Bein’ Franklin

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 19th, 2008

* August 25th

Emily started 3rd Grade today!  I can’t believe it.  It seems like just yesterday that I was taking her to Kindergarten.  She is attending LaMesa Elementary.  This is the same school she attending for 1st grade, and she is just delighted to be back to the school she knows.  She is participating the Gifted & Talented Program both at school and will go to weekly G/T classes at the district office.  The good thing about being back at the same school is that she does not have to be retested to get back into these programs.

Her teacher’s name is Mrs. Chilton.  She has been teaching at the school since it opened 20 years ago.  When we tell anyone that Emily is Mrs. Chilton’s class, they all tell us that she is wonderful.  Several of her friends from her 1st grade class are in her class.  Emily doesn’t feel like the “new” kid at all.  We’re confident that is going to have a great year. 

Emily is too big to be taken to her classroom, even on the 1st day of school.  We had meet the teacher night last week, so Emily already knew where to go this morning.  She hopped right out of the car and walked straight in.  I’m assuming she did great from there.  She told me she had a wonderful first day.

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 19th, 2008

* August 23

We had Emily’s 8th birthday party last night.  When we started planning the party, we were still living in Lubbock.  Emily knew she wanted to invited her two best friends from Plainview and a group of friends from school / church in Lubbock as well.  She wanted to have a sleepover, but we felt that most of these moms probably wouldn’t be comfortable with their 8 year daughter spending the night in another town.  Not to mention the hassle of getting them to the house and back home again.  So, she decided to have the party at Mr. Gatti’s in Lubbock and have her two Plainview friends spend the night.  In an effort to avoid Labor Day, we scheduled the party for August 22nd.  Having the party before school starts has become a custom for us.

Emily decided to have a Cheerleading party.  We weren’t real sure what that meant, but agreed to make a megaphone cake.  We made the reservations that included food, drinks, the use of a party room, a party host, and a $10 game card for up to 8 kids.  She sent out 8 invitations and waited for party day.  There was no need to get party favors since each kid would be getting a game card and could get their own prizes with their tickets.

On the day of the party, Emily’s friends from Plainview rode with us to Lubbock.  7 of the 8 kids arrived and the party went very smoothly.  I really didn’t have to do much at all, which meant I got to enjoy the party.  It was nice!  Everyone had a great time and Emily was a great hostess.

Emily is now the proud owner of Monopoly: Then & Now, 2 new webkinz, a webkinz outfit, new pajamas, 2 ePets, a purse & Nancy Drew book! 

After all her Lubbock friends had left, we ran a couple quick errands in Lubbock, picked up Slushies at Sonic and then headed home.  Once we got there, the girls wanted to play Emily’s new Monopoly game.  Since it’s kind of a tough game, I played with them.  We decided to play the “quick” version.  We quit when two hours passed and there was no end in sight, the girls were pretty simpled out and I was tired.  We set them up with a movie in the living room and I went to bed.

The next morning we had Belgium waffles and the girls played with Emily’s new toys until their parents came.   Then we all crashed on the couch for the rest of the day.

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 19th, 2008

* August 21

Happy Birthday Scott!  I love ya!

Today is Scott’s 32nd Birthday.  In case you’re wondering, that’s 100,000 in binary.  He says his next “cool” birthday is 64 — age 1,000,000.  He started class yesterday by telling all his students that he would be 100,000 years old today.

It’s so unlike us, but we actually managed to celebrate his birthday.  On Saturday, some friends watched the kids while Scott and I went on a date.  We went to a matinee showing of Dark Knight and then out to Chili’s.  Then, we went to Wal-Mart where Scott picked out his birthday gift.  He decided to get an iPod Touch.  He’s already had tons of fun getting it set up.  And, lucky me, we traded phones so now I have a “smart” phone.  I don’t mind hand-me-downs gadgets.

This afternoon we went as a family to see The Clone Wars (movies are really inexpensive here, it’s great!) and had a great time celebrating as a family.  I think he’s a great day!

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 19th, 2008

* August 20

Today was Timothy’s first day of Kindergarten.  He is attending the 1/2 day program at Plainview Christian Academy, a private school here in town.   Like most public schools in Texas, Emily doesn’t start until next week.

When I took Timothy to school this morning, he went right on in with little more than a hug goodbye.  We had meet the teacher last night and he has the same teachers that Emily had, so we’re pretty familiar with the routine there.  When I picked him at 11:30, he was very upset because he wanted to stay at school like a lot of the other kids at school get to do.  The teacher assured me that was the only time of the day that had been upset.  He had a great day!

Since I am working outside of the home now, we considered putting him in the full day program.  Emily attended the 1/2 day program when she was in Kindergarten because she was still 4 when school started, she had never attended a full day program away from mom before then, and I was still home full time.  Timothy has been 5 for 3 1/2 months and attended the full day at Calvary last year because I worked there, so he is technically “ready” to go full days.  But the schedule worked out that he doesn’t have to stay all day and, as we explained to him, the kids at his school lay down for naps in the afternoon.  Timothy hasn’t taken a nap in several years, and I can just imagine how things would go if he were made to lay down at school.  Once we told him about that, he was okay with going half days.  Since either Scott or I will be home in the afternoons, we will be sure to make afternoons lots of fun.

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 15th, 2008

* This is another “forgotten” post.  I’m discovering a theme with the entries I’ve not published.  They all include pictures / video.  I’m guessing that’s what I’ve been waiting for to publish them.  This one was started on July 18th.

For the past two weeks, the kids have been going to swimming lessons at Texas Tech.  This is our second year to take lessons there.  We really are impressed with the program they have.  The kids learn a lot and have a great time.  And the price just can’t be beat. As luck would have it, these have been the coldest two weeks of the summer yet.  It’s been cloudy just about every day, so the water has been cold.  It hasn’t seemed to bother the kids too much.

There have been two notable differences this year from last year.

1) I didn’t have to swim. 

I like swimming, really I do.  But I would rather not have to participate in swimming lessons.  Last year, we signed Timothy up to be in the Aquatot class (3 & 4 year old) and Emily was in Level 3.  Both of these classes do not include parents swimming.  We didn’t sign Zachary up for anything, because we figured he was too young.  Swimming lessons for 2-year-olds wasn’t a choice in Plainview, so the thought hadn’t occurred to us.  Well, the first day of lessons last year, Zachary expressed in deep disapproval at having to just watch his big brother and sister swim.  Noticing his distress, the pool manager informed us that there is a class for 2 year olds.  It’s the mommy-and-me class.  So, I pulled out my swimsuit and got in the water with Zachary.  It was fun, but I was glad to get to stay dry this year since had graduated up to be an Aquatot.

2) We knew some other people at lessons.

Last year, we had lived in Lubbock for about a month when we had lessons.  This year, two other ladies from my work had signed their kids up for lessons at the sign time.  Between the three of us, we had signed 9 kids up in classes ranging from Aquatots to the Diving Class.  So, as we watched our kids swim,  the moms got to visit.  That was a lot of fun for everyone.  It has been a nice way to spend some time with friends and not think about the fact that we’ll be moving away in just a few weeks.

Now the part that you are all reading for.  Here are some pictures.  Emily was in level 3, Timothy in Level 1, and Zachary was an Aquatot.  All three kids mastered all parts of their class.  If we go back to Tech next year, which I think we will, Emily will do Level 4, Timothy will do Level 2, and Zachary will do the Aquatot class again (you have to be 5 to be in Level 1).

And, here are some videos.

Emily — Level 3

Her teacher was Kelsie.

Timothy — Level 1 His teacher was Kendall. (I know I took more than one video of him, but can’t find the others.  The others may have been on my phone that broke the day we moved )

Zachary — Aquatot

We found out today that his teacher’s name was Louis. Zachary has insisted on calling him Roger for the last two weeks.

Posted by mommyfranklin at September 12th, 2008

Note:  I’ve discovered that I have begun several posts, but as life has gotten in the way of blogging, the posts never got posted.  The next few will be “catch up” posts from things that have happened in the last few months.  I want to be sure to document these events for posterity.  The following post was originally began on May 28th. 

I’ve mentioned before that Emily has aspirations to be an author.  Actually, she wants to be an author, illustrator, and publisher.  She has several notebooks full of stories and pictures that she has created.

