We Got VERY Lucky

Thank you for the comments and emails that I got about BK, my little troublemaker. To recap, BK had gotten expelled from the after school program, and I was stressed over what to do, and how to punish him.

A happy kid playing baseball

Well, The Agent was able to change his schedule and take some vacation, so we had a plan for taking care of BK after school until school got out. But I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

The next day, Friday, was the last day of school before Spring Break. I called the principal, Mrs. Davidson, first thing in the morning, and told her assistant that I HAD to speak with her.

"She's pretty booked up all day," her assistant said. "I can schedule something after the break...."

"No, the break is too late. I HAVE to speak with her. I can meet with her at lunch, after school, at night, whenever, but it has to be today."

"Let me check her schedule and get back to you," she said.

When she didn't get back to me by 10 am, I called again, just to make sure she knew how important it was. She knew.

At 12:40, my heart sank. BK was officially out of school, and Mrs. Davidson hadn't called. Poop.

At 12:45, I received a text from The Agent: "She said they will work with us. He gets to stay."

Oh, Praise Jesus.

So, this is what happened. The Agent came to the school at 12:30, to pick up BK and to apologize to Miss Michelle, the leader of the after school program. He had no hope that they would reconsider, but he wanted to make sure that BK would be allowed to come back when school started again in August.

As soon as The Agent walked into the lobby, Mrs. Davidson's assistant saw him. "Oh, Mr. Agent, please come in! We've been waiting for you!"

Huh?

The Agent was escorted into the office, where Mrs. Davidson and Miss Michelle were waiting for him. "We were just discussing what we were going to do with sweet BK," Mrs. Davidson, said. "We realize how difficult it would be to have to pick up BK and then two hours later have to come back and pick up Bug."

The Agent remained silent, not revealing that we had every intention of pulling Bug out of the after school program as well. I mean, duh. If  we have to come to pick up one, we're going to pick up both.

"And you've been loyal to us for several years, ever since Bug was in kindergarten," Miss Michelle continued. "and we've never had a problem with Bug in all those years."

The Agent was still silent. Bug is no angel. But if Miss Michelle suddenly had a selective memory, The Agent certainly wasn't going to remind her of all of Bug's shortcomings.

In the end, it was decided that perhaps the decision to expel BK fro the after school program was a little hasty. We now have two weeks off for Spring break, but when we return, BK can return to the after school program.

Thank goodness.

We just got very, very lucky.

BK is still getting punished, but we decided not to take away baseball. I think it's important to have something structured that he actually likes, so baseball stays. Instead, he will miss out on the two field trips that he was going to get to go on during the spring day camp. And since I will have to stay home with him instead, there will be some kind of not fun activity. I'm thinking laundry and weed pulling might work!

A base hit! 

Molly's Musings-- It's a Dog's Life

Hi. My name is Molly.

I was born on January 5th. The Tall Man saw me playing with my brothers and sisters and scooped me up and took me away. I was sad at first, but the Tall Man took me to a nice house with the Soft Lady and the Clumsy Girl and the Loud Boy. It's a pretty nice place, so I think I'll stay here awhile.

It was a little scary here at first. The Tall Man gave me a bath almost right away, my first one ever! Let me tell you, it was not pleasant! And to make matters worse, the Soft Woman thought it would be a good idea to take me to THE VET. I was so scared! But THE VET didn't give me any shots, he just scratched my ears and told me I was a good dog, and gave me a bite of something tasty (The Soft Woman said it was medicine, but I don't believe her. It was too tasty to be medicine. I also heard whispers of shots in my future, but I'm going to choose to ignore that).

There's also a Mama Dog at my new house, but she doesn't let me nurse on her. She's nice enough to share her bed with me though, so she's ok.

During the day, I play outside with Mama Dog. Well, I play, Mama Dog sleeps.

