Crisis in the Keller House

I hope I didn't alarm you by the title of this post, because chances are that this will not seem like a crisis to you. But it seems like one to us, particularly the kids, and especially with 4 more days at home on Christmas break.

This morning Maria interrupted my peaceful cup of coffee with a tearful announcement. "They're going to take away Nickelodeon and 18 other channels at midnight." She had read the big scrolling message at the bottom of her Nicktoons show. And I mean she was really upset. I told her I was sure it was a scare tactic and that it would most likely never happen. I also came out to look at the TV with her, to copy down the phone number so that we could complain. At the time, I really thought it would never happen, and I just wanted to drink my coffee before dealing with anything.

But upon reading the message, I learned that it wasn't just Nickelodeon and Nicktoons. It was also Comedy Central. And I really don't think I can live without The Daily Show and Jon Stewart. And no Nickelodeon and Nicktoons for the kids would be bad - they watch a lot of Nick. In fact, its the only kid channel they watch. Now I was slightly alarmed. So Maria and I Googled it, and sure enough, Viacom and Time Warner cannot agree. One article I read said it would cost Time Warner costumers an extra $.23 a month. I would pay a lot more than that a month! So Ben made our phone call so that our voice was heard, but as of late this afternoon nothing has changed. We assured the kids that they would not be without Nick forever - that we would change providers if needed. But that it would take time to do that.

There could be a bit of a black cloud hanging over 2009 if the kids get up in the morning and there is no Nick. No Spongebob. No icarly. No Drake and Josh. And no peace for Mom and Dad!

"A Christmas Story" House

This afternoon we met my parents at the "A Christmas Story" house in Cleveland on our way north for our holiday visit. Ben's been wanting to go for a few years, but it has never worked out before. This year we decided to stop and made plans to meet Mom and Dad there. And apparently it was a common plan as it was pretty crowded. We walked through the actual house first, which was small but did show the famous lamp and a few other goodies. Then we waited in line, outside, in the 30 miles per hour wind, to walk through the museum across the street. We saw Randy's snowsuit, the Red Rider rifle, and talked to the actress who played the mean elf from the scene in which Ralphie forgets to ask Santa for the Red Rider BB gun. The actor who delivered the Leg Lamp was also there, and shared a few interesting stories about filming the movie.

Merry Christmas

Goodbye Charlie

I forgot to add this in my last post. We lost another fish yesterday. This time it was Charlie, Sam's fish that we got right before Thanksgiving. We could have froze him out - with the dip in temperatures while we were away this weekend and turning the heat down on top of it, the tank was a couple of degrees below the "safe" zone when we got back Sunday night. (We're not used to thinking about the fish's well-being while we are out of town.) Ben thinks there's no way a small change in temperature could have killed him, but our tank is uaully in the upper part of the "safe" zone so it really was cooler in there. But who knows.

Sam accepted the death with momentary disappointment, then wanted to know when we could get a new one (we told him after Christmas). The only survivor in the tank now is Katie, Maria's fish from Thanksgiving. Think we may try something other than guppies when we re-stock the tank next time - see if we have better luck.

Random Updates

We've been busy the last several days getting ready for Christmas and traveling, so I thought I would just quickly post some things that have been going on.

This weekend we went to stay with Ben's parents in Dayton. The kids got to open a few gifts - Maria got her new backpack she's been wanting and Sam got his first real digital camera, and he loved to take lots of pictures and movies. We went to the Air Force Museum Sunday and he took pictures of his favorite planes. When we got home, Ben downloaded his pictures (almost 100) so that he would have room for more pictures. Sam didn't notice this until yesterday morning, when he was surprised that the pictures were gone from the camera. And he wasn't happy- "You mean I have to start over?" I think he understands where they went - he would just like them to all stay on the camera. Tried to explain it's impossible, but he's six, and stubborn, so we'll see.

We got Rita and Darrell a Wii for Christmas - thought we would surprise them but had to tell Rita at Thanksgiving when Darrell started talking about buying one for themselves. We got it hooked up while we were there and hope they are having fun with it.

The kids and I went to the dentist yesterday morning. Both kids are doing fine - still no cavities or other problems. The hygienist came out to the waiting room and told me that Sam does a really good job brushing - not something she sees with most kids. And he is cutting his 6 year molars, which I had suspected since he has had his hands in his mouth a lot lately. I think that's why he had three stomach viruses in November, but I could not get him to stop chewing on his hands!

We were supposed to go to the Zoo Lights last night - only chance we've had before Christmas. But we had to cancel with the temperature being 10 and wind chills in the negative digits. The kids were unhappy, so we took them to see The Tale of Despereaux and to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen instead.

Today we still have three kinds of cookies to make, plus get the house ready for the visit from the grandparents tomorrow. Maria helps a lot with the cookies - can do a lot of it herself. Sam has shown no interest so far. And I still have some wrapping to do - I've always had my wrapping done by now but this has been a very unusual December for us. Ben has a basketball game tonight, if it doesn't get cancelled - we're under a Winter Weather Advisory for freezing rain later.

Sam's Moms Craft Day

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Delay Doldrums

There are certain advantages to teaching in a rural area. Lots of nice, educationally minded, intact families is one. But running a close second is all of the weather delays and cancellations. With all of the country roads in our district, which spans almost half of Union County, it doesn't take much snow, ice, or even fog to induce at least a two hour delay to ensure the buses can get to school safely. Even though teachers have to report to school when "reasonably safe" on two hour delay days, it still makes for a more easy going morning and time to get work done at school without the students there. So two hour delays are almost always a happy occasion.

This year has been weird as far as delays go. If we ignore the two days we lost due to the hurricane winds in September, we've only have 2 days with two hour delays. This is a very small amount - usually we have much more fog in the fall. But this year we only had one fog delay. It happened to be on the day of Sam's pumpkin farm field trip. I had taken a half personal day to go with his class. When we delayed, the trip got cancelled and luckily I was able to cancel the personal day and take another on the make-up field trip day. But it was a huge pain and I really just got lucky that it worked out.

Today is the second two hour delay of the year, due to ice that has finally turning to plain rain. And guess what? It's also Sam's "Mom's Craft Day"at kindergarten, and I took the morning off so I could attend. So I had to e-mail his teacher to find out the new times, then make sure I could still do it and have time to eat lunch before my sub leaves and I have to teach the rest of the day. I think it'll work out, but the 2 hours I was supposed to have at home by myself this morning is gone - I'll drive the kids to school and then just hang around for a half hour until the craft thing starts. Which means that I won't be finishing my wrapping this morning like I had planned. But at least we didn't cancel - both kids would have been so disappointed. And I did not want those teacher gifts hanging around for two weeks until we go back in January.

Snow Day Games

Today we have off due to the quarter inch of ice coating all roads around here. Bringing Maria to and from her Tuesday night activities last night was slippery, but we went slow and got home fine. And the timing of the day works for us - we are hosting our staff Christmas party tomorrow evening and should have 25-30 people here, so we can use the time to clean the house.

