Kids do the darndest things

My girls are the best. Yesterday morning they woke me up with breakfast in bed! It was a bowl of fruit loops with the milk on the side so they could carry it without making a mess and gave me a card with it. :)  I was happy to have that with the way my morning had started with the "drought" continuing. Remember my daughters are only 4 and 7 so they can't cook any meals as of yet without adult supervision. My oldest stayed home sick and I took her to the Doctor and found out she has a sinus infection. She was given a new med so she is getting to stay home another day today to make sure there are no adverse effects with it. You never know how kids bodies will react to a decongestant. Needless to say she was happy to stay home from school these 2 days and be away from the bullies at her school that keep giving her problems. I will be so happy when school is over with for the year and we can start fresh this upcoming school year.
My husband stayed home with our youngest daughter and helped with her schooling so I could actually hear the doctor talking to me. I have a bad problem hearing with a lot of background noise so it was a blessing that he was able to. He really wasn't wanting to go to work yesterday since he was still really sore from our 6 flags adventure on Saturday, although I am wondering if he stayed home to spy on me. Call me paranoid if you want but he doesn't usually volunteer to stay home and watch our youngest for a doctor's appt. for her older sister.

Later at dinner we did the Letter of the day review game. What we do is whatever the letter of the Day my youngest is learning about we each take a turn coming up with REAL words that start with that letter to help her understand the phonics of the letter. Like last night was" J" . We do through in words from other languages like Spanish and French so she understands that it doesn't just have one particular sound. We all had fun doing that at the dinner table.

Overall it was a good day with the kids and hoping today will be just as good. We have chore day today so the girls will be helping me in learning how to run the house and keeping it up. I told them that they will get to scrub the kitchen floor since my back and knees won't hold up to that. They were all for it and actually looking forward to doing it!! I just hope there enthusiasm last the entire project for the kitchen floor :)

Problems in the bedroom

  I don’t know if I am the only woman that has this problem or not. Have you ever gone to your significant other hinting that you want to be intimate with them and they say no?  I have had this as a continuing problem for a number of YEARS with my spouse. It’s not just 1-2 times a month that this happens but EVERY time I go to him and hint. It is like we are in a severe drought on the bedroom scene in my eyes. Yes he works outside the home and I understand her is tired at time from work. I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that it is every time I want to it’s always no. He never is the initiator either so it makes it doubly frustrating. What is a woman to do?? I start feeling like he is not interested in me when this happens on a consistent basis. Like I am not thin enough to his liking or that there is something wrong with me. I know it’s not that or at least I hope it’s not.  I know we have young kids (ages 4 and 7) but it’s like I have become a nun almost since they have come along. We used to have “fun” every night and sometimes twice a day and since the kids it’s become a scheduled event on Fridays or Saturdays if I’m lucky. I just don’t really understand why the change. Yes we are a little bit older now but I feel I am the same person as when we were first married. We have been married for 8 yrs now and together for 10 yrs. I really just don’t get it. I have tried different tactics and nothing seems to work. I feel like we are coming apart in this area and I just don’t understand why. Have any of you experienced this and what did you do to change it? Please try to keep it G rated since my daughters tend to read over my shoulder :)

Teachers smoking something in Public Schools

Ok I don’t know what has possessed these teachers at my daughter’s school but first they send home a 21 page packet for her to complete in 4 days and now they are expecting her to complete a 35 page packet in 3 days!! WTF are they smoking!! I understand that they are doing CRCT prep but come on really?? Asking a first grader to do this amount of work is asinine and over a weekend!!  I don’t know what has gotten into these teachers at the Public schools in my county but it is ridiculous the amount of homework they are asking them to do. I home school my youngest and we never do it over the weekend unless she has been sick during the week or flat out didn’t want to and had to make up work. The saddest part of it is that my daughter will bust her tail to get it all done on time and then gets penalized since the teacher will hold a packet out a day or to let the rest of the class get it finished, and then expects her to get a large packet done in 2-3 days instead of the 4 that she is supposed to have. I swear these teachers are all about penalizing those that do the work on time and not those that didn’t. I remember when I was in grade school if I didn’t complete an assignment we didn’t get extra time we got a big fat 0 or incomplete if we turned in what we had.

Public Schools have changed so much from the time I was in to now. I am only 31 and it’s scary what the school system has turned into in this short amount of time. I have seen more violence, drugs, profanity (even at the Elementary school level!!), and teachers turning their heads to students that need extra help. I remember that if I needed extra help in a subject my teachers were willing to stay late to help me or any other classmate that needed it. Now they can’t wait for the bell to ring to get out the door.

