What am I teaching them?

Tonight we went out for ice cream cones at McD's as a family. Now this particular location is the nicest I have ever been in and has service that out does most other restaurants in the area. As we are sitting there in the dining area eating our ice cream cones, Fox News is going on all the TV's. There is coverage on Obama's comments to Iran; there are comments on school children singing praises to Obama; and lots and lots of other Obama stuff from the panel of commentators they have on. I think my children are not even paying attention. Then I hear the Wild Child say, "Hey, I think that was President Obama." Wondering what she was thinking relative to that, I asked her what she thought about President Obama. Her very certain reply, "Obama is just like Satan." "What? Why would you say that Wild Child?" I ask as I look around to see who might have overheard her. The 1st One chimes in with, "Well, he tells lies." Huh..... Now I am thinking, "Have I ever lead them to believe that I think our president is less than honorable?" I was clear during the elections that I was not in favor of either canidate. That I was not certain of their sincerity or their integrity. When he was going to speak to the school children, I told my children that we would discuss whatever the President had to say when they came home since I was not sure of what he would say. I did not know if he would say something contrary to what we believe or not. (Their school opted to not show the brodcast so it ended up being a non-issue.) All that into consideration, I am not sure I would have jumped to the conclusion that "Obama is just like Satan.", though I may have jumped to the "Well, he tells lies." It really makes me wish there was more honesty in politics. I wish that we did not have to question everything that our politicians say, that we could trust whatever came out of Washington, our states, counties, and cities.

Anyway, I think it is safe to say that I have minority children who are not in favor of the current administration. I will have to ask some more questions soon to see how they came to these conclusions and why they feel the way they do. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

Keys, where art thou?

You ever have one of "those" days? Well I have had the scatter-brained-half-sister of "one of those days."


You see, a week ago yesterday my keys went missing. Of course, the Rocket Scientist has a back up pair, but that can be problematic too. For instance like today, when the weather is snowing in buckets and he car pooled out to his job in the middle of nowhere with the spare set. Yep, that is a problem. Since my kids go to a charter school, and I have so many, car pooling isn't an option. This means that all four Sea Monkeys are here all day long. I had the privilege of calling the school and explaining why my children wouldn't be there. I am certain this will win me the "Mother of the Year" award.



Now, in regards to these missing keys: My friend Wendy offered to send over a metal detector to see if we could locate this jangling icon of freedom. I have contemplated taking her up on it. We do have a place to hang our keys when you walk in. I almost always hang mine there. This is a great plan for putting things in the same place all the time. Well, that is until My Son and the Wild Child grew tall enough to reach the keys. I have found keys in all sorts of places. The bathroom drawer, in the ignition of my van (fortunately that was the house key), hiding in the living room under some pillows with half of my missing chewing gum, or the time I found them in someone's underwear drawer. This, by all means, is not an all inclusive list, just some of the most recent. Truth be told, it could be all me. I may have been so distracted with all that was going on that day, I may have misplaced them all by myself this time. Anyway, wish me luck.......I am going to need it today.



Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyssss, where are you? Still looking.

On the Contrary!

Have I ever mentioned that I love the charter school my 1st One and Wild Child attend. They are learning a ton. The best part of that is that they are excited about what they are learning. I don't know about you, but when I was is school they didn't teach us about "greeting" new people and proper etiquette for such situations in the 1st and 2nd grade. My 1st One came home and told me all about it. She even said, "You should say, 'Hello, my name is ........, it's a pleasure to meet you.' Mom, did you know that is a greeting?"

The kids have been doing a bunch of field work lately, aka: field trips, that have all been centered on or around trees and the products they provide us. They talk about how they grow, why leaves change color, what grows on trees, how we get paper form them and what might live in and around them, to name just a few. A few weeks ago the the 1st One was able to tour and Violin Making school. Can you believe how cool? I know you are all thinking......."OK....we get it. You like the school.......is there a point here?" No point......just a Wild Child story.

So this past week when the 1st One was at school and before it was time to take the Wild Child to afternoon Kindergarten, the Wild Child had the Little Jamaican and My Son sitting on the couch. She was literally making them stay there, because she had made a "Contrary" and they were doing field work, learning about some of the animals in her "Contrary." She had taken all the throw pillows off the couch and had made "cages" for some of her "animals" (aka: stuffed animals) and was pulling them out one at a time and talking about them to her brother and sister like she was a tour guide. Of course, this is all very amusing to me, especially since it took me forever to figure out what a "Contrary" was.

This is what I over heard as she was giving the tour of her conservatory. "This here is a weasel-rat. They live here in the forest. Can anyone tell me what a weasel-rat eats?" as she is holding up her stuffed animal that is actually a weasel she's named Womp. "Do they eat leaves? No. Do they eat bugs? No. Do they little kids? No. How about noses?" She lets out a little snort/laugh. "They eat HAIR! THEY EVEN EAT THEIR OWN HAIR!" Wow.........now that is a very self sufficient weasel-rat.

It's a squash for cryin' out loud!

Did I mention that two of my children are in a charter school? Well, they are. The Wild Child and the 1st One are. The Little Jamaican goes to preschool a few blocks over and I am home schooling My Son for now.

So the charter school my kids go to is an Expeditionary Learning School. I won't bore you with all the details of that, but if your curious, Google it. You will find a ton about it. The biggest thing I like about is not only are my children learning in a cooperative manner, they are becoming thinkers. You know, not just memorizing a bunch of stuff and spitting it back at you, but honest to goodness, thinkers. One of the things my kids like about this school is that there are a lot of field trips.

This week the Wild Child went to a farm with her class. She is in Kindergarten and they are learning about trees. So on this adventure they got to pick apples and peaches off of some trees. Even better than that, they got to keep them and eat them. She was in heaven. Apparently that was not all they got to pick, because she came home with this:

Now here is where this gets a little strange. Yesterday, I catch her giving this pumpkin a bath. She has filled the bathroom sink with water and is using the foaming hand soap to scrub this squash like it were her offspring. Later she has it wrapped in baby blanket, sitting on her lap watching TV. I mention to her that it food, not a toy. She smiles and says she knows. After the Sea Monkeys were in bed and fast asleep, I went in to make sure they were all covered. You know what I found in her bed right? Yes, it was tucked in next to her.

Today, other than school, the Wild Child and this pumpkin have been inseparable. At one point she was using it like a bowling ball. I had to explain that this was not something that was going to work out since this might put an end to her precious pumpkin. She quickly picked it up and hugged it.

Seriously, you've seen the pictures. IT'S A PUMPKIN!