Do you believe in magic?

So, Jacob's friend showed him a card trick.

Jacob tried to repeat the track for me (in preparation for his part of the magic show).  It did not work because he did not know the trick.

I guessed the trick and showed him.  He was impressed.  But when he tried it again (not knowing the trick), it did not work.

So, I showed him a way to do it where it would work.

He looked at me - exasperated - and said "but that's not magic, mom!"

Golden Days

Allison turned 11 on December 11th - a Golden Birthday!  She insisted on having a party ON her birthday (a Wednesday).   Not exactly an ideal time for a party, but we solved it by having an open house, where her friends could stop by and stay as long as they could.

Overall it went really, really well.  Many of her friends stayed the whole time, and they had a dance party and air-hockey competition in the basement.  Some friends came for just a few minutes or to enjoy a piece of cake.  Family friends stopped by, and some parents hung out and had Brian's gourmet mac & cheese (the kids got Kraft - Allison's favorite).

I can't believe she's getting so old!!

Sucking up is an important skill.....

For Allison's teachers tomorrow.  LOL.

Quit with your Thankful Posts

There is some weird trend this year with people posting something that they are Thankful for every day on Facebook.  I am sooo not a fan of this.

I don't have anything against being thankful for things.  Actually, I think it's generally a good thing to focus on positives.  But I cringe every time a read one of these status updates.  And they come every day.... from several people.... and sometimes I feel like I've thrown up a little in my mouth.

First off, I'm not a big fan of PDA.  I'm happy to kiss my family in the morning, give them a "have a nice day" or "Love you!" as they head off to work or school, and then tuck in the kids at night with another "I love you."  I don't feel the need to make a public facebook post about how I have the most awesome family ever and I love them so much.  But that's just me, and I realize that there are public proclaimers in this world - and I'm totally kosher with that most of the time.

Exception.... when it come into my facebook feed DAILY.

And if that were the only annoying thing about it, I might still be fine.  To each their own love language or whatever.  But then there are the things that people actually choose to write, and I think that bugs me even more.  Maybe it's hard to come up with 30 real things to be thankful for (I wouldn't think so, we do live in an industrialized county in the year 2013).  But we're really only on day 17, and honestly I was annoyed on day 3.

(1) The thankful post that's actually bragging.  This is the most common.  These are things like "I'm so thankful my son is the best baseball player on the team."  Or "I'm so thankful my daughter decided to try the violin.  Turns out she's a natural and is now in the advanced orchestra."  So.....Your kid is awesome at sports or music.  Okay.  It's nice of you to share that in the guise of being all humble-like, but you know what - we all see it for what it is - bragging.

(2) Lies.  "I am so thankful for my awesome coworkers.  They are all wonderful!"  Um, here's the thing, no one's coworkers are all awesome.  Everyone works with at least a few a-holes, but somehow you ended up facebook friends with you boss and now you're brown-nosing.

(3) Things that are likely to be hurtful to others.  "I'm so thankful that we got pregnant on the first try!"  or "I'm so thankful that we can afford this trip to Hawaii."  You know what - some people struggle with fertility.  Many people are struggling to pay bills or are worried about losing their jobs.  I realize that the fact that you aren't in either category is exactly why YOU are thankful.  But public proclamation just tends to put down anyone else who is not realizing that dream.

(4) It's a stupid thing to be thankful for.  "I'm so thankful we were all smiling in our Christmas photo."  This is dumb, unless you have some reason to suspect people would NOT be smiling in their photo (like your husband cracks a smile only every 4.5 years and you just happened to catch it, or your baby is terrified of cameras and screamed uncontrollably during the last 6 photo shoots).

I know that facebook is, in part, a way to share good news and fun facts, and do a little bragging, shameless self-promotion, and whatever.  We all do that stuff.  It seems to be a part of the facebook social contract.  But if you are going to do it.  Own it.  I am not a fan of hiding it in the face of the "Thankfulness."  It seems to me to be more "I'll be all thankful for the stuff that's going great for me. Because not only do I know my shit's more awesome than your shit - I'm super grateful for that."

In a world run by me (wouldn't that be Awesome!), people could make one post on November 1st that said "hey, I'm going to spend a little time each day being thankful this month and I hope you do too" and then do it in private.  Follow that up with being thankful for stuff that's really worth being thankful for.

Jolly Old St. Nick

So, for those of you believe that Santa arrives on Christmas Eve and brings presents to you via your chimney, I say this: Absolutely True!  (also, you might want to quit reading now).

