17 years

Yesterday was my 13th wedding anniversary, that makes 17 years together. The day began as usual, Lowell got up at 4am and left for work and then I rose at 6 to leave for my own 10 hour day. The kiddos were to stay home with Grandpa but they had another plan in mind. The girls convinced me to let them go to work with me. There is a second office at one of our centers that is only used one day a week and so, yesterday, it was occupied by my two middle minions.

The girls were great. They made up skits; they drew and colored; they played Hide&GoSeek with one eye closed, the lights off, and hopping on one foot (there aren’t many hiding options in a small office). Having them at work with me also opened up a conversation about sexual abuse. We have had many conversations about staying safe, not keeping secrets, etc. but yesterday was just another in a long stream of conversations that I am thankful to be having with the kids. Knowledge is power and the freedom to talk about scary and embarrassing topics is priceless.

At home, Lowell and I made dinner and then prepped the bruschetta for tonight’s dinner as well. Then I made smoothies for his breakfasts for the next couple days and we watched the kids play with the dog, wrestle and race Mario Karts.

I love the organized chaos that is our life. But I’m looking forward to some changes that are on the horizon… More on those to come…

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

Nothing brings me greater joy than to watch my children succeed. I could sit for hours watching them do something they enjoy. The way their faces light up with pride at each accomplishment, they way they search the crowd for my reaction, my clapping hands, my smile and nod of approval, or every so often, my yelp of excitement. Sometimes my joy is just too much to contain. My dad was watching me the other day as I watched one of the kiddos and he said it was just as entertaining to watch me as it was to watch his grandchild. He said I flinched, leaned, rocked and jumped; my toes curled and I smiled constantly.

I am so blessed that I have children who are willing to try. They don’t always succeed, and I wouldn’t want them to. When they fail, it is my desire that I am teaching them to find the message, the lesson, in their mistake and to show themselves grace. To accept they are not perfect and to move on.

What I find humorous is that when I find a “soapbox” to stand upon, it inevitably becomes apparent that I need to be looking in the mirror from high upon my soapbox. That I should be treating myself with the same grace I preach about to my children and should be finding joy and successes whenever and wherever I can.

My children actually argue with me – they use the “can’t” word. I hate that word. Whenever it comes up in a conversation I repeat it to them.

Child: “Mom, I can’t do it!”

Me: Can’t?
C: No, I can’t! I tried it already and I can’t!!
M: Can’t?
C: (By now, they’ve gotten used to this part – it used to go on at least two or three more “can’ts”) No, I tried and it didn’t work!
M: Try again.
C: But I can’t.
M: Can’t?
C:Uggg!

And then they go try again. I watch and give a suggestion if necessary but usually they’re so frustrated at me for being unwilling to accept they can’t do something that they do it.  Then I smile and walk away. Or laughingly throw in a “Told you. *wink wink*”

I’m hoping to extinguish the word “can’t” from their vocabulary but I’m not naïve enough to believe that my children can actually do whatever they try. There are some tasks that take time to master – and some they will never accomplish, but I refuse to let them believe they should give up without putting in the necessary effort. Or to believe they will fail before they even try.

In these instances, my job is harder; to encourage hard work and to point out successes and improvements. To do this, I have to be present, to pay attention, to be sincere. And the hardest for me, to sit back and watch them fail. To be okay with their failures and in so doing, to hopefully teach them to be okay with their failures too.

And maybe even to learn from them to be okay with mine.

Thoughts on an April Morning

This morning I took 3 beautiful, healthy children to a safe, free, successful school in my relatively new, still under warranty van. Then I spent time with my beautiful, healthy baby sharing our daily conversation about where the kids went, where Daddy is and where Grandpa is. We also talked about the world around us – plane sightings, dogs, neighbors and fire trucks especially – childlike wonder is contagious.

Then home to our safe, relatively clean, smelling-like-muffins-from-breakfast house filled with the things we love and the pictures that remind us of the people and times we cherish .

