Georgia's Eating Adventures

I have three different kind of eaters with my three girls.  As I've well documented on this blog, Lana is my picky eater.  If it's not peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese, it takes much coaxing to get her to try it.  Sonya will try just about anything I ask her to, but won't necessarily like it.  She is willing to try though, which I love.  She will also eat whatever she has to in order to get to a treat.  Although, we don't always have a treat every night.  Georgia, while she's not fond of veggies, she will eat just about anything else.   I made beef stew a few weeks ago, the other 2 gagged down their three bites.  Little G had two bowl fulls.


 Last week I made Chili for Andy and I one night.  It's a very healthy and not very spicy chili recipe I got out of my Cooking Light magazine.  The next night I decided to give the girls the leftovers for their dinner.  I was sure they wouldn't like it, but I feel like you should expose your kids to as many foods as possible, whether they like them now or not.  If you don't, then all they will ever eat is PB&J and grilled cheese.  At least this way they try new things and start to get a taste for them, and maybe someday they will even like different foods.  At least this is the theory I'm working with.


So I gave then all a little bowl of chili, complete with some cheddar cheese and crackers.  Lana took one look at it and gave me her usual,


"YUK!  I don't want to eat THAT!"


Sonya tried it, and even though at first claimed she liked it, was done after about five bites.  Georgia ate her entire bowl and then proceeded to eat TWO more bowls of the chili.  Although, she was not so fond of the kidney beans and did pick most of those out.  I couldn't believe it.  She absolutely loved it.  Then on Sunday night we were having "clean out the fridge" night with leftovers.  I gave everyone the choices of what was to eat and given the options between lasagna, pasta, and chili, girlfriend chose the chili.  Well, actually this is what she chose,


"Georgia, what do you want for dinner tonight?" I asked her.  I had already given the options a few minutes before and had asked the others. Everyone else was opting for Lasagna or pasta.  Not G.  She looked up at me and said,


"Cold."


"What?" I asked, not really sure what she had said.


"Cold," she said again.


"You mean chili?" I asked.


"Yeah!" she said.


Not only will she eat just about anything, but she's funny too!   I think next week I will try liver and lima beans, although I'M not eating that one.  

Fickle

Last Thursday the girls were all outside playing somewhat nicely.  Lana had been in a particularly ornery mood all day for some unknown reason.  She even had a meltdown earlier with her friend Angelina over.  She spent about ten minutes in timeout while Angelina went off and played with Georgia.  So I wasn't surprised when I heard Lana yelling about not wanting to play the game Sonya was suggesting.  I stood and listed to see what was going to happen to decide if I needed to intervene.  


"I don't want to play that!!  I'm going inside!" 


She stomped in the house and yelled to nobody or anybody,


"I'm not EVER going outside AGAIN!!"


"Okay," I said and went about my business.  I guess she figured I didn't hear her right so she yelled again,


"I'M NOT EVER GOING OUTSIDE AGAIN!!!"


"Sure, Lana," I was not about to play into her tantrum.  Then she went to the back door and yelled from the steps at the three girls playing outside,


"I"M NOT EVER COMING OUTSIDE AGAIN YOU GUYS!!!!"


Her yelling was met with silence from them.  They continued to play their game and ignore Lana.  I don't think they did it on purpose, I really think they just didn't hear her.  So she stood there on the step for a minute, waiting for someone to acknowledge that she was MAD.  She tried one final time,


"YOU GUYS!!!  I'M NOT EVER COMING OUTSIDE AAAGGAAIINNN!!"


Crickets.


Then, not even sixty seconds after her last declaration, I heard her say,


"I think I'm going to go swing!" Then off she ran OUTSIDE to her swing.  


I guess she's just practicing her woman's right to change her mind on a whim.

Going Green Again

A few weeks ago, after the Mommy and Me class I take Lana and Georgia to, there was a mom selling a product she had made.  The product was reusable bags.  I'm not sure if some of you have seen these in another place or online, but when I found hers I thought they were absolute genius.  I only had enough cash to buy two at the time, but the week later she was at the Family Picnic at Sonya's school, and I bought four more.  


