Twilight, a hugely popular teen book about Bella and Edward, star crossed lovers from two very different back grounds, is now one of my favorite books.  I dish about parts with the kids at school, and I discuss real life parallels and deeper meanings with friends.  I love it!  However, this article that graced the Des Moines Register may prove the Twilight fever has hit just a little too hard at home:

Teen allegedly bites 11 students; father blames 'Twilight' movie

By DANIEL P. FINNEY • dafinney@dmreg.com • March 27, 2009
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090327/NEWS01/903270358/1001/NEWS

A Brody Middle School student may be taking the hit movie and book "Twilight" too seriously.

A 13-year-old boy at the Des Moines school was referred to juvenile corrections after allegedly biting 11 students between Feb. 10 and March 13, a Des Moines police report said.

According to the report, the boy bit a 13-year-old female student on the right hand at a track meet on March 13. Brody Vice Principal Connie Sloan investigated the incident and found that the boy had bitten 10 other students.

When police contacted the boy's father, he said that his son didn't mean to hurt anyone and that he was biting other students because of the movie "Twilight."

The film "Twilight" is based on a series of novels by Stephenie Meyer about a teenage girl's love affair with a vampire. The film, popular with tweens and teens, has grossed more than $191 million in box office receipts in the United States since its November release.

The boy was given a delayed referral to juvenile court on an assault charge.

Questions:
1.  Really?  REALLY?!!  The book is about a teenage girl falling in love with a vampire, and this 13 year old kid acted on it?  That's Poor Parenting 101

2.  It took 11 bites to land him in Juvy?  Wouldn't bites one, maybe two be enough?  No one thought to mention that this isn't okay or acceptable behavior?  Crazy ....

3.  If I were to get bitten by anyone resembling Edward Cullen, I would not be so bent out of shape about it!

Carter and I made pizza's for dinner.  She was excited to help, but I don't know how "helpful" she truly was!




At least she's cute and full of smiles!!!

Triad play days are the best!




Bouncing, jumping, dropping, and flipping, Carter loves it all!

Wednesday, on Linda's 58th birthday, after being achy and uncomfortable most of winter, she has a biopsy of a spot on her lung and spine.  At that time, pain was tolerable. 

Thursday, late in the evening, she and Duane headed to Mercy ER because the pain in her back had become unbearable.  She was admitted.  Friday, they ran a barrage of tests as Chalupa boys and wives showed up at her side.  They performed a head CT, an MRI, and a full-body nuclear bone scan.  It was determined that she has stage 4 cancer, that originated in her lungs and moved to her spine (spinal metastasis). 

The family spent Friday and Saturday with her, doing what we could.  Carter and Courtney colored pictures and talked to Grandma (at one point, Carter said, "Grandma, do you want to talk about something?  Yesterday I got an owie on my knee.").  We drew faces on our toes (I think, to some degree, Carter has an idea that something isn't right.  I've always drawn faces with her, usually happy ones.  She wanted me to draw a "sad" on one foot and a "mad" on the other.  "Sad" and "mad" don't begin to cover it).  The boys watched basketball and caught her up on games, scores and blow-outs.  We did what we could. 

Currently, we don't know much more than we did Friday.  The brain and leg scans came back negative for cancer, which is a great thing.  She's a fighter, and one of the toughest mama's I've ever met!  And we know she'll fight hard.  We're all just taking things small steps at a time, and being there for Linda and one another.  Be sure to keep her in your prayers and thoughts.  We'll post more as we know more.

Love us some Bumsted's!  Unfortunately, we don't get to see Shane, Kelsey, Grant and Collin as much as we'd like, but that's what makes getting together so much fun!

This morning, Carter and I headed down for lunch, the Children's Museum and a good ol' Bumsted time!  And they didn't fail to excite!



The boys battled for hand-holding rights to Carter.  Carter pulled them to the car, while gently telling them, "Be careful, guys!  It's okay!"



Learning all about the forces of gravity



Carter, Grant and Kelsey race cars!  Vroooom!



The crew: Grant, Kelly, Carter, Kelsey and Collin.  LOVE YA, guys!!

Okay, I know she isn't reading Green Eggs and Ham, but holy memory!  She's got this one down!  She even reads with inflection and personality!  Enjoy Green Eggs and Ham, "read" by Carter Kay:




"I DO NOT LIKE Green Eggs and Ham!  I DO NOT LIKE them, Sam I Am!"

This will be our second spring break spent in Minnesota, just playing and relaxing.  We left Sunday morning, and we spent the day swimming, getting dinner and spending a small fortune on IKEA goodies (we bought a corner shelf for the cozy and a new TV stand for the living room).

Monday we went to the Mall of America to ride "ride rides."  Carter had the best time, and she was able to ride a lot more rides than last year!  Her favorite still seems to be the Swiper ride, that whips riders around each corner.  New this year: the Log Ride, which she hated!  She and Andy rode (cause I hate being soaked!), and he said at the end he slid into her, and she knocked her chest on the front of the ride.  They hit the bottom and she was screaming!  "I didn't like that Log Ride at all!" she told me!  We retreated to the hotel for a nap, then headed back for Rides: Round 2.  While Carter and Andy completed another circuit of ride rides, I shopped at my absolute favorite store, Lush (www.lushusa.com - it's the BEST!).  We returned to the hotel for pizza, dessert and cartoons.

Tuesday sent us home.  As much fun as our trip always is, it's nice to be home, too, just relaxing.