In my hand I hold a connection to my husband, my email, my bank account, my photos, my playlist and my entertainment of choice – Pinterest and Chickionary. I can connect with childhood friends and become nostalgic over my contact list; I know she’s gone, I just can’t bring myself to delete it.

Later, after running and a shower, I’ll head to work where I am trusted with the intimate secrets, shame and hopes of people who have been hurt by life but are choosing to work through their pain and step back into the light. Their task is hard and I am fortunate to help them on their journey and privileged to celebrate with them.

 

How blessed am I?

Another Update

Its been over a month since I've posted here. As is typical of me, I tend to shy away from people when I feel life isn't going how I think it should go. I should all over myself a lot actually. How I should feel, should react, should parent, should look... The list goes on but for brevity's sake, I'll stop there. Along with my should-ing, I've been talking and crying and pressing on. Parenting, loving, fighting, failing and trying. I would rather talk about my babies at this point because I'm just so done thinking about myself, but I wanted to offer some sort of reason for my prolonged absence.

Nathan - My eldest still has his heart set on joining the military after high school. He also still wants to be a doctor. In February, he's going to a program that provides kids with the opportunity to learn about flight. They will be incorporating physics and math into a fun day where the students will use a flight simulator, experience a wind tunnel and actually practice landing a plane using our own skyline - he will be able to land a plane at Phoenix SkyHarbor airport. He's very excited about it and I think his dreams about his future may change after this experience. We'll see.
For the first time in his educational career, Nathan is beginning to realize what life has been like for his classmates for years -- he actually has come upon information that he needs to study in order to retain. This has caught him quite by surprise and made for some stressful days and teary nights when he received a couple grades he was less than happy with. Additionally, we're still dealing with the chronic stress and now, he's scheduled for an optometrist appointment because he's been having headaches and has been blinking non-stop for the past week or so. I'm also going to meet with his teachers this week because I have a couple suggestions for things we can do about the stress.

Chloe - I would estimate that about 50% of Chloe's life is spent upside down. When she's at school, of course, her options are limited, but at home, the wheels come off. She doesn't walk from the bedroom to the fridge, she cartwheels. And the couches are not for sitting, they serve a variety of purposes all related to somehow catapulting herself onto her hands or into a flip or somersault or some other way to maneuver her body so that she is not standing upright.
She's still doing well in school although we had some struggles with test anxiety earlier in the year. She's been working on it and has kind of found her groove with studying which has helped tremendously. Last weekend she and Jillian went to an all day cheerleading workshop and they will be performing during half-time for the high school basketball team. In addition to gymnastics and cheer, Chloe is a member of the choir at school and is auditioning for the talent show tomorrow. She is going to sing a JJ Heller song, "What Love Really Means" because (in her words), she likes that song and maybe it will touch someone in the crowd. She never ceases to amaze me. Her heart is so big.

Jillian - At 7, the youngest of the "biggies", Jillian plays an interesting role in our family. She alternates between wanting to be big and wanting to be the baby, never quite satisfied with her place. She tries so hard to be like Chloe and is terribly disappointed when she isn't as successful as her sister at different things. She also is just a little too young for Nathan to completely enjoy playing with her and also too small to be a surrogate "mommy" figure to Hubba. She plays with Wyatt very well and has recently learned to change his diaper. He still protests loudly when she changes him, but she always succeeds in making him laugh before its over.
 At school, she is a social butterfly and still excelling in her studies. She can't be kept busy enough by her teacher and so has been given the job of unofficial tutor. Whenever one of her classmates is struggling, she takes them outside the classroom and works with them. She is completely addicted to music and is almost never without a soundtrack playing. She loves hip-hop, country, Christian and rock. She also has a memory like a sponge and quite the sweet tooth.


