Thursday, August 2, 2007

Twenty-one More Days! (not that I'm counting)

I went to Target yesterday to buy some diapers and somehow managed to ring up a $100 bill by the time I left. Target does that to me. I go in to buy one thing, but manage to leave with two dozen things that, despite the fact that they weren't on my list, I decided I needed.
So I'm walking up and down the aisles of "Carget", as my 3 year old calls it, and I behold the most glorious sight! The store filled with doves, a choir of angels sang and a light from Heaven shone down illuminating the display of ::::drumroll:::: BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES! Yes, it's almost that most wonderful time of the year and it can't come soon enough. I ran into a teacher friend of mine while at the store and she asked me if I was ready for school. I glanced at my baby trying to stand up in the cart, my 3 year old old running down the aisle laughing like he just broke out of an insane asylum, my 6 year old telling me that she'd somehow broken her glasses again, my 8 year old interrupting me to ask if I'd buy him some baseball cards, my 11 year old chasing my 3 year old in an effort to get him to stop and my 12 year old hitting my 8 year old for no apparent reason. "What do you think?!" I retorted.
She told me that she was definitely not ready for school to begin. Ahhh, there's the difference between parents and teachers. I'm a huge proponent of year round school. The kids attend school the same number of days, but those days are more spread out during the year. The advantage is that the kids' brains don't turn to pudding during the long summer break, teachers don't have to spend the first two months of school reviewing all the things that were sucked out of the kids' memories during the summer, parents and students get more frequent, much needed breaks throughout the year. And although the kids still have a nice summer vacation, they're back in school before the "I'm bored"s set in.
My mother-in-law, who works at a food pantry, called to see if she could borrow my two oldest kids to help her with some volunteer work tomorrow. "I'll pick them up at 8:00 and bring them back around 4:00. Is that ok?"
"Is it ok? Is it ok??? Hell yes! Take 'em for the whole day! Take 'em for two days! In fact, I'll throw in the other four kids as well! No charge!"
I'm looking forward to a little peace tomorrow. And I'm looking forward to a lot of peace in twenty-one days. Oh wait! It's after midnight! Woo Hoo!!! Twenty days!

19 comments:

Mom101 said...

Target + a three-item list = a full shopping cart. Why is that? WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US, TARGET?

Good luck surviving the rest of summer. Based on the photo at right, I'd say make brownies if you're lacking for activities. Or maybe just the batter.

Anonymous said...

Hah! You think I'm ready for school? No way, sister, I am a mother of 8 and I homeschool! Yea, that's right. They never leave, never ever, ever! So summer is almost over and I am dreading the fall!

OK, so it's not that bad really. I don't have to get up early to search for socks in the drier and braid hair glued together with syrup from yesterday's (frozen) waffles or seach for missing schoolbooks. OK, I do have to do all those things, but not early and not with the threat of a tardy note hanging over my head. So it's got its advantages. But anyway, you're not the only one with a crazy life and it does get better. At least that's what I've heard!

Diane, Mom2Eight

Anonymous said...

LOL, We just did school all summer to have some time off when the newest one arrives....and why oh why does the bill at Target keep going up????

But Target is almost always better than Costco....We call that the $200 store....but it is swiftly becoming the $300 store....

Diane in CA

Anonymous said...

Hi there From Mother of 6 too!!

I can completely relate!!! I am just doing a jig here... 7 more days!!! Can I get an Amen????
I also watch our 2 nieces during the week.. honestly as I try to type this my 5 year old girl is arguing with my 4 year old niece and they are bumping each other in a attempt of king of the mountain.. ( of clean clothes.).. my 2 year old is pulling on my arm chanting potty mama.. go to potty... as we are training... Wooohooo!!! not to mention the 4 boys in the living room discussing the right way to fight in a pokeman battle... This so far is a good calm morning... :) Thank you so much for sharing... I so needed to hear that I am not alone!!!

Anonymous said...

Homeschool??? Yeah, my Mom asked me if I was going to homeschool shortly after the twins were born...I almost dropped the phone I was laughing so hard. I have a 4 1/2 year old and 3 year old identical twins (and I love the questions...are they twins? Did you do in-vitro-no, but it's no one's business anyway! etc). I can't wait for preschool and Mom's morning out to start! 3 mornings from 9am to 1pm without the kids!! Woo Hoo!! BTW, I really agree that you should write a book, you are hilarious!!

Anonymous said...

As the oldest of five kids in a homeschooling family, what does "peace" mean? ;) You're a great writer, keep it up!

Daisybelle said...

YAY!!! BACK TO SCHOOL ROCKS!!!! I only have one in school but she is the noisiest one and torments the rest of my brood!