I don't know about the rest of you, but I pack a lunch and snack everyday for at least two of the girls.  This meant using Ziploc baggies that would get thrown away after they finished their food.  I was beginning to feel really guilty for how much trash we were making every day, not to mention the cost of going through the baggies.  I've tried containers, but they take up so much room in the lunchbox, it's just not feasible.  Then I found Colleen and her product.  You guys these things are awesome!  You can put wet or dry food in them, and they can go in the washer AND dryer.  Woo-hoo!  They have a Velcro to hold the bag closed and keep the food in.  The best part is they come in all kinds of patterns and colors for girls or boys.  They come in snack or sandwich size.  Right now we just have the snack ones.  Here are some of the ones we have.

Colleen is a stay at home mom and hand makes them.  She uses the money she makes from them to supplement her family's income.  I don't know Colleen at all, but I loved her product so much, I told her I would tell all of you about it.  I'm also all about helping  a fellow mom in any way I can.  We have to stick together you know!  You can find her website here and order some for your kids.  It doesn't matter if you live here in Burbank or across the pond in London.  She will make 'em and send them to you. Buy a few and save yourself some money, AND the earth.  It's a win win!  Plus your kids will love the fun colors and patterns.  My girls will request which ones they want in their lunchbox that day.  I've only been using them about a month, but so far they are holding up really well.  So go to her site and buy a few for your family!   Then tell your friends.  I'm sure you will love them as much as we do.  

By Themselves

When the girls were all babies, I couldn't imagine them ever doing anything for themselves.  I think most everyone has a hard time imagining their babies doing anything on their own.   Then they get a bit older and they do start to learn  how to feed themselves, dress themselves, even wash up in the bathtub at night.  Because my girls are so close in age, I feel like I have been helping at least one of them since forever.  Slowly, they have all started doing those things on their own though.  Georgia still needs a bit of help, but since she's determined to be like her sisters, she doesn't really like to accept the help.  The one thing I figured they would still need me for, for a while anyway, was getting buckled into the car seats.  Until last week.


It's funny, because anytime I would talk about having to do this or do that for the girls and how it would just be easier when they could...fill in the blank here, my mom would talk about how she remembered the first time she told us to go get in the car, and we did.  And we buckled ourselves.  She told me as a way to let me know, I would get there eventually, and quickly.  Perhaps I shouldn't be so eager to get there.


Getting my girls into the car and buckled is one of the things that makes us at least ten minutes late to anywhere we go.  From getting their shoes on, to actually getting in the car, fighting over which seat they are going to sit in and then the buckling.  OH... MY... GOD!!  THE BUCKLING!!!


Sonya is not a problem.  She can usually do her own, not a big deal.  Lana has gotten better, but still needs help sometimes.  Georgia, well, she can do the top of the 5 point harness, but the bottom is always an issue.   However... BACK OFF!  Because,


"I CAN DO IT MYSEFFF!!"


That is what you will hear if you even think of helping her.  This is what takes another five minutes to get out of the driveway.  Why? Because she CAN'T do it herself. She can do part of it by herself, but she needs help with the bottom, and she does NOT want help.  Then I give up throw the car into reverse and when she realizes that we are moving, THEN she asks for help.  This has been going on for quite a few weeks now.  It's starting to get extremely annoying, and I'm ready to just strap her to the luggage carrier on the roof of the van instead.  Except then, I will get those disapproving looks from other drivers.  Whatever.  Do they have a three year old insisting to do everything by themselves?? NO?  Then don't judge.


Well, then last Tuesday we were getting ready to take the two little girls to their new ballet/tap class.  They must have all been excited to go, because I only told them once to get their shoes on and head to the car.  Within two minutes they were all out of the house and in the van.  I grabbed my sunglasses and keys and headed out the door.  I noticed the door to the van was already closed.  Usually, they are arguing over seats at this point, but I saw no sign of that.  After I locked the door to the house, I opened the door to the van.  There I found all three girls sitting in their seats, completely buckled.  Including Georgia.


"Are you ALL buckled?" I asked.


"YUP!" They replied.


"Did you all buckle yourselves?" I said looking at Georgia, figuring Sonya must have helped her.


"YUP!" They said again.  "Georgia did it all by herself too," Sonya said reading my mind.


"Oh, wow.  Great job girls!" I said.  I was shocked.  I was proud.  I was so sad.  They did it by themselves.  Without my help.  They didn't need my help anymore.  This is the part about motherhood that really sucks.  You spend all your time trying to get them to do something on their own and then when they do it, you want that time back when they couldn't do it and needed you more.


