Choices

May 22.  It seemed like it was going to be a wonderful day.

But now I have too many choices and all of them will have a negative impact on someone else.

Help me vote on this issue so I can have a clean conscious.

1.  Graduation party. 

One of my former students who is graduating from Berkeley and going on to Med School. She is having a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme party.



2.  NYC

I have my last visit to the school I work with in Albany. The teachers have invited me to stay an extra day or two and they will take me to see the local sites.  Since a few of them are actually from the city it would be the tour from locals.  And last time I can use a work trip as a junket there.


3.  Craft Day

Ward craft day, I have been waiting all year for this splendiforous occasion.

4.  And then I got a wedding announcement in the mail from this lovely girl who I used to babysit.

So now I will have guilt no matter what I do.

If you can share what you might do, it might help me.  Muchas thanks.

You Should Do This...

But you probably won't.  Anywho, go to this link and support this initiative because it will make you a better person.  The italics is what the website generates and then you can put your own story in the middle.  Here is what I came up with and I strongly, strongly encourage you to support this.  This is going to be part of the reauthorization of the ESEA

Dear Senator(s):
As a Whole Child Advocate, I ask you to cosponsor S. Res. 478 designating March as "National Whole Child Month." The resolution also recognizes that ensuring all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged should be a national priority and encourages parents, educators, and community members to support a whole child approach to education for each student.

My son does well on standardized tests--and so do his sisters.  But no one bothers to ask or think about the ability of my children to critically think, to solve problems, or to work with others.

When they graduate from elementary, and then high school I have hope that because of what I teach them at home they will have the ability to solve problems in spite of the school system regularly telling them that they are fine because they can memorize facts.  If we as a nation want to stay ahead of the international trade game by producing, not just importing information and products, we MUST begin to focus our school system around ingenuity--the one element of the American spirit that is captured in every child until someone in the school system tells them that creativity is less important than knowing the "right answer."

I encourage you to read, if you haven't already, Yong Zhao's book "Catching Up or Leading the Way" if you want to know what happens to nations that focus exclusively on being "smart."

This initiative is led by ASCD and is a collaborative effort of its national partners. I urge you to show your support to children across the country and your commitment to a quality education for each child by cosponsoring this resolution.
Thank you in advance for your prompt consideration and support of this important measure.

Overheard at the Dinner Table

Gillian, aged 5:  Daddy you better read so you can hurry and get a job and get paid.

I have no idea where she got that.

City Life

If you weren't friends with me on Facebook I would ask you to guess
the city...

Most Amazing Keynote Ever

What he said today in the keynote was so superior, so uplifting, so poetic, so American, so... awesome.

I hope that I can get a video of it sometime, but for now, here is another speech he gave so you can get a sense of what it might have been like to be in a room with him.  And a jazz band.  And his trumpet upon which he is beyond brilliant.

Oh the Bitter Pill of Post-Vacation

Casey refused to get out of bed this morning until I finally threatened him that the train was leaving without him (they can choose to stay home but then they are not allowed to go outside after school until bed which is a serious threat for Casey since he galavants around with his lil neighborhood friends for hours).

So he came into the living room and screamed the following:

"Whatever president said you had to go to school I am going to find his grave and rip it to pieces.
And then I am going to kill him again!"

He was practically incoherent he was so tired.  I tried to be disturbed by this violent outburst from my normally gentle child but it was kind of funny.  I know Steve was going to make a joke, which goes over badly when Casey is tired like that, but he somehow read my mind as I was holding my finger over my lips in the please, please, please don't say anything chant so he held back whatever was going through his smirky little head.  Though he did say a quiet: "I think it was Horace Mann."

Casey said a few more angry things about shredding graves and dead people and then finally got dressed and gathered his lunch, etc.

Casey topped it off on the way out the door saying this:

"It has no purpose. Oh you are supposed to learn, yeah you learn.  Learn how to kill.  And how to bully.  So that is why I didn't do my homework over spring break, just like I said I wouldn't. Ha!"

Then he slammed the sliding glass door on the way out.  Approximately 15 minutes late to carpool.

Mil disculpas a mi gente de carpool.

Tonight is going to be some early, early bedtimes around this place.  I blame that tasty ham.

Holiday Roll...

I just now discovered that the song "Holiday Roll" from National Lampoon's Vacation is actually "Holiday Road" which is a humiliating discovery considering I was a HUGE Lindsey Buckingham fan most of my adolescent life.

Returning to the topic, I would like to publicly thank this group of 9 kids (and their parents of course) who made my kids' spring break SUPER fun.

I never knew what it could mean to have a "large extended family" since I didn't really get to grow up with my dad's brothers and sisters until I was older.  Also, the age range of my cousins is so large that, well, one of my cousins is friends with my own children.

So the concept of having 13 kids all around the same age range running around the neighborhood in a pack, playing on the trampoline resulting only in a couple of knock-downs, and general kid fun was amazing.

I also loved the tense moments that accompanied three sisters playing complex card games and trivial pursuit.   I spent most of the time I was there wistfully wishing I had a similar party to offer others who come to visit us.

Some of my favorite quotes:

Gus:  Okay ladies, break it up (trying to get his brother and cousin to peacefully resolve a dodge ball conflict)

Amy: Do you want your little boy to see boobies?  Because that is what you will see if you take your kids to the strip.  

Jenny:  Ohhh, so you are selling your fish as a group?  Hmmm.

Bailey:  It is okay Gillian, don't be scared.

Casey:  This place is sooo fun!

All the kids:  Come here Meghan!!

Meghan:  I wish I had this many people love me allllll the time.

Here everyone is below at the Springs Preserve, with Cord hosting our very own spontaneous variety show: 

I absolutely LOVED spending time with Amy, Jenny, and Erin.  Every second of it was fun and I thought it was entirely too short for my liking.

Thanks to Jenny for hosting my unruly crew and to Amy for doubling the pleasure.

At the risk of sounding like a stalker, I hope to be able to crash other Morgan family events one day soon.