Spanish Rice, It's What's For Breakfast

I hate recaps. Seriously, that's why I'd rather write daily.  What's going on? Hmmm

This melted after a foot & a half of snow & we're already pretty much down to the pavement again!

He was cute for the 2 days that he lasted though.

I have been at the school more times than I can count this past week. I covered the Book Fair, ran in to GO to the Book Fair with B's class & then I spent most of my morning in first grade yesterday. We have Family Fun Friday every month & so yesterday Emmy's teacher from last year had a hip hop teacher in. B's class joined them so we spent an hour dancing to Black Eyed Peas. Even funnier was the fact that the kids all knew the words to the song so the second it started 65 first graders were singing at the top of their lungs. I was recording it & sent the video file out to every mom & teacher involved last night. So cute.  After that we went back & did a Shamrock project using the kids handprints. I love those kids. Forget about B, I'm going to miss first grade!

I grabbed some parade gear for the kids. Parade you ask? We have one of the biggest St. Patty's Day parades in the country right here & it's next Saturday. I HOPE the weather then is like it is now.

It's a morning of crazyness followed by a huge lunch with all of our friends.

A few hundred thousand people cram into our downtown area so even cell service is bad!

What else? Oh I signed two out of three kids up for softball this week. Em REALLY wants to play & B does but it's because her friends do. I'm just glad it's nice enough to play catch outside today because I'm a bit tired of seeing softballs careening past my head, IN MY HOUSE!

About a week ago I found an email addy belonging to a former crush.  Nice, solid guy but a bit qyiet so I didn't have too much info. Then I never really saw him.  I shot him an email on a whim & well, we've been emailing all week long back & forth. I *think* he is single. He has a daughter that I knew about, an older son, is fixing up a house, I know hobbies, about his job... no mention of a wife or SO. Either she doesn't exist or he is a bit dishonest about her which would obviously not sit well.  I'm intrigued though.

Crushdriver & I had a chat this week. He told me he thinks I deserve better than him. Generally I have learned that when someone says that, they are usually right.

Bug-ology

So the new school year is off to a flying start. My oldest is doing okay. My seven year old seems to have retained every bit of everything she learned last year and is spitting it out into this years work with ease. My little one, Miss B. started first grade this year. She is now being introduced to all day schedules, vocabulary words, spelling tests and reading out loud on a daily basis. In other words, the tough stuff! REAL school! I requested to be a homeroom mother for Miss B's class. I thought it would help her with the big changes and I really wanted to do something extra for her. Last year was filled with struggle for her sisters. One struggled with school while the other battled a six month illness that disrupted out lives on a daily basis. Both of these situations required extra attention and all the while, Miss B was thriving. I figure fair is fair, now it's her turn for something extra.

So I waited. Crossed fingers. Wondered who I'd have to bribe or knock off to get a coveted homeroom mother spot. I WANT to be in that classroom. I WANT to positively influence these kids. That should count for something and ultimately, it did. I nabbed a spot. I attended Back To School night and signed up for what is known as Friday Families- or something like that. In a nutshell, a different parent comes into the classroom on the first Friday of each month to do something. An art project, storytime, whatever. Entertain them, bring a snack and your a godess. I signed up for February. Why February? My girls love Valentine's Day so I knew Miss B would want me there to do something special for that holiday.

A few days after Back to school Night I asked Miss B's teacher if she wanted me to come in sooner. I realized not many appeared to be signing up so I figured I could help out before February, right?! As luck would have it she does need someone, for October. She asked me to think it over and think I did. Okay, I can do something for Halloween. Read a Halloween story, make cool cupcakes. Easy. Miss B will be happy, her teacher will not have to wait until November for a parent to show up and I'll be comfortable with this group of kids early in the year. Good plan.

The next day as I'm picking up Miss B I tell her teacher I'm in. She was thrilled. Thrilled. So was I until this sentence fell out of her mouth:

Great! We are studying bugs and that is the last full day before our Bug Hunt field trip so if you can do something on bugs it would be great!

Oh. Kay. Bugs. Bugs?! I have three girls and for the most part we are in agreement, bugs are for "smelly boys" (a phrase coined early on by Miss B). I walked away from the school thinking, "Oh crap!! Bugs!! Yuck! I can't..." Knowing all the while that I have to pull this off because I can not let Miss B or her teacher down. The snack is easy. Dirt cups. Pudding cups with crushed Oreos and a gummy worm on top. As for the activity or story, I'm still at a loss. Google, Barnes and Noble and Borders all will be my best pals until I figure it out and boy do I need to figure it out soon! I have five days to put something together to throw down the first grade parental gauntlet. More importantly, I need to help make 20 six year old kids glad that they came to school that day.

I'm studying my "Bug-ology" as Miss B calls it, reminding myself that help is doing what is requested, not just doing what you THINK is a good idea!