Blue ribbons...

When I was a kid, Field Day was HUGE! We looked forward to it every year, and it was always so much fun. It was always held right at the end of the school year, and it was a day to goof off, cheer on our friends, pig out, and play all day. There was no class work, and we even got to eat lunch outside. If you didn't come home from Field Day with a terrible sunburn, you just didn't do it right! We always had track and field events like the 50 yard dash, 100 yard dash, the 440 relay, tug of war, and sack races. They gave out a blue ribbon for first place, red for second, and green for third. I remember this like it was yesterday! Good times...

So yesterday, they had Field Day at Forrest's school. When he got home, I asked him if he had a good time. He said that they only did three events because they were on the "rain schedule." Since it didn't rain yesterday, I was confused by this. He told me that the principal didn't want the kids in the mud, so they shortened Field Day and eliminated some of the events. Now in the past, I have taken time off work to help out with Field Day, so I know how it works there. Field "Day" runs for about three hours in the morning, and is over before it's time for lunch. Gone are the days of track and field events. Now they do sponge buckets relays, frisbee spinning, and who can kick their shoes the farthest (yes, this was an actual event). The kids still have a lot of fun, so I'm not knocking that, but what happened to actual competitive events?? And what happened to first, second, and third place?

When Forrest came home yesterday, he had a blue ribbon. They gave these out to every child because they participated in Field Day. Again, that's great and all, but what are we teaching our children? This isn't how it works in the real world... In the REAL world, there are actual winners and losers. You don't always win, and you had to work for what you've won-really earn it. You have to compete for things. No one gives you something just because you showed up, and you don't get everything that you want. Political correctness is killing us all!

Another example has been baseball. Now I realize when they're so little that they all get to bat before the inning is out and no one is keeping score, it's a good idea to give out game balls and trophies. It helps give them confidence and gives the kids something that they can be proud of... But Forrest is now in a very competitive league. The boys at this level are either learning a lot and getting good at baseball, or their time is up and it's time to try something else because it's just not going to happen. That sounds mean, but that's really how it is. That means that the boys who are only there because their dads are living vicariously through them, the ones that really don't want to be there are pretty much finished. They won't be able to advance to the next level because now there are tryouts and drafts. So I ask you, if a boy is there that doesn't want to play baseball, that sits in the outfield picking his nose or playing in the dirt and isn't doing anything to help his team win, does he deserve a game ball? Does the coach need to give him a game ball just because he hasn't gotten one yet, when another boy that has already gotten one, a boy that wants to play and is trying his best, a boy that caught the pop-up and got the last out and really deserves it? And should you really order trophies for a team that is 0 and 10? I know it's all about the commitment and finishing out the season and all, but why should they get trophies for that?

That's what life is all about. When you commit to something, you gut it out until you're finished-whether you win or not. That doesn't mean that you'll get a trophy when it's over. You finish what you started, good, bad, or ugly. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. If you're good, you earn that trophy. If you're not, you try again, and hopefully, you earn a trophy next season...but you keep trying your best. This is how it is in the REAL world. If we give every kid a blue ribbon, how are they going to survive in the REAL world??

Answered prayers

When I got pregnant with Emma, I prayed for the usual things-a healthy baby, ten fingers and toes, blah blah... And I realize that it is probably very wrong, but I also prayed for two very specific things. First, I prayed that the baby would be a girl, and second, that she would sleep well because I didn't think I could handle another baby that didn't sleep until it was 15 months old. God did give me what I asked for, but is it wrong that I prayed (ahem... begged) for that?

Don't get me wrong! I love my son more that anything in this world, but I knew that this would be our last baby, and I have SO wanted a daughter for my whole life! It's like a man wanting a son-I think it's only natural. Chris actually agreed early on that if it was a boy, he would be willing to give it one more shot... (although, I don't really believe that at this point-especially since daycare is so dang expensive!)

So anyway, God has blessed us with another beautiful, healthy child, who just so happens to be a sweet little girl that has slept all night long since January. In fact, this past Saturday morning, Chris actually had to wake her up to feed her after TWELVE hours of sleeping, and she STILL wasn't ready to get up! (this is definitely my child...)

So now that I have a girl, I'm doing the usual things...wasting a ridiculous amount of money on clothes and shoes, mentally decorating her "big girl" room, deciding on what kind of prom dress she should wear, and of course, prepping for the WEDDING!! Is that too much?? Or too soon?? Maybe God will punish me for my selfish request by making me go bankrupt...