Anyway, Maria was bored so she made up a game. She made cards and wrote three things on each card. Then I was to guess what the three things have in common. Example:

Maria: Bacteria, Listeria, E.Coli
Me: Things that cause stomach aches?
Maria: Close, things that make you sick.
Maria: Beverly Cleary, j.K. Rowling...
Me: Authors
Maria: Yes

Then Sam wanted to play the game. So he made up his own cards (which were scribbles) and then asked me questions. But the answers were a little more difficult to pin down. Example:

Sam: What do you do with a hammer?
Me: Pound in nails.
Sam: No. You smash things with it.

Sam: I'm thinking of a drink. You pour it in a cup and drink it. What is it?
Me: Lemonade.
Sam: No.
Me: Orange Juice
Sam: No. One more chance.
Me: Milk
Sam: Yes! You got it! Milk. Here's the last one. How do you write your name in Japanese?
Me: I have no idea.
Sam: Well, that's the question.
Me: I guess I lose then.
Sam: Yes, you lose.

And on it goes. Right now he's playing another invented game with Ben. How long till I can break out the wine?

Best Christmas Pageant Ever...Over

Right now Maria is performing her last of six shows playing Gladys in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It has been a wonderful experience for her, allowing her to really grow as an actress and a lot of fun too. We've had lots of people come see the show, including both sets of grandparents, teachers and friends from school, and almost 20 family friends. Even though the last 6 weeks have been crazy with practices and performances, it was well worth it and I'd do it again.

So I hope it doesn't sound rude to say that I am glad it's over. Yes, I would do it again, but now am ready for a break. Between planning around all of the practices and performances, arranging for tickets for everyone to get a chance to see her, and making sure homework, etc, is done before she leaves, I am ready to be done. The worst part? Her hair. I don't know if you can tell from these pictures, but her hair is supposed to look really bad. To get this result I have to tease and spray, a lot. She has a lot of hair, and its hard to get it to stand up. Then sometimes it still doesn't look good (bad) enough, so we have to spray and tease some more. When she gets home, she spends at least 20 minutes in the shower trying to wash all that spray out, then we have to get out all the tangles. It takes forever, and is fairly painful for Maria. I will schedule a trim as soon as possible to deal with all the spit ends that we made.

Guess who's not ready for the show to be over? Maria. She loves performing and is sad this will be the last show. In fact, I plan to not talk about it tonight so I don't make her upset. At least we have Christmas to look forward to!

Not Quite the Kids Christmas Party

Yesterday, in lieu of our usual Kids Christmas Party, we invited friends to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and then back here for dinner. The Caseys, the Berkeys, and the Smiths all joined us for the play, and then everyone but the Smiths came back to our house afterward. We had Papa Murphy's pizzas to bake when we got back, and Telford got a head start on the pizzas, since he stayed at our house with Cole, who is 18 months and would not do well at an hour long play.

Everyone loved the play, and we think Maria had her best performance ever. The crowd was huge - extra chairs were placed in the front on the sides to accommodate everyone. And I think the cast really likes to perform for large crowds. Maria was also surprised that Lily, one of her good friends from school, was there to see the show as well.

Back at our house, after dinner, chaos reigned with 8 kids between the ages of 1 and 9 years old. Lots of dressing up and running around toting Nerf Guns and/or light sabers. Sam was the ring leader, and loved being in charge. By this time Maria was gone - back for another performance - and so Sam had to step in and be the host kid. And he loved it. Unbelievably, the only injuries were minor and came from Sean and Ryan, the Casey twins who are almost 3, beating on each other. We were assured this is a usual occurrence at home. Everyone left around 8:00, giving us time to clean up before Ben went to pick up Maria.

We had been sad that we weren't able to have the kids party this year - just no time with the Pageant, but we had a great time yesterday seeing friends and having time to visit (above all the screaming).

Kids Christmas Program

Thursday night was the elementary school's Christmas concert - everyone in grades K-4 performed. I forgot the camera, so this is a picture of the kids before we left (thanks Rita!). The concert went well, but was so crowded, even in the high school gym. It was also short, which was much appreciated.

Front Page News

Another One Bites the Dust

Yesterday after school we discovered Melanie dead, laying on the bottom of the aquarium. We were hoping maybe she was just tired, so we waited a while to see if she moved. No luck. So flush, down she went. Katie and Charlie, the two fish acquired the day before Thanksgiving, are still alive. Of course, they never die before the 14 day guarantee. (I'm serious - take that fish carcass and your receipt to Jack's, and if it died within 14 days of purchase you get your money back. Not sure my $3.99 is worth all that hassle.)

Anyway, Ben did another water change and I cleaned all the algae off the aquarium accessories. And we'll wait to see what happens.

Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Today were the first two (of six) performances of Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Maria plays Gladys, the youngest and meanest of the Herdman clan. Even though they've had practices all week, we were concerned that the play wasn't performance-ready yet. But we were wrong. Very wrong. Both performances were great - the kids do such a wonderful job. And Maria was awesome too. We're so proud. Acting mean and angry was a stretch for her, and the director seemd to be hard on her sometimes. But it paid off - she did great.

Santa Visit

This afternoon we took the kids to see Santa - trying to get it in while we could. I had planned to get at the mall at a down time - around 4:15-4:30, between the stay-at-home Moms and the working families. And we found out this afternoon that the play director wanted Maria to meet with another cast member this evening to have their picture taken for the newspaper, so we needed to make sure we got back at a decent time. But as usual, the best laid plans...

Here's what went wrong:

When we got to the mall to see Santa, the worker had just put up the sign that Santa would be taking a 45 minute break. 45 minutes! And we had no other shopping to do at the mall. We were really just making a quick mall stop, quick Toys R Us stop, quick dinner stop then home for the picture. The worst part - if I had turned the correct direction off of the escalator we would have made it as the last people before the break. So we decided to head to our other errands and stop back on the way home.

Where to have dinner was a huge debate - main problem that it needed to be quick and Sam VERY BADLY wanted Burger King for the Wii Mario toys in their kids meals. But Maria and Ben really don't like Burger King. So we came up with a plan where Ben would drive through Boston Market for Maria, get Chipotle for himself, and then we would all eat at Burger King where only Sam and I would actually eat Burger King. All was well until we got to the counter and the only had Simpsons toys. And this entire adventure was planned around Sam getting that Wii toy. So when I expressed this dilemma to the manager who was manning the counter, she gave us a Wii toy as long as we promised not to tell anyone, and oh yeah, could I please call the costumer service number on the back of the receipt and express how helpful Debbie was (without telling them why, of course). Whatever. I would have agreed to much more to get Sam that toy.

We got back to the mall by 5:45 and there were probably 15 families in line ahead of us. Our wait was made worse by the abusive grandfather with the family in front of us, who finally slapped the child across the face when he wouldn't stop crying. Maria and Sam were bothered by this and clung closer to us. I have never felt that uncomfortable in the Santa line before.

