Kindergarten Roundup -- Round 3….

Today was Jonathan's kindergarten registration appointment. They assigned him 1:20, and I was a little concerned about getting out in time for Ben's pickup. (if they were running behind, I would have been in trouble). The administrative receptionist had helped me out by getting all the paperwork done on Friday so all that needed to be done today was his academic screening.

Normally, they keep the parents busy with the paperwork and the nurse, so you have a hard time hearing what your kid is doing with the K teachers. But, seeing as how they had no paperwork to keep me occupied, I got to watch the whole thing.

OMG.

I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

He sat right down with the teacher and immediately launched into a diatribe about how he has  "two brothers, Ben and Simon. One is 11 and one is 7. One goes to St. James, one goes here." The teacher didn't get a word in edgewise for a good solid minute and a half.

Then the screening started and he answered all her questions and then expounded upon those answers. He called a triangle a trapezoid, but then corrected himself and explained that a trapezoid "actually has four sides… oops!" She had to stop him during the counting test because he accidentally skipped 44. He had backtracked and fixed it, but the rule is they have to stop them when they mess up. He didn't care. He just kept counting. I thought the two teachers doing the screenings were going to pee their pants laughing. She finally managed to get him to stop and moved on to letters, letter sounds, shapes, colors, and sight words. Then he wrote his name, which he explained he wrote in "all capital letters because that's what I know how to do."

Suffice to say, he did um… quite well on the screening. Whether that will translate to a successful year in kindergarten, who knows? All my kids have done well on the screening with mixed results their kindergarten year. Ben soared, Simon floundered. So many things factor into success in school, not just prior knowledge coming in.  I just hope and pray more than anything that he is well-behaved.  I also hope he doesn't struggle with writing the way SImon has. That has been so hard for him. :( We shall see.

Anyway… it was a fun, entertaining experience! ;)

Palm Sunday

Yesterday at church, all the sunday school kids paraded in with palms and sang a few songs on the stage. Mine were the ONLY ones standing there not really participating, and that includes the littlest of the littles.   (not Jonathan, he was weirded out by all the changes to sunday school and ended up with us in church instead)

Simon stared off into the wild blue yonder with his mouth hanging open. (It looked that way from the audience…. I knew what he was doing though… he was using his tongue to play with the space left by his missing front teeth. The sooner those grow in the better. While it's a cute look, it's REALLY distracting for him!).

Ben spent all three songs looking behind him, at what, we don't know,  and stepping up onto the next riser up and then back down again, trying to make himself the right height with the people next to him.

LOL. (shaking my head)

Ben is 11 Today!

Dear Ben,

Today you are 11 years old.

Instead of writing about milestones like sitting up, walking, and saying your first word, which is where we were on this day a decade (!?) ago, I am now writing about things like how you were blindsided by the puberty video at school two weeks ago. (not my fault, one of us forgot the permission slip. Hint: wasn't me!)

Firstly, I truly hope "the puberty video" has improved since I was in school. Secondly, I hope there is no lasting psychological scarring from that little surprise!

All joking aside, did I mention you are 11?  In five years you can drive! (prediction: you won't actually drive in five years… you are already worried about having to do this….)

At this age, you are suddenly all about friends. This has come as a surprise for me because for many years there, you could kind of take or leave most other kids. The only exceptions were the ones in our neighborhood, who, my heart is happy to say, are still wonderful friends. School friends were acquaintances, people to sometimes interact with AT school, but not much more. Now, suddenly, you crave people and want them around ALL the time.

After a couple years of encouraging you to "find your people",  I am happy to report you found a couple. You did a good job too! :)  I love watching you interact with your little friends  (who are actually not so little. Sujay's feet are like four sizes bigger than mine. I am realizing how full of "men" my house is going to be in the coming years. There is probably not enough Febreeze in the world…. but, I digress.)

