Tag: school (Page 7 of 13)

First day of school! Summer is over!¹

The girls and I closed out the summer with a pretty fun day yesterday. I took them to a wall climbing place. We got there right after they opened and they had the walls to themselves for about 45 minutes. There was a combination of both automatic belays and ropes that I had to belay² for them, so I could get two girls started on the auto lines and then help a third on a standard line. They had a great time, for the most part. L especially was right up the walls and touching the top, 25-30 feet up on all but the trickiest paths. C did pretty well, too. M struggled a bit, but she’s also at the point of self-awareness where she gets that and isn’t bothered too much by it. She still had fun when she was climbing and swung around on the auto-belayed lines and made her own fun.

S had meetings last night, so the girls and I hit a new chicken spot we’ve been meaning to get to for months for our final dinner of summer break. I think they sensed the moment, and were actually pretty nice to each other most of the day. And appreciative of all the stuff we got to do, big and small, over the past 10 weeks. I asked what their favorite thing we did all summer was. Both M and L said going to the Royals game in Kansas City. C said sleeping late. I asked her to pick from the things we did out of the house and she said, “Nope, it’s still sleeping late!”

I give this summer a B/B+. We had weeks where we crammed a lot of activities into, and other weeks where we just sat around all day arguing with each other. I don’t think that’s terribly unusual for families that have a parent home all day. But I still think I let them get away with being lazy too much. And it felt like our summer was really front-loaded. We did a ton of cool stuff the first few weeks of June, then petered out pretty quickly. We made a big list of things we wanted to do and there are still a lot of entries that have not been checked off. We can use those for fall weekend activities, of course. But a few were best done in the summer months so may have to be held until 2018. A few recent summers, when we reached the ends, I looked back and thought, “Damn, that was a great summer!” This year didn’t quite hit great levels, but wasn’t terrible either, for sure.

Although they complain about going back to school, all three girls had their book bags completely packed up with all their supplies several days ago. All three made their lunches yesterday. C got up a little after 6:00 today and was downstairs, dressed, eating, and giggling when I came down at 6:35. M’s light was already on.³ I only had to wake L, who was a little grumpy at first but looking excited by the time we headed out.

Drop off was uneventful. They’ve all had multiple kickball practices, so have seen most of their friends already. They still seemed excited to get into their classrooms, see who they’re sitting around, and finally get at their new supplies. I got everyone settled into their rooms and headed over to the welcome back coffee in the cafeteria. In the past, I’d pop in, grab a bagel, say hello to a few people, and then duck out. Between having been at St. P’s for eight years now, having three kids in school, and being involved in athletics, I now make the rounds a little bit. Kind of proud to say that I was the last dad left, as moms from kickball kept coming over to say hello. I’ve finally made my mark!

On my way home I grabbed some Chik-fil-A breakfast to eat while editing the pics from our Back to School photo shoot. I cranked up some White Stripes to dangerously loud levels and am enjoying a morning to myself in the (otherwise) quiet home. We’re about to have our guest bathroom remodeled and a load of tile is being delivered shortly. I have a long list of things to do that I’ve been putting off for weeks, notably getting a haircut which I haven’t done since late May. But today is going to be a chill day before I jump into house cleaning and running errands tomorrow.

Some matchup last night, arguably the biggest of the year. When you get the best spellers from eight schools in the same room, you know there’s going to be some terrific performances.

Uh huh, last night was the local Spell Bowl! After serving as an alternate last year, M was selected to represent the St. P’s sixth graders this year. The weird thing is, she refused to talk about it with us beforehand. We found out she was picked two weeks ago. When I asked her about it, she just shrugged and acted disinterested. Each time we asked her for details – when is it, how does it work, does she have a list of words she could be studying, can we help her – she would just mumble “I don’t know,” or some other dismissive response.

So we went into last night totally clueless as to what the process was.

As the name indicates, this was not a spelling bee. Kids didn’t stand before the audience and spell words out loud and then wait to hear a bell or buzzer to learn their fate. Instead, the eight schools had teams consisting of one kid per grade, from fourth to eighth. Each grade took turns listening to seven words, writing them on a form, and then turning them in for judging. It went in reverse grade order, so fourth grade kicked things off and eighth grade closed it out. After each round, each school’s cumulative score was posted for all to see.

