Ok, I never claimed to be into celebrities, or even close to up to date on anyone Hollywood. But apparently I'm not the least informed person around. Allow me to demonstrate.

Shawn and I went to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith. on opening night. Excellent movie. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Today we were driving in Kennewick and Shawn noticed it was still playing so we were talking about it and how good it was. He says "They did a great job picking out the actors in that movie. I love her (Angelina Jolie) she was great. The guy was good too I don't know where they found him but he was perfect." So I sat for half a second wondering who on earth he was talking about. Wondering if there was some excellent unknown supporting actor in the movie that I had missed and then had to ask "Which guy?" to which he replied "The guy, the main guy, Mr. Smith"

"You mean Brad Pitt?"

"Is that his name? He was pretty good. I wonder if he's been in any other movies."

Every year my sister and mom pressure me to put the kids in swimming lessons at the city pool. And every year so far I have hemmed and hawed until it was too late. Not because I'm a big slacker (this time) just because there's something about the whole swimming lessons that rubs me wrong. Maybe it's my bright and shiny new anti-establishment ideals (stick it to the man! No swimming lessons! So there!!!) or just my memories of swimming lessons at the pool.

We have a pool. Granted it's not a lap pool and it's not deep enough to HAVE to swim (for your life) in but it's plenty deep to learn the basics, to learn to float and paddle and hold your breath and figure out the buoyancy of your own body. And in it, without crowds of strangers splashing and chaos, Aiden has gotten over most of his fear of the water.

I know it's radical and crazy to think that my kids could learn to swim without swimming lessons. But hey I guess I am radical and crazy.

And now there's this.

Swimming lessons will be held at 10:20 and Kathrynn's summer class gets out at 10. Since all of my sister's kids will be going to lessons She's certain that Kathrynn will need to go too, or feel left out. She went so far as to suggest that if I expected her to pick up Kathrynn from school (which she has been doing) that she would HAVE to be in swimming lessons.

I don't know what to do.

It's not like swimming lessons would be horrible just wasted money in my opinion and one more 'required' pile of crap to throw into my way to busy summer. What it would mean would be that Kathrynn would be up at 6:30 am to be at my sisters by 7:30 to be at the school from 8-10 and then at swimming lessons until 11 and then back at the school for lunch at 11:45.

NO NO NO NO!!!

I can't handle it! I HATE HATE HATE having so much of my day already planned out for me. Or for her. Maybe I just hate it because I feel like my sister's dictating everything. I feel like I should just hand Kathrynn over to my sister and say "do what you like with her, call me if she has a free moment and wants to see me." :(

*sigh*

Update:
In the end it didn't matter because by the time my sister went to sign everyone up there were only two spots left and her twins took them. :) All my worrying was for nothing. I feigned disappointment.

Last night we went to the public pool session and I was so impressed with Kathrynn's swimming skills that I patted myself on the back. No, she may not be an Olympic swimmer (though she might, won't discount that entirely ;), but she COULD swim to save her life. My sister brought water wings for all of the kids. Kathrynn thought they were cool and used them for a while but in the end I asked her if she would like to try without them and she was swimming all over that pool! And doing cannon balls off the sides.

Aiden too has made huge leaps of progress since last summer. Last night he was jumping into the baby pool (which doesn't go over his head) with no one spotting him. He had a fantastic time and didn't freak out once which is a HUGE leap from my little boy who used to cling to me for dear life whenever he was near a pool.

Maybe when they are confident swimmers I will put them in lessons. To learn the proper strokes and life saving. If they're into it. :)

So, Kathrynn has been in summer school for two weeks now. She loves it. She says she's definitely going to first grade. I'm still saying wait and see because summer school lasts six (non-consecutive) weeks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she gets burned out on it. I know my attitude is bad. I just don't care! LOL

My sister talked to the teacher (something I lack courage, desire, or 'social skills' to do) and apparently the teacher and my sister both agreed that Kathrynn NEEDS to go to school because she's "so bright and so involved and LOVES learning" (semi-quote from teacher). What they both fail to recognize is that it's the NOT going to school that has helped her be this way. It's entirely because she wants to be there and hasn't yet gotten burned out on school and 'learning' that she loves it so much and is so enthusiastic about it.

If her statement is comparing Kathrynn to other kids who may be less interested it's because the system has already beaten the will to learn out of them. If I had more balls I would march in there and tell her just that. For now, for my child whom I love, I am playing nice and letting the teacher think whatever she needs to think to continue to help Kathrynn have a good time. She is a little sad though, that The kids I'm summer-sitting, Aiden and I have been able to go to the free summer movies and she hasn't. I doubt that would be enough to change her mind. She is seeing though that even the little hour and a half she's in school is an hour and a half that she could be doing something else. So I'm happy.

Kathrynn just came in as I was posting my last post and said to me (serious as can be) "Is there anything invisible in here?"

