New School Year

We have officially started another school year!

Emma is a sophomore at Windsor High. Grace is in 5th grade. Cooper is in 1st grade and Henry is in the Dragonfly class in Pre-K. 

Emma actually started last week. She has classes with friends and likes all of her teachers so far. She has stories about her health teacher each day she has that class. 

We are still working out her schedule but should have it settled in the next week. 

High Sschool is so different than when I was in school. Emma has a block schedule with at most four classes a day. Right now she can start as early as 8 am or as late as 11:20 and get out as early as 1:50 and as late as 3:35. I've had to write her schedule day by day in my planner to keep track. 

Emma had a very successful first year and her transcript shows her ranked #1 in her class of almost 500. 

Grace is in 5th grade this year. This is the year of Survivor!  Emma loved her Survivor challenges and Grace is very excited about hers. Mrs. Jardine is her teacher again. She was a good fit in 3rd grade and I am hoping this year will be another success. 

Cooper is in Mrs. King's 1st grade. Shaylene was Emma's junior high small group leader so I feel confident that she loves the kids and loves The Lord. 

Cooper has been having an awful attitude this summer and I am hoping that Mrs. King and Mrs. Dick can help to turn that around. 

Henry is very excited about being the big kid on campus. He keeps telling me how the new friends at school won't know the rules and he will teach them the rules. We've never had Mrs. Greenley so I am curious to see how she runs her class. 

Henry very much wants to be big and in charge and I'm hoping he feels more empowered and in control of himself this year. 

Top Secret Personal Beeswax

Being a working mom is HARD... especially with school aged kids. They do so many fun things during the day and it is disappointing for both of us when Mom can't be there to join in.

That I why I make a concerted effort to attend as many things as possible. I try to go to just about every soccer and basketball game. When I have to miss one I make sure Daddy, Grammie or Grampa is there. I go to Girl Scout events, ballet recitals and special plays, concerts and performances.

I also try to go on at least one field trip with each child each year.  Last Friday was my turn to go with Grace. I went with her class to see a Junie B Jones play. I had seen an earlier version of the play with Emma Jo when she was in 2nd grade. Just like that time I was engrossed in the play. It was quite fun to see how many characters there were in the play with just a handful of actors. It was also great fun to remember all of the stories from reading them with Emma. It made me realize that I need to dig them out of boxes so that Grace can read them before she is too old to enjoy them.

Cha-Cha-Cha

Each Tuesday night we have a mad scramble in our house, especially now that basketball is in full swing.  This past fall, Emma Jo started taking ballroom dance lessons at 7pm each Tuesday. It has become a tradition at our school for the 7th and 8th graders to participate in Nordquist dance in Santa Rosa.
This is the first year that Emma is old enough and I was eager for her to participate.  I think it is important to try as many new experiences as you can.  You never know what you will love until you try it. At first she wasn't sure if she wanted to participate but soon it became "when can we go shopping for Nordquist dresses?". Thankfully Grammies was more than happy to help out with that request.

I love that not only are the kids learning dances like the swing, Cha Cha, and waltz but they are also learning etiquette and manners. We are part of a car pool so I only get to go to watch every five weeks but the times I have gone there were lessons on walking a girl onto and off of the dance floor, standing when a woman approaches the dinner table, tying a necktie, helping a girl put on her coat and dressing in a way appropriate for the occasion.

This week I was amazed to see how much the kids have learned in such a short amount of time. They were doing the night club two step and knew many moves and actually looked like they were dancing!

Grandparent's Day

Each year on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the kids' school hosts Grandparent's Day. This year, as in years past, the kids put on a patriotic program to honor their Grandparents and their County.


This year Cooper got to invite Grammie and Grampa to his preschool. This was his first "event" at school and he was so excited to show off for his grandparents. I was told that he latched on to Grammie and didn't want to let her go when his program was over.


Grace loves to sing and be the center of attention. She has been telling me about her Grandparents poem all week.


The junior high did a flag ceremony and honored veterans. Emma's job was to carry the American Flag. She was very happy to have that role but told me it was "so annoying" that the flag weighed so much.

Zoo Field Trip

I've been having a really hard time lately. I feel like I'm being pulled in too many directions. I'm trying to be a good wife, mom and employee and I feel like I'm failing at all of them.

This past week Grace's class had a field trip to the San Francisco Zoo. Even though I felt incredibly guilty for taking the time off work since I have so much to do there, I promised Grace that I would drive on the trip. Originally we were going to take Henry with us. After thinking about it, I decided to leave him with Connie and spend the day one-on-one with Grace. One major part of my mommy guilt the last few months is that Grace doesn't get the attention she is craving. I feel like she is always given the short end of the stick since she is so easy going. This was my opportunity to give her 100% attention.

On our drive down to the city she talked non-stop. The only times she was quiet was when we were going through the tunnels.

When we got to the Zoo she was so excited!

Can you see that she lost her 3rd tooth last week.

The number one thing Gracie wanted to see was the Koalas.

Grace really liked the polar bear, lion and penguins.
I thought the meerkats were adorable.

