Teenager at Five??? Or a Demon Seed??

Alright I don't know what has happened lately with the boy, but I swear he has turned into a teenager in the last two weeks at the age of five!

At school, he is graded on his behaviour each day by either a smiley face or a frownie face on the calendar. Well it was the third day of school and he came home with a frownie face! I ask him what was the deal with that and the first thing I get out of him was "do we really need to talk about this?" Well at that moment, I instantly went from a little perturbed about the frownie face, to an 8 on the richtor scale!

It seems that while they were lined up, he reached over and hit and scratched another boy in line and it was totally unprovoked by the other boy. When I asked Jack why he hurt the other boy, he comes up with "because I don't like to stand in line." aye aye aye.

The next day, his teacher told me he had a better day, he "only hit one time". But thankfully he has had smiley faces for the past week.

And then that brings us to tonight when we were at church. There was a teenage boy there who was in a motorcross bike accident a few years ago that resulted in brain damage. He has a bad speech impediment and speaks very slowly. While this boy was talking, I caught Jack sitting there and making fun of the poor boy! I immediately took him outside, gave him a spanking, and a lecture about not making fun of others. When we got home, I was putting him to bed and he looks at me with a defiant look and tells me that he was mad at me for yelling at him. Of course that made my blood pressure raise to sky high levels. I took his stuffed animals away from him and he proceeded to cry and scream for the next 15 minutes.

There are a few things that I will not put up with and being cruel and mean to others is one of them. I do not want Jack to become one of those kids. I know that kids will be kids, but I hope to instill some empathy into him.

The Day Is Here...First Day of Kindergarten!

I could not let this day go by without blogging about the boy's first day of kindergarten! This is the day that I have been both looking forward to and dreading all at the same time. I have been excited because now that he is in school all day long, every day, I can now devote some of my time to me. I have plans to start back at working out at the new gym around the corner. I have plans to organize this house (can you ever be truly organized) and do some projects around the house. I am also debating in my mind about going back to work. Just the possibilities are very liberating in knowing that I have the hours of 8 am to 3 pm dedicated to me!

But I have been dreading the day because it means my little boy is not my little boy anymore. I do enjoy Jack's company. He actually is very fun to be around and I treasure our time together. When he was in preschool last year, I would pick him up at noon and it would be Mommy and Jack time and we went to lunch at least once a week. But now he eats his lunch with all his friends at school. He now has his own life that does not involve me for seven hours a day.

He was so excited this morning as Jim and I were driving him to school. He got in the car and yelled out "kindergarten here I come!" I tell you that kid cracks me up all the time by the things he says. We decided to put him in the private christian school that he was going to for preschool. Yes it is a fortune, but for right now, we think it is worth getting that christian foundation and not to mention the better academics than the elementary school that is in our district.

It was so chaotic this morning when dropping him off. He has quite a few friends he made during preschool in his class, so that was a good thing. His teacher is great and the classroom looked like such a fun place to be. It was fun watching all the other parents with cameras in hand sending their kids off to kindergarten, and yes I was one of them!

When we picked him up, he was still all pumped up with excitement. His teacher sent home a note saying that starting next week, the kids will have homework sent home on Monday and they have until Friday to finish it. I think homework consists of one or two worksheets, but it gets them in the homework mode for the future. And Jack is thrilled to have homework to do. We shall see how long that lasts.

I couldn't get much out of him about what they did today, other than he enjoyed lunch and recess. Typical kid.

So that's it. The big day has come and gone and I survived it with very few tears. I know it has been a long time since I have blogged and for all those people who have mentioned it to me, I apologize. The summer was a bit traumatic in the Jackaroo house. But I am back and will be posting again on a regular basis.

It Looks Like We Just Might Have Grandchildren ... and other Happenings

At Jack's five-year check-up, the doctor noticed that Jack's boys (yes I am talking about those) had not dropped like they should have by now. This of course made me very nervous about the possibility of not having grandchildren since they were supposed to be dropped fully by the time he was two. So we got a referral to go to the Children's Hospital in New Orleans and we made the trip over there on Monday. And thankfully all checked out alright. It turns out he has what is called "retractable testicles" and he has the ability to retract them when he gets nervous or turns cold. Every single man that I have told about this condition has informed me that would come in handy. But anyway, it is a condition that is nothing to worry about, except have to keep an eye on it and make sure that as he grows taller, they are able to still drop. So phew. Grandchildren are still a possibility.

