Well of course we got her a present!

*I’ll admit it.  I know that there is a special place in hell for people like me. (if there really is a hell)  I am ok with that.  Really I am.  It means that I have a kid that is happy and I get to do crafty stuff to keep myself happy……so….. everyone wins!  (except all of the people that are pissed at me….or themselves….. because I do the crap that I do and then they feel bad because they didn’t do it.  Special note to those people……IT IS OK!  I AM CRAZY.  YOU ARE NOT!)*

Now that I got that out of the way……..

I wanted to do something for my daughter’s teacher.  My step-mom was a teacher so I know all to well that most of the time they are forgotten and/or taken for granted.  I believe that teachers are some of the most important people that are going to be in my childs life.  I think that they are grossly underpaid and underappreciated.  My goal this year is to make my daughters teacher feel appreciated (I say that now, but if she crosses me then my attitude will, of course, change).   I wanted Lilly to bring her a gift to start the school year off right.  Of course, I turned to Pinterest and found several ideas, but one on particular stood out.  You can find it here:

http://www.serenitynowblog.com/2012/08/teacher-survival-kit-1st-day-of-school.html?m=1

So I made a Teacher’s Survival Kit. included in my kit the following:

Pens

Pencils

Tape

White Out

Dry Erase Markers

Hand Sanatizer

Wet Ones

Erasers

Advil

Gum

Pocket Kleenex

Sharpies

Push Pins

Binder Clips

Paper Clips

M&M’s

Band Aides

Notebook

Scissors

Post-it Notes

Hand Lotion

Here are some photos of it.  Please note that because my crazy runs deep that it is all arranged so that you can see things from every side.  Because my crazy runs even deeper than that I must tell you that I actually laminated the note on the top and stuck it on the box with double sided tape.  Oh, and because I am completely nuts, I shopped for items to put in the Survival Kit while Lilly was at Kinder Camp and I was a nervous wreck so this little project cost me about $75……maybe a little more.  The way I figure it, it was a $75+ well spent if it kept me out of the crazy house for a little while longer.

*I covered up our last name in this photo.  Lilly’s name is not off center.  My OCD would NEVER allow that* 

Lilly gave it to her when she dropped her school supplies off.  I actually think that her teacher was really shocked to be getting a gift.  She told Lilly thank you and that purple was her favorite color so that the ribbon choice was perfect.

All in all I am glad that her teacher liked it but most of all I hope that I am teaching Lilly to appreciate her teachers and that I am setting the tone for her school years to come.

my baby is starting kindergarten……..

My baby girl is starting kindergarten.  I am freaking out……seriously FREAKING OUT!

I was texting with my friend this afternoon…… you know the one…… the one that keeps you sane and tells you that you are sane when you know damn well that you are completely nuts…. yes her.  Her name is Beth and she has saved me from jumping off a bridge more than once.  Today was no exception.

My daughter has Kinder Camp tomorrow.  It is really cool……… in theory.  She gets to go to her new school for 2 days, 3 hours each day to get used to the school without all the scary big kids there.  I love this idea and love that her school does this.

“Then why are you freaking out?’  One might ask that question if they didn’t know me….

I am FREAKING OUT because 1) my baby is starting kindergarten 2) I am supposed to drop her off tomorrow at the front door of the school without meeting the adults that she is going to be spending the next 2 days with. 3) MY BABY IS STARTING KINDERGARTEN!

You read that right.  Just drop her off, drive away, and trust.  I am probably going to end up sitting in front of the school for the whole 3 hours until she is done……

So my friend says to me today “I painted rocks for my daughter (who is now 15) for her to take to school the first year so she had something from me and from home with her all day.”  How brilliant is she?!?!?!?!?  So a few hours later my daughter and I were in her yard stealing a rock to paint.  I didn’t tell my daughter what I was going to do with the rock, I just made her pick it out.

Here is how it turned out:

Holy crap, that looks huge.  It isn’t.  It will fit in her pocket.  Here it is next to a penny:

She kept asking me what I was going to do with the rock and I told her it was a surprise.  Because she is just like me her response was “OHHHHHH!!!!  goody!  Are you going to wrap it up?  Surprises come wrapped up!”

So I wrapped it up:

If anyone needs me tomorrow between 9:00am and 12:00pm I will be in my car in the fetal position in front of my daughters new school.

Shoot rainbows at them!

I asked my 4 and a half year old what she wanted me to get her for Christmas since she asked Santa for a pink helicopter and a pink electric pencil sharpener and I was pretty sure that he would bring those to her and from there the conversation went pretty much like this:

“Mom, can you get me a super hero costume?”

The voices in my head screamed “SCORE!!!! Easy Present!”

Out of my mouth came “Sure baby, which one?”

“I want to be a rainbow superhero.”  She said.

The voices, “WTF?!?!?!?  Did we miss something?  I really need to monitor what she is watching on tv.  We are horrible parents. (we being me and the voices) Who is Rainbow Super Hero?  Does it shoot rainbows, glitter, and sparkly stuff?……wait, this may not be so bad.”

Out of my mouth, “What does Rainbow Super Hero look like?  Can you show me a picture?”

My brilliant child says in the most condescending voice, “No mom, I made it up.  It is in my head.  I want a rainbow cape.”

