Musical Performances & Flying Objects

Last night was DS' last musical performance of his elementary school career. The fifth-graders did a lot of musical numbers from the '20s all the way through Elvis. They played selections on the recorders they have been learning to play all year. I was highly impressed with how well they did! Of course, it seems that something unexpected has to happen during these performances. No, it wasn't when the gymnasts were doing their tumbling act.....they all survived without incident. No, no one choked on the strings holding the recorders around their necks. Instead, it was taken from the stage out into the audience (and no, the audience didn't cause the incident, they received it!).

During one of the numbers, a few kids came up to the front of the stage to mention times when they listened to music (while exercising, while at the beach, while doing homework, etc.). Well, one girl came up and said, "While bowling." And these children had props in their hands. So, yes, she had a bowling ball in her hand....which she swung like she was actually bowling. Only she wasn't supposed to let go.....but she did!! Yes, that bowling ball went flying out into the front row of the audience! Stunned looks from the kids on stage, gasps and squeals from the audience (especially the front row!)! Followed by relieved laughter as the bowling ball bounces as it was made of hard rubber & was hollow (it was one they used during gym class, so it was made to be light and rather harmless). The girl leaped off of the stage, chased the bowling ball until she caught up with it, ran back, and climbed back up on the stage. All of this happened very quickly. There was a short pause in the music, and then it started up again.....once all of the kids on stage had stopped laughing.

So, once again an excursion to my children's school has provided us with unexpected amusement. You just never know what's going to happen next over there!

Case Solved!

DD has been missing her glasses since Thursday. The kids had a 1/2 day on Thursday (as well as Friday) for parent-teacher conferences. I know that she got off of the bus before lunch with her glasses on her face. By the time I realized she was no longer wearing her glasses it was a little after 4:00pm, while at her piano lesson. I figured she had just taken them off sometime before we left for her lesson (she only needs them for reading and other such close-up work) and forgot to put them back on before we left. We have spent the past 3 1/2 days looking all over the house (even in strange places like under the couch, in her dresser drawers, in the fridge, etc.) for DD's glasses with no luck in finding them. So this morning I even had her look in her desk at school, thinking there was a distinct possibility I had misremembered seeing her with them when she got off of the bus on Thursday. No luck....they weren't at school either. So today I was at a loss of where else to possibly look and almost resigned to ordering her a new pair (which would, of course, had to have been paid for out-of-pocket since the vision insurance won't pay for 2 pairs in under a year) when a funny thing happened. I posted a status update this morning on my Facebook page that I was frustrated about DD's glasses having gone missing. This afternoon I checked my Facebook page to see that DD's piano teacher had commented on my status update that she had found a pair of glasses at her house. So after school today we headed over to the piano teacher's house.......YES!! They were DD's glasses!! I was so relieved! Evidently DD had worn them to her lesson but taken them off and set them aside while waiting for her turn at the piano, then forgot to pick them back up. So DD has her glasses back. Case solved!

Proud Moments

Today was the end-of-the-9-weeks award ceremony at my children's school for the 3rd 9-weeks grading period. Spring was definitely in the air as all of the school children were more restless than usual. They did, however, cooperate for the most part and remain quiet when necessary, thus proving what an overall well-behaved bunch they are. I am proud of DS and DD! They both made the A/B Honor Roll again this 9 weeks! Great job DS & DD! Mom is proud of you!

Remembering....

I need to remember something tonight......DD lost her first tooth!! So I need to remember to play the Tooth Fairy. She was quite nervous about this occurrence (it had been very loose for several days but she wouldn't let me near it), but excited at the same time. This afternoon DD & I went to one of the local high schools to see their performance of "Once Upon A Mattress" which is a version of The Princess and the Pea. DD absolutely loved the musical (she loves going to the local high schools' theatrical productions), but about half-way through the first half of the performance she became panicked as her loose tooth wiggled enough to cause the gum to start bleeding. She was adamant that I not pull it there (she wanted DH to watch when she had the first one taken out) but was not happy at all about the bleeding. I quickly gave her a tissue to help staunch the little bit of bleeding so we could make it through the rest of the performance. As soon as we got home, she grabbed DH's hand, I reached in, and out the tooth quickly came. She looked up at me and said, "Did it come out already?" in quite a bit of astonishment. She was sure it would hurt, despite her older brother's reassurances that it would not (and despite having watched me pull out one of his just a couple of weeks ago without him even flinching). After getting over the shock, she ran to look in the mirror to see what she now looked like. Her comment? "Mom, I think that after a while people's smiles start to look a little boring, so losing teeth is one way to make them interesting again." Said, of course, with a big, gap-toothed grin.

