March 2008

March was busy.

Our Book Club met at Dunn's Coffee Shop.

Jen started working at China Buffet as a second job.
Mom and I had lunch with her.

We had BUNCO on St. Patrick's Day.Max dressed for the occasion:

We celebrated Easter at Lorie & Brent's house.
Mom and I went to a "Festival of Tables".
All of this while working on a remodeling project at home.
(See next entry)

Remodeling Project

March was a busy month.

We started a kitchen remodeling project that grew and grew. It didn't start out as a remodeling project. We had to replace the flooring. Being that we were going to replace the flooring, it was a good time to repaint the cupboards in case we dripped paint. Being that we were repainting the cupboards, it was a good time to fill the holes and replace the door knobs. While we were at it, we removed the microwave from the awkward location it was in and bought a new one that goes over the stove. Cabinet maker, Craig Roe, made us a new cupboard where the microwave was. He also adjusted the cupboard above the stove and after we removed the old dishwasher, Craig made a cupboard for the wastebasket. Being that Craig was doing all that stuff..... it was a good idea for him to also replace the counter tops. We stopped before we replaced the kitchen sink.

Kids Love to Pretend

I drive one of two shuttle buses carrying kindergarteners and first graders to the next town. My bus is called the “Blue Bus.” The other bus is called the “Red Bus”.

While loading the bus, I held a sign with a blue bus on it so the kids would know which bus I was driving. As the weeks progressed, I let students hold the sign. At this point, all the kids were aware of which bus was the Blue Bus and which one was the Red Bus but there apparently was some excitement in holding the sign....so they continued to ask to hold the sign, and I let them.

One day the sign disappeared. When the kids asked to hold the sign I explained that it was gone. One little boy asked if he could “pretend” to hold the sign. I said sure. Another boy asked if he could help hold the pretend sign. I jokingly told them not to fight over the sign. It might drop and break. As you can guess, that's exactly what they did. I said, “Now look what you've done.... It's ripped in two.” A little girl that had been watching came up and said, “That's okay. I have some invisible tape.” The kids took turns holding the”pretend” sign for three days before they got tired of it.

The next pretend items on the bus were a couple of pretend DS's. If you don't know what a DS is, you obviously don't have a preteen. Have you heard of Nintendo Game Boys? Hand held video games? Well, Nintendo came out with a hand held video game called a DS that can interact with other DS's. A child sitting in the front of the bus can play a game with another child at the back of the bus. It's a hot item. They cost over a hundred dollars so the youngest riders on the bus either do not have them or their parents wisely won't let them take the DS's to school.

That doesn't stop a couple of the kids. They just drew a DS on paper and cut it out. They make all the sound effects themselves and have a great time. When one of the first graders starts bothering the kids around him, I tell him to take out his (pretend) DS and play by himself. It works. One first grader has told me (in detail) about the games that he's designing for his (pretend) DS. Watch out Bill Gates!

Jodi, a gal I work with, and I are in a (pretend) rock group with a couple fifth graders. We're called the "Bean-0's". Everyday we update our practice schedule or review our last weekend's performance. (All pretend, of course)