There is a lot to be said for picking the proper font style and color when I finally get around to posting on this blog. Although it could be said that I am just trying to look impressive, for me it is all about getting into the emotional writing attitude. Truly, more than 90 per cent of all that we do is emotionally driven and the remainder is divided between necessary and automatic. Under the necessary category are items such as eating food and drinking water. Under the automatic items such as breathing, urinating and defecating--not very glamorous but we all do it. Why do we think that living is glamorous anyway? God told Adam that from dust he came and to dust he will return. Dust isn't glamorous at all.

There is nothing glamorous in receiving reports that your children are struggling in school, misbehaving or failing a class. Nathan is struggling in division. Evan is swearing on the school bus and Adam is failing Journalism. Nathan is getting help and Lori is working hard with him. I asked him how many dimes does it take to make 60 cents? "Six" he said. Then I asked him, "How many dimes does it take to make $1.20" He said. "10 dimes plus 2 dimes." He certainly understands the concept he just isn't making the connection. But he is starting to get it.

I don't know why Evan is swearing so much. I wonder if it has something to do with hormones and a OCD. I do know that he isn't happy with his drink choices with his school lunch. He was buying a Gatorade everyday at the price of one dollar. He was burning through his lunch money too quickly so I had to put a stop to that. He has been getting the chocolate milk but he wouldn't drink it. He said he doesn't like the taste--Lori thinks he doesn't shake it before drinking it. Yesterday, I went to the Food Service office and talked in person to Sarah who manages all the lunch accounts for all the West Ottawa students. She changed Evan's account so that he can have lemonade. He got it for lunch yesterday and said he liked it. He asked me if that was for just that day, and I said it was for everyday. He was happy to hear that.

Lemonade is given to students who are lactose intolerant. I told Sarah that he isn't lactose intolerant but that he has narrow nasal membranes and milk isn't the best choice for him. She gladly accommodated him. I know it's a small thing but it makes a big difference to Evan. I could have called her, but I wanted to work this out in person. We interact with people through e-mails, text messages and phone calls. It was real and human.

Adam and I met with his Journalism teacher yesterday after school. He told me that Adam won't fail the class but he needs to complete his edited drafts. It was a good meeting, the three of us sat down face to face and talked about Adam's work and progress in Journalism. I held Adam's submitted articles in my hand and looked at some of the editing comments. I agreed with the editing comments I read. I was glad to have a meeting with him. Conferences were such a disaster for us that we are working harder than normal to keep tabs on Adam's assignments.

Our meeting was at 3 and I was a little late. I went to the wrong building first. Adam rode with me when I picked up Nathan at Lakeshore. We went to Speedway and got our snacks to watch eat while watching "The Soup." We drove to Dave and Paula's house and let Bob out and fed him snacks--Paula sent a text message to Lori's phone asking Nathan to do so.

I asked Nathan to say something funny. He replied, "Airline food." It isn't as funny as humour blog that has vanished, but it is Nathan's interpretation of Jerry Seinfeld.