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Leadership

A few month back, I attended a seminar for work called Growing Leaders.  Holly Moore was the presenter and she was wonderful to hear speak.  Much of what she talked about resonated with my time in the McDonough Leadership Program at Marietta College. 

I took a few notes through her presentation; I've captured some snippets of it below.

• She opened with talking about people having a leadership mindset.  There are situation leaders and leaders who grow their leadership mindset. 
• Email is for information, not emotion.
• "Wise leaders play chess, not checkers as they manage relationships."  People move and interact like chess pieces, all different and unique and should be managed as such.  People are not all alike like checkers that move in the same way.

I enjoyed her presentation for the day so much that the following week I emailed the Dean of the program at Marietta and told him that the seminar I attended reminded me so much of my time at McDonough as she talked about situation leaders and growth mindsets.  When I think about what concepts and theories I learned in college that I think about any apply today in the workforce, far and away it is the concepts that I learned in leadership. 

That email led me to being connected with director of communication and brand management at Marietta, which led me to being a featured alumni on the website!

These are the days of...

These are the days of:

• Pre-teen angst
• Potty training
• Busy work schedules
• Ballet
• Swim lessons
• Cub Scouts
• ROCK Group
• Sunday morning church
• Family time
• Family movies nights
• Family game nights
• Adventures with older kids and toddler with grandma
• Reading books
• Working out

First Day of School 2017

Caden, grade 5
Caleb, grade 5
Elinore, preschool

Elinore - School!

Elinore has grown this summer in many ways.  She's grown much taller this summer; she's lost the toddler look; she's learned and advanced in her vocabulary and we know she's a very smart cookie.  But none of that can tame her fears about preschool starting soon.

She just had the realization that in a few short weeks she's going to preschool and she is not ready.  In her words, "but mom, I can't go to school yet, I'm still small!"  As she continued down this path, she also said, "mom, I can't go to school, I don't know my letters yet!"  We've been talking a lot about what going to school will look like for her, and who she'll know in the school building. 

We're looking forward to getting her class list so maybe she'll know a classmate or two.  She does like that she knows her brothers will be in the same school with her and will ride the bus home with her.  And she knows some of their friends, so she likes that too. 

She'll attend bus safety training soon, so we'll see how that goes!  I'm anxious for her on the bus because she is small and it's a big bus!  But I'm glad she has a very short ride home and won't be on the bus for long. And Daddy or I will be there to meet her at the driveway!

I think she'll really enjoy school once she gets into it, but I remember being a preschooler attached to my mom's legs and crying in the morning, so I hope she does better than that.  I wasn't a day care kid, but she still cries a couple times a week at the sitters too.  I think one key for me will be making sure she's well rested!

We pray for peace for her through the transition.  And I think we'll start to pray for some bravery too!

Application

A couple months ago I applied for Elinore to go to preschool in the fall.  She'll turn 4 this summer, and it's time!  I think we're both a little nervous about it, but I'm looking forward to seeing her grow and develop more.  I think Ruth will miss her some while she's off at school too. 

The application for preschool when I printed it, was THIRTY pages!  (I'm only applying for preschool not college here!)  I was also surprised to find I have to have dental paperwork turned in for her too!  I expected the pediatrician work, but the dentist was a surprise!  Now we wait to hear where she's placed and what her schedule will look like this fall!

Broken Tooth

Yesterday just before lunch Keith called me at my desk, which isn't normal.  The school had just called him because Caleb fell at recess and broke a tooth and the piece was lost.  The school wanted one of us to come check it out and see what we wanted to do.

So I gathered all my stuff and headed to the school.  My mind was praying and spinning in what ifs the whole way to the school.  There was so little detail in the phone call from Keith.  I'm thinking baby tooth, adult tooth?  With the braces on top or below without the braces?  Will it be bloody?  Please don't let it be bloody!  Will he be crying?  Lord, please let him be okay! 

I walked into the school and of course it was busy during preschool pick up time, but I walked into the office and he was sitting there with his backpack and coat on just waiting, no big deal.  I sat down by him and he showed me.  We talked.  His dentist was closed for the day; so I tried mine, they were closed for the week.  He didn't say it hurt much.  It was a chip off the corner of one of his adult teeth on the bottom.  It wasn't too big.  I thought well, I could take him home, but there's no real reason to.  So we talked and he went back to class.