Your favorite sports are still are basketball and swimming, although if anyone asks you right now, you say you hate swimming and want to quit. This isn't actually true… you're just worried about having to swim two lengths of butterfly this summer. I know this because you bring it up at least once a day, and that's on a good day. One a bad day, I might hear about your swimming angst about a dozen times.  Every start of swim season is rocky because of some new worry. Last year was the same. I wish we could fast-forward to the part where you are excited because that's way more fun. But such is life with an anxious kid.

You also love to write. Notebooks upon notebooks FILLED with stories, lists for stories, and outlines for stories and games you want to create. I'm kind of envious of how much you crank out, honestly. If we go somewhere, it's common to see you grab your notebook and favorite pen so you can write while we drive.

Currently, you also love all things Pokemon (again) and Ninjago (again) and science (always).

You've done an amazing job with the HUGE transition of switching schools midyear. You are thriving at your new school and look forward to going every day. I'm so proud of you for the courage you had to do that! I know it wasn't easy.

You are still the serious, contemplative kid you have been since the day you were born, always the straight man to your brothers' comedy duo.

I just got the rare opportunity to spend almost an entire week with just you around since you were on spring break by yourself. You've morphed into this neat "big kid", who is really fun to hang out and go places with.  :)

I love the person you are and the person you are becoming!

Happy birthday, B!

Love, Mom

Happy XIth!

We celebrated Ben's 11th birthday yesterday with Tom's side of the family! It was a quick and harried gathering, but the kids had a blast nonetheless. Ben had picked out cupcakes from Graul's. On the way out, he and I spotted these cool roman numeral candles and both agreed they were a must have. ;)  

His favorite birthday gift thusfar, no joke, a set of a dozen flare pens from Aunt Krystyna and Uncle Marc. I had told Krystyna he really wanted them, and that truly they would be a great and easy standalone gift. I know she didn't believe me. They also got him a cool Rubik's cube variation with a crazy number of sides, which he also loves... but he really would have been thrilled with just the pens. He HUGGED them when he opened them. LOL! 

What can I say? He loves pens!  I was actually considering for one of his gifts from us just raiding the pen aisle at Office Depot and filling a basket with different kinds. Flare pens, in particular, are his favorite though.  And until now, he hasn't actually owned any of his own, just pilfered them from school and other places. ;)

This is how he blew out his XI.  So much for the awesome candle blowing picture I always put on the photo calendar. Going to have to try again tomorrow or Sunday when we celebrate with my family! 

Birthday Chiptole…. and Science!

In what has become an annual tradition… here is Ben enjoying his birthday Chipotle. ;)

The other two got into some sciencing today… mostly of the vinegar/baking soda/food coloring variety… we exploded a plastic bag, make popcorn kernels dance in water, and then mostly poured things for awhile. ;)

Birthday Sleepover Success!

Well, we survived our first foray into little boy sleepovers!

The kids had a blast. They played a ton of Wii, watched Pokemon movies, played laser tag, and ate a shameful amount of junk food. They say they were up until about 1:30, although they were pretty quiet after about 11. 

In an attempt to keep the little ones out of their hair (because they wanted to be RIGHT in the middle of it all), we set up a mini sleepover in Simon's room and hooked up a little tv to the x-box up there. They had their own popcorn and glowsticks. They were (mostly) content…. it took some convincing that their setup was as cool as Ben's. 

Ben's two little friends, Sujay and Tommy, are such nice kids.  I like them a lot! They've been over separately, but never together. It's a great little trio.  I fed them a pancake breakfast this morning and Tom just left to take them all home. They were still chattering about Pokemon.  

Now… to air out the junior frat house basement. LOL.   

And in Other News...

All he wants for Easter is is two front teeth…. ;) (and maybe the ones on the bottom too…)

Postcard from the Hereford Zone….

Happy first day of spring! The grass is green, the birds are chirping… 

...hope and new life abound.

Oh wait… 

No it isn't. No they aren't. And no they don't. 

Spring Pics!

