Chickie Cake Pops

My friend Shannon suggested making cake pops, and I found this incredible recipe on Bakerella that I followed! Mine are not the perfect little spheres that they show on the website, but I think that they're just as cute!

If you're looking for a special holiday treat, this is definitely the direction to go! Mine are for Bunny's first grade birthday class celebration, but I think that they're a fantastic Easter sweet as well!

Here are some pictures from the project! I'll let them do the talkin', but if you have any questions just let me know. I was nervous about this project. Though it was time consuming, it was pretty easy and I love the way they turned out.

Your Daily Lila (In Spanish)

My bilingual performer.

Lila Singing (In SPANISH)

Lila loves Spanish.

We were in bed tonight and I managed to record her singing one of her school songs.

Lila Is Angry At Imaginary People (In SPANISH)!

1.) Don't mind how messy my house is.

2.) Try to ignore Sidney, who is persistently trying to convince me to put my candid camera down to toss her ball.

3.) I am not sure how much of this is actually Spanish and how much of this is Splila-ish.

The Things We Learn From Bunny

Bunny's been coming home from school reciting the following "hand games." Watch till the end. Shame, Shame, Shame is my personal favorite. Especially the part that goes, "there's a big, fat police man at the door, door, door..."

Last Friday Jay was able to meet with Bunny's teacher, principal and lower school counselor to talk about her obstacles and the teacher change that we requested.

We've noticed that each time we say something to B's teacher, her attitude towards B changes (temporarily, so hopefully this time will be a permanent change) and B stops fearing school to such a degree. She just wants her teacher's acceptance so badly and fears her disapproval so much. I mean, it's to the point where it gives her serious anxiety.

So, her teacher said that B's been doing much better both socially and academically. The report cards that she submitted were filled out a few weeks previous to our receiving them and Bunny had been struggling. She said that B does not need any sort of tutor and is exactly where she should be academically. She also mentioned Bunny's "husband" (who called her on Friday night after receiving a hand made card that said "this is my fone numbr. Call me now," by the way).

Again, creepy or cute? Neither Jay or I know. And worse, it seems that B is feeling very empowered by this relationship. I'm so desperate to jump-start her self-esteem, but I want her power to come from within. In life, little girls have so much pressure to snag themselves a man... six is too early to start feeling that pressure.

But, getting back to the teacher. She apologized for not responding to my concerned emails. She said that she just hadn't read them well enough to realize that they needed responding to. I don't care for that... but what are you going to do? All that really matters is that Bunny is doing well.

So, she'll stay where she is for the time being and we'll try to make it through the school year. Things seemed okay yesterday and the mornings are getting easier.

I guess that we'll see what happens.

On a different note, I'm totally still sick. :(

Cute or Creepy

When I was at the school a few weeks ago I noticed that Bunny was spending a lot of her time with a little boy called Miles. Normally I wouldn't think anything of this, but her friend Siobahn blew her cover and told me that Bunny and Miles are soon to walk the aisle to the alter and make their mutual love official and bound by law.

Bunny was very embarrassed that this information had been passed to me. She denied it until she started coming home with drawings of vampires that were signed "love Miles."

I'm pretty strict about my children staying young and not pretending to be older than they are. That said, I think that this is probably harmless. Until this point I haven't allowed my children to even pretend that they have boyfriends. Lila would never want to and Bunny was easy to derail in this respect too.

When Jay went on the field trip with Bunny he noticed that Bunny and Miles were holding hands.

Then, Bunny came home with a whole plan.

She says that she and Miles are moving to Miami where her band will be located. She's going to play full time with her band and Miles is going to have a 9-5 job. They will have children, but the kids will go to daycare. She's not sure what kind of dog that they'll have. That's discussion for today.

She was telling my mom about it and my mom asked her why she likes him. She said that he makes her laugh and he makes her feel better when she's sad.

The good thing about Jay...

... is that he's so level headed.

As time goes on, it becomes nicer and nicer to be married to someone who doesn't cry or shout all the time. Particularly because I cry pretty much every day over practically nothing.

Something really needs to happen with Bunny. Things are just awful. I mean, not at home. At home Bunny is wonderful. We have settled in from the upheaval of our lives. Our house has settled down, we have a bit of extra money coming in, new furniture, and most importantly, NO BEDBUGS!

