Yeah... I used to be cool.

Tuesday night I took my girls up to Polaris (a mall) so we could venture in and see if there were any Croc shoes that might fit both Maggie's fancy and feet.... (tall order)..... We did have success. Hall-leigh-lou!  And to celebrate, I decided that we needed some ice cream. I was in a cheap-o mood, so McD's it was.

As we pulled into the drive-thru Alli said "Ohh man, It would be so cool to work at McDonalds. I mean, you would have to be the coolest person ever!" I instantly got my chest puffed out and proudly proclaimed to my 9 year old that > I < am the coolest person ever. I worked at McD's for all 3 of my high school years. Ooooo's and Aaaahhhh's went back and forth between Alli and Maggie in the back seat. They were so happy that I was able to work with Ronald McDonald. I am now 'cool' in their minds (I'll have to remind them of this moment when they are teenagers and am therefore, 'uncool'). It was my glory moment.

And then I got to thinking.... have I ever written down everywhere I worked, other than in a resume? I don't think I have.......  So just for the journaling sake of this blog- I thought I'd give it a whirl. And who knows, maybe someone out there in blog land will think I'm cool too. ;D (one can only hope).

Here we go down memory lane:

I started babysitting at the age of 12.  My little neighbor kids, Kenny and Charlie were the most awesome kids ever. They were so full of adventure! I loved them so much. I am Facebook friends with their mom- and when I see pictures of them all grown up and get a little nostalgic. Every time I see 'grown-up' Kenny and Charlie, I can't help but think of making forts with them, and playing play-doh with them, and the first time I drove with them in my car, I got pulled over and Charlie started sobbing and begged the police officer not to arrest their babysitter! He even got some police stickers out of that one. (No, I wasn't speeding with small children in the car.... I had a tail light out..... I didn't get a ticket... and I didn't even get a police sticker. No fair.)

When I was 14 my family moved from Lewiston, Idaho to Bellevue, Washington. (Right outside of Seattle). We were only there for a short bit- My parents opened up a juice bar, Sunset Juice Bar. It was really awesome. I got to work side by side with my dad that summer. My mom stayed in Idaho so she could try and sell our house (it never did sell..... which was probably good, since we moved back to Idaho) I learned so much about my dad that I cherish. I love how hard working my parents are, and that they gave it their all to be successful in all they did. 

After we moved back from Bellevue, I started working at McDonald's. I was a crew trainer, I worked in the playplace as a Ronald's Ranger, I did drive thru, front window, and grill. Pretty much... I did it all.  I would always try and be the most cheerful drive-thru person ever- and had the thought that if I could make at least one person have a better day, then it was worth it.  I also snagged a few boyfriends out of my co-workers.... so it paid off in other areas too... HA! I worked there until I graduated in January of 2000 from High school.

........ then I moved in with my grandparents.... in Germany.......  I'll have to tell stories about that later..... but I was there for quite a while. There are so, so, so many awesome times that I had. Sigh...... I am dreaming of a German pretzel, fresh gummy bears, and the really hot Italian guy who sold Italian Ice just down the road from my grandparent's house...... yum yum yum.

When I came back to Idaho after Germany, my parents moved to another city (a small city of 3,000 people, where I'm related to 110%  of the people either by blood or marriage)  and I got a job along side the highway at this gas station called Zip Trip.  The Zip Trip had a Taco Bell, a sub sandwich place, and hand dipped ice cream stations. I got to work all three. Lucky me. :)  I think that was my hardest summer of my life.... new town, no friends, no plans to attend college, and lonely. Within 6 weeks of moving to that small town I was pulled over by no less than 27 cops. Not a single ticket.  I had a little red sports car (zoom, zoom) with out of town plates- and the cops are bored.  Here's a hint when going into small towns:
1) Never let your front tire go over the white line at the stop sign. Not even by 1 inch. They consider it "running a stop sign".
2) Don't drive your father's 'rig'. They tend to think you are a hooligan who stole it.
3) Drive the speed limit. If it says 25mph, then only go 25 mph. If you go 26 mph, you get pulled over for speeding.
4) Don't go 'cruising' at night. They think you are on drugs and you will be surrounded by three police cars and asked to get out of your car and lay on the ground. Yes... guns will be drawn.

Good ol' small towns. Gotta love them.

Then I got really bored with a small town- and decided to apply blindly on a few websites to be a nanny. Within a few weeks, I found myself living in Philadelphia being a live-in nanny to a Jewish family. They had the sweetest kids. The mom worked as a professional chef- even doing a lot of meals at the White House. The dad worked 2 weeks in L.A- and 2 weeks at home every month. I loved it when he was gone.  It was in Philly that I met Chip. Soooo..... it turned out to be a good move. I met him about 5 months after moving there- we both went to the Single's ward.

