To Our Governor

RE: Safe Haven Law

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I don’t understand how the lawmakers could have gotten this so “wrong” (your perception). And when it was put to the test all we heard was this was not the “intent” of the law. That doesn’t give me much confidence in our lawmakers OR our HHS leaders. And now you have been pushed to your limits to call a special session, a costly special session that will undoubtedly cost the tax payers of our great state.

Personally, I think it is a GOOD thing that these families are coming forward for help. I can’t imagine that it is easy on any of them. Do I think that there are alternate avenues that should be taken? Yes. Do I think “abandoning” your pre-teen or teen is an ideal or even okay thing? No!

But CLEARLY these families are in need of help and I can only imagine that there are many many more families like them. So WHY is it MORE important to call a special session to put an end to this? Why is it so important to revise the Safe Haven law to accurately outline the “intent” as you all intended to do in the first place? Now, I’ve heard mention of an effort to evaluate services to help these families and families like theirs. But the focus at the moment seems to be clearing up your mistakes. WHY does HELP take a back seat to fixing your mistakes?

INSTEAD why not put your first focus on evaluating the services available, the services needed, what is working and what isn’t working, and the process one must go through to get services? Why not focus on the solution to the problems these families are facing?

Leave The Safe Haven law alone. The law, as it stands today, would be your test to see if you are getting it right.

Yeah, I understand that adding these kids to the system is costly. Yeah, I understand that it would be faster to change the bill than it would be to complete the effort to evaluate services and find help. But really, what is in the best interest of THESE KIDS?

Wouldn’t the $80,000 you are spending on a special session be helpful to the social services programs?

So Many Hurdles Passed

Last night both Abby & Ellie were scheduled for flu shots.

Our Ped's office does a great job of setting up clinics and they offer both daytime hours and once a week they have an evening clinic. We opted to not do it while Grandpa & Yia Yia were here, which then quickly brought us to the end of October.

Now, we've intentionally avoided this subject with Abby & Ellie for good reason. They hear the word shot and it they (especially Ellie) turn into children we've never seen before. We don't "lie" to them. We just withhold the information until they really must know. :) And seriously, I've gotten them out of tight spots before (wedged under the seat in the far corner of a 7 passenger van with 5 car seats installed); I really don't need to do that again!

So the plan for yesterday was that they'd come home from school, do their normal after school routine, homework, etc... and then Carie would tell them. As she told them their eyes immediately welled up and they were so not happy. Carie was all "You guys are 6 now; I know you can do this." They talked more about how it would work, etc... Abby & Ellie talked about who would go first. They both said they wanted to go first and then Abby told Ellie she could go first because she knew that she was really scared. Awwww!

Given that their appointment was at 6, our bribe was that we would go out to dinner and they could choose where.

We got to the Ped's office, got checked in, and didn't have to wait long. As a bonus, our most favorite nurse was there and was the one that would give the girls their shots. We walked back and Brenda asked who was going to go first and then gave them the option of the leg or the arm. Ellie said "me, and do it QUICK". Ellie hopped up on the table, pulled her sleeve down a bit, and as always Brenda was super quick. She doesn't mess around! Then it was Abby's turn and Ellie couldn't watch so she hid under the table. I was trying to hug and console her but she wanted down and out of sight. We were in and out of the office; start to finish, within 15 minutes! They both did great. We still have room for improvement, but no one was hiding under office chairs. They even remembered to show Brenda their missing teeth before we left.

We were off to Red Robin in no time where they were both admiring their band aids. When we got home they wanted to keep their stickers and they didn’t want to part with their band aids either so I suggested putting them in their journals where they could write about their evening.

THEN

Out of nowhere Spencer tells us that he went poop. Oh great! Now, this is a boy who always denies that he’s gone poop. Always! Sitting in it doesn’t phase him a bit! We’ve been trying to get him to go on the potty, but he just has not cared.

He then tells us that he went poop on the potty! He figured out he had to go and he went in the appropriate place all on his own! Our kids are so stinkin independent that they just have to do it on their own. This was cause for major celebration. He was so pleased with himself!

I asked him what happens if he goes poop on the potty a lotta lotta times and he remembered. We get to go to the Pizza Bachine! We talked about how grown up he was and now that he is 3 ½ (as of Sunday) we were sure that he could go poop on the potty. It seemed to click with him, I guess we’ll see.

