One Of "Those" Moms

I have had many moments as a parent that I was "one of those moms." You probably know what I'm talking about. Today I had one of "those" moments. My 8 year old daughter was having her picture taken at cheerleading today. The photographer wasn't very good. She was posing the girls laying on their stomach in the grass for their individual photos. Laying in the grass you couldn't see their cheerleading uniform. The girls feet were crossed at their ankels and their legs were up in the air behind them, with the dirty soles of their shoes showing right towards the camera. There were extra large old fashioned pom pons layed out in front as props, so that it looked like the cheerleaders head was coming out of a pile of fluff.
I walked over and said that I didn't want my daughter's picture taken on her stomach. She can sit, kneel, or stand. Of course, my daughter got all whiney. I didn't want to pay money for a poorly posed picture. Before going to the event, I had taken a picture of my daughter posing in the backyard. It turned out excellent! I'm thinking my picture is going to be better than the "professional" one I paid for. We will see!

Censor My Words!

The kids were supposed to be cleaning their rooms today! I told my son, "I don't want to see toys shoved under your bed." He then pulled one side of his comforter down real low so that it was touching the floor. I guess that was one way I wasn't "going to see the toys shoved under his bed." I give him an A+ for being a smarty pants and I give myself a C- for the construction of my verbal orders to a 5 year old!

Today we took the kids to the "squirt" park. A park that is about 30 minutes away that has a section with lots of water features and fun fountains that kids can joyfully play in. While there, we heard the music and then saw an ice cream truck go bye on the major road. I started waving my arms widely for the driver to come to the park. My husband called me a major dork. Most likely the driver was on his way to the park anyway on his mission for ice cream sales. Besides, I hadn't gotten treats from an ice cream truck since I was a kid and my kids have never experienced this before. As soon as the ice cream truck approached us I cringed at the driver. Nasty looking guy and probably a pedophile. We enjoyed our treats, but now I need to have a talk with the kids and explain they are never to go by an ice cream truck without my husband or I with them and to never except treats from men in trucks unless we are with them. I also need to tell them never to flag down trucks like mommy did today!

Cheerleading!

My 8 year old daughter signed up for pop warner cheerleading. She had no idea what it was until I opened my mouth and told her about it. I loved cheering when I was a kid, so I thought it would be fun to have my kid do it. I obviously had loved it so much that the time commitment was no big deal back then. After the first meeting this past May, I realized that having my daughter on the team was going to involve many hours of practicing, lots of time in the car driving out of town to practices, and weekend games that will kill our weekends for 2 months. The most disturbing part was the strict rules. The worst one being, if you are over 5 minutes late your child has to run a lap. This "league rule" has my mom undies in a bunch. I can understand these rules for making high school students be responsible, but for pete's sake these are little kids. My daughter is 8 years old and not driving the car that gets her to practice. Oh, and if your child is late because of work, they let the rule slide. So I guess since I stay home with my kids I am expected to be perfect. With 4 kids, a baby that needs spontaneous feeding & diapering, sibling fights, last minute lost shoes, a dog that won't get inside when you have to leave, a 25 minute drive on country roads with no-passing zones, sometimes sharing the road with slow drivers or tractors, and 3 car seats to buckle, we are 99% running behind on time as it is. I just can't get calmed down about this rule.
Yesterday was the first day of practice. All summer my daughter was nervous and going back and forth with deciding if she was going to go through with being on the cheer team. She decided to try it. Of course she LOVED it, so we are in for the long haul. When I came home with the practice and game schedule my husband was kind of ticked off because of the commitment and the fact that our last few weekends of summer just went up in smoke. He even said, "I wish you had discussed this with me first." Hello- I did tell him, but he has selective hearing. Plus, when you sign up they do not give you the calendar of events up front. I didn't tell him yet that the parents have to do a certain amount of volunteering and that I signed him up to be on the chain gang at the first game!