Soapbox Warning

If you have children, grandchildren or are just concerned with the fate of education in our country, then wake up and smell the disaster! Funding for education in our state is being cut even deeper this year. In my district, any teacher with seven years in the district or less will be CUT COMPLETELY. We are talking about new, enthusiastic, highly trained teachers, ready to change the world...CUT! Just on my campus, 24 teachers will be whittled down to 20 (including me, who will be forced to change campuses after 10 years). We will not have fewer students on campus, just just fewer teachers! Children will be packed into larger classes despite the fact that research has PROVEN that smaller class sizes are better for student learning. Kinder - third grade, plan for 30+ students. Fourth grade and up, plan for 35-40 students per class. There is NO MAXIMUM! Additionally, students will often be combined into mixed grade classes to cut costs. Having taught combination classes most of my career, I can assure you that it is NOT in the best interest of the students! Even the BEST teachers are stretched beyond their capabilities, and the bottom line is we already have too little time to give students the individual attention they need for optimal success. Please contact your representatives in the state and let them know that education is supremely important and you won't stand for them balancing their budgets on the shoulders of innocent children!

Chef Rob

As I was reviewing our February photos I was shocked I had neglected to include Rob's first roast chicken! He got his first shot at our wonderful new oven with built-in meat probe...nice. I was hoping when he saw all the bells and whistles on this appliance he would be tempted to take it for a test drive. Just before Valentine's Day, Rob made dinner for me while Jack was at Grandma's. This included a yummy chicken, rice and zucchini. Perfect! What a great treat. A meal is always better when someone prepares it for you with love. Thank you Honey!

Room and Board

I know he's only two, but we are already teaching Jack about chores. Today he helped Daddy drag the trash and recycling to the curb. He absolutely LOVES being our big helper and we figured we might as well channel that enthsiasm while it lasts.

It was a beautiful day today, so we headed with Gracie up to the park. Gracie had a fantastic time chasing the frisbee. Jack, however, did not enjoy the trip. Some family had a Jolly Jumper set up right next to the playground and two year olds don't understand why they weren't invited to the party. He was so upset watching the big kids play in the jumper without him and we could find no distraction to ease his sorrow. We finally just put him back in the stroller and headed home. He screamed and begged for over 10 minutes. We felt horrible for him. He finally calmed down when we reassured him that we would watch Toy Story when he got home. Poor baby! Two years old is too young to learn that life is not fair.

Tonight he is having a fun bath with Daddy and then we will have some family cuddle time on the couch. Life is good.

Hot Mess

This is what happens around 6:00 PM to little boys who refuse their afternoon nap.

Swingers

Grandma took the boys to Farmer's Market this morning and then they stopped by the park to play. Good times!

Visit with Grandma and Pa

Jack has been having a great time at Grandma and Pa's house. He has been helping his cousin Max learn to crawl and appreciate the characters from Toy Story. Here Max is taking notes on the evil emperor Zurg! Just looking at these two, you KNOW they'll be getting into some mischief in the future! "Hey Max, whattaya say we...." (fill in the blank).



In addition to playing with Max, Jack has been dying to play with Abbi. Unfortunately, Abbi just had surgery on her leg last week and she is in NO position to play her usual game of chase. Tonight he settled for chasing Kelsey around the living room instead. Abbi has been very sad about spending time in her kennel, but with a rambunctious 2-year old in the house, she's enjoyed being safely locked away from the chaos. When she does come out, Jack likes to lounge in there too. He spends enough time with Gracie to believe he is part dog, so it's no surprise he wants to hang out where ever Abbi does.

While he has been away, Rob and I have had time to see two movies! Up in the Air and The Book of Eli, both really good. I also had some time to work on our new curtains in the bedroom, finally! But as nice as it has been we both miss him so much! We are ready to have him come home soon.

It's a Hat, a Broach, a Brontosaurus...

Jack was his typical, adorable self a breakfast today. We FINALLY found Woody's hat yesterday (after about 12 hours MIA). And let me tell you folks, when Woody's hat is missing it is an all consuming problem. I think this kid has OCD sometimes, surely by the fitieth time I heard, "Woo-y hat?" I was ready to take him for a psych evaluation. But now that Woody and his hat have been reunited, Jack won't let them out of his sight. He was so excited to find the hat, that this morning he tried it on a lot of his animals. Brontosaurus got to wear it during breakfast. Jack has developed enough of a sense of humor to realize that this is pretty silly...dinos don't wear hats! They ride Gracie like a horse, bounce in the jumper, travel in a back pack to have lunch with Auntie Julie, but they don't wear hats. That's silly!