I sure hope this is a sign of things to come.

Garden... Gone

With the freeze on Sunday night and then again last night, the garden wasn't going to stand a chance.

So last night we dug in and ripped everything out, or at least everything we could see. It was getting pretty dark so it was really hard to know if we got it all. I do know there were quite a few tomatoes on the ground since we kept stepping on them. Yuck!

The leaves are really starting to fall as well. The thing is all the trees in our yard drop their leaves late. This is great and we are able to see the fall colors longer. That doesn't mean that we are exempt from raking leaves in your yard early on, it just means that we get to continue cleaning up our yard for a good long time. But thanks to the neighbor girl, we have extra leaves.

I watched her execute a portion of her "plan" and I couldn't believe it. At first glance one might think... "Oh, that is nice of her to rake up the neighbors leaves". But knowing her a bit more personally, that is not at all what first comes to mind. I don't know how long she was at it, but I came out to find her, with her trusty rake and a large plastic bag, raking up leaves along the neighbor’s fence line. The wind must have been blowing just right to deposit quite the pile of leaves in that one area. If it was snow and she was looking to build a massive snow fort, she would have hit the jackpot. Fortunately for her, leaves are much lighter!

So I go on about my business. I don't have much time before it gets dark and I've got more than enough to do. I start to mow my lawn, sucking up leaves as I go when I notice that perhaps I suddenly have more leaves, piles of leaves, in my yard than I did just moments ago. Then I notice the neighbor girl with an empty bag. I look around to the side yard and I notice that perhaps she made a few trips. To say I was furious is an understatement.

Now, it isn't like she went to the middle of my yard and just dumped piles of leaves. I doubt she meant to intentionally create more work for me, work that I was in the process of doing. And really, I don't at all mind the notion of playing with leaves. But it just seemed so disrespectful and thoughtless at the time. Instead of intending (?) to dump the leaves in their little 3' strip of green space that connects to our yard she could have easily collected the leaves in their much larger green space on the other side of their double wide driveway. Oh, but then she might have been seen by her parents. And really, with the wind they would have likely ended up my way sooner than later.

As we are wrapping things up her parents come outside and meet up with another adult who appears to be visiting. The dad notices that there is an abundance of leaves and makes a comment. The visitor said something. I heard it all and couldn't help but chime in to let them know that the leaves came from up the street courtesy of their daughter. Oh, and what is left is only a small portion. I couldn't believe it, but it was all received very well. They totally called her on it and they (not her!) totally apologized. The thing is, she is quite often doing something crazy and she’s totally a bad influence on our kids. And yeah, they called her on it and they said that she would have to clean it up after school the next day. But she didn't have to take ownership of her actions. And then her parents mowed so who knows if she actually had to clean it up or if they cleaned it up for her.

I really wish we could get along with this family. It would make life a bit nicer.

Annual Pumpkin Carving

Last night we tackled the pumpkins. At least that is how it felt going into it. Several of us are under the weather and we all seemed to be tired. Moods were reflective of such analysis! I suggested that waiting a night may be an option to consider and I was quickly and unanimously overruled by the little people. Maybe it was just me who was feeling less than stellar? :)

Carie and I made a quick pact that neither of us would be photographed during this event. I mostly held up to my agreement. Given that she has full authority to delete the one (cute) photo, I'll just leave it at that.

It turned out to be a great night and I'm so glad that we went through with it! I think carving pumpkins really brings out a person’s personality. And to no surprise, Abby thoroughly enjoyed digging in and cleaning out the guts. She has no qualms about the sliminess of the job and offered to clean out the guts of all the pumpkins. Ellie was willing to clean out the seeds so long as they weren't attached to a bunch of slime, and utensils were absolutely required. Spencer was more involved in the whole process this year but didn't much care for the slime either.

As tradition goes, they all designed the look of their own pumpkins. I love how the girls draw out their design on paper and then walk through their design with us. Carie then copied their designs from paper to pumpkin. After their seal of approval, we began carving. This year both Abby & Ellie participated in the carving of their own pumpkin. They thought they were hot stuff! I carved Spencer’s pumpkin with him on my lap giving me directions on what shape to carve where. Thank goodness I got it right the first time! He was easily entertained by putting the pieces back together.

