St. Patrick's Day 2023

Posted by Chandra March 19, 2023

St. Patrick's Day 2023

March has been so green and so lucky! Let's dive right into it...

Rayleigh was invited to a paintball party on a Sunday and after debating whether this was an appropriate activity for the sabbath, we decided to go and support her new friend. His mom allowed Jack and Parker to attend, too, and they had a fun time!

Rayleigh's class finished reading Charlotte's Web and they were able to watch the movie one day. Her teacher said they could bring a pillow and a blanket but Rayleigh also decided to wear pajamas. She was so excited and totally prepared for movie time! Before she saw her teacher or any other classmates in the morning, right when she got to school, she ran into a "friend" who shamed her for wearing jammies to school. It made Rayleigh feel terrible and she came running down to kinder with tears in her eyes and said we needed to go home. When I figured out what happened I grabbed a few things from the Lost and Found and Mrs. Kliss donated a cute pink shirt and we did a quick change in the bathroom. She was all smiles after that. It made me so sad to see her so upset about feeling out of place. She's usually not like that. How ashamed that "friend" should feel- making someone so upset for NO reason. There were a few other kids in class wearing pajamas that day.

But that's not the worst thing that happened to her that day!!!

At recess, the kid whose birthday party she had attended the day before SLAPPED her in the face while she was doing a trick on the bars! I didn't know about it until the next day because she didn't tell me. I was in a ZOOM meeting for her exit IEP for speech (she doesn't need speech any more and that journey has now come to an end... but i'll get to that later). I was at home instead of at school for the meeting because Jack had stayed home with a fever and I wanted to check on him. But right as the IEP was started, Dr. Mac, the assistant principal told me that she'd had Rayleigh down in the office the day before for an incident on the playground.

She said that Rayleigh and this other little boy were kinda going at it and he ended up slapping her in the face! At the moment, in front of her speech therapist and her teacher, I wasn't able to fully absorb this information and kinda brushed the incident off. When I picked her up from school I asked what had happened and her story and what Dr. Mac told me didn't line up.

So, the next day I had my friend, who is a playground aid, point out to me the aid who helped Rayleigh on Monday. After I talked to this aid I felt a little better and decided to drop it instead of escalate. I was furious at Dr Mac for allowing me to think that Rayleigh was in ANY way deserving of being slapped in the face by a boy. But when I spoke with Rayleigh she said Dr. Mac was "really nice" and I knew that if Rayleigh was truly ok, I needed to let it go. (But I was still upset). The aid that I spoke with told Dr. Mac that I'd talked to her, that I was mad, and that I wanted to confront Dr. Mac. (Which I never did) Dr. Mac was then mad at ME for talking to a playground aid about Rayleigh instead of going through the channels of administration.

Soooooo, about a week later Dr. Mac pulls me aside and tells me she needs to speak to me after school. I said, "We can talk right now". But she was headed to another meeting. So the next morning I walked into her office and asked if it was a good time to talk. She was confused that I was trying to talk to her during work hours but when she asked to talk to me, I didn't know if it was work related or not (though I highly suspected it was about Rayleigh and the fact that I went "above her head" to talk to the aid).

Well, I was right and she said I shouldn't have done that. I very calmly listened to her and when she was done lecturing me I said, "I hear what you're saying and I completely understand. But you were wrong to not inform me that my daughter was hurt the day it happened," To this, she tried to give me some excuse as to why she didn't call me and I said, "There is absolutely no excuse for you not to get a hold of me the moment my daughter was slapped in the face. I work here. There are a thousand ways to get a hold of me." Then, she shut right up.

So I said, "What if my daughter had come home from school reeling from that experience and not able to adequately communicate why she was upset and then I, in turn, get upset with her? Getting slapped in the face is a huge deal and no girl or woman should EVER be made to feel that they have done ANYTHING to deserve it. When I talked to you, you said she'd been goofing around with this boy but when I talked to my daughter, she said that wasn't what happened at all- that it was completely out of the blue and caught her off guard. The fact that you told me about the incident during her IEP was highly unprofessional and super disrespectful. I went to the aid to get the story straight and after I talked to her I decided to drop it."

Dr. Mac apologized and said she was expecting me to try and talk to her because that's what I'd told the aid I'd do. I told her the main issue for me was to make sure my daughter knew of her worth and was ok. Rayleigh said Dr. Mac "was nice" and she seemed unaffected by the slap (though she did cry when it happened and the whole thing breaks my heart). Red faced, Dr. Mac apologized again and I told her there was no need to apologize. We all make mistakes and we all have feelings. I was really mad but it's what we DO with our feelings that matters. I didn't want to escalate it and I didn't want any drama. She seemed ok after this so then I killed her with kindness and told her she was doing a good job and asked if there was anything else I could do for her. BAM! I felt so victorious!!!! I was so happy and relieved after talking to her!!!!! DON'T MESS WITH THE MAMA BEAR!!!!!!