I feel sorry for the students of today’s school system. If they are struggling but are barely passing they don’t care or try to help them. They figure that it will click and they will get it when all actuality that student may never understand the concept being taught unless they were to receive the extra help that they truly needed. I actually end up reteaching my oldest daughter a lot of material from her “school” since she doesn’t understand it the way it was presented to her. They do a one size fits all approach to learning and not realizing that they have some students that are more visual and tactile learners than simple A/V learners. My daughter is an A/T/V learner. I have seen this decline in school very quickly and it scares me to the point that I can’t bring myself to put her through another year of this type of schooling. Quite frankly I fear for my youngest that is to start kindergarten next year. She is already at a kindergarten level in her math and ELA skills and to put her there would just “dumb her down” and not push her to her full potential.

WHY is it that the schools are this way now?? The only reason I can come up with is that our government is the ones running the school and not the teachers like it was when I was in school or my parents. The teachers can’t teach and modify it to the students needs instead they have to go by what the government says the kids have to know by the end of each year and end up doing more testing and packets than actual teaching until the students understand it. This is the sad state of our Public education system and it only looks like it will be getting worse the more I talk to other parents in other grades in my area.

Wanna Kiss??

Ok I know it sounds tacky but how many of us this time of year go to kiss our loved ones, husband, wife or partner and all of a sudden, you realize that you have the dreaded sandpaper lips and not the soft supple lips that your beloved is accustomed to any other time of the year. I know that my family is plagued by this problem due to the dryer air inside and outside our home here in the Atlanta area. The skin on our lips is much more sensitive to the temperature and weather changes than you may think. This is the reason why you NEED to you a good petroleum free lip balm to help keep them moisturized and protected from wind damage as well. There are also a few things that you need to remember if you want to have kissably soft lips next time you want to give that heart-pounding kiss to your darling:

1. Moisturize those babies with petroleum/chemical free lip balm
2. STOP licking your lips!!! This makes it worse and dries them out even faster
3. Use a straw if you can to keep the moisture off your lips from drinks when outside so the wind does not abuse them.
4. If they do get chapped use olive oil on a terry wash cloth to remove the dead skin gently instead of pealing it off this is not to be done on broken skin
   

These few tips and tricks will make it to where you can keep on kissing under the mistletoe all season long or just because you want to give a well deserved smooch. Let us all take care of our lips so our partners will still want to kiss our soft lips and not the sandpaper that happens this time of year.

I share a bathroom with my kids!!!

Are you in a home where the only bathtub in the entire house is the one that your kids use? Is it filled with kids' bath toys, rubber duckies, little people tug boats and such? I know that this is definitely my house and what I go through to take a bath in the tub to turn it into mommy's sanctuary. If this sounds like you then don't feel bad you're not alone. We Mom's sacrifice a lot for our families and especially our kids. The one thing that you shouldn't skimp on is you're "me" time. If you are like me and would love to just spend 20 minutes or longer lounging in the tub to relax and give yourself a good all over body treat I can tell you how to go about transforming the kids bathroom into mommy's sanctuary for the next 20 minutes. This is what I do to transform and create a little space for my "me" time.
First of all make sure the kids are good and asleep before starting if you can't find a sitter for you to do this. You know I am about to say the dreaded "c" word….CLEAN…AGHHH there I said it J Yes you need to clean the bathroom right after the kids have had their baths and put away their tub toys , or better yet have them do it. Find you some candles and a nice relaxing beverage, like Chamomile Tea or wine if you prefer and set it to the side for a moment. Get what items you think you would need to help you relax in YOUR tub (now that the kids toys are put away that is what it is YOUR tub now.) , for me it is candles, my handcrafted body care items I make, Incense, and a soothing CD on the CD player. Place the items wherever you have space for them, and of course keeping all electronics WELL AWAY from any water source if possible. If you are lighting candles go ahead and do so while the water is running. I turn the Bathroom light off and bask in the soft candle light so I can meditate while in the tub. Once everything is to your liking and you are ready to get in GO FOR IT!! You deserve that little bit of quite time to regroup and think about NOTHING. Work on meditating and visualizing on positive things that happened throughout the day or what your dreams are. That is up to you what you do during your down time. I personally try to do this once a week (kids allowing from illnesses of course). Try to get yourself on a schedule (hey we do it for our kids why not for ourselves too) so you can begin to look forward to that weekly ritual of letting everything melt away for those few moments and take care of yourself for a change. Goodness know us mom's put ourselves last 95% of the time and we end up run ragged and needing that time to relax and recoup just as much as our kids need naps.
So do yourself a favor and take the time out to take that tub over and turn it into your personal sanctuary to recharge your batteries and regroup for the next day/week. Your family will thank you for it!!

