The Not-So-Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

So, things have been a little out of sorts lately, and I haven't been able to get my mess of a brain together much in the last few weeks. Hence, the lack of blog posts.

In my defense, I do have a monster of a toddler who keeps life extremely interesting (to say the least), and a five-month-old baby who is teething - both of which have been extremely high maintenance of late - not to mention my now 12-year-old and her 6th grade drama, AND the fact that (counting this weekend) my husband has had three concerts with The Las Vegas Philharmonic in the last month. I have thereby basically been left to my own devices in trying to maintain control of my sanity. I simply can't stress enough how thankful I am that I have managed to keep it together well enough to ensure that my my poor children have been bathed and fed properly. ;)

Anyway, I digress. Tomorrow is Halloween, and with my husband's crazy schedule, he wasn't able to join us for Family Home Evening (FHE) last night (he had to do a make-up lab class that he usually has on Thursday night, which he can't make this week due to a rehearsal with the Phil).

I realized yesterday morning that we still hadn't carved pumpkins, so I picked up a few at the grocery store so that the kids and I could carve them for our FHE activity. Also, I had decided that for dessert, I would make Zachary's favorite fall treat (chocolate pecan pie) and would have it ready early so that he could eat it with us when he woke up before going off to school.

For dinner, we had homemade Zuppa Toscana soup, which turned out super yummy (I've made it several times before and it's one of our family faves). Everything was going as planned. My family was fed and dessert was a hit.

After my husband left for school, the kids and I busted out the pumpkins and chose the pattern we wanted to carve from the kit I bought at the store. Madison chose one that says "Eek" and I chose a pattern that said "Wicked." I know that neither of those patterns seem too ambitious, and Madison and I were both talking about how awesome our carved pumpkins were going to look once we were finished and the candles were lit inside.

In hindsight, I am realizing that there must be some sort of Halloween amnesia that kicks in as soon as I get the idea to carve pumpkins. There I was with all of these ideas of grandeur, but once I started in on the cutting process, I was quickly reminded of the reality of how horrible I am at carving pumpkins.

Usually, Zach is there to help us with the really difficult sections, but since he was at school, I had to really focus hard on not cutting the letters too closely, or pushing the wrong part of the words through the pumpkin.

So...

This is how my pumpkin was supposed to look:

A pic I took of the sample on the carving kit.

Cool, right? Yeah...

This is how MY pumpkin turned out:

Haha. As you can see, it does NOT say "Wicked." I got so frustrated after pushing both the "i" and the "c" through the pumpkin on accident that I turned the pumpkin to the backside and just carved out a simple face (which I drew on first with a black marker. haha). I know. Epic fail.

The night wasn't a complete bust, though. There was enough Zuppa Toscana soup left over to freeze for another night's dinner, AND the chocolate pecan pie was super yummy. And Madison and I did have a ton of fun carving the pumpkins, even though she ended up following suit and carving a face in the back of her pumpkin as well. Haha.

This just goes to show how valuable Dad is in our pumpkin carving endeavors. Hehe.

This debacle does put me in the mood to watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown though. Oh, how I LOVE this time of year! ;)

Happy Halloween!

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Tales of a 6th-Grade Drama Queen: Vol. 2

For those of you who remember the drama that happened with my daughter's bus on the first day of school, I have another volume to add to our seemingly increasing (seeing as how we are only on week 4 of the school year, and there are still more than 8 months left for the drama to accumulate) Tales of a 6th Grade Drama Queen.

We made a special crown for her to don in honor of her official title. ;)

Against my better judgment, my husband and I had decided after that first day of school that we would continue sending our 6th-grade daughter home on the bus in the afternoons. We soon found out; however, that there is another flaw in the bus system - the routes are so over-crowded with students that there is not room on one bus for all of the students at each stop. So, instead of adjusting the routes and the bus system accordingly, they only allow the first twenty students on the bus at each stop, and then send a late bus around for the stragglers. I know - it's ridiculous. I didn't want her to have to fight her way onto the bus every morning, nor did I want her standing around at the bus stop after the first bus took off (leaving her unsupervised for an unknown amount of time, and exposing her to who knows what else), so we started driving her to school in the morning.

