Our passports came this week! I’m so excited!
Passports!
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Sexting and NPR
I was driving with Eve in the car the other day. She was quiet so I decided to turn on the radio, something I rarely do with the kids in the car. Usually we just listen to music CDs. NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” was on and that seemed innocent enough so I left it on. After a few minutes they came to a question like this, “This guy (I forget his name) got in trouble for sexting while doing what?” The answer turned out to be sexting while performing surgery and the panel got into a humorous conversation about what exactly that looks like.
Eve: “Mom, are they saying sexting, or texting?”
Me: “Texting. They’re saying texting.”
Eve: (pause) “Oh. That’s boring. Can we put on some music?”
Me: “Yes we can!”
There is a time and a place for a conversation on sexting, but that was not it. I think we need to have a conversation on sex first, then sexting!
The cookies are here!
Eve is doing quite well with her cookie sales. She alternates between totally motivated and totally bored of the whole thing. She was eager to hit a goal of 350 boxes so she could get a little stuffy prize, but got bored and cold (it was cold when we were going door-to-door in January!) and decided 283 was enough. I agreed completely! The cookies came in this weekend and we realized just how many 283 really is!
Counting cookies
Daisy was intrigued.
While Eve was at scouts, Lex and I organized the cookies. I like this bar chart arrangement.
Daisy likes the cookies! Well, the boxes anyway. She is a very happy kitty with all these boxes around.
Today I picked the kids up at school and we delivered teacher orders. Then we went to Alan’s office and delivered work orders. Then we stopped at a friend’s house and delivered her cookie. The kids were all worn out! Eve rallied after dinner and delivered a few more boxes to our very local neighbors. Thursday we’ll be out (weather permitting) delivering around the neighborhood.
This afternoon we delivered to school. Eve had lots of teacher sales. Everyone was happy to see her this afternoon! :)
This is fun, but I’ll be happy when it’s over. :)
Fun with magnets
Fun with magnets. He has a magnet in his sleeve and all of the tiny bead magnets are attracted to it, while holding the shape of the canister he pulled them out of. He was magnet happy today. :-)
Concessions
The kids watched their first Dartmouth hockey game, with another family, while I worked concessions, my new job. Kidding! Just a PTO fundraiser… though I do rock at concessions! :-)
Flying high and diving deep
Waffles for breakfast, again.
This weather is just not cooperating with our plans this trip. Or with our visitors’ plans, I suppose. We headed to SkyZone today for some high-flying fun.
The plan was for Julie and her girls to come up and spend the day with us, but the weather did not cooperate and she didn’t make it, so we were on our own. Turns out that was maybe for the best. Things are SkyZone were crazy!! We didn’t pre-buy tickets, despite the website strongly encouraging us to do so, and so when we got there they were pretty full up. We were hoping to stay for a few hours, but there were only a few time slots available. We got the kids tickets to jump from 10:30-11:00am while Alan and I watched. The place was a bit overwhelming at first and the ticket lady said grownups had to jump on the other side of the room from kids and I wasn’t sure what that exactly looked like, so I decided to let the kids jump first. Turns out “the other side of the room” was really just not that far away.
Trampolines everywhere! Do you see the kids way in the back?
At 11am we left SkyZone and went to the Olive Garden for lunch. YUMMY!!! Before leaving SkyZone we purchased tickets for all four of us to jump from 12:30-1:00pm. I wanted to do longer, but again, there was limited time available. So we had lunch then came back. This second time was soooo much better… because I jumped too! As a grownup watching the place is boring, loud, and chaotic. But as a jumper jumping, OMG it is so much fun!!! You can go so high and do all sorts of fun tricks. I wasn’t brave enough for flips and somersaults, but other people were. Lex mastered the “jumping off the wall” trick and Alan worked on getting as high in the air as possible. So much fun!!!
After half an hour we were all hot and sweaty. I could have stayed longer, but our time was up and everyone was exhausted so it was a good time to head back to the hotel… for swimming! What better way to cool down. I didn’t get any pictures in the pool because I was swimming too, but I really wished I had an underwater camera. There are skylights in the pool area and the sunshine coming in made everything really beautiful. It would have been a great day for swimming pictures. Oh well. By 3:00 we were all worn out and hungry, so we headed back upstairs. It’s a good vacation when everyone is showered and in PJs by 4pm, right?! :)
Vacation leftovers! Pizza from the hotel, various options from Cheesecake Factory, pasta from the OG, and carrots so we can pretend we’re eating healthy on vacation. I know what’s for dinner tonight!
A day at the mall
The day finally arrived! Our big trip to Destiny USA! We had a little time to kill in the morning so Eve took a swim.
