Reunion

As you can see from the photo we had a small scale class reunion last Saturday night. It was a lot of fun and I got to see some of my old friends from high school. Diane and Shelly were there along with Jason Cook and Cary Murphy. All people I had totally lost touch with. I had forgotten that I had been pretty good friends with some of these people for many years. It was nice to see all of them and I am glad I did the facebook thing. It is funny how it can be 20 years and then you just pick up where we left off.

Joelle and Mitch went to the Father Daughter dance and had a good time too.

Work was rough this week. They are not only not giving raises, but now they are increasing our class size. I'll have to see how this all plays out. I think it will all be ok.

The family that i was really struggling with seems to have come around. For starters they withdrew their son and last Friday was supposed to be his last day. I was pretty surprised when he was at school Monday. Apparently they changed their minds but did not tell anyone. So all week he was doing really well and it was great and then today after school his dad made a point of thanking me for everything and for 'holding them accountable' wow. I was stunned.

Tonight Joelle had the end of the season soccer party. It was nice the kids all had fun- they bowled and stuff at Green Meadows. We arranged the party and had pizza, cake, ice cream, pop and the party room. The parents went to the cafe at meadows and had dinner and chatted. It was nice. Joelle got a cool memory plaque, which is better than a trophy to dust. I was surprised that the team got me a thank you gift for maintaining the website. The link is on here so you can look at all the work that takes, but i did not expect anything. Anyway just thought I would blog since it has been awhile.

Shopping with Joelle

Up to this point Joelle has had a few bras. Nothing fancy and mainly things to play soccer in. It wasn't that she needed them so much but now she is at the point where she needs one. She is what we would think of as a AA. Early this week she said she needed a new bra, so last night we went shopping. Needless to say she is her mother's daughter. While the very helpful sales gal at Macy's was showing us some nice basic bras, Joelle pipes up with don't you have anything with stripes or polka dots or something? So we found one polka dots, two white ones and a black one. Of course it was mortifying to have me in the fitting room with her, but the sales gal and I convinced her that she needed help getting just the right fit. So now she has new bras and I have a new bargaining chip. (which I will get to in a minute)

This week Joelle was sick again. It is the throat thing and Mitch has it too. I think hers is minor and his must be too because he went and played cards at Dustin's last night. Joelle got sick at school on Wed. She laid in the health room for about two hours before I took her home at about 12:30. The next day I stayed home with her. I am just not ready to leave her alone for a whole day. So while she slept I cleaned and got things done. This was greatly appreciated as Mitch was off the next day and he slept until noon. He never does that- but again he is getting that throat thing I had.

Joelle has been doing Ok, but again I am concerned about her grades. She is not doing well in math and Spanish. So I am trying to help her by showing her how to study and that type of thing. I hope this works. Also we have been doing the good old personal hygiene battle. I do not remember mom going through this with me. Jo does not like to shower, or wash her face, It has been a battle- that and as you all know her bedroom has hit the skids. So I want to see better grades and better hygiene. last night when we got to Macy's Joelle wanted to look at the purses- yeah uh hu. So she is really taking after me. I am not a big purse person- it is only in the last few years that I got the purses that I really like and then I have been rotating the same two based on the season for three years. They have held up really well and still look nice. So anyway she wants to look at purses and I guess the in thing is TokiDoki. They make bags, watches, clothes all of it. I imagine it is the equivalent to Guess from back in the day. So they have a table of Toki Doki bags for 60% off the last marked price. Suddenly Joelle can do math- OMG MOM LOOK!! So I know have a nice TokiDoki bag in my room waiting for the owner to improve her grades and hygiene.I only bought it cause of the price and the fact that they only had one like it. Otherwise we would have waited for improvement first.

