Merry Christmas!

Well 2014 is drawing to a close and we're mostly recovered from Christmas. This year the kids got an entire two weeks off from school so it feels like we've been on "vacation" forever. Amy in particular I think had a great Christmas – she got the crossbow she wanted (and in the process, let me know that she doesn't believe in Santa any more) and I think her favorite gift was some scrap fabric that her Grandma Lois gave her. She took a short sewing class a few days before Christmas and is very interested in sewing. This past Sunday she and Lois put together a little quilt pillow which we were to close up and finish...but then the dog then partially pulled the stuffing out of it. It may need more repair than I'm capable of! She got a million pads of drawing paper and lots of new pens and pencils. I know the kids get way too much stuff for holidays, it's hard to tone it down. Today we're six days past Christmas and some of their gifts are completely untouched still.

Reed really didn't ask for much for Christmas – he got everything he asked for for his birthday, and couldn't come up with more ideas of things he wanted for Christmas. Tough situation. He asked for this ANKI race track thing where you control the car with your iTouch...and he played with it that day and maybe one other time and I won't be surprised if it doesn't come out of the box again. The really big gift of the year for him came from a big group of family (Sharps/Borcherdings, Poppy, Conners, Kippers and Stevie/Nikki) since it was so expensive...the Simpsons Lego house. It's so cool! He's been working on it for a few days and still isn't finished. Unfortunately he hit a roadblock not being able to find a certain piece (one we have tons of if he'd search the gigantic box of random Legos that we have) and gave up for now. Stick-to-it-iveness is something our boy perhaps needs to work on.

All in all a great holiday. Lots of family time, we stayed too busy probably but it's hard not to. Hopefully lots of great memories made.

GeoBee

Imagine my surprise to read today's daily announcements for Lunsford, which they do over the loudspeaker at school and then post online...

December 19th
The semi-final round of the Lunsford Geography Bee is complete and the field has been narrowed down. Classroom winners took a written test and the top scorers get to move on to the school bee in January.
This year's geography bee finalists are:

• From 6th Grade: Ashwin U, Reed L, Ankit K, Nathan L, Tejarsh S, and Justin A

• From 7th Grade: Paul J, Nicolas C, and Alexandra H

• From 8th Grade: Gabriel Y, Nikhil P, and Arnav K

Well I guess we have a GeoBee coming up! Way to go, Reed-o!

Amy, her ponies, and drawing

This is a drawing Amy did that we are turning into her 2014 ornament.
Can't wait for it to arrive!

Amy loves My Little Pony. Really loves it. LOVES. IT. Loves the show, the movies, the characters, the soundtracks. She is currently in an "obsessed" phase, I'd say - she talks about it a LOT. But, I think sometimes she's a little embarrassed to still like them, since other girls tell her it's "for babies." So she semi-secretly continues her fascination with MLP (she calls it "MLP" now), sharing it with people who she feels safe to share it with. Lately she draws them incessantly, including the "Equestria Girls" version where the ponies are sort of people...some kind of pony/person hybrid, I don't know, it's really confusing.

Another one of her MLP masterpieces.

Amy has always been a prolific artist, ever since she was first old enough to draw. She could go through reams of paper in a heartbeat, and in fact right now we have stacks and stacks of her artwork on the new bookcase in the kids' art room/computer area. I have to confess to sometimes culling the pile when she's not paying attention (the term 'hoarder' comes to mind).

Her drawing gets better and better. And this isn't even counting what she draws on the computer, which is terrific too. Drawing is a calming activity for her, I'm glad she has that outlet and I hope she always keeps it up.

A drawing Amy did as part of an after-school art class recently.
They were assigned to draw a shipping boat - beautiful!

"When it's time to change..."

The great Peter Brady once sang, in a cracking voice...

When it's time to change you've got to rearrange
Move your heart to what your gonna be
Sha na na na na na na na, sha na na na na

Well our kids haven't logged any time watching "The Brady Bunch" and fortunately for Reed we don't have a family singing group, but nonetheless Reed has something in common with Peter. Somewhere along the last six months or so, his voice has changed. There were very few Peter Brady-type voice-cracking moments. And the change was subtle - Tod didn't even notice it until a neighbor mentioned it. Reed's voice is now deeper and he sounds much more grown up now.

Last night I watched a bunch of videos Tod has taken over the years and marveled at the difference in his little kid voice and his current voice. Oh my gosh it was almost too much to handle.

Sidenote: somehow video has always been Tod's domain, while I stuck with still photos. I am so very grateful that Tod took some videos over the years - we don't have tons of them, but we do have some real treasures, capturing the kids' personalities when they were "littles". Definitely have to keep that up, these videos mean so much to me.

Last year being a "kid"

Reed turned 12 last week. Twelve. Next year, he'll be a teenager.

Reed reported that he didn't feel any different upon waking on his 12th birthday. It seems like he grows taller every single day and I will be surprised if he's not taller than me by the end of sixth grade. He reads a lot less these days, it seems (though he tells me he reads a lot in school, specifically in language arts class), preferring to play Civilization on the computer (and sometimes Minecraft too, it's apparently come back into middle school fashion again, at least for a little while), or Xbox games. You'll find him wearing headphones around the house more often than not, listening to NFL/fantasy football podcasts. He's still a picky-ish eater and would rather eat 4 bowls of cereal than most of the dinners I prepare - for the record, his favorite meals other than cereal are pizza, cheeseburgers, taco night, and what we call "Tortellini Soup" which is frozen tortellini boiled in chicken stock (why yes we are gourmets).  He showers pretty much every day with much less grumbling complaining (he's come to the realization that it's not a fight he's going to win). He's in the middle school habit of not wearing a coat even though it's freezing ("It won't fit in my locker!") or taking an umbrella or rain coat when it's raining ("It would drip all over everything in my locker!"). He frequently asks for a cell phone, even though he never talks on the phone. He can text on his iPod Touch but can't be bothered with setting that up.

