1st Communion Banner

Now that the RS yearbook is done, the next important project we need to get done is Alison's 1st communion banner. We are 1 month away and we have barely started it. Kris was having trouble tracing and cutting out the shapes for the banner so I told her that I would take care of it for her. Well so far I haven't done it yet. Hopefully I can get them all done in the next couple of days so that we can start sewing them on.

Sleepover

I completely forgot... Alison had a friend sleep over last Friday night. Her friend Paige came over after Ali got home from her swim lessons. The first thing they wanted to do was to give each other makeovers. Paige has a sister who is in 7th (maybe 8th) grade, and Paige came to Ali's birthday party a couple of years ago at Libby Lu and still had some make up from it that she brought. They went downstairs and used sparkly power on their faces, eye shadow, and lip gloss. Here is what they looked like afterward:


I went to work early the next morning, but I tried to stay up late in case they needed anything, but I only made it until about 10:30 or so. The girls came up and took a bunch of DVDs downstairs to watch and I found out that Sarah and Alison made it until around 11:00 and Paige was up until midnight. Did I mention that Ali asked Sarah to sleep downstairs with them?

In the morning they painted pictures, and some were still wet when we took Paige home after lunch. We had to bring them to school for her on Monday. Ali had a lot of fun actually having a friend over.

Spring Concert

Last Thursday night was Alison’s last Spring Concert at Riverside. Her class sang (2) songs alone as well as the introduction song and the one that ended the program.

Ali had to be there 15 mins. Ahead of time but as always we got there about 45 mins before the concert started so we could get a good seat. Actually we were got to Riverside about 40 mins. Before the start and we were by far not the first people there. In fact, we ended up sitting in the 4th or 5th row back. At least we were on the aisle so that we could have a clear view of Ali.


While there are going to be some things we will miss about Riverside, there will also be some things we won’t miss. Most notably some of the parents that come to the programs that are just plain rude. I won’t go into much more detail, since I don’t want to get in trouble with anyone. But I will say that unfortunately, there are certain elements of Riverside which I wish we were leaving behind that will end up following us over to Shady Lane, and I’ll just leave it at that.

Finished the Yearbook

I finally finished the Riverside yearbook. The due date was 3/29, but I sent it on the 29th. I have to say it isn't the best of the (4) I have done for Riverside, but it is OK for a grade school book. Hopefully everyone will like it. The pool of photos wasn't as large as it has been in past years, which was part of the problem this year, but eh... it is what it is.

Stupid Window

About 8 years ago we replaced all the windows in our house. Because of the number of windows and the cost, we went with an off brand from Home Depot. We have had no problems with them at all until about a month or two ago. The window in our upstairs bathroom broke. Instead of having compression springs as I would be accustomed to on an old double sash, these have coiled springs. And I think because of the fact that the window is opened every single day, a result of not having an exhaust fan in there to help get rid of the moisture from showers (my next improvement project) the springs broke. First on one side, then the other. Now because of where the springs are, the window will only open a few inches, and I have to prop something under it to keep it open.

So a couple of weeks ago we went to home depot and I got the number for the window company to see if this was something I could fix myself or if I needed to get a service person out here. They told me that it was something they could send me the spare part for and I could take care of replacing it myself. So the parts got here last week, but I didn’t have time to switch them out until last Saturday. Well when I finally got around to doing it when I got home from work Saturday I discovered that they neglected to send me the instruction sheet for how to go about replacing the balances. I picked up the phone to call them (11:00 Saturday morning) and oh... So sorry. Their normal business hours are Monday thru Friday, blah, blah, blah....

So then I thought, hey I should be able to figure this out. It looks like a pretty simple fix. Well I was wrong. I started loosening screws, and sliding things around. After about an hour I finally gave up on it. What a drag! Now I have to wait at least another week before trying to fix it again. I’ll have to call the company this week and try to see if this is something they can just send me, or if I can maybe download it from a website someplace. At any rate, I have to wait longer before fixing my window!

Lunch with Alison

Every year Riverside will have a week where parents can come and eat lunch with their kid(s). This week was the week allocated for it, so on Tuesday Kris and I showed up for foot long hot dogs with Alison. It is always enjoyable going because Alison is so happy to see us whenever we show up.

Ali got to pick two friends to sit with her (and us) and chose one girl that used to live down the street from us. I feel bad for her because she is very quiet, and I say used to live down the street from us because Alison told us her parents got divorced this year. But I tried to at least talk to her and she seemed very happy to have someone to talk to. I get the feeling she doesn’t have many friends, so I was at least proud of Alison for including her.

After lunch we went down the hall and let Ali pick out some books from the book fair. That saved us from sending money to school with Alison. She picked out a bunch of books and even bought one for Sarah.

