Ian's First Pack Meeting

Ian started Cub Scouts in August and really likes it. Due to the constant comings and goings of people in our ward, we hadn't had a Pack meeting until last Thursday. Ian was very excited because friends and family had told him it was like a big party and they play games and have goodies. He even went in to lay on his bed for awhile all on his own (I think he was a bit nervous- he's like mom that way). He got all ready in his brand new shirt with patches all neatly-and painfully- sewn on and was raring to go hours before it was time.
The meeting was short and sweet since the guy in charge had only just been called to the position and our ward only has 4 Cubs. Ian got his Bobcat patch and Mom got her little pin. Ian is 3/4 done with his Wolf and very excited for the next Pack meeting. On a side note, Ian's Den has a new Assistant Den Leader- Ann-Marie! She is at the meetings anyway, since they are right after school, so it makes sense. She doesn't have a shirt yet because a)they are expensive! and b)her friend has a yellow (yuk!)one that doesn't quite fit and she would rather wait and get the khaki one.
Anyway that's it as far as Cub Scouts for this month!

Just checking in

I didn't have a photo to go with any of this, so I chose Ian's desert habitat. He did a night one because that's when the animals come out- Duh! We have been busy at school, getting ready for SEPs (parent-teacher conference) and attending meetings. I'll try to catch everyone up...
A few weeks ago I had a meeting in Salt Lake. Kevin had to work and it is hard to find someone to take Ian at 3 am, so Ian came with me. He was so good! He got several comments from the other attendees (most of them principals from other charter schools)and now he wants to go to all of my meetings! I have one in Richfield on Dec. 12th that I may let him attend just because it is on a Friday (half-day for us) and we would probably stop in Circleville to play in snow (fingers-crossed) and visit Grandma Trish's grave.
The day before the meeting in Salt Lake, Ian's teacher showed me something when I went into her room for something (she was smiling, so I wasn't too worried). She explained that the class was going to go see "Joseph and the Amazing..." on the following Monday (sort of a last minute thing) and permission slips had been given out that needed to be returned the next day- the day we would be in SLC. Then she handed me a slip, and as I looked at it she said, " Now, Ian knows he shouldn't have done this, but he was worried since he was leaving and said he knew you would let him go."- The kid forged my name! Yep! He did it in his neatest cursive, he even hyphenated!, but he spelled "Marie" M-e-r-r-y! I told him that would be too cute of a spelling since my birthday is 4 days before Christmas! He didn't do the forgery as a bad thing, but I let him know it was wrong. (We still chuckle over it!)
Last Friday, Ian and I attended the funeral of my cousin, Lisa Romine. I won't go into detail, I'll just say that it was unexpected. The speakers were very moving and shared several great things about Lisa. I really feel for her 3 daughters who are 20, 19 and 18 (I think?). I know personally that losing your mom at any age is tough. They have a strong support system in their aunts and Grandma and Grandpa so I hope they will be okay. When we got to the Circleville chapel for the luncheon (they buried Lisa a few feet away from my mom) Ian stated, "We've been here before, huh." We'd been there just last Spring. I said yes, and he then said, "And it's always the same people!" Well, he had me there. It's all been on my mom's side of the family. I think the only time it will be Grandpa Hart's side is when he dies.
We have school until Wednesday next week, then we are off until Dec 1st! The teachers are going to a Core Knowledge Conference in Anaheim. I was going to go, but we just can't afford it, especially this close to Christmas. I would have recieved a per diem, but I also would have had to figure something for Ian since Kevin's work has them working 5 days a week in preparation for the week they take off at Christmas.
Well, that's all for this blog! Hopefully we will have more excitement, of the good kind, and I will have something to blog about!

Snow White 2008

Well, thanks to my good friend Michelle Cowles our staff at George Washington Academy pulled off the best costumes ever! It all began when our principal decided she was going to be the wicked stepmother and asked (told) her assistant to be Snow White- she is perfect. Michelle C. got it into her head that the office staff and some of us who are support staff should be the dwarfs. I was cool with it, especially when she told me I was Doc- I am Doc. Then Michelle got a little too involved in being as close to the real thing and had me switch with the Kindergarten aide, Mr. Wilson, because he already had a short beard and Doc had a short beard. It was easier to make me a long beard for my character, so I became...BASHFUL!! I know, so not me! SO here is our lineup- Michelle Wilson-Snow White, Mr. Wilson-Doc, Bobbie Jo Forsythe- Grumpy, Michelle Cowles- Happy (so her, Linda Giangregorio- Sleepy (another good fit), Mr. Sedgewick- Sneezy, me- Bashful, and Mrs. Gullo- Dopey. In the back you will see the evil stepmother as portrayed by our principal, Amy Trombetti. We all had fun but almost lost it when at the end of the day Michelle Cowles says, "What should we be next year?"!

Halloween 2008

We had a great Halloween! Ian chose all by himself to not just be Elvis, he wanted to be "Jailhouse Rock" Elvis. I think we did a great job- the hair is all his, except for some sideburn help from our friend Martha.

Student of the Week

Ian was chosen as student of the week! At the beginning of the school year, his teacher had all the children make a poster about themselves. Each week is a new student of the week. She displays their poster and their classmates each write on a Post-it a message about what they like about that student. It was really neat to read what the other kids thought about Ian.

Creepy Crawlies- YUK!

A few weeks ago Ian was getting into bed and saw a shirt on the floor move. I nudged it and a long black thing went under the dresser. Long search short, Kevin pulled the corner of the carpet up where the rug had pulled away from the wall and we got a 3 inch long centipede!! It was so gross! The next night Kevin and Ian put in a new subfloor and put the carpet back down and all is well.

We're back

I've been having computer problems, but for now I am back. I will try to keep it short and just use a few lines for each picture. This first one is from when Kevin's 2 nephews from Toppenish, WA showed up in Mesquite for a softball tournament. We only found out they were coming the night before, so hurried down and searched for the tribe's team until we found them. When Kevin went up to the oldest and asked him if he was Terry, the poor guy thought he was in trouble for something! I know you will all appreciate the family resemblance.