Did I mention that she sucks her thumb? How cute! I'm so gone...

school is finally coming to an end...

On one hand, I'm excited that this school year is coming to a close. On the other hand, I'm hating every minute of it! The good points of school ending are 1) traffic gets MUCH lighter. This continually amazes me! I can't imagine that there are actually that many people associated with schools every day! There are so many kids that ride the bus, and the ratio of teachers to students at Forrest's school is somewhere around 1:20, and the KIDS can't drive... And I'm not just talking about in the school zones either! The interstate traffic is even better! 2.) No more homework! I know that it doesn't take much time for him to get it done, but it is such a relief not to have that hanging over our heads for the summer. And 3.) vacation is coming!! I never really appreciated the fact that I could just pack up and go whenever I wanted to before Forrest started school. There was no worry about whether he was missing class, and it was much cheaper to travel since we could get off-season rates in early spring or fall.

Now, the bad point: Forrest will be in a new school next year. This makes me very sad because I love the school he's been attending. I know it's just the intermediate school, but I almost feel like the other parents at the primary school are family. Although I don't know most of their names, the parents that I would see every day, bringing their children in to school were almost like family! There would be certain parents that would arrive at the same time each day, and we all would smile and wave, just like we were old friends. Since Emma has been born, Chris has been taking Forrest to school, and I miss that.

I have LOVED all of Forrest's teachers (with the exception of one interim teacher, but that's another story...). Forrest's Kindergarten teacher was absolutely precious! She was really young and cute, and all of the kids loved her. She liked having parent helpers in the classroom, and welcomed me whenever I got the rare opportunity to come and help out or eat lunch with Forrest. One of the other moms (from morning drop off!) called her Mary Poppins, which was really very fitting. She got pregnant with twins early in the school year, and left for maternity leave in early March-enter the interim... I don't know what the deal was with her. Forrest didn't complain about her, but she just wasn't very friendly. I don't know, maybe she's just quiet, but I do know that she was not very welcoming when I took the day off to help with field day. Other parents did have issues with her, to the point that they were STILL talking about her at Forrest's birthday party...in late July... Oh well, when you've had Mary Poppins, I don't guess anyone else will do!
Forrest's first-grade teacher was equally as precious! To date, this was his first (and only) crush, although he would NEVER admit it! He brought home a little book that they did about their favorite things. On one page, it shows their favorite things to see. He drew a picture of a man and a woman. When he was showing it to me, my assumption was that it was Chris and I, but NO!! He showed me, oh so proud, and said, "That's Daddy, and that's Mrs. Moore." As cute as it was, I was a little offended, but I had to laugh! He back-tracked and told me that he meant me, but I knew better! How cute! They had a chorus performance at the end of the year, and I noted that the class was the most well-behaved of all of the groups up there. She ran a tight ship, and I LOVED it!
Finally, his second-grade teacher has been wonderful too! A few weeks ago, she actually came to watch him play baseball! I was amazed that his teacher would take her personal time to come and watch one of her students play a sport outside of the classroom. She told me that she tried to do that for her students whenever possible because she wants them to know that she cares about the outside of the classroom as well. WOW!! That was so very thoughtful!

I am continually amazed at how much Forrest has learned since he started school. As he goes to third grade, he knows all about the planets and solar system, can read, write (in cursive!), knows fractions, measurements, and even multiplication tables!! I guess all of this is on my mind as the year winds down, and teacher appreciation week wraps up. I asked another parent the other day what they did for their child's teacher and the told me that they didn't do anything. She said they didn't do anything because she didn't appreciate the teacher. I was horrified, and grateful all at the same time! Forrest has never had a teacher that I didn't appreciate, and I just hope that this trend continues at his new school next year...

Dragging out Achmed...

Now that I have a child that is at the ripe old age of 8 (or almost 8), I have seen more things than I really care to...but not out of kids, out of PARENTS!! I am completely horrified by some of the craziness that goes on! For starters, when Forrest was in Kindergarten, there was a child in his class that was not allowed to sit down during circle time because he would (are you ready for this??) FALL ASLEEP!! Okay people, they are FIVE YEARS OLD!! What the heck are you doing that your five year old is staying up so late that the teacher can't allow him to sit because he can't stay awake? That is nuts! On top of that, I continuallly get notes from the teachers (this began in Kindergarten, and has continued through second grade) stating that we need to be sure that our children complete their homework. Okay, maybe it's just me, but at this point, Forrest has almost finished second grade, and there is just NOT that much homework! There has been more each year, but let's be realistic-if my child can finish his entire week's worth of homework in one night (sometimes two), then it can't possibly take so much of your time that you just can't get it done! What kind of parenting is this?? As bothered as I am by this, NOTHING prepared me for the start of baseball season...

