The Hidden Gift

Christmas morning Kaela seemed a little bummed out. Like maybe she didn't get something that maybe she may have wanted. I asked her numerous times if something was missing and she said, "I don't know." She wouldn't give in. We went over her list later that night to see what she may have wanted but didn't get. Her birthday is in February so once Christmas passes I'm looking for ideas for her birthday. The only things on her list that she didn't get were a DS game or two, waterproof gloves and she also asked that Trent would get coal. So, nothing on there too major that was a have to have for her. Discussion ended, problem solved? and we didn't talk about it again.

Yesterday while putting a few of the gifts away that were sitting under the tree Kaela found something. I was in the kitchen asking her to bring me a couple things I had found a place for when I heard from the living room, "Mom. Uh...I found a present we didn't open." Me and Dalan, surprised, asked where she found it and then questioned how in the world she missed it. She said it was sitting behind a couple Scentsy boxes I had under the tree and it said it was to her from Santa. She was giggly and seemed pretty excited about it. She brought it into the kitchen where we looked it over and were kind of puzzled. We gave her the go ahead to open it and she was pretty excited to see it was an iPod Touch. Later that night Dalan asked her, "So did you get everything you wanted for Christmas." She said, "No." He asked her what she wanted that she didn't get. She referred him to the list that her and I went over Christmas night.

Was this really absorbed?

Through the years I have always tried to teach the kids that Christmas is also about giving and not just receiving. One of the little things I would do to try and teach them this is to pick out toys for Toys 4 Tots. They would ask why we have to buy other kids toys and explaining that to a kid is kind of hard if you know what I mean. I'd always tell them it's for families whose parents can't afford to get their kids a gift from them so we are just helping the parents out. I try to make it known to them that they are very lucky to have the things that they have because some kids just aren't that lucky. I never knew if they were really absorbing what I was telling them or if they were just doing that "yeah, yeah" that kids do and just went with the whole buy the toy and drop it in the box thing. That is until about a week ago when I found this little gem and I thought well maybe they are listening or at least getting it. Well, at least one of them.



"Dear Santa,



All I want for Christmas the most is you to bring us joy. The things that I learned for the last nine years that Christmas is not only about presents it's about family getting together and having fun. I hope you give everyone hope peace and love. Let's hope I don't get to much Christmas dinner in one night. I hope that when I wake up tomorrow I see tons and tons of hope peace and love. This is from my whole family "Merry Christmas". Good night Santa Claus.

Love your friend,
Kaela Dutson"

A test? YES!

The first two or three weeks of school for Trent was going so well. He had all A's! But I knew it wouldn't last long. I logged onto the school website to just look at what classes he would be missing if Dalan pulled him out of school early. While looking at that I saw his grades had fallen. He had two C's..maybe three..and a D+. WHAT!?! We ended up pulling him out of football until his grades came up. I check his grades weekly so I was completely puzzled as to why such a big drop. One of his C's was in Band. I asked how in the world do you get anything but an A in Band. I asked him, "Are you talking in class?" Apparently there was a test he didn't do so well on. There aren't going to be many assignments in Band so that's gonna be a hard one to pull up. He's gonna have to be on his best behavior. The D+ was in Spanish. They had one assignment so far and he bombed it. Big time. I guess they rarely get assignments or tested in that class, for now anyway, so every assignment is gonna count. I made sure to tell him that. One assignment can make a HUGE difference. So, yesterday (and this is Trent's story so who knows if it's exaggerated or true) the kids were acting up and the teacher asked the class, "Do you want a test?" While most of the class shouted "no" Trent quickly shouted out "YES!" knowing he needed a good score so he could go to his football game last night. I guess the teacher said, "Trent wants a test so we'll take one." Oh how that class must have hated him. He ended up getting a 10/11 I think. He came home and begged me to check his grades. I told him I didn't think it would be entered plus I had just checked them an hour or two before. So, back to the website I go and there it is....a B+ in Spanish. I had told him that and he still looked bummed. I couldn't figure out why. He then said, "I can't believe it's still a D+." I told him, "No. A B+. As in boy." His head whipped around so quick I thought it was gonna fall off. Dalan didn't even think it would be updated yet. Pretty funny. So, he was able to go to his game and play. As of last night he has A's and B's and just that one pesky C in Band. Hopefully he can keep his grades up and we don't have to deal with this anymore. He is so smart and is capable of all A's. I know he is. He just needs to apply himself more. I just don't think he understands that he's at an age now where when the teacher tells you there is going to be a test, you better bring home your book and study.