When the Tall Man and the Soft Lady and the Clumsy Girl and the Loud Boy all come home, I get to come inside with Mama Dog. They have given me so many toys to play with! So far, my favorite toy is a yummy shoe that smells just like the Clumsy Girl. I can't understand why the Soft Lady started yelling when she saw me chewing on it.... do you think that I should save some of the sole for her?

After awhile, I get tired, and take a nap with the Tall Man:

I got in trouble yesterday, and I can't understand why. These people are not very smart, and they have allowed two STINKIN' CATS to enter the house. I trapped one and tried to let the Soft Lady know.

"C'mere! I caught the STINKIN' CAT! Come get it!" 

I got tossed outside right after that. Dumb people. Don't they know they were supposed to toss out the STINKIN' CAT?

I forgave the Soft Lady a few minutes later:

It's easy to forgive when it's time for a nap and there's a free lap available.

Nighttime is probably the worse, because I have to sleep inside a cage while Mama Dog gets to sleep in her bed in the living room. It's so unfair! Mama Dog has the whole place to herself at night, and instead of chewing on the tables and knocking over the garbage like I would do, Mama Dog actually sleeps! What a waste!

weekend update.... kinda

Last  weekend we made a purchase that deserves its own post tomorrow. Everything else pales in comparison, but while I was looking through the  pictures on my floor, I was reminded of how The Agent tried to kill me:

This is a knife on my kitchen floor, blade side up, just waiting for me to step on it. Because tetanus shots are fun.

Please ignore my dirty floor. I have mopped since the taking of this picture.

The only other thing we did was make up our list of things we want to do for Spring break:

I wish I had two weeks off, too! Lucky bums!

Trouble

This is a long post with no pictures. I'm sorry. There are no pictures that accurately portray my current angst. But I do ask for advice at the end, so try to stay with me. 

Our school had parent teacher conferences this week, since this is the last week before the two week long Spring Break.

Bug had gotten a note home, saying she was above her grade level in all subjects, and there were no behavioral problems, so a conference was not required. Sweet!

I was not that lucky with BK. I was informed that my appointment was Tuesday at 4:30.

The next afternoon,  I received an email from BK's teacher, "I want to make sure that the time works for both you AND your husband," she wrote.

Ugh. BOTH of us? That's unpleasant.

So, we showed up on Tuesday with BK, expecting the worse. But it actually turned out ok. He's doing well academically, and he is doing better behaviorally. Thank goodness! Now we can relax and enjoy the next two weeks off for Spring Break.

It was a mistake for me to breathe easy.

The Agent came home with the kids on Thursday, sent Bug upstairs, and sat BK on the stairs.

"BK got kicked out of the after school program," The Agent said.

He was playing with scissors and pretended to stab another kid in the eye, Then, 5 minutes later, he took a sharp pencil and "slashed" a girl across the forehead.

This is not his first hands-on incident. So now, he's out of the program for the rest of the year.

Part of me blames the after school program. Aren't they watching these kids? Why does he have scissors in the first place? And he's just straight expelled from the program? There's no suspension first?

But really, it's not the school's fault. They have rules, and we have to abide by them. Sure, I'm going to the school today to plead my case, and maybe I'm even talking to principal right now as you're reading this, but I'm not hopeful that the school will reconsider.

There are ten more weeks until the summer break. This means for 10 weeks, we have to figure out what to do with BK after school. He has to get picked up and taken somewhere promptly at 3 pm.

Oh, except for Wednesday. Every Wednesday is a minimum day. I have to get him at 12:30.

The Agent thinks he can change his schedule  for the next two months and work from 6 to 2:30. On Wednesdays, he will take 2 and a half hours of vacation. By the time school gets out in June, he will have used almost 4 vacation days.

And that's if he can get all of that approved. I don't know what we're going to do if he can't change his schedule. We don't have any family in town. The alternative is finding a daycare provider--a stranger-- who's willing to pick him up every day and watch him until we can pick him up at 5.

