D - Parent/Teacher Conferences

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!  Annoying "My kid is better than your kid" post to follow!

If Mike and I looked as if we had gained a little weight a couple of weeks ago, it was really just our chests puffed up with pride after the glowing parent/teacher conferences that we had.  I know it can be REALLY irritating to listen to others brag on their kids, so feel free to quit reading now.  You'll still be my friend.  I just don't want to forget what their teachers said because it filled our hearts with such pride.

Our first conference was Miss Katie's.  Truly, we weren't worried in the slightest going into this one.  We already knew that we had a people-pleaser, perfectionist, smarty-pants, so we pretty much knew what we were walking into.  In addition to confirming all of this for us, her cute little teacher told us, "Katie is just a pleasure to have in class.  She's such a leader.  All of the kids love her and look to her as an example.  All of the boys want HER for their girlfriend.  She's just sooo sweet!"  She also told us all about Katie's reading level and how she has her in the advanced reading and math groups in class.  We were just so proud of her. 

When I was telling Katie some of the nice things Mrs. Winegeart said about her, there was only one thing that stuck out in her mind - ALL of the boys liking her. 

"What????  She said that????  Which boys?  Did she say 'Ryan?' I can't believe ALL of the boys like me!" 

Oh, my!  I had no idea the can of worms I was opening by telling her that.  She went on and on and on that whole night.  I think Mike may have died a little bit inside.  :-)

Annoyed yet?  I still have one more kid to go!

Noah's conference was just as great - maybe even a little better.  You see, we had lower expectations.  Noah has quite the reputation around our house for being lazy.  It is so hard to get him to do things to help out.  It's a constant nagging effort to get his shoes and socks out of the living room, his wet towels off the bedroom floor, his empty wrappers or apple cores into the trash can, etc, etc, etc.

So, we went into his conference prepared to talk to his teacher about how lazy this kid is and hoping that was perfectly normal 4th grade boy behavior and getting some sort of plan for how to motivate him.  Turns out, he saves up all that laziness for us.  Apparently he's completely worn out from being a superstar at school, so by the time he gets home he just has nothing left to give.  ;-)

Ms. Agee started out by telling us just how amazing he is.  "You just have such a great kid!  He's the class leader in AR points and has already lapped some of the other kids around our scoring track.  He's our student council rep, and I'm not surprised at all because he got almost all of the votes.  Everyone likes him.  He's making really good choices in friends.  They are all nice kids and keep away from the girls and their drama." 

And more... "He was the 2nd place AR point leader in the ENTIRE 4th grade for the first 9 weeks.  Today we had the top 3 scorers stand up during our huddle time and talk to the other students about reading and encourage them to enjoy it more.  We didn't give them any warning that they were going to do that, and Noah's talk was AMAZING!  All of the teachers were standing around with their mouths hanging open and Ms. Knapp (his reading teacher) and I were arguing over just whose student he was."

More still... "He's one of the smartest kids in our class, but you would never know it by the way he treats the others.  Some of the other bright kids like to show others how much smarter they are, but Noah GENUINELY wants to see the other students succeed.  He is so encouraging and happy for their successes.  He never looks down on any of them."

Wow!  I worked hard to not tear up on that one.  I did KNOW all of that was in him, but sometimes it gets obscured by all of that laziness.  It's always nice to hear it from someone else.  She was pretty amazed when I told her what I thought we would be talking about and said she's often surprised by what parents say their kids are like at home.

One of the things I questioned was his AR goal for the 2nd 9 weeks.  His goal for the first 9 weeks was 40 points - he got 120 points.  I was completely shocked when he came home telling me that he and his teacher decided to set his goal for the second 9 weeks at 40 points.  Huh?  Did I miss something?  Why is she letting him get away with that???  Make him not be lazy!  Make him challenge himself!!!

Turns out, it wasn't laziness there either.  Noah and the teacher recognized that he got the majority of his points last quarter from 3 Harry Potter books that had high point values.  Since he's now tested on ALL of the HP books, he doesn't have those massive points to count for him anymore.  She said they were concerned that he would start having a harder time finding books that interested him in the school library and that the librarian actually would have to start pulling books from a back room stash that they have reserved for kids reading above the school's level.  Wow.  Wow.  Wow.

