Memory Monday Update

Grace came home today with her Memory Monday.

"I MAD BLUE BAREE MUFINS"

It seems the babysitter beat out all family. Good to know.

Memory Monday

Every Monday, Grace's kindergarten class has their Memory Monday writing workshop. Grace loves Memory Monday and puts a lot of thought in throughout the week as to what she will write about.

This week was no exception. Several out-of-the-ordinary events took place, including Papa being here all week, Addy's adoption (which included a visit to the ever-popular, toy-filled basement), a visit from Aunt Lorrie, Grandma, Aunt Erin and Chloe, Kristina coming to visit/babysit (which included cooking and crafts), and Uncle Dan's recital. This evening, while still at the restaurant after Uncle Dan's recital, I asked Grace what she might write about tomorrow.

Her response? When Uncle Dan and Jeff (his friend from Martin) taught her how to do "hard math". 9000 + 9000 = 18,000

North Sashabaw Elementary's 7th Annual Talent Show

Rob and I work with tweens, as much as we hate that word, all day. (Look for more on that in a future post). So we were hoping to avoid the talent show at Grace's school. However, due to some manipulative mentionings of fame and glory by Grace's teacher, Grace had her heart set on attending and performing with the kindergarten class.

I don't know how to put the talent show into words. It's something you can really only experience. Part of me was so proud I could burst. Part of me couldn't believe I was sitting for two hours in the auditorium watching bad lip synching and unrehearsed choreography. Part of me used the time to check over these kids Grace would be attending school with for the next 12 years. Part of me wondered what I could have done with the $5 spent on admission (mmmmmm...Tim Horton's).

Grace was so proud of being in the talent show. I do have to admit, she was the most talented kindergartener up there, singing "When the Rain Comes Down" and signing like Marlee Matlin. She knew what to do and when to do it. She didn't even get distracted when Jennifer (her best friend) turned to her to say something in the middle of the song. She kept right on signing and singing.

Some other acts (besides the one my talented daughter was in) were pretty good. Two fifth grade boys did a well-timed "Who's on First?" skit. Grace's friend and classmate, Will, sang "Oh My Darlin' Clementine" alone. Grace's classmate Drew and his family and friends danced the evolution of dance.

Some acts were just hilarious. A first grader played an "original" song on his synthesizer, then grabbed his keyboard and ran offstage when done. Two second grade classes performed a reader's theater, which would have been fine if not for the three students getting into an argument about who got to speak into the microphone more (which is all you heard). A second grader played "Are You Sleeping?" on the piano, which was fine, but her dad jumped up at the end and clapped his heart out. Two tiny fifth grade boys with unnaturally spikey hair rocked out to Guitar Hero.

Unfortunately, the verdict is still out on poor, sick Cam and his human pretzel skit. One can only imagine.

I guess the talent show wasn't that bad. I would do it again. Chances are that I will, since I will have a child at North Sashabaw Elementary for the next 10 years, and Grace now loves all aspects of talent shows.

Oh, How I Love Snow Days

Contrary to popular belief, I did not become a teacher because of the possibility of snow days. It is a nice perk, though.

In my years of trying to hide the glee of a potential snow day from my students, I have learned of many snow day rituals, told to me by my students. Some are as offbeat as preparing everything for the next day - backpack loaded, lunch packed, clothes laid out, alarm set, etc. Others are as ridiculous as standing in front of an open refrigerator with your pajamas on backwards and inside out, singing Frosty the Snowman. Hey, whatever works.

I have had two snow days already this week, and tomorrow is up in the air, although Chuck Gaidica now says that the heaviest snowfall is not supposed to come until morning rush hour, which is not nearly early enough.

In my early morning meteorology/prayer sessions, I have learned that several factors can contribute to a snow day. First, lots of snow is not mandatory. Sometimes ice is enough. Second, rain on top of snow is a guaranteed snow day because it makes the dirt roads horrendous. Third, high winds have the possibility of knocking out power to all of Ortonville, rendering our district helpless. Finally, and this has only happened once, if something happens to the entire fleet of Northern Oakland County's snow plows and salt trucks the night before a major snow storm, the roads cannot be cleared. :)

Snow days are the best things about winter. No other time could I get a 20-second phone call at 5am, go back to sleep with a smile on my face, and wake up to absolutely no obligations. The way I look at it, I should have been at school the whole day. Therefore, the laundry, dishes, and vacuum won't be expecting anything during the day. Snow days beg for me to stay in my pajamas and watch TV. Speaking of which, everybody sing along! "Frosty the Snowman was a jolly, happy soul. With a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal..."

Too Good for the Quote List

Robby: Mommy, I think I really need to lay down.