After carving we like to take the pumpkins outside for a photo op, but this year it was way too cold and windy to even consider this option. The anticipated temp this morning at 8am was supposed to be 28 with a wind chill of 15. Time for winter coats, hats, and gloves! We kept the pumpkins inside with the hopes of them lasting until Friday!

And... Yeah, gotta love the outfits and accessories.

He Shoots, He Scores

Basketball started today for The Boy. We arrived to discover their team name is the Gators and they get green shirts. Green happens to be Spencer's favorite color!

He's been talking about playing basketball for months. Any chance he gets he tells anyone who will listen that he signed up for basketball and the coach is going to tell him which way to go.

Once we got there he left all that excitement at the door and suddenly he wanted us to “play with him”.

This isn't a new tactic for him. We saw this when we attempted swimming lessons last winter. We then opted to skip swimming for a while to give him time. We see this at Church when he goes to the nursery for part of the service. We play with him, get him settled, leave and all is well. We saw this with the start of preschool. We then talked about how preschool was a special place for him, his new friends, and his teacher. We talked about how much fun he would have and how it worked with drop off and pick up. It went GREAT. He really has no problem being away from us. He is actually better if we aren’t there. And now we are faced with it at basketball.

We are friends with the coach and Spencer knows her daughter, Jenna. The first 1/2 of the time was practicing... yeah, practicing basketball with seven 3 & 4 year olds… a few of which seem scared of catching the ball. The coach didn't have much of a voice, kids were going everywhere, and Spencer really wanted us to play with him so I offered to help out. Once the game portion started I took the sidelines. It was kinda funny, Spencer didn't want to get on the court when it was his turn and Jenna didn't want to get off the court. I'd walk Spencer out and Carie would pick up Jenna off the floor and carry her back. Abby, Ellie & Jenna's sister Alexis had a good time!

The thing is, once he got on the court he did fine. He got to shoot the basketball a couple of times and made both of his shots!!!

Here is a photo of one of his shots. Yep, it went in!

I just wish he were more able to get out there and have fun. He wants to so bad. I don't know why he holds back.

We also quickly discovered a benefit to soccer. There may be days that it is cold, but it is much quieter! Oh my, it was noisy. I'm attributing part of it do the craziness of the first day. I guess we'll see!

The Boy - 3 1/2

Spencer Rylan,

You are about to turn 3 1/2.

I'm not sure if you realize or appreciate this fact as you regularly don't act or look your age.





















Last weekend we had family photos taken while Grandpa & Yia Yia were visiting. We (meaning your Mommy and I) had decided that we'd keep it simple for the family photos and order everyone to wear denim and black. Beware, that is just what older sisters do!

While we were there, we decided to give your 3 1/2 year photos a shot. We like to get your 1/2 year pictures taken near your actual 1/2 year birthday fully knowing that we'll take a bazillion more pictures in just 6 short weeks. Unfortunately though, with all the craziness we forgot (until well after the fact) that we were going to take in a different shirt for your individual photo. This shirt works fine and after all you are clothed. And as we know, being unclothed would have been completely unacceptable to you. I'm certain that you would have announced to the whole studio that "we lost your clothes" if we would have even suggested that you didn't wear a shirt, any shirt. Maybe when you are older you'll understand the whole shirts vs. skins thing the boys do when they play football. Because really, all those boys did not lose their clothes.

So besides the simplicity of the shirt and the drab background, I think these images reflect the joy you bring to our lives... on a minute by minute basis.





















We love ya Bud!

Goodbye Day

Today is the day we say our goodbyes. We've loved having them here for so long, but it is still hard to see them go.

Man this sucks!

We kept the girls home from school this morning so they could see them off. Instead of being woken up, rushed through our morning routine, and then out the door to catch the bus they got to take it easy and spend a couple more hours with Grandpa & Yia Yia before taking them to the airport to personally see them off. Hopefully they were able to enjoy their morning! They were quite concerned about missing school.

They may go to school after the airport, and then again they may not. It is their short day at school and Carie is just going to play it by ear. She'll see what time it is and how everyone is doing. Over their 12 day visit, this is the only day that they have missed any amount of school. Between their fall break and weekends, they had 7 full days to spend with them. Today makes day 8 of 12. I think that worked out quite well!