Mike wants me to add that his teacher questions have never been about grades, but that he is generally most interested in how our kids treat both the other kids and the teacher.  Given the great reviews there, he couldn't be more pleased.

Here are some of the quotes from Ms. Agee's written conference notes:

Strengths:

• A real leader in class.  Motivates/encourages others.
• Noah has a firm knowledge of basic math facts which will be helpful with future concepts.
• Rises to challenges willingly and enjoys his "lightbulb moments."

Goals:

• Continue to work on automaticity of multiplication facts.
• Show mastery of math concepts by scoring "Advanced" on math OCCT again this year.
• Keep up the exceptional behavior & work habits.

And Ms. Knapp's written notes:

Strengths:

• Noah turns in quality work.  He takes pride in his work.  He has a joy for reading that has rubbed off on others in his class!
• Noah is friendly, respectful, and considerate towards authority and peers.
• Noah shows support to all peers and is always cheering them along.

Goals:

• Continue to show master of Reading concepts
• Continue to keep his positive outlook on life!

Well, I'm one proud mama, and Mike is one extremely proud dad.  In fact, he's the one that forced my hand and had me blog all of this so we don't forget it.  Hopefully you don't hate us too much for all of the bragging.  It just couldn't be helped.  Sometimes it's not good enough for parents to treasure things up in their hearts.  Sometimes they just have to see them all typed out!

D - Memories of a Great Man

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and never actually posted it.  It's now slightly out of context but still really meaningful to me, so I wanted to go ahead and include it here.

I am currently driving (well, riding) in the van in what I hope to be the final hour of a very long day of traveling home from CO.  As I play solitaire on my iPad, it's not long until I find my mind drifting to happy memories of my precious grandpa.

I guess it's been 3 years now since he passed. Is that right? How can that be? I can still imagine hugging his skinny little waist in his button-up shirt and feeling his arms around me as I soak in the comfort that comes from being with someone who loves me so unconditionally.

The funny thing about my memories of him is that they come to me so randomly. Playing cards is an obvious one. Cutting up a salad was always his job, so that's a frequent reminder. Every time I see it, I always like to imagine that the Cheshire-cat grinning moon that was out shortly after he died is him looking down on me and smiling like only his ornery self could do. Wiping off my table after meals reminds me of the time he told me he would get some caulk and fill in the ridges in my table that, while I love them for the way they look, he found obnoxious because they collected crumbs. I have many other random memories, but, the funny thing is, every random memory is a happy one.

The reason I started writing these thoughts, though, is that I was struck with the thought that I only have vague recollections of ever seeing him quietly reading his bible. This is certainly not to say he didn't do it. My grandma is probably screaming in her head right now as she reads this. The point is, I'm certain this is something he did, it's just not something that I remember seeing.

What I do remember is that he lived his bible. Any time I am asked to think of someone in my life who I've seen model Christian wisdom, strength, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control, he is my example. Wow! When I started that list, I really didn't even plan on going through all of the fruits like that. But as I started them, they just kept rolling out and I found myself marveling that they were all true. What an amazing legacy.

Oh how I miss that beautiful man. I am so very thankful for who he was and for who he continues to be for me - a true inspiration. A tangible, touchable, huggable example of God's love here on earth. How I long to be with the source of all that beauty.

D - A Decade Later

See this kid?

Well, 10 years ago today, he looked a little more like this.

I believe my first words upon seeing the little guy were something like, "How big IS he???"

You see, at the time, he seemed HUGE.  And, in baby terms, he was.  9lbs, 7 oz to be exact.  Big, no?

It turns out, he was small.

He was my baby.

I'm crying.

You see, I just loved that little guy so very much.  And now, I love this big guy so much that I can barely see this screen as I type.  Wow.

Thank you, God, for my precious, precious boy with the great big heart, encouraging attitude, adventurous spirit, and competitive nature.  Thank you that he wants to do what is good.  He wants to be the best possible son, brother, cousin, friend, grandson, nephew, christian, athlete, student, Harry Potter spell-caster/wand-maker, monster truck driver, fisherman, frog-hunter, tether ball player that this world has ever seen.  And you gave him to me.  Thank you for the joy that he has given me and the many, many lessons I have learned that have come with the privilege of being his mother.

PS - I am neither sappy nor emotional.

