Co-op Valentine Party

We had our co-op Valentine Party February 12.  We did a few games, a craft, had pizza, and the kids exchanged Valentines.  It was a good time; and we actually didn't take forever (like usual).

The kiddos working on their craft.

My Pinterest "somewhat fail."  My creation on the left.  What it was supposed to look like on the right.
Oh well.  They still tasted yummy.

I got to bring this little cutie with us.  She was such a good girl!

All the stuff C came home with.  He got a ton of candy!  And a bouncy ball that's still driving us nuts!

If you know my C--I thought for sure he would want to keep EVERY.  SINGLE. ONE of his cards.  I asked what he was going to do with them.  Of his own accord, he threw most of them away.  He kept one that could be used as a bookmark and one other.  Good for him!

The other think I took.  I thought it turned out really good!  Tasted good, but got dry very fast.

C's Valentine box.  Isn't he cute!  It's Dave from the movie Despicable Me.  

The Valentine card C made for the little cutie.  She calls him Bubby.

Elephants?

Yesterday afternoon--well pretty much off and on all day--it snowed and blowed.  So bad that there was a 40 car pile up on I70, about 25 minutes from us.  It affected every other interstate in the area.  And some of the roads that have exits off of I70.  People were stuck on the road for hours.  If I remember right, the accident was about 2 pm.  The road did not open up until almost 10 pm!

One of semi trucks that slid off the road, had some elephants in it.  Not sure where they were going, but hey!  This makes for a good story.  They (their trainers I'm assuming) had to unload the elephants from the one truck and load them onto another.  Could you imagine sitting in a huge back up and see 3 elephants walking down the road.  I'd be thinking "I've sat here too long; I'm seeing things."

As the news said:

They are in the care of their trainer and have not been injured.

At no time were they loose on the interstate.

They have since been re-loaded onto the truck and left the scene.

Nice to know.

The Indianapolis Star

Our co-op homeschool group went on a field trip to our newspaper, The Indianapolis Star.  (We were supposed to go to a local TV station too, but that got postponed.)  A few of the moms in our group know the editorial cartoonist for the Star.  He is a Christian.  He showed us the news room and then took us to his office.  We also visited one of their conference rooms where many famous people have visited (the first one he named was Bono; all the kids said "Who is that?")  He showed us some of the cartoons he was working on and explained to the kids how the cartoon got to be in the paper.

 A few side notes:

1. You can follow Mr. Varvel and his cartoons on Twitter.  His "handle" is Varvel.

2. Mr. Varvel and his sons have started a Christian movie company that has produced one movie (The Board) and is in post production of the sequel (The War Within).  The Board is a very good movie depicting the inside story of the human soul, represented by a board of directors including Mind, Memory, Emotion, Heart, Will, and Conscience. Check out the movie company on Facebook: House of Grace Films.

Stop growing!

Everyone has commented lately about how much C is growing!  I know!  His too-short jeans are proof!  According to his 10 year doctor check up, he has grown over 3 inches since May!  I can believe it.

Another proof of him growing, is his changing eye sight.  His prescription has changed twice a year for the past 3 years.  And of course insurance only covers once.  Plus, we always have to change his sports glasses too.

So about a year ago, C started asking for contact lenses.  We felt he wasn't quite ready then.  But when his appointment for this year came up, we decided to give it a try.

So off C & I went Thursday morning for his appointment at 9 am.  We didn't get home til after 11!  The doctor (I love our eye doctor!) took his time, did his exam, and said "let's try it!"  So then we went on to one of the employees teaching C how to put them in and take them out.  C did such a great job for his first time!  I remember how hard it is at the beginning. Then the doctor examined him again and decided to try a little different prescription in the one eye.  So back out we went; this time C worked on getting them out.  He got the one, but the left was just stubborn.  So the employee took it out and suggested he go home with no contacts in--just to give his eyes a break.

Those are some cool looking glasses!

It's harder than Mommy and Daddy make it look.

Got it!

His one eye is pretty bad.  Hoping contacts slow down the progression.

Later that night, after dinner we had a "contact-putting-in" party.  Reminded me of the days when my brother first got his and COULD NOT get them in, due to his -- ehem  --  fat fingers.  So Sissy and I put them in for him.  For many days.  He since has had laser surgery.  Lucky.  Anyways.  This post is about C's contacts.  So he wore them for about 2 hours that night.  Getting them out was just about as hard.  Daddy had to get the last one out for him.

Friday morning C tried to get them in before breakfast.  After about 40 minutes he was frustrated and I was hungry.  So we took a break to change and eat breakfast.  After breakfast, he tried again.  6 times on the one; 1 time on the other (but then it popped out and he had to do it again--again on the first try)  They bugged his eyes a little but eventually it was all good!

It's so strange to see him doing stuff without them on.  I keep saying "C where are your glasses?'  And he says "I don't need them.  I have contacts!"  He sat down to watch a movie and said "Me and my contacts are going to watch Star Wars."  Funny boy.

Very proud mamma

My C got baptized this last Sunday night.  It's been a few years of explaining to him that this is something he needed to do.  But, not surprisingly, he was very cautious and wanted to know all the details first.  So rewind to LAST Sunday night.  We had communion.  C did not have a class during church.  So he was sitting in with us.  Right before communion started, I leaned over to remind him that he could not participate (something he had been told before).  It took a little reminding from me, but he remembered   And then his next question was, "what do I need to do to participate next time?"  After a little explaining, he and Daddy met with our youth pastor after church and got it all set up for this past Sunday night.

Sunday night there was one baptized before C.  Once C got in the water, the youth pastor told this story.  "Last week C and his dad told me they needed to talk to me after church.  My first thought was "oh dear.  Did C steal something and he's coming to confess to me?"  Really.  That was your first thought.  But then he went on to say how much he appreciated C and that C is a good kid; he excels in whatever he does.  I really like our youth pastor.  Crazy guy.