1st Semester = OVER

I cannot believe the 1st Semester is over for the boys. This school year is flying by. They've had semester test all this week and then got out of school at 12:30 today and don't go back to school until Tuesday. Wish I had a break from work like that.

I just have to brag on them. They both made the A/B Honor Roll all three sets of 6-weeks for the 1st semester. Even after semester exams, which I always hated, they both made the A/B Honor Roll for the 1st Semester. Speaking of their semester exams, we told them that they both had to study for Social Studies, as they both had lower B's in that class this 6 weeks. The rest of their tests we told them that they knew what they were good at and what they needed to study for. We left it up to them to figure out what needed to be studied for. While, I'm not sure how well that really went, as they didn't study for any other tests, they both came out on top finishing the semester very well.

This school year seems to almost be night and day from years past, which is hard to believe since they are both in Middle School. It has been a relatively easy school year, thus far! We hope the trend continues!!!

1st Day of School

Boys are back to school and back in the same school together this year, which hopefully will be a good thing.

Busy day.......

I took the day off of work b/c the boys had their middle school orientations today, and to add to that, I had a Dr appt for Tristen this morning and then he had a social event for band this evening. This is what my hectic schedule consisted of:

7am-wake up
8am- call dr to make appt for T (got it made for 930)
915-leave for dr appt and HOPE that they can see us quickly (which isn't normal). YAY...we made it out of there in record time....30 minutes.....which will NEVER happen again!
945-leave dr office with prescription and run by wal-mart to drop off prescription.
1030-Tristen's 7th grade orientation which was scheduled to only be in an hour, but we were there until 1150. It wasn't tooo terrible. We picked up our pre-orders for the School Supply Wrap Pack, PE clothes for Colby and Tristen's athletic workout gear. He got his schedule, athletic gear and his athletic locker. OMG....I can't believe I have a 7th grader in athletics! This is a whole new ball game now. We will now be juggling Colby's baseball and Tristen's football.
1150-head home (3 minutes from the school), grab a quick bite to eat, and get Colby
1220- leave the house with both boys and take Tristen BACK up to the school for band. (At this point, I'm crossing my fingers, toes, and anything else that can be crossed that I don't run out of gas, as I NEVER get gas until after my light comes on. Mind you, my light had been on since the day before!) Drop Tristen off....and run to get gas since Colby's orientation doesn't start until 1.
1245-file back into the gym, where i've already sat for an hour and 10 minutes earlier today....only to listen to the same speech, rules, policies, blah blah blah blah that I heard in Tristen's orientation. PTA this, PTA that, band playing, kids whispering, Principal talking, cheerleaders dancing and cheering, Principal telling kids to stop talking, parents whispering behind me about nothing important, tween boys snickering b/c the principal said 'crotch' (in reference to saggy pants in the dress code...'I don't want to see the crotch of your pants hanging down by your knees'). Oh my......oh my. At this point, I'm really ready to get the hell out of there. Oh no, but wait...we still have to get Colby's schedule. We get Colby's schedule and it is WRONG. They had him enrolled in band and he isn't doing band. With the 6th graders they do a mock day and go through the entire bell schedule, to assist them with finding their classes. This worked beautifully last year with Tristen. This year...BIG.FAT.JOKE.CHAOS.CLUSTER^&(*K! The bells weren't working, new teachers to the school weren't in their classrooms....it was just utter chaos. By this point...............I'm ready to get out of there as fast as I can. Before we left, Colby joined the Husky Howlers.....the boys spirit group for basketball games. (Since Colby can't play school sports until 7th grade.)
300-get home and take a breather.
355-take Tristen to band social
530-pick Tristen up from band social

Now it is 630......J still hasn't made it home from work yet, and I'm ready to call it a day and hit the hay.

Update: I stopped blogging when J walked in the door at 640. He obliged to my request to take me to Rosa's for dinner....even though he isn't CrAzY about Rosas. What a whirlwind day!

