Conferences make me nervous.

   Conferences are not my favorite thing to do.  I always love to hear how well my kids are doing but I do not like to hear any bad news.

   I wasn't nervous for Titus' conference as I knew he would be doing well.  He is in the kindergarten grade but in a first grade class.   He was put in the first grade class after his evaluation proved he was above average in his schooling.  (I knew the pre school would pay off!)  As I expected, Titus was doing very well and was in fact doing first grade work!  We did learn that Titus needs to work on his dexterity.  He uses both hands to write and color and cut, so he hasn't mastered either.  He will actually switch hands in the middle of writing a word.  It is pretty funny to see.  Currently we are working on learning short words, which Titus is very good at!  It is really fun to see the look of excitement as he learns a new word and spelling!

   Arthur's conferences have always been dreadful.  Not because he is a bad kid or not smart, just because this is when we find out about everything he is missing and how he is not finishing his class work.  This is the first year Nick and I have sole custody of Arthur so we have made sure all homework is finished and turned in.  Arthur has been arguing with his teacher in class and has been getting in a bit of trouble lately, so I was not looking forward to this conference either.  Arthur's teacher was very sweet and told us how Arthur's school work was not being finished although she knew he could do it.  She showed us his test scores and they showed Arthur at a 6th grade level in most subjects!  He is above average!  He is just having a hard time concentrating on his class work enough to finish it.  She had great reviews for Arthur and said he is a really smart kid, he just needs to focus.  This was the best conference we have EVER had for Arthur!!  We are working on the concentration at home as well and I am sure the next conference will be even better!  The 5th grade year will be the best yet!

   We have not had a conference for Taylor yet as it is pretty early in the year, and the city schools are waiting a bit.  I will keep you posted on the outcome!  I am not worried about his conference, he always gets a rave review!

School is so Tiring!

  This is Titus' first year of real school, and it is especially bad considering he was smart enough to go to the first grade class and not the Kindergarten class.  (This basically means not as much play) By the end of the day he is exhausted!  The other day as I picked him up from school, he said, "Mom, I am the most tired kid in the whole school.  I can only stay awake for another 2 seconds."

  Looking at where the van was parked I realized 2 seconds was not enough time to make it to the van.  I told him my sad news. 

"Titus, 2 seconds is not enough time to make it to the van."

"Well then, I can maybe make it 3 seconds, but I really am going to fall asleep!"

We got to the van and I opened his door. "OK, we're here!  Hop on in, and buckle up!"

I get into my seat and look back.  Titus has laid down half in and half out of the van. "Titus!  Hop in quick!  I don't want you to fall out when I drive off!"  I joke.

He gets into his seat and buckles up, I look back and he is out!  Not to wake up again until the next morning. 

  Titus has been handling the change well, and he ends up with a really long sleep once a week.  It is really fun to see him work and learn so much, but I do miss him on his sleep days!

Serve Grants Pass

    I am going to start this by saying God is good! Better than good, he is AWESOME! Nick and I pitched a local military family to our home group for our Serve Grants Pass project.
   Let me tell you about the family, dad is gone on his 7th deployment leaving his wife and their 4 kids at home. I simply cannot imagine how hard this is. So in all the years I have known them, I have never seen their backyard. When I asked about it, the wife/mom filled me in.
   They had a rotting deck and  a rotten picnic bench. They had a trampoline that had a bent up frame, and no net, the legs would fall off as the kids jumped on it! They had a mixed media walkway that consisted of concrete, rock, brick, and more concrete poured over concrete and painted.
    Nick went over and took a look at it and this is what he saw;  A mixed media walk way that was angled the wrong way so every time it rained all the water ran right into their garage. There was a rotting deck and picnic table. There was a death trap trampoline in the back yard that she insisted on keeping due to it being the only thing her kids had to do in the yard.
   When the home group agreed that this would be a good project that would help tremendously we registered it with the church.
   I was really excited to help them as they are the sweetest family and they deserve to enjoy their back yard! So the deck, picnic bench and walk way were torn out during the 2 week prep prior to the Serve Grants Pass project day. I also convinced them to get rid of the trampoline. I could not promise a new one but i told them we had some fun ideas for the back yard. We laid some weed barrier and Nick built a nice frame to keep some rock in for the walk way and for under the deck. We were there every day after work for about 2 weeks doing prep work. Nick even used some vacation days to get more done. We shoveled and wheel barreled tons of rock that was given to us at a fraction of the price. We had a new trampoline donated as well as a new barbeque! Things were looking good! We did not tell the family about what it was going to look like or what we were doing. They just knew we were there, and their yard would look great! For 2 weeks we labored for our friends and ate TONS of pizza and taco bell. When project day rolled around, all we had left was the deck to build, a small fence to build and to put together a trampoline and barbeque! We had a great turnout and several people came to help with the proiect.  The kids were literally screaming and jumping, as they saw us carry the trampoline by! It was beyond worth all the hard work and effort that was put in and I am so proud of our kids and everyone else who pitched in!  GO TEAM!!