I made kind of a sad face as I was closing the door to the car and the girls asked me why.  I told them, I was happy that they did it on their own, but sad they didn't need me anymore.  Then I walked around to get in the driver's seat.  As I opened my door, Lana unbuckled the bottom part of her seat and said,


"Mommy!  I still need help!  You can buckle me."


Awwwww!  So sweet I know.


"No, it's okay Lana.  I'm happy that you are all getting bigger and can do it on your own.  It just makes me a little sad.  Good job girls!"  Then off we went to dance class where, for once, I was actually on time.






Just a little side note to this story-this has only been a one time thing so far.  I am still arguing with Georgia over getting her buckled, just about every time we get in the car.  My sadness over them all doing it by themselves, is back to annoyance with GG.  Especially because I know she CAN do it.  It appears that I am never happy with the situation.  I think this may just be part of being a mom.  

Famous!

Okay, maybe we're not exactly famous, but certainly more people know about Sonya and this blog now.  A few weeks ago I was contacted by a woman from Parents.com, the online portion of the magazine Parents.  If you're a parent, you have read Parents at some point, no doubt.  Anyway, she had seen Sonya's back to school picture on here and asked if they could feature it on their back to school page on their site.  They said they would also put a link to this blog underneath Sonya's picture.  Of course I was more than happy to let them do this.  I was excited because it could mean more potential readers for me, but more than that I was thrilled that someone over at Parents knows about THIS blog!  I feel like it's a pretty big deal, so I had to share with all of you.  So go over to their site and check it out.   We are on a nationally known publication's website!  See..famous!  Well, almost famous.  

Sounding It Out

Recently, Lana has been sounding out words.  She has even read the first two books in the series of BOB books.  If you don't know what these are and you have a child who is starting to read or will be soon, do yourself a favor and get some.  They are fantastic.  They are basically "Dick and Jane" for our kids generation. Anyway, she has been seeing words and trying to sound them out wherever we are.  Whenever I hear her doing it I try to help her out, because even though she gets all the right sounds of the letters, she still has a hard time putting those sounds together to make a word.


Yesterday was Lana and Mommy morning.  Sonya is in school all day, and Georgia now goes to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  Some of my friends thought I was crazy to not put the girls in preschool together at the same time, but I planned it this way ON PURPOSE.  Yes, maybe I am crazy.  However, I did it because little miss Lana has never had any alone time with me like the other two have.  Unless you count from when she was 11-15 months.  I was pregnant with Georgia then and Sonya had started preschool, so we had some alone time then, but it just isn't the same thing.   Next year she will start kindergarten and my alone opportunity with her will be gone, so I decided to take it while I can this year.  It's not like we're going to Disneyland or anything, just running errands or maybe hanging out at home, but the point is, my attention can be solely given to her.  Lana is a kid that REALLY needs that sometimes. I've always said she would have been better off as an only child.   So yesterday, we went to Target.  She was excited about going, because I promised she could get a new lunchbox, which until last week she didn't want.   You may remember, I tried to get her one when I got her sisters' each one a month ago.  Well, after going to school last week for the first time and realizing she had the same old lunchbox, she decided she now needed a new one.  So I promised her a trip to Target to buy one on our first Mommy and Lana morning.


It was a fabulous trip to Target with only one kid in tow.  She did almost have a tantrum over toothbrushes while we were there, but I managed to talk her down.  Possibly because there wasn't anyone else to add their two cents.  (I'm looking at you Sonya.)  We were getting everything we needed and at one point she asked to walk instead of sit in the cart.  I allowed her to as long as she stayed next to the cart.  At one point I was preoccupied in an aisle looking for some sort of product and when I walked  back to Lana and the cart I found her trying to read the word on the side of the shopping cart.


"Teh...Aww...rrr...gga...eehh...teh," she sounded.  "Teehh...awww..rrr..gggaa..eeh...teh."


"Good job, Lana!" I encouraged.  "Now put it all together," I said, just waiting for her to sound it out enough and hear herself saying the word "Target".  Instead, she smiled pointed at the word and said,


"Shopping Cart!"


I guess we will go back to the BOB books.  