I would pick her up in the afternoon as well, but she gets out of school right in the middle of the babies' nap time, and I hate to disturb their MUCH-needed sleep - just to pile them in the car and drive over to her school. And according to my husband, "it builds character" for her to persist in riding the bus after what happened on the first day. So, basically, she has still been taking the bus home in the afternoons - and yes, the drama just keeps on coming.

Anyway, the Las Vegas valley got hit really badly with a horrible rain storm one day last week, and there were flood watches all over the county. That afternoon, I drove to the bus stop to pick her up, thinking she wouldn't want to walk home in the rain. When the first bus showed up and she wasn't on it, I just figured she had to catch the late bus home and that it would be arriving shortly.

I waited and waited, but the second bus never arrived. I thought maybe I had somehow missed her, so I left the stop and drove back to the house to see if she was there. Naturally, she was nowhere to be seen, so I started to panic, thinking to myself, "Not again!"

As before, the stinker did not have her cell phone (she had left it at my mom's house across town the previous weekend), so I couldn't call her. I figured I would get back in the car and drive up to the school to see if I could find out more about her whereabouts.

As I was on my way out the door; however, a car pulled up to the front of the house and Madison got out. You can imagine my relief (and my curiosity as to why in the world she was getting out of a car and was not on the bus) as she walked across the yard in my direction.

Apparently, the bus had broken down a few blocks from the school and was smoking so badly that the driver pulled the bus over and told the kids to get off. So, there the kids were - standing out in the rain - and I guess some of them decided just to start walking. ::smack my head::

I guess at that point, the bus driver was no where to be seen, and she (my daughter) didn't know what the protocol was from there - if there was another bus coming, if they were supposed to walk back to the school, or what. She decided not to walk back to the school; though, after her friend commented on how flooded the school grounds had been when they left, so instead, the two of them started walking home - in the rain - with no phone, and really no certainty as to where they were even going.

She said her friend knew how to get to the bus stop from the school, so they were planning to walk there, then continue on home from the stop. Let me just say; though, that they would have passed both of our houses (her friend's and ours) had they actually had the opportunity to execute that plan, not to mention how nuts I would have been in not knowing where she was for all the time it would have taken them to walk the two miles (in the rain, where the flooding was so bad in some spots that the water was up to their knees) from the school. I mean, come on! I thought we had learned not to leave the bus when 1.) it's not your assigned stop; and 2.) you aren't 100% certain where you even are, or how to get home. ::sigh::

Luckily, a friend of mine (whose twin boys go to her school) was driving home and saw her walking. Knowing how far it is from the school to our house, he pulled over (thank heavens) and asked her if she wanted a ride home.

I AM extremely grateful that (once again) we were lucky in the fact that nothing bad happened, and that she is safe, but I certainly do not remember being so oblivious at that age, nor do I recall there being so much dysfunction with regards to the school's bus system - and I rode the bus to and from school from 4th - 6th grade.

The moral of the story is that the convenience of having her ride the bus home is just NOT worth the agony - and I am currently in the process of arranging a car pull with some friends in my ward whose kids also go to her school. Also, I don't know what needs to happen, but something MUST transpire in order to knock some common sense into that child's head. ::sigh::

related link:

Middle School Mayhem: The day my heart stood still!

Tales of a 6th-grade drama queen

Source: twowritingteachers.wordpress.com via The Purple on Pinterest

Tales of a 6th-grade drama queen.

*If you are reading this, please take note that this blog post is a continuation from an experience that was posted yesterday. If you haven't already read the backstory, please click here to do so, or you might be a little confused. ;)

Anyway, I promised you last night that I would fill you in on the details as to how our daughter, Madison, ended up 2 miles from our house after school yesterday:

So, she said that after school let out, she asked a faculty member where she was supposed to go to get on her bus. She told him/her the route number and was instructed to stand at a specific spot at the bus pick-up location.