And speaking of sixth grade, Reed managed all A's on his first middle school report card. He seems to have settled in with no problems, despite how awful all the kids' books say middle school can be. Let's hope it stays that way!

Love and marriage

This just popped in my head and I think I've never written about it so I figured I'd better get to it!

When Reed was a kindergartener, one day he asked if he could have the coupons that were leftover after I cut out what I needed. Then he clipped a bunch out himself and said they were for when he and Camryn P. got married.

What?!

He brought them to his room and kept them there for a long time. That was the first time he'd ever mentioned "marrying" someone. And you know what? So far it's also the last. He's never mentioned another girl in that way again!

Sleepy time

The little darlings napping together, June 2006.

Our kids couldn't be more different when it comes to sleep. For Reed, sleep is a necessary evil. He hates that he has to sleep, and would rather be doing something else. And when things conspire to keep us up late, or make us short on sleep, he manages fine. I think he's a lot like Tod in that way. Oftentimes even though Reed's gone to bed an hour or more before I do, he's still awake when I go to bed. He listens to podcasts or sports on the radio, or music. Eventually he sleeps. As far as we know, he isn't using his iPod to play games when he's supposed to be sleeping - well maybe we've caught him doing that once or twice, but it's not a regular thing.

Amy, on the other hand, is just like her Mom. We need our sleep. If she goes a couple of nights without the usual amount of sleep, well look out. Be warned. Stay back 100 feet. Don't look her in the eye. It's not going to be pretty. Lack of sleep definitely has a major effect on her behavior. And mostly she falls asleep pretty quickly at night, though she'd tell you differently. But mostly we know that it's best for everyone if we don't keep Amy up late more than one night in a row. Sometimes we can bribe her into taking a nap, and sometimes she'll even fall asleep during the day on her own, if she's had a couple of late nights. Then we're all happy!

The "Headphone Years" begin

Well I think they're officially here. They probably began a while ago. The Headphone Years. 

The time when we'll find our kids with headphones on as often as not. When they somehow hear the things we don't want them to hear, but tune out when we're actually talking to them when they've got headphones on. Reed logs a lot of time like this with his headphones on (well, technically these are Amy's headphones since Reed's broken a couple of sets and we've told him he's got to buy his own replacements), laughing out loud, maybe playing basketball, maybe just walking around the house. Amy tends to use her headphones more when she's drawing, she hasn't yet taken to wearing them as frequently as Reed does. 

I can't blame them, though....if there'd been such a thing as iPods when I was their age, I probably never would've been without headphones, tuned in to my own little world!

Actual conversation with Amy

Amy: Mom, is there time for me to take a bath?

Mom: Sure, but I will warn you there's a spider in the tub.

Amy: Really? Then I'm not taking a bath. I'll take a shower.

Mom: Okay.

Amy: Why'd you tell me there was a spider in the tub?

Mom: Because I didn't want you to get in the tub and find a spider there with you.

Amy: You should have told me earlier, before I said I wanted to take a bath.

Mom: So you're telling me that I should have just known that you wanted to take a bath this morning, even though you haven't taken a bath in months? And I should have told you there was a spider in the tub, before you said you wanted to take a bath?

Amy: It sounds much more ridiculous when you say it like that.

Me: *forehead smack*

So far so good!

We've made it through our first two weeks of school – yahoo!

Amy has the most terrific fourth grade teachers – she really has hit the teacher lottery every single year so far, we are so fortunate. She has Mrs. Lowe for homeroom, language arts and Virginia studies. She has Ms. Pinkham for science and Mrs. Simmons for math. This year she's also in the FUTURA program, for which she travels each Tuesday by bus to Buffalo Trail Elementary where she has Mrs. Mapp. This is a lot to keep track of, especially since it's her first year of having different teachers. (She's going to be really prepared for middle school!) All of the teachers seem so kind and dedicated. She's got her friend Morgan in her class, right next to her (which also means she has the very best room mom, Valerie...score for everyone), and a few other pals as well. The teachers all said "Fourth grade really is the best grade" and I'm with them. Virginia Studies will make it different and fun and it's not quite the same intensity as fifth grade.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work from home two days a week (Wednesdays and Fridays) so that means that I can walk Amy to school still, and she can walk home...two days less of the CASA after school program, which she isn't crazy about. She still wants us to walk her to school, which is nice – especially when we think about the fact that there's only one more year after this where it'll even be an option. 

The FUTURA program is the gifted and talented program. Unfortunately here in Loudoun, as I said, it's a one-day pullout program rather than having an entire dedicated class for these kids. I wish we lived in an area where that's available but I hope the program will be good for Amy. They'll be studying structures this year and systems next year. The program is all about thinking outside the box, thinking of things in their entirety, working as a team, "owning" your work, and figuring your place in relation to the world around you. We hope it'll be a great experience for Amy. I know she doesn't like that she's missing a music class on her FUTURA day (also a PE class, she's not so concerned about that!). I think that's especially important to her this year since it's her first opportunity to join the school choir, which she is very excited about.

Middle school. Reed is in middle school. Wasn't I just in middle school myself? (Don't answer that.) He's at J. Michael Lunsford Middle School, which he has to take the bus to, it's a bit less than two miles away. The good news on that is there are so many middle schoolers in the near vicinity, the bus only has to stop one other time on the way to school and it's full. Living where I did in Forest Ridge, it was a new-ish subdivision and the schools that were closest were already overcrowded, and we logged a lot of time on the bus in middle and high school. Reed's got his good pals Robbie and Harrison both on the bus and so far we haven't had any issues with that. 