:)

The following conversation occurred in the backseat of my car this afternoon...

Kathrynn: I spy with my little eye something...red.

Aiden: Is it blood?

Kathrynn: No. It's something in the car.

Aiden: Is it fire?

I love children.

Kathrynn has chosen to be enrolled in a summer reading 'camp' provided by the public school (AKA. Summer School). My feelings are so mixed about this that it has been three days before I'm finally writing about it.

First off she LOVES it. After the first class she came running out telling me how much she loved it. How they learned to read and how she's invited back in the fall to come to first grade. (-_-)

She's in the class with her twin cousins Ryan and Megan. Ryan informed me that Kathrynn needs to come to first grade so she can go to college and become a mommy. LOL

On the one hand I resent the class. I resent my sister for suggesting it. I resent the teacher for being there. I resent the school system for existing at all. I am disappointed in myself for just letting it all happen. At least that's how it feels. I'm a little annoyed that Kathrynn wanted to go and more annoyed that she's liking it. It's hard for me to not nit-pick the whole damn class apart.

And it's terrifyingly horrible and nail-bitingly frustrating that I can't be there to see what's going on. I can't even watch through the window like at ballet. I'm such a freak.

What am I afraid of. I'm afraid that if she learns to read in this class she will be stuck with the idea that she had to go to this class to learn to read. I'm scared that if she DOESN'T learn to read in this class she will somehow think herself a failure.

Also I know everyone (family) is seeing this as a step to getting rid of all the silly ideas about Homeschooling.

Every ounce of my being (well almost) wants to run and throw up when I think of her being there. I know these are MY issues. I know I should definitely NOT pass them on to her. I can't shake the school as enemy feeling even though clearly she's in no immediate danger. LOL

*Sigh*

I feel like I'm being sucked into a black hole. I feel the need to be overly dramatic about it too. :(

Kathrynn had her first ever ballet recital yesterday. Her first time on stage. She was SO incredibly excited! She also loved watching the other dance styles. But she says she wants to keep doing ballet.

We saw Mary Ellen and her girls plus Stephanie, Clint and their girls there too. It was fun, windy, chilly and threatening to rain. LOL

Here's some pics of my little starlet.







unfortunately I missed the 'performance' because I was so busy trying to get pictures. LOL Be she had a swell time.

OK, at first I was offended, then I was intrigued, now I just can't wait for the next installment of Sinfest!

I confess I don't buy organic...

But still I thought this was WAY TOO FUNNY! :-)

STORE WARS

We finally went and saw Star Wars III last night. It was worth the wait. We had our pick of seating, no wait in line, didn't have to sit right next to some stranger. It was everything I look for in a movie going experience. And the movie was good to.

But more importantly the previews were excellent! My husband cracks me up. After every preview he turns to me and says "We have to see that!" Sometimes I think directors should just make previews. They make every movie look SO good! They're action packed and full of suspense. Far better than the movie in some cases. :-) One of the must see previews was (I think) Mr. & Mrs. Smith. With Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Which looks like a movie I actually do have to see. Oh and the movie Narnia. Which looks way cool. My husband has never read it! I was surprised. It seemed like something he would have read.

But anyway, Star Wars. I was warned from several fronts not to take the kids with me to see it. So, we didn't. But honestly after seeing it I don't think any of the violence would have bothered them. Maybe my kids are jaded but most of the violence was CLEARLY 'TV-violence' and my worldly kids have seen much worse. The final Lava Land scene might have bothered Kathrynn but not enough to keep her from enjoying the movie.

And apparently I'm a big sucker for cheese. Even after reading half a dozen horrible reviews about cheesy lines they still didn't stand out to me as such. I mean, I recognized the lines people hated, they just didn't make me groan with revulsion as they apparently did a lot of people. In fact I laughed heartily at "Not if anything to say about that, I have." The only line that totally stood out to me as sucking was not the line it's self but the fact that it was apparently Yoda channeling Kermit the Frog when he was in the wiring tunnel and said something like "Timing is essential" to Senator organ. He sounded distinctly un-Kermit like the whole rest of the movie.

My biggest beef with the movie was that Padme gave birth EARLY to TWINS and each weighed in at roughly 8 lbs. Not impossible of course but given she was barely even SHOWING! Grrr... I know this is no ones fault. There are laws about the ages at which babies can be in movies. I know that. But they had a computer animated realistic hopping fighting Yoda. Surly they could have clicked in a couple computer animated premies just for realism!

Other than that. Great movie. Must see. And all that. :-)

Apparently I am a Drama Nerd as well. Though less so than Leanne. :)

You scored as Drama nerd. Drama nerd 69% Loner 69% Goth 63% Geek 56% Ghetto gangsta 44% Stoner 38% Punk/Rebel 38% Prep/Jock/Cheerleader 25% What's Your High School Stereotype? created with QuizFarm.com