We have snow in New Jersey! And I’m happy. I don’t particularly like driving in it but I do love the beauty and the peace it brings. I went for a very short walk and the world was just so quiet.
This was a really nice weekend, despite me being in luteal phase (feeling down and more irritable). But because I knew that I am in this “state”, I watched what I say and took a few deep breaths with the kids. I also took a nice nap on Saturday.
Saturday greeted us with this gorgeous sunrise:
We then bummed around the house, tidied up, washed clothes, put laundry away, and my kids even managed to make slime (in the kitchen, thank god). The kids had gymnastics in the morning so T brought them there while I continued bumming around the house.
Upon their return, the kids addressed more cards to their teachers and instructors (a project started last weekend).
With my daughter, it was easy, I mean, second grade, she is comfortable with writing so she finished her cards AND decorated them in no time.
My son, however, is only five and is still in process of learning how to write so it was like pulling teeth. He would write on one card then would want to take a break. Understandable. By the end of the day, he finished. At some point, the kids asked “can’t YOU do it?” I was like absolutely not. Those are your teachers, they want to see a message from YOU, not me.
After the cards were done, we put cash into them and now they are ready.
We could have gotten gifts or gift cards but I just do not have mental capacity for that. So cold hard cash it is.
Amounts:
Two main classroom teachers: $40 each
One teacher aid (in kindergarten classroom, works closely with main teacher) $20
Two jiu jitsu instructors: $20 each
One piano teacher: $20
Two after-care teachers: $20 each
Two gymnastics instructors: $10 each
How did I decide on the amounts? I guess the more time the kids spend with those teachers, the higher the amount? A main classroom teacher carries the most load. They are the ones that assess the kids, do parent-teacher conferences, do back-to-school nights. They are that central model figure in my kids’ lives. It’s a lot. So these two get the most money, if you will.
The activities instructors see my kids once a week (unless it’s jiu jitsu, now I’m thinking I should add more $$). After-care teachers see them every day, and mainly supervise homework completion. Gymnastics is once a week, and my son had no idea what his coach’s name was… We had to look it up, I’m sure it’s on R for not paying attention. But now I am second-guessing myself to change it to $20 each for gymnastics…
On Saturday, after my nap, I could have read my book but no. I had the itch to tackle this buffet in our dining room. It serves as a sort of “catch all” for kids work sent from school, random pens and pencils, scrap paper and dried paints. It was a total mess. I went through the papers, took pictures of some, put those into L and R’s artwork folder in iCloud and threw the papers out.
Lastly, we dropped Santa letters off in the evening. It took 10 minutes since our North Pole mailbox is not far at all.
In Sunday morning we had snow! The kids, of course, were excited and spent many fun minutes playing in the snow. Upon returning home, they were icicles.
In the afternoon T took my son for his belt test (ceremony), and I went skating with my daughter. We stopped by Friendly’s beforehand, which is on the way to the skating rink. It was COLD.
In the evening, we had a “run around the house and tidy” situation, with many stern reminders for the kids to pick up their toys, do a piano practice, and overall “prep for the upcoming week” pressure.
And that’s a wrap!
Do you have snow where you are?
If you have kids, do they clean/do chores?
Is there a mailbox in your neighborhood to send letters to the North Pole?
What’s the latest decluttering project you finished?
Mom of Children 