Out of the Mouth of a 4-year old...

Just have to tell you all something hilarious that Lora said yesterday....well, Mark and I thought it was hilarious....Will had an early dismissal yesterday and Lora has school in the afternoon so I was telling Will that when I pick him up, it will just be he and I for the afternoon. He immediately goes "Woo Hoo! No Lora!!!" To which his sister responds, with great emotion..."Will, If a PERSON cares about another PERSON, they should not, NOT miss that person when they are not there!" It was hilarious, and also I moot point because Lora ended up not feeling well and they played together all afternoon....

Back in the Saddle Again...

So, we are back in the swing of school, work, life since the ending of Summer....In some ways, I actually enjoy Fall better than Summer. I know, I'm crazy, but I enjoy the cooling off of the weather (although this week has been beautiful in Seattle), I am a person who functions better with a forced schedule - sadly. I am not really good at making up a full fun-packed schedule on my own so during the summer we end up in our pj's until noon, cartoons, books, playing in the backyard, etc...which, I'm convinced, is why Will has not wanted to get back into the swing of school...Too much fun and doing whatever.

Tomorrow we have Lora's class visit to her new Preschool and then tomorrow night is a parent's meeting. She starts back on Monday. It will be interesting to see what life will feel like with one in school all day and the other in for 4 day a week 1/2 days...With upping my hours and Mosaic and hopefully volunteering at Will's school, I don't think I'll have that many "extra" hours but we'll see.

We have a new addition to our home...Will and Mark were given a combined birthday present of a Wii game system, which has been a lot of fun (another reason not to want to go to school...) I totally rock at bowling and golf - my papa would be so proud of the golfer I am becoming...of course, I know it doesn't REALLY count since I don't even have to watch the ball or anything, but I enjoy it! Now we just need Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, Wii Fit.....

Chhh...changes...

I just found out last night that the Spanish teacher and Assistant teacher that Will had last year (K) and was supposed to have this year (we are on a looping program so you have the same teachers for 2 years)...we LOVED both of them...the teacher is moving to 2/3 and the assistant is aparently gone...anyway, he will have different teachers for 1st grade, at least in Spanish..I was so sad because as I mentioned, we loved them! Anyway,I very carefully talked to Will and explained to him that he would be having a different teacher, etc and that Srta. Karin would be gone also...and he just looked at me and said "okay"...I yelled up to Mark, "Our son has absolutely no feelings at all, we are raising a robot"...which, of course isn't true, but I wanted some sign of emotion over this news that I was heartsick about...

Maybe he is smart enough to realize that he will have Srta Maria back in 2/3? Maybe he just instinctively knows it will be alright now matter what? Maybe, thankfully, he's not as neurotic as me? Should I just count my blessings that he's not overly emotional, well, unless he loses at Nintendo...Kids are funny, I think I could learn something from him...

For...or...Against?

I have a question that has been bothering me for awhile...its a serious question and I'm not trying to spark a huge political debate. But, is it possible to be "for" your candidate but not "against" the other? I am supporting one candidate for president, but I don't feel like that makes me automatically "against" the other. I admire the other candidate, I do not want the demise of the other candidate, I am not sending mass e-mails that lie about the other candidate...I have been incredibly surprised during this election, and its not over, at some of the things that I have read and seen. I have friends on Facebook who have pictures of a certain candidate on their "flair" board with a big red "X" through his face, people have joined groups called "Down with.......in 08". It has honestly surprised me. I don't know if this is the normal level of hostility and this is just the first election where I've really been aware of what goes on? Is it because of the amount of media coverage which is completely out of control?

I really want to know what people think...what is up this year? I hope the answer is not that we are all racist...but I fear that that may be part of it...I used to be part of a discussion site and someone admitted on there that he felt like America really had to get used to the idea of a non-white person as president and that is why everyone is being so hard on him...that scared me a little. I realize that we all have policy differences, but I'm asking more about the mean, hateful, untruthful things that are going around and wondering if this is normal? Can anyone tell me???

Connecting...

I joined Facebook awhile back...its been fun because through it I've reconnected with a lot of different people from different parts of my life. I've talked with high school friends, college friends, even someone I worked with ten or so years ago. Its fun...its nice to catch up, see pictures of kids grown up, friends who look the same with maybe a few extra pounds (in my case) or some new wrinkles...some look exactly the same - I hate those people...

Its all relatively "surface" though...you are unable to have a really deep conversation - there is no sitting across from each other over a cup of coffee to really look into each other eyes and see how the years have really changed us all. Its funny because one of my reconnections actually asked me if I wanted to meet for coffee and it made me a little nervous - to go deeper with a person, to really meet face to face - extra fat and all - is a little scary...I'm not good at keeping in contact with people once our paths go in different directions - even people in my own family, just ask my brother...

Its funny because through Facebook and then talking with classmates about our 20 year High School reunion coming up this year, it has made me think about other people that I've lost contact with...Charisse, Jill, Jason, David, Jon, Heidi, Lisa...the list goes on. I decide to search for them on Facebook to see if we can reconnect - I tell myself, "I need to be a better friend and sister"...but then life gets busy and the weeks pass...maybe I should go call my brother...

