Catching Up!

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Just a quick note to say that I am spending most of my time these days catching up with my girlies! We are taking LOTS of pictures! Thanks Ann-Marie for the information about Picnik.com! We have been having so much fun with our pictures using that site. I took the pictures to the right here and played around with them on Picnik!

The weather is finally getting nice. It's been chilly (50's/60's) Monday is going to be 82 degrees! I hope to hit the beach with them tomorrow (76) and Monday!

Christopher is going to be LOST without them. He won't let them sit down for one minute! He has them playing "ball-ball" all day and night. He says "Tee-Tah UP! Hopey UP!" Hopefully, this weekend Brit will get more one on one time with him! We are celebrating Hope's birthday and my birthday tomorrow night!!

I want to thank everyone for my birthday cards, emails and phone calls! They really made my day!! :-)

Another Bump In The Road of Life

Well, Brit just learned that the height requirement for fighter pilots starts at a minimum of 64 inches. She is barely hitting 60. She was pretty sad and discouraged when she called me, but hopefully after our discussion, she will look at things differently. I guess if God wanted her to be a pilot, he would have built her accordingly. She is brainstorming now for new life direction! The University of Maryland flew up today to watch her practice. North Carolina is supposed to be coming in the next week or two I guess. Of course, I have my ideas for her. It is obviously her decision. It's not easy letting your babies grow up!!!

Monday, Monday

Well, I'm starting the countdown! My girlies are coming Monday night! YIPPEE!

State Fair

We had a great time at the Florida State Fair yesterday. Christopher enjoyed seeing the farm animals. It was so cute watching him attempt to feed some goats, ducks, geese and cows. Of course they were all stuffed from everyone else feeding them, so his attempts were pretty fruitless. At least it made for some great photo ops. It was a beautiful day; a little bit on the warm side, but I'm not complaining! I did feel sorry for some of the animals. They seemed to be bothered by the heat. Oh yeah, Christopher had his first pony ride!

Brit did well at her meet in Arizona, placing first on bars and second all-around. She was really down in the dumps about missing winter carnival though. Her sister Taylor had to admit that it just wasn't much fun without her there either. Despite the arguments and drama, they still love each other!

It sounds like Hope's birthday party weekend was a success. She was in good spirits when she called me last night...despite being thrown from her horse! Yikes.

Schools in Crisis

What in the world is going on with our children's future? The news just keeps getting worse. Another shooting? This is not something the parent of a college bound high school student needs to hear.

From what I've read, the shooter was a good student and did not raise any flags with administration or students. It makes you wonder how many other ticking time bombs are out there and what we as a society can do to protect our greatest treasure; our children.

Yesterday, while getting my routine dental cleaning, I had talked to the dentist and hygienist about the girls and how they were doing, etc. The hygienist then proceeded to tell me about the time her daughter was riding the school bus and a boy set her hair on fire with a lighter! What?!!

Her daughter was in a charter program too and her school was for students in the "medical bound" program. However, the powers that be saw fit to pick up students from another school; a school of last resorts for kids who have been kicked out of the mainstream. Great idea huh?

She then proceeded to tell me what lengths she had to go to in order to have this kid arrested; which included threatening a lawsuit, just to make them take him off her bus! (The school board thought a 3 day suspension was sufficient for taking out your BIC and setting fire to someones hair.)

Because the incident occurred over two separate police jurisdictions, she had red tape. Finally, one Pinelles County Sheriff's Deputy was furious and once the kid set foot on the school yard, he arrested him.

This story reminds me of the story I watched on the local news about the school that was on my list of "choices" for Hopey. In this situation, a 13 year old girl was stabbed in the eye with a pen by a boy. The last I had heard, the doctors weren't sure if she would regain her sight or not.

What is the solution? Tougher gun laws? A Psychological evaluation with a score to match your SAT? Does anyone know?

A Trip Down Memory Lane....

Don't Blink...The slideshow!

Don't Blink!

