Big Kid Buzz

This is one of those sad but sweet stories that makes me take pause and not worry so much about the Legos and the laundry.

Elena Desserich was diagnosed with brain cancer just before her sixth birthday, and was only given about four months to live. She lived a bit longer than that, and during that time she hid little loves notes to her parents and little sister Grace all over the house, where her family later found them after she died.

Click the upcoming link and scroll to the bottom of that page to see some of Elena's hidden notes.

Photo by yeager_79

I dropped the ball a couple times this week.

The first grade parent-teacher conference that we scheduled months ago is coming up, but I lost my reminder card and now have no idea when it is. I fear I may have missed it.

Then, while bringing my daughter to preschool this morning, another mom handed me an invitation to her son's birthday party -- on the same day that my daughter is turning 5. On the same weekend that I should have already had a party planned, scheduled, and invited guests for weeks ago.

How did it get to be November already?

Photo by mystica97

After reading what CafeMoms in the Advice for Moms group said, I'm seriously thinking of getting my children a rat for a pet. They really want a dog, but I only like big outdoor pooches like huskies or sheepdogs and we're not set up for that.

Plus, we are right in the middle of reading Charlotte's Web, and we all think Templeton is so cool.

I never in a million years would have considered a rat until I read this post, in which moms give reasons why rats are the ideal pet:

• Rats are the best especially if you get them as a baby, and hand raise them. You can train them, and they are self sufficient.

Rent is one of my favorite musicals...ever! Everytime I watch it, you can guarantee I will cry and sing very loudly to the songs. It's a classic.

Photo by  RAZmom88

It's hard enough raising one teen -- but three?! Welcome to RAZmom88's wild and wonderful life. Check back every Thursday to find out what drama or joy she encountered this week.

Alcohol on campus

Ryan, 18, got caught with beer in his dorm room. They made him dump it out and write a letter home. He claims that the beer actually belonged to a 21 year old friend who was visiting, but the rule is no alcohol in the dorms. 

I gave him the whole, "You are in school studying criminal justice, think about your future!" speech. He insists that he is behaving himself. I told him I would give him the benefit of the doubt this time, but one more incident and his car will be taken and parked at home.

I grew up with Scooby-Doo and his wacky friends, and now my son (and my daughter by osmosis) is going through his own Scooby phase. He goes to library once a week, and the past three times he's carted home a Scooby book.

My kids love the stories. I like reading them because they teach about heroism, problem-solving, and the importance of friendship.

And now that I've given Scooby his props, let me tell you why he also makes this Mommy want to 'jack the Mystery Machine and drive it off a cliff:

1. The plot of every Scooby-Doo mystery is exactly the same. Take Scooby-Doo and the Weird Water Park and Scooby and the Alien Invaders, two recent ones we've read.

Photo by lukeNgavinsmom

Now that Halloween is over, talk with turn to the holidays. Not so much Thanksgiving,  but the good ones that involve toys. In case your Big Kid might be tempted to spill the beans about Santa to your little ones who still believe, here's a funny story.

anetrnlov found this on Facebook. I don't know if it's true or not, but what a great comeback line ...

"Today, my 6 year-old daughter was asking me questions about Santa Claus at dinner. My 13 year-old daughter was getting annoyed with all the dumb questions and simply told her younger sister that Santa didn't exist. Instead of being aghast and upset, my younger daughter just said, 'Yeah, but neither does Edward Cullen!' "

"My older daughter left the dinner table and I think its easy to say who won tonight."

Photo by LelandsMommy

My son is doing so well in first grade -- he's excelling at math, improving steadily on his penmanship, and reading so much that he's literally eating books. Now if only I could get him to eat his lunch. This is a kid, who when he is home, has to protein load to body builder proportions every two hours or he wilts like a flower.

He only gets two chances to eat during his 6 1/2 hour school day -- lunch and an afternoon snack -- yet most of the time his quarter-eaten and barely recognizable sandwich and partially nibbled on snack still greet me in his backpack at the end of the day.

When I suggested to his to teacher to give him a little prompting at the lunch table, she said, "Oh, no, we don't do that in first grade. You have to convince him to eat on his own."

Photo by JSVDP

Forget what I said the other day about throwing away the Halloween candy, especially since everyone started yelling at me. I'm now going to keep it all. But not all for eating. I'm going to do candy experiments on it with my first-grader instead. Cafe Sheri had the same idea in Toddler Buzz, plus more ideas for what to do with leftover candy.

Here's the first one I'm going to do with M&Ms:

This is a serious subject and nothing to laugh at, least of which by the moms of teen girls who are actually trying to get pregnant. All this goes to show in some of the honest gut reactions that moms gave in two recent posts on the subject. Obviously it's a very real issue that's on a lot of moms' minds lately.

Here's how some moms would react if they found out their teen daughters were trying to get pregnant on purpose: