Tea Time with Tiffany #47 - Are *you* kindergarten ready?! And Come Holy Spirit!

Well hello all! It's a gorgeous day for our first May 2016 episode of:

Today I talk about the Pentecost novena, and a quick compilation of family updates. Who is playing soccer on Mother's Day? Who is in the star role in a play next weekend? And who among us is "kindergarten ready"? Listen on, dear listener!



**To subscribe to the audio version of Tea Time with Tiffany, just search for it in iTunes or use this link to subscribe via Feedburner in your podcatcher of choice. Intro music is "Tea Ceremony" from PlayonLoop.com

Items mentioned in this episode:

• Pentecost Novena
• Henry's 1st Holy Communion, 2 years ago. *sob!*
• Mother's Day Disasters of old.

What's going on with you, dear listener? Do write in and let me know!

Morning routine, why do I hate you so much right now?

Hi all. If bad mornings are rated on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being "eh. Not terrible, I'll live," and 10 being "well that really SUCKED," then today's morning would get a solid 7, I'm thinking.

That does make two stressful mornings in a row, doesn't it? I know I'm not alone in this. Fall means adjusting to new routines for many people, and it simply takes time to get it all worked out. I know  that rushed morning routines are small potatoes in the global scale of things, it just helps to laugh at ourselves sometimes, right? Otherwise I'll go watch the news and cry again.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday are the culprits. Mike has an 8 am class, and so he drops Henry off at school around 7:30, as Henry's school begins at 7:45. This works out, but it's a close squeeze for him, time-wise. Meanwhile,  Anne and I are back at home, and I feel like I've got ants in my pants, because I like to be on my way to work by 8 am. I have frequent 9 am reference shifts and meetings, and so I like to be settled in my office around the 8:30 mark, booting up, brewing tea, checking email. Well, that's not possible right now, because I have to drop Anne at pre-K, and the doors don't open there until 8:15. And her school is in the opposite direction of the university that I work at.

#ugh

The past two mornings (Mike can usually take her Tuesdays, but I went along yesterday because it was her first day) have been misery. It's nice lounging with Anne for a half hour after Mike and Henry leave, but after that (let's examine this particular morning, shall we?), it's a cannon ball run:

"All right, Team Umizoomi is over! (God help me). Quick! Let's brush your teeth and get your shoes on! No, Anne, you can't take your (fill in the blank random toy) to school. Shoes! Where's your backpack?!"

We hustle to the car and get underway. Inevitable near occasions of sin involving other cars and garbage trucks ensue. We arrive. Anne drops her illicitly smuggled (fill in the blank random toy) and it scurries underneath my car as she disembarks. I have to climb down on my hands and knees to get it, gathering dirt and grass as I do so. Toy gets tucked back into the car. We hurry to the door, where we...wait until 8:15 for the doors to open.

*groans*

8:15 comes, I hustle her to the door for a goodbye kiss, and then I jet back to my car down the street. By 8:20 I am underway to campus. I arrive around 8:42, and guess what? Yep, staff parking lot FULL. AGAIN, I might add. I drive to a further-away student lot, park, and walk. I arrive on my floor of the library, a bit sweaty and disheveled, at 8:55. I quickly unpack my lunch, boot up my computer, and race down to the reference desk, pre-packed coffee mug in hand. The day I forget that mug, dear reader...well, you're really not going to want to read the post I write THAT day.

I get down to the reference desk, and find out that the entire ground floor of the library has no power. Delightful. People are scurrying all about, creating signs to put up announcing this unfortunate state of powerless affairs. One of my colleagues, the sweetest man ever, but a *talker*, kwim?! comes to the  reference desk to create a sign. And begins talking to me. About very random things. I have a class to plan for, plus I was rather hoping to work on this post during quiet moments. No quiet moments for Tiffany this morning, no sir. SO MUCH CHATTING. And there's no polite way to make the "I couldn't *possibly* care less, can't you see this legal pad I keep stealing looks at?!" face. So I had to chat about current films and other events until he wandered off. These are the moments whereby I am *dying* for a student to come up to the reference desk demanding that I try and help them procure an imaginary, free library copy of their textbooks.

After he left, I put up the "Librarian will be right back!" sign, grabbed my legal pad, and headed into the reference stacks to grab a few encyclopedias for my class. When I returned, two officious men wearing i.d. badges were circling the reference desk in an ominous manner:

"We're here doing an inspection relating to the power outage. We see a violation relating to your power strip. You will have to power down your machine."

In all my years, I tell you, this is a first. There goes my budding lesson plan. Of course, the reference desk machine picks THAT MOMENT to install a *#@!load of updates before it will power down. I think it was giving the inspection guys the virtual finger.

What feels like many minutes later, I boot back up the reference computer and open my fledgling lesson plan. I reject my initial flock of encyclopedias and go back for others. I finally piece something coherent together.

By the end of my shift, I was feeling scattered and edgy. I could also feel my hair curling and expanding due to the humidity in the air. It wasn't the greatest of mornings, I suppose. But here I am, finishing lunch, and I'm still in one piece, so how bad could it be?

How was *your* morning, dear reader? Here's raising my cute orange water bottle to coming up with ways to improve our morning routines! :)

First day of school for the munchkins... *sniffle*!

Hi all.

*super emotional*

Goodness, I knew it would be a tough morning. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well last night. I was wide awake, staring at the ceiling, at 5:30 am, while Mike snoozed contentedly next to me. I felt nervous for both kids, and tons of emotion about them both going off on their new adventures.

Mike got up for his shower about 6 am, and I climbed out of bed about 6:25, bleary eyed and feeling a little sick to my stomach. We're still experiencing a heat wave over here, and thus it was too hot and humid to straighten my hair, which did nothing to improve my mood, I assure you. Mike came upstairs to wake Henry and check on me, and found me flitting from room to room, randomly organizing things. :0

I got myself dressed and ready, and went into Anne's room. She *leapt* out of bed:

"Mommy, I am SO EXCITED to go to my school!"

No lack of enthusiasm from THAT room.

"Mommy, I want to wear my blue Elsa shirt, and my silver sandals, and..."

She was rearing to go. I really didn't want her to wear shorts, but it is SO FREAKING HOT here right now, and the school is not air conditioned, so I relented.

I got her downstairs, and she immediately strapped on her backpack and queued up at the door.

"Anne, we're not leaving for 45 minutes, Honey."

"WHAT?"

This would be when the morning took a turn for the more challenging.

"Henry is leaving in a few minutes, but his school starts before yours. You still need to eat breakfast."

For this year, Anne is attending one of the public elementary schools, in the half day Universal Pre-K program. Next year, she'll go to Catholic school with Henry.

Well, she wasn't too happy about the delay. And she also wasn't too happy about posing for a First Day of School Photo:

Looks a bit like a hostage photo

...but alas. Henry headed off for 5th grade, seeming a bit nervous. And I pacified Anne so that we could both eat breakfast and get our lunches packed.

Around 8 am, we headed out for Anne's school. Usually, that's the time I leave for work, so drops offs are now going to make for a dicey parking situation for myself, but there's nothing I can really do about it. Except ask for St. Anthony to help me find a spot, which I do, frequently. ;-) At any rate, it was the first day, so both Mike and I went, and were all excited to be walking Anne all the way into her classroom. After today, we'll be dropping her at the door, which is what the teacher requests. The doors don't open until 8:15, so we waited with her outside for the big opening moment.

"You can go now. I can walk in by myself."

My daughter? She is independent. And extremely social. And SASSY.  She wanted to go socialize with the other little girls, and she didn't want her parents cramping her style. She seemed quite irritated that we did not obey her command.

Finally, the doors opened, and we all walked into the Pre-K classroom. Super cute. I showed Anne where her cubbie was and hung up her backpack. We found her spot at one of the little tables and popped her name tag around her neck. She seemed happy:

A glowing moment, memorialized with crayons

...but quickly devolved into a Facey-Face when she realized that there was assigned seating and she couldn't just go sit with another little girl. The seats were strategically arranged boy-girl-boy-girl, to cut down on talking and distractions, I'm thinking. :)

Mike agreed to wait with her for a few extra minutes so that I could jet off to work, which I gratefully did. I waved to them both as I left the classroom, feeling emotional. Mike smiled and waved back. Anne did not. :0

4 year olds. Nothing more needs to be said, really.

I got into my car quickly, set up my podcast listening, and headed to campus for work. I would be getting in about 15 minutes later than usual, and I hoped the parking wouldn't be too ugly. Sometimes, my friends, hopes are in vain.

I arrive on campus.

"Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us. Queen of Peace, pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. What the *&^!"

See? I had to go and ruin the end of a lovely rosary recitation with my temper. But one wouldn't think that 15 mere minutes would mean that all the staff parking lots were full, as well as the nearest 2 student lots, WOULD ONE?!

I had to park down one lot level, and over another one, in yet another student lot, and I was lucky to even find a spot in that lot at that point. I sat in the car stewing (and sweating, as if to add insult to injury) for a few minutes, writing a salty text message to Mike, so that he could share in my misery. He wrote back sympathetically, which buoyed my sagging spirits a bit. I gathered my stuff, and I almost forgot my travel coffee mug, and if THAT had happened, well...the expletives would have been *flying*, let me tell you. But luckily I remembered it BEFORE stomping off on the 10 minute voyage to the library.

#offeringitup

*halo!*

Then I got in and porkily started up my computer. The other offices were still empty (the occupants likely still looking for parking spaces) so I seized the opportunity to record a video for Thursday. Though only after taming my hair for a few minutes, because I want you all to think that I NEVER have bad hair days.

#somuchsubterfuge

And now here I am, typing away during quiet moments on the reference desk. Those were my morning adventures. How was YOUR morning, dear reader? :)

Tea Time with Tiffany #14 - Teaching & the start of a new school year!

Hi all! I hope that your first week of September is off to a good start, and that you're ready with your tea for our time together today:

Back to school mania is on my mind today, so that's our topic. I started teaching this week, so I speak briefly about that, and solicit your thoughts on what the freshness of September brings into your own life.


Items mentioned in this episode:

• St. Thomas More, pray for all students!
• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for all librarians!
• I'm teaching a credit bearing research methods course this semester. Eeks!
• My kids go back to school next week. Expect teary posts and for hormone levels to be high here at Life of a Catholic Librarian. :0

What does September Welcome mean to you? Do write in!

A sickly Labor Day weekend, and Henry's first day of 4th grade...

Happy Tuesday everyone, and I hope you had a great Labor Day. I love Labor Day weekend, so crisp and fresh-feeling. This year, I was sick for the entirety of the weekend, unfortunately, and in fact I'm still not back to 100%. I did have a lovely time with Mike and the kids, but the sick thing stunk a bit. Let us chronicle...

On Friday evening I was really stuffy, a hair headachey and generally feeling wimpy. We went to my in-laws to have cake in celebration of my father-in-law's birthday, and while pleasant, I was just *dying* to get home, put on pajamas, and lay on the couch doing nothing but breathing. Since I didn't have dance class this week, I was able to do that.

By the time I awoke on Saturday, my nose was an entity. I think I went through about 500 pieces of tissue. I was contemplating amputation by mid-afternoon. Aren't you so glad for these details? You're welcome.

:0

Mike and I had dinner plans that evening, and I really didn't want to cancel, so I rallied. I had things as under control as I could so that I could enjoy dinner. Which is to say ibuprofened-up with a purse full of tissue. It went pretty well.

During the night, I heard Anne crying. I go into her room.

"Mommy, could you take my temperature? My throat hurts."

UH OH.

She didn't have a fever, but definitely seemed a bit "off." By Sunday, I was only going through maybe 250 tissues so there had been some improvement. :0 I was, however, starting to cough.

WHY DOES GOD HATE ME LIKE THIS?!

I loathe coughing because it means I can't sleep well. And sleep, when you are a parent of young children, is a precious, precious commodity.