In other happenings, the kid's get out of school on Friday. I am actually looking forward to not having to get two kids to school all before 8 am every single day. I still can not believe that Jack is going into kindergarten next year and will be a full day of school for him everyday. He is sooo excited about the whole kindergarten experience and keeps asking me when it starts. I also got his yearbook today and I have to say that I am a proud Mama because he was awarded with the Christian Character award for his class. We plan to keep him in this Christian school all the way through the 12th grade.

Tomorrow night Jack has his preschool graduation, which I am sure will be very very cute. He says they have been practicing for it every single day. The main event will be the kindergartners who will be in little cap and gowns as they "graduate". Simply adorable.

Things are starting to calm down a bit with Brandi. She made me sooooo mad last week when I found out that she stole a cell phone from a friend and did more than 5000 text messages and was calling people that she is not supposed to be in contact with. The theft was a felony and if our friends had pressed charges, she would be in a world of trouble right now. I do not believe I have been so angry and mad in my life and it has taken me a week to calm down a little bit. I am really wondering if we are doing any good with her. She just sits there and shuts down when I or anybody else tries to talk to her. But I am not willing to give up on the girl ... yet. At least I do have somebody that I can make do the dishes and other nasty chores around the house like pick up poop in the backyard. :)

Sickies

Jack is home sick today. He woke up at 4:30 this morning yelling out for me. I first thought that he just had allergies because his eyes are all swollen, red, and watery. But he sneezed some pretty ugly green goop, so I figure there is something else going on. And with all the swine flu histeria going on, I guess taking him to school with green goop is not a good thing, even though the last time I checked, Mississippi was one of the few states with no cases of the swine flu.

So anyway, it looks like a day of Disney channel and whatever. The boy is very into drawing and coloring and writing these days, which I like to encourage. He loves to write an assortment of letters down and make me read them. It is fun trying to sound out the word "UIWMEW".

There has been more drama with Brandi and spent the entire day yesterday dealing with said drama. But that is a whole nother post and I am just too weary to even post about it right now.

Mother's Day at the Jackaroo House

I had a wonderful mother's day. The day started out with Jim making breakfast for all of us yesterday morning. We decided to play hookey with church because Jack was having a tee-ball tournament this weekend. The tournament started on Friday night and his team won. It was back to the ball fields at 9:00 on Saturday for another day of tee-ball playing. His team played two games and won both games.

On Saturday night, we took advantage of our built-in babysitter, Brandi, and Jim and I went to see Star Trek movie. It was a really good movie and even better getting away from the kids and having some time alone with Jim.

On Sunday, we were back to the ball fields. Jack's team won their first game, which meant they had to play again against the best team in the league and well we got slaughtered in that game. But truthfully, I was very happy not winning and having to stay for the championship game. It was 93 degrees with 90% humidity out there. The boys were exhausted and the parents were hot and sunburnt. I was very happy to lose.

Jack has actually improved alot in the tee-ball playing. He actually hit a few doubles and is starting to pay attention when on the field. His favorite position is catcher and takes his catcher duties very seriously by making sure the ball is placed on the tee just right everytime. He still has alot to learn and lots of practice, but he seems to enjoy playing. The season ends on the 29th and we will probably end up putting him in Fall Ball to get some more practice. I would say that this has been a positive experience for the boy despite the uncertain start.

Trying to Get Back Into a Rhythm and Frustrations

So today marks the first day of back to normal. Laura left yesterday afternoon after being here for two weeks. She was supposed to leave early Sunday morning, but her flight leaving Gulfport was delayed by 3 hours which meant that she was going to miss her connection and they couldn't get her on another flight until way late, which is against the Unaccompanied Minor policy. So we got her for another day.

So everybody is back to school. I kept Jack out of school most of last week just so he could spend some time with Laura and Brandi, who was out of school on spring break also. Ihave no idea why Jack's spring break had to be in March when every body else had it in April. But it is very nice to be back to normal.

