typo

If you got the birth announcement and headed to this blog - sorry, thanks to the printer - who corrected half of the card, and left the other half undone - you landed at the wrong site. Most of the info you are looking for is at the OTHER DAYDREAMERS BLOG.

Not sure when I will update here. Things have been busy, and keeping one blog going is tough enough.

j

busy

Sorry - we haven't been here much.

Only 14 days left until baby Yoda gets here, and we have been busy.

Actually - that's not entirely true - we've been sick, and "busy" sounds much better than "lying around for two weeks, and now have a to-do list so long, that we may never see the light of day."

But that's what it's been like.

I'll try to get back here soon.

In the meantime - feel free to check out the other blog.

punk turns 11

It is too much to take in at once. In the course of a week, both kids have aged dramatically.

Punk celebrated his 11th birthday with his friends on the 11th, and family on the 13th. I wonder if that is why he looks so incredibly subdued in his exit interview:

gloating - just a bit

Did you hear that?

It is the sound of me jumping up and down.
It is the sound of me shouting for joy.
It is the sound of one certain principal's theory about my child zooming down the toilet.

Ohhhhh - in case the news has not yet made it across town, Punk was one of a handful of 4th & 5th graders to receive the Presidential Academic Excellence Award today. Yes I say - "EXCELLENCE" not "troubling" or "unmotivated" or even "pretty decent" - EXXXXCCCCEELLLLLEENNNNCE.

It means he had to have over a 90% GPA in everything he did. In addition, he had to exhibit exemplary citizenship/leadership skills. Not "disturbing" or "concerning" citizenship skills not even "good" - EXEMPLARY.

He has a golden pin and certificate to prove it - which he has been proudly displaying all day.

And even though this is what I expect of him, we are still pretty proud of the guy, and I must admit it feels reallllllllllllly good to gloat.

exit inteview

Before each kid goes to bed on their birthday, I interview them about the previous year. This is part of Kooka's - she took it verrrry seriously (as you can tell).





This is Kooka. I loved my birthday. We had a spa party and it was really fun. We had partners, we did massages, we did makeovers and manicures. The next day I celebrated with my family and I got a Pixos set, caligraphy pens and a certificate to go to the mall with my mom. I really love those gifts.

debut

In case you missed it (and you did - because even Punk didn't make this one - he was busy recovering from a tooth pulling) - here is Kooka's musical instrument debut. Her Egrets class played little xylaphones and recorders during the concert. She was amazing - as usual.

pool

Lately I have been posting more things at the new blog. Not sure why - maybe they are more pertinent to school and stuff. Maybe I am just too busy to post much of anything lately. Maybe I am just waiting until this school year is over so I can suffer out the rest of this pregnancy in relative peace.

Regardless, I didn't want anybody to miss this picture of Punk and Kooka in their new pool. It is only 33 inches high (well at least on one side - it's at a bit of an incline) but they have spent hours in it. Which is a good thing, because it is so lopsided, that it will likely be tipped over by tomorrow morning.

when punk grows up

Punk has informed me that when he grows up, he is going to be the kind of adult that has lego key chains, eats pizza for dinner every night, wears keenes every day, and has a gps that talks like this:

ooohhhhhhhhhh

Did I mention......?

I should have.

Should have been the first thing I did was run to this blog when I found out over a week ago.

Sorry if I left you hanging.

The child who "is not a bully", the child who Punk was "looking for conflict with", the child whom the school director emphatically claimed was NOT the source of Punk's bullying issues - was finally asked to leave the school. They won't confirm it - but three sets of parents have.

She was biting people - and breaking skin.

You heard me folks - 11 years old biting people until they bleed.

Good thing the principal chose our family to allienate. Good thing they kept the rabid family happy.

torn

I am torn between two blogs. (Actually if I am being honest, it's probably more than that).

I am not sure if I should post more often here, or at the new DAYDREAMERS. Punk likes the new one because he's done all of the artwork, but Kooka likes the tradition of this one.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Any ideas?

punk's you tube

This is Punk. I think these videos are HYSTERICAL!



And this one

help zachary

I do not know this little boy or his family, but I heard his story, and know that if this were Punk, Kooka or Yoda - I'd want this story on every blog I could find.

Please help spread the word to help find a new kidney for 6 year-old Zachary.

HELP ZACHARY

punk's piano

We love Punk's piano teacher! She is just what he needs - fun, but still knows how to keep him on task - and look at what he can do after only 4 lessons:

new digs

I am thinking about starting a new blog that is more specific to homeschooling ideas and how we live.

If any of you would care to check it out and give me your opinion on what you like and what you don't, I would be eternally grateful. Like I said - I am just now getting the skeleton of it down, and plan to transfer some posts, and update more education/travel stuff there - I'll keep the family fun stuff here.

Anyway . . . please go check it out and let me know what you think (on this blog please - I check this one more often). Thanks!

new daydreamers

does anybody else think this is creepy?

baby clothes

Oh please, please, please put this on my non-existent baby registry.

Yesterday, as I sipped my mocha and strolled through an unnamed store looking for yard furniture, I stumbled onto a section of baby clothing. Don't ask what the onsies were doing right next to the garden gnomes - it was just that kind of place.

