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!