Welcome Back to School...What I've Learned So Far

Now that the school year has started, the boys have been working hard to get our homework done every night. It is always challenging to get back into the routine. The hardest part is the reading. What works for us is not to sweat the small stuff and live by the mantra it doesn't necessarily need to matter HOW you complete your homework so long as it gets done. I've come to understand that books are MUCH easier to read through lizard goggles.



 If you've been following me over the years on Facebook or just so happen to be around to hear a story or two, I hope you remember the challenges we've had over the years just getting to school and staying there all day. I've proved myself more stubborn than they are. Look at the difference a year makes. I'm not quite sure, but school this year is a big success...so far.

2014 -- 5th Grade

2013 4th Grade Mug Shot

2014 2nd Grade

2013 1st Grade Mug Shot

That is until Jack pulled this out of his hat.
My son: I just can't go to school today.
Me: You don't have a choice.
My son: Well, I can't go because my teacher is too nice. It is no fun to get in trouble.
Me: Good. You need to behave.
My son: You just don't get it. She doesn't even raise her voice!

And there you have it.  A confession!

Wishing everyone a successful 2014/2015 school year!

Off the Beaten Path

We spend Labor Day weekend the best possible way ever.  With great friends off the beaten path.  The trip was planned with my dear friend Holly to celebrate our 30th Friendship Anniversary.

 

While poking around the Internet, I came across William Heiss Park in San Diego county. It is just a few miles outside of Julian with cabins to rent.  It was like camping but we were enclosed between four walls and off the ground...perfect! What I didn't count on was the heat and my campfire building skills.  Let's just say, I know how to make a smokey campfire. It took a few tried but by the end of the trip I was a campfire building pro. Or at least I thought I was.

  

The only downside to the campground was the WiFi. I would have liked to have had a device free weekend. Everyone was good about leaving their devices in the cabin and enjoying nature.  But, I did catch this one on his iPod.  Does he look guilty or what.

So, to remedy the situation, I made them go on a hike. The trail started right out our front door and worked its way up a hill that was burn during the 2003 fires that swept through the area.  It made for a hot hike with no tress to cover the trail. But, we made it.

(Oh look, they actually like each other. Well at least for a moment.)

  

 

We spent Sunday afternoon apple picking. It is the start of the apple season but they were delicious.  We ate apples for the rest of the day.  They also had an apple wine to taste.  Well, my friend and I decided we needed a whole glass.  It was refreshing.

 

The next day we headed into Julian to check out the town and stumbled across a Gold Mine Tour. Of course we had to go and check it out in our true Off the Beaten Path style.  This is what we found.

We went in the Eagle Mine and came out the High Peak Mine halfway up the hill.  The tour guide was fabulous and they had a lot of the authentic mining tools and old things throughout the mine.  It was surprisingly cold a few hundred feet inside a mountain.

Well that was our weekend!  Hope yours was as memorable as ours.

Our Life So Far....

Babysitting Blues -- A close friend's son sent me a text asking if he could babysit the boys to raise money to buy something or other. Since he asked, I was willing to make a point of finding a need for his services. Now, why I didn't anticipate the words that flowed from Jack's mouth was beyond me. He always has something to say: a comment, question, concern...always something. I've coined his amazing way with words Observational Wit. He is always asking about what is happening currently in a precocious, encourageable manner. One would think that I should be use to it and should expect it....nope, I'm still surprised and shocked.  So the conversation went something like this:

Me: Jack what do you think about "so and so" babysitting you?

Jack: Are you going to pay him?

Me: Of course.

Jack: Well, you should pay me to babysit him. After all, I'm the entertainment.

And when the day finally came to hire said babysitter....

Me: You need to behave.

Jack: Really mom, we should be babysitting him.

Me: It doesn't work that way. He is old enough to be in charge and you're not.

Jack: Well, together Jimmy and I are older. We are 96 about to be 107.

Said babysitter did an excellent job. Jack behaved which is always helpful. 

The next morning:

Jack: I am so exhausted from the party we had last night. (As he fall back onto his pillow.)

Me: He was only here for two hours! What party?!

Elevator Guy -- We met a very kind guy in an elevator who was quick on his toes. He became an instant friend of Jack because he, unlike many of us, had a come back to Jack's wit. And, his timing was perfect. 

We were in El Centro for the first airshow of the season with Grandad.  This is an annual family vacation and everyone always looks forward to going. It is the SAME trip every year logistically....same hotel, same restaurant for dinner, same sandwich place for lunch, even down to the same parking spot at the air field. What changes is the people. This year, the guy walking into the elevator didn't see it coming and neither did we.

 


Guy: You have cute kids.

Me: Why, thank you.

Jack: (Turning to look him square in the face.)Well, I have rabies

Guy: Oh yeah, I have cooties. (He didn't miss a beat.)

Jack met his match and I was happy it was a short elevator ride.

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What I found in the backpack this week

It is like opening a mystery bag.  You never know what you will find and, sometimes, will not believe what you find. Jimmy's bag isn't too exciting. It is filled with the normal backpack papers, binders, wrappers, and such.  Jack's, on the other hand, can be very interesting. This last week was good enough that I thought I would memorialize it in this blog post. In this weeks mystery bag aka Jack's backpack... first item out of the pack.... 1/2 of a head of cabbage in a brown paper bag...no joke! I took a photo for proof. If I hadn't found it myself, I would never believe it was possible. So I started to question where this came from.

Me: Jack, what are you doing with a cabbage in your backpack?

Jack: No one wanted it.

Me: What do you mean no one wanted it? Where did you get it? (because, really, a cabbage from school?)

Jack: My teacher gave it to me because I wanted YOU to make that salad stuff.

Still not making much sense and I couldn't seem to ask the right question to get the answer that would explain. I started to remember that they had a new Nutrition Network program at school. It was set up to introduce the kids to healthy eating. Ah ha! THAT must be WHERE the cabbage came from.

Not two days later..while I was cleaning out the "mystery" backpack again for things like homework, memos home, and the lunch bag. Hidden deep in the bottom I found a four pack of baby carrots. I found Jack and we dove back into the same line of questions:

Me: Jack, what are you doing with carrots in your bag?

Jack: No one wanted them.

(very similar to the cabbage conversation)

Me: What do you mean no one wanted them? Where did you get them? (again, because, really, 4 mini bags of carrots?)

Jack: Ms. Lisa gave them to me because I wanted YOU to make carrot cake.

Moral of the story, my son loves his veggies and just about anything can come home from school.




Artwork Beyond His Years -- My mouth falls open when I find these lurking around. It is hard to believe that Jimmy isn't even 10 and can draw in breathtaking detail. Here are a few of my favorites of late. I feel like I'm in between a rock and a hard spot when it comes to his drawings. 

I want to encourage and support his talent, yet, when they come home on lined notebook paper, I can only assume that he is drawing in class. How do you say, "Great job, bud, but please don't draw in class and, if you do, use better paper." Can you just imagine the caption next to his artwork that says, "Graphite Pencil on Lined 80% Recycled 3 Hole Notebook Paper."