As a rule, I do not purchase spring pictures. I hate the dumb leafy background and generally dislike the poses they put the kids in…almost always makes already bad Lifetouch pictures worse. However, this one time, I may have to make an exception. I didn't even send Simon to school dressed for picture day and completely forgot these were taken. Cute picture though! At the very least, I figured I'd scan it and keep it in my computer photo archives! :)

Garden Time and Party Time!

Ben and I went out this afternoon and picked out seeds! He was a good sport about this and ended up kind of having fun. Hoping to take our little garden up a notch this year. Ever since last summer, we have talked about having one garden that is exclusively hot peppers so we can make our own hot sauce. I got some seeds at Home Depot, but I also need to order a few specialty ones from the internet.

We also stopped at the grocery store and I basically let him pick out whatever he wanted for Friday night sleepover snacks. I don't think I have ever had so much junk food in my cart. I said this when I was in line and Ben said, "You NEVER have junk food in your cart!" LOL.

Sour gummy worms, Skittles, Doritos, regular chips, Oreos, ice cream and toppings…. I tossed some green grapes in the cart too in hopes maybe they'll eat them.  Likely futile, I realize.

All this and he wants to order Chipotle for dinner that night.

Between looking forward to Friday and to dodgeball tonight, he is kind of bouncing off the walls!!!

Best Day!

Yesterday was such an amazing day, weather-wise! I had wanted to get over to the garden shop to get some seeds to start but Ben had reached his max of errand-running time. His spring break is somewhat cramping my errands style. HA! It has been nice having him around otherwise though. ;)

Simon has made this wonderful little friend, Nick. Nick has been over a few times, but yesterday, Simon went to HIS house.  They actually played outside for awhile. (Nick's mom made them.. YES!!) She says they rode scooters and bikes and talked Minecraft. LOL.

Nick and Simon have so much in common. Neither of them play sports, which is HUGE. Simon is always hanging out by himself at, for instance, Ben's basketball games, even though several classmates are there too. It seems every other kid on the planet wants to play basketball/baseball/lacrosse/soccer/all of the above.  He just doesn't have it in him. He can enjoy a backyard game of wiffle ball/kickball/basketball or whatever once in awhile, and with some practice, might be able to play some of the rec sports sports well enough to at least get by, he just doesn't have a competitive bone in his body nor any interest whatsoever.

Anyway, so he and Nick are peas-in-a-pod in many ways and it's just NICE.

Right after Nick's mom dropped Simon off, our neighbor came knocking at the door, so Simon never even came inside yesterday until bedtime. Totally unheard of.  I was so excited, I didn't even make him do his homework. (Technology Tuesday makes that easy… he was just supposed to play on two websites) ;)

Ben, Simon, and the neighbor spent two solid hours digging in the vacant lot next to our house. This is their favorite thing to do lately. I actually had to relocate them because I discovered yesterday that they HAD been digging up a spot at the top of the driveway, which I now have to fix and plant grass seed on.  (boys!!!)

They got all the hammers out of the garage workbench and went to town… looked like a tiny chain gang out there. Ben says they found flint and every time they hit it, it would spark. Cool! :)

Hoping today brings more warm-sun-shiny-weather fun! :)

Top O' the Mornin'….

He's the only one who has school today. ;) 

Unfortunately, because we broke from our routine to stop and take this picture, Simon ended up arriving at schools sans backpack. LOL. Oops. Had to drop him off and run back home!

Homework Makes Me Sweat….

Simon had this project to do over the weekend. Actually, he had two weeks to do it but I was dreading it so much, I put it off until Sunday… the day before it was due. He had to read a Dr. Seuss book and then write a letter to Dr. Seuss about his favorite character and favorite part of the story. Then he had to draw a picture illustrating his favorite part of the story.

OMG.

Seriously.

It was AWFUL.

The story part was fine. We read "What Was I Scared Of?" the story about the green pants with nobody inside. He said he didn't have a favorite Dr. Seuss book. Neither do I. I kinda can't stand Dr. Seuss, honestly. So we chose Uncle Brandon's favorite. LOL.

The badness began when he had to write the letter. I made it easy by having him dictate everything to me so he could just focus on the handwriting part later. Following the directions for the assignment though (at least three sentences for each question), the letter was REALLY a lot for him to write.