But I digress.

I could not believe the sheer volume of baby camo that is available in the state of Minnesota. It's true - there were at least four racks of it. There was digitized army camo - in case your baby is deployed to the desert, oak leaf camo - perfect for leaving your baby in a decaying pile of forest compost while you stalk a 10 point buck, and even toddler-sized camo backpacks - in case your 18 month old is planning to ambush a government building and needs to lie low in the woods for a few hours with his pipe bomb equipment.

For real?!

Who needs to camouflage their baby? I had enough trouble trying to find mine half the time!

And I can't begin to fathom what this little dress means. It's for a 6 month old, and in case it's tough to read, says, "Daddy's Little Deer." What?! I get the whole play on words thing - but what is it really trying to say? Because let's not forget that anyone who buys this for their kid is the type of person who will, after consuming copious amounts of Schlitz Malt Liquor, spend hours crouched in a tree during a bitter Minnesota winter, just for the opportunity to pop a cap in said "deer." Might as well just paint a bullseye on the back of this thing, and call the taxidermist now.

Unless you hear that baby Yoda is up for a role in "The Hunted 2" - there's really no need to give us one of these - ever - no really - I mean it.

no surprise

It's really no big surprise - considering how talented everybody is, but STILL, Punk and Kooka were thrilled to find out that they (along with their dad & the extended crew) actually WON the whole peeps contest.

They got a full page spread in the Sunday paper, and were crazy excited.

You can check out the link here.

stop theif

We need a bit of advice here.

The entire family is 99.9% certain that one of the kid's friends is a budding kleptomaniac. On top of attempting to entice one of our own children to go "steal some candy from the basement," we found a few things missing when this particular child went home.

These are not big things, or expensive things - just things that we know somebody had to have taken.

For example - two of the knobs on our kitchen drawers have been unscrewed and are nowhere to be found. Bearing in mind that even a 6.0 earthquake would not have simultaneously unscrewed two knobs on adjacent drawers - these things are on pretty tight, they HAD to be unscrewed by somebody. And even if we DID accept the earthquake theory, the knobs would still be laying on the floor - right?

And then there is the little matter of a cutting blade - not a big deal, just a tough to replace part of a paper cutter. We all know it was there when the kid got here (I used it), and it was not there when the kid left.

Our child has since said, "I don't really want that kid over any more," - a request with which I am more than happy to comply.

But the question remains . . . how do we handle the situation? Obviously we can buy more knobs - that isn't the issue. The issue, is that when Rico agreed to call the child and nonchalantly ask if they had seen any loose knobs, this child, without missing a beat instantly replied "No, no, no, I didn't take anything."

Not "what knobs?" or "I don't remember seeing anything like that" or "that's weird" . . . . just, "I didn't steal anything."

Soooo . . . we could use some advice. Feel free to comment here, or just leave your opinion on the poll in the upper right.

(Oh - and in case we are keeping track, which a grudge holding mother would never do . . but just in case the rest of you are - this child happens to come from the same school where the principal insisted there are no "bad kids - no bullies, no thieves" - Just troublemakers like Punk - grrrrrrrr)

update

Quick update, because there is really no time for much else:

• In case you haven't heard - it's a girl, and unfortunately we still call her Yoda.

• Huge projects at work (at least huge for somebody carrying a bowling ball as she dances throughout the day)

• Just colored Easter eggs - and dropped three.

• We are super thankful for the park in our backyard - AND the prepaid cellphone, which works much better than a whistle

• Punk is reading Artemis Fowl, I am reading Fablehaven 5, Rico is working on Stick Figure, and Kooka is reading about wild plants.

• Piano lessons for Punk are going wonderfully! His teacher says he is a quick learner, and he often practices for an hour at a time with no prompting. EIther he loves it, or is coming down with something.

clothes

This is getting a little old.

I have never been a good at being pregnant - but I promised that if I ever had the good fortune to have a third child, that I would relish the whole experience.

Whatever.

Aside from the all-day sickness, virus that morphed into leg paralysis, and inability to do my job properly - there is this little nugget, that I have never been able to avoid:

All maternity clothes fall into one of two categories: a)Suburban businesswoman trying to look professional while hiding an over-inflated beach ball under her smartly buttoned oxford . . . or B) Mother-to-be who never gets off of the couch, eats cheetos all day, and is content to take her kids to dance class wearing hot pink leggings and an oversized Pooh Bear T-shirt.

MY GOD!

And even when I do manage to find something without a screen-printed Tweety Bird, it is still revolting. There is absolutely nothing available that does not make me look like a) a nerd b) a slob or c) a druid from a George Lucas production.

I suppose that if I were willing to spend $76 dollars for a t-shirt, I could manage to look respectable for the next 4 months, but I can't bring myself to do it. Besides - even those shirts seem to take a crude delight in pointing out the obvious. A white tank I found, simply reads "Oops!" Another actually says "Sex Ed Dropout," while a third plasters a red foil star boldly across the navel proclaiming it's wearer to not only be pregnant, but apparently, also . . . a Sneetch.

I am just going to keep stuffing myself into my regular clothes as long as I can.