep. Joe and I stayed up. Playing around on the computer and watching TV.

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McTeacher's Night

Tuesday night we had the first of two McTeacher's Nights. A fundraiser at McDonald's where for 3 hours 15% of all proceeds go towards our school. We get people from the school to come out. The teachers and staff come and we flood McDonald's with a bunch of O'Connell School students, parents, teachers, and staff. We had a nice turn out. Unfortunately our new Vice Principal did not see fit to come, but our old Vice Principal did which I thought was nice. We managed to raise $356 for our school. So a good night. And it was filled with lots of fun and great memories.

Natalie with whip cream on her face after we pushed her face into her icecream

CJ

Kaitlyn pretending to eat with her friends

I managed to catch Kaitlyn while she was running around playing

The principal eating his dinner and chatting it up with a preschooler

A very angry Natalie because she got caught walking on the chairs and she was punished

So see what fun. Well, except for the punishment in the restaurant. It's always so hard when other children do things that I never in a million years would expect my children to do. Natalie did get to get up after her punishment and continue to have a good time with her friends. Only after promising she wouldn't do it again. That was hard for the stubborn girl to do though which was why the face in that picture ;).

Week In Review: November 8 - November 14, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for November 8 - November 14, 2009

Sunday: Got up around 8. Hung around for the morning. Then went to Walmart to return something and get a few things. We discovered Halloween stuff on sale for 90% off. So I got a whole bunch of stuff for next years Fall Festival. It ended up taking much longer than I anticipated. We came home and had lunch. Joe took the girls fishing one last time while I put CJ down for a nap. I was going to start laundry, but instead laid down to nap. Everyone came home and CJ got up from his nap. Joe decided he wanted Subway for dinner. So we went out and ended up renting a movie too. We came home and ate dinner. Got the kids showered and ready for bed. Sent them to bed and I worked on that laundry. Then we watched our movie. I did more laundry. Got 3 loads done and we went to bed.

Monday: Got up and got the kids ready for school. Joe brought the girls to school and then went to check his work schedule. I made a few phone calls. One to the kids doctor about getting a lead test. One to the school fundraiser to check on it's progress. And one to the bank to figure out why they had taken money out of my account. The only one I cleared up at that time was the fundraiser. I left messages at the other two. When Joe came home we went out to get a movie at the Disney Store that we had pre-ordered a month ago. Got that and went out to lunch. Then we went to look for some pants for Joe and a few other things. We went home. Finally having heard from the doctor's office about their blood work. So I tried to call the lab to see if they had gotten the paperwork so I could schedule for us to come in, but I couldn't find a number to speak to them directly. So we went to pick the girls up from school. I spoke to the doctor's office again who said it would be ready by the time we got the kids from school. So we went to the lab. Tried to get their blood drawn. We got both of the girls no problem, but CJ was a problem. They couldn't get at his vein. So we left with a bruise and battered little boy. Came home and the girls did homework while I prepared for my PTA meeting. Got lots of interruptions from other PTA officers and my kids doing their homework. Somehow I finished the work I needed to do though. Joe fed the kids while I went to my meeting. We had a good meeting. I received an award. Got some upsetting news that our vice principal who we haven't even had for a year had left suddenly to become an interim principal at another school. Very frustrating because we really liked the vice principal. Came home from the meeting and put the kids to bed. I did more laundry. Heated up dinner. And Joe and I watched TV. Then after another load of laundry was completed I went and took a shower and got ready for bed.