Sarah: Why?

Robby: Because my moose hurts.

Snooze Button, Snooze Button. Where for art thou Snooze Button?

I was tired of losing my temper in the morning because Grace and Robby weren't doing the things we consistently reminded them to do. I don't know how many times I can tell Grace to brush her hair, only to hear, "Oh, I forgot." Grrrrr...

So I created two simple checklists on Word for Grace and Robby that list what each needs to do before Mommy says it is time to go. Next to some checkmarks, I typed out simple sentences and added a picture to help those little non-readers.

It's been two weeks since the lists were printed and shared, and I do have to say that both kids don't have to be reminded to do anything on them. There is still the occasional crying because it is too early to leave and they aren't done playing, but I am not battling with them about being ready to go.

To demonstrate how effective these lists have been, Rob came home today with Grace to find her PJs still strewn across the living room floor. Grace gets dressed downstairs with Rob there after she eats breakfast (to avoid those nasty milk stains on school clothes). When he told her for the 813th time that she needs to take care of them in the morning, she argued that it wasn't on her list.

Best "Car"-aoke Songs

In the 5 minutes I am in the car alone and able to belt out any tune, which includes adding a couple wiggly dance moves to defrost a bit, I have a wishlist for the radio. Note that some of these songs are not appropriate with children in the car.

Country:

• How Do You Like Me Now? - Toby Keith
• Flowers on the Wall - Eric Heatherly
• Boondocks - Little Big Town
• Prayin' for Daylight - Rascal Flatts
• Little Goodbyes - SHeDAISY
• If You Ever Stop Loving Me - Montgomery Gentry
• Then What - Clay Walker
• Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident) - John Michael Montgomery

Showtunes! Showtunes! Showtunes!:

• Dance Ten, Looks Three - A Chorus Line
• We're All in This Together - High School Musical Cast
• Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee - Stockard Channing (Grease)
• We Go Together - John Travolta (Grease)
• Greased Lightning - John Travolta
• My Favorite Things - Sound of Music Cast
• Everybody Needs Somebody To Love - The Blues Brothers
• Friend Like Me - Aladdin
• The Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show Cast

Somewhat Current Hits (at least 15 years):

• Elevation - U2
• Long View - Green Day
• Grade 9 - BNL
• Army - Ben Folds
• She Hates Me - Puddle of Mudd
• Roll to Me - Del Amitri
• Just a Girl - No Doubt
• Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty & The Heart Breakers
• All For You - Sister Hazel
• Two Princes - Spin Doctors
• No Rain - Blind Melon
• Hurricane Party - Cowboy Mouth
• Jenny Says - Cowboy Mouth
• Love of My Life - Cowboy Mouth
• Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
• Bizarre Love Triangle - Frente!

Gotta Love These Oldies:

• Super Bowl Shuffle - Chicago Bears
• How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) - James Taylor
• Faith - George Michael
• Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - Wham!
• Tell Her About It - Billy Joel
• The Longest Time - Billy Joel
• Cocktails For Two - Spike Jones
• Love Potion No. 9 - The Clovers
• Chantilly Lace - Big Bopper
• The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
• We Are the World - Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
• Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
• Do You Wanna Dance - The Beach Boys
• Footloose - Kenny Loggins
• R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Aretha Franklin
• Keep On Loving You - REO Speedwagon
• Don't Stop Believing - Journey
• Twist and Shout - Beatles
• Good Lovin' - Rascals
• Monkee's Theme - The Monkees
• Stuck With You - Huey Lewis & The News
• I Can't Dance - Genesis

5K, Anyone?

In trying to motivate myself into getting back into shape, one that's not round, I have decided to run my first 5K. I would like to invite any of you who would like to participate to join me at LMC on April 19th. I have found a very nice trainign program to help me get from the couch to the 5K (http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml). It has been very low stress and it has slowly eased me into running again. I've always found that physical activity and weight loss works best when you have people to lean on and I would be very happy if I could get some of you to join me in this endevauor. Just think, if we're successful with a 5K we can move onto a 10K, a half-marathon and possibly even a marathon. What else do you have to do for 5-6 hours on a Saturday? If you're interested I've also found some pretty good "healthy" recipes. Here's to setting a good example for our kids and making ourselves healthy in the process.

Is it just me?

Is it just me, or does Brad and Helen's tag cloud on their blog bother anyone else? If not for the various font sizes, then at least for the first line, "Allan * Annoying".

Competition

I'm pretty busy. I have three kids, a full time job, a demanding television viewing schedule to adhere to, and this blog.

"Then why, Sarah, you haven't posted to this blog since October?" you (Amy) exclaim.

