The Rest

I forget sometimes that you all aren't in my head all day long. (And for that, you should all be very, very thankful.)

Here are the major points:

1. Chuck has been renewed at Best Buy, and is on a 3 month rolling contract. He has to wait every 3 months to see if he's asked back. Not ideal, but all indications look good that he will continue to be asked back. He likes the location and his coworkers, and the work is right up his alley. Keep your fingers crossed.

2. My job got turned upside down two weeks ago. We had another round of layoffs. I was spared, luckily. Two of my colleagues in our department were laid off, and several others throughout the museum. The shock of the layoffs and losing our friends, coupled with the task of trying to absorb the work, has made the last two weeks very tiring. Our department is set up to take on the responsibilities of the two that were let go, but it will take a LOT of work. Most of it falls on my team and one other team. It's going to be a challenge.

3. Jack will go to kindergarten this fall, but we're still not sure where. He is 42nd on the wait list at the school we want him to go to. It's a free public charter that is a block away from our house. We do know a #33 from last year that got in, so it's not out of the realm of possibility, but it doesn't look good. Otherwise he'll go to Indian Mounds - which is a good school, despite having the world's creepiest name.

4. Ryker thinks he's Santa. I'm not sure why. But every once in awhile he starts asking "what YOU want?" and then pretending to write it down. I wish for Peace and Love for All Mankind, and then new clothes and shoes. Chuck wishes for No Tantrums. Jack wishes for "a million of every kind of dollar." Brilliant.

5. A couple of stories:

One morning Tugboat came into the bedroom and shook off. She was wet. It was not raining. Ryker came in and goes "I keening up da waa-der." I said "what water?" and he got nervous, looked around, then goes "no waa-der. You want dis door cwosed? Okay" and BOLTED out. Ha.

Another morning he took it upon himself to make a carb-buffet. He brought out chips, a sleeve of Saltines, and a bag of bread crumbs.

Jack has been writing a lot. Mostly random words listed out, or simple sentences. Sometimes he puts sheets together and staples them, then deems them a "book." He's been adding pages recently that look like scribbling. My mom asked him what it said and he goes "I don't know. I can't read CURSIVE, Grandmommy!"

I was talking to Jack the other day about ways to make people happy. I was asking him what he thought he could do. His answers:
--"I could color them a picture."
--"I could give them a hug."
--"I could say nice things to them."
--"I could give them a kidney." (This one comes courtesy of Magic Neighbor Nicki, who actually DID donate a kidney to someone. Jack knows the story.)
--"I could give them some blood if they needed it and they were sad."
--"I could donate money to them."
How sweet is he?

Okay, that's most of the action you've missed. There you go.