Goodbye Kindergarten...

I added these photos from graduation this morning...it was really fun! Each kid had to come up an say their name and one of their favorite things about school - in Spanish. Will said that he likes writing, which is cool...the beautiful ladies in the first picture are his Spanish teachers, they are incredible!

I should be in bed asleep...Mark and I were both up most of the night last night with Lora coughing and tonight, thanks to children's Claritin, she is sleeping peacefully...but I'm up. I've been reading through old blog posts and realizing how long its been since I posted anything... I just read through my post on Will's first day in Kindergarten...it was interesting to read it tonight, the night before his Kindergarten graduation. Mark was talking to me tonight about how grown up 1st grade sounds - it sounds so much older than Kindergarten for some reason...I'm so happy and proud about the year that Will has had...he has learned so much, made so many friends, grown so in both height and maturity...he really is a great kid. He's funny and smart and has a tender heart - most of the time... His school is one of the pilot schools for the Seeds of Compassion curriculum which is the program that the Dali Lama and Desmond Tutu helped to write - so they have been talking a lot about Empathy and Compassion at school. Will loves to give lectures to us about many things - we've heard everything you would ever want to hear about foxes, Green Bags, Life Alert Systems, Earth Day and now Empathy. So a while back, he was going on and on to Mark about how we need to be empathetic and compassionate to others (if you know Will, he was doing his usual pacing back and forth while talking)...so the conversation went like this... Will: We need to be empathetic to others, we need to have compassion (or something like that, pacing back and forth)... Mark: Well Will, you're right. In fact, we are followers of Christ and so we try to do the things that Christ told us to do. Jesus said that if you have two coats and you go outside and see someone who doesn't have a coat and they're cold..Do you know what you're supposed to do that would be compassionate? Lora: (Who pipes up with the Sunday School answer) I think you give them one of your coats... Will: I think you say to them "You should go inside, its cold out here!" So he hasn't learned it all yet...but it was funny because Mark and my 10th anniversary was a couple of weeks ago and we have this tradition of watching our wedding video together and this year we decided to make the kids watch it with us...Lora lasted about 5 minutes and was bored but Will was riveted to the screen. We got to the part where Mark and I are on the platform holding hands, staring at each other while a song is being sung in the background...I look over at Will and he is literally fighting back tears so I say, "Honey are you okay?" to which he responds "Don't look at me! Don't look at me!" and then, "Its just so beautiful, I think I'm crying." It was so sweet and one of those moments I don't want to forget - believe me there are many moments of fighting and yelling, that cause me to need to recall this memory... But, he is growing up and he is becoming a great person who I enjoy hanging out with. He's reading (he read "Are you my Mother?" all by himself the other night)...he's doing math...he's watching shows that aren't cartoons (we watched "The Naked Brothers Band" together the other night and he said "Mommy, we have this in common, we both like this show")...he can quote whole commercials that he has seen...he has friends that he cares about...he loves his sister and doesn't yell at her when she stands in front of the TV so she can see it...he's in that great space where he's getting more self sufficient but still wants to cuddle, still likes kisses (sometimes) and still tells me he loves me... So tomorrow, we say "Goodbye" to Kindergarten and "Hello" to 1st grade...after a long summer of me trying to think of ways to occupy two busy childrent....but I think he's ready for it...

Funky Funky Funk Funk....

Please note, that is an "n" in the word above...and if you don't have kids under the age of 5 or cable TV (Jen), you may not have caught the "Yo Gabba Gabba" reference...if you don't get the reference, consider yourself lucky - it is about the most annoying show ever created...but I digress...

I've been in a kind of funk this week, not sure why...Mark tried to analyze it for me yesterday and everything he came up with didn't seem like "the" reason. I do this every once in awhile - not enough that I think merits medication or intense counseling or anything - just a funk...The main signs are that my house is a little dirtier, I'm a little less patient with my kids & husband, I cry more easily, I'm not eating as well...I was just thinking that its four years ago right around this time of year that we got Lora's diagnosis - maybe I have Spring Depression now because of that...who knows.

But, something that raised my spirits today...Mark dropped Lora and Will off at school this morning and I opened at Mosaic. When he came here to work with me, he had Lora's first school picture. Its funny because I've been a little nervous about getting it. When you have a non-perfect child (not that anyone has a perfect one...) things like pictures are hard. I forget about her issues a lot of times but a picture of her eyes brings it all back. This morning however, I was presented with a picture of a beautiful little girl with two eyes looking straight at the camera! (Granted, the right one is a little bit crossed, but barely noticable). She looks so cute in her bright pink glasses and little bobbed hair! She's such a joy (both of my kids are...I need to write a post about foxes, because Will has been lecturing me about them recently, that and Compassion/Empathy...) and she's doing so well. Mark said that this morning in the car she said to him, "Daddy, someday you're going to hear me on the radio. I don't know what I'll be singing, but someday you'll turn on the radio and there I'll be!" If that doesn't get a person out of a funk, I don't know what will....