I've contacted the teachers to see what we could do to help them get caught up. I guess we'll see if we have extra homework tonight! At least it is raining and we won't want to be outside. Maybe we'll start another fire in the fireplace tonight. Last night was our first fire of the season and it was nice! Doing homework in front of the fire sounds nice and cozy.

And I fear we are starting a round of sickies. Hopefully Carie's folks are getting out of here just in time! We got a call last night from our BIL to say that Carie's sister was sick with some virus. She is completely down and out. We've spent a good deal of time with them over the past 12 days! Stuff is going around though! Both B&B have had something that kept each of them out of school and come to find out yesterday their Dad has had the crud for 3 weeks. Alexis' (other daycare family) little sister was home with the flu this week and her mom sounds horrible. A couple of nights ago Ellie's sinus stuff kicked into gear, last night Abby started coughing, and I'm most certainly coming down with something. Joy Joy.

First Grade Field Trip

I forgot to mention that Abby & Ellie had a school field trip... oh; it would have been about a week and a half ago by now. Their field trip was on Friday and Grandpa & Yia Yia arrived on Saturday. Seriously, the week-ish leading up to their visit feels like a blur and their week and a half visit feels like a blur.

This was the first time that both Carie and I were able to go on a school field trip... together. It was so awesome! In the past one of us has always gone. But this was the first time that all the little kids were old enough and we were free enough (of kid responsibilities) to make it happen.

The girls have always ended up together in the same small group for things like this, so they've both always been able to be with the parent who was able to go. But it was really cool for us to be able to go together and for the girls to have both of us there.

It was also cool for Spencer who got to have a special play date with some very good friends of ours. These friends are so great! They are always willing to step up and help us out with anything. The kids get along incredibly well, which makes it extra nice that they got a chance to be together. It was so cool to be able to have this all come together like it did.

So, where did we go for the field trip? We went to Gifford Farm! I know I have pictures. I'm certain that they are still on the camera, which is unusual for me. What I really ought to do is take a picture of the books they made after their field trip. Abby's book had us laughing so hard! Since we were there we knew exactly what part of the field trip she was referring to. So so funny!

Another great thing that happened was that we opted to take the van with us. We seriously though about taking the car because it seemed more responsible. We had previously mentioned to another parent that we'd be happy to carpool since it was a fair distance to the farm. Even so, the three of us could have fit comfortably in the car. But I'm glad we took the van! After arriving at school we discovered that help was needed to transport some items to the farm. The bus was packed with students, teachers, and some parents. There is one student who had a wheelchair for the field trip and they hadn't planned out how they were going to get the wheel chair to the farm. Typically the student uses a walker, but with the specifics of the field trip a wheel chair was optimal. And the wheel chair didn't fold down! I'm so glad we had our van with us and I'm so glad we had already cleaned it out in preparation for our airport trip (with 7 people and luggage) the next day! We were able to easily fit the wheelchair and all 3 huge lunch tubs in the van... along with Carie, myself, the other parent, and 3 car seats. I'm so glad we were able to help and the teachers seemed quite appreciative, which is always nice!

At any rate, their first field trip of 1st Grade is in the books and it was a great experience for all. I don't know when or where the next field trip will be. But I do know about the classroom parties since I get to be the chairperson for the 1st grade class. It will be fun working with the teachers and parents to plan these events.

Exhausted

I've been quiet for a reason. It feels like we've been going NON-stop.

We have visitors! I had planned on writing about the plans for their visit or the countdown that we all were doing. But the days leading up to their arrival were at least as busy as the days that they have been here. There hasn't been any time for anything but the basics!

And... Let's just say that their travel plans changed frequently along the way. In part due to the excitement, across the board, for their arrival.

Grandpa & Yia Yia are here! Today makes day number 10 and we've got a couple more days to enjoy before their departure. I suspect it will be incredibly hard to say goodbye.

Yia Yia mentioned something about us being happy for them to leave and for our life to get back to normal. I replied that we won't be happy to see them go and normal is all relative. We might not be quite as tired. But there is no guarantee with that! This is just a crazy time of year with a lot going on. I think they'll be more than ready to return to their quiet life!

It has been a really great visit, for everyone I think. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed having them around and spending great time with them. In the first few days of their visit Spencer would wake up and announce with excitement that Grandpa & Yia Yia were still here. Like... hey, they didn't go anywhere overnight!

