Make a Smilebox slideshow

Billy's Turning 30...Beach Party!!

Tomorrow we head off on our extended weekend to celebrate my husband turning 30 this Sunday. We will be staying at this beach house in Galveston with his whole family. It is four bedrooms each with it's own bathroom so there will be plenty of room for us all to relax. This is the view of the neighborhood, and shots of the house interior.

Here is the pool we have axcess to.

The kids are very excited. It will be our last thing before the summer really ends for us. We have been praying hurricanes would stay away and so far the forcast is good. We shall see! Billy was born during a hurricane, so that would just be too wierd!

When we get back it will be a mad dash to try to find a house to move into before our lease ends in just 3 weeks. The search has been really slow with little to no leads thus far, but we continue to hold out hope that God will come through in the nick of time.

I will try to enjoy myself this weekend and not stress too much about everything going on in our personal life. This getaway is coming at the best time for me.

Update

I was surprised to see it had been almost a week since I posted last. This has been a really rough week. I had a bad dizzy spell that lasted 15 hours early in the week, and things just seemed to get worse from there. If it could go wrong this week, it did. I am almost done with my book and I will post a summary this week.

Yes, this was a rough week for everyone but Isaac! He had green days every day at school and was chosen as the line leader for the week. On Thursday he was very excited to be able to eat cafeteria food. It was pretty funny how excited he got about that. When I picked him up he said "Mom, that salisbury steak was delicious!!" He had the gravy on his shirt to prove it. :) He had his second night of Awana too and his teachers said his behavior was excellent and that he had even remembered some verses from last year so he is already a week ahead. This week he begins church choir. (Can I get a woohoo from Lil Zip?) They have rehearsals every Wed. before Awana and he will perform twice this year at church. I am excited about the finale which is a Spring Musical put on by all the age groups.

Sorry I have no photos these days. I really haven't been taking many pics. The kids and I may be going to a water park this weekend as it is the last chance before they close for the winter. Next weekend I will have lots of photos to post because we are going with Billy's extended family to a beach house in Galveston to celebrate my hubby turning 30 years old! We will be gone from Thurs-Sun. And then you can look forward to a big picture post when I get back!

What I am reading now...

Isaac's school paperwork had a statement that said "Your child has now begun his formal education." I have to admit, this struck a little bit of nervousness in me. With his various struggles in preschool and Sunday school classrooms with his energy level and following directions, every new school year brings it's own set of unknowns. I found this book at the library written last year by an Author who writes for Newsweek. It is really a great read and I find it to be even more appropriate to begin this as the school year is now in full swing. Here is a review written on the book:

"While the nation’s schools worked diligently to improve the academic performance of girls—including closing the achievement gap in math and science between girls and boys—few noticed the slow and steady decline in the academic performance of boys. The reading and writing achievement gap between girls and boys continues as boys also stack up unfavorably in every measure from school discipline, to graduation rates, to grades, to college admission. Newsweek reporter Tyre examines troubling statistics that detail the academic decline of boys and cites psychologists, sociologists, brain researchers, and others to explain the reasons behind the numbers. Tyre examines how schools—and broader society—have changed in ways that shortchange boys and how gender politics is affecting reactions to the dire statistics. She focuses on boys' specific problems—fidgeting in school, scattered attention, reading problems, and a shortage of male teachers. Through vignettes, Tyre offers advice to parents concerned about their sons. Most important, Tyre asks the ultimate question: how to help boys without jeopardizing the advances of girls." --Vanessa Bush

I think that it is important to note this as a mother of a son, to be aware of the ways that boys inherently struggle with school, and to not be so quick to jump on Isaac for "misbehavior". Here is an MSNBC article about the subject and book. And HERE is a Q & A with the author to better explain this concept. I myself felt like I struggled in school even though when I looked back as an adult my grades were average to high- I always felt like I just didn't match up. This has been a driving force in my quest to make learning and school the best experience for my children. I have already signed up for Isaac's school PTA and plan to be as involved as I can. I was surprised to see several times mentioned in his Pre-K parent paperwork the urging to "read to your child 15 minutes every day." I have been doing this with both kids up to 30-45 minutes every day since they were toddlers. I guess I take for granted that not every parent can or will do that.

Another interesting factor is that it has been well known for decades now that African American boys fare the worst in the school system. They are the highest drop out rate, the lowest test scorers, and are known behavior problems across the board. The reasons for this are plentiful, I can tell you. But the point is that my child is in the lower bracket for achievers based on his gender and race alone. So it is up to us as his parents to change that so he is not just another statistic. One way I plan on doing that is advocating for his (and other boys) best in the classroom. I am not sure if you are aware of this but a very common discipline tactic to "motivate" boys to behave is to take away part or all of their recess. This is something I just will not tolerate with my child. Recess is the only way for boys to release their energy appropriately and aides in their ability to sit still later on in the day. It is not a luxury, it is a necessity. I think that children should all have a morning and afternoon recess but with the pressure on teachers and schools to get their standardized testing scores up, physical education has taken a back seat. Many schools even in our area have cut back the standard 30 minute recess to 20 minutes. Combine this with removing part or all of it as punishment and that just makes for a LONG day for the average school boy (7:45a.m.-3:00p.m. to be exact). And we wonder why more and more children are being diagnosed ADHD and/or obese!

I believe that if I stay on top of Isaac's schooling- by educating myself on the plight of boys in the school system in an effort to maximize his potential, staying involved at his school and with teaching concepts at home, and making sure to keep a good line of communication open with his teachers- he will have a greater chance at succeeding, even if the statistics are stacked against him.

This is the very reason why I sent cookies for his teachers on Friday with a note that said "you survived the first week of school!" It is not just stressful for children to have to keep up, it is tough on our teachers too. And if my children's teachers like me and see that I am there to assist them in their endeavor, they might just make it a little easier on my child! That is my hope anyway! :)

No Good Very Bad Day

Isaac has had a wonderful week at school but we have noticed that as the week has progressed he has been getting a bit weepy about little things and sometimes would give us a long strand of why things aren't going right. Last night we took him to Cici's. He loves pizza and we wanted to have a family night out. Well, after filling up his belly beyond capacity he and Vivi went into the arcade part. We declined his request for coins and they pretty much amused themselves without them. After awhile he plopped down at the table huffing and said without so much as a break to breathe:


"I don't have any coins, and I can't play any games, and noone likes me, and everyone else gets to be line leader at school, and I don't get to eat the cafeteria food, and nobody lets me watch tv or do anything fun!

I couldn't help it, I had to laugh. He described exactly the way my days have been going too.