Ready for Camping!

Now that the summer is here, we are getting excited for our first camping trip, which we will probably take in the next two weeks. On the weekend Maya asked me for glue. This is what she made. You may not be able to tell what it is, but it is a paper towel, glued into a ball on the end of a stick to look like a marshmallow. She pretended to roast it over the BBQ (which was not lit at the time). She will be happy with the real thing soon :)

I'm Torn

Summer vacation is fast approaching, and as a teacher, that is always a time I look forward to, however, since we have had kids it has been a little different. I am happy about the upcoming time off, and look forward to being at home more, but at the same time, feel anxious about time passing by so quickly. Once this school year is over (8 more days, but who's counting?), Shayne will be done with first grade. Maya had her last day of preschool on Thursday and it was so sad. It was even more sad for us because she has had the same wonderful teacher and classroom aids for 2 years and they have helped her make so much progress. These last 8 days will go by in a whirlwind of activity, and when it is over, I will be off work for 7 weeks, but the kids will be moving on too...bittersweet.

And One More!

My sister-in-law Sarah has one too that she actually started before Alison and Wendy, but I just saw it now...This is the Life.

Two Blogs to Check Out

My sister Alison started a blog called Fun with the Watsons and my sister-in-law, Wendy (Steve's wife) started one called Little Wendy's Words. Check them out! Welcome to blogging you two!

My New Blog

"What? A new one? We hardly read the one you have now." I know, I know. I debated whether or not to make a whole new blog for this ongoing topic but in the end decided that I wanted it to have it's own links, lists, etc. and to be fairly detailed about the topic it covers, so I thought separate would be better. Anyway, we'll see how it goes...check it out: On the Road

Egg Drop

One of the traditions at our school is the annual first grade egg drop. The first graders study the life cycle of chickens and hatch live chicks in their classrooms each spring. They also do a family project where the object is to design a protective case for an egg that will help it to withstand being hurled down from the school roof by our principal. We tested a few designs at home that were not successful, but the one that eventually worked at home worked at school also. It was a lot of fun for everyone and we were very relieved to find that our egg survived the drop!

Happy Birthday Maya!

Well, my baby is five today. I can't believe it has gone by so quickly! The last 3 photos are from today :)

The Swine Flu: What Are Your Thoughts?

Generally, it is my habit to shrug off public health scares as "not as big of a deal as they are making it out to be." Remember the bird flu? SARS? Ebola? Not a whole lot really came of those. E coli at the peanut factory, in the spinach...I tend to think that I am far more likely to be killed in a car accident on the way to work than I am to contract any of these illnesses. I remember that many governments like to keep their people at least a little bit fearful so that they are more easily controlled (that sounds paranoid until you start thinking about it a little bit...)

Then on Thursday we found out that two of the schools in our (me and Shayne's) school district were going to be closed for a week because of two cases of swine flu. "I am in the computer lab this year..." I began to think it over..."All 600 of them come through here every seven days..." hmm...."and touch their germ-ridden hands all over the keyboards and mice..." So I started disinfecting a little more frequently.

Then the more rational side reminds me that 36,000 Americans die of the flu every year. As terrible as that is, it is a fact. Is this going to be so much worse than a normal flu running it's course? What do you guys think? Are you changing anything in your lives as a result of this? Don't forget to answer the 2 poll questions :)