When to cry

It was a long week for everyone. Back to school means back to a busy schedule for everyone involved. We started with all the back to school events, meeting teachers, new homework assignments and everything. This also means dance and gymnastics classes, church groups, and of course survior nights on Thurs. All went well though...the girls settled in nicely. Mikaela loves first grade but was suprised to realize she would have homework like everyone else. Then you have Liz...as a mother I ask "where is your homework?" She says we dont get it in fifth grade. So I asked when do we do book reports and reading assignments? She said we dont???? I then asked "what do we do in fifth grade?" she said "we do nothing". Good response from a pre-teen. After meeting her teacher I did find that fifth grade is a little less stressful and more relaxed then fourth grade. Reading at home is still encouraged but really there will be no homework. They encourage the children to do and finish all assignments at school. This helps with the parents that want so badly to help with homework instead of allowing the children to do it.

Now for my title "when to cry" I was always told that you cry when you drop your kids off to kindergarten and first grade. Not me...I smiled because I know that my children love the independence of school:) However, I found myself crying this weekend when Liz asked to go "hang" at the mall. This is not something we have tried yet. Some friends called and wanted to go "hang" at the mall. To me this means trouble. Ken and I trust Liz to make good choices so we let her go. When I dropped her and her friend off (all dolled up and ready to "hang" at the mall, and they looked cute) I started to cry realizing that little liz was not so little anymore! Its OK dad she had a cell phone with her for ER situations or if her friends made a bad choice and she needed an out. So when exactly is the right time to cry when you are raising children...this is not one that I expected. Then I asked were we hanging to meet boys???? I hope not we have really encouraged Liz that this is not the way she needs to be right now in her life. Then she came home with Walkie Talkies (instead of makeup or girlie things that you buy when you "hang" at the mall) and I knew she was still my little girl. For now anyway.

Thats all the events for the week....this weekend consisted of working on the closest (still) and more R and R recoup time is needed for the surgical patient. I did take the girls for a walk down by the river for and hour and realized how they hate nature.

Love to all