The post-game game....

My family is at a basketball tournament this weekend. We had a little time after games tonight back at the hotel, so we pulled out The Game of Things. One person reads a card and the rest of the players write down an answer. For example, "things you would do if you were a superhero" or "things you shouldn't do on your boss's desk." The answers are collected and read, and you get points for guessing who wrote what.

We played with a group of about 10 people - half teens and half parents. I saw a whole other side of my kids and their friends! They were creative, funny, realistic, and twisted. When one of the adults crossed the line a little with an answer (things you shouldn't do on your desk - yeah we went there), the kids followed it and we all laughed together.

It was a little reminder for me about how much closer my oldest daughter is to being an adult than she is to being a child - and I like who I am seeing.

Sometimes I amaze myself...

...or how to be an awesome (but not cool) mom....

I have always made it a practice not to spy on my kids, but I also try really hard not be stupid either. At the start if every school year I make each kid give me her locker number and combination. At first this was not such a popular idea. Strange how they have adjusted.

On occasion I stop by their lockers to drop Halloween candy, extra "lunch" money, or my favorite (because it also requires me to have their schedule to time it right) hot chocolate in honor of the first snowfall.

Today my oldest was home sick. I signed in at the office, walked down the hall, and let myself into her locker. As I grabbed her history book and left Breaking Dawn for her girlfriend, a teacher I hadn't seen following me said admiringly, "Wow, you're good!" I have my moments....

It happened again.

I had half an hour to kill on my way home from an appointment today so I stopped at Barnes and Noble to look around. Ten feet inside the door I hit the "New in Paperback" section. I started thumbing through one of the books on the shelf, and suddenly I was 10 minutes late picking my kids up from school.

I have read more books standing in the aisle at the bookstore. I think it's because I am a good skimmer, and I don't mind reading the ending first then going back to fill in the gaps. This time it was Kristin Hannah's "Firefly Lane". Last time it was "Wednesday Letters" by Jason F. Wright. The time before that it was "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. How does this happen to me every time? I think I need help....

Recess is for weenies

A lot of schools, my daughter's included, have banned tag and dodge ball at recess. There are restrictions on basketball, tag football, and kickball. They can't hang upside down on the monkey bars or sit on top of them because they might get hurt.

Her taekwondo class this week was "fun week" and they did leapfrog, log jumping over each other, and piggy back races. They were crashing to the mats left and right as they tried to get on each others backs and trying to hang on without touching each other. They were falling over each other, off each other, and on top of each other.

And you know what? No one got hurt. And it was funny.

Frogs.... who knew?

My youngest daughter is all about messy, dirty, creepy crawly things. Since the start of the school year she has grown increasingly interested in fish and frogs. Was I surprised that she saw the frog habitat kit in her teacher's closet? Not really. Was I surprised that her teacher said she could bring it home to look at? (I owe you big for that one, Mr. F.) Not really.

The kit came with a phone number that you call to have your tadpoles shipped once the habitat set up. Except they don't ship to Wisconsin when the temperature is over 80 during the day or under 40 at night - they do realize that leaves only one week in the middle of June, right?

No problem. We'll go to the pet store, spend $5, and have tadpoles to put in our habitat. Yeah, um, no. Pet stores don't sell tadpoles, neither do aquatic stores, or bait shops. Too many people buy them, raise them, then release them into the wild where they damage the ecosystem.

Fortunately for us, there is a science supply store an hour away that another teacher uses frequently, and they ship same day in any weather. When you order, you get 10 tadpoles that will either be African Water frogs or Leopard frogs, but you can't specify which, and they say to allow for about half to croak (ah ha ha) before they mature. Total cost, about $8 a frog. Release them into the wild - are you kidding me? The best part? We got African Water frogs, that can't even use the habitat....

See, I'm a not just a slacker as a mom....

I am a slacker mom. I don't deny it. I am the last one to turn in the field trip permission slips, I forget when the girl scout meetings are (did I mention I am the leader) and again, I refer to the Easter Bunny story. At least I am a slacker in other areas of my life or my kids might take it personally. It seems my blog has been the latest hit. Don't worry, I'll get caught up - I always do...