22 February 2009 - Thoughts about moms

It was kind of a boring week at our house, but my friend sent me some funny thoughts about mom's as told by 2nd graders, so I thought I'd share them with you.
WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who didit not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

15 February 2009 - Valentine's Day

This is a contraband photo. We took the girls to see High School Musical at the Byham Theater in Pittsburgh. It was a pandemonium of mostly little girls who knew the words to every song. At one point, I was going to take the girls' picture with the stage in the background. I got chewed out by an usher for taking pictures of the copyrighted stage, so I didn't get to take the picture. Being sneaky, I took a quick photo of the stage during intersession, but I wasn't able to get one with the girls in it.

For Valentine's Day, we decided to make a surprise Chinese dinner for mommy. Mommy spoiled our surprise by only staying out shopping for about 20 minutes. We had the table set for the dinner, but we didn't have the food yet when she got home. We successfully got some food (takeout style, which was my plan all along), and had a nice Valentine's meal. Aren't I romantic?
Jessica was our youth speaker in sacrament meeting at church on Sunday. Here is a copy of her talk.

Have a great week,

Matt

8 February 2009 - Science Fair

Jessica's plant-related science project won first place for the fourth grade group. She also got an award for her poster design. We were proud of her and hope this encourages her to remain interested in science, but we also talked a little bit about fairness in these types of things. There were several projects at the science fair where the kid had clearly done most, if not all, of the work themselves. Sometimes the posters were hand written, the images were crooked or low quality - it was clear they hadn't had much adult assistance in getting their project done. Yet in several instances the projects themselves were pretty good, and no matter how hard the kid worked on the presentation, it was not going to look as nice as a kid's who has two college professors for parents. Obviously we made sure that Jessica did her own work and fulfilled the requirements as she should have, but at least to some extent, the recognition she's received is because we helped her do a nice job. I feel that the kids who did the best they could, all on their own, deserve to be acknowledged for good work as well. Just some philosophical food-for-thought.

This week was Madeline's turn with the class teddy bear, froggy. Froggy lives in a backpack and goes home with one kid each week. I also think he bathes in Febreze and Lysol each day that he goes back to school (at least I hope he does).
All of the girls got to choose a book at the book fair this week, so they've been taking turns reading to each other.
Madeline made me a tie at school. It's my favorite one now. It has fruit and animals on it.
Have a good week,

Matt

1 February 2009 - Miami

I had to go to Miami for some meetings for a couple of days. I was looking forward to sunny Florida weather, and it was nice when I got there Thursday afternoon, but soon turned gray, rainy and almost cold. I went for a run on Friday afternoon, and took this picture of the downtown area from a high arching bridge on the bay.This sculpture was at a playground downtown. I thought my kids might enjoy seeing it. Better yet, they'd enjoy playing on it.

I took this picture out my hotel window. The drawbridge had a bell which rang each time it was going to open up, so I got to hear it a good bit in the evenings, and even a couple of times in the middle of the night.
Since my hotel was in the downtown area, I wasn't able to see Miami Beach. During my run on Friday, I tried to run to Miami Beach, but found there was no sidewalk on the causeway between the mainland and the sliver of island where the beach is. So I had to settle for this lame, man-made "beach" on the downtown waterfront.I had a good trip overall and met some cool people. It was also good to get back home and see my girls again.

Matt