We sat down with "second grade paper" to get started. (Simon definitely needs lines to constrain his other enormous handwriting) THIS was when I realized, there was NO WAY on God's green earth this child was going to fit all this on an 8.5x11 piece of paper.  And it HAD to because the letter then had to be glued to a scrapbook page.

I started him writing. He cried. He whined. He did super crappy work on purpose. I made him start over.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. x 4

I finally said this was NOT going to work and told him just go in Tom's office and type it.

His face lit up and the bad attitude melted away. "Okay!"

Wait. Seriously?!

He had the entire thing typed up in about 10 minutes and smile on his face, with only minor corrections needed to his punctuation.

He then asked if he could do the drawing part in Paint on the computer. Um YES. Yes, PLEASE. His drawing was minimalist (at best)… but whatever. It would have been if he had used crayons and markers too.  He was just NOT into this.

Slapped it onto scrapbook pages and then saw the last direction on the homework sheet. "Decorate the scrapbook pages." I sent him back to the table with some markers. The result was…. well, it was DONE anyway….

(cry)  Simon is most definitely my most challenging child when it comes to school, homework, and anything related. He just has a million other things he would rather be doing. It's like pulling teeth to make him put forth any effort whatsoever. I'm not sure what to do about this. He's doing fine…. blows through math and spelling worksheets and always says, "That was so easy!"… but they are always SUCH a mess. ARGH. How do you entice a kid to slow down and do his best? To take pride in his work? I used to worry about this with Ben too but even he takes a LITTLE bit of pride and care in how his work looks…. Simon takes not caring to a whole new level….

Spring Break… for one….

Ben is home all by himself this week and thus far, I'd say he's pretty darn happy about that. This morning, he rode along for school drop-offs, which he wasn't happy about because I woke him up and made him get dressed and eat breakfast before 8:30…. but he eventually perked up. Then he came to the library with me and "helped". (actually he just played Civilization on my laptop while I worked on some things… but Mrs. T was happy to see him and he also got to say hi to one of his favorite teachers from last year)  After that, I took him over to Old Navy to get uniform shorts and let him pick out a few things. He actually REALLY likes to shop for clothes (for himself), which is sort of funny! I had to rein him in!

I took him to lunch and now we're home for a little bit watching a history channel documentary about stealth bombers together before I have to go pick up Jonathan and Simon.

Wait, I take that back, he just left me to go shoot baskets in the driveway. LOL.

It's super weird to think that this would be my life if he had been an only child. It's so easy and he's great to go places with without the younger ones. (often, he's the one that causes the most trouble when we're out with all three… ) Then again, life would also probably be super boring in a lot of ways! I wouldn't change it… it's just strange and interesting to imagine….

Loved This...

The Hands Free Revolution

They say he’s too quiet.
They say she’s too inquisitive.
They say he’s too energetic.
They say she’s too sensitive.

They say these things thinking it will help,
But it doesn’t really.
It only causes worry and the pressure to conform.
The truth is, changing would be a tragedy.

Because when they say “too quiet,”
I see introspection.
Don’t change, thoughtful one.
You’re gonna bring quiet wisdom to the chaos.

Because when they say ”too inquisitive,”
I see problem solving.
Don’t change, little thinker.
You’re gonna to bring answers to the toughest questions.

Because when they say “too energetic,”
I see vitality.
Don’t change, lively one.
You’re going to bring love and laughter to desperate times.

Because when they say “too sensitive,”
I see heart.
Don’t change, deep feeler.
You’re going to bring compassion to hurting souls.

They might say change is needed.
But I ask that they look a little deeper and observe a little longer.
From where I stand, these individuals are just as they should be …
On their path to bring the world exactly what it needs to thrive.

Don’t change, extraordinary one.
You’re gonna light this place up.

© Rachel Macy Stafford 2015

Cinderella Story….

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you… the CMRC 9-10 Champions!

I Forgot ...

