Allison is doing really well in school. Her goal it to work on her time management which makes me very happy. She is a person that evaluates herself and while she might not admit a mistake or shortfall, she makes a conscious effort to change or develop habits that she wants to work on.
In one of her classes they are making a large marble chute on a board. She asked me if I new which one was hers. All but one of them was contained to the board they were given to attach it to. One of them had extensions all over and was only on the board when she wanted to cross over to the other side. I guessed the least contained design and was right. Allison doesn’t like to be contained and that applies to all aspects of her life.
When I took some things into Emilee’s room the other day I found this note on the bathroom door that they share. It has been a while since I have found an Allison note. It made me chuckle. I especially love the ‘probably’ in parenthesis under “I WILL”. The two of them are working out some boundary/sharing issues with their shared bathroom.
Allison had another gymnastic meet this month. Her team took 1st place. She got her personal best in two events. She got a 9.3 on her floor and vault routine. She is progressing in all of her events and doing well. It is fun to watch her improve.
Well, unlike last year school started one the original day it was supposed to. That was a plus. To make a long story short our school district said it was up to parents if their kids wore masks or not. I think that is a great idea because 1-they are my kids and I should be the one making decisions for them. 2- there is no mask mandate anywhere in our entire county right now. 3-Despite the news and politicians making it look like people are dropping dead in the streets and hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID patients, its not. One hospital (ironically Children’s Mercy) has made a public post TWICE saying they are not full and have very few COVID patients. However, the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners decided they know better (despite ZERO children’s deaths in our county and very low infection rates for children since all this started in March 2020) and made an order requiring all K-6th grade students to wear a mask. Our school board found a way around it by providing a mask exemption form for parents and/or doctors to sign but it has caused quite a tizzy. It is all kinds of crazy. The world and people are getting crazier everyday. But my kids are back in school, mine have the option to wear a mask ONLY if they want and unlike the other districts around us they did not have to define their sexuality and declare their pronouns the first day of school. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Emilee is in 3rd Grade. She has the same teacher Allison had in 3rd grade but her name is different because she got married. Mrs. Dechant. She is a great teacher and even though Emilee isn’t a huge fan of school I hope she will have a good year. I need to work on raising my expectations for her and helping her out of the “youngest child please do everything for me” funk.
Allison is in 6th grade and is ready to conquer it in a blaze of glory. There is a lot of cello players this year and they tried to persuade some kids to switch but she wouldn’t budge. She has been waiting a year to get to learn to play the cello and be an “Orch Dork”. She has a lot of classes with her friends and has organized and re-organized her locker multiple times a day since school started three days ago. Her friends and her make towel tents for each other to change in for PE and she can get seconds at lunch if she wants. Other than her mom making her ride the bus instead of personally delivering her to the front of the school each morning, she is loving life. If Allison is happy, the rest of us are even more happy. Doing the work won’t be a problem for her. Staying on top of things herself and being responsible will be her mountain to over come. She can do it!
Matthew started 9th grade this year, making it our first of many years to have a kid in each school. He got the classes he wanted but doesn’t have any close friends in any of them. He sees his besties in the hall and in a few weeks at lunch when they switch to the open hour lunch. He is a little bummed about that but his dad and I are encouraging him to meet new people. Good new people. So far he has a very good track record of picking friends that are good people and steering clear of the ones that aren’t as nice. He is starting to get some height going so that is exciting for him and he is hoping to bulk up a bit with weights as a class this year. His teenage laziness is effecting his motivation levels for school but he has always been good at staying up with assignments and managing it on his own. He told me he was looking forward to his retirement the other day. I rolled my eyes and told him to enjoy the phase he is at in life now. He takes drivers education soon and as soon as he is 15 he can drive by himself in a car to and from school if needed. He does have the slight problem of not having a car yet. They school had a gas leak 20 minutes after it started on the first day and everyone had to evacuate for an hour and a half but since then it has been pretty low key at the high school.
First day, catching the bus with neighbors Jack and Finn
To help you remember, last year Allison brought me the plan for her birthday party she wanted to have when she turned 10 a few weeks before so I had plenty of time to prepare. Her original party spanned several days and two nights with several outings planned each day. After some negotiating we chiseled it down to a full 24 hour party with two outings, and just one night of sleeping over.