Tuesday: Got up and Kaitlyn was complaining her stomach hurt. She didn't have a fever though so I told her to just take it easy and get ready. She wasn't feeling better so I told her to stay on her bed and that was where she'd be all day if she was sick. I checked on her later and she was sitting up. So I asked her if she was going to school. She didn't want to stay home so she got ready for school. We brought the kids to school. CJ had playgroup today instead of Wednesday this week. So we were enjoying the special playgroup. Got to see some critters. Then the school nurse came down and told me Kaitlyn was sick and threw up and I needed to bring her home. But I could take my time she was in the office. So I finished watching the animals with CJ and then went up and got Kaitlyn. Brought her down to playgroup for the last part of it and then brought her home. She actually seemed perfectly fine to me. I fed CJ. Joe went to a doctor's appointment. I put CJ down for a nap and Kaitlyn was playing. No more sick to her stomach or throwing up and she was wanting to eat. I did some laundry. Joe came home from his doctor's appointment. We laid down. Joe went to get Natalie from school. CJ got up from his nap. The kids did their homework. I did more laundry. Washed dishes and cooked dinner. After dinner we got the kids ready for bed. Put CJ to bed and let the girls stay up and watch TV. Sent them to bed. I finished the laundry. Fell asleep on the couch and got up and went to bed.

Wednesday: Got up late. No school though. Veteran's Day. Joe went back to work. The kids and I just hung out all day. I did some dishes. Fed the kids lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Got a headache so I laid down on the couch. Took some chicken out to defrost for dinner. CJ got up from his nap. Joe got home from work. I started cooking dinner. I realized that I was short on tortillas. Joe got mad because he didn't want to go back out to get more. I wasn't asking him to. We got into a huge fight. He lost his temper. I kicked him out. Finished cooking dinner and fed the kids. Then Joe came back home and apologized for his behavior. We ate. Got the kids ready for bed. Sent them to bed. Stayed up and watched some TV. I took a shower and went to bed.

Thursday: Got up early. Right after Joe left for work. Did some stuff on the computer. As the kids got up I urged them to get ready. They were dragging their feet though. Finally got them to get going though. We had to walk to school. It was colder outside than I was expecting. I got them to school on time and walked back home. This was the first time I really exerted myself since I had my bronchitis. So it wasn't easy for me. I was wheezing by the time I got home. CJ was very playful. I played with him and he fell asleep on the floor just before lunch. So I decided to just put him down for his nap. Then I had some lunch and watched some TV. I fell asleep too. Joe came home from work and CJ got up a little while later. It was time to go get the girls though. We picked them up and then we went to the store to get something for dinner. We came home and the girls started homework. We had dinner and I sent the girls to clean their room. Then I ended up putting everyone to bed early. I worked on some pictures. Watched some TV. Took a shower and went to bed.

Friday: Got up early and got the kids ready to leave the house early for our weekly Friday popcorn popping. Joe went and got the popcorn started. I went down to the FRC to see if it would be okay if I left the girls down there to have breakfast while I was helping with the popcorn. Also spoke to someone about our meeting later in the morning. Then went up to help Joe. We popped popcorn and then at 9:00 I went down to the FRC for my advisory board meeting. Met with them and then went to check on the popcorn progress. Things were going well. We finished up the popcorn and left the school. We went to the bank to make a deposit and then went to Walmart to spend a gift card CJ had gotten. Got what we needed there and went to lunch. Then tried again to get CJ's blood drawn. The lab was still unsuccessful in finding a vein and I am getting frustrated. Came home and put CJ down for a nap. I called the doctor's office to explain the situation and find out what to do. We're going to try the children's hospital. I counted popcorn money. Went to the PTA bank to get some coin wrappers and find out why we were charged $2 on our bank statement. Got that all figured out and came home. Wrapped the coins and then went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and did a quick clean up. My dad came over to pick the girls up to take them for the night. Sent them with him and then Joe and I tried to figure out what we were going to do. We rented a movie. I took some pictures so I could send out thank you notes for CJ's birthday. We went to Walgreens to get the pictures printed and then we went out to dinner. Picked up our movie from the Redbox and got Joe's work schedule. Then we stopped at Walgreens to get our pictures and came home. Got CJ ready for bed. I did his thank you notes. Joe and I watched our movie. Then we stayed up and watched some TV and went to bed.