D - Summer - Part 1

Well, you know you're doing a lousy job of blogging when you look at your "10 latest visitors" stats and see that #10 was here 18 days ago.  Oops!  Sorry folks.  So much for my New Year's Resolution.  I guess in a couple of months when you check on me again, I will at least have this one up.

Summer has been very busy for us.  I'm not entirely sure what we've been doing, but I know it's been enough that the "lazy days of summer" has no meaning around here.  We have been spending our time with friends, swimming, going to the Y, Sonshine School, the ice skating rink, the lake, the movies,  church camp and who knows where/what else.

Mike and I both celebrated birthdays in June and we had our 16th wedding anniversary earlier this month. The kids wanted to be sure our birthdays were special, so here is Mike's little party:

And Katie made sure that I had mine as well:

We've not yet managed to get away for a family vacation, but Mike and I did escape for some couple-time back in June. Mike had to go to a conference at the Four Seasons in Dallas, so I tagged along while my VERY wonderful MIL took our kids to Ardmore to visit the fam there.

It's not often that we find ourselves being pampered in quite the way we were that weekend. Not only were we in an AMAZING hotel, but they made a mistake with our room and wound up upgrading us to an $800+ per night hotel suite. Wow!

A view of the living areas (yes, that is supposed to be plural)

The bedroom

  Our largest balcony (of the 3)

And the gym (that, oddly enough, I was very excited to get to use)

I guess we didn't get any pictures of the bathrooms (Yep! Again with the plural.)

I'm not really sure what the kids did in Ardmore or what Mike did at his conference, but I was here.

 
by the pool

reading a book

a WHOLE book

and people checked on me and brought me things and life was good.

Oh....and Mike was there some too.

D - My Kid in Motion

Today the YMCA began the first day of their Kids In Motion summer program.  It offers different activity classes for kids to participate in while their parents are working out, and my kiddos went to it last summer as well.  Noah has really been looking forward to it.....Katie, not so much.  Last year she spent some time in tears over it.  After all, it's intended for kids ages 7-12 and she was.....well....5. 

Her main problem with it is that it is full of little competitive games - relay races, Red Rover, hula hoop contests, things like that.  While she did LOVE the yoga class they offered, she hated those little games.  Because she has an older brother who is INCREDIBLY competitive and athletic, she has been losing every competition she's ever been in for her entire life.  She has NO confidence in herself, and refuses to compete....EVER.  It makes me crazy.  It breaks my heart to see her put herself down and not even try just because she doesn't want to lose.  But I'm on a bit of a tangent here.....

Anyhow, she was dreading it a bit.  I told her to give it a try for just 30 minutes today, and if she hated it, we would just not go on Mondays.  So, she begrudgingly gave it a shot.  She admitted to crying just a little (though she tried her best to fight the tears) when they started playing Red Rover, but the nice college girl told her she didn't have to play, so she was happy then.

Now I'm finally getting around to the whole point of this blog!

When I went to pick her up, the sweet college intern told me that Katie did great, and that "Wow!  She is fast!"  This came as no surprise to me because we've been watching her run down the soccer field for a couple of years now.  Katie was beaming with pride, and she and Noah excitedly told me about how she had run a relay race against an 11 year old boy who had a head start on her, and Katie still beat him!  Noah said more kids were chanting "Katie" than for any other kid out there!

In her pride, Katie, the girl who HATES it when I tell stories about her, informed me that this is a story she doesn't mind if I "put on the internet."  So, there you have it!

D - Land Run & Mother's Day Tea

I just want to quickly highlight a couple of fun days the kids had at school this year.  They both had awesome years full of great grades, good friends, and wonderful teachers.  Noah's teacher, Mrs. Crampton, was one of my favorite that either kid has ever had, and Katie just loved Mrs. Carter.  Thanks for the great year, Washington Irving!

Now, if these pictures don't bring back memories for you, you weren't raised in Oklahoma.

That's right, it's Land Run time!!!  Noah got to participate in this year's 3rd grade run back in April.  His "family" of all boys got together and built this wagon.

Funny thing is, he didn't get to help build it because he was at LTC, yet he still wound up being the one pulling it.  How did that happen, you ask?  Because he was the 2nd fastest kid in the family.  The fastest kid ran ahead and claimed their land while Noah got the wagon there as quickly as he could.  ;)

Once there, they were able to feast on their sack lunches.

This day was the highlight of their year-long study of Oklahoma history, and they loved it!

