Halfway There

Today was the beginning of the second half of the school year. This is more good than it is bad. For one, the kids will be out of school soon (Yay! No more waking up early. Well, for three months anyway.) Second, summer is right around the corner. My body can't take anymore of this bone chilling, freeze you to your core weather. Lastly, it's a fresh start. This mostly applies to Trent. Kaela does well in school and I don't have to worry much about her yet. Trent, as you know I'm sure, has always been my difficult one when it comes to school. I've done everything I can to set him up to succeed. He does well with it for about a week and then he's over it. Hmm. That sounds very familiar. Anywho, he now has a tracker for school where he needs to write down all assignments and the teacher has to initial it. It was going well for a week and then he started to slack. I pretty much pleaded with him and told him I am trying to help him. I'm trying to give him the tools to succeed. I want him to graduate to high school. I asked him if he just didn't care? I asked him if the work is too hard? Why isn't he turning it in? He told me he did care. Great! He also said the work isn't hard and that maybe he is just lazy. Figures. He pulled up all his F's from 2nd quarter to C's. I'm happy with that. That's improvement. We are into a new quarter now and he has promised.....again....that he will do better and get his work in. We will see. I told him he has said that time and time again and he needs to show me he can do better. I'm staying positive and I'm thinking a fresh start will be good. I'm implementing some suggestions a friend has given me and it seems like they are working. I'm hoping he can keep his grades up. It is really hard to fail yet he manages to do it. I told him if he handed in all his work and then bombed his tests, he'd still walk away with probably a B, C at the worst. So, we are focusing on him getting all his work in and maybe not so much on the grade since getting his work in seems to be the issue. I figure as long as I'm able to check his work and help him with it he should get a decent grade anyway. I'm hoping this 2nd half is much better than the 1st half. I'm hoping he will end this year with a BANG!

Happy New Year 2012!

I don't even know where to begin. It has been so long since I have even messed with this blog. I decided to go ahead and give it another go. I look at my kids and see how fast they are growing up and think, "I wish I had kept with this to document things." Anyone who knows me knows I don't stick with things for long. I blame it on my short attention span or that I may possibly have a small case of ADD but who doesn't? Dalan can always get a laugh at me doing one thing and then all of a sudden I drop what I'm doing right in the middle and move onto to something else. This is no exaggeration. I do it a lot. It usually leads to me being overwhelmed as I look at all the things that are only halfway complete.

So, anyway, I guess I can start with Christmas 2011. That's as good of a place as any. Our Christmas started at 12:45 AM with Trent asking if we could open gifts. I asked him if Kaela sent him in to ask. He said yes. I think, "Of course she did." So, we call Kaela in and now both kids are standing at the foot of our bed bright eyed and bushy tailed. We begged for them to go to bed and we would wake up at 6:00 AM to open gifts but they just weren't giving in. Their eyes were wide open. Their smiles were from ear to ear. Dalan insisted we get up. I was (stupidly) convinced they would go back to bed. We finally gave in but not before telling Trent he would have to practice his saxophone for 10 minutes first. I have never seen that kid get downstairs so fast and put together his saxophone so quickly. After 15 minutes of practicing we gave the go ahead. They each had a whopping three things on their lists. Trent wanted an electric guitar, a ripstick and iTunes gift cards. Kaela wanted a trampoline, a ripstick and iTunes gift cards. They each got what they wanted plus a few extra little things; candy, book, DS game, Subway gift card. Dalan had a pretty unimpressive Christmas in comparison to last year when he got his Swarovski binoculars. He got a giant bag of peanut M&Ms, a body pillow (which I admit I also got as a decorative pillow for our bed) and some cologne. I got a necklace and earrings and a KitchenAid mixer which I have yet to use. After looking at all the gifts we finally went to bed at around 2:00 AM. I woke up at 6:00 AM to get ready to make the rounds.

Gifts from other family members:

Dalan & Sandy

For Dalan~ RC Helicopter which he broke not long after receiving it (his parents)

For Sandy~ Kindle Fire (Dalan's parents); Cute little pouches that you put in the microwave to heat up and you can use them on aching body parts (From my awesome niece Kinsey)

For Both~ $$ which went toward our new computer (my parents); a See's gift certificate which is basically mine :o) & and a talking fly swatter (Bill & Chrissy)

Trent

Gift cards for iTunes from both grandparents

Subway gift card and a nice Steelers blanket (my parents)

Kaela

Gift Cards for iTunes from both grandparents

DS game from my parents

My parents also got each kid those metal puzzle things you have to untangle. That drove me insane part of Christmas day. I have yet to figure it out but I also give up after about two minutes.

So, now here we are into the New Year. I am actually starting it out pretty well. I have picked up a few new good habits. Maybe not habits. Maybe more like hobbies. I actually don't even know who I am anymore. Ha, ha! Since I got the Kindle Fire from my in laws I figured I may as well use it for something other than games. I'm kind of over the games anyway. Got bored. Go figure. So I downloaded the first book that caught my attention....Hunger Games. I knew my niece had read it and my son read it in school but other than that I had not heard much about it. Oh my gosh! Such a good book! I finished it pretty quickly and I'm now on the 2nd book, Catching Fire. I am more than halfway through that one and will soon move onto Mockingjay. A few days after I began reading Hunger Games my friend Kristy posted on FB the movie is coming out in March. Awesome! I've never been able to compare a book and a movie.

