by Sarah | Jul 15, 2013 | All About Kennedy, All About Learning, All About Me
This past school year, Kennedy was fortunate to have a pretty awesome teacher.
Among the many things she did to make the year amazing…
<—this took the cake.
She had the whole class work together. They composed a theme, and then they each wrote stories and illustrated them.
Then she had it published into a book.
Not only did it give the kids something to be proud of.
Not only did it make them interested in reading something.
It lit a fire in my baby girl.
She wants to be published before she graduates high school.
“Like you, Mom,” she says with a smile.
I love that.
I’m so proud of her and the imaginative story she wrote.
I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
by Sarah | Jul 10, 2013 | All About Denver, The Teenager
I’ve been guilty of the “Take my kids – please” joke.
They can be so much to handle sometimes. Three of them, fighting, screaming, playing, appointments, school, being a teenager, being girls super close in age…
It all piles on into insanity sometimes.
So it’s to be expected that we eagerly let the kids go to their grandparents for a few days.
Or anticipate Denver’s week-long Scout camp.
I mean, they aren’t far.
It’s not a long time
But now.
This time.
It’s two weeks.
Two long weeks.
The teen is hiking through the mountains of New Mexico with Scouts.
He’s taking in views like this:
At 8000 feet above sea level.
Hundreds of miles away from me.
From us.
Two weeks.
A piece of my heart…
An annoying, teenage, piece…
A piece that is my first born.
It’s not within reach.
It’s a really sucky feeling.
I love that he’s doing something that might be once-in-a-lifetime.
That he’s taking another step forward in independence.
That he’s having a great time.
But a part of me aches.
And it will until he’s home again.
by Sarah | Jul 4, 2013 | All of Us, Holidays, Random
by Sarah | Jul 1, 2013 | All About Kennedy, All About Learning, All About Me, All of Us, Crap, Random
Most days I’m good with my age.
I’ve done things in the past couple of years that make me realize I’m in my prime. I have a good life now, and I’m happy and fine with where I’m at.
Then the baby of the family brings home a time capsule on her last day of school set to be opened at graduation.
And I see the date.
2024
And I realize…
That’s 30 years after I graduated.
Now…
I feel old.
My youngest will graduate almost 30 years to the day after I did.
~whimper~
*~*
(More on the what I know of the contents on another post)
by Sarah | Jun 28, 2013 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Clever Girls, Sponsored
We don’t road trip too often in this family.
You’d think maybe it was because the challenge of entertaining three children of various ages was tough.
Or because on her first road trip, Molly literally cried the entire 9 hour trip.
All 526 miles.
Non-stop.
Never sleeping.
Just…Crying.
You’d think that was the reason.
Or the regular stops for the bathroom.
Or the frequent cries of boredom.
Why on earth don’t they play car games like I used to?
Or maybe the gas money.
These days that one hurts.
Still, is it any of those things?
Nope…it’s…
This guy—>
The loving husband.
Molly gets her wonderful car trip joy from him.
More than an hour in the car and poor Erik struggles to remain calm.
Go over three hours and he’s in trouble.
So we have to figure out the best way to run.
Especially since road trips are so much easier than flights.
*~*
It took a bit of finagling, but we found the secret formula.
For the kids, it’s a good DVD player, and lots of movies.
The boy gets his tablet.
A huge supply of homemade trail mix.
For Erik?
Comfort and lots of space to stretch out and just fall asleep.
Even if it means three rows of seats, the teen next to me, and Erik fast asleep in the very-way-back by himself.
It’s a magic combination.
A normal care doesn’t cut it…so we’re on the lookout for something better.
We’ve got our eye on a Kia.
I like the Sedona, but Erik is anti-minivan…so he’d rather have the Sorento (and I’m apt to let him).
So long as it’s got a third seat, I’m a happy camper.
*~*
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
by Sarah | Jun 27, 2013 | All About Denver, All About Family, The Teenager
In high school, and into what I (now jokingly) call my “false-freshman year” of college I dated a boy. A boy that I now look back in time and thing “What on earth was I thinking?” The dissection of that relationship is a blog post for another time and place, but needless to say, it wasn’t a great relationship to be in.
What aids me in that whole 20/20-hindsight thing is the new (to me) knowledge that my parents and friends couldn’t stand him. They hated him. Hated me dating him, hated him.
At one point I looked at my mother and said “WHY didn’t you tell me?” I got the counter answer that if she’d told me, it might have made me date him longer.
Not true, but still, I see where she’s coming from.
Especially now.
With my teenager dating.
With my son having a girlfriend.
He’s fifteen now. We’ve already lived through the heartbreaking loss of his ‘first love’. A string of very short-lived relationships, and now the one he’s in. It’s lasted some time now.
The husband and I, we have opinions.
We discuss his dating status, and his girlfriend.
But, much like other details and relationships in our life, we say nothing directly good or bad about her to his face.
We will listen when he actually talks to us.
We will try to give him un-biased advice to the best of our ability.
We will let him learn his own lessons.
Be they good or bad.
Because that is how you grow up.
Even if our heart aches every time his does.
Even if our joy at his is great.
Even if we worry.
Every day.
If we’re doing it right.
This past school year, Kennedy was fortunate to have a pretty awesome teacher.