The voices, “Oh thank God.  We may not be such bad parents after all……wait, who are we kidding?……and so much for the easy present.”

Out loud, “Oh, ok baby.  I can make you a rainbow cape. What powers does Rainbow Super Hero have?”

“She shoots rainbows at Zeke when he is not being nice to make him nice and she flies around.”

The voices, “HELL YES!!!! Rainbows at my 14-year-old step-son when he is being a jerk.  What a great idea!  My child is brilliant!  No need for kindergarten next year….straight to college for her!  Anyone that has a teenager, knows someone with a teenager, was one a teenager, or has ever met a teenager knows that shooting rainbows at them would be a f*#&ing fantastic idea!!!”

Over the next few days we went to the fabric store and picked out the rainbow cape fabric and I had all intentions of making it and wrapping it up for Christmas morning.  It didn’t happen, but…….well, we all know what the road to hell is paved with and apparently I have a one way ticket there.  I made the cape today. It took a whole 30 minutes and $2.00 worth of fabric and some ribbon that I already had.

Here is a couple of photos of her running around in it.  She loves it.  I am interested to see what happens to her step-brother when he gets back from his visit with his mom……..Maybe Rainbow Super Hero will shoot some rainbows right at him the minute he walks in the door.

 

Sorry the photos are a bit blurry…..I couldn’t get her to sit still for any photos.  Rainbow Super Heroes are *VERY* busy flying around you know.

Cookies…..the elf bakes!!!!

I am out of ideas.  I have worked to much over the past few weeks and I am out of things for the elf to do.  “Does the elf have to be doing something every morning?”  This is the question my beloved husband decides to ask me last night at 10:30pm while I am trying to figure out what to do with Elthie.  Has me met me?  Does he even know me?  YES!!! She has to be doing something.  This is almost her last thing to do.  Of course she has to be doing something.  NO SHE CAN NOT JUST MOVE SOMEWHERE AND BE DOING NOTHING……..what the hell is wrong with him?

 

So I…… I mean Elthie baked some cookies….4 dozen cookies at 10:30pm.  

 

Naked Elf Sprinkle Angel

Oh yes……a naked elf……in sprinkles on the counter pretending to be an angel.  Who is she trying to kid?  She has reeked havoc on my house and my sleep patterns (sleep patterns because I was trying to figure out what to do with her) this elf my friends is no angel……..but apparently she plays one while naked in sprinkles sometimes.

Connect 4 with Winnie the Pooh

I was running out of ideas.  Seriously, this is hard….fun and worth it because it makes my daughter so happy but hard to come up with so many things for an active and imaginative elf to do.  It was Friday, I am a hairstylist, I have been working my butt off to get eneryone looking pretty before I go on a 10 day break……..so Elthie played Connect 4 with Winnie the Pooh…….mostly because it was easy and fast and didn’t take a whole lot of thought………

Elthie plays video games

My 14-year-old step son’s last day of school for the holiday was on Thursday.  I was feeling kind of bad because he has been left out of this elf thing so Elthie went shopping and got some video games……..they were buy one get one half off at Toys-R-Us……so Lilly got one too.  Win Win for everyone!

6 more sleeps until Christmas!

6 more sleeps until Christmas. What?!?!? You count days? We count sleeps at my house 🙂

Donut skirt

Saturday morning I am usually off to work and my husband handles all things kid related.  I thought that I would give him a break and have Elthie, our scout elf, bring donuts for breakfast so I went to the local donut store Friday morning before work and got a dozen donuts. (what, you thought that I was going to say I got up at 5:00am to get fresh donuts Saturday morning?  Ya right.  Not a chance) .  Here is what they woke up to Saturday morning:

 

Elthie apparently lost her skirt on the way to or from the North Pole and replaced it with a donut……and was eating some because she was hungry…..or for effect….who knows, she is a crazy little elf.

I was already at work when they came downstairs for breakfast and while my daughter was amused she told her daddy “Those donuts are for Elthie to eat for the next few days.  I want a waffle.”

So.  She had a waffle Saturday morning for breakfast.  The boys did mange to convince her somehow that they could eat some donuts but Elthie had to finish the rest of them off by the next morning…..and thank goodness she found her skirt.

Elthie, our elf brings a magical oversized garden

Ohhhhh yes let’s do a magical garden with the Elf.  That will be fun.  That won’t cost a lot of money…..unless you are me and can’t do anything simple…easy….just put a few candy canes in some dirt in a bowl and call it a day.  No.  Not me.  Never.  Here is what my daughter woke up to Sunday morning:

4 Pots…..a bag of sand that had to be purchased because the sand in the sand box wasn’t good enough, candy covered sunflower seeds, and 4 brand spanking new pots that are red and green so they would be Holiday colors…..never mind that they don’t really match anything in my house so will probably never be used for much of anything again and 2 larger candy canes for effect.

She was thrilled and loved planting the magical garden.  This is what is is all about right?  Her being happy.  She blew kisses at the pots all day and guess what?!?!?  This is what grew overnight:

In case you need a closer look:

Oh yes folks, 48 small candy canes and 2 large ones.

What?!?!?!?!?  She blew a lot of kisses.