My Amazing Kids

In the craziness of this holiday season, I want to take some time to share with you all what has been going on with my kiddos. After all, they are what keeps my world spinning...sometimes out of control...lol.

Last week I got a call at work from Nathan asking me where we keep the vaccuum. From the question alone, you can tell that it's not something he uses on a regular basis. Then he called back to ask where our lint roller is. Another strange question. So I asked him why he needed these things and he told me that I would see when I got home. Of course my first thought was that he was cleaning and then knowing my son, as I thought I did, I started to think of other things. Did he make a mess that he was cleaning before we got home? Was it something for his Science class? Turns out that he really was cleaning. He has vaccuumed all the rugs, swept all the floors, made all the beds, cleaned all the tables and was looking for the lint roller to pass over my bedspread because it is brown and you could see the cat hair on it. Not even I do that...lol. I just simply put it in the washer. He totally surprised me. He didn't do it because I asked him. He didn't do it because he wanted something. He just did it to surprise me. Surprised I was and for a moment I knew that I must be doing something right in raising him.
On another note, I have been struggling with Nathan and his grades this year. That is probably putting it mildly. I feel like we are both swimming upstream trying to get him to where he should be. There have been several visits to the school and hours spent making sure all his work is done and tests are studied for. Somehow it's just not enough though. The work is being done but there's more to it that I don't know about or the worst thing of all...he isn't handing things in. I know that many of us have struggled with this same issue. I went through it with Larissa too but not to this extent. I just don't understand. You did the work, why wouldn't you want to get the credit for it. I even have a school counselor working with him to see if it's something more than I can see myself. But he is a great kid and tolerates all my nagging and brilliant new ideas to try to help him.

Larissa had her play this past weekend. The name of it was "Thank you for flusing my head in the toilet"...yes, I am serious. The play was moving. I had heard so much about it through Larissa. I knew many of lines but the performance was just...it brought chills to my body. Not just her performance (of course I thought she was wonderful) but everyone's performance. The play is about bullying and it sends a very blunt and clear message about the things going on in schools that other students, teachers and even parents tend to miss. They have been asked to perform this play in other high schools in our county to pass the message along. I am going to ask the theatre teacher if there is a possibility to have it recorded so that I can share it with you all but I don't know if it's possible. I was so proud of the kids....all of them. But I am especially proud of Larissa. She has really enjoyed every aspect of theatre. She is not in it to simply act but learn all there is about putting on a production. If you remember when she was part of Beauty & the Beast last year, she did lighting, ushering and became familiar with the directing. She has already been told that she will not be acting in the Spring musical, which I know must be somewhat disappointing since she can sing...really well. But that is to give all the kids a chance to act in the productions. She didn't seem disappointed though. She seemed excited to be able to get her hands in behind the scenes once again. She was already talking about the lighting and the sets for the stage and how they can get companies to volunteer things they need. She is really good at putting it all together...I might have a director on my hands !

CJ went for speach testing yesterday. Not because he needed to but because we wanted to have him tested before Kindergarten with enough time to work on things that might need to be worked on with enough time. I expected to hear that he was behind a little. I mean he just started talking last year. I didn't go with him because I was working but Jose took him. Turns out that he passed with flying colors. He is in the 88th percentile. That was awesome to hear. He has come such a long way. I thought he would never talk. I thought it would be an uphill battle but once he started, he just kept going. Like his two older siblings, he thrives to learn everything. He is way too indepenedent and wants to do it all himself. I guess that will make him a great independent adult some day. :o)

So in the midst of all the holiday hustle and bustle...it something nice to just have a proud moment for all three of my children. And a proud moment for Jose and I for how they are turning out. Sometimes it is so easy to really get caught up in the bad moments and the hard times but we really do have so much to be thankful for.