Because I'm The Coolest Mom EVER!

Last night I did something that may put me in the slacker mom catagory for some but definitely elevates me to coolest mom ever status with my kids. Instead of hitting the sack early in preperation for the 1st day of school we stayed up late & rocked it at a back to school concert event. Taking center stage for the evening were 1st (some good friends of ours! of course) Shatter Me w/ their new lead singer, The Letter Black & Decyfer Down. I have been looking forward to hearing the SM boys w/ the new lead guy for almost a yr now so it was a pretty exciting night for me too. I have to say it was the first event that I have done (& I have done a lot in the past 2 yrs!) where I didn't feel pressured, stressed or anything of the kind. Everything went very smoothly, I got the chance to visit w/ my friend Jana, the SM mom & work their merch table which was a fun change as I'm usually running around trying to keep everything running smoothly. I have always listened to DD but haven't been what you would call an avid fan but after last night I have jumped on the wagon. These guys are amazing & I have so much respect for them as they haven't let the rock star status get to their heads. They are still all about the message & reaching the people & that isn't always the case w/ these bands even though you would think that would be top priority in the Christian music world. Decyfer Down put on such an amazing, energy filled show & the guys from Shatter Me really pulled out all the stops to show that they are still an amazing band even though Brad has stepped down as lead to move more behind the scenes. It was a pretty awesome night! Unfortunetly I didn't get any pics of the SM boys because I left my camera at home & had to wait on Steven to get a moment free where he could bring it to me. But it was a God thing because when he left from giving it to me he spotted my friend's debit card laying in the parking lot & was able to return it to her ASAP. Needless to say she was thrilled I had forgotten my camera, tells you there's a plan in everything doesn't it. We did get home late but the kids had an amazing evening, something they won't soon forget & still managed to get up on time this morning & get ready w/ no rushing!!! AMAZInG!! Of course that's what we prayed for last night, have to cover all the bases, last thing you need is your 6 yr old dragging in sleepy eyed to the 1st day of 1st grade & telling her teach that she's SO tired cuz she went to a concert last night!! This is going to be a great year for the kids & we started it off right! Stone me if you wish but these are memories that will make them smile when I'm no longer here.

School Supply Overload

It's that time of year where I start to feel a bit more like a crazy person than usual, BACK TO SCHOOL... I dread it with a passion, not only because of the amount of money that goes into preparing for it but the fact that it brings with it endless hours in the car rushing from one point to the next, less family time than we would all like and a sense of anxiety that can not be matched.
For once I would love for the retailers to actually look at the school supply lists & stock their shelves with the actual items on the list. I know that the Alice In Wonderland stickers, notebooks, pencil bags ect. are cute, but they are NOT on anyone's list! Even the notebooks are not the right paper count. L's list in particular this year has caused me no end of frustration, something as simple as a spiral notebook has sent me all over town because they are very specific about it being a 180 ct w/ NO perforations! Yes they make 180 ct. notebooks, but other than the composition notebooks, there are NO spirals with out perforations. So this is where you have to ask yourself how important those all caps specifications are. So I have the Crayola paint instead of the Prang, I know Prang is the best but when I can pick up the Crayola brand on clearance for .49 & the Prang are $5 which one is any sane mother going to snag I ask you! There are certain things I just won't do, I am not sending 40 pencils to school with my 6 year old, WHY? I am not going to pay 4 times as much for the brand name colors when the store brand are .25. These things make sense to me when you are buying supplies for 3 children. I once worked in the school system & let me tell you, we were 4th grade & we still had lockers full of construction paper & kleenex from kids who were in high school. The only colors that ever ran out were the green & red since everyone does Christmas crafts. These pics are just a sample of the items that we have so far, rest assured, each of the binders are filled to the brim, A actually had to have 3 pencil bags in hers just to hold her supplies, YIKES! And we aren't even done yet! L's list has a very specific Mead tablet that she has to have 4 of, 6 weeks ago I started looking for them & our local WM has had the same empty peg since I started. I actually found a couple at a local office supply chain but they were nearly $5 a piece, CRAZY! No way am I spending $20 on paper, lets just call me a tree hugger & be done w/ it. I remember going to school with a few #2 pencils, glue, scissors, crayons & a pack of paper. I know they do so much more now & obviously need more supplies but right now I just need to rant a bit. Even being the frugal shopper I am, picking up clearanced supplies all year it still adds up to a fortune & you know most families in our country are living paycheck to paycheck these days. I can't imagine how single parents or people w/ more kids than I do it.
When all is said & done the following is apparantly what it takes to ensure a decent education these days for 3 children ages 6, 10 & 12..

