Kindergarten Holiday party

When I was a kid, my mom was the home room mother for my class and for my sister's class.  That means she planned and ran every party for each of our classes.  She did an amazing job.  She would manage all the other mothers and she would make sure there were wonderful snacks there.  She would have age appropriate games and crafts.  I just figured that is how every elementary school party went.

When I grew up, many of my friends also were like this.  There were battles about who got to take over each class party.  About a week ago, I experienced my first class party.

The teacher asked if I could come help out.  This should have been a warning.  If any one like my "home room mother" friends was in charge of this party, I wouldn't have heard about it from the teacher.  There would have been an official newsletter sent home with information about what was needed, how many volunteers could come, and every other detail of the party.  But, I am a newbie.  I assumed that these "home room mothers" would be there and I would be their assistant.  I should have noticed the warning the night before when my son just happened to mention that we were supposed to bring in cookies to decorate.  When I asked him what kind, he said he thought he probably needed chocolate chip.  Even I knew that you don't send in chocolate chip cookies to be decorated.

I showed up the day of the party when school started.  I had a box of sugar cookies with me.  It is a good thing I was ready for action.  I guess lots of moms were scheduled to help out, but they had to back out for various reasons.  Two other moms were there for a few minutes or so, but they were less prepared than I was.  Before I knew it, I was taking charge.  The morning project included decorating sugar cookie men. (The teacher read 4 books about gingerbread people to the class, yet, they didn't decorate gingerbread men, they decorated sugar cookies.  I didn't want to ruin the party, so I kept this observation to myself)  I passed out candy and cookies and frosting.  I told other moms what to do.  I wrote names on plates.  I gave helpful hints on how to make graham cracker houses.  I was following in my mother's footsteps.  It was exhausting AND messy. 

When I was done in the morning, I had a new respect for all kindergarten teachers.  My boy really wanted me to go to lunch with him, so I did.  It was a mad house.  When I was done with lunch, I had a new respect for lunch ladies.  My boy wanted me to go out to recess with him, but mommy needed a break.  I knew they had art class after lunch, so I went home and came back after a little rest.  The silence sounded SO good when I got home.

The afternoon was supposed to be about a gingerbread man chase and crafts.  The whole story of the gingerbread man is that he runs away and everyone has to chase him.  While the kids were at art class, the gingerbread men "ran away".  The kids went around the school asking each class if they had seen the gingerbread men and where they went.  The kids loved it.  I don't think the principal loved it.  I thought it was a great idea until we found all the cookies and the kids had to take them back to the class.  My kid got knocked by another kid and dropped his cookies.  He cried.  He was not the only one.  The teacher was sweet and let him decorate some more cookies.  I was the only mom who volunteered in the afternoon.  After my success in the morning, I figured it was no problem.  I was wrong.  The teacher put my at the glitter table.  My mom hates glitter.  She does every craft you can think of, but she doesn't do glitter.  There is a reason that glitter glue was invented.  There were other tables with other projects, but the glitter table was the most popular.  The craft was to cut a chain of Christmas trees and then decorate them with loose glitter and pom poms.  REALLY?

 

My mom plans a lot of crafts for kids, and I often think that she underestimates the abilities of the children, but now I know why.  If I had been sitting with one kid, I could have helped one kid do this project, but not with a mob of kids.  First of all, little kid scissors can't cut through six layers of construction paper.  I had to cut them all out with the teacher scissors.  Secondly, I forgot that 5 and 6 year olds don't understand the concept of a little glue.  All of their trees were drowning in glue.  Thirdly, LOOSE GLITTER!  Surprisingly the glitter got all over the floor and then the boys, including mine, decided it was fun to pick it up and throw it on people.  That was cute for a second until it got out of control because the kids had been eating cookies and candy non stop.  One little girl got too crowded at the carefully "glitter proofed" table and got in big trouble when she took a container of loose glitter to one of the other tables.  I suppose I should have prevented that since I was at the glitter table.  In the end, it didn't even matter because there wasn't enough time to let the project dry and so they all got wadded up into glue/paper/glitter balls.

