Spring Break Withdrawals

Rough week with the kiddos so far.

A ridiculous amount of whining.

Double the defiance.

A whole lot of crying.

Way too much fighting.

An appalling number of privileges lost.

 

Yes, the week after Spring Break has been hard.

On all of us.
 

I imagine we all wish we were still here:

or here:

 

 

Why We Celebrate Easter

The P-word

This topic terrifies me.

Always has.

Odds are, always will.

 

I have to confess I felt pretty surprised

when I started hearing about a fireside (meeting) tackling this topic,

a fireside for parents AND teens, including kids eight and up.

It seemed too mature and too intense a topic for my nine-year-old son.

 

But then I started to think about the iPad that Bennett and every other

third through fifth grader at his school have sitting in their desks.

I thought about his friends with phones,

and the images they have on those phones.

I thought about the kind of garbage

that pops up on You Tube without your even trying.

 

I realized if it hadn't happened already,

it was bound to happen sometime soon.

My son would possibly seek or be exposed to pornography.

 

So I stopped feeling shocked about this fireside

and started seeking the courage I naturally lacked

to talk to my kid about it 

and bring him along with me.

 

What is this fireside?

It's a program called FIGHT THE NEW DRUG.

 

http://www.fightthenewdrug.org/

 

Click on "Get the Facts" and you'll get an idea of what the kids learned.

If it comes to your area, I encourage you to go.

The speaker = engaging and perfect for tweens/teens.

Benito loved it,

despite the awkward subject matter.

 

 

The End of an Era

Today marks the last time I will teach co-op preschool.
Ever.

Super strange.

I've been doing this for six plus years,

since Bennett was a little tike.

We went from a co-ed group with Benito

to an all boys group with Eli,

then a co-ed group with Eli

to a now all girls one with Millie.

 

I didn't think to take a picture of the five of them today.

I had a few other things on my mind, I suppose,

like practicing the letter Z,

 

 

 

teaching basic addition with a math egg hunt,

 

 

 

helping them paint thumbprint eggs on their "baskets,"

 

 

 

discussing why we have eggs and bunnies at Easter time,

 

 

 

and of course mediating turns on the swings, trikes,

and hammock in the backyard.

 

The finality of today didn't hit me until after it had ended,

so poor Millie and friend had to put up with me taking photos.

They decided to do some drawing and cutting.

It seemed like an extended preschool kinda moment.

 

 

 

Thanks to all those we have co-oped with over the years.

It's been a fun ride!

 

 

 

**Friends to the rescue!

 

One of the other preschool moms saved me

by sending a few shots

of the girls from last December:

 

 

 

Wanna Go To The Final Four With Me?

Hello Family and Friends,

Thanks to my good luck or perhaps exceptional college basketball prognostication skills I have won 4 tickets to the Men's NCAA Final Four tournament in Arlington, Texas for the April 5th Saturday games and the final on Monday April 7th.

Who knew that online bracket challenge games could be so much fun and so rewarding!

The only problem is that I only have 1 ticket.  I am taking my two boys, but I am having a bear of a time finding someone else who either wants to go or is available to go. 

I asked if I could sell the 4th ticket, but they won't let me.  It was a family bracket challenge and I am only allowed to bring family members and pick up the tickets when I get there.

They will email a ticket confirmation that I will redeem when we arrive. 

All airfare and the hotel are covered as well.

I thought about returning the extra ticket since I cannot sell it, but you know I can't refuse a freebie.

The only problem is that if I bring one of you with me, you will have to pretend to be part of the family. 

No biggie, huh.

So anyways, I need to know by end of day today at 4pm.  So the first person who can provide a convincing argument for why they should be the lucky 4th wheel will earn themselves a free ticket to the Big Dance:

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one item...today is a day that is near and dear to my heart.

So Happy April Fool's everyone!

Cheers :)

Stephen