I didn't want to miss Mass on Sunday, so I dragged myself with only minimal hacking and tissue-related activities. As discreet as I was, it was still evident that there had been germs amongst us, and I thought that would have discouraged the people sitting near me during the Sign of Peace. I was wrong.

I'm sure all of you introverts out there are with me when I saw that the Sign of Peace is the most stressful part of Mass for me. :0 Eye contact needs to be made, a greeting, *touching*, it's just not my cup of tea. But I don't want to be rude, so I let the other person lead. I will either shake their hand or nod happily in their direction while wishing them peace, depending upon what they do. But yesterday? I wasn't shaking anybody's hand after all the nose blowing I was forced to do, it just would not have been seemly. When the eager hands came my way, I politely whispered that I had a cold and gave them a friendly wave. I hope they weren't offended. :-)

So I was managing the coughing by Sunday evening as best I could, and since Anne seemed to perk up a bit, I was hoping she was already on the up swing and maybe had only a very minor cold. I did, though, have the fever rash to end all fever rashes on my neck. You've all heard my tale of woe on this one before. This time at least, besides Mass, to which I wore a high-necked top, I could stay in. But still. Oy. My own mother saw me and exclaimed loudly:

"OH MY GOSH!! What is wrong with *your neck*?!"

"It's a rash. I get them all the time now when I'm sick."

"Well, you didn't when you were little, I WOULD HAVE REMEMBERED."

"Yes, it seems to have developed about 10 years ago." Lucky me.

"Well, you can't go to work like that. Good heavens."

*Tiffany frowns*

And then, to add to the fun:

5 am Monday morning: *Anne is crying* "MOMMY!"

She didn't feel good. She was stuffy and having a difficult time breathing out of her nose, keeping her awake. She said that her head hurt.

Poor, poor babe. Yesterday afternoon, after trying to sniff a scented candle, she came running up to me saying "Mommy, MY NOSE ISN'T WORKING!!" She was quite distressed about this. #precious

So I coddled her all day yesterday. My nose is now doing pretty decent, but my lungs and throat clearly aren't happy. I'm coughing more than ever and have developed what Mike calls my "sultry voice." While not nearly as much fun for me as it is for him, he enjoys this side effect quite a bit. :-)

This morning we also got Henry up for his first day of fourth grade. My baby! He seemed apprehensive, and change is always hard for him. The kid is so much like me.

I wanted a picture of him for his first day, looking adorable in his school uniform (approved summer wear permissible until October 1st):

"Henry, could you try and smile so that you won't look like you're about to be incarcerated?"

:-)

And so then we got this:

Eventually. There were multiple failed smile attempts in there that were...Henry will be very glad I deleted those. :0 But photos are not his favorite thing right now, to be sure. I'm very anxious to hear about his day.

All right, I need to go make more tea for my throat. How was your Labor Day? Do comment. :)

"Hum, Wisconsin has a "k" in it..." My adventures in Henry's classroom. :)

...yes, this would be on Hank's personalized map of the United States that he filled in and colored. He's almost 8, he's almost as tall as me, but dang it that kid is still CUTE.

I love going to Henry's school. I love seeing the crucifix in every room, and the abundant statues of Our Lady. I got to see the foam crosses that each child had decorated (Henry's had 2 coiled pythons on it and a monkey, apparently we had some holdovers from Noah's Ark making their way to the New Testament), and sit at his desk.

It was all quite precious. I met his teacher, who was very warm and kind, also very experienced. She summed Henry up spot on:

"Henry. Such a sweet boy. Very bright. Needs to work on his listening skills."

Yep, that's my son.

She talked about the curriculum, and that's one of the other things I love about this school. Very traditional. Mathematics, reading and language arts, science, social studies, religion, and yes, good old fashioned penmanship. She spoke of the third grade sacramental preparation for First Holy Communion with reverence, calling it the crown jewel of their religious education program. They have a culture element to the social studies curriculum that is themed for each month, and in December they are going to study Christmas around the world.

LOVE. I saw that she has a collection of books about careers, and included was a book about becoming a librarian.

*angels sing*

The classroom has a little library, and the school of course has a larger one. The children go weekly to get new books. They have frequent informal reading time and they can read whatever they like as long as it's chaptered.

I left feeling all warm and fuzzy, and carrying a new prayer book we each received. Life is good.

Henry's contest

"Mommy, there is a big contest at school for the Year of Faith, and the winner gets to have lunch with the bishop!"

"Well that sounds very exciting. What do you have to do?"

"Make a poster showing how a priest or nun helps everybody with their faith."

Uh oh. Art work is not our strong suit. Hank has inherited my utter lack of any artistic talent whatsoever. There are unspeakable past art projects to which I still repress the memories.

"Ok, Honey. What is your idea for your poster?"

"A priest baptizing somebody."

"Oh. Well, that's actually a really great idea. Let's start a sketch."

*sketching commences*

"Hum, well Hank I'd make the priest a bit bigger. People don't generally have heads that small."

"But if I erase it'll look bad."

"Let's get a fresh sheet of paper."

*sketching continues with just a hair of whining starting to come into play*

"Well, the people are better, Honey, but the baptismal font is, well, far too large. It's bigger than the priest, he wouldn't even be able to reach the top."

*Hank scowls*

"But I won't be able to make another one that looks this good."

"Well, I think we're going to have to take our chances. And while you're at it, re-draw the baby. Right now it looks like the priest is about to toss him into the font, and we can't have that."

It was a very long evening.

In gratitude for our Catholic school

A few weeks ago we had our autumn parent conference with Henry's teacher. This year, Mike and I were both able to go, which was wonderful. As we were waiting for Hank's teacher to finish up with another parent, we wandered around the hallway immediately outside the room and saw lots of adorable art work. I love the Catholic spin on everything they have the kids do there. There was a featured prayer, one written by each child, in honor of the month of the rosary, complete with drawing of Mary. Lists of things they were grateful for, etc.