I think she had a great time!

Sonoma County Robotics Challenge

For the past several months, Emma Jo has given up her lunch recess in order to build her first robot. Windsor Christian Academy offers the junior high students the opportunity to participate in a Robotics Club which is formed to compete in the county wide robotics challenge.

Emma and her friend, Veronica, formed a team and decided to compete in the free form challenge. This year's theme was Robots That Dance. The girls built a simple robot but worked very hard on the programming of its dance.

I had no idea what was in store for us when Emma, Henry and I left the house at 6:30 Saturday morning to get to the competition. The day was typical of any organized activity. Hurry up and wait. With over 200 competitors, there was a lot of waiting.

Windsor Christian had a team of 6 people and 4 robots. Emma's team was the first to compete.


Later in the morning the "Follow the Line" competition took place.

Then we had one more freestyle robot compete. Unfortunately I didn't get any picture of it due to a hungry Henry.
We stayed around for the awards ceremony and were stunned to get a 3rd and 1st place in the Free Form event.

Then we got a 1st place in the Line Following event.

Then after another wait they announced the overall awards.
We were elated to get the "Team Spirit" award.

And in complete disbelief to get the overall "Golden Propeller Award" which was the Grand Champion of all awards.

Four trophies for four robots and six students isn't too shabby. Especially when you consider that only one student was a returning competitor.

We headed back to Windsor for a celebratory Frozen Yogurt and gathered our teammate who missed most of the awards ceremony.

Champions!

The the past couple of months, Emma Jo has been playing on the WCA 7th Grade Girls Basketball Team. This is her 2nd year playing on the team (and she is ONLY a 6th grader). Emma has learned a lot about the game thanks to great coaches and her skills have improved dramatically. She is an excellent rebounder and a pretty good shot as well. She is a post so her main responsibilities are preventing shots and getting rebounds. Her efforts were part of what helped her team capture the pennant last Friday evening!

Proud Mommy

I sure am a proud mommy.

1st Grace - Grace read me this story last night. When I finally got a chance to see it I was surprised by how well she is writing, both her penmanship and how well she sounds out words and tries to guess how they are spelled. She told me that the requirement was to write 4 sentences, but she "filled the whole page!" I think this is pretty good for a 1st grader.

Next Emma - Emma Jo's 7th Grade Girls Basketball team is currently in the playoffs for their league. They came in to the playoffs ranked 2nd since they lost one game in the season. Last night was the first game of the playoffs and THEY WON! Today is game 2. I'm very proud of how well she is doing, how much she has improved over last year, and the fact that this is her 2nd year on the 7th grade team and she is still only in 6th grade. Just think how good she'll be as a 7th grader!

Then Cooper - Cooper is learning so much at Preschool! He comes home singing new songs, telling me about animals and plants, and examining everything to see what it is made out of. The other day when I asked him what letter he was learning about (they have a letter of the week each week), he couldn't tell me the name, but he could show me the sign!

And Finally Henry - Henry has learned how to crawl! He has been getting by with scooting and reaching lately, but he is now officially a crawler. He has good form and is now working on the speed! Now I need to start baby-proofing!

Preschooler!

Cooper John is getting to be such a big boy! He started preschool at the beginning of January (although he insists it is Kindergarten). I love our daycare provider, but I felt Cooper was ready for more challenges and opportunities. Thankfully we have a great preschool that is part of our church and the girls' school so I knew just where to send him.
I anticipated a rough drop-off the first morning. Surely he would be worried in a new environment with new friends and teachers he had never met. But no, he walked right in like the big boy he is and promptly told me to "go home Mommy". I hadn't considered the fact that he goes to Sunday school in the same building every week. Each morning when I take him to school we put his lunch box in his cubby and walk him into the morning room. He gives me a kiss, opens the door and ushers me out.
I am amazed at all he is learning at school. He is learning letters, the sound, shape and sign language for them. He is learning Bible stories, Bible verses and songs. He has told me about Noah and his ark, animals and the rainbow. He has told me about David and Goliath and the stone. He is singing about "The B-I-B-L-E, That's the Book for Me" and about having a "Little Turtle, His name is Tiny Tim". Cooper brings home "projects" everyday and asks me to display them on my bulletin board at work. He is making new friends and actually knows some of their names now. He loves his teachers, especially Ms. Maricle whom he prays for just about every night.

I can't believe how big he is getting and how much fun he is!

Back to School

On August 18th, the girls went Back to School. Emma Jo started 6th Grade and Grace is now in 1st Grade. Grace is delighted to have Mrs. Codding for a teacher (and Mrs. Stadum for a substitute) and Emma Jo is thrilled that they are now upstairs in the Jr. High. In Jr. High the students get lockers and Emma came home from school on the first day with the exciting news that she got a top locker!

All four kids in front of the house on our way off to school. Cooper keeps asking when he gets to go to "Grace's Kindergarten".

In front of the sign at school.

Gracie and one of her best friends, Matthew waiting to go into class. They have been together since she was 12 weeks old and started daycare.

Group shot of the 6th Grade before they head upstairs on their new adventure.