Crossroads

I'm finding myself at a crossroads. The in-between phase when you've just completed a major task (2 actually, come to think of it) that consumed hours upon hours and that next major task (okay, a few of them) that's looming. A weird feeling!

Last night I had our 2nd PTA meeting of the academic year. That was the deadline that I had long procrastinated against and ultimately worked hard to meet. I also held a Room Parent meeting prior to the big meeting, also part of this larger goal/deadline. Both meetings were phenomenal in attendance, participation, support, etc... It was wonderful to distribute all of the materials I had prepared for the meeting and be done with it! We actually ran out of chairs for the PTA meeting, a FIRST in my history with the school. It's nice to see some efforts really paying off!!! It was also nice to use that as an example of WHY I'm asking parents to approach their tasks a particular way. This is gonna be a kick ass year, I just know it!

But that's all in addition to our family time. One thing I'm determined to do (last year and again this year) is to not allow my PTA responsibilities take away from our family time... as much as absolutely possible! I did miss going to the gym with the family last night, but mostly that was just me giving up my workout time. You can see how committed I am! Though I did miss shooting hoops with my boy!

Speaking of family stuff... we're just in the groove. The girls are enjoying their swim practice and looking forward to their first meet. We all enjoyed a full day at our Church Camp this past weekend for the girls' first "Tween Scene" (non)event. The girls were a little miffed about all of us (particularly their brother) being there. This is the first time they've really ever expressed such a concern, but they had every right to raise the question. Once we explained that the overall BBQ was a family event and WE wanted to come to the BBQ and it was just their luck to have such involved and overprotective parents they were all cool with it. For us, it was a family day, a family experience and if they were lucky we would let them come back without us in the (very distant) future.

As luck would have it, they (our leader) didn't really need all the help they had (due to weather and turnout) so we took off and spent 5 hours exploring the area as a family. We all enjoyed a bit of archery... I felt bad when Spencer (& I) overshot the target and the bales of hay, ultimately losing an arrow. The girls got to try their hand at tree climbing, and loved it. They also greatly enjoyed hanging out in the tree boats, particularly while playing with bunny rabbits. We spent forever hanging out with various live animals. Once we discovered that the corn maze would take a solid hour and a half to get through, and recalling the fact that our kids got lost in a much smaller maze just a couple weeks ago, we opted to hold that activity for some future visit. I also, somehow, managed to convince the kids to hold off on a trip out to the pumpkin fields. It was a muddy mess that I was just hoping to avoid. Thankfully they agreed! We had so much fun traipsing around the huge acreage. After 5 hours we still had to practically pull our kids away!

And it wouldn't be FALL without Husker football. We've certainly been enjoying the season thus far. We've enjoyed hosting game day and cheering on our Huskers. When the kids aren't actually watching football they are enjoying a stay at home day and playing with friends.

Another Reason

Another reason we love our kindergarten teachers...

This week we celebrated NE Teacher Appreciation Day. The official day was Tuesday, but we seem to do something every day of the week for our teachers.

Today's event was a car wash. A car wash was offered to all the teachers. All they had to do was put the tag in their car to let us know that they did want their car washed.

So Carie and Spencer went up to help. I've been up there so much with other stuff that I needed to sit this one out. It sounds like they had a good turnout of volunteers and in about 2 hours they hand washed and dried 29 cars. Thank goodness the weather was generous to us today!

When they showed up there were kids out at lunch recess and one of the K teachers was out monitoring. She saw Carie and Spencer and motioned for them to go talk to her. She asked Carie how long they might be there and Carie didn't really know... probably a few hours. She then told Carie that if they were still there when K went out for recess at 1:30 that Spencer should come have recess with them!

So 1:30 rolls around and they are still there. Mrs. P. offers to take Spencer to recess and he decides that is an okay idea. About the time recess is over they are wrapping up with the car washing. Nice timing! Mrs. C. brings Spencer back and comments about how great he did and how he just blended right in. Mrs. F. at some point commented similarly. Basically they were thrilled to come have him play with the kids. I'm sure Spencer thought that was more fun than washing cars! I'm sure Carie appreciated the break! But how cool of them to even offer to do that!

Yes... he blends right in. He knows the teachers. He knows a few of the current kindergarteners. But physically, no one would know that he wasn't a kindergartener! The thing is he is a solid 1 1/2 years younger (at minimum based on the age cutoff) and as much as 2 1/2 years younger than the current group of kindergarteners! He has one more year of preschool ahead of him.

After taking care of stuff up at school, they were off to wash up our own van and fuel it up. Hopefully they can still fit in a nap for Spencer. Then it sounds like we are going to head to Lincoln to check in on Grandma.

His Once A Month Opportunity

Once a month the PTA has a meeting and for the past two months we've taken the kids to school with us. They offer "childcare" to encourage parent participation. We reluctantly gave it a shot the first month just to check it out. Not only did we want to know more about the PTA efforts but we wanted to know how this childcare thing worked. It went extremely well! So last night we went for it again.

I was less impressed with the PTA meeting this month compared to the prior month. There are a lot of great efforts that the PTA supports that directly and positively impacts the students. But I feel as if I'm in a conundrum. I'm having a hard time getting excited about some of the approaches while at the same time I'm not overflowing with new suggestions. So for now, I wait. That seems to be my approach when I come into something new. I like to feel it out, see how all the pieces work, and then jump in. So I'll continue to do that and then hopefully one day I'll come up with some brilliant idea to change the world. I know, a bit ambitious.

Last nights meeting ran a bit long, again! So Carie snuck out a few minutes early to go check on the kids since it was very much the bedtime hour. She snuck into the classroom where the kids were playing and they were having a blast (understatement of the year).

The huge bonus is that the person who does the "childcare" is the school counselor. She also brings her son who I'm guessing is of middle school age. We are slowly getting to know her and she appears to be an awesome awesome lady and incredible asset to the school. So, the girls' know her from school as they've had their retreat with her and she's spent time in their class rooms. Spencer is so excited about "going to school" that I don't think he'd care who the "teacher" was. So dropping off is easier than a piece of cake. In my mind, it is also a great opportunity for our kids to get to spend time with her and for her to have the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level.

Sure, we could hire our own sitter and the kids would be at home and at least getting ready for bed in our absence. Who, I don't know since our "regular" sitter we use so infrequently, especially since she went off to college last year. But we certainly couldn't hire someone this awesome for this low low rate of "free".

So Carie shows up and they are playing the freeze game and dancing to some fun music. They were really into it! When I arrived they were still dancing and hopping away. It was so much fun to watch! It was fun to watch him engage and participate at this level. It was awesome and heart warming to hear the counselor comment on his personality. There is no doubt in my mind that he would enjoy and benefit from a preschool experience next fall.

So, it looks like we have motivation to go to the monthly PTA meetings. It gives Spencer a chance to "go to school". It gives the girls' a chance to potentially be around their school friends in a less "academic" environment and a chance to get to know the counselor better. And it gives us a chance to participate in the school stuff together, get to know other parents, and hopefully some day make a difference.

If the kids weren't having so much fun and if Spencer didn't really enjoy his shot at "going to school", I could see us being less committed to attending the meetings.