Why I Had to Go To Work

(Okay not the only reason and certainly not the biggest, but a factor none the less.)

 

Checks I Have Written to the School  in the Last Month

 

School Photos

$10 (for the smallest package) x 4 kids =$40 (not sure why I buy the school photos since I am a photographer and do portraits of my kids every year, but there is something about a school pic that says so much about the kids - perhaps because I know it won't be the only portrait during the year so I let them have more say in their wardrobe for the day.)

 

Magnets made from pictures drawn by my kids (an annual fundraiser for the school)

$5.50 X 4 kids = $22 (this is one of those things that seemed harmless when I only had one kid in school, but now that there's 4 of them and the magnet thing is a tradition - the oldest kid has 6 magnets - and the youngest school age kid was so excited that he'd get a magnet this year, well . . . )

 

Fall Festival

$54 for "admission" armbands and 2 food ticket per family member (again a tradition that seemed harmless when only one kid was in school, but has gotten a bit painful.  This is on top of donating candy/prizes/cookies in the name of EACH child, as well as something for EACH child's class basket (ie family night basket full of games, movies, treats, etc.) that is auctioned off.  I'm sure I spent $100 or more this year)

 

Field Trip

$10 for ticket to The Cay play (this one I don't mind because it falls in the realm of "educational," but still it's more money.)

 

Lunch Money

$20 - 50 depending on which kid, totalling around $100 for Oct (I vowed the kids would only eat the occasional school lunch and would take a juice box rather than buy milk, but the kids quickly got tired of that and mutinied.  So with the exception of M who is really picky, they occasionally take a home made lunch, and M would rather buy a milk. So at $1.75 per lunch and $0.50 for milk this quickly adds up.)

 

Year Books

$20 x 2 = $40 (technically this will be next month, but why leave it out when I know it's coming.  This year I will buy 2 yearbooks.  1 for the younger kids to share (that's a discussion for another day, but do the math and I think you'll agree) and 1 for C since he is a "graduating" 5th grader.)

 

And let's not forget the winter school clothes that I've had to purchase recently and the need to keep hair trimmed so as not to be turned in for neglect and the current condition of M & E's shoes will soon require replacing and teacher gifts for Christmas and . . .

 

And I thought diapers and formula were expensive!

Heaven Help the Teachers Today

My kids' school decided to let the kids wear costumes to school today (why today and not on Halloween I don't know, unless it being Friday was a big deciding factor) as a fundraiser for a group of teachers who are participating in the Three Day Breast Cancer Walk.  So each kid brings $2 and is allowed to wear his costume (no scary costumes, no masks or face paint). 

I can only imagine the craziness at that school today.

In case you're wondering I sent an old man, an un-scary witch, a cowgirl and a transformer (minus the mask).

What Does It Mean When . . .

You radically change your hair style (in a good way, it's just a perm, I'm not sporting purple hair with spikes) and no one at church says anything about it?

 

It could really just be that I stayed home with a sick child last week and the week before I was driving to Savannah so it's been three weeks since I've seen anyone and even then I'm in the nursery so if you don't have a toddler, I don't see you anyway, but come on didn't anyone notice my curls?  Or are they just so hideous that everyone went with "if I can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?"

 

Nothing like feeling like your invisible to make a girl's day.

 

And in other news, it's raining here in the Atlanta area.  Here's hoping it lasts for a few days.  The dire predictions for the complete lack of water come next summer if we don't get a lot of rain this winter are getting really depressing.

Your Welcome

What for? you ask.

This nice little warm spell we've had after the couple days of waking up to temps in the 40s (at least in my neck of the woods)

What did I have to do with that? you ask.

Well, the house started getting cool at night, not really turn-on-the-heater-cold, just the-kids-should-wear-long-sleeves-and-pants-to-bed-especially-since-none-of-them-will-keep-covers-on-cool. Problem was we were severely lacking in the long sleeve jammies department, so I bought new jammies for all the kids (and a jacket and gloves for me for work, cause I nearly froze the week before) and that very night the temp only dropped to the mid 60's and has stayed there since.

I can't promise this will last very long, the universe can only laugh at me for so long, but let me know when the cold is just too much for you and I'll buy new winter coats and hats and mittens for the crew. That should get us a couple of days of moderate weather sometime this winter.

(And as more evidence that the universe loves to tease me, the day the kids woke up and is was too cold for shorts and I realized they'd have to wear shorts anyway because I hadn't updated there long pants wardrobes since last spring, I made trip to the stores to get new jeans for everyone and then we had another week or more of shorts weather. Really it's a scary power.)

A Letter to My Children

Dear Kids

 

Please enjoy the cookies that your little sister and I baked while you were at school.

 

Should you think that the cookies are a bit off please do not think that I have lost my touch.

 

P is learning quickly how to bake cookies, I'm sure in a few short years she will be able to accomplish the task of dough mixing without any help from me -- she knows exactly which ingredients to pull from the cabinets and which measuring utensils are used for which ingredients.  She has not, however, mastered the number of times to use said utensil with said ingredient.

 

I removed as much of the over used ingredient as possible, but the damage was not completely fixable.

 

Any, know the cookies were made with love and please don't mention the taste to P.  She would be devastated if you didn't lover her cookies.

 

With much love,

Your Mother