Gingerbread House Wars

Yesterday there was a Gingerbread house war at our house. Boys vs. Girls. Cheeksy and I vs. W and Jack. I say that Cheeks and I won, but W and Jack don't agree. So I'm bringing it to you readers. Tell me which one is better. Don't let me down people.

Here are pictures, front and back of each one.

Lets talk Santa letters

I am convinced that no child can be more creative than W when it comes to writing a letter to Santa. This year, we only let them write a list of 10 things (explaining that when the economy is bad for us, it's bad for Santa, too). Here are a few things he put on his list:

1. XBox

Okay-we already have an XBox, but W said that Jack doesn't let him play it enough. The XBox is downstairs and the Wii is upstairs in the playroom. So W's resolution to that problem is to have an XBox upstairs and downstairs. Not very cost effective.

2. My own TV

I fully admit that my kids watch too much TV. That said, I draw the line at putting a TV in their room. That's one thing that they don't need.

3. iPhone

Yep, the kid wants an iPhone. Does he even have a cell phone? No. But he's decided that he wants an iPhone. Lovely.

So those were the three most outrageous things on his list. But of all W's Santa lists, my all-time favorite is: "A refrigerator for my own room".

So share your kids Santa letters with us. Inquiring minds, etc.

Finally - Progress!

Remember how I told you about the Homework Hell I've been living in? I think we may have finally made some progress - both with Little Man and The Girl. We had parent teacher conferences this week and we were pleasantly surprised.

Ok, I'm not gonna lie, the truth is we were downright shocked, shocked, to see The Girl's report card and hear what her teacher had to say. Not one bad mark. Not.A.Single.One.

Now, I know this might be kind of hard for some of you to understand but..this is an amazing accomplishment - both on our part and on hers. I haven't had a clean report card from her since KINDERGARTEN. Yes, really. Even then there was always something, like, "Needs to focus more" or "Needs to talk less" or something.

The Girl is a brilliant child. I'm not just saying that because she's mine, either. She really is brilliant. She has always exceeded every standard put before her. But she's also lazy. So while she can do it, she chooses not to most of the time. To get a report card like that....well, I cried. I think her teacher thought I was insane. Not only for crying, but for suggesting she's anything but the perfect student. I tried to explain, but she just looked at me like I was crazy.

Little Man also struggled at the beginning of the year. He's always been my golden child when it comes to school (and only at school!), but this year he took a turn for the worse and started screwing around in class and not turning assignments in. The thing about LM is this: He hates being isolated from the family. The worst punishment in the world for him is to be grounded to his room. When The Girl doesn't do her homework, her punishment is being grounded to her room. So naturally we had to do teh same for LM. I think being stuck in his room, with nothing to do but read, for an entire week cured him of whatever ailed him. Just after I talked to his teacher the last time, he pulled it together and hasn't had a bad mark since.

We weren't pleased with what his report card and school work showed prior to that point, but we agreed to wipe the slate clean and start over in the new trimester. I still have no idea why he decided to stop doing his work and acting out, but I can only hope it was a stage he's now grown out of.

The one bright spot with him? His math teacher. When we went to talk to her and I asked if he was missing any assignments or if she'd had any behavioral problems with him, I got that, "OMG, you're crazy" look from her (never thought I'd say it, but I kind of like getting that look in situations like that...). She said he's never missed an assignment and basically that he's a joy to have in class and she wishes all her students were like him. Just to drive the point home, that's what all his teachers have said since he started school. No joke. So it was refreshing to know he was doing well in at least one subject.

P/T conferences were Tuesday. On Friday we had award ceremonies and both kids got awards.

Little Man got a Reading Award, which is really surprising because the child hates to read. I figured he'd get a math award, but nope.

The Girl? The Girl swept the awards ceremony and brought home three: Reading (which isn't surprising, she's an avid reader...just like me), Math (which is very surprising..she's always hated math) and Spelling. Three awards, people.

I don't think the war has been won yet, but we took this battle.

Score one for the parent team.