All you have to do is tell them your name....

Things have been a little nuts around here.....the blog took a back seat to living life I guess. Russell hasn't taken a break from being naughty, that's for sure! But then again, neither have the others.

As I stood in line to vote on Tuesday I looked down and realized that Wyatt had yellow marker ALL over his face and then an earlier conversation with Wylee started to come back to me....

(As I walked into the living room)
Wylee: Mommy, Russell colored on Wyatt's face with a markerrrrrr.
Me: Russell is asleep, don't blame him for things that he didn't do.
Wylee: Okkkayyyyyy...

Russell was actually not asleep anymore and he was sitting on the ground  between the couch and the coffee table, which he also colored all over. My brain is so tired I can't even remember all of the stories from the last month. I should have written them down somewhere, maybe made a note or two. He's been his usual little daredevil self, jumping from things and climbing way to high. He's bitten, pinched, punched, kicked, slapped, hugged and kissed (everyone, including non family members). He throws his food, and eats with his hands. He insists on using a big boy cup and then spilling everywhere. He let the bath tub run for several hours a few weeks ago. Looking back, that may have been my fault. Wylee walked out of my bedroom saying that Russell just wanted to take a little cold bath, but Russell walked out about 30 seconds later so I figured they were pretending. A few hours later I heard water running and found the bath tub completely full, thank goodness for those little holes in that silver thingy!! We would have had a flooded bathroom. He figured out how to climb on top of the dryer to get to his Halloween bucket and how to open the giant bag of popcorn in the pantry to help himself (I'm okay with that part).

Now on to Jared....the kindergartner, you know, the one who things food in the cafeteria is free as long as you tell them your name. I actually don't think I have told that story yet. From the beginning....

Jared pulled a spork out of his pocket one day after school so I asked him why he had that, he told me he needed a straw for his drink and it came with the straw......he takes a thermos with an attached straw to school. He then told me that he went through the line and got a chocolate milk, so I asked him how he paid for it. Knowing that his parents are super cheap he threw his hands in the air (as if to stop me from flipping out) and said..."Don't worry Mom, it's free. All you have to do is tell them your name and they let you take the milk." I explained to him that it wasn't free and mommy would be getting a bill for that milk. A couple days later I got a bill in his binder for $12.00!! So I asked him exactly how much chocolate milk he had been getting. That's when I found out he'd been getting breakfast, too. He again tried to tell me that they never asked him for money, so it was free. We had a long conversation about how the only time he should go through the line is if I forgot to give him breakfast or if he left his lunch at home. The next week we get a $14 bill. He admits to getting some more breakfast....then came the $16 bill. Jared and I BOTH try to get it through his brain that he is not allowed to charge food.

I know that I can tell the cafeteria to stop letting him, I was concerned that he might be super hungry if he didn't eat breakfast and I didn't want to leave him with no options. Apparently a Kindergartner gets a little taste of freedom and runs with it.

So we are up to $42 in negative balances and each time I sent a check in I would write it over a bit just for some cushion. Halloween morning I had volunteered to work an activity at the school so I got there at 7:45 and what do you know....Jared is walking down the hall licking his fingers. So I stop him and ask him if he charged his breakfast AGAIN, of course he did. I go to the cafeteria to talk to the lady and let her know that Jared is no longer allowed to have breakfast unless he has cash. That's when I found out that he had a negative $16.50 balance. She said, "I asked him if he was supposed to be getting breakfast this morning and he looked at me and said (she has a sad look on her face with puppy dog eyes as she is telling me what he said) 'My mommy didn't feed me breakfast this morning, and I'm so hungry.'....of course she let him charge. I would have. So I wrote another check and signed a sheet saying no more breakfast. I asked her how often he gets breakfast in there and she said "every morning". WHAT?!?!?!?! I feed him or send food with him EVERY DAY! After all the checks were written Jared spent $86 in the cafeteria in his first 8 weeks of school. Don't try to do the math, I didn't mention all of the bills and no one else charged on his account, his picture shows up along with his number.

That's all I got. I'm sure I'll remember something else as the day goes on, or Russell will provide some new blog material :)