Dear Mr. President

Lacey, along with some other 5th graders, received the President's Outstanding Academic Achievement Certificate. She received a number of other certificates too which you can see spelled out in her letter, but the one she was the most proud of was this one signed by the President.

So......when you want to thank the President, you write him a letter, like this:

This will be going in the good ol USPS tomorrow, so let's cross our fingers and see if she gets an answer. She asked me if I thought Malia could write to her but I told her I think they are pretty strict parents and there would be thousands of kids that might want to be her pen-pal...so probably not. She agreed that was true, it might be too much to ask. = )

Blue Haired Girl

Lacey has been dye-ing (get it?) to have blue/purple/orange/green hair for a while now. She was sure there was a shampoo-out hair dye. I didn't think there was and sure enough all of the neon color hair dyes are semi-permanent. But, they do have this fun product that is basically a hairspray and it comes in bright neon colors. There wasn't any purple so blue had to do.

All I can say is.......interesting.

Soccer

Lacey has been enjoying soccer, but the last couple of games have been much more pleasant because we are not sitting in a freezing rain and wind. The kids are happy to not be getting all wet and muddy but the sun is a little much too when you are running for an hour and half. I actually got a little color on my arms and face out there today watching them but it felt great!

The team has had some challenges -- kids moving, small team to begin with so very limited subs, coaches work schedule, etc., but they are dealing with it and doing a great job out on the field.

Lacey hasn't decided if she wants to do this particular sport again but she should, she is good at it and is made to be a runner so we'll see.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

A few weeks ago, I won 4 tickets to a minor league baseball game. Since the kids and I had never been to a "real" ball game, I thought it would be a blast to take them. I invited friend Maurice along. She knows a lot about baseball and so was able to fill us in on a lot of details we would never have known.

The game was fun except that we lost. The weather could have been better but, truly, the way our Spring has been going, it could have been a whole lot worse! We came prepared with layered clothing, hoods, and blankets and we used every bit of it! It was about 43 degrees with a fair wind. But, we were better off than a lot because we were under cover so didn't get rained on. At one point, Maurice went below the stands to buy us a pretzel but came back not longer after empty-handed because the wind was howling through the line and the line was not moving. So much for having a pretzel, we bought Cracker Jacks from the vendor in the stands instead.

Going to a game like this was a lot of fun and I would certainly consider doing it again.

Brrrrr!

On Saturday we attended Seth's track regionals. The weather was horrendous! Temp - 43 degrees; wind -- 25 to 30 mph; rain - showers, more accurately very CHILLY pelting showers! The atheletes (and spectators) were troopers; armed with many layers of clothes, gloves, blankets and a lot of moving around, nobody froze to death. Although at times it seemed like we might.

Now, looking at these pictures of Seth throwing shotput, the skies don't look too bad. Trust me, whenever the sun gave a brief peek of blue skies it was only a tease before the storm. Black clouds and even stronger winds were sure to follow! Nothing like Spring in the Northwest!
We didn't get to find out where Seth placed in the shotput event, probably won't know until later this week, but he placed 5th in 50m Dash, 4th in 200m Walk and received a silver in the 4x100m relay. He didn't have quite the same luck as he had last year but he had a good time even with the horrid weather. He was ready to go home by the end of the day though!

Bike Riding

I took Seth and Lacey to a local park that has a huge parking lot so they could get a little bike riding in without having to deal with traffic. This was Seth's first outing away from home with the scooter and he did really well. He was actually doing a steady cruising speed instead of the start/stop action we get at home. He started getting more comfortable turning also.

Lacey enjoyed getting out and stretching her legs too. It was a beautiful sunny day!

Spread the Word to End the Word

This is something I feel strongly about. The R-Word has no place in our society, it is derogatory and unnecessary. See this from the Special Olympics of Washington www.sowa.org .

Spread the Word to End the Word

Have you ever stopped to think of the damaging effects of using the word “retard?” How would you feel if a word that can be used to describe you became an insult intended to hurt other people? The word retarded is still used in the medical community as well as in our laws and legislation to describe individuals with intellectual disabilities. Unfortunately it has also become a put- down used everyday as a synonym for being stupid or dumb.

Members of the Federal Way Youth Activation Committee are taking a stand. On March 3rd, as part of the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, they will put on an assembly at Federal Way High School promoting acceptance of people with Intellectual Disabilities. During lunch students will also set up tables at Federal Way High School, as well as nearby Decatur High School and Todd Beamer High School, where students can sign the pledge to stop using the words “retard” and “retarded” in a demeaning way.

The official Spread the Word to End the Word day is March 3rd, 2010. This campaign takes aim at the derogatory use of the words “retard” and “retarded,” urging people to take the pledge to end its use. We challenge you to take the pledge at http://www.r-word.org/.

Be a fan of respect. Pledge to end the dehumanizing use of the word “retard.”

Blood, Sweat and Tears!.......Not Really

Seth apparently has talents that I didn't know existed. He and his other classmates have all made a quilt for themselves. The incredible part to me is that Seth arranged and sewed his by himself! Here he is modeling it for me:

I think his teacher is a miracle worker because I would never have guessed Seth could do this one-handed. I used to quilt and was mediocre at it two-handed. I have since decided that the sewing machine is not my idea of a relaxing hobby! So, curious as I was, I asked his teacher for details about how he was able to accomplish this. Her reply:

"I was mean and made Seth use both hands. He used his left hand to feed the squares though and to keep them straight (and used the side of the sewing foot as his seam allowance guide) and then he used his right hand/fist to also help feed the squares through. There were a number of times that he had to go back and resew the seam when he got off track, but he did fix them. Lots of blood (mine when he ran over my fingertips-LOL), sweat (his), and barely any tears (just mine when I saw his completed quilt) -- I am so proud of him!"

Seth is very blessed with an awesome teacher!

Here are some closeups of the quilt:

Cap'n Crunch Candy Rules!

Seth loves his cooking class at school and he loves Cap'n Crunch Candy so what better to do than make candy in his cooking class! Seth thought this was a grand idea to do and celebrate his birthday at the same time. I bought the supplies and taught the class how to make the candy. They did a great job working together and everybody got to play a part. Check out this concentration and teamwork:
We made three batches so there was enough to send a large bag home with each child. What fun! The only thing I missed was a picture of Seth and his teacher together - ooops. We'll have to do that another time.

On Fire!

Not to scare you -- but there was no other way to describe it! Seth was absolutely on fire today! These are scores I would be thrilled to get. I wish I would have had my camera because Seth gets a dollar from Grandpa for every game over 100, and by the third frame, Seth asked me to call Grandpa. Ironically, Grandpa showed up on the next frame and was there just in time to see the second strike in a row. He knew he was doomed to lose a dollar. = )

Seth appeared to be back to his normal average of 89 in the second game and then he laid it on at the end with the triple strike and blew his average away for the second time.

It was a fun day!