I was working in the library at school this morning when the fire alarm went off… it wasn't a drill and no one had any idea what was going on. I haven't been part of a fire drill (or not a drill, as the case may be) since i was in high school. I went immediately into student mode and lined up with the 2nd and 3rd graders we walked out with. LOL!

It took me a good few minutes to realize I could stand with the adults…

Duh.

Turned out to be a short circuit in the alarm wiring or something… but the fire company had to come, sirens a-blaring, to check it out and clear the school before we could go back inside. Thank goodness for a mild, non-raining day!!

Lefty Righty….

Jonathan is the only one of my kids to dilly dally about picking a dominant hand. (for those keeping score we have one of each at this point, so Jonathan is the tie-breaker)

The psychologist who tested him last year thought he seemed like he had more control with his left hand. The OT who sees him currently at preschool says the opposite and has been pushing him to write with his right hand.

At home, he switches constantly when he writes, but he cuts left-handed and eats left-handed. This made me inclined to question the OT's right-handed assumption and I wasn't sure I wanted him being pushed to use the wrong hand. I emailed the kindergarten teacher and his preschool teacher. His preschool teacher says he switches a lot in class, uses all left one day, all right the next and both on another. The kindergarten teacher (who knows the OT because she works at the elem. school) told me they generally want them to have chosen a hand by mid-kindergarten, but that she nor the OT would ever force anything. She also told me some different things to try to experiment and see what I observed.

Shortly after that, he started drawing on his easel, so I whipped out the camera.  Well, today anyway he is most certainly right handed! LOL!

I had to laugh after I had just told the two teachers it's confusing because he switches all the time….

I sent the video to the kindergarten teacher saying, "I should have known not to question the expert!" (meaning the OT)

She wrote back, "Yeah. I'd say right-handed!!"

Is he or isn't he? Now I'm inclined to say with writing anyway, we have another righty!

Ben's Birthday….

Ben's 11th (!) birthday is coming up quickly and we still have no idea what to do. He was wishy-washy on a birthday party. I think this is because he was anxious about mixing friends from his old school and friends from his new school.

Yesterday, he said he had changed his mind, but now it's kind of too late to do a full-on party. I had told him he could have two friends over for a sleepover, but he's lukewarm on that too.

There is anxiety about pretty much every possible decision. I have NO idea where he gets this. (that was a joke there…. ha… ha… ha…. )

This kid has such a hard time making decisions!

Now I'm just trying to figure out a fun day trip we could take him on by himself.  He keeps asking to do something without his brothers. We've done all the downtown stuff a hundred times. Aquarium, Science Center, etc….even Ripley's Believe it Or Not (which was awesome, btw!)

I just don't have any good ideas.  Maybe the Spy Museum in D.C.? I don't know… I guess I should start researching. LOL.

Preschool Funnies….

This was waiting for me on top of Jonathan's cubby this afternoon:

"Wow. Who did he make write all THIS?" I asked, giggling.

His teacher emerged from around the corner of the doorframe, also laughing. "That was me. He told me everything to write. I wasn't sure about that last word, so he spelled it for me. I still have no idea what it means, but I just went with it."

(it's a character in an old video game Simon talks about all the time)

In the other room, with the extended day teacher, I walked in to find Jonathan tossing random assorted things into a bowl of water to see if they sank or floated. She laughed and said, "This was supposed to be a lesson about evergreen trees, but it turned into this. He asked me to give you the recipe."

Jonathan pipes up from the table, "Yes. You just add water and items. I wanted to add vinegar and fruit but Miss Sally didn't have any."

"He also wanted to know how you make paper bags, but I didn't know. So he told me to ask Siri. When I told him I didn't have Siri on my phone, he told me to try Google Now. I told him I didn't have internet here at school. (school has really bad cell phone reception) He said "WHAT?!?!? Chestnut Grove doesn't have INTERNET? Then he told me to look under 'settings'  to make sure."

LOL. At least he keeps them laughing… ;) Next year will either be an absolute disaster or totally hilarious. 