Also while in line, Ben didn't feel well and had to leave to hit the bathroom. He ended up not getting sick, but thinks he may be catching a touch of this stomach thing that can't seem to leave us alone. Scott (director) called us while in line and said the picture was not going to work out tonight - they'd get it at dress rehearsal tomorrow and it would be in Monday's paper, so at least we weren't concerned about time.

Maria is getting a cold - very stuffed up tonight - and the play starts Sunday - she just can't be sick. I'll have to keep giving her cold medicine, I guess.

But when it was Maria and Sam's turn to see Santa, they went right up to him, spoke to him and asked for gifts (Bakugans for Sam and Pictionary Man for Maria), and walked away happy. On the walk out of the mall Sam said "That Santa was really nice." So it was all worthwhile. We sang Christmas carols on the way home and managed to have a good evening, despite all the drama.

Anniversary

One year ago today I started this family blog. This post marks 323 posts for one year. That seems like a lot, but most of the time, the blog does not feel like work. It's fun to write, and I enjoy going back sometimes and reading old posts. I know there are a lot of little things that I would have forgotten by now if I hadn't recorded it here. I only wish I had started doing it sooner!

I hope reading the blog brings as much pleasure as writing it does...and if not, don't feel obligated to keep reading it!

More Algae...Ugh!

In the beginning of October we bought a small aquarium for the kids. This came after many complaints from the kids that we don't own any pets. Ben and I really aren't pet people. Neither one of us like dogs, Ben's allergic to cats, and we're both picky about the house. Not to mention, we're very busy people, gone from the house at least 8 hours each day. It wouldn't be fair to a dog or cat for us to have one, especially if our heart wasn't in it (and it really wouldn't be!).

But in the spring the kids started complaining again, and with the addition of a Jack's Aquarium in Marysville, we thought maybe the kids were old enough to handle an easy pet, like fish. So we decided to wait until fall when our schedules are more predictable, and bought a 14 gallon freshwater aquarium in early October.

And it has been anything but easy. I have many blog posts of the day to day hassles so I won't go through everything again. In summary, we have killed one snail and two guppies. We have had two bouts of brown algae, and when we thought we successfully got rid of that (with chemicals), the fish started dying off. Then we had a pH problem that we thought we sort of solved, and bought three new fish.

Now we have green algae. Everywhere. The tank looked beautiful and clear on Thanksgiving, but Sunday started to cloud up. By Tuesday green algae was everywhere. So we cleaned the entire thing again and started using the chemicals again. The fish are very active and happy when there is no algae, but become slow and lethargic with the algae there. And we don't know if it is the algae or chemicals that negatively affect the fish. But when we quit using the chemicals (to keep the fish happy), we get more algae, so we have to keep using them. And we've tried non-chemical ways to get rid of algae, but nothing seems to work.

And this whole fish thing is becoming much more of a hassle than we need. We tried to get a pet with the least amount of hassle and it has been a huge pain in only two months of having them. So we'll see if we can find some kind of balance between keeping live fish and no algae, but it is so depressing to get rid of one problem and have another crop up days later. And of course, although the fishes belong to the kids, we are the ones doing all the work. Some days they can't even be bothered to feed them!

Finally...First Day in New School

Yesterday was the first real school day at the new Fairbanks Elementary. I thought the kids would be bursting with things to tell me at the end of the day. I should know better by now. I got answers like "Yes, it was nice." "It's big but not too big." "No, I didn't get lost." Occasionally a new piece of information is shared, like this morning when Maria told me that the lunch line seemed like a high school lunch line. (Not sure exactly what that means.) I walked the kids over yesterday, but let them walk by themselves today. The new traffic pattern is working really well and there are concrete curbs set up that prevents cars and buses from driving where they walk. It is a long, cold walk on these cold snowy days, but its better than wasting all that time sitting on the bus.

And yes, that is supposed to look like a big silo in front. The architects thought it would be a nod to the district's agricultural heritage. I think it looks stupid. But no one asked me. It does say "Fairbanks Elementary" now, at least.

The map picture is the playground - which there is no actual playground equipment on yet. But the map is cool, as long as you're not a stickler for scale - Alaska is as big as the whole western U.S.

Maria's Turn

This morning Maria got me up at 7:00 saying she wasn't feeling well. So we came out on the couch, and sure enough, she started throwing up soon after. Sam's had a few stomach viruses over the last month, so it seems like it's her turn. But she's had a long unpleasant day on the couch - and is still not much better. Even though she hasn't been feverish all day, she has a fever now, and has not eaten much of anything yet either. She is keeping water down, and that's an improvement from this morning.

If she has to stay home tomorrow (which looks to be pretty likely right now), she'll miss the first day in the new school. This is a day these kids have been looking forward to for a long time, and it makes her so sad to even think about it. If it is a 24 hour thing, she should be feeling much better in the morning. But we just don't know.

She also had to miss play practice tonight, and may have to miss tomorrow too if she doesn't make it to school. That's not good, with the first performance in a week they need everyone there as much as possible. But I keep telling her it's better to be sick today then either of the next two weekends. We're just hoping for a speedy recovery.

New Christmas Tree

Friday we spent the entire day putting up Christmas decorations. We do this every year, but this year was a little different in that our basement flooded in June and the water got into the decorations. We though we had everything dried out or thrown out - I had every ornament laying out on the living room florr for a few days even. We knew we would need to replace a few things. But we did not expect to find that there was still water in the bottom of the tree container, that has been there for 5 months. And it was smelly! We ended up leaving the tree container on the porch so it didn't smell up the house.

Ben was able to find a new tree at Home Depot. This one already has lights on it, which is nice. We had been thinking about getting one of these for a few years, but never wanted to spend the money when we had a perfectly good tree already.

This tree is very bright. It pretty much lights up the entire room by itself. But we like it.

Thanksgiving

A great Thanksgiving spent with Ben's parents and Wendy, Mike, Brandon and Mitchell. We missed my parents, who tried to make the trip but had car trouble on the way and had to turn around and head back home. The food was delicious - I'm still full - and the kids had fun playing together. Maria and Sam are tired and headed to bed soon. Tomorrow's another busy day with Christmas decorating during the day and then we're going to a movie tomorrow night - not sure if we're seeing Bolt or Madagascar 2. I was supposed to take the kids last Friday night but Sam got sick and so we had to postpone.

Here We Go Again

We have added two new fish into or tank - each kid picked out a new fish last night. We tested the pH several hours after Ben did the water change yesterday and the pH had gone down by .2. After further research we decided that who knows what killed the other fish. The pH for guppies is supposed to be between 6.0 and 9.0 - the guppies are supposed to be fine within that range. We had been in that range in the first place. So we decided we might as well go ahead and get some new fish and see what happens.

Maria picked out a neon green guppy with black spots ("Katie") and Sam chose a smaller silver guppy with a big black tail ("Charlie"). Melanie, our only living fish from before, perked right up when she got some company and plays frequently with Charlie. Katie is more of a loner. So far everyone seems happy and healthy, so we'll see.