 
Christina Stewart
Christina's Crystal Scentsations

Mother of two ages 3 and 5 1/2

Mama Bear V. Public School System

I used to believe in the public school system until recently. My oldest daughter has been tortured and bullied since starting in the public school system. She started in Kindergarten and had problems being picked on, which I know that is normal behavior for the age group. Then this year it has escalated to physical violence towards her. She has had her clothing ripped and pulled on by boys and the teacher didn't do anything to them. She has had a boy put his hand over her mouth to keep her from telling the teacher. And rocks have been thrown at her to where she received a busted lip and NO PHONE CALL ON ANY OF THESE from the school. How can you believe in a system that protects the bullies and not the one on the receiving end. I mean at elementary age the teachers are responsible for their health and well being and that includes physical and MENTAL health. AnnaLisa has been so traumatized by all of this that she is BEGGING me to home school her like her little sister that is 4.
Her teacher said that it looks like she has ADHD and we had her tested and talked to the testing therapist and she said it could be that but it is more the bullying that is causing it. She is suffering from depression due to all the torture that is happening at the school. I have been to the school almost on a daily basis to talk to the staff and there is never any resolution to the issue of the bullying. Every time something happens AnnaLisa is the one that has to stay close to the teacher instead of the student(s) that are inflicting the bullying on her. To me this is the wrong way to go about it. It should be the student that is the aggressor is the one close to the teacher. This makes my baby more of a target and she continues to get harassed by these boys.
Since the school is not doing anything to help the situation I have had to contact the School board and notify them. So far it has done nothing to resolve my daughter's strife at that horrible school. The kicker to that is my husband didn't want me to go to the school board since it would make them( the school board) take notice of the situation at the school and what they are NOT doing to protect these children. Since I talked to the school board they sent an incident report home about a boy grabbing her by the arm and leaving a mark and the scraps on her arm. I had to ask AnnaLisa what happened and she told me and we still didn't receive a phone call from the school about the incident and this was last week that this one happened. I am at my wits end with this school. I have started to enroll both girls to a charter school so they can be safe since the public school system is failing horribly in this area. The only issue is that my husband is against it even though our oldest has been through all of this for them to go to the charter school.
All I know is that I need to protect my child from these boys that keep hurting her and get her confidence back up. Since she has been in the public school system I have seen her decline socially and emotionally. She used to be so outgoing and wanted to be everyone's friend and now she is so scared to get close to anyone for fear of them attacking her verbally and physically from her experience in the public school system.
I just hope that I can convince her father that the charter school is the better option for both girls for there all around health and well being.

Fun with a sick kid

Yesterday Julia came down with a bad case of the sniffles from her seasonal allergies. I had to find a fun way to incorporate school so it wasn't too taxing on her system since she looked so pitiful. Her eyes were red and so was her little nose. She looked like Rudolph with allergy eyes. Well after a warm bath and a dose of Claritin and her nose spray I let her pick out what workbooks she was going to work out of in my bed so she could stay under the covers. She really enjoyed school that way. We did a couple of exercises in her phonics book over the letter G and she was happy with that. She wanted to keep going but I noticed that she was fighting to stay awake to get through the lessons.
She snuggled down under the covers and I put the TV on History channel for her to watch one of the shows on it. She loves the Modern Marvels shows that teach about how things work and are made. After her nap she started feeling better.
Today she was doing better and was able to play on Jumpstart for about 2 hours. I love this program since it teaches all the basic ELA and Math skills as well as Social Studies for early elementary on helping others and goal setting. We also went hunting for letter G videos since that was the letter of the week. Electric company has one that is really good that goes over both the hard and soft G sounds and word examples. It was a hard one to find so if your needing help with that just click on the link for it.
Right now she is laying down watching Dinosaur Train on PBS getting ready for her nap. I know it seems like she may be too old to nap, but she is one of those kids that gets really mean and grumpy if she doesn't get one in. Hopefully we will have a good afternoon once her sister comes home.