When it was our turn, we headed in. I had met Henry's new teacher before, but Mike hadn't. She came from a nearby Catholic school that closed last year after being open for more than 100 years. This is part of a sad reality in our area. I know that we're lucky in that where we live (western New York) there are more Catholic churches and schools than you can shake a stick at. However, over the past 10 years, there have been SO many church and school consolidations/closings. I'm sure this is prevalent throughout the northeast.

The main reason is population shift. Not as many people live in this area compared to 100 years ago, and those that do have moved to the suburbs in droves. The original, gorgeous churches (complete with schools) in this area were built in the cities. There simply wasn't enough families registered to keep all of them open, especially with the high cost of maintenance in these historic structures. One of the local suburbs recently built a new church to accommodate their burgeoning congregation, but alas, it is modern, and well, sort of ugly. :) It seems to be the way of things these days. But I'm happy that the parish is thriving.

Our parish school closed 3 years or so ago after being open for nearly 110 years. Hank's school is affiliated with another parish that is very close to where we live. Including our parish, 3 Catholic schools have closed recently right in or on the border of our town. Too much competition for not enough families willing to pay to send their kids to Catholic school. I will say though that with the public schools majorly cutting back (laying off teachers, cutting programs, etc) it seems to me that there is renewed interest in the Catholic schools even from non-Catholics, which is helping attendance.

At any rate, Henry's school picked up some students and teachers from this most recent one to close, and the school seems to be doing well. I'm happy, since I obviously want them to stay in business.

Henry's teacher is very experienced, and very laid back. We chatted with her comfortably, and it's clear that Henry is thriving both academically and socially. I worry because Henry is a bit of a shy child (he reminds me so much of myself in this way) but she assured us that she never would have known he was shy if we hadn't said anything, that he just integrates so well with his classmates. That made me feel good.

She said two things that struck a resonance with me. As we were chatting about Hank, she said:

"He's doing so well here, I'm so glad that you sent him here."

Me too! I thought that was just such a lovely way that she put that.

As we were finishing up, I asked her about her old school closing and how she was transitioning to her new environment. She said how much she liked the school, and how it emphasized traditional academics and values:

"They focus on the important things here academically: reading, math, handwriting, science and social studies. And God. God is the most important thing here."

Since she had come from another school and had many years of teaching to compare with, her comment really stuck with me.

This morning, Henry forgot his gym clothes, so I dropped them off in the office on my way to work. The principal was there talking to one of the secretaries when I arrived. They immediately asked me about Henry's birthday (which is Tuesday) because one of the kids had told them that Henry's birthday was tomorrow. I mean, the principal KNOWS my kid and cares about getting his birthday right in the daily announcements, and it's not because he's seeing her all the time for disciplinary reasons. :) I was so impressed by that. This is a nice place, a very worthwhile investment in Henry's future.

And I can't wait to see Anne in the adorable girls uniform when she starts kindergarten. :)

Henry's picture day

"Morning Honey, it's time to get up"

*no response*

"Come on Sweetie, go use the bathroom."

*eyelids slit open*

5 minutes later...

"Hank? Are you up?"

*soft rustling sounds*

5 minutes later...

*toilet flushes*

5 minutes later...

"Hank? Wha'cha doing in here Honey?"

*spies Henry lying prone on bed, still clad only in boxer shorts*

"I don't like having my picture tooken, Mommy."

"You mean 'taken.' It'll be fine, Honey. Just please smile. Last year you looked like you were in pain."

"I really don't like picture day, Mommy."

"Well, you'll live. Just remember, if you don't smile, I'm making you go for the Retake Day, so keep your motivation high."

My compassion is overwhelming, is it not?

Parent orientation night

So last night I dragged a comb through my hair, added some blusher, and hoped I looked alive enough to head to parent orientation night at Henry's school.

I was running late, and so hustled in right before his teacher started. I had to do the quick loop around the room to find Hank's desk, and then wedge  myself onto his little chair. Right away, I got a good feeling from his teacher. And that's the thing with our experience with this school. At his old school, every time we went there, I left feeling:

"I just...don't know about this."

Whereas here, I always feel:

*happy beam*

It's just so warm and friendly at his new school, and I feel like they place importance on the right things. Catholic values, strong language arts, math, science, and social studies curriculum, and good old-fashioned penmanship. At the other school, there were lots of district policies on everything from nutrition to pretend play that we had to be made aware of and plenty of emphasis on state testing scores. 

Right away in Hank's classroom, I felt happy. Crucifix on the wall, pictures of saints pinned up, it felt very Catholic and nurturing. His teacher was super friendly, very jovial and happy-go-lucky. She's been teaching a long time, although she's new to Hank's school. She had a quick presentation, and then everybody started talking amongst themselves.

Immediately, the mother next to me started chatting with me. I had noticed that she was chatty during the teachers' presentation; definitely a question asker. :) But very nice.

"So. Samantha comes home every day and just talks and talks about Henry."

Ah ha. I knew there was more to Hank's school story than met the eye:

"Hi Honey! How was school today?!"

"Fine."

"What did you do today?"

"Nothing."

"Didn't you have..."

"Nothing."

So see. Little girls talk to him. This we hear nothing about. Anyway, we continue with the chatty mom:

"Oh yes, she tells me about Henry all the time. She seems to really like it here."

As we were talking, I noticed that little Samantha's desk had a sparkly Barbie pencil case neatly tucked into her desk, whereas Henry's plain plastic one was already broken. Some things are really predictable.

Anyway, I chatted with this mom for a bit more. Turns out they are Presbyterian, not Catholic, but they didn't like her previous public school, and are very happy that they switched. I learned all sorts of interesting details about all this. I think that there are quite a few people around here who are non-Catholic but use the Catholic schools. I'm always interested to learn their story.

Before I left, I checked out Henry's art work up on the wall and signed up for a parent/teacher conference next month. He had an adorable entry into the class project of writing a sentence that begins with "I am special because..." Henry's indicated that he was special "because God made me." An adorable, pious answer. Somehow I'm thinking he didn't come up with this answer all on his own, but it's precious all the same.