As a disclaimer I should write that Jay and I made a huge attempt through all the craziness to keep the lives of our children sound and normal. Obviously, when you live for three weeks with no furniture outside of mattresses and card tables, things are a little weird. But, it can also be an adventure. So, through stress and tears, we tried to present it as an adventure.

I really thought that once our personal lives settled down that Bunny's school issues may resolve themselves. This saddens me because when there is a conflict between an adult and a child people are often very quick to blame the child and say, "it must be something else."

Now we know that it's not something else. Bunny remains terrified of her teacher. The thought of having to speak to her keeps her up at night. She's sick to her stomach and she cries. She strongly fears her teachers reactions to her questions and this fear prevents her growth in school. This, is of course, because her teacher screamed at her on the first day of school and she's never been able to shake the effect that it had on her.

Yesterday we got Bunny's progress report. It was bad. I guess that I really should be surprised. What did surprise me was that she was marked "N" for needs improvement in places that made Jay and my eyebrows raise. She was given comments that shocked us. We work with Bunny on her homework each night and see how well she reads and how she does her math homework so effortlessly. Yet, she was given the comments that she's struggling in both of the areas. I KNOW that this is because she's unable to focus at school. She's so scared of her teacher that she's unable to work around her. It's so sad.

The principal told me that they likely will not change the class... which is heartbreaking. She will need to speak with my levelheaded husband because I cry and make inflammatory statements that I later regret. That said, my daughter's health is being jeopardized because politically it would be hurtful to the teacher or her reputation or her feelings if they moved Bunny. I really resent that. Frankly, this has nothing to do with the teacher. Moving my child isn't a punishment to her. I'm sure that she's a fine person and a good teacher. But she's hurt my child and continuing to have Bunny in the class further hurts her progress and health. So, really, it's about Bunny. I don't need anything but for my daughter to be okay. That's all. And I don't think that's too much to ask for. And it's terrible because I love this school. Even with this happening I'm still recommending it. It just saddens me to see that they don't care about my child at all.

I feel so hopeless and unable to protect my child. How do I send her into a situation that is hurting her?

Suburbs and your good public schools... how I long for you.

Field Trip

I went on a field trip with Lila's kindergarten class today (who, by the way, seemed hugely chilled out in comparison to what I've seen previously and heard about them). I am told that there is a boy who was sent back to preschool. We had a really nice time and both Lila and I got to pick a pumpkin and listen to Farmer Doug talk about warm and cool weather produce while on a hay ride.

As we were heading back into the city on the bus it struck me as sort of backwards. In my life, it was normal to go on a field trip TO the city. And when you'd enter the hustle and bustle of any cities downtown you'd feel a little bit grown-up and excited by the buzz of your surroundings. For us, it's completely reversed. We all got excited by the "Welcome to New Jersey" sign, going over the bride out of the city and by the leaves falling around us. When we entered the city again we were all relaxed by the familiarity of home.

I made oatmeal raisin cookies last night for the kids and we shared them after the picnic lunch. When we got back I dropped the rest off at our new Big Green Earth Store location and headed over to Jay's work. Then I walked home and picked up the car so that I could use it to pick the girls up. I probably walked about five miles today... which feels good.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Lila was just as excited to discover morning glories as she was to pick pumpkins.

This is Farmer Doug, who told my excited daughter that they call Morning Glory's "nuisances" and don't like them as she was caressing and admiring it.

The hay ride:

And finally, pumpkin picking!

TumbleBook

Every so often our elementary school sends home a link to something awesome.

This week, the school sent home a link to an online library of animated story books (which theoretically seems similar to TV, but in practice is not). It's called the TumbleBook Library and it rocks my universe. There are endless books on this site and my children LOVE it. Because we've recently lost all of our books (heartbreak) I also swoon a bit for this site.

I really like that the sentences are highlighted as they are read and the narration is a throw-back to "Free To Be You And Me," which I tend to go a little crazy for.

You have to put in a user name and password which I'd love to post here but am too much of a clucker to do. That said, if you ask me for it... I'll tell you what it is. Also, I think that they offer a free trial of thirty days too. If you've got kids and love books, I recommend giving this a shot.

UPDATE:

After investigating further I discovered that only schools can sign up for this. So, write to me at annapholler (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll tell you the secrets of the universe.

...and the bites go on

Yesterday, both of my girls woke up with bed bug bites. When is this going to get better?

I seriously feel like I could cry (again). I wasn't even able to send Lila to school because the bite on her foot is so terrible that her foot was too swollen to fit in socks and shoes.