We had some major drama yesterday around here. Laura could not find her cell phone when she was packing up. She and I tore the house apart looking for the thing. I had a sneaking suspicion that Brandi had taken it, but I really did not want to think that. So I had to take a very upset Laura to the airport without her cell phone. She was literally in tears because of what her mother's reaction was going to be. Her mother is downright cruel and won't give it up until she has belittled Laura. So Laura was scared to death to get back to California and tell her mother she couldn't find her phone.

So after I saw Laura off, I went to the High School and picked Brandi up and confronted her about the phone. She looked right atme and said she did not have it. I went through her pockets, bag and everything looking for it. We get home and Jim has to call Laura's mother and tell her about the phone. We both know that Brandi took it and wanted her to fess up. So Jim is telling Laura's mother to get the texting activity today because he is pretty sure that somebody took the phone. Brandi tells me that she wants to tell me something in her room and sure enough she stole the phone and gave it away to a friend!!!!!! I do not think I have ever seen Jim so mad in all the years I have known him. I have no idea what she was thinking. We do not let her have a cell phone. She has no phone privileges and no computer privileges and she can't go anywhere except to school and church. I do not know how to punish her for this. She continues to lie to me saying it was an accident. But I know different, because all day yesterday she was turning the phone off and on and knew exactly what she was doing. She has yet to apologize for it. She stayed in her room most of the night last night.

I am truly at my wits end with her. I am having second thoughts about whether we can help her at all. Can we change 15 years of neglect and abuse and having no consequences in 3 months? I was letting her get on Myspace when she first got here. She promised she would not talk to anybody but her friends. Well I later found out that she had been giving our home phone number out to strange men and talking to them. She also had Jack's picture on her page and claiming him as her own child, along with a bunch of other lies. Which is so dangerous considering that Jim is a cop and has probably arrested some of these people she was talking to. We live in the threat of somebody finding out where he lives and coming here with revenge. I was so mad at her that I was shaking uncontrollably that night. That happened about a month ago. And now the cell phone theft. I am really doubting whether we can do this whole foster thing. I thought we could change her life, but now I am not so sure. It is all very frustrating and disappointing.

Easter Pics

Another Crazy Busy Weekend

First of all, thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a great day. I took the kids shopping and got the girls easter dresses, yes even Brandi as shocking as that is. I will have to post a picture of her on Sunday. I got Jack a new pair of pants (I can not believe he is into size 6 now!) that can double as part of school uniform for next year and a shirt and a pair of shoes. Since we get 98% of his clothes as hand me downs, it was actually kinda fun to shop for the boy.

As for me, I got myself a pair of fancy jeweled flip flops that I can wear to church, but man they just are not as comfy as my croc flip flops are. I also bought myself a Nintendo DS with the brain age game and a Mario Bros game. HA! With all the kids in the house, yeah I might be able to play it sometime at the end of the summer, who knows. But it is cute and pink when it is being played by some child of mine.

It is so not like me to spend money like I did yesterday. Laura was looking at me like who has possessed this woman. But it was really fun to just say what the hey.

This weekend is yet another crazy busy weekend. We have plans to get together with the whole Clayton family today for Easter dinner. Of course the last minute family plans meant that I had to tell them at church that I would not be able to help out today at the Easter festival for the kids. Can't be at two places at once.

And of course tomorrow is Easter and that is always a busy day. But I promise to post pics of the kids all dressed up. Fun times.

Happy Birthday To Me...

Today I turn 42. Wow that sounds old. My big plans today are to take Brandi and Laura shopping for Easter dresses. It will be worth every penny if I can get Brandi into a dress. The girl who wears nothing but Aero jeans and Aero tshirts. Then next on the agenda is to take them to the Hannah Montana movie. And Jack will be tagging along for all of this too, which will cause him to complain and whine mightily about how bored he is while shopping. Should be fun....

Tee Ball ... The Ultimate Frustration

Jack had his third game of tee ball last night and I just have to say that it is sooooo frustrating for Jim and I to sit there and NOT yell at the boy. He is on the 5/6 year old team and since he just turned five, he is one of the youngest on the team. Some of the boys are almost 7. So there is a wide variety of abilities.