She is currently grounded for flipping me attitude about showering on Thursday night. The same night she asked if she could have a friend over- right after I told her she was grounded. Then yesterday she also tried to get me to let her have Dani and Sarah over. Mitch was picking her up and I was in the school office and Joelle comes in to beg me to let them come over. Mitch made her ask me casue he was going to Dustin's. So I say no you are grounded- of course then it is please please please..... I say no means no and you are grounded- end of story. They go home- Jo not thrilled but oh well.

When I get home her room is clean and she is cleaning out the cat box! Apparently she had cleaned her room and was getting ready to clean the catbox when she heard the garage door open. Mitch said it was hilarious. To see her sprint to the catbox. So I am being firm and demanding and trying to get her to focus on what needs to be done. Grades and keeping herself clean. It seems I was crazy with my grades and showering when I was in sixth grade......

Musical Theater

Ok Mom suggested Joelle try musical theater. I guess in a way she did...

OK I saw this and I just about died! Jackie have you been blogging soccer? Somebody sent me a link to this Michigan soccer mom blog and I laughed and laughed. See if you see anyone you know in here. You should show Steve and Michael too. I swear I have seen this woman at tryouts!
http://fullridesoon.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-01-19T09%3A33%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

catching up

Wow it has been awhile!
First off I was really sick and it was really awful. It was about three weeks of the sore throat and then it was just awful. That said I missed two of my games and have not been as consistent at the gym.
Now I will do all the updates- First there is Joelle
Her math is not good. She really struggles with it and she does not like to listen to me or get help. We are going to have her join an after school study group session on Mon and Wed. I have given her three weeks to get her grades up or she will be seeing the tutor. Her English and Social Studies on the other had are great. In social studies her whole class did quite poorly on a test and then had to retake it. This happened while Jo was out sick- she only took the test once and got 112%. Yes there was extra credit on it. So i guess we know who she takes after. Mitch is the math wiz and I am the social science one.
Soccer is going well. She has been playing indoor and she is playing well. She has been thinking and talking about leaving her team- I know mom and dad saw some practices so they know what the whole situation is and Jackie is pretty well informed. Of all the teams and ll the coaches she has had this was the first year I picked her up at practice and she cried on the way home because of what a coach had said. That alone should seal the deal for me, but there is more too. She has been thinking about trying out for her friend Hailey's team next year-the vipers. The coach knows who Jo is and her style of play (which has not been the best fit with her current team). He has invited her to play with his team for the spring- HB is not doing any spring soccer so she is open and she is excited. This is a great chance for her to play for him and with the team to see if she really wants to tryout. If not that then we will be thinking Jadee's team. Jadee is a great coach and likes Joelle/would want her on his team. Mom and dad her was the younger coach at the practice and I know what you thought.
Next there is Joelle's love life- LOL. I know I shouldn't tease her but it is just funny to hear about the crushes on her when she could really care less about boys! That is good I want her to focus on MATH!
She got her hair cut this week and looks so much older. It was going to just be a trim but then she went for the layering thing.
Next there is Mitch- I think he is catching the bug. He is a bit nervous about UPS. Things are going well for him- but there was a pay freeze there too. Now he has heard rumors of a salary cut and that really has him worried. (me too) He has been working our and playing basketball and overall is doing well.
Me--- for starters I guess I am mad. The usual challenges at work- nothing I should be too upset about but I am kinda thinking just a few more year of this and then subbing. It all depends on the economy though. I like teaching - hate lesson planning. I am really sick and tried of the parents. I think you guys know about my student that is about two years behind- you know didn't know letter sounds and all that. The one that is on his own program- I give him different homework- he has different textbooks and all that- it is like teaching two classes for one student. I meet with him one and one and on and on. Then there is no follow through and he does not turn in his work. In fact I have sent things home for him to complete and had it come back signed still not done. So it is like this big time vacuum. I am expending all this energy and then nothing. For example of the last 24 school days he has been absent or tardy 15 times. How the heck can I teach him? Then the mom has the gall to say he has not learned that much this year? errrrr