After getting engaged to Chip- I moved back to Idaho to help plan the wedding. (I didn't plan anything really.... my awesome mom did it all. ;D) While I was waiting for the Big Day I went back to work at the Zip Trip. This time I was old enough (19) to sell beer, so they let me work the gas station side, and I didn't work the food side. Hal-leigh-lou! I thought it was so fun working the grave-yard shift.  Seriously.... in a small town... working the grave yard shift, the only people who came in were cops and truckers. The police officers apparently didn't remember me from the 27 times they pulled me over, and were really nice to me. :D  One of the officers would pull around the gas station at least once an hour- if they didn't see me through the windows, they would come inside and check on me and make sure I was okay. (nice, huh?) Plus they always took out my garbage so I wouldn't have to go outside in the middle of the night.  I let them have free coffee. :)

Once Chip and I got married we moved back to Philly. Chip worked at Michael's arts and crafts in the frame shop, worked at Lens Crafters in the frame shop,  and went to school full time. (Apparently he liked frame shops? He could frame your picture, or make your glasses.... in about an hour.)  He got me "in" at Michael's.  It was fun going to work together. :)  I also got another part time job at a little bridal salon called Barranette's Bridal in Philly. It was run by this crotchety old Italian lady- fresh from the boat- She didn't like me because I got pregnant and then I couldn't haul all of the 100lb dresses around the shop for her. Ohh well.  It was weird working with bride-zillas..... wow, they are a crazy lot. Certainly not the laid-back-I-don't-care- kinda bride I was. (or at least, I think I was..... we'll have to survey my mom for that....)

Then we moved to Columbus and I got a job right away with Huntington National Bank as a teller. I was 4 months pregnant with Alli. I quit working there after Maggie was born, but when Maggie turned a year old, they called me and asked if I could return to work. I said what the heck- it was 11 hours a week. I did that until the boys were born and decided to be done with it. It was a really sad decision, but I thought two little babies, plus a Maggie, would be a bit hard to pawn off on another person.

Which brings us up to now. Full time Mom, Maid, Chef, Taxi Driver, Home Management Specialist, Laundress, Accountant, Blogger, and Craft Maker.


And there you have it. My life's work.  It's not much. It's not really all that exciting......  but it's something.

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I 'grow-up'.... ya know, when the boys go to school in 3 years and I have nobody to look after full time. I have three years to figure it out.......

Maybe if I'm lucky, it will be something my children deem as "cool". 

__________________________________________

So what did you do for your jobs?

school dealings.... part 4

I have had some stuff happen at the school lately, that I thought that the not-so-super-super should have recorded in is "file", just in case I go to the news, he can't say that he didn't know what's going on.....

I also thought I should record it here- just so I don't forget. (I have a very forgetful mind)....

1) Last Friday (4/20) - I dropped Alli off at school and was signing her in.... The school had the science students at OSU come and do a huge science workshop on Friday. (Cool things- like freezing marshmallows in liquid nitrogen.... and then eating the marshmallow!)  The school nurse came up to me and said "Are you going to stay here all day to help?" I said "No, I was just dropping Alli off, then I need to run back home"..... to which she said "Well, Good!"....

2) Yesterday (4/23) I got a phone call while I was at the mall with the boys from Alli's teacher. She said that Alli came to her after recess and said her upper lip was swollen. This was the conversation:

Miss L: Alli's lip is swollen, but she's not having breathing problems. We put ice on it.
Me: Did Alli get stung by a bee?
Miss L: We don't know what happened. Alli keeps saying 'no' to everything.
Me: Did she knock her face into the wall?
Miss L: No.
Me: Did she get whapped in the lip by a ball?
Miss L: No.
Me: Did she bite her lip at lunch while she was chewing her lunch?
Miss L: No.
Me: I donno.... (in a shrug/question tone)... maybe she told a lie, and that's what happens when you lie... your lip swells up? (insert a small giggle)
Miss L: I don't have to take this from you.
and she hung up.

no good-bye, no nothing- she just hung up on me.

