Do You See What I See?

I was at the Toyota dealership last week with Holden.

He was sick so I kept him home from Mother's Day Out.

I really needed to take him home and put him to bed, but when I left the house to take Jackson to school, 

I noticed that my tire pressure light was on, indicating that I had low tire pressure.

This was actually the second day this week that it was on, so I felt the need to go ahead and take it in to make sure there was not a nail in it.

We made some hot chocolate and were playing "I Spy" to keep ourselves busy when we decided to take a closer look at the beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby.  

It was very tall and had huge, over-sized ornaments all over.

I asked Holden what this was.  His answer, "A snowflake."

"What is this one?" I asked.  "A bell," he said.

"And what about this one?" I wondered.  

With much confidence he shouted, "That's Jupiter!"

Christmas at Mother's Day Out

This morning was our Mother's Day Out Christmas Program.

I invited RaeAnn and Matthew to come and Ethan was home from school sick, so I doped him up and brought him along as well.  

When we got there, we dropped Jackson off in the room with his class and Holden made me wait with him.  RaeAnn, Matthew, and Ethan went to find seats.

Ms. Debbie, the lady in charge of the Mother's Day Out Program.

Holden was so excited to be a shepherd until it was time to perform.

We waited and waited to see him come out and join his class, but he just never came.

I walked over to see what was up and found him laying on the floor by the door.

He refused to go be with his class.

He was much happier watching his class perform from the comfort of Ethan's chair.

Jackson was a Wise Man who brought Joy to Baby Jesus.

After each kid in his class came to wish Baby Jesus a Happy Birthday,

they sang "Happy Birthday" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

When the program is over, we went into the kitchen for a snack.

Holden decided to hide under the table while we ate.

I think he might still not be feeling so hot after being sick last week.

Jackson with his teachers, Ms. Yolanda and Ms. Arlene.

He loves being in their class.

Holden with Ms. Brittney and Ms. Sarah.

They are the same teachers from last year.  They moved up with his class because Ms. Brittney's son is now in the two year-old class.

They both have really fun teachers and enjoy going to Mother's Day Out.

Our Student of the Year

We found out several weeks ago that Savannah was chosen as a nominee for Student of the Year.

The faculty and staff chose ten 8th grade students who were invited to apply.  We had to sign tons of paper work and then she had to fill out an application including all of her grades, test scores, leadership, activities, and awards beginning with sixth grade until now.

She then had to write a biographical sketch including her family history, hobbies and interests, activities, career and life ambitions, and three issues that she deals with or that are important to her in her life.  She chose to write about her hypoglycemia, teen suicide, and kids cussing and using profane language.

The applications were due on Friday, December 7, but an earlier memo said they were due Tuesday, December 11.  Savannah had hers turned in on Friday, but most everyone else did not turn theirs in until Tuesday.  After receiving everyone's applications, the faculty committee was supposed to choose five finalists that would then appear before another separate committee for interviews and another written assignment.

After all week of hearing nothing, we found out yesterday afternoon that they were interviewing all the candidates at 8:00 am today.  Savannah was a little freaked out and felt unprepared.  She was expecting to hear if she made the group of finalists before hearing about interviews.  We were also thinking that they would make the announcement today at school of who was chosen as a finalist and give them the weekend to prepare to interview.  They also usually dress up for the interviews but the school counselor said they were to wear their school uniforms instead.  

After the school contest, the winner is submitted to the parish contest and from there it goes as far as the State Middle School Student of the Year.  Two years ago, in Tristan's grade, the middle school Student of the Year was also chosen as the Calcasieu Parish Student of the Year.

I've been trying to prepare her all along by getting her to think of things they might ask in an interview.  I was having her think about her strengths and weaknesses, who she thought her hero was, and why she felt she should be honored above all other candidates.

  We are so proud of Savannah and all that she has accomplished.  She has largely been dissatisfied with school over the years.  (We decided she should not necessarily tell them that in the interview.)  But even through all the ups and downs, she still holds herself to a higher standard and studies hard and is respectful to her teachers and other students.  Her teachers are the ones who nominated her for this award and I think that speaks volumes of how they perceive her as a student and as a person.  I would be proud to have her represent our community.  No matter what, she is one of our favorite students!

