Dilema...

Last year, my sister-in-law Anna and I were talking about charter school, and she recommended one over near her...Providence Hall. She has been trying for a while to get in, and has had her kids on the wait list for a long time now, but no luck.

I was talking about how I am freaking out (just a little bit!) about Sydney starting Middle School next year. (Psychologically, I'm probably projecting. I can't think of a single happy memory from MY days in Middle School, and I am dreading the next three years for her...Although, she is WAY cooler than I ever was...of course, that's scary in it's own way, too, don't you think? (See? This is me, freaking out just little bit...Am I rambling?))

Sorry...I digress...Anna said that Providence Hall was starting a Middle School this year. So good in two ways...I'd feel like there would be a little bit more control over a smaller school population, and if I could get all 5 (5!...) kids enrolled I would have them all on the same school schedule, rather than the traditional/year-round split I'm looking at now. The down side: None of my kids think Charter School sounds fun. Sydney especially is not thrilled at the idea of uniforms and leaving her friends.

But I did it. I signed our kids up, and then waited for the lottery. We got word that Sydney had been accepted, but the other kids were "wait listed". After going back and forth for a while, we decided that maybe it would be better to keep her enthusiasm about school going in a positive direction, and since the schedules would be different if the rest of the kids were on year-round anyway, we'd let her go the her regular school.

Then a couple of weeks ago the school emailed me to see if I was still interested in having Sydney enrolled there. I explained the situation, and said that we weren't. She replied back, asking if the other kids made it in, would I have them all attend? I replied that I probably would, but given the "lottery style" drawing to fill slots, I didn't expect that was likely.

Then today, I got emails telling me the rest of the kids got in. WHAT?! So now I have to THINK some more about this. It seems like every time I make up my mind, something comes along and tries to change it again...!

What to do, What to do...

Something New!

We sell balloons at the Walmart I work at. Often, we'll have someone come in and put in a request for balloons to be filled that they'll come in and pick up later. We've gotten some pretty weird requests: Put this glitter/note in each balloon (asking someone to a dance), we even had someone try to put little tiny candy bars in the balloons (don't try it...the candy bar just might cancel out the helium!). But last night was a first for me. The note sitting with this order to be picked up today read: "Pick up at 2:00...No helium...they are for paper eggs" Um...Isn't that a pretty easy "do-it-yourself" project? (I kinda want to stop by my store and see the other CSM sitting at the service desk just blowing up 25 balloons for that order. Hee-hee...Love it.)

Got Them Good!

Here's how it starts:

Take 1 Dozen Raspberry filled doughnuts...

Use a straw to extract as much of the raspberry filling as you can...

Then dip in to your bottle of ketchup...

Perhaps a baby medicine syringe will work well...

Inject three good healthy squirts into the center of the doughnut...

You can't see pictures of them actually eating them, because I thought that would be a dead give away to my kids that something was fishy. But it was priceless. All five of them sitting around the table with their doughnuts, each of them starting to devour...And because the straw is really only so effective, there was enough real filling left in the doughnut to lure them in to taking that ONE giant bite of the center...! Ha-ha! Tory was the first to notice...He throws it down on the plate, and yells, "Ketchup!" Then a few minutes later Megan and Sydney look at each other and say the same thing. After Lee and I recovered from our laughter, we gave them all a REAL doughnut. (Michael and Spencer were actually sad when I took the "yucky" one away to give them their new one. They wanted to finish the first one!)

You can tell from Lee's face here that he was in on the joke, and the only doughnut he ate was actually filled with raspberry filling. Everyone else, not so much...!

By far our funniest trick ever...but now the game is on...I'm up for suggestions for NEXT year. It's gonna have to be GOOD!

April Fool's Day...

So my 9-year-old thought he'd be SO clever and try to prank his folks. Luckily, the 5- and 7-year-old are GREAT tattle tails! Plus, I could smell the mayo the minute I walked into the bathroom. (I'd post a picture, but even before the mayo, that toilet needed a good scrub...!) Oh...And Tory also tried to "doctor" up the soda that Lee grabs in the morning. But a soda that's been opened and then "reclosed" with tin foil...Yeah...Dad's too smart for that. Yum...Diet Coke with Lime...and Tabasco...and Worcestershire sauce... Oh just wait...Mom found a GREAT idea to try tonight. I may post pictures of THAT tomorrow! :D

Uncle Cody...

"If American Idol is still on TV when Cody comes home from his mission, I bet he'll win. He's got cool dance, he's got cool musical songs, he's got cool ukulele songs..."

-Michael McAlister

Flashback...

Funny stuff...When your 5-year-old says, "I want to watch kids shows...But not PBS kids. I want the channel that has Tom and Jerry."

I don't know why, but it delights me to no end to watch my kids enjoy things that I enjoyed when I was little. Maybe it's because the cartoons they air today are lacking some of the fun and creativity that I loved about my childhood...The Smurfs, The Snorks, Gummie Bears, Jem, Care Bears, and even My Little Pony. Frankly, they were leaps and bounds more fun than "today's" cartoons.

So yes, my children. Watch Tom try and try to beat that Jerry, over and over. Watch him turn his little cat face into a mousehole shape, or a frying pan shape, and laugh because that's what it was made for! :D

(And scootch over...Mommy wants to watch with you!)

Free Time...Gone...!

We just signed Spencer and Michael up for soccer! Lee and I were talking the other day and realized they haven't ever gotten to play yet! (Shameful, I know...We missed Spencer at that really fun age where they all just run in a big herd around the ball...Now he'll have to play like real kids.)

It's going to get interesting...two teams...two practices...two games. Hopefully we can make it all work out okay even with both our work schedules! Good times, though...can't wait!

I do have some slightly miffed older children...One who wants to take Dance, one who'd love Piano Lessons, and another who is dying to try Lacrosse or Football. We just can't do it all at once...5 kids, 5 activities...Whew! :D So they'll just have to sit this season out!

(See? Life really ISN'T fair! Ha-Ha!)