Okay, time for another sappy post. After I read Meredith's post today, I was going down memory lane in my mind thinking about all of those late nights with the girls as babies; everything from nightmares (Brit's favorite was that she had an alligator under her bed),wanting a drink or stripping vomit soaked bed sheets at 2 am.

I really got to thinking about how quickly these baby years pass and about how many times I think "I wish I could go back in time to spend just one day with her at that age, I would appreciate it so much more!" (meaning any one of the girls)


Britany called me last night to let me know that the gymnastics coach at the US Air Force Academy called her and told her that he guarantees her 100% that she has a spot on his team after graduation. Well, I was so excited when she was telling me that I literally had butterflies in my stomach. (Not to mention that I was jumping up and down!)

This news is a great deal due to the connection that her coach has with the coach at the AF. As Nana said, "I can really see the hand of God in all of this." So many circumstances had to happen to lead me to send her to NH again and now I see there was a purpose.

As I remember those nights with her as a baby, one memory leads to another and I think about all of the bumps, bruises, nightmares, sick nights, anxious nights, nights before the science fair, nights before a big meet, nights before the book report was due, nights of arguing that she needs to get off her cell phone with her boyfriend and get some SLEEP!

Now, she has given me another night to remember.

She shoots....she scores!!

Okay, this is a confidence booster! Hope scored her first basket in basketball last night! Whoosh! I am so happy for her. She really needed that boost of confidence. She has been using "The Secret" to visualize her basket and she has been using positive feelings, etc. She says "The Secret really works Mama!" Now, to start using it to help with the bullies! Onward and upward!

I'm STILL waiting for pictures from a previous basketball game. So, I don't have any pictures of her in her uniform to post yet, but this one will do!

Bullies

How come girls can be so mean? Especially those middle school years! Ugh. I still live with emotional scars from the torment that I endured in the fifth and sixth grades and now, unfortunately, my little Hopey is dealing with it in grade six.

When she told me about it the other day, I have to say, I was taken by surprise. She has always been the one who LOVED school. She could change schools and adapt so quickly. She makes friends easily and is always popular and teacher's pet.

She has been doing great this year, but now I hear there are two girls really making her life miserable. Fortunately, one of them doesn't go to her school yet. She will next year though and it has her extremely worried.

No, they are not threatening her with bodily harm or stealing her lunch money. But, what they are stealing is much more valuable. They are stealing her self-confidence and her innocence and I am burning mad about it.

They pick on her ears, saying things like "Those ears are as big as bird wings. Why don't you fly away with them!" And because she sucked her thumb, she does have some issues with her teeth, so that is an easy target.

It just breaks my heart and I know exactly how she feels, because I lived it. I know that talking to the parents or teachers could most likely make things worse. (That's what happened in my case). So, what do I do?

Her dad is working on the braces aspect and I'm hoping that she will get some relief from that soon, but the ears. I had plastic surgery on my ears when I was in my 20's and I'll tell you what, that was a nightmare in itself. I don't know if I could do it again, yet alone put her through it. (That's IF I could afford it!)

I thought about perming her hair and changing the style, but I'm sure these girls would have some snide comments about that as well.

The girl that doesn't go to her school yet is the worst. She is in the same grade, but goes to the elementary school in Hill. Next year she will merge in with the regular middle school in Franklin. What makes her the worst is that she is one of those types that pretends to be a friend and then slips the bullying into situations unexpectedly.

For example, she'll invite Hope over to her house and spend the entire time belittling her. Of course Hope is afraid to say "no" to her requests to come over for fear that she would then become an even bigger target. I guess she hopes to somehow sway her opinion.

So, for now, I've told her to just avoid both girls. When she gets invited to her home tell her that she has to go to a relatives house with her father. Better yet, I told her, look at the caller ID. If it's her, just simply not answer the phone.

The one thing that Hope does have going for her is two teenage sisters that are very popular and her sister Taylor is fighting mad about it. (You know how it is; "I can pick on my sister, but nobody else better!")

Middle school girls tend to idolize the high school girls and I think it would be a good idea to let her sister have a few words with both girls!

Let me know what you all think!