But that is not what is so frustrating for us. It is the total and utter lack of concentration on Jack's part. When he is on the field, while all the other boys are paying attention and fielding the ball, Jack is in the outfield turning around in circles, shuffling the dirt with his feet, playing with his hat, throwing his glove in the air, pretty much everything BUT paying attention to the game. In fact, the coaches had to go out and tell him to go into the dugout at the end of the inning, when every other player was already in the dugout, except Jack who was turning in circles.

And this is not a laid-back tee ball league, no they keep score, count strikes, have an umpire, the whole shebang. It is the real deal. And for Jack to be in LaLa land is quite frustrating and quite frankly embarrassing. He doesn't seem to care. Even after we had a talk before last night's game when I told him that if he didn't pay attention, he would lose his PS2 game for a week. Well he has lost the game and I just don't know if that is enough to make him care about the tee-ball.

Sigh. Maybe he will get into Taekwondo this summer. So far we are 0-2 with soccer and teeball.

It Helps to Have Pediatricians for Friends

We have friends who are married pediatricians, who goes to our church and lives in our neighborhood. It comes in handy, like when Jack was having a strange rash and I just drove him over to Nichol's house to make sure it was nothing serious.

Well last night I talked to them about Jack's testicles, which by the way is kind of embarassing to be talking about. They were saying that a boy's testicles should be fully dropped by the time he is two. When I told them about Jack's having to be pulled down, but pop right back up is not that bad of a thing, as long as they can be dropped. If they couldn't be dropped, it would probably mean he would be sterile, but since they can be pulled it is a good thing. However, the fact that they pop up, means that they will probably have to go in and "tack them down" or release the muscle that is holding them up. They were a little surprised that this is the first time a doctor has mentioned anything and should of been mentioned during the two-year or at least the three-year check up. The fact that they waited till now to mention anything does worry me, but they seemed to think it is not that major of a deal, but is something that needs to be addressed.

Five-Year Check Up

Today was the day for Jack's five-year-old check up. Jim took him this morning, so everything that I am reporting is through him. It seems like he is a healthy boy. He is 45" tall and 46 lbs. Good grief that is only 3 inches away from four ft tall! Geesh.

I guess they checked his eye sight and Jim said that he did pretty well except for the really small letters, which is much better than I can do. Ha!

There is one thing that is of concern though. It seems that his testicles have not dropped the way they should of. The doctor can force them to drop, but they just pop right back up, which I guess is not a good thing for a five-year-old boy. I guess they should have dropped by now. So we are getting a referral to a Urologist in New Orleans at the Children's hospital there to see if any surgery is needed. Yeah slight flip out on the word surgery, but not too bad. Hopefully everything is okay and that won't be needed.

But other than that he is a very happy and healthy five year old boy.

Priceless

Cost of new bat ... $25
Cost of new batters helmet ... $12
Cost of new baseball shoes ... $25
Cost of new baseball glove ... $19
Cost of new bag to hold above items ... $20

To watch the excitement of a five year old boy who knows he is going to be playing baseball

PRICELESS

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

So we started T-Ball tonight. It has been a nightmare to get to this point. I swear we are jinxed when it comes to team sports for Jack.

We signed Jack up for the t-ball in February, paid our fee and was told they would get in touch with us when practices started. Well time went by and we soon found out that our friends son was on his team with scheduled practices. I have spent two weeks trying to get in contact with somebody, which was very hard because their website had absolutely no way to get in touch with them. Finally I got the phone number of the league commissioner and gave him an earful about not being told that the season started. Well, of course because it is us, they lost our paperwork and had no record at all of us signing up, despite the fact that they cashed our check. Thank goodness I had kept our copy and proved that we did indeed sign up. At this point, the teams had been together and practicing for almost 3 weeks. So finally today I got a phone call from the coach telling me that they had a practice tonight, nothing like short-noticed.