Sometimes, I have nothing to say. Sometimes I have too much. Sometimes, I am just too exhausted from telling Robby to stop talking, wiping off Lily's hands, telling Robby to stop singing, reading through the endless papers from Grace's school, telling Robby to stop humming, figuring out what to do with the high-energy artistic output of our two oldest, telling Robby to stop making monster sounds, trying to get Lily to open her mouth for peas, and telling Robby to stop yelling.

Now, however, all has changed. I must become more consistent. I must post interesting tidbits for all to read. I must outdo Amy's blog.

Discipline in December

As a parent I have come to enjoy disciplining in December. My favorite discipline statements, "Stop!", "Go sit at the table", and "Do you want a spanking?" have now been replaced by, "Santa's watching." and "Do you think Santa likes that?" The best thing is that there is no argument after the fact and the kids act ten times better. It's actually gotten to that point that Robby will now point out when he is doing something good. It's like "Scared Straight" for preschoolers. My vote is to implement Christmas as a year long holiday, we're close enough to it as it is. It makes parenting so much easier. Can I get a "Hell Yeah!"

That "Sunday Evening" Feeling

My house is dusty. There is a basket of unfolded clean laundry in the middle of the living room. I just spotted some sort of toy-like thing stuck into the molding of our kitchen cabinets. The bathrooms are a bit more than grungy. This is the moment when that "Sunday Evening" feeling drifts in, like a low, dark storm cloud.

What on Earth did I do this weekend? Where did all my time go? Is it really true that I will have to go back to work tomorrow and start this whole rigmarole over again?

Let's see...We took turns sleeping in. That's always nice.

We battled the no-nap attitude and kind of won. Not really, but we'll say we did. Grace slept one of the days. That counts for something. Robby, though, not so cooperative.

Rob vacuumed and swept on Friday before I even got home. Does that count, though, since my weekend had not started yet? We'll give that a half point on the score sheet. :)

We did several loads of laundry and managed to put it (almost) all away. Damn that unfolded basket of lights and whites! On the bright side, though, the piles in the bedrooms are gone!

We got Grace some new tennis shoes and Lily some more formula and water. Robby got squat.

I checked two class sets of science tests, made up new seating charts for both classes, and typed up their brainstorming lists from last week. It helps that Monday morning blah by having something done that I was dreading doing in the first place.

I gathered the Halloween costumes for the kids' parties at school, got treats for their parties, packed all the bags for tomorrow, and picked out clothes for the week. It looks like we are moving out, what with all the bags and stuff at our door waiting anxiously for tomorrow.

All kids had a bath. If only Rob would shower. :)

Rob and the kids made molasses cookies on Saturday morning while I slept. Mmmmmm...sleep.

Rob and I watched a couple movies, Chocolat and Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. One pretty good, the other makes me want to poke my eyes out. You decide.

All in all, a pretty good weekend. Sure, there's always something else to do on the neverending to-do list of parents/teachers/homeowners, but we were able to get a few things done while still enjoying our time at home with each other.

Only 5 more days until the next weekend!

Transformers Ramble

Okay. So I am watching the final fight sequence in Transformers the movie. It is actually not bad. They just fell off an overpass, and somehow the Optimus Prime guy beheaded one of the gazillions of bad guys. What are these silver gremlin things? How are they bad? Are they part of the Decepticons? I feel like I am missing a lot, here. How do they know the F22 is not a bad guy? Rob just said it is not the Air Force. I am so confused as to who is good and who is bad. They just blew someone up, and I don't know who. How on Earth can they formuate a love story in this? I think that is just too much. How can some of these people survive the drops they take? Here comes a giant tank. What is she running for? Oh, God, now the kid has the cube from Bumblebee. RUN!!!! Seriously! There's missles and everything. I just have to mention that surround sound and base is pretty cool. No, the coolest thing ever. This is kind of like watching Matrix with robots. Ooooooh. There's Megatron! Fall back, dummies! Poor Bumblebee and all those people. Who just got killed from the good guys? Who's Jazz? I think he was the one who talked all the slang. I'm not sure. I don't understand. He's a soldier now? She's pretty stubborn. How do they know that the people they are talking to are good guys? Hurry up, Sam! With thousands of people's lives at stake, why would she stop him to tell him some sentimental crap? Here comes Optimus Prime. He's very shiny compared to the other Transformers. That one guy is like King Kong. That would be a lot of cleanup in in that city. Optimus Prime is no match for MegaTron. Ooh. He just flew into a building and fell a long way down. Sam needs to run faster. How can he outrun Megatron? Megatron has like three city blocks on Sam's measley step! Megatron is not very cute. That is a lot of frickin' stairs to climb. Climb, Sam, climb. I am kind of glad that they have not killed any of the main characters. She would be really good at backing up a camper by the way. I'm going to use that line. "I'll drive, you shoot." I like that. There is a wake of destruction in the city. What city? Okay, this is the first part that I have thought was unrealistic. He climbs all those stairs and still has breath to yell? No way. Here comes Megatron! This is King Kong! Where is the cube? How can he cling to the edge while holding the cube? What is the name of it? Soft spark? Optimus Prime does rule, by the way. Good catch! That is a big fall. What the goodness are all those people still doing outside? Get the hell inside! How do Optimus Prime and Sam still have time to talk? Where is Megatron? There's a lot of one-liners and sentimental crap in this. Aim low. Armor is weak under the chest. Good rule of thumb if you want to hurt someone. Uh oh. He saw them! I do like the main guy. Who is that actor? Yeah, right. Total rug/road burn. How can he still walk? That's ridiculous. Second wave? Why did they only send one plane earlier? Optimus Prime is down! NO!!!!!! Megatron is not pretty. Put the cube in his chest. That's Megatron! Why is he choking/dying? How did that happen? Brother? A whole new story line? How did he die? Is Megatron really dead? How can that tow truck still live? Jazz. Which one was he? This is just too sappy at the end. How did he learn to speak? How did that happen? I want a car to tak to me. How did Megatron die? What did Optimus Prime take out of the bad guy? Well, this is just a love fest at the end. Isn't it weird to make out on you alive car? Sequel time, with all the love and stuff!

