Category: Family

Well, it is now official… I bought my Mom a one-way plane ticket and made reservations with the moving company…I also sent the rest of my down payment to the title company for my house…Mom is going to fly out here May 25th and I am headed to Florida May 26th. Not too much longer…

Today my son and the three fifth grade classes at his school were able to take part in the Junior Achievement Exchange City. I was one of the 14 parent volunteers who was able to be part of it all. This is coolest thing. For the past six weeks, the fifth grade classes at my son’s school have been learning about running a business, profit and loss, writing checks, balancing ledgers, etc. In Tempe, there is a fully simulated city sponsored by many businesses here in the phoenix area such as Motorola, Bank of America, etc. This city has a bank, city hall, radio station, newspaper, and many shops. Each shop was ran by students. Each shop has a computer which the student accountant uses to print checks, manage bills and income, etc. Each shop has an owner. The owner is responsible for going to the bank to take a business loan to run his/her business, manage the employees, etc. Each shop has student employees who produce goods and services in order for the shop to have income. Each student citizen receives paychecks which he/she must deposit at the bank and then go around the town to purchase goods and services from all the shops with their checkbook. There is a post office where student postal employees must deliver and receive all of the mail in the town. There are student police officers who issue tickets to any student citizen who breaks the defined set of laws such as no walking on the grass, etc. If a student citizen receives a ticket, he/she must go to city hall to appear in court and pay a fine. It was such a great experience for the kids. What a great way to introduce these kids to a little bit of the real world. The city is amazing. It is set up with computers, realistic store fronts, and even Tempe Town Lake. Each of the students were chosen ahead of time for each of their roles. There was a head banker who approved the loans that each of the business owners applied for to run their businesses, the computers were all networked together and students were required to write checks for all of their purchases throughout the town. There were check verification machines to determine if the presented check was good for the amount written. There was a student who was the town mayor and a judge. Each shop created a logo which they each had to bring to the sign shop where my son was working. He was the sign shop sign maker (since he is such a good artist). The goal of for each shop owner was to make enough income from the sale of goods and services in order to pay back the business loan. As income came in, it was applied to the loan. Once the loan is paid back, the shop begins to realize a profit. It was such an awesome experience for these kids and I was very excited that I was chosen to be part of it all.

Mark arrived back from Iraq a few weeks ago. It was very nice to hear from him and to see him too when he came to visit the boys. My boys are going to be going with him this Friday to San Diego for five weeks. It will be nice for them to all spend time together and it will be nice for me to have a break. I am really glad that Mark arrived back in one piece.

My son, Jacob, age 10, was hit by a car today. He is fine. He just got a pretty good bump and bruise on his elbow. He failed to look both ways before going out into the street on his roller blades. It could have been much worse. Thankfully, it was not. Hopefully, he has learned his lesson about looking for cars before going out into the street. My heart skipped a few beats when my youngest son, Lucas, age 6, came running up to me and said “”Jacob just got hit by a car””. It is quite a scary thing to hear.

So my little guy, Lucas, who is five, just tells me that he does not like his new school. And I asked him why not. And he says that a boy was pushing him. And I told him that nobody has the right to touch him without his permission and that if anyone ever does, he needs to get away and tell a grownup. I told him that all grownups are there to protect him while he is still so little and that he should never be too shy or too afraid to think that he can just let someone be mean to him like that. I told him to use his words every chance he gets and he will be sure to stay out of trouble. And I told him that if there is no grownup around or if he cannot get away then he has permission to do whatever it takes to protect himself even if it means hurting the other person to get away… but I stressed that is only when there is no grownup around and he cannot get away from being hurt.


He seemed pretty satisfied with what I said and I asked him if still does not like his new school and he said, “No. I like it and my teacher too.”

Jacob and his classmates all made rafts and sailboats out of popsicle sticks and glue and various other materials.  This morning, they went to the little pond at the park by the school and put their boats in the water.  I went by to check it all out and it was nice to see all the creativity that went into the boats.

Lazy day! I stayed home from work today and played in the pool with everyone. Mom and Stacy were having fun soaking up the sun. Then my friend, Karl came over and we sat around and drank and stuff. It has been so nice having my family visiting. Some pictures of us winding down.