May the Force be with you...

Wow, that sure sounds religious up there, doesn't it? We had the Blow Out Birthday Bash of 2008, a home movie theater set up in the backyard. Kids went through Jedi training, I did face painting, we had theater food (nachos, hot dogs, popcorn with weird butter flavoring, and ALL THE CANDY YOU COULD EAT!!!!!) just the way I always dreamed of it, all you could eat, as much as you want, with no additional cost! We put a big screen tv in the backyard and showed Star Wars, which was loads of fun. The kids raked in the gifts, our family and friends are WAY too generous, and Glee now has (after saving about $30 before the party) enough to buy her own Nintendo DS. At age 7. Yep, our country may be experience a serious cash flow problem, but not Glee! Thomas has almost enough to get one of his own. At age 5. We already made it clear that we are still in charge of them, that we would have all final say on games purchased and played, and that we could take them away for bad behaviors. So, even though they buy them, we would still be bosses. For a little while anyway.

Thomas scored big time on the Hot Wheel front, and he hasn't had his official birthday yet, when we give him presents too. As I type there all sorts of Hot Wheel tracks secreted away under our bed, and he is going to flip when he sees what he can put together. He loves those things!

Glee got all sorts of magical fairy books as well as art supplies and her very own gift card to Joanns so she can buy her own crochet hooks and yarn. She made a scarf for her doll which came out super nice for a first project. She should have some serious reading material to last her a while too... one friend gave her a whole set of flower fairy books, and she got a very cool book on raising chickens. Even though we aren't supposed to have them here (our city is not zoned for "livestock") I am determined to find a way for her to do it. She loves the chickens in Colorado so much!

Maybe she will get her fix when she sees what we are getting them for Christmas. We are going to get a dog! We are working on it now, trying to figure out what would best fit for our family, talking to our vet who has made some great suggestions for rescued animals. So... stay tuned. A family dog is in the works!

Thomas is now working on his school skills, like sitting quietly on the rug during class. That was something he was never expected to do in preschool, but kindergarten is a whole new ballgame! He is making new friends every day. I have a long story about a girl named Ximena and the girl he sits next to (same class) who he was convinced was named Timena. I argued for a weekend with him about that, saying her name couldn't possibly be Timena. On Monday, I learned her names was Tammena. Who would have thought. What a name for your kid! We can tell them apart though, apparently Ximena is a crybaby, talks out of turn, and spends way too much time talking and singing in the bathroom. It's cool what your kindergartner will tell you. OH, and sat next to a boy for lunch the other day but couldn't talk to him because "he only speaks Spanish." The boy's name? Mohammed. Must be from Spain.

Glee is adjusting too... she is the only person at her table who doesn't talk all the time (and I know some of the other kids and she's not making that up). I need to have a talk with her teacher because she said it is become too distracting to sit there, and papers she normally gets all right on have come home -2 and -3. Not that that is a big deal, but she knows the answers and is being distracted, so we need to do something about that.

Back to school night on Thursday, and Brownies tomorrow. Soccer practice was cancelled tonight because of another back to school night.