Katie's special day was special for me too - her Mother's Day Tea.  I was greeted at her classroom door where I walked a red butcher-paper-carpet and was announced by my beautiful daughter over a microphone and handed a carnation by that same cutie.

She melts my heart!

Then she escorted me to my table where I found all sorts of cards and crafts that she had made for me.  So precious!  Next, she went through the food line and served me cookies and fruit and punch.  She was so sweet and smiling from ear to ear the whole time and was so anxious to do everything right and make sure I had a wonderful time.

They also did a little program where they sang songs and did a poem, but I have no pics of that.  I pulled out the video camera for that one, and I can't possibly be expected to do both!!!

It was a really special day for both of us.  I love you, Katie Elisabeth!!!



D - LTCEaster Weekend

This year marked a huge turning point for us as a family with our first LTC experience.  Easter weekend as we have known them shall be no more.  (Moment of silence as I mourn the loss of favorite holiday traditions) That said, I really am excited about this new stage of life as we start to grow our babies into teenagers and then adults who will someday be the leaders in their churches.  (Sniff, Sniff)

Because I am really reluctant to change my routines and do anything new (Surprise!), I tried to talk my gung-ho son into easing us into LTC by not being in too terribly many activities.  So, Noah ONLY participated in Bible Quiz, Small Chorus, Service Challenge and Puppets this year. 

He started out in February(?) really fired up, but soon the tears started flowing every Sunday as he "never had ANY free time to do what he wanted to do!" His main complaint every week came from Bible Quiz.  He just HATED it!  Truth be told, I thought it was way too much to ask of a 3rd grader to prepare for a 200 question quiz over the book of Revelation with no study guide, but we decided not to let him drop out because he was committed to a team.  So.....he stuck with it.  I wound up joining the coaching team and became more familiar with what was expected of him, and he and I worked hard every day those last couple of weeks before LTC.

Fast forward to LTC weekend...... As we entered the ballroom for Bible Quiz, Noah's first event, a massive storm was forming outside.  Not 10 minutes before the event was to begin, the entirety of LTC as well as all of the guests of the hotel where the event was held were encouraged to file into the ballroom as it was the storm shelter, and a tornado was likely.  Yikes!  It was crazy crowded in there!  The whole group (I've heard 2,000) sang praises for about 45 minutes as the storm passed us by.  It was beautiful.....and mildly frightening!

Once given the "all clear," we began the test.  I was a judge at another table and was able to see Noah throughout the competition.  It was so fun to watch.  I could see the energy and enthusiasm in his body language and just knew he was loving it.  Was I ever right!  After the 4th test, he came running over to my table and told me that he had just taken the multiple choice section for his team and hadn't missed any of them.  He was so pumped and yelled as he ran back to his table that he was DEFINITELY doing Bible Quiz again next year.  Oh.....Yay????!?????!

Turns out, his team got 96 out of 200 correct.  Maybe not the best percentage, but they were proud.  His coach and I were so disappointed for them though because we think they were only 4 questions away from getting a bronze medal.  As it is, they got absolutely nothing for all that hard work.  So sad!  BUT, Noah had a wonderful first experience. 

His Small Chorus sang beautifully and got a gold...

And his puppet team got a silver.  Noah really loved puppets and did a great job as a sports announcer ("NB") interviewing a basketball team.  He was also very proud that a picture of him and his puppet wound up in the Christian Chronicle for all the world to see!

We got really lucky on Noah's schedule and were able to leave Arkansas early afternoon on Saturday.  We hustled home so we would have time to dye some Easter eggs.

Fun, as always!

On Easter morning, the kids endured having pictures made before diving into their Easter baskets.  Isn't she pretty???

They've learned to be pretty good sports about that.

At church that morning, Noah's puppet team did their show during bible hour, and then we headed home for a quick lunch.  While there, the kids decided that they weren't interested in going to the church's egg hunt that we always attend.  I was a little disappointed because I like traditions, but it was awfully nice to have a little down time on such a busy weekend.  Because it was rainy and cold outside, we had to do our own egg hunt in the house.  Odd.

We did manage to slip outside for a family pic because that is what we do.....

And we finished off the weekend by going to the LTC awards ceremony and then watching Noah's chorus perform after church.  It was such a busy time but so very important.  Noah, of course, ended up loving it all, so I have no doubt there will be many crazy weekends like this in our future.