Dentist Appointment

I had my regular appointment at the dentist Wednesday, and unfortunately, I ended up having to get a cavity filled. It wasn’t unexpected though. At my last check up I was told I had the start of a small cavity but it wasn’t a big deal and they would just take care of filling it at my next appointment.

Well at this appointment, when I was asked about whether I was having any problems I told the hygienist that I was having periodic discomfort with one tooth when I was flossing. After she looked, it just happened to be the one that they had identified previously as having a cavity. It was an area where I had an old filling that had just worn away and had a small crack start from the edge of the old filling and then it just propagated from there. Luckily for me it didn’t go very deep. And was easy for him to drill out.

So when my regular cleaning was done the dentist got me set up to drill out the cavity and fill the tooth. That guy is an artiste! From the shot to numb my mouth to the drilling to the filling with composite, it took about 10 minutes, didn’t hurt a bit, and my mouth didn’t hurt even when the shot wore off. Nice!

Dance Class

Tuesday night we were planning on attending Alison’s last dance class for the semester. But once we got there we found out that next week is going to be her last class. Apparently because of a snow day earlier in the year, they added an extra day. The funny part is that I don’t remember having a class canceled. Oh well, we’ll just have to wait another week before posting pictures of Ali dancing.

Cheer Showcase

For the last three of four weeks, Sarah has been having a cheer practice once a week. It all culminated Monday night in their annual cheer showcase. It is basically a show that the cheerleaders put on for the parents (and friends I guess) that shows off their talents, and pretty much springboards them into the next year. Registration for cheer is next month, and sizing for uniforms in May (I think... Thankfully Kris knows the dates).

Sarah got moved from her regular spot during their routine and she was worried she wouldn’t have the moves memorized in time. Luckily she was wrong. She did a very good job. Next year, she can be a cheerleader year ‘round, not just for football. She can cheer for boys and girls basketball games as well. Now while I think she would be a very good cheerleader, mainly because she is loud, which is a pretty good quality to have if you’re a cheerleader.

However, I think she is hesitant to become a cheerleader through the Junior High because she can’t do the flips and other stunts that they start requiring you to do. Her babysitters from last summer are cheerleaders at the high school (triplets) and one of them is a varsity cheerleader as a sophomore. From what I was told by Kris, the girls didn’t get into cheering until 6th grade, so there is nothing that says you can’t learn it. This summer Kris and I were going to have Sarah babysit Alison rather than hire the triplets again, but now we are thinking that maybe if they want to earn a little extra money, we could hire them to give Sarah some lessons for cheering, helping her with her stunting. When we brought up the idea to Sarah, she whined about it, and basically said she didn’t want to do cheer next year, but I wonder how true that really is. I am going to keep after her to at least give it a try. It can’t hurt and who knows, once she gets the stuff down, she may like it.

Mystery Reader

Every year Alison’s teacher, Mrs. Weber, does a “mystery reader” on Fridays during the year. Someone comes in on Fridays and reads a story, or stories, to the kids. The thing is the mystery reader gives (5) clues for the class to try and guess who is going to read to them. Granted, how is my child supposed to know what someone else’s parent might have given as a clue, but it is fun for them. Well I was the mystery reader this week. Unfortunately, Ali told me after she got home Friday that one of the other kids in her class saw Mrs. Weber’s list of clues with my name on it and told Ali that I was going to be the mystery reader for the week. Ali said she thought that it might have been me anyway, especially when I gave the clue that my favorite Dr. Suess story is The Lorax. In fact, that is the story that I read the class. Then I still had about 10 mins. To kill so I brought another book, The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson.

It was a fun day and Ali was so happy to have me there to read to them. Apparently so were a bunch of the other kids because I got hugs from (4) other kids in her class.

St. Patricks Day ‘10

When I got home from work today, Kris told me that when Ali woke up this morning she said that she was sad. When Kris asked why, Alison told her it was because this was the day that Punken died. It sure doesn’t seem like two years have gone by since he died. But it is sad that from now on (at least in the near term) Ali will relate St. Patrick’s Day with the day that her cat died.

Cookie Shop

Since it is GS cookie time, Alison had to go to do a cookie shop on Sunday. It was scheduled form 10:00 - 1:00 and the girls were supposed to volunteer for at least a 1 hour block. Ali had Sunday school that day from 9:30-11:30, so we took the last hour block. Sarah needed to get a new pair of shoes so I told Kris to take her to go look and I would go with Alison to her shop.


Normally I wouldn’t mind doing a cookie shop with her, but for some reason I wasn’t thrilled about it this year. Maybe it was doing it at Pick -n- Save, maybe it was because it was Sunday, who knows? But I was less than enthused. Plus, by the time we got there all the good cookies were gone, the mints and the caramel delights. Unfortunately, those are the ones that most people want.


