Last night, Hannah and I went to her 7th grade Orientation and Registration at the Middle School. I can't believe she is going to be in Middle School.
But what is even more crazy, is tonight, Shantal has her 10th grade Orientation and Registration at the High School. So crazy.
They have both grown so much.
In two weeks, Hannah turns 12 and goes into the Young Women's Program at church. She is so excited to finally leave primary. But what she is most excited for, is to start receiving treats at church on Sundays. :)
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Exchange Students
We have decided to once again host an exchange student this next school year. It is a really crazy idea. Something I took to Gardner one day. And I told him it was crazy. But he says usually my crazy ideas end up being really great for our family.
It all started with that book I printed out from our time in Germany. We would discuss all the experiences we had. And then we would talk of Adrian or Sibylle. Two great experiences we had. Two great friendships that were made. And of course, there was Nadine too. But her experience was not as great. And we barely have contact with each other.
Anyway, we have plans to have the kids friends come over to live with us in a few years and go to school with us. But that won't happen for a few years still.
Then on Friday, Shantal came home with this booklet from school. The high school handed them out. It tells them about 5 different achievement awards the kids could earn for graduation. And I want Shantal to go for one or two of them. Most of them you had to take really hard AP classes. I knew those would not be for Shantal. If she got into AP classes, I believe her grades would drop drastically. Anyway, there ended up being two that I believe Shantal could accomplish. One has to do with foreign Language. Take three years of Foreign language. Easy, as my kids will be able to test out of the classes and get credit for them. CHECK. Then along with that, you have to do two projects. One project you can choose was to host an exchange student and keep a daily journal of that time. So, that is why we are looking into doing one again.
I contacted CCI, the exchange company we used when Adrian and Nadine came to us. I got our application all sent in. Our background checks were approved. They just need to check our references still and then check on Gardner's employment.
They already sent us a list of 5 girls to choose from. Yes, we want a girl. Since Shantal will be going into High School, we thought it would be better. And of those 5 girls, two of them will be in the same grade as Shantal. That excites me. And of the 5, I have already crossed off three of them. One of them did not like younger kids. Another one was so fixated on Sport, working out, looking good. I did not want that in my house. I don't need to be judged because I am overweight or don't exercise as much as she might think I should. Honestly, it just would not be a good mesh with our family. But the two that were left, look promising. We are trying to decide between Mareicke and Sarah. On paper, I think Sarah is a better match for the family. But Shantal really wants Mareicke. And I love the name. In the end, I have asked our coordinator if I could see pictures of them. We used to see pictures of the kids 8 years ago when we got Adrian and 7 years ago when we picked Nadine. It is like Hannah said, you can look at them and maybe get an idea if they are friendly or not.
The exchange student will be sharing a room with Hannah. Hannah has one of the biggest rooms in our house. I designed it with her friends in mind to come live with us. And we would not have to move anyone around. I really don't want any of my kids sharing. I think that will create more fighting than if someone is sharing with the exchange student. And one of the biggest reasons I don't want the exchange student to have their own room has to do with Nadine.
When Nadine lived with us, she isolated herself to the basement. Hardly ever did things with us as a family. Was always on the computer chatting with her family. So my thought is, if she is sharing a room with someone, she is forced to interact with someone from the family.
My kids are older now too. And I hope that helps the exchange student to participate more in family activities and family time. Family is huge for us. And the biggest thing about Adrian, he was part of our family. In every sense of the word. He still calls me Mom. And it melts my heart every time he does it. He knows there is nothing I would not do for him. We are still great friends to this day. And that is what I would hope for from this next one we host. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time and energy for me.
It all started with that book I printed out from our time in Germany. We would discuss all the experiences we had. And then we would talk of Adrian or Sibylle. Two great experiences we had. Two great friendships that were made. And of course, there was Nadine too. But her experience was not as great. And we barely have contact with each other.
Anyway, we have plans to have the kids friends come over to live with us in a few years and go to school with us. But that won't happen for a few years still.
Then on Friday, Shantal came home with this booklet from school. The high school handed them out. It tells them about 5 different achievement awards the kids could earn for graduation. And I want Shantal to go for one or two of them. Most of them you had to take really hard AP classes. I knew those would not be for Shantal. If she got into AP classes, I believe her grades would drop drastically. Anyway, there ended up being two that I believe Shantal could accomplish. One has to do with foreign Language. Take three years of Foreign language. Easy, as my kids will be able to test out of the classes and get credit for them. CHECK. Then along with that, you have to do two projects. One project you can choose was to host an exchange student and keep a daily journal of that time. So, that is why we are looking into doing one again.
I contacted CCI, the exchange company we used when Adrian and Nadine came to us. I got our application all sent in. Our background checks were approved. They just need to check our references still and then check on Gardner's employment.
