Mommy Guilt :(

Let's start at the beginning....

Starting in second grade you can "run" for Student Council.  You bring home a piece of paper for your parent(s) to sign saying that you can run for StuCo.  You can make a poster and hang it up and place your name on a ballot for class representative.  Last year Madi ran and won for her class.  We didn't make a sign, mainly because I didn't know you could/should.  So this year when she told me she wanted to run for class rep again & told me she wanted to make a sign, I told her I would help.  We made a super cute sign that said "Smarties" will vote for Madi.  She had a really big smartie candy where the word "Smarties" was and then taped smarties all over the poster & put a picture of herself on there.  It was really cute.  She took smarties to school with her to pass out to her class to make the sign complete. . . . small (turns out to be HUGE) problem, you aren't allowed to give anything away, because it's not fair to everyone.  Madi came home from school and told me that she got to hang her sign up but didn't get to pass out the candy because her teacher told her it wouldn't be fair, but that she could put the candy in  her class cubbies.  I told her that was ok because people were going to vote for who they want whether they give them something or make a sign, after all, she did win last year and hadn't done anything.  She said yea, well so & so told everyone they were from her.  I told her not to worry about it, everything would work out ok.  Well, here's where the mommy guilt comes in . . . 

I got a call this morning from one of the Student Council teacher reps.  Apparently that note that I signed saying Madi could run for StuCo rep also stated that they were not allowed to give anything away.  Unfortunately, I didn't read the whole note.  I think I read about the first paragraph and signed away.  She was on StuCo last year, what could it say that I didn't already know?!  UGH!  FAIL.  The teacher said that a parent or two (I'm thinking one, and one in particular) called and brought it to her attention and said that it wasn't fair that Madi was allowed to give something away.  {A SMARTIE} I'm not trying to act like it wasn't right, but come on, it wasn't like it was anything crazy.  The teacher was really nice and said that she didn't want to do it, but that Madi would have to be disqualified from running.  She hated that it was Madi because she was such a great rep last year, she came to every meeting and helped with each event and is such a great girl.  I told her it was completely my fault and felt terrible.  She said if I wanted she would talk to Madi about it, I told her no, I would talk to her after school today and she would be ok.  She told me that she really hopes that Madi decides to run again next year and kept saying again how great she was.  I know she's great, she's amazing and it's going to KILL me to tell her this.  I kept saying ok, I understood and that I would discuss it with her, we finally got off the phone and out came the tears.  I felt (feel) soooo bad!  But because my Madi Grace IS so amazing, she took it like a champ!  She was upset, of course, but she said I bet I know which mom it was, ugh.  I gave her a bunch of hugs and kisses hoping her feeling better would make me feel better, it really didn't, I still feel HORRIBLE!  We were at the St. Joe mall after Boston's game tonight and I told her that I was really proud of her, she took a bad situation and didn't let it keep her down all night, she smiled, I told her, you're a tough cookie, you're not gonna let it ruin your night and bother you, you're gonna push past and keep on movin, she smiled and said yep!

Anyway, she told me she still loves me and so I guess I will try to let this not ruin my night (week) too, although it did ruin my day, it consumed me all day.  I didn't know how I was going to bust this info out on my innocent little gal, but like I said, she's a tough cookie and said she will try again next year.  The thing that did break my heart was her telling me that she didn't care if she won, but she at least wanted to try.

I love you MadiGrace, keep up with that positive attitude, you could teach me a thing or two!

The Calendar

I never thought I'd be one of those people who needed to keep a calendar, I mean, how much do you have going on in your life that you have to put it down on paper, or in my case electronically, and then set it up to remind you?  Well, the time has come, I have started a Google calendar that is linked to my phone and will notify me an hour, or whatever time frame I have decided to let me know when I have something going on.  It's not ME that has anything going on, it's my minions.  We haven't started soccer or football yet, and already this week I've needed a reminder for ballet, jazz, Community Club (PTA), early release, baseball practice, and piano lessons... ugh.  The weeks to come will add even more reminders as Boston starts his baseball games next week & they're twice a week.  Soccer and football will follow shortly after with practices once a week for each of them and games on Saturdays & Sundays.  Who let these kids sign up for all this stuff?!

Madi started dance at Darcee's in St. Joe this week.  She is taking an hour of ballet & an hour of jazz.  She came home from her first day and says she LOVES it there!  So excited that she's finally found a place she loved as much as Bates in Manhattan!!  Darcee's is ranked pretty high in the state of Missouri from what I understand, so with her wanting to compete & dance further down the road, I think we found a good fit for her... Of course, it's still the first week of classes, but she never came home from the two studios in Atchison saying I LOVE IT.

Boston is still practicing baseball twice a week and loving it.  He's not been on a team yet that has given him so much instruction.  I think he's going to be disappointed come October when his games are over.  They gave out uniforms and told them the positions they would be playing last night at practice.  He is #33 for the Cardinals and will be playing second base.  I can't wait til his first game next Wednesday.

Piano lessons start today...

Back to School? Already?

Well, school officially started for the Bruce kids last Thursday, yep, AUGUST 9TH.  I feel like it's a bit early considering they don't get out any earlier than normal (May 22nd), but hey, apparently I don't make those decisions so off they went.

