Calvin: A new perspective on The Three Bears

Calvin's assignment: Rewrite a fairy tale from an unexpected perspective. He decided to retell Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

One day in Bear World three bears were reading The Daily Bear newspaper during breakfast. The three bears -- a father, a mother and their son -- were getting ready to enjoy their honey-flavored Mini Wheats when they saw an ad for free golf. But the deal was only good from 8 a.m. to noon. So they decided to skip the cereal and eat at the golf place instead.

They got into their Bearmobile and went to Golfing Bears Putt-Putt. After 18 holes of golfing and a three-way tie, the family ate honey pancakes. Once they were full and ready for a nap, they headed home. But when they got there, they found the place trashed. Dad Bear went to the honey-money box and discovered it was empty!

Suddenly, they saw the robber! They grabbed her and threw her in the closet. Mama Bear called the Bear Police. The robber was named Talia Goldilocks, and she was a wanted criminal. The Bear Family received a reward for catching her -- $50,000 in honey-money.

The End

All is well

PJ's 9-month well-baby checkup went, um... well. He is 20.5 lbs and in the 50th percentile for height and weight. An average baby! He has two little bottom teeth poking through -- much more noticeable for anyone who forgets and lets him suck on their hand or arm (ouch!). It seems that he is above average in developmental milestones: He's not only pulling up on the furniture and cruising around, but he's sometimes brave enough to let go and stand on his own for a few seconds. And the little darling loves to have "conversations" with anyone willing to answer his baby talk.

Big C is finally getting the hang of fractions, thanks to some extra workbooks on the subject. He's halfway through the 4-book series and is hardly missing any questions now. He's also enjoying learning about explorers and the Renaissance.

Miss T loves her tumbling class. She's still working on her cartwheel technique but her bridges are looking better every week. Not quite ready for back-handsprings, but making progress in coordination and flexibility!

Mr G saw Miss T having so much fun in her class that he asked to try gymnastics, too. He's just so cute bouncing and swinging and wiggling around. His class has 4 boys and 1 girl, ages 3-5. They use the trampoline, the vault, the uneven bars, the rings and the mat. He tries really hard and is the BEST behaved one in the group. (No mom-bias here, he really does pay attention and follow instructions.)

K is doing great in his classes this semester. He's sent out a few resumes, but isn't really focusing on the job hunt since he won't finish until May.

We took the kids to the Texas Renaissance Festival last weekend. More on that later...

Might be too much information

My last headline may have been little overly dramatic, so I tried to show restraint on this one.

Hubby: So, is today a fertile day?
Me: (Thoughts racing through my head -- What?! Why is he asking this? What does this mean? Isn't four enough?! ... Do I even know the answer to that question?)
Long pause...
Hubby: Well? Is it?
Me: Huh?
Hubby: Is. this. a. furlough. day?
Me: Uh, no, I'm going to work. (Whew!)

CJ: Feeling Like A Hero

Mr. C's writing assignment was to tell of a time that he felt like a hero. He was allowed to make up a story if he wanted to. I'm not sure that what he came up with is an example of heroism, but it's what he wanted to write about. So, we went with it. Mr. C. welcomes comments on his story.

First, Nana and I decided to go bowling. There's a certain way you have to go to get to the bowling alley because it's on a one-way street. Once we got there, we went to the check-in spot (like in a hotel). Then we got the bowling shoes and bowling balls.

We played two games and Nana used my ball part of the time. I got two spares and I think Nana got one or two strikes in the first game. I'm not sure who won. But the next game, I won!! Nana's score was 98 and I h ad128, I think.

Then, after that, we returned our stuff and looked at the arcade for awhile. Winning the game made me feel like a hero!!

The End

Miss T: The Cow That Turned Purple

Today's writing assignment: Pretend you are a purple cow. Write about how you got that way and what it's like.

There was a farmer that had a cow named Talia. The farmer let her cow out of the barn to eat. The cow saw a plant that was as purple as an eggplant. The cow tasted the plant. It was good, so she gobbled up the whole thing.

Suddenly, the cow turned purple!

The cow went back to the barn. The farmer went to the barn and saw that the cow had turned purple. So she put the cow in the trailer and went to the vet. The vet said, "Your cow is going to be purple forever."

