This week

This week has been really nice.

With the kids being out of school, and all of us "stuck" here at home, we've spent so much more time together. We've done fun things like sledding and playing games, but we've also worked together and talked.... a lot. I love having my kids home.

Oliver is making a huge effort to improve his standard of living. As frustrated as I get, I feel so much compassion for him and every teen really, struggling through school and all the social pressures they're faced with today. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was in school, facing the same kind of issues, and would NEVER want to relive those years. Oh, the drama!!! Having to deal with hormones, friends, school work, standards, self image, pimples and of course the big question, "What am I going to do for the rest of my life?" looming over head. He has been such a joy and is well on his way to getting his cell phone back.

Spencer was very nervous this week because he had his first project in drama class due. Along with the rest of the class, he was grouped together with a couple of other kids and asked to lip sing a song of their choice. He normally doesn't get stage fright, but I think this took performance anxiety up a notch. They chose the classic Wierd Al song, "White and Nerdy". Well, at the last minute one of boys decided he didn't want to cooperate and was kicked out, so they ended up having to rework the routine, but things went just fine anyway.

Grace hand sewed a little blanket for Sophia during our little blizzard, and is looking forward to getting her sewing machine up and running. We call her our "little mommy". She's also excited about a Chinese New Year party she's going to today. In school she's been working on a project about Anna Pavlova, and is still very enthusiastic about her dancing. Grace is an angel in our home.

Sophia told me this week she doesn't like school and was very happy to be home with me. I asked her if she likes her teacher, she said, "Oh yes, she's really nice.... but she makes us do a lot school work and I don't like that." So I told her that her teacher loves her and doesn't want her to be dumb, so she gives her school work so she can learn as much as possible. She thought that was funny and changed the subject. I think Sophia is going to be an interesting cookie, and quite possibly a little smarter than the rest of us.