Wyatt - At almost 20 months, Tubbs has finally started talking. He has long shown a huge level of comprehension but has not shown interest in expanding his limited vocabulary until recently.He's learning the noises that animals make - made more fun by the fact we are in close proximity to cats, dogs, chickens, horses, donkeys, goats, cows, sheep and birds. He can see these animals daily and hear the noises they make for himself - instead of in a book. :)
 One thing he continues to be stubborn about is his dislike of almost every type of "real" food. He will eat anything cracker-ish (for the most part) and will readily eat most flavors of baby food. There are special, infrequent days where I can get him to take a couple bites off my plate - usually of rice or noodles but he absolutely refuses to eat almost everything else. He loves chicken nuggets and will, sometimes tackle peanut butter and bread. He also loves toast but won't touch any sort of veggie or fruit unless it comes from a baby food jar. Oatmeal is another of his favorites - unless there are chunks of apple or berry in it. In this case, he will eat the oatmeal and spit out the fruit and then, in protest, pout and refuse to eat anymore oatmeal. We are making some progress with dried fruits. He's definitely a fighter - living up to his name already. :)

Not to leave out Lowell, he is still working with ADOT and enjoys his job, if not his boss. He loves the hours and the freedom this new job affords him as well as how much more involved he's been able to be in Wyatt's life because of the change. We are still juggling life with only one vehicle, but we've almost gotten used to the chaos. The kids are the ones that suffer the most, I think. After a long day at school, they still have to run around and pick up their mom in the evenings. Thankfully, I've been blessed at work to have the opportunity to shift my hours to a little earlier in the day for a short period of time, so at least for awhile, we've gotten a small reprieve.

Also because of Lowell's new job, we are excitedly planning a trip to Calaveras county. It will have been almost exactly 4 years since Lowell or the kids have been there. (I was blessed with a short trip last February for me and the Hubbs) We are still working out the details, but, in general, we will be in California the second week in March. The family is thrilled and we couldn't be happier! Now if only it would be March already!!!!

Recent Events

What’s new with the Trents? Well, in a nutshell, not much. We are simply going about our lives experiencing everyday trials and everyday blessings. Each moment is simple and each extraordinary. I have been blessed by countless smiles from my children and have also dried their tears. Thankfully, the smiles much outnumber the tears.

Specifically with me, I have smiled. And cried. And yelled and laughed. There have been some dark moments recently and I’ve been working on identifying the root of my recent struggles. I think I’ve begun to narrow it down.  Again, the positive has outweighed the negative. It always does. At least in time. In the dark moments, it’s not easy to remember, but I cling to the promise that God is not done working on me and will never leave me. Nor will He fail to complete the work He has begun in me.

Why is this on my mind? Well, for starters, because I think its something we all need to hear now and then. God loves you and He hasn’t given up on you. Far from it; the fact that you’re breathing today means He has great plans for you.

For you.

For you.

Sometimes I feel like I’ve screwed up too much. I’m not enough. I never have been and never will be. Not only am I screwing up right now but there is no hope that I will ever get it right.

I am not entirely sure what “get it right” means, but I think it looks a little like perfect. And that’s a big part of the problem.

On those “not enough” days, in those dark moments, I feel frustrated, overwhelmed and insignificant. I feel powerless and hopeless. And frustrated. If “perfect” is my standard, or at least my goal, what exactly does that look like? I’ve learned (somewhat late in the game, I’ll admit) that perfection is not a normal goal. And it doesn’t even have a static definition. It looks very different for different people.

I asked my 7 year old what it means to be “perfect”. She said she couldn’t really think of what a perfect person would look like because she’s never seen one. She reminded me that “perfect people don’t sin and only Jesus didn’t sin”.  Then I asked my husband, son and daughter. Going into these conversations, I thought I would get 4 different answers about perfection but instead got 4 confirmations that perfection doesn’t exist.

