Tears on the Bus

I haven't blogged much this week - mostly because nothing that interesting has really happened. But here are a few events of the last few days:

Our exhaust fan in our bathroom finally quit for good. The good news - Ben was able to replace it himself for $25. Bad news - this fan is SO LOUD. Can't hear the radio over it without waking the entire house (I like to listen to radio while in shower - especially for weather and possible school delays). But to get anything better we would have to enlarge the hole in the ceiling - not worth it.

The Letter Bag still causes stress in my life. Today's letter: N. Last night Ben put a rolled up newspaper and put it in the bag (I'd like to see you come up with anything better!) Anyway, right before it was time to leave this morning, Sam wants to change it to "nickel." Fine with me. I was so afraid he was going to figure out Nintendo started with N and then who knows if that would make it home from school, or Sam would want to play it at school - it could be a real hassle. And I did not want a hassle this morning - Ben is in Cincinnati at the Music Educators Conference, there was an inch of snow on the ground and we had to drive through the country to get to Ms. Jenny's, where Sam doesn't really like to go anyway. I just wanted to get everyone where they needed to be on time and without tears. So he put a nickel in his Letter Bag and off we went.

The tears appeared when he got off the bus at the high school. Apparently he had been playing with the nickel on the bus, it fell and rolled away. I thought there was more to it - was he throwing it, did he get in trouble, etc. No, the nickel just rolled away and he couldn't get it and I guess he thought maybe it was the last nickel in the world. So I carried him to my classroom, found not one but TWO nickels in my desk drawer, and finally snapped him out of it. Only to look up and see Maria with tears in her eyes. I guess all this crying made her remember her traumatic day, involving some kind of trade with a friend with their treasure box goodies only to have the friend take back the trade after recess. So I suggested we go to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream to make everyone feel better (I know it would make me feel better!). Ice cream right after school when we usually go straight home? I thought this was a no-brainer. But they wanted to come right home. And after a snack and some Food Network (Maria) and Guitar Hero (Sam) all was well again.

Right now Maria is at a party - her first party boy/girl party, although it is completely innocent with the Mom organizing all the activities. Its a travel theme - the invitation was a passport that they had to take tonight and gets stamped at each "stop" they make. I'm curious to hear what she tells me about the party when she returns. I thought Sam would be upset that she's going to a party and he and I are stuck here on Friday night, but right now he's content playing Guitar hero.

Speaking of Guitar Hero, I am now the only person in this house who still gets booed off the stage on every Medium song I try. But in my defense, I don't play as much as everyone else. Maria has improved quite a bit, but Sam is amazing. His hand-eye coordination for 5 years old is remarkable. I'm not sure if this skill is valuable for anything but video games, but it is impressive to watch him play.

This weekend is fairly busy with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa K. tomorrow and Ben's LAST basketball game of the season. Yay!