We went to DH's parents' house last night. We hadn't seen them since August! Due to us being out of town for Emma's birthday, DH's Mom working most weekends, and them being out of state for 2 weeks on vacation last month, we just hadn't been able to connect with them in person.
Em was thrilled with the B.arbie items and H.ighSchoolMus.ical dolls Nana and Papa gave her as a belated birthday present.
Paycheck Vacuum: Sighs. My car started making a loud noise on Thursday afternoon. We were able to get it into the repair shop...$957 for a broken air conditioning compressor. Yikes! Sucked my paycheck right out from under us. And while part of me was willing to go without A.C. for a bit, the mechanic advised against it, as it could lead to further belt and/or engine damage. Argh!
Emma "The Bad": I spoke with her teacher in person. Ms. T admitted that she DID show students "some" of the news on TV. She claims to have only shown a news clip from when Summer was still missing and her mother was crying and distraught saying that she missed her. The teacher said she wanted to reiterate to the students how sad their parents would be if they were ever lost or ran away. And to help remind students not to ever go somewhere with a stranger. I was extremely fired up by this...especially since the school director told me she had asked the teacher NOT to turn the news into a stranger-danger lesson... However, as time has gone on, I'm mostly over it now. I don't like the way things were handled, but I believe Ms. T really had the students' best interest at heart. Ms. T mentioned multiple times that like me, she was disappointed that students parents had allowed their 4/5 year olds to view the entire newscast. She said that students discussing the news had been going on the entire week---from when Summer was only missing, to when Summer was found dead, to news footage of her funeral. And while the way she "taught" students the importance of staying with their parents is NOT what I would have wanted for Em...the reality is that I cannot control what happens when Em is at school. Gulp!
Emma "The Good/Funny": DH was at work on Saturday while I was home with Em. I was in the shower and DH called. DH and I have specific ring tones attached to our cells, so when we are the ones making incoming "home" calls, we're able to identify the call by sound. Em can't reach our home phone when it is hanging in the receiver. So she got my cell phone off the table in our foyer and CALLED DH's CELL and left him a voicemail: "Hi Daddy. This is your little girl, Emma. Mommy is in the shower. You can call us back after lunch time, okay?" I didn't know she even knew HOW to dial my cell, let alone how to locate DH's number on it. Too, too funny!
Books: I've been updating my Books Read list on the left sidebar of my blog. However, it's been awhile since I posted about anything that I've read. Recently I read the first 4 books in L.J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries series. I found the books to be enjoyable, fast reads. However, I was stunned by how similar some of the vampire characteristics are to the vampires in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga. I was further surprised in researching the Internet and publishing dates to learn that the Vampire Diaries novels were released a decade before Meyer's books. And though I LOVE the Twilight books and think Edward and the Cullen family could kick the Salvatore family's vampire butts any day...it was a bit of an eye opener for me to see that some of Meyer's ideas weren't 100% original. What a bummer!
This weekend I've started a new young adult series: The Shadow Children by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I read the first two books (Among the Hidden and Among the Impostors) yesterday, and started on Among the Betrayed today. The books are about a society that only permits families to have 2 children or less. There is a "Population Police" that captures (and sometimes kills) any 3rd (or higher) children. The main character of the first 2 books is a 12-year-old boy named Luke, who is an illegal 3rd child. I don't want to give away plot details....but the books have been entertaining and suspenseful. I will definitely be recommending them to my 8th graders.
DH's Novel: He has promised to let me read the ENTIRE first draft over Thanksgiving weekend. Yay! Meanwhile, he toggles between editing his first book and working on writing his second. Super cool!
Emmaisms: Let's close with some Emmaisms. First, a conversation I jotted down from July 4th, regarding excellent teachers and bendable straws:
Em: These are called antignal straws.
Me: They are? Who taught you that?
Em: Let's just say that I have a really good teacher.
Me: Oh. Did Miss Stephanie teach you that?
Em: No.
Me: Then where did you learn it?
Em: I just taught myself.
(She may be a "really good teacher," but how about some modesty?)
10/13/09 On learning more about the world:
Daddy, did you know there's a place in this world called Duval County?
(Yup...and you've lived in it your whole life, Kid.)
10/17/09 On transportation:
"A long, long time ago people didn't have any cars....they only had taxis."
(Forget the camel, donkey, horse, or elephant...taxis have apparently been around for years.)
11/1/09 On elderly parents:
"I get to have 5 scoops of Mac&Cheese, since I'm 5. Sorry, Mommy. I know you're 101. But we don't have 101 scoops, so you'll have to just have 5 too."
(I'm aging quite nicely, if I do say so myself...)
10 comments:
I am so sorry to hear she showed the news to Em. I would still have an issue with it. I still don't think it was appropriate, and it's even worse that the director had no idea what the teacher actually did in the classroom with the kids.
Loved the stories about Em and especially the macaroni!
Emma is cracking me up!!! It makes me excited for the time when my son will be able to talk. We do get some words that actually make sense, but most of the time it sounds like he's speaking Russian or Japanese.
Oh the wonderful Miss Em! Too funny about the age thing, and absolutley adorable about the phone!
I hate the paycheck vaccuum! Not cool at all! (the year I lived in Florida, I had a car without a/c... the biggest mistake I ever made was going through an automatic car wash in summertime. I thought I was going to die in my car!)
That's so funny about the things Em says. I got a couple kids here who say some things that make me do a double take (nothing bad)My kids don't watch the news either, I would have freaked. And we've been there done that with the paycheck thing ughh.
Oh, how my niece makes me laugh! Crazy that she's already figured out the cell phone!... I'll have to wait for the day she calls me! ;) And the macaroni and cheese just makes me laugh out loud-- scary to think that starting this week I could get THIRTY scoops! Have a great week!
Yikes - that was a huge repair bill -yuck!
Love the Emmaisms - I need to start writing some things that A says as well.
Oh, and that new series you are reading sounds interesting - I need to go check those out (when I get a chance, that is).
I LOVE the stuff that Em says... 101?!? LOVE IT... not because I think that it's funny that she thinks your old, but you know... it's just, well, fun :)
How dare she show that to those children. Jeeze some people are INSANE!
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