The last week of March, Emily heard about the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.  She decided to enter.  The deadline to enter was April 1, so she scrambled to get one of her existing stories to fit the format required for the contest.  This is the story that she wrote:

A few weeks later, we were delighted to learn that she had won 2nd Place for 2nd Grade!

The awards banquet was last night.  It was held in the back room of the Science Spectrum.  We had a great time celebrating.  Each winner received a backpack with tickets to the science spectrum, a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble, books, a certificate, a DVD of “If You Give A Mouse a Cookie,” and lots of other great prizes!

As an added bonus, the winners had their picture in the paper

and they even got to appear in a commercial on PBS!  Cool.

Way to go Emily!

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 15th, 2008

It’s that time of year that I think parents and children alike are ready for school to start. There have been several times in the last few days that Emily has announced that she is bored. I think this has come on because we are no longer in the throws of moving. Things have slowed down quite a bit around here. I believe it is the calm before the storm of activity begins in the coming weeks. Timothy starts school on the 20th and Emily starts the 25th. We’re delighted to report that she will be attending the same school she attended in 1st Grade. We had to transfer in as we are living in a different zone this time. We were not looking forward to her having to transition into her 4th new school in 4 years. One of my jobs will likely begin the 25th and the other starts the 2nd. The new schedule will definitely take some getting used to.

I had just settled down on the couch for a rest this afternoon when Emily came in to the living room and told me she was bored. I was up way to late last night watching the Olympics, so I was needed a rest. She asked if we could play a bored board game. I have been feeling a bit guilty about the lack of individual attention the kids’ have been getting lately so I (relunctantly) agreed to play with her and she ran off to the game closet (have I mentioned the amount of storage in this house?) to pick out a game. She picked Monopoly. I suggested we play the kid’s version, but she begged.

As Scott walked in from work, she and I were sitting on the living room floor setting up the game. We hadn’t started yet, so we asked if he would like to join us. To our delight, he said yes! He would be the top hat, I the terrier, and Emily the boat. I was the banker. Zachary was napping and Timothy was playing in the playroom, so Emily had one of those rare moments of undivided attention.

The game was soon underway. Emily was doing well, especially for the first time to play. She quickly owned Boardwalk, Park Place, and several other pieces of property. She soon started adding houses where she could, making the last stretch of the lap around the board quite treacherous. Scott and I each owned a few monopolies of our own and started adding houses as well.

It wasn’t long before things started going sour for Emily. Unfortunately, monopoly is not really game you can discretely let somebody win. Scott and I both felt so bad when she would land on one of our spaces and would have to come up with an obscene amount of money. At one point, she had $10 and had to come up with $600. She hung on as long as she could by selling houses and mortgaging properties, but the inevitable happened. She was the first to go bankrupt. She was a good sport about it and cheered us on as we completed the game.

As just so you know, the banker does not always win. It seems that the saying should go that the Daddy always wins. At least that’s the way we remembered it.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 13th, 2008

We’ve officially lived here for 11 days now.

The first three days were filled with unpacking and making sure we had the essentials needed to sleep, eat, bathe, and change clothes. Through two calls to maintenance, we learned there were roots clogging our sewer line. Nice.

Then we escaped to San Antonio for four days so we’d get our money’s worth for the season tickets to Sea World that we bought in March. The trip had a shaky start with a flat tire on the loop and getting rained out of Sea World the first time we went, but it ended well and we had a wonderful time. The day after we got home, we went to Amarillo to retrieve the dogs and to visit Gran and Granddad.

The process of unpacking continued for three more days. By the end of day 8, most of the boxes had been emptied, cut and folded for storage, and both cars were in the garage. We had even managed to hang some curtains by then too.

The next day, Scott walked to work and I spent the day organizing the boys’ bedroom, the bathrooms, and the master bedroom. The only room that’s not quite done is Emily’s. That one is her responsibility. She’s getting there. Really she is.