Pictures will follow soon - I have been a little busy with Thanksgiving and all.

Aquarium Answers

Yesterday we decided to buy a chemical test kit for our freshwater aquarium so that we could see if there are any problems in our tank before we replace the dead fish from earlier this week. Since we really had no idea what the problem might be, we had to splurge for the $40 kit that tests for everything - pH, ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. The testing was actually kind of fun - but that may be because I am a science geek.

Anyway, the results were pretty good. The only level that was off was the pH, which is too high (8.3 when it should be between 6.5 and 7.6). Further research showed that this pH level would have put the fish under stress, so it's a definite possibility that it contributed to their death. Most likely cause? Adding hard water to the tank. We have a softener, which runs every 2-3 days. But sometimes toward the end of that cycle we end up using all of the soft water before if re-generates. To fix this and have softener run more often, we end up using much more salt, which costs more money. We went rounds with the Culligan people last winter after getting the new softener system installed and discovered there is just no good fix to this problem. So we deal with having a little bit of hard water every now and then - we don't even notice.

But apparently we're going to have to pay close attention to that when we clean the tank and do water changes. The good news is this problem should be easy to fix with a couple of water changes with soft water. And we can check the pH more often now that we own the test kit, so we should be able to stay on top of the problem now. So we'll be doing a 30% water change this morning and hopefully that will hlep. We're planning to get more fish this weekend if we can get the pH under control.

New School Visit

On Monday, December 1, Maria and Sam will be going to the new Fairbanks Elementary School which is located behind the Middle/High School where both Ben and I teach. They will be leaving the 90+ year old building that is literally falling apart. It's an exciting move for everyone, but a little scary for the kids too.

Friday morning all of the elementary kids were taken to the new school to look around for a few minutes, then brought back to the old school as community members helped to unload box after box after box of stuff and haul it to the rooms. Sam was sick Friday morning (really sick) and so he missed the visit. And he was very sad about it.

So today when I was doing my mandatory 90 minutes of helping unpack (don't ask), I stopped by and asked Dolly if she would mind if I brought Sam by later in the day so that he would get to see his room. She thought that was a good idea, so around 2:00 Ben came home and picked up both kids. And they loved it. Maria had seen the new building Friday, but it was empty and today looked much different. And Sam hadn't seen anything yet and was really impressed - he wants to have school tomorrow so he can go to his new school. It is a nice building - the rooms are so big and everything is so new and clean! And if you saw the building they were in, you would understand why this is so exciting to them.

It'll be nice to have something to look forward to so that maybe we won't dread going back after having this week off.

RIP Salty and Seaweed

Our fish tank has been like a house of death the last few days.

It started Saturday morning, when Darrell noticed that he couldn't find Salty (Sam's fish) anywhere. We suspected that he was dead and stuck in one of the houses, but we waited until the kids left with Rita and Darrell to check it out. Sure enough, Salty was dead and stuck in the driftwood. So we flushed him and also noted that Seaweed, who always had such a brightly colored tail, was looking very pale.

When the kids came back from Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday, we broke it to them that Salty had died. Sam was serious about it, but was more interested in why he died than mourning the loss of his beloved fish. No tears, just serious contemplation for about five minutes. Then it was forgotten.

This afternoon we had to deal with Seaweed, who had gone missing earlier today (Rita and Darrell stayed with the kids while we had a work day at school and noticed the problem). Not only is Seaweed dead, but we can't find him. One theory is that maybe Melanie ate him. She is supposed to be compatible with the guppies, but we don't think Seaweed could have disintegrated into nothing so quickly. And there does seem to be a lot of floaties in the tank.

Unfortunately, Seaweed's passing was more difficult for Maria. I felt bad for her, but I'm sure she'll get over it soon.

So now the question is, why are the fish dying? Should we get more soon (which would make the kids happy), or should we wait to see if it's a problem in the tank? And if we wait, how long is long enough? At least these fish aren't expensive!

Christmas Shopping

Yesterday Ben and I went Christmas shopping - all day. Ben's parents took the kids home with them Saturday morning to spend the night so that we could have the entire day to shop. Luckily, Sam was feeling much better by Friday night and he was able to go to Grandma and Grandpa's too. I had ben worried if he was still sick or if Maria got sick too - we had planned this shopping day for quite a while, and I really didn't have any other free weekend days to do it.

But everything went as planned. we have about 75% of all shopping done, and what we don't have is ordered. This morning I wrapped everything too, so we should be in good shape. I know the time will fly between now and Christmas, so I'm glad to have so much done. And we had some really good sales yesterday too - we have always shopped the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and I never remember sales this good. And it wasn't very crowded, although we did plan to be out during the OSU/Michigan game, since so many people stay home to watch the game.

Sick Boy Again

Sam is having a rough month. This is the third time in three weeks that he has some kind of stomach bug. He was up several times in the night, and is still miserable this morning. I'm staying home with him - this is the first sick day this year for both of us. The sad part is that this morning is when the elementary kids get to go to the new school and see their classrooms for the first time, and he's going to have to miss it. Then this afternoon, the last day in the old building, they're going to have some kind of send-off to the old building. The good news, I guess, is that he feels too bad to even care about missing anything at school. And with everything packed and being unloaded today, I doubt he's missing many educational activities.

First Snow

It's not much, but there was maybe a half inch of snow covering the ground when we got up this morning. And although it snowed off and on all day Saturday, this is the first that stuck to the ground (although it's gone now). And I was reminded of how magical even a little bit of snow is to children.

Sam didn't want to get out of bed when I woke him up (what else is new?), and when I told him there was snow outside he jumped out of bed and ran to the window. I know it was a cheap trick, but I didn't say "A Lot" of snow, just snow, and sometimes I'll say just about anything to get him out of bed.

So Sam looked out the window, was completely impressed, and asked if Maria had seen it yet. She hadn't - I don't need to use cheap tricks to get her out of bed and so I hadn't told her yet. So Sam went to find Maria to tell her, and then they both went to the window and and were in awe of the snow. They even both wore their boots to school. (A little optimistic, but who am I to rain - snow - on their parade?) And is continued to lightly snow most of the day, although it didn't really stick to the ground.

Just another reminder of how a small ordinary things can be so amazing to kids, and something else I will miss when they grow up. I really wish I could bottle up these moments and take them out when I need to remember how little and cute they once were - probably about when they turn 13.

Welcome Melanie

I'd like to introduce you to our new fish, Melanie. She is unique because the design on her tail looks like Mickey Mouse ears - hopefully you can see it on the picture - I took several pictures so that it was easily visible, but that darn fish would not stay still!

The kids were excited to get a new fish, although we were only getting one, which meant they had to agree. Once the saleswoman showed the Mickey ear design on Melanie Maria was sold, but Sam took a little convincing. Then they had to agree on the name:

Maria: How about Kathryn or Caroline?
Sam: How about Rosie?

