Sweet Baby "G"

Little Miss Gillian, aka "Sweet Baby G" (SBG), is up on all fours now rocking on those giant drumsticks we call legs. She's not even 6 months old and she's ready to go!! All 15 or so pounds of her. She gets so frustrated because she has yet to figure out that she needs to move the hindquarters to go forward. So right now, she moves in reverse. When Gillian gets tired she puts her forehead to the floor but she's still up on those hands and knees rocking away! My guess is that by the end of next week she'll have the crawling figured out and then I think we might be in big trouble.

Nathan is still working on new and different ways to terrorize both his older sisters and of course SBG. Nathan comes home from pre-school and the first thing he does is tackle whoever is on the family room floor, be it Frances, Erin, Gillian, me, or his Dad. He doesn't care, he's a boy, and he just needs to tackle something. At night Cris stands in the middle of the room practicing his golf swing with his invisible club, and Nathan copies him perfectly. Cris' eyes light up thinking....hmmmm "Tiger Woods here we come!"

Well I'm about Golf Tournamented out, but Cris is still going strong and I learned he's got a couple more to play over the next few weeks. I'm happy that he's found something he really really enjoys but at this point, I'm wondering why I never spend my weekends doing something I want to do....but clearly I'm being selfish and self centered, so I need to let that go. One, two, three....gone.

Frances returned from Camp Hammer this past Saturday. She said she had a "Blast!" She brought home a CD with all the activities they participated in and some skits that were performed. Frances said the band wasn't that good this year, but she still enjoyed herself overall. Next year she can be a junior camp leader, or participate in something called "Tribal Quest". She said she wouldn't mind doing that but you need to be pretty athletic because there is lots of hiking and camping out in the wilderness. I guess some of Frances' friends are not much into "roughing it" for a whole week. So we'll just have to wait and see how things play out for next year.

Erin and Katie had a fun week too. They went to the movies and to Great America and to the park and shopping. They were like two peas in a pod. Erin wouldn't let Katie out of her sight even for a few minutes. She was so happy to have someone to do things with while Frances was away.

Frances starts high school on August 29. I think her first class is at 7:30 in the morning. She's taking the classroom course for drivers ed. She won't be able to take the actual driving part until next fall. She's also taking French again. She took 9th grade French in 8th grade but had to maintain at least a "B" average for the entire year in the course to qualify for second year French in 9th grade. She ended up with a "C+" for the year, so she will take French I again, but it should be really easy for her as it will be all review. So either way, it was a win-win for her. She'll then take French II in 10th grade. Let's see what else is she taking...oh yeah, she's taking an FAA agriculture class, I think she's going to raise a baby goat or a sheep this year. I'm thinking a cow would be mighty tasty, but for some reason she doesn't agree. The stables are right across the street from the high school, so she should be able to care for her animal without too much trouble...I hope. Frances' high school is under a mile from our house and she can easily walk to and from school, but something in my gut tells me that I'll be dropping her off in the mornings at the very least. Then of course there is the regular, english, and math course work that she has to take. The kids work on a block schedule so they do not attend every class in their schedule every day. They will only go to 2 or 3 classes and then the next day they switch off to the other courses. That means that instead of having a 45-50 minute class for every subject, they get 90-100 minutes per day in two or three subjects and then trade off the next day. I guess the theory is that the kids get really in depth focus in that extra hour of class time.

Erin's placement is still not settled, but we'll be arguing with the district over where we think she needs to be in the next few weeks. Cris and I both disagree with what the district is trying to force us to do. We will likely end up in mediation over this, but in the long run I think it will be worth it cause I know we will ultimately win the battle. It is beyond me, that in order for Erin to be in a regular education classroom, she has to prove herself worthy. Don't get me started cause this is a real emotional issue for me. It seems like every year we have to struggle with the school district and the teachers to just allow Erin to be a part of a typically developing classroom with her peers. We don't think that's too much to ask.

I sure wish we could win that lottery. Course I guess you have to play to win....My dilema is that the buck I would spend buying a chance at the lottery could be better spent buying chocolate to stave off my daily need for sweets. Since, chocolate provides immediate satisfaction and the lottery is a potential bust, I think I'll just stick with the chocolate. Las Vegas would be sorely disappointed with me.

So has anybody been watching these reality TV shows like "Hell's Kitchen", and "So You Think You Can Dance", and "Trading Spouses"? I'm hooked. I get so much enjoyment out of watching other people do silly stuff.

I want to do "The Amazing Race", but can't seem to get anybody interested in doing it with me. I don't know why!!! It just looks like so much fun!! Cris says he's not interested in doing anything like that. Frances thinks I'm a lunatic, and well, frankly I'm bummed about it. Nobody wants to try. Ya know there is a million bucks involved if you win and you get to travel the world in a seemingly unconventional style. I don't know, getting lost in Timbuktu is not everyone's cup of tea, but I would think one could learn something from it, don't you?