Middle school starts later than elementary does (8:40 a.m. to Little River's 7:50 a.m. start) and so far that's leaving Reed with plenty of time in the morning to take it easy before he heads out – he's spent some time each day shooting hoops, I think. They say it's inevitable that he'll be sleeping in, but so far he remains an early riser. 

Middle school is different now than it was in the olden days. They have an A schedule and a B schedule, which alternates. Language arts is the only subject that they have every day, the others (PE/Health, Math 6/7, Science, US History, Keyboarding, music [strings]/resource [study hall]) are all just every other day. This allows them to be in each class for longer stretches at a time and really get into each subject. He has a locker, which we know is already on the messy side and will likely only get a lot worse! He has to "dress out" (a term which strikes me as funny for some reason) for PE. It's all new! The school, which opened in 2011, has a capacity of 1,350 students and there are about 600 kids in Reed's sixth grade class. The school has a lot of different clubs that will ramp up in the next month or so and we're hoping Reed will find some that he's interested in.

We went to back to school night a couple of days ago. It was a really great event, so far we have been so impressed with the school. It was a whirlwind of an evening where we spent only 10 minutes visiting each of the classes (which was a challenge, navigating that two-story school!). He seems to have some fabulous teachers – his math teacher is in his 29th year of teaching but was as excited about the new year as a first year teacher would be. His science teacher was exactly what you think of when you think "middle school science teacher" – bow tie and all. His US History class will be his first "flipped" classroom, and is the first of the Lunsford classes to try this method where the students watch the lectures at home and then the teacher works on the "homework" with them in class. It seems to make a lot of sense, hopefully it will work well.

The other thing I'm finding fascinating about middle school is how much they focus on college and career planning. I feel pretty certain that we didn't talk about those things in middle school – heck, I don't remember much conversation about it in high school, either! The school talks to the kids a lot about how you figure out what you want to do with your life, setting them up for paths that will get them there (once they figure out where 'there' is). A friend whose 7th grade daughter is maybe not someone who will want to go to college has gotten a lot of advice about how she can choose classes, including vocational school in her high school years, that will have her not too far short of a veterinary tech license when she graduates. The sixth graders will take a field trip to a nearby college (Shepherd University in West Virginia) next month – they'll tour the campus, learn about college life and studies – in their second month of middle school! I've heard that toward the end of the school year, the kids will map out their courses all through til graduation (of course this is preliminary plan, not something they have to stick to). And the fact is that this will be here sooner than we think – for example, since Reed is taking an accelerated math class this year, he will complete both sixth and seventh grade math this school year. So in seventh grade, he will take Algebra, which will give him a high school credit. High school class, in seventh grade! This is really a potentially long-term affecting thing. I think it's terrific that they're giving the kids a well-rounded view of what their life choices can be. It makes me wonder how I might have benefitted from a similar program – it's really a difference-maker.

Many parents of middle schoolers in our area are really involved with all the details of their kids' school life. As I've written before recently, that just isn't us. They've worked with their kids on how best to set up their school binders, color coding systems for folders and notebooks, different backpacks for their A and B days. Well that's not just us. We are so fortunate to have kids who organize themselves and succeed. Is Reed going to do as neat and as organized a job as I'd like? Well no (partly because I'm a bit OCD), but how he sets things up works for him, and that is the only thing that actually matters. Last year in fifth grade they had to have this ridiculous big zippered binder with a shoulder strap, where they were to keep their papers. His was consistently messy, with papers going every which way, but he never lost or forgot to turn in an assignment, he knew where everything was. Can't ask for more than that. We are so lucky.

So we're off to a great start. Excited to see how the year develops for both kids – can't wait to see them grow!

I feel like I have to defend the fact that what I wrote about Reed is so much longer than what I wrote about Amy...it's just the whole middle school thing – there's so much that's new!! It is in no way an indication of anything except newness. Trust me, sweet girl, I am a second child myself and I know that "second rate" feeling – but that's not the case at all!

Remembering 9/11/01

I can so vividly recall the morning of September 11, 2001. It was an absolutely beautiful day, clear blue skies, just a bit of a hint of fall crispness in the air. I was at my cubicle on the 8th floor of my office. That morning one of our interminably long and tedious senior staff meetings was scheduled. A bit before 9 a.m., someone came in and said "A plane hit the World Trade Center in NYC" - my first thought was surely he means a small plane and it's just an accident. Then we all hit the internet and soon got the news that another plane - and these were big, commercial passenger planes, not the little planes like I initially thought - had hit the WTC. This was not an accident. It was the beginning of a whole different USA.

We anxiously followed the news, the internet slowed to a crawl, phone lines were hard to come by. We heard there might be other planes that'd been hijacked. I learned my sister Jennifer, with 2 year old Aly at home, was in fact on a plane herself, headed to Las Vegas for work. We were panicked at the possibility that her plane might be hijacked too. Indeed the plane that crashed into the Pentagon was out of Dulles, a flight to LA. It probably left nearly exactly the same time as Jennifer's flight. Eventually we heard from her - all planes across the country were told to land wherever they were. She landed in the Midwest, safely. Relief. Once she and her co-worker landed, it took them a day or so to be able to get a rental car (they were all snapped up) and then drive home. Jennifer had a different 9/11 experience than we did. We had that brief time where we feared one of our own family members might actually going to be part of this tragedy - I don't think Jennifer knows how really panicked we were for her safety.