So we showed up at the baseball fields with about a gazillion other teams there (baseball is huge around here by the way) and me trying to find our team not knowing what our team name is or the color or what the coach looks like. I walked all over there asking if they knew where coach Billy was and I got completely vacant stares. I finally found the coach and the right team. I then look around and feel like I am out of my league. It turns out that this is the big league T-Ball for the 5 and 6 year olds. The other kids have the special sports bags all lined up there with their names on them. They each have their own bat, helmet, mitt and full (just like the pros) uniforms. Me? I brought my five-year-old. That is it.

So it looks like I need to go out and buy a gazillion dollars worth of equipment. Jack's first game is on Friday night and he will probably not have his pro uniform by then. But at least Jack seemed to have a good time out there in a borrowed helmet and bat tonight. The coach said that he is not behind and should do fine on the team. People it is T-BALL, not the big-leagues!

So yes we are onto another sport. I just hope that I end this season with a better feeling than I did the soccer season. I sure am not starting it on a good note!

Storms and No Sleep

Last night was another night of really bad storms. I haven't heard how much rain we got, but it has to be A LOT. The way it sounded on the roof was pretty bad. And the thunder and lightening kept going all night long. I woke up about 12:30 and was pretty much awake until 4:30 when I went back to bed and got another hour and half of sleep. Of course at 6:00 I have to wake kids up for school.

Jim was on duty last night and I called him about 2:00 and he said that he couldn't see anything while driving. Oh and he got hurt last night by some drunk guy who was resisting arrest and elbowed Jim in the ribs so hard that they thought he had broken a rib or two. After going to the ER and getting x-rays, it turned out that he just had a bruised rib. But still quite painful and he is sleeping with some percocet right now.

And another strange thing happened yesterday morning when lightening struck my boss's neighbor's house (right behind him) and burnt the house down. My boss was saying that the flames were 20 feet in the air. I drove by there today and there is nothing left of the house but the bricks. How scary is that? Of course my boss is feeling pretty lucky today. Had it been 100 feet the other way, it would have been his house.

Anyway that is what is happening around here. Lots of bad weather, no sleep, and houses burning down. I am now off to pick Brandi up from school and take her to her therapist for her weekly appointment. Thank goodness a friend just came and picked Jack up so that I don't have to wake up Jim to watch Jack. Life is very busy and complex these days. Phew!

Saturday Stuff

** Brandi is at a youth retreat this weekend at another church. She was quite nervous when I dropped her off last night and wasn't sure if she wanted to spend the night because she didn't know any of the other kids there. We found out about this retreat from a lady who runs a foundation geared to help foster kids on the gulf coast. But she was brave enough to stay and from what I can tell, she is going to have a really good time.

** For the first time in I don't know how long, we have a Saturday that is not jammed packed with stuff to do. I have to run a few errands and tonight I am going to a friend's house for a Twilight movie party, but other than that I don't have to rush off to do something. It feels really nice.

** The weather here has been beautiful. It has been sunny and around 75. Gorgeous.

** Some stupid person on a barge ran into one of the bridges across the Biloxi Bay yesterday and a 60-foot section of the bridge fell into the water, along with a car. Nobody was hurt, but it will make the traffic around here really really bad for the next however many months until it gets fixed. There is now only two ways to get across the bay and that is not good.

** Jim has been working really hard on our front-yard landscaping. It is almost done. We now have a pond with a fountain, palm trees, and pretty plants out front. I will take pics and post them.

** I am very excited because Jack will be in his new school building on Monday. This building was supposed to be finished before the school year started, but that obviously didn't happen until after spring break. It is an absolutely beautiful building and it will be his school until he is in high school.

What Does That Say?

I told Jack to go clean up his room (it needs a major overhaul and major throwing out things) when we got home today. He, of course, grumbled about having to do it and asked me if I could help him. I told him that I could not because I was cleaning the rest of the house. His next question to me was "who is coming over?".

Alright what does that say about my cleaning skills or lack thereof? But to be truthful, we have our first home visit from the social worker tomorrow, so there you have it. I guess I do only clean when somebody is coming over. The social worker visit was supposed to be on Tuesday, but got rescheduled for tomorrow. If that were the case, the house would have been cleaned on Tuesday.

Just Shoot Me Now ...