I was young when I was "told" about Santa.  But somehow, I think my parents (mom) and I has a tacit understanding that I wasn't going to admit it out loud, and so presents from Santa continued to appear under the tree for me up until about.... well, maybe they still do.  I had not looked forward to the day that the kids came home and asked me about it, but I should have had a plan because I know Jacob started to get suspicious last year.  Thank God for NORAD's Santa Tracker.

So the other day, Jacob and I were sitting on the couch and he said "Some kids at school are saying that their moms and dads put presents under the tree and say they are from Santa Claus.  Is that true mom?"

I'll note here I always have a bit of difficulty with the phrase "is that true, Mom?" due to Brian's tendency to tell our children tall tales, like, for instance, their toes will fall off when they grow their adult toes; which prompts them to turn their doe eyes to me with the phrase "is that true, Mom?" at which point I can only dumbly stare at the floor and mutter "uh....." to which they will then turn back to Brian and say "that's not true Dad."

But this time I managed a "well, what do you think?" because there's no defense like a good offense.  Also, I needed to buy some time.

Jacob replied that "well, of course they are wrong!" with the conviction and tone of voice of someone who clearly thinks they attend school with morons.  But then a quick moment of doubt: "Right, mom?"

So my reply (that I'm not totally happy about giving) was this: "Well, if you stop believing in Santa then he won't visit you and your parents will HAVE to buy the presents for under the tree because wouldn't it be sad if there was nothing there on Christmas morning.  But I hope that you still believe, because I really don't want to do the extra shopping."

At which point Jacob looked up at me and laughed: "yeah.... you don't want to do any extra shopping."

S**t the kids say...

Somewhere, someone is keeping a list of stuff their kids say while playing video games.  Because this is what my kids are saying and it makes no sense to me:

There are Orcs, so clearly's there's going to be Ogres.

It's MY TURN to spawn.

Did you see that Boss run past the Lion into the endzone?  No - watch the replay!

The slice and dice is failing!  The slice and dice is failing!

I trapped all those sheep so now I'm mining redstone.

Oh crap - she's posting about math - AGAIN

So, I was wondering what percentage of our struggles with the elementary math curriculum was materials-based and how much was child-based (since our lovely daughter makes no qualms about the fact that she HATES math).

Well, I'm getting an answer to that and it's...... largely materials-based.  Because we now get to watch child #2 work through the totally incomprehensible math curriculum and get stuck for totally different reasons.

One concept in elementary math is estimation.  They start working with multiplying double digits and one thing they do is some hokey version of guess-and-check.  You have 7x23.  First estimate your answer and then do the problem and check it.  At this point I will note that I've never been clear on how much of an "estimate" is allowed here.  Like - are you supposed to say "23 is like 20, so the answer should be close to 7x20 = 140" or can you just look at the thing and say "yeah, 475 looks good."  I don't know - there is no real direction on that.

This was a problem for Allison because she never grasped the concept of estimating.  And to be honest - I didn't want her to grasp that concept.  Getting her to slow down and do the problem as it was supposed to be done was challenging enough.  "Wait - I get to guess!  Wow, I can get this done quickly!!"

So for her I took the rounding approach mentioned above.  "Well, 47 is close to 50 and 50 times three is what..... 150, good - write that.  Now let's DO the problem for real."

Jacob is now on the same material and the challenge for him is different.  He can estimate, but doesn't want to.  He wants to know the answer.  He wants to solve the problem in his head, write down the answer as the estimate, then solve it on paper and pat himself on the back for being such a good guesser.  "But Mom, 7 x 23 is 161.  Why do you want me to write anything other than 161 as the answer to this problem?"  I don't know, man.... I don't know.  Just do it, will you?

This begs the question of - Who is this serving?  What kid is learning better this way?

And stay-tuned for my follow-up post: Why is that wrong answer not wrong; and why is that correct answer not correct?  a.k.a. - how to get partial credit on a multiple choice math exam.

4th grade math

Well, more reasons to like Jacob's school - he's been advanced a grade in math!

It started when we had parent teacher conferences the other week and I asked Jacob if there was anything I should talk with Mrs. Thomas about.  He said that he wanted me to talk to her about 4th grade math.  His class is a 3/4 split, and there were a few third graders who do math with the 4th graders; and a few 2nd graders who come in for 3rd grade math.

So, we did bring it up and his teacher thought it was a good idea.  So, she gave him the 4th grade beginning of the year inventory test, and other than geometry, he did pretty well.

