THE GOOD, THE BAD

THE GOOD: My class read for 22 minutes today.  (They are working towards reading alone for 30 minutes)
THE BAD: Yesterday on the playground me and E and A decided form a secret club.  Today E didn't want to play with me.  He only wanted to play with his other friend and didn't include me.  I even told him he could be the boss of the club but he said no. :(  I really miss my friends in Zurich.

On a side note, I've gotta say I'm pretty darn impressed with the kid for going at it with a positive attitude and getting out there.  It's gotta be hard to move to a new place and try to fit in.  Boy can I relate.  He was given a 2 week project to complete his "ME".  He is so cretive, and such a hard worker.  He worked very diligently to get this done and way before deadline.  I'm pretty proud!

A Little Lake Action

Goal for this past weekend: GET OUT OF THE HOUSE.  No more yard work, no cleaning, no errands.  Just get out and have some fun.  Like the good ole days.  I've been missing the footloose and fantsy free weekends that we used to have in Zurich. Funny how the memory is so selective, funny how you only remember the really good or the really bad and nothing in between.  At least that's how it works for me, and currently my mind is in the grieving Zurich phase of, woah is me, life in Zurich was SO GREAT ALL THE TIME. I'm sure that is how it REALLY was! It doesn't help that I read the blogs of all our friends there and read about all their fun adventures.  Common theme here: Stacey, your behavior is NOT helping the situation. 

So, self therapy to the rescue: The Lake.

I was very pleasantly surprised when we pulled up and found little jetty like cliffs, each with their own private picnic tabled gazebos and grills.  And then we had a nice little cove/beach to play on. 

We fired up some burgers on the grill, gave Brooks a watermelon to devour and we were set.

The boys took a dip in the lake, and I got taunted a little for being such a wimp.......no thank you Mr. Water Moccasin and gigantic man eating carp, I don't want to be your swimming companion. 

The view from the lake while I was watching the swimmers was quite fab. 

And we even happened upon an ancient ruin from the original settlers of this region while there.......for a moment I felt like I was back in Europe.

The Good, The Bad

THE GOOD: I got my 7th Red Star Award today.  We are going to put them all in a box until I get a lot, then we'll get a prize.  (Sounds shady to me?)

THE BAD: Well...........hmmmmm.  I did get a boo-boo.

Speaking English

Sometimes it's still a little shocking to be able to hear and understand the language around me.  I think towards the end of living in Zurich, I really liked NOT being able to listen in on others conversations.  I lived in a world of "tune out" that I really enjoyed.  Being back I keep finding myself occasionally shocked at what people do say.  Like the weatherman that said,

"Today is currently a smothering 107 degrees.  But hey, at least it's not 110."

110?  Did this guy REALLY just say that?  Since when is 110 a temperature marker?  The "non-occuring" global warming has already gotten to this guys head.

The Good, The Bad

Apparently the my questioning abilities are doing down hill, or the non-verbal teenage grunting has set in a little prematurely.

THE GOOD: Ah nothing.
THE BAD: I don't know.

"It was just a normal day, mom"

The Good, The Bad

THE GOOD: We got to go out to recess today and the playground had monkey bars that if you fell down there was this thing that would lift you up, and I made it all the way across but I had to use the lifter once. 

THE BAD: There was no prize for the 5 Star Awards I got, you have to be in second grade to get a prize.  (What kind of ridiculous rule is that........give my kid Stars and the hope of a bigger prize when he gets 5, then say just kidding you don't get a prize, you are not old enough.)

The Good, The Bad

THE GOOD: "I got my 5th Super STAR award today"
THE BAD: "There was this boy that got sent to the Principal's office"

Aint She a Beaut?

Katherine made Brooks the most beautiful quilt when he was born, and I never wanted to use it cause it was just too beautiful for spit up.  So, she's finally found a permanent home.....it totally makes the room come alive.  And I can finally say that the room is done!  Thank you Katherine, we LOVE IT!

And Little Man thanks you too!

The Good, The Bad

And hopefully not the Ugly.  I'm going to try my darndest to ask Chance daily one good thing and one bad from his day at school.  We'll capture it here.......and you can find a new link to them all in the left hand column.

Best thing about school is.....riding the REAL school bus 

THE GOOD: I made 2 new friends today.
THE BAD: It was raining at recess so we couldn't go outside.

UH-HUH

The human brain is a piece of work, more like a masterpiece.  And it's amazing to watch it in action, somehow REPEATING things is a needed instinct to brain development.  Like, drop your special bear out of your bed, and watch mommy come back in the room 5 thousand times to pick it up off the floor here.  I think there's a case of the kettle calling the pot black here, cause you'd think I'd learn as well.  Today after the umpteen time of getting that damn bear so the never-sleeping child would fall asleep, I found him standing, leaning his chin against the bed rail, arm over it and pointing at Special Bear while the kid was half asleep. 

So after the one short sleepy time of the day, little man wants some of my yogurt.  He's standing in front of me as I am sitting on the floor watching the super high quality show The Bachelor Pad......good thing Brooks isn't old enough to comprehend the trash unfolding before him (and I'll also throw in there that Ryan probably will be jealous that I finished this week's episode without him).......Brooks is standing over me begging for yogurt.  At some level I felt like I was telling a dog to get out of my face.  DOWN BOY.  After each bite it was this satisfied UH-HUH.  UH-HUH.  Over and over.