That puberty thing again

Grant is hitting puberty a few years early. He proudly proclaimed that he had grown chest hair. 

Can't see it?

How about now?  

I think he cheated and drew it on. He wanted to "grow" more chest hair and some whiskers. I nixed the idea pretty quickly. 

I am tired of snow. We have another 16-18 inches on top of what we still had on the ground from the last snow. I am so ready for spring. And once again, school goes until June 6 because of multiple snow days...nine and counting. There goes summer break. 

Speaking of school. Grace found out her science fair project did not get sent to district this year. She was disappointed, but we are so proud of her.  She did get a perfect score on it, so that is reason enough to celebrate. 

John performed in the solo and ensemble contest last Saturday. 

Parents are not allowed in the performance rooms, so I listened from the hall. 

He sounded really good on his solo. He also performed a duet with a friend from band that plays French horn. He received a 1 on both performances. That is the top score possible. Of course since I am a loser parent I had to give him grief about getting such a low score. He was quick to point out the scoring is done with a 1 bein high and 4 being low. 

In farm news we have lost seven baby goats to cold weather. No survivors. I can't wait to get a barn done so we have shelter for things like this. One momma still hasn't given birth. I hope she holds on for another week. 

We tapped trees last weekend for syrup. 

So far we have roughly two hundred gallons of sap to boil. 

Let's hope that new evaporator does its job well. 

Stay warm!

Breakin' All The Rules

Lesson of the day -

Sometimes it is okay to break the rules.

Grant has been upset the last several days when he has gotten home from school.  The problem? 


Girls

Older girls are sitting in his assigned seat on the bus....the front seat that Grant very much enjoys sitting in.  We've talked about things to do in this situation.  He has tried them all.  He asked them nicely to move.  He told them it was his assigned seat.  He even asked the bus driver (who assigned the kids to seats) to make them move.  No luck.

So I helped Grant get rid of the offending seat stealers.

We discussed things that girls do not enjoy....you know....burping, passing gas, picking noses.  I suggested that he simply sit in his assigned seat with the girls.  I also suggested he might indulge in a few practices that are otherwise considered socially unacceptable while sitting with them.

He did.

They moved.


Hey.  Sometimes you just gotta go against the rules.




By the way.  Grant does not actually wear glasses.

 

He was wearing these as part of a demonstration during a field trip to Glassworks.

The glasses make the yellow flames disappear so the workers can see the piece they are forming.

Each of the kids got a chance to see through a pair of the special glasses.

I even got to ride the bus with my buddy.  How many more years will he be excited to ride a bus with mom?

 

Happy Tuesday!!

 

I Hate Winter

We have had way too much snow and cold this week. 

We have spent many hours playing games and drinking hot chocolate...

All in hopes of staying warm and staying sane. 

Mostly hoping to stay sane. 

Not sure it's working. 

Day five cancelled this week. Why ruin a perfectly good snowcation with a single day of school this week?

John had his girlfriend over for a few hours yesterday. 

Did I mention he has a girlfriend?

His military ball date also became his homecoming date two weeks later. 

Now she's become his girlfriend. She's a nice girl. I approve. 

Grace and Grant had friends over to play today. 

I just hope the weather cooperates and we get a break. We don't need another week of snow days. 

Happy Friday!

Having a Ball

David and I are contenders for Parent of the Year.

We left John and Emily home while we took Grace and Grant to Disney for a week.

Parenting Points Awarded - 0

NOT ONLY did we leave them home while we went to play, 

we scheduled our trip during the week of John's ROTC Military Ball.

Parenting Points Awarded - 0

This is John's date, Riley.

Don't they make a great looking couple?

Some of the gang met at a friend's house before the evening gala began.

 

I appreciate Sharon opening her house to everyone and sharing pictures with us.

After all of the pictures were taken, it was off to the ball.

in a limousine we booked for them.

 

Yep.  They got to go in style!

You know how good ideas can sometimes spin out of control?

Well.

I was concerned because the dance was not over until midnight.  Grandma stayed with John and Emily while we were gone.  I did not want her to pick up John and take his date home so late at night.  The school is on the other side of Louisville from our house.

I don't know other parents from ROTC well enough to ask that kind of favor.  I considered many options but decided the kids might as well have a little fun since they missed the vacation to Florida. With David's blessing, I booked a limo.  I thought having another couple ride with John and Riley would be nice for everyone.  Soon plans grew and so did the size of the limo.  In the end we had several kids help with costs in order to enjoy the fun.

Parenting Points Awarded - 100

They had a great time.

And Emily got in on the fun too.   Since we had the limo all evening, the driver took Grandma, Emily and a friend out for dinner and a drive around town while waiting to take the party goers home later that evening.  

I'll let you know if we actually win Parent of the Year.