I called the dentist first thing this morning, and he goes in this afternoon.  We'll see how it goes!

First Day of School - 205

Memory

Caden sometimes pretends he has a terrible memory, usually when I ask him to do something or he thinks someone else will give him the answers to his homework.  Sometimes I can even see he knows how to find the answer, but he will work so much harder to get someone else to do it for him.  If I'm not making his homework easy enough for him, he'll find his dad and ask him. 

However, one place his memory excels and he'll let you know it is in remembering lines from movies and tv shows.  If you're watching a movie and you could pick one line you wouldn't want to be repeated, that would be the one he'd pick as his favorite too.  He knows it too, because once he's told to stop saying something or stop being mean, he'll blame it on the show/movie.  (That doesn't work for him either though, that just removes tv from the equation for awhile.)

Still thought, I'm impressed at his ability to remember it sometimes.  Although when he reveals the plot before we get there in the movie, that part is less than exciting!

School

Taken 1/22/15

Elinore pretending that age us ready for school.

Clocks

Caden and Caleb have been learning to tell time in school.  So far they've mastered digital clocks, so they avoid the other and just to a room with a digital clock if they want to know the time or someone asks them. 

This leads them to obsessing over the actual numbers on the clock.  If they aren't all exactly the same all over the house, they're all upset about it.  Our bedroom is especially difficult for them.  Keith and I have alarm clocks and they rarely match. 

It throws them into a panic because they don't know which clock is right and which one to believe, even though they're only minutes apart!

Snow Day

Last Monday we had out first snow day of the year.  It seems crazy we had our first snow day before Thanksgiving, but it happened. 

Elinore was SO excited to go play in the snow.  She went out with her brothers for awhile; I sat at the window watching closing before joining them for a little bit.  She's a little trooper and stayed out there as long as Caden did, about 45 minutes to an hour before coming in.  Caleb really likes the snow, stayed out longer and went out again that afternoon. 

Elinore would have liked to have gone out again.  She asked frequently after that, even when it was super cold.  Keith took her out one night after work the next day for about 30 mintues before insisting she come in.  She's a fan of the snow!

Elinore is ready to go oustide!

Caden helped her down the backporch steps into the yard.  He also helped her up everytime she fell.  She couldn't managed to get herself back up once she'd fall down in the snow gear!

Caden taught her to eat snow.  Thought I don't know if she's old enough to watch out for the colored snow yet.  We watch closely!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Earlier this month we had parent-teacher conferences.  Keith and I headed into them a little nervous to see how things were going.  The teachers had asked us to meet about Caden, but we talked briefly about Caleb too.  We were SO happy to hear they are both doing well! 

Caden's teacher was so positive, helpful and encouraging about the progress he's making and the potential he has that I literally wanted to cry at one point early in the conference.  It was so wonderful to hear from a teacher that is willing to work with him. 

Keith and I weren't overly happy with his teacher last year, but he still did well during the school year.  This year, we're blown away with the fact that he seems to be in a much better place than he was a year ago!

Caden likes to fidgit, a lot.  And his teacher found a way to help him fidgit quietly at his desk that is not distracting to him, his peers or the teacher.  She has give him a small soft ball to play with in his hands during the day while she's teaching.  He has rules in place that it's only for him and when he's not at his desk it's goes to his teachers desk and he follows them all well!  He came home from school telling us about it and recognizing that it helps him.  His teacher echo'd all of that at conferences.  We're SO happy she's found something to help him focus.  And we're so proud of him for recognizing that and succceeding in school! 

Caleb's teacher also said Caleb is doing well and succeeding.  He's on pace and there are no concerns at this point, which is so encouraging to hear! 

Dear boys, we're very proud of you.  :)

Morning Bus Routine

We have a new routine in the mornings for the bus this year.  The bus now comes from the other direction to our house, which means we can't watch for it from the family room anymore.  Before we could stand at the sliding door and watch for it to come down the street, but that is no more!  In fact, you can't see the bus coming at all from inside our house.  So we have to stand outside and wait now.  Because we live so close to the school, it's also hard to tell which bus coming down the street is going to make the turn onto our street since most of the buses go past our house!  So as long as we can stand to wait outside with the weather, and as long as I can continue to get up on time, we'll be waiting outside for the bus. 