3) Alli's mid-grading period report card had all "E's" on it (Excelling) This was just a week or so before the 'suspension incident'. Glowing reviews were printed on the comments "Alli's such a good kid, works hard,extremely helpful, etc, etc .....  when report cards came home just before spring break most of the  "E's"... went down to an "S" (Satisfactory).  .... and the comments went to computer generated- not even full and complete sentence comments. (I'll even write it verbatim: Excellent class participation. operative,attentive attitude. Works very hard earning grade.)   So basically it's like saying Alli went from straight A's- down to low B's and C's  on her subjects/behaviors within 3-4 weeks.  How is that not a form of harassment/retaliation toward my family?  For the record: I did not request a parent/teacher meeting. I almost just want to wash my hands of the whole silly situation. If Alli's teachers want to be childish- then fine. Let them act like the kids they teach. They aren't worth my time. Alli's 3rd grade report card will most likely not be in question when she's filling out college applications. (hopefully?) If for some strange reason they are.... Alli can blame me for ruining her life by not having that parent/teacher conference - It'll give her something to tell her future therapists.


----------------------------------------
Not-so-super-super thought a minute about what I said....... and then he said that since all of these things were dealing with teachers, that I needed to talk to the principal. She is their boss- and while yes, he is the principal's boss, she is in command of the teachers, not him.

I told him that I wasn't interested in having a sit-down big meeting- I just wanted him to be aware of what's going on- the harassment hasn't stopped.... and his little 'heart to heart' chats with the principal just aren't working. The behaviors from the school are from the top and trickle down to the bottom.

I asked him again if he is 100% sure that the principal will be at the school next year. He said yes, she'll be there. (Although I hear from an inside source that the union is getting their case ready and she's gunna get her sweet rewards soon...... it cannot come soon enough in my opinion.)

Not-so-Super-Super said that he called Investigator about my claims that there was a falsified police report by the principal.  According to Investigator- there is NO police report.  Okay.... so here's a question: If the police go to a family's home and question a family, if those same police come into my child's classroom and question children/teachers, and if police attend a hearing...... how is there no police report? I mean, something had to have started the investigation! Police don't just randomly show up at people's houses and schools and question them because they are bored and have nothing else to do.....  What a crock of poo. {After I got off of the phone with not-so-super-super I called Mrs. K, Maggie's teacher, and was telling her..... Mrs. K is going to get a copy of the report so we can slap it at not-so-super-super's and Investigator's faces.}


Not-so-super-super was like "While I have you here on the phone, I wanted to bring up to you, that we are getting phone calls from parents about you." I'm like... what?

So apparently, "Fred's" (the child who sexually harassed Alli) mom called with her panties all in a bunch, saying that it was so unsafe that I walked into the side doors at the school- and it was a huge security issue and that I was going to go snatch up her child and bully him and harass him about what happened to Alli- and her poor little baby needs protection from the evil white lady. (that would be me.) 'Fred' had been pulled aside after I left by teachers and coddled to see if he was okay emotionally after I visited the school- for fear that I may have hurt his little punk feelings.

Let's go over this:
1) Yes, I used the side gym door to enter the school. I had my double stroller (with boys in it) with me and it's hard to maneuver the double front doors with the stroller. (plus, I'd have to walk clear around the building)  The side door was open with lunch going on.... I was planning on just walking right up to the office and signing in.... however, before I could sign in- the three teachers (librarian, other 5th grade teacher, and one of Alli's teacher's) came up to me and started talking and the conversation got animated and I couldn't leave and sign in.
2) I never talked to 'Fred' the whole time I was there. I saw him briefly just to see where he was at- and he was sitting at the opposite end of the table from Alli.
3) Like I'd stoop that low to harass a nine year old at school. What kind of person do they think I am? Ohh that's right..... they think that I'm like they are.
4) There were no other parents there (Supposedly Fred's mom was called by another parent and told that I was harassing her 'angel') - the only people that were in the room were students, 3 teachers, and 4 lunch staff. Fred's mom was called by one of the teachers and given a nice script for her to follow.
5) the commandment "Love one Another" is getting really hard for me.
6) Why would Fred's mom out of the blue call the not-so-super-super unless she was prompted? I mean, she'd go to the principal first.... I doubt she even knew there was a not-so-super-super before Spring Break.


He also said 'the offer still stands, and he's more than happy to transfer my children to another school next year.... just like he said the last time we spoke'..... If I remember correctly- the verbiage used was that he'd "entertain" moving my children. 

Just in case you're wondering- I'm a waiting a little bit to make that call..... as far as moving my children to another school. #1- I'm hoping (crossing fingers/praying) that principal will lose her job (or at the very least move to another building) after the union gets a hold of her.  #2- I'm scared of where not-so-super-super will put the kids. At least at this school I know who the enemy is...... If I moved it'd be blind territory..... possibly (most likely) in an even worse school. I'm praying justice will strike quickly. #3- School is in secession until May 30.... I have time.



Good to know I'm bothering enough people to make waves. Maybe a strong enough wave will knock a person or two (or 10?) out to sea :)


Hopefully without a life raft.