1. 3 back packs, no biggie, the girls just reuse theirs until they can't anymore
2. 80 pencils (Yea)
3 7 spiral notebooks
4.3 boxes of crayons & 2 of which are just for L, they can only use 1 box at a time right?
5. 3 pair of scissors (Fiskars only!)
6. 6 dry erase markers
7. 2 boxes of map pencils
8. 3 Pearl only erasers
9. 2 pkgs manilla paper in 2 different sizes (we have always had the hardest time finding the lg pkgs so if I ever see them I snatch one up)
10. 2 pkgs specific sized construction paper ( I still haven't found the lg size pkg & there were @ least 12 of us @ WM this a.m. looking again!)
11. 7 boxes of 200 ct tissue, 1 school wants only Kleenex, the other only Puffs & the other didin't specify?!
12. 1 box Gallon Slide Lock ONLY bags
13. 2 boxes Quart Slide Lock Only bags
14. 4 MEAD ONLY 1st grade Handwriting tablets which I still don't have
15. 1 blue plastic folder
16. 1 plastic school supply box
17. Prang only watercolors, sorry!
18. 2 red grading pens
19. 2 non plastic zipper binder pencil bags (or in our case, 5)
20. 5 black pens
21. 2 rulers
22. 1 lg pkg colored copy paper for the computer lab? now we get to supply the copy paper too?
23. 6 highlighters
24. 1 pkg of markers
25. 3 glue sticks
26. 2 pencil sharpeners w/ lids
27. 2 2 1/2 in 3 ring binders
28. 3 pkg notebook paper
29. 1 notebook w/ dividers & folders
30. Elmer's black label 4oz only glue
31. 2 pocket folders w/ holes, no brads!
32. 8 pocket folders w/ brad, 2 green, 2 red, 2 blue & 2 yellow (we went EVERYWHERE looking for these & finally found them @ TArget, not w/ the school supplies)
33. 1 composition book

When we lived in Sequim Washington, I kid you not, I spent less than $20 on my 2 kiddos who were in school at the time for ALL their supplies & I had not a thing put back for them since we came to WA w/ only what would fit in my sport sized mini van. They did have back packs as thats what they brought their toys in across country, but the supplies were so basic it was amazing. It makes you wonder what really gets done with all those supplies. I am more than happy to refresh supplies as they run out during the year & I know there are parents who don't send anything, but I really feel that this whole thing has gotten wildly out of hand. I know last year the first week of school my kids kept coming home w/ notes for additional supplies that were not listed online & also requests for money for everything under the sun from the PTA fees to class tees that they simply must have before they go on a field trip. For those of us with more than one child & not a bottomless bank account this kind of thing is extremely draining. I'm not so sure that private schools are that more expensive than public ones. It's enough to make you seriously consider homeschooling where most of the work can be done on your home computer & gained from reading.
On another note, you know all of those school appropriate clothes from last year simply do not fit anymore. It's amazing how fast kiddos grow through the summer. I think all of mine skipped an entire size in the last 6 weeks. We have been scrambling to find shorts long enough for school, which raises another point. What exactly is it about boy's knees that they have to be covered up to enter the school? That's a hard task for tall, skinny kids! Clothes shopping is such a mess, by the time school rolls around all the retailers are putting out fall/winter items & in Texas we still wear shorts through Oct. Even if you can find shorts they never comform to the school dress code. Yes, this is just a rant post, I know it, but as a woman we all know that the best way to deal with things is to get them out in the open, it's like therapy, write it down & let it go......
I could write a book on back to school woes as I'm sure many others moms could too & as my dear friend Amy would remind me, there is a way to deal with that, it's called homeschooling, Yes Amy, I know! I seriously considered it, especially w/ L this past week as I had to battle the school to have her moved into an appropriate classroom. I know most people don't seem to think twice about their child's teachers & call me anal, but I simple have to be comfortable & be able to trust the person that will be in charge of my child for 8 hrs & when I'm presented w/ a situation where that is not the case, I have to do something about it. I owe it to my kiddos to stand up for them. It boggles the mind how some people keep their jobs in the school system, especially with so many going to school for education. I guess it's kind of like cops, military or any other service job w/ bad press, just because you're in the business of serving & protecting doesn't mean you're a good person but 1 bad apple shouldn't spoil the entire bushel, right?

OK, done, back to my usual sweet, smiling self, hahahaha. Off to bake cookies, YUM!