With these answers, I turned inward. What is my definition of perfection? This is where I learned that I don’t really know the answer to that question. One day it means being a perfect friend – saying the right things, remembering all the details of my friend’s life, having unlimited time to spend listening, sharing about myself but not too much…. Etc. Another day its being the perfect wife – being supportive and encouraging, having an immaculate house and a hot, aromatic, delicious dinner, being sexy and playful and “in the mood”…  And yet other days its being the perfect mother – having happy, well-behaved children who are successful and kind, smart, funny, attractive and know about God. The problem (well, one of many, really) comes when my definition of perfection conflicts with itself. I need to have happy children to be a “perfect” mom but in order to have well-behaved children (also necessary for perfection), I have to discipline them.

That makes them unhappy.

This creates a problem.

And leaves me feeling inadequate and like a failure.

Because my expectation for myself is perfection.

If I can’t even define perfection, how in this big, ever-loving world can I live up to these expectations?!?!

And why do I continue to torture myself with these impossible standards? Questions I will be examining into the new year, I’m sure. This time I’m going to the source of all wisdom for my answers though. Enough trying to do this on my own.

To my knees I fall.  At the feet of my loving father. To ask Him to fix me.  Or at least to learn to love me. That’s probably a better plan. J

Light in the Darkness

During this Advent season that is supposed to be one of joy, it is my sincere prayer that the Lord will fill you with His light that can dispell all darkness -- even that of recent days.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Photo Shoot 2012

 We did a photo shoot over the weekend. These are some of my favorites.... I took over 200 pictures so there are many more to come but I just had to share these moments.

Fall Festival 2012

Odyssey's carnival was held at the new high school this year and featured a craft faire, game booths, dance area, jail, cow pie bingo, bounce houses, an obstacle course, a haunted house, zombie lab, food and friends. My favorite booth was one where the kiddos were supposed to eat a donut that was dangling from a piece of string without using their hands... Sadly, my babies didn't try this booth - by the time they got interested in it, the booth ran out of donuts.

Highlights of the evening: Jillian laughing her way through the haunted house that absolutely TERRIFIED Chloe; Lowell getting to spend the evening with us; all the "how cute!"s I heard as I chased Wyatt around the craft faire; seeing past teachers and friends who had moved to the other campus or left the school; and of course, getting all dressed up. This year we had Hello Kitty, a Clone trooper (different from last year's Clone BTW), a rock star and a little lion.

Sometimes I just have to marvel at how wonderfully blessed I am.

Getting Better

 

This is my son. My first born. My tween-ager. He is my little gentleman and my snuggler. I simply adore his little giggle and I am amazed by his brain. This kid is smart. And what's more, he loves to learn. He passionately wants to be a surgeon when he grows up, so what books did he check out at the library? Not the chapter books Chloe and Jillian picked, or the suspense novels I choose, or the westerns we got for Daddy, he got one on Hepatitis A and one on cancer. Seriously. And read them both. Cover to cover. And then talked about them for weeks.

This boy is highly sensitive and has begun to think of himself as a failure and question his self-esteem. He is mean to himself and doesn't tolerate it when he makes a mistake. He breaks my heart with how upset he gets at the smallest things. And I get so furious at myself for getting frustrated at him for minor things. I guess we're both learning. And I guess I know where he gets it. That sucks.

One of his favorite things to do is talk. He loves to share his knowledge, to ask questions, and to be close to people. He and I bond in the front seat of the van. I ask him about his day, his friends, his homework, Star Wars and the like. He asks me about God, about my feelings, how eternity works, about my marriage, if I know how mountains form, why I dye my hair (he's worried that I might be upset about my appearance and he's quick to reassure me that I'm beautiful. Did I mention that I love this kid?) and tells me about nature, his fears, his doubts, his joys and his hopes.

 

A while back he shared something with me that he qualified with "Can I tell you something that is going to upset you?"

You can tell me anything, Buddy.

He thinks he has depression.