Pause

Maria: How about Kathryn?
Sam: How about Stinky?

And so it went for a few minutes. Then,

Sam: Whatever. Maria, you can just name the fish.

Pause

Maria: How about Melanie?
Sam: Yeah! Melanie.
Maria: We'll call her Mel for short.

So it's official - Melanie has joined Salty and Seaweed. We decided to hold off on getting another snail - we had a brown algae problem earlier this week and want to make certain it's taken care of before we get a pet that eats everything off of the sides of the aquarium.

Washing Machine Fixed

Ben was able to replace the drain pump on the washing machine this afternoon, and it's running great. It was a hassle for him yesterday to find the part (luckily he has a student teacher so he had plenty of time to call around), and we ended up ordering one and paying a lot extra to have it shipped overnight, as opposed to waiting 5-7 business days. It was sitting on the porch when we got home after school, and Ben was able to replace it fairly easily. We are all thrilled - still had that nagging worry that we may have been wrong and ordered the wrong part. But it works, and I'm working on getting caught up on laundry around here.

Sam's Assessment

Sam didn't have a parent teacher conference (they're not until January), but today his teacher sent home some assessment and feedback on each child's progress so far. I've included a page from his journal (so cute!) and additional information was as follows:

Letter ID: 26/26
Sound ID: 21/26

Journal Notes: "Doing well writing. Using punctuation."

Other comments:
Behavior concerns: "None" (YAY!)
Academic Concerns: "Sam has really taken off! He is reading! Journal looks great. Keep up the good work."
Other Comments: "What a sweetie! Love his dimples." Don't we all?

So glad he is doing so well. Sometimes, when I picked him up from pre-school two years ago and had to sign behavior forms because he had misbehaved repeatedly, I was really worried about how he would do in school. Looking back, we really wonder if some of that behavior was because his communication skills were so lacking that the teacher couldn't understand what he needed and he lost his temper. Some of the problems were directly related to his stubborn nature, as well. I'm just glad he is doing so well now.

Christmas Pageant

Maria got the part that she so wanted in the performance of "Best Christmas Pageant Ever." The show is a community performance and Maria auditioned over a week ago. The story, if you haven't read it, follows a local Christmas pageant that has been taken over by the 6 children of the "bad" family in town, the Herdmans. The Herdmans (6 brothers and sisters) have never had any role models at home and don't know anything about the real Christmas story. Maria got the part of Gladys Herdman, the youngest Herdman. The description of the character, according to Wikipedia: "She's the smallest, and the fastest, and she's mean, and she bites." Maria had a great time reading for the part at auditions and is thrilled to get to play Gladys. It was the best part for someone Maria's age.

Performances are at the First Presbyterian Church in Marysville on the following dates:
Sunday December 7 - 4:00 and 7:30
Tuesday December 9 - 7:30
Saturday December 13 - 4:00 and 7:30
Sunday December 14 - 4:00 and 7:30

Tickets are fairly cheap, I believe. Let me know if you are interested and I can get tickets for you - since it's performed in a church there's not a huge amount of seats, so it would be best to get tickets in advance.

Broken Washing Machine

Yes, my washing machine broke down in the middle of the 2nd load this morning. I had about 5 more loads to go, including towels, clothes and sheets. I tend to put off all laundry until Sunday, and then spend all day Sunday doing it. The advantage to this is that I am here to remove loads as soon as they are dry, which cuts down tremendously on my ironing (I actually hardly ever iron anything unless it's a special occasion - working Moms can't do it all, and I choose to give up ironing). Anyway, the sheets were in the dryer and the washer was in the middle of the first load of clothes, when an alarm started going off and the dryer stopped working. I checked the error code, and it had something to do with the drain or drain pump. So when Ben got home from the grocery, I let him look into the matter more closely.

The pain about all this was that since the washer wasn't draining, it was full of water which had to be dumped out (pitcher by pitcher) before he could even get started. He spent a couple of hour cleaning the drain and hose and drain pump, including using the shop vac to pump out the excess water. Turns out we need a new drain pump (you can tell by the noise it makes it's just not working), and of course the parts store in Columbus was closed today. The earliest Ben will be able to get there is Tuesday. Luckily, I did two loads yesterday morning, so we should have enough clothes to get by as long as it gets fixed by mid-week. After that, we may have to start pulling pants out of the laundry basket.

Maria's Parent Teacher Conference

Tonight we had Maria's parent/teacher conference. (Sam's isn't until January, after the first set of testing for kindergartners.) Ben and I both went, and the kids played on the playground while we talked with Maria's teacher, Mr. Hammond. Things went well - she's doing great in everything. He did have a couple of areas to work on improvement, but it was a very good report. He said the thing that stands out most about her is that she takes her time and does her best work on every single assignment, always only handing in her best work. I sure hope she continues to do that - as a high school teacher I can tell you that quality is not very common! He also observed that she is very quiet (I always was in school too, if you can believe that) but loves to participate in class.

When it was time to go, Sam cried because he did not want to leave the playground. The after-school Panther Paws were playing also, so he was with his friends. Ben and I observed three girls running up to hug him when he arrived on the playground - apparently the girls all still love him. Anyway, Sam cried the entire ride home, and then for about 10 minutes after we got here. He still can cry a lot when he doesn't get his way - still waiting for him to grow out of that! But at least he wasn't kicking and screaming, just crying.

Election News

Quick election update - Fairbanks levy passed by 112 votes - 52%. We were happy, actually a little surprised that it was so close, but passing is passing. So we can expect business here to continue as normal, with our small yet still present raises for the next two school years (our 2% raise each year for the next two years would not have happened if it had failed).

Also, watching the election results with Maria last night was fun. She knew about the electoral college from school, and loved watching the results from each state. It did help that the results were going the way we wanted them to, for a change, in the Presidential election. Anyway, Maria even asked to stay up later and was sad that Ohio had not been called either way by the time she had to go to bed at 9:15. Quite a learning experience for her, and being such an "historic election," hopefully she'll remember it for a long time to come.

RIP Sheldon

Yesterday we lost our dear snail, Sheldon. He was with us for one month, his actual age is undetermined as we do not know how long he was alive before we adopted him at the beginning of October. His death was a bit of a surprise, we have no idea why he ended up floating, foot crusty and unresponsive, in our tank less than 24 hours after we cleaned it.

The kids took it surprisingly well when we broke the news at breakfast this morning. No tears were shed, I think they expected it when he had floated all afternoon yesterday (a floating snail does not necessarily mean death, and Sheldon sometimes floated and then acted fine, but he had never floated for so many hours before).

We were planning on adding a new fish to our tank this weekend anyway (we are proud members of the Free Fish of the Month club at Jack's), and so we may get a Sheldon 2 while we are there. We are going to ask first if we were taking care of him correctly, and how long they are expected to live. He did provide entertainment to watch, but may not be worth getting another one if we can expect it to die within a month's time as well.