The exterminator said to give it until the end of the week and if we're still getting bites at that point he'll come back to spray again. Killing bed bugs isn't instant. They have to crawl around in the poison and then it takes time for them to die.

Also, Bun is struggling in school. I wrote to her teacher a few times yesterday... but she didn't write back. Granted, it's only 6:30 am and my daughter's issues and struggles in school undoubtedly feel much bigger to me than they do to her. That said, the school that kept us in Philadelphia, that seemed like the only great thing about Philadelphia... is disappointing me and failing both of my children this year. GREAT.

More than ever, I just want to run away to the burbs.

I'd better go now so that I can go fetal and cry before my kids need to get dressed and out the door.

And for your viewing pleasure:

Lila's normal ankle.

Lila's bug bitten ankle (one day after the fact).

No teacher

We received a note home that Lila's teacher quit yesterday. It didn't give any information. It just said that she is no longer with the school and that they wish her luck in the future. Tr. Gia (the teacher who gave me the exterminator recommendation) will be taking over until they can hire a new kindergarten teacher.

I suspect that I know what the problem was. I went into the classroom one day and saw that the kids were out of control. They were running in and out of the classroom, using the language of gangsters and sailors and in the short time that I was there I even witnessed a fist fight.

When we first met Lila's teacher she looked like a perky, starry-eyed, fresh- faced idealist. But by the end of last week (only two weeks in) she looked entirely downtrodden, frazzed and stressed out. Someone I know saw her crouched over and screaming at the children because they weren't standing in their line properly. It's probably good that she quit. I'm sure that's not the kind of teacher that she wanted to be. There are some children who will eat people like her for lunch. Also, poor urban kids often offer different challenges than suburbanites. Suburban kids definitely have challenges too though. It's just different.

On a separate note, my day today is going remarkably smoothy for only being 7AM. I was wide awake and ready to start the day at 5:50. By the time that my alarm went off at 6:30 I'd already had a cup of coffee, was caught up on email and had breakfast on the stove for the girls. BOTH of my children heard the alarm at 6:30 and came downstairs on their own (something that has NEVER happened before). They both sat down to breakfast burritos and they both actually ate them. So, at 7 AM, when I am usually struggling to get Bunny to climb/crawl out of her bed... both of my kids are fed, dressed and sitting on a comforter on the floor watching old Flinstones episodes.

Tuesday- Fundraiser Talk

I joined a fundraiser committee at ICS and went to my first meeting last night.

I have to admit, I did feel a bit like a fish out of water. All of my fundraising experience happened at Deer Path for pre-school and I always sat on the creative side of the fundraising table. That, paired with the fact that I have never actually attended this event and didn't necessarily walk in with an understanding of what it even was... left me with my mouth agape. It took me most of the meeting to actually be able to envision what it will be like.

That said, I think that it will be pretty fun.

It's a 3 hour fundraising event that benefits the school's travel program (something that is so important). The 7th graders at the school will be able to go to Ecuador in April. The funds raised at this event will benefit this trip directly while working to create a sustainable travel program for future children (like my children)!

My part of the evening is to organize a salsa-tasting contest. People can bring 2-3 cups of their own salsa and other guests will vote for a favorite! We don't want people to have to register for this, but for this reason it will be difficult to predict how many salsas will be there. I'd like to make this part of the night really fun and colorful. I was thinking about getting 5 or 6 of something like this and using it to display the salsa. Then, next to each one there could be a bowl of local-homemade chips. I also thought that I could get really beautiful, brightly colored fabrics for the table on fabric row. I need a cute way to keep track of votes. I was thinking of having raffle tickets custom made for this. I found this site that does it affordably.

There a lot to think about.

The Nest Has Been Evacuated

Eventually we will have moved and will be unpacked and I'll need to figure out what I'm doing with my life. I'm only an hour into this "two-kids-in-school" thing and I'm already feelings like I've forgotten something. It's only 10 am. What am I going to do until 3? Luckily I have packing to do and birthday party invitations to decorate. I just told Jay that I'm going to stop sending him with lunches. Instead, I'll just make full meals and then bring them to him and eat with him at work... every day. (not really.)

Maybe I should start watching SOAP OPERAS! Do they exist anymore?

So, Lila insisted on giving her teacher flowers for the first day. It was such a sweet gesture that I had to forgive the kiss-buttedness of it and let her do it.

Lila went to the school with no reservations or anxiety, which was refreshing because Bunny is having SO MUCH anxiety about her school year.