Halloween 2010 more

This was at school on Thursday - I had made this costume a LONG time ago for Diana at her request.  It was just stuck in a tub under the house for years, so I pulled it out to bring in to school.  I figured if one of the Jr. High kids didn't have a costume, I could give it to them.  Turns out one kiddo thought it was pretty dang cool, so he wore it to school on Friday :)  I was happy to get rid of an oversized pillow, but I kept the wig.  

Saturday  morning we had our TOPS workshop at the library.  Different clubs bring a raffle basket, and this was ours.  Our "trick" to getting lots of tickets sold is to have real money as part of the basket.  This year it was $25 in cash.  Tickets are a dollar each, or 6 for $5.  I had to go bring Connor to Special Olympics, so I don't know yet who won our basket.

This was my treat from Lee.  Costco has these chocolate-covered caramel apples for $4.99 in the bakery dept.  They are massive though, and even cutting it into quarters took three days to eat!  Really tasty tho - I love caramel apples :)

Halloween 2010

Connor drew on the design, and then I did the gutting & carving.

It came out pretty cute, right?  His name is "Jack."

Cute Cowboy Connor.  He had to wear my cowboy boots, since Diana took the pair he'd outgrown.

We have some folks in this town that do a great job with costumes.  This is my favorite this year.  And he was such a nice guy!!  EVERYONE was taking photos with him :)  

After we got home, Connor took off all the costume clothes & wiped off the mascara moustache, and said, "I'm normal again!"  Hee.

Mack the Knife

The first Choir concert

Last night Connor had his first choir concert.  Last year he took art class, and brought home some interesting clay pieces - this year the schedule worked to have him try choir.

When I asked the choir teacher at conference time how he thought Connor would do on stage, he didn't have any idea.  Sometimes Connor sings extra loud, and he's managed to teach himself to read music, so while his class sang the melody, he'd sing the harmony (all by himself!).  So, not always following directions.

Last night, however, he was just so excited to be there and on stage.  Lee & I sat up close in front so if there was any issue, we could snag him quick and get him offstage so he wouldn't affect the rest of the performers too much.

No worries - he stood straight & tall, sang the correct part, and kept his voice level appropriate for the stage :)

Great stuff & a great first effort for him.  He let us know later that night that he wants to sing in the choir in High School -  We really enjoyed watching him up there.  The video below is a clip from "Shenandoah" and the one above is Mack the Knife (which I'm uploading right now).

:)

Connor's 1st Choir Concert

Preparing the eggs

First, you draw faces on the eggs.  They should all be happy.

Use a crayon, because Sharpie goes through the shell.

These eggs are happy eggs.

Until you crack them.  Then they scream (you'll need to make the noise like Connor does).  Then put X's on the eyes, if the shells are still whole enough.  He has an interesting mind, my son :)

Lack 'O Posts

I know I've been bad about posting lately. One reason is I can't access blogger (or facebook, or anything else interesting) from the computers at school. Everything is "Access Denied!" I used to use my lunch break to post when I was working full time.

Another problem is the things going on right now are on the confidential side. Most of my time & energy with work has been centered on one student, who gets off on hurting others.

Yesterday, the police had to be involved and that student is no longer in my class.

That's pretty much all I can say.

I should be doing happier posts soon again, now that I'm not stressed so much about going to work & wondering if I'll manage to continue catching chairs being thrown my way...

Aw Diana

She had to break up with her boyfriend today. He was apparently clueless as to his lack of boyfriendy behavior.

First off, they "got together" to be BF & GF before they ever went on a date. They had hung out together in group stuff, mostly other kids from church.

Just before heading home for summer, Diana had initiated the 'relationship' by letting him know she liked him. See, that would have been a cue to go on a DATE. But they kind of went straight to 'go steady.' When I pointed this out to my daughter, she said that kids date differently now. Um... yeah.

So they had a big hug (no kiss) and then they both went home for the summer. Sure, they texted & phoned now & then, and he even came over during fair week and spent a couple of nights in the trailer. More hugs. Still no kissing.

Also, when we'd gone to the fair, and we were waiting at the Billy Idol concert, Diana decided she wanted fries. There was a huge line. First, no offer from him to get them, or even go with her - I wound up going & keeping her company. Then later when she wanted a drink, the same thing again - he just sat like a lump. Even with the dark rides & other opportunities, there was no kissing. Hmmm.

So last month she gets back to school. By now, he's not really texting much to her anymore. She's back in her place, and he's in a new place - no call to come check his place out, or stopping by to see her.

On Wednesday, they see each other at church. She asks if they're going to actually go out together any time soon. He says he hasn't been much of a boyfriend (doh) and another hug.

Friday night there's a spaghetti dinner at church. When Diana is ready to leave, she has to find him & there's a quick hug. He knows she has to walk home in the dark through an area that is not the safest - no offer to walk her home or help her find a ride or anything.

That was the final straw. She was pretty upset.

Basically, she was carrying the whole relationship. It even sounded to me like he didn't care about her much anymore, and so it should be pretty painless to him to break up.

I told her to make a list of stuff she had expected out of having a boyfriend (like, oh, say - going on DATES), and see how many things he'd done. Zero.

So - not much of a boyfriend (boyfriend) but he's the only one I got...

He got a clue when she changed her facebook status from "in a relationship" to "it's complicated" and finally called her. She set up a meeting on campus today to talk to him.

He was totally blindsided. He said he thought she was mad at him. Well, in a way he's right. That's probably NOT the best way to handle it though - ignoring your girlfriend. He tried to tell her he had a present coming for her if she was still his girlfriend (wtf?), so she said nope. She did list off the things she had expected from him that never happened. And she let him know that if he wanted to ask her out in the future (like next year) that she might be okay with going out for starters. But she's already decided it was too much work with him.

She grew up with parents that are more partners in life than anything else. She needs a guy who will contribute to the relationship & be a best friend to her. Not a puppy, doing what she tells him to do.

Honestly - for a first break-up, it could have been a LOT harder on her. The pain of this one is already being repaired with the help of girlfriends & ice cream. Go Diana!