Sick Boy

Yesterday we had tickets to see the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics, which included several Olympic medalists from this summer. We heard about it through Maria's gymnastics teacher, although we didn't go with the group. The show started at 5:00, and we had a haircut scheduled beforehand for Sam at Cookie Cutters on Sawmill.

All was fine until mid-morning when Sam started to complain of a stomach ache. Not that unlikely, so I gave him the puke bowl and some Sprite and figured it would pass in a little while like most stomach aches do. Until an hour later when he threw up. Afterward he said he felt fine and wanted a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. He ate the entire sandwich, and although was more subdued than normal, he did do some playing and even went outside with Mason and Maria for a while. Three hours after lunch and the sandwich had stayed down. So we asked him how he felt, and he said fine, so we decided to go ahead and take him to the show. Sam is a pretty healthy kid - we think its been almost two years since he's had a stomach virus, so we really thought maybe it was just an upset stomach that had passed.

We stopped at Target on the way and picked up some things, then went to get Sam's haircut. He seemed fine, just a little quieter than normal. At the show we got concession stand food for dinner, and he didn't eat anything but drank his Sprite. During the first half he sat on the edge of his seat, clapped along to the music, and seemed to be enjoying himself. Then came intermission.

Ben took the kids to the concession stand to get popcorn. Sam picked up one piece of popcorn and threw up a little bit. Ben gave Maria the popcorn and sent her back to our seats with me, and Ben got Sam to the bathroom, but not before he got sick a few more times before they reached a toilet. Luckily, we had brought an extra change of clothes for Sam in the car, and the very nice people at the door allowed Ben to leave and come back in which is against the rules. But during the second half, Sam was miserable and Ben finally took him to the car until it was over and Maria and I joined them. Since then he is acting like a sick kid, and did make it through the night, but came to get a little while ago. So now we're on the couch, watching cartoons, at 6:00, although it feels like 7:00 with the time change. Looks like he's going to miss his first "Hoop 'n Scoops" at the Y this afternoon. Maria has auditions for "Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever" this afternoon so I really hope she stays healthy. Hopefully Sam's the only one who gets this!

By the way, the gymnastics show was pretty amazing. Well, the gymnasts were amazing. The teen band that played several songs were loud and bad, and made my head hurt. Maria really enjoyed the gymnastics though.

Maria's Report Card

Click to enlarge

Yesterday Maria received her first report card this school year (can you believe the school year is already 1/4 of the way over?). This year has been the most difficult so far - Science, Social Studies, and Math are their own courses with different teachers, and she has many more tests that require studying that she has in the past. We are especially proud of her for doing so well when the coursework is so much more difficult.

I should also mention that Sam (who only gets two report cards this year) is also doing well at school. He no longer complains about his Popcorn word book, and usually writes each word much more that the required 6 times. he is also learning more words and doing more of our reading each night. Mrs. Wilson tells us that he does well and seems to like school.

Pumpkin Carving With Sam

Trick-or-Treat

Tonight was Trick-or-Treat, and as usual, a fun time was had by all. This was the first year that no one needed a stroller or wagon - now that Lindsey is 3, she was able to walk to whole time. And before we went to Milford, we visited neighbors on either side of our house and Andy and Lisa's, where each kid got a goodie bag full of stuff (it's tough to be the only kids in the neighborhood!). Then we came home to unload, got in the van, and headed to Milford Center. The kids covered many blocks during the hour or so we were there, and saw many friends, most of whom we recognized. We also visited the elementary school, where they were having a Trick and Treat (and by the way, vote yes on our levy), and it was a little sad that next year that building will be completely gone. Lindsey got tired after a while, but after she went home Maria, Sam and Mason, kept going until the end. A special highlight was seeing a wiener dog, dressed up as a hot dog, just like our favorite book, The Hallo-wiener.

After we got home, we told the kids they could eat three pieces of candy, and after that they had baths and headed to bed, just like a regular weeknight. Tomorrow is their parties at school and Ben and Sam have Dad's Pumpkin Carving at kindergarten in the morning.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we carved the jack-o-lanterns for Trick or Treat, which is Thursday night here. The kids took a more active role than ever this year, with Maria even doing her own carving. Sam helped design his - he has had his heart set on a Frankenstein face - even chose a tall skinny pumpkin for it. Sam also started to clean out the seeds and pulp, but that didn't last long and soon it became my job. At least he didn't throw up after smelling the pumpkin guts, like he did last year, as Maria keeps reminding us.

Maria cleaned out all her guts and did the drawing and carving on her own this year. Hers is a Spongebob face, which she designed on her own too. After the carving was done, we took them outside and lit them up, and took pictures in the freezing cold (at least the rain had stopped). Sure hopes it warms up before Trick or Treat on Thursday!

Miami Homecoming

Yesterday we went to Oxford to celebrate Homecoming at Miami. Ben and I both marched with the Alumni Band, and Darrell kept the kids for us during the morning rehearsals and brought them to the game. (Thanks!) We had a good time, but it was cold, and we left the very depressing game (we lost big to Kent State) after halftime. That gave the four of us and Lisa Berkey (who came with us) to shop a little uptown before the Alumni band reception at 7:00. By the time the dinner and program was over it was 9:30. At least the kids had other kids there to play with this year. We didn't get home until 11:45. The kids slept much of the way home and went straight to bed after we got home. Today should be a lazy day so everyone can rest up before we go back to school tomorrow.

High School Musical 3

Friday night I took the kids to see High School Musical 3. Ben had his last football game (Yay! No play-offs!) and so we went without him even though he was missed. We wanted to see it in a stadium seating theatre, so the kids could see easily, which meant we had to drive to Columbus. And the weather didn't cooperate - between the pouring rain and being at rush hour, the drive to the theatre took much longer than expected. But we still got there in plenty of time, after a rushed dinner at McDonald's. Maria and I got popcorn to share (even though we forgot to put butter on it at first - a Ben job) and Sam got a pack of Sour Patch Kids candy. About 15 minutes into the movie Sam started complaining of a stomach ache (I assume from eating all that candy) and ended up watching the movie laying down on my lap. He never threw up, thank goodness, and was able to enjoy the movie more by the end.

The movie was awesome. Tons of singing and dancing, and happy ending all around. Maria loved it, and Sam liked it too even though he wasn't feeling his best. When we left the theatre, it was still pouring rain, so it was another long drive home. Sam fell asleep in the car - when we got home at 9:30 I carried him in, put his pajamas on and he went straight to bed. He usually complains about not getting a snack before bed, no matter how late we may get home, but he went right to bed without complaint. Maria was in bed by 9:45, and I wasn't up for long after that. We had an early morning on Saturday - needing to leave at 7:45 for Oxford for Miami Homecoming.

Sam's Pumpkin Farm Field Trip

This morning we were finally able to do the kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin farm. We were supposed to go two weeks ago but it had to be cancelled because of a two hour fog delay. No fog today - bright and sunny. But COLD. The temperature was 40 degrees when I got out of the car at 9:00 and had only warmed up to 44 at 10:30 when I got back in the car to come home. And the wind was blowing.