Colby's 5th Grade Graduation

Colby 'graduated' from 5th grade on June 5th. He was awarded with several awards, including A/B Honor Roll all year and Golden Eagle all year, which is for having a conduct grade each 6 weeks above 90. He brought home his 'Honors Student' sticker, but he said I didn't have to put it on my car. LOL! He was like I'm not even going to elementary school anymore, so what's the point in putting it on your car. LOL!

Seeing this banner....made me chuckle! I was class of '98!

The family....minus Tristen who was at school

Colby, Josh & Hudson

Colby, Hudson, Josh & Mitchell (I like Mitchell b/c at their Christmas class party, he asked Colby if I was his older sister.LOL!)
Colby & his homeroom teacher - Mrs. Reinacher

Proud Parents...

(I've already posted this on our Project 365 blog, so sorry for the duplicate post if you've already read this news on the other blog.)

Both boys made the A/B Honor Roll for the 1st semester! Wooohooo!!! While I won't say it has been easy for us or for them, the 1st semester of school is now over and was successful if we made it out with the boys both on the A/B Honor Roll.

(Yes, I know...this was a short and boring post. Sorry! We don't much excitement or noteworthy events going on right now.)

1st Six Weeks - Check!

We've survived the 1st six weeks of school! Wooohoo! Report cards came home today, and both boys made the A/B Honor Roll! Although, I actually already knew they had both made the A/B Honor Roll. Online gradebooks are AWESOME! I'm not so sure how awesome the kids think it is, but I especially love it for Tristen b/c his teachers actually update it on a weekly, if not daily basis. Anyways, we are super proud!

First day of school.....

Well, as I thought, this morning went fairly smoothly. I got the boys up in plenty of time, knowing that they would be ready in 1/2 the time I had alloted. I'm sure once this week is over, they will need the full time I allot for them to get ready. I am just as nervous for the first day of school for both of them, as they are. I know they are both adjusting to a new school and having to make new friends. Fortuantely, Colby knows one or two kids from our neighborhood that are in his school. Tristen, he doesn't know anyone at his school. Actually, I think there is one of his friends (who also moved over the summer) from his last school, but we only saw him once at Orientation, so I don't think Tristen has any classes with him.

With both the boys going to a new school this year (due to our move & Tristen going into Middle School), today was a learning experience. Colby's school was complete chaos as there were tons of parents trying to park anywhere possible so they could walk their kids into their classrooms. (Colby could actually ride the bus, but he doesn't want to. He'd have to be at the bus stop at 7:10am, which is really early and would require me to get up earlier too!) LOL! All I needed to do was drop Colby off. Finally, we were able to get him dropped off. I joked around with him and asked him if I needed to walk him to his classroom. He of course, said no.

After we dropped Colby off, Tristen and I headed down the street to his school. As I was driving, I was going over his instructions for after-school. Leave school, turn on cell phone, call or text me, walk straight home, call or text me again to let me know you are home. We turn into the parking lot and I see TONS of kids waiting outside. The school doesn't open until 8am and then the first bell rings at 8:35. Tristen decided he wants to eat breakfast at school so he has plenty of time to do so. I asked him if he wanted me to wait until they opened the doors. He said no. I was tearing up b/c I was so nervous/scared for him. I asked him again, "Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" He sternly told me, "NO!" He doesn't know a single person, but he was ready to go. I know he will be fine and he is an outgoing kid. I hope he adjusts well. *crosses fingers and toes and eyes and ears and legs*

Here's to hoping we have a successful first day! *Pictures to come soon!* (The original first day pictures I took, sucked! I'm not sure what happened w/the camera, but I'll have to take some pictures on their 3rd day of school!)

Back - to - school

Tomorrow is the first day of the new school year. The boys are all set and ready for the first day. New clothes for tomorrow are laid out, backpacks are ready, and the boys are bouncing off the wall!!!!!! They are driving us NuTs!!!!!!! Bedtime isn't for another hour and I'm ready for it now! They are uber excited for the first day, but I'm sure the excitement will wear off by the end of the week. I will post first day of school pictures tomorrow.