St. P’s was in third place with 13 of 14 points when it was M’s turn. I was super nervous during her round, staring down and the floor and sending mental prompts to her. She turned in her sheet, the judges conferred, and the high schooler who was posting scores wiped out both the 1 and the 3 of St. P’s 13. She got all seven right! But then he wrote another 1 followed by a 9. Crap. She missed one. I thought about having a word with that young man about not needing to erase the entire score unless needed afterward.

Her words were: carbohydrate, biannual, cornea, dilemma, exterior, announcement, and grotesque. S figured grotesque would be the tough one. I went with dilemma. M missed dilemma. Score one for dad! M said, “Grotesque is one of my favorite words. Why would I miss that?” Sixth graders…

St. P’s got another 6/7 in the seventh grade and went into the final round in third place, five points out of first. Unfortunately our eighth grader had a rough round, and St. P’s finished in fifth place. The winning school missed just three words across the five rounds.

After, M was finally willing to show some excitement about the event. She was pleased with her performance. They got little notebooks and pens from the high school that hosted, and she joked about how she wouldn’t use it since she plans on going to its rival school.

Our favorite part of the night was the certificate she got for being part of the team. They spelled her name wrong! At a spelling bowl! No idea who was responsible, M’s teachers or the host school. But you’d think they would look at the official class roster and get it right. She got a certificate for being an alternate last year and said they spelled it wrong then, too. Strange.

Yep, that was a big matchup. Oh, there was another one, too. We’ll get to that later.

Yesterday was a big day for our girls. There was a trip to the dentist for C and L, and you really can’t beat a trip to the dentist.[1]

M went on a retreat with the rest of the sixth grade to visit a monastery in southern Indiana. They had to be at school at 6:30 AM and didn’t get home until around 6:00 in the evening. She was so tired when they returned that I have yet to hear how it went. That kid does not do well with being tired. I know the agenda included touring the monastery and spending time with the monks. Hopefully she’ll be in more of a mood to share details tonight.

L had a big day, too. St. P’s participates in the Leader In Me program, which is an educational off-shoot of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Yesterday there was a one-day symposium for schools in the area that participate in the LIM program, and the keynote speaker for the event was Sean Covey, son of Stephen Covey and main guy behind the LIM program.

In early November I got an email from school saying that L had been selected to introduce Covey before his speech. She was very excited! We received a little example of what kind of introduction she should give and a request that she have her speech memorized. That night she got on the computer and started looking up facts about Covey. She brought us back a page filled with info about him. We helped her organize it, printed out a bullet-pointed list, and she began working on learning it. Typical of her, she had it down in about a day. In fact, she was adding a little too much “flavor” to it at times, so we had to make sure she toned it down a little. And we kept working with her on making sure she spoke slowly and clearly.

I picked her up from school around 11:30 to head to the event. When we arrived, she was the star of the moment. The women who were working the registration table came around and introduced themselves, asked her lots of questions, and made her feel super important. They brought Covey out so they could meet and he was super nice to her, too. After she got her name tag, we went into the conference hall and several other people came over to introduce themselves to her. Worth noting a lot of these adults just gave me a nod and focused all their attentions on her. I thought that was great! M’s teacher was there and she made sure to come over and say hi, too.

We took some seats up front as a principal panel discussion was wrapping up. She looked around and asked how many people were watching. I did a quick estimate and told her probably 250. Then she asked me if I could see her lip moving. No, I said, and asked why her lip was moving. “Because all of a sudden I’m really nervous!” she said. St. P’s assistant principal, who picked L to present, came over to wish her luck. The event’s MC came over and had a quick chat with her. And then it was time for her to go on stage.

She rocked the mic pretty well. She was a little rushed, but I think spoke pretty clearly. She flubbed a couple lines, but quickly caught and corrected herself. The best part was, like most kids, she can’t just stand still and speak in front of an audience. She had jammed both hands into her pockets and was pumping each fist up and down in time with her speech. Thank goodness she’s a girl, or it might have looked a little inappropriate! I was right in front of her videoing and had to struggle to keep from laughing.

The only thing we forgot to do was coach her on what to do when she was done. She made her formal introduction, turned, and marched offstage. I should have told her to stay in front of the mic and clap until Covey made it onstage and then shake his hand before she left. Oh well, she did better than I probably would have done.

We hung around and listened to most of Covey’s speech before we had to head out to get back to school for pickup. Unfortunately because L was a little nervous before she spoke, and we left before the event ended, I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of her and Covey together. I should have grabbed one when they first met outside the hall.