We found out a few days before school started who the kids' teachers would be.  Boston got Madi's first grade teacher, Mrs. Martin.  I was really happy about this because she was so great to Madi her first year at AES when she was struggling with missing Manhattan so much!  Madi got a brand new first year teacher, Mrs. Schmollinger - probably a good thing she's teaching 3rd grade and not Kindergarten with a name like that!  Madi was a little disappointed at first when she found out that her two besties were in class together, without her, but she got over it fairly quickly when she found out another one of her friends, Rayne, was in her class, so all is well in her world now :)

Madi - 1st day of school 2012-13

Boston - 1st day of school 2012-13

My minions!

With school brings Fall sports.  After singing them up for soccer today the kids are enrolled in WAY TOO MUCH!  Boston is playing football, soccer and Fall baseball.  Madi is taking ballet, jazz, piano & soccer.  Like I said, TOO MUCH.  I don't know when the soccer practices will be, but I'm hoping Tuesdays because as of now, that's the only weekday available (except Friday, but they usually never do practices on Friday's)

1st day of Fall Ball practice - he thinks he's pretty big time now!!

Anyway, that's what's going on in our world for now, hopefully with all these sports, I'll be able to blog a little to keep everyone up to date on how they're doing.

Road Trip!

The Bruce family set out for Minnesota a few weeks ago.  We opted to drive to Des Moines and stay the night instead of going the whole way, but we drove straight back and I think next time we'll go the whole distance, the kids did GREAT!!  We drove the four hours to Des Moines, checked into our hotel and headed out to see what was around.  We drove by a mall that looked like it had a HUGE sporting goods store, so of course, we had to stop there . . . and that's the only place we went in the mall.  The kids were hungry so we looked to see what was in the mall or around the area to eat & decided on Joe's Crab Shack, DJ had never eaten at one and I hadn't eaten there in at least 6 years, so off we went.  I think everyone liked it.  After, we drove around some more trying to find ice cream for the kids.  We found an Orange Leaf, it's self serve frozen yogurt and our first experience at one.  It was a big hit - and now we have a miniature version in Atchison!!

The minions as we head out of town

 In the morning it was off to Minneapolis.  We got checked into our hotel downtown (which was amazing).  When we checked in they had upgraded us to a king size bed with a pull out sofa in a corner room....the view was incredible!!  Our room was triangle shaped with two of the walls being pretty much all windows, one side being a view of downtown and the other side being a view of Target Field!

Making a tent to keep themselves busy

Under the tent

The kids in our room - I could NOT get a good picture

& in TRUE Gina fashion, this basket of goodies was waiting for us when we checked in!

After we got everything settled, we were off to Gina & Shane's.  We grilled and just hung out!  It was so nice to just be at their house and hang out with them . . . and meet baby Logan, who's not quite a baby anymore, but still, so happy I finally got to meet the little fella!!  We called it an early night and headed back to the hotel where we ordered room service.  The kids thought that was the coolest thing - I have to admit, it was pretty nice to just hang in our room and eat dinner together.

Friday morning we got up and went to the Mall of America, I mean, what's a trip to Minneapolis if you don't include the MOA ;)  We walked around the first floor of the mall, ate lunch and then DJ & the kids were off to the amusement park while Gina, Logan & I did some more shopping.  Gina had to leave for work, so I did a little more shopping then went to find DJ and the kids.  They were having a great time riding everything, but Boston was mad because he was an inch too short to ride all the "good rides".

Lego land

on one of the rides

After the mall we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Twins game.  We went down to The News Room to eat while Gina was working then walked to the stadium from there.  On our way the kids saw petty cabs all over the place and asked if we could take one, we were almost to the stadium so it didn't really make much sense to take one then, but told them we could take one back to The News Room after the game.  The seats and the game were GREAT.  The Twins won 11-0!

The view from our seats

Such a pretty stadium!

DJ & the kids on our petty cab ride back to The News Room

Our driver - he was a huffin' & a puffin'

We had dessert and talked with Gina for a while then walked back to our hotel.  In the morning it was time to check out and head over to Gina & Shane's to drop off all our stuff.  We spent the day at Gina's brother's house with their family.  Ben & Abby have a 4 year old girl and a 1 year old boy just a bit older than Logan. The "big" kids played in their playroom, swam, played on the swing set & bounce house, pretty sure they had a great time together.  The rest of us hung out chatting and catching up.  It was a great and relaxing day that was ended with a dance party by the kids.  They were hilarious!

Boston playing ladder-ball with the boys

That night it was date night with Gina and Shane!!  Gina had arranged for her normal babysitter to come over while we had a late dinner.  We went to a place called Butcher & The Boar where there were some interesting items on the menu, including head cheese (Google it) and boar heart.... we did NOT order those items!  We were all a little exhausted with the exception of Gina, so we headed back to the house and hit the sack.

We went back to The News Room for lunch before leaving town and to see Gina one last time.  I wish the weekend would have lasted a bit longer, but it was so great to see my ol' pal again!  It's been too long and hope it doesn't take as long to see them again!!

Love ya Beaner!!  (Shane & Logi too!)