Student of the Year was announced today during 5th hour and Alyssa Foreman was given the honor of representing Moss Bluff Middle with the title.  She and Savannah have been best of friends since 5th grade when they sat next to each other at the Regional Science Fair.  Savannah has said from the start that she really felt like Alyssa deserved to be Student of the Year and that she hoped that Alyssa got it if she did not.  Savannah said today that she feels more excited for Alyssa than she thinks she might have felt for herself.  Alyssa is a wonderful young lady from a great family and we are so happy for her.  She is more than deserving!

Chew, Choo!!

Holden was shoveling pretzels into his mouth and I was afraid that he would choke.  I told him that he needed to chew before eating more.  And he did exactly that......

He started fake sneezing.  "Choo!  Choo!!"

I laughed.  Out loud!!

Little kids are so precious.  I love the way their innocent minds work.

Hand Written

Ethan was chosen to participate in the 3rd grade Handwriting Contest.  

He had to copy the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

He also had to answer a question about why having good handwriting is beneficial to him.

It is due tomorrow, but he worked on it all week and is supposed to turn it in to his teacher today at school.  They will choose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place out of all the 3rd grade students who were chosen by their handwriting teachers to participate.  School winners will then be turned into the parish competition and then to the state competition.  Gillis Elementary has had six entries at the state competition.

He worked diligently on it and made several handwriting samples before deciding on this one.

Good luck to my little man!

Swim Banquet

Last night was the High School Swim Team banquet.  It was held at Crossroads Church.

We had brisket and chicken and everyone brought drinks and side dishes.

Tristan with his goofball friends, Gavin and Zac.

The coaches, Beth Marceaux and Stephanie Buta.

Tristan got a certificate for swimming two years and a certificate for lettering this season.

He also earned two patches for placing in the top 16 at the District swim meet.

Tristan was also chosen to be on the state swim team as an alternate.

He did not get to swim at the state meet, but he enjoyed getting out of school 

with nothing to do for two days.

This swim season was very dramatic and frustrating to say the least.

It would take days to explain all the crap that went on, but we are very happy to be finished.

We do not know what will happen to our team next year.  We may find ourselves without a coach and without a sponsor.  I would really hate to see that happen, but I guess time will tell.

Tristan had a good season.  He took three seconds off his 50 free and fifteen seconds off his 100 Breast.  He took more than ten seconds off his 100 free and swam the A Relay for both the 200 Medley Relay and the 200 Free Relay all season.  I was not surprised when he was over looked for the state relay team, even though he earned it and was promised a spot on both relays.  Part of the dramatic crap all season.

He looks really strong for next season.  We will see how it all goes down over the summer.

I hope the coaches can work everything out.  I hope the parents will calm down and stop trying to call all the shots.  I hope the coaches will grow a backbone and stand up to the threats and demands of the stupid kids and parents.  I hope the kids who don't want to be on the swim team stay home.  I hope the kids who really deserve and want to be there are given the opportunity to represent our school in a positive way.

As I said before, we will see.  As for now, I am enjoying sleeping in.

Moss Bluff Christmas Parade

This morning was the Moss Bluff Christmas Parade.

We dropped Tristan off at the school and went to Sonic for our traditional parade snack.

While had made plans to meet the DeFelices and the Hilliards, so after getting our food we went to find our favorite parade spot in front of the office at Holy Family.

We had a bit of a wait so we folded down the seats in the van and ate our food and visited.

Alyssa's mom came by as well as our neighbors, Logan and Dylan.

We were glad to see so many friends.

The parade finally started!

The parade Marshals.

Boy Scout Troop 21 carrying the flag.

The high school band.

Tristan was right at the front, on the second row.

You can see him if you look at the tip of the Santa hat on the color guard girl on the far right.

Her hat looks like it is touching his face.

Now it looks like the drum major's arm is touching his arm.

He is marching on the yellow line on the left side of the picture.

Just past the drum major's hand, to the left of the mellophone's bell.

We thought this was Santa driving the old car, but we were wrong.

 Santa was driving the John Deere tractor.

The parade was short but fun and we ended up with lots of throws.  

And of course, we always love to see Tristan march.