Saturday: Got up just before 8:30 to CJ crying. Went and got him out of bed and fed him breakfast. Then Joe got up. I put the thank you notes out in the mail. Joe got ready for work. He left. I hung around the house all day. CJ took a nice long nap. I washed dishes and cleaned up the living room and kitchen. I folded some laundry. Then Joe came home from work and we cooked dinner. Ate dinner. Then spent the rest of the night watching TV waiting for the girls to come home. Put CJ to bed. When the girls finally came home and we got my parents to leave we sent the girls to bed. Joe and I watched some more TV. I went and took a shower and we went to bed.

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Week In Review: October 25 - October 31, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for October 25 - October 31, 2009

Sunday: Slept in for a change. Got up and did a few things around the house. Looked up some recipes. Found a recipe for an apple cake I thought I'd give a try. Then tried to figure out how I wanted to make CJ's cake. I found a cake pan from Wilton that was perfect, but it was discontinued. So I called around trying to find someone who had it, but no one had it. I found it on ebay, but worried it wouldn't get here in time. So I e-mailed to ask if it could be rushed to me. Joe went to work. I started working on my apple cake. Fed the kids lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Finished up my cake. Got a reply from the person with the cake pan on ebay that if I bought it today I could get it on time. So I did Buy it Now and purchased the cake pan. Now fingers crossed that I get it. I washed dishes. Joe came home from work. I started some laundry and cleaned up my kitchen floor. Joe cooked dinner. We ate. Natalie had to work on some homework that she hadn't completed. That turned into a very long project. So I put Kaitlyn and CJ to bed and had her finish up her work. She finally finished and I sent her to bed. I continued with the laundry and watched TV with Joe. I took a shower and went to bed.

Monday: Got woken up by Kaitlyn telling me Natalie didn't feel good. She had a headache and said her stomach hurt. I sent her to get something to eat. She was still moping around. I took her temperature which was normal. Gave her some Tylenol and told her if she stays home from school she stays in her room and sent her there. I thought she'd come back out a little while later bored and ready to go to school. She didn't. Joe went in there though and she was sitting on her bed reading. He asked her if she was feeling better she said she did so he told her to get ready for school. So the kids went off to school as normal. Joe brought them in. I got CJ dressed. When Joe came home we went over our friend's house. They had a couch that Joe wanted me to look at and to measure and see if it would fit in our apartment. So we went there. Looks like we might get the couch. After that we went to Walmart to pick up a few things that I needed. Then we stopped at the pharmacy and came home. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. I called the bank to deal with a problem with my account. The person I've been working with is no longer there though and no one seems to know what's been going on. So that was frustrating. I think I got it under control though. I had something to eat and then watched TV with Joe. I went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and Joe left for work. I helped the girls with their homework. Washed the dishes. Cooked dinner. Fed the kids. Sent the girls to finish cleaning their rooms. Then sent them to take a shower. Got CJ ready for bed and put them to bed. Then sent the girls to bed. I stayed up watching TV until Joe came home from work. Then I went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up and discovered the girls were still in bed. So I had to wake them up. Then hey were arguing and giving me trouble with getting ready. I hate starting the morning off that way. Got them ready and got dressed and brought them to school. Then I went to the bank. I had to fill out some paperwork there. Took care of that and came home. Cleaned the kitchen. Did some things on the computer. Gave CJ lunch and put him down for a nap and then I had something to eat. Then I went over to the new Box Top coordinator's house to help her prepare the box tops to be shipped out and show her what to do. Brought her to the post office to ship and pay for it with the PTA money. Then came home. Made cookie dough. Went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and got them started on homework. Joe left for work. I got dinner going and finished making my cookies too. Fed the kids and ate something myself. Had the girls clean their room. Got them ready for bed and sent them to bed. Then I decorated the cookies and washed dishes. Made some mashed potatoes for Joe. He came home and ate his dinner. I finished cleaning up the kitchen and went to take a shower and then went to bed.