The timing of their visit was great... for us and for them. Abby & Ellie had a few days off from school where they got to spend their days doing exciting things. We had some great family time together and then they got to go explore with Grandpa and Yia Yia. It also turned out to be a great time for Grandpa & Yia Yia to be able to connect with their friends through events that just happened to be taking place during their visit.

Some of the things we've done over their visit...
- Regular school and pre-school routines.
- Hosted "Family Day" over the past 2 Saturday's
- Watched some fantastic football
- Book reading!
- Card playing... Grandpa & Yia Yia have taught the girls how to play some new - more grown up - card games!
- The adults have also gotten in a lot of games of Hearts. So far I'm still smokin' them! :)
- Grandpa & Yia Yia had lunch with Abby & Ellie at school. They also hung around for recess and got to witness the craziness. Grandpa made a comment about it being "safer at the prison" (where he works) and another older boy overheard his comment. The look on his face was priceless. Too bad we have no idea who the boy was.
- Visited the Children's Zoo on the last day of their season
- Visited Morrill Hall
- Went to the pumpkin patch at our favorite family orchard. We are intentionally skipping the big pumpkin patch this year!
- Grandpa & Yia Yia took the girls on an adventure and went to the drive thru zoo, out to lunch, and who knows what else
- Parent Teacher Conferences for Carie and I... wowza!
- Carie and I helped clean out the PTA storage facility as we prepare for Spooktacular
- Carie and I cleaned out our own storage facility - wow!
- Date night
- Visited the big Zoo
- Hosted some friends of the family
- Family pictures... 8 adults, 4 kids
- Thanksgiving Dinner (as far as Ellie is concerned)
- Birthday celebrations
- Science Experiment involving erupting pop bottles
- Soccer game... Parents vs. Kids
- Soccer party... talk about crazy!
- Numerous craft projects involving new, awesome, and never ending supplies thanks to Yia Yia!
- Bread making... yum!
- Tomato canning

- And various other things that I’m sure I’ve omitted... oh yeah, like PTA conference dinner, craigslist selling, cookie making, baking & decorating. Oh man did we find the best ever sugar cookie recipe!

Be Still My Heart

I took Abby & Ellie to get their haircuts yesterday afternoon. While we were there Abby saw something that totally called to her. She goes to check it out and she says...

"Mommy would really like this! Can we get this for Mommy as an I love you present?"

So we talked about it for a bit.

It was really pretty cool. It was really an awesome idea. I asked her some questions, gave her some options, etc... We decided that her great idea would be perfect to execute a little differently than what that shop had to offer. Though now I'm just kicking myself for not just immediately saying YES! Instead I let my stupid logic get in the way.

But we walked across the hall to a really cool corner type store that has all sort of gifty type things... including a case housing a nice selection of Godiva chocolates.

We walked into the store just to browse a bit and she immediately honed in on the truffles. Again, it was 100% her idea. Somehow she knew that Mommy would love them, and she was right. She also found a special treat for herself as well as Ellie & Spencer.

We went back to check on Ellie and when she was done we all went to make our selections.

I was thankful that they had their special Halloween lollipops on the way home since we got stuck in a huge traffic jam. What should have taken 10-15 minutes to get home took us a good 40 minutes. They had the perfect amount of time to totally devour their treats.

When we got home they hopped out of the car and ran to Mommy & Spencer to give them their special treats. They were sure surprised!

I love it when they are so thoughtful and think of doing nice things for others!

Falling Prices

I'm not really sure what is going on, but every day our gas prices continue to drop. I'm totally not complaining!

Just a couple days ago the super unleaded price was at $2.99 and we thought that was low.

Every morning (this week) they seem to be lower than the night before.

Every afternoon they seem to be lower than the morning prices.

We keep wondering... where is it going to bottom out? What's the catch?

We also gotta love that we can get 3 cents off per gallon at the station we frequent just by paying cash. As a bonus, we have coupons from them that can get us an additional 5 cents off per gallon (with no strings attached) or 20 cents off per gallon with a car wash. And she got a 12 cent off per gallon coupon... just for going bankrupt at the grocery store this morning. Woohoo!

Carie had gotten into a routine of filling up the van mid-week, every week. The prices always seemed to jump around the weekend and then taper off about mid week. So whether we needed gas or not, she'd fill up just so we would have a full tank come the weekend in case we ended up going out of town. But now we are puzzled, happily so.