There's more to me than meets the eye.

Super Chicken

While watching the best TV show ever, The Office, I saw a promotion with Jerry Seinfeld for his new movie, A Bee Movie. This particular commercial had Jerry singing the first verse of the theme song for Super Chicken. I laughed and laughed.

After some research online, I found that Super Chicken had a limited run as a short cartoon within the 60s cartoon, George of the Jungle. You can find the cartoons on YouTube, but I thoroughly enjoyed the theme song.

Here is the link to the Seinfeld clip of him singing Super Chicken. Here is a free, high quality iTunes download of the theme song, for those of you, like me, that want to learn the words. If you have difficulty understanding the words on the song, here are the typed lyrics.

You know, Lily has Amy & Lisa's chicken costume to wear for Halloween. With a cape, some baby goggles, and an invincible attitude...

It's Still Really Hot

I hate hot weather. Man, oh man. It's hard enough to drag myself into school some mornings, but when it is supposed to be mid-80s outside, meaning mid-90s in my classroom, it is torture. How on Earth am I supposed to teach anything to students when I can't focus or maintain a sane thought? Ugh.

Speaking of hot weather, when shopping for Halloween costumes for the kids, I never anticipate temperatures in the mid-80s. I always look for costumes that can be layered underneath to keep the kids warm. Needless to say, Grace was quite glittery when the glitter stuck to her sweaty arms, and Robby was a sweaty, sticky mess with his pirate hat, long pants, and long sleeves. But they were cute. Damp, red-faced, and panting, but cute.

I love cool weather. Bring it on.

The Daily Spencer??

Okay, I know we call it The Daily Spencer, and it hasn't been very daily. We're going to try and remedy that situation. Some days it will be information on the kids or the family, added pictures, reviews, or my wonderful ramblings. Let's start today with some ramblings. :)

I know it's October and Halloween is just around the corner, but I'm really surprised that the Disney Channel has started all of their Halloween programming already. Do they have enough to fill a whole month, or are we in for a whole lot of repeats? Let's hope not the latter.

DirecTV is really beginning to upset me. They finally get around to adding their HD channels, and my dish isn't pointed correctly to get the best reception. I called to have them send someone out to adjust it, and they want to charge me $70. Going to cable and not having to worry about pixelation and bad reception is starting to sound better and better.

Until Tomorrow . . . One family, five members, zero sanity.

My Perfect Job

I stayed up really, really late on Tuesday evening (when I had a 13-hour day the next day) to complete three short answer questions applying to be a panelist on the Walt Disney World Moms Panel. The press release says that the application process was from September 6th to October 5th, but when I went to the actual website of the panel, the deadline for applying was either October 5th or 10,000 applicants, whichever came first. I knew that the deadline was quickly approaching (I was surprised it wasn't closed already.), so I stayed up to answer the questions.

