The End of Summer

Mackenzie went up to my parents house the beginning of August and then the following weekend Jackson and I went up there. It is very nice to be able to go and visit my parents. Elizabeth even stopped by the first night we were there. I felt as if we were busy non-stop though. We got there on a Sunday and on Monday I was a brave soul and and took both of the kids to the galleria (the huge mall in B'ham). It was very tiring but it was a LOT of fun.

We ate lunch in the food court first and then it was off to find Mackenzie shoes for school. Do you know how ridiculously expensive tennis shoes are? Seriously it's outrageous. Mackenzie wears a size 6 in the tennis shoes and only a handful of brands sell those sizes in the kids section. I can buy a ladies pair of the same shoe but spend $20 more a pair so I searched diligently through the kids section. Finally we got 2 pair of Nike's for a total of $60, yes, that was even after the 2nd pair was half off. I'm telling you it's ridiculously expensive.

We went to more stores and I scored majorly at Belk's for baby clothes. If you average all the 20 outfits I bought I received 87% off the prices. It was insane bargains and realllllly cute clothes. It's all mom's fault though that I went there. She's the one that told me that they were almost giving away things. Shame on her. Since the kids were really good I took both of them on the carousel. Jackson at first wanted to ride on the tiger until he saw the bench we could both sit in. He wanted me to sit next to him. It was so sweet and besides that his hair smelled so good!

And then it's time for school...

We left my parents on a Thursday and headed back to wonderful Florida. I was glad to get home but was sad to leave my parents too. Mackenzie loves going there more than anything and has such a great bond with my parents. Jackson just loves visiting too. I'm so glad he's gotten close to them even being so far away.

So on Monday (the 18th) we started school. Can I just tell you what a major adjustment it has been waking up to an alarm clock and so early? I got up and got ready and made breakfast. Mackenzie couldn't fall asleep the night before because she was so excited. We got to school early so we could find out who her teacher is. Her 3rd grade teacher is Mrs. Talaska. The kicker is Mackenzie is about an inch taller than her! She's such a cute little thing. She's probably in her late 50's or early 60's. My first impression is she's been teaching a long time and she's very firm but get's the job done. I was right. And she's so sweet!

Jackson started pre-K on Tuesday. I took Mackenzie to school and then went back and got him to take him. His school is fairly close to her school and is from 9-2. He did not want to go. He screamed when I left but when I picked him up he was very happy and his teacher said he only cried for 1 min max. He was all excited. Then we went over to pick up Mackenzie. I cannot complain enough about the traffic this week and how the sherrif' deputies tried to make it better only to screw it all up. By Thursday afternoon they realized this and for the 3rd time changed the route for the parents. They were smart enough to ge the imput from the principal and those who help with the drop off/pick up areas.

On Wednesday after I picked up the kids I had to take Jackson to get a physical and some shots required for pre-k. When we got there they weighed him and then went to see how tall he is. They had a new thing to measure the kids that's up high on the wall and then they pull it down to the top of their heads. Very easy and surprised someoen didn't think of it sooner. Mackenzie wanted to see how tall she is. You won't believe it. Or maybe you will. 59 inches. 4'11!

Jackson was 35lbs and 40 inches. He's in the 50th percentile for his weight and 75% percentile for his height. The Dr. said he look great and asked me some questions about his development, etc. and all was good. Then came the shots. It was awful. He got a total of 3. A tetanus shot in his left leg and the other 2 in his right leg. He screamed like I've never heard him scream. It was awful! By Wednesday night his legs were so sore and stiff. He just wanted to lie still and all covered up. I gave him some tylenol to ease the pain. From what I heard the tetanus shots can make you really sore. He woke up crying in the night and didn't snap out of it until Mackenzie's leg went over his and made it hurt so bad.

I kept him home from school on Thursday because of his leg. When he woke up Thursday morning his legs were still stiff and he even walked a little funny. By the end of the day said his right leg felt better. Oh and when he finally took his bandaid off on the right leg it had a huge knot on it and was black and blue. I think his let leg is a little sore but he's fine now.

Friday morning Mackenzie and I woke up extra early and we went to the Donut Hole for breakfast. I had taken Jackson on Wednesday before school as a treat so now it was her turn. It was nice for us to have breakfast together but it was freezing in there! It's always an ice box in there. Next time we do that we have to bring a jacket or something.

When I took Mackenzie to school I went in with her per her request. Her teacher came over to me and told me how smart she is and how young she is. As most of you probably remember she missed the cutoff to start kindergarten (it is 9/1) so she went to private school for the first 2 years so she could start kindergarten a year early. She has always been by far the youngest and the tallest. She said that out of the 60 word spelling test she gave them she didn't miss any. They haven't done her reading assesment test yet but at the end of last school year she was already reading on a 4th grade 1 month level. They did a math assesment and she did well too. Wish I have to say I was surprised.

I told the teacher how 3 kids who went to the private school with Mackenzie started Butler last year too and they were almsot held back b/c of their math grades. I told her that Mackenzie struggled somewhat too and I think they weren't taught on the same level that the public schools were teaching. I also told her that I had a hard time helping her with math because the terminology is completely different than what I learned. She agreed and said it's all different from when I was in school. They are going to have a math vocabulary page in her math folder so when she brings it home for homework I'll be able to refer back to something.

She then asked me if I had ever considered putting Mackenzie in the gifted program. I was blown away by this. I told her no, but when I was her age I was in the QUEST program for the gifted kids. It's even called the same thing at Butler too. She wants to recommend her for it and I told her I needed to think about it.

So the first week was a good one. Now it's Saturday morning and I'm trying to recover from this past week. The early mornings really got to me. Now we'll sit at home all day during the rain from Tropical Storm Fay. What fun! But I do have some fun arts and crafts planned for the kids. Right now they're playing Mario vs. Luigi against each other on the Nintendo DS. It's so cute.