Good Friday

Just got home from Good Friday church service.  It was very powerful on two different levels.

As we walked into the church my daughter asked why we had come at night.  I told her that it was Good Friday.  She said, "Is that when Jesus dies?"  And she immediately had tears in her eyes.  All through the service, as the story was read, and lights were gradually turned off, she cried more and more.  She literally trembled with sorrow as we sang "sometimes it causes me to tremble" from the hymn "Were You There?"
Very powerful stuff to see that emotion from her.

And on a totally different level of emotion....the evening was a powerful reminder of just how different my two kids are from each other.

As the lights gradually dimmed throughout the service, my son got more and more excited because he happened to be wearing a glow-in-the-dark shirt.  

Two kids could not have had more different experiences at the same event.

Daily log (seemed funnier before I wrote it)

Today's "Everyday Adventure" log:

6:00  alarm starts the day

6:15  the boy emerges from his room, dressed and grumpy

6:20   the boy chooses pop tarts over cereal for breakfast.  Not the healthiest start...but it is a start

6:30  first attempt at waking the girl

6:40   second attempt at waking the girl  - she says to start making eggos.  That's much earlier than usual.  Good start.

6:45   eggos are read, girl is up

6:47    make myself oatmeal and toast.

6:50    OOPS.  Forgot to make wife's breakfast and lunch.  Now she is doing it while I eat my breakfast.  I never forget to do that.  Not a good start.

7:00  the boy has eaten, brushed his teeth and is playing video games

7:01  remind the boy to change his underwear.  (amazing how often that does not happen)

7:02         verify that the boy has on new underwear

7:15  make cold lunches for both kids (how they don't like pizza dippers (the hot lunch choice for today) is beyond me)

7:00 - 7:40  kids fight over who gets to play with Mom's new IPOD touch.

7:40         leave for school.  We ride bikes today even though it is only 30 degrees.  Good because they're getting some exercise and we're saving gas.  Bad because it's COLD!!!

7:52         I'm home again.

8:00 - 8:45 time to start some laundry and get myself ready.  But instead....I sleep.  (shhhh, don't tell my wife.)

9:00        Get ready for my Core Conditioning class at the YMCA

9:30        leave for the YMCA.  (even though it is only about a 10 minute drive and class doesn't start until 10:00...why do I leave so early?)

9:42-10:00 wander the halls of the YMCA waiting for class

10:00 Core Condition class (just once, I'd like to see another dad in one of these classes.  Once again, its me and the moms.)

11:15 arrive home (arms still shaking from class.  not only does my core need work, apparently so do my arms.)

11:30 Cereal and toast for lunch.  (You know you're old when your eating Fiber One cereal by choice.)

11:50 Start laundry I meant to start 4 hours earlier

12:45 Leave for school.  I volunteer in my daughter's class room on Monday afternoons.  Once again, it is only 2 minutes away, why do I leave so early?)

12:50 Wander the halls of the school waiting for 1:00.

1:00 - 2:00 Help 4th graders with math.  (For those that have not done this....it's way harder than it looks.  People who teach for a living are awesome!!!)

2:05          Arrive home.  Laundry to drier.

2:07          I should mention here that anytime I'm home and there is a spare 5 minutes, you can assume I am playing ZUMA Blitz on Facebook.

2:20         Write this meandering timeline....not quite as much humor here as I had hoped.  Oh well.

looking into the crystal ball:

3:00 Leave to meet the kids at Grandma and Grandpa's house

3:18         Eat cookies with kids before they bike home (I'll be driving the 3 blocks....it's COLD)

4:00        Take the boy to Karate at the YMCA.  Try not to leave way early....but I'm sure we will.

4:50        Hope the my wife made it home to take the girl to ballet.

5:00       Try to get the boy to do homework.  Way more trouble than it should be.

6:00        Make some Schwan's meatloaf for supper.  Goof stuff

6:30        Eat

6:50       Try to get the girl to do homework

7:00 - 8:00 kids fight over who gets to play with Mom's new IPOD touch.

8:00   the boy in bed, read some books, asleep

8:00  the girl in bed, read some books

8:10 put the girl back in bed

8:22  put the girl back in bed

8:44  put the girl back in bed

9:30   put the girl back in bed

9:45   put the girl back in bed

10:15 zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

(laundry still in the drier......)

Where's my cupcake?

My daughter's fourth grade class had a funeral this morning.   A funeral for "dead" words.  Their teacher identified a handful of words that were overused and declared them dead.   A note was sent home informing us that students could dress in black and bring black treats today.  Parents were invited to attend and help the kids rid their writing of the dead words.  All I needed to know was that parents were invited and there would be treats.  I was in.

So at 8:15 this morning we gathered in the class room, read poems and looked for dead words.  My group happened to be sitting right next to the treat table.  I got to hear poems about marshmallows, bugs, dancing, getting the flu, and the color red.  We eliminated words like "said," "things," "awesome," and "lots."  

Then we parents left and the kids went to an assembly in the gym.

NO TREATS WERE EATEN!!!!!   Apparently, the class will be eating the cupcakes decorated with "RIP" and the cookie cake that reads "Farewell, we will miss you" sometime later this morning.

Thumbs up to the creative way to get the kids to widen their vocabulary usage.

Thumbs down to no treats for the parents. (isn't it all supposed to be about the parents?)

Sick days

How easy is it for you to let your kids stay home from school when they don't feel well? For me, it is not easy at all.  

When I was a kid, I didn't like to miss school.  It wasn't that I didn't like staying home, it was that I hated the next day when I felt like I had missed everything.  I hated the feeling that I was behind and needed to get caught up.

So when my kids tell me in the morning that they don't feel good (as my son did today), I usually ignore it and hope it goes away.  But today, he convinced me that maybe he actually did not feel well enough to go to school.  So now he is on the couch sleeping.....but I still have guilt about not making him go.