The teachers are doing an awesome job keeping everything updated on the website. It is so nice. Last year and throughout elementary they only updated it at the end of the quarter. Elementary still does that. This year, for Trent anyway, they will post assignments and what score they got on the assignment. They are so good at keeping up with it that I will find myself checking his grades twice a week sometimes. The school e-mails me his grades once a week too. It's so nice. They will even e-mail me if he is late to class or absent. Poor kid. He won't get away with nearly as much as I did in school. I'm just hoping that this year will be better than last and we won't be hustling the last two weeks of the last two quarters to catch him up and get his grades where they should be. I have already told him I absolutely will not under no circumstance go in and talk to his teachers about his grade this year. I did once last year and then the next time he was responsible for it. This year it's all on him. I figure he is the one who got the bad grade and now he is old enough to ask and figure out what he can do about it. Besides, there is no way I am gonna hunt down seven teachers.

Fingers crossed we aren't down this road again.

She is growing up way too fast.

Kaela is only nine years old and will be 10 in February but sometimes it feels like nine years old going on teenager. This year is her first year she has decided she is going to do her own hair....for school. Oy! She did her own hair all throughout the summer and it killed me. It killed me because it wasn't perfect and her go to hair do was simply a ponytail. She has gotten a little more creative with it since then. I'm excited that she will wear the flower clips in her hair now. I always ask if I can help her a little or tell her that if she tells me how she wants it I will do it exactly that way. Nope. Nothing. She wants to do it on her own. Sometimes she will let me smooth it out for her or tame the flyaways. She's not too good with the hairspray bottle. I guess her doing her own hair is not totally a bad thing because there is no boredom for her as she sits there and waits for me to do it for her. It relieves some stress for me because it's one less thing I need to do in the morning. It's just hard because as a mom you want your daughter to have the perfect hair. All girly and cute. But I can't sit here and hold her hand forever. Especially when she is the one who is stepping up and wanting to do it and I'm not standing here having to push her. I need to let her grow up. I need to let her be her own person. I need to let her have her own style. So, in a way, I'm kind of over the whole thing and just leave it alone. But, I still have my days where my heart breaks and I still offer to help her out. All because I'm not ready for her to grow up....yet.

Easily Entertained

My brand spankin new iPod Touch finally got here yesterday. I opened up the package, updated my Facebook status to let the world know and plugged it in to fully charge. I didn't really mess with it much when I first opened it up other than to see how the camera works. Stephanie won't be surprised at this. About an hour later Dalan comes waltzing in and asks, "Where's your iPod?" And I didn't get to mess with it at all except for a few mintues here and there. He is addicted to Hells Kitchen Vs and has already loaded my leader board up with all his scores. I haven't played it once...yet. Stephanie, my cousin, was nice enough to send me some app suggestions. I was really looking for apps geared towards fitness since I'm trying to get back into my workout routine. She didn't send me any of those. She sent me Talking Tom Cat. That app is hours...and I mean hours of entertainment for someone like me. Most people who know me know I am very easily entertained. For those who don't know, which is probably few since I'm late getting into this cool and fun technology, the cat repeats what you say. I know right!?!? FUN! Stephanie made the mistake of telling me it's funny when you make it cuss. Well, Dalan took it to a whole other level last night as I was in bed trying to go to sleep. He kept telling me, "Say something bad to it." Me, "Umm...no. That's just not right." The cat is too cute to say such things. The fact that it's a kitty made some things even funnier. We laid in bed cracking up! The app, for me anyway, is just as fun now as it was the first time I said something to it and it repeated it. In fact, at Trent's football game last night I went to show it to my sister. Most mature people would just say "Hi" and leave it at that. Not me. I make it say, "Chrissy smells." HA! Seriously. HOURS of entertainment....for me. Kaela now wants me to put all the other talking animals on it. The talking hedgehog, hippo, etc. There may not be much talking me into it. I love my new toy! I did put some fitness apps on it...no thanks to Steph. I found them myself. I'm gonna try one out today. Probably the yoga one. Dalan said he wants me to take that up. Not sure why *scratches head* But I'm gonna give it a shot. Hopefully I don't get all tangled up.