Once he actually passed the test and was granted the ability to move into 4th grade math; Jacob got cold feet.  He was concerned that all his friends would be in 3rd grade math (omg, so worried about peer pressure with this one) and wanted a few days "to think about it."  So, we didn't say much and gave him a day to ponder it, after which he was 70% sure he wanted to be in 4th grade math.  But on the morning that he needed to decide, he was still waffling.

So, I gave him a strong mom-nudge; explaining how he would get to be a grade ahead from now on, it was an opportunity not available to him at his old school, and all the other wonderful things that will come along with getting ahead in math.  Long pause..... "Ok, I'll do it."

And then I sent the e-mail off to his teacher before he had the chance to change his mind... lol.

Exciting weekend - part 2

Saturday night was the annual e.a.t.s. fundraiser at UW Fox Valley.  Brian cooked pork (he posted pics on facebook).  People seemed to really like it.  And since our babysitter's mom is in charge of the event - we got free babysitting too (clearly we should have stayed out later).

On Sunday, Jacob was invited out to go fishing with our friends / former colleagues who live on the Wolf River.  He was sooooooo excited.

Getting the minnows out of the holding tank

Heading off on the river

While they were fishing, Allison and I went to check out the local nature center (Mosquito Hill..... clearly a marketing specialist was not involved in the naming decision).  But, it was very cool!

She wanted a picture with the bobcat, her school mascot.

She looks so old!

Enjoying the window seat.

We watched the boat motor up the river and then drift down a few times.  The catch was pretty good!

A total of 3 crappie and 7 walleye

We weren't able to cook them up Sunday night, but we fried the walleye on Monday and it was awesome.

Jacob really liked eating the fish and even Allison liked it (wasn't really able to provide a good reason why fish is still OK for vegetarians, but Allison deemed it flexitarian food).  Jacob said it was his third favorite food and if you added lemon it was his second favorite food ever.

Exciting weekend - part 1

It was a busy weekend.  It began with the last outdoor soccer game.  These are actually pics from last week.  If I would show pics from this week, the boys would all be in hats and long pants.  It was not warm.  Jacob did score one of the two goals and assisted on the other (via a corner kick).  I'll admit that playing soccer nearly year-round has improved his game.  He did choose baseball over spring soccer next year, though.

Jacob's team finished 3rd of 4 teams.  They were tied with second place team, but they played them yesterday and lost.  Generally, I thought all the teams were pretty evenly matched.  The games they lost were close and a lot of the teams had ties.  

After soccer, we went "Scouting for Food," which was picking up the bags that we distributed last week and taking the food to the food pantry.  Once we dropped them off, we got a hot lunch compliments of the food pantry (all the scouts in the city who participated did).  So we sat and ate a hot dog, chips, and cookie.  We did not see any of the kids from his pack, but did see 6 other boys he knew from various events (school, soccer, baseball, etc).

In the afternoon, I took the kids out to the pumpkin patch with the boy scout pack.  The rule was that the kids had to carry their pumpkins themselves.

Jacob displaying his pumpkin

Allison stretching her muscles before lifting hers.  Jacob said he would "help her" which apparently consisted of staring at the pumpkin that Allison picked out.

Success!

Health food?

So, I think we're mastering the art of making healthy food less healthy - but then eating it as though it's still good for us.

On Friday, Jacob and I picked some apples from the tree in the backyard... then we battered and fried them.  Yum.

(they are supposed to look like donuts)

Then Saturday, it was Allison's turn when we took an organically grown zucchini and made double chocolate zucchini mini-muffins (that's chocolate zucchini muffins with chocolate chips added).  When you make mini-muffins, you can make 70 of them!

A walk in the woods

Realized there haven't been many pictures lately... so these were from our hike on Sunday to enjoy the beginning of fall color.

Taking the boardwalk at 1000 Islands to get to...

which looks totally like a scene painted by that guy on PBS with the "happy little trees."

 Jacob caught a grasshopper, and I really think it looks semi-amused in this photo:

Brian and Jacob perfecting their synchronized rock stepping, and meanwhile Allison found the "perfect" rock to throw into the river (with flourish!)

Friday

What, wait?  It's Friday?

We're waiting a few minutes to take Jacob to a birthday party for an old friend from preschool.  Meanwhile, I think his other old friends from his former elementary school are doing stuff without him.  I suppose it's the inevitable result of going to a different school.  You will move on, and so will other people.  He stays connected through soccer and scouts and the boys on the street - but it's not the same as seeing everyone every day.  He has made a nice new group of buds at his new school, though.

