Sweatin' Bullets

Well, we did it.  After months of bureaucratic red tape, testing, writing recommendations, gathering information, and lots of meetings, we successfully skipped Elisabeth into 2nd grade.  And now I'm sweating bullets.  Robert and I just got out of an hour and a half meeting with a committee meant to determine whether advancing her to the next grade was in her best interest.  It was really quite unbelievable the amount of testing we had to do and that the district was supposedly the "last word" in deciding what was to be done when they haven't even met Elisabeth.  We kept stressing that we don't think our child is a genius, we just think she has mastered the 1st grade curriculum and would socially do better in second grade because of her age.   Let me give you a quick synopsis of the background of this situation and why we felt it was in Elisabeth's best interest to skip a grade.

First of all, she barely misses the cut-off date of entering school with a birthdate of September 12.  Secondly, she is very tall for her age, she participated in all-day Kindergarten at a private school, and all of her peers in our neighborhood are in the second grade.  She also scored in the 94th percentile on her national testing after Kindergarten.  Sounds like a slam dunk, doesn't it?  Well, a couple of weeks ago, they administered a cognitive ability test which she scored just average on and they basically said that that was reason enough to deny our request.  WHAT?!  When looking at her writing samples and math from last year compared with now, she has seriously regressed.  Our point of view is that she has regressed because she is bored and not being challenged.  Their point of view is that if she really knew the material, she would have tested well.  I'm not a big fan of "standardized" tests to begin with, especially when it is given to a 7 year old by a stranger alone in a room for several hours.  They kept saying she was "wiggly" and wouldn't sit still.  Are you kidding me?!  So we presented her Kindergarten work, which was way more impressive than her recent work and made the point that this was a crying shame and that she needed to be challenged.  Their point of view was that the tests don't necessarily show that she will do well if advanced.  Picture this: an enormous, grouchy woman with tacky long acrylic nails and a huge space between her two front teeth, named Sheri telling me that she wanted a note from her put in Elisabeth's permanent record that she adamantly disagrees with our decision to advance Elisabeth.  Robert was jabbing me under the table to keep a lid on it and not get irate--which I am proud to say I only did once.  Hahaha!  After we told the committee that in spite of their thoughts, we wanted to promote her and that we took full responsibility for making sure she is successful, I turned to pert Sheri, and sarcastically said, "And if she doesn't do well, we'll just blame it on Sheri!"  HAHAHA!!  And then I had to go out to the car and call her a B****, not because I'm crass, but simply because that was the only word that correctly described her.  SEE YA SHERI!

But now I'm sweating bullets.  I sure hope she does well!!!  Yikes!  Talk about pressure.  Sometimes I think I'm in waaaaaay over my head with this parenting thing!  But in the end, we followed our gut feelings about Elisabeth and made the decision we felt was best and that's all we can do, right?

My Latest Addictions

My Fitness Pal
In my quest to lose a few pounds, I discovered this free app that I downloaded to my iPhone.  I like it because it has a very large data base of nutritional information on food (they even have cafe rio, although you might not want to look) and it is very user friendly.  It helps me know how many calories I should be consuming so that I am not starving myself and helps me be accountable every day.  You can also log in your exercise and it will tell you about how many calories you've burned from whatever activity you have done.  I've already lost 12 pounds!  Yay for me!




Almond Milk--This product packs almost twice the calcium of milk and if you buy it unsweetened, it is half the calories of milk.  It also has good doses of vitamin E in it.  However, I recommend only using it in cereal or recipes because it definitely has an acquired taste to it.







Abba hair products--I discovered this shampoo and conditioner when I went to check out the new makeup store "Ulta" in Farmington.  It is pricey compared to store brands, but the smell is to die for, it really seems to make my hair shine, and it is environmentally friendly.  The one I got smells like peppermint and tingles on my head.  Love it.








Inversion Table--
Robert just purchased one of these to help with the strain that being hunched over patients has on his back.  I don't know if it has any long term effects, but if you have lower back pain or pressure (which I do), the time that you are tilted back releases that pressure and feels heavenly.











Skinny Cow ice cream--I don't know about you, but I have to have some sort of dessert every day.  These "Skinny Cow" ice cream sandwiches are only 150 calories and are really good!  I think they also have a good amount of fiber and are pretty big for a diet food.  I prefer the cookies and cream ice cream sandwiches.









Words With Friends--My sister got me hooked on this.  It's a free app for your iPhone that is a game similar to Scrabble.  You play with other people who have an iPhone and it notifies you when they have taken their turn and it is now your turn.  I have to be careful because it is quite addictive, but I figure it's a good brain exercise too.