They already sent us a list of 5 girls to choose from. Yes, we want a girl. Since Shantal will be going into High School, we thought it would be better. And of those 5 girls, two of them will be in the same grade as Shantal. That excites me. And of the 5, I have already crossed off three of them. One of them did not like younger kids. Another one was so fixated on Sport, working out, looking good. I did not want that in my house. I don't need to be judged because I am overweight or don't exercise as much as she might think I should. Honestly, it just would not be a good mesh with our family. But the two that were left, look promising. We are trying to decide between Mareicke and Sarah. On paper, I think Sarah is a better match for the family. But Shantal really wants Mareicke. And I love the name. In the end, I have asked our coordinator if I could see pictures of them. We used to see pictures of the kids 8 years ago when we got Adrian and 7 years ago when we picked Nadine. It is like Hannah said, you can look at them and maybe get an idea if they are friendly or not.
The exchange student will be sharing a room with Hannah. Hannah has one of the biggest rooms in our house. I designed it with her friends in mind to come live with us. And we would not have to move anyone around. I really don't want any of my kids sharing. I think that will create more fighting than if someone is sharing with the exchange student. And one of the biggest reasons I don't want the exchange student to have their own room has to do with Nadine.
When Nadine lived with us, she isolated herself to the basement. Hardly ever did things with us as a family. Was always on the computer chatting with her family. So my thought is, if she is sharing a room with someone, she is forced to interact with someone from the family.
My kids are older now too. And I hope that helps the exchange student to participate more in family activities and family time. Family is huge for us. And the biggest thing about Adrian, he was part of our family. In every sense of the word. He still calls me Mom. And it melts my heart every time he does it. He knows there is nothing I would not do for him. We are still great friends to this day. And that is what I would hope for from this next one we host. Otherwise, it is just a waste of time and energy for me.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Week in Review
This past week has been busy, as usual. I am usually on the run. With Gardner living in Germany still, I am a single parent.
Hannah has Gymnastics two times a week. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30pm - 9pm. She has her first Gymnastics Competition in America coming up next week. She is really excited about that.
Spencer and Shantal both have Young Mens and Young Womens activity on Tuesday nights from 7pm - 8:30pm. Spencer played basketball for his activity. He loves playing sports. And he has lots of friends he has made here. Shantal worked on Decorations for their New Beginnings which is next week.
This week, both Spencer and Shantal received their Honor Roll Certificate from school. Shantal also earned a certificate for No tardies during the 2nd quarter. I'm so proud of both of them.
Emma has been sick this week. Sunday night she complained of her ears hurting. I don't mess around with ears. Because if they hurt, more chances than not, they are infected. And the pain will only increase. We don't have insurance right now due to Gardner still being in America. It is so expensive to get insurance on your own if it is not with an employer. And we can not afford it while we are paying for Gardner to live in Germany and for us to live here. He has insurance there in Germany, as well as the whole family, but they will not cover us to live over here. Anyway, I decided to take Emma to Urgent Care. But as I was driving there, I remembered I had some antibiotics from Germany in the closet. Germans give you a powder that you mix with water. So they last a lot longer than the American antibiotics. Once you mix it with water, it is only good for 2 weeks in the fridge. But while in powder form, it has years of shelf life. The one we used was good until 2016. So we did that this week. It did the trick, her ears feel so much better. But she has a cold and cough. She ended up coming home from school yesterday not feeling well. She ended up with a 101.2 temperature. She is home again today and I hope with the weekend of her taking it easy, she can get better.
Bad thing about people being home from school sick, the tv seems to be more of the thing to entertain them while they lay on the couch. TV on so much drives me crazy. Today, It is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Marathon. I guess it could be worse.
Last night, I went grocery shopping. I took Ian with me. We went to Walmart. That is the closest store to us. Well, Ian came with me because he had money from Christmas he wanted to spend on a new Star Wars figure. Walmart did not have much of anything. But I told him there was a target just one street over and we could check there. He was so happy. Well, we finished my grocery shopping. And I decided to buy Emma some popsicles because she does not feel well. So when we ran to Target, I kept telling Ian we had to hurry so the Popsicles would not melt. He was more worried about those popsicles than I was. He kept saying, "we have to hurry before the icicles melt". Shantal was with us at the store and she and I just kept giggling at how cute Ian was.
Spencer and Shantal put in an application this week to work at a baseball field where they will work in the concession stands. Both are very excited. I was shocked to hear that minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour. I remember when it was $3.35 an hour. They both just have to get a food handlers permit before the season starts.
Hannah had her Science Fair this week. It was a huge project she had been working on for two months. Her project had to do with white flowers being put into different colored fluids to see if it would change the flower to a different color. And the answer is, food coloring changes the flowers colors. She was one person off from making it to district. I am so glad she did not move on. Whoops, did I just say that?
Shantal is in her school play again. Shantal loves to do theater. She did a musical in the fall with her school and had a great time. Well, there is a lady in our ward who does theater classes and has a studio where they put on plays. She came over this week to invite Shantal to try out for the summer musical. For some reason, Shantal will not have anything to do with it. I don't understand it. It drives me crazy. I just want her to get out, be more involved, hang out more with friends. Right now, if she is not at school, she just sits in her room. I think she would be far more happy if she was doing more. But at least, she will start to work. That will help get her out a bit.
