Junie - NOT a morning person

The St Patrick's Day Parade

On March 9th Lisa bundled up the two little ones ( the other two were at sleepovers) and took them to the annual St Patrick's Day parade downtown. In an unusual move for us she allowed them to purchase souvenirs and whatnots; alas this greatly offended Lulu when she heard about our selective generosity!

Ginger in her school pic retake - K5

Report Cards - Quarter 1

Report card/parent teacher conferences were this past Wednesday. Both of my oldest girls made the Honor Roll, Smiley did much better than I expected given his own assessments of his performance to date (confidence boy, confidence!), and Ginger . . . well, she hasn’t been expelled. Yet.

YaYa:  A’s in: Gym, Science, and Technology (Computers). A-‘s in: Music, Art, Reading (huh? The kid reads nonstop), and Social Studies. B’s in: Religion and Language Arts. B-  in Spanish and a lone C in Math, which her teacher chalks up to her lack of confidence rather than a lack of understanding or skill. Health is not listed as a subject.

GPA: 3.294

LuLu:  A+ in Health.  A’s in: Gym, Art, Spanish, Social Studies. A- in Religion, Technology (Computers) and Music.  B+ in Language Arts.  B in Reading. C+ in Math and a C in Science; neither of the last two are acceptable.

GPA: 3.263

 We have submitted paperwork at the local community center requesting a math tutor for both girls, mainly just to boost their confidence in the subject.

Smiley: No letter grades in 2^nd grade just N (needs improvement) P (progressing) and S (Secure).

P’s in Health, Reading, Religion, Music, Social Studies. S’s in Gym, Science, Math, Art, Spanish, Computer.  A single lone ‘N’ is English, due largely to a series of disastrous spelling tests. No ‘N’s in the behavior section.

Ginger’s class is graded with + (demonstrates consistent understanding and application), / (general understanding) and – (needs more time to develop); there is no overall grade for each subject, just a series of individually assessed skills within each area. For convenience sake I’m going to ‘round up’ using whatever grade appeared most often under that banner.

+’s in: gym, music, math, social studies, Spanish, computer. /’s in language arts, science, religion. Under fine motor skills it’s 2 ‘/’’s and a single ‘-‘ under “prints first name”. She’s been getting into all sorts of trouble for writing her name all goosey-loosey when she knows better.

Under behavior she received N’s (needs improvement) under: demonstrates self control, accepts responsibility for own actions, demonstrates listening skills, and follows directions. She also was given a N  for “speaks clearly using appropriate language patterns”

Good job kids! Mom and Dad are proud of you all! XXOOXXOO

We go Skating - and YaYa breaks her wrist!

First off, ignore the ‘date stamp’ on these pictures. I assure you, we did not time travel back to 2007 just to enjoy a trip to the roller rink. It was Wednesday October 10^th, 2012.

Ginger, our favorite little BookEnd, had been shuffling along inside the house for weeks on roller skates. Because of that practice time she had become mildly proficient in both sorta-skating and looking like a goofy-goof, so Lisa and I both figured it was time she was introduced to the wider world of roller-rinks.

Luckily, one of the two local skate rinks has a $15 family special on Wednesday nights, so it didn't hurt my pocketbook as much as I feared.

We had a blast. YaYa, who skipped volleyball practice for the trip, was in a great mood. She won the limbo contest (I’d pegged Ginger to win but she disqualified herself in a late round by touching the ground with her hand) and skated around the rink a few times holding my hand. Not that she can’t skate mind you – she’s very good – she was just feeling all warm and fuzzy.

Meanwhile LuLu was more than holding her own, Ginger barely needed any assistance and she kept on truckin’ around and around on her own, tho' ol' droopy pants Daddy held her hand once in awhile







 Lisa sat out due to a back injury, and Smiley . . . well, Smiley clung to the wall and eventually was taken under the wing of the DJ/host, who tried to teach him how to overcome his fear and learn to (properly) skate.

We were enjoying a pizza when the DJ announced the ‘Red Light/Green Light Game” and the kids hurried out to play. Eventually it boiled down to YaYa and a boy. The other kid was stopped all of five feet from the wall/finishing line whereas YaYa was 15 feet or so back. No matter; YaYa launched herself at break neck speed , passing the kid and reaching the finishing wall – also at break neck speed. She collided with it at full throttle and collapsed to the ground. I was soon paged overhead and skated out to her.

“Get up YaYa,” I said kindly. She was writhing on the ground, holding her left arm.

“She can’t,” the DJ said, “she’s hurt her arm”

“Hurting her arm doesn’t make her legs stop working. Get up,” I said. What? You thought I’d carry the kid off the skating floor? She’s 11, and I was wearing skates. Get real!

