Merry Christmas From The Lowe Family

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Merry Christmas from the Lowe family! We've had an eventful 2009. Here are some highlights!

This year, Mary Beth danced in the 24th annual production of The Roar of Love here in Augusta. She was a cute pony! In addition to ballet, she takes tennis lessons and studies piano with mommy. The poor kid rarely has a chance to get to the piano to practice, though. Mommy keeps it busy with other students all afternoon!

We turned our backyard deck into a screened porch and added a patio this year. When the weather's nice, we love having our morning coffee there.

Laura's parents celebrated their 50th Anniversary this year! Mary Beth made them a big card that said, "Happy 50th Annibersary!" (sic) They framed it!

Mary Beth turned 7 this year and started 1st grade. Hard to believe! To celebrate, Daddy built her a very impressive swing set. It took 3 weekends, but he did it all by himself.

Laura continues to teach piano privately. Her studio is now operating at capacity with a waiting list, and she is on the board of the local chapter of Music Teachers Nat'l Assoc. She played a concert at St. John United Methodist as part of Augusta's Westobou Arts Festival in September. In October, she signed on as organist at Aldersgate United Methodist.

Kevin passed the licensing exams for his job last summer after nearly two years of classes and studying. He's now a senior reactor operator. Unfortunately, he is doing shift work, and that combined with a long commute means we don't see much of him during the week. But, at least when he's home, he's not studying anymore!

We hope that you all had a happy time during Christmas, and we wish you all the best in 2010!

Our "New Family Tradition"

MB's kindergarten teacher introduced Elf on the Shelf to her class last year. It's a story book with a little elf who is supposedly Santa's scout. He appears in your house every morning in a new location, watches to make sure you're behaving, then flies back to the north pole at night to give Santa a report. Every day, I heard about "Zippy's" new location in the classroom. I almost went out and bought the kit for us, until I saw the price tag. Best price I could find was around $40. Hmmm...I figured I could find my own little vintage elf for a few dollars, and we already knew the story, so no need for the book. But, I was busy, and it never occurred to MB that we could have our own elf at home. Until this year...

I drive the morning carpool. This morning, our extra passenger said, "Where was YOUR elf this morning?" Then she proceeded to to tell us all about finding her elf in her house. MB listened to all of this, then said with the saddest tone you can imagine, "I want an elf at my house!"

"Oh, honey," I said. "Mama's already spent a lot of money this Christmas. I don't think I can buy that elf."

Our little friend had an answer for that. "Oh, you don't have to buy him! You just have to call Santa and ask him to send you one. All mommies and daddies have Santa's phone number!"

Oh...yeah.

A faux vintage elf and a new storybook appeared in our house today. Okay, I admit that it's really cute and MB loves it. But, they could have sold that elf with a pamphlet for $5.

Bah humbug.

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'Twas the Night Before Halloween

What a busy day! MB's new school has a huge halloween carnival, so we spent the morning having fun there. Afterwards, my piano students had a costume party, and then we headed down the street for a neighborhood party. Whew, I'm pooped. And, there's more tomorrow!

The Munchkin Goes to a New School

After much consideration, we have made a decision to move the munchkin from public to private school. While we liked our old 1st grade teacher very much and think she does a good job under the circumstances she was given, we are unhappy with the degree to which state standards and standardized test performance control everything in public school. We want a richer, broader, more challenging and creative school experience for our bright child. So far, we're very happy with the decision even if it is taking a huge chunk of our income. Fortunately, another child in our neighborhood is making the change, too, so having a friend eases the transition for both of them.

My first inkling that I wasn't going to be happy with public school came at first-grade orientation. The first words spoken were, "Now, we want you to all know that we're all going to be teaching your children the same standards..." and for the rest of the evening, the only things I heard that didn't have to do with state standards were the directions for where to drive up for the car line. By the end of the meeting, I was ready to stand up and say, "I've heard all night about how you plan to teach the standards. Would you mind spending some time now talking about how you plan to teach my child?"

We like many things at the new school. They are able to devote time to things that wouldn't be evaluated on a standardized test - chess, Spanish, and handwriting. They do a great job of teaching the children to present themselves well and communicate effectively, both aurally and in written form.

I never thought we'd be the private school type of parents. But then, I didn't realize just how much public education had changed even since I was a public school teacher. We're very happy with the new situation.

Labor of Love

It took three weekends. He routed all of the edges to make them smooth. Had a few setbacks. Injured a finger. But, he finished. One tired daddy, and one happy girl.