Seven weeks into school and the kids are off to a great start! We're getting into the groove...meaning the kids have only been late for school ONE day and it was a rainy day. Slower traffic equals late arrival, so I justify in my mind. Ha!
Samuel has not cried a single day this year. That is huge for this one! He gained such confidence in kinder. He loves his teacher and what's not to love about her? She is quite amazing! I had a conference with his teacher just a few days ago and she bragged on how sensitive he is to his friends. Apparently, he greets friends as they arrive each morning and welcomes his teacher's son when he stops by to tell his momma "hi" after lunch. Samuel's handwriting is improved. He is able to "sound spell" quite well and is reading some pretty tricky words with accuracy and confidence. Samuel even won a character award for responsibility the first month of school. No surprise, he never even mentioned it to me. He brought his certificate in with his brag tag and put it on the counter without saying a word. WHAT? He's not only responsible, but humble too. My heart is proud!
Stella is the master of all things writing! She has a notebook that she writes in all the time...like All. The. Time. You'd think she's a newspaper reporter if she weren't just 7. Be careful what you say around her. She can "sound spell" and just might be taking notes on what you're saying! Trust me. I know. Stella does not like homework. I mean, who does? That's probably one of our biggest struggles, next to chores. We're working on attitude and understanding that homework helps us improve. It's not a bad thing. It's necessary. Her teacher describes her a good helper and a faithful friend. Only once has she gotten a note sent home about behavior. She's still working on obedience, but it's coming. We're dedicated to helping her use her super powers for good and not evil. Must hone those leadership skills! She's headed in the right direction. She has a heart of gold when it comes to caring for others!
Joey is a reader. Joey is a communicator. Joey is a 10 year old! He has thoroughly enjoyed his 4th grade year so far. His teacher is an answer to prayer. She even encourages him to email her. Once he figured out he has a school email address, he's been all about informing his teacher of educational opportunities and asking questions. Now that he has his very own Kindle (many thanks to SuSu and Big Joe), this kid is unstoppable with his reading. We literally have to take it away from him so that he goes to sleep at night. Coming from the one parent who does not enjoy reading, this is a great sight to see. I'm thankful he can get lost in a book and truly enjoys it! We've paused our extra curricular activities due to other family commitments, but Joey stays busy with STEAM kits, video games, and pestering his siblings. This kid loves to talk and I'm so thankful that he comes to me with problems and frustrations. We have daily talks about difficult situations he faces or stresses from his day. I pray we can always talk about anything...even awkward stuff!
Family Commitments
I've taken on the role of caregiver for my aging parents over the past couple of months. There have been many levels to getting to this place. The bottom-line is that they are both nearby now and receiving necessary care. Having them close has given me peace to know they are safe and I can see them often. It has also been a learning opportunity for my kids. They see what it means to help family. They understand what it means to love in actions. They offer a sweet hug to grandparents in need of some encouragement. Russ has become the money mind of not only our home, but for my parents too. He has turned from CPA to cheerleader and supporter in many ways!! No doubt he loves us all well! And God has been showing off big time. I could fill a book...or 2...with miracles and answers to prayer! There's no question in my head, I couldn't have made it this far without Him. He's so good!
Finding Time for Fun
With the stresses of our family commitments, we're trying to find more time to reconnect as a family of 5. The kids requested a picnic a couple weeks ago, so we stopped by Whataburger and headed to the park. I won't tell the score of the Capture the Ball game, but I will say the parents lost. Some may say we were slower. The parents may say that the rules kept changing. Hard to tell, but we laughed a lot.
This year was a family party for Joey. We rotate family party and friend party in our little family. The kids get to choose what we do to celebrate on family party years. Joey chose laser tag! I was skeptical seeing as how I've never played before. I had pictured a sweaty dark room with heavy equipment packs and stinky boys sneaking up on me with a laser gun. Only one of those was true! We had THE best time. In fact, Joey had THE best time about 7 best times! We had gotten passes for other activities too, so we rode go karts and amusement park rides too. The littles climbed a rock wall. After 5 hours of fun, we realized he hadn't yet made it bowling. That will have to wait for another day as we were all exhausted. It was the best 5 hours we've had together in a long time!
