Dancing wth the Star!

Alyssa loves her ballet class. She loves dressing up in her dance clothes and ballet shoes. She loves her teacher too. She is lots of fun to watch. She can get a little distracted by other kids in the class. There is this horrible little boy named Joey in her class and Joey distracts her a lot. He is always doing annoying things. The teacher seems like she is about done with him. I keep hoping they'll kick him out. I know that is mean of me and he probably has issues. Oh well.

Several weeks ago he went to sit by her before class. She was wearing this velour leotard. It is kind of soft and plush to the touch. Joey kept touching her all over. It was all I could do not to go over there and rip the little punk's head off. She had this funny uncomfortable look on her face the whole time. After class when we were in the car going home, I asked her how she felt about Joey. She told me that she didn't like him, because he kept touching her. I asked her if she had asked him to stop. She said no. I told her, "Alyssa, you have the right to tell him to stop touching you!" She said, "I do?" The whole way home, we practiced, "Joey, stop touching me!"

She wore the same leotard a couple of weeks later and again Joey sidled up to her. He started putting his hands on her again. She looked over at me and I nodded at her. Then she put her hands on her hips, stared him in the eye and said strongly, "Joey stop touching me!" He looked at her with this shocked look on his face and walked away from her. He has pretty much stayed away from her in class ever since. I don't think anyone has ever said no to that child before. Go Alyssa!

I Caught a Fish This Big

After the Pinewood Derby a couple of weeks ago, Curtis went with his friend Matthew's family on an adventure. They were planning to go down to the Lego store at Ontario Mills, after what was to be a brief stop at the Bass Pro Shop.

Their stop at the Bass Pro shop turned into an adventure. The kids wanted to fish, so they waited in line for about an hour, and then fished I guess for a couple more. Curtis caught a fish after about 2 hours of fishing, but the other kids kept fishing for another half hour or so. The other kids never caught anything. It was reported to me that there was much crying about leaving. I am sure that stopped once they hit the doors of the Lego store.

Matthew and Curtis are crazy for Bionicles. They love them. Curtis has waaaaay too many in my opinion. Anyway, we had given him $20 and he came home with two new ones. Happy day. He got home really late, about 10:30 or so and then climbed in the shower. After he got out, he went to get dressed, but didn't make it that far, because I found him putting together a Bionicle naked. I guess it is all about priorities.

That's Not Appropriate!

The other day we were walking into a store with the kids and Curtis started asking what Mince-meat Pie was. (I don't know where this came from!) I explained that it was meat cooked with raisins, sugar, and spices and then baked into a pie. Alyssa had been completely silent during this conversation, exclaimed, "That's not appropriate!" I have to agree with her opinion. Mince-meat really is inappropriate!

Pinewood Derby

Today was the Pinewood Derby. Curtis and Mike have been working on their cars for several weeks. Mike let Curtis do as much as he possibly could. When I asked if he used the saw to cut the car, Mike told me that he had with his help. What a good Daddy! It was a fun day and the boys seemed to really have a good time. Mike had built a car too, but let Matthew, Curtis' friend who isn't old enough for Cubs yet, to race it.

There were some dads there who were very competitive. I hate that part of it. I am glad that Mike just wants Curtis to learn good sportsmanship and have joy in the experience.

They did this weird bracket elimination kind of like the final four stuff. Even though Curtis consistently had the second fastest car, he didn't even place.

Mike's car is the red one on the end. Curtis' car is the wider of the 2 dark blue cars. There are three cars in between Mike's and Curtis'.

All in all a good, successful day.

The Tractor Man

What's that stupid song about a tractor being sexy? Well, I don't know if it is sexy, but it sure is cute, especially with these two on top!
Mike is grading off part of the yard (for those of you who know) where the travel trailer has been sitting. He wants to build a garage there. I think right now, it will just be a cement pad for now.

The Teacher

After school today I was working on report cards in my classroom. Curtis was reading and I thought Alyssa was watching Animal Planet. Then I started hearing her talking, but Curtis wasn't answering. I didn't hear screaming, which she would normally do if Curtis didn't answer her, so I stopped what I was doing and looked over at her. She had pulled a chair to the front of the room and was sitting in it. I heard her say, "OK everyone, sit on the carpet. Brandon sit on your spot. We are going to go thought the alphabet now. A is for apple. B is for ball..." It continued like this through the whole alphabet. Then she went up to the board and started writing, "OK class what letter comes next?" She was writing "I see a zoo." I love that girl! She has such a vivid imagination. That is one of the things I love about her. I love being her mother. The older she gets the more I love her. I think it is going to be fun watching her grow up.