Quick 5

The guy on the radio said today we'd reach 70 degrees.  Which prompted the girls to immediately start begging to wear shorts. 

1.  You've all waited so patiently, so I won't make you wait any longer.  Here is Alaina's finished Revolutionary War project:

She took the first version to school, and her teacher told her all the fun things she could do to make it better.  So Alaina commanded me to politely asked if I could go buy her some war men.  How could I not encourage this love of learning?  Apparently at the end of March the 1st graders will have a Liberty Day, which involves a program and the research reports they are doing (Alaina is doing hers on John Adams.)  They'll need to do a diorama or poster on their subject, and this was a great introduction to it. 

2.  On a related note, I've finally figured out what the girls' most favorite toy in the world is.  Empty ramen boxes.  That's what Alaina used as the base of her project.  Any time we have one sitting by the trash can waiting to be taken out to the trash (which is about once every two weeks) the girls quickly confiscate it and start coloring and cutting and using for all sorts of things. 

3.  We had a parent/teacher conference with Alaina's teacher yesterday.  She's doing amazing, thankfully.  She loves math and reading, and this week was the first time her teacher had to move her desk because she was placed next to a girl she loved to chat with.  I honestly expected quite a bit of that, knowing how extroverted and friendly she is.  We love her teacher, and her teacher is so kind and gracious and helpful, but she gave us answers to questions I didn't even know we were supposed to ask during a parent/teacher conference, which made me feel like a noob.  I'm thankful for teachers who know what to look for as they teach, so we can all know how to evaluate our kids and make sure their education is well rounded.

4.  Last month I submitted a video to America's Funniest Videos.  It was a video of Lee trying to put pants on Bria; you may have seen it before I took it off Facebook.  It was so funny to me, and there have been some LAME-O videos that have won that show, so I thought why not.  I filled out all the submission forms and uploaded to their site.  That was January 15th.  Well, this Wednesday I woke up to find an email from them in my inbox, asking us to sign a few release forms, one for Lee and one for the girls, since they are in the video.  We know we shouldn't get our hopes up or anything, but we feel like that's a good sign.  It means someone watched it, right?  And maybe wanted to get their ducks in a row in case they air it.  Like I said, we're trying not to let our dreams go crazy or anything, but it's fun to imagine that they love our video the most.

5.  A big shout-out to Lee's parents, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this weekend.  I do not take lightly the fact that both my parents and Lee's parents are still married to each other.  They have been a great example to us, and we love them.  Congratulations Jim and Melonie!

Next week is my favorite week: Valentine's week!