Let me say a few word about Rayleigh. From the time she was a baby, she's been delayed with her speech. Speech therapy has helped her tremendously, especially with verbalizing her feelings. She is the most resilient 9 year old girl I know. Very few things get her down and she has a brilliant sense of self worth. I'm sad to say goodbye to speech therapy because Christy, her therapist, has been such a light in our lives. I'm glad that I still get to see her every day and so blessed that we are now friends. Rayleigh has come a very long way and I'm so proud of her! The school held a community leadership day and not only was Rayleigh one of the greeters who stood by the front doors of the school, but she was able to perform Hakunka Matata with her theater group and she did outstanding!

I took the kids to Disney on a rainy Friday afternoon and it was epic! The park was empty and we shared some delicious beignets. We road the brand new ride in ToonTown, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad which was so fun! We had a fantastic time and I love being at Disney with my children!

The next morning was the kids' first big MCO rehearsal and they were blown away by the orchestra and singing as an entire group for the first time. They did so well and I was so happy to be there with them volunteering. We headed home after rehearsal to divide and conquer. Tanner took the girls to the Stake Primary Easter Activity and I took Jack to the park to celebrate Jordan's birthday and hang out with my school mom friends.

The following week we finally saw some sunshine! And suspense! After school, I noticed a police helicopter circling over head and when I looked out the window to investigate, I saw 5 cop cars right in front of the house! I went out to see what was going on and take a picture to send to Tanner when the kid across the street yelled at me to "mind my effing business!" Wellllll, ok then! He came the next day and apologized. He'd tried to prank his sister by jumping over the side wall with his hood over his face and scaring her. Well, joke's on him because she called 911! I totally understand him taking out some of that adrenaline on me (still wasn't ok) and I'm impressed that he apologized. I asked if he was ok and told him it was totally fine, just glad they are ok.

Right after this, we headed to the park for our annual gold hunt with church friends and OUR alarm was going off because the door didn't shut all of the way... sheesh! Never a dull moment! The cops were on their way again but they called Tanner and we got everything figured out quickly. The gold hunt was fun and the kids loved running around with their friends. I'm still keeping my boundary with my old friends but it was nice to see Courtney and talk to Alyse a little bit since she's moving!

Jack's soccer practice was cancelled yet again due to the rain so we headed to Disney. We got Wetzel's Pretzel's and road the train while we ate. It was a little bit more crowded but we had a good time, as usual.

But let's talk about St. Patrick's Day! Mrs. Kliss loves St. Patrick's Day just as much as I do and we had a great time celebrating! She had fun things to surprise the kids each day and we made leprechaun traps with our buddies. The kids were so cute and creative. The night before St. Patrick's Day, we made a trap at home and I started the corned beef in the crock pot. We didn't catch a leprechaun but we did read some fun books about leprechauns and he sent us on a gold hunt. We found a basket full of green goodies in the bathtub and enjoyed green eggs and rainbow jello for breakfast. School was so fun and festive and we made leprechaun pie to share with our parents later that day. After school, I met up with Tanya and some friends I didn't know at Avocado House to wish her a happy birthday. Then it was back to school for Family Friday which was so fun! I love working with Colleen and feel soooo lucky to have my wonderful job!

We enjoyed corned beef and cabbage for dinner (it slow cooked for 24 hours so it was delicious). And Tanner and I started Far and Away (I can never stay awake for movies anymore). Parker went on a ward campout with all of the youth and didn't sleep at all but seemed to have fun. He finished driver's Ed so now he just needs to take his permit test and we can get this show on the road (no pun intended). He's been playing a lot of lacrosse and went to another stake dance this weekend. Of course he loves MCO and is still going to the temple weekly and his grades have improved. Just a little over 2 more years with him!!!!

Saturday was Jack's FIRST soccer game (all the other games have been rained out) and he did so great! They totally lost but he had fun and looked so cute out there! I ran errands with Tanner and we took the kids to get ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins with their free scoops they earned from their awards at school. I snuggled down and read to the kids that night. Tanner was mean to me so he left me alone and instead worked on his Sunday School lesson (at least that's what I assumed he was doing).

It was a busy few weeks and we are looking forward to more Spring weather now that we've sprung forward (which was the worst).

Good times are to come!