The other thing I loaded onto my Kindle is this reading plan for the Bible. I really would not consider myself to be a religious person at all. I have opened the Bible and tried to read through it before and never got past the creation part. I'm serious. When my friend Shari posted something from YouVersion I think it is I clicked on it and checked it out. Turns out you can sign up for this plan and in a year you will have read the whole Bible. I figure there are probably some words of wisdom in there, being the Bible and all so I'm giving this reading plan a shot. I'm on Day 3. So far, so good.

My other newest "hobby" is working out. No, I'm not one of those who makes a resolution to get in shape and then by February have lost all interest. I've actually been going to the gym for about a month now. I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with it. My major hurdle was pulling myself out of bed while the kids were on winter break. I managed to do it and got my butt in there. I've stayed committed and I don't plan on stopping. Right now I'm going in three times a week. I do the C25K program on the treadmill and then try to fit in 20 minutes or so of weights. Hoping to have a nice toned little body by summer. Plus, I'm sure my heart loves me for it too.

Anyway, that's about all there is to post for now. Kids go back to school tomorrow. I'm trying to get my Christmas decor down without getting completely overwhelmed. I'm making progress. Just a little at a time.

Below are a couple more pictures from Christmas. Hope you all have a happy and healthy 2012!!!

It Wasn't Me

On New Years Eve we attended the annual NYE celebration at the Palladium. In the gym of the high school they have a blow up slide and a bunch of kids games. Ya know, like fish the duck out of a bucket of water. Or throw a hoop over a bowling pin. Those types of games. The kids run around to each station and get their card marked off. They then take it to the prize table where they get a bunch of NYE crap like hats, 2011 glasses, necklaces....the stuff that ends up in the garbage the next day. Anyway, it was a pretty nice night. We saw a couple high school friends and Dalan chatted away. At 7:45 PM we went to the Palladium to watch the comedian/magician. I had high hopes for this guy. I thought for sure this would be something fun. Chrissy and I were right when we said earlier, "It's Delta. How great can it be?" If I had tomatoes with me, I may have thrown one. The guy was older and not so funny. I couldn't hardly pay attention because my 3 year old nephew was more entertaining than this guy. Maybe he was more for the younger audience. Like elementary school kids. And honestly, I could hardly hear him. It took me forever to "get" his jokes. I'm slow. It's gotta be obvious for me to get it immediately and even then I sometimes won't get the joke til the next day. Dalan loves to brag to people about this. After he finished up I realized I hadn't seen Kaela in awhile and thought she must still be over in the gym at the high school so off I went to check on her. I spot her on the huge blow up slide hanging out at the top. When she comes down I approach her to ask her if she's having fun. But wait. Um...what's that smell?....EW! So, I ask Kaela, "Did you fart?" To which she replies no! Oh..k...it stinks...bad! So, I tell her that I will be in the Palladium if she needs anything and to come over when she's done. I turn around and as I'm walking off, someone else walks up to the same spot I was standing in...and it still kind of smelled. She kind of looked at me as I walked off which left me wondering did she think it was me who cut the cheese? I swear it wasn't. It very well could have been one of the kids on the slide or in line. They drop 'em anywhere, anytime. They don't care. I know this from subbing. After I knew Kaela was fine we headed back over to watch Charlie Jenkins perform. Once he was finished we headed out to my sisters for snacks and to watch the ball drop in New York. That was my NYE. The incident by the blow up slide just may have been the highlight of it. Oh joy.

Happy New Year

Everyone is posting their resolutions and looking back on 2010 so I thought maybe I would do the same thing. Who am I to not follow the crowd? I'm not one to really make a New Years Resolution. Usually for most it's just something they resolve to do for a couple weeks and then stop or start (depending on your resolution) doing it again. For me its really just the closing of the year and the opening of a New Year. New plans. New adventures. Getting older. New things to look forward to.

So, 2010 was mostly a great year. The good definitely outweighs the bad. So many memories were made. New friends were made. A few were lost...my grandma, my aunt Terri and our dear friend Ren. They are all missed by many. I really don't know what my hopes are for 2011. I already have a few plans made for the first half of the year. I'm sure 2011 will go by just as quickly as 2010 did. I guess my only hope is to enjoy each and every year as much as I have enjoyed the previous. And I guess I hope my adventures never end. Life is short and I'm trying to live it to the fullest. At least as full as my bank account will allow. I hope life stays busy. I know that makes it go by faster but at least it makes it enjoyable. I hope you all have a fantastic New Year. If 2010 wasn't your year, then make 2011 your year. Your life is what you make it. You are in the drivers seat.

The Hidden Gift

Christmas morning Kaela seemed a little bummed out. Like maybe she didn't get something that maybe she may have wanted. I asked her numerous times if something was missing and she said, "I don't know." She wouldn't give in. We went over her list later that night to see what she may have wanted but didn't get. Her birthday is in February so once Christmas passes I'm looking for ideas for her birthday. The only things on her list that she didn't get were a DS game or two, waterproof gloves and she also asked that Trent would get coal. So, nothing on there too major that was a have to have for her. Discussion ended, problem solved? and we didn't talk about it again.