That morning, our building was evacuated due to a bomb threat - perhaps this was just rumors gone wrong, I'd guess, not any true threat. I remember being outside in the parking lot, trying over and over again to get a line on my cell phone so I could call Tod to make sure he was okay, and to get reassurance that everything would be okay. He was working for Lockheed Martin in Springfield at the time, and had an overnight shift the night before - he would have gotten home after I'd left for work. We were engaged to be married that December. My calls went unanswered because he was sleeping - I called over and over before he finally called me back. He had no idea what'd happened. It was unreal. Hard to believe.

A bit later in the morning, I learned that my stepfather Jim, as part of his work with the Fairfax County Urban Search & Rescue Team, was called to help at the Pentagon. He spent a couple of days there helping to coordinate the search efforts. From there he went to NYC. I wish either of these had been rescue missions, not recovery missions. I can't imagine the things he saw. So many lives lost, so much destruction. What we owe to our fire fighters, our EMTs, our rescue personnel. It can't be overstated. And to think how many of those folks are and continue to suffer, how many have even died, probably as a direct result of what they breathed in and were exposed to in that disaster of a rubble pile. It is heartbreaking.

When the team returned from New York, there was a big gathering to welcome them home. Everyone got hugged a little tighter. We know knew for sure what could be lost. What so many had lost.

The day after 9/11, our community had a gathering on the town hall green. There were candles. There were tears. It was all we could do.

Never did we think this kind of thing would happen in America. Sure, there had been the Oklahoma City bombing, but that seemed like an outlier - one crazy guy who did a bad thing. We never believed this kind of large-scale attack could happen to us. And it did happen to us. All of us. Every American, whether they had no direct connection to any of it, whether they lost a loved one, whether they were supposed to be in one of the fallen buildings, whether they were on the planes, whether they died in the buildings. It happened to all of us. We will never be the same after having lived through that day. We could put ourselves in the places of those people who probably knew that they were about to die a horrible, fiery death. In the places of those incredibly brave people who overtook the hijackers and made sure their plane crashed into a remote area instead of whatever its target was. We heard many of their 911 calls. It was vivid. It was heartbreaking. We watched those planes crash into the towers, over and over and over and over again on TV.

It was all just too much. Too much sorrow. Too much fear. Too much pride at how, at least for a day or two, our country came together.

It is strange to think about the fact that Reed and Amy will only know a post-9/11 world. Their frame of reference tells them that indeed they are not totally safe living here. We never felt that way before 9/11. I am grateful, though, that they weren't around to have lived through that day. It has left a mark on everyone in our country who was old enough to understand what was happening.

Music is such an important part of my life. It's how we often tell our stories, it's how we connect. When I think of that day, two songs come to mind. The first, by Alan Jackson, was written soon after the attack and first performed at an awards show in November that year. It still gives me goosebumps and makes me cry to hear it.

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were you in the yard with your wife and children
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Risin' against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white and blue
And the heroes who died just doin' what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself and what really matters?

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell
You the difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were you teaching a class full of innocent children
Or driving down some cold interstate?
Did you feel guilty 'cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone?
Did you call up your mother and tell her you loved her?
Did you dust off that Bible at home?

Did you open your eyes, hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep?
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Or speak to some stranger on the street?
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Or go out and buy you a gun?
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns?

Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers
Did you stand in line and give your own blood?
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love?

And the greatest is love.
And the greatest is love.

I'm not really religious myself, but having grown up going to church, I can very much appreciate the comfort offered by faith. Hearing the song now, I cringe a bit at the line about not knowing the difference between Iraq and Iran - we were largely a country of people who were ignorant of so much of the rest of the world. After that day, never again would we discount the unrest happening in far-flung places - we need to know at least a little about it.

The second song is Radney Foster's "Everyday Angels", which in its entirety is a beautiful and special song giving credit to unknown heroes. The last stanza is about a NYC firefighter who was off work on 9/11 and going to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife, but heard the call, and answered it, never to return.

Dave was gonna meet his wife at a coffee shop in Brooklyn,
When he heard the alarm sing out.
911, he was running up stairs that he never got back down.
Down, down.

He was an everyday angel, earnin' his wings,
Trying to save people who are just like you and me.
Angel, living out love.
The kind of people we could use a lot more of.
An everyday angel, everyday angel.
Everyday angel, everyday angel.

I'll never forget that day, as long as I live. Thank you to everyday angels.

Where'd you go, summer?

Here it is, the very last day of summer vacation. I've spent the last week+ at home with the kids, and the week before that we were in Florida (Daytona and a quick trip to Orlando). This summer has felt both fast and slow at the same time. It was a new experience for all of us to have the summer babysitter rather than a full slate of camps all summer long.

I think for Amy, having Jessica as a summer sitter was 100% perfect. They have similar temperaments and a lot of overlapping interests - both of them would much rather be inside watching TV or playing a video game. I think they talked and talked all day long. Jessica told her all about "Doctor Who" and The Sims video game. Amy played Minecraft for hours. She didn't quite get all the outside time we wanted her to ("We forgot to go out" - what??). But ultimately I think she will probably always remember the time she spent with Jessica this summer.

For Reed, I'd say the summer was what he wanted for the most part. He logged many, many miles on the new bike he got for fifth grade promotion - the back tire is worn down! He wore his Crocs every single day of summer (except when we went on hikes and things like that) and has the corresponding tan line to prove it. He played hours and hours of Civilization and lots of X-box too. He wasn't so much interested in interacting with Jessica, or participating in the outings that Amy wanted to do. But he made do. He only ended up with 4 days of real summer camp (at Kings Dominion!) since his flag football camp was canceled due to low enrollment (such a bummer). He had a week of "Lions Leap" which was a half-day program to orient the incoming sixth graders to their new school, which was really terrific. But mostly he was at home. Where he likes to be.

