What????

Okay, I have to post this one. This afternoon when Cora got dropped off from school, she came in the door and told me yet another disturbing story. It went something like this:
Cora- "Guess what happened at school?"
Me- " what?"
Cora-' There's this boy in Mr. Stein's class named Nate, and he asked me if he could touch my private.
Me- (subtle gasp) "what did you do?"
Cora-" I told him No Way and ran away."
Me- "Good. Then what did you do?"
Cora-"I went and told his teacher"
Me- " And what did his teacher say?"
Cora- "He said that he'll talk to him."

Yikes. That's scary. On one hand I am so grateful and very proud of the way she handled it, and so proud that she told me. But on the other hand, I am bothered. Here Cora is at 5 years old and has had two similar experiences. What are these boys seeing/hearing? What is going on in these boys' houses?
I made sure that I praised Cora for the way she handled it and for telling a teacher and me, and I made it a topic of conversation at dinner, so that if Jess has a similar experience, then she knows that it happened to Cora and she knows how to handle it herself. I am thinking that when we have the money, that getting the girls enrolled in Karate might be a good idea. That way, they can beat the crap out of these little punks. Again, it baffles me what kids are exposed to especially at such a young age. Where are their parents? What are the parent doing/not doing? Anyway, for those of you who read this with young kids at home, make sure that you talk to them about these and many other things so they know what to do before they need to know and don't.
-Carol

Nesting and a Fairnaval

Carol is the room Mom for both Cora and Jess's classroom. And as such she has been getting ready for the fall festival. I don't really know why they call it a festival, festival implies food in abundance, and I saw very limited food, and it certainly wasn't the kind of food I would call festival food. Thus it was more of a volunteer carnival, minus the throw up rides. A lot of games that are overpriced and useless prizes that the kids think are the best. As you can see I opted to take the girls to get some face painting and hair paints. They like that a lot. They also had a bounce house, which the girls went in right at the start. For Carol's part she had me build a bean bag toss which I should have taken a picture of (I did a good job). That was for Cora's class, for Jess's class they already had a lollipop tree. Carol organized the parent volunteers and gathered the lollipops, made the bean bags, and a whole bunch of other things I probably didn't realize she was doing and I know she didn't realize she was going to be doing. All in all the girls had fun and it was a good time, though I must say that blazing Christina Agullera's Genie in a Bottle to a bunch of elementary students might have been a little inappropriate.
Also as you can see from the ticker, Emmett will be here soon. Carol has been piling up projects for herself before he gets here. She has one blanket done, and I think she has postponed number two until he needs it. She is also boying up some plain white burp clothes with camouflage ribbon. We are all excited for our new testosterone laden bundle to arrive. Especially me, though I don't think he will be up to wrestling for the beers for a day or two. After that it is no holds barred.
-JOSH

No, not really

Cora and Megan (whom we pick up from school some days, she is in the Ward).
Jess and Maren (I think Maren is trying to get me to eat her sandwich for her).
The beloved grill! Not just by me the whole family is reaping the rewards!!!
Well, there really isn't much to announce. Things have been fairly quiet in the past weeks. Cora is doing well in school, as is Jess. The first two pictures are of lunch today. Carol thought it would be fun to go and eat lunch with her, so we loaded up some lunch for Maren and Jess, and headed to school. They had a good time and Cora was super excited to have us join her. I also think she was excited she didn't have to sit by the boy with the cafateria lunch. The other day she told Carol and I, on separate occasions, that one of the boys that always wants her to save him a seat gets the cafateria lunch and his lunch "stinks", she says with a wrinkled nose. The last picture is of my beloved grill. Cast iron grate, smoke box, heating rack... it is the best. I think I mentioned some time back that I really missed grilling. Well, I have had that grill for about a month and a half and I have already burned up about 50 pounds of charcoal, and half of the apple wood I brought back from Utah. I might have to have Mom and Dad bring the other tote when they come out. In the recent weeks I have smoked three chickens, and at least that many roasts. And steaks, oh the steaks.... I didn't realize how much I missed a good steak, and I have come to the conclusion that no restaurant can compete with a home grilled steak, and Carol's garlic mashed potatoes. Can you tell we are food family. Or at least Carol and I are. Maybe that is why the girls are so picky. Anyway, that is about all of the news on our end, hope you are all well. I still think ending these things feels awkward...
-Josh