Random Thoughts Thursday

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Life has become so much more insane the past couple of weeks.  I started my job, which means I'm gone all morning Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  It's amazing how cutting just those few hours out has made my craziness even more crazy.

We went to Parent/Teacher Conferences for Vicki tonight.  We talked to her four core teachers (science, social studies, language arts, and math), and every single one of them commented on how she's "good at advocating for herself in class".  Basically, what that means, is that my daughter is Hermione.  It's fitting.

Less than a week until Halloween, and it's entirely possible that I may not have even begun working on the girls' costumes.  Never mind that we have a Halloween party to go to on Saturday.  Good times.

I'm grateful that Lexi chose to be a viking.  Horned hat and brown dress, and she's good to go.

Now, anyone know how to make a volcano costume in less than two days?

We finally got our print from the family pictures we took this summer!  I can't wait to get it framed!

On Saturday we went to the corn maze with our good friends, and afterward we went to the pumpkin patch.  We told the girls they could pick any pumpkin they wanted, as long as they could carry it.  The one Vicki chose weighed 33 lbs.  It may have taken her 20 minutes to cover the ground it took every one else five minutes to cover, but goshdarnit, she carried that pumpkin.

After watching the Presidential debate Monday night, Ellie told Chris she plans to be the first female President.  And the first thing she plans to do is paint the White House purple.

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Your turn!

Presentations of Pure Awesomeness

We love our local public schools.  We feel like our kids are getting a good education there.  We've had some excellent teachers, and great experiences with the administration listening to and addressing our concerns.  But sometimes we feel like they're not being challenged as much as we'd like.  So a few weeks ago, Chris and I decided to offer an incentive for the girls to do some extracurricular work.  We told them we'd pay them to research a topic and present what they'd learned to us.

Vicki's reaction was pretty much, "Meh."  Of course, she's a busy girl this year and is taking an especially challenging math class, so I can understand her not wanting to fill her downtime with extra work.

Lexi, however, jumped at the chance.  She just spent all her money on an iPod, so she's eager to fill that piggy bank back up.

She spent about a week researching the states of matter.  Chris gave her some advice and a little guidance, but she did the bulk of the work on her own.  Once she was finished with her research, she put together an awesome PowerPoint presentation for us.  I wish I had thought to actually record the whole thing, but since I didn't, here, at least, is the PowerPoint part of it.  She had notes printed out, with all kinds of information for each slide, but you'll have to use your imagination as you watch this (it's a little long and there's no sound, so feel free to skip ahead):



Not about to be outdone by her sister, Ellie decided that she needed to do a presentation, too.  Inspired by the states of matter, she chose to do her presentation on...wait for it...gas.  Oh how I wish I could have included her commentary, too, or Chris's description of her "research" process (essentially, it involved Google image searches, and him asking her, between fits of laughter, "What else is a gas?")  You will definitely want to watch the whole thing on this one:



A few comments: I have no idea what that's actually a graph of, but Chris says she told him, "We need graphs and charts!"  When she got to the "liar, liar" screen, she told us, "This means you should never hold your gas in.  You should always just let it out, or this might happen."

My kids are awesome.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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Am I crazy for being appalled that my college classmates would use emoticons and "lol" in a graded assignment?

The sun has been shining for the last couple of days, and it's heavenly.  Of course, it was shining for the last several months.  But the two were separated by a week of rain, and I'm mourning the passing of our gorgeous Indian summer.  I love Fall, but I love it best when it's crisp and sunny.

I need to get busy on Halloween costumes.  That volcano outfit is not going to make itself.

I love listening to Ellie read.  She's come a long way in just the last few weeks.

There's no school for middle schoolers tomorrow, so Vicki and her friends are going on a "field trip" to the Portland Art Museum.  We did this last year, and it was great.  Even if they're not learning, they can still learn.

