My Kids This Week

This may be one of those only the grandparents care posts, but whatever.  I think my whole blog has kind of been heading in that journal/pictures for the grandparents format anyway.

I have told you before that Alyssa maintains straight A's (minus the ever constant C in Gym) with very little effort, right?  She usually pulls out a book and starts to read the night before a report is due.  She generally does her homework during the 5 minute ride to and from school.  She is totally wired for academic success but could care less.

 So I was a little surprised when she asked me to take her to Hobby Lobby so she could start working on a project a week before it was due.  All 4th graders had to do a report and project about birds.  Luckily Alyssa had already been reading up on bluebirds because she is weird like that.  Alex too.  I take them to the library and every week they choose something to research and ask the librarian to help them find books about whatever they have chosen.  I did not suggest or encourage this method of library usage, they just did it on their own.  So anyway, Alyssa had recently gone through a period of bluebird research so she was all set to go.

She typed up her report and then started to work on her project.  Some suggestions were to write a poem, build a nest, tell a story, etc.,  Usually this kid would jot down a poem on the way to school and call it good but she decided to chart the life of a bluebird.  I admit that I printed the title for her but then I handed it all over to her and this was her finished assignment.

She was pretty proud of it, so maybe she has learned that success means more when you work for it?

And since this is a grandparent friendly bragging session, let me also show you Alex's latest achievement.

Wait Julie, you already showed us his camo belt.  Yes, yes, I know but if you have a good eye you may notice that this belt has a yellow center instead of a black one.  The black center is for the black belt class and yellow is for the Master Class.  Since he is in the Elite/Leadership program he was eligible for the yellow center.  He passed off all his leadership goals and I thought he nailed belt promotions but when he got his new belt they gave him the black center.  I totally disagreed but if they didn't think he earned it I am not going to go all Toddlers and Tiaras on them.  Okay, so I have never watched that show but the title leads me to believe those mommas are fierce.  I am 100% my kids' biggest fan but I also believe they need to respect their teachers and earn their stripes. If my kids do not get the result they think they deserved, I make them go and ask the instructor what they could have done better.  I am all about them improving and earning the successes in their lives.  They are not entitled to anything that they do not work for.  Just my opinion.

So we let it go and got to work learning all new skills in the Advanced class.  But...his belt was given to him by Mrs. Garza who only teaches occasionally at our campus.  Mr. Pettis was not there that day, and he is the one who actually scored them during promotions, Mrs. Garza was not even in the room when he tested.  When Mr. Pettis did the official belt ceremony yesterday he had Alex remove the camo and black belt and awarded him with his camo and yellow.  What stinks is that I had a meeting for Girls Camp in Milwaukee and I wasn't at TKD to see it.  Alex was more than happy to try it on for me this morning and he almost thought he could get away with wearing it to school because it matched his shirt. Don't worry, I did not allow it but I am happy to see him in it because he worked really hard for it.

And I would show you some of Chloe's latest antics but she is being camera shy.  She does a Dumbledore impression and she also likes to act out the commercial with the brown M&M where the red one strips off his candy shell and sings I'm Sexy and I Know it...We are very proud.