Thursday, September 25, 2014

Wow, 2 Months Since Last Post..........School, Life.........Etc.

Hey there small group of blog readers............

Has it really been 2 mos since my last post???

Where to begin..........

Summer eased on through.  It was quiet.  We had small moments of fun but mostly it was a quiet one.  Dave was working long hours winding up the company he worked for, to go to a new company that was taking over the business of the old one.  Sound confusing?  It was, but suffice it to say he got on with the new company in a managerial position.  Still more hours, lots of them, 10 hour days, 6 days a week.  So life at home is still hard with him only having one day off but we are managing.  We are glad he has a job to go to.  The stress of the many hours he worked over the summer are gone and we made it through.  Life experiences are good.  LGA did not go to summer school for the first time in 2 yrs and so she was home and could relax more. I think it was good for her.  Dave was home in the am for breakfast and we sat down as a family to have it.  Dinner was late as he was not home till after 7, sometimes 8, and even longer, 9.  He had an 8pm conference call with new co during transition so often times our dinners were interrupted.  But we made it and the growth I think was good.

School started in August.  The girls were not super happy or ready for it, but so far for the most part, everyone is doing ok.  BGA is in 7th.  For the first month of school, I didn't push.  She said she had done her homework at school.  I left it.  We have had epic homework battles in the past, both when she has said she had no homework, and then find out on report card (5th grade) that she DID have it and just chose not to do it at home or bring it home.  So last year I became friends with her teacher and I became pro active and she succeeded.  She had the best year ever, Honor Roll for the first time at the end of the year, and 5 points away from Advanced. I had really high hopes for this year.  Then came the Progress Report.  F in Math.  So, we have buckled down again, figured out what needed to be done (homework comes home instead of being done in school, Dave works with her after working a 10 hour day, in the evenings) and are doing it.  The results showed up right away.  When BGA did her homework she, I suspect in some of her subjects, has guessed on the answers a lot.  In 7th grade math she cannot guess.  She has to show her work. She didn't show her work.  When I looked at a test she had gotten an F on I pointed out that the teacher had asked her to show her work and she hadn't. Her answer?  "Yes I did."  Hm...........so Dave's working with her on showing her work.  After one huge epic homework battle, that did not go well, I have talked to both of them and gotten them back on track.  Last night went much better and BGA actually sat down while waiting on LGA's bus, when it was quiet and did some of her work to show her dad last night. Homework actually got completed on time a day early.  This is all good, because BGA made the volleyball team, a jersey has been purchased and practice has started.  In order to be on the team her grades need to be ok.  Her PE teacher Ms. M, likes her and told her to just try really hard on her math.  So we now are entering the phase of school sports.  Some games are on the weekend.  BGA also has a new friend this year, named L.  I am hoping it works out for them.  Girls are really picky and selective and it's been hard for BGA to fit in.  She had a friend from her previous school who she met her first year at this school, 2 yrs ago.  Lots of girl issues as the girl had a new friend who didn't like BGA and didn't want her to be the other girl's friend.  So BGA struggled a bit.  It was decided after an incident last year, that we would put BGA in the counselors peer group. It has appeared to help her.  She was also in leadership but lost out to that due to not putting it as her first elective and then going into a remedial math class to get the math grade up.  Vice Principal told me if she does well in this math class she can request another elective.  So far we are surviving middle school (the school goes K-8 so same school she was in previous 2 yrs).  School became full magnet this year so I believe Middle school now starts in 6th grade instead of 7th.

LGA is doing well too. She is learning to read, and the teacher bumped up her reading level so we are learning new words in the story she has to read each week.  Math has been bumped up a bit too. More homework for her as well this year. She is in special ed day class 5th grade adjusted.  She still has the same teacher she has had for the previous 2 yrs and this has been very good for her. I am hoping we can have the teacher for one more year, but not sure how that will go as now the school is middle school in 6th. I guess we will see.  I am just glad she has the same aide and teacher. This teacher is excellent as well.  Lots of issues coming up as LGA's class is now on the big playground (after the teacher pulling them all last year and putting the class on the small playground for recess, PE, lunch recess).  So we have had more issues and behaviors as we did last year.  I am hoping that it eases a bit, but kids are not very nice to the special ed kids so I am listening and watching, ready to step in at the IEP meeting in Dec with requests.  I have seen some growth in LGA and at 10, she's maturing and no longer the little girl she once was.  It's life, but I am sad to see the little girl go.  But enjoying this stage with her as some maturity has emerged too.  I have to share a funny story.  LGA has been reading a book as mentioned, and she will write sentences from the phonic words.  So she's been really good this year at writing sentences.  Some of them are very basic, but as she's coming up with the sentences, I think it's cool.  SO........one sentence was, I am cute with my cat shirt.  Only she left the r out........ha!  I didn't notice it as I didn't check them, was cooking dinner so just said, "Oh you are done? Ok put your homework in your backpack then."  LOL.  So it came back with the corrected word to shirt on it.  I couldn't help but laugh.  Poor kid was so upset about it too. I am sure I told her how to spell it as I was cooking but if I don't go slow enough the processing speed is about 10 mins behind so she didn't hear all the letters I bet. Teacher said it was ok in the note that came back.