I gotta just let it go....

Months ago I allowed the kids to buy DSi XL's. They had birthday money that they have been given by grandparents that I have saved up over the years and we just never really spent it on anything for them so I decided to let them buy their own DSi's with it. I figured this way if they misplace them I won't stress about it because it was bought with their own money. Yup. I was wrong. Kaela has misplaced her DSi and we are unable to find it. I sit here and tell myself, "Not my problem. It's hers. She bought it. Let it go." Then I find myself tearing apart the house trying to find the damn thing and am completely pissed when it's not in the spot I just finised making a disaster out of. Ugh. As I sit here and type this I'm still telling myself to let it go but I just can't. I am completely annoyed about the whole thing. When she bought it I knew it was a mistake letting her but again, it was her money. I tried to talk her out of it but she wasn't backing down. She told me over and over she would take care of it. And here we sit....trying to find a lost DSi...ugh...

Moving on because really there are just more important things in life than a lost DSi (move on Sandy). Today is September 11th. On this day 9 years ago I think Alan Jackson may have put it best, the world stopped turning. For one moment everyone was watching the same thing happen. Whether we were on the couch in front of the tv or on the streets of NYC. I can remember that day like it was yesterday. In fact, I can remember every night weeks after trying to go to sleep and just not being able to do so without thinking of all those poor families. The children who were on the planes. That killed me the most. It took...and still takes me to a place where I'm thinking, "What if I were on that plane with my kids?" What do you say to them. Or do you say anything at all and just sit there and hold them knowing that this is it. The thought of going through something like that is a complete nightmare. It's amazing how the country pulled through such a tragedy. People were friendlier and willing to help one another. That scene has slowly disappeared and everyone is back to the way things were before 9/11. Sad really. I always think back to that day and will never forget it. Ever.

I really want to say that I am so very appreciative to those who have chosen to make the ultimate sacrifice. To those who are away from their families. To those who don't always have a soft place to rest, if they get even get to rest at all. Thank you to the men and women who serve in our military. What you do to protect those here in the USA is greatly appreciated. We, as a country, could probably never show you just how much. You are the real heroes of our time.

September 11, 2001

NEVER FORGET

No regrets...

When you are a child you are in your learning and discovering stage. You are pushing limits and trying to see what you can and can't get away with. As you approach your teen years you think you know it all. Somewhere in your 20's you find out you actually know nothing. And now...at least for me...I think I'm slowly figuring it out.

I used to want. I thought I had good friends. I still want but feel more fulfilled. Somewhere along the line I found better friends. Great friends! I'm always laughing when I'm with them. And sometimes even when I'm not. I found someone who is an inspiration to me. The last two or three years have come to be some of the best years of my life. I've gotten out. I've done things I never thought I would ever do. I have had new experiences. I smile more. I laugh more. I dance more. I let go more. I see an opportunity and I try my hardest to grasp it. Nothing is ever too far out of reach. If you want it, make it happen. One of my worries a couple years ago was that I did not want to be dying and lying there wondering, "What did I do with my life!?!" I can say without a doubt that I will not be wondering that when the time comes. Things have changed. Even though there are things that haven't gone exactly how I wanted them to, the things that have gone right definitely outweigh the things that didn't. Everything happens for a reason. I truly believe that. And good things definitely come to those who wait.