We Shall See....

....how the gluten free chocolate cake, vanilla icing, 40 lbs. of M&M's actually TASTES tomorrow at Janey's party. But for now it LOOKS pretty darn good!!!!

Yippee...for ME!

Look what came in the mail.....lots o' Gluten Free goodies!! After much intense research ( I asked another mom with Celiac) I found a company that has good tasting stuff. Because, believe you me, A LOT of it tastes like mulch. So I stocked up a little, and now I can have a hamburger on a ROLL. Or a sandwich on BREAD. Plus I got some other stuff to try. And at Janey's birthday party this weekend she is having a gluten free cake (one of her friends has Celiac, too). So, I keep on trekking through this thing, but at least now I can have my cake and eat it too!!!

So proud to be Proficient!!

Well, my kids just got their MSA scores and they are at the very least getting a proficient education. My dream come true. If you have kids, you too have received your child's score. This test is nick named Maryland State Assessment because the creators, Many Stupid Asses, are very humble. This is a very important test for our budding young children. So important that this is basically the focus of, say, August through May. It is also the source of many nightmares, weekend homework, and stomach medicine. For the CHILDREN.

There are two parts: Math and Reading. Math is the tricky one. The importance of knowing your addition, subtraction, and multiplication tables is NO LONGER NEEDED!!! I know....unbelievable!! Say the problem is 1+1. In years past you would simply answer: 2. Well you are WRONG. You now have to EXPLAIN how you got the answer. "Uh, I memorized it" is also the wrong answer. I don't really even know how in the hell you are supposed to answer, but it involves a sentence. And punctuation. Because THAT is the key part of math.

Reading is even better! The children are taught to write a BCR on whatever material they have read. Someone said it BCR stood for Brief Constructed Response, but I looked it up and the correct definition is Buncho' Crap, Really. For your BCR you need three examples from the text to support your answer. Soooo....any other time when just one answer might do, you now have to come up with THREE. This is an example of some of Julian's finer work. Question: "Do you like ice cream?" Answer 1. I like it because it tastes good. 2. I like it because it is fun to eat 3. I like it because it is fun that it tastes good. Score: 0 out of 3.

The long winded point of this story is that these stupid tests are ruining the ability for our children to just ANSWER THE QUESTION. They are so used to having to add a million details (however small) to arrive at the right answer. Question:" How was your day at school?" (The correct answer is: Good, Ok, or Bad). NOT "Well, I ride blue bus. Enter through the doors.Walk up the stairs to my class. I have a new teacher. I hang up my backpack, and blah, blah blah." Ten hours later, and a boiling down results in "Really Good! I have a new homeroom teacher." Ahhh, the joys of standardized tests. Can't wait for another round!!

One of my favorite MSA sheets from Julian last year was titled "MSA Activity- Feelings and Self-Control". This was the question: " A third grade boy feels angry because someone knocked his lunch tray out of his hands, dumping food all over the floor. Explain how the boy could deal with this unpleasant emotion in a healthy way. Support your answer with information from the text."

This was Julian's answer......"He could tell a teacher, or get revenge." Whoops. Didn't do so good on THAT one!!!

Wordless Wednesday JOY

New Kid On The Block!!

I came home from field hockey today just as Teddy and his friends were coming up the stairs to leave for a pool party. I said hello to Teddy, his friend Toreno, and Zach, and I nodded hello to his other friend who I had never met. I AM A BAD MOM......It was TUCKER with his new haircut!!!! I didn't even recognise him. In my defense see the photos. He lost A LOT of hair!!! His choice. I STILL can't believe it is him. Although if I had those curls they'd never be cut!

Gone Baby Gone....

Steve's Toad Fish
This is how lazy people fish:

Tucker's bluefish

Finally....Julian caught some fish!!!
Janey and the Fishing QUEEN!!
...Gone....Are the days of our (somewhat) easy schedule. The boys started high school football last Saturday, and have had practice every day (sometimes twice a day!!) since. Some mornings Teddy had to be at school at 5:15....A.M!!! Between football, field hockey, and back to school errands and shopping-our summer was over long before Monday morning rolls around!! We did however get one last FFD ( Family Fun Day) in last Sunday....and for ONCE it was not a FORCED Family Fun Day! We took the boat out for a day of fishing and swimming. It was a beautiful day....not too rough, not hot at all. Just right! We ended up fishing under the bay bridge. Our first fishing spot was BAD. But then someone with more luck suggested the bridge (sorry Honey...your spot stunk!!) Every now and then the fishing gods smile on me and when they do it is glorious. Tucker and Teddy caught about a dozen each. Steve caught..maybe six. Julian FINALLY caught three right before we left. I am sure all of her stomping and whining drew these fish to the surface to make her hush! Janey blissfully slept through most of this (she doesn't nap anywhere except on the boat!)....and Me, you ask?? I caught forty. 40. Four. Zero. It was kind of absurd. And it's not like I could HELP gloating!!! Just a little, since I am usually the one who can't do anything right, and knows nothing. Ha Ha, bad little fisher-kids. I won!! So there.

Another Wordless Wednesday