They did sell somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 boxes while we were there, and I thought I heard they sold in the 40 box range over all. So anyone who needs peanut butter, or lemonade GS cookies, feel free to let us know, we still have extras.

Alice in Wonderland

We didn’t have anything to do Saturday afternoon, so we decided to take the girls to go see the new Tim Burton movie, Alice in Wonderland. On a scale of 1-5, I’d give it a 3.5. It wasn’t a great movie, but it was enjoyable.

First I loved the idea for the movie, Alice goes back to Wonderland years later and Tim Burton’s unique style really separates this movie. I was very fuzzy though on the whole Anne Hathaway-Helena Bonham Carter relationship. Two sisters fighting over control of Wonderland? Very boring. And the initial reviews I read said that Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of the Queen of Hearts was the highlight of the movie. I didn’t see it. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t think it was particularly outstanding. And overall the message of the movie, the thing that Alice discovers in the end, is that she is her own person and that she doesn’t need to do what is expected of her just to please those around her. Sort of cliche in my opinion. Johnny Depp’s portrayal of the mad Hatter was a little confusing as well. Pick and accent and stick with it please, Johnny. It was also sort of hard to figure out his conflict. Does he want a relationship with Alice? Is he devoted to the white queen? Is there a conflict he has between the two of them?

Visually the movie was great, but the story itself nothing great. A little better than an average movie and the 3D was good. But do yourself a favor and go to the matinee and save yourself the extra couple of bucks.

Riverside Yearbook

For the past (4) years I have compiled and laid out the Riverside ES yearbook. It is nothing more than a softcover book of photos of the kids from the year, and there isn’t a lot of variety. Just a few photos gathered from throughout the year, some special events, etc. Well this year because of work, and the lack of photos, I am having a hard time putting it together. Since this is Ali’s last year, I wanted it to be a good one for her. But the parent who provided me with half of the photos for last year’s book isn’t here this year, so my “pool of pictures” to choose from is not quite as large. Add to that the book is due at the printer in (2) weeks and with how busy I am at work and all the stuff I do with the girls every night (reading, checking homework, driving the girls around to their various activities, etc.) and things are getting pretty tense. I am hoping that I can get it in on time but this year’s book is proving to be a difficult project to fit in. The only good thing is that next year at Shady Lane I will most likely not have to do it. When we were there on the first we saw a list of PTA committees and someone was already listed for the yearbook, and I am definitely not going to volunteer for that. I have discovered that once you volunteer for something with PTA, you get stuck with it for life - or until you no longer have kids at the school.

Good News

Kris got a message today from Alison’s teacher. Someone located Ali’s Brownie vest. What a relief! It was apparently stuffed between a bookcase and a file cabinet. How it ended up there, I have no idea. Well, let me amend that, I have an idea, but no proof. My guess is that someone in her class decided to “play a trick” on her and take it and then when Mrs. Weber announced to the class in the morning that Ali’s vest disappeared, they realized that they might get in trouble for it. Then it just amazingly appeared in a place that only someone could have put it. I mean, really... How would it have ended up misplaced between a bookcase and a file cabinet? But at least we have it back now. Kris is going to just be bringing Ali’s vest to meetings from now on. Plus, Ali has a cookie shop this weekend and she is supposed to wear it so it is a good thing that we found it so quickly.

Teacher Conferences

Thursday was the day of Ali’s teacher conference. We really didn’t need to meet with Mrs. Weber but we just wanted to check up on her progress, mainly with her speech. What we did find out was that she is reading at the highest level in her class. What was funny too was that when they did their testing in the fall, Mrs. Weber asked the students to set goals for themselves; obviously not anything outrageous, but just so they had something to work toward. We saw Ali’s scores from the fall and what she what she set her goal at for the spring. She ended up hitting her goal for the spring in reading right on the nose, and she surpassed her goal in math by 5 points (again she is in the highest percentile).

Her speech teacher also said Ali is a joy to work with. She is doing very well with her progress on her sounds and is very energetic and eager to get things right. She wishes that all her students could be as good as Alison. Hopefully we’ll get the same type of teaching when she goes to Shady Lane next year.