I keep trying to tell myself that it's only for two months, and we can handle anything for two months.

But let me tell you: these next two months are not going to be pleasant.

Now, to think of a punishment. The Agent wants to take him off the baseball team (which we have already paid for and received the uniform for-- the first game is Saturday). The Agent's argument is that baseball id the only thing that gives him a lot of pleasure right now. My argument is that a sports team tends to encourage good behavior. Also, since he's only 5 and he's already the best kid on the team, and won't fall too far behind when the season starts next year.

I don't know. I agree he should be punished, and there isn't much else that would  have much effect if we took it away.... what do you think?

Birthday Weekend

Last weekend was Bug's birthday weekend!

We had been planning a Pancakes and Pajamas party, and it was going to be really cute. But when we started planning the guest list, there wasn't REALLY anyone she wanted to have come, other than her two best friends. Well, I really didn't want to spend $300 for just two friends! So I convinced her to have a birthday weekend: Her best guy friend came over on Friday night, her best girlfriend came over on Saturday, and then the family came over for a family party on Sunday. She had a blast and she said she wanted to have birthday weekends from now on, instead of parties. I can live with that!

Bug and David

But I can tell that Bug and her best guy friend are drifting apart. Bug is really in to the American Girl dolls right now, and of course David isn't. David is all about those dang Pokemon trading cards. And God Bless Bug; she tried to take an interest. David was talking about one of the dang Pokemon guys, and Bug asked, "Oh? Is he the King?" You know, trying to take an interest. David looked at her like she was brain damaged and flatly said "No."

Dude, you collect cards from Target. Who's brain damaged?

But it's still a little sad. They've been best friends since kindergarten.

On Saturday, I picked up Bug's best girlfriend Ryan and we had a girls day of fun. We went out for manicures and pedicures:

 then went out to lunch (chocolate chip pancakes, anyone?):

then came home to bake cupcakes and play for awhile, and finally out to ice cream. Yeah, I made sure Ryan was super filled with sugar before sending her back home. It was ok; her parents were going out that night and leaving her with a babysitter. That babysitter earned her money that night!

On Sunday, my parents, grandparents, and brother came over for a family party. What a disaster. I was PMS-ing, and not drinking for Lent. That's an unpleasant combination for everyone, let me tell you! I was mad at my stepmother for buying tons of things when I asked her not to, I was mad at the Agent for not cleaning up the back yard, I was mad at my dad for picking up the dog poop that The Agent was supposed to have cleaned up, and I was mad at the whole family for wanting to spend the day in the crappy backyard instead of in the house I had spent the last week cleaning. Argh!

Valley Days

I meant to talk about this on a weekend update, but I missed the last few weekends, so it gets its own post. 

Two weeks ago, I took the day off work so I could go with Bug to Valley Days. 

 

This is a day where all the third graders dress up like pioneers and go to this pioneer museum we have nearby and they spend the day doing pioneer-type stuff.

the kids walking in to the school house. 

Bug and her girlfriends... and a few moms 

At the roping station

Being a blacksmith

At the games station.... she was rockin' those stilts!

It was much harder for the girls to dress up than the boys. The boys were all good in jeans and plaid flannel shirts. This dad simply untucked his white dress shirt and borrowed his wife's floppy beach hat and called it done:

This was at the leather working station, which I was in charge of all day. I actually got the best job, because it was butt cold outside and this was the only indoor station. The kids pressed designs in the leather. My  Bug did the best one.... I wish I had caught a picture of her!

It was a good day.... much better than going to work!

Missing Those Summer Days

I am so ready for summer to get here. I am reliving the days of summer last year. We had a short summer break, only 53 days, but we tried to make the most of it! We enjoyed lazy days in the park: 

And color fun runs: 

And school graduations: 

And root beer floats: 

And camping with the cousins: 

It's not even Spring break yet, but how many more days until Summer  vacation?