The kids overheard me talking the other day about Obama and his anti-homeschooling sentiments. It's been quite a topic of discussion around here ever since and the kids are more anti-Obama than ever. Yesterday Katie said, "Mom, if Obama does become the president and says we have to go to public school," then she crossed her arms defiantly and stated firmly, "I am NOT going, and that's all there is to it. I am NOT going to public school, and if he says I have to, then..." She shrugged her shoulders and said in an "oh, well" tone, "I'll just go." Then she followed up with, "But I am NOT going to make friends there!" Like I said, it doesn't transfer well on paper (or screen). You would have had to have seen her expressions and heard her voice inflections to truly appreciate it. ;-)

She's also been providing lots of laughs during school lately. I can't remember the last time we had a spelling test without tears around here. She spelled everythiing right today except the one she went blank on: above. She tried two or three different spellings down at the bottom of the page, but finally gave up and turned her paper in with that line blank. It was the first word, so it didn't set a very good mood for the rest of the test. Joe missed one word today, so they "tied," if you must look at it like that. Still, it's no consolation to her. She's still a miserable failure because she can't ever seem to get EVERY WORD right. It's sooooo pitiful that I can't help but laugh at her, even when I'm trying to be kind. When I handed her paper back I said, "You missed 8, Katie, and only got 2 right." I really thought she'd know I was joking. WOW. I only thought I'd seen uncontrollable tears before. Even after I finally got through to her that I was only kidding--that she'd spelled every word right (except the one she left blank)--it took quite some time for her to come back to us. That kid wears me out! Ha!

In English the other day she was supposed to take a verb (already selected for her) and write two sentences in the present tense, one with a helping verb and one without. Such as: "My mother IS POURING juice" and "My mother POURS juice." I gave her that example, then tried to help her with the second sentence. "The verb is CHECK, Katie. So if 'My mother IS CHECKING my paper' is the first sentence, then the second sentence would say 'My mother...'" "Plays checkers???," she said. HA! What a nerd!

And my all time favorite. She was supposed to fill in the blanks with certain vocabulary words. She wasn't familiar with the word "scent" and I was getting a bit frustrated that she wasn't drawing the connection between that word and the others used in the sentence: odor and aroma. She finally said, "But, Mom, I don't know what odd-ORE or AIR-uh-muh mean!" HA! I laughed so hard on that one that she finally had to join in. It's always best if she can just laugh with me!

Well, I guess that was several little Katie stories! :-) She's a good kid and brings lots of laughs.

Regular day around here today. Tuna casserole for dinner--made Joe very, very happy. Finished up on the laundry AGAIN. Maybe I'll even iron tonight. Or... maybe not. :-)

Hhmmm. Seems like there was something else I was going to blog about, but I can't think of it right now so I'll spare you any more rambling. It's pointless anyway, since Blogville seems to be only a temporary summer home for most folks any more. I usually don't complain about the lack of comments because I'm one of the very, very worst commenters in the world. But, COME ON! This has been crazy! Not just on my blog--everywhere!!! We're going to have to contact the authorities at NARR if things don't change soon. That's the Neighborhood Association of Rules and Regulations, for those of you who have forgotten. Then we'll all be sorry.

;-)