Prom

Eric told me that he read an article stating that prom costs the average student (parents) $800-$1,000.  I couldn't believe that anyone would spend that much money on a dance.  Fortunately, Eric is frugal like us and he spent a fraction of that amount.  I paid $50 for the suit and $40 for the prom tickets.  Eric bought the pocket square and a bow tie for $30 but then opted to wear the tie instead.  Dinner was $60 and his corsage for Caitlyn was free because for the second time in a row, (last time was Homecoming) the florist messed it up and had to redo it so she refunded his money.  So all for $180 and Eric got a new suit to wear to church.  Not too bad.  I doubt I will be able to find Erin a modest dress for that price especially if I have to order it from Utah. I've already started looking at dresses for her.

Eric was the only guy in his group that opted for a grey suit. The rest of the guys rented black tuxedos. I thought Eric would feel bad but he was happy to be different and he loves his new suit.

Nate, Jessica, Eric, and Caitlyn

Mariah (middle black dress) was Prom Queen

Fieldtrips

I hate fieldtrips.  I can't remember a single fieldtrip that I have gone on that I enjoyed.  Probably a good thing that I didn't get a full time teaching job, huh?!  I have friends that volunteer to go on every single fieldtrip with their kids, even the weeklong ones that cost them hundreds of dollars.  Not me, well to be honest, none of my kids have gone on a weeklong fieldtrip.  Eric was supposed to go on one in fifth grade but we wouldn't allow him to because no parents were welcomed to go and he would be chaperoned by teenage boys in his cabin.  We said, no way and we bought him a Nintendo Wii instead. All of his friends came back with a bad case of poison oak so he was glad to have missed out.

Anyway, back to my point about hating fieldtrips.  I can't remember the last time I went on one.  Next week, the twins and Erin have fieldtrips.  I know for sure Erin wouldn't let me go on hers.  Zach already told me no to his.  I didn't discuss it with Nate.  So yesterday I got to thinking that Nathan is getting older and so in a few years he won't want me to go on a fieldtrip with him anymore.  So maybe I should take advantage of this time and go with him.  I really battled it out internally because as much as I like going with my own child, it's the rest of the class I don't like chaperoning.  For some reason, the teachers always seemed to give me some of the harder kids I guess because they thought I could handle it and because they knew me since I volunteered in the classroom often.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and go on this fieldtrip.  I approached Nathan this morning and asked him if he would like me to go.  He had one word for me, "NO."   I thought he was joking, but nope. He has already reached that stage where he doesn't want me to go either.  Oh, how sad that makes me. My last little one has grown up.  Fortunately he is still really cuddly with me and who knows, maybe that won't change.  Eric is pretty affectionate too.  But he wasn't for a few years.  So maybe Nate will stop for awhile and then go back.  Erin and Zach aren't cuddly at all.  But that's ok. We are all different.

Perez Week

I went to an appliqué class and signed up to make a quilt.

I haven't done any appliqué so that was very ambitious (or very dumb of me) but I think it will look awesome in my Venice house one day.

We said goodbye to Elder Wilson on Thursday. He has been in our ward over 10 months and we have grown pretty attached to him. He came to our house his first night on his mission. We got to witness such growth in him. He already had a dinner appointment, so we got Eric and Erin passes to come home for lunch and we barbecued some steaks. Eric had gotten Elder Wilson a tie for a going away gift. Elder Wilson brought a tie to give to Eric also. We will miss him but we know he can't stay in our ward forever. We get to keep Elder Stoker who is a pretty cool guy too.

Nathan had to do a project for HAL. He studied snakes and then had to display his project at the high school. 

Eric had an MRI and everything came back normal thank goodness but the doctor still doesn't know what is wrong with his arm and hand. He has an appointment in a week with a neurologists. Thank goodness for good medical insurance.

Mario left for Virginia this morning. I cried, but what's knew, right?! Hopefully the weeks will fly by and I'm counting my blessings that we have cellphones and text messaging. I will miss him so much.


Mario's finding out that he can't trust the Air Force assignments people. They told him Puerto Rico has been filled but then the ROTC people say that the other guy can't get released from his career field either. So last thing ROTC told Mario was that they may just wait until he can go in April. We aren't holding our breath and we don't know if we can trust them either. If that doesn't work out, we have decided to apply for Miami next summer and we are pretty excited about that prospect especially since we can live within a few minutes of the new Temple.

I'm glad to have General Conference and the basketball tournament to distract me this weekend. I like to read the twitter feed on Conference and apparently I'm not the only one that loves Elder Holland. He was first speaker after President Monson opened the conference. People on twitter were saying that having Holland speak first is like having dessert before dinner. I couldn't agree more. I love him. He never disappoints and you can just feel his testimony.