Tristen - Update

We have been busy this week with getting Tristen ready for Middle School. He attended a Middle School camp that gave pointers with note taking, learning his 'learning style', etc. In his words, 'It was boring.' <~~~~~~~Typical 6th grader for ya! LOL!

Today we had Tristen's orientation. Oh my! They listed it as being 3 hours, but I didn't figure it would really last that long. It did! We arrived on his new campus, registered for PTA, purchased everything the PTA had available for sale (HMS t-shirt, HMS sweatshirt, Gym Bag, and PE Clothes). At first, I wasn't going to buy all of it, but at the same time, I put myself back in his shoes and remembered my first day of jr. high. After we picked up all of our HMS goodies, we headed to the gym where orientation began. After the principals spoke, the band played, and the cheerleaders did a cheer, the students were given their schedules, locker #s and locker combinations. After the schedules were handed out, we had a 'mock day' at school. We started at 1st period and went through 8th period. In b/w each class, the students went back to their lockers to practice opening them with their combinations. It will be quite an adjustment from elementary. I had to remind Tristen a couple of times - 'You only have 5 minutes in b/w your classes.' In any case, it was a long afternoon, but it was good to get a feel for how things would be for Tristen. He is excited to start school and make new friends!

Middle School

Oh my! We register Tristen for Middle School tomorrow! I'm not sure what to think - now that we officially have a middle schooler on our hands. I'm sure it will be an exciting and challenging year for all of us! We have registration tomorrow, Middle School camp next Thursday, Middle School Orientation Friday, and Colby's (who is a 5th grader) Meet the Teacher the following Wednesday. School is about to start! We are ready, I suppose. School supplies have been purchased and school clothes are hanging up in their closets. The 2nd half of the summer sure has flown by.

Both boys are attending new schools due to our move. I think they are both looking forward to school starting and making new friends. They are both VERY excited that they can now walk or ride their bikes to school.

Summer is finally here!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colby brought home his awards from 4th grade today. He received the A/B Honor Roll, Best Sense of Humor Award, QuickThinker Award, Excellent Attendance and a few others. He will be changing schools next year due to our move, so his last day of school was bittersweet. He has several friends that I'm sure he will keep in touch with and continue to hang out.

Although the school year is quite tough and at often times stressful, both boys did great this year and made the A/B Honor Roll. We are so proud of them. They celebrated the beginning of summer by going to the waterpark yesterday with their cousins.

Our summer weekends are already jam packed through the first part of July. This weekend Colby has his end of season baseball team party at the water park. Before he heads off to his team party, one of his good friends (who moved to a different school district) is having a birthday party and they are taking a ride in a Hummer limo. (I didn't tell Colby about that part, so he is going to be EXTREMELY excited.) Colby continues to play baseball although the season has ended. He is playing a tournament team and will be playing in 5 tournaments this summer. We've played in one already, and we have another one next weekend. We signed Tristen up for a day camp through LISD. It is an introduction to Middle School. It isn't until August, but it should be beneficial since it is right before school starts. I hope that he finds it fun and useful. He will also be starting band in the fall and will be playing the Trumpet. Should make for some interesting times around our house!

We hope to make a trip to San Antonio to take the boys to Sea World, but looks like that trip will have to be in the first part of August some time to accomdate our busy schedules and Colby's baseball tournaments.

We offically have a middle schooler!!

Tristen graduated from 5th grade today! Yikes! We now have a middle schooler on our hands. Tristen received several awards - A/B Honor Roll, Excellent Attendance, Safety Patrol, and a few other awards.

Countdown to summer....

37 days until the end of school for the boys! This school year has flown by! Next year we will have a middle schooler. OMG! The boys will be transferring schools due to the new house. Tristen is wanting to participate in band, as one of his electives. We have his band interview set up for May 12th.

TAKS testing is today and tomorrow. I'm so over the TAKS test. Both of the boys do fine on the TAKS tests, but please don't get me started on how this test has overtaken our schools.

My younger brother Bear has a boat that is currently being stored in Austin. I'm hoping we will be able to get it up here and take it out on the lake a few times this summer. Our new house is only minutes away from Lake Lewisville! Can't wait until summer!