Now... if food prices could head in the same direction that would be really nice. Carie was at the store this morning and was telling me about the prices of some items. The price was easily double what we've paid in the past. I'm like, we can totally skip buying green beans (a favorite veggie in our house) until they go on sale! We'll eat different veggies for now, thanks!

Switching Things Up

We've switched things up at bedtime a bit and it seems to be working out really well.

Instead of Abby & Ellie reading with one of us and Spencer with the other, it is now Abby & Spencer with one and Ellie with the other.

Abby really loves to read to Spencer. Not just at bedtime, but any time of day. And really, not just to Spencer but to anyone who will listen. The only catch at bedtime is that she likes to read books... to him... that aren't at his interest level. So they all take turns choosing books and so far everyone is quite happy.

Ellie and I've then been able to have some good 1:1 time at night. She's really a great reader, she just doesn't realize it. She proclaims that she is nervous about reading to people and she isn't very good at it. We are hoping this switch will help her build up her confidence level! Last night after I read for a while we talked for a bit and then she got up and chose a book to read to me. She totally volunteered to read to me and she did absolutely fantastic. It wasn't even a super easy beginning reader book and she read the entire thing cover to cover. My wish for her would be for her to really know and appreciate how great she is doing.

After she read her book we talked some more. She wanted to talk about who was great at doing what. She thinks Spencer is going to be so great at basketball. Of course she thinks Abby is so great at reading. She talked about how great she is at diving. Then I reminded her how great she is at math! But again, I don't think she buys it.

Hmm… An AHA moment! She has totally bought into this idea that she is a great diver, thanks entirely to her swimming teacher. Maybe we need to setup some opportunities for someone else she admires to comment on her reading skills? That will be easy to do as we have house guests arriving very soon!

The real challenge though is that she compares herself to Abby. It is true that Abby is a more advanced reader than Ellie; there is no getting around that one. But as I tried to explain to Ellie last night, it wasn’t all that long ago that Abby was reading just like she is reading and with practice she’ll be reading like Abby in no time. Ugh, I just wish she wouldn’t compare herself to Abby. She isn’t being fair to herself by doing so. Abby just has a natural and intense love for books. As evident by Abby springing a new plan on us this morning that involved us taking them to school early so they could get books from the book fair that started today.

As Ellie and I were talking last night she tells me that she would like to check out a different school for 2nd grade. Talk about being surprised!

Okay, so what would be so exciting about going to a different school? And what would we miss from our current school? It was a fascinating discussion and we ended up staying up far later than we should have. So much for turning out the lights early!

One thing that became clear is that she is missing some friends who were in K last year but moved to different schools this year. We actually knew that was likely going to happen for a particular student and we should have done more to keep in touch. She is such a sweet girl! So we'll start this afternoon! Ellie plans on writing a letter to her friend and she wants to include one of her 1st grade pictures!

She brought up the new school topic again this morning with Carie while they were getting ready for school. Fascinating!

This is something we'll have to keep discussing. Thank goodness conferences are next week!

And While I'm At It

Ranting... that is. Surely it was clear that I was ranting in my previous post. :)

I don't get school lunches. I just don't get it. Are they really different than when I went to school? I don't know. I was a kid then and I'm a parent now. Way different perspectives. But what I do know is that they aren't healthy daily choices for kids.

Now... some kids can totally get away with this style of eating with no apparent effects. But some kids can't! Just like some adults can eat whatever they want day in and day out and be a perfectly healthy weight. But not all adults can! Why do we even put our kid’s bodies to the test?

And suddenly this week they don't just have 3 options, they now have 5 options. Why? Why more options? It isn't like option E & F are the healthy options. They are the same as A, B & C on a different day!

Today, for instance...
A = Chicken Nuggets w/ a roll
B = BBQ Sandwich
C = "Fun on the Run"
D = Quesadilla
E = Pepperoni Pizza Salad

*** Served with mashed potatoes, choice of fruit, and choice of milk.

What's the deal with the mashed potatoes? I can't believe they are really counting that as the vegetable! It really ought to be counted as a starch. Are mashed potatoes yummy? Heck yeah! I happen to love mashed potatoes! I also know that they aren't a healthy option as part of a regular rotating menu.