Wednesday: Got up and got dressed. Got the kids dressed and Joe out the door. We brought Joe to work. Then came home and the kids finished getting ready. I put CJ's halloween costume on him for the playgroup halloween party. We left for school. The girls helped me carry the cookies down to playgroup and then went off to class. CJ and I had a good time at playgroup. He made the craft and played with some playdough. We trick or treated around the school and had snack and sang some songs and did some dancing and then left. Came home and put him down for a nap. I relaxed. Had some lunch. Went to pick the girls up from school after CJ got up from his nap. Came home and started homework. Went back out to get Joe from work and do some grocery shopping. Got gas. Came home in the pouring rain. Put the groceries away. Started dinner. Realized we forgot to return a movie. Sent Joe out to do that. He came home. We ate dinner. CJ got cheese all over his white shirt. I threw it in the wash. Had the girls finish cleaning their rooms. Sent them all to bed. Watched TV with Joe. Finished that load of laundry. CJ's shirt didn't come clean. Now I need bleach. Let it soak in some detergent for now. Watched some more TV. Went to bed.

Thursday: Got up and did our normal morning routine. Joe went to work. I got the kids dressed and out the door. We walked to school. Then CJ and I came back home. I did some menu planning for CJ's birthday party. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. When Joe got home from work we got CJ up from his nap and went to Walmart to get CJ's birthday presents and some stuff for his party. By the time we finished there we didn't have much time to do anything else so we went to the school to pick the girls up. Got them and went to Iparty for party favors for the goody bags and a few other things we couldn't find at Walmart. I found napkins there that I liked better than ones I got at Walmart. So we went back to Walmart to return those napkins and to show Natalie some plates that she might want to buy for CJ for part of his birthday present. Got a plate and a few other things we realized we forgot the first time and went to the grocery store to get the rest of the stuff we couldn't get at Walmart. Then we went to Subway to get dinner and home to eat. We ate dinner. The kids did their homework. I washed dishes. Then I gave CJ a bath. Got him all ready for bed. Put all the kids to bed. Cleaned out CJ's toy box in preparation for the gifts he'll receive this weekend. Cleaned up the living room a bit. Worked on the pin the mouth on the ghost game for CJ's birthday party. Got that and the mouths all made. Went and took a shower and then went to bed.

Friday: Got up and got the kids ready to go. Left for school bright and early in the morning. Started popping popcorn. We got through that pretty quick. Came home and started counting all the money we had from other PTA events. Got a phone call from school that a classes popcorn order was missing. I know we filled the order, but I don't know what happened so it needed to be reimbursed. So that adjusted my counting. Put CJ down for a nap. Got the deposit ready and went to the bank. Came home and had lunch. Watched some TV with Joe. Cleaned up the living room. Picked the girls up from school. Cleaned the kitchen. Joe went to work. I wasn't feeling good so I laid down on the couch. Then I got up and cooked dinner. Cleaned up the kitchen a little. Fed the kids. Joe came home from work and we carved pumpkins. I cleaned the bathroom. Baked a cake. Washed dishes. Made jello. Washed laundry. Went to bed.

Saturday: Got up early still feeling lousy. No rest for the weary though. I had a lot of work to do. I cleaned up the kitchen. Joe vacuumed the living room for me. I made the frosting for the cake. Decorated the cake. Had leftover frosting so I made some cupcakes. Joe took the kids out to do a few things. I mopped the floor. Wrapped presents. They came home. I went and took a shower. Got dressed. Frosted cupcakes. Finished getting ready for CJ's party. Guests arrived. We had a nice party for him. He got lots of nice stuff. Everyone, but our friends left. We were going trick or treating together. So we ordered some pizza. Ate dinner. Got the kids back in costume. Took pictures and trick or treated in the rain. Came home soaked with not a whole lot of candy. Our friends went home. We went through the kids candy. Let them each have a piece. Got them ready for bed and sent them to bed. Cleaned up some party stuff a little, but mostly just crashed.