So she was pretty proud of herself. We heard she was picked because of her determination and how she demonstrates so many of the seven habits in her daily behavior at school. That, and how well she did on stage, made us very proud of her, too.

Yesterday was a very busy day, which makes me a day late in offering up my birthday post for L. Our youngest turned 8 yesterday, and everything about the day fit her perfectly.

As a lot of you saw, I posted some pics of her to Facebook with a little birthday announcement. At the end of the day, I showed her how many people had liked it or sent birthday greetings her way in the comments. She was very impressed. She ran out and told her sisters how many “Likes” she had. Just what that kid needed: an ego boost.

L and her classmates got fancy cupcakes for snacks late in the school day, courtesy of her cool dad.[1]

She struggled with her list of gift ideas for well over a month. First she gave us a long list of Harry Potter-related items. Toys, books, etc. Then she scrapped all that and started asking for a kids tablet with a case and games to go with it. We shot that down, as she and her sisters already share an iPad and getting a kid tablet she’ll outgrow in a week seemed like a waste of money.

We asked her what she liked to do with her friends, and then she thought of playing XBox at two of her friends’ houses. We’ve had a Wii for several years, but it’s the old one that they don’t make games for anymore. Every couple of months the girls will go through a Mario Kart or Just Dance phase, but the console doesn’t get nearly as much use as it once did.

I did the research and we decided an XBox One S could be a very nice gift that she would share with the rest of the family. I timed my purchase just right as the latest model, which comes with Minecraft and FIFA ’17, was released last Friday. It was delivered on release day and we let her open it up as soon as she got home from school yesterday. She was thrilled with it! Of course, then I went through the hours of downloading updates and trying to get our new Microsoft account to work. We were able to play FIFA after about an hour, but I couldn’t get Minecraft to start downloading until after the girls went to bed. She’s very animated when playing FIFA. Once she figured out how to stop scoring on her own goalie, she was able to beat me.[2]

She also got a Nerf gun from our neighbors, which she loves. It can shoot like 40 feet! She stood at our front door and shot out into the cul-de-sac for at least 20 minutes. Her Mimi bought her a magic kit on their night out Friday. And C gave her a dollar and a little cat keychain. Sister gifts are the best.

L is still L, which I’m going to try to enjoy for as long as it lasts. She’s the entertainer in the family. She’s our little Beast,[3] who is generally sweet but can be a bit mean to her sisters at times. More than any of our girls, she embraces new things and experiences. When she encounters obstacles, she quickly focuses on ways of overcoming them rather than complaining or saying she can’t do something.

Sometime last spring I started referring to her as a future class president. Anytime she sees her classmates, boys or girls, they run over and shout her name and jump on her. Even back in preschool, I remember watching her run one way, waving her arms at everyone, and moments later her entire class would follow in her path. Teachers and other parents who volunteer at school have told me how her mood sets the tone for the entire group or class. She keeps people in line. She sets a good example. She’s not going to be class president because she’s ambitious, but because everyone else loves and follows her and they decide she’s going to be their leader.

She’s also a pleaser and a flatterer. She worships her teachers, with her current one always being her favorite. For her first grade hero project, she chose her teacher. I made a comment about how that was both cute and funny, and S shook her head and said, “That girl knows how to work the system.” She’ll give up free time in order to help her teachers clean up the classroom. She bonds with her coaches before most of the other kids. If her sisters are being crappy to us, she’ll crank up the charm and get cuddly to counter our anger/annoyance with them. It’s all sucking up, but it’s already done with a healthy amount of finesse so she doesn’t come across as ass-kissy.

As our youngest, it’s hard not to always view her as our baby. It doesn’t help that she’s not the biggest kid her age. But over the past few months, mostly when I look at pictures of her, she’s started to look more like a big kid. It’s the same transition we saw in her sisters at the same age, but it’s a little more jarring just because of how I have viewed her. I’ve been fine with the door closing to some of the preschool/early elementary school things we swam in for the past eight years. It’s a little harder, though, to watch her physically mature. Every one of M’s birthdays opens a new set of experiences for our entire family. Each October 3, we close a door to familiar things that have defined who we are as a family for nearly a decade.

The great thing about L, though, is that she embraces pushing forward. S and I might miss some of the things that are disappearing, but L is all about whatever is next.