Football Boys

Last Thursday we had Bob's Offensive Line over to the house to eat. There were 12 boys who came. Between them and my kids, they managed to eat 32 hamburgers, 24 brauts, four bags of chips and 24 brownies!!!

The boys got a football out and played catch in the back yard. Frank and Libby were right in the middle of them. One of the boys was particularly kind to them and would throw the ball gently to Libby. After they left we were talking about the evening and Bob asked Libby which of the boys she liked best. She named the one who'd thrown her the ball. I told Bob that she just liked him because he was kind to her....and Libby pipes up "No, I liked him because he was PRETTY." Oh, they are too young to be starting this!!!

Girls Night Out

The girls went to go see High School Musical On Ice this weekend. We got dressed up, put glitter on our faces (even me) and had a great time. The show was good, but I actually got a bigger kick out of watching Carlie watch the show. She danced and she sang all the songs.

At one point basketballs fell down from the top of the building down to the skaters below. The girls thought that was the best part. At another part in the show Troy pulled his shirt off (and he was FINE). Granny and I liked that part the best!!!!

Teetered or Tottered? I'm not sure.

Frank and Libby have a set of Teeter-Totters on their playground. A few days ago, Bob got a call at the school because Libby had a goose-egg on her forehead.

These kinds of crazy accidents can only happen to Libby, who is extremely accident prone. She was on the teeter-totter up in the air and somehow was jarred while she was up in the air. Her friend Kaseyl was on the other end. She somehow pitched forward and swung around so that she was upside down on the teeter-totter holding on to it with her arms and legs wrapped around it to keep from falling. She said to her friend Kaseyl "Don't get off!!!!" But Kaseyl panicked. When she jumped off, the board came crashing down sending Libby to the ground on her back, and the board came down on top of her and thumped her in the forehead.

Yesterday a little boy was thrown from the teeter-totters and it knocked him out. They had to call the ambulance for him.

I was brave....well, kind of.

We had to pull Madi's loose tooth this week. Ohhhhh the drama. This was her third tooth. She pulled the first two herself.

She wanted to lay down on the kitchen cabinet, and then told me that I was to use Granny's trick where I got a kleenex and dried the tooth off and it just magically came out.

We tried that, only it didn't magically come out the first time. Then she saw BLOOD on the kleenex. You can't imagine the bawling and squalling. She was instructing me on precisely how to hold the kleenex for my second attempt. Then I had to procure a coffee cup to sit next to her so that she'd have something to place the tooth in after it was pulled. Then I had to have a cup of ice water sitting next to her so she'd have something to drink afterwards.

Finally, I went and got one of those Triaminic things that melts on your tongue. Those things are pure unadulterated magic. They cure all kinds of hurts and woes. So I put one of those on her tongue and told her that would take away the pain. And magically it worked...seconds after dissolving it on her tongue the tooth wasn't hurting any more and I was able to pull it out.

She wanted to put the tooth in an envelope and write a letter to the tooth fairy. This is what she had me write "Dear Tooth Fairy. I love everyone in this town. I love you too. I was brave....well, kind of. Love, Madi."

She got four quarters from the tooth fairy, and she took the money to school with her today to show her teacher.

A Little Bit of Nervous and A Whole Ton of Happy.

Kindergarten has a program where if the student reads 8 books in a month, they get a certificate for a free Happy Meal. Carlie read her books quickly, and we turned in her paper the other day.

She got to go up in front of her entire school and get her Certificate and paper for a free Happy Meal. She was SO excited. She said she was the only Kindergartener up there. I asked her if it was fun getting her award and she said "Well, it was a little bit of nervous and a WHOOOOOOLE ton of Happy!!!"

On the way home from McDonalds, I bet she said 15 times "My Happy Meal was FREE. You didn't have to pay for mine, but you had to pay for Madi."

She has been taking her AR tests at the end of 1st grade level and has been getting 100s on every one of them.

First Football Game

Both Bob and Frank won their first football games. Frank's game was 24-0. We stood out in the rain to watch him.

This picture takes my breath away. He looks like he's 16 instead of 10. He really loves football.

My kids are Multi-lingual

Madi has a really neat 1st grade teacher this year. They are learning all kinds of neat things, and its so much fun she doesn't even realize she's learning.