Allison is going to start cheerleading.  Yeah.... lol.  They are starting a new special needs cheerleading "team" where the kids will learn routines and perform in the competitions, but they will be with older buddies to help them.  She's excited about being just like the Monster High Fearleaders.  Anyway, did I make a post about cutting back activities?  Yeah, that was totally before we got our homebody to want to do something.

I guess as a plus, Jacob's soccer will drop from two nights per week to one night per week.  Though that change was tempered somewhat by the new and enthusiastic (!!!) scout leaders.  They have a lot planned.

BTW - anyone need any overpriced popcorn?  Just think of it as a donation to scouting.....

Fall is arriving with a high temp Sunday of 55 degrees.  Tomorrow's soccer game in the predicted rain should be F.U.N.  Don't have big plans for the weekend.  Can't believe it's October.  Sigh.

Complaining a little more about math

Allison has this homework sheet tonight where they are given a story problem, asked to solve it, and then asked whether or not it's reasonable.  What??

Ok - if the question isn't reasonable - don't ask it.  These are 5th graders learning fractions.  They don't need to be tricked.

Secondly, if the answer isn't reasonable - you did it wrong.  How would you know you did it wrong if you did it - and got that answer?  What if you were wrong, but reasonable?  Then you just end up justifying your incorrectness as correctness.


I don't understand, and this common core math crap is driving me nuts.  I was telling a colleague the other day - it's like rather than give you the steps to climb to the platform, they want you to stand at the bottom and think of all the ways to get to the top.  Should I use a ladder?  Stairs?  Maybe I could build a teleporter.....

Then, they have the kids envision being on the platform.  Wow - how did I get here?  Did I use the ladder?  The stairs?  The teleporter?

OR - they could just show the kids the flipping stairs.  Because, you know, there like RIGHT THERE.  I had a stick that's 5 1/4 feet long.  Then I broke some off.  Now I have a stick that is 3 4/5 feet long.  How much did I break off?  Subtract them for heaven's sake!  It doesn't require a paragraph of reflection!!!

What does 5th grade homework look like?

Monday:
Math worksheet - 1 side.
Play math game.
Write spelling words in alphabetical order.
Write 5 sentences with two spelling words in each.
Read 20 minutes and record pages.


Tuesday:
Math worksheet - 2 sides.
Math crossword puzzle - 1 side.
Filling out a grid for the 5 paragraph story.
Cutting out new spelling words.
Writing a question about your book.
Read 20 minute and record pages.


Question - what the heck do they do during the DAY?

Evils of ziploc

So, I said there might be a post about uncool things at Jacob's new school.  And it's not even about singing! It's about the "No Waste Lunches."  What's a no waste lunch? Exactly what it sounds like.... your child finishes eating at and has nothing to throw away.

So why is this bad?  Um, let me list the things that I like to put in kids lunches that I cannot put in Jacob's lunch or send as a snack:

Gogo Squeeze (or other applesauce containers)
Individual yogurts or gogurt (a gogurt that is pre-frozen is still nice and cool at lunch time)
Granola bars
Fruit cups
Packs of cheese & crackers
Nutella dip cups

All terrible crap processed food..(?).... Actually, it's usually the relatively healthier stuff that I buy pre-packaged because it's easier to grab a go-go squeeze and throw in the lunch than to cut up other fruit.  Typically it's either go-go squeeze or skip the fruit.  I'm all about 'easy' in the morning and Jacob is not a fan of cut up veggies.

Also, when I do buy in bulk and then pare it down for the meal, there's a "no ziploc baggie" rule.  I have cheese + crackers and I have to put it in some type of snap-lid reusable package that may or may not come home at the end of the day (Jacob had 6 in his desk at one point).  Given that those little gladware containers are not that robust to begin with, get lost, accidentally thrown out, or left a school long enough that they've now molded and are unhealthy to reuse - I'm not sure the actual quantity of plastic "consumed" is less than if I were to just send them in ziplocs.  Yes, there are other alternatives (like glass), but you think I'd send a kid to school with glass in their backpack? - yeah, no.

I've complained to other parents who then follow up with "yes, but if I think about it, my child's lunches and snacks are mostly waste free anyway."  Yeah - key word mostly.  It's getting rid of the 1-2 things that you send regularly that's the biggest pain in the butt (like granola bars and gogo squeeze).  It doesn't seem like such a hassle until you have to implement it 100% of the time.  And I resent the feeling that I'm being forced into a "make it all from scratch / why don't you have enough time to cut up some strawberries in the morning" situation.  Because I don't.  Because it's not a priority for me.

