After raining every day for the past two weeks (it seems), it was finally sunny today.  We didn’t do anything special in it, we just played outside for a while.  Jake and Izzy had a great time, although Eric and Alex couldn't participate because they had to clean their rooms (we’re the MEANEST PARENTS EVER for making them do that).  Next week I’m going to Washington for a change, while Jenny stays home with the kids.  I’m going to laugh as I walk out the door.

Just a few minutes ago, Convict (* see below) came up to the attic where Eric and I were playing videogames and he was crying that fake “I want to avoid going to bed by getting sympathy” cry and said “I’m hurt”.  So I said

“How’d you get hurt?”

“I fell off my desk”

“WHY were you on your desk?” 

“I wanted to see if I could climb to the top, and then I fell off”

“Well, stop doing that”

“OK”

Then he went back downstairs.  He’s nuts.  I’m thinking about modifying the “don’t come out of your room” rule; instead of having the exception “Unless you have to go to the bathroom or get hurt”, I’ll have “Unless you have to go to the bathroom or get hurt AND ARE BLEEDING”, but I don’t think he’d hesitate to draw blood.

* he’s called that now because he got in trouble at school again, and was confined to his room the other day.  I took all of the toys and stuff out so he couldn’t have any fun.  He didn’t like it, hopefully enough that he’ll quit getting in trouble at school.

Well, the best thing I can say about today is that it’s Friday.  It’s kind of rainy and gross out, and it seems to have affected my mood.  Hopefully it will get better soon,  I’m supposed to have a date tomorrow night with Jennifer, maybe that will cheer me up.

Sorry to be such a downer today, here’s a picture of the cutest girl in the world to make up for it.  I took it last night when she was having a bath.

One of the ways that schools have changed since I was a kid is that they have fundraisers about every other month, instead of once a year.  It’s kind of a drag too.  Usually, I’ll buy one of whatever it is they’re selling (usually it’s coupon books, wrapping paper, popcorn, or something like that), but I don’t really encourage the kids to sell to others is because it’s annoying. 

This month, the school had a walkathon to raise money, and they had prizes for the kids who raised the most money.  Eric and Jake both kind of wandered around complaining about how much work it would be to find sponsors, but Alex got on the phone and started calling people:  my parents, Jenny’s parents, my sisters, Jenny’s sisters, friends, friends of friends, etc, etc.  It turns out that he got more pledges than anyone else at the school, and got a scooter for his work.

It’s good to be an extrovert sometimes, because he really seemed to be energized by getting the pledges.  I see a bright future in sales for him.

It finally started snowing, I think this is going to be a good one.  Here’s the forecast:

And here’s what it looked like out front a while ago:

And it’s still coming down… they haven't called school off yet, but I’m sure they will pretty soon.