My new Texas 'do

Riding the school bus

Susanna started riding the school bus home on the second day of school. I honestly wasn't thrilled about it, but there are two girls right next door who also take the bus, so I felt better, knowing she had a couple of friends at the start.

(Plus picking her up at school on the first day was a bit of a hassle - waiting in the car line and all.)

So riding the bus home has been going well enough. She isn't quite ready to ride in the morning yet, and I'm not pushing her. We'd have to leave about 20 minutes earlier to get the bus than we do if we drive. 20 minutes is a lot of extra sleep.

I hadn't heard much about what kinds of things happen on the bus until this weekend. Susanna tells me very little. But the neighbor had a story to share.

Apparently some kids were causing trouble. Switching seats, crawling under the seats, things like that. So all the kids on the bus were called to a little meeting with the principal. First they watched a video from the bus, so they could see for themselves how awful their behavior is. Then the principal gave some sort of stern lecture.

I'm sure you're all thinking, it wasn't Susanna causing the trouble. Of course not! But I did get a phone call from her teacher yesterday. She told me about the trouble on the bus, etc., etc., etc., and eventually got around to saying that she did see Susanna on the video, and that Susanna was actually not sitting perfectly still in her seat. Apparently she was leaning the aisle some, talking to other children.

So I was nicely asked to remind her of the rules, sitting on your bottom, hands to yourself, feet to the front...

Now here's the thing. Many years ago, when I rode a bus to elementary school, we had Safety Patrols. I don't remember the bus driver ever making much of an impression, but if a kid got out of line, a power-hungry sixth-grader wearing an orange belt would let them know about it. And let adults at school know about it. And at some point during my bus-riding years (only elementary school), seat belts were introduced on the buses and we had to sit and wear them.

School buses here don't have either of these things - safety patrols or seat belts. You'd think those might be national requirements (especially seat belts), but no. (I wonder if video cameras are thought to be a good substitute?)

So I will continue to encourage my child to behave nicely on the school bus. And hope that she can resist temptation to do naughty things even when others are doing them. But until they get some seat belts and safety patrols on the buses, I certainly won't expect her to be perfect.

Tee Ball

Today we had our first tee ball practice. (I can't decide if I want to call it tee ball or T-ball or what so I apologize if I keep changing it up.) Soccer games were canceled today due to a week of continuous rain, but its actually sunny and hot today so we held tee ball practice.

The kids (one girl and the rest boys) were all enthusiastic and did very well, and so did Coach Brad. Everyone practiced throwing and catching, running bases, and of course, hitting the ball off the tee. I will say that the tee took a bit of abuse, but overall they did well.

I asked one of the other moms if it looked like Brad knew what he was doing, and she said it did. He spent the past week studying the league rules as well as a book we bought about how to coach tee ball. He wrote up a plan for today's practice and it ran very smoothly. A lot of the other dads helped out too, which was great.

Their first game is Thursday and the second is Saturday, so, weather permitting, we will be jumping right into the season.

Go Rangers!

Self portraits

One of Susanna's and Ben's favorite things to do is take pictures of themselves on the computer. I love looking back through them to see the funny faces and poses they do. Here are a few recent takes:

Some Wednesday thoughts

Its Wednesday, and this week is moving right along. There isn't much going on here but I feel like writing anyway.

It is yet another rainy day - its not looking good for sports this weekend. I like rain because its the only thing that saves me from sports!!

I've been enjoying all the tea I brought back with me from England. But I can't ever make a cup for myself without making one for Ben. Its half milk and he drinks it down fast. Maybe next year we'll let him start drinking coffee.

After a year and a half of always making an effort to use "English" words, now I am making a big effort to use "American" words. I keep saying "football" when I really mean "soccer". People might be wondering why my 6-year-old girl plays football.

One of the grocery stores we now frequent has great service. The cashiers pull the items directly from the cart and scan them, then someone else bags. If I try bagging myself I am told not to, because then I would think I'm at just an ordinary grocery store, and not this grocery store. Then the bagger or someone else takes all the groceries to the car and loads them. Whether its a cart full or one little bag. It all seems a bit much but I'm getting used to it...

And I really don't mind that sports is starting to take over my life. Well I don't mind too much. I knew it was coming. And I am excited to see both kids play their first games, hopefully sooner rather than later...

Coach Brad

Because we missed the deadlines to sign up for 4-year-old boys' soccer and football, we signed Ben up for T-ball. Baseball starts a bit later than the other sports and thus had a later deadline.

Ben is quite excited to get started with this. There is only one problem, or at least there was until this morning - no coach!

Because we had finally gotten a schedule of games, but nothing about practices, uniforms, or anything else, Brad contacted someone who appeard to be in charge of baseball and inquired about what was happening.

Brad is now the coach!

The first game is scheduled for this Saturday at 8:30 a.m., but I don't think we'll be playing. Hopefully we can get a practice scheduled for next week, and then have a game on the 26th.

T-ball sounds pretty simple to me* - pick up a bat, hit the ball off the tee, and run! Hopefully the boys will be ready for a game soon!

*I'm sure its really much more complicated, which is why I am NOT signing up to be assistant coach!

Let it rain!

Last Thursday, Susanna's soccer practice was canceled at the last minute because it looked like it was about to pour. And it did. And it has hardly stopped since!

So we missed soccer practice and her first soccer game (just as well considering no practice), and have mostly been playing inside, except for a few short breaks.

When I went to collect Ben from pre-school today I wore my trusty English rain coat. (Honestly it didn't even occur to me to bring an umbrella...) I wasn't outside more than 60 seconds total running between the car and building, and my coat was soaked through. That never happened in England.

According to the forecast, there is a chance of thunderstorms the next two days, and then its supposed to get nice again. Hopefully soccer practice and the game will go on as planned.

Its great! And the best part is, it can pour and pour and pour and I don't have to worry about my basement getting flooded!