Teenagers

There's been a lot of this around here lately...

"Language...there are kids around..."

"Watch it, you're going to cut yourself."

"You need to go to bed. It's late."

"Can you turn that music DOWN??"

Mason needs to get OFF.MY.BACK!!

Why it's Important to Take a Deep Breath and Wait 24 Hours

Monday was report card day for Mason.  I knew that grades weren't going to be at their best - traveling as much as we did and (all of us) not being on top of school work (or work work) during November and December...but imagine my surprise when my honor roll student came home with his grade card and had a big fat "F" in English!  I was shocked and royally PO'd!

I asked Mason how this happened...he wasn't sure...maybe missing an assignment? (he had turned in an assignment over Christmas break...maybe that was late?).  I took his phone, grounded him for the next 9 weeks...no working out at the gym with his friends, no driving temps anytime soon, no life basically. I lectured him, I may have even called him something along the lines of a "thug-head lazy butt" - I was not a happy camper.

I emailed his teacher the next morning.  I asked for all his grades for the 9 weeks and for a weekly update going forward on all his grades, how he's doing with homework, tests, etc. 

This is the email that I got back:

I don’t know what happened, Christa!?!?  Mason was excused from a few assignments due to the funeral and given extensions on others, but he did NOT fail –he received an 85% B for the 9 weeks. 

I have already contacted Guidance to correct this problem.  Mason is right where he should be on the research paper.  

To which my reply to his teacher was..."phew, that is great!  ...thank God I didn't kill him before getting your email!!"

Mason's response:  "am I still grounded??"

I have to admit, it was frightening to think that somehow something was going wrong or downhill fast with my teenager and I was apparently clueless.  Ella and Si are still at easier ages to discipline. It becomes much more difficult with a teenager. Sure, take the cell phone, take the fun stuff...but what really teaches the consequences of actions and decisions made at this age?  An "F" would have meant repeating the class, summer school, even not getting into a college that he might decide to go to down the road. How do Justin and I teach the importance of making good decisions at this age - because there are SOOO many times in young adulthood that a bad decision can have lifelong consequences. 
Luckily, this time it was a mistake - but hopefully a good lesson for both of us!!

 

Speaking of Odd...and dumb....

I know that I've mentioned a time or two that my children are odd, but they always seem to be proving the point.
The last 2 days Ella has been reading to me the step-by-step instructions (from a book that she got at the school library) on how to "wrap a mummy" - did you know it takes 2+ weeks to wrap a mummy? and that they remove the brains first?


Silas has taken to singing "Oh Cannon Bomb" at the top of his lungs while doing his business.  Not sure of the connection there.  Maybe it's all the snow because Jingles Bells has been a favorite this week too.

Ella is still working on her art work.  She drew a picture for her cousin recently.

 

For some reason this reminds me of Dolly Parton...

Maybe the apples don't fall far from the tree around here. 

I've also been educated by my eldest child that "crack is no worse for you than alcohol". HUH?  What ARE they teaching the kids these days in DARE??  

Come to find out he meant marijuana and NOT crack - "I always get those 2 confused!" he says. Yep, grounded for life...

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was having some bouts of stupidity and so it continues.  I ran a load of laundry today and it got most of the way through the cycle before I realized I forgot to put the clothes in the washer...

#2 today was not only stupid but dangerous.  After making the kids scrambled eggs this morning, I left the stove burner on (low) from 10am - 5pm and I was home pretty much that entire time but didn't realize it until I came home from getting the kids... 

Not only would I like to know Who Moved My Cheese, but Who the Hell Stole My Brain??

A Very Unorganized Update

I am way, way overdue on the updating and if I wait around to organize it...it'll never happen. So in no particular order...here is the past week or so!

1. Margie's 9 months post-chemo scan results have come back NED :-) Yippee!! NED means No Evidence of DISEASE!

2. Miss Cleo has had THE awaited appointment and is now declawed and spayed. I LOVE this cat - she is a total doll, but she put some serious hurtin' on our leather couches during the couples weeks that we had her with claws.


3. 6pm or so on a Sunday - Silas and Daddy on the porch enjoying some gorgeous weather. We have been SO spoiled with gorgeous late summer weather. It might look like we have Silas in his pajamas pretty early...but the truth is...he never got out of his pajamas that day. He loves his "lazy days"!

4. Klutzy Silas has struck again. He fell out of the blue porch chair and did a head-dive onto the concrete. I'm seriously surprised that Childrens Services hasn't come calling on us...


5. Silas started his first round of swim lessons at the Y. He did great. I remember when Mason started taking swim lessons - it took about 10 sessions before he'd even put his face in the water. Luckily, Silas has been around pools and water since birth (thanks to the James' lovely pool). He is totally at ease in the water. He was freezing his butt off though.

6. This school stuff is putting a totally whooping on the kids - they either crash out at the end of the night or are manic for hours on end and refuse to even contemplate sleep. Silas often tells me "I cannot close my eyes in my room" - that is his way of trying to get to sleep in our bed. He's been waking up in the middle of the night for the last 5 or 6 days and coming into bed with us. He is not subtle...he'll come in on my side, I'll sit up so he can climb in and then he totally takes my spot and zonks out in an instant, leaving me to move his jello body over into the middle of the bed, where he promptly completes the H between me and Justin, head in Justin's back and feet in my ribs...this morning he was laughing and giggling in his sleep.


7. This wonderfully, beautiful weather that we are having has gotten us outside a lot in the evenings. I would take the weather year-round with a couple days of snow at Christmas.

8. Justin bought new jeans. Finally. Sam's club jeans. Nice jeans, $12 - can't complain. Here he is in his new jeans moments before leaving for work...luckily I had downed several cups of coffee before he left and was pretty observant...

Yes, I told him before he left the house...


9. Mason - he avoids the camera as much as possible. but he still exists. More about him later....

Happy Birthday Mason!!

14 years ago today - this rotten little thing (well, he's bigger than me now...) was born.
Since that day, I've wiped a thousand noses, faces, hands...butts...I've coddled, cuddled, soothed. I've read Dr. Suess, Dr. Spock, Dr. Doo Little, even Dr. Phil. The Cat in the Hat, Where the Wild Things Are, Good Night Moon and thousands more.
I've bribed, spanked and guilt-tripped for good behavior.
I've loved and feared more than one would think is humanly possible.

I've become a professional mom - or at least a very serious amateur.
But I remember vividly that feeling of the doctor handing me this bundle saying Congratulations MOM! and me thinking...Holy Hell, now what??

Last year's birthday post still says it best...in the blink of an eye...another year has come and gone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON - WE LOVE YOU (even as a rotten teenager! :-)