As soon as the afternoon conference is over, the kids and I will load up and head to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Gators play. This is the only time of year that I wish I had cable. I thought about going to a hotel tonight so we could watch Kentucky play later, but that's a little expensive. Kentucky has identical twins on their team so that's the only reason I'm rooting for them. Twins are awesome! I might be in trouble if it comes down to Gators playing Kentucky in the final game. Eric and Zach would kill me if I went for Kentucky.

Skipping School to Shop for Prom

A few weeks ago, Eric told me girls were skipping school to go shop for prom dresses. I thought that was ridiculous. Can't they shop on the weekend?

But then last night Eric asked me to take him shopping over the weekend for a new white shirt for prom. This morning when he woke up with a cold, I suggested he just stay home from school and we'd go shop for the shirt. He had to leave at lunchtime anyway for an appointment with sports medicine for his hand.

While shopping for the shirt, we found suits marked down and then extra 60% off. He has been asking for a new suit so it was a great deal. When Mario went up to pay, he asked for an additional discount. The suit was originally $350, marked down to $175, then 60% off bringing price to $70. Mario ended up getting it for $52 including tax and included alterations. What a deal!

So now I guess I'm just as bad as those moms that let their girls skip for prom shopping.

We stopped by Whole Foods and got some buffalo meat to make some burgers for lunch and some pretzel rolls for the bun. It's a good day!

Why Change Math?

I don't understand the new way kids are supposed to do math. What's wrong with the way we were taught 30 years ago? Teachers tell my kids to not let me teach them how to multiply and divide (I'll be honest, that makes me angry). Apparently my method is ineffective now and they get it marked wrong if they use my simple method. Erin took one look at this test review of Nathan's and scrunched up her face and said why is this so complicated now? So at least I'm not alone in my thinking.

Maybe this is part of the Core Curriculum stuff that has been talked about so much lately on the news and has parents and teachers hating it. But supposedly Nebraska is one of only a few states that hasn't adopted it. So who knows. Nathan missed the day they learned division because he was at HAL and the teacher never taught him how to do it. So he may be forced to do my method and then get it wrong because it doesn't have a million steps. I also don't like how the kids have to explain how they get their answers and write down all the steps. What about the kids that do math accurately on their heads? Isn't getting the right answer proof enough that they understand it?  When I discussed this with Eric, he showed me this paper on reddit:

Eric and Nathan Engineering

Nathan recently attended a HAL (High Ability Learner) seminar about flying. They had a guest speaker that talked to the kids about the different kinds of engines and how they functioned. Nathan loved the seminar and has been talking about it ever since. It's all over my head but I try my best to listen. He told me that he seemed like the only one in the class that seemed interested and that understood it.

I told him that he's really smart with that kind of stuff just like Eric and that we think he'd make a great engineer. He got really excited when I told him that Eric is thinking about majoring in engineering too. He told me, "Mom, Eric and I can open a company together and call it 'Eric and Nathan Engineering.'"

I thought for sure he'd say Nathan and Eric Engineering but he put his big brother's name first. That would be really cool to see them work together.

The two of them are really cute. Eric loves sitting next to Nate during Sacrament meeting and playing games on paper the whole time. I had to finally put an end to that but it is cute to see them bonding.

Nathan talking about the seminar so much reminds me of Erin when she was in the early elementary years. She loved history and so when she'd get home from school, I swear she would repeat word for word the history lesson in school that day. She would go on for 20 or 30 minutes. It was really cute. Now I ask her about her day and I get a one word answer- "fine." Boy do I miss those days when she was talkative.


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Second Funeral

I attended a funeral today for a girl in Erin's grade that committed suicide. I attended one last year when Erin was in 8th grade. My heart is broken for these girls and their families. Erin knows how hard I took the last one so she didn't even want to tell me that she knew this one. She ran with her in PE last semester. Both girls appeared to be happy girls. As a mother, there isn't anything more frightening than thinking about outliving your children.

As I try to make sense of this all, I keep thinking about the hymn found on page 220. It is a favorite of mine. We sing it often in FHE. Verse 2 has special meaning.

Lord, I Would Follow Thee
1. Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown, Pause to help and lift another, Finding strength beyond my own. Savior, may I learn to love thee— Lord, I would follow thee.
2. Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can’t see.
Who am I to judge another?
Lord, I would follow thee.
3. I would be my brother’s keeper;
I would learn the healer’s art.
To the wounded and the weary
I would show a gentle heart.
I would be my brother’s keeper—
Lord, I would follow thee.
4. Savior, may I love my brother
As I know thou lovest me,
Find in thee my strength, my beacon, For thy servant I would be.
Savior, may I love my brother—
Lord, I would follow thee.



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