Lego Club….

Lego Club yesterday for Simon for the first time in WEEKS thanks to snow and ice.

I love Lego Club and HE loves Lego Club… but, he's kind of a show-off and I have to figure out how to rein him in just a little. The whole time the dad who teaches the Scratch part is talking, Simon will interrupt him with things like, "Like this? I made a project that does THIS." or "I already know how to do that!" OMG. It's embarrassing. I have to hover over him in fear of what's going to come out of his mouth.

(In his defense, he does usually already know how to do it as they are working on basics right now and he spends so much time fiddling with it, that he has figured out almost all of that stuff on his own.)

It's a fine line between encouraging your kids at something they truly have a knack for and turning them into prideful, obnoxious little monsters.  We ran into this with Ben and swimming a little bit too with some braggy-ness and sore loser, poor winner behavior, though I think we have finally gotten to the point where he mostly understands how to be both respectful, gracious, and a good sport at meets.

In addition to the fact that humility and tact is a learning curve for pretty much ALL kids, it REALLY doesn't help that my kids don't pick up on social cues easily. So when Simon interrupts the teacher and says, "I can already do that, it's easy!" I say, "Simon! Shh! That's really rude!", he looks at and both thinks and SAYS out loud," "WHAT? Is IS so easy!"

(facepalm)

Kids. Who knew the easy part was actually when they were non-sleeping newborns? No one tells you this!

Snow, More Snow, Basketball, and a Fat Cat...

So we got some serious snow. The kids hardly even wanted to play in it. Even they are ready for spring! I think they spent a total of MAYBE an hour out there?

The birds were happy I had put a feeder outside. :) 

The cat was entertained, though slightly annoyed he could not go out and "play" with his "friends". 

We were initially quite creative and busy…. Jonathan wanted to replicate something he had done at school with snow, baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring.  This kept them entertained for about 45 minutes, so totally worth the mess! After this, everyone dispersed throughout the house to play Legos, build forts, and ask me every three minutes if they could play Wii. 

We also made snow ice cream for the first time. The kids loved it. Me? Not so much. The sugar didn't dissolve so it was super gritty and awfully sweet!

These pics were the day before the snow, but I had to share. We were at PetCo and saw this cat. The photo does NOT do it justice. I have never seen a domestic cat so big.  It HAD to weigh 30 pounds, at least…. 

And this is my littlest monkey waiting with me in the carpool line. He sometimes asks to have his picture taken. I happily oblige. :)

In other news, Ben's basketball team WON yesterday, which means they are one of the two teams in the championship! First year since Ben has been playing that has happened! They usually win the first playoff game and lose the second one.  The game got kind of physical and Ben actually fouled out. He was SO upset. But it worked out in the end and now he's just excited to be in the championship game! So, we are back on Wednesday for what will (finally) be the last game of the season. :)

You'd Think….

…. that after almost 11 years of motherhood and three children, I would have seen just about everything….

This morning, I was reminded that I haven't.

Sleep poop. That's a new one.

Wacky Wednesday...

When last we left our intrepid baby humans family…..

Let's see….

Much to everyone's surprise, Ben's basketball team won their first playoff game last night! They play again on Saturday and if they win, then they have to play again on Wednesday. As cool as that would be for them, I partly hope they don't win because he's signed up for this Wednesday night dodgeball league thing at SkyZone and he has already missed the first two games for basketball. :\

It was Wacky Wednesday at preschool yesterday. Always super cute! The kids follow handprints on the floor to go in a different entrance and crawl through tunnels to get to their classroom where things are all kinds of wacky. I, however, neglected to consider how averse my youngest child is to "wacky" and changes in routine. LOL. We got through the first part of the wacky entrance (a back stairwell) and he stopped dead in his tracks at the first tunnel, looked up at me and said, "I do NOT want to go to to school today!" Thankfully, I was abel to distract him and hustle him through to his classroom and bypass the rest of the wacky before he started to freak out. I think the rest of the day went ok… WHEW. Close call. ;)

In other Jonathan news, Simon came home from school with J's kindergarten packet two days ago! Weird to be filling all this stuff out for a third time.  (insert requisite "Wasn't he just born?!"  "Time goes too quickly!" statements here)

Our kindergarten roundup appointment is on March 30th! Still not 100% sure on the kindergarten thing for J, and likely won't be until August…. but still registering him and we'll see how it goes.  Roundup day will actually be very telling and helpful as far as seeing how good of an idea this is… will he go with the teachers to the stations? Will he be compliant for the screening? Stay tuned.