Time Marches On

It's hard to believe but today DS turned 11 years old! Where have those years gone?? It seems like just the other day that he was born, learned to walk (at the ripe old age of 8 1/2 months!), learned to talk, went off to his first day of school..... So many firsts have come and gone. And yet I keep reminding myself that there are so many firsts yet to come. As DS himself keeps reminding me, only 5 short years until he gets his first driver's license, 7 short years until he is first considered an adult..... I am sure somewhere in there will be first dates, first love, and somewhere in the more distant future his first child will bring another set of firsts.

Happy Birthday, DS!!

No Relaxing Allowed

Just when you think there might be a moment to sit and relax.....life informs you differently. At least at my house that's how it works. Tonight I was in the middle of cleaning up after supper while DH was out running a few miles. DD was supposed to be practicing the piano. DS was driving one of his remote-controlled vehicles around. As I was finishing loading the dishwasher I was just coming to the realization that I was no longer hearing the piano. It was just as I was turning to see why that I hear the loud thud followed immediately by the piercing scream along with DS calling out, "I'm sorry! Are you OK?!" I look over to see DD on the hardwood floor next to the couch (OK, she is a good 7 feet away from the piano she was supposed to be practicing!). As she was crying to hard to tell me what happened as I held her, I asked DS what occurred. DD had climbed up on the back of the couch (it's a reclining couch so it's a rather tall back) and DS had accidentally knocked her off when he bumped into her while driving his RC vehicle. DD proceeded to fall onto the hardwood floor, landing on her right elbow and right knee.

After getting her calmed down and examining her elbow, she was still complaining of it hurting. So to be on the safe side (seeing as how 3 years ago she broke the other elbow in a similar fall) I decided to take her off to Urgent Care for X-rays. DH was not back yet, but I knew he would be soon, so I left DS home to let DH back in the house (DH did not take any house keys with him when he went out for his run because the rest of us were home at the time). At the clinic X-rays were taken and the clinic doctor determined that DD just bruised the bone in the elbow (although the films will be sent to the radiologist tomorrow for further examination to be sure), so for now she just needs ice & pain medication.

Upon arriving home, no one else was home.......we arrived well after DH had to leave for a meeting of the fathers of DS' Boy Scout troupe. Since he had no idea when we would get home, DH had to take DS with him. Ah, the joys of parenthood.......nope, life is definitely never dull around here!

Growing Up

It's amazing how quickly the years go by when your kids are growing up. It seems like just yesterday that DS was born. Then he started school. Then in first grade, as a little 6-year-old, he joined Cub Scouts. He has absolutely loved being in Cub Scouts. He has had the chance to do all sorts of things, from camping to horseback riding to making and racing pinewood derby cars, and the list just goes on (and of course none of us will forget that scouts is where he learned to whittle, thus providing one of his more recent injuries & trips to Urgent Care!). It has been a wonderful bonding experience for DS and DH as well, as they attend the meetings and activities together. Well, part of that journey has now come to an end. On this past Saturday DS' Cub Scout pack held their annual Blue & Gold Banquet to celebrate the achievements of the scouts. DS and his fellow denmates (they were 2nd year Webelos.....the last year for Cub Scouts) received their Arrow of Light awards:This is the highest achievement a Cub Scout can reach. I am so proud of DS for this accomplishment! After receiving this award, it was then time for the "Crossing Over" ceremony for those scouts going on into Boy Scouts. DS and one other boy from his den crossed over on Saturday and are now Boy Scouts. So while one piece of the journey has ended, another has begun. I am looking forward to seeing what all DS accomplishes in the future, both in Boy Scouts and in other areas of his life, as he moves forward and continues to grow up. And while I will continue to miss my "little baby" I am excited to watch my son as he grows into a young man. Congratulations, DS, I am proud of you!

Yes, She's Definitely My Child!

Having given birth to these children myself, there is obviously no doubt they are mine. They seem to be determined, however, to keep proving this fact on a continual basis. I have always been accident-prone----from the first broken arm at age 3 (and first set of stitches at around the same age!) and through numerous other broken bones & various injuries over the years it has been an undeniable fact of my life. And as you can tell from previous posts about DS, he seems to be following in these footsteps (albeit in a different manner than I did.....cuts with a pocket knife, burned while camping.....). Well, DD is determined to continue to prove herself as my child as well. While she had her first (and I keep hoping her only!) broken bone at age 4 (she broke her left elbow....strangely the same thing I had for my first broken bone), today she decided to be a walking accident-waiting-to happen.