But we were prepared. I brought Sam's winter coat, and he already had hat and gloves. (Mrs. Wilson told the kids hat and gloves, so he went along with that, but did not want to wear a coat with his sweatshirt, so I brought it with me and surprised him with it. But he did wear the coat, which means he was cold.) The kids had 15 minutes in the barns with the animals and got to feed the goats. Then they had 20 minutes in the play area, where Sam ran from activity to activity. Then the hay ride, which lets out at the pumpkin patch where each child gets to pick one pie pumpkin and three gourds.

Sam was so cute - still wanting me with him all the time and pointing out his friend Trey to me. We actually spent a lot of time with Trey and his mom, who said that Trey talks about Sam at home a lot. This is the first close friend that he has made on his own that I have seen. And several girls did say "Hi" to Sam as he would walk by - the teachers had told me he's quite popular with the girls but this is the first I have witnessed it. He's very aloof with them - quick wave and he walks away. He really pretty much blew them off.

All in all, a fun trip but another reminder he won't stay young much longer - how many more field trips will he want me to not only go, but to hang out with him? I'm just trying to make the most of it now.

Sheldon the Snail Escapes Death

This afternoon I noticed that Sheldon was floating at the top of the aquarium. I've never had a snail before, but I knew that floating is usually not good. Ben poked him and he fell to the bottom, but just laid there. We decided to wait a while and check him again.

About an hour later there was still no change, so I got on the internet and researched "floating snails." I learned that some snails apparently float for periods of time, even though they are fine. Not knowing what kind of snail we have made the research a little more difficult, but since I thought he was dead, I didn't want to waste the time to see what kind of dead snail we own - dead is dead, no matter what kind he might be. And there are two things we could do to check - pick him up and sniff (I guess decaying snail has quite an odor - much like decaying anything) or push on his foot and if there is resistance that he's alive. Neither of these options sounded like much fun to us.

So we waited a while longer, and Sam and I noticed that Sheldon was climbing on a plant, and was using his foot to slither around on it. And in the last hour he is slithering all over the place again.

Sheldon lives to see another day. And I didn't have to find out what a decaying snail smells like. A good day all around.

Sam's Last Soccer Game

Last night was Sam's last soccer game of the season. Between the awesome coach, Sam's success, and the mild weather, I hated to see this season end. And I can safely say I've never felt that way about a soccer season in the two years since he started to play. He's had a great season, with a coach who focuses on ball handling, plays engaging games at the practices so the kids practice skills and don't get bored, and is very encouraging and full of praise on the field. In addition, Sam has been pretty focused during the games, and really goes after the ball. His ball handling skills have imporved greatly, and he scored at least one goal at most of the games. Gage being on his team and having friends to sit with at each game was nice also - even Maria had a friend there to play with. All in all, a great fall season of soccer.

Sam is asking to play basketball next so we are looking into that. I think the Fairbanks youth league plays on Saturday mornings so both kids may be able to play (Maria really want s to play too).

Grandma K.'s Birthday

Yesterday was COTA day - a day off for the kids but a work day for Ben and I. Rita and Darrell came to watch the kids and see Sam's last soccer game last night. Since Rita's birthday is Sunday, we celebrated when she was here yesterday. The kids wanted to make her a Build a Bear for her birthday, to celebrate her retiring from Brady Ware and starting her own business in the area of consulting and speaking to other accounting firms (see her blog here for more info.) And of course Maria and Sam have trouble going to Build a Bear and not getting anything for themselves, so they brought their allowance - Sam made "Fluffy" the Koala who has a guitar and the coolest shoes ever, and Maria made "Winter" the dog in an argyle sweater. So Thursday night the kids and I went to the mall and made three bears (2 bears and 1 dog, actually). And they were so excited when Grandma got here that they had her open it at 7:30 in the morning.

Anyway, Grandma's bear was meant to look professional (you be the judge - it wasn't easy, even with all their choices there). And we also had cake with candles, even though it was rushed with Sam having a 6:15 game. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Aquarium Update

We are 10 days into our aquarium experience, and so far, so good. Salty, Seaweed and Sheldon the Snail are all alive and well (at least as far as I can tell). The kids take turns feeding them each day, and they remember on their own. Maria is in the habit of doing it (or reminding Sam to do it) each day when they get home from school. Sheldon is the most interesting to watch - we always check to see where he is. Yesterday he was missing for about an hour, but then I saw him crawl out of Squidward's Easter Island house. If all goes well, we'll probably add some new fish in a couple of weeks. Hopefully you can see the fish in this picture - I know the other one was pretty far away. Sheldon is on the right branch of the driftwood, Seaweed in to the left of Squidward's house, and Salty to the right.

Coat...Found

This afternoon Dolly, Sam's kindergarten teacher called and said that Sam's coat has been found. If you remember, Sam's coat went missing over three weeks ago and I tried every place I could think of to check. Teachers, bus drivers, lost and found, etc. So I finally ordered him a new coat (did I mention that the lost coat was BRAND NEW?) after over a week of looking and checking with everyone numerous times. The new coat - similar in style but different color, arrived Friday.

Sam has worn the new coat three times - Saturday night at a cook out, and to school yesterday and today. So I probably can't send it back.

So now he has two coats. The new one is a size bigger so hopefully he can wear it in the spring too. I was afraid this would happen.

So where was the coat? In Mrs S.'s room - the other kindergarten teacher. Carol the bus driver found it on her bus that takes the kids to and from the church for Kinder paws. Carol thought it belonged to a student in Mrs S.'s class and so she took it there. And it sat there for three weeks until Dolly spotted it today. Not sure why it was never taken to Lost and Found, but then again everyone isn't as obsessive/compulsive about student's crap in their rooms as I am. Honestly, I can't wait until this new building is done and Sam stays in the same place all day - its impossible to keep track of him (and his stuff). Thanks goodness I like and trust the adults he spends all day with, otherwise his crazy schedule would be difficult to handle.

Pumpkin Farm Visit and Other Weekend Stuff

This afternoon we visited Leeds Pumpkin Farm, which is about 10 minutes outside Marysville. We go every year, a Keller family tradition. Today, there were at least twice as many people there as we have ever seen. And it was pretty hot in the sun. Because of the crowd, we had to wait to do everything - the big slide, the tubes to walk in, and the new jumping pumpkin they had. It was like an amusement park. The kids had fun, but wanted to leave after doing three things, which still took an hour with the waiting. We didn't even get to see the farm animals, but Sam and I will be back in a couple of weeks for his re-scheduled kindergarten field trip. We got our kettle corn and pumpkins and left - we were hot and thirsty. Next year, we are going to have to plan this better - maybe not go on such a nice day!

