Home Again

I am finally back home from Ames, Iowa. WHAT a wild whirlwind of a trip! Ben's team was competing in the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals in Ames, Iowa at Iowa State University. I was really dreading going to tell you the truth. I mean...seriously...IOWA?! WHO in their right mind would want to go to Iowa?! The corn fields were certainly present. I mean...LOTS and lots of corn fields! But I have to say that I was genuinely surprised by everything else! Iowa was quite pretty. VERY very green. And the campus was just beautiful! I was dreading staying in the dorms after Michigan two years ago...but I was pleasantly surprised by the dorms. They were clean and reasonably nice. They reminded me a LOT of my dorm days at Florida State. The only bummer was that I had to go down one floor to use the bathroom. The only women's restroom was on the floor below us...but it wasn't a big deal really. The food was SO much better at this campus, the boys were two years older and we knew much better what to expect. All in all it was an awesome trip! Our boys totally rocked it also, placing 18th in the World Finals out of 52 teams. We were so proud of them! Here are some of the fun times in pictures!

Closing Ceremonies

Slope Sliding on their cardboard props...only kids from Arizona would love sliding down a grassy hill this much!

Sparklers in their p.j.'s

Corn field

At their competition performance with the team

Ben with his Hong Kong buddy after his buddy presented him with a t-shirt from their team!

2009 World Finalist TEam for Arizona Teach Yer Creature Division 1

Hong Kong Buddy Team with Ben's Team

Meeting the Hong Kong Buddy team for the first time

Ben makes his very first pin trade with a Hong Kong student...the first of MANY rounds of wheeling and dealing over pins!

What a fantastic and fun trip! My second trip to World Finals. Each year gets a little better!!!

Princess Smackdown!

Notice Clara's pretty new smile? That's the result of a little princess playdate smackdown action! She had a run in with a playmate...LITERALLY! Her mouth met her friend's little forehead and when the dust settled, Clara came up holding her first front tooth! It's funny, because it would never have surprised me for a minute if one of my boys had lost a tooth that way! But I never imagined my Clarabelle would be head banging it! There was MUCH panic and drama. Her, because she rather violently and surprisingly had her tooth knocked out...me because I was so worried about her bleeding on my friend's pretty white carpet. Her little friend because it's no fun to run into someone's teeth! There was mass chaos for a few minutes. But once everyone calmed down just a bit, all was well. And Clara was ecstatic to be holding her pearly white tooth in the ziploc baggy and was getting more excited by the minute over a visit from the tooth fairy! On the way out, Clara was actually thanking her little friend for knocking her tooth out! From the smackdown we headed off to the grocery store to pick up some goodies for our small group meeting. Then we ran by home for just a few minutes to wait for Daddy to come and join us. In that few minutes we were home Clara kept saying how much her other front tooth was bothering her. When I checked it, it was REALLY loose. Both teeth were wiggly before this day...I should mention that. Not THAT wiggly...like they would not have fallen out that day kind of wiggly. But they were obviously wiggly. Well, I was worried that the remaining tooth was so loose that she might swallow it. So after debating a few minutes, Clara bravely said "Just pull it!" And so I barely touched it and it too fell out. Clara was over the moon at that point knowing that it would be double haul from the tooth fairy. She was crazy excited and ready to go to bed! And that's how my baby girl got her new smile! It's so classically six! She looks so sweet. I imagine I will grow quite tired of it and miss her pretty teeth. I seem to remember it taking FOREVER for Ben's to come back in when he lost his. I even had the dentist x-ray them to make sure he actually had teeth there TO come in (and he did, by the way). But I do remember him missing his front teeth for an extraordinarily long time! We'll see how long Miss Clara is toothless! But long or short...today she is adorable!

Wrapping up....

Today we wrapped up the school year. As of 3:15 this afternoon school was OUT and the children are now all home for the summer. Hmmm. I tried all day to get excited about having them around day in and day out. To look forward to sleepy, lazier mornings without the rush and running of trying to get everyone ready for school. I tried to get excited about not having to pack lunches for 10 weeks, about not having to make a last minute, bedtime run to the grocery for juice boxes or lunch meat. I tried to get excited about not having to monitor homework and projects. It almost worked. Then they all got home. And within minutes it was like World War 3 in this house. Everyone fussing and fighting and tattling. I was none too happy about it and by 5:30 this afternoon they were exactly ONE more warning away from baths and a CRAZY early bedtime. Yes...a certain cloud of dread has completely cleared out any and all hope of "excitement" over having them all home for the summer.

In addition to wrapping up school, I made GREAT leaps and bounds as far as getting orders processed and fulfilled business wise. I am TWO order placements and ONE photo session away from DONE!!! For the summer anyway. And am totally excited about that break a coming!