Henry's first day of school

"Hi Honey! How was your first day of school?"

"Good."

"Do you like your new teacher?"

"Yes."

"Is she nice?"

"Yes."

"Are there any new kids in your class?" (nice thing about his Catholic school, the class sizes are small)

"Yes."

"How many?"

"I don't remember."

"Are they girls or boys?"

"I don't remember."

"They're girls, huh?"

"Yes."

"Do you have gym or anything tomorrow?"

"I don't remember."

*sighs*

"Do you like your new classroom?"

*scowl* "Not really. It's on the first floor, Mommy. I like it better on the second floor."

Suddenly, he can say more than 3 words.

"Do you want to buy your lunch tomorrow?"

"No, it's chicken nuggets. I'm holding out for pizza on Thursday."

Ah ha.

A lenten update, and the future of our Catholic schools

I was thinking about Lent this morning because I haven't been doing nearly as well as I would like with my daily devotions. When March started, I moved over to trying out the sample copy of Magnificat that I received, and as happened before, I'm just not using it. The simple truth is that I get lazy. I love saying my rosary in the mornings, but reading the morning and evening prayers just isn't happening. I did do better with my Liturgy of the Hours set, maybe I should go back to those. But as much as I admire Magnificat, I just don't use it to it's fullest potential. Hank at least has been using his Magnifikid! He still has 2 more issues left (they're actually divided into small booklets for each week) and we'll see how he does with those. I'm on the fence about getting him a subscription. I'm much more likely to pursue a subscription for him than I am for myself for the monthly Magnificat, I just want to make sure that he's going to really, really use it for $35 a year. I'll make a decision in the next week or so.

I will say that I've been keeping up with reading only Catholic nonfiction and religious fiction for Lent. I've been moving forward with The End and the Beginning and I love it. I finished up my Amish book and I plucked a new Catholic fiction volume off my shelf that I received for my birthday. I've been *very* tempted by some secular romance novels lately. I feel no compunction in saying that my reading roots are romance fiction, and I love this genre. I've been hoarding inexpensive Harlequin titles on my shelves that I picked up on the cheap, and I'm *dying* to delve into them, but I'm managed herculean restraint and I'm saying them for Easter time. I feel very martyr-like for my efforts.

Anyway, I was dwelling on my lenten failures this morning as I poured my cereal and Anne attempted to eat the throw rug at my feet, when Mike drew my attention to an article in the local section of our newspaper: yet another nearby Catholic school, running for the past *95 years* is closing at the end of this academic year.

This is so, so sad. Over the past 5 years or so, this area has seen a deluge of beautiful and historic Catholic parishes and schools close, and it's just heartbreaking.

We live in the heart of the Rust Belt. This area, once thriving with immigrants and their families, has had a massive loss of population. Those immigrants were mainly of Italian and Polish descent, so there were a LOT of Catholics. All of those Catholics attended gorgeous old-style Catholic churches and sent their kids to Catholic school. This school in question, the one that is closing, peaked in attendance with approximately 650 students back in the late 1950's and early 1960's. 10 years ago it had about 185 students. This school year, it had 109 students. For the upcoming academic year, only 60 students had enrolled, despite aggressive efforts to boost enrollment.

There's a lot of competition in this area, despite prior school closings. Very close to this school are 2 other Catholic schools , plus 5 others within a decently close driving distance, including the one Henry attends. And that's after 3 Catholic schools in this same area closed over the past few years! And the fact of the matter is, there's not as many people living in this area anymore. And of those people remaining that are Catholic, many of them just don't feel a pressing need to send their kids to Catholic school the way families used to. Now granted, there are lots of reasons parents decide to send their children to a public or otherwise non-Catholic school, and that's totally understandable. For many people, it's financial. The public school is free (aside from our tax money, of course). And for children with special needs the public school often offers more services for them.

But I can't help but think a huge issue is the fact that so many Catholics do not (or rarely) attend Mass anymore. People that aren't involved in their parish community are much less likely to send their children to the parish school. That combined with the two issues I mentioned above translates into a much smaller pool of students interspersed over all of these old Catholic schools, and you see the closings that we're experiencing now.

The school that Henry attends is doing well, thankfully, but it *is* smaller than the other 2 close by Catholic schools, which are absolutely thriving. This makes me terribly nervous. I just continue to recommend the school to other parents and hope for the best. I'd think that Henry's school would get a few families from this school that is closing, since it's not too far away. There's one that is closer that I'm certain will pick up the majority of them. Our diocese is offering a $500 stipend to all families in the closing school to enroll in any other diocesan Catholic school next year. And they'll be eligible for the discounted parishoner tuition rate. We also receive this rate, since we attend a parish without a Catholic school. Our parish school closed after running for just over 100 years. Only 80 students enrolled. So, so sad.

I mentioned my sadness to Mike, who concurred. I expressed a bit of anxiety about what we would do should Henry's school close, and happily he mentioned that we could look at the other 2 Catholic schools in our town. So, we'll see what happens. But we take pride in Henry's school and support it as much as we can. Enrollment time came up recently for next year, and I'm thrilled that we registered Henry for second grade there.

He came home the other day with a lenten journal that he had to decorate. PRECIOUS. I just love that he is there.

Catholic Schools Week!

It's Catholic Schools Week here in my diocese, and Hank is all excited about all of the special activities they have planned for each day. He also loves that they only have to wear their uniforms today and can dress down the rest of the week.

But really, he doesn't complain about the uniforms, he just loves it when they do get a dress down day once per month (usually, with a $1 donation to a local charity). I, on the other hand, LOVE the uniforms. Mornings are infinitely easier: he knows exactly what to put on and can do it all himself, he just picks either a white shirt or light blue. Sweet.

It's been an interesting year for us with Henry in a Catholic school for the first time. I never went to Catholic school, just public schools my whole life. Mike went to a Catholic school for a few years in elementary school and actually loved it. We're planning to re-enroll Henry again for second grade in his current school. If you were to ask him where he wants to go to school next year, he'd tell you that he wants to go back to the public school. But he really can't articulate why. One time he told me that he liked art better there, I think, so pretty inconsequential stuff.

