I Have to Give Equal Time

I believe a mother has every right to brag about their children, so here I go again. It is your choice to read this or not, but it would be totally unfair if I did not brag about my son and his good grades just as I did about my daughter in an earlier post (1/15/09).
My son is such a smart kid. I think he is just like the typical teenage boy who wants to do just what he needs to get by and no more. So I feel I am constantly on him to do better because I see the potential for more. Ask any of my kids, C's do not cut it. I guess if there was a super hard class that the child was working their tail off and doing their very best always and still comes up with a C, then I would be okay with that. But so far I have seen that my children can get A's and B's in all their classes without any problem. If they do poorly on an assignment or test, I go over it with them to see what happened and offer them encouragement. I don't want them to ever think I don't think they are doing their best, but I do know when they are only doing enough to get by. My kids know that extra credit is our friend and therefore mandatory even if they have an A in the class. (Wow, that sounds harsh when I read that back, how mean am I?)
Last week, there was an Academic Lettering Ceremony for all those kids that have a 3.5 GPA and higher at the high school. After 3 of these, you receive your letter for your jacket. T has like a 3.6 GPA for his first semester of high school. We are so proud of him--he is so smart. (I think I already said that) There were 44 kids that were earning their 7th, meaning they had gotten good grades every semester in high school. T says that he for sure is going to do that. I hope he does since the Academy won't accept students with poor grades. That is always better incentive than mom anyway. WAY TO GO T! By the way, he is second in his ROTC class with a 99.6%, missing the top spot by only 1 point. You can tell which class is his favorite! Have you seen him in his uniform? He sure looks sharp.

Make that 2!

Yes, I now officially have 2 teenagers in my home. It is hard for me to believe as I don't feel old enough for that. Anyway, we celebrated M's 13th birthday today. Being a Sunday, we spent a nice quiet day at church and at home. M requested our Christmas breakfast casserole for dinner and of course for dessert there was a "cell phone" cake and chocolate chip ice cream. We will have frozen strawberry margaritas tomorrow since I didn't have time to get those chilled in time for the party tonight. Her gifts included clothes (essential for a teenage girl), wallet, book (of course), slippers and DDR for the Wii. We have had a great time rockin out trying to perfect our dance moves. It is a good workout and I look forward to school days when I can dance by myself all day long (HeeHee). A tradition I started last year with my kids is taking them out to lunch just the birthday child and Mom. It has been fun spending one on one time with each of them. We had such a busy weekend that I wasn't sure when I would get a chance to do that with her. She had a Band Ensemble Contest at school Saturday morning where she was in a trombone quartet. They scored a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the best. They did very well I thought and it was fun to see them compete. Anyway, since it was just me watching her I decided to take her out to breakfast for her birthday. She picked IHOP and we had a good time just talking and eating. Then it was home to work on the basement and do chores. The family will take her out to dinner for her birthday next Saturday when we have time to play and eat at ITZ (her pick again) It has been such a busy week that her birthday seemed to sneak up on me. Thank goodness I had her presents since Christmas because I actually decorated her cake today right before dinner. I am glad it is the year for a family party or her party would have to be next month. Life is crazy and doesn't ever seem to slow down. As I can attest now that half my kids are teens. What is the saying---"Calgon, take me away!" I feel the need for a full body massage. Anyone want to go with me?

I Don't Want to Be a Girl!

Don't let the title scare you like it did me when my youngest walked into the kitchen last night and exclaimed she didn't want to be a girl. For a split second, I was worried, but then I understood. Let me explain:

K's two front teeth have been loose for quite awhile. She has been wiggling and giggling them she would tell you is forever. The one was so close to coming out, that I offered to pull it for her. She declined, saying that she wanted her sister to do it when they got to school. She wanted it to come out at school so she could get a treasure chest to put it in. She has her priorities straight! So yesterday, it finally came out and proudly she showed me the little pink treasure chest with her tooth in it. She was so excited that she called Daddy right away and of course, Grandma too.

Anyway, I told her that she was becoming a "girl" now that the all important 2 front teeth were coming out. She was not my "little girl" anymore and would she please stop growing up. She thought that over for awhile and that is when she professed to me that she didn't want to be a girl. She was fine staying little.

My sweet little K. I see her growing up right before my very eyes and I can't help but be sad. She is my baby and I have told her many times that no matter how old she gets, she will always be my baby. What will I do when I don't have a little one to snuggle with and to hold? It sure is hard to grow up, even for us parents.

That Makes 5!

I guess I should count myself lucky! With 4 kids, I have not had too many serious accidents to deal with. I can actually count the number of boo boos that my kids have suffered. Most of them have been when they were toddlers, but I am sure that will change with teenage years. Here is the rundown on the injuries that each child has suffered in their lifetime:

*K - hospital for 2 nights with Croup brought on by the Influenza virus (age 1 1/2) But this really isn't an injury, is it? It was the scariest by far though
*J - jabbed a Q-tip too far into her ear when she decided to jump on the couch with it sticking out (age 4)
*M - dislocated elbow (6 months) courtesy of her brother
- wrist splinted for small fracture (age 1 1/2) I sure didn't see it on the x-ray and the doc thought I was abusing her)
- fracture of the foot when she fell fooling around(age 10) Had to wear one of those lovely looking shoes to start 5th Grade
- sprain of the elbow playing SPANDEX game at mutual (last summer)
*T - cut open his back which required staples (age 3)
- swallowed a watch battery (about age 5)
- broken collarbone (last summer) this was the worst injury so far and the only obvious break seen on the x-ray.

I mention all of this because M was in the thick of a basketball game last week and was scrambling for the ball. I didn't think twice when she was tripped and came up holding her elbow and crying. I figured she would just shake it off and keep going. And she actually did play a few more minutes until the ref blew the whistle for an out of bounds ball.(What a trooper) She came off the court at that time and I met with her and her coach to evaluate the problem. Of course, it was the same elbow that she had straight-armed into the ground playing a game at YW this past summer. She put ice on it and sat out the rest of the game. Anyway, she wrapped it in an ace bandage and even put it in a sling for school the next day. It was quite swollen and she said it hurt worse than the other sprain, so I called the doc and we went in for x-rays. He said that he could not see an actual break but that there was this one thing (some medical term that went over my head-SAIL something) on the x-ray that was a symptom of a break and could hide a break too, so he wanted to cast it just to be safe. I was not so sure I wanted that done and tried everything to talk him out of it. But in the end, decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. She was quite bummed as she still had 2 games left. She was even more bummed and in fact started crying when she realized that she would not be able to do baptisms for the dead this week with the youth. But she was totally happy that the cast would only be on for 2 weeks and it would come off 2 days before her birthday. She sure has school spirit too since she chose Horizon colors for her cast. (GO PANTHERS)
So I guess we can add one more injury to the above list for M. She by far is the "most injured" in our family with a total of 5 and the first one with a cast. But I think this is a small list compared to other families and minor ones at that. Thank goodness I can still count them on 2 hands. How long will that last???