David turns 50!

It was a normal and busy Tuesday. He didn’t have the easiest day at work. But this evening we celebrated him. 

He is very bad at stopping to smile for me. He still argues the camera steels your soul. 

I made his cake, finally, correctly, after all these years. 

Finally a glass of wine for the first time in a month. 

Clair’s card was in the form of a very thoughtfully written, lots of words and minimal color, long scroll. 

A family game of pool ended the night. David won. 

Another cool school project we could not keep

Clair made a very nice math project she got a great grade on. School has so many neat projects the kids do. I feel guilty I can’t keep them all. So I take pictures!

High school split years

Our high school has almost two separate school years in each academic year thanks to the way they have it set up. A student takes 4 classes for half the year and another 4 classes the second half. The benefit is an extra class each year and more flexibility in later grades. However it also means long classes, less chance to be with friends and that you have to get your schedule and patterns reset in the middle of the school year - including a new lunch routine. 

Ellie started the second half of freshmen year this week. I had not realized how nerve racking it was going to be to be starting over. It was like another first day of school for her with finding the right outfit, wondering who would be at lunch with her, finding her way around the school in a timely fashion, getting to know new teachers, etc. the first day was not great. I wish I could have helped her. I hope that as the years pass she learns to embrace this opportunity for change. Who knows!

Being a kid is hard. Growing up is hard. Parenting is hard. Not being able to fix your kids problems and sad feelings is hard. 

Thanks fully day 2 seemed to go better for her. 

Winter sports

Our kids don’t do as much in the winter. It’s nice not running so much. Ellie is back at Jujitsu twice a week and enjoying it. David always takes her. He enjoys it too. He has not been able to participate with her hurt knee for a few months. He’s hoping to get back to it. 

Clair is doing a light version of winter basketball. Practice is once a week and one game a weekend. I love the light schedule. She feels accomplished and it doesn’t eat into our life like fall sports do. 

She is enjoying basketball and has clearly improved over the season. Her hall handling and shooting are improving. I’m proud of her. 

We did let Clair and max start a soccer clinic on Wednesday nights for 7 weeks leading into spring. For Clair it’s a goalie camp and her coach wanted her to do this. For Max it’s a striker camp. They both seem happy for the opportunity. 

I love watching the kids enjoy sports! Sports are my favorite. 

Helping with 9th grade math

This week I had the pleasure of helping Ellie figure out some confusing geometry that I had no recollection of. But, thanks to Google, I was able to remember or lookup the formulas and topic and help explain it to her. 

At first I though I was frustrated but by the end I felt like a superhero having figured it out and nearly taught it to Ellie. I always loved math. Ellie does not enjoy math sadly. 

I’m thankful she asked for help. Often she does not ask. 

Star Wars is back

Two weekend ago Max and David introduced Clair to Star Wars and it was a success. This is now her new favorite fantasy to play. Max is loving having someone to play this with. He’s reviving the dress up! They even jointly bought a whole new set of toy light sabers!

Life with cats

Means soft little purrs and lots of meows

Dirty cat litter

Meows for food

Toys all over the floor

Midnight zoomies

And ripped leather couches, much to my dismay 

I love this little fur ball