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Week In Review: October 18 - October 24, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for October 18 - October 24, 2009

Sunday: Took it easy to start the day. Joe went to work. I gave the kids lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Dozed on the couch for a few. Joe came home from work. I started washing dishes and getting laundry going. Cooked dinner. Cleaned up the kitchen. Made the girls take a shower. Got them in bed. Continued with laundry. Joe put a movie on. I couldn't get into it. So I worked on CJ's invitations. Joe wasn't able to get into a movie and got messaged online from one of our friends that their gas stove wasn't working. So he went to check on that. I continued with the invites. Couldn't figure out how I wanted to word things so waited until Joe got home. Finally came up with something and finished all of those up. Got them in the envelopes and mostly addressed and ready to go. Folded more laundry. Took a shower. Played around on the computer. Went to bed way too late.

Monday: The result of going to bed too late is waking up too late too. Jumped out of bed at 8 and realized the girls who get themselves up in the morning weren't up. So went to yell at them. They dragged their feet. I got dressed and ready to go. Brought the girls to school late. Went down to the library to do something and talk to my PTA secretary. Then came home and put Box Tops on sheets. When I finally finished that it was time for CJ to have lunch. Joe gave him that and he went down for a nap. Then I washed some more laundry and made a list of a few things we needed at the store. Went to the store and got all the way to check out when I realized I didn't have a way to pay. So I had to leave the stuff and go home to get my debit card back from Joe. All the way back to the store to pay and then went to the mailbox to drop the invites in. The mailbox was right in front of this guys house and there were cars coming so I pulled in his driveway to turn around, but just decided to hop out while there and toss them in the mailbox. Probably not the best idea since the guy was in his driveway. I got all the way back in my car, door closed, buckled in and about to back out when he chose to say something to me. I apologized for using his driveway and he continued to go on and on. What more could I do at this point? So I rolled up my window and proceeded to back out and get out of there. He was motioning to me I think because I ran over the curb a little. Probably not actually his property at that point and more the city's property, but whatever. Drove home flustered by my experiences of the day. Put the groceries away and calmed down. Did some more laundry and had lunch. CJ got up from his nap. I changed him. Went to the school to pick up the girls. Talked to Natalie's teacher about her class helping clean pumpkins on Friday. Then came home and the kids started homework. Joe went to work. I made a phone call to Kaitlyn's teacher because she said a boy spit on her. Helped with homework and relaxed before having to start dinner. I made bacon and eggs. We ate. Got the kids ready for bed. Sent them to bed and I just took it easy for the rest of the night. Joe came home from work. I was pretty exhausted by then and fell asleep on the couch. Then I got up to go to bed about an hour later.

Tuesday: This time the kids were up on time. I got up reluctantly and got them ready for school. I brought the girls to school and went in to check how much paint we had for our Fall Festival. Saw my friend on the way in so stopped to chat with her. And on the way out I ran into another friend so I chatted with her for a few then went home. Hung around and took care of some e-mailing. Put CJ down for a nap. Washed dishes. Then made another invitation for Joe's niece and nephew. Mailed that out and had something to eat. Got ready to go back to the school to meet with the school psychologist about Kaitlyn. That was a waste of time. Spent all of 10 minutes with him. Despite us having a meeting scheduled he didn't know why we were meeting and had very little thoughts on Kaitlyn. He's being very vague about whether or not he thinks she has ADD. Now he's saying he didn't see any attention issues with her in class during his observations of her. However, last year he noted some attention issues in his evaluation of her. He's supposed to write something up about her. He suggested giving Kaitlyn a check list to help us at home with her. Great, another thing for her to lose. That should work. He's going to try to get it to me Friday, but it seems like it's not a priority to him so I'm not holding my breath for it. He isn't sure where the questionaire he had her teacher from last year fill out is. So he's supposed to find that too. Like I said a huge waste of time. So anyways I came home and told Joe about this experience. Then I had to go back to the school to pick up the girls. I spoke to Kaitlyn's teacher about the spit kid. She didn't seem too pleased with my solution of Kaitlyn avoiding him. She wants Kaitlyn to stand up for herself and tell kids when they do something she doesn't like. Okay, but if this kid has a problem and spits when he talks, then that's not going to help. She's still going to be spit on. So I told her not to start conversations with him. If he talks to her she can talk back and if he spits on her she needs to tell him she does not like that and tell her teacher. We came home and started homework. Joe left for work. I continue to fight with Kaitlyn about her homework. CJ continues to give me fits. I started dinner. Got the kids all fed. Then had them get ready for bed. Sent them to bed and Joe came home early. The girls were still up when he came home so he went in there to yell at them. Then we watched some TV together before going to bed.

