SCHOOL IS PAU!!

June 5, 2008

Thursday was the last day of school for us. The kids all had parties and I enjoyed my last day of silence in the house until next school year. They got out early and when I went to pick them up, I was expecting a few sad faces from the little kids...but they were all smiles. I don't think it totally registers with them that they won't see their school friends again. Caleb gets to see his friends once more this Saturday...because his friend (who's birthday is after we leave) is having his birthday party early, so Caleb can come...but he is very emotional with good byes and will probably have tears after the party is over. On the other hand, I was expecting Brooklin to be jumping up and down with joy, and she came to the car bawling! She has had a really tough three years here and I thought she would be glad it was over. She looks a lot different than most of the kids at her school: she is really tall, has huge, poofy, light colored hair, she has acne already, and loves reading and school. Everyone here is short, has blemish free tan skin, and straight long black hair. I know that it should make a difference, but in middle school, it doesn't help to be different, and a lot of the kids have mostly just ignored her(which is almost worse than teasing), and a few of them have picked on her. This year she finally found some girls to be friends with, and last week two of them quit talking to her and started glaring at her when she tried to talk with them. She isn't sure what she did to upset them, and it took me 45 minutes of talking last week to figure out why she was having such a gigantic attitude. We both did some crying, and she is worried that her Alaska friends will have moved on without her, and won't want to be her friends either. I told her I was sad that they would treat her that way, but if she could just put on her tough skin for the next week, then it would all be over, and we could be done with it. When she came to the car crying, I assumed that one of the mean girls had put the icing on the cake, and I was ready to go into momma bear mode. Turns out she is crying because she is going to miss her friends! I said, "What!! Brooklin they were mean to you! Why are you sad?" She said, no not them, I will miss the other ones and she named off three other girls that I didn't know she was that good of friends with. I really got it all wrong...lol. Anyway, we are glad that school is out, and now I'm making them do housework all day long every day until we move, so they don't tell me they are bored....j/k, but they are going to help me get the last few piles and boxes of stuff mucked out and get the house spiffed up, so when the Relief Society sisters come to help me clean: A.) I will not be embarrassed by our large collection of dust bunnies and refrigerator science projects and B.) They won't have too much to do. Now I only have one more post before I am done for today! Yippie!