Bookworm

I am an avid reader.  I've always loved reading books for as long as I can remember.  There was a period of time after I had the girls, that I wasn't reading at all, because if I had any extra time I was using it to sleep.  I got to a point where I missed reading books though, so I found time to read.  It's the only place I can't do anything else.  The bathroom.  Sorry, but it's true.  It's where I read about 80% of my books.  The other 20% being right before bed, if I'm really into a book and willing to spare the sleep, or that one time we went to the beach and the girls actually entertained themselves for half an hour so I read.  I don't read the most intellectual books.  I like reading to escape, so I lean more towards beach type reads like Sophie Kinsella or Jennifer Weiner.  I do love Harry Potter too, and have read other things like "The Time Traveler's Wife" and my most recent favorite, "The Help".  I loved that damn book. White woman from the south in the '60s were NOT nice.  I'm just saying.  The most recent book I started reading is "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".  I know, I know, I'm late to the party, but at least I showed up.  The problem with this book was that I had a REALLY hard time getting into it. I'm not sure why.  I talked to my sister, Beth about it, and she said it took her about 100 pages to get into it.  Megan said the same thing, so I guess it wasn't just me.  Now that I'm further into the book I am intrigued and itching to read it when I can.  However, there are only so many times a day when I can lock myself in the bathroom, so it might take me a while to unravel the mystery.  


Sonya has taken after me with her reading habits. I say after me, because Andy has never been much of a reader.  He reads magazines and news on the Internet, but book are not really his forte.  His brother, David, however will read a 500 page book in about 4 hours.  So Sonya may have taken some of her reading love from that side of the family too.  She loves to read and reads faster than I ever did at her age.  She's already reading chapter books like "Tales of The Fourth Grade Nothing", that I didn't even look at until I was at least 8 or 9.  Over the summer I took her to the library where she checked out some chapter books that were in the section for "3rd and 4th graders".  She took out about twelve of these fairy books that she's been into.  The books were due back in three weeks.  She was done with ALL of them in five days.  FIVE DAYS!  I couldn't believe it.  So yeah, the kid likes to read.


Fortunately for her, she has less responsibility and more time than I do, so she can read just about anytime.  Although, like her mother, she also reads in the bathroom.  Andy reads in there too, so it's not just from me! Anyway, Saturday afternoon she used my bathroom and when she came out, she asked me about "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" book.  I told her it was mine and I was in the middle of reading it.  She informed me that she too had started reading it when she was in the bathroom.  What?  NO!  


"Sonya, that is not a book for you girly.  It's a book for adults not little girls, " I explained.


"Well, I started reading it," she told me.


Then I just let it go.  Until yesterday, when I headed for my daily bathroom visit and read and couldn't find my book.  I looked on my nightstand, nope.  Then I looked in the living room, where it would have no reason to be and nothing.  Then a thought occurred to me and I remembered my conversation with Sonya two days before.  There in the girl's ducky bathroom, in the book basket next to the toilet was my book.  In it were two bookmarks.  One for me, one for Sonya.  I'm not sure what I was more worried about, her reading a book that was much to old for her, or her understanding it better than I did.  


So we had a more in depth conversation about it last night at dinner.  I again explained she couldn't read that book and she asked why not.  


"Because it's too old for you for right now.  I don't think you'll understand some of it and there may be parts that are to scary for you.  I'm not really sure, because I haven't finished it," I said.


"Well, how about this?  You can read it first and then let me know if I can read it when you're done," she told me.  


I agreed knowing what my answer would be before I finished the book, but this seemed to appease her, so I went with it.  Just to remind everyone, SHE IS SIX.  Okay, almost seven, but still!!  I can't have her reading books about murder and mayhem!


Well, I was debating on when to let her read Harry Potter, but I suppose I can put that debate to rest and just let her read them now.  At least those are closer to age appropriate.  And the murder and mayhem doesn't start until at least the third book.  That will take her at least until Thanksgiving to get to.  Maybe Halloween.  

For The Love Of Treats

I think I mentioned that my in-laws were in town last week.  One of the places they like to take the kids when they're here is Menchie's.  The kids love it and if I'm being completely honest, my father-in-law would eat there every night if we let him.  He loves ice cream.  Well, this is frozen yogurt, but they have hot fudge and when you come right down to it, that is what he really wants the most is the hot fudge.  They had already taken the girls once on Friday afternoon, after playing at the park.  On Sunday we went to the beach and we had decided everyone would go again to Menchie's that evening.  We had a late lunch after the beach, so Menchie's was going to be dinner/dessert.  I was not going, however, because I had dinner plans with my girlfriends for Melissa's birthday.  


