Blue Hair

 This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog in 2013.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place. Enjoy!

My 16 year old daughter dyes her hair.  I'm not thrilled with it, but if this is her form of rebellion, I can live with it.  Dyeing her hair is so much better than many other ways she could choose to rebel.  (Drinking, drugs, sex, etc.)

Usually, she dyes that beautiful head of brown hair red.

I came home to a different experience Thursday night.

Her hair was blue.

She had bought a bottle of blue hair dye at the store, and attempted to dye the red/brown mass blue.

Do you remember the story in Anne of Green Gables, where Anne attempted to dye the mass of red hair black, and it turned green?  This story reminds me of Anne's attempt to dye her hair.

Not only is her hair this hideous color of blue-green, so is her scalp.  And her hands.  Her neck.  Her ears.  Her nose.  Her forehead.  Her fingers are really blue, and her cuticles are just freaky.

Of course, she chose to do this on a Thursday night.  Do you see the problem yet?  She still had to go to school yesterday.  The good news is that hand sanitizer does remove some of the dye.  The bad news is, she's still a ghastly shade of blue.

Fortunately, she has a good sense of humor.  She went to school with a scarf around her neck to hide the dye on her neck.  She left her hair down so it would cover her ears.  Her face and hands are still a ghastly shade of blue, though.

When questioned about the blue, (as any normal person would), she told people one of three things:

1) I've been feeling a little blue lately.

2) I'm releasing my inner smurf.

3) I decided to go Avatar.  Didn't  you get the memo?

I honestly can't imagine what her day was like.  I offered the option of staying home, but she decided to go to school.

I'm proud of her.  It's not everyone who can pull off the blue look and hold their head up in school for the entire day!

High School Orientation

So, my youngest child - our daughter - begins High School next week.  This morning is Orientation for all incoming Freshman, and tonight is Back to School Night for all students.

I've done the high school orientation two times before, and I'm still looking forward to today's orientation.  We'll go in and listen to the principal explain attendance policies to us.  He'll explain the Standards of Conduct. 

And then, we'll break up into small groups and tour the building.

This high school is much smaller than my high school was, and I find it to be very easy to navigate.  However, this school is much bigger than the middle school that my children attended, and it is overwhelming to them.  The fear of getting lost on the first day of class isn't mitigated at all by her older brothers giving her directions to get to the portables just outside the cafeteria by directing her through the pool.  (Our school doesn't have a pool, so you can see just how helpful they are being!)

I have some mixed emotions about sending my last child off to high school.  I was thrilled to leave elementary school behind.  We had a good school, but her 5th grade teacher left me with bad, bad memories of elementary school.  By the time the last day of 5th grade rolled around, I stood out in the parking lot with several other parents who were leaving elementary school behind forever and danced the "Happy Dance". 

Our middle school has been the bright, shining light of school for all of our kids.  We are very fortunate to have a school that challenges our kids, acknowledges that kids who are in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will be mischievous, and works hard to challenge all of that excess energy into academic curiosity.  Considering our ranking in the state, our school test scores, and the high number of children who go on to get college scholarships, I know that they do an excellent job.  I love the teachers in that building, and I love their enthusiasm and love for the children.  When we finished middle school in June, I did cry.  I will miss middle school.

But we have an awesome high school!  The best teachers, ever, and a student body that is motivated and eager.  Why do I find myself so sad?  I think it's because she's moving on to High School.  I'm realizing that she has completed 8 years of compulsory education.  She'll only be at home for a few more years before she moves out and starts her own adventures.   It's a sobering realization.

It seems like only yesterday that she was standing at the bus stop with her brothers.  She was three years old, and wearing a purple sweat suit with a purple tutu and sneakers.  She, Philip, Kyran, and Christina were running around the bus stop, chasing each other around and yelling.  When all of their older brothers and sisters got on the bus and they had to stay behind, all of them started crying.  They were inconsolable that their siblings were going off on an adventure and leaving them behind.

I kind of hate to admit it, but that's how I've been feeling this week. 

This stage in our lives kind of stinks, you know?

Girl Scouts

My daughter has been a Girl Scout since she started first grade.  Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes.. she's been there.  Overnight events at the museums, up all night events at the Mall, mucking out horse stalls, and helping younger kids at Day Camp, she's been a part of everything.

Last night marked a major milestone in her Girl Scouting career.  She earned her Silver Award.

The Silver Award is not just handed out to anyone.  It is an earned award.  A project which benefits the community is conceived.  Hours of leadership and service must be earned.  40 hours must be spent on the project itself.  The write up must be sent to council, and then council decides whether or not the project will receive the Silver Award.  Many times, the paperwork is sent back to the girl for revisions and/or corrections.  Once the girl receives the letter telling her she has received the award she (or her leader) must take the award in to council in order to purchase the award.  They won't give the award out unless if the girl has her letter.

Her troop decided they were going to make blankets for Project Linus. 

If you are not familiar with Linus, they are an organization that makes blankets to give to children who are in need of comfort, either because of traumatic injury, illness, or otherwise in need.  The blankets are made by volunteers throughout the country. 

Our girls decided to work with the local chapter of Linus.  We received permission from council to hold a lemonade stand fundraiser to raise money to purchase the fleece for blankets. We raised $45.  The girls were very disappointed, as we thought that we would only be able to make 4 or 5 blankets with that money.

And then, the strangest thing happened.  We posted on facebook that we needed fleece for Linus.  Fleece came out of the woodwork!  People called and donated fleece.  Our local chapter of Linus had just received a huge fleece donation that they gave to us.  The church office would call and tell me to "Come and pick up this load of fleece before we trip over it!".  I would come home from running errands and find piles of fleece, unmarked, sitting on my front stoop.

By the time all was said and done, we had 50 blankets.  These were not the small, infant size blankets.  These were full size blankets that would easily cover a teenager, with some room to spare. 

But then, we sat down and realized that we had not spent the money that we raised for purchasing fleece.  And so, we went out and bought more fleece.

Another 20 blankets were made. 

In total, we made and donated 75 blankets for Project Linus.

Absolutely amazing.

http://www.projectlinus.org/index.html