To School Or Not To School.... that is the question!!

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The bigs girls on their first day of school! That famous "sister glare"!








So the 'big girls' started school mid-August. Emmy Belle entered Kindergarten and Jackie bumped her way up to 3rd grade. (unbelievable, right?!)

We opted out of sending Julie to preschool, for the same reasons that we didn't send Emmy. Here, our choices are limited. You either have an overpriced Catholic preschool (which is RIGHT across the street from us, major bonus!) or an old asbestos filled gym with walls lined in 1970's color/number/shape posters, that was converted into a HeadStart. Yea.... pass!

So as the summer progressed Emmy was able to take part in a few 'test' days to lure her into school. Julie jumped right in. And Emmy's teacher was great about it and included Julie equally. I have to say, we have raised some pretty bright cookies, and I'm not just bragging because they are ours!

So came the task of tell Julie she would not be going to school come August 16th, when her sisters went.

Here is her, less than thrilled, reaction to it all:









"What? I'm not staying!?!? Are you KIDDING me?"



So imagine our delight and surprise when Jackie and Emmy bring home some information about the Elementary school starting a preschool program!!!

So I attended some meetings and filled out more paperwork than an illegal immigrant trying to convince someone his name is REALLY Bob Jones! It was like a competition. There were only 8 openings. The race was ON! My kid is SOOO smarter than YOUR kid!

So I brought home yet more paperwork and started filling out the application. Then it started hitting me. If she goes to school that is all three kids, gone. No one at home. Empty nest syndrome anyone?

We started weighing the pros and cons.....

Pros:
~I would no longer have to watch Dora and SpongeBob from 8am-3pm. I could maybe squeeze in some Jerry Springer or something else educational like a LifeTime movie. Afterall, it is of vital importance that a woman know how (and why) to murder her husbands cousins wifes sisters boyfriend who is having an affair with your best friends moms brothers twice removed cousin, right? How would life go on without a LifeTime movie?

~I would no longer have to make meals..... as in Julie's famous 'peanut butter sandwhich' (which consists of peanut butter on spoons) for breakfast, snack, lunch and snack. I loathe the smell of peanut butter!

~I could have some 'me' time. Ha! What is that anyway? Like anyone would wear less clothes or eat less food? Thus my laundry and dishes would stay the same (minus 4 spoons) Does that mean the dog will stop peeing on the couch and taking a dump by the back door? Does that mean Andy won't need me call Ace Hardware and see if they sell an electric something or other that can be converted into something else that is made by a certain brand and has to be John Deere green? (love ya hun!!) No, but they can give me a number of a place that does sell that and I can sit on hold for 30 minutes while being transfered around to find out they do NOT in fact have that item. Will Jackie and Emmy REALLY not leave 1/2 a tube of toothpaste crusted to the sink every morning? In which I have to used 40 different products and ultimately use a butter knife to SCRAPE it off!!!

And hey! Maybe I could hit the library and actually read a book with more than 28 pages and no cartoon pictures? Our trips to the library consist of Julie running downstairs 100 times to drink out of the oh-so-cool/germ infested water fountain. Although, at home, she insists she doesn't like water. Then she thinks the handicap door opener is the coolest thing since the water dispenser on grandma's fridge!!! Why not push it over and over and over and over again to see if it doesn't the same thing as last time? Jackie thinks she should only have to read Dick And Jane and Dr. Suess books. Those were great for 1st grade, lets get a BIT more challanging in the 3rd grade, no? Fights ensue. My limit of 6 books is FAR too few for Emmy. Afterall, her library bag would EASILY hold 15 books! And she just CAN'T for the life of her decide if she should get "Goldylocks has chicken pox" for the 100th time. MAYBE she (Emmy) will get them!? Or if she should get one of those 5,000 chapter Disney books just to see if mom can lose her voice if she read the WHOLE thing. So, you can see, why we don't do the library often!! So mom could easily pick out their books FOR them, AND get herself a 'big girl' book!! Hmmmm! Contimplating!



