Weekend Wrap-up

This week we received the sad news that Brent's grandmother, Grammy, passed away. She lived a wonderful, fulfilling 90+ years with a family that loved her very much. Brent headed on Friday to be with his family and was privileged to share a few of his memories of Grammy at her funeral.

Jack was out of school on Friday, so Thursday afternoon we headed to my parent's to pick up his oil portrait. The portrait is bea-u-ti-ful! I am so excited! It is going to be hung in the newly redecorated dining room and I look forward to admiring my first born for years to come. Friday afternoon was spent at the Children's Museum. The highlight of the visit was the puppet theatre. Both boys enjoyed putting on a show...Will would just pop out from behind the curtains, but Jack entertained Mom and I along with all of the other museum patrons with an animal puppet show. And having a captive audience, Jack led a Q & A session all about animals. The boy was in heaven; literally jumping up and down when his students got the right answer! We drove home late Friday afternoon in the rain...so not fun =(.

Saturday was a low key day...Since Brent was out of town, I took the boys on a modified Donuts with Daddy run. We all loaded into the car in our jammies and headed for Dunkin Donuts (I did throw on a sweatshirt so as not to scare the donut lady). We ordered one box of mixed Munchkins without any of the other extra donuts Jack likes to add on. And we skipped Starbucks. When Daddy got home, Jack reported my minimalist approach to Donuts with Daddy and it was decided that Daddy is the best and Mommy could never again be in charge of this sacred Saturday morning tradition. The rest of the day was spent waiting for kick off of the biggest game of Alabama's season. I was too stressed/nauseous about the LSU game to do anything productive except load & unload the dishwasher and work on the ever present mountain of laundry. Roll Tide! I was so proud of the way our coach and team handled the game and the preceding "situation". Regardless of the outcome of this season, good days are ahead for the Crimson Tide! I hope you are immortalized in bronze real soon, Coach Saban! Roll Tide!

Today we had our first Open House for kindergarten. This was for CTK. Brent and I had very limited knowledge about the school beforehand, but from the moment we stepped foot on campus, we were impressed! The facilities were wonderful...the kindergarten rooms were colorful, engaging, and fun. There is a computer lab just for the 3 kindergarten classes. Every Friday, the kindergartners cook. On Halloween, they made Mummy Dogs (hotdogs wrapped in strips of crescent rolls) and this coming week they are making Indian corn (a rice krispy type treat made of colored cereal and shaped like corn). The principal has been at the school for 20+ years, and several other faculty that were introduced had long track records as well. Several of the faculty are CTK alumni. The curriculum coordinator informed us that starting in 4th grade, the teachers identify students that would benefit from accelerated coursework and start these students on an advanced track. Another positive surprise was the school's emphasis on the enrichment courses; the art department has a teacher dedicated to K, Pre-1st and 1st grade classes and the music departments have several different choirs. Although SJ is still our first choice, CTK would be a wonderful second!