Wednesday: Got up at my usual time. Got the kids ready for school. Joe left for work. I took a shower. Got CJ dressed and ready for playgroup and to bring the girls to school. We walked to the school. CJ and I had a good time at playgroup and came home. Gave him lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I took advantage of the peace and quiet and just relaxed. Before I knew it though it was time to get CJ up from his nap and get the girls from school. Got the girls, chatted with the principal for a few, and came home. Helped the girls with their homework. Joe came home from work and got the kids all riled up. We had dinner. I folded some laundry. Joe cleaned out the refrigerator and took out the garbage. I folded some laundry. We put the kids to bed and then Joe and I watched some TV before going to bed.

Thursday: Got up and Joe wasn't here. I completely forgot he had to go to work early. I got the kids ready for school. We walked to school. Came back home and took it easy. I cleaned up a little. Fed CJ lunch. Put him down for a nap. Then I laid down too. Joe came home from work. CJ got up from his nap. We went to the store to get some fall festival things. Went to the school and picked up the girls. Came home and the girls worked on their homework. When they finished we went to my friend's house to drop the girls off and take her husband with us to get the pumpkins for the fall festival. Got the pumpkins and brought them to the school to put them behind the stage. Then went back to my friend's house for our kids. They invited us to stay for dinner. So we did. We were there pretty late. Came home and put the kids to bed and then Joe and I watched some TV. Cut up some t-shirts to use for rags on the pumpkins and then went to bed.

Friday: Got up and got ready to leave. I had a lot of things to get together. Got everything I needed and then went to the school. Faxed fundraiser orders. Popped popcorn. Cleaned pumpkins. Came home and counted popcorn money. Then I created a sign for the M&M guessing. Joe went out with our friends while I stayed home with CJ while he napped. I finished my sign and took a shower. Got out and got ready to go pick the girls up from school. CJ got up from his nap and we went to the school where I met Joe and our friends. Got the kids and came home. Natalie had some homework to do. Our friends offered to take the kids so they packed stuff for their overnight. We had dinner and went back to the school for our Fall Festival. After the Fall Festival we brought the kids to our friend's house. Left them there and went and rented a movie. Came home and I counted money. Joe and I decided it was too late to watch our movie so we just went to bed.

Saturday: Got up to a quiet house. Played around on the computer for a while. Joe finally got up and we watched our movie. Then we went to pick the kids up from my friend's house. Hung out there for a while and came home. Joe had to leave for work. I put CJ down for a nap. Then the girls were playing and discovered a dead mouse in the kitchen. I swept that thing out the door and called Joe. I'm hoping there are no more. I did a few things around the house including the dishes. Ordered some pizza. Fed the kids. Put CJ to bed. Let the girls stay up. Joe came home from work. We watched some TV with the girls and sent them to bed. Then Joe and I relaxed for the evening.

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Fall Festival

Our PTA did it's annual Fall Festival last night. It was a huge success. We had a nice turn out and lots of fun. I managed to snap a few pictures of the evening while I was running around making sure everything was going as it should.

Our friends Spencer and Mia working on their pumpkins

Mia with her pumpkin

Spencer with his pumpkin

A group of people decorating their pumpkins

CJ giving a helping hand

Natalie caught off guard

Kaitlyn playing a game

CJ chipping in to clean up when the night was over

So far I've heard nothing but good feed back about the night. Natalie did guess how many M&M's were in the jar, but someone else guessed the same amount. We gave it to that person because we did not want it to appear rigged. Well, actually the guess was in CJ's name which was nice of Natalie. She did four guesses and the guess she made for CJ was tied for being the closest.