Tomorrow is back to reality for both of them. One is very excited (that'd be Amy) and one is complaining (that'd be Reed). I hope we can all handle the transition back to the swing of school life!

Start of a reader

The book To Kill a Mockingbird has been in the news a lot lately thanks to a new biography of Harper Lee, which may or may not be 'authorized' by Miss Lee. So I decided to give the classic book to Reed to read on one of his long, summer days.

He hadn't gotten far into it when he said "This has a great quote, come read it."

The lines Reed wanted me to read are highlighted.

In this part of the book, Scout's brand new first grade teacher is upset because Scout already knows how to read, and even tells her to tell her father to stop teaching her, to which she replies with surprise "Teach me? He hasn't taught me anything, Miss Caroline. Atticus ain't got time to teach me anything. Why, he's so tired at night he just sits in the livingroom and reads."

I didn't think about it the last time I read the book, but Reed learned to read in much the same way that Scout did – by just following along as we read. No wonder this part of the book resonated with him "Reading was something that just came to me." – that's surely what happened with him.

Like winning the lottery

Today, Tod volunteered at the Girl Scout camp Amy is attending at Claude Moore Park. He worked the fishing station, as you can see....

Fish faces!

As part of being a volunteer, they gave him a copy of the all the camp groups' daily schedules for the week. At dinner tonight, Tod mentioned having the schedule and boy, you'd have thought he'd told Amy he had a million dollars he was going to give her, she was so excited. She loves, really really loves, to know what the plan is for things, and if she's the only one who knows the plans, and the rest of the girls don't? Even better!

Having Dad help out at camp made her day, but having access to the camp schedule was priceless in her mind!

Summer of their dreams? Time will tell!

As Reed has gotten older, summers have become more challenging. In the "good old days" (for us, not the kids), the kids went to CASA summer camp all summer. The cost was low and it was convenient - right at their elementary school. But the kids (mostly Reed) have tired of that, and now Reed's even aged out of it anyway. It's always been Reed's dream to not have to go to summer camp. I think in his mind, the kids with stay-at-home moms get to have screen time all day, every day, with no responsibilities or ever having to do anything they don't want to, for the entire summer.

When they got a bit bored with CASA camp, we mixed things up by adding scout camps, flag football camps, going to the in-home day care Amy went to in kindergarten. It really was challenging to map out the whole summer with different camps every week...and then actually getting both kids where they needed to be? Ay yi yi.

So this year we decided we'd get a babysitter for the summer. That was a whole process in itself, posting a job ad, reviewing applicants, doing interviews. We had two top candidates and had each of them watch the kids for a couple of hours to see how it went. Candidate number one, Samantha, Amy thought was super nice. Reed stayed gone riding his bike pretty much the whole time she was at our house. (Tod's theory is that Reed didn't know quite what to do being around a really cute, blond, perky cheerleader type....I refuse to accept that!) Candidate number two, Jessica, turned out to be the daughter of the school library assistant. She played Apples to Apples with them, and then she just happened to have in her car a Harry Potter version of the game Scene It...the three of them played and both kids were enthralled. So we hired Jessica and our summer plans were in place.

On day two of summer, Jessica called at 10:30 a.m. to say Reed was having terrible stomach pain and couldn't even stand up. Since he's not usually one to complain like that, I headed home. Got him in the pediatrician's office, where Dr. John suspected Reed had a kidney stone. A urine test was negative but that's not always definitive, so off we went to Loudoun Hospital in Lansdowne to get Reed an ultrasound of his kidneys and bladder. As he laid on the table for the very lengthy ultrasound process, I noticed he didn't seem to be in any pain anymore. Sure enough he was feeling better. It took probably two hours total to complete the process...but it's all good because in the end they said they found nothing wrong. And he was feeling fine. So off we went for pizza and frozen yogurt, since we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Dr. John called later to say that it was most likely just really bad gas...I'd say so! So now we know that kind of pain can just be as simple as gas. But what a first second day for Jessica, I know she was really scared. Heck I was too, no doubt.

A few bumps in the road so far (too much screen time / not enough outside time) but I hope things will settle in nicely.

Big "YAHOO!" for Amy too!

We were also really happy with Amy's final report card of third grade. I think her teacher Mrs. Schmidt had pretty high standards for Amy and she ended up with 3 B's and 2 A's on the year - pretty awesome!

She also did really great on her first SOL tests. She got a perfect 600 on History & Social Science, 511 on Math, 561 on Reading, and a perfect 600 on Science. Couple of smart kids we've got!

Oh, and in other big news...Amy got BRACES a couple of weeks ago!! They are only on her front four teeth, so it's nothing too elaborate or difficult, thank goodness. She seems to have adjusted easily and is taking pretty good care of them so far. Though she's none too pleased with the extremely long list of food she's not supposed to eat!

Thank you, Mr. President!

Earlier this year, Reed said he wanted to earn the President's Award in school. We didn't know anything about it so we just asked him about it...he said he thought you had to have straight A's. As the school year was winding down, I'd periodically check in on the kids' grades, and I saw he was getting B's in Language Arts and Social Studies. I mentioned it to him and told him that while B's are a totally fine grade to get, (a) we know he can do better and (b) not bringing those grades up might mean he didn't make his goal of earning the President's Award. He kind of shrugged it off and we left it at that. I was disappointed for him because I thought it would be a shame to get straight A's all year and then let up at the very end and not make it (his teacher said she'd noticed him not making the same effort as earlier in the year).