Retail Me Not--If you ever are buying something online, you should consider checking out this website for coupon codes to your favorite stores.  I have found MANY deals that I wouldn't have known about had I not checked this site.  As a matter of fact, I don't usually buy anything online until I can                  find a coupon code on this website for what I want.






Hope in a Bottle--I found this at the new Ulta store too (don't you love the name?).  It's a really good moisturizer made with all natural products and I love the smell of it.  It also has a sunscreen in it.









PhotoStyler--I downloaded this onto my Mac computer.  It is for photo editing.  I think it was about $29 and it is super easy to use and has some awesome photo effects.














A Thousand Splendid Suns--I LOVED this book and I highly recommend it.  It's a modern day story of two women living in Afghanistan, written by a man who was born there so he knows what he is talking about.  Incredibly written and extremely eye opening.





















 Turkey Jerky--My sister-in-law introduced this to me a few weeks back.  It is such a yummy snack and waaaay better than beef jerky.  It is fairly low calorie and high in protein.  You can find it at Costco.












Shoe storage bench--I recently purchased this shoe storage bench from this store: http://www.improvementscatalog.com.  I have been sooo frustrated with my kids coming home from school and kicking their shoes off right by the front door.  I am putting this near the front door so that hopefully, they will have somewhere to store their shoes close to the front door and not have to run down to their rooms to get or put away their shoes.  I also like it because it is a bench.  We'll see if it works...






Arrested Development--Robert and I just discovered this show through Netflix.  It's a comedy about a very dysfunctional family.  It's very funny and very quirky, but you definitely have to "get" their humor to enjoy it.  If you try and get into it, you kind of need to watch several episodes in order to get to know the family before deciding whether you like it or not.









Modern Family--We love this show.  And dare I say that the best characters on the show are the gay couple?  I also really like "Phil" the Dad of the 3 kids.  It's a comedy about a family and I find it charming.









What are your latest addictions?

The Heber Creeper and Conference Sunday

This weekend we took the kids on the Heber Valley Railroad which we have done many times throughout their lives.  The first time we went, we took Christian when he was about 6 months old.  I remember his enormous blue eyes taking in all of the passing scenery and that that night was the first (and last for a long time) that he slept through the night.  Now he is almost 6 foot 3 inches and we have 5 kids--my how time  flies and always seems like "it was just yesterday."  We also went to our favorite hole-in-the-wall ice cream place called "Grannie's" in Heber.  It was an absolutely scrumptious day in every way.

Gorgeous views from the train

Elisabeth posing with her pink tiger hat

Christian, my dashing boy 

All 5 kids before we boarded the train

Handsome Robert.  I never tire of that face.

Persnickety Ashton--this was the only smile he would give us

Nearing the end of the ride, Ashton was just plain tuckered out

Miss Madison loved climbing all of the trains

Growing up!

Beautiful open fields the whole way

I love all of the rustic, old moving parts of a train.  No modern train will
ever compare to the beauty of an old train.

Hunts

Elisabeth--the cross winds on the train were refreshing but left us all a
little windblown.

I love this picture of Christian

We all wanted our very own row.  Of course.

I was the last one off the train in order to capture the beauty I
found in the simplistic lines of rows of chairs on the train.

Color and texture together makes for great composition in a photo.

We passed this on the way to Heber.  It's called "Devil's Slide" and
I believe it is natural and not man-made.  Pretty neat, huh?

Me kickin' back

And today was wonderful because it was Conference Sunday.  We had our usual breakfast feast and then settled down to watch the first session, complete with conference bingo and coloring projects.  (Poor picture quality due to being taken on my iPhone)

M&M Bingo

Ashton very proud of his artistic masterpieces

Caught! On Camera

Hunter is the BOMB dot com!  (click on link)

Dear Hunter,

If you choose to record videos of yourself on my computer, I will eventually find them and maybe even post them to my blog.

Love,

Mama

A Very Tiger Birthday AND Animals Everywhere

Notice the new tiger tail, tiger ears, and leopard boots

Her favorite new present--a white tiger cub

Cousin Sierra and Elisabeth at the Gateway before going to the Build-A-Bear Workshop

TigerDog

Washing their new dogs

Ashton's new bear named "Bullets"

Elisabeth and Sierra posing with their new dogs at Chili's

Finding just the right outfit for her wiener dog.  She finally settled on a cowboy hat.

AND

What happens when I leave for a day and a half?  Well, apparently we get new members of the family.  Yes, last weekend when I went to see my brother compete in his hill climb, Robert took the kids to the pet store and bought a hamster and 2 birds.

Meet "Cocoa Puff"--Madison and Elisabeth's hamster

Meet "Skyler" and "Isis"--Hunter's parakeets

Me cuddling with Jazzy before scriptures--Gooooood girl Jazzy!