Lock Down Drill

The other day we received an automated message from the elementary school as we often do regarding various announcments, etc. I wasn't expecting this one though! The prinicipal said as part of the safety policy at school, the children participated in two fire drills so far this year as well as one lock down drill. The lock down drill happened that day and she was letting us know so we wouldn't be alarmed if our child mentioned it. Well, Eddie hadn't mentioned it so the next day I asked him if anything unusual or different happened at school. His answer was "We had art class". I asked "Did you do anything else different like a drill?"... and he replied "Oh yeah, the lock down drill"... he said it very casually like everyone does them. I asked what the lock down drill was for. He replied "Just incase there are any bad guys at school... you stop doing your work, turn the lights out and hide in the corner farthest from the door". I asked why they had to hide in the corner and he said that way when the "bad guy" looks in the window, he won't see you. Doesn't that just send chills down your spine? I guess in a way it's good so that if anything *did* happen, the children would be "prepared" and not panic but that's some scary stuff!! Anyone up for homeschooling?

We're Out of Here!

Tomorrow morning we are heading to PA for Thanksgiving!! We'll drive down tomorrow and drive home Monday. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Three Cheers for Eddie

Last night was Eddie's parent teacher conference and I'm happy to report it went really well! The teacher said he's doing great. He scores really well on his math and spelling tests; getting all 100's so far. She said he loves to learn and is very helpful in class. The kids sit in groups of 4 desks which she rotates periodically. She said Eddie gets along with everyone he sits with and is doing well learning to socialize. He loves to participate in class. We were very excited to hear all of this. First grade can be hard transition to a full day of school but, so far, he seems to be doing well. Eddie was just assigned his first "research project" and is very excited to work on it. They each chose a wild animal and Eddie chose the flying lizard. Does anyone know what the flying lizard's predator is? We haven't been able to find an answer... we just ordered 5 books on lizards from the library. One source said snakes and other lizards but I think I need a better source!! Congrats to Eddie! Keep up the good work!

Happy Early Elf Greetings

Check it out - this is really cool!

I don't know why I can't figure out how to insert links so you'll have to cut n paste - sorry!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9556979343

What's for Dinner?

Have any good plans for dinner tonight? Made anything really good lately? Have ideas you want to share?

A Day OFF!

Today is a Veteran's Day and the kids have off school! I would be working tonight but I don't work Mondays anymore soooo... a full day off! We have a busy day. We will be leaving shortly to go to the Children's Museum in Easton. We have a pass but haven't been in a long time because we don't enough time in the morning before Kevin and Ryan go to school and we don't have enough time after Eddie gets out before I have to get ready for work! Today they have special holiday hours and open at 9:00 so we are heading out! They have a special area dedicated to FETCH with Ruff Ruffman - one of Eddie's favorite shows and today they will have special FETCH activities so we are VERY excited about that! After the museum, we'll be dropping Eddie off at a birthday party and after the birthday party, we'll be meeting up with friends of ours at a different children's "museum" in Weymouth (it's more like a big playroom)... then home for dinner and tonight I have a Cub Scout leader meeting... so not much of a "day off" per se but we are happy to be off anyway! I'll post pictures later if Ruff happens to make an appearance at the museum! Enjoy your day ~ and let's say thanks to our Veterans.

Monkey Bread

Two times this weekend I have made monkey bread for the kids and needless to say - they love it! There are all kinds of recipes out there but I made up a modified version that is quite simple and thought I'd share it with you:

Monkey Bread

Ingredients:
(*) package (tube) biscuits (Pillsbury type)
(*) sugar
(*) cinnamon
(*) melted butter

-Grease pie plate
-Cut biscuits in 1/2
-Mix cinnamon/sugar in a bowl (add as much cinnamon as you like)
-Dip/coat biscuits in cinnamon/sugar mixture
-Squish all biscuits in the pie plate
-Sprinkle more of the cinnamon/sugar combination over the plate of biscuits
-Drizzle butter on top
-Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes
-Take out of oven, turn upside down on serving plate
-ENJOY!!!

My kids are hooked!

I'm Out!

In the famous words of Kramer - "I'm Out!"... we had to turn the heat on. It was 58 in the house and way too cold. We only put it on very limited times to like 64... which for me, is very good. If I had it my way, it would be on 68-70 starting in September.

We are on the market for either a wood buring fireplace insert or a pellet burning fireplace insert. Any advice?

Happy Birthday to Kevin and Ryan

Kevin and Ryan will be FOUR on November 14th. We've done some early celebrating though. In October, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. We had cake for Kevin and Ryan's b-day as well as an early party for Grandpa (December b-day) just incase we didn't see him before then but as it turns out we'll be in PA not once but TWO times before his b-day. At any rate, Grandma took all the boys to Build a Bear and bought them birthday bears... Eddie, too - but his is an early birthday present for his May b-day.

Sitting with Grandma and Grandpa and the new bears...


Birthday cake with Grandpa


Kevin and his hippo!


Ryan and his kitty!


Eddie and his penguin!


Decorating the boxes/houses for the "bears" (no one actually got a bear)!


We went to Bugaboo Creek with Nana on the way to the birthday party.


At the restaurant..


The kids loved the animals - although Ryan was afraid when the moose started talking.


Kevin getting his face painted at the party


Ryan at the party

Caught!

I tried to sneak a candid picture of Kevin and Ryan watching TV after I saw that Ryan had his arm around Kevin... but they saw me taking the picture and posed for the camera! Don't you love catching them being good?

It's gone!

Eddie's loose tooth is finally gone. Seems like it was wiggling forever! About a week or two ago, it came out just like that. The tooth fairy brought him a shiny gold dollar! Now his new tooth has started growing in and he's got a 2nd loose one.