TARGET IS THE DEVIL!!! lol ( you will have to have seen Waterboy with Adam Sandler to get that ) ( P.S I love target so don't e mail me...it was a joke)

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on the year-round school. I was just explaining the merits of year-round school to my 11 yo daughter yesterday after she finished moaning about having to take assessment tests and had concluded that they verifiably suck the life out of kids. I told her that intead of one 2 1/2 month break at summer and 2 week break at Xmas, she would get 4 - 3wk breaks .. one each quarter. Amazingly ... she thought that made sense and saw how it would be easier to retain knowledge. Whooda thunkit ... Mom might know something after all.

Laura said...

I have 7 year old triplets and I joke that Target should just collect $100 from me when I come in. No matter what I go for, it ends up costing $100!! Love the blog...and I love that you have the same 'food porn' obsessions as I do!

Anonymous said...

For you it's Target, for us it's Wal-mart (home of cheap Chinese crap)
I swear they pipe in some kind of mind altering gas through the ventilation system that makes me buy stuff...must buy stuff...must have plastic bowl set for a DOLLAR....

And to the folks who asked one of your readers if she had in-vitro, she should tell them, "No, Satanic ritual."

Anonymous said...

Hey,

I think your blog is awesome! I really enjoyed reading it. I applaud you for managing six kids! I told my boyfriend that this blog reaffirmed by desire to only have two children! I think I'd go nuts with six kids! Your kids are adorable though, I really cant wait to have cute and crazy stories about my own kids one day!

Anonymous said...

School, glorious school! We're anxious to try it...

August 29th will be the first day in 24 YEARS that I have not had an infant or a preschooler at home. And yet people say "Won't you miss them?" Bwa ha ha ha. DH works afternoons, so still no actual time alone, but wow...I can clean something, and it will STAY clean! Wheeee!

Unknown said...

I used to not be able to get out of Target without spending at least $150....but I figured out how. I go about 15-20 minutes before they close- list in hand, and obviously no kids. I rush through the store to get the items on my list as the announcements that Target is closing ring out every 5 minutes. This way, there isn't any time to dawdle, throw things in the cart that I don't need, or kids to nag me to buy them something.

I went the other night and only spent $73, got everything on my list and ONLY everything on my list. I'VE BEAT THE SYSTEM!!!!

CableMad said...

Year-round ROCKS!!! My 12-year-old son has been in a year-round school since 1st grade, and we love it. The regular breaks keep school from getting too oppressive (in his opinion), and they're short enough to be enjoyable (not torturous). I have no idea how you cope with the long summers -- bless you for coping!

Anonymous said...

OMG you have made my day! I've got five children... ages 11 (almost 12) 4 year old twins and 18mth old twins, and I can totally relate to your stories. I am separated from my husband and have them all on my own for 12 out of ever 14 days (thank heavens for daycare and grandparents!).

Raene said...

Target does the SAME EXACT thing to me! Why is it I can never leave the store with ONLY the things I came for??

Anonymous said...

I always said I was going to write a book about Target and call it "$60 later" because I cannot, without exception, leave there without dropping that much! Keep up the good work!

Unknown said...

NO! NO! NO! No year-round school!!!

Sorry, I'm a teacher who LIVES for those two months of doing absolutely nothing worthwhile. If I only had three weeks I would feel like I had to actually accomplish something!!

BTW, loving your blog - another ebay visitor.

Anonymous said...

As a mother of 6 (ages 12, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1) and one due in 10 weeks I so understand the glory of back to school time. (I also see the benefits in year round schooling. Although I say make it every day, they just get weekends off. Teachers can switch off - they work in 6 month shifts, and spend the other 6 months on a tropical island somewhere, LOL. They only get off on Christmas day, and New Years Day - esp New Years, because what parent wants to get up early to get the kids ready for school.) I was so excited to realize that my oldest 4 will be in school this year, and that just left me with my 2yr old, and 1 yr old until I have the baby. (the 3 and 4 yr old go to preschool 5 days a week for 5.5 hours - then come home to a nice 2 hour nap) Then I realized that my 12 yr old is being homeschooled, and that just deflated my balloon so fast, LOL. (you have described my 12 yr old when you described your son as Robin william on speed) My 12 yr old also has ADHD, is borderline OCD, and is extremely smart - a mix that really is annoying, LOL. Not a day goes by where he doesn't feel the need to tell me how stupid I am. (but in a nice way such as "Mom, did you know that x,y,z (usually something he has heard on the radio, or a "fact" from a medication comercial) and I will say well not really its more like a,b,c - but the company wants you to believe x,y,z so that you buy their product. And then he will roll his eyes, sigh real loud and say something along the lines of "Mom, they explained it all on the commercial. You didn't see the commercial so you don't know. Maybe you should google it and read up on it, then we can discuss it" And I won't look it up, and later in the day he will have looked it up, and printed me like 50 pages of whatever information he can find when he googled it, so that I too can be informed.

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