Which one is which?

Here is a picture from the Cross Country meet yesterday. The boys were running side by side, which has never happened before. All the parents were screaming, "here come the Comers - which one is which?" I could tell just fine with them together, but later when Justin was ahead I had no idea until Ryan passed by! They look so similar when they run & I often yell the wrong name. Next year they are getting different shoes!

I have another weekend off (3 in a row this month!) and plan to use part of it to get myself better organized. I figured out that I really do have to learn to say "no" more often when asked to volunteer! The science teacher called yesterday to ask about coaching a team for the Science Olympiad (which I love) and you can all guess what I said! I coached the team last year for the Disease Detectives category and they won 3rd place at the regional competition - the only medal for their school. So I'll do that and maybe the Anatomy category. All I really have to do is print up some stuff for them to read and study along with sample questions for them to try. The boys are also entering some categories that requires them to build something. More on this as it develops!

I'm watching VH1's top 20 videos as I type this - does Jon Bon Jovi ever age? I have a crush on him that has been going on since I was in middle school! His backup guys look a little washed up, but never Jon.

Today I will really get the Halloween stuff up and then tonight we go on the band field trip to the Lonestar Preview marching band contest in Conroe. I'm excited - I love watching and listening to the bands and they take this stuff very seriously around here.

Report cards came out yesterday and the boys each got all A's and 1 B in Geometry. This has become a major controversy because the teacher gave them 1 test and counted it as 80% of their grade. Some of the kids had C's and even a couple of D's which has made the parents furious. Almost all of the kids in this class have made straight A's for many years and also this is a high school credit which will average in with their high school grades. I've talked with the teacher and will continue to follow up next week, but some of the parents have conferences set up with the counselor, principal and teacher. I just plan on e-mailing the principal - they've agreed that for the next six weeks to use quiz grades as part of the test grade but I want them to re average their grades they have using that system. We'll see what happens. I'm ready to just let it be one of those life lessons that proves that life isn't always fair and sometimes we just have to deal with it. Also, it's okay not to be perfect - B's are good, especially for an advanced class. If the boys ever saw any of my report cards from middle school, they'd have to ground me for a year!

The boys are going to a costume only Halloween party next week and have decided to be Thing 1 & Thing 2 from The Cat in The Hat. Not my favorite idea, but they insist (there is prize money involved) so I'm working on costumes. We'll see how they turn out. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of some of my crafty Halloween decor.

Nachos, Chili Dogs & Gatorade

First, let me share my Thank You list for today:

1. There were yummy blueberry muffins at the Nursing Practice Congress meeting this morning.
2. The meeting was finished early.
3. My Nurse Manager took everyone from our unit who attended the meeting to lunch at The Commons (an area in the medical center with a water wall and different restaurants).
4. The boys had free hot dogs and soda for dinner while working in the concession stand (not exactly nutritious, but free and they liked it!).

So, needless to say I've been recruited to do concession stand duty after all. I've also taken over the coordination of volunteers for the Band Boosters (concession stand duty, chaperones, events held at the school, etc.). The boys and I did it today (they did several hours, I just did one) and it wasn't actually that bad. The other moms are really great and the boys did well with the money - no problem figuring change in their heads!! They have a field trip on Saturday evening with only 2 chaperones so far (including myself) so I have some phone work to do later in the week. Now that the boys have made a dent in their community service hours (actually just 12 for the whole year), I feel a little relieved.

My intention this past weekend was to decorate for Halloween with all of the stuff I've made over the past few years, but maybe tomorrow. I did finish some of my painting projects (shelf unit for bathroom, lamp, chair) and made a little bit of progress in my bathroom. Maybe I'll be done before the new year? Tomorrow I have an all day conference at work (I actually have to wear real dress-up clothes) and shouldn't be tired so maybe we can get some spider webs and pumpkins out when I get home! I'll post pictures when we're finished!

Adios.

Thank You Power

Today I read on the Internet about Deborah Norville's new book, Thank You Power, in which she discusses the positive power of being thankful for little things in life. I plan on reading the book, but in the meantime have decided to blog daily on the little things I am happy about on a daily basis. She keeps a little diary that she records a few things each day that she is happy about and thankful for.

Here's my list for today:

1. There was fresh coffee made when I arrived at work and it tasted good!
2. My friend Amy was in town from New York and came up to work to visit and hang out for a while (she's newly engaged and excitedly planning a wedding) - we went for Starbucks coffee and caught up on stuff
3. My wonderful coworker Mickey happily agreed to bring the cake tomorrow for a surprise party - I won't have to drive and pay for parking! She also decorated our locker room very festively for Halloween - complete with a coat stand sheet ghost!
4. I only had to wait for the Metro rail for a few moments and the Park & Ride bus for a couple of minutes & my seat on the bus reclined so I caught a nice nap all the way home.

