Light Bulb

Another light bulb went on for Brian today. At school his class has been working really hard on addition this year, and Brian typically uses his fingers or counts the objects on the page. Eddie taught him a trick last week about saying the biggest number and then counting from there. For example if you were to add 7+4, you would say seven and then count (possibly using your fingers) eight, nine, ten, eleven.

Today while working on his math packet, Brian told me that his teacher had taught him a shortcut, and proceeded to explain the above example. So I guess Mrs. Morton gets credit for this trick. Sometimes it just takes a few exposures to the same concept to actually grasp it.

I love that his teacher LOVES math. She enjoys it, and she challenges the kids, which helps them learn to love and appreciate math.

I am Thankful...

for the Internet. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would post some things that remind be about being thankful. The Internet is a great resource and you can find almost anything that you want, and definitely some things that you don't want. Whether it be something to buy, or information, the Internet has it all. Last night I downloaded a bunch of pictures from the kids birthdays and our trip to Disneyworld, and then I deleted the memory card for the next use. After browsing through the pictures, I noticed I was missing some. I realized I had no pictures of the kids first day at school or Danielle's 2nd birthday. I was devastated! I sulked all night about it. Then today at church I had the idea to check the Internet to see if you could recover pictures from a memory card. I know that even when something is deleted on a computer it is really still there, but I had never experienced this with a memory card before.

So I googled, and guess what? You can! I am thrilled that these precious memories will not be lost nor, the photographic proof that they happened. I love writing down these things so that I can look back at the special events, learning moments, and funny stories. I am thankful for the opportunity to write these down for my children to cherish. I am thankful that the Internet helps us do all these things.

Here are just some of the pictures that would have been lost.

Honor Roll

Williams Magnet School has figured out a better way to honor students who make the honor roll. Instead of a boring assembly with a certificate or ribbon and inviting the parents to attend, the kids get to go on an educational field trip. On Tuesday Brian and his honor roll classmates went to the Museum of Discovery as their reward.

I am especially proud of Brian this semester as he was awarded the most improved in his class. We had a bit of a rocky start this year at school. Perhaps it was that everything was new. New school, new teacher, new friends. Change can be difficult, especially for Brian. But he is doing great. He had an awesome report card, he is reading and doing math very well. We don't even have too many struggles over homework.

I think it was a bit of a learning curve for me too. I struggled to learn a new teacher's personality and style which is unlike other teacher's we have had in the past. I think we have all adapted pretty well. Now how many more days until Thanksgiving break?

Wally & Wicked

Last night we had to attend the 2nd mandatory PTA meeting at Williams. However tonight was actually a treat as we got to listen to Dr. Wallace Goddard PhD, (Wally). He works for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Services. He is a marriage and family expert, and had been asked to speak on stress. He has written numerous books on his areas of expertise, and is always inspiring to listen to.

Most important he attends church with us, and every week we are privileged to be able to hear his words of wisdom regarding marriage and family.

We dashed out of the PTA meeting to head downtown to the Robinson Theatre, for the Broadway performance of Wicked. I now regret that I bought the cheap balcony seats. It was an awesome production, and a great story. I wish I had been more familiar with the music, and had recently watched the Wizard of Oz, so I could have caught all of the innuendos. But Eddie and I did have an enjoyable evening together, just the two of us.

P.S. Today is the day that I got a new short hair cut. Shorter than it has ever been. When I walked out of the bathroom at the theatre, Eddie said he didn't even recognize. He is not thrilled, he prefers long hair.

Translation

Emily came home from school on Wednesday with the following report:

"Today we made Christmas cards for the people in the airport who do not believe in Jesus." Emily is typically very articulate and conveys accurate information, so I was definitely puzzled by this information.

I had to wait until after the four day weekend to ask about this. So today when I picked Emily up from class, I inquired about her report. Her teachers just laughed, and provided the accurate translation which was the kids had made Christmas cards for the Air Force personnel stationed overseas. Too funny!!

Then Emily was embarrassed and was hiding behind me and knocked over a huge shelf that had a big glass bowl and some plants growing on it. Luckily the damage was minimal and no one was on the other side of the shelf so no one was hurt.

Manners

Danielle is very polite. When asked to do something she always responds "Yes 'ir". She does not know yes mam yet, and does not differentiate if she is talking to a sir or mam, so everyone get Yes 'ir. It is so cute how she says it though.

Today, after I sneezed she responded, bless you mommy, sooooo cute! She almost always says please, and sometimes thank you.

How did this one get so polite?? Maybe she just caught on from all the harping on the other two we have done.

Lazy Days

The kids had two days off of school for teacher development. Yesterday, we cleaned house and played at the tubes. Today, I had nothing planned, and so we just played with toys. Emily can play for hours with a book and her princesses. Brian and I built the KNEX roller coaster. Well almost built, Eddie had to come home and finish the project, but I think we did a pretty good job.