 

*pause*  Holy crap!, how horrible was that for a mom to hear? Especially a mom who suffers from depression herself and who now gets to wonder if he gets it from me.

 

Back up, Rani. Relax. It may be the power of suggestion. See, what started this whole thing was that their health teacher taught a class on the warning signs of depression. The warning signs he mentioned in class included feeling sad and/or emotional and stressed, having no energy, sometimes thinking you don't want to live anymore, not enjoying things the way you used to and having little or no appetite.

Nathan believes he has all these symptoms.

(It still makes me sick to think about this.)

The counselor in me kicked in and I addressed the most critical symptom first: He sometimes felt like he didn't want to live?

Is my baby suicidal?!?!!

 

There is a fallacy held by many people that if a person "might be" suicidal, you shouldn't mention suicide to them because it might "give them ideas".  This is unequivocally not true and so I immediately started to assess him for how serious he was about "not wanting to live". After I ascertained that he wasn't actively suicidal but just sometimes felt like he was too much of a "screw-up" to live, I broke down and tried to show him how much my heart would be broken if anything ever happened to him or if he ever hurt himself.

(I get so pissed at moments like this because "I love you" just doesn't even begin to cover it... It doesn't even come close but its the best we have...) 

His dad and I both talked to him about how crazy we are about him, how absolutely fantastic he is and how much we appreciate that he shared his feelings with us. I cried and hugged him too tightly.

That night I cried while Lowell held me.

The next morning, I woke with a plan.

 I started to teach Nathan more and more about how much control he has over his emotions. I first showed him how his thoughts control his emotions and then showed him how negative his thoughts have been. And then reminded him that he is the only one who can control his thoughts. (I'd been pointing this out over the past couple of months but never this in-depth.) Then we did an experiment - I gave him new thoughts to replace his old ones. For example, instead of saying "What an idiot, I can't believe I did that!!" whenever he makes a mistake, we came up with, "Huh. Well, its okay to make a mistake because everyone does. Now, what can I learn from that?"  We came up with quite a few "new thoughts" to replace his old ones. We've been working on replacing the old with the new for the past few weeks.

 

Fast forward to last night. Nathan said one of his teachers mentioned self-talk in class and how, if a student is feeling bad about themselves, they should talk to a parent or a counselor. My little Bug raised his hand and said, "Well, that can't happen to me because my mom is a counselor and she tells me that stuff all the time."

 

Praise you, Jesus. My message is getting through.

 

 

PS Nathan is doing a lot better, still struggling with perfectionism but getting better.

PSS I'm still struggling with over-reacting over stupid things and then beating myself up for it later. I hate it when my babies learn their bad habits from me, but I'm hoping through all this, I can show them how to walk in self-acceptance and how to extend grace. Even to ourselves.



Moments

Its been over a month since I've posted here and I've missed it. A month. 30 days. 720 hours. 43,200 minutes, because, after all, we don't remember days, we remember moments. These are some of the moments I remember from the past month.

Wyatt at the park. He ABSOLUTELY LOVES to swing. Loves it. He relaxes, puts his little hands in his lap, has this adorable, contented little smile and just swings. Unless you push him really high - then he laughs and laughs. No fear here. :)

One day we took a little break and went to the "duck park". There is a huge pond and hundreds and hundreds of ducks, geese, fish and turtles to feed and watch. Once all the crackers were gone, we sat on the bank and watched them swim around, play with and chase each other and tried to figure out the relationships they had between them. Is that duck this other one's mother? How about those two, are they married? It was fun. Especially funny were the two or three ducks who had a huge puff of plumage on their heads. Very fashionable indeed!

