Oh what chaos all the snow brought. So Lawrence received about 12 inches of snow the week of Feb. 3rd which led to messed up work schedules, no school and a lot of rescheduling. The kids did not have school after Monday due to snow and cold temperatures. It is always a great shuffle to figure out work and kids but it all worked out.
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| Snow Ice Cream, Yummy! |
We ended the week with a fun swim party sponsored by our church and a sleep over with best friends.
Last week we spent much of the week just trying to catch up from the chaos of the week before. Raelynn attended her first 4H meeting at an actual member and loved it. There are a couple 10 year olds who really have grasped on to her and she loves them and they seem to love her. The meeting was great for me too as I received much more information and I think I may actually survive having a daughter in 4H. The families were great and assured me that they would hold my hand through any animal or camping outings we had and would even house our bunny or hamster or any other smelly animal Raelynn may want to adopt. They were really quite wonderful.
Tuesday the kids celebrated Valentine's Day at school since they were out again for the rest of the week due to conferences. This time I got to attend Coop's party. It was fun because I do not know a lot of the parents in Coop's class so it was nice to meet some of them. Coop's teacher is amazing and I enjoyed watching her interaction with the kids. There are 22 kids who are all at different levels in development, discipline and maturity. I have always been amazed at how Kindergarten teachers do it but Coop's teacher does it with so much calmness and structure. I feel so fortunate to have Coop with her! Anyway, the party was actually a lot of fun and it was great to be there with him.
Thursday was our scheduled conferences with the kids teachers. I cannot tell you how much I look forward to conferences. I am at the school enough that I have a pretty good idea how things are going but I love seeing the work the kids have been doing and hearing how the teachers think the kids are doing. Coop's conference was pretty short and sweet but I talk to his teacher every morning when I go in to read to the kids so we kind of chat about things as we go. We did get to see some development in his drawings and writing and progression in numbers. He is doing fantastic. Raelynn's conference was awesome. She is maturing so much and her teacher recognizes it as well. She also stated how nice she is to everyone which makes me more proud than any grade. Raelynn feels like she struggles with math but she is doing well with it. Academically things come fairly easily for Raelynn and as things get more difficult and she has to actually apply herself, she feels she is not doing as well. The truth is it actually makes her do better. She does need reassurance but with a little encouragement she can master anything. It is so interesting to note the differences in the kids. Coop writes so well, Raelynn's penmanship was horrible until this year; Coop reads at a lower average and Raelynn always read way above her level. Coop likes math and is good at it, Raelynn does not like math but is also good at it. They are just such different people in so many ways which I love. It makes parenting them completely different as well. Raelynn and I were talking this weekend and we were talking about how I parent them differently. She said she notices that sometimes. I asked her if she thought I was easier on Coop than I was on her and she said yes for some things. I told her I agreed but then I asked her if there were things I gave her more responsibility and flexibility with and again she said yes. I told her it would always be that way and I hoped she could understand the difference but if she ever felt it was truly unfair she needed to talk to me about it. She said, "Nope it's fine because I don't really see you and Coop hanging out playing with each other's hair and talking about life like we do, it makes it all even." I almost started to cry knowing that she cherished our relationship as much as I do. The only thing that kept me from crying was the shock that my 8 year old can even relay those feelings to me in that manner or even process that our time together is special. She is simply amazing to me.
Friday was Valentine's Day which is always fun! We had to start the day with Valentine's Day Donuts, it is becoming a tradition!
The weekend was filled with friends and fun. Raelynn spent the night with her best horse buddy and they had a great time. She and Emma became friends over the past summer at the horse shows. Emma's family is great as well. We have been keeping the girls in contact over the winter so they can continue their fun friendship over the summer while they are riding. The girls have made it so easy and they have so much fun together and are so good together. Raelynn had a great time. Then Saturday one of Raelynn's friend's Dad planned a surprise for his wife so we got to hang out with her on Saturday. Again, these girls are just all so good and it makes having them over a delight. I am so thankful that Raelynn is surrounding herself with wonderful friends with wonderful families!
Last week was also Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. Obviously this week was a big deal for us and for the foundation.
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