---------------------------------------------

p.s. Did I mention how much I l-o-v-e Columbus Public schools?

Spring Break Project

Alli is a really creative kid.

I was making dinner on Spring Break Day #1- when Alli came inside and said "Mom! Look what I'm doing for Children's hospital!"

Alli decided that she would sell Dandelions and Pin cone seeds (aka- dismembered pine cones) to random people that would walk by ........

She even documented where she got her funds.
(Notice raccoon beating Somali guy donated the largest amount....) 

She only "worked" for about an hour. Not too shabby.  All that's left is going down to Children's hospital to give them her donation. I love that Alli has such a charitable heart. She's always thinking of others who need help (remember when she donated all of her money to Haiti after that hurricane?)  Such a good example.

Fluffy Visitor

Wednesday morning Chip came in from dropping the kids off at the bus and said "There's a raccoon curled up at the end of the sidewalk.... asleep."  So we went out and stared at it. Chip was certain that for this little guy to be out in the sunlight where people were walking by it- that it was either hurt or sick.

It took for-eva until we could see the little rise and fall on the little guys back- meaning, it was breathing- so that was good. It was so still and so sweet. I wanted to scoop it on up and make it our new little raccoon pet. Chip said no.

Rabies-schmabies.

I called animal control to see if they could come pick it up, and hey don't deal with "wild" animals. I should have said that it was my new fluffy-kins pet, so now it was domesticated, and they could come get it.... you know what they say about hindsight.  

I had to leave to go to choir- and I hoped that by the time I came home, the raccoon had found a safer place to snooze.


"la la la la la"... (That's my version of what happened in choir.... )

I called Chip on my way home from choir and asked if he could go peak and see if my new pet was still there. He went out and said the Raccoon had moved right beside our new neighbor's door..... but was still sleeping.

When I got home I took pictures. He was just so sweet!!! What do you think I should name him? George?  Hammy?  Nessy?  So many choices.

I went inside and left him to sleep.

A few hours later- (I kept checking on George/Hammy/Nessy) I was folding laundry while the boys were taking their naps, and I heard this awful crying/shreeking sound... followed by a whapping of metal. I was like "What's going on?"  I opened my door and looked out- and got horrified. My new neighbor (A Somali guy) was beating the crap out of the raccoon with a broom (not the bristle side)  and the poor little fluffy thing was just crying and making all sorts of noises that will haunt my dreams for a while.  I don't do well when I see animal cruelty. I yelled at Chip to come down and I donno... protect my little friend, throw his body like a shield in front of the raccoon... but by the time Chip got down stairs the raccoon had bolted and the Somali guy had ran into his house like a coward.

I guess you never know a person's true character until you see how they treat helpless (sleeping) creatures.


I just pray that George/Hammy/Nessy didn't sustain horrible injuries and was able to get away and be healed. Who knows.... maybe our paths will cross again someday. It'll be a beautiful reunion. I'm picturing daisies..... .

Give-Away!!

 Christina, who is my friend from way back; is busy mom of some adorable kiddos, she goes to school, works AND she just started a new adventure! She has signed up to be an Herbalife Independent Distributor!  And guess what? She is generous enough to do a give-away here on this blog!

 This is what Christina says:

Herbalife sells products for everything. Products for men, women and children. They have shampoos, conditioners, lotions, perfume, soaps. They have products to help with allergies, heart health, weight loss/gain, they have products for athletes. Products for everything you may need in your house.

Are you tired of trying diets that don't work. You get the weight off but as soon as you get done doing it you put the weight back on. With Herbalife you start these products to lose weight and gain energy but after you hit your goal weight (which you will with consistency) you will want to continue because they make you feel that good.

I have lost 20 pounds and 50 inches all over on the weight loss products. I love the protein shakes that I take for breakfast and lunch. The vitamins and other products you take with the protein shakes help your body work as a whole unit. They help your body absorb the proper nutrients and eliminate the fat.
The products work great. I love the herbal tea concentrate and Total Control gives you a energy the very first day you start taking them.

I'm wanting to help others feel as great as I do. These products make you feel great.

 ------------------------------------------
 So what is Christina giving away?? 

A free shake canister which is our meal replacement shake. It has 22 shakes in it, and is a 36.00 value!
There are six delicious flavors to choose from: French Vanilla, Chocolate, Pina Colada, Wild-berry, Cookies N' Cream, and Cafe Latte.


How do you enter??

Mandatory Entry:  Message Christina on Facebook- Just tell her you are from my blog and ask for more info on products.  (You do not have to purchase anything to enter the drawing)
{{Link to Christina's FB page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=743880516}}

Secondary Entry: After messaging Christina on FB- You can enter a comment on here for a bonus entry. Just tell me something silly. I like to giggle. ;D

**If you choose to order a program from Christina in the month of April you can get 10% off their purchase!
**If you refer 3 friends that buy a program of same or higher value you will get a free shake of their choice!