Lexi told me this morning that her iPod isn't quite as exciting as she thought it would be because she can't take it to school.  Translation: she was hoping to look cool with it.  Poor kid.  Life's tough.

I am fundraisered out.  Please let there be no more fundraisers at either school for a long, long time.  At least until Girl Scout cookie sales are over.

I'm not looking forward to cookie sales.  It doesn't start until January, but I'm already dreading it.

My brother-in-law moved to Australia last month.  Now Ellie wants him to send her a koala.  Secretly, so do I.

Also, he wants the girls to make a video of the toilet flushing so we can compare and see if they really do swirl the opposite direction down under.

Vicki's been complaining of a stomachache for the last several days.  We finally figured out the problem - gym class.  She's using muscles she hasn't been using before.  Definitely a good thing.

My kids hate my nutrition class.  It's ruining their lives.  I love it.

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Your turn!

Random Thoughts Thursday (nearly Friday edition)

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My life these days has evolved into a very boring routine.  I get up, take the kids to school, go to work (3 days a week), come home and sit in front of the computer to do schoolwork, pick the kids up from school and take them to dance classes or piano lessons (where, assuming the laptop worked, which it doesn't right now, I would do more schoolwork) or Girl Scout meetings, come home, make dinner, do more schoolwork, and crawl into bed.  Boring.  I guess I'll get "me" time in four years.

So far I still have high A's in both my classes!  I haven't had any exams yet, though...

I almost cried when I discovered that Dave's Killer Bread is, indeed, 100% whole grain, and therefore actually good for us.  Unlike the "whole grain" white bread I've been buying, which is not, in fact, whole grain.  Too bad my kids won't eat bread with seeds in it.

There is no school tomorrow, and for this I am very grateful.  Sleep is a beautiful thing.

We told the older girls that we'd pay them to do research projects outside of school.  Vicki's response was pretty much, "meh", but Lexi jumped on it, and tonight she gave a PowerPoint presentation on the states of matter.  It was awesome.

On Saturday I did something I haven't done for a long time: I fell off my bike.  My hands are scraped up, my knees are bruised, and my dignity is lying somewhere on the bike path in Maywood Park, but otherwise I'm fine.  There are a lot of things that are hard to do with scraped hands, though.

I haven't updated my 365 blog in a few weeks, but I'm fairly certain I've still taken a picture ever day.  At least, I hope so!

Okay, so that "me" time thing up there...not entirely true.  I'll finish my pre-requisites after Winter term, but the nursing program (assuming I get in) won't start until the following Fall.  So I'll have a few months of "me" time before the craziness sets in for real.

I like that I get paid to spend time at the girls' school, which is what I was doing all the time anyway.

Halloween costume preparations are underway, and my kids have become incredibly creative.  Vicki is going to be "Alberta" Einstein, Lexi is dressing as a Viking, and Ellie wants to be...a volcano.  I am so not making this up.

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Your turn!

Random Thoughts Thursday

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This afternoon I was driving down the freeway and had to swerve to another lane to miss cases of toilet paper that had fallen out of someone's truck.  It sure looked pretty blowing in the wind, though.

I'm hosting book club at my house tonight.  Too bad I haven't finished the book yet.

You know who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?  Me, that's who.  I thought I was intelligent until I started reading To the Lighthouse.  I know what all the words mean individually, but I have no idea what they're saying all together.  No idea at all.

Taking a nutrition class is fascinating, but it's also a little depressing because it's made me realize that we have hardly any truly healthy food in our house.

I wish I still remembered how to speak Spanish.

Saturday is Ellie's 7th birthday.  She's not excited or anything, though.  Nope, not at all.

Saturday is also the harvest carnival at the elementary school.  Busy day.

Did you know October is Anti-Bullying Month?  I didn't until today, but now that you know, too, you should watch this video:



Educate your kids and the kids you have contact with.  Bullying is wrong, no matter the sentiment behind it.  Treat other people the way you want to be treated.  Don't be a bully.

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Your turn!