Fundraisers

I am looking to hear parent opinion on school fundraisers.

Aubrey just brought home a packet, highlighting the four fundraisers the PTA is sponsoring during this school year. One is a wreath sale, one is for various home products, one is world's finest chocolate, and one is a parent/staff b-ball game against another school.

The form that came home with it encourages participation but also gives you an opt out portion. If you opt out of fundraisers you are "given the opportunity" to send a check for x number of dollars. All funds raised go toward field trips and school assemblies.

Here's my opinion. I hated fundraising when I was in school and I dislike it now. I am not comfortable asking the same friends and family over and over again to buy very expensive candles and chocolate. People feel obligated and many aren't in a financial position to be spending $20 on a candle. I refuse to go door to door. I also have four kids. Five years from now I will be asking my parents to buy four wreaths for one million dollars each for every single year. Nope, not in this life time.

I have a friend whose school has a fun run to raise money. Like the above mentioned basketball game, this feels better. People can donate whatever amount they want, it's a family event, it's exercise, and it's fun. Begging aunties to spend $$$ on candles is not fun.

We are going to opt out of the fundraisers this year and send a check to cover what I see as Aubrey's portion of field trips and assemblies. I want the school to have these things and I'd way rather go this route.

Here's my questions. What do you think about fundraising? Am I depriving Aubrey and my other kids of an important value by not having them participate? Is there some greater good I'm missing out on my cutting a check?

p.s. As you may have guessed, I would make a poor PTA president.

Little Jo

Things you ought to know about Johanna:

1. She is already four months old. Four months!! Was I even here for them?

2. She is a sturdy 15 pounds and, like her siblings, has a head that is in the 90th percentile. My kids need big heads for their big brains.

3. She is always happy. That is not an exaggeration. She cries about 30 seconds, cumulatively, a day. She is ALWAYS HAPPY.

4. When she smiles she does it with her whole body. I think even her fingernails smile.

5. She loves me. I can tell by the smile on her face, the way she cozies up to me, and the way she grabs my hair when she is tired.

6. She is very congested and has slept like crud for a week. But she's so cute and she sleeps well cozied up to me and I keep forgetting to care that it could be a bad habit. How can you really feel bad about this soft, beautiful, snuggly little human curled up next to you?

7. All of us are wild about her.

8. She loves her toes. She grabs them, plays with them, sucks on them. Who needs toys when you have toes?

9. Welcoming Johanna to our family has felt so natural it's as though she's been here all along.

This is a great craft I did with all my kids this afternoon. They all enjoyed it and it worked for all their ages. I thought they turned out adorable and decided it was worth sharing. Enjoy!

Pinecone Christmas Trees

Supplies
Pinecones (I used real but you can buy fake ones at a craft store)
Small puff balls
Wooden thread spools (I found these easily in the unpainted wood section of Michaels)
Glitter
Glue

1. Glue the puff balls to the "branches" of the pinecone. For my kids, I put glue in a dixie cup and they applied it with Q-tips.
2. Cover the wooden spool with glue and roll it around in glitter. (I put the glitter in a shallow bowl.)
3. Glue the spool to the bottom of the pinecone. I used my hot glue gun for this.

FINISHED!! I will finish ours off with a hot glued ribbon on the top and use them as Christmas tree ornaments.

Happy early Christmas! Is it too soon for me to bust our my Christmas song piano book?

When things go south

Greg and I both wanted/needed new cell phones. Mine was dead, his was mostly dead.

Our cell phone outing included all the kiddos, a change in cell phone provider, and picking out two new phones. NOT QUICK.

I ended up back in the van with the kids, feeding Johanna, while Greg wrapped things up. Which took an hour. No exaggeration.

During this hour Dane wet his pants and Johanna blew out her clothes. Plus I was stuck in the car for an hour with the kids.

On the way home Dane begged to hold my new phone and push some buttons. I put it on a program where he could do this. While happily pushing buttons he wet his pants again, getting urine all over my brand new phone.

I needed a chai tea. I got a chai tea.

We got home and while trying to carry in my purse/diaper bag/duffle bag and a baby carrier with a baby and my pee covered phone I spilled my tea.

It was dinner and bath time. I bathed Johanna. After her bath, while wrapped in a towel, she SPRAYED poop all over the floor. It was on my shirts, pants, all down her, and in puddles on the floor. While Greg ran to my aid she began round two. More on us, more on the floor. I whisked her to a towel on the floor to clean her up and DIAPER THE KID. She loves to play with her feet. She cocked her feet back, aimed, and fired round three.

I stood in my underwear starting a load of laundry that included three towels, my sweatshirt and jeans, and other various casualties of the great poop of 2010.

Johanna has a nasty cold and I haven't slept in days.

I must be in need of humbling today because I have been covered in bodily fluids for the past five hours. Lesson learned. I am a humbled mommy servant who is not too cool or wearing clothes too nice to be covered in baby poop.

I jokingly told Johanna that she had earned herself 100 demerits. Nathan looked stricken and said, "NO SHE DIDN'T MOMMY, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!!!!"

Folks, it's time for bed.

Singin' in the rain

If it's going to rain for days on end it leaves us no choice but to get out there and get soaked. I don't think the kids have ever had so much fun outside.

I threw these pictures in to show you what an insect/worm/creepy crawler lover my daughter is. We found this beast on the way home from school and named it Sammy the Freaking Huge Slug. It is note worthy that she was the only on in our house willing to touch the thing.

Samuel Montgomery Brandon

I kept putting this post off because I was waiting on pictures. However, since technical issues are keeping pictures from coming, I want to announce that I'm am auntie again!!! Samuel was born on Monday, October 4 at 7:28 in the morning. 7 pounds, 6 ounces, 20 inches, and already telling everyone that I'm his favorite aunt. I got to see him on I-chat and he is perfectly wonderfully precious.

My mom is with my sister this whole week, doing what our mama does best after one of her babies has a baby: cooking, cleaning, potty training, groceries, fetching pillows, providing nap opportunities, and making you wonder how on earth you will survive without her. KayLynn is doing awesome. She had Samuel at home with a midwife and has had nothing but good things to say about the experience. David is so excited to have a boy and it sounds as though Claire is ambivalent. She is far too excited to have Grandma around as her constant playmate to pay too much attention to boring new brother.

I will post pictures when the come. In the meantime, CONGRATULATIONS DEAR BRANDON FAMILY, and welcome to the world little Samuel!!

p.s. I think his name is fabulous. Montgomery is our maiden name for those of you who don't know and Samuel is a strong name and a worthy man of God in the Bible. I love it.

A whole lotta sheep

These are some pictures I took yesterday at a local farm. For a buck you can get a whole bucket of sheep food and feed the sheep. All you have to do is dip that bucket into the feed bucket and they come running. The "big bully sheep" (the boys with their big horns) like to try and take all the food so my kids will often chuck handfuls of it over their heads to the poor babies waiting in the back. Also, this farm is located by the Spokane Archery club so I'm not sure if they later become target practice and then Easter dinner. I haven't shared these musings with my children.

The last two pictures were just too adorable not to post.