I made a short trip to Los Angeles, during Labor Day week.  My aunt and uncle celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. They wanted to renew their vows in the downtown Catholic Cathedral and wanted their nieces and nephews there to visit. Some were not able to make it.   But I was able to go, left on a Wednesday and came back on Friday.  Dave was able to take off the afternoons (I think they owed him as well since he's only had one day off a week now for over a month) off to get the girls.  It was fun to be with my aunt and uncle.  They are 91 (uncle) and 89 (aunt).  They were so cute together.  It was a fun time with my family as we all went to brunch/lunch afterwards.  Lots of stories that my uncle really wanted to share. I took it all in and listened. It was nice to hear about parts of their lives, my mother's life growing up, etc.  They could go a long time too, first night (after getting a late start, driving 80 most of the way on a 5 1/2 hour trip - because I drove 80 - would normally be 6 hours) we stayed up till almost midnight.  The Catholic mass was a lot of sit stand kneel, etc.  But they renewed their vows during mass and we all went up to witness them.  SO nice.  However they had also done it at their 50th (in front of the Pope in Italy) and 60th (with the Monsignor at the same cathedral but he goes to visit his family on Thursdays so we had another young priest instead).  So third time is a charm?  LOL.  But it was nice for all of us to be there.  Several people thought we were my aunt and uncle's children (they don't have any).  One woman from Columbia, said to me, "are you from Europe?  Your hair is lovely. Your dress is lovely."  That was unusual.  I was surprised, but the hair is about 3 inches in white/grey.   My aunt and uncle liked it and told me I looked pretty in my dress, etc.  I was surprised, none of my family is extremely complimentary, so it was nice for me to hear that. I had a good time. My aunt cried when I left and my uncle said, "I wish you lived closer."  So, it reminded me of when I would leave my mom after a visit.  I drove back excited to see Dave and the girls after a few days away. But as sometimes happens, even though they were fine with mom going, they missed me and we had a few behaviors that came out. LGA especially would cry when I was on the phone with her.  But Dave made it fun, he took them out to dinner and to get his hair cut (they like looking at the hair magazines). He made omelets one night.  They were fine and they saw that I did come back. I had not been gone since Feb of 2013 for my uncle's 90th bday and that was 3 nights I was gone, this was only 2.  But the difference was they were able to quickly move on, whereas before there would be a transition time of much longer.

Fall is upon us, and it's my favorite time of the year. Not only do Dave and I have an anniversary coming up (14 yrs), our birthdays, and BGA's all in the fall.  It's warm here though, still mid 80's where it will be till end of Oct.  Last year we had a really mild winter with hardly any rain (we really need rain in California) so I am hoping this year is different.  We have rain and mid 70's today!  Yay! So let's hope this is a trend.

So there's the update for now......I will include a few pics to this post too.

Happy Fall to you all!

More later...........

First pics are me at my aunt and uncle's wedding vow renewal. Cropped my cousins out of first pic as I didn't know if they wanted to be published out there on the internet.

Second pic is me with my hair. It's getting white.  White on top and sides, white with grey mixed in for the back.  Some people either like it or do not. One of my British cousins told me he thought it would be better as blonde because he thought I was too young to go white.  I personally like it, Dave and girls like it, so that's all that matters to me.

Third pic is the iconic Randy's Donuts in LA. My aunt and uncle and I did not go there, but they told me that pilots landing at LAX look for the iconic donut when landing at the airport.

Fourth and Fifth pics are 1st day of school. They are growing up.

Sixth and Seventh pics are of a visit with some of our 'quack quack' friends to a local reptile museum. The pic of LGA holding the dragon slays me.  Look how grown up she is!!  Wow. That pic just takes my breath away.

8th pic  - did a bit of beading. Not regularly and left a project I wanted to finish not completed. It was a warm day too, in my little bedroom beading area.  Hoping when it's cooler I can get back into it. The longer I wait between beading the harder it is to get stuff completed and remember the steps. I have heard there is a new tool called a looper to help me with loops so if I can get that I think it would save me steps.