Score!

Give-away ends Sunday- April 22nd at Midnight- (EST)  
Good Luck!

---------------------------------------
Be sure to check out  Christina's Herbalife Page: www.goherbalife.com/christinaerb/en-US

Mental Health Day

Considering all the stuff that's happening at the school, I thought my children deserved a mental health day-   Luckily my friend, Michelle thought she (and her kids) needed a mental health day too.  That's right. I let my children play hooky from school.

So off to the zoo we went! 

Michelle and I always draw a lot of attention in public spaces.... I am pretty sure it's because we have 8 children between us....   Left to Right : Dexter, Miles, Eddie, Zoe, Alli, Allie, Geneva, Maggie.

(right now bunny ears in pictures are all the rage. How long does this stage last?) 

The kids were so excited to see each other! It had been a while since we've all gotten to hang out.

 Alli riding a boar.

 Geneva, Eddie, Zoe, and Maggie posing.

 Columbus has one of the best zoos in the country- Lots of animals- Lots of good exhibits..... and yet, our children kept begging to play on the playground. Pretty much a glorified McD's playground.  I think we spent at least half our day just letting the kids play on the equipment.

 Miles (camo) and Dexter (stripes) loved the little tubes. They thought they were being so sneaky. I loved listening to their sweet shrills of delight.

 Maggie was so hot and sweaty from playing non stop.  It gave her a nice rosy glow. :)

It was such a nice gorgeous spring day. It was a nice break from the norm.


I think I should let them have mental health days more often. :)






--------------------------------------------------------------
In the first picture- Miles has a binky.... let is be known, That was Miles' last suck. After we got home, he broke through the nipple part and it was our last binky we had at the house. Chip was in California for a business trip, and to heck if I was going to drag 4 children who were almost asleep, at 9pm to Target to go get some binkies......  So there we go. One more baby item that's gotten it's 'pink slip' in the Kohrman household. (now if only diapers will hurry up and get a pink slip.........) 

school dealings..... part 3

Around pm on that Monday (26th) night I got a call from none other than the not-so-super-super. He informed me that he was assigned to take over my case. I pretty much told him he was a useless person and last time we talked he told me to never get involved with the school's business, so pretty much I didn't want to talk to him. Every time I ever have an issue with that school he says he 'talks' with the principal, but she never gets in trouble- I mean, hello. If I were a principal that got caught bullying a student, falsifying police reports, calling teachers racist things like 'cracker cousins', and vindictively retaliates on families within the school.... I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have a job- and yet, she's still there.

I told him everything that was going on with the school, he said he'd "look" into it.

I'm totally believing him.
----------------------------------------------------------

So Tuesday the 27th, after being thoroughly ticked off to the max about Alli getting treated like that in school, I decided I'd go to school lunch with her and see exactly what was going on. She was sitting in the first grade lunch table again. I walked in, and basically chewed out her teacher, the librarian, and another teacher/lunchroom attendant about singling her out and humiliating her- and told them I was no longer going to play nice with the school- and they would treat Alli, as well as all children with absolute respect because if I EVER got word of them pulling a stunt like that again they would be sorry.  I called them out on believing a little liar child over Alli, and told them that they were pretty much stupid for following the wicked witch principal.

I was so mad. Well, mad really isn't the word- I was pissed.   

Alli's teacher came to me and asked me why she thought I couldn't talk to her and wondered where everything went wrong. Hum.... let me see, you're in the principal's back pocket and you keyed another teacher's car? Yeah.... that's where it went wrong.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later I got a call from the not-so-super-super wondering why I went storming into the school and caused a huge scene in front of all the children and called the child who was harassing Alli a liar in front of him. 

1) I didn't raise my voice any louder than I would in church. I was speaking very passionately though. Maybe that's what tripped them up.
2) Like I would actually humiliate another child by saying that in front of everyone. I said it to the teachers, the child was no where near where I was.

He also said that Alli's record would be expunged- as a good will gesture. (hoping that I would go away, probably.....)  He said that the principal didn't handle the situation right. (um, yeah....)  I told him I wanted a copy of her records proving that the incident was off of it.  He said that he'd have the principal mail me a copy.