Laura called and asked if she could bring a friend from California with us to Disneyworld when we go in June. I guess her friend's parents is willing to spend the dollars to fly her out here and all the other costs involved in a two week stay with us. I am not totally against the idea seeing as we do get five tickets at $99 plus Jim's free ticket thanks to the new military discount this year and we would be able to get her friend, Alyssa, in at that rate.

However, the whole idea of having THREE TEENAGE GIRLS with us is more than my brain can handle. Then I started to think about our lodging and the ONE bathroom and ONE room we have reserved at the moment. Can you just imagine trying to get ready with THREE TEENAGE GIRLS? As Jim said, he will just go sit in the bar.

So even though I totally love Shades of Green, it is looking like we will have to rent a condo with at least 2 if not 3 bedrooms and, most importantly, 2 bathrooms. I looked into some of the places and for the 6 nights stay, it really isn't much difference in the price, we would just not have the convenience of the transportation to and from the hotel. Because honestly, I just may lose my mind if I have to spend a week with FOUR kids in ONE hotel room. I don't care how nice and convenient it is.

My List of ADD random thoughts

** Today we have our first foster care home visit, so I have a lot of cleaning that I should do, whether I actually do is another story altogether.



** I really really need to clean out our office. I am really good at stacking things and then when we need to find something, I am going through stacks and stacks of "stuff". I need to create a system where stuff comes into the house like mail, important papers, Brandi papers, Jack's "art" that it all has a place to go and not end up on my counter stacked. It has overflowed onto the dining room table.



** Jim's mother gave us a gorgeous crocheted table cloth that I want to put on the dining room table and make all pretty with the new centerpiece that I got for Christmas (still in bag), but alas I need to declutter the stacks of stuff first.



** I really need to finish our taxes. I do everybody else's but ours and I hate to do ours, especially now that I know we will have to owe.



** I also have to audit the books for church for the last two years. Just another of the things I got volunteered for because they know my previous occupation.



** I have been trying to build my Uppercase Living business and I am thiiiiisssss close to a promotion. I am very excited and I do love the company.



** Jack is done with soccer finally. He got his medal and was very proud of it. He also scored a goal on the last game and I missed it because I was talking to our neighbors at the time. But he doesn't need to know that, according to him, I saw it and it was the biggest and best goal ever.



** Brandi is doing really well. I found out that she has the best GPA of all the kids in foster care in the entire county. She also is going to be pre-enrolled at Southern Miss and will get her entire college education paid for by the state. I think she is realizing what an opportunity she has and is talking about getting her nursing degree. We are very proud of her and has become part of the family.



** Jack's spring break is this week and I am trying to come up with some things to do this week that will be fun for us.

** Jim is late coming home again. Police work doesn't end at shift time.

Soccer and My Thoughts

So today is the last day of the soccer season. It has been a long three months of playing soccer every Saturday morning. There were some REALLY cold days (38 degrees) and we were out on those soccer fields. Burr.

Truthfully, I am hoping that the weather forecast is right today and it really does rain because I am so done with the whole soccer thing. I have a bad taste about the whole thing. Jack was put on this team with this coach who's son is like a little soccer dyamo. Yes he is good, but I can tell the Dad really works him with a lot of practice. There are 6 players on Jack's team and only three play at one time, so the coach is supposed to rotate the players in and out during the game. Well this coach never rotated his own son out of the game and he usually played his three best players 90% of the time. Since Jack is not one of the best players (the kid got my athletic ability) he sits on the bench moping because he's not in playing. Last week, I finally had enough and said something out loud to Brandi about how the coach's son never gets benched and the coach must have heard that because he actually benched his son ... for 2 minutes. But it was to the kid's screaming fit for having to sit out.

Anyway, I am pretty sure we will not be doing soccer next year. I mean it was for 4 and 5 year olds and I had a mother come up to me and tell me that Jack needed to get in a lot more practice to be effective on the team and maybe I should sign him up for a workshop! They don't even keep score at this age! Yes I am fed up. I just wanted Jack to get out and get some exercise and have fun and it turned into this competitve cut-throat thing at four years old!

We are starting T-ball in two weeks. I have a better feeling about this sport and I think Jack will enjoy it a lot better. Just pray for rain today and we won't have to go to the last game!