Week In Review: October 11 - October 17, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for October 11 - October 17, 2009

Sunday: Got up at a decent time. CJ was awake. Joe was already gone and at work. It was very cold in the apartment so I turned the heat on. Got CJ and gave him some juice and cuddled with him under the blanket for a little while until the heat kicked in. Then I fed him breakfast and had something to eat myself. He played nicely while I watched some soaps. Then I fed him lunch and made something for myself and Joe came home from work. He put CJ down for a nap and we watched some things we had DVRed. We got a phone call from a friend inviting us over for dinner and we accepted. I finally got dressed and started cleaning up the living room and washing dishes. My mom called to tell us they were going to be a little late with the girls because they had forgotten something at the house and had to go back for it. Joe decided then that it was a good time to move the couch down away from the wall like we've been meaning to do to keep CJ from trying to climb the shelves on the wall. Of course that left us with a big mess still in our living room when my parents showed up with the girls. So we had them coming in and just dropping all of their stuff and I was still trying to put things away. CJ got up from his nap and my parents stayed at the house for another 2 hours or so. They finally left and we went over our friends house for dinner. Had a very nice time there and stayed way too late. Didn't come home until just before midnight. Sent the kids right to bed and then Joe and I went in our bedroom to watch some TV.

Monday: I was woken up early by work going on outside my window. I couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up. Started working on the fundraisers. The kids slept late. When they finally got up we went to Denny's for something to eat. Then we decided to go apple picking. We invited some friends along. So we all went and did that and had a good time. Except Joe sprained his ankle. We went and got something for dinner and then came home and watched TV and ate. The kids went to take a shower and then went to bed. I finished up the fundraisers and then went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up and took a shower. Natalie wasn't feeling well so we were trying to figure out if she was going to school or not. She ended up going to school. It was only a half day. I last minute put together change for the book fair. Rushed the kids to school. I went to the office to get some information I needed and then went down to the book fair just as the first class was arriving. I worked the book fair until 1 and then got the kids and came home. Fed them lunch and worked on homework. Cleaned up a little. Started dinner. Had to feed the kids early so I could go to the school for book fair and Kaitlyn's conference. Joe ended up calling out of work because of his sprained ankle. So he stayed home with the kids and our friend came over with their kids. Went to the book fair. Worked that until 8. Had Kaitlyn's conference during that time too. Brought my friend back to my house. We counted the book fair money. One of the kids stepped on Natalie's eye so she was not happy about that. Our friends left and we put the kids to bed and then watched some TV before going to bed.

Wednesday: Got up early to bring Joe to work. The girls were dragging their feet. That made Joe late. I brought the kids right to school to have breakfast. I also wanted to find out if we were still having playgroup at the park giving the weather was cold. We were. So I brought CJ down to the park where it was freezing and he had a blast. We left playgroup and came right home where I put CJ down for a nap. I wasn't feeling well so I tried to rest before I had to go pick up the kids at school and work book fair all afternoon. Then I had to make lunch for everyone. Got CJ up from his nap and rushed to the school. Couldn't find any parking. Was cursing the fact that I needed to be in there already and had all of this stuff to carry and had to park so far away because they don't have enough parking. Someone was leaving so I took their spot and rushed in nearly dropping CJ. Got down to the library for book fair and there was a crowd of people there. So I jumped in to help while my kids were all trying to greet me and ask me a million questions. Got through the crowd, got my kids situated with lunch, and finally got a minute to breathe. Worked the book fair until 3:30 then came home for just a few before having to go to pick Joe up from work. We had to pick up a few groceries. Got something for dinner and then went to pay our electric bill and came home. Cooked dinner. Worked on fundraisers. Put the kids to bed. Watched some TV with Joe and went to bed.