I think it's a "grass is always greener" phenomena. He's in first grade, so we're now at the "other kids tease and make inappropriate jokes" age, unfortunately. But that's going to be the case anywhere. And if he were to go back to the public school, we'd have to go through the trauma of him not knowing anybody and being all anxious about it again, since the public school is MUCH larger and has multiple classes for each grade. Even though he went there for kindergarten, he certainly wouldn't know at least half of his classmates. They had 4 kindergarten classes when he went there, but I know they also laid teachers off, so likely they are down to 3 classes, which means larger classes. In his Catholic school, he definitely gets a TON more attention, with a smaller class. He even gets papers sent home with nice notes from the principal if he does a good job on something. There's definitely a "homey" feel to this school. Plus, I love that he gets his sacramental preparation right in school, and we don't have to do CCD one night per week.

Mike and I haven't even really talked about it in depth, we're both just of the mindset that he should stay at his Catholic school for next year. Henry is a bit shy, and so I worry about him making friends and being happy. But he's always happy in the mornings going to school, he's not hesitant in any way. And for that reason too I think it would be a bad idea to switch him again. He's not gushing with enthusiasm about school, but I think he just prefers to be home.

So, all in all, it's been an informative year. I feel like it's money well spent.

Feeling grateful for my blessings, and it finally looks like a real Northeastern winter

We have had a *very* mild winter this year, and Mike and I were actually commiserating about how much we miss the snow! Well, God answered our prayer. :) Today we have a good old fashioned lake effect snow storm swirling about. I'm at work, but I'm dying to get home and be with Mike and my babies. I have dance on Friday nights, but I'm wondering if it will be canceled. If so, I'm looking forward to knitting and sipping a hot beverage later with Mike.

And all week, as I've been dealing with some little worries that have popped up, I've been thinking about how grateful I am for the wonderful blessings that I have in my life. I have such a beautiful family. To say that our adjustment to parenting baby #2 is going smoother than the first time around would be the understatement of the century. Of course, I felt honored to be Hank's mom all along. But this time, everything is just a joy, with both children. That adjustment to baby #1 was very, very tough for both Mike and I. Now, I keep dropping hints about Baby CL #3, and Mike keeps giving me panicked looks :) (because Anne is still quite little) but to even contemplate such a thing makes me so, so happy. I'm just so grateful for my family and for the future that we have together.

Speaking of good things, we're all loving Henry's Catholic school. I really feel like Mike's positive reaction to it is nothing but God's grace. Not that he was ever opposed to Catholic school, he was just indifferent to it since the public school costs nothing but our tax dollars. Now, we're paying both school tax AND Catholic school tuition, but we're both so thrilled with what we're seeing in Henry and our own interaction with the school.

I will say one thing that is very different that one has to get used to in Catholic schools: fundraising! Holy smokes. At all Catholic schools in this area, you have a fundraising obligation in addition to your tuition. If you don't meet the goal via specified fundraisers, you have to pay out the balance. In addition to that, the school is always offering things for sale to benefit its overall financial viability: Entertainment Books, Christmas wreaths, calendars, candy bars, the list goes on and on. I don't mind it, but it is certainly very different from my public school world.

I do like feeling like I'm contributing to the school's future. I think that in the past, people who belonged to a parish with a school felt much more "obliged" (if you will) to send their kids to the school for them to receive a Catholic education. Nowadays, that really isn't the case. Times are hard for everyone right now (especially in this area) and people are trying to save money. They may not feel like it's worth it to pay tuition when they could send their kids to the public school for nothing. Plus, there are just so many less regular Mass goers than ever before, so people don't feel connected to a parish in any way. Thus, I feel good that I'm supporting our local Catholic school.

That being said, anybody need any Easter chocolate? If so, send me a quick message. :)

Henry's foray into Catholic School life...

Now that Hank is 2 months into his new adventure at Catholic School, I thought I'd post a progress report. It's been an interesting experiment.

In the beginning, Henry was very, *very* nervous about going to a new school. I even had tears a few mornings when I dropped him off, which broke my heart. And then it was hard to get information out of him at the end of the day as to how everything had gone. I felt good about him being there, but I was worried.

As the weeks went on, I could see him getting a tad more comfortable. And his teacher is *wonderful*. She's a veteran with first graders, and is super warm, kind and very, very Catholic. I knew as soon as I saw her Brown Scapular that I would like her. :)

Pretty soon, the teary mornings stopped. He still asks Mike and I every morning, "will you be thinking about me when I'm at school?" so I know that he's still feeling vulnerable to some extent. But he happily goes off each day and I can see a huge improvement. We had a conference with his teacher last week as well, and she confirmed that Henry has come a long way with relaxing and being happier at school.

He's also thriving academically. Being one of the youngest kids in the class, there are still certain things that don't come easily to him, but whereas in kindergarten we constantly heard about how he was struggling, now we can see him flourishing. He's reading and doing his basic addition and subtraction. He does excellent with spelling and vocabulary. And the school just handles things very seamlessly. There's no big deal made - if the kids need a boost in their subtraction skills, they are simply sent to the math lab for an extra session. This isn't a criticism, but at the public school, everything was much more formalized and structured. And that may be what many people prefer. For us, this works better.

Given how crazy our evenings are, I have to say that I am glad that he does not have to go to CCD separately, which in our parish is on Tuesday or Thursday evenings. It's all integrated right into his Catholic school curriculum. This past Sunday we went to Mass at Hank's school parish (separate from our regular parish; we have a crazy amount of Catholic churches in this area) and as we were walking in, he pointed out a little grotto on the side with a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and a small bench in front of it.

"Look Mommy. I've been there before during school, to pray."

