ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 4TH GRADER??

We know the show is actually about 5th graders but around here we have entered the world of homework this year. YIKES!! It has been a long time since I've done homework (13 years to be exact and that was just grad school-nothing like 4th grade!!).

Claremarie is an awesome kid. She is sweet, thoughtful, helpful, funny..... However, when it comes to homework, she is easily distracted and doesn't really pay too much attention to what she is doing. I suppose it is because she is so highly intelligent this 4th grade drivel doesn't really interest her. Seriously though, it is highly frustrating. I'm losing hair quicker than a middle-aged man.

This really is our first year to experience homework. Before she has always been able to get her work done at school. But now, every night, we sit at the table and many times, one or both of us wind up in tears. Half the time I'm not even sure what the teacher is asking for and for some reason Claremarie can't explain it to me. One night I helped her with a paper and the next night she came home and said she got several of the questions wrong. What?? Please don't tell me that I, as the mom, am already obsolete as of 4th grade!!! If that's the case the next 9 years are going to be long and dreary!!

Sam and I are very frustrated because we were good students and school came easily for us. Not sure this is going to be the case for Claremarie. You may wonder exactly how bad she is doing....she is....well, just average. She isn't the smartest kid in her class (and she really doesn't care-now that is a foreign concept for both Sam and I) and she isn't the least smartest kid in her class. She seems to be one of those kids who is just content with getting by. She is not internally motivated and she doesn't thrive on the competition with the other kids. Have I done something to make her like that? Is this something I can live with for the rest of her educational career?

When it comes right down to it, is this about Claremarie or about me? Who is her "averageness" really hurting? I'm the one worrying about how this all reflects back on me and wondering what other people think of her and me. I'm finding it hard to even share this issue on the blog. PRIDE....it is an ugly word and something I am definitely struggling with in this area. Struggling so hard that sometimes I find myself taking it out on Claremarie. That absolutely CAN NOT continue.

So, if you are looking for me in the next 9 years, I'll be the hairless mom, sitting at the kitchen table, swallowing my pride, pursing my lips to keep my mouth shut, and hoping and praying that the answers are in the back of the book!!!

UPDATE

Evie is doing great!! It's definitely a miracle!! I won't tell her story for her but keep checking her blog for updates. What a great testimony to the One who is the Great Physician!!

A REQUEST

My heart is heavy today thinking of a friend who is facing something very difficult. For the complete story please check out her blog http://www.eviejayne.blogspot.com. Long story short she is going into the hospital to deliver her precious baby today, a baby that the doctors have said will probably not survive delivery. Please stand with me in praying to the God of impossibilities that despite the odds, Evie will survive. And if God does choose to take Evie home, then please pray for Lindsey and her family. Thanks friends.

SEPTEMBER 11

WHAT A SUMMER

Then followed that beautiful season...

Summer....

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape

Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

GOOD-BYE SUMMER 2009

I MISS MY SIS....

How do you entertain a five year old, who is desperately missing his big sister, and who still has two weeks left before his preschool starts?? You let him watch Charlie bit my finger, the remix, from YouTube over and over!!

10 reasons why.....

Don't get me wrong. We loved most of the things about our trip to Disney however after visiting both Disney and Adventureland within 2 months of each other I feel qualified to make the following declaration.

TOP TEN REASONS WHY ADVENTURELAND IS BETTER THAN DISNEY WORLD

10. Even though neither the seniors running the rides at Adventureland nor the people running the rides at Disney seem happy in their jobs, at least the seniors occasionally will give you a smile.

9. At Adventureland you can bend over to tie your shoes laces without the fear of being trampled by thousands of crazed Mickey fans, many of whom are driving motorized carts and pushing strollers.

8. You don't have to take out a second mortgage to buy a meal at Adventureland.

7. After feeding your kids frozen lemonade and soft pretzels for 3 days at Disney (due to huge crowds at all the real food stands), they don't even ask to have either at Adventureland. In fact, I believe I saw a look of terror cross their faces when we passed the frozen lemonade stand.

6. At Adventureland the longest line we stood in was 10 minutes. At Disney World it was 2 hours.

5. At Disney World walking was like swimming upstream. (It reminded me of when my parents and I were at the Mall of America the day it opened....with 1 million other people!) At Adventureland we didn't have to worry about rubbing up against and sweating on strangers all day. We could actually move freely about. Even wave our arms if we wanted to!!

4. At Adventureland we could actually get a picture taken with a character. (Never mind that it was a mangy dog.)

3. Disney World 96 degrees, 100% humidity. Adventureland 80 degrees, 100% humidity.

2. At Adventureland I didn't have to worry about Sam getting into any fights with Europeans who, at Disney, were constantly cutting in the front of every line.

And the number one difference why Adventureland is better than Disney World.......

About $3,000 big ones!!