Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

This could be the greatest WTF moment yet. During an after school "Future Problem Solvers" session in the tech lab where the students were researching disaster recovery in third world countries, one of the seventh grade girls asked (I wrote this down so that I would get it right word for word), "Is there a shipping fee on orphans?"

Wow.

Too soon? Too soon?

adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

So this little boy (a first grader) comes up to me during lunch to inform me that some of the people sitting at his table at lunch just said that god is a made up concept and anyone who believes in god is stupid - yes, the lunchroom conversations at this school involve religion and philosophy mixed with the usual shit talking. He went on to say that they were certainly entitled to their opinion but that he "is a Christian" and found it offensive that they would say that kind of thing. He also mentioned that he knew that "they are Christians" and that they ought to be more respectful of their religion. Finishing his statement he asked me if I would go over there and tell them that what they were saying is wrong and that god does exist.

Sometimes I think these kids take on a little too much emotional baggage...

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

So a bunch of kindergartners are in the tech lab using the paint program (killing time while their teacher grades stuff) one of the girls wanted to tell me that she went to a Greek dinner/dance with her father. While she was explaining what they did and that her Greek last name was... she said some word with a thousand syllables that sounded pretty Greek... right after she said her last name, some other boy from across the room pipes in: "Eh, it's all Greek to me."

Not the world's greatest joke by any means, but this was a four year old! Also, the timing was incredible, he hit his cue right on the mark, no pause, no hesitation, and delivered the line without stumbling. Nice job, kid.

11 to 17

That was the score of the first Student vs. Faculty basketball game held today, Wednesday, January 20th 2010 at the school where I work. It was a brilliant game and one truly deserving to be played on today, the 118th anniversary of the first game of basketball played in a YMCA training session in Springfield, Massachusetts. According to one of my colleagues, it was 118 years ago today that James Naismith, a Canadian originally, came up with the game based on an old game he played back up in Canada called "Duck on a Rock." Knowing nothing about Duck on a Rock I can only assume, using stereotypes and prejudices, that it involved shooting ducks while they roosted on rocks and then trying to toss their stiff, lifeless bodies into peach baskets while bouncing a hockey puck off of a curling stone at one's side, all the while singing "Oh Canada" in a booming voice.

However, I digress. This post is really about beating young children in sports in order to make us older people feel better about our selves and to teach these kids that losing's ok and that it will always be the outcome when they go up against us. I must hand it to the students though, they did go on a bit of a run including the only 3-point basket of the day and several second chances converted due to aggressive offensive rebounding. I'll also give a shout out to their ball handling skills, lord knows I couldn't dribble as well as they do when I was their age (and, in the case of some of these kids, I still can't).

Winter Super Adventure Club!

Not to be confused with the South Park version, we actually go out into the frigid Chicago winter and seek out the meager outdoor adventures the midwest provides because we love to explore and be outside.

This was the first adventure I was a part of the activities and I look forward to continuing my involvement. We embarked early Sunday afternoon for Herrick Lake, a Dupage county forest preserve on a search for snow shoeing and cross country skiing. Farmer and I had never snow shoed before so we chose to give that a try while the rest of the group chose the much more high speed activity known as cross country skiing. What I learned from the experience is that snow shoeing, while cool and effective in deep powder, on the packed and groomed trails of Herrick Lake, they simply made walking more funny looking. All was not lost, however, Farmer and I did cut through the woods a bit where the powder was deeper.

Afterward we stopped at REI where I got a sweet new coffee/hot beverage mug.

Then we went over to DAMITZ!!!'s house for some delicious tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (which I ordered with mini weenies inside, pretty good call if you ask me). I was able to make it home just before my food coma completely set in, and felt wonderfully satisfied. Thanks to Ms. DAMITZ!!! for putting it together! Let's do it again soon!

Gnarly old oak

Juice is vicious from the ground

I've been doing some Crossfit, so now I can hold up trees.

Snow shoes make you jump really far, like those shoes from the Mario Bros. movie (I started this leap right next to Becky there).

Most likely singing.

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

Today, as one of the second grade girls was walking out of the room where her "indoor recess" had been held after lunch, she was singing "I like to move it, move it! I like to move it, move it!" While doing a dance that greatly resembled the running man...

Adorable/Awkward/Hilarious/WTF?! child moment of the day

Today, while in the second lunch period (I'm the lunch lady on Tuesdays) which is when the kindergartners come in, a whole table inquired if I had a girlfriend. Catching me at one of the rare times in my life when I actually have a real (real meaning not a famous movie star or singer who I claim wants to be my girlfriend) significant other, I proudly said, "Well yes I do, little girl." I actually didn't say "little girl," as that would be creepy, but I don't want to use her real name. The conversation that followed contained the typical kindergartner questions of if I was going to marry her, how old she was (their first guess was 37, because that was how old they guessed I was, which is funny considering I'm pretty sure we had a "guess Mr. Awesome's age" session last week at lunch during which they were aiming up in the 45 year old range- it must be the beard), etc. However, they quickly got bored with talking about me and decided to move on to the more interesting topic of talking about themselves and their relationships, which is awesome because, remember they are 5 years old (some are 4). One of the young ladies decided to tell me that, well she had two boyfriends. She then named them and pointed to them, as they were both sitting at the table across from her. I just want to point out that this girl, who is totally playing these two boys, just blatantly says it in front of them, like it's no big deal. Then one of the boys who she singled out as one of her two boyfriends replies, "Yeah, but it's not like we're going to get married or anything." Another boy jibes back, "yeah right, you're her fiance," which he pronounces adorably incorrectly. We then went on to chat, back and forth, about how it's cool that they're just playing the field and having a good time right now, and that, yeah, they're just not ready to get serious yet.

It's nice to hear that there are some people out there who are comfortable and open about where they're at in life. I found it refreshing to hear, even if it was from a group of five year olds.

P.S. After this delightful conversation ended, a girl from another table came over to tell me that she had two boyfriends and one girlfriend, who they were, and why she liked them. Awesome!