A few minutes later, she saw the bus pulling up to the ramp but the driver just continued driving through, never stopping to pick her up. She said there were other kids on the bus at that point, so she doesn't know if she was sent to the wrong pick-up location or what happened, but the bottom line was that she missed her bus.

She returned to the faculty member she had spoken to before and explained that the bus had driven off without her, and was told to get on another bus. I guess because the bus system was so chaotic on the first day of school, the bus drivers were instructed to take kids to their regular stops if they missed their intended buses (they were basically just putting kids on any available bus and having the bus drivers drive them to where they were supposed to be?).

She was also told; though, that it may not be her actual stop, but might be a mile or so off from where her usual stop is located? That is one thing I still don't fully understand. Did Madison misunderstand what she was told, or was she just so confused that she misconstrued the instructions? Either way, she went to the nearest bus and heard the bus driver asking kids what their cross streets were so they could be taken to where they needed to go.

This is another part that baffles my mind. Madison said she didn't know her cross streets (which she does. I think she was just so confused and freaked out by the chaos that she just shut down and couldn't think logically), so instead of just admitting as much to the bus driver, she hopped off that bus and went to the next one.

The bus driver of the new bus said he was going to a certain cross-street location that Madison thought sounded vaguely familiar, so that is the bus she chose to take. When the bus driver pulled up to the aforementioned stop, Madison got off the bus to look around and see if she recognized her surroundings (which she didn't). Before she could say anything to the bus driver; though, he closed the door behind her and drove off.

Upon hearing this, my first reaction was to become absolutely furious with her. I couldn't figure out why, if she didn't know where she was, she didn't just tell the bus driver, instead of getting off in some strange place, with no idea as to which direction she was even supposed to start walking. And why, when she missed the bus in the first place, did she not just call me immediately to come pick her up!

Her response broke my heart. She said that she had considered going to the office and calling me when she first missed the bus, but thought to herself, "I am a big girl now. I can handle this myself." Bless her heart for trying to be independent, but I was so frustrated at the fact that the whole thing could have been avoided had she just gone to the office instead of getting on that bus.

Anyway, the fact of the matter was that she was now stranded in some neighborhood that was completely unfamiliar to her. She had no water (and it was well over 105 degrees out yesterday at that time), no phone, and no idea where she was in relationship to the house (which, she actually ended up being in a neighborhood about 2 miles south of us), so she decided to just start walking until she either saw something she recognized or found a public place where she could go to use a phone.

She ended up walking about a half mile south to the next major street, and then turned right and headed west for another mile and a half or so. That particular neighborhood is mostly residential, so there weren't any businesses along the road anywhere until she got to a major intersection (after she had walked about two miles) and went into a business to use a phone.

The first place she went into said they didn't have a phone. I told her that she should have explained the situation to them and someone probably would have let her use their cell phone. It is what is is though, and at the risk of looking silly and completely out of control, she left and tried finding another business with a phone (poor kid).

The next place she went into was a bar, so she quickly turned around and left (although I am sure they would have let her use their phone as well). The third business; however, was next door in the same shopping center, and when she told them the situation, they offered her a chair to sit in, a glass of water and, of course, a telephone. That is where she was when she finally called me.

Though I am eternally grateful for the fact that she eventually made it home safely, I have a mix of emotions at this point about this whole ordeal. A part of me wants to call the Superintendant of the school district and file a complaint, or at least call and have a chat with the principal of her school. I do know that we, as parents (and Madison, as a middle schooler) are partly to blame for the events that transpired yesterday. Perhaps we didn't prepare her sufficiently for what to do if she ever missed the bus, and perhaps she should have just done the wise thing and asked for help from the very beginning.

Either way, one thing that Zach and I ARE grateful for in all of this is the fact that some serious delinquencies were brought to our attention; both on Madison's part AND ours. Thankfully, we got a wakeup call and still have the opportunity to make some changes before something more serious happens.

