Thursday, February 16, 2012

Quick Update

Not a whole lot has been happening around here! We were able to have our last Christmas with the Sancken side of the family this past Sunday. We were waiting for Grandma Sancken to feel better and she seems to be doing great for the most part.  Trevor and Nicole were also able to bring LJ (Little John), their newest addition for all to see! Of course I have a cold so I stayed far away from the little guy. I thought it was getting better, but now I keep coughing and coughing.  BUT I'd rather have this cough than the nasty flu stuff that seems to be hitting a lot of people!!

I still haven't heard from DCFS. I know she said it would likely be at the end of this month, but I'd just like to get it done and over with! I know the other preschools here in town have open enrollment in March so I'd REALLY like to be able to do the same to catch those families that are looking for a preschool. I did receive another email yesterday out of the blue from a family looking to enroll their little boy in the fall so there's another name added to my waiting list!  I did finish my curriculum for Year #1 and next will be writing my curriculum for Year #2. This way I won't use the exact same curriculum year after year and the kiddos that I'll have for two years in a row won't get bored with the same learnings plans as the previous year. But I have plenty of time to get that done! Now I'm down to just getting random things on my checklist done - classroom rules chart, updated fliers, enrollment packets put together, etc.  I also need to get moving and make a decision about what summer camps to do! I have a looong list of ideas (57 of them to be exact) and they are for ALL different ages. I know I want to try a culture study camp where we have passports and "visit" different countries to learn their culture, music, language, customs, etc. This one will probably be geared towards older kids (not preschool). I've already picked five countries and have written to their Embassies telling them what I'm doing and asking for any material/info they'd be willing to send me. (Lots of times they will send fun freebies such as maps, posters, flags, etc.) I just hope my summer plans come together like I'm hoping!

Next week will be a busy week for Travis! On Monday, he goes for a consultation about carpal tunnel surgery. He's been needing to do this for awhile. He'll have moments where he's holding something and it will just suddenly fall out of his hand because he loses all sensation. THEN on Friday he goes for a vasectomy. I'll admit that I'm taking it REALLY hard (not that anybody really can tell b/c I don't exactly walk around with my feelings on my shoulder). I know it's the right thing to do (I mean four kids IS enough, right?), but those of you that know me also know that I LOVE being pregnant and I would give birth a million times. For whatever crazy reason, I enjoy the entire process - crazy, I know!!  So I just keep telling myself that if we stop having kids now then we'll both be in our late 40's/early 50's when we're kid-free again and we'll still be young enough to enjoy life.  I don't know - it still stinks, but needs to be done.  :(  *sigh*

That's about it, folks! Not much going on around here!!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Bowling and Freshman Orientation (yikes!)

Well, we suddenly have a couple of bowlers in the family!  Patrick and Kiegan have joined a youth bowling league in Pontiac at Fiesta Lanes. It actually began back in the fall and only has about six weeks left, but they said that the boys could finish out these last weeks with the rest of the kids. I think they really enjoy it!  Neither one of them are the greatest (Kiegan more-so than Patrick, lol), but that's not to say with a lot of practice they couldn't turn this into something that they're both really good at! So our Saturday mornings will be spent at the alley.  I even talked to Patrick's mom about the league and she has agreed to let us have Patrick on Friday nights of the weekends that we usually don't have him so that he can do the league with Kiegan.  Patrick received a bowling ball from his ex-stepdad for his birthday and we told Kiegan that if this seems like something he truly enjoys and wants to keep doing then we'd get him a Packers bowling ball and bag. So we'll see how this goes!

Last night, we had *gulp* FRESHMAN ORIENTATION!!  I just can't believe that Lexi is going to be in high school....talk about making me feel OLD!  Joanne was able to stay with Maddie and pick Kiegan up from Taekwondo for us so that we could go to the orientation - just the three of us. I have to say that I am so impressed with our high school! They are totally up-to-speed with the level of technology that our country's at these days and I love that. The orientation itself lasted a little over an hour and included talks from the guidance counselors, teachers and Student Council President. They talked about the importance of course selection for college and how important it was to be an involved student which I loved. I want Lexi's high school years to be the complete OPPOSITE of what mine were. I would never want to relive my high school years ever again! I was so shy and not involved in a darn thing - not to mention that I don't ever remember being talked to about any plans for college with my guidance counselor.  I even graduated 9th in my class so I had the potential to be a great college student!  Lexi has her sights set on attending U of I and being a large animal vet so we've been reading through the material packet together and getting a high school "plan" put together of classes. I think she definitely picked up on the importance of her school work and grades and how that will make a difference on whether or not she's able to follow her dreams. She tested pretty low on the 8th grade placement test for English and Math and scored really well for Science, but because of the low English and Math test scores they are suggesting she take Gen. Science her Freshman Year. She did admit to me tonight that she didn't take the testing seriously and now regrets it since she knows that it caused her to be placed in lower academic classes.  Lesson learned for her I hope!  As of now, she is also looking at joining Student Council, FFA, FCCLA (leadership club) and Key Club. So she's sure to be a busy high-schooler!  I have my hopes high for her and took advantage of Maddie sleeping in this morning to write Lexi a letter (it ended up being three pages long - whoops!) just letting her know how proud I was of her, what our expectations are of her during her high school years and what some of my regrets are that I've always carried around with me since high school. I put it in an envelope and placed it on her bed. I know she's read it and I can tell it's put a pep in her step tonight (and up'd her level of cooperation too). I don't plan to actually bring up the letter to her unless she mentions it first. I just hope she puts it in a special spot and pulls it out to re-read whenever she needs a little pick-me-up! I see great things for this girl's future - I just want her to see that for herself too!