I asked him if she was still going to be principal- as she obviously isn't very good at it.  He said that yep, she's still got her job. (yay! tax payer money is wasted again!)  I told him that I hadn't talked it over with Chip and that I hadn't prayed about it yet, but I don't think that my children's needs are being met at that school- so what do I need to do if I choose to move them to a different school.
He said that since I missed the lottery (where I get to choose where my children go)- I have to go through him and he'd entertain (yes, he used that word) moving my children. He'd move them to a school of HIS choice and it would be near us too. Let's see- the other two schools that are near us are even more ghetto (as in.... IN THE GHETTO) than the one that they are in now.....  tough choice.  I'm really ticked off that he used the phrase "entertain moving my children".... as in my children's education is a joke to him. What a jerk.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday the 5th- I got Alli's records. It was handed to me in an unsealed envelope by someone who wasn't Alli's teacher- or even remotely linked to Alli- in the school parking lot, as I went to pick up my kids.  The front of the envelope just had "Kohrman" written across it,  in all caps.  Very professional. At least it shows that her record is expunged. :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I called the public relations office- hoping to speak with the superintendent and I'm getting stonewalled. Nobody will let me speak to her. I've called quite a few times. They all say I need to speak with the not-so-super-super, as it's his case and his judgement.  I said he really isn't doing his job- and the superintendent is over him in the chain of command. They all said I just need to wait it out and see if the wheel gets turning.  What a steaming pile of poo. 

I am > < this close to taking it all to the news. I mean really, what is our tax payer money going towards? This school system is so broken that I can't even talk to the person in charge- and my children are getting the crap end of the stick.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
After I 'talked' to Alli's teacher in the lunch room- we got her report card a week later. All of her grades (except reading) dropped one mark and in the comment section instead of raving reviews as in every single previous quarter- it was the automated computer generated phrases- not even complete sentences.  I can hardly believe that with the homework that Alli's getting all 3's on (they do a grading scale of 1-3... {1- being you pretty much got everything wrong- 3- you got everything correct}) every assignment that she brings home- that she is deserving of lower grades. Just another example of the principal letting the teachers get away with vindictive behaviors- heck she probably encouraged it. I don't know whether or not to go in and smack her teachers or just let it go and move on.

-----------------------------------

And that's it. That's where it stands at the school.

I'm at a stand still- I don't know what to do.
1) leave my kids there and be at the principal's mercy next year  (and I heard that Alli will probably have the same 3 lame-o teachers next year as she has this year.... in the same classroom setting of 3 teachers in a classroom of 60 kids, only the 3 teachers don't ever all stay IN the classroom at the same time. Alli is constantly bored- as she finishes her work before every other kid.)
2) have the not-so-super-super choose where my children go to school next year.  It could be better.... but most likely it'll be worse.


decisions, decisions.




On a happy side note: Please, Pray for Telesaur to be successful so we can move the heck away from this place :) 

Hospital Visit

Holy cow, batman. Has it really been 8 days since I've updated my blog? How rude of me to leave you with such a cliff hanger....  I'll have to finish my story. It's been a bit busy around here.

Last week Maggie had surgery- Tubes put in her ears, adenoids taken out, and tonsils taken out. We were really hoping that the tubes and adenoids will help her hear better. Maggie really hasn't heard anything that well in a while.  She didn't necessarily need her tonsils out, but when Alli was 4 she got tubes and adenoids done- they skipped the tonsils, now she is having problems with her tonsils.... so we decided Maggie's should be taken out just as preventative measures. Sort of a get-er' done situation.

 Maggie did really well. She wasn't scared of the hospital. She was really brave. They gave her a teddy bear to snuggle with. She named it Butterfly........

 She thought the socks were pretty funny.
I'm so glad that I talked to the surgeon before hand. They were able to put Maggie's IV in her foot, instead of her arm..... which helped her when she woke up, as she didn't focus on a needle in her arm.
Less drama= happy mama.

After the surgery, the doctor came out and told me that Maggie had thick sludge lodged behind her ear drums- nothing was able to drain out. No wonder the poor kid couldn't hear. 

We've been giving Maggie her happy narcotic pain meds every 4 hours round the clock. It makes me thankful I'm not dealing with newborns anymore. Ugg. Waking up in the middle of the night stinks.  The thing that's bringing Maggie the most pain isn't her throat, it isn't her ears.... it's her molars. She's cutting her 6 year molars and they are killing her. Poor kid. I'm so glad we have these happy meds- otherwise she'd be miserable.

Miles and Dexter were really sad that Maggie was home with them, but she just laid on the couch non-stop. They were so sweet to her. Each of them took turns snuggling their Maggie. I was able to catch this picture of Miles giving Mags some lovin'. So sweet.

Tomorrow is day 10 since the operation (yay! no more waking up every 4 hours!).... and we have a follow-up appointment scheduled next week. Hoping she passes her hearing test with flying colors :)

School dealings ...... part 2

After I wrote to the superintendent's office, I called the suspension board to get a hearing about Alli's situation. It was scheduled for last Monday (26th) at 10am.

