Unexpected

We woke this morning, following our normal showering and getting everybody ready routine, until Steph happened to look out the window, doing a cartoon doubletake.  It's really so much more fun when it's unexpected.  When Memphis frets for a whole week over winter weather, it's always a letdown.

This was actually enough for a SNOWMAN, which I don't think has happened in these two kids' lifetimes.

See the whole slideshow here.

Poor Uncle Chris

Stream of consciousness ramble from Chloe on the way to school this morning:

"Oooh look, the Memphis Tigers on that building! Mama, that's just like what you have on that t-shirt! And the Titans. You have the Titans on a t-shirt too! The Titans are everyone's favorite team that we know. Except for Uncle Chris! He likes the Eagles! Uncle Chris is from a whole different world. . ."

She Dressed Herself

Red Alert!

Book Club

As you may know, Connor does not like school. I realize this isn't unusual- a lot of kids don't like school- but if you've been paying attention around here, you know that Connor tends to become hysterical when he doesn't like something. He isn't one to shrug it off and say, "Hey- what are you gonna do?" He is one to sob and hatch elaborate home-schooling plans and give me guilt trips about how not all moms have to work and if I loved him I would just STAY HOME AND PLAY WITH HIM.

One thing that might have made school more fun for him would have been getting him into the CLUE program early. I was told by Sassy that I should get him tested before Kindergarten, because the pre-school test doesn't have any reading requirements. I never got it together to get him tested, and he wasn't recommended by his Kindergarten teacher, so he isn't currently in CLUE. I asked his teacher if he could be tested, and she said sure, but warned me that kids need to be reading a couple of grade levels ahead of his peers in order to qualify. Now, Connor certainly isn't reading below grade level or anything, but so far he just hasn't shown a lot of interest in reading on his own. He still sees it as a bit of a chore, rather than something that can be done for pleasure.

I just used a lot of words to say that basically I wish Connor enjoyed both school and reading more than he currently does. At a recent elementary school awards program (Perfect Attendance? I thought I had taught him better than that!) I sat next to a friend who happens to be a first grade teacher and the parent of a first grader. I told her about how Connor hates it all, and she shared that her daughter LOVES school and loves to read. In fact, my friend recently started a book club for her students and her daughter loved the idea so much that she started her own book club with a couple of her classmates at Snowden. To which I said, Oh hell yes! An activity that will give him stronger social ties to school as well as peer pressure to enjoy reading! We would love to invite ourselves to that!

So we did. The next meeting was on a Sunday evening, and it just did not work out for Connor to go. It was the end of a busy weekend, and both kids were a little snotty and puny, and he was too exhausted to make the effot. I was surprisingly frustrated by this. I guess I knew I had been pushy about wrangling an invite and felt stupid not showing up. Plus I just really wanted him to go and enjoy himself and his book. But a wonderful thing happened. He decided to give the book a try on his own, and he DID love it! He read the book over breakfast, he read the book in the car, and by the end of the week he had read a chapter book all by himself and passed an AR test on it and ENJOYED IT. It was magical.

This week he actually attended the book club meeting in person. Four kids came, and they each took turns reading a chapter out loud. I didn't stay to witness this, but I was told that listening to them talk about the story, and help each other with unknown words, was absolutely adorable. Connor reported that it was a good book, and that the two girls were better readers than the two boys, and that he had a good time. And now I've got a son who carries a book around the house with him and smiles at new friends in the hallways at school. It's a start.

ICYHELL 2010

The two River Birch trees in our front yard have always been a bit fragile, shedding limbs on a daily basis. ICYHELL was particularly hard on them. Many yards in our neighborhood looked rough, but ours looked like a war zone.

The kids were fascinated by all the icicles and crunchy steps.

See the whole slideshow here.

Chip's Weekend

On Friday night, Chip had sushi and watched The Little Mermaid, turning it off before the part where Ariel leaves her father behind to marry some boy she hardly knows. Then he watched the Grizzlies game and wished he was there with Cullen. Er, with Stephanie.

Saturday, Chip drove the family wherever Stephanie asked him to, at the times she claimed were already on the calendar. Then he paid for a bunch of stuff at Target, just like he does every Saturday.

Saturday night, after driving the kids to Grammy's house at the time Stephanie told him they were supposed to be there, he was rewarded with a fine meal from his lovely, intelligent, talented wife. For the appetizer, proscuitto, parmesean, and fig jam toasts were accompanied by Four Vines "Biker" Zinfandel, a Top 100 wine. For the main course, Stephanie cooked trout amandine from the recipe found in Chip's new John Besh cookbook. It was served over oven-roasted potatoes and was delicious, if a little heavy on the lemon. It paired nicely with a 2007 Starmont Merryvale Chardonnay. Chip took pictures.       

On Sunday Chip did laundry and watched football, as he has every Sunday since marrying a woman who a)doesn't do laundry, but b) watches a lot of football.