Usually we do a bigger party every other year and then keep it to a little smaller family party in between with a little bigger present. Allison came to me with her birthday brainstorming before getting to into her planning to determine what I considered a ‘big party’ to be. I believe she clarified by saying, “What is the number of days difference to you for a big party or a small party?” She is a funny girl. I told to keep it small and she would get some cash for her present. Nothing motivates Allison more than cash money.
She was happy to oblige and she helped me plan a pool party with a few friends. They ate pizza, opened presents, had a silly string fight, swam while listening to music, then everyone went home. Except for Leah, she spent the night. I think it was a very successful birthday for her. The next day we went to a few stores to release some of the heat from Allison’s pockets because she had money burning a hole in them. She added to her pop it and fidget collection that is getting pretty large.
Avery, Allie, Allison, Hailey, Leah
We had a family dinner with local Terry’s on Sunday as well, which she loved. She is now 11. Going to be starting 6th grade and ready to take on the next year of her life. Happy Birthday Allison!
This girl keeps our life from being dull. Allison just started 6th grade this year and she is loving it. She is one step closer to being an adult which she has been looking forward to since she was 2 years old. Allison sees the world differently then the rest of us. She is creative and smart and keeps us on our toes.
At the end of last year we had her tested and moved to a more advanced Math class. Her brain loves math and she incorporates it into anything she does from planning her day to doing the dishes. She is learning the cello this year in orchestra. She is still doing gymnastics and moved up to level six this summer.
She can be one of the wittiest and funniest people I know, or one of the grumpiest. Whatever emotion she is feeling is level 10. There is no lower gear for her. For a while it seemed like her and I just butted heads constantly but I see more and more of Allison’s pleasant and reasonable side lately.
Allison loves a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. She is my only kiddo that will eat a fruit or vegetable without any prompting-just because she likes them. She is amazing at making cookies and brownies. She usually keeps our house stocked with them, which is awesome. She has a tough outer shell but her inside is sweet and caring and very thoughtful. When we are driving around if we see any cat or dog without a leash on-even if it is most likely in it’s own yard-she wants to stop the car immediately and save it from whatever it needs to be ‘rescued’ from. She is very responsible when she wants to be. She takes care of Peanut her guinea pig everyday without any reminding. When we go out of town she arranges for someone to take care of him and leaves them copious amounts of notes on the proper way to feed him.
Crafting is another thing Allison enjoys doing. She is often decorating or creating some art for her room (or Emilee’s if it doesn’t meet her standards when she is done 😂) If I have something I need to make or get ready for Primary she is always willing to help and does a great job at it.
It is a treat to watch her grow up. Allison will be a mountain mover in whatever she decides to invest her time and energy in.
Our 2021 Summer has officially begun. This will definitely be remembered as one of the weirdest school years ever I am sure. Of the three big school districts around our area, I am glad our kids were in the district we were in. They handled COVID the best as far as keeping kids in school as much as possible and getting things back to normal as quickly as possible. There was a lot of frustrations. Matthew was doing school virtually from home almost half the year and his grades and psyche struggled a lot because of it. The girls principal was ridiculous before COVID and used this as an opportunity to control and regulate EVERYTHING she could possibly think of. Compared to other districts I am glad I was in the one we were in though. I hope next year we can put all this behind us and have a good year.
Emilee finished 2nd grade this year. She had Mrs. Trimble. Allison also had this teacher and I specifically requested Emilee NOT have her. As I mentioned earlier though they have a special principal and her and I are not…fans of each other. Anyway, despite having a teacher that doesn’t seem to like kids or teaching, Emilee made it through the year without her anxiety getting to out of control. We were able to help curb her stress in the morning before going to school with a straight up bribe. A dollar each day she was able to not panic and cry about going to school the day night or morning before school. Best dollars I ever spent. The last week of school I went to a nail appointment and guess who I ran into?! Mrs. Trimble getting her nails done in the middle of a school day because she “just had to take a break from it all.” She didn’t see me, I just overheard her talking to the person doing her nails. I digress though. Emilee is done with second grade and is looking forward to 3rd!
Award day.
Field Day
Last day of school.
