The last month at the Peterson's

Back on November 26th the girls got to perform at a girls high school basketball game for their cheer clinic. Worst Mom of the year award goes to me during this game and I can't believe I haven't posted since then and almost missed sharing it with you all! I dropped off the girls early and then went and took the boys to eat and play at McDonalds. When we came back we found a place to sit on the bleachers and I gave Miles my iPod and went to take pictures of the girls sitting in the stands about 10 feet from us doing cheers with the cheer leaders. When I turned back around Miles was gone. Gasp! I asked a lady if she had seen him walk past her and as she was telling me no I heard the whistle blow down on the court. I turn around to see Miles out on the basketball court in the middle of the game skipping around looking at the iPod with headphones on! I ran down to get him as I see a girl from the stands come an put her arm around him and lead him to the doors! Then I had to walk past everyone with him so they knew I was the bad Mom. Well I was completely embarrassed and so I made sure I had him next to me and was texting Joel what had happened. When I get done I look to find Tommy gone! What the heck? I start to panic and the lady behind me leans forward and said "He went to get a drink so I sent my daughter with him". Yes proud moments indeed! I never lose them and I lost them both in  5 minutes! Well here is a cute picture of the girls anyway. They had a TON of fun!

Millie turned 6! I can't believe how sweet and gentle this little sassy pants has turned. She LOVES me to tell the story about how I called Mom one day because I just didn't know what to do with her because she was so spicy. She had a short fuse, was stubborn and the boss! Mom told me and this is Millies favorite part "Sometimes kids like that end up growing up to really sweet". She was so very right.  We decided to have a friend party this year. She invited the little kids from her primary class and Sam. When they came in off the bus they ran in to see her cake and Sam said "WOW that is awesome! It is either Santa Claus or a pig". I guess my Santa wasn't as cute as I thought. We did a little pin the beard on Santa game and then we decorated felt Christmas trees. She had so much fun! (She also chose to wear a spring outfit that was a hand-me-down from Maizy, but it was her birthday she got what she wanted!)

 

Maizy's gifted and talented class did their presentations on Wednesday. She did hers on "Damage caused by the sun". When I was looking for the pictures of that horrid sunburn I got in college that puffed up an entire side of my body I found these pictures....

Aren't they great?! I just love them!

 

The of course our ward Christmas party. We had really great food and the kids did their little presentation and Santa came!

It was pretty cold on Friday as it has been a lot lately of course. Millie has a first year teacher and she is just overwhelmed! You can tell before I even heard she was. They don't do anything extra or even crafts for that matter. If she does a fun project it is because a Mom went in and did it with them. She told me once that her teacher makes them run back and forth at recess when they are naughty. I was pretty annoyed about the teacher using running as a punishment but didn't know if that was actually what was happening or not. Well, when Maizy came home Friday it just happen to come up and Millie said "we were bad again today so Ms. Mackay made us run outside for recess again, but this time we didn't get to wear our coats". It was 14 degrees at noon.  I scared both the girls because I said "Maizy get me the phone" and I must have looked really mad because they both got really embarrassed. I called and luckily she was there. I told her that Millie and I were talking today and she told me something that I was sure wasn't right so I was wondering if she could clarify it for me. I said Millie said they were made to run outside today without their coats and could she tell me what happened. She told me about how the kids had been talking a lot and it was the end of the day so she had them go outside to get their wiggles out. I said "Did you make them run" She said "yes I had them go outside during recess and run" I said "Did they have their coats on?" she answered very quietly "They did not". Oh my goodness, for a Mom like me that doesn't like to cause problems with teachers or get involved I felt my blood boil and Maizy said she knew what Ms. Mackay said because I couldn't contain my anger. I told her how Millie had RSV as a baby and gets coughing fits so bad she can't go 30 seconds without coughing and that she was not to be sent outside without her coat and that was NOT and acceptable punishment! She started talking about how Millie was a really good student blah blah blah. I finally just said "Thank you" and got off the phone. She called back a few minutes later and said she realized that was a mistake and that it was dangerous and that she would never do it again. Then she proceeded to tell me that Millie was really good in class so she was the first one that got to come in. Well, that just infuriated me more because I realized that she was punishing everyone even if they didn't do anything wrong and that they were being forced to stay out there longer if they were talking more. They are 5 and it was 14 degrees! I asked Millie exactly what she said and she told me that she said "You guys are going to have to go run this recess and you don't get to wear your coats". She actually planned it. I was mad and told the girls at book club about it and one of the older Mom's said that if you saw your neighbor doing that to her kids as punishment, sending them outside to run without their coat when it was cold they would be turned in to child protective services. Sigh....I am not mad a the teacher but I think she definitely needs some help. I am trying to decide if I should go in and talk to the principal. Not to tell on her but to explain that she needs to employ positive reinforcement instead of punishment as I am sure she learned in college that she just graduated from. She is definitely not headed in the right direction the way she is thinking and she needs some help with knowing how to deal with 5 year olds!