Shopping, cookies, chickens and google...

We had a full weekend...Demi had his last day of T-ball Friday night, Meg had orchestra Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon I took all 4 kids to sears to buy clothes and shoes. It went really well, Demi and Amie were a little squirelly, but behaved. The deal was they endured the clothes shopping and then I would buy them each a cookie and we would look at the alligator infront of Rainforest cafe.

My little adventure at the cookie shop- I was waited on by a little old lady/grandmother- type/enterprising owner of store type-and somehow I ended up walking away with I don't know how many cookies, 12$ later. I really don't think well under pressure. You know this kind of pressure...you are trying to keep your flock together, suddenly it seems there are 10 kids, not just 4-and they are blocking all the other customers from getting to the counter. The two little ones are climbing the display case and putting their hands all over the glass, all four keep changing their minds as you are trying to order the cookies and you can see the person helping you losing patience. So amidst all this, the enterprising grandma-type person high pressures me with something like buy 3 more and get one free. I honestly only wanted 4 cookies and a diet coke! Well, I predict this little lady will one day own all of Orange County.

Lord's day we had company for lunch, I made tortellini chicken soup and green-tea muffins. The green tea muffins because one of the bible college girls mentioned she loves baked goods with this ingredient added. So, I saw a mix at Trader Joe's..they came out really green. Good tasting, but really disturbingly green. I decided they would be good for next St. Patrick's day.

Evening we had the Bible college brothers over, we made carni asada. We had a really sweet time. We sung the hymn by Mdme. Guyon again (from another post here) and a few others that were set to 60's tunes (those wild bible college students...) I thought it really funny that they did not know the original tunes, made me feel old!

One of our chickens might be sick, we are going to take her to the expensive bird Dr. today. Expensive as in-it's cheaper to take my kids to the pediatrician...She (the chicken) is losing feathers like crazy and I don't think she has laid an egg in a week. I am worried she might be egg-bound. She is doing normal chicken things, which is a good sign. She is the smartest chicken of the flock and has the most personality, we don't want to take any chances of her getting really sick.

And to the person who found my blog by googling the words "bobbing for apples, germs", I'm pleased to know I am not the only person who obsesses about these things...I never would have thought to research it however, just worry...
pass me a wet-wipe...
my post on that subject is here. Have fun and talk amongst yourselves...

Could it get any more crowded in here?

found this fun site over at Welcome to Parenting. I had to share, especially after my google stint...

HowManyOfMe.com
Logo There are:
3
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

That was actually for my first and last name, my first name came up with the number of 1,397,854. I was not surprised, I always had at least one other Jennifer in class at school, more often it was 3 or 4 in a class.

If you get the chance, go on over to Welcome to Parenthood to see the Dove campaign for real beauty video, it was stunning and something you should show your daughters.

Thursday Thirteen #7

Thirteen Things about Our Josie

1. Josie was born two weeks early, as a result she was the smallest of our babies, 8 lbs 11 oz.

2. Her middle name is Elizabeth, her grandmother's middle name, great-grandmother's first name, also a Bible name. (and her real name is not Josie, that's just for the blog)

3. She is 18 months younger then her sister Meg, and they are best friends.

4. From ages 2 to 5 her favorite animal was the elephant, but now it is the cat.

5. Josie's favorite color is red and her favorite food is BLT sandwich.

6. Her favorite school subject is reading.

7. Her favorite book is the "Warrior" series (about cats)

8. Josie has taken piano lessons for about a year, practices all the time, and is a joy to listen to.

9. If Josie could choose to do anything for a whole day, it would be going to a cat show.

10. Josie loves to paint and draw and takes art classes.

11. Josie is a very neat and organized little girl (very unlike her mom) and impresses me with this trait.

12. Josie does not like mayo on her sandwiches, does not like applesauce, but likes apple desserts.

13. She prefers the grown-up "Bria", but we used to call her "Bwee-bwee", or "The Brie".

Thursday Thirteen is a weekly meme found here. My number indicates how many I have done, go on over to visit lots more very different and interesting TT's!

The knock at the door, and interfering parents

I thought I would weigh-in on the news story regarding the California teenager questioned by secret service agents for threats she made on Myspace. Read the story here.

I know, of course, that the opinion of a 30-something, conservative, christian, homeschool mom is cutting edge stuff...(if that came out a little snarky, well-I am having a small mid-life crisis after googling my name and finding another Jennifer in a different state who is apparently much more interesting than I am. But, I digress, that is fodder for another post...)

I'm going to address the main parts of this story that bothered me. I think the underlying hint of Secret Service-bashing which leads to hinted Bush bashing is misguided and overplayed. The media stories focus on the mean secret service agents and the little girl with a heart on her backpack.

