Fundraising Already! and other more serious stuff

Let me just start with a shout out to my dear friend Alison, who gave me a window air conditioner when I was visiting her in Wyoming last year. On days like today (it's currently 99 degrees outside), I am extremely grateful for that gift. I think of her every time I walk into my cool living room from outside.

Now, onto the subject of my posting. The school sent home a fundraiser packet yesterday (the second day of school). Their idea is that we'll sell more stuff if we're the first school doing the fundraisers. Could work. So, if any of you want to buy stuff, let me know. There's a bunch of stuff (including chocolate, gift wrap, magazine subscriptions and kitchen stuff) in the catalog. One thing about this fundraiser that I thought was kind of cool is that I was able to register Ruby online and people can buy stuff online and have it shipped directly to them, but it still gets credited to Ruby for prizes and the class party and stuff. I thought this was great for those friends and relatives who live far away but still want to support Ruby. The only downside is that the chocolate (which is what pretty much everyone wants) is not available online because they don't want it to melt in the mail.

For those of you who would like to order something online, here's the link. If you follow this link, the purchases you make will be credited to Ruby. You can shop online through September 19. Orders placed through the school are due Sept. 12.
http://www.westcoastfundraising.com/store/brochures.php?sID=tra8508

Another fundraising method that they are doing is escrip. I think it is awesome because it is painless and doesn't end up costing us a penny beyond what we normally spend anyway. You go to the escrip website and register your grocery club cards, credit cards & debit cards and then when you shop with those cards at participating merchants a percentage of your purchase price gets donated to the school. Safeway (and affiliated stores like Von's and Pavillion's) participates in it. A lot of online retailers (like Amazon.com) participate, too. The thing I thought was great is that even if you don't want to register your credit and debit cards, the grocery club card works. And that still works even if you pay cash! I thought that some of you who don't have kids or whose kids are beyond the school stage or have not reached it yet might want to participate. And for those of you who have kids in school, you should try to get your school to do this. I've been told that in just the month of May over $2000 was raised for the school through escrip. If you'd like to sign up to help out Ruby's school, go to www.escrip.com and sign up.

The registered group name is:
Trace Parents & Teachers Organization
The group ID is: 141574827

I've still been walking to and from school with Ruby. Yesterday I pulled the kids in the wagon again. It was a really hot day, though, so by the time I got home from the afternoon trip I was completely exhausted and not good for much of anything for the rest of the day. Today we were running a bit late getting out of the apartment in the morning. It was really hot last night and none of us slept very well. I had some trouble getting Ruby out of bed this morning. We were about 20 minutes later leaving than I wanted to be, which left me 25 minutes to get to the school before it started. That is approximately the amount of time it has been taking to get there with the wagon (we have to cross a lot of streets, including one major one at which we have to wait at a light). Luckily, Ruby had requested to go in the double stroller today. It's easier to maneuver and go faster with the stroller, so that was a good thing. I walked very quickly all the way to the school and managed to get there with a few minutes to spare. I was sweating, though.

This afternoon I decided to do the car instead. It was just too hot to walk. Also, there was a special assembly at noon that they invited the parents to attend. I left Russell with my brother Jacob so I could go to it. The assembly was just for the Kindergarten classes (the have a separate campus area from the rest of the school) and was about a little boy that will be their classmate. He's not actually in Ruby's class, but is in the class next to hers. He came to the end of the assembly, but won't actually start school until Tuesday. He was severly burned over most of his body in a car fire last year. Apparently the gas tank caught fire and he was strapped into his car seat and they couldn't get him out before the flames reached him. Every parent's nightmare, right? So some people from the local hospital's burn unit where he gets treatment came and did a presentation about burns and what happens and how much they hurt. One of the nurses that spoke was a burn victim herself. She had burn scars over half her face. It happened when she was about 7. They talked about how he looks different on the outside, but he's just like them on the inside and he wants to play with the other kids. He doesn't have the gauze wrapping and stuff anymore, but does still have to wear some pressure bandages. He also has a trache tube, so they need to be careful about playing with water with him and if they notice him having trouble coughing or breathing they need to get an adult. He doesn't have any sweat glands anymore, either, so he can get overheated easily and might need to rest a lot. He's missing three fingers on one hand, too. He's just a very smiley, cheerful, energetic kid, though. He said he'd rather have the kids ask him questions than stare at him and he seems like he's really excited to go to school. I was crying when I saw him. He's the kind of kid you just want to hug. His mom was there with him and she was teary-eyed. (I understand she's like that a lot, and who can blame her?) We're all hoping that since the kids are all so young and have not formed prejudices yet that they'll be able to accept him and be friends with him and they'll all end up being more tolerant people when they grow up.

Ruby said she thought it seemed kind of scary and she would be very sad to be burned like that, but she seemed open to the idea of being friends with him. I'm don'tthink they'll have recess at the same time, but they might interact before and after school.

Ruby's First Day of School

I've decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. Some of my friends have them and I find it to be a nice, convenient way to keep up with what's going on in their lives. There are so many people who want updates from me and I am so bad about actually doing them that I thought this would be a good solution. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. I can't promise to post every day, but I will try to post something at least a couple times a week.

I thought that today was an appropriate time to start blogging becuse today was Ruby's first day of school and I know lots of you are interested in how it went. Her school is just about a mile from our apartment, so we decided to walk. I loaded the kids into their wagon and pulled them. I'm hoping that I'll lose some weight from walking back and forth to the school twice each day. I have to admit that I'm a little worn out from doing it today, but it'll get easier. I was fine this morning and on the way back to the school this afternoon, but that second trip home in the blistering sun kind of got to me (even with a hat and sunglasses).

The Kindergarten classes have the parents stay for about an hour the first day to have a meeting with the teacher and help the kids get used to the idea of being in school. Charles arranged to go to work late so that he could come with us. It was nice. Ruby's teacher, Mrs. Viau (pronounced "Vee-Oh"--it's French) had each kid get their picture taken with his or her parents so that she can learn who belongs with which kid. I thought that was a good idea. Ruby and I had already met her teacher and a couple of the other parents and kids when we went to orientation last Thursday. I was really glad we went because Ruby warmed up to the whole idea much faster today. One of the things Mrs. Viau had the kids do with their parents was to find certain things in the classroom (like their cubbies, desks, the drinking fountain, etc.) and get a sticker on their paper when they found each thing. The kids liked that a lot and I thought it was a really geat ice breaker activity for the kids. After that activity and a family photo, we went home and left Ruby to finish her first day of school.

Many mothers would be very emotional and teary eyed upon leaving their first child at school for her first day of kindergarten. I am not one of those mothers. I was ecstatic as Charles, Russell and I walked home from the school. I don't think the reasons I felt that way were entirely selfish, although I was really looking forward to only having one kid for a few hours. I knew that Ruby would take to school really well and that she would enjoy it. It's the kind of environment that I think she'll thrive in. It's hard to be sad when your kid is starting something that you know will be a really great positive and rewarding experience. And my instincts about that turned out to be spot on. When I picked Ruby up she said that school was fun and she really liked it. The teacher dismissed the kids individually and Ruby was one of the first ones out the door, so I assume she behaved herself. Russell was much easier to deal with by himself and I actually managed to get some dishes and laundry done before I had to go back to the school to pick up Ruby. I think this school thing is going to be great!