First of all, we know now that we need to help Madison to not only to be aware of her surroundings and become more familiar with our neighborhood, but we also need to let up a little more in general with regards to how much we shelter her - allow her to spread her wings a little and become more self-sufficient.

I am not going to lie. This is going to be very hard for me. I already had to fight the urge this morning to just pile the kids in the car and start driving her to and from school myself. I know if we give her this room to grow; though, she might not be so afraid to take control and won't shut down in the midst of a catastrophe again, but instead will have the coping skills necessary to think logically and minimize the damage if a similar situation should ever occur again.

We sat down with her last night and had a good heart to heart about some positive changes that need to take place. We talked about maybe taking her for bike rides in the neighborhood, with the sole purpose of familiarizing her with street names, and where things are located in relationship to our house. Maybe we'll even take her to a certain location (like the public library, which is only about 5 blocks away) and have her tell us how to get home from there.

I think it was definitely a testimony-building experience for her too. Maybe that's another positive consequence that can be attributed to this horrifically traumatic experience. She said that as she was walking away from the bus stop where she was dropped off, she didn't recognize anything in her surroundings and just kept praying that heavenly Father would guide her feet to safety. Thankfully, He did and she is home safe.

Man, being a parent is so stressful. I guess this is just another one of those curve balls that I was talking about once upon a time. Let's just pray that life doesn't throw us anymore like this one. ;)

Source: twowritingteachers.wordpress.com via The Purple on Pinterest

Related link:

Middle School Mahem: The day my heart stood still!

Curve Balls

Middle School Mahem: The day my heart stood still!

Today was Madison's first day of middle school, and starting the day out, I had so many thoughts running through my head:

First of all, how did we get to this day so soon? It seems like just yesterday I was dropping her off for her first day of kindergarten, and here she is in the 6th grade. It just seems so crazy to me. It got me thinking about how fast time passes. Before we know it, she will be going off to college...getting married...having children. And I seriously do not feel old enough to have a child who will be turning 12 in a few months.

I look at pictures of her from just a few years ago and she seemed so little. She still seems so young to me - but then I think of myself at her age - at how I thought I was so mature, so responsible. I mean, I was babysitting at her age. I look at her now; though, at the childlike naïvety that she still possesses, and I think that my parents (sorry mom...hehe) must have been crazy to allow me to assume responsibility for someone else's children when I, myself, was still so young and ignorant. I don't know...the whole thing just blows my mind. I have a middle schooler.

I know that for Madison, today must have been pretty scary. She was at the same elementary school since first grade. She knew all of the teachers and the staff, and was known on campus as the girl whose nose was always in a book. Now, not only is she at a new school with new teachers, but her best friend is at a different school this year too, so she has to really put herself out there and try to form new friendships. She is basically in a new, scary place and is just another strange face in the crowd.

To complicate things further, she takes a bus to school this year for the first time in her life; a fact that has had her both excited and nervous. Change can be a scary thing, and a little ounce of fear and uncertainty was to be expected - on both of our parts. We just had no idea how real that fear would be for us today when all was said and done.

Everything was fine this morning (on my part, at least) as I sent her off to school with my husband, Zach. He had decided to drive her himself so he could take her in early to meet the band director (he is a musician and so band for her this year is - well, a big deal). I was a little sad because it was the first year I wouldn't be driving her myself, but I thought I was handling it pretty well.

I went about my day as usual, but was in constant anticipation of her return - anxious to hear about how her first day had gone. When 2:30 p.m. rolled around, I hopped in the car and drove to where her bus is supposed to drop her off. Shortly thereafter, the bus pulled up and kids started piling out.

I suddenly had an extremely bad feeling as kids continued to emerge through the bus doors who were not my daughter, but I told myself that it was just first-day jitters - that I was just nervous about Madison riding a bus for the first time, and that everything was going to be fine. She was probably just going to be one of the last kids off the bus. After all, Madison and I had reviewed the details for her bus route over and over to make sure she knew which bus to get on and where her stop was located in relationship to the house. What was there to worry about, right?