The totally missed point in all of this is the lack of rights of the parents and their children while the children are in the custody of the school. I wonder while reading news articles on this story how this point is so overlooked. In most states parents do not have the right to be notified of interviews with law enforcement, social workers, counselors, secret service agents, whoever...I'm sad that as a society we just rolled over and let the school systems take parental rights away because, well, they are the professionals and must know what they are doing. Here in California a past Governor vetoed a bill that would have ensured parents be notified before such interviews and this year our legislature killed language in a bill that would have ensured the same.

The assistant principle of the high school involved in this story had this to say... "Parents usually interfere with an investigation, so we usually don't notify them until it's done," The Sacramento Bee reported that 'Sacramento City Unified School District policy calls for parents to be notified but doesn't say whether it should happen before or after a student is interviewed. State law doesn't require parental notification.' Read the whole story here-U.S. Agents question teen by Laurel Rosenhall and Ryan Lillis. (the quotes were taken from this article) er, the bold part is my doing...

I'm sad that parents in this story were so shocked and surprised. I'm bothered that they would take the opportunity to blame everyone else to the media, but not bring to the nation's attention this very wrong attitude in our public schools. The attitude that parents interfere...that children have no rights once on school grounds, that parents are nuisances that should be kept in the dark regarding the material being taught or presented because they just cause so much trouble.

I think the icing on the cake for me had to be the fact the parents knew nothing about their daughter's death threat to the President-over a year ago-on MySpace until the secret service knocked on their door. Add to that their excusing of her behavior, the attitude of -it was wrong, but they took it way out of proportion...This attitude that is played out over an over again by parents at little league games and public schools. This attitude that prompts parents to hire attorneys instead of apologizing for their kids awful behavior. This attitude contributes to the overall bad experience public school can be.

o.k. that was my .2 cents and some change...going to step off my soap box now, and resume trying to look/be more interesting... I googled both my maiden name and married name, and two people came up with my name, more interesting then me! I'm nursing a complex here..

Edited to add: sorry about the links, if you put teenage girl, secret service, threats into google search, it will bring you a link for Sac bee that will take you to the story, for some reason if I copy the link it converts to the page you need to register...if you want to read the whole story, try the google search. Edited again to remove excessive "snarkiness", I hate sarcasm directed towards me...I don't want to come across less then gentle...so I "fixed" my post alittle.

With apologies to P.G. Wodehouse...


My son, the artist

From around our house:

First, I had to share this painting Demi did in art class. It is so be-yew-ta-full! I had to share, being the proud-as-punch momma that I am... Very seasonal, don't you think?

Next, a conversation today...

Demi: "I don't like Jeeves & Wooster, I hate Jeeves & Wooster. There is too much talking!
Talk, talk, talk,...talking all the time. And, no fighting and punching either..."

With sincere apologies to P.G. Wodehouse, my 6 year old is just not impressed. However, 2/3 of this household are very enthusiastic about Jeeves & Wooster, I will even add that we love it and own all the dvds. -what-ho, and all that...

Last, I think I figured out the melody to the hymn I shared here...I think it might be to the tune of "the answer is blowing in the wind" or whatever it is titled. I think-I was born in the 70's, so I am not an expert on 60's music. It is close to it at least, maybe a little more "lilting"?

File under neon green shirts and legwarmers...

It is no use to ask the bible college students about the melody...they are all younger than I and would have no clue, sorry as I am to say it, but there it is.

Thursday Thirteen #6


Thursday Thirteen!
13 Things about Demi-Sky

1.Demi's middle name is Matthew (and his name is not really Demi...)

2. Demi would play game cube all day if we would let him.

3. Demi is very into superheros, Spiderman is his favorite-he wants to be a superhero when he grows up, to that end he strives to eat vegetables everyday, for muscles of course.

4. He loves to look at Calvin & Hobbes comics, he reminds us of Calvin...

5. I saw falling stars all the time while I was carrying him so I decorated his nursery with stars.

6. He is our third with Asthma, 3 in a row-I get some-kind of prize, right??

7. Demi's best friend is his sister Amie, who is 3 years younger.

8. His next best friends are his cousin Joshua, and his friend Joey.

9. For his 7th birthday he is asking for a skateboard

10. Demi loves Chuckie Cheese and doesn't get why mom won't go... (dad does that honor)

11. We call him "boy", "the boy", "the boy wonder", and "son of thunder", besides "Demi". (oh, and "snack-man" because he asks for snacks every five minutes.)

12. Demi loves baseball, The Anehiem Angels are his favorite team.

13. He was really into wishes, now he is into prayer. His top prayer request is a little brother. He has already picked out a name.

14. He is so sweet to his mommy. (sorry, hard to stop at 13)

Thursday Thirteen is a meme hosted here every week, stop by to see more!