They have been studying China for the last two weeks. She came home and told me all about the Great Wall of China, and the Huns invasion of China.

Last night she informed me that she knows how to count to 10 in Chinese, and she starts rattling it off. Then Libby chimes in "Well I know how to count to ten in Spanish!! Uno, Dose, Trace...." Then Carlie says "Well so what, "I" know how to count to ten in ENGLISH!!! One, two...."

A few minutes later, Madi says "Did you know that if we lived in China, that Frank would be your only child???"

It tickles me that she's learning so much.

Carlie's Art

This is from her book of colors done in Kindergarten.

Pinkitis

Madi told me this morning that they had a case of Pinkitis in her class. All I could think of was a little girl wearing tons and tons of pink. Then Madi pulls down her lower eyelids and says "You know pinkitis...where your eyes turn pink"

Ohhhh....pink eye or conjunctivitis. LOL.

Madi's Progress Report

Madi is helpful and well behaved in the classroom. She's improved in not taking so long to socialize on bathroom breaks. Let's work on remembering to keep quiet in line and the hallway.

If the hat fits....then wear it.

I guess that Libby is descending into those tween years of angst that most girls experience before they hit puberty. She couldn't seem to get along with anybody this morning. She didn't know that I was watching from around the corner. Frank came up to the couch and asked her to move over so he could sit down. Instead of moving over as he asked, she just spread out more. So he promptly sat on her. That made her absolutely furious so she started slapping him as hard as she could. She knows he's not allowed to hit her back. She tried to tell me that she didn't do anything, Frank just came over and jumped on her.

Libby says that she's not ever, ever going to have sex....because if you have sex then you get pregnant. And babies come out your who-ha, so she's not ever, EVER doing that. Good!!!

Frank heard her saying that the other day and goes "Oh, I bet you'll change your mind." I don't know if he meant about the babies or the sex. LOL.

Carlie in Kindergarten

Well starting Carlie in Kindergarten has been interesting, to say the least. They earn stars in her class for good behavior. They can get three a day if they don't get into any trouble. Most days Carlie has been getting 1 out of 3 stars. The first week she said repeatedly that she missed her Mommy. The third day of school she had a complete melt down at bed time. She had gone to bed as usual, but I heard her in there crying so pitifully....I could tell they weren't mad or fake tears. I went in to see what was wrong with her. She was crying because she'd taken her fuzzy purple blanket to school for rest time, and she was missing it.

I told her "Carlie, you'll get to see it tomorrow when you go back to school." And she wailed "But I want it NOW. And it's there, and I'm HERE!!" I knew it wasn't about the blanket, because that wasn't even one of her favorite blankets.

I got in bed with her and cuddled up and we talked. I asked her if she got in trouble at school that day and she said No. But after we talked a while she said "When you throw fits at school, they make you sit out in the hall." I asked her why she threw a fit, and she said she was missing me. She also said that she was upset because I was not there when school got out each day. I told her that it wasn't really any different than last year, because even though she was at our house, I still didn't get to see her until my work was over. And she wailed again "But your work is so far Away...and you are there and I am HERE." I finally got her settled down and she went to sleep.

Then next day she didn't get ANY stars, and I asked her why. She said "Well I was arguing with the teacher. She wanted to tell me how to write my e, and I told her that I didn't want any help writing my e!!!" My Mom and Dad thought that was SO funny for some reason. Hmmmmmm. They said something about "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree???"

So now a couple of weeks have gone by, and Carlie is getting more of her stars. But she hadn't read to the teacher yet at all. So I emailed her teacher yesterday and asked if she could be given some opportunities to read on her level. They are going to set up some activities so that Carlie gets about 30 minutes a day of reading, but still gets to do all the fun things with her class. So they gave Carlie a Star computerized reading test to find out her reading level yesterday. The teacher said she didn't think they got an accurate reading level though because when she went to check on Carlie she was just randomly punching buttons. When the teacher talked to her about trying harder, she did better. So they are going to test her some other ways.