We arranged to have a friend take care of the munchkins (Thanks Suki!) and arranged for Chip to get off of work so that he could come with me.

Monday morning at 8:45 I get a phone call from the hearing office telling me that there is an awards assembly at the school, and the Principal can't make the hearing. I asked if we could proceed without her, as there is no way to re-schedule. They said no, but they would call the school back.

Meanwhile..... I called a few of the teachers and ask them if there's an awards assembly... they all said no- no assembly. The assembly was scheduled for Friday. The principal was just trying to make a power play.

I finally hear back from the hearing office and the principal had 'graciously' decided to postpone the assembly to meet with us. How kind of her.

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The hearing was audio recorded.

At the hearing the principal arrived with the Peak teacher and Librarian in tow.

Basically what the principal described what happened is the following:
Alli and children B (Fred), C, and D were all sitting at the table together....(all 4 children pack lunches- so they were allowed to sit and start eating without the rest of their classmates). Alli and Fred were tickling each other and out of the clear blue sky Alli decided to flash Fred four times. Alli then in a giggly tone told child 'D' who then ran and told the Librarian (who doubles as a lunchroom attendant). Librarian questioned the kids then took Alli and Fred to Peak Teacher- who questioned the kids and then took them to Principal. Principal questioned all 4 kids and took them to the guidance counselor (who principal has since fired)  According to the principal Children C and D never saw what happened, never heard Fred ask Alli to show him her chest.  Fred adamantly denies EVER asking Alli to show him her chest- according to him, Alli just did it on a whim- without him daring her.

Principal says that she had Peak teacher call us and request that we come in and meet with her, but we denied wanting a conference, so she sent Alli to Peak for the rest of the school day. What actually happened is the Peak teacher called and said Alli was in trouble and she'd just be sent to Peak until the end of the day when we picked her up from school. There was no mention of ever meeting.

Alli has never once denied her story. She has always been forthcoming with the information, and completely incriminated herself- even saying the number of times she showed her chest to Fred because of his incessant dares.

I have talked to a few of Fred's past teachers who say that Fred is more difficult than Jello to nail him to the wall on any thing. He is a known liar and doesn't have very good character. The principal chose to believe Fred's (a known liar) story, instead of Alli's side of the story. 

When we got a call an hour or so later than the first call from the Peak Teacher- he called to inform us that "Because the principal knows my family so well, and knows our 'values'... she ONLY suspended Alli for 2 days instead of the 5 she could have done it for"

The hearing officer decided to uphold Alli's suspension- under the logic that since Alli had already served the time, they cannot lie on her records and say she was at school when she obviously was not at school. BUT he told the principal that Alli should be downgraded from a level two sexual misconduct to a level one disruptive behavior- but it would not be changed until the end of the school year until Alli could prove that she wasn't a sexual deviant.

The principal said that she made sure to change rules at the school that would make it so Fred cannot sit near Alli at any time, and there are new lunchroom procedures put in place to make sure that the incident that happened between Alli and Fred would never happen again.

Like a complete moron I didn't ask what procedures were put in place. I guess I assumed they would be decent.

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Monday when Alli got home from school she came into the car and started bawling. Apparently at lunch (after this hearing took place) the Librarian made Alli stand up next to her until everyone had their lunches and sat down.... and only then was Alli permitted to sit down- and she was lead over to the first graders lunch table to sit with.

There are THREE third grade benches..... with open spots.... and Alli was made to sit with the first graders. She said all of her friends were making fun of her. She was absolutely humiliated.


........... stay tuned to part 3

April Fool's!

If you've been following my blog long, you've noticed that every April 1st I usually do an April Fool's dinner..... This year was no exception.

It took me a long time to figure out what I was going to do for it. I didn't want to load up on treats....  and I didn't have energy to do crazy things (aka spend 3 hours turning Laffy taffy and Starbursts into enough peas and carrots to fill a fake chicken pot pie), and I wanted my kids to not waste the food.

Finally after searching and searching Pinterest (good golly how I love that site)
I came up with the following for April Fool's Dinner:

Pizza Cake

Apple French Fries with Strawberry Jelly ketchup.0

The kiddos actually ate it, nobody made awful faces. Success.

Here are the recipes I used:

Pizza Cake:
Stuffing:
1/2 tube of sausage- cooked and crumbled
3-4 ounces of pepperoni- chopped

3/4 jar pizza sauce

1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning (I got it at Costco... it just has basil, oregano, etc... mixed together)

1- 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used Sargento's Mozzarella/ Provolone mix)

Mix all ingredients together... 

