Stacy's Snippets

29 November 2005

Finders keepers

The big drama yesterday was that Grant didn't know where his library book was. You see every two weeks his kindergarten class gets to go to the school library and pick out a book to bring home. The books are due back in two weeks and if the kids haven't returned their last book they cannot check out a new one. Somewhere along the line his teacher or the librarian told the kids to make sure to take care of their books and that keeping them in a special place in their bedrooms was a good idea. I only saw a fleeting glimpse of his last book, the missing one, as Grant took it directly to his room when we arrived home from school.

I know that Monday is his library day, so yesterday I asked if he went to the library. "Yep, but I couldn't pick out a new book because I didn't return my book. Even if I like it lots I have to return it." So instead of picking out a new library book Grant "looked at the dictionary". Okay, I have no idea if that's what he really did or not but that's the story I got.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that we (and I do mean we) hadn't returned his library book, but in the rush to get ready for our Thanksgiving trip it just didn't rank very high on my to do list. Yesterday the panic set in... after a quick search of Grant's room first by him and then by me the book was still MIA. I realized that I didn't have any idea what this book looked like or what it's title was. All I remembered about it from my quick glimpse was that it was bigger than a travel Spanish-English dictionary and much smaller than an encyclopedia. Grant couldn't remember it's size, title, story or its where abouts. We were in a pinch.

Time for homework and dinner rolled around and the book still had not appeared of its own free will. When Glayde got home, I took a few minutes to thoroughly ransack Grant's room making sure that the book wasn't tucked away somewhere in there. It wasn't on the bookshelves hiding among other books. It hadn't fallen behind the bed or slid under the dresser. It wasn't jammed in the toy box or the closet. It wasn't in any of the reasonable or totally unreasonable but possible hiding spots that I searched.

I went off to volleyball and let Glayde handle the bedtime routines, but the thought that missing book still nagged at me. That and Grant's glib comment that "Mom, we had better just pay for a new one!" I returned home hot, sweaty and full of adrenaline that fuelled the continued search. I checked under the couch and the coffee table. I looked through all the books on the shelves and still no luck. As we were heading upstairs for bed, one last place came to mind.... under the stairs. There's this odd little niche under our stairs that the boys like to play in. I had noticed recently that they were stashing things in there. I figured it was a long shot but I had better check there too. And there the missing book was tucked away inside a shoe box. I'm not sure that Grant ever read the story but the book went safely back to school this morning.

Obviously we need to find a more specific safe place to keep our library books. Suggestions welcome.

27 November 2005

The Happiest Thanksgiving Ever!

Yep, we spent Thanksgiving at "The Happiest Place on Earth" and I don't even think we affected the happiness quotient there. For some crazy reason a lot of schools around here give kids the entire week off at Thanksgiving. When I noticed this on the school schedule in June we decided to plan a trip. I didn't realize then that I was supposed to go a parent teacher conference during the holiday week. Oh well... there's just not that much to update you on when your child is in kindergarten!

Hmm... how to cram in 5 days at the park into one blog entry?!?! Well, this will definitely have to just hit the highlights of the trip.

Favorite Rides
Grant - Buzz's Astroblasters (Grant managed to get me to go on this ride 8 times in 5 days! Evidently boys really do love shooting at the bad guys)
Heath - Teacups followed closely by Grant's favorite, Buzz's Astroblasters
All parental units - Soarin' Over California (it's like really flying over different parts of California. Very convincing if you're in the first row)

A few memorable moments from the trip
- A 2 1/2 year old can out score me in the opening 10 seconds of Astroblasters. (Thank goodness I managed to out shoot Heath for the remainder of the ride.)
- It doesn't matter if your kid loves little roller coasters like Gadget's Go Coaster, Space Mountain and even Matterhorn can scare the pants off of him.
- After 20 minutes, even spectacular fireworks wear thin for a 5 year old. (They're also a little annoying when you're trying to sleep back at the hotel).
- All the characters love Grandpa! Minnie flirted with him. Stitch played "guess who?" and Goofy was goofy with him once again.
- Evidently the shorter the wait the more annoying it is to have to wait at all for a kindergartener.
- If you've seen one parade, you have NOT seen them all! (We never did see the Anniversary parade).
- RideMax really does work. That and getting out of the park before the crowds get too bad.
- It seems just wrong to have a assemble a PB&J sandwich that you just paid $5.99 for!
- A McDonald's addict will ask to eat at McD even more often after eating fast food for 6 days straight.
- Never underestimate the effects of carsickness on the length of the drive home! Luckily the regurgitron managed to hurl in the hastily supplied plastic bag.

I'm sure I've failed to add some of our big moments in the park or things that Glayde said I "had" to include in the blog... but hey this is my blog! I'll post more photos soon, if I don't become depressed about all that I have to do between now and Christmas!

15 November 2005

Good Grief!

Charlie Brown
Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

So my dear friend Carla decided that I just had to do this quiz. I was a big fan of Peanuts as a kid so why not?!?

Evidently I'm Charlie Brown. I'm not sure that I agree with it all. I'd say I'm more sarcastic than a cynic. I really do try to enjoy the ride and not get too bogged down by the people around me. Ah well it's just a silly online quiz anyway.

Now if anyone is still check out this post, I really think that Miss Zee should try out the quiz and let us know who she is in the world of Peanuts.