Am I Special Needs

So Allison has been riding the bus home now.  This was my solution to a carpooling problem and a boy who is slow to get out of school.  We don't technically live in an area with bus service.  We're too close to the school and there are sidewalks the whole way and a crossing guard at the busy street, provided you don't walk the most direct way home.  I thought (briefly) about having Allison walk home from school - a view that was much discussed at my book group.  Not Allison, specifically, but that "kids these days" don't walk home, they expect Mom to pick them up and then how Mom shouldn't complain about the fact that there is *no where* to park because there's *no where* to park because everybody drives and why don't we just have our kids walk home.... yada, yada, yada.  (No, I don't have book group with a bunch of grumpy old men "I walked both ways uphill in the snow!!")

Anyway, we tossed this idea because while I find Allison capable of walking home, I don't trust her judgement.  I don't think she has a good radar for danger (like cars and watching for them  while crossing the road), she's distracted easily, and if something were to happen I don't think she'd make the best choices in response.  Also, she'd be walking alone.

So, I put in a request for bus transportation, which is an option we have with her IEP.  It took only a few days, but I got her on a bus that drops her off in front of the house at 3:28pm.  (granted, this does not buy me much time, but it does get me out of my carpool arrangements - so that's something).  The first day, I met the bus and all seemed to go well.  

But then later we were driving to the YMCA and I asked Allison if she liked the bus.  She said yes.  But then she followed it up with "Mom, am I Special Needs?"

The conversation that followed was me doing my best to say "yes, you have Special Needs" without making it seem like a bad thing and also while connecting it to her other friends who also have Special Needs.  "Special Needs" really is quite the big tent.  She didn't seem upset by it, and maybe in some ways comforted by all the other people she knew in the same boat.

It was interesting, though, that while I had previously sat her (and Jacob) down and talked about autism and what that meant and how she gets help from Ms. Jahnke and the therapists - she hadn't connected that with "Special Needs."  Now, however, she was on the Special Needs Bus with all the Special Needs Kids, and she had questions.  

Also, it highlights how kids like to categorize themselves into same/different.  And how she phrased her question "Am I Special Needs?" like is this a part of me and my identity?  It was not "Do I have Special Needs?"  I could spin this as a good thing that she's conscious of her place in the world and curious as to how she fits in.  But the larger question is that I don't know how to balance the one side of the unique part of *her* that makes her *her* and the parts of *her* that we work on changing so that she fits and functions with *us.*  

Review and Revise

So, there was an article popping around facebook the other day about how some failing schools are finding success by getting rid of their sports programs.  The basic argument was that students could play club sports on their own time which would free up lots of money that schools could then spend on academics. There was immediate cost savings (no games, equipment, security, travel), but also things like not having to hire substitutes (when teacher-coaches left early on game day).  While studies have shown that student athletes perform better than their peers on things like AP exams; those gains are diminished when one factors in socio-economic factors.  So, basically, most student-athletes would be more likely to perform well on AP exams even if they were NOT in any school athletics.

Then I listened to this podcast today on parenting and what things parents do/don't do that will affect their children's future performance (college, jobs, success, happiness, etc).  They claimed that the "gains" by all the things we parents feel like we "should" be doing (tons of extra activities, visits to museums, etc.), are relatively small compared with other things.  For example, if parents smoke you see much more of an effect (negative) than if a child was in piano lessons (positive).  Any supposed advancement due to hyper-involved parents can be more easily explained by the fact that hyper-involved parents are more likely to have higher income and education levels.  The higher income and education levels are a much greater predictor to future "success" than whether or not you were hyper-involved.  (the kids from higher income families who were not hyper-involved do just as well as those whose parents carted them around to every activity they could find).

So, this is either freeing (hey!  I can be a lazier parent and my kids will still be OK) or disheartening (why do I even try if it doesn't matter at all in the end).  But none-the-less, I will try to review and revise our activity schedule.

This will not be easy.  I still believe it's important that the kids can swim (life/death thing), play music (learning persistence and how to practice to attain a goal), participate in sports (physical fitness and being part of a team), and other enrichment activities (they need to try things out to see what they might really like).  But, would the world come crashing down if we quit piano? - no.  Would they end up overweight and unhealthy if they played one sport non-competitively? - no.  Do I want to be like the neighbors - giving up almost every other weekend for tournament travel so my kid can play a sport that they'll *maybe* continue into HS, barring some unforeseen injury?  Heck no.