The girls had been acting unruly since we had gotten back from the beach, and we had to threaten to take away the trip for frozen yogurt if they didn't find some better behavior.  They calmed down and played outside for a while.  Before I went off to get ready for my night out, Sonya said to me,


"You're not going to Menchie's?"


Or at least that's what I thought she said.


"No, honey, I'm going out to dinner with the girls," I told her. 


Her eyes quickly filled with tears and she started to cry.


"Oh honey, don't cry!" I said. "I can't go tonight.  If you want to wait until tomorrow to go I can come with you."


"Nooooo!! I want to go tonight!!" She said, and started to cry harder.  


I was so touched.  She was upset I wasn't coming with them for their big treat.  How sweet of her.  Then Andy walked by me and said,


"No.  She thinks NOBODY is going to Menchie's."


What?  No, but she's all upset about me not....


"Sonya, just I'M not going to Menchie's.  You guys are all still going," I explained.


The crying immediately stopped.  "Oh. We are?"


"Yes, you are all going to Menchie's and I am going out with the girls," I told her.  


She wiped the last of what tears had fallen, "Oh, okay!" Then she ran off to play with her sisters.


So it appears that my child loves frozen yogurt more than she loves me.  Lovely.  


My mother in law even said, "Well THAT'S gotta make you feel real good."


BUT!  But-about ten minutes later I was in the kitchen and Sonya came inside and said  to me,


"Mommy, are you okay that we're going to Menchie's and you're not?"


"Well sweetie, seeing as how mommy is going to a fancy, yummy dinner, which means I don't have to cook, and I'm not driving there, so I can drink more than one glass of wine, and have uninterrupted adult conversation, while getting away from the craziness of the house-yeah I think I'll be fine."  That was only the answer in my head though.  The answer I gave her was,


"Well, I'm a little sad that I don't get to go with you all, but it's okay.  I will go next time.  You guys have fun, okay?"


"Okay!" She said and hugged me before going back outside to play.


Well, she might love the frozen yogurt, but I'm pretty sure she still loves me more.  I think.  Let's not ask her to make a choice.  

Then There Were None

Well, I figured out when the longing for another baby starts again.  It's when your youngest baby starts pre-school.  Yup, Georgia started school yesterday and she could have cared less that we were leaving her there by herself for three hours.  I guess there is no reason she shouldn't be comfortable there.  She's been seeing her sisters go since she was an infant.  She was nothing but excited to go and had a great day.  The first thing she said when I picked her up was, 


"I didn't cwy or whine and I didn't pee-pee in my unders!"


I suppose that is all good.  I guess I should be happy she wasn't upset at all.  It is better than dealing with a crying child for TWO MONTHS, every time you drop them off (I'm talking about you, Sonya).  Still a little tear to let me know she would miss me wouldn't have hurt.  


Then Lana went today and this is her second year, so she's an old pro.  She walked right in, found her name, sat down and started to color.  There was a little boy sitting next to her who took a page from Sonya's book and had a complete meltdown.  I tried to encourage Lana to talk to him and let him know that school was fun and he would be fine.  She just shook her head no and went back to coloring.  I got the feeling his crying might set her off.  But she was fine and had a great time as well.  Plus she is in class with Angelina again, so all was right with the world.  


Now that I have all of them in school, it does make me wistful and sad for those baby days.  I guess up until now I've just had babies, so it's hard to feel like that when you're still taking care of them.  Especially when you have them back to back like I did.  It makes you not want to ever look at a baby again for a while.  I honestly thought I'd never feel this way but I do.  Don't worry though, we have NO plans for a fourth.  Even though the idea of having another baby is sometimes nice, I enjoy sleeping through the night now, and having my body to myself.  I am overwhelmed with three most of the time, so four would probably have me buying the next plane ticket to Hawaii.  I just think I will always miss having a baby.  I don't think that will ever go away.  I know it never really did for my mom either.   So I will just hang around the babies of my friends and get my fill that way.  The truth is it's really nice to hold them and play with them, but then give them back.  And I'm really enjoying the stages my girls are at now.  I just wish it would slow down a little.


 I think we have had this discussion before, Time.  I'm not asking you to stop completely, just slow to a crawl for a little while please.  I want to absorb as much of this cuteness for as long as I can.

Georgia-first day of preschool

Lana-first day of second year of preschool

*All of the girls first day of school dresses are Hartstrings and were provided by Nona.  Thanks Nona!

