Six & 1/2 weeks, St. Jude, and the other miracle…

Six and a half weeks is what there is left to my anxiousness about kindergarten.  Yes!  Kindergarten!  Shut up!  On Saturday, February 14th, we will find out if Mr.J gets his lottery ticket picked for attending our school of choice.  6 & 1/2 weeks.

Fourteen years ago I prayed to Saint Jude (I’m Catholic–shut up!) to grant me the miracle of passing the exams so that I could be a bonafide professional, which was the entire reason why I went to college anyway.  I knew,  just knew, that if I didn’t pray to Saint Jude, I would fail.  I come from a long line of saint prayers–at least I don’t light candles–too dangerous for me. So I studied my ass off, skipped many family functions to study some more, and of course prayed.  It worked!  St. Jude and lots of studying, paid off and I passed my exams.  Now I know what you’re thinking, I passed because I studied.  But I don’t entirely believe that.  If I had not studied, I would not have passed, but if I had not prayed, who knows how many times I would have had to take the exams in order to pass.  I’m not a brain.  You thought I was?  thank you 😉

Since I know St Jude helps prayers get answered, I prayed the same Novena for my son Mr.J to get into the kindy we want him in.  No–it is NOT cheating.  Cheating would be giving in to the urge to rub Baby Jude’s head (a baby at our church whose name is JUDE!–his sisters actually attend the school we want to get in.  Coincidence? I doubt it).  Hopefully God agrees with my plan and Saint Jude puts in a good word.  He’s done it before.

Part of the prayer is the promise to publish the Novena.  So here it is–and yes it works.:

NOVENA TO ST. JUDE:

Oh Holy St. Jude, Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue, and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke your special patronage in time of need, to you I have recourse from the depths of my heart and humbly beg to whom God has given such great power to come to my assistance.  Help in my present and urgent petition.  In return I promise to make your name known and cause you to be invoked.  St. Jude pray for us all who invoke your aid.  Amen.   Say 3 Our Fathers, 3 Hail Marys, 3 Glorias.  Say for 9 consecutive days.  Publication must be promised.  This Novena has never been known to fail.  Thank You. CC.

Well, that’s it.  I have done everything that I can.  Now I wait and see what will happen.

Nursery school…

is a real killer!  Look at this poor child.  All those finger paints, and play-doh, and crafts to make!  It’s a wonder there’s any glue left in this world. And let’s not even mention dress up time.

Nursery school always seems to wear her out 😉

Notice her wings?  She’s also busy saving the world.  When she’s not sleeping.

No school for him today…

I was sleeping all cozy and warm this morning when at 7:18 am my 4 yr old wakes me by saying, “My tummy hurts! I think I have to throw up.”

I jumped out of my blissful and warm sleep to usher him to the bathroom where he promptly puked at the threshold of the door.  So close, yet so far.

10 minutes later after I changed BOTH our pjs, cleaned up the nauseating mess (pun intended), and made a “bed” for him on the couch downstairs and settled him and my daughter down to watch Franklin, I drank my coffee.

How I love my hot liquid addictive coffee, you may never know.  It’s the only thing that keeps me going some days.

Can I survive another 10 weeks of obsession?

Mr J. will be entering kindergarten next September.  Were I just some mother who believed all education was created equal, I would happily send him to the cute little public school right in the center of our town, overlooking a very picturesque scene expected in a New England town.  After all, we chose this town to live in because of it’s very good public school system.  But I’m not that mother, and now I’m trying not to send Mr J. there. Weird?  Maybe, but when we bought this house in this town, we did not realize that there is more than one public school option available to our children.

While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the cute little public New England elementary school (did I mention it has ivy growing up the side of the building very reminiscent of a Harvard building? Well it does!), my husband and I can’t help but think that another school might be better for Mr J.  It is a few minutes farther away, and I would have to drive my own kid (no school bus–hopefully that is a deterrent to other parents–lazy parents–not you), and my kid would most likely become friends with children from other towns, which means I would have to drive farther for playdates, and the kids are “stuck” there from K to 12th grades and what respectable 16 yr old wants to go to school with a 5 yr old?, but I digress.  It certainly has it’s share of negatives, but it also has some really wonderful positives!!!!

A few Positives:

• the kindy classes each have a max of 20 children, plus one teacher and one aide (that’s 2 adults for 20 kids!!!!!)
• the upper classes have mixed grades in one classroom:  1st grade/2nd grade, 3rd & 4th grade, etc.  the younger kids “learn” from the older children–but under the guidance of the teachers of course! (my tax money has to be used for something).  Similar of the Montessori Method– which is another deterrent for some folks 🙂
• Spanish is taught as a second language beginning in kindergarten!!
• community service is part of the curriculum–building compassionate kids
• there are kids from different socio-economic and racial backgrounds–another deterrent for some!
• the upper grades are SMALL enabling teachers and students to work closely together
• applying to and being accepted to a college or university is a REQUIREMENT to graduate!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• parent involvement/volunteerism is expected!!!!!!!—another deterrent!!!!!!!

Did you notice I like to highlight the possible deterrents while I point out the positives?  Am I doing it to be mean?  NO!!!  It’s because so many parents would like to see their children in this school, that there are more students trying to enroll than there are spots for!!!!!  So I need to showcase the negatives.  What? Yes, because of this, the only way to get your child in (if you still want to after all the terrible things about it) is to participate in a LOTTERY. First, you must fill out an application, sign another form, include a copy of your child’s birth certificate, and write a letter explaining why you want your child to attend, and include what you believe to be his/her learning style, and what you (the parent) can contribute to the school. Still interested?  Except that’s not even the best part.  The BEST part is that after you do all of that and mail it all to the school (if you’re like me: via CERTIFIED mail, and then call them a week later to reconfirm that they received it and logged your child in, only to which the next day you get a postcard in the mail confirming that they really really did indeed receive the enrollment packet, but it’s OK because now you know the secretary’s name is Pam) you get to wait WEEKS–months actually until the day of the lottery.  Can you believe it?  It really separates the women from the girls.  Whew!

Therefore, if you visit this school and fall in love with the kindergarten teacher and wish the principal was your neighbor, and think the classrooms look like the best thing this side of the childrens dept. at IKEA, just keep in mind that it has scored lower in it’s test scores than the other public school you can send your child to.  XOXO!

In case you didn’t already love Amy Poehler…

smart girls at the party

I hope this link works.

Free advice from me to you regarding the Christmas tree…

Do NOT under ANY circumstance decorate your house with festive decorations or the tree while your children are at home.  NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!!!  Because if it takes you as long as it takes me with them underfoot (2 days+) you will end up in an insane asylum before you are done. Trust me.

The tree and lights are finally up, but I quit for today.  All other decorations will have to wait for Thursday because I will be on vacation at work tomorrow.

This is a photo from earlier in the morning, lest you think it’s always sunshine and glamour around here.

Coming home

Nothing beats coming home from a trip to a nice, clean house.  Nothing.  Whenever we travel (usually just for a long weekend) I do everything I can to CLEAN my house.  Sweep, vaccuum, scrub bathrooms, dust, make beds, you name it, and I will nearly kill myself trying to get it all done.  While I’m doing it, I HATE it and whine and curse like nobody’s business…but to come home to that after 8 hours and days away is priceless, PRICELESS I tell you!!  and SO worth it!!!!!