Candi

Andrew came home from school the other day and said that some of his friends already know what group of teachers they have next year. For 7th and 8th grade the students are put into pods and they travel to their 4 core classes with the same group of kids. The teachers for the core classes are already put into 4 groups of 4 teachers. I did some investigating and found out that you can request a meeting with the junior high principal to discuss your child’s needs to help determine what group of teachers would be best for your child. To me this says that the school is willing to work with you if your child struggles in certain areas. I don’t interpret it as a free for all for parents to go in and weasle their child into a certain group of teachers just to avoid the more difficult ones.

There is a social studies teacher who rarely gives out an A. She tells the kids right off the bat that she is the hardest teacher in the junior high. I think she gets some sort of joy out of her reputation. I understand why parents would want to try to avoid the possibility of their child getting this teacher, but is that really the best thing to do for your child?

As adults we aren’t able to control every aspect of our lives. One might have a boss they don’t like or a neighbor they can’t stand. I know I get put in situations all the time that I wish I could avoid. That’s life. At what point do you allow your children to receive a taste of real life? Do you protect and control what happens in their lives for as long as you can?

With that said, what is the right thing to do here? I’m leaning more towards letting things fall where they may. If he gets the difficult teacher, then he will have to try his hardest and possibly get his first B. But then the caring, protective mother in me chimes in and says that I should take advantage of the school’s generosity and do what I can to assure Andrew doesn’t get Ms. Meaniepants.

If I keep waiting until I have a single coherent thought in my head before I blog again, the day may never come. So here you go…a hodgepodge of thoughts.

Conversation between Chase and Karli:
Chase: Some girls are sexy and some boys are sexy.
Karli: But not all boys.
Chase: Not all girls either.
Karli: Mom is sexy.
Chase: Yea, she is, but she is not that sexy.

Gotta love the honesty! Especially since they really have no idea what sexy really means.

Chase had a zoo field trip the other day and I volunteered to chaperone like a good little mother. He had a blast until he seen this rubber snake that he insisted on buying and I wouldn’t let him. I didn’t think it was fair for him to buy something when the other two boys that I had in my group didn’t have money to buy anything. I told him that next time that we came to the zoo he could buy something and he wasn’t liking that answer too much. This is what happens when your kids are spoiled, yes I know this, you don’t have to tell me. It turned out to be a beautiful day. 70 degrees, perfect breeze. It was a nice break from work. Of course Ken took a break from work too since he had Karli at home and he can’t work and watch her. Although I do it EVERY DAY. Hmmm…?

Click on this photo to view all the pictures from the set. I have notes on them this time too…something I usually don’t do.

Not that this really makes me a bad mother, but it sure makes me feel horrible. Yesterday right before dinner I had told Chase, Karli, and Blake to clean up the family room. They had pillows all over the ground, games out, the usual. They always seem to start fighting when it is time to clean up. Blake was picking up Chase and dropping him on the pillows. I yelled at them and then had turned to finish entering some receipts on my computer. Within seconds of sitting down Karli ran into the den. I honestly can’t remember if she made a sound or cried or what. I just remember her face looking very empty, is the best word I can think of to describe it and I immediately picked her up. Her body went limp right in my arms. Her head fell forward. I tilted her head back so I could see her face as I was yelling, “what happened! Tell mommy what is wrong!”. Her eyes were flickering open and shut. I started screaming for Ken and he raced upstairs. He first looked to see if she had something lodged in her throat and by then he was laying her on the ground and yelling her name. She was breathing by then, but she looked sort of spaced out. All of that probably happened within 1 minute. She was fine and talking normally within another few seconds. Her pulse seemed normal also. O.M.G. Talk about scary. I was about to call 911 when she started mumbling. We got her some water and she tried to tell us what happened. Of course the boys didn’t want to spill what happened because they realized there was going to be major punishment involved. First Karli said that Blake jumped on her and then she said that Chase did it. Blake went from not knowing what happened at all to saying that he might have accidentally sat down on her while she was in the chair. None of it makes sense and I am upset that we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of what really took place. Chase denies everything, Blake’s story keeps changing and Karli goes with whatever the boys say. Regardless of what happened someone obviously hurt her. We gave the boys a huge lecture on stopping the wrestling and jumping around like animals. They were told how important it is to tell the truth when something like this happens because it could be a matter of life or death when trying to see what is wrong with whomever is hurt. I think we scared the crap out of them as much as Karli scared the crap out of us. I read that sometimes a child at her age will pass out when they are in extreme pain or are very scared. I am thinking it was either that or she got the wind knocked out of her. You know how you keep playing a bad accident or something traumatic over and over in your head? I can’t stop seeing Karli’s body go limp in my arms. Thank you God for taking care of our precious baby girl.

Blake has been enjoying all the different methods I have been using to help him with his reading comprehension. Karli and Chase are typically around while we are reading aloud to one another. We take turns, Blake reads to me, I read to him. The other night I tried something new that is suppose to help with reading comprehension. Teachers say that comprehension has a lot to do with imagination. Your brain has to be able to create pictures in your head while you are reading to help you better understand and remember what is being read.

I grabbed this gigantic Fairy Tale book that we have that honestly we have never opened before. It was a gift from someone many years ago. It has stories in it like Red Riding Hood, The Princess and the Pea, Three Little Pigs, and so on. I had all 3 kids (obviously Andrew doesn’t participate in these activities) lay on my bed with their eyes closed as I read the story. They were told to use their imagination and create pictures in their head as I told the story. After awhile I would ask each of them what they were imagining. Blake did really well and Chase and Karli just gave different versions of whatever Blake said. If Blake said Red Riding Hood had brown hair, Chase said she had red hair. Then I would show them any pictures that are in the book and we talked about how their visions were different. It was fun actually. I love anything to do with books so I was enjoying myself. I could have read another story, but after the kids were done talking my ears off it was time for bed.

About 15 minutes after I tucked them in Chase came downstairs and told me he couldn’t sleep. When I asked him why he said that he was trying to figure out how to paint pictures in his head like I told him to. I said, “You just close your eyes and imagine whatever you want to, there is no right or wrong answer”. He then replied, “I am trying to, but whenever I close my eyes all I see is BLACK”!

Karli is always sifting through my underwear drawer like she is looking for something. I have a pair with yellow smiley faces all over them and she calls them my Nick Jr. underwear. She gets pretty upset that I never want to wear the Nick Jr. ones. The other day she was doing her typical routine of checking some of my underwear out while I was getting dressed. She picked up a black pair that were basically see through with some lace and red design on the front. She goes, “Oh, mommy…. I love these…are they your church underwear?”

Today we visited the preschool that Karli is going to attend next year. I honestly can not even imagine having every single one of my kids out of the house at the same time. Her first day of preschool is going to be a very bittersweet moment, but she is so ready. She will be 4 in August so she will attend just one year of preschool before she starts Kindergarten. We were at the preschool for about an hour and she didn’t want to leave, so that is a good sign.

Andrew had his first baseball scrimmage on Saturday and his team did really well, but Andrew felt that something was missing. He came to the conclusion that his team was lacking chemistry and he has convinced his coach (Ken) as much. In result this Friday he has invited his team over for a pizza party so they can all hang out and get to know one another better. How many pizzas do you buy for ten 11 & 12 year olds? Yikes! He wanted them to stay the night, but I finally talked them into ending the evening at 10pm! I can’t imagine 10 pre-teen boys sprawled out around my house.

If life were only this easy for adults too. Trying to catch bubbles, the hardest part of their day.