Hannah has Gymnastics two times a week. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30pm - 9pm. She has her first Gymnastics Competition in America coming up next week. She is really excited about that.
Spencer and Shantal both have Young Mens and Young Womens activity on Tuesday nights from 7pm - 8:30pm. Spencer played basketball for his activity. He loves playing sports. And he has lots of friends he has made here. Shantal worked on Decorations for their New Beginnings which is next week.
This week, both Spencer and Shantal received their Honor Roll Certificate from school. Shantal also earned a certificate for No tardies during the 2nd quarter. I'm so proud of both of them.
Emma has been sick this week. Sunday night she complained of her ears hurting. I don't mess around with ears. Because if they hurt, more chances than not, they are infected. And the pain will only increase. We don't have insurance right now due to Gardner still being in America. It is so expensive to get insurance on your own if it is not with an employer. And we can not afford it while we are paying for Gardner to live in Germany and for us to live here. He has insurance there in Germany, as well as the whole family, but they will not cover us to live over here. Anyway, I decided to take Emma to Urgent Care. But as I was driving there, I remembered I had some antibiotics from Germany in the closet. Germans give you a powder that you mix with water. So they last a lot longer than the American antibiotics. Once you mix it with water, it is only good for 2 weeks in the fridge. But while in powder form, it has years of shelf life. The one we used was good until 2016. So we did that this week. It did the trick, her ears feel so much better. But she has a cold and cough. She ended up coming home from school yesterday not feeling well. She ended up with a 101.2 temperature. She is home again today and I hope with the weekend of her taking it easy, she can get better.
Bad thing about people being home from school sick, the tv seems to be more of the thing to entertain them while they lay on the couch. TV on so much drives me crazy. Today, It is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Marathon. I guess it could be worse.
Last night, I went grocery shopping. I took Ian with me. We went to Walmart. That is the closest store to us. Well, Ian came with me because he had money from Christmas he wanted to spend on a new Star Wars figure. Walmart did not have much of anything. But I told him there was a target just one street over and we could check there. He was so happy. Well, we finished my grocery shopping. And I decided to buy Emma some popsicles because she does not feel well. So when we ran to Target, I kept telling Ian we had to hurry so the Popsicles would not melt. He was more worried about those popsicles than I was. He kept saying, "we have to hurry before the icicles melt". Shantal was with us at the store and she and I just kept giggling at how cute Ian was.
Spencer and Shantal put in an application this week to work at a baseball field where they will work in the concession stands. Both are very excited. I was shocked to hear that minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour. I remember when it was $3.35 an hour. They both just have to get a food handlers permit before the season starts.
Hannah had her Science Fair this week. It was a huge project she had been working on for two months. Her project had to do with white flowers being put into different colored fluids to see if it would change the flower to a different color. And the answer is, food coloring changes the flowers colors. She was one person off from making it to district. I am so glad she did not move on. Whoops, did I just say that?
Shantal is in her school play again. Shantal loves to do theater. She did a musical in the fall with her school and had a great time. Well, there is a lady in our ward who does theater classes and has a studio where they put on plays. She came over this week to invite Shantal to try out for the summer musical. For some reason, Shantal will not have anything to do with it. I don't understand it. It drives me crazy. I just want her to get out, be more involved, hang out more with friends. Right now, if she is not at school, she just sits in her room. I think she would be far more happy if she was doing more. But at least, she will start to work. That will help get her out a bit.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Beginning
Here is my first post with my new blog. Why a new blog? Well, it goes like this:
For six years we lived in Germany. And while living there, I had a blog I kept up so family and friends could know how we were and what kind of experiences we were having while living overseas.
We just moved back to America in August 2012 (well, most of us moved back), and I just had my blog that I kept up while living in Germany printed out into a book. It arrived yesterday. And Hannah and Shantal both have sat down for more than an hour at a time and was reading it. Afterwards, Hannah said to me, "Mom, you should do a Living in America Blog". She loved having it to look at and read. And you know what, I thought she was right. I should do something like that and every year print it out. So, that is what I am doing. Although, it is not a Living in America blog. But it is a blog about our family and our daily life written through my eyes.
So sit back, and enjoy the read.
For six years we lived in Germany. And while living there, I had a blog I kept up so family and friends could know how we were and what kind of experiences we were having while living overseas.
We just moved back to America in August 2012 (well, most of us moved back), and I just had my blog that I kept up while living in Germany printed out into a book. It arrived yesterday. And Hannah and Shantal both have sat down for more than an hour at a time and was reading it. Afterwards, Hannah said to me, "Mom, you should do a Living in America Blog". She loved having it to look at and read. And you know what, I thought she was right. I should do something like that and every year print it out. So, that is what I am doing. Although, it is not a Living in America blog. But it is a blog about our family and our daily life written through my eyes.
So sit back, and enjoy the read.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)