A Job For The Day

As most of you know I stay at home with my girls.  This is my job.  Years ago, in another life, I used to have jobs that actually paid, but this one is way better.  Except for the not getting money part.  While I do love being at home with the kids and don't regret my decision for not working, I sometimes find myself having daydreams about having a job.  Is that weird?  I mean I go to Starbucks and think, 


"I could totally make mochas for people at 5 am before the kids wake up."


Even though I've been out of the workforce for almost seven years now, I do want to go back to work someday for a number of reasons, extra money, my sanity, you know little things like that.  I figured when they were all in school someday I could do that.  But as that day approaches, I'm realizing how much driving I do to pick them up and take them to extracurricular activities. It occurs to me that if we keep things this way, going back to a full time job, the kind I had before kids, would mean we would have to get a nanny.  That would mean paying about the same money as I make, so what's the point?  So lately, I've been trying to find things to do so I could work while the kids are in school, but still be home with them after to the activities, make them dinner, etc.  


Just about every day I decide on different jobs I can do based on what's going on that day.  Some days I think maybe I could teach gymnastics at the place where the girls go.  Then I think about selling retail somewhere like Macy's.  That one is low on the list though because I've done retail before and it's not my favorite job.  Except for the discount part.  Then I think maybe I could do personal training.  I workout every day and eat fairly healthy.  I feel I could motivate people, so that might work.  Put it on the list!  Wednesday I went for my yearly gyno visit and thought about helping to deliver babies.  Not by way of being a Doctor.  I couldn't go to school for that long.  And I'm not that smart.  But I could maybe look into being a doula.  Yesterday I got my nails done and decided I could be the girl in charge of scheduling the nail girls.  I'm not kidding.  Just about every place I go I think about what it would be like to work there.  I guess it's a little weird, but it just means I do miss working just a little bit.  It's hard to only be with the girls all day and the only challenge I have is getting them to stop fighting for five minutes.  Which is a challenge mind you, but not the kind I'm looking for.  I would love for writing to be my full time work and make me some money, but that doesn't seem to be happening right now.  Maybe someday, I'm not counting that one out yet.  Then I found something today that I had always thought about doing and it would be perfect.  The problem is, it isn't a job anymore.  At least not here in California.  A teaching assistant, which has become, the parent volunteer. 


Since my in-laws are in town I took the opportunity to go into Sonya's classroom and help out her teacher.  They are always looking for parent volunteers, since they don't have anyone to help them anymore.  The teachers have to do all their own copying, stapling, pasting, and cutting of whatever it is they want to hand out to the kids.  And the good teachers have a lot of that stuff.  I was more than happy to help out today.  Sonya's teacher, Ms. Oh, had a bucket of projects for me when I walked in.  I wasn't sure how to work the laminating machine or what a dye cutter was, but by the end of the day I was a pro at both, as well as a champ on the copy machine.  It was mildly challenging.  Especially, when the copy machine and I got into a fight and it refused to work for twenty minutes.  One of the staff members helped to fix it.  I had a good time doing the busy work.  I wasn't interrupted every two minutes, by screaming and crying or to get someone a snack.  Plus I was done with everything well before Ms. Oh intended, I'm fairly certain.  She was surprised to see me back with everything done and still 2 hours left in the school day.  She said she didn't need anything else, so I left for the day.  It was the perfect situation.  I got to go in, help out and feel like I was doing something worthwhile, yet I was still around in plenty of time for Sonya to get out of school and take care of her.  Only I don't have to do that much today since my in-laws are here.  I sent them all to the park, so I could write in peace.


When all of the girls are in school, I could do that every day.  I would love to.  It takes care of my sanity issue, but it does not take care of the money issue.  It's really too bad that there isn't enough money in the schools to hire assistants here in California.  Especially because of how large the class sizes are now.  I'm not sure if other states still have assistants.  I know where my sister lives in Virginia they don't.  Zach's Kindergarten teacher was more than thrilled to find out that, not only does my sister have a teaching degree, but she is a reading specialist AND willing to come in and volunteer every week.  It's help  I'm sure she needs.  


I still have two more years until Georgia goes to Kindergarten and really three until she's in school full time.  Hopefully, I can figure something to do to make a little money that fits in the schedule and works for all of us. Hmmm, maybe Menchies-I could totally sell frozen yogurt, although I don't think I've seen anyone working in there over 18.   Perhaps Target since I'm there so much anyway...wait!  I know!  BEVMO! I think I will go apply there right now.