Wednesday, October 31, 2007

P.S Leave a comment

Anyone who publishes a blog loves comments. So you know I changed my comment settings so that hopefully people that do not have a google acount can leaves messages too. I won't beg though.

Kindergarten Game Night!

I need to catch up on the month of parties starting with the first one on Oct 4th. As PTA's family night chair I planned a Kindergarten Dinner and Game night to get the new families together to have fun. We had a fantastic time and probably had around 120-150 people come.

First we split in to game rotations. The first one and my personal favorite was Sticker Tag. Everyone gets a page of stickers and the person in charge blows their Whistle and everyone runs around putting stickers on each other. Totally easy but there was something extraordinary where everyone automatically started laughing as soon as the whistle blows.


Another rotation was Shoe Pile Scramble. Working as families everyone takes their shoes of in one big pile, goes behind a starting line and when the whistle blow everyone scrambles to get their shoes on but only the family who crosses the starting line again together wins.


The last rotation was Mom and Dad Calling. Moms were blindfolded and kids had to move away from their mom but still in the designated area and attached to siblings. When the whistle blows the kids would start yelling MOM! at the same time and the mom would have to look for their kids blindfolded. Fun! Then it was the Dad's turn.


Next as a group was a few rounds of relays around cones. Heal toe, hopping, then pushing a lemon around a ruler.


Then we headed over to the tables for pizza, veggies, fruit, drinks, and cookies. I had tried to get a deal with local pizza parlors but in the end used Costco pizzas cut into 16 slices. Fantastically enough our PTA made the night free to the families.


Before we left the Kindergarten teachers pulled out two parachutes and led us in some parachute games which was fun and fantastic for teaching the kids some games the teachers were having a hard time teaching with out more help.


If anyone wants to do this type of thing, feel free to ask questions!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Fire all around


Well, there is fire all around. According to the map I just looked at there are 16 fires right now in Southern California. Are there usually this many fires at a given time but these just became exasperated because of the wind, low humidity, and dryness? I grew up in Houston where we had hurricane season. Now I live here where there is fire season. Oh how Mother Nature releases her fury!

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I am struck by the inequality of it all. A tornado hits one house but not the one next door, lightening strikes one person, a fire skips around too. This fire was only a couple miles away yet we are snug in our homes with only a slight worry of evacuation and the annoyance of smoky air. There are hundred thousand's of people out of their home right now and most of us can only imagine how uncomfortable and frightening that must be. Yet I only imagine and do not have to know at this point. There are firefighters that have been working for 40 hours straight while I get only 7 hours of sleep because I watched a show on TV in my comfort. I know if were a firefighter I would be right there with them not wanting to stop because of the mass destruction unfolding before their helpless eyes. But I am not. I only fight the battles of independence in my home. Inequal.

I have had my share of sorrow in my life but then again I have has a cushioned life. I thank my Father in Heaven for my blessings and know that were I the one evacuated I would also be grateful for his comfort in hard times.

Friday, October 19, 2007

My Children are Humans!?!

I know my kids are imperfect but when talking about them usually only the good things come out and then I border on bragging. I am here to tell you they are not perfect.

After losing the battle of independence with a 2 year old and being physically drained I heard some interesting things at school.

Rory:"Mom, Beck is in love with me and we kissed."






Josh:"The principal wants to talk to you."

Principal:"A kid's mom came in my office upset that Josh punched him on purpose and made his loose tooth come out. I said 'Not Josh'. The mom said 'yes, Josh'. Can you find out what happened?" Josh was playing basketball and his uninformed arms swung around a little too hard and knocked the kids tooth out. Josh apologized and tried to make sure the kid was ok.


Mom at soccer practice playground when I was telling Roger what happened at school: "Your child is the extremely blond one right? He is throwing wood chips on all the kids and the adults"


Me:"Thank you so much for telling me I will take care of it" I start going to get him

The mom;"He is throwing wood chips on all the kids and the adults"

Me:"Yes I will take care of it, Thank you"

The mom:"Your child threw it on adults"

me:"Sorry"

Such is life.