Check back with me in a year and I'll let you know how it's going.  I told Allison today there wasn't a girl scout troop this year.  She looked at me and said, "Don't give up, mom.  Girl Scouts never give up.  I will not give up on Girl Scouts."

Cool things about Jacob's new school

1) He likes it.  He 'I-am-willing-to-share-non-essential-information-about-my-day' likes it.

2) Field trips!  Tuesday they were at a pond most of the day catching crayfish and identifying things, then classifying them as to whether or not they "should" be in the pond (invasive/non-invasive).

3) More field trips!  Next Tuesday they are going to the headwaters of the Fox River and a bunch of other stuff in Portage, WI.

4) They learn Spanish.  I did not even know this going in, but they have Spanish class twice a week which starts in 3rd grade (so he's not even behind any of the other kids).

5) He walks to piano lessons on Thursdays, which means we get piano started (and ended!) a half hour earlier than usual.  Not only that, but other kids in his class also take piano lessons (at different places) and so piano lessons are more "cool" than they have been before.

Sometime there may be a "5 uncool things about Jacob's new school" blog post, which *might* include how his parents got stuck sitting around a campfire singing with other adults.  Just really kinda not my thing.  But the camping was fun!

Jumping in Time

Another thing that I have not yet blogged about - the results of Allison's growth hormone test.

They were, of course, inconclusive.  Well, maybe not "inconclusive" because there were results - they just weren't clearly one thing or another.

I don't have the letter handy and so won't be able to recall the exact name of the hormone that they were checking.... but, apparently a level of 10 or greater indicated a robust growth system and a level of 5 or lower indicated a clear growth hormone deficiency.  Allison scored a 7.3.  I'm not exactly sure how much more "in the middle without leaning one way or another" she could get - but there you have it.

Her bone age was between 6 years 8 month and 7 years 8 months (seems like they could have pinpointed that a bit more), her chronological age was 10 years, 8 months - so she's either 3 or 4 years behind.

Good news - she's not totally hormone deficient and she's still got plenty of time to grow.

Bad news - she doesn't have a healthy growth system and we don't know why.

My theory - she's found the elixir of life.  She's aging at about 66% of the normal rate, which means she'll probably live to be 150 years old.  Many people believe that evolution is not a slow, steady process; but the result of large step-wise changes.  Just say'n.

More vacation

I am thinking that this blog does not need to be chronologically accurate.  (also - just reworded that from: "thinking this blog need not be chronologically accurate" - grammar: an adventure in continuous improvement.)  You know.... because I'm known for my correct grammar and syntax.

From NYC - back to CT - but just for a night because we were on to Maine!  (with a stop in Salem, MA).

If you have kids and you visit a national park, monument, or historic site: Go get the Junior Ranger booklet.  I did not even know they had one for Salem, MA; but they do!  The kids fill out this pamphlet and then they return it to get a badge.  The kids LOVE the badges.  Also, at Salem it had nothing to do with witches and a lot to do with that boat.  This enabled us to skip the costly witch museums, and visit the free boat.  Bonus - a shiny golden badge.

Oh, what did we learn about the boat?  um..... I don't know.  It had a really big rudder.  Also, it's a ship.  Or, wait, maybe it's not.  We learned that sailboats are classified by the number of masts and sails.  But now I don't remember the details..... The National Park Service emblem includes a buffalo!  I remember that.

Back to School

In order to stay somewhat up-to-date; I'll also do the Back to School post.

Allison:

It was sunny.  I like this picture because the sun is shining from the right (sunny side of Allison), but reflecting off the porch light - making a "spotlight" in the other direction.

Allison rode to school with her friend Melanie.  Melanie's mom took this picture at the school sign:

Allison's report was good.  She had reading homework (10 pages in a book about the Southeast, which she read out loud in a southern accent).  She didn't share too much else.  She liked recess and left her lunch box in the office and had to go back and get it.

She is in a 5th/6th split (all classes are split for those grades at her school).  Her teachers are Mrs. Faustich and Mrs. Swaim.  I think they'll be good for her.  Mrs. Faustich has a lot of experience and is more of a quieter, stricter teacher; and Mrs. Swaim has a lot of enthusiasm but also 10 years of experience.  Allison's only sadness may be that she doesn't have a good friend in her class.

Jacob:

I took Jacob to school at his new school, which is closer to downtown.  He seemed to have a really good day.

 He spent the day at "Camp Fox River Academy," which is what they do the first week of school.  They went to the park and played get-to-know-you games, toured the ravine (where they do a lot of outdoor education), and ate celery and goldfish crackers for a snack.  He also learned that (this year) they will get to go fishing and - just in case we have the need - he can now identify a plant that's good to put on mosquito bites to stop the itch.