The boys are at a Cross Country meet and Roland is off today will be bringing them home - something else to be thankful for. I usually have to rush from work, drive forever and then sweat like a pig in the heat while they wait to run. Today was the first time since school started that I haven't had to rush home or to some activity and it's so nice not to worry about dinner for a change. They plan on eating out after the meet and then home to finish Justin's atomic model of Iron. Since I probably won't get another break until next year, I am thoroughly relishing every moment!

Until tomorrow ...

Cross Country, Atomic Models & Community Service

We've all been up to the usual stuff this past week - school for the boys, work for me, homework, flute lessons, Cross Country practice, a Cross Country meet and a lock-in at Spring High for middle school band students. I worked this past weekend while the boys caught up on their reading of Great Expectations and some other homework that is due today. I worked about 12 extra hours last week and slept most of today! I don't regularly work extra, but we are very short on nurses lately due to retirement, illness, etc. I got my annual flu shot this week also and think it has made me a little tired.

Both boys worked hard on their Science project (with minimal help from me) and Ryan's is complete since it is due today. Justin's isn't due until Thursday so we have a couple of extra days to work on it. Here's what I learned from Ryan's project: his element is Manganese - chemical symbol Mn on the periodic table. From the picture you can see that the nucleus is composed of 25 protons (red) and 30 neutrons (blue). They boys hand painted the wooden beads with metallic craft paint. Surrounding the nucleus are 3 energy levels (you can have 4, but the teacher wants 3) with 2 electrons in the first level, 8 in the second and 15 in the third. Those beads were already that color - less work! We used craft wire used in jewelry making and lots of hot glue!

For their community service I think they will be able to work in the concession stand for the Bailey Band Boosters and also possibly do something for the Paper Houses Across the Border charity. The Bailey Band sponsored a collection at school last year and collected over $1,500.00 during their lunch periods. It takes about $1,200.00 to feed a table of kids in Mexico for an entire year. If your interested their website is: http://www.paperhouses.org/ I have some other ideas to follow-up on as well.

That's all for now - I should catch up on laundry and some housework before it's time to pick the boys up from practice!

My Week in Review

This past week wasn't as busy as last week, but full of fun stuff.

The boys started their National Junior Honor Society meetings (I found out the morning of the meeting that it would be after school) and have to complete 12 hours of community service each semester. I was under the impression from the teacher sponsor last year (she moved) that the sponsor would organize some group stuff, but no, it's up to me to figure out. Twelve hours doesn't sound like much, but with everything else we have going on, it might be hard to squeeze in. Some of the other moms had some ideas for a couple of group things and I'm still brainstorming. I'll call the church tomorrow for some ideas - if any of you can think of something that is age appropriate, please let me know.

Progress reports came out last week and the boys did very well - many 100's for each of them, all A's for Ryan and one B for Justin (Geometry). Of course I e-mailed the teacher to see if he needed to go to her tutorial sessions or if he was still talking too much and she called me the next day. After re-averaging the grades he actually has an A and both boys are doing better than during the first couple of weeks. I'm not sure that I agree with the new group-work grading system, but we will see as the year progresses. As long as they are paying attention and learning something!

Ryan did a poster project for his Spanish class - pictured above. They started it at school, didn't finish it so he brought it home and we basically started over (many of the pictures had been pulled off and the poster was bent up). You can probably see my influence, but I just can't help myself!! The boys also turned in a PowerPoint presentation for Language Arts that they did completely on their own (I just proof read for spelling and punctuation) and they think they got an A - they'll get their grade tomorrow. Lots of animation and pictures - very good job. They now have a project for Science that we spent some time today shopping for supplies. They have to make a 3 dimensional model of the Bohr Atomic Model of different elements of the Periodic Table. Ryan was assigned Manganese and Justin has Iron. It involves bunches of protons & neutrons surrounded by rings of electrons. I was thinking about Styrofoam balls and skewers, but they want to make it with actual rings - hard to explain. Anyway, we ended up getting wooden beads (that we will paint) and heavy gauge wire for the rings. Again - anybody knows more about this and has a better idea, please clue me in!! I think we have another week to finish.

I took the boys and Lindy to dinner at Pei Wei yesterday and a movie afterward. We saw The Invasion - a kind of remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It wasn't my first choice but all 3 teenagers thought it was great! All you need to know is that it involved lots of vomit - some from one character's mouth to the other!!! I'm getting queasy just remembering... Lindy insisted on paying for half of the evening as she had cleaned her entire house last weekend to earn money for the outing! Very sweet, responsible girl. She had played in Bailey's volleyball tournament that morning where the 8th grade girls came in 2nd place among 8 different schools. Go Bailey!! She had some medals and was very excited! We didn't fair as well in Friday's Cross Country race, but they all ran very hard and have improved a great deal from last year.

That's it for now ... need to get the boys off to bed and everything in place for tomorrow.