A sleepy-eyed Carter awakes in the hotel parking lot, waiting for Daddy to check in



While Andy agonized over depth, color, size and shape of the new TV stand (I'd have just grabbed one!), Carter and I played Tic-Tac-Toe (she won, of course).



"Ride-rides" at Minnesota ... all was almost well!

My wonderful husband and daughter sometimes bring flowers home if they've run to Hy-Vee for something.  This afternoon, they had to pick up pink eye prescription #2, and along the way, they grabbed flowers. 

I took "Mommy, we brought you flowers" to mean I was getting a sunflower or a rose.  Sweet, smart little Carter picked out lavender seeds!  So we picked up some pots and planted them, along with a couple other flowers.



Helping with the dirt is a dirty job!

Carter has pink eye.  Awesome.  We're not sure how she got it, but the other morning her eyes were kitty-matted shut.  When I got them pried open, they were bloodshot and pink.  We got a dose of drops, four times daily, then seemed to work for a bit then the pink eye came back with a vengeance.  After a quick Urgent Care trip, we're now on dose two and both eyes, and Carter Kay, seem to be getting better.



Despite looking awful, Carter's attitude continues to be all smiles and sunshine.  Sunday morning, she and Andy went to the park.  We did "droppies" when she got back.  She didn't fuss or complain (much), but she sure looked worse for wear.

Friday brought spring break, which couldn't have come at a more perfect time (with unproductive meetings with useless people at school, my kids open-hand slapping one another and depantsing peers, and projects up to the windows at Principal).  I took the day off Friday to get a manicure and pedicure, and I started to pack us up for Minnesota.  We're leaving this morning to go swimming, shopping, ride riding, and relaxing as a family for a few days!  After Minnesota, we're headed to Coralville for a day for Bumsted bliss, then on to Grandma and Poppy's for same spoiling time :) 

We've been bad bloggers, but pictures and details will come soon!  Have a great week!

This morning, our neighborhood friends gathered at Ritcher's for a play date.  During winter, everyone's bunkered down and kept warm.  We don't get to see much of one another, except for the occasional passing at the mailbox.  So catching up and playing was the perfect Saturday morning activity!



The "original" neighborhood gang: me, Alisa (standing) and sister Allyson Ritcher, Lilly Andreason, sitting next to Carter, Collette Andreason, and Will Andreason being held by our gracious host, Melinda Ritcher



Carter taking a spin!
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DJ Vallejo - isn't he a cutie?!



Allyson and Zane, sharing and playing Lucky Duckies

Melinda, Thanks for having us!  It was great to catch up!  Sorry we trashed your play room!    And thank you Kelly for remembering to take pictures! 

Today was Watch at Dance Day, which is always cute!  Last time we were invited to watch, the girls were still learning movements and skills.  Months later, they've began recital preparation and parts of their songs down!



"Hi Mommy!"



While everyone else has eyes on Miss Evie, Carter checks to see if she has boobs??? 



Stomping off to choose music


It's a long video, but each second is adorable!

I would never say anything's guaranteed in our present financial state, but I think this has gained me some job security!

This is the first year our building has offered additional reading support to students, general or special education, who are not proficient readers (those scoring at or below the 41st percentile, or 8th grade level, on ITBS).  Our building action plan this year was to create a supplemental reading class, taught by one general and one special education teacher to whoever was in need.  There are two 8th grade reading lab classes, one taught by myself and my collaborative language arts teacher (who rocks!).  We started the year with 22 kids, 9 special education and 13 general education kids, ranging in abilities from 5th grade readers to 7th grade readers.  We've practiced skills the group has been lacking, through radio plays, readers theater, drill and practice, pair reading with 1st graders at Lawson Elementary and modeling and practicing.  Our group is what I call the "Head of the Class group."  Like the '80's TV show, they want to sit on raditators, tip chairs, throw paper, and so on.  It is frustrating at times, because it appears that they don't care what we're trying to do (which is help them!) and it makes you doubt yourself.

Until today. 

We took ITBS in Janurary.  This year, tests were administered differently than in years past.  We also put a pretty high bribe out for our kids: meet your goal and we'd take them to lunch at the mall food court and bowling for the afternoon.  We did goal setting as a group.  A growth of 5 points is significant.  Most of our kids had 7th grade scores at the 1st - 10th percentile.  So, even if they did make 5 points of improvement - which, in January, I was sure they wouldn't - they still wouldn't be proficient.  But progress is progress.

This is what they did.  And I was so proud I nearly cried!



The top scores are our reading lab kids.  Of our orignial 22, 20 made progress (one dropped, but the test was read to him last year - illegal!  And the other drop was due to not "fitting in" with the class).  Of those who showed growth, all showed significant growth!  We now have 7 proficient readers, including 3 of my special education kids!  And we have a couple who are very close! 

Proving once again, they may be hellions, but they're our hellions, and we're so very proud of them!!!

The pond is mostly unfrozen, and the duck are back!  So Carter and I took our ducky break out to welcome our friends home.



Ice cold ducky bread



Carter tossed bread and picked "dandelions."  Being outside in the warm weather was certainly good for her!  Bring on spring!

Carter got a little pink scratcher at Recess a while ago.  It reminded me of Peter Griffin's butt scratcher, from Family Guy:

  

Butt scratcher!

We got the paints out, because painting rules.  But when I turned away to start supper, Miss Carter had started painting her face.  Well ... if you're going to do it, go all out!



Paint face!



Crazy paint face!!!