Since I am here....

I am thinking I will start to just do one weekly update to this blog. Most likely on a Thursday or Friday. I have found that so much goes on with the kids and when I post everything, my blog looks a bit messy. Since I am here now though I will give a little update. :)

Kiley: Oh, Kiley. Well, Girl scouts was a hit. I convinced her to join. I still hope I can convince her to join gymnastics or dance (dance preferably). I guess she loves being home so much that she doesn't want to spend even an hour away from home. That is one of the reasons she gave me when we discussed it. She told me she will join when she is 10. I am not going to force her to do it, but I think she would like it. I might be able to convince her to try it for two weeks before making a decision. Kiley got her report card and of course did very well. At her old school, she scored off the charts for everything and was taken out of her classroom and put into a gifted classroom. This district, however, is the best school district in Colorado and it has a more difficult curriculum. She is still scoring above average in reading and spelling, but is not doing as well in math. (Still getting a proficient score though). This district uses a math curriculum called "Everyday Math". I have a K-12 teaching license and have never heard of this before. I looked into it and got some materials from the school. Apparently, it's only used in a handful of school districts but has been shown to have higher overall scores when these kids were tested in later grades. One subject that has been coming up frequently in our house the past couple months is popularity. I have always associated popularity with high school, but Kiley is dealing with it now and has been since 1st grade. In 1st grade there was a small group of girls who declared themselves popular and called their group "The Girls Club". Kiley was in the club, but struggled because she wanted to play with friends who were not in the club. We had countless conversations about being friends with everyone and always being kind and how popularity is just an idea and it's much more important to be friends with everyone. This new school has something similar. Within the first couple weeks of school, Kiley told me that there were two really popular girls in her class. I asked her why she thought they were popular and she said they just were. I asked her if they had a lot of friends and she said no. Again, we revisited the same conversation we had the year before. Kiley, of course, became friends with these two girls, but still played with her other friends. Last week, Kiley told me that this group is now handing out "popular invitations". Where do these girls come up with this stuff? She told me she is confused because she knows they will give her an invite, but that means she can't play with her other friends. I told her that the decision is hers and we had yet another discussion about being kind to everyone and being friends with everyone etc. She has a good heart and a good head. I hate to see her torn though.

Creighton is getting feisty. The terrible two's are upon us, even though he is not quite two yet. Today, he found a crayon and colored on the wall and wainscoting in the dining room. I will have to make a trip to the store for a Magic Eraser. He still cracks me up, but keeps me busy and on my toes.

Cort is cutting his two bottom teeth. He is only 17 weeks, but by about 24 weeks they should be completely in. This week has been really bad for him. I am giving him Tylenol and Orejel, but he still has moments of hysterical crying. Last night, I didn't get to bed until after midnight and Cort was up at 1am, 2:30am, 3am, and 5am. I am on my 4th pop today. Thank goodness for Caffeine.

Chad is still studying for the tests. We have been really busy the past three weekends, so that has hindered his available time. We need to start prioritizing things though so that he can get these tests done by the end of March. I will be so happy when he has his license and I don't have to worry about giving him time to study anymore.

Our neighbors are still the greatest! We had dinner with them the other night. I am not much of a drinker. I drink very lightly maybe once a year, if that. I succumbed to the peer pressure and had a shot of Patron and it was AWESOME!! One was enough for me though. The Bachelor was on last night and our neighbor made us chocolate covered strawberries to eat while we watched it. He just brought them to our house and then went back home. At least three times a week he cooks something for us. I made them a cake and we are having them over for steaks in two weeks. We have discussed putting a gate in our shared fence so we can go back and forth that way to each others house. We share a gate with our other neighbors, but don't know them that well. We might just move the gate when we redo our fence. It's really fun having them next door. They love poker too!! Always exciting news to me since I am pretty much a poker shark. We have a table in our basement and they do too. We will probably play a lot this summer.

I have some cute pics of the kids, but am too tired to upload them right now. Maybe this weekend.