Fast forward to three days left in the school year. As I walked Amy to school, Reed's teacher Mrs. Bedrowsky was waiting outside to talk to me. She asked if we were planning to be at the fifth grade promotion ceremony the next day, because Reed was going to get a "very prestigious award that not many people get". Well of course we were already planning to be there, so now we had a surprise to look forward to!

So that left us feeling very curious as we waited to find out what was up. We've never been to one of the fifth grade promotion ceremonies so we had no idea if there were a ton of awards available, and we thought he wasn't going to be eligible for the President's award. We didn't know if there was like a "science student of the year" or something like that. So we waited and wondered.

The promotion ceremony was very nice. They gave out two awards for music student of the year and two awards for art student of the year. Then came the President's Award. Honestly I wasn't even paying close attention as the assistant principal Mr. Murphy described what the kids had to do to earn the award. But then....they called Reed's name! WOW! He was one of only SIX kids in his class of 162 kids to earn the award. That puts him in the top 4% of his class. Wow! And Reed was just as surprised as we were, since we thought his last quarter grades were going to preclude him from getting the award.

The rest of the ceremony was great, one of the parents put together photos all the parents had submitted to them to show how the kids have grown over the last six years. Reed got a big laugh with his photos, and I loved seeing the picture of him and Harrison Lindsay from kindergarten - they were just so darn cute.

Kindergarten silly.

Fifth grade silly.

These two! So cute I can hardly stand it!

I had worried that I'd cry a lot at this ceremony, but honestly I ended up only happy, proud of what he's accomplished and filled with excitement for what's to come for him. I did cry, though, when I thought of how much my Mom would have loved to be here and seeing Reed and Amy grow up. I'm so sad for what the kids have missed out on not having her in their lives. But I know she's always with us.

After school, we took Reed to get a new bike as his promotion present - he's really outgrown the old one by a couple of inches (he's 5 foot 2 now!). Then we had dinner at Moe's (his choice) and frozen yogurt at Zinga's (also his choice). All in all a great day for him!

The next day I chatted with Mr. Murphy and asked about the award. He said it to earn the President's Award for Educational Excellence, you have to have a A average for both fourth and fifth grade, as well as scoring over 500 (out of 600) on certain SOLs. Because it was an average, those two B's in the last quarter averaged him out to a 3.75, which was still an A. So that explains that. And of course we hadn't received his SOL scores yet so we had no clue on that front. It turns out he got a perfect 600 on Math, 530 on Reading, perfect 600 on Science, and 582 on Writing. Again....wow. Looking back at his fourth grade SOLs, he got 538 on Math, a perfect 600 on Reading, and 587 on Virginia Studies - if I remember right, the Virginia Studies score factored in to the President's Award.

Mr. Murphy also explained that they'd raised the standards for the award this year, and that as they were going through the students' records, so many kids were dropping off - for example, earning 497s on their SOL and not making it - and ultimately it got down to just the six kids. Wow. From second-hand information, apparently in past years a quarter ore more of the class would earn the award. The best part of all this is that we don't push Reed - what he's achieved is all him. How terrific is that?!

So it was a really terrific surprise that Reed earned this award. We couldn't be more proud of him, and can't wait to see what middle school brings for him!

Oh. Em. Gee.

Reed came home from school today, did his homework, then headed outside. He was gone a while, but I wasn't paying all that much attention to the time.

Then he came back in the house and said "Guess where I just went!". I guessed the pool, because Amy is there. He said "No, I went to McDonalds!"

You went WHERE? McDonalds. The one that's 2 miles away, across two fairly busy 4-lane roads? THAT McDonalds?

Holy crap!

He said "You told me I could go farther when I ride my bike."

Yes, I did.

Because you were riding your bike pretty much within a 2-block radius. I certainly never thought Reed would ride that far!!!

Great googly moogly. "A" is home, "B" is McDonalds. Not marked: dangerous road crossings.

Good for you, Reedy.

I hope they remember

Every night after they're asleep, I kiss Reed and Amy goodnight (again), fix their covers, and turn off their music/podcasts/audiobooks. I hope that even though they're not awake, the sense of comfort comes through to them in some way. I hope they think back to being "little kids" and their Mom coming to give them a final good night every night.

Yay for Amy!

We got the news last week that Amy was accepted into the gifted program, which begins in fourth grade. How fantastic for her!

In Loudoun the program - called Futura - is only one day per week, unlike in nearby Fairfax, where the entire week's class is gifted. We don't know a lot about the program yet, but we do know it means that one day per week she'll ride a bus to another school and participate in specialized classes designed to encourage thinking in new ways. She'll be responsible for whatever class work she misses in her "home" class.

This is a terrific opportunity and really opens a door for her which will remain open throughout her next few school years. Since she'll be in Futura for fourth and fifth grade, that will automatically allow her to continue in the Spectrum program in sixth through eighth grades.

We are so proud of this achievement! Especially so since we've been told that her third grade teacher historically hasn't supported kids going into Futura - so we don't know if Amy got in the program based on her testing scores and her "portfolio" of work with the gifted teacher, or whether her teacher actually recommended her. However she got there, it's fantastic.

