Are you kidding me?????

This is Nathan's newest favorite phrase. Thank you to Stephen's friend Justin--when they play Guitar Hero and he messes up, this is what he says, and now this is what Nathan says to me when I ask him to do something. Last night I made lasagna, which is one of Nathan's favorites. I told him to finish eating so that he could play Monster Jam on the Wii and he says "Mom, are you kidding me?" and cracks up laughing. How is that funny? Well, I must admit--I usually laugh when he says it too. It's humorous to hear this come from a 4 year old.

Can everyone else's 4 year old tie their shoes? I am about done trying to teach him. He is left-handed like me, so I thought I would have to be the one to teach him, but I just can't do it. We have never bought velcro shoes for the kids because Mike thinks it's "lazy" (that's because he's not always tying their shoes when they come undone). But I'm about ready to put him in velcro for life. I've googled a thousand times "how to teach your kid to tie shoes" but can't find anything helpful.. I'm very open to suggestions!!!

On a sad note, I have a co-worker who is going to lose her sister-in-law to cancer any day now. This is so sad. The sister-in-law is 36 or 37 I believe, and has 2 girls--a 13 year old and a 10 year old. She started out with breast cancer 2 years ago, got that under control, but then it came back in her brain, lungs, eye, and possibly other areas. I'm trying to be supportive to my co-worker, but it's so hard to hear her talk about this. I am so sad for the girls and their dad. They are such a cute little family and no--this shouldn't happen to anyone, but I can't imagine all that they are going to have to go through. Hospice is supposed to deliver a hospital bed today, but all signs are pointing to her not being with us much longer at all. If you read this, please stop and say a prayer for Renee that her passing is peaceful, and that her family can lean on each other and get through what lies ahead.

I think Mike got pretty nervous last night thinking about running for the school board. He just now realized that if he loses, his name will be in the paper showing how many people voted for him. Well--didn't he think of that before this all started? There are 4 candidates and 2 seats, 2 of the candidates are the incumbents. Our school board has done nothing great in the past few years, and many of us are ready for a complete turnover (except for the 3 most recent additions--they are pretty good). My wish would be that Mike and the other "newcomer" both win, but it's all in God's plan. I'm proud of Mike for caring enough to run--he really does want to do some good and make a difference. That's the way a board member should be!!

Other than that, nothing too exciting happening here. I'm debating whether or not to send $18 to school with Stephen so he can go bowling in P.E. class. If I don't send it, he will still go to the bowling alley, but be forced to sit and write a paper. What a total crock--this is public school! Why do we have to pay $18 for P.E. class????? He wants $25 to go to Winter Jam on Sunday, he wants money for bowling, he wants money for a friend's birthday, and on and on. I'm seriously going to go broke with this kid.

Maybe soon I'll get that stimulus that President Obama promised--I haven't seen it yet, but it sure would come in handy to help pay for all of these extras my kids have come to expect!!!