Pizza crust:

3 cups flour

1- 1/8 cup water

1 packet (or 2 teaspoons) yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons oil (olive oil, veggie oil, etc... it doesn't matter) 

I used my SIL Leah's awesome Pizza Crust recipe. It goes into the bread machine. Easy Peasy. Add all ingredients in bread machine. Put it in the dough cycle. Press start.

Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray.  Roll pizza dough out in a rectangle- approx 6-8 inches wide but long enough to go around your bundt pan. Put stuffing mix all along the middle- then just fold the dough around the stuffing mix to form a tube. Carefully transfer into the bundt pan so it doesn't break apart.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Let stand for a few minutes. Turn bundt pan upside down on cookie sheet (I used a pizza stone)  and layer 8 slices of Mozzarella cheese around the top of "cake". Turn oven onto broil- melt the cheese until golden.


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Apple Fries:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice apples (I only did two apples)  to make them look like french fries. Coat in cinnamon and sugar. Place sugared slices onto a pan, bake for 10 minutes.  *make sure whatever you place the apples on has sides to it. The apples give a lot of liquid that will spill over the sides and make a lot of smoke. Yes..... I learned this from experience.....

Serve your apple fries with strawberry jelly (aka: Ketchup) to dip in. 

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And there ya have it. Not as clever as the past few years...... but just enough that it was still out of the ordinary.

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On another note: My children played a fantastic April Fools Joke on me this year. While I was making lunch I had the girls watch the boys so they wouldn't get into things. The girls decided they were tired of watching them..... so they placed the boys in the same crib together and left.... to which Dexter revolted by taking off his diaper, and poo painting himself, Miles, and the crib. 

Me: Girls.... are you watching the boys?
Girls: Yes!
Me: walking into finding the mess..... getting angry....

Girls: April Fools!

Let's hope there is never a repeat performance of that joke. 

Ever.

 

School dealings..... part 1

Many of you are curious as to what has been going on at the school lately. This will take a few posts to get it all out.... Plus I just like when you guys are hooked on my blog! HA!

I sent this e-mail to the real Super Intendent's office on March 22nd.  You'll get the gist of what's going on........
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Dear Dr. Real Super,

On Thursday, March 8, 2012 during lunch period, my daughter Alli K (Student #******)  was sexually harassed by her fellow student, (Who will be named Fred), who kept daring her to “show him her boobs”. Unfortunately, Alli made the wrong choice, and in order to get Fred to stop bothering her, she ended up bearing her chest to him four times.

Alli made the wrong choice. She decided to give in to the sexual harassment and peer pressure. For that mistake, Alli was charged with level two sexual misconduct- indecent exposure and was suspended for two days.

Fred sexually harassed Alli. But he wasn’t punished, he wasn’t sent to PEAK (Peak is like the naughty room in elementary school.) , and he wasn’t suspended. In fact, when Alli returned to school from her suspension he was still assigned to sit next to her at the classroom table. This made Alli extremely uncomfortable. It was such an insensitive decision of the teachers not to separate them before she returned to school. She asked and was granted a seat at another table. What did Fred learn? That it’s perfectly okay for a boy to sexually harass a girl? That the girl is at fault? What is this school teaching?

The principal, hasn’t contacted me or my husband at all to discuss anything. She had Mr. Peak Teacher  address us the two times that we were contacted- once to inform us of our daughters actions, and the second time to inform us of the punishment.  What principal doesn’t contact parents when a serious event happens?  We were not asked to have a conference. We were not asked to be involved with this process. This is not the first time we’ve had problems with Principal's behavior- I’ve even had to contact Not so Super-Super, her boss, about her behavior- and was told by him that I need to stay out of the school’s business unless the issues are directly related to my children. They broke the lines of communication.

Alli is a perfect school citizen - the only time she has ever been in trouble before in her academic career was being sent to PEAK for excessive talking in Kindergarten.  The punishment of suspension was excessive according to her age, grade level, and history of misbehavior.  I feel that due to the my strained relationship with the principal, the investigation that I got started with The Investigator regarding the school, and the letter that I wrote in detail about the misconduct within the school, that the punishment Alli received was a vindictive retaliation towards our family.

Will you please meet with me about this situation? I am asking that Alli’s suspension to be expunged from her record. Yes, Alli made the wrong decision, and she should have been punished for her mistake. However, the punishment should have suited her history and the situation: loss of privileges, behavioral contracts, PEAK, in-school suspension, or other means. A suspension, permanently attached to her school records, will follow her for the rest of her academic career.

Thank you.



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Have I successfully peaked your interest into my  living nightmare?