He is in a 3rd/4th split class that seems to be at least 60% boys.  His teacher is Mrs. Thomas (she's been teaching there for 4 years), and there are three "Jacobs" in his class plus a few "Connors."  I'd heard a lot of good things about his teacher, even from people who don't have kids in the school.  So, that's good!  I think he'll really enjoy the year.

Can't argue with that logic

In a break from vacation postings (you know - long enough for me to forget what else we did), Jacob announced that he knows where he wants to live when he grows up...... Nevada.

Have to admit that if he would have asked me to guess, it would have taken a LONG time to arrive at Nevada.

The next obvious question is - why?

Well, it shares a border with California, but has fewer earthquakes.  So on a day that you know there is not going to be an earthquake, it will be very easy to get to California in order to mine for diamonds.

Ah.

Vacation - Part 4 - NYC Day 2

On our second day in New York City - we first went to the top of the Empire State Building.  It was recommended that we do it right when they open, and given the massive back-and-forth roped areas we bypassed I am very glad we did.

Happy Jacob:

Then we went to Central Park and walked around while waiting for the Museum of Modern Art to open.  The kids rode the Carousel, played a little at a park and pleaded to go to the zoo (not part of our passes).

We left Central Park in the rain and bribed the children with ice cream to walk to MoMA.  Here's a thing to remember - food drastically changes the speed of our children from slow to glacial.

We spent some time exploring MoMA.  A few highlights - Jacob found video games.  Allison and I circled past a video of naked people throwing a ball at least 4 times (they chose a really CENTRAL location for that one.... Brian missed it completely).  I officially declare that I do not "get" art in the slightest.  I mean, it was neat to see - like - the actual painting of Starry Night.  But there was one room with a big brown rectangle on the floor.  You were encouraged to stand on it.  Standing on it did not make it make any more sense to me.

After MoMA, we went to Momofuku.  Wow - it was good. And the kids tolerated it.  Both liked the duck fried rice (though neither ate much of it) and Jacob wanted the whole duck from the ramen to himself.  They did not like the foie gras - which was Fine By Me because it was awesome.

We then headed to the Museum of Natural History and watched one of the planetarium shows.  This would be the planetarium headed by Neil deGrasse Tyson.  Personally, I thought the Whoopi Goldberg narrated show was a little weird.  It seemed to jump around like "now you are 4 billion years in the future."  Also, it may have made more sense had I been able to stay awake the whole time....

Our final stop was an unsuccessful attempt to see the World Trade Center memorial.  Then we boarded the train and headed back to Connecticut.

Vacation - Part 3 - NYC Day 1

The Big Apple.

We spend two days and a night in NYC.  It was a quick tour!  We had bought city passes in advance, which got us into several attractions (and thus set the agenda for the two days).

First stop - Statue of Liberty!

Then over to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge:

Back to the hotel to check in and rest.  Then an evening of seeing Times Square:

An all-important visit to Toy's R Us.  A hot dog purchased from a street vendor (probably Jacob's favorite meal the entire trip.  He had hot dogs twice later and declared them both to be "not as good as NYC famous hot dog").  Then we went to the top of Rockefeller Center to view the city skyline at night.

Sleep?  What's that?

Vacation - Part 2

Next stop - Connecticut!  (where we also left smelly leftovers in the fridge)

First stop was the coast, where we crashed Rob and Lauri's vacation!  Actually, they were kind enough to let us stay with them for the night and show the kids the fun of hunting for crabs.  Here's Jacob and Brady:

The beach was not Allison's favorite thing.  It "freaked her out!"  Jacob was slow to warm up to the sand and critters - but then did not want to leave.

We went back to Rob and Lauri's real house, and spent a few days playing with the cousins in their awesome basement and backyard.  Apparently, you never grow out of steering wheel toys that sing songs to you!

 And caught a few bugs.... as there was no bug net, I was required to photo-document.

 All the kids in the pool.

Vacation - Part 1

How do you post about an awesome 2-week vacation?  I have no idea.  Does anyone really want a total rehash of the trip?  The highlights?

Ah - it's too overwhelming.  We had fun.  Lots of fun.  Jacob caught bugs in at least 5 states.  We got to meet the newest family member and see friends we hadn't seen in three years.  The kids were (overall) great in the car and with all the traveling.  I'm not saying we didn't have a few meltdowns.... but everyone can get out of sorts when the routines are disturbed.  So, I'll summarize with a few pictures and maybe a funny story or two.