Not much new in Simon-land. We have discovered a new chapter book he likes and wants to read on his own. Its title will come as a surprise to no one. LOL.  And by "discovered" I mean it had been on his shelf for months? Maybe since his LAST birthday. A friend of mine was talking about it last week and how much her son liked it and I said, "Wait! I think we actually HAVE that!"  I had put it on the shelf and forgotten about it because it's a TOUGH book… no pictures and tons of words per page.  I didn't consider its read aloud possibilities though… so that's what we're doing….

I read a chapter to him very night and then he usually tries to read some on his own, which is AWESOME!  He even took it to school this week as his "drop everything and read" book. I love that!

He has gotten really into his Rubik's Cube lately and was excited yesterday because he "solved the blue side". I didn't have the heart to tell him that he'd have to UNSOLVE the blue side to solve the other colors…. LOL.  He has asked for a triangle shaped Rubik's Cube for his birthday…. for anyone needing a birthday idea for him! ;)

More snow today. Thankfully, I made it to the library yesterday while Jonathan was at school. Came home with a pile of books.  I also have ingredients to make an awesome cake, broccoli cheddar soup, and homemade bread today. Can you tell I have high hopes for this snow day? ;)  Also, miraculously, Tom hasn't tried to leave for work! Not sure if he will…. hoping he just works from home today. 

Still enjoying my Facebook hiatus, but I'm worried I'll end up cheating today since we're stuck here with the snow and all. LOL!

They Are Not Messing Around...

New school does NOT play around with homework… this is an example of what I mean when I tell people that the work there is not HARDER than bcps… in many cases, the work itself is actually easier… but the expectations are sky high. (which is great… but yikes… snow day work… LOL…)

Snow Day….

Another day, ANOTHER day off.

I'm handling these surprisingly well this year, probably due to the fact that they are more spread out than they were last year and also because on delay days (of which we have had MANY), preschool isn't canceled anymore.

Sadly, I heard that as of yesterday, we only had two hours of "snow days" left and those are now gone and then some. So now, the snow is officially eating into summer which is NOT okay with me.

We have some plans for today. Pancakes have been eaten, Disney Channel is currently being watched. In a little while, I'm getting everyone dressed so we can head to Best Buy and get a keyboard for the Raspberry Pi, which I'm hoping will entertain Simon for part of the day.

I also need to head to the library to pick up some books I have on hold and maybe also to Target because… it's there. LOL.

My night owl child is still sleeping, so off to go make him join the land of the living!

Raspberry Pi….

We got a Raspberry Pi for our budding computer geek to explore. I am clueless as to what to do with this thing, but super excited to try it out. Reminds of when I first met Tom and we would spend our dates at the Computer Show & Sale or CompUSA picking out parts to add to our computers. 

Unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that we need a usb keyboard. So we can't get it up and running today. I guess it will be next weekend's project. 

Anyone else heard of this thing? Played with it? 

From the Way Back Machine….

Plugging away at the photo link fixing this morning and came across this post… laughing… so…. hard…

"

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Awake Time...

Ben is spending more and more time awake every day. This is a good thing in that he's a lot more fun with his eyes open. However, it IS making getting things done a lot more difficult -- like, for instance, taking a shower or eating.