It was obvious there was something wrong, and with my error with Smiley’s broken foot (you might recall I delayed taking him in to the doctor for a day, convinced it was a sprain, there was no delay. We packed up our stuff – rather piqued that a girl YaYa had befriended offered only the quickest expression of sympathy – and left.

I had to go to work within 90 minutes, but I dropped Lisa and YaYa off at the emergency room, where my Mother-in-law later joined them and gave them a ride home. The verdict was clear cut: a clean break (what they called a “young tree” snap) of the left wrist.) To immobile it they gave her a purple full arm cast, heralding the end of her 2012 volleyball season.

Not the greatest end to the night, but for 95% of the evening a great and special time for Team Slap. 

Ginger's 5th Birthday Party - pt 2

After her birthday party we completed the 2nd half of Lump/Ginger's 5th Birthday celebration - a trip to the State Fair!

We got lucky at the admission booth. Unbeknownst to us it was a family day, and I think the total cost of admissions for the six of us was $10 at most. Sweet.

Our first stop was the expo building, which is always the center of the fair for me. Within one aisle though, the kids spotted a rock climbing wall and insisted on giving it a shot. Lu tried it and climbed to the top. Ginger tried it and fearlessly climbed as high as she could (not far). Smiley refused to give it a shot until the girls had already done, and then hemmed and hawed and got all of five or six feet in the air before giving up.Yikes

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Next up was the Nail Ritz booth, where Lisa worked each year. The kids all had designs painted on their nails, even Smiley (a macho skull and crossbones for him) and Lisa bought a kit for home.

We wandered through the expo building for a bit longer but the kids got on our nerves, wanting this and this and that until it was insufferable. Enough of that - outside we went.

We walked around for a minute or two, got some lemonade and just barely missed the pig races. The kids did partake of the Giant Slide and enjoyed the heck out of it.

 Then we went and looked at some of the animal buildings, where they 'drove' a tractor and combine and played in a pit of grain before Lisa sat the kids down for a group photo for her key chain.

An unbend-able rule of parenthood: one kid will always - ALWAYS           - do something goofy that ruins an otherwise great picture. This time around Smiley looked all askew, but the other three kids looked so great it was still worth the money. While we were waiting for the picture I bought a small box of legendary cream puffs  knocking that off our annual checklist. Unfortunately the heat later made my cream puffs liquefy and drip all over my leg (eww), so I never got to enjoy them as I would have liked.

From there it was onto the midway, or whatever they called the area this year. Here we split up. I waited for Lu and YaYa, who decided to ride a couple of rides together, including Pharaoh's Fury. Smiley had insisted on going to the haunted house, so Lisa went with the two little one's.

When we reunited I got the whole scoop. As I had expected, Smiley chickened out and wouldn't even wait in line for the haunted house, much less go inside. Likewise, he refused to chance any ride that Lisa suggested. Eventually, fed up with waiting for her brother, Ginger simply went on a pair of rides by herself, drawing stares from scared nine year olds who would never brave it solo themselves.

Good for you, Ginger. Smiley . . . well,  Smiley, this isn't your most glorious tale. :)

But the irony of it is that Smiley's refusal to ride led to the biggest individual score of the day. He used his share of ride tickets to play some carnival games and took home a royal blue squid hat!

After the last of the tickets were used up, and dusk was settling in, I bought the kids foot long corn dogs and we all had a seat on the grass where we watched a super high, super cool looking ride be serviced. (apparently, not only was it mechanically suspect but it had been installed far too close to buildings for comfort). We left this little oasis when some schumtz made a comment on how "kids shouldn't run in sandals" - refering to Ginger - and I felt my dander rise.

(one note: around this time we passed a camel ride. I wanted to ride, but the weight limit was set at 275. This inspired me and I hope to use this as a goal for next year)

With night now upon us we returned to the expo building. In due course I bought:

Lisa a gold anklet

the household a set of ShamWows

myself a calfskin wallet with built in coin purse (it's in my pocket as I type)

Lu a twig made into a pencil, a giant pickle, a green peace sign necklace and some stuff I can't remember

YaYa got her eybrows threaded and an owl ring

Ginger and Smiley both got stuffed animals, although Lisa and I both hated buying them because the vendor was a jerk who wouldn't negotiate the price.

There was a gold crucifix there that I really wanted but couldn't justify buying at the time. Here's a picture of it, just in case Santa is listening :)

So in summary: some exasperating moments with the kids, but all in all a fun way to round off Ginger's birthday, and with all the walking not a bad day of exercise either!

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