(Image from Google Images, original source unknown.)

The "pink plague"

Poor Miss T has one puffy, red eye. The going rate to clear up a case of pink eye: $40 copay, $35 prescription. Yikes! Well, the drugs are a little less if you don't mind dosing 6x a day instead of 2x. But still... $75!

Miss T has been banned from touching her brothers, the Wii remotes, the TV remote, the computer and just about everything else in the house. And the poor thing has to put up with us "reminding" her every few minutes to wash her hands. She says the worst thing about it is that nobody wants to hug her. And the best thing is that she doesn't have to do any chores.

C is paranoid that he'll catch the bug and doesn't want to be within 2 feet of her. (Not that I mind.) Except that he does seem to enjoy running up and hollering "Pink plague, pink plague!" every little while.

I'm so glad they rarely get sick.

PJ: 08.15.09

The little one is about 6.5 mos old now. Yesterday I grabbed him and the camera and headed out to the yard for a quickie photo session. He's just so cute! And happy! (Just pretend you don't see the drool on his shirt.)

Since I don't have school photos to rely on, I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to portraits of the kids. We have snapshots on the computer of various events and happenings, but not much in the way of portraits. It's that perfection again -- if they don't have matching outfits and perfect hair (meaning, recently trimmed), then I have an excuse not to take pictures. But now I've decided just to do one at a time, making it more manageable. A group shot is NOT going to turn out the way I'd like anyhow -- it's pretty much impossible to get them all looking the same direction and smiling nicely at the same time.

So this one is my first of the four, and I think it's pretty sweet. And I've already picked up the 8x10. Next step: Dig out a frame and hang it on the wall. Then, on to the next kid.

Food issues

With all of the battles we've had with G (or Super Squirt, as he prefers to be called -- can't argue with a 4yo) over food, can I just say that Lil P is a very welcome change. This kid stares intently at ALL of our food, as if to say, "What about me?" He's still getting the hang of eating off of a spoon, but he loves every new taste that's presented. He's not good at picking up finger foods yet, but is having fun trying to shovel in the little melt-in-your-mouth puffs anyway. It's just such a joy to watch his joy at eating.

G, on the other hand, continues to restrict his diet to strawberry Yoplait, chicken tenders, strawberries and cream instant oatmeal, french toast and potato chips. Oh, and ketchup. You'd think he'd be sick of the yogurt after eating it every. single. day. since he was 12 months old. But no.

Jumping in

Perfect hair. Perfect family. Perfect house. Perfect hair. Perfect kids. Perfect religion. Perfect job. Did I mention perfect hair? The quest for perfection can become too much, too overwhelming. Even ... paralyzing.

I've thought about blogging off and on over the years but never made it all the way to the first post. It might seem silly, but it's my need for perfection that's held me back all this time. Even now, I'm typing and deleting and retyping these words over and over, trying to get them just right.

Is the punctuation right? What about the spelling? (It would be pretty embarrassing for a copy editor to have a bunch of mistakes in her posts.) Do the words flow? Is it too random? Will people think it's dumb? Will anyone even read it?

It's paralyzing. And so I do nothing, writing nothing. That way I don't have to worry about what people think or how I could have done it better. I write endless posts and e-mails in my head, where they swirl around endlessly, never flying from my fingers and onto the page.

But as I get older, I realize that these fears, and others just like them, are holding me back. Socially, emotionally, professionally, personally. It's time to just get over it and do something. Anything. And be willing to extend myself the grace to fail. In the words of the great FlyLady, we need "progress not perfection."

And so, here I am. Jumping in right here. I've even named to blog as a reminder -- Jminus, from our last name and a not-quite-perfect grade. It may not always be pretty and it may not (ever) be perfect, but that's OK. Tomorrow I'll make a different mistake.

Now, if I can just corral the kids long enough to post ...

Right now I'm thinking that this blog will be about family happenings and other things on my mind, with a casual theme of preventing paralyzing perfection. Right now that might include items about home-schooling, bargain hunting, debt reduction and saving, and the occasional rant on current events. But don't hold me to that.

After all, nobody's perfect. Even if they edit their posts over and over and over and over ...