Budget Cuts

I'm starting to get nervous. It seems like everywhere you turn there is bad economic news. Even for someone like me who is on a self-imposed news hiatus, the state of the economy is unavoidable. Some cost cutting measures seem to really make sense, while others just leave me scratching my head in wonder. I've recently been faced with some "curious" examples of cost cutting.
1- Fuller's cafeteria- They no longer have the option of a bowl of soup if they don't choose the main entree(something Fuller did often), and juice has also been removed from the menu. (The removal of both of these items was explained as "budget cuts" to the students.)
2- While at the Dr this week to get some immunizations for 2 of the boys we discovered that our Dr's office no longer has smiley face band-aids for the kids, or stickers. I jokingly asked about it, and was informed that those items were done away with due to budget cuts.( That one really seemed strange since I know my bill will be as huge as ever.)
Will the elimination of soup, juice, stickers and band-aids really make a difference? If so then I will happily live without them, but I'm just not seeing that as the solution.

Manly Talk

Rowan: I'm the bad guy.

Grayson: Bad guys have lairs. Do you have an evil lair?

Rowan: Yeah, it's right over here.

Grayson: OK then, what about your sinister laugh?

Rowan: HA-HA-HA

Grayson: Too girlie, you have to be the good guy.

Sick Day

Grayson spent today recovering from a bout of the local "plague" that has been going around. His fever which had been 102 is gone, but the croupy cough persists. He pretty much spent the day snuggled up in his fort reading books and watching movies. I've been anxiously watching for signs that Fuller and Rowan are getting sick. The odds of them staying healthy are not too good. Fuller said they were down to 11 kids in his PE class last Friday, and today Rowan's class had 9 kids absent. Not good!

***UPDATE*** I guess I posted prematurely. Pretty much right after walking away from the computer I noticed Grayson was looking pretty wiped out. I took his temperature and he is back up to 101. I guess it's another fort day tomorrow.

The Family Vernacular

Like most families, we have certain words, sayings, and expressions that are commonly used in our house. Over the years we have borrowed them from people we know, movies we've seen, etc. Most of them we don't even remember where they came from. Here are a few common ones you might hear said, while hanging out around our home:
- "You'll have nothing, and like it." ( Used very often toward complaining children.)
- " Is it as good as if it were better?"
- "CEASE!"
- "Telegram for Sylvester!"
- "I command you to sleep."(Can anyone name that Woody Allen movie?)
- "You got owned!" (not really sure what that one means, but the kids like to say it to each other when one of them is wrong about something.)
- "How's the weather out there John L?"
And so many more. I'm curious, what are some of your families sayings?

Quote of the week

On Valentine's morning Rowan had climbed into bed with me and we were enjoying a lovely snuggle. Then Grayson entered the room and said, "Hey! get away from my Valentine, PUNK!" Just warms the heart I tell ya!

A "LOVE"-ly Day

Today started out just wonderful. I can't remember a day when the boys have been so happy about going to school. Grayson and Rowan were practically giddy about all of the Valentine wonderfulness that awaited them. Visions on heart shaped cookies and boxes full of cards and candy were dancing in their heads. I sadly realized that this is Fuller's first year with no Valentine party. They're big kids now you know. His school was doing "Valentine grams" that the kid's could buy and send to one another. I asked him if he was going to send any, but he said he didn't have any money or girls he likes (thank goodness!) I offered to come to school and send him one, but he didn't seem to think that would be a good idea. I did get to come to his school and give some "love" in a different way though. His school had their awards assembly today, so I got to come clap for him as he received his award for making the Honor Roll, and for Mathematics achievement.

I really like how his school does their awards. His previous school just announced their name and the subject before handing out the award. The sixth grade teachers say something about the student they're awarding before they announce who it is. They also have this typed out on the back of the award. Fuller's math teacher said "This student never gives up! When I ask him to fix an assignment, he does it until he gets it right. And he keeps asking for help when he needs it. He does not procrastinate. He takes care of homework and assignments not only on time, but sometimes ahead of time. I appreciate his attention to detail and hard work ethic. It is a pleasure to have him in class. Congratulations to Fuller!" I am so proud of this kid!

Grayson and Rowan arrived home with all of their Valentine dreams fulfilled. They spent a LONG time looking their loot over and over.

And when Fuller arrived home he shared that he had gotten 2 Valentine grams. One was from his homeroom teacher, who sent one to all of the kids in her homeroom class. The other one is a mystery, and that's driving him a little bit crazy.

After thinking about it for awhile he said, "Well Mom, maybe I have a girlfriend I don't know about."

The good ol' days

I swear I heard trees weeping today. Well not literally, but I did feel like I was killing one. When I help at the kids' school it seems like I am making a lot of photocopies. The other day I photocopied for almost 2 hours straight, and there were people in there making copies on the other 2 machines at the same time. I know much of that paper never gets recycled. I think we seriously need to think about taking a step back in time. Maybe go back to using chalk and slates like on "Little House on the Prairie". I know all that chalk dust and having to check each slate was probably a pain for teachers, but surely there must be a better way. Do our kids really need to be bringing home a ream worth of photocopies each week?

OK, rant over.

Oh...that face

There's just something about this little face.

I just want to squeeze it, and kiss it, and keep it small.

But he just wants to be a big kid, and ride his little scooter away from me.

$4 worth of fun

Passing of time

When I looked at Rowan this morning I noticed how tall he's looking. His jammies are super high waters, and his tummy is starting to show. This makes me so sad. He had on "his" robot jammies, which I had actually made for Fuller. Fuller and Grayson both wore and loved these soft flannel pjs, as does Rowan. Now it looks like they've about reached the end of their life. The flannel has gotten thinner from all the washings, and the seams are a little worse for wear. And I miss my kids being little enough to wear them.

When I asked Rowan if I could take a picture of him in his robot pjs he said "Yes, but I need to do my hip hop moves in them." Too funny! How would he even know what a hip hop move is? I wonder if they're doing that in PE or something.

Darn Groundhog

Today Punxsatawney Phil had the gall to come out and see his shadow, thus predicting 6 more weeks of Winter. Doesn't he know how sick I am of winter? Lucky for me he doesn't have a very good track record. Apparently he only gets it right about 39% of the time. I say, bring on the sun!

Basketball Season

We've officially hit the mid point of basketball season. Fuller's team has been doing well. They've had 4 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie. They had some pretty crummy reffing this weekend, so they all got pretty beat up. Lots of aggressive fouling going on.







Only 6 more games and I get to sleep in on Saturday! (Well at least a few Saturdays, then baseball season starts.)