big time catch up

hello world!! we are well into the school year and everyone seems to be doing just fine.  everyone except me, apparently.  i have officially bitten off more than i can chew and things have been falling through the cracks. This week, I somehow lost simon's entire homework folder and he turned in nothing for the week. I talked to his teacher and basically said, ya, sorry about that!.  For the longest time i had to busy expensive kids and two cheap kids that were attached at the hip and never left my side.  this year penny has joined a dance team and it's a lot.  because she ended up on the STARS team, i was going to take her out of soccer and then the soccer coach convinced me to stay with it unless it became too much.  well, guess what? she absolutely LOVES soccer. so i drive around a lot.  definitely my stage in life. and i feel lucky they have all of this available to them.  its all good.

Sophie is busy as can be in her senior year.  she took the SAT during BOB weekend which is the worst weekend of all, but i've discovered there is NEVER a good weekend for a really hard 5 hour test.  the ACT's fall on Homecoming so she'll test and shower and run straight to her make make up appointment, do hair, get dressed, do pictures, go to dinner then the dance, etc, etc, etc.  super busy but so fun!  this year she was nominated for homecoming queen and her friend nick nikoian, her BFF this year, asked her to homecoming by showing up on our door dressed as a missionary with 2 companions (josh and jeremy) and said, "it's my mission to ask you to homecoming!" hahaha it was so so cute! Sophie the only mormon out of allllllll her friends so that made it especially funny!

Owen is getting really good on the guitar. it was the only class i kept going over the summer and even though i hated it at the time and forgot about the lesson every other week, i'm glad we kept it up.  he's playing in the primary program next week and at a little carnival at Roosevelt Elementary with his music studio.  He's still in tennis but that class has taken a back seat to all of pennys stuff this semester.  maybe we can switch it around sometime soon.  yesterday, owen and baylen set off on scooters to the library.  It's not very far away from our house and baylen has an itouch so they log on at the library and let me know they made. i also sent them with a map to the soccer field at owens middle school where penny was having her game.  they were supposed to go from the library to the game but when doug got to the field those boys were no where to be found.  so i jumped in the car and since its a straight shot to the school, i figured they couldn't be very far away.  i'll admit, my heart was a little panicky but I tried to keep it cool, said a prayer and went up and down the street looking for a mopey blonde and a red head. Finally, i got a call from owen.  they decided to take a different street and they were all the way up at Ralphs on GlenOaks.  seriously almost to Glenale. 3.5 miles from home, actually.  they stopped and bought rolos and called me to see if they could ride to bay lens house because he knew where they were.  I said fine. go ahead but stop and call me in 20 minutes so i can tell if you;re headed in the right direction. i then jumped in my car and drove straight to the other side of burbank, where i thought they might be and they promptly called me from another library.  also, they are cool as cucumbers. they just know where they are and can handle their biz or so it seems.  so i saw them on the road and pulled over and asked if they wanted a ride.  they were super determined so i gave them 3 more dollars and watched them scoot away.  i sat and called baylen's mom to let her know what was up and then drover down a little ways more to see their little bodies again and then i turned for home.  robyn called me a little bit later and let me know they made it.  8 miles round trip.  Quite the adventure.

Penny is busy, was student of the month at her dance studio and loving soccer.  she's probably the worst one on the team but she has NO IDEA and everyone is so nice that she's having a really good time.  she loves to run.  she scored a goal the other week.  she happened to be in the right place at the right time and kicked it in! we all went nuts and she asked me about it later.  'Why were all the moms and dads going crazy when i kicked that goal?'  The thing i'm learning about penny is that she is never the best one but she is a QUICK learner.  sophie was always the best and penny has to work a little harder at things but she's determined and improves really quickly.  it's fun to see personality traits developing.  she's singing a solo in our primary program. the first verse of "I will follow God's Plan for Me'  we only have 15 kids in our program so just about everyone was recruited to do something special.  she doesn't seem nervous at all about it. just jumps up there and sings.


Simon in TK which means we are no longer at maggy haves. its been a good transition aside form the no homework thing last week.  he is a funny kid. kind of obstinate right now and i keep hammering him with, " are you being helpful or hard?" cuz when you make things harder for me i don't feel like doing ANYTHING for you. but if you want to be helpful, like come home from a friends house when i ask or brush your teeth when i ask or get in your carseat when i ask (instead of me MAN-HANDLING you to get those things done) i'd love to take you to 7-11 for a donut or let you play at max's house or whatever.  Helpful or hard?  That's the question of the year at our house.  All that aside, he's making some good friends.  He LOVES his lovey's right now.  Milky is a little bear he got from his friend, Jack Goldman, from preschool.  He treats him like an imaginary friend but that you can see.  he takes very good care of him.  Also, Simon seems to be the trend setter at school. 2 kids got camo backpacks, red high tops and visors because Simon wears them.  also, Simon loves that his red high tops are just like "pete the cat"

Roscoe is fine.  Truth be told, I wouldn't wish the first year with a puppy on anyone. not even my worst enemy.  their is only one word for it.  HIGH-MAINTENANCE  if you are up for some HIGH-MAINTENANCE, that by all means, go ahead a get a puppy.  He is a cute one though and we just got him neutered so hopefully those raging hormones that turned him from manageable to totally crazy will totally subside soon.  a girl can dream right?

there are so many little stories that i've been wanting to remember to write down. most of them are gone from my brain right now, so i'll just start with the super long photo-dump. i'm sure that will jog this old brain.

 

≈