Allison finished 5th grade this year and is moving onto middle school next year! The dollar bribe worked so well with Emilee I bribed Allison a dollar each day that she got up in the morning and ready and made it to the bus on time without blowing up on anyone. We had a 50/50 percent success rate but I will still count it as a win. As per usual Allison had a love/hate relationship with her teacher, Mrs. Brown. I liked her though and thought she understood Allison pretty well. She also helped us realize that Allison was literally ‘gating’ her performance instead of performing at her top potential. She talked with us about this and we ended up getting her tested and she is now in the gifted program for math, science, and reading which I think will improve Allison’s attitude toward school a lot as she will not be bored out of her mind anymore. We had several meetings and talks with teachers and counselors (oddly never the principal) and were able to get her evaluated without her knowing-and purposefully sabotaging herself. After the fact, when we were discussing all of this with Allison and trying to explain what the phrase ‘shooting ones self in the foot’ means, I would say we didn’t get a full representation of her capabilities but enough that she is now on the school radar and we can challenge her better. I am hoping she will thrive in middle school with a little more freedom and more variety to her day. She is looking forward to it a lot.
1st day of 5th grade
Graduation Day!
Graduation Day
Award Day
80’s Day
Hawaiian Day
Matthew finished 8th grade this year and will be starting his first year of high school next year! Between mask requirements for school sports, and breaking his leg Matthew didn’t play any school sports this year- which is very unusual for him. Luckily he still had baseball and basketball outside of school (before he broke his leg) but he is excited to be able to be more involved next year. Despite COVID changes and no matter how ridiculous they got at times, he was able to finish the year on a positive note. I am nervous and excited for him to start high school. He is a good boy. If I can help guide him through the next 4 years of his life without huge mistakes or permanent scars and a strong testimony of Christ I will be a happy momma.
Peanut took a trip to the vet this week. Allison was concerned with his foot and thought his belly was bothering him so I appeased her by taking him in for a checkup. He is doing about as great as can be expected for a guinea pig. The Doctor (who ironically is extremly allergic to guinea pigs) said she is doing a great job at taking care of him. They trimmed his nails while we were there to which I appreciated as Peanuts current nail trimmer.
She rewarded him with a new enclosure in his cage to burrow in. The old one was made of plastic. The new one is made of wood so he can snuggle in it and chew on it. He is a well loved Guinea Pig.
Allison had her first of three meets this past weekend. Each gymnast is only allowed to bring two people so she invited me and Grandpa. It was in Blue Springs which is about 50 minutes away and it was snowing so it was an exciting drive to and from. Grandpa wanted to drive but I insisted so his blood pressure was a little high while we were in the car but we all survived. It was nice to have his company while we watched Allison do her events.
She took 10th in the whole meet overall, 6th on the floor routine. She did really good on the Vault and Uneven bars as well. The beam was a bit of a struggle for her this time, she fell off twice but she has another meet in a few weeks and is looking forward to getting a better score on that.
We went to dinner afterwards at Culver’s and Grandpa got us all a yummy bacon cheeseburger.
We got back Allison’s team gymnastic pictures. She has the prints hanging up in her room, but I took a picture of the pictures to have in the family blog.
She set a goal to work on her back flip, tuck, and handspring this year. Last week on the trampoline she got it down. She has had the skills for a while, she has been working on the nerves to trust herself and do it. She has a couple nasty trampoline burns on her face but she is confident enough to do them well on the trampoline now. Next step is applying it to land.
Allison struggled with knowing what she wanted to ask for for Christmas this year. Ryan and I decided that she would like to have an experience and make some memories instead of a physical gift. We came up with an indoor sky diving experience. Luckily we were right, and she was thrilled.
Shortly after the new year we scheduled her sky diving experience. It was for her and one other person so she asked me to go with her.
It was a lot of fun, it was a lot harder then we thought it would be, we were exhausted when we were done and sore the next day. It was loud and cold. But it was worth it and we had a good time. We haven’t told the rest of the family yet but we got a good deal on a family skydiving package when we were done so we got that and will take everyone sometime soon. We are waiting for Matthew’s leg to heal.
I was making dinner and cooking something on the stove. I looked up and saw a little message for me on the microwave. Allison left it for me. Sweet girl. It made my day.
