A Decision Nearly Made

We're about 90 percent sure that Matt will not be returning to his 3rd Grade class at Beavercreek in January.  Instead, we'll be (gasp) homeschooling him for the duration of the school year.  There are several considerations that have prompted this decision, chief among them being the size of his class this year (33+) and the unprofessionalism & careless attitude of his classroom teacher.  We feel he will benefit greatly from having some one-on-one instruction and attention, and have high hopes that he will exceed grade-level in all subject areas by the end of the year.  'Twill be a grand experiment, and while I know it will be challenging at times, especially given our very-similar, um, pyroclastic personalities, I'm expecting to have a lot of fun with him.   I'm looking forward to getting to know him better, deepening our relationship, as well as finally putting that degree of mine to more formal use.

Christmas 2011

Favorite Memories/Lines From Christmas 2011
*Spending all day at Mom's Christmas Eve; hanging out with the family, being entertained by all the kids, playing games, opening gifts, eating & Skyping with the Odens.
*Rachael, opening gift from Grandma, screaming:  "Flannelgraph!  Flannelgraph!"
*Holding David for hours. 
*Matt's rueful smile as he opened a gift from "Santa" at Grandma's:  a package of large brown paper lunch bags.
*Bea singing for Aunt Amy & Uncle Patrick.
*Mar-goat chewing on the plastic baby Jesus/manger, Chris' iPhone (hanging up on A&P in the process!), and a video camera & eating wrapping paper.
*Spying a flock of Angry Birds flying through Grandma's house.
*Geoff's Neverending Gift prank
*Ending Christmas Eve with a beautiful & reverent candlelight service at Hope Fellowship.
*Grant, as the other kids are about to tear into their stockings this morning:  "We should pray first."
*The kids gathering around the Christmas Countdown Calendar to put Jesus' star up & sing "Happy Birthday" to Him.
*Rachael's gift of "coal" to Grant from the "Coal Elf Brigade."  (She wrapped a chocolate orange in black paper.)
*Chris, about Red Box: "Well, it must be really easy if Mom (Diana) knows how to do it."

Some favorite photos below...

A Brief Insight From Grant: Yoda vs. God

Grant:  (reading aloud to me from the literary classic, Watch Out For Jabba the Hutt!)  "Yoda is one of the most powerful Jedi.  He is small but very strong and wise."  (pause)  But he's not always wise.  Sometimes he says to do what God doesn't want us to do.

Me:  (surprised) Oh, what does Yoda say that goes against what God says?

Grant:  He says you should only care about yourself, and not others. 

I'm sure we could have had a deeper discussion about this, but of course we got interrupted.  Perhaps we will have a chance to resume a conversation along this theme another time.

Dad's Famous Peanut Brittle

Tastes as good as it looks, too. 

Why Our Christmas Card Does Not Have a Group Shot This Year

These are just some of the good ones...









Grant in Hulk mode.

Grant in "gonna smile 'til it hurts" mode

And I just don't know what to say about Grant in this one.  Somehow his face just makes me want to cry.  Matt's, too.  They look like they're in the middle of a Hallmark moment.

Okay, so this one might've worked, but Grant's lipless smile bugged me.  He looked a little too much like Mr. Incredible.

Lunch Bag Coolness

Apparently there is some sort of hierarchy of coolness when it comes to lunch bags. Each of the Big Three have a reusable lunch sack that they take to school every day. Occasionally, one of them (okay, I'll name names: Matt) forgets to bring it home, which usually results in this scene the following morning:

Me (making sandwiches with one hand, cutting up apples with the other, and opening Ziplocs with my teeth): I don't see anyone's lunch bags...where are all the lunch bags?

[Big Three leap up from their breakfasts and scramble to find their backpacks. Two out of three return, lunch sacks in hand. (Okay, I'll name names: Matt can't find his.)]

Matt: (glumly, hitting head with hand) I left it at school.

Me: (rolling eyes) You have got to be more responsible. (continues packing lunches)

[Time to go to the bus]

Matt: Mooooommmm!!! I can't take my lunch to school in THAT! (THAT is a cool, copper-colored plastic bag with handles, lined inside with purple from Teavana...one of your higher-end plastic shopping bags.)

Me: What? That's a cool-looking bag, and it's sturdy, too.

Matt: But it's...girly. It has purple in it.

Me: (rolling eyes) Fine, you find another bag & re-pack your lunch.

And then this morning, fresh off some Christmas shopping yesterday, I put his lunch in a Disney store bag, replete with scenes of Mickey & Minnie in a Winter Wonderland. Considering that his normal reusable lunch sack features Toy Story 3, I figured a Disney bag would be a safe bet.

Matt: (eyeing Disney bag with a grimace) Mooooommmm!!! Don't we have just a normal grocery bag?

Me: (rolling eyes)