A pre-mall swim.
At the mall. First things first, the ropes course! The moment Lex has been eagerly awaiting for the last five months!
Harnesses on!
Here they go!
Turns out it was a little scary! Look at that serious face!
While Lex and Alan did the ropes course, Eve and I went to Build-A-Bear, the thing Eve has been eagerly awaiting. She saved up all her money to buy this bear and some clothes.
Stuffing the new bear.
They had a whole rack of Girl Scout clothes you could buy for your bear, including GS undies! I was amused, but we didn’t buy any.
Eve and Chocolate, her new teddy bear.
Rosy joined us at this point and we headed back to the ropes course to check on Alan and Lex. They were having a blast!!
Having fun.
Such concentration! This one had no railings, just the tether to hang on to.
So high!!
This one made Alan say “whee!” The beams swayed as he walked over them!
These boys survived the ropes course!! And LOVED it!
We had lunch at the food court, then headed for the carousel.
Fun on the ponies.
Then right back upstairs for the Mirror Maze. We went through a bunch of times and loved every time. The place makes me laugh and smile the whole time. It was crowded this time, which introduces a new kind of fun to the experience.
Selfie in the Mirror Maze.
Eve
Lex
This is what Alan has been eagerly awaiting! Pole Position! He raced hard and was #1 in best lap time! They gave him a little award certificate and all. He LOVED it! :)
Alan is in car #18.
Coming around the corner.
After Pole Position we headed downstairs for glow in the dark mini-golf. It was an interesting experience and a tough course!
Lex putting. It was pretty dark in there!
Eve putting. She had the best shirt for black light fun! :)
By this time we were all really tired, so we headed to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Dinner was delicious, of course, and we were sure to save room for dessert!
I think this is the first time the kids have had cheesecake. Lex was slightly hesitant, but that piece was full of candy so he overcame his fear and dug in. If only everything new came coated in candy! :)
After dinner and dessert we did a little of this. Well, they did. There rest of us steeled ourselves for the cold air and drive home.
Goodbye Aunt Rosy! Thanks for spending the day at the mall with us! :)
Back at the hotel this was about all we could manage.
Now it is late and the morning will come early. It always does in a hotel. I am off to bed! Tomorrow is another busy day.
A drive to Syracuse
We drove to Syracuse yesterday. Everyone else was heading to warmer weather for vacation, but not us! This is what our vacation trip looked like…
Crazy winter icicles at a rest area on the thruway.
The Erie Canal, buried in snow!
Evening is when it really got fun. By the time we got to Syracuse it was total blizzard conditions! We were very happy to finally be off the road!
And then, once we got to the hotel, it looked more like this…
Hello Merlot.
The kids wanted to sit at their own table so we decided to have a Valentine’s Day dinner on our own. :) Very romantic! Syracuse v. Duke on the screen. It was a good game, but sadly SU lost.
Watching the end of the game. Alan was happy to be off the road and on the couch!
That’s how this family likes to spend Valentine’s Day and the first day of vacation!
Happy (almost) Valentine’s Day
We (I) went a little overboard with Valentine’s Day this year. We made Valentine’s Day Science Kits for each of their classmates. I saw a fun looking project on Pinterest (of course) and the kids thought it would be fun. It was, but a lot of work! And stress (first world problems stress) due to delayed USP shipment. Darn storms in Boston are screwing up deliveries to my house! Sheesh! Anyway, we got it all done this afternoon and the kids were super happy. They are both looking forward to their class parties tomorrow. Lex says in 4th grade you don’t have Valentine’s Day parties, but they do get an extra long snack time and kids are bringing in treats to share. Sounds like a party to me!
Putting together the science booklets.
The Valentine’s Day assembly line begins…
and goes on…
… and on!
We made 60 bags, for Lex’s class, Eve’s class, and my class. I decided not to give them to my students though because as I learned more about the Montessori Valentine’s Day celebration (or lack thereof) I decide these wouldn’t be very appropriate. Oh well. Maybe I can use them next year. :)
Happy kiddos, very pleased with their Valentine’s Day Science kits. I hope their friends enjoy them too.
Valentine’s Day White Chocolate Popcorn. Class party snack, because why not!?
Happy almost Valentine’s Day! This is about the extent of our celebration.
Dear Mr. President
Eve wrote a letter and drew two pictures for the President. Unfortunately she sealed up the envelope before I saw any of them! She said it was a drawing of him, a drawing of a beautiful bird, and a letter about the pictures. We found the address and she mailed it out. Do you think Mr. Obama will write back? :-)