On the same note, Ali’s teacher said that she looked thru her room looking for Ali’s vest and couldn’‘t find it. We asked the school secretary and the principal to pass the word along to the other teachers to be on the lookout for it. The secretary actually gave us the keys for the computer lab and said we were free to go look around in the event that Alison took her vest with her to the lab and just forgot it there (this is the kind of familiarity that we’ll be missing next year at Shady Lane). We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Best Reader

As I was reading to Ali tonight, or rather just before we started reading, Ali told me that she is the best reader in her class. I don’t know if that is exactly true, but I do know that she is reading the highest level of books in her room. We’ll find out exactly where she is tomorrow when we have a conference with her teacher. She still doesn’t like being corrected when she might pronounce a word wrong, or not know a word, but I think that is pretty much to be expected. No one likes being told they are wrong. Kris and I are really proud of how well Ali is doing. She used to be so worried about competing with Sarah, and she has really evolved into her own

Ali’s Brownie Vest

Wednesday when Kris and the girls got home from Ali’s Brownie meeting, Ali was pouting, and I asked what was wrong. Kris says “Do you want to tell daddy?” I knew that something bad was coming. Apparently Ali lost her Brownie vest. How that happened I’ll never figure out. The last class of the day was computer lab, and when she left her classroom her vest was on the back of her chair in her classroom. When she got back from computer lab, the vest was gone. She says she knows she didn’t take it with her, and no one was in her classroom (or supposed to be) while they were in computer lab. So what happened to it is a mystery.

It isn’t so much that the vest is lost, but I wonder why she wasn’t wearing her vest in the first place. If she wears her vest to school, I think she should keep it on, not take it off until the end of the day. If that were the case, I would rather she just keep it stuffed in her backpack until the end of the day, or have Kris bring it with to their meetings. Plus, there were so many patches and badges that were special, one-time, things that we can’t replace. The “value” of her vest at this point is probably in the neighborhood of $200 (probably even more - that’s just the badges and patches that we know we can replace) so it isn’t like it’s something that we can just get a replacement for overnight, plus all the time spent sewing the badges on...

We are hoping that someone decided to “play a trick” on her by hiding it, or that someone accidentally took it home. If it was on her coat hook in the back of the classroom it isn’t a far-fetched idea that it ended up falling into someone’s backpack unknowingly.

Tomorrow we have teacher conferences, so we won’t have a chance to look then, but hopefully Friday we’ll be able to see if turns up.

Sarah’s New Math Class

Starting Monday, Sarah is no longer in her normal math class. She is going to be working in an independent math study group with five other students in the library with the teacher who is responsible for the advanced placement math students. She is excited to start working in her small group and we are very proud of how well Sarah is doing in school and how seriously she takes her work.

Kris's "Party"

On the 6th, I took Kris out for her birthday. It was like pulling teeth! I had been planning a little get together at a club to see a local band and have a few drinks and food with some of Kris’s best friends from HS, or at the very least from quite some time ago. It was just something I threw together about two weeks before. In fact, Kris didn’t want to go. She kept saying that she didn’t want to go, she would rather just stay home, until one of the girls let it slip that Missy was going as well. I suppose she felt like she had to then. Luckily I was able to surprise her by inviting a couple of her friends whom she hasn’t seen in quite some time. I felt bad because there was one person who we haven’t seen in close to 10 years that I was able to track down about (2) days before and she and her husband already had plans and were going to be out of town.







We stayed out until almost midnight. It was actually a pretty good time. The only bad part is that I think I caught Kris’s cold and I was feeling just terrible the whole night.

Sarah spent the night babysitting Alison. This was pretty much their first time home alone at night. Ali was pretty bummed out and didn’t want us to go, but we eventually convinced her that Sarah knew what she was doing and we let them stay up as late as they wanted, and pulled out the sofa sleeper for them to watch TV.

So the music was good, company was good, and the kids were good. Not a bad way to celebrate being 40.

Happy 40

Shhh.... Kris turned 40 on March 3rd. I ended up taking the day off so Kris wouldn’t have to do anything, and it is a good thing I did. She was sick and spent half the day napping. But the girls were both up early for school and Sarah wanted to give Kris her birthday card before she left for school.


Luckily she was feeling a little better by the time the girls got home from school. We even got her a cake (against her wishes).

Notice the haze. That is the smoke coming off of all those candles that Kris blew out. (hahaha)

Happy Birthday, and welcome to the 40 club.

Open House

March 1st Kris, Alison, and I had to go to Shady Lane, Ali’s school this fall, for an open house. They principal there had a presentation for all the parents and students that would be coming over in the fall to meet the staff and to get to know the school. While it was a nice presentation, and the staff all seems very nice, especially the principal, we still just feel like it isn’t Riverside.

I am sure that we will end up liking it there just fine, but Kris and I both feel like we are losing the whole “family feel” of the school. Maybe it is just that we are on a first name basis with all the staff at Riverside and that we have seven years of rapport built up there. We just aren’t going to have that at Shady Lane. And since Alison will be there for three years, it is going to be hard to build up the kind of rapport with the staff that we enjoyed at Riverside, because as soon as you start getting comfortable, Ali will move on to middle school.

One thing that was nice was that one of the teachers at Shady lane was at Riverside a couple of years ago, and she recognized us right away. She will be teaching Ali’s grade next year, so maybe she’ll be lucky enough to have Alison in her class.