  This is me and my Tubba. It was all I could do to keep him from crawling out of my lap and into the duck pond. Not only does he love water, but those furry things looked like a whole lot of fun to him! :)

And, of course, little Wyatt with a bat headband in Target. How adorable is that!??! :)

 

Here's Jillian modeling one of her latest "BoogieWorld" fashions. She is so creative in her outfits and I've long since given up on trying to convince her that some things match and some just don't. She loves her creations and I'm happy she's happy. :)   

My girlies. :) I'm such a proud mama. There was no special occassion for this picture, the girls were just dressing up in their matching dresses and I did their hair so we had to commemorate the moment. These precious moments that make up my life. Surrounded by those I love and blessed by health and passion. I. am. so. blessed.

Hats. And a smirk.

 

What a Difference A Year Makes

Last Hoo-rah of Summer

Grandpa Chug left us last weekend. It was such a blessing to have him come stay to help with the childcare while Lowell and I were finalizing our moves - new jobs for both of us at the same time, school starting and variable schedules. We couldn't have done it without him. :) When he left, Grandpa left a going-away present. He paid for us to go to the pool for the last weekend it was open. So, Sunday at noon we were at the pool when the gates opened. It was very quiet - there were only about 10 people there including our family!  It was AWESOME!

The kids had a good time jumping off the diving boards, going down the twisty slide and just enjoying the refreshing cool of the water. Hubba was quite a handful because he was determined to be in the water and kept trying to jump out of my arms. He's not light and it was exhausting wrestling him for two hours. Blessedly, Lowell came and picked him up so that I could enjoy the rest of the day with the Biggies. I worked with Jillian on her swimming and we went down the slide together about 8 times. Nathan just swam around, contentedly amusing himself but he also wanted me to watch him swim laps across the pool. Chloe jumped around like she usually does - sometimes playing with Jillian, sometimes with Nathan and sometimes on her own. She jumped off the diving board (both high and low) quite a few times and also played with Hubba a little.
On a personal note, I did a back dive. It was a horrible version of a back dive and ended up being more of a half back flip but the point is I did it. I overcame years of fear and did it. Possibly more on that story to come. Thank you Buggy for the motivation. :) And your honesty. Love you Bug!
Thanks Chug for the fun afternoon at the pool. It was great!

A New Leaf

Many of you have been asking about my new job. I’m learning the computer systems and the paperwork and all the necessary evils that are required for me to do my job. And I’m seeing clients. If I haven’t shared with you, A New Leaf is a large agency in the valley of which counseling is a small portion. The counseling department is set up to offer short term counseling for those who have been victims of a crime – domestic violence, sexual assault, molestation, theft, kidnapping, murder of a family member…  We provide up to 10 sessions of crisis counseling to these victims, and in some cases their families, to help to get them stabilized. There is no cost to the victim or their family. We see all ages – 0-100.

Its good work, what we do. Important. And oh, so needed. So needed that its sad, really. We have a waiting list for both sites I work at and the number of calls that come in weekly is enough to make a person consider that cynics may have something after all.

A lot of the things I see and hear are brutal. Disgusting, brutal, sad, repulsive and sometimes unbelievable. Not that the victim is not telling the truth, but that one human being could be so depraved and damaging to another.

The kids are the worst. Sitting with a beautiful, vibrant 8 year old girl who now has to come to terms with a beloved member of her family repeated using her for his own sexual gratification. Hearing her sweet young voice quiver as she tries to describe the horrible adult things he did to her. And then watching the tears fall as she struggles with so many mixed emotions – guilt, fear, shame, betrayal…

Why do I do it? Why do I allow these crazy, depressing, painful stories to seep into my brain and heart day after day? First, because I know this is what I’ve been created for. This is what God put me on this earth to do. Secondly, because the empathy that I have for these survivors (that’s how I like to refer to them – survivors not victims) is desperately needed and can be helpful to them. How could I live with myself knowing that I can help even one of them, but that I didn’t because it was “too hard”?

The most tangible reason I counsel these survivors is because of the moments when I can look into someone’s eyes and see change. Not all of the precious souls I see will get to this point but of those that do, this change usually takes the form of anger first. Righteous anger directed at their abuser or anger directed at the universe or God or their higher power. Anger is good, I tell them. Anger is progress. Anger means they have reasserted their right to be safe. Then, after anger is processed, healing begins.