Two years ago Reed was initially identified as a candidate for the gifted program, but didn't get in. I think that's largely due to the score he got on one of the tests they use, the Naglieri. He scored in the 79th percentile, which just really is not at all reflective of his abilities (just for reference, Amy scored in the 98th percentile). I don't know what happened the day he took that test - did he zone out, rush through, skip a question toward the end and get a bunch of questions wrong because of it? Who knows. When we had our first meeting with his fourth grade teacher Ms. Coughlin, one of the first things she asked us was why Reed wasn't in Futura. His other fourth grade teacher Ms. Sgroi always mentioned that he asks interesting questions and has an interesting perspective on things. His fifth grade teacher Mrs. Bedrowsky says the same things. Clearly he's a really smart kid, it's a shame he didn't get into Futura too. We were a little concerned that he'd be upset that Amy got in, but he took it in stride...first comment was "I guess they lowered their standards from two years ago." What a typical big brother thing to say!

The school year is winding down and the kids are ready for summer. I think I am too. It's nice to have a break from Thursday folders and school fund raisers and taking time every evening for homework.

Amy's "Hopes and Dreams"

This week it was Amy's turn to present her hopes and dreams to her third grade class. Here's what she wrote:

my hopes and dreams                                                                 by: Amy 

My name is Amy Larson and I am 9 years old. My hopes and dreams are to become a fashion designer and work with Emily. When I grow up I want to have 3 dogs. I want to live in Virgina. I want to go to James Madison UNiversty. My favorite food is mac and cheese and ice cream. My favorite thing to do is read. My favorite video game is minecraft. My favorite book series is ever after high. thoes are my hopes and dreams.

The Emily she references is Emily Calo, who is in her class. I am not sure where the JMU influence is coming from, probably because her teacher Mrs. Schmidt's son is graduating high school and going to JMU -- or perhaps it's because on our spring break vacation, we talked about JMU as we passed by it on our way there and back. 

Hopefully I can show this to Amy when she grows up!

Parenting styles

A great number of parents in our neighborhood seem to have a similar parenting style: they micromanage their kids' school studies. They closely oversee homework, they can tell you at any time what class their kid is in at any point of the school day, they have charts to keep track of test schedules.

Well none of that is happening here at the Larson house. Well, okay maybe a tiny bit, but not much. We see school as the kids' "job" for which they are responsible. Before they can have screen time, we ask if their homework is done, and if they report that it is, then that's good enough for us. We don't check, we take their word for it. Their teachers email us to let us know when tests are coming up, and sometimes we'll ask them if they're prepared, or if they need help studying, but for the most part it's up to them to know when a test is and to be ready for it. It's worked out pretty well so far – they get great grades and it's all their doing. What does it teach them if they learn to count on us to remind them to study for something, or to be sure their homework or project is done? We want them to be self-reliant. If it's a "big" test like an SOL (and let's not even talk about their value, which I think is minimal), then we'll try to be sure the kids got a good night's sleep and a good breakfast.

This isn't to say we don't remind them if they're leaving their homework on the kitchen table - we don't go that far. We also give reminders when long-term projects are coming due...and that's mostly for our own sanity so there aren't last-second trips to the craft store.

I hope that how we've chosen to handle school is and will continue to be beneficial for Reed and Amy. We are very fortunate that our kids can handle this kind of responsibility – we're grateful for it every day.

Brain drain

We're not sure whether it's an act, or whether Reed is really lacking in memory and attention. We tell him "On Thursday, we're going to X to see Y" and when Thursday comes, he claims no knowledge of any such plan. "What? We're going to X? Why didn't anybody tell me?!" We just spent 6 days in Gatlinburg, Tennessee over Spring Break, doing a dozen interesting (and sometimes costly) things - Dollywood theme park, magic show, comedy show, electronic scavenger hunt, hiking trips. Two days after we got back, Nikki asked him where we'd gone on vacation. He didn't know. She asked what he did. His answer? "I don't remember." Maybe this is a hormone-related thing? I have no idea. But I don't think he used to be this way, at least it wasn't so drastic.

Hopefully his brain will return to him at some point in time.

Our baby girl is 9!

Today is Amy's ninth birthday! We had our family celebrations this past Saturday since Tod unfortunately has to be in California for work this week. Amy's choice of activities? First, visiting model homes. Now this is something Tod and I sometimes like to do "for entertainment purposes only," as we say. And the kids grumble about it, though ultimately they like it too – it's fun! But for Amy to specifically ask to do it? Kind of wild! It was just the three of us - we left Reed at home, first because he grumbled about having to go (shocker) but mostly because then it was just special time with Amy. We visited 3 model homes, including one with a $1.5 million price tag – needless to say we all loved that one. It was a fun time!

Then we went to the Alamo Drafthouse to have dinner while seeing the brand new "Muppets Most Wanted" movie. We don't go to that theater often, it's only for a special treat. A nice birthday outing.

What can I say about nine year old Amy? She still really loves school (thank goodness) and is very responsible about doing her schoolwork. Her current most favorite activity is playing Minecraft on the computer or Xbox. Several months ago it was a Rainbow Loom bracelet addiction (we still have dozens of the bracelets that she hasn't given out or worn!). Reading and drawing are ongoing favorites, never enough time for those activities. We're taking a break from tae kwon do – it was becoming less enjoyable for her and not worth the fight – and I'm not sure if she'll decide to go back to that. Amy has recently enjoyed taking swim lessons at the Cub Run Rec Center.

It's so incredible to watch our kids slowly turn into "real people" and mature. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our sweet Amy.

End of an era

And finishing up Webelos II.

The cutest little Tiger you'll ever see!

Way back in 2009 when Reed was in first grade, he joined Cub Scouts. Tod was never a Scout and I certainly had no familiarity with it. That first year in Pack 282 didn't turn out to be so great – the co-leaders were really nice guys but not too organized. It was no surprise that they didn't continue to a second year.

We realized during that year that if you want something done right, the best way to assure that is to do it yourself. Well, to let Tod do it himself. :) In 2010, we switched Reed to Pack 1148 and Tod became a Cub Scout Den Leader.

