Got the Music In Me.....!!!

One day last week (time has been flying by, I can't think of which one it was), I picked up the kids from school and noticed J's sad face. As K got in the front seat, (she is actually tall enough to sit in front now) she hands me a note and said that J had to turn his "card" today and here's a note explaining why. At this, (still not sure why K handed me the note) J started bawling in the back seat moaning "ohhh.. I just don't want to talk about it".

Some of you may be asking what does it mean to turn a "card"? So I'm going to take a quick moment to explain before I continue with the story. Some teachers use the "card method" for class discipline. There is usually a large pocket holder poster that has each student's name on it and pockets for each one containing cards (green, yellow, red and blue). Each day everyone starts out on green and as the day progresses if there are behavior incidences the student has to turn the card. The yellow card gets a note home, the red card (I think gets a phone call), the blue card involves a visit to the principle's office. Not all teachers use this method and personally I think that there are other methods that are better (for example, with the card method, what if you have a student who is out of control and turns all cards by 10:00 am? Then what?) Anyway, back to the story.

Now, J has been very proud of the fact that he only has had to turn his card one time during his whole school career (pouring sand on a friends head in Kindergarten..). So this was a very devastating moment and he just couldn't tell me what happened. So I read the note which said, "Off-target, disruptive behavior". Now, that really helps me understand the situation.. hah!! Or as my cuzzy SeattleS says "sheesh" (I'm adapting that saying now by the way!).

So finally, about an hour after we arrived home, I began to ask again, explaining that he wasn't in trouble, I just needed to understand what happened so that we could problem solve and make sure that it didn't happen again.

He finally told me that at the end of the day, they were supposed to be coloring a page and Mrs. F put on some jungle music. Well, he wanted to make Carson (a very cute blonde who has an identical twin sister.. another story I'll tell at the end) laugh, so he got up and started dancing at his desk.

NOW COME ON.... you put jungle music on and I'll dance in a heartbeat.. who wouldn't.? Wanting to burst out laughing because I could just visualize it (he definitely has moves like his father that could make ya blush), I kept my composure and asked him what he thought his teacher expected them to be doing. Which he replied "color". I then explained that she was probably tired from a long day and wanted everyone to be calm and color until the bell rang. If all of the kids started to dance, then the class would be out of control.

But come on now, if the music is in you, it's in you and wants to be freed!!!

Birthday Party Crashers!!

Well, many of you have probably heard of the latest movie, which I have yet to see, entitled Wedding Crashers?? Well now let me introduce you to the one year old birthday party crashers. Yep... that's us. P asked me this past Saturday to go pick up a present for his partners son who turned one. He said that he told his partner that he wanted to drop a present off for his son. His partner apparantly told him that was fine. Now, it is not like their house is close by and it would make sense for us to just "drop by". Nope..their house is about 45 minutes away. Anyway, I ran and got a gift as P asked. I told P that if they were having a party that we weren't invited to on the same day, I would be really embarrassed dropping by. I really don't know them very well, only P does from working with his partner.

P said "no, don't worry.. their just having his parents over for a bbq.. it will be fine. We'll just drop off the gift, say hi real quick and then go to this yummy Mexican joint nearby for dinner". So we loaded the van with the whole "Varner Party of Five" and off we went. As we finally pull up to their house, I notice that the parking is limited and hmmm... look at the house that has a big stuffed monkey holding balloons. That couldn't be their house could it because THEIR NOT HAVING A PARTY... Sure enough we approach the front door (I'm hiding behind P at this point). P walks in and we are stared at by five long dinner tables full of people finishing up their dinner.

Oh My Goodness... My nightmare coming true! The house is completely decked out with decorations, picture of the one year old everywhere. The theme is jungle animals with stuffed animals holding balloons everywhere. Too cute... I'm sure the PARTY INVITATIONS were in the same theme.

So P continues saying "oh hi, we just wanted to drop off a gift". Which I'm sure was intrepreted as "oh, hi, see we weren't invited and want to make you feel really bad by looking at our faces longing to be included as we drop off this gift for your kid." I mean it seemed like the wife was still trying to figure out who we were!!!

Of course what followed was "Oh hi.. no it's okay.. come on in.. we have lots of food left.. help yourself. " Which I was then sure that P would quickly jump in and explain "Oh no, we can only stay for a minute, we are heading out to eat at this Mexican joint down the street (that we always like to travel for 45 MINUTES to get to). But no, P looked around with a look like "Cool, tri-tip.. looks good to me... let's dig in".

Needless to say, we ended up staying and enjoyed dinner... cake... present-opening.. the whole works! The kids had a blast (they were really the entertaining part of the party) and we got to know the LARGE family real well.

So if you know of any birthday parties around, just let me know because we might be available regardless of how far away it is. Hee hee... too much!