We also got some stuff done around the house today - much of which has been neglected since we've been so busy and Ben has been working so much. Ben cleaned out the garage, and I organized Sam's dresser and closet - adding some of Mason's clothes and bagging up a lot that didn't fit. I still have to do my closet and Maria's (which I need her input on), and couldn't put all the summer clothes away quite yet, but I do feel like I accomplished a lot. I'm hoping to get the rest of the closets done by the end of next weekend. Of course then I have to do the coat closet, and bug Ben to do his...it really is never-ending. I've resigned myself to the fact that the entire house will never all be organized at the same time!

Yesterday, Sam had a great soccer game - scored two goals and was focused almost the entire game. Maybe Grandpa K. coming to watch inspired him. After soccer, Darrell and Ben took Sam golfing - I think he lasted through 7 holes, after which I picked him up so they could finish 18. Maria chose to play with Mason and Lindsey rather than golf. Then after dinner we spent time at the superintendent's camp-out at the school (a vote-for-our-levy activity and Ben in charge is in charge of the committee). We took Mason with us so the kids had someone to play with - they enjoyed Hide and Seek in the dark. Then we ended the evening with some family Wii bowling.

Friday night I took the kids to the Miami/OSU ice hockey game at OSU. We met Doug and Mike there and their families. Miami should have crushed OSU - our hockey team was rated 8th in the nation. But it ended in a 3-3 tie. We left before overtime - it ended up going to a shoot-out where OSU finally won. Maria loved it and enjoyed learning about the game. Sam liked the first period and wanted to go home after that, but he made it through to the end of the game - staying for overtime was out of the question. But I'm glad we went - I just wish Ben had been able to join us!

Fish!

Tonight we bought fish for the aquarium. Two guppies (each kid picked one) and one snail. Maria named her guppy "Seaweed," Sam named his "Salty," and they agreed to call the snail "Sheldon." Time will tell how it goes, but we do have a 14 day warranty on each of them. Maria and Sam like to watch the tank - Sheldon is amazingly active for a snail.

Maria News

Maria finally lost her tooth today. It has been hanging by a thread for a while now, and it finally fell out in Science class today. Mrs. Hall gave her a little tooth box to put it in and it hangs around her neck. She left it out for the tooth fairy tonight.

Tonight was also Parent Observation night at ballet and gymnastics. This is her fifth year of ballet, her second of gymnastics. She has Miss Patty in ballet this year, after four years of Miss Krista, Patty's daughter. And this year seems much tougher to me. They spent a lot of time working their muscles, holding positions and perfecting different poses. My muscles were tired just watching her. But she did well and I was proud of her.

Then we moved to Gymnastics. There are only 3 girls in her class, only two were there tonight. So Maria gets tons of individual attention, and is working on all kinds of new stuff, none of which I remember the names of. Back and front walkovers, etc. She can do a cartwheel on the balance beam, which is pretty impressive. I think her skills have improved so much since the last time I watched her in the spring. Both teachers told me that Maria is doing well. Miss Christina (gymnastics) was appreciative of how coachable Maria is - how well she follows directions and takes criticism and works hard to improve.

Tomorrow evening we go get fish for our tank. We have sucessfully kept the thermometer in the green zone and have some idea of how long we need to run the lights each day to keep it there. We are trying to prepare the kids for the possibility of fish death, especially in the beginning. Look for updates tomorrow night - I will try to post fish pictures tomorrow.

Sam's Version of Things

Yesterday we sent Sam to school with his purple bruised eye from his fall on Saturday night. The eye looks worse with each passing day, even though it is healing, the bruise spreads more and more each day - now his eye lid is purple too.

So even though everyone is the school district knows us, and I've been friends with his kindergarten teacher for over 10 years, I was still a little uneasy about sending him to school with a black eye. But I knew that Dolly had a new student coming, one in a wheelchair with a feeding tube, so she had enough to worry about. I decided not to e-mail her about his eye - that Sam could tell her what happened.

Monday after school I asked Sam if anyone had asked him about his eye.

Sam: Mrs. Wilson did.
Me: What did you tell her?
Pause
Sam: I just don't remember.
Me: Did you tell her you fell into the table?
Sam Fell into the table?
And then he laughed like that was the craziest thing he had ever heard.

So this morning I e-mailed Dolly to tell her what had really happened, since I was a little scared about Sam not remembering what he may have said. She said that Sam told her and the class that he was "wrestling with my Dad and I hit myself in the eye." Which is interesting, since Ben wasn't even home when it happened.

But at least we haven't heard from Children's Services. Yet.

Weekend Update

Random Updates from our Weekend:

*Ben's last Saturday band contest was yesterday. The kids and I went to see them perform, then had dinner at Boston Market - one of our favorites (where else can Sam get a Mac and Cheese kids meal, with a side of Mac and Cheese, and substitute the cornbread with more Mac and Cheese?). Although he did tell me he thought he might throw up when he was done eating. But he didn't, thank goodness. I thought the band looked pretty good - was able to get the best view of the drill I've seen yet this year. But they were disappointed with a 3rd place of three in their class. Ben is just ready to be done with the season. He doesn't have to work on a Saturday again until a January basketball game. Yay!

*Sam has a bit of a black eye. Last night, about 15 minutes before time for pajamas, when the kids usually go crazy, Maria was chasing Sam around the family room. He slipped and fell, hitting his face on the round end table (thank goodness it was round!) The first thing I heard was Maria saying "Oh my gosh Sam I'm so sorry" over and over again so I knew it was bad. This was followed by both kids bawling. Maria was able to get us ice before retreating to her bedroom where she continued to cry. Sam had a bump and bruise on the right side of his face, under and to the right of his eye. I was able to keep ice on it for almost 15 minutes, and I could tell the ice was helping the swelling. As soon as possible, I went to retrieve Maria out of her room, who felt so badly that she had caused Sam to get hurt. Eventually we all sat down and watched iCarly together, me holding ice on Sam's face. He started to talk and laugh, so I assumed there were no broken bones in his face or that would hurt it too much to laugh. A phone call to Ben helped to calm me as well.

Today the bruise has moved under his eye and it looks like he got punched in the face. It's not as dark as I had feared, however, and looks much better than when I put him to bed last night. And the good thing about his concussion last year - I know immediately when he doesn't have one, and last night I knew there were no signs of that, at least. And Maria and Sam had a sleepover in her room last night, where I heard them talking and giggling for quite a while, so all was forgiven between them.

*We finally went to Jack's Aquarium this afternoon and bought an aquarium and all the stuff for it. We ahev been promising the kids since May that we would get one. We have a 14 gallon tank and made it freshwater - were a little scared on saltwater maintenance. Plus the saltwater fish are more expensive which may be a problem if a lot of fish die. Each kid picked one thing for the tank - Sam picked an Easter Island head (Squidward's house) and Maria picked a piece of driftwood. Ben got it all set up and we can get fish for it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Ben also moved some furniture around in the front room to make room for the fish tank and the treadmill that I will be getting for my birthday next month.

Guess that's all the news here. Getting ready for another busy week.