Thursday: Got up and panicked about the weather report. Joe had to be at work. I was going to walk the kids to school because I had to pick up my friend's 4 kids who can't all fit in my van to bring them home. But the weather was calling for rain in the afternoon. Joe had to work until 2 and my friend wouldn't be back before then and the kids had a half day again and were out at 1. I decided I had no choice, but to bring Joe to work. So I did and then came home and got the kids ready for school. Brought them to school and went to check with my friend to make sure she wouldn't mind if I left her oldest (11) home with Natalie for no more than 30 minutes so I could pick Joe up from work. She said fine. I hung around to make sure she got help at the book fair and when she did I left. Came home and did some stuff around the house. Took a shower. Washed dishes. And before I knew it I had to be at the school for book fair again. Went to the school and worked that. Then got the six children I had to bring home and brought them home for lunch. Joe had called and said he got a ride home from work so I didn't have to pick him up now. So I fed all the kids lunch and got the older ones started on homework and put CJ down for a nap. Joe came home from work and shortly after my friend came to get her kids. It was snowing out in October. Crazy New England weather. Counted up book fair money and ordered pizza for dinner. Fed everyone and then went back to the school to work the book fair again. Lit my candle at 7 for Pregnancy Loss Remembrance day. Got to leave the book fair early. So we were home before 8 and got the kids in bed on time. I had something to eat and then worked on the fundraiser some more. Then I watched TV and fell asleep on the couch. Got up and went to bed.

Friday: Got up and got everyone ready to leave the house early again. We went to the school. The kids had breakfast there. We started popping popcorn. Sold popcorn and cleaned up from that. Went to check on the people in the book fair and then left to come home and put the cash box in the house and grab the fundraiser stuff. Joe got something to eat and gave CJ something to eat and then we went over our friend's house to help them move. Helped there for a little while and then I took my friend to the school to close up the book fair. We got that all cleaned up and went to meet the men at their new apartment. Helped there for a little while and then went to drop the fundraiser stuff in the Fed Ex box. Then we came home and put CJ down for a nap. I went to pick up all the kids from school including my friend's kids. Dropped them off at their new house and then went home. Joe had to leave for work so he took the car and I called the cable company to pay the cable bill. I ordered something for dinner and we ate. I gave CJ a bath because he had ketchup all over him. Then I put him to bed and let the girls stay up until Joe came home from work. He got home and the girls stayed up a little later watching some TV with us before going to bed. Joe and I didn't stay up too much longer before we went to bed too.

Saturday: I got up early and checked the weather. Looked like the weather was going to work out for our outdoor plans after all. The kids slowly got up and ate. And I got dressed and we left the house by 11 to go pumpkin picking. First we had to drop some books off at the library though. Then we went to the farm. I talked to the farmer about picking up our pumpkins for the school this week. Then we went down and picked up our own pumpkins. We had a lot of fun. After we went to Sam's club to pick up some things for PTA. Although, we didn't realize Sams Club moved. So we luckily stumbled upon it and got what we needed. They overcharged me for something so I had to go get reimbursed and fight a little about it. The sign was on my side though so I got the money back. Then we went over to Stew Leonards for the kids to see all the fun things there. We did a hay maze and then went in and got some cookies to snack on. Then we left there and headed back towards home. I called our friend who was moving to see if we could stop by with something for them. So we went over there. I had some curtains for my friend to put up on her bedroom door because she has french doors with glass going into her bedroom and needs something for privacy. She was going to make something, but I knew that wouldn't be able to happen right away and they are going to want privacy. So we dropped those off and helped with a few things and then left. We went to Iparty to look for invitations, but they didn't have what I wanted. So we went to Walmart and still couldn't find what we wanted, but did find some halloween costumes for the girls. I ended up getting some paper too to make my own invitations. We got a few other things we needed and left. Stopped at a Redbox to get a movie. Rented two movies and then went to get some KFC for dinner. Came home and got the kids their food. Then I decided to wash dishes. Did that while Joe replaced our toilet seat and then we ate dinner. Got the kids ready for bed. Put CJ to bed and the girls watched their movie while Joe and I counted M&M's for the guess how many M&M's are in the jar for the schools fall festival. Then I worked on CJ's invites. Got those all designed and cut out. Just need to write in them. The girls movie ended and we sent them to bed. We were going to watch our movie, but Joe ended up chatting with a million people at once online and I fell asleep waiting for him to start the movie. So we just went to bed.

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