1. In 100 words or less, tell us about yourself. This proved to be a bit challenging. I really didn't know what to say. I didn't want to get too much into my family, since that was the next question, and I didn't seem to have enough to say.
2. In 100 words or less, tell us about your family. Well, this was extremely easy. I actually typed exactly what I was thinking, which came out to exactly 100 words. I thought this was my best answer.
3. In 100 words or less, tell us why you think you should be chosen for the panel (or something like that). Oh, how very difficult. I really didn't know what they were looking for, but that was true of all the questions. I threw in a little about being organized (Check out my Summer 2006 spreadsheet here.), dealing with a variety of people in my career, etc. I had a hard time going to sleep that night because I continued thinking how I could have answered it better and emphasized that I would be perfect for it. I really had to trim my original, kick-ass response from 270ish words to only 100. I had to trim out most of the personality, but not all.

Applicants will be notified in the beginning of November if they will move on to the second application process. I checked back this evening, and their application period has concluded because the maximum of 10,000 applicants has been reached (I wonder what number I was.). Cross your fingers. This would rock.

Check it out!

I know that we haven't been very timely on the addition of new subjects here at The Daily Spencer. With the end of the summer and beginning of school it's bee a little hectic. Take the the time to check out our gallery. Sarah posted some wonderful pictures and videos from the end of another wonderful summer! Here's hoping everyone else had a great summer too.

Rob

Traffic Jam

In 2006, Disney/Pixar released the wonderful movie Cars. Just before the movie was released, they also released diecast cars of the main characters (Lightning McQueen, Sally, Mater, etc.). I thought they were pretty cool and, figuring that Robby would want diecast cars in the future, picked him up the Lightning McQueen and Sally cars. Since then, the car collection has become somewhat of an obsession for me, and more suprisingly, Sarah. Our collection is now at 46, including 6 different Lightning McQueens, 6 Piston Cup racecars, 22 Radiator Springs cars (which only has 14 residents), 6 cars from previous Disney/Pixar movies and multiple others.

When the movie was first released, some of the cars became very hard to find. I could not bear not owning all of them and turned to eBay so I could pay outrageous prices for the ones I didn't have (I only purchased four on eBay, though.). Soon after these purchases, I found many of these at Walt Disney World. Doh! Since our return from Walt Disney World last summer, we have become frequent visitors of KBtoys in Great Lakes Crossing.

During one of our many searches for a new car, a worker in the store informed us that if we left a list of the cars we still needed, they could hold them for us. I smugly informed her that we now had all of the released cars. She then turned around, opened a drawer, and presented to Sarah and me a whole new series of cars that Disney/Pixar had released. Damn it! After leaving our wish list for them, we have been able to collect all but two of the released cars.

This evening I decided to explore, via the internet, if there had been any more announcements of cars to be released. To my surprise/pleasure/frustration, I have found out that Disney/Pixar has announced the release of 37 more cars (which include 8 Wal-Mart exclusives - we hate Wal-mart. Any takers on helping us there? Please? Lorrie? We love you!). Many more have been rumored. Can we continue at this pace?

I know this is a very silly obsession, but Sarah and I get a lot of joy from watching and playing "cars" with Robby. I have known only one other person to have a "toy obsession" like this, but there is a difference. The cars we have purchased have all been taken out of the package. They are jammed together in a soft-sided Cars lunch bag. They have regulary been run into walls, each other, and various body parts. Sarah cringes when the drivers do not appreciate the enormous effort put into collecting these toys. However, even though this money spent could be Robby's college education, we will not stop until all of these toys are ours! We can't stop! Does this stem from my years as a sports card collector, Sarah's blatant OCD, or some other genetic disorder?

Per Brad's suggestion:

42 cars at $4.00 apiece: $168

Sarge on eBay: $32

A second Sarge (still in the package) from Walt Disney World: $5

Watching your son line them up and then crash them into each other: Priceless

Camping in Arkansas. Really.

Arkansas is kind of pretty. Who knew? We camped at Petit Jean State Park, which is about an hour or two west of Little Rock. Our campsite had full hook-ups and was on the lake, with no other camper blocking our view. Pretty nice. We camped with Rob's parents, who were on the site next to ours. There was quite a bit of room in between the sites, which we used to play washers and ladder golf and let the kids run crazy.



While in Arkansas, we did a bit of hiking at the various sites at the park. On these hikes, we saw an abandoned bear cave (This was slightly confusing to Robby, who now thought it was a beer cave.) and an ancient Indian rock house with ancient pictures drawn on the ceilings. That was really neat. They were hard to see, but once we studied the sign and looked for the red markings, we were able to make out a couple of figures.



I have always been slightly (okay, really) biased of Arkansas and other southern states. The southern accent does not do much to increase an individual's perceived IQ. Plus, Rob and I have stopped at too many yucky gas stations with creepy bathrooms and toothless cashiers. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised with the overall prettiness of the park.