I mean, it was PRECIOUS. So I like knowing that he's doing those things at school. The only thing I don't like is that I don't really *know* what the religion curriculum is per se. He does come home with religion assignments sometimes, so I can see what they worked on, but that's not more frequent than once every one to two weeks. Yesterday, he brought home an assignment he had worked on (and gotten a 100% on :) ) about God's love and the angels. He had a heaven assignment a few weeks ago. I just wish I knew more of what they were doing because I'm interested.

So, that's that. Even though we're very money conscious these days, and he could go to the public school for free, we both feel that our investment in Hank's education at this school is very worthwhile. It has a very familial feel, and Hank is getting a lot of attention. Everyone there is very, very kind and warm. We all like it, and all signs point to us keeping Henry there, which I'm thrilled about. If that happens, Anne will go there too starting in pre-k.

What's new with the kids?

Yesterday was an incredibly long day, and it ended with me attending the parent orientation at Hank's new Catholic school, so I thought I'd detail.

I really, really like Hank's new school. There was zero mention of state standards and testing, which is just the way I like it. Instead, the focus was on the children, and the values/qualities the school tries to instill while they learn. The children are taught to be good listeners, to follow directions (both not Henry's strong points, definitely needs work on those), and to be kind and compassionate. There are certain milestones that the children are expected to master by the end of the year, but the approach is much more old fashioned and traditional than Henry's old school. It reminds me much more of the way school was back when I attended.

On each child's desk is a sticker with the Blessed Mother on it. And one wall houses a picture of each child with prayer hands holding a pair of rosary beads. I just loved it. :) It goes without saying that each classroom has a crucifix, I just also enjoyed these small details. And we opened with a prayer.

I really, really like the school. Henry is still nervous about being in a new school, but I can see it getting easier for him every week. He's starting an after school basketball thing today for one day per week through October and he's super excited about that. I think he's growing into things just fine.

And then there's our Anne. :) She's getting so big. She can really creep around now on the floor by flipping herself over. And she plays hardcore with all dangling toys. Whereas formerly she used to gaze up at her Sesame Street toy bar, I now find her under there giving Elmo a full body exam. And then it goes in her mouth. Very cute.

Last night she slept until 11:30 pm and then wouldn't go back to sleep, so she ended up in our bed again. Honestly, it's not as difficult to sleep with her in there as I thought it would be, and I do enjoy having her snuggled next to me when she does settle down and sleep. Which she has these past 2 nights.

They're both extremely precious these days.

I'm hoping that this swing is an upswing

Well, today is a better morning, and for that I am most grateful. As always, I will detail. :)

When I got home from work yesterday, my spirits were low. I was so tired I could barely drag myself and my ridiculous amount of bags into the house. Happily, though, Henry reported that he'd had a good day at school. He had enjoyed his music class and had used some of his new school supplies for the first time. He told me about the opening school Mass that is scheduled for Friday. I was relieved. Anne was under her Gymini playing with the toys dangling overhead. This is new; literally, it happened overnight. I love that about babies, very exciting all the time. :) She had napped better and seemed to be feeling a little better.

Mike came home as my in-laws were departing, bearing a pizza. We ate and cleaned up and I nursed Anne briefly. Mike helped Henry with his homework while I got the fixins' for chili into the crock pot for the next day and Anne played with her feet. Things were going well until Anne got fussy, interrupting my dinner preparations. I had to put it aside to nurse her more, but I could tell that she was getting tired. Once I got her settled, I finished dinner prep, packed her stuff for daycare and washed all the bottles. Mike gave Henry a bath and got his school stuff ready for the morning. By this time, it was 7 pm and time for the kids to go to bed. I was exhausted.

As I nursed Anne to sleep I contemplated how I was not enjoying the busyness that surrounds our weekday evenings. There's no time for family time. We were all in the kitchen together while I prepared the chili and Mike and Henry did homework, but there's no time to just sit and talk aside from over dinner, when Anne is usually fussing, unfortunately. I'm going to break out her high chair and see if that helps. Maybe she'll like being at the table with us. But anyway, our time together is just all task-oriented. There are a million things that need to be done each evening and no time to let your guard down.

I got Anne to sleep and went downstairs for what is usually the relaxing portion of my day. But last night I knew it would be abridged; I simply *needed* to get some sleep, even at the cost of relinquishing my free time. I got a glass of caffeine-free Diet Coke and some vanilla flavored Goldfish crackers and read my book curled on the couch next to Mike while he watched an episode of Band of Brothers. This is usually when I knit, but I knew it wasn't happening last night. I literally could not have knit two stitches together if someone put a gun to my head. I'm working on a lace scarf for my mom and I think it's bad form to try and knit lace while incapacitated in such a way.

At 8:15 we headed up to bed, since I was falling asleep on the couch anyway. I brushed my teeth and headed right to the bed, curling on my side. And what did I suddenly hear beside me from the bassinette?

The baby. Crying.

This is where the bad part of the story comes into play. :) I totally lost it. I began sobbing hysterically. She had barely been to bed for an hour and had always slept until at least 9:30 or 10, even in the worst depths of the sleep nightmare we're currently going through. Mike came in to find me a puddle of tears, weeping while exclaiming nonsensical half sentences about how I never have time to do anything anymore, including sleep or think, and I was just too exhausted to go on.

He soothed me as best he could and we took turns bouncing Anne for a full hour. Every time one of us would get her to sleep and place her in the bassinette, she'd wake up and start to cry. Then I'd start to cry, too. It was bad.

Finally, around 9:30, she stayed asleep. I grumpily read my book for a few minutes before nodding off. She woke again every 2 hours for the rest of the night, but I'll say this: it was better. If you can believe it, her getting up every 2 hours was actually *better* than what we've been going through for the past week or so. Because she did stay sleeping after she went back. Around 2:30, I brought her in bed with us and that helped as well. When we woke up this morning, all 3 of us felt more rested.

Henry was up at 5:45 (this is why they go to bed at 7 pm :) ) and had breakfast with Mike. Mike had him dressed, fed, and teeth brushed by time he left for work at 6:30. I got up at 6:15 and got Anne and I ready to go, and the crock pot turned on. Henry needs to be at school by 7:40, so we were pulling out of the driveway by 7:30, all 3 of us packed and ready for our day, and I was really patted myself on the back. I had made it.

