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A continuation of my original blog, "Surviving Motherhood". |
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Welcome to my world of middle school, high school, and motherhood. The life of a mom is never easy, especially as children grow, and especially when you have a special needs child. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| As of April 27th, 2017, Don and I have been married for 14 years. When Don and I got married, he was just about to turn 19, and I had just turned 22. We were so young, but we had known since we first got together 16 years ago that we wanted to be together forever, spend the rest of our lives together, and get married. 6 months into our relationship, we got engaged. A little less than 2 years later, we got married. Ryan was born after that, and then 3 years later, Journey was born. I'm not going to lie, there have definitely been some hard times. The first 5 years of our marriage was ultimately the hardest. We both had a lot of growing up to do, and we both had to cope with so many stressors in our marriage and in our outside family. But, we worked together, and we made it through. Not to say that we don't have issues anymore; sometimes we argue, but we always come back together, stronger than before. I like to think that Don and I are able to model a healthy relationship to our kids, so they can see what relationships look like. We don't present them with only the good sides-they see Don and I disagree many times. But they also see us apologize to each other, and talk it out. They see the hard work we put in every day to make this marriage work. I hope they remember that when they decide to get into a relationship. |
| We were at the bus stop this morning, when a neighbor commented about how tall Journey is getting. I took a clear look at Journey, and realized she HAS grown. I need to measure her again, but I'm pretty sure she gained a half an inch or more. They're growing by leaps and bounds now. I can't keep up with them. I'm pretty sure Ryan grew another inch or so. I bought him size 8 shoes to grow into...I think he's almost there now. I can only imagine how tall he's going to be when 17 hits. Soon I'll be the shortest person in the house. Journey lost her very last baby tooth the other day. We had to get it extracted by the dentist because we were afraid that she wasn't going to wiggle it out and it would turn into a husk and crack, so we decided to take care of it before it got to that point. The dentist let us know, this was the very last tooth she would ever lose. The night I played the Tooth Fairy for the very last time, I cried. I can't believe it's already over, just like that. It's only a month and 3 weeks before school is over, and elementary school is over forever. Middle school and high school will be our reality for the next 7 years. A new chapter has begun. My sweet girl is bridging from a Junior girl scout to a Cadette. I can't believe we started this adventure as Daisies, and now here we are, becoming Cadettes. No longer little girls, we're big girls now. So many new changes. A younger version of myself would be freaking out about all these changes, and the lack of control that I have over this time, but I'm doing a lot better about it now. Come what may, we'll keep sailing these waters and see where they take us. |
| According to the blog updater, it says it's been 19 days since I wrote. Perhaps it's time for an update... School is flying by at a break-neck speed. Monday starts our spring break, where we'll have an entire week off to ourselves. I miss the days when we could afford to go to Ocean City, as it's been about 4 years or so, but finances are what they are, and I'm sure we'll be just fine and appreciate the break anyway. I know Dixon will be quite happy that the kids are home the whole week. He loves it when everyone is home. I wonder if it will confuse him because Don's not home? I guess we'll find out. There's a lot going on with our troop right now; we're discussing things like encampment, wrapping up badges, what we want to do with our cookie money, and putting on our own bridging ceremony. So far I have 8 girls signed up for encampment. I'll need the parents to put in the payment for them before May comes. I also need to let the girls know again that the glen shelters don't have cots in them this time. I hope they'll be okay with this. We also need to figure out what we're doing with breakfast on Saturday morning. We don't have to cook anything, but I do need to buy some stuff for it, whatever they want to do, especially if it's cost effective. I'd also like for us to do the lunch program there, which is $5.50 per person. I think it's a much better option than trying to spend more money for sandwiches and stuff. Either way, I'll run it by the girls and see what they think. I'll have to talk with them at our next meeting on the 21st and see, and get payment then. As far as our cookie money goes, the girls have some amazing ideas, including indoor skydiving, paintballing, going to a pottery place again, going to an amusement park, going to the zoo, going to a spa, going camping, or going to Build-A-Bear. Yes, seriously. When my girls were in Daisies, we did a Build-A-Bear party, and my girls say they want to re-live that magic again. They're so funny! As far as bridging goes, they almost all want to do our own ceremony. There will probably be some costs incurred, which I don't think they realize. We also need to discuss uniform and insignia options. Will the parents be paying for all of that? Last bridging ceremony, we decided to use troop money to pay for uniforms for the girls when they bridged. I'll discuss it with the parents more in May, and see what they think. I'm excited for us to do our own bridging ceremony again, which means I get to write another speech for my girls. More than likely, I'll be crying my eyes out again LOL. That always seems to happen. Ryan was given a course schedule that his 8th grade teachers have recommended him for for next year in 9th grade. Almost every class is either AP or Honors. I am so ecstatic over that! I don't want to burn him out though, but I'm super proud of him. His teachers think he's capable of such great things, and we think so too. Ryan ALSO made it into a youth orchestra here in our county! He had auditioned a couple of years ago, but they told him that because he doesn't take private lessons, they wanted him to do that before they let him in. He hasn't gotten private lessons as of yet (we can't really afford it), but his friend told him that the orchestra is more lenient about that requirement now, so he could try out again. The night that he tried out, not only did they tell him he made it, but they also had him stay for his very first practice! There's a pretty hefty cost to him being in this orchestra (we need to pay for tuition, and for his uniform, and the conductor asked that we try to get him to see a private tutor at least once a month), but this is for elite players; not just anyone can get into this orchestra. You have to be REALLY good in order to get in. The conductor even told Ryan that he was extremely talented, which made my week. This kid is amazing on clarinet. My guess is that he's going to make AVPA at the other high school...but I wonder if it will be too much clarinet for him. He might just choose the National Academy of Finance instead, which is more academically challenging. This kid has a super bright future ahead of him. Promotion time is looming close; and with that means extra costs. Journey's class photo as well as the entire 5th grade class photo is coming up, as well as her 5th grade t-shirt for Fun Day. We had to go and buy Ryan a nice business dress shirt and tie for his promotion, and paid for his 8th grade yearbook. We also paid for Journey's 5th grade yearbook. I don't know if Ryan has any other extra school costs (I know that there's a picnic at Blue Crabs Stadium for the 8th graders and their families sometime before they get promoted, but I'm not sure what those costs are or if there are any). but we'll certainly find out at the time comes I suppose. The end of this year is going to be amazing. So many memories, so many new beginnings. |
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