But when I got home that night, I had an interesting talk with Carlie. Carlie said "You emailed my teacher, and because of that I had to stay after class and take a computer test. And I didn't like it!!!" I asked her how she knew that I emailed her teacher and she said "Because Mrs Smith told me you did." She told me that she didn't do very good on the test because she doesn't want to do special reading stuff, she wants to do what everyone else does. So I have a kindergartener who deliberately didn't try hard on a test because she wants to be like everyone else!!!! How do you deal with THAT one???

August Quotes

Every family has a kid who won’t eat. My kid brother had not eaten voluntarily in over three years. - A Christmas Story
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There was a time in my young life that I thought I'd never have children I could keep, and I prayed and prayed to become a mother. Then kids suddenly started coming out of the wood work. And so I began praying "Okay Lord, that's enough!!!" And still they seem to keep finding me!!! - Julie Pool
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Our love isn't the warm and fuzzy kind of love, Its the rough and hairy kind of love - Bob Pool speaking about adopting children out of the Foster Care System
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Kids are like monkeys...what they don't break, they crap on - Bob Pool
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Better Than Breakfast In Bed

I like to sleep in on the weekends, but I try not to be nutty about it. Madi woke me up fairly early on Saturday morning. I was JUST about to snap at her for waking me up so early when she whips out an envelope from behind her back. I open it up and there is a pretty picture inside. She told me "It says To: Mom Fum: Madi. I sounded it out myself Fum F-U-M Fum." Made my morning :0)

Hot Mamma!!!

I was taking Frank to football practice the other day, and Frank said "The other day, Blake said 'Your mom is HOT!!'" Made my day. I had to work really hard to get my inflated ego through the front door when I got home.

P.S. I think it might have something to do with the sports car I drive!

So what does Diabolical mean?

Carlie came home from school yesterday and asked Lena "What does Diabolical mean?" Lena didn't know. So when I got home Carlie asked me. I told it meant some who's really evil...like a villan.

So at bedtime, the two girls got into a tussel. I can hear them in the other room fighting, and I hear Carlie yell at Madi "You're DIABOLICAL, Madi!!!!" LOL. Big words for a 5 year old.

Animal Lover

Madolyn has always been crazy about animals and most animals seem to know it. My parent's little dog Cooper absolutely LOVES Madi. They are two peas in a pod.

Well Madi came home from her first day of school and told me. "Mom, did you know that you are Da Urinal?" Since this came out of the blue, I couldn't figure out what on earth she was talking about. She goes "You know....Hamsters are Noctural because they sleep during the day and are awake at night. And Humans are Da Urinal."

And I go "Ohhhhh....Diurnal!!"

Lunch Notes

It's been Libby's job this school year to pack everyone's lunch for school/work the next day. We've all been taking our lunch including Bob and I. Today I found the note above from Libby in mine. It made my day!!!!

What it takes to get a smart kid to eat dinner

Every family has a kid who won’t eat. My kid brother had not eaten voluntarily in over three years. - A Christmas Story

Carlie is our child who won't eat at the dinner table. Last night, she was refusing to eat as always....the meat tasted yucky, the corn had juice in it, etc, etc.

So Libby says "Mom, can I only eat 95% of my food and still get dessert?" And I see the lights go off in Carlie's head. She wants to know what percentage of food is remaining on HER plate, and I say "Oh, about 90% of it." So she wolfs down the rest of her Mac and Cheese and wants to know what percent is left. I tell her that about 75% is still left. At this point she stops a minute to negotiate with me. She says "If I eat 80% of my food, can I have dessert?" So I tell her that 80% will work. So she continues to take a bite of this and a bite of that asking me after each bite what percent is remaining. Whew!!! I actually got most of a meal down her. Thanks, Libby!!!

Mean Girls

I HATE the whole Mean Girls thing, and I am constantly telling my three daughters that they need to be kind to people...in particular those who are different, new to the school or don't have any friends.

After their second day of school last week, Madi climbed up in my lap and we were talking. I told her, “If you see kids in your class that don’t have anyone to play with them or be their friend, I want you to go make friends with them.” She looked at me like I was crazy and said “Moooooommm." I thought uh oh.

But she followed it up with "I’m already friends with EVERYBODY in the 1st grade!!!” LOL. It was the second day of class. My little social butterfly.