So here we were, gearing up for the spring season. My husband has volunteered to coach Forrest's team this season, so we'd been in it up to our eyeballs for several weeks before the other parents ever got involved. It is the Saturday before the very first game (which is Thursday), and we've been practicing for almost a month at this point. I get a phone call from a mom of one of the boys on our team. Apparently, she didn't realize that another boy was on the team, and that she can't seem to get along with that particular boy's MOTHER. Mind you, the BOYS aren't the ones with the issue, it's the moms. Let's grow up just a little please! We're all adults here, right? So anyway, it's just a few days before our first game, and she is planning on PULLING HER SON FROM THE TEAM because of this! She tells me that she is going to call the guy in charge of the whole league and discuss it with him, and that she'll let me know. She never bothered to call me back, nor did she send her son to practice the next day when we were distributing uniforms. I assumed that he wasn't going to be playing with us, but I emailed her for good measure, and as a courtesy. She responded to say that they hadn't decided exactly what they were going to do, but that she would let me know. Long story, but I didn't hear anything until the day of the game, when she told me that her son would be playing, but she just wouldn't come to any of the games. So now, he's going to play, but he has no uniform...
I got there as quickly as possible, but I was late for the game. Apparently, her husband got bent out of shape because Chris wouldn't put their child in the game (because he wasn't dressed) and got up in my husband's face... NOT a good thing! Well since then, they haven't sent their kid to half of the practices, didn't bring snacks on their assigned night to do it, and have missed most of the games. So why did I bother to pursue this? Why didn't I just shut my fat mouth and let them pull him from the team?? MY life would have been better, that's for sure! What kind of parents are they? How are you teaching your child any level of committment when you sign them up for a sport, but don't have him attend practices and games? And what kind of example are you setting when you are too childish to behave like an adult with the other parents?

But that's not the ONLY thing that has gone on this season... We have a group of three or four parents (crazy lady mentioned above included) that stand together at the outfield fence "discussing" things. (So she came to the games after all...) It is ugliness all over the place. I can stand in the dugout and see it in their body language. I almost had to go marching across the field during one game and have words. One of the people by the fence (a GIRLFRIEND of one of the dads-not a mom) was yelling at the coaches and a child on the team-who by the way is only six years old. I was so mad!! This is not the major leagues! These kids are not being scouted! They are learning the fundamentals of baseball, and hopefully having some fun in the mean time. It's not about winning the games right now. Sure, everyone wants to win, but if they don't, who cares??

So I swear that if I hear anything else coming from some poorly behaved parents, I'm dragging out Achmed the Dead Terrorist (if you haven't seen Jeff Dunham, you need to pull it up on YouTube). I've even had to put him as my profile pic on Facebook for a while. Maybe it will only be there until baseball season is over, maybe not...

SILENCE!! I KILL you!

So why the Griswolds?

Seeing as how Griswold is not my last name, you're probably wondering why my blog is titled My Life as a Griswold. Well, I guess you'd have to know my husband. He is constantly referring to us as the Griswolds, paying tribute to Clark W. Griswold from the Vacation movies. If anyone were to travel in the car for two or three days to some amusement park that ended up being closed, that would be us!

For example, I'm probably the only person on earth that has ever gotten locked out of an automobile (that was running) by the dog. Yes, the dog! Long story, but she stomped on the door locks and locked me out of the car while I was delivering HOA newsletters. Did I mention that Chris wasn't home, it was February, and I was four months pregnant at the time?? Now I had tried on several occasions to lock my keys in the car on purpose, and was unable to. Why, you ask? When we first got married, we lived in an apartment, and I wanted to let the car warm up, but needed the doors locked so that, hopefully, the car would still be there when I came out. Besides locking them in the trunk, there was no way do this, UNTIL... So there you have it... That is why we're the Griswolds!

Although I haven't quite figured out who it would be yet, I'm sure that we have a Cousin Eddie in our family too. Maybe it's my brother...