Pre-Brian: The kids and I drove out to visit Jen, William and Henry in Pennsylvania.  Let me say that PA is a VERY boring state to drive though (so is OH) with some pretty cool to stuff to do it in.  We spent two nights there and during the day, we went to Ricket's Glen State Park - which had a lot of waterfalls to hike to.

 Here they are HOLDING HANDS.  Had to capture that on film.

 And, of course, some bug catching with Henry in the backyard.

We left Jen with Jacob's toothbrush and a fridge full of smelly left-overs.  (We're AWESOME houseguests).  After leaving PA, we headed on to coastal Connecticut and to pick Brian up.  More to come.

Sleepy Girly

Well, Allison and I woke up EARLY this morning to make her 8:15 appointment at UW Children's Hospital in Madison.  She was totally awesome and did not complain about the lack of food and water for her.  (nothing after midnight)

They retook the bone age scan x-ray first and then put us back in a room with a bed and a big TV and DVD player.  Allison took the pills that were supposed to kick in her growth system and then insisted she was not at all tired.  She did the first blood-draw after an hour, which she was very nervous about but then didn't even notice because they put on this numbing cream.  Poor girl inherited deep and difficult-to-find veins from the Nolan side of the family (Grandma Mary and then me).  The nurse opted to have her blood drawn in the lab because she couldn't feel a vein - which is impressive given Allison's body fat % of like.... nothing.

Anyway, after insisting she was NOT TIRED, she fell asleep during the half hour before the next blood draw.  Apparently the medicine makes you tired and your blood pressure drop - so then it was a little while before she got back to a "dischargable" blood pressure.  I'm not sure what that number was, but we waited three tests rather than two.

She then slept while I drove to the bakery.  Slept while I went into the bakery (seriously.... they had cupcakes!).  Slept on the drive home.  And she's sleeping now upstairs in my bed.  Bets on whether or not she sleeps tonight??

They have to send the samples to an outside lab, so we won't get the results for a few weeks.  They get them in one week, but then we'll get a letter (hopefully as indecipherable as the last!!) about a week after that.  The nurse did say we could call her if we needed someone to interpret it for us.  So, that was nice.

Par lay v'oooo fron-say?

So - Jacob took French camp this week at the YMCA.  It was run as a program in partnership with the school district, and due to low enrollment they combined the 1-3 and 4-6 grade groups.  Notably, one of the two older kids did not show up after day 2.

Let me start with being totally happy that Jacob was even interested in French camp.  I was surprised he wanted to do anything other than sports, sports, sports.  So, yay Jacob!  However, I found the whole thing... well, I don't know how to say "somewhat wrong" in French.

Day 1 - this was the craft:

I was - I kid you not - trying to keep from laughing so hard I was simultaneously trying not to cry and/or pee at the same time - holding it all in because Jacob was so proud (he doesn't really DO crafts).  Jacob's head, on a toilet paper roll painted like the French flag, with a handlebar mustache and a beret; a baguette in one hand and the French flag in the other.  Because - and I quote - "more French people have mustaches than Americans, so I wanted to have a mustache."

Um - stereotype much?  But, yes, it's totally on the mantle because it IS that awesome.

Then, each day they played a sport for an hour.  On the second day we were requested to send in their swimsuits on the third day.  So, it was really 1 part French, 1 part playing around at the YMCA.  But that's kindof OK.  I get the activity break.

Day two - Jacob came home and requested nutella on a croissant for dinner.  Oddly, we had those things.

Day three - I was presented with a "special French treat" - cornflakes covered in chocolate.  Now, I'm no expert to say that is NOT a French treat.  However, I'm pretty sure corn flakes are quite an American invention compliments of Mr. Kellogg who set the course of the American breakfast away from a balance of protein, fat, and carbs compliments of your eggs bacon and toast - to the sugary boxes of marshmallow filled goodness that breakfast is today.  I was curious of all the possible French foods to introduce the kids to - how they ended up with cornflakes and chocolate.  

Days four and five were pretty uneventful.  Jacob made a pom pom and a scrapbook page.  He learned a little French (my name is Jacob, Grandma and Grandpa - or at least that was all he was willing to say for me).  

The sad part is probably not the funny French Jacob or the cornflake treat... but the fact that Jacob said camp was "fine" but he was "not doing another language camp at the Y."  Though he was excited to start, he was happy to have it end, and I'm not entirely sure I blame him.