And finally....the BIGGEST thing I am hoping to wrap up are my allergies. This has been, hands down, the WORST season ever for my allergies. I don't even begin to know what to make of them at this point. It has been a solid MONTh of dripping noses...alternating between totally stopped up and clogged noses. Grrrr. I haven't slept through the night in a month now because I keep waking up unable to breathe! And the beathing challenges are so much more significant at night for me. Don't seem to be too bad a challenge in the light of day...but at night...MISERY!!! Tonight I headed to Walgreens for some new arsenal...something I HAVEN'T tried yet. And I have tried a LOT!!!! I am hoping beyond hope that this new stuff will be instrumental in kicking this allergy situation to the curb. If not...it's gonna be pretty miserable getting on that airplane next week! They are pretty fired up and angry tonight...the allergies. I had lunch outside today on the patio at Pei Wei with a friend. It was a delightful lunch and I hoped it would be okay because it was raining and knocking all that yucky pollen down. Then I stood out in the yard for a bit and chatted with our neighbors. And now tonight as I sit here, I am wheezing again and I cough every time I try to breathe in a breath. I am pretty sure that tonight is NOT going to be the night I sleep through. An hour after taking the meds, I am not breathing clearly through my nose. And the asthmatic wheeze is lovely. We are definitely NOT talking a restful situation here tonight. Oh well. I am SO hopeful that the rains we had today will go a ways in helping to put an end to the allergy train. Before I become a total train wreck myself. Yes...it's definitely time to wrap this up!

GRRRRR....Wrapping up the School Year

The school year ends in two short days. I wish I could say I was happy and relaxed about it...but I'm not. I'm tired and frustrated and disappointed beyond belief in my oldest chid. Seventh grade has been such an amazingly difficult year for us. Struggles that I SO did not see coming. Sixth grade was tough enough in some ways...a real year of adjustment...jumping from the elementary level work up to the higher expectations and heavier workload of middle school. But seventh grade has been infinitely worse. While Max has had more and better friends and has known what to expect...he has performed SOOOO poorly. And not really grade wise. Those assignments he has done and TURNED IN he has excelled at. But for some reason, remembering to complete them and SUBMIT them for grading has just been beyond his abilities this year and I do NOT understand why. I have worked with teachers to the point of being half crazy. I have tried everything in my power that I know to do to get him to a point where he can be successful. And it's like he just refuses to do it. Regardless of the punishments handed out to him or the interventions we tried...he still manages to drop the ball. The final disappointment rolled in this evening. I looked up Max's grades a couple of days ago and noticed he was missing a couple of assignments. I pointed it out to him and he said he had them (he always seems to have them, done in his backpack) and he turned them in. Or so we thought. When I got the notice that final grades had been updated, I quickly logged on to check and found two zeroes in place of where I expected to see some credit. So I asked again if he had turned in the assignments...and he assured me that yes...he had. So I e-mailed his teacher. He said that what Max turned in was MONTHS old...due forever ago...and what he is missing basically comprises 18 assignments. EIGHTEEN!!!!!!! HOW do you miss turning in 18 assignments?! And now there is a C- going on to his high school transcript. A high school he is still over a year away from ever setting foot into. And I guess I'm just so tired of this battle. Of losing over and over again...with such high stakes. He's so very smart. It would be different if God had shorted him a few points on the IQ scale. But he didn't. Max has SO much more than most all the other kids. He could do so much in this life...if he set his mind to it. And now...even if he totally does an about face and turns it around...it's there....on his permanent high school record. C- in math. A subject he truly excels at. Part of it is my fault. I went against my better judgement. I had the chance to pull him from the class early in the year. But his teacher told me he was fully capable of doing the work and that he just had to get used to it and that if he would show the work he would do fine. That might have all been true. But the one thing that that teacher failed to factor was Max's maturity level. And no matter what...that can't be changed by showing work. My gut told me that the responsibility of this class was too much for him to handle. But I went with teacher recommendations. NEVER AGAIN. No matter what...I will go with my gut as far as that child is concerned from here on out. There are not many years left that I have any say at all in what he does, but as long as I have a say...I WILL say what I think and WILL do whatever I deem necessary. I guess this has been a lesson for both of us. I'm SO beyond disappointed tonight as I sit here. There are 10 million thoughts rattling around in my brain. Not all of them dealing with Maxwell. But plenty of them. I would be lying if I said there are no tears running down my face at the sheer disappointment of it all. Total disappointment that my child failed to see the importance of his task...disappointment that a teacher failed to look at the WHOLE child and only his academic side. And disappointment in myself as his mother...because my gut feeling was that he could not pull this together and I still allowed him to stay there in the class...and he didn't pull it together. And so this school year ends on a profoundly disappointing note for me. On so many levels I can't even begin to articulate them.