Anyway, I don't mean to say that the teacher is bad at coming up with crafts, for pete's sake, she came up with all the other great parts of the day, and had no one to help her with the planning or preparation.  I did learn that a person can't get too cocky when dealing with kindergarteners, they are amazing balls of energy.  I also learned that if I want to be a hot shot home room mother, I need to get involved before the night before the party.  I need to be involved in the party planning.  I think that soon I might be taking charge.  This could mean trouble.  I can't help it, it is in my blood.

Look in front of your nose.

When I was a kid, my mom would always tell us to go find something.  These things were not hidden, but somehow we could never find them.  She would come over to where she told us to look, find it right away, then she would be mad that we couldn't "look in front of our noses."  As I slowly turn into my mother, I have discovered that this might be one of the mom powers that a woman gains once she has children. 

I used to think this was a made up thing, until I started getting super powers myself.  It started with super hearing.  I swear there was a physical change in my hearing when I had kids.  A cough or sneeze from a baby will wake me right up.  This becomes a curse when the baby cries during the day.  The crying gets inside my head and I can't function until the crying stops.

Now I have the finding power as well.  My own mother would have never expected this.  Today was the perfect example.  My husband needed his belt, I told him exactly where it was.  The big thing was my son.  He had lost three lunch boxes, a pair of shoes, and a pair of snowpants in the last few weeks.  I have often found his lunch box in the lost and found.  The lost and found is right outside the lunch room and his lunch box was sitting right out on top of everything, but he never looked in front of his nose to find it.  He told me yesterday that he would go to the lost and found and bring home all his lost stuff, but when he got home, he told me that they weren't there.  This morning I went to school with him to find them myself.  When I got to the lost and found, I was a little worried because it must have just been cleared out.  There were no lunch boxes or snowpants hanging around.  I had to concede that the boy was correct.  I decided to walk him to his class just to make sure his teacher got her present and that it didn't get lost along the way.  As we were waiting for the bell to ring, a little girl came running towards us with shoes in her hand.  She told us that Charles left his shoes in the class.  This was an amazing girl.  I asked her if she knew where his lunch box was.  She ran off again and met us at the classroom door with two of his missing lunchboxes.  They were in his classroom, in the lunch box basket.  The last thing to find was his snowpants.  I went into the room and they were hanging up right where they should be.  Is this a thing for all kids?  They were right in front of his face!!!  I left the shoes and snowpants there for him to use today.  On the way out the teacher asked me to help with their party tomorrow and I said I would help.

SO, is it more likely that a five year old boy can't find his snowpants that are right in front of his face, or that his teacher hid them so that she could catch me to get me to come for the party.  I would like to believe that the teacher was being manipulative, but deep in my heart I know that it is the boy who can't look in front of his nose.  I think he got that from me.

Does anyone have a technique for keeping lunch boxes and snow pants and winter stuff all together?

Killing my can-do attitude?

Generally I have a can-do attitude.  Part of this is believing that the weather is not the boss of me.  If someone says, "hey don't do this, the roads will be too slippery," I scoff at them.  I proclaim that the the weather is not the boss of me.  Well, lately, this belief is really butting heads with reality.

It started Saturday.  Saturday had a pretty packed schedule regardless of the weather.  We live on the west side of the greater Detroit area.  We were invited to a baby shower and a Christmas Party on the east side of the greater Detroit area.  Obviously, only the girls were invited to the baby shower, but the whole family was to go to the Christmas party.  This meant that the plan was to go to the shower, drive home, pick up the fellas, and head back east.

In the morning, my can do attitude was still alive and kicking.  I was supposed to to go the shower with my Mother in law and my Sister in law. They live about an hour south of our house and the snow was crazy there, so they decided not to risk it.  In my usual fashion, I proclaimed that the weather was not the boss of me.  I packed up my two year old daughter and my three month old daughter and headed east in the snow.

