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!