And now we face the summer together. I wish I could say I was looking forward to having them all close to me for these short weeks...but I am NOT. No. Not even a little bit. Pass judgement if you like...I'm fine with that. I love my children dearly...but the thought of spending day in and day out with them right now....at their teen and preteen phases.....ooooh. No. I dont want to. Hence...a big part of why they are all heading off to camp at some point this summer. A reprieve for both me and for them. This summer starts off with them being grounded from the start. Why? Because there has to be some sort of repercussions for letting your grades slip into the toilet for one. And it's infinitely easier to simply ground all instead of just one. So I now I have a nice set of XBox controls in my possession on top of the fridge. NO computer gets brought to life without express permission and NO tv comes on either in this house. I'm done with any sort of electronic interference in our lives. Goodness knows Max has enough trouble focusing on the basics without any added distractions....and he is SO easily distractable. No...my children will be rediscovering good old fashioned entertainment alternatives...like bike riding and legos...card games and board games. Swimming and arts and crafts. And reading. I can't undo this school year. I can't change it. But I can set in motion some changes in these children of mine. They can learn to be resourceful. And responsible. And creative and cooperative. They can learn to be helpful and respectful. And thorough. Yes. This will not be a summer without lessons. My children still have plenty to learn. We shall see what lies ahead in the next 12 weeks. Pray for the Roberts children and their mother. Goodness knows. They all need it desperately.

The Pace of Life

HOW did my life get to be SO busy?! And no matter how I try to UNbusy it...it just gets busier and busier. Maybe it's just the spring? So many activities drawing to their grand finales? May holds way too many things for my poor calendar to juggle! Ben's Odyssey team is preparing to go to World Finals on May 27th in Ames, Iowa. There are still two fund raisers I have to be a part of. One is a student store and the other is Spring Fling. Plus the extra practices to juggloe as their big competition day approaches.I have two full days of shooting pictures for the Ballet Studio. Then a frantic period of processing to get those done and delivered in a matter of days. Then there's the big ballet recital. With the fast approaching event just around the corner, it seems like there are a GAZILLION extra dance practices. That's especially fun since Clara is in THREE classes. Her recital this year will involve 4 different costumes and I hear a rumor that her performances will span not just one, but BOTH acts of the show. May 16th is gonna be a LONG day for sure!!! In addition, I have a calendar that is crazy full of regular picture appointments. I do not know WHERE they are coming from. Every time I think I might be looking at a photography free week, no sooner do I blink and my calendar is full of green appointments (my calendar is color coded and green is the color assigned to photo work). It also happens to be dentist appointment time for all the kids and myself. Fun stuff!

Before I can take off for the land of corn with Benjamin, I have to have Clarabelle fully packed for camp...her first sleep away, gone from home alone, camp! It's really a mini camp. She leaves on the 31st and comes back on June 3rd. Chris gets the fun of taking and dropping her off. I fly back from Iowa that night, then Chris flies out the very next morning for his own conference. We will be like two ships passing in the night! I wish I could say that it unusual for us...but alas...we are no strangers to hectic travel schedules.

What else is going on? School is wrapping up. There are lots of final projects as we head into these last three weeks. I'm trying not to fret about the grades I see. Max assures me he "has it under control". Hmmmm. We'll see about that. It's gonna suck if he has to stay behind and do summer school while the rest of us are playing on the beaches of San Diego!

Speaking of San Diego...I'm getting ready to shut business down for the summer. This month is packed and is nearly scheduled out. I have just about every bit of free time I have committed somewhere for this month. I need June for myself, to tie up loose ends and get the kids ready to go back to school. June has it's own set of busyness. Clara is going to art camp, and to Vacation Bible School too. Both boys are going away to camp for a full week (no mini camp for them!). They don't get home until the last 3 days of June. We are supposed to be in San Diego for the whole month of July. Then will only be home a week or so before school starts back up again. And so...it only makes sense to shut it down for just a bit so I can get all caught up on some stuff! I'll get the newborns in, if they get here before July 1! But after that...it's all bets off! I am definitely ready for a break. Sometimes I think this business of mine is growing a little faster than I can keep a handle on! I am looking forward to a few weeks with NO photo appointments on my calendar...NO orders to process....NOTHING but play time on my calendar! Woo hoo!

Life is just crazy around here. I catch myself fantasizing about having a whole day with NOTHING to do. Sounds crazy, but true! I guess that's just the speed of life right about now. Honestly...if I wasn't running around half crazy, I wouldn't recognize this life as my own! Wouldn't even know what to do. LIke I said...a day with nothing to do is PURE FANTASY right now. But hey...a girl can dream, right?!