Missed the boat on school picture day

Last night DT said today would be picture day at school. It WAS on the school calendar. And at parent-teacher orientation before the start of school, I saw some forms at the tiny desks in his classroom. There wasn't one at DT's seat, and I overheard his teacher answer another kindergarten mom's question about it. She said the forms that were out that night were only for the preschoolers who share the same room. So I didn't ask the same question... and forgot about til last night when DT winged his statement of truth at us.

So, what does a parent do in this situation? No picture day form... and it's picture day. I know I need to fill out a form, right?, I thought.

Well, most parents would ask the school in the morning for a form, fill it out, and let the pros do their job. But this morning as I passed the school in hopes of doing just that, I saw an empty parking lot and continued on to DT's morning babysitter. The whole reason for the morning babysitter is because the school isn't open yet when Ben and I have to leave for work. So, it makes sense that no one would be there.

But it's picture day and I don't have the form. Don't even know what options of portrait packages there are. What do I do?

Fortunately, DT's babysitter showed me her kids' form. I picked a package, handwrote my choice, and gave her my VISA number since I didn't have a checkbook with me. She assured me she'd fill out a form for DT and take care of it for me when she dropped him off at kindergarten.

What a relief! And what a kind offer, I thought.

So, as I pick DT up from after school care, he says to me "I have something for you," and he pulls out the missing picture day form from a secret compartment in his bookbag. It was probably there all along as I looked through his school folder last night and this morning. And as I carefully look over the form, I see that VISA-paid orders have to be completed ahead of time on-line.

So, I called the babysitter this evening and left a message asking what happened. She called me back and said she tried to put my order in, but the photographer said the form was wrong and I still could order on-line by VISA up to 10 days after picture day.

Whew! If I missed the boat on picture day, at least I can jump back on!