Being a member of Cub Scouts has given us lots of great opportunities for being involved in the community, helping Reed learn new things, and getting to know our neighbors better.

Tod has put an extraordinary amount of energy into Cub Scouts over the last 4 years. He's planned bimonthly meetings, organized outings, and his most high-profile role of all – Popcorn Kernel. I hope that one day Reed will look back fondly on his Cub Scout days and realize the effort that his Dad put into making it a positive experience for him and all the other boys in our den. It was really great to see and I'm both grateful for and proud of Tod for all he's done.

Reed and Dad with the Arrow of Light award.

Reed has decided he's not interested in moving up to Boy Scouts, so March 16 was our very last Cub Scout event – the Blue & Gold dinner. At the dinner, Reed received his Arrow of Light award for his achievements. And with that we are done with scouting. It is more than a little sad to lose our connection to the Pack and the community of the group. But there's no rest for Dad, who's got only a couple of weeks off before Reed's flag football season starts up again – this time with a 3-day per week commitment!

"Mom, will you read to me?"

I was very happy to hear those words from Reed last week! In a failing attempt to locate his lost recorder for music class, we unearthed the thick Sherlock Holmes book we started reading together last year. We have less than an inch to go in the 3 inch-thick book, and he wants to finish it up. It's like saying hello to an old friend again, reading Mr. Holmes' adventures. And it's also pretty awesome to read with Reed again.

Shelby Pants

Amy and her pal Shelby Pants.

I have no idea why Amy called the dog Shelby Pants one day not long after we got her, but it stuck. Amy seemingly just added a random word to Shelby's name, and we call her that pretty much every day. How funny is that? Tod will ask Reed "Did you walk the Pants?" (walking the dog after we get home from school each day is one of his chores now). Sounds so silly. Reed will say "I'm going to talk the Pants!" It makes me chuckle.

Amy is still hurting over not having Bobby in the family any more. She mentions him at least once a week, sometimes more. She's got a picture of him as the screen saver on her iPod Touch. In my head, I know we made the right decision for our family, but that doesn't make it any easier to know she's hurting over missing him. I sincerely hope he's in a good, happy home, and that time will make his absence easier for Amy.

Shelby has turned into a pretty good solo pet. Without another dog to fight with, she's pretty calm. It still seems she may never graduate from having to be in a crate when we're gone, but who knows. Maybe she'll grow up one day and stop chewing things up.

So it begins

Last week the school sent home a flyer telling us about parent information night for middle school.

MIDDLE SCHOOL!

Now that we're into 2014, it's starting to hit me that we're close to the end of Reed's elementary school time. Since that flyer came home, we've also gotten an invite for Reed to come learn about the options for the music program - band, strings, chorus - they have to make choices! This is a whole new world. I can't wait to see the choices Reed makes for himself.

Good cooks in the kitchen

A few weeks ago, Reed found the recipe in the newspaper's "Mini Page" section and thought it sounded good. Since lemon cake is one of my favorites, they decided they'd make me one for my birthday.

A couple of trips to the grocery store later, they were hard at work. Both kids helped out and the result was delicious.

What I learned as they worked in the kitchen, though, was that Amy in particular actually has been paying attention during the time she's cooked with me. She had lots of tips on the "right" way (*cough* *cough* the way that I do things) to do particular tasks, like how I raise the beaters up out of the batter and let them spin a bit to clean them off. I have to admit that a lot of times when the kids want to help in the kitchen, it's a special occasion and I am not always as patient as I should be. It is true that having the kids involved usually means things take a little longer and some things might not get done in exactly the way I'd like. But I have to do a better job of remembering the value in their participation, no matter how late I might be in preparing for company. They're both learning life skills by helping with food preparation, and it is a privilege to have them helping me.

Plus, when they get a bit older, I hope they'll be making meals and treats for me, without any help at all – how great will that be!

Christmas fun

We had a really nice Christmas, I think!

First, we were fortunate enough to bring Tod's dad here for a visit over the holidays. It'd been a couple of years since he visited so it was great he was willing to fly out to be with us. There were very many games of Skip Bo, as always, and not too much running around, which was nice.

I wanted to write about a fun new thing we did this year. The kids' big gifts from Santa were pretty big gifts - Reed got a new iPod Touch and Amy got a Nintendo 3DS. A wee bit pricey. And we got the kids a much-needed new laptop. It was kind of bad timing that this "need" came up right at Christmas, but we had to take care of it. The laptop the kids were using was our three-laptops-ago laptop - it wouldn't run the latest games and it also always had to be plugged in since it couldn't hold a charge.

It was both kids' biggest wish for Christmas, to get a new laptop. My first thought was we would just put the new laptop in the place of the old one and the kids would be excited to see it waiting there - maybe put a bow on it or something. But given that this was such a big, expensive gift - we couldn't just give it too them that easily. Plus Amy actually told us she thought that Santa might just do exactly that - put a new laptop in place of the old. So we couldn't do that! Then a few days before Christmas, a co-worker told me that for her son's big gift each year, they do a scavenger hunt to make him work for it a little. Brilliant! So that's just what we did. We put together a series of clues (okay, we mostly got the ideas from the internet!) that had the kids running from the freezer to the fireplace, to our bedroom, to the laundry room, to the mail box, etc. It was SO great! They really had a lot of fun with it, and were so happy to find the laptop at the end. I am so glad we did that and I think maybe we should do it again next year!

Truer words

Last night we were having dinner at Moe's. Tod said something about how all the school kids are "living large" with three snow days in a row following winter break. Without missing a beat, Amy said "And the parents are living small!" Truer words have never been spoken!