Day 10 was a big day. Remember the job opportunities I had mentioned about a month ago? Well, I had meetings about both of them and I was offered both jobs. And, as crazy as this sounds, I think I am going to try to do both jobs. The full time position can be done outside of “normal” work hours and much can be done from home. I’ll be working around Scott’s class and office hour schedule for that one, so Scott can stay with Zachary while I am in the office. The other job is 8 hours a week, and Zachary will be going with me to that one. We have worked out what we think will be a good schedule, and I am really looking forward to getting it all started. I start the part time job on August 25th and the full time job on September 2nd.

Day 11 has been fairly calm. Emily spent the night with a friend last night and had another friend over to play all day.

We’re still in the midst of deciding what church we’ll go to now that we’re back in town, but it really is starting to feel like we have come home. Timothy starts Kindergarten on the 20th and Emily starts 3rd grade the 25th. I guess we better go shopping so they will be ready!

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 15th, 2008

No matter how you say it, it’s goodbye. Tonight a bunch of the ladies and I from the preschool got together for a night out. They said it was farewell (NOT GOODBYE!) for me and welcome baby for another of the ladies who worked there, but honestly it was just a chance to get together. I hadn’t seen many of these ladies since school got out, so it was a wonderful opportunity to catch up on what everyone had been up to. I am quite proud of the fact that I made it through the evening without crying, despite all the wonderful cards and gifts.

Timothy’s teacher wasn’t able to make it. She’s a very enthusiastic person, so she came up in the conversation several times. The stories about her brought to mind when Scott had asked me if we would ever get the “Robertson” out of Timothy, as we’ve seen many of her mannerisms come across in some of his expessions over the last few weeks. I told the other ladies about Scott saying that, and they remarked that Mrs. Robertson has a lasting effect on her kiddos so it would be a while before it wore off. This year has had an effect on me as well, and I don’t plan on letting it wear off anytime soon.

In preparation for the evening, I got to do something that I never do. I went shopping for a new outfit. And I even got to paint my nails. As I was painting my toenails, Zachary came to see me. Little visits like this are the main reason I usually don’t paint my nails. He came in and, in true three year old fashion, asked me if I was painting my fingernails. I told him I was painting my toenails, and would do my fingernails in a minute. He proceded to try to touch the nails, at which point I reminded him that they were wet. So, he asked if I was going to dry them. Once he understood that I was going to let them dry, he asked me why Emily had painted her nails. As I was explaining to him that sometimes girls like to paint their nails so they can look pretty, he lost interest and told me he was hungry. Yep, he’s a boy alright. Playing with his sister’s Barbies hasn’t messed him up too much.

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 14th, 2008

It was a long day.

We woke up to rain. The kids are in swimming lessons, and the registration form stated that lessons would continue even in bad weather. So, we all piled into the car and headed over there. The weather wouldn’t allow the kids to get it, so they had safety day. The boys got to learn some pool safety rules (swim with a buddy, use lifejacket if you can’t swim, don’t swim when there’s lightning) and Emily learned how to throw a life preserver. Important stuff.

After the lesson, we scooted on over to Plainview. We got Timothy signed up for Kindergarten at PCA. The administrator and I showed him his classroom, the cafeteria, and the library. He is very excited to be going where Emily went for Kindergarten. He has it all planned out. He wants to go to PCA for Kindergarten, LaMesa Elementary (Plainview public school) for 1st grade, Crestview (Frenship school) for 2nd grade, and then back to Plainview for 3rd grade. In other words, he wants to follow in Emily’s path. We’ve encouraged him to take his own path. Hopefully he’ll forget about these plans by 2nd grade.

After registering Timothy, we went to get the keys to the house we will be renting from Wayland. We had brought a load of things from the garage with us. We headed to the house and unloaded our things before we headed for a quick lunch. Then I changed in my “interview” clothes and headed across the street for my interview.

My interview went well. The virtual campus team and I discussed where they see the virtual campus going and how I could fit in with that vision. I left feeling pretty good about it. I feel like I could fit in fine with the group and that the schedule would be flexible enough that I would not have to sacrifice family / mommy time.

In the meantime, I still need to get Emily registered for school. We have made arrangements for all the utilities to be switched over, but need to make some decisions regarding our phone and internet. Those decisions can probably wait until the move. After the day, I am actually starting to look forward to being back in Plainview. I’ve moved enough times to know that any real friendships that I’ve made this year will survive me being 45 minutes away. Everything’s going to be fine.