Nothing New to Report

Nothing new to report on our end. We have been busy this week getting ready for a visit from Paul's mom. She will be here later this week for a two week visit. We have a fun filled two weeks planned with trips to Rothenburg, Wurzburg, Bamberg, a long weekend in Garmisch and plenty more fun things.

The kids are out of school and driving me insane already. The bright side is they start the summer enrichment program next week for three hours a day. I have had to seperate them and resort to the old fashioned punishment of you no longer have a sister and you no longer have a brother treatment.

That's about all there is going on with us. I have to get back to getting the house ready for grandma's visit later this week.

Movie Night

Tonight was our traditional movie night. On tonight's big screen was "A Knight's Tale" starring Heath Ledger. This movie is a favorite's of Zac's. As you can see Zac was really into this movie. He couldn't take his eyes off of it.



Even if Zac fell asleep Banjo was into the movie. Anyone who has ever seen Banjo can attest to the fact this dog does watch TV. His favorite shows are Law & Order and CSI. Try turning the channel when those are on and your really going to get an earful from Banjo. He hates animal shows and really gets all worked up when he see's the OPSEC commericals with the Cat.

Tonight he was particularly taken by Shannyn Sossamon in "A Knight's Tale"



It was too cute not to share.

See You Later!!!

Yesterday not only marked the end of the school year for the kids but it also marked *T's* last day here in Germany. *T* has been Zac's partner in crime since moving here back in December. *T's* moving will is a big loss for Zac since this now leaves Zac as the only little boy in the neighborhood. I myself will miss *T's* little smiling face standing at my door asking Zac to come to play. He truly is a delightful child. On the bright side of things *T* mom is not moving and will still be here and she is just as delightful as *T* :)

Since the Army is such a small place and you often run across old friends in later moves. We never say goodbye but instead "See you later"



See You Later *T*!!!

Say it Ain't So :(

I was sick to my stomach this morning when I saw this advertisement...


I am still trying to get the constant ringing in my ears to disappear from the original "High School Musical" movie when I saw there is a sequel coming out.

For those of you who don't know High School Musical was a made for TV movie that the Disney Channel released last summer. It was an instant hit among little girls ages 7-12. This included Sydney. Sydney was the ULTIMATE fan. I think she must have watched this movie on the Disney Channel AT LEAST 3 million times. I know she made my mom DVR it every time it came on.

To make matters worse we lived in Florida last year when it was released and were fortunate it enough to have season passes to Disney last year. The down side was since this was a Disney production it was only natural Disney would have a show at one of their theme parks. I can honestly say I know every dance move and song lyric to the show performed at Magic Kingdom thanks in part to Sydney's insistence that we watch it every time we went to Disney which happened to be every single weekend.

I thought we had finally escaped the High School Musical madness when the DVD and CD suddenly disappeared (I'm looking very guilty right now). I still get nauseated when I look at the posters in her room.

Do you think I may get lucky enough for AFN (Armed Forces Network) not to carry it on TV?

Did You Know That....

* 1 out of 4 kids is Bullied.
* 77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally, & physically.
* 1 out of 5 kids admits to being a bully, or doing some "Bullying."
* 8% of students miss 1 day of class per month for fear of Bullies.
* 43% fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
* 100,000 students carry a gun to school.
* 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.
* More youth violence occurs on school grounds as opposed to on the way to school.
*Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Adult intervention - 4%. Peer intervention -
11%. No intervention - 85%.

As a parent those numbers are scary aren't they?


Why do I bring this up?

Sydney was the target of a bully at her last school. This little girl made Sydney's life hell. The school and teacher refused to do anything about it and I myself failed too because I didn't press the issue hard enough. Sydney didn't want me to report it and I found myself telling her that "Sometimes in life your going to run across people who are like this and you need to work it out"

Well I swore I would not do that again if this situation ever came up. After moving to Germany things seemed to be really looking up for Sydney. She was really thriving here until a few weeks ago.

The mood swings kicked in and getting Syd to school was getting harder and harder. Our morning consisted of frequent fights to get ready for school and then when she got to school the frequent visits to the nurse began. Paul and I blew it off at first chalking it up hormones probably kicking in and the end of the school year right around the corner.

UNTIL...

My neighbor approached me telling me her little girl had shared with her somethings going on during the bus ride to and from school. It then suddenly all made sense and again I felt like I had failed Syd because the signs were there and again I missed them.

Not to get into specifics of what was said or done Syd had been enduring a nightmare ride to and from school on the bus for weeks. When I asked her about it the flood gates open. Even Zac who rides the same bus hadn't even peeped a word of this until we asked him point blank.

What's different this time?

I didn't make light of it and didn't tell her to suck it up. Paul and I immediately went to the appropriate people to report this. This time is different too in that we were not given the brush off by the bus supervisor and he has a "No Tolerance" policy. These girls are being dealt with accordingly at this moment.

Why not go to the school?

Well we went there first and were given the brush off but we didn't accept that answer. I also am not done by a LONG short with dealing with school and their brush off on this issue. However, that is a rant for another day. Before anyone asks how couldn't the bus driver hear what was going on. Well I'm sure he heard ever word the only problem is he probably didn't understand it since he speaks about as much English as I do German. Again, another rant for another day :)

We are currently still working through this situation and it hasn't been completely resolved yet so I will be sure to keep everyone updated as to the outcome.

So in my long blabbing story the morale of the story is bullying is a lot more common then I thought. Even if you think it could never happen to your child it probably has or could. The days of simple teasing are replaced with something more viscous and hurtful. If your child complains of a bully don't minimize it report it immediately and stick to your guns until someone somewhere in the school system does something about it.

What on Earth??

Yes, that is a stork you see. This family of storks nests on top of the old historic Rathaus (town hall) in Weiden. They recently had some babies so it has been the big talk around here especially if you live in Weiden.

Storks are a sign of good luck. So naturally if you have storks nesting on top of your Rathaus this is a good sign of prosperous years to come for the city.


The neat thing about this is there are bells on the side of the building. On the hour of every hour those bells play a beautiful song loud and clear. It's not like any other church bell or Rathaus song I have heard since I have been here in Germany. Anyways, all this noise does not seem to bother the Storks. They just go about their business and don't pay any attention to it.