The Future

hello, friends,

i nearly went to bed tonight without reporting on what the ben and the kipper have been up to. i wish i had a cute cute picture to post, but as i am using a WC laptop, i don't have my archives.

at any rate, ben started 1st grade this year, about which he was distressed to learn that such an endeavor would involve 3 hours of homework a night. this was reported to him by either morgan c. or morgan j. (i can't remember which), who, as sister sue reported to me, "is repeating grade one and the reason, perhaps, that he had 3 hours of homework a night, was due to the fact that he (morgan c. or morgan j.), was, in fact, an idiot."

so that's him.

kipper, after MONTHS of patently refusing the believe (following in grand volansky/gowan -- okay just aunt shel fashion -- of denial) that she would be starting school, has become a faithful servant of mrs. jones' kindergarden class. mrs. jones, who i think is on par to rival mrs. kaliss for teaching consecutive family members (mrs. kaliss had the long-suffering task of teaching volansky children latin for 20 years...), is navigating the kipster well. however, the quote of the start of the school year comes from kipper herself. when asked about how it was all going, she answered "okay, except for the homework. i mean, i can't READ, how can i be expected to do HOMEWORK?!"

that's my girl.

at any rate, the kids, having barely survived sister sue's wish for them the first day of school (after checking in with niece abbie and nephew...? -- ask me about this if you are interested), the kids watched hurricane katrina's devastation. they set up their lemonade stand and promptly raised $27.13, which they sent to the red cross. the next day, ben wanted to set up the stand near the local grocer's, where he thought he'd make more money. for her part, kip said she would advertise to allow someone or family to live in her guest room.

it is things like that which assure me that i'll be in good hands when i am the dowager aunt i am meant to be...

again, red cross and the humane society. or ben and kip's lemonade stand.

withthispostidonthatefreedomsomuch,
volansky