My boys were quite inquisitive tonight, although the caliber of questions were at opposite ends of the spectrum:
No, I'm not a dairy fanatic. I'm simply reading the mind of what I assume our newest house guest is thinking. Yep. We got ourselves a little field mouse. Somewhere. I know, it absolutely GROSSES me out every time I think about it. I do think we have it trapped, though. Saw Hayden a couple of weeks ago running from one side of the hutch to the other and "playing" with something behind it. Being the brave soul I was, I moved the hutch away from the wall a bit, and lo and behold, our own Stuart Little darted towards the bathroom, then the closet, then the office, and then I have no idea. By this time Cameron was so embarrassed of my squealing and I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what the hell was going on over here at 7:30 in the morning, so I talked myself into believing that he just ran out the front door that I had open. Mmmhmmm. Right. Fast forward to Tuesday night. I walk into the kitchen, see something out of the corner of my eye and turned as "it" was bolting for the stove. Cue the sissy screams, and the stereotypical jumping on the chair. Bryan grabs a broom, swishes it out and then it runs for the dishwasher. Great. Cam has since grabbed his own chair. Bryan pulls the dishwasher out and we see a hole in the drywall. Double great. He's sticking the broom handle in the hole, pounding on the wall, banging on the cabinets, nothing. Cam asks him whether there was a "more scientific way of doing this?" Bryan responds that if he has any bright ideas, he's all ears. Nothing. So Cam and I are ordered to a stakeout while Bryan runs to the store for some traps. I get off the chair long enough to hit the bathroom - Cam said he could handle things for me while I was gone - but other than that, we are both still standing there and watching for that little you-know-what to join us. Meanwhile, Hayden saunters in from outside and we inform him he's fired. It is now two days later, and we've put out more cheese than we did at our Superbowl party. That damn thing kept getting the cheese off of there! So we know it's still in the wall and that it's coming out to party. Took the advice of our neighbors and put peanut butter on the trap instead. This way it will take a little more "work" and hopefully set off the trap. Bryan will be mousetrap shopping tomorrow if I don't hear a snap tonight.
Well I definitely scored some big time brownie points by finding that skateboarding facility/lessons. Cam is in heaven. He had a 1/2 day of school today, so he did a double lesson. Loved it. He's going again on Friday and Bryan signed him up for 3 weeks of summer camp. They'll be able to do more than just skateboard all day, although that would be JUST fine with Cameron. They have in-ground trampolines with wakeboard handles hooked up to practice flips n stuff, an indoor pool and a few other activities. He's pretty pumped!
In case any of you are looking for a TV show to watch, purely for entertainment, I highly recommend tuning into CMT for My Big Redneck Wedding. Unbelievable. You have to see it to believe it. One bride couldn't find her teeth on her wedding day. No worries. Future mom-in-law offered up hers. Camouflage wedding dresses. Flower arrangements in Budweiser cans. Wedding gifts to each other that include pink rifles, a butchering kit, and a snowman from one of those quarter "claw" machines. Classy.
Wow. Wednesday? That was the last post? How horrible for those "regular" readers. To check in 2, 3, 4 times a day and not have ANYTHING to see must be so disappointing. Sorry. This week kicked my ars! No excuses, but maybe some justification for the lack of web conversation. :0) Let's see, as always, school has taken a big chunk of my allotted nightly blogging time. The class week begins on Tuesday, and ends on Monday. Each week I have an individual paper due, and usually every other week, a team project in addition. The majority of my classes in this program require our papers/projects turned in on Monday nights, 11:59 pm Arizona time. I gave myself a break on Saturdays and Sundays to spend time with the fam and run errands, and worked on my papers Sunday nights, Monday during my lunch, and Monday evening for the finishing touches. This class, however, requires all assignments turned in on Sunday nights. This sucks. I either have to bust my butt throughout the week to get my other daily assignments done and turned in, and then work a little on my paper, or dedicate my weekend to working on it. This I'm not willing to compromise on. So, my weeknights are spent working on trying to get ahead in my daily assignments and working on my papers. Sunday nights are pretty hectic. Needless to say, I just turned in my paper this week. I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I have just completed a comprehensive protection plan (specifically covering the areas of transportation, personal security and communication) for the University of Phoenix Online in the event of an emergency, such as a terrorist attack.
Now that we've cleared that up, we can move on. We signed up Cameron for skateboarding lessons last week. The classes are held at an indoor skating facility that is apparently "full of so many cool ramps and rails." His class is the "Rippers", and he goes once a week for an hour, and will go for two weeks during the summer for their day camp. He is so excited. When Bryan took him on Friday to check it out, he ended up staying for one of the classes and just had a ball. So that takes care of two weeks of summer. Thought it would interfere with little league, which we don't have a schedule for yet, but he can go any time and any day during the week. Makes it kind of nice in that it doesn't necessarily interfere with any other appointments or commitments. Opening day for Little League is March 29th, and from I was told, that season is over about a week before Memorial Day. I started to think Cam would be pretty well spent from all the activity, but his energy level is never ending.
It looks like the telecommuting is a go, but the date has been pushed out to June 1 because of the budgeting for the fiscal quarter. Fine with me. Just git 'er done.
Time to boast about Cam's 3rd quarter parent/teacher conference! As always, he's doing fantastic. To give you an idea about where his reading skills are at, at the END of 2nd grade, the standard is reading 90 words per minute (wpm) of grade-level text. At the end of the first quarter, he was at 99. This quarter he was at 104, which means he's been reading at a 3rd grade level since the beginning of the school year. So proud of him. His teacher emphasized his writing skills and his knack for creativity. One example was a short report they had to do on George Washington. After writing a few paragraphs about George, they had to come up with a title for their work. Mrs. Lorts stated that the rest of his class (okay, so there are only 9 of them, but still...) titled their story "George Washington." Cameron, however, thought outside the box a bit, and titled his "On the Quarter". Not bad for a 7 year old. So academically he is above average in every subject. He improved this quarter in three areas of "Christian conduct and work habits." This was great news! His teacher's comments were: "Cameron is reading above grade level and the math concepts seem to come easy for him. He completes all classroom work but unless challenged does not exceed the required amount." (Old news here. He needs that little push of motivation. He loves the competitiveness of a challenge, but with himself. He doesn't react this way with others in his class.) "He has improved in his citizenship and respect for others, thankfully so as he is a "born" leader. I am sure in his maturity and grown-up humor, the Lord is showing him how to be that positive leader!" Very proud of him.
Okay, one last note before I hit the hay. Bryan and I were hanging out front yesterday while Cam was skateboarding. The little boy two houses down (I think he's 5 ) and the little girl next door (she's 6) were riding their bikes together. Well she was kicking butt in their "races" and he was getting a bit irritated. His potty mouth really surfaced when he yelled out to her, "Hey! Get back here you Stinkarm!" A what? A stink-arm? I wonder if she was really supposed to be threatened by that one. I know I would take offense. I immediately shot out the water that was in my mouth and could not stop laughing. Bryan, of course, had to "get in on it" too and started yelling it to the little girl also. Real mature.