And there comes a day, maybe not when I’m working with these brave survivors, and probably not for all of them, but someday in the future, their eyes are once again clear. Their hearts are healed. They are scarred but strong.

I read a quote on one of my favorite blogs yesterday. The author is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict as well as still struggling with her bulimia. She wrote this post in response to a woman who recently lost her sister to addiction. Glennon wrote about the times she backslides... “I never feel mad at myself. Never. Shame takes us closer to that edge than any single binge will. Life is hard and I’m doing the best I can. So I just take inventory and love myself something FIERCE and then start over. Every single moment I am someone brand new.” Glennon Melton – Momastry.com  

I love this picture of total self-acceptance and the focus on moving forward instead of allowing shame and regret to be controlling factors. I'm going to adopt this - both personally and professionally.

I love my job. I like my co-workers, although much of my tme is spent working independently. And I'm learning a lot. I'm very excited about the progressive opportunities offered by A New Leaf and I'm thankful that I will be able to get the supervision I need for independent licensure while I'm working in my current position. That will make the next couple of years a lot easier.

Grandpa Chug Comes to Stay

Love this picture. It was taken on the last day of training when Lowell and I were carpooling and decided to take advantage of having my father in law watching the kids to have an evening to ourselves. All we did was have dinner but it was nice to have some "us" time. And equally nice when I learned that Chug had come up with the idea himself and encouraged Lowell to take me out. Taking care of my babies and me. :) Very sweet Chug. Speaking of, I must say we've been very blessed to have Lowell's dad living with us for these past few weeks. The kids have been well cared for and happy and we've been blessed with not having childcare costs. Chug says the kids were really easy to watch that the Biggies did a great job taking care of Hubba. We have great kids I know, but its always nice to hear it from someone else. :)

 

Speaking of those Biggies, this is them on their first day of school -- Nathan in 5th, Chloe in 4th and Jillian in 2nd. As I always say, its hard to believe they are already so grown up. I don't know why it should surprise me -- they act so mature and fantastic. I am so proud of my babies. As a matter of fact, I had to write a list of what makes me proud about Boogie for her teacher for the first day of school. My list included (among other things) her flambouyant expression of her personality, her lack of concern for what other people think of her and her musicality. On the back of that paper Mrs. McNett also requested pictures of Jillian that she could share with the class for them to get to know her a little better. Granted, a lot of her classmates she knows from last year, but its always fun to talk about yourself. :) I sent pictures of her singing, modeling, playing with her siblings and hugging her Daddy.
Chloe has Mrs. Grundy, the same teacher Nathan had for second grade. She's very strict but fantastic. I adore her and I pushed for Chloe to have her as soon as I found out she was moving up to 4th grade. Chloe isn't so thrilled about it because she's currently experiencing the strict phase of Mrs. Grundy's personality. I keep telling her to relax and trust me, the fun side comes out once the ground rules have been established. I don't think she entirely believes me at this point. 4th grade also means that Chloe is now in band. She's playing the flute and is having quite a hard time with getting the darned thing to make noise! There is a very specific lip-placement required to make a flute make music and neither she nor I have it quite figured out yet. Any suggestions from the flautists in the audience???
Nathan is looking forward to a 5th grade field trip -- a 3 day, 2 night trip to Catalina Island. On the island is a facility set up specifically for science classes to come and experience hand's on learning. They will be going out on expeditions, dissecting a squid and other equally tantalizing things. Nathan is thrilled that he is going to be the first of the kids to go on a boat. And he'll be away from home for 3 days too! Such a big boy... I'm so crazy about that kid. About all my kids -- Biggies and little alike. I feel so blessed to be able to share my life with them. And to parent them with Lowell. And to still be able to do a job I feel led to do.
More about my new job to come..