Take Your Child to Work Day

Today is Take Your Child to Work Day. This year the only one that came with me was Allie. Giant Eagle limits it to kids ages 9-12. Mag is too old and Chrissy is too young. At GE they have the kids together in a group and they have a lot of activities planned for them. It starts with breakfast: donuts, oj and /or milk. Then they go to the various department in the store. The kids get to decorate a cake, make a floral arrangement, make a cheese and pepperoni platter and sandwich wraps. The wraps are their lunch and they also make one for the parent or grandparent that works at the store. At noon we all ate lunch in the conference room. They also visit the in-store bank and pharmacy. The big event is the scavenger hunt where they follow clues for items that they get to scan out themselves at the register. This year they made fruit animals out of strawberries snd apples. At the end of the day they receive certificates from the store manager, a reusable grocery bag and a $5 gift card (and they keep the cake, floral arrangement and deli platter that they made). It is alot of fun for the kids and us parents too. Although it is way more fun that the average work day, it does show the kids some of the things we do and how the store runs.
This was Allie's 3rd time and she enjoys it every year. The other two REALLY wanted to come but it was nice spending the day with Allie. Next year Chrissy will be able to come and that will be great.

State Testing.

Testing starts today. All three girls have reading tests today and math on Wednesday. We went up to the diner for breakfast since Don has always made them a big breakfast on test days. He's off on Wednesday so he'll cook at home.
After they ate they went off to school happily. They never worry about the tests. A lot of pressure is put on the kids to do well or they might be held back or some other stupid threat. Not here in Madison. They tell the kids to do their best. They give them tips and practice tests going into test week so by the time they get the real thing, they are comfortable taking it. As I have mentioned before I am lucky that my kids do well in school and they usually score pretty high on the tests. I will be glad when the tests are done though.

Mornings

The girls went back to school today! Spring break is now over although it wasn't very spring like around here. I love when the girls are on break. It is less hectic in the morning. This morning people didn't want to get up, Allie found homework that she forgot about, and Maggie's ride didn't pick her up. I guess that means we are back to normal!

Spring Break

The girls are on Sping Break from school this week. It certainly started off not very springy. It was cold and blowy and snowy. Probably an inch fell. But like most spring snows it didn't stay on the ground very long. Today it was cold but sunny. Allie went swimming at the Y after piano and the other 2 were outside playing.
Friday is egg coloring day. They will each do a dozen. Then it's egg salad and deviled eggs for a week but it's fun. This year I think we are doing glitter eggs. We get different kits every year. The girls do there own. One year we had kits that you rolled paint onto the eggs. Chrissy's were mostly black but then again she was only 18 months old at the time.
Don cooks the eggs and we both supervise but the girls have always colored their own eggs. It's one of those fun family traditions that we continue year after year. I can't wait!

Scrabble

I love the game Scrabble. I have been playing since I was a kid. I have fond memories of scrabble games with my Dad on Thanksgiving Day while dinner was cooking. My Dad taught me how to play. He was tough. He always played to win. He challenged my words if he didn't think I knew what they meant.
I was 14 the first time I beat him. I don't know who was more excited-me for winning or him because I beat him. I had to call my mother at work to tell her. She was excited too. After that first win, he seemed to let up on me. He realized I was a pretty good player and he didn't feel the need to challenge my words. After that, I won more often. If I lost it wasn't by much. It was like we were equals on the playing field. I really appreciated that-still do.
I've played with Maggie but she isn't really into the game. She's a suduko whiz. I bought a game for the computer but it got scratched up. No one knows how.
The other day there was a commercial on TV for free scrabble on Pogo. I checked it out and now I'm hooked. I play 4 or 5 games a day. I always play the computer but I guess I should venture into the game rooms and play head to head with some other Scrabble geek. I am on the advanced level and I haven't lost in the last 20 games.
Check out pogo.com/scrabble if you want to give it a shot but I'm warning you-it is addictive.