Immediately after the kids got home from school, we headed out to DD's Daisy Scout leader's house to pick up some more cookies that had been ordered (gotta love Girl Scout cookie time!) so we can make more deliveries. While getting back in the van to come back home, DD managed somehow to close her upper left arm in the sliding door of the van. Luckily (for all the screaming & crying going on.....it had to really hurt!) she only ended up with a large bruise. Then less than 30 seconds after we had walked inside after getting home she somehow stepped incorrectly and twisted her right ankle. Thankfully it was minor enough that after a few minutes she was able to walk on it without any problems. She did decide at that point that she was going to play with a toy that she could play with sitting down in one spot without moving around. I wonder why.....

If It's Hot......It Will Burn!

This past weekend DH and DS went on a camping trip with Cousin I and Uncle J1. For some reason they find winter camping to be much more enjoyable than warm-weather camping. Personally, I will stay where it is warm. They had a rather "interesting" trip that did not go quite as planned.

At around 10:30pm on Saturday night I received a phone call.....yes, they were calling from the middle of the forest 3 hours away. DS had come down with some intestinal symptoms and nausea. OK, I can talk to him on the phone, but what exactly am I supposed to do from 3 hours away on the phone??? Anyway, I talk to DS for a few minutes then to DH. I found out after they return home the next day that they ended up not being able to spend the entire night at the campsite (which was 1 1/2 miles from the car) & had to hike back to the car for the night. By the next morning DH and Cousin I also were experiencing the same intestinal symptoms as DS (although to their relief, not to the same extent as DS).....and they also realized they had lost their toilet paper supply somewhere in the hike back to the car in the middle of the night. Thus their trip was cut short and they headed back home......with several stops along the way.

By the time they finally arrived home, DS was feeling mostly better, albeit very grumpy from the lack of sleep. As they were relating the tale of their camping experience to me (which we highly suspect was a result of a mild case of food poisoning) DS says to me, "Mom, my hand hurts." I look down.......and see a burn on the outer back side of his right hand!! OK, so you tell me about the intestinal issues but no one thinks they need to mention the burn?? Evidently DS had decided to see if the portable propane heater they had brought along for the first time was hot.......AFTER it was turned on! They answer? YES, it was hot! Hot enough to burn him......and leave the pattern of the mesh grid that was over the heating element on his hand. And while it would have been best to have treated the burn immediately after it occurred, I treated & bandaged the burn as soon as I was told about it. I guess next time I better check to make sure they have the proper type of first aid gear packed for their camping trip.

So while I have always had the goal of providing my children with a loving home and raising them to be good, responsible Christian people, I think I need to focus more on just getting them to adulthood in one piece. For DS, that's only another 7 years 3 weeks 4 days to go! Think we'll make it?

Crisis Averted: Priceless!

I have decided that one just never knows what will happen when spending time at my children's school. I went in today to take some pictures and help out in DS' class. His teacher had divided the class into groups of 4-5 students and each group formed a business. Each business decided on a product to make to sell. On Sunday several kids met at the store with Mrs. B. to purchase the raw materials needed, and today was the beginning of product production. One group is making notepads. Another is making slime. DS' group is making play dough. A fourth group is providing a service instead of a product----they are offering tutoring. The last group is the one that tried to create a school-wide crisis this afternoon.

The last group is making plastic spoons dipped in chocolate. To do this they needed to melt the chocolate for dipping the spoons into. They first dumped an entire bag of chocolate chips into a plastic bowl, then they placed the bowl in the microwave, and lastly they turned on the microwave. Here is where they made their mistake! I am not sure how long they put the chocolate in the microwave for, but it was definitely too long! I was walking around taking some pictures of the kids working diligently on their projects when I hear DS' voice call out, "Mom! The microwave is smoking!" Sure enough, when I look over at the microwave in the corner of the room, there was a ton of smoke pouring out of it. I called out to Mrs. B. She ran to the microwave and pulled out the bowl of chocolate, opened the nearby window, and held the smoking bowl out the window. DS ran to the other window and threw it open. I grabbed the nearest stack of papers and started waving the smoke away from the smoke detector (oh-so-conveniently located close to the microwave of course!) hoping to keep it from setting off the fire alarm. (Most of the kids meanwhile had the looks on their faces reminiscent of deer in the headlights.)

Luckily we were able to keep the fire alarm from going off, so the entire school did not have to empty out (which would have sent over 700 students out into 12 degree weather!) and the fire department did not have to come to the elementary today. So while it was intended for the kids to learn about supply & demand as well as things like profit margins, they also had another lesson today. When melting chocolate in the microwave, only heat it for short (we're talking like 30-second intervals here!) amounts of time and stir it before putting it back in the microwave for longer. Whatever you do, do not try to do all of the melting in one long segment of time. Instead of melted chocolate you will end up with burnt chocolate and melted plastic.

Cost of worksheets for classroom learning: $0.05 each
Cost of pencils for doing worksheets: $0.10 each
Cost of hands-on learning instead of worksheets: Priceless!