A Letter to the President

When Jack came home from school today, he informed me that he needed to write a letter on behalf of his friend Conor and himself to President Obama. I was asked to write it so he could mail it.

It was told to me as follows:

Dear President Obama,

We are going to tear down the playground and rebuild it with I-beams, bricks and wood. We would like for you to take off from work early and fly from Washington, DC to Dallas to come to our school to help us build the playground. We want you to come so that our Moms and Dads can stay at work and get their stuff done. Thank you.

From,
Jack and Conor

Confession Tuesday

Hello there, all!

I hope you are well on this fine Tuesday. For most of my Virginia pals, today is the first day of school. Welcome back, y'all!

*******

Gosh, so much to talk about. We're all well over here. Kids are back in school (see previous post) and doing very well.

*******

Jon has agreed to coach Jack's soccer team this fall. This is hilarious on so many levels. Neither one of us could be described as any sort of "athlete" and the thought that we are somehow in charge of training kids is hilarious. So, Jon and I have been researching soccer drills, etc and gearing up for the big first practice tomorrow night.

I'm sure I'll keep you posted on the season. Go Jaguars!

*******

This weekend, we spent Sunday doing what we love to do on Labor Day, at WestFest, a polka festival in West, TX. Gosh, we have such a great time! The kids run and play and dance. I get to see my good friend, Sandy and polka with her and her family. It is just a blast.

I was telling my friend earlier today that my favorite part of the festival is watching the group of about 35 fifty-year olds in matching tie dye shirts jumping up and down and laughing so hard they can hardly stand while doing the "Hokey Pokey". That's what it's all about, my friends.

Here's two shots of us. One of us doing the "Hokey Pokey" and the other of us with the Czech Festival Ambassador, Rosie. You have to just love her.

*******

Jack has been on a tear recently with these imaginative stories.

First, he came home from school the other day and told me that he and his friend Cash were going to build a theatre in our front yard. When I say he told me this, I mean, he told me in GREAT detail.

First, Mom, we're going to use the left over wood that our contractor left behind. Then, we're going to go to the Home Depot and get "several" pieces of extra wood. The theatre is going to have one big room that we are going to paint black. Then, there will be an extra room in case someone else is using the big room and we need to do a play... on and on. The play would be about Indians but they would not use real arrows, he assured me. He even drew up plans for me.

He has also referenced the theatre about every other day since then. When can we build it, Mommy? Oh, I'm sure the neighbors would LOVE that!

*******

Today, I came home and Jack leapt into my arms and told me a story about the day. Apparently, he saw Eva on the playground today shortly before she took off on the jet-ski at 100mph that happened to be nearby. She also gave rides to all her teachers and fellow students. He said that his friends were like, "wow, who is that person on that jet-ski?" and Jack said he told them that it was his baby sister.

This story went on for a SOLID 20 minutes. Jack was so animated and laughing and telling this story, I was just hooked! At one point, Jack gave jet-ski drivers licenses to the head of the school, Eva's teacher AND a raccoon, who happened to be nearby "in the daylight" while wearing a "raccoon jet-ski driver" shirt (how fortuitous for the raccoon, I wonder if it swayed Jack at all in the testing process.)

The sad part to the jet-ski story is that apparently the army came and picked up the jet-ski's when they discovered that they were supposed to be used for snow skiing and not for zipping around the school at 100mph. Jack assured me that the "army" was not mad at them for having the jet-ski's and that he was not arrested today. Whew!

I'm not quite sure where Jack's going with these stories but they sure are getting grander and more interesting. For now, I'll just enjoy them and look out for raccoons zipping by the house.

First Day of School 2009

Well, this post is a couple of weeks late. I did not post immediately because I needed to have my photos doctored a bit to take off the name of the kids school from Jack's shirt, our house address, etc. I know, I know. I'm paranoid. Most of the folks reading this know EXACTLY where the kids go and EXACTLY where I live but since this is my blog, you can never be too sure!

So, here they are on the first day of school. Jack and Eva now both go five days per week. My big boy, Jack is an actual Kindergartner. I can't even believe it. The very cool thing about a Montessori school is that ages 3-6 are in the same classroom. So, Jack is year three and that comes with lots of responsibility towards the younger kids. I'm really hoping it does wonders for him this year.

Eva has taken to her school like you can't believe. I love that I get these notes from her teacher telling me stories about the things she is doing. I got a note the other day from her teacher that Eva had advanced so much in the class in one week, they created a "big kid shelf" in honor of her with work that they usually don't pull out until later in the year. You go, Eva!!!

Anyway, here they are in the doctored photos. I told my awesome co-worker (who did these for me in like two days, I was just too lazy to actually post) that if she was going ahead and doctoring them, maybe she could make me like 60lbs lighter. That would really help me in my Weight Watchers. Alas, she didn't. Too bad she does not work for Vogue.