Well, as I sat there starting to freak out a little, the last child hopped off the bus, the doors closed behind him, and the bus driver began to pull away. I saw one of her friends from elementary school and asked him if he had seen Madison on the bus, thinking maybe she just forgot to get off? He said he had actually seen her as the bus was pulling away from the school - walking in the opposite direction. I realized then that she probably just missed her bus and either went to the office or was directed by a faculty member to hop on a late bus. After all, I hadn't received a phone call from the school, so I was trying to tell myself that she was okay and that she was somehow still on her way home.

I tried calling the number to the school district transportation department, but despite several attempts, their line was just ringing busy. I then tried the school but was unable to get through to the office. I just kept getting a revolving message that said to call back during normal business hours, which it still was, by the way. They were supposed to have been open until 3:30 p.m. and it wasn't even 3:00 p.m. yet. I was really starting to get frustrated and felt the panic settling in. I finally just decided to drive to the school to see if she was there somewhere.

When I got to the school, I went in to the office and told the secretary up front what had happened. She had said that some children who had missed their bus were directed to get on later buses that would take them to their normal stop (since it was the first day of school and things were basically chaotic, I guess they expected some kids to have issues?) She then told me to call the transportation department to see if they could track down which bus she had gotten on. I told her I had tried that but the line was ringing busy. She then suggested I go and wait by her stop to see if she had, in fact, gotten on a different bus, and to keep trying to call the transportation line. She also gave me the number to campus police and said to call them if I couldn't get through to them and/or if she wasn't at her stop.

At this point, I was freaking out because the school had no idea where my child was. I kept telling myself that it was all going to be okay though, and that she was probably just walking home from the bus stop by now. On my way out of the office, I ran into another parent who I happened to know from Madison's elementary school, and apparently, her son had missed his bus too. We exchanged numbers and I told her that I would call her when Madison was finally located so that I could let her know if her son was on the same bus. She agreed to do the same, in case her son was dropped off first.

I called home to see if there was any sign of Madison, but there wasn't, so I drove to the bus stop to wait for her there. After arriving at her stop, several minutes passed by and still there was no bus. I finally got a call from the other mother telling me her son was home, but that Madison had not been on his bus either. I could feel the tears welling up inside, but I told myself that I was not going to cry. I WAS going to find her and she was going to be okay.

I tried calling the transportation line one more time, but it was busy, so I dialed the number to campus police. I told them the situation and they informed me that they would look into the situation and call me back. I then started cussing myself out for not sending her to school with her cell phone. She had gotten it taken away over the weekend and I had had half a mind to send it with her today in case of an emergency, and then confiscate it when she got home. In the end; though, we decided against it, and I was seriously kicking myself in the behind. The ONE day something like this happens, she doesn't have her phone. I seriously wanted to scream.

I said a silent prayer, pleading with Heavenly Father to keep her safe and bring her home to me. Finally, after a few more minutes, my phone rang and it was a number I didn't recognize, so I answered it quickly hoping that it was someone who could give me some answers.

Thankfully, it was Madison. She was calling me from a business nearly 2 miles from our house. How she had gotten there is an entirely different story. She was obviously upset; though, and practically in tears, and all I wanted to do was get to her ASAP and wrap her in my arms.

She stayed on the phone with me the entire time that I drove to her, and as I pulled in front of the building where she had been waiting for me, I saw her burst into tears - tears of relief - an emotion that both of us were experiencing in that moment of joy.

She got into the car and collapsed into my arms and we both had a good cry. I asked her what had happened and she explained how she had missed the bus, and then one thing led to another. I don't want to go into the details right now because I am literally spent emotionally from the traumatic events of the afternoon. Tune in tomorrow and I will fill you in on the details. I will tell you, though, that I took her out for ice cream immediately after picking her up. I figured we were both in some serious need of some comfort food. :)

The important thing right now is that she is home. I am just so grateful to my Heavenly Father for taking care of her and getting her back to me safely.

Source: http://media.photobucket.com/image/school%20bus/luckyluke115/ChimCanhCutBlog/school_bus.jpg?o=17