I dropped Henry off at 7:35 and he seemed happy. I really do think he likes his new school, and I love him being there. They start the day off with prayer and it just feels like such a warm community to me. I'm so glad that he's in Catholic school this year. He walked up to the door all by himself and waved to me and Anne as he went in. My little boy is getting so big.

Then I took Anne to daycare and she also seemed in a really good mood. She was still somewhat stuffy in the night, but I do think she's getting better.

Thank God.

Because otherwise, I'll start crying again.

What a day

That's Henry, not looking so happy on his first full day at his new Catholic school. He does look adorable though, no? He's mostly unhappy that summer vacation is over, regardless of where he's going to school. We'll have to see how his day went today.

As for me, my day is going poorly indeed. I'm so tired that I actually feel sick. Well, I actually *am* sick, with the same cold as Anne, so that certainly doesn't help. I know that Anne is suffering, and she's not crying and keeping us up just for no reason. But nevertheless, that gets tough to deal with after a time. It was a particularly rough night last night. Thus, this morning I woke up in a foul mood.

As did Henry, once again, unhappy that he now has to do actual work during the day. I had a hard time shooing him out the door so that I could get him to school on time. I barely had time to make my lunch and eat breakfast. I didn't have time to give Anne her drops (pink eye), or use her saline spray (for her congestion) so my mother-in-law had to do that. I also didn't have time to do a bloody thing to prepare for dinner tonight. Pizza for everybody!

Once I got Hank porkily dropped off, I sleepily made my way to work. I had a first-thing-in-the-morning reference shift, which is the main reason I came in today rather than take a sick day like I did yesterday. I probably should have let my baser instincts prevail. I mean, I'm stuffy and miserable at the reference desk, blowing my nose, coughing, and talking raspily, who wouldn't want to come talk to me about their research needs?!

Not to mention that I wasn't exactly in a friendly mood. I was helping someone (who came right up to me before I could even get my computer booted up, sigh), and he was nice although I wasn't exactly feeling like helping someone. Just the quality that you're looking for in your reference librarian, right? And another student comes up and starts hovering. And I'm attuned to helping someone who just needs to ask me where the restrooms are without them having to wait for a lengthy interaction to happen before they can do that. I smile at him, which I thought was very big of me. He says he has a printing question, and so I direct him to where the printouts may be retrieved. He gives a huffy sigh, and says that he needs to speak with me AS SOON AS I'm done with my current student. We're not in charge of printing (big pet peeve) but I smile again and say I'll be right with him. He continues to hover, really pissing me off. And apparently 3 minutes was just too much for him to wait, because he stormed off right before we finished. I won't tell you what went through my head, but I can assure you, it was decidedly un-Christian.

It's just that kind of day.

Well, today is my birthday

I have to be honest and admit that I don't look forward to my birthdays anymore the way I used to when I was younger. :) Last year, when I turned 35, I took it kind of hard. Suddenly, I'm in a new "age box" on any form that I fill out, and most pertinently, I'm considered "Advanced Maternal Age" for pregnancies, and I knew that I wanted at least 1 more. I don't want to be in my 20's again. But I do wish that I could float between 30 and 34 forever. Hit 34? No problem, next year you're 33 again. :) Ah, well.

This year, it isn't quite so bad. I woke up early because I had a 7:10 am appointment to have my blood drawn. Yes, that's the second this week. So many blood draws, so little time... This one is for my annual visit to my regular family doctor to check cholesterol levels, that sort of thing. So, I got up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 and went to get that taken care of. I made it so early because I had to fast, so afterward I happily crunched away on my peanut butter ball cereal.

After that, I hung with Mike and Hank as they awaited their walk to Hank's school for the beginning of his day. I wanted to get Hank registered at the Catholic school we chose, and the secretary is available for that purpose beginning at 9 am. I made lunches and did some things around the house while we waited. I was feeling a bit weepy and nostalgic for some reason. It's a big change that we're enacting for next year, and I began to fret over whether or not we're making the right decision. Hank's childcare situation will be more complicated next year, without us being able to use our trusty daycare for him when there is no school. I love our daycare, and it makes me sad that his time there will be coming to an end. Their bus drove by Mike and I as we headed back home after dropping Hank at the public school, and it made me even sadder. I started to become anxious about why I was feeling this way. Oh right. I'm now officially "over 35" and I'm nearly 7 months pregnant. That pretty much explains it.

After Hank was safely at school, I made the quick trip over to St. A's. I got him registered very easily, and I felt better after that. We're stepping out in faith a bit, but that's what we're supposed to do.

I came to work, and here I sit, trying to get some work done. It doesn't really feel like my birthday. But tonight... *drumroll* Henry is spending the night at my parent's house, and Mike and I will have the house to ourselves for the ENTIRE NIGHT. Aside from 10 months after our wedding, Mike and I have not had a kid-free night together in all of our 6 years of marriage. Plus, he's taking me to dinner tonight at our local Melting Pot. I'm planning to alleviate my anxieties with lots of melted cheese. I'm very, very excited. And tomorrow morning, prior to Hank's return, we're going to look for a new bookcase so that we can start shifting things around for nursery preparation.

This is a very good day. Life is good.

The decision is made...

*drumroll*

The decision is final. Henry will be going to Catholic school in the fall for first grade.

*Hallelujah chorus*

I'm going to register him at St. A's later this week. We're all super excited, even Mike.

I am, admittedly, a little anxious about the fundraising, and about the fact that we'll no longer be using our daycare as his after-school care provider; the onsite program at the Catholic school is closed when the school is closed, so you have no care available for your child during winter and spring recess, etc., when you may be obliged to be at work. Right now, with our daycare, they're always open, you just have to pay for those days. But, somehow, we'll work those kinks out. I really think this is the right decision for Henry, and for us as a family.

I'll report in later in the week about the registration process. :)