Americans Love Ice Cream!

My father-in-law sent me the following email:

We are worried about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream"

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.
To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those,Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.
The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother.
The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Every one applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium.
Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down. The class went wild.
"Yes! Yes! We want ice cream."
She surely would say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn't know. The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.
Every time Barack Obama opens his mouth he offers ice cream, fifty percent of the people react like nine year olds. They want ice cream. The other fifty percent know they're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.

I loved this because I feel that it is so true. When Obama became president, David and I decided that we were truly going to give him a chance to prove himself. It's true that we do not agree with the majority of what comes out of his mouth but hey, maybe once the mantel of the US Presidency fell on his shoulders, he would change his mind on some things. Well, after almost 2 months he has done absolutely nothing to change my mind about him. I also find it funny (not ha-ha funny) that there are people who voted for him that are actually surprised about some of the things that he is doing. My dad mentioned to me that a lot of the Catholics at the high school where my mom teaches, who voted for Obama, are outraged that he is actually talking about signing the Freedom of Choice Act. Hello!!!! The man is one of the most liberal politicians when it comes to the issue of abortion...how did they not know that? Didn't they listen as he promised Planned Parenthood that signing FOCA was the first act he would do as President? David said that people didn't pay attention to his pro-abortion views because it was not a campaign issue like it was 4 years ago. Isn't it a shame that the death of millions of unborn babies each year is not always a major campaign issue. I am truly saddened that any pro-lifer voted for Barrack Obama. And where did Mr. Hope and Optimism go? Since coming into office, all I hear from President Obama is doom and gloom for this country. At least President Obama is dishing out the ice cream he promised us...too bad it's a huge serving of Rocky Road!

Valentines

Isn't Xander a cute little love bug?

Last Friday Xander's preschool class had their Valentine's Day party. As usual we both had a lot of fun. I got to listen to the fun songs and poems Xander and his classmates have been practicing and then we played games, made crafts, and ate.

This is the Valentine Xander made for me.



After school Savannah and Xander enjoyed going through all the Valentines they had received.

Savannah Plays Basketball

Basketball has always been a big part of the Schaeffer family, starting with my dad. He has played basketball all his life and is extremely good; last year I went through all his college letters of schools that were interested in him playing for them. There were tons, including one from Duke! He eventually decided to attend BYU where not only did he play ball but he was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and my mom). Both David and I are avid basketball fans but it's a sport that we haven't spent a lot of time playing with Savannah. This past fall we decided to sign Savannah up to play basketball on the same team as one of her good preschool friends. The team is coached by this friend's dad and, so far, Savannah has had a really great time although the first few weeks were a bit of a struggle. Savannah quickly realized that she wasn't as good as some of the other girls so she decided that this season would be her only season. But as the weeks have gone by and we've worked with her in addition to her practices, she has gotten better and has picked up some confidence as well. She has now had 3 games which are pretty exciting and fun to watch. Of course the refs let a lot of things go, especially traveling. If traveling was called, the game wouldn't even get going. This last game the coach on the other team had to keep reminding one of his girls to dribble. The hoop is lower so the girls actually can score. Savannah took a couple of shots during the game but unfortunately didn't make any, though there were two that were really close. Savannah's team did end up winning 6-2.

Our little point guard, just like Grandpa!

She's getting good at defense too.

ABC

I have been helping Xander the past few weeks master the art of writing his letters. He is getting really good at some of them...the following picture shows a few great pointy and round "A's".

The only problem is he drew them on the carpet in his bedroom.

The Senses

I always laugh when I hear women say that the only reason moms put their kids in preschool is to get a break from them. Well, is that such a bad thing? Ha-ha! Even though I don't find anything wrong with moms wanting a break from their kids from time to time (why do women keep insisting on trying to put down fellow women...come on, ladies, we all have our individual personalities as well as struggles), that is not the main reason why I put my own children in preschool. I value education above most things and want my children to develop a love and a thirst for knowledge. I think preschool not only provides children with wonderful social opportunities but also makes learning fun for them. They not only learn how to interact with other kids but with other adults as well which I think is extremely important. My kids have so enjoyed coming home from school and showing off the many crafts and projects that they have made. Xander's latest project is this cheerio rope he's showing off.

This project is part of their "The 5 Senses" unit. They put together these cheerios on a pipe cleaner which we then hung on our tree. When the birds come to eat the cheerios, they knock the rope and the bell at the bottom rings. Xander couldn't wait to hang it up and when we did, he started calling out, "Birdies! Birdies! Come eat some cheerios, birdies!" This is a perfect example of why I LOVE preschool for my kids. Xander had fun, learned something, and was proud of what he had made. Some moms are great at doing this kind of stuff with their kids at home; I'm just not which makes me even more grateful that I have this option for my kids.

Ice!

Last week the kids didn't have school on Monday and Tuesday due to Teacher Inservice. Then, during the night on Tuesday, I heard the familiar "ping, ping" of ice hitting our roof...so, no school on Wednesday either. The kids were excited to have another day of play; I wasn't as thrilled. Needless to say, we didn't go anywhere even though the roads weren't that bad.
Here are Savannah and Xander picking up some pieces of ice from our deck.


On Wednesday afternoon Xander and Noah went outside to see how much ice they could break off of our patio and deck. They actually did a great job clearing the ice from our stairs.

January Keepers Meeting

For Savannah's Keepers of the Home meeting in January, which was at our house, we did scrapbooking. We had each girl bring some pictures from a favorite vacation and we made some scrapbook pages with them. The girls got to tell everyone about their fun vacation and the pages they made were really cute. Savannah had such a great time that she and I are going to have a Mommy/Daughter scrapbook night once a month.