Carpool Conversations

This is our 4th week of school. Grace and Will are the only kids in the carpool NOT on D track so I've been sister chauffeur for the last 3 weeks. To and from everyday. And I've loved it. Ten minutes there and 10 minutes back has really been my favorite part of the day. We practice spelling and vocab, discuss the lunch possibilities, do last spit check on faces, kisses and they are out of the car.

One of my favorite parts comes AFTER I drop them off. I am in the church parking lot right next to the school so I sit and watch for a few minutes. Grace turns and waves ONCE everyday, and then she is off and RUNNING. She has a weird thing about being late. I don't know where she gets it:). Will is the softy. When we moved to St. George 4 1/2 years ago I had to drive Will everyday for a month until our house was finished. My little shrimpy 1st grader would hop out of the car and start the treck to his classroom clear on the other side of the school. He would take 5 steps, turn, look for me, WAVE WAVE WAVE, turn around take 5 steps, WAVE WAVE WAVE WAVE...and so on and so forth until he'd give me one final wave as he turned the corner and left my line of vision. I ate it up everyday. Fast forward to 5th grade. Another new school. Mom is driving. I get my waves. Will is a bit more socially conscious of course, as any 10 year old is. He turns, looks for me and gives a little inconspicuous wave. He'll do it twice before he gets close enough for his buddies to see him, then he runs and drops his backpack to play basketball with his friends and forgets all about mom. It still melts me. It still makes my day 4 years later.

Driving home is great too. Ten minutes of my undivided attention. I bring snacks and settle in and let them go. Lunch report, recess report, you know, the news of the day. A few days ago Will started talking about finding a gold brick. A HUGE brick and every little crumb would be worth a MILLION dollars. These are just a few of the things he would buy:

A new skateboard

A mini fridge for his room

Target...the whole company

A chinese woman to feed him ding-dongs

The house being built next door for his SG buddies to live in

Stuff for Grace

A cool car

A chinese lady to be his nanny, which he quickly amended (thanks to Grace and I mocking him mercilessly) to a chinese lady that would be his bodyguard and perform kung fu on his attackers. He wants an entourage of bodyguards. Cuz he'll certainly need them with all of the fame and fortune coming his way.

The next day he told me he missed ONE question on the test we'd been studying for. When asked who the governor of his state was, he put BILL GATES. nice:)

this is the OLD remote gas powered remote control that Jeff and Will have been building jumps for. They want the new and improved model, which I'm sure will make it's way into Jeff's car some way or another before you know it. Notice Grace's BORED TO DEATH pose in the back. Love it. Below is Will posing in his new helmet. That's carmel, not snot on his shnoz. I swear.

In other news, the village idiot showed up to teach the Laurels yesterday. It was awful. The 1st counselor in the bishopric stopped in and I ATE DIRT for the rest of the lesson. HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE does not begin to describe my bumbling idiocy. nice.

I'm gonna try a new method this week. I will not open the manual till Friday. Instead I will read Breaking Dawn cover to cover. Sounds like a plan to me. Can't get any worse than the train wreck that was last week.

Luckily we had nice new friends invite us over for dinner last night. THANKYOU!!! The company was SUPER and the burgers WERE gourmet:)

have a good week ya'll.

Gotta get me some Jack

It started in 1992. It was the summer before my Sr. year in high school. A little film called NEWSIES hit the big screen and made me a life-long lover. Of the movie AND it's stars. I dragged anyone and everyone to that show. Christian Bale, anyone? Of course, in those days, he was Jack Kelly. The "newsie" with an attitude, a whip and some fancy footwork. Heaven knows I've always been a sucker for guy that could sing and dance. That may or may not have contributed to the disproportionately HIGH number of gay exes I can claim, but let's not go there. Later on, my college roommates (who obviously had tremendous taste too) and I memorized every dance step, every smirk, and every word. OBSESSED does not begin to cover it. Christian as Jack Kelly

So, the past week I've been indulging in a little reminiscence. THIS and THIS will introduce you to the NEWSIES awesomeness (just in case you've never become acquainted:). If you are hankering for a little grown-up man candy Christian, feast your eyes on THIS. Dark, brooding. And the ACCENT. Have mercy. Here is a little somethin' to tide you over...

Happy Wednesday:)

For REAL?

I've heard more than enough news reports about idiot parents leaving their children in hot cars this summer. I mean, isn't ONE child really too many? Well, this morning I heard about a product now available that will remind you with a gentle BEEP that you got knocked-up, spawned a living breathing human being (that you were brilliant enough to STRAP INTO the car), and that OOPS, you just walked away and LEFT the little tyke in the VEHICLE!!!

Seriously? Parents need ALERTS now? COME ON!!!

Here's my problem. A VAST majority of these idiots don't "forget" the kid is in the car. They just want a break and were either too STUPID, too CHEAP, or too LAZY to get a babysitter. Truly. Going to a midnight movie? Getting your hair done? Nails filled? Eating lunch with friends? Boozin' it up in a bar? These jackholes just didn't want to deal with an inconvenient child that might hamper social hour.

Are there a tiny number of cases that involve a parent that TRULY forgot the child? (change in schedule, day care problem etc.) Certainly. And those stories are TRAGIC and HEARTBREAKING. But I do believe these cases are few and far between. Besides, the people that are concerned enough about their child to buy this RIDICULOUS alert system in the first place are CERTAINLY NOT the same dope smoking moronic idiots that walk off and leave their babies.

Here's an idea,

birth control.