I sometimes play this computer game called "The Sims" where you run the lives of these little simulated families. After you play long enough, you can eventually get the couple to have a baby. It just sort of magically appears in a bassinet whereever they happen to be standing at the time. After that, your life revolves around feeding the baby, talking to the baby, and changing its diaper. (if you don't, social services comes and takes it away). It really throws off your game for awhile because the adults don't have time to go to the bathroom and they miss work and fall asleep in the floor all the time. But just when it seems like your game will never be the same again, the baby magically turns into an adolescent and life gets easier. Hrm... wish it were that easy. ;)"

Stupid Cold… sports...birthdays…. cellos….

Argh. It did turn out to be a cold.  Jonathan has it too and seems to be on the same timeline, so I guess we picked it up at preschool or the grocery store. LOL. Ah well… could be worse. Still, annoying and time sucking. I haven't gotten anything done this weekend.

Ben's basketball team lost their last game of the season to a tough team yesterday morning. Close score though, so super frustrating. Even more frustrating is that we are scheduled to play the first round of playoffs Wednesday night against the ONE team that beat us really badly during the season. Ugliest game of the season. Kind of discouraging since, once you lose in the playoffs, you're out. On the other hand, it immediately frees up all upcoming Wednesdays and Saturdays until swim season. ;) So, positives and negatives there. ;)

He says he wants to play basketball for his school team next year, which I think is AWESOME. It will provide a built-in frequent and regular social outlet, which he desperately craves and I can't always give him enough of because…frankly, two little brothers sometimes make that challenging.  He likely won't make the "A" team as a sixth grader (and a tiny sixth grader at that), but they have a "B" team. There are barely enough kids to make an "A" team, so he'll be able to play in some capacity no matter what. (Hooray for small schools! LOL!)

Trying to decide what to do for his 11th birthday. We were talking about a cool home-party glowing backlight bash, but a few days ago, it occurred to me that he has only been invited to ONE birthday party this year, which makes me think maybe 11-year-old boys don't really have "birthday parties" per say…  and that this is some unspoken rule i'm not aware of since he is my oldest?  Anyone have any intel on this?

Tom and I were talking and we're thinking maybe we'll offer him a cool day out/trip somewhere (Philly? Great Wolf?) and then let just let him invite two friends over for a sleepover one day soon.

Yesterday, I took Simon to cello and met the teacher for the first time. (Tom took him last week) He's very nice. He does GREAT with Simon.  I was particularly impressed when the lesson was over and he said goodbye. Simon sort of mumbled goodbye in reply and looked the other direction (as he tends to do)  The teacher actually stopped him and said, (very nicely) "Simon, can you look at me when you say goodbye?"  OMG! This is something I always encourage teachers to do with him because we are REALLY working on this.

Anyway, Simon is doing much better with the individual instruction. He has taken him back to the very beginning and is working on perfecting his bow hold and tone, which the large group teacher didn't really have much time to focus on with the kids.  He says he is doing very well! When he practices, he takes it very seriously now and is doing a great job. I think this is definitely going to continue be a good activity for him in many ways. :)

Not much else to report. I have been going combing through my archives, starting at the very beginning, replacing pictures whose links long ago went dead. Also adding labels. Those weren't an option way back "in the day!" LOL. It's a long project, but I've just been doing a few pages a day. It's amazing to look back at the very beginning…. when I first found out I was pregnant with Ben, his ultrasound, all the crazy things I cared about as a first-time mom… I even have an entry about his first cold with a photo of a pile of "supplies". I'm sure these elementary school years posts will seem just as funny a decade from now when I have a 21, 18, and 14-year-old. (OMG) I love having it all to look back on and laugh and revisit though. :)

On a sadder note, in light of current events in our little town, I also find myself being incredibly thankful for three healthy pregnancies and deliveries…. and, even more importantly, three healthy kids. You see, one of Simon's preschool classmates who also goes to our elementary school, is losing her battle with leukemia after a third relapse. It's heartbreaking and, to my mom-brain, completely unfathomable and unfair. As I revisit old posts about stitches, colds, ear infections and just regular childhood stuff,  I can't help thinking how Ava's mom has not lived without constant worry for her daughter's life since she was two years old. :(  Praying for them often…. I can not even imagine.