I have been holding the results of my children’s TCAPs for more than a week now. I have mixed feelings about standardized tests, especially the way that the school prepare and administer them, but here are the highlights of the results. Obviously one of my children didn’t even try. I know this because last year’s scores were so different.

Sarah’s scores:
Language 98%
Math 99%
Science 88%
Social Studies 67%
Total 97% (they don’t include science or social studies to figure this)

Noah’s scores:
Language 97% (10th grade equivalency)
Math 91%
Science 93%
Social Studies 61%
Total 95% (they don’t include science or social studies to figure this)

Tommy’s scores:
Reading 13%
Language 20%
Math 1%
Science 1%
Social Studies 4%
Total 3% (they don’t include science or social studies to figure this)

Fate just kicked me in the pants again. I was mindlessly tossing the laundry in the washer then the dryer when I noticed the multicolored dryer sheets. Yes, I have AGAIN trashed a load of laundry by washing crayons that were tucked in Noah’s jean pockets. Jeans with red, blue and yellow specks might become our new family uniform.

Do you think I could banish glitter from our house?

I finally finished organizing the 10,000 beads, hair scrunchies, craft supplies and assorted mess in the girls’ room. While I was doing it Doug came up and took Amy from the room so I wouldn’t have to do twice the cleaning. He offered to watch her so I could clean. A few minutes later he went back downstairs and I should have stopped and gone to watch Amy in the living room but I was trying so hard to get the room done that I waited. By the time I went to check on her she had climbed on the table and gotten into the cookie cabinet. In doing so she knocked over a coke and it soaked the Sunday paper and got on my papers and in my keyboard. I have too much cleaning to get to sit and read the paper anyway. Amy napped for an hour and that gave me the time I needed to finish the girls’ room. Now the kitchen is trashed again so I’m going to risk leaving Amy unwatched long enough to start a load of laundry and then I’ll clean the kitchen. I thought Doug was going to hang the hardware in the hall bathroom but he was just “thinking” about where he was going to put it. Sarah is spending the day at my parents getting to do whatever she wants. “Sure you can make pancakes for lunch.”

Amy just put on her swimsuit (all by herself) and is walking around saying “swim”. I think we may need to get a wading pool this year.

Huge storms in the night with lightning flashes that you could see through closed eyelids and boomers that made everyone jump. My dog was upset by the noise and stumbled her way on the bed so she could huddle between Doug and I for safety and petting. Amy was restless from the storm and cried out several times. The two boys who played with k-nex until nearly midnight slept soundly and undisturbed. Today needs to be a boring laundry day for me or my family will be naked this week. I also need to plant the sweet potato that took forever to grow but now has vines growing all over the kitchen sink window where the potato sits in a glass of water. I still haven’t read the Sunday paper either.

Spent the day cleaning while Doug worked on his hobby website. Took the entire crowd to my parents’ pool for a few hours and now we’re home. And we’re tired.

Three tired, over-stimulated are home now. I can’t decide if they should have a calm, quiet afternoon or if we should take them to the park to work out the energy.

I can’t do anything but stare out the front window and hold my breath, waiting.

Spent the afternoon and evening moving dirt at my parents’ house. Their lawn is looking great. Ours looks like a disaster area. The children come home today. I need to go bathe and get dressed. I’m sure my parents expect us to come over and work on their yard more. I am still in the process of rearranging everything in the girls’ room so that Amy can’t get into Sarah’s toys instead of napping.