[random] We've survived!

Rule 1: entertaining 10+ children with a median age of 5 is best done outside of one's own house. Rule 2: see Rule 1. The mouse's 5th birthday party seemed like a big hit yesterday - Romio's pizza in Greenwood was the locale, Thistle Theatre (a puppet troupe) provided excellent entertainment, and we didn't have to clean up at all. All-in-all, it was tiring but fun. Last night was the benefit auction for the school he'll be attending kindergarten next year, and despite a slightly rough start (too few tables for the actual sit-down dinner component of the evening) and some minor overindulgence on our part, this also went exceedingly well. Oh, and any parents of Seattle K-5 children who are concerned with the School Board's slash-and-burn approach to 'fixing' our current school budget problem, a parents' group I've been working with at the boy's new school has posted a rational and reasoned rejection of the current restructuring plan. We'd like to get the themes in this piece out into wider distribution, so please take a look - if you see things you like, please feel free when using them to write letters to the editor. I'd also like to say that the Seattle PI has been doing a bang-up job covering this (Horesy? You da' man!), with their editorial board showing great concern for balancing the competing needs of students with the need to balance the deficit - the Seattle Times? Not so much...