Selena Gasbarro

After I posted about our decision to retain Adelaide in 3rd grade we received an overwhelming response. You all made us feel supported in ways I can't express. So today is your update... School started and I only wanted to punch one big mouthed mom - yay me. First day of school was around the corner and I was holding my breathe on how A would handle it. All summer long when someone asked what grade she was going to she always responded, "I'm going back to 3rd." In which she always got a pity smile and then I got the same thing. At first I told her that she didn't have to tell people that she was going back, she could just say I'm going to 3rd. I don't know why I told her that, I think mostly to save her and I the embarrassment. Even typing that out I am shaking my head at myself because I know I have nothing to be embarrassed about. My little girl tried her hardest, the family tried their hardest. We did exactly what we tell the girls all of the time...

We are in those few weeks where our Facebook feeds are filled with smiling little kid faces, new backpacks and the excitement over getting a routine back. SURPRISE...not all of us are excited about the kids going back to school. 1. Not all of us need to rebound from crazy schedules over the summer. Some of us worked all summer long and may have managed to get one week off to spend with the kids. Our schedule still consisted of getting up with an alarm clock 5 days a week and rushing to make dinner at night. 2. Some of us are terrified over the thought of adding extra curricular activities and homework back into the evening mix. Remind me how we get all of this done again and got to bed at a decent time, seriously, someone please. 3. We don't all have the ability to fill our days being school volunteers and when you open up your child's folder and the first paper is the Volunteer Form you immediately ball it up and throw it in the trash because I'll be damned if I am g...

Did anyone else read the article about how to look younger in your photos? Apparently the key to keeping years off of your face is not to smile in photos. It was so disappointing to read the article. I think that you would be hard pressed to find a photo of me when I'm not smiling. My theory is, what's the point in taking a photo if it's not a memory you want to keep. Personally, I don't want to keep any memories that aren't smile worthy. As a kid I remember these creepy family portraits hanging up at my dad's house. They were my great-great-grandparents or something close to it. Looking back on it I should have thought it was cool to have a piece of history, but reality is they scared the living hell out of me. They looked like something you would see in a haunted house where the eyes followed you around the room and they had very stern stares. I'm going to go out on a limb and say these pictures are probably the only ones that still exist of my family ...