Yesterday while putting a few of the gifts away that were sitting under the tree Kaela found something. I was in the kitchen asking her to bring me a couple things I had found a place for when I heard from the living room, "Mom. Uh...I found a present we didn't open." Me and Dalan, surprised, asked where she found it and then questioned how in the world she missed it. She said it was sitting behind a couple Scentsy boxes I had under the tree and it said it was to her from Santa. She was giggly and seemed pretty excited about it. She brought it into the kitchen where we looked it over and were kind of puzzled. We gave her the go ahead to open it and she was pretty excited to see it was an iPod Touch. Later that night Dalan asked her, "So did you get everything you wanted for Christmas." She said, "No." He asked her what she wanted that she didn't get. She referred him to the list that her and I went over Christmas night.

Was this really absorbed?

Through the years I have always tried to teach the kids that Christmas is also about giving and not just receiving. One of the little things I would do to try and teach them this is to pick out toys for Toys 4 Tots. They would ask why we have to buy other kids toys and explaining that to a kid is kind of hard if you know what I mean. I'd always tell them it's for families whose parents can't afford to get their kids a gift from them so we are just helping the parents out. I try to make it known to them that they are very lucky to have the things that they have because some kids just aren't that lucky. I never knew if they were really absorbing what I was telling them or if they were just doing that "yeah, yeah" that kids do and just went with the whole buy the toy and drop it in the box thing. That is until about a week ago when I found this little gem and I thought well maybe they are listening or at least getting it. Well, at least one of them.



"Dear Santa,



All I want for Christmas the most is you to bring us joy. The things that I learned for the last nine years that Christmas is not only about presents it's about family getting together and having fun. I hope you give everyone hope peace and love. Let's hope I don't get to much Christmas dinner in one night. I hope that when I wake up tomorrow I see tons and tons of hope peace and love. This is from my whole family "Merry Christmas". Good night Santa Claus.

Love your friend,
Kaela Dutson"

A test? YES!

The first two or three weeks of school for Trent was going so well. He had all A's! But I knew it wouldn't last long. I logged onto the school website to just look at what classes he would be missing if Dalan pulled him out of school early. While looking at that I saw his grades had fallen. He had two C's..maybe three..and a D+. WHAT!?! We ended up pulling him out of football until his grades came up. I check his grades weekly so I was completely puzzled as to why such a big drop. One of his C's was in Band. I asked how in the world do you get anything but an A in Band. I asked him, "Are you talking in class?" Apparently there was a test he didn't do so well on. There aren't going to be many assignments in Band so that's gonna be a hard one to pull up. He's gonna have to be on his best behavior. The D+ was in Spanish. They had one assignment so far and he bombed it. Big time. I guess they rarely get assignments or tested in that class, for now anyway, so every assignment is gonna count. I made sure to tell him that. One assignment can make a HUGE difference. So, yesterday (and this is Trent's story so who knows if it's exaggerated or true) the kids were acting up and the teacher asked the class, "Do you want a test?" While most of the class shouted "no" Trent quickly shouted out "YES!" knowing he needed a good score so he could go to his football game last night. I guess the teacher said, "Trent wants a test so we'll take one." Oh how that class must have hated him. He ended up getting a 10/11 I think. He came home and begged me to check his grades. I told him I didn't think it would be entered plus I had just checked them an hour or two before. So, back to the website I go and there it is....a B+ in Spanish. I had told him that and he still looked bummed. I couldn't figure out why. He then said, "I can't believe it's still a D+." I told him, "No. A B+. As in boy." His head whipped around so quick I thought it was gonna fall off. Dalan didn't even think it would be updated yet. Pretty funny. So, he was able to go to his game and play. As of last night he has A's and B's and just that one pesky C in Band. Hopefully he can keep his grades up and we don't have to deal with this anymore. He is so smart and is capable of all A's. I know he is. He just needs to apply himself more. I just don't think he understands that he's at an age now where when the teacher tells you there is going to be a test, you better bring home your book and study.

The teachers are doing an awesome job keeping everything updated on the website. It is so nice. Last year and throughout elementary they only updated it at the end of the quarter. Elementary still does that. This year, for Trent anyway, they will post assignments and what score they got on the assignment. They are so good at keeping up with it that I will find myself checking his grades twice a week sometimes. The school e-mails me his grades once a week too. It's so nice. They will even e-mail me if he is late to class or absent. Poor kid. He won't get away with nearly as much as I did in school. I'm just hoping that this year will be better than last and we won't be hustling the last two weeks of the last two quarters to catch him up and get his grades where they should be. I have already told him I absolutely will not under no circumstance go in and talk to his teachers about his grade this year. I did once last year and then the next time he was responsible for it. This year it's all on him. I figure he is the one who got the bad grade and now he is old enough to ask and figure out what he can do about it. Besides, there is no way I am gonna hunt down seven teachers.

Fingers crossed we aren't down this road again.