Mall Walkers

The countdown to school is on, only 4 more days.  School always starts on a Thursday around here and while its a little random, I kind of like it.  The first few days can feel long for the kids so its nice to have a break after the first two.  Britton and Jenna will both be at the middle school and they received their schedules at registration this week.  Jenna is fine with her schedule (its not like she knows any of the teachers anyway) but Britton was extremely disappointed that he got all of the teachers he least wanted. The one he was most bummed about was his science teacher.  He has heard from all of the other kids that this particular teacher doesn't really do much and they spent a lot of time sitting around. Since science is one of Britton's favorite subjects this sounded like pure torture to him.  One of my friends is a teacher at the school so I asked her for her advice about what I should do and she told me that yes, Britton would go crazy in that class and I should do something about it, but not to tell anyone I heard it from her because they frown a bit when teachers throw each other under the bus. When I was growing up if there was a problem with the school my Mom would show up in office dressed in a power suit just to make sure they wouldn't give her any trouble (and they never did), but since I don't own a "power suit" I was glad I was able to handle the situation over e-mail.  By Friday afternoon Britton had a new schedule with the science teacher he wanted. Awesome. I love it when a plan comes together and I didn't have to actually call or visit anyone. :-)

On Thursday Jenna asked me, "Mom, can you take Gracie and me to the mall today?" The mall!? Are we there already? Wow. I guess she is in middle school and she is a girl. This was a first for both of us--the first time I have ever dropped a child off at the mall on purpose, and the first time she has actually been to a mall (I'm not kidding, malls just aren't my thing).  I memorialized the moment with a picture:

I picked Jenna back up just under 2  hours later and she gushed about how "fabulous" it was.  Fortunately for me she makes her own babysitting money. :-)