The roads were bad, but not terrible.  We were only a half hour late to the shower.  My can do attitude was really tested when we tried to get from the car into the shower.  I was lugging the baby, diaper bag, purse, and gift as I tried to keep the two year old from getting hit by a car.  We were victorious.  We were tested again when the two year old's diaper started leaking.  I took both of the girls into the bathroom and miraculously they had a fancy sitting room or bride changing room where I could put the baby down while I changed the other one.  I also arose to the challenge when the two year old wanted to sit on the potty.  She didn't actually "go" on the potty, but I managed to get her in there, pull her pants down, get her on the potty, and balance holding her while holding the baby.  My can-do confidence had never been higher.  Sure, we had our struggles, but we had overcome amazing difficulties.

In the end, the weather won.  We got back into the car and the roads were worse when we drove home. It took two hours to drive home.  This meant that an equally long trip back would mean missing the party.  I had to suck it up and tell people that we couldn't make it to the party.  This sounds like it is not a big deal, but it is huge for me.  I can't decide if it is freeing or not.  Part of it was that we would miss the party anyway because it would take so much time to get there, but part of it was also seeing the cars that had been in accidents.  I was confident in my driving in the snow, but I kept seeing people drive like maniacs and I was was worried that they might hit the back of my car and smoosh the kids.  That morbid thought was part of the decision to let the weather win.  I might become a worry wart.

What is your policy about when to let the weather be the boss of you?

Five Guys Below and Beyond!

I have a can-do attitude.  I like to believe I can do anything that I put my mind to.  On occasion, it turns out I am wrong...dead wrong.

This morning when I woke up I had a plan.  The hubby would take our 5 year old son to see Thor 2 and while they were gone I would take our daughters, 2 years old and 3months old, Christmas shopping.  This seemed like a very good idea for the following reasons:

• It would allow for father son bonding.
• It would allow for mother daughter bonding.
• I would not have to sit through Thor 2.
• The kids are better behaved at the store when there are less of them.

The movie didn't start until 3:30 so the hubby suggested that we do a little of the shopping together as a family.  This taught me a lesson.  The lesson is that a mother cannot go shopping in December with multiple children and no other adult.

First we went to Bed Bath and Beyond.  It started out lovely.  However, my children are loving inquisitive creatures.  This meant that they had to hug me whenever I was trying to squeeze through somewhere and that they had to pick up everything they saw.  I had coupons and we found everything we needed, so I consider that one a win.

Then we went to Five Below, which I like to call Five Under. I got a lot of goodies, but the place was a mad house and the children wanted everything.  I had some piece of paper that meant they would donate money to the kid's school, but with all the commotion, I forgot to give it to them, I call that a tie.

The loss was Five Guys.  I don't know why we go to Five Guys.  I think it is the fancy pop machine and the all you can eat peanuts.  This must be a huge draw, because when we got there ALL the tables were taken.  My favorite was an 8 seater with one girl sitting at it.  She was working on some sort of mobile tablet device, drinking pop, and eating peanuts.  I am pretty sure her plan was to stay there all day until the pop machine and the peanut boxes were empty.  She had already emptied half the pop fountain as many of the flavors were no longer available.  I was trying to give her the stink eye as my family  of 5, with many small children, tried to eventually sit at a 4 seater high top.  After a minute, I gave up on my stink eye.  I was torn about whether I felt sad for her because she was living at Five Guys, or if I was impressed that this person had managed to fend off starvation with the simple cost of a soda pop.  By the time our food was done, we managed to find a regular 4 seater.  The only downside was that I had to put the baby's seat on the floor and she was forced to have another customer's thong showing butt in her face.  A small price to pay for fancy pop and all you can eat peanuts.  The baby was asleep most of the time anyway.

What are your secrets for cheap/free nutrition?  Dumpster diving at high end grocery stores?  Sitting all day at OCB?  Chugging salsa?  Please share.