Now, if your neck hairs are all standing up and you are getting all huffy go back and read some of the key points. 1) healthy daily choices and 2) regular rotating menu. I believe that we can have a lot of things in moderation. School lunch menus are not "in moderation". They are a rotating set of menus and these are items that appear daily and weekly. This is a foundation!

Moving on...

A: Breaded chicken nuggets... roll... mashed potatoes???
B: BBQ Chicken sandwich... served on a bun... and mashed potatoes??
C: Fun on the Run isn't served with mashed potatoes... thank goodness. But a baked pretzel and yogurt (Trix yogurt at that!) as a lunch entree? And then there isn't a vegetable at all.
D: Quesadilla & mashed potatoes? The jury is out whether or not mashed potatoes are served with this entree. A friend had this option and she didn't have potatoes. But they can also request to ommit an item.
E: The salad also isn't served with mashed potatoes. But the salad has very minimal nutrition. Simple iceberg lettuce... lowest nutritional value possible... and lets top it with a few slices of pepperoni. Now, I'm personally not all that adventurous with my salad. But a simple use of romaine lettuce would be a place to start. And seriously, the kids don't notice. Tomorrow they'll offer "Chicken Chef Salad". Sounds better, eh? Think again. Where do you think the leftover breaded chicken nuggets from today go?

Choice of fruit = serve yourself food cart item. The credit here is that sometimes it is fresh fruit. But often this fresh fruit is served in an unfriendly manner making it harder for many of the kids to eat. Sure, they could ask for help. But not all kids will and even if they did there aren't enough helpers.

Choice of milk = kids choose chocolate or strawberry flavored milk daily.

All of it is just so processed. Some of the items you'd think... "Oh that can't be too bad!" But then go have lunch with your kids. Check it out and see how it is really executed. You'd be amazed!

I have an idea! Offer fewer options and actually make some of the items!

I wonder what, if anything, I could do to make an impact. The thing is... so many people really do feel that these lunches are so great.

Look past the title folks, look past the title.

Chicken Chef Salad sounds good. Turkey & Cheese Sub sounds good. Doesn't it? Go check it out!

Seriously

Don't blame Carie!

If your child would just listen to you... or anyone... even part of the time... you wouldn't feel the need to blame others! Because really, we know that kids don't listen 100% of the time. That is normal. But he seriously needs to increase the % of time he listens to anyone by a lot!

You say... Leave your cards in your backpack.

He doesn't! Big shocker there!

Carie steps up (as reinforcement - because you don't) and reminds him that not only did his mother tell him to leave them in his backpack, but she also gave him the same instructions earlier. Did he listen to Carie earlier? No. Did Carie follow through? Yes. Did he then do as he was asked? Yes.

But seriously, it is exhausting to have to go through this song and dance every single time he is asked to do something. Every single time! Why should he do as he is asked if he knows that he doesn't have to at home? He knows that Mommy will rescue him! Don't think for a second that he doesn't!

He then gets his coat on.

He proceeds to go outside. You tell him to stop. You tell him to not go outside. Every single afternoon! Five days a week! Fifty two weeks a year! But on this particular day it is literally pouring buckets of rain. Does he listen? Of course not. Why would he? He doesn't any other day.

Don't then look at Carie and tell her it is her fault because she didn't button his rain coat! Don't even think about it. It didn't come off as if you were kidding and I don't even care if you were.

It doesn't matter if his rain coat was buttoned. What will get soaked is his tennis shoes. I don't care if they get soaked, that is your call. Clothes will wash and dry. Brand new tennis shoes will dry... in time. Question is, do you want those particular shoes to get soaked or not?

But don't blame Carie because your son didn't listen to you!

Shhhhhh

The boy has some sort of intestinal thing going on. He just wasn't his usual self for a couple of days, then he appeared to be better, then suddenly it was way worse.

He was with Carie yesterday morning when they dropped the van off to get serviced. They hung out for a few minutes to get everything situated before taking the shuttle back home. I was of no help as I was stuck in an audit. Sure enough in that short window of time Carie noticed that he wasn't smelling so rosy.

Carie locates a nearby restroom and they head that way. Spencer knows they are going to the restroom to get him cleaned up. He pleads with her to not touch his bottom (poor guy!) and then says "Mommy, just touch my penis!"

He's repeating this the entire way to the restroom. He's a 3yo boy with the volume level of such.

"Mommy, JUST TOUCH MY PENIS!"

Oy!