Cons:
~Daddy says the hours are too long. 9am-1pm Mon-Fri. When the other girls attended preschool it was a M/W/F or T/T type of deal. Julie is a daddy's girl thru and thru!

~Mommy would lose her baby and would have an empty house.

Call me selfish, but we opted out of it. I need to hang on to these last months as much as possible.

Of course, tell Julie that. To her, mommy is only 2nd best and only needed if SHE needs something.

A few Julie/Mommy convos from the past week:

Julie: Can I have a cookie?
Mom: No you had a snack after dinner
Julie: GIVE me a cookie ::pause:: please
Mom: No hunny, it's too late
Julie: Give me your phone, I need to call the cops!

-----------------------------------------------------

A Julie/Mommy convo after lunch

Julie: Mommy I ate all my lunch gone, can I have a snack?

Mommy: Sure, what do you want

Julie: You know those one things you bought?

Mommy: You're gonna have to be a BIT more specific baby.

Julie: Those carmo (caramel) things

Mommy: ::looks in cupboard::....... What kind of caramel things?

Julie: Those long things, you know?

Mommy: No, I don't hunny. Where did we buy them?

Julie: At the STO! (store)

Mommy: What shape are they?

Julie: Like this ::draws a straight line::

Mommy: ::looks confused::

Julie: Just let me call my dad!

::ring ring::

Mommy: Julie wants some caramel snack and I can't figure it out ::hands the phone to Julie::

Julie: I want a carmo thing. That we boughted at the sto. It is like this ::draws line again:: (mom says "a straight line") and has carmo

::pause::

Julie: yea.... uh huh.... YES! That kind of carmo!

::hands the phone to me::

Daddy: She wants those Hershey Sticks w/ caramel in the middle

Mommy: Oh yea! HOW long has it been since we had those?

Daddy: I bought them when they were new, so maybe 4-5 months ago?

Mommy: ::thru laughs:: Alright, you'll pick some up? Thanks for figuring it out! Love you, Bye.

Julie: ::rolls eyes:: *sigh* Nebermind, just give me peanut butter on a spoon for now!!!

<---- this, for the record, is what she wanted. She is my entertainment for the day! Never a dull moment with this child. Plus I am totally taking advantage of it just being her. Trips to the store are SOMEWHAT easier. She just wants to buy every sugarloaded item there is and screams if she doesn't get it :-X Yes, I have "those kids". The ones everyone says "I'd never let my kid act that way in public." That's me! When she allows (because everything is on Julie terms) we do fun stuff :) She is getting really good at painting :) Mommy just showed her how to paint a simple butterfly and house. Using shapes :) circles, ovals, squares, triangles. She is a pro at writing her name and spelling it for everyone that will listen. My favorite letter? "I wis a dot". It's always J-U-L-I wis a dot-E!!! :) My goal is to teach her to spell our last name before she enters Kindy next fall! Yikes! How many of YOU can spell our last name? Ok, Andy andSuzie and Mom don't count! haha ;) We got to enjoy a playdate just Julie and I :) She hasn't really ever had that one-on-one mommy time, so it's near and dear to me/us! We look forward to more in these next fall months! We have also took up a lot of baking. When you can buy bananas for 5lbs/$1 you stock up! Mommy made pancakes. Then we decided to make banana chocolate chip muffins
Julie's first time w/ a 'weel knife'. She was SOOO careful! Very proud moment for her!




Filling the paper liners. She actually only dripped once! Pretty good! She outdid mom there!



First time w/ the mixer too!!!! I fear splattered chocolate (we decided to make chocolate chocolate chip muffins for daddy!!!) on my walls and ceiling, but she did perfect!




Can I mom????


How do I say no to those baby blues?!!?







.
Julie hopped in the tub while mommy tackled the mess! YIKES!


All cleaned up and enjoying a banana muffin. Totally suprised me she picked this as chocolate is Julie's #1 food!!!
She quickly awards herself a thumbs up on her baking abilities! Must get that from her mama ;) haha

Here are our finished products ;)




So, in the end, I think we made the right choice ;) Julie will more than flourish next year in Kindergarten. Then mommy and daddy will have to deal with their "issues" once again!