Yes, I really am a freak...

So just in case you weren't aware of what a freak I am, I thought I'd share a great little memory that occurred our first summer in Michigan. You see, I'm feeling a little nostalgic with the start of school around the corner, so I've been thinking a lot about JD's first AND second day of kindergarten.

So rewind back 2 years ago to the first day of JD's afternoon kindergarten. I was super nervous about leaving my baby to his own devices - as any typical mother would be. I took him to school the first day to meet his teacher (this dumb school doesn't believe in back to school night PRIOR to the first day). We came a little early and she didn't like that. She told us to come back in 12 minutes. Strike 1, but not a big deal.



I didn't trust the school because of their total lack of organization and communication. They screwed up with JD's bus situation so I decided to go and observe how the school would handle the first day bus departures. I just sat and watched. I couldn't believe what disaster I was witnessing. The buses were late so there were kids all over the place. The poor little kindergarteners didn't know what to do. There weren't any adults helping them. Kids were crying and confused. Strike 2. Now I'm getting mad.



Of course I made sure the neighborhood kids were on the right bus (except that was screwed up too) and I followed them home. So up came the bus with all the excited mom's waiting to greet them. They got all frantic when I yelled, "The school was a mess today & the kids are on the other bus that drops off up the street!" All the poor moms took off running to save their babies. There was confusion and tears. The worst part was some poor kid didn't get off the bus and his mom was running frantically trying to find him. He was still at school. Nice. Strike 3. Time to call the principal! She assured me that all of the problems occurred because the buses were late. Yeah right.

So of course I followed JD's bus to school the next afternoon (he was in 1/2 day kindergarten) just to find the bus driver totally confused as to what to do with the poor 5 year olds. I got out of my car to lead her and the kids to the right destination. Strike 4. Can you fire a school?

So this is the worst part. The day that will forever live in infamy. So I obviously felt that I needed to go to school again for the bus departures. I had to freak'n park behind the school and drag my 2 kids around to the front just to turn around again to head back home - I was a little late to see for sure if JD was on the right bus. I figured I had better hurry home so that I could maybe beat the buses and be there for my baby. Well, I was a little frantic so I kinda ran a little red road sign (yeah, a stop sign) in the middle of campus - in front of a campus police car. The chase began.

By the time I noticed the flashing lights behind me, I was going through a busy intersection. Now I didn't know at the time that Michigan has this RETARDED law that you have to pull over the moment the lights flash - even if it's in the middle of a 2 lane road & cars have to wait for the ticket to be written! Yup, that's safe. I just assumed that I would pull over in the first safe place which happened to be the entry into family housing. I kind of pushed my luck by not pulling into the 1st parking lot. I wanted to pull into the 2nd lot so I could be there for my poor baby on the crazy bus! I motioned to the cops that I was pulling over into the next lot. They didn't like that so they got on their loud speaker and screamed, "PULL THE CAR OVER NOW!"

All of Northwood heard it and I'm sure some people thought it was some drug bust or something! I parked just in time to see the bus pulling up. Poor JD got out just to see two police (campus that is - do they count?) officers slowly approaching his mom's car with hands on their pistols - just in case the crazy soccer mom would bust a move. I tried to explain, but they treated me like a hardened criminal. My poor neighbor (remember this Talli??) came over to see what was up and one of the freak police officers yelled at her, "STEP AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE!" She was like what the crap?? My other neighbor's family was watching from their front window (remember this Michelle??). Poor Camden cried, "Mommy, I don't want Heather to go to jail!"

Wow, that was great. I was the new gal in town and here I was in all of my glory! In the end, I got a ticket for running a stop sign (geez, it was a California stop people!). It was super expensive so I decided to plea insanity in my court appearance. I was super nervous, but the judge obviously felt sorry for me and cut my ticket in half.

I was so mad at the school that I let myself turn into a super freak! Oh the things crazy soccer moms will do for their babies! JD's 1st grade experience was more pleasant because I was better prepared to handle things - even though the school was still a mess the first day!

Poor JD is so my experiment in parenting. Poor kid. Hey, at least I care right? Hopefully this year (2nd grade) will be much better. Wish me luck!

Do you see that JD is happy in all of his pictures??
See, I really am a good mom - he wasn't aware of
the chaos around him. Mission accomplished.