One day the first week of school or so we watched 6 buses go by our house, but none were ours.  After waiting 10-15 minutes I took them to school and saw two more buses head past our house.  Turns out, ours was just very late and I passed it coming out of our neighborhood on the way back out of the school.  That means at least 9 buses went past our house!

As a kid I remember listening to hear the bus coming and head outside; we clearly can't do that here since SO MANY go by out house! 

We're about 2 weeks into school though and it is motivation to make sure we're out the door ON TIME.  (We have a new bus driver too, so I don't know how forgiving he is on time!)  I don't mind hanging in the driveway with the kids anyway.  It's kind of nice really.  Elinore especially likes the time running around and loves waving goodbye to her brothers!  I think her brothers like it too.  They may not be overwhelmingly excited about my goodbye hugs, especially Caleb, but they both willingly hug their sister goodbye!

If I don't catch Elinore and get her into the car quick enough after the bus goes, we'll wave the second time the bus goes by our house too on the way to the school!  Usually she's running way from me when it's time to buckle in, and I'm not so speedy on the catch with her being so little and fast!  My bending down is slowing as my stomach expands!

End of Summer Fun

The boys started second grade on a Wednesday, so I took the Monday and Tuesday before that off to enjoy our last few days of summer.  We didn't do anything spectacular, but we spent Monday at home hanging out and Tuesday I took them out for lunch.  They picked the Green Leaf to eat. 

Then we stopped to see Grandma at work.

Then I suprirsed them with a stop at Putt 'N Stuff for a round of mini-golf.  The had been asking to play off and on over the summer, so I thought that would be a nice way to wrap up the summer, plus I had a coupon! 

I didn't anticpate how swelteringly hot it was going to be though!  Phew! 

We played Caden and Caleb style instead of trying to play for real.  They like to just down their own thing, cheat like crazy and have fun, so due to Elinore running around, the heat and me being the only adult, we played their way and had just as much fun anyway, maybe more.  Who need to know how to play mini-golf the right way anyway?

Checking out the fishies under the bridge.

Elinore's turn!

She wanted her ball to sit still on the mat to hit like it did for her brothers, but it kept rolling away because she couldn't let go enough to stand up and hit it.  Everytime it rolled, she'd shout NO! and try again until I stepped in to help. 

Where'd the ball go?

By the way, we're not very good golfers.  Caleb is searching for his ball in the weeds on a mini-golf course.

As seen in that last photo, we're not the best golfers.  We started with 4 balls, and picked up a stray ball on the course early on, yet when we returned to the station to turn our things in, we only had 2 balls left.  Some how we lost 3 balls! 

After the golf we were all very sweaty and hot, so I decided a trip to the frozen yogurt place would be a great way to wrap up the afternoon out!  And there certainly weren't any complaints from the kids there! 

We met Daddy up at home then and spent the evening outside in the shade with the kids.  We had a campfire and roasted peaches for dessert!

Relief

Now that I'm finished with my graduate school work, I have this great sense of relief in the evenings at home.  I didn't realize how much it added until it was gone.  My evenings feel less rushed and less stressed because I'm home earlier, I'm not leaving for classes, and I don't have homework looming over my head.  It's an awesome feeling! 

I still question wether pursuing my degree was the right thing for my time over the last 3 years, but I'm glad to say it's done.

First Day of School - 2014

Caden and Caleb are off to second grade!

 

Elinore is not ready for school, but had her share of "me too!" comments for photos.  She likes telling them goodbye and watching them get on the bus!

 



Back of the Bus

Since the boys started school on the 20th, they have come home talking about how they were going to sit in the back of the bus with the neighbor girl.  They had plans to get there and wanted to get on the bus to get to the back! 

I remember being a kid, there was always something cool about the back of the bus.  I have no idea why now, but it was usually reserved for older kids.  You were further away from the driver I suppose and had more "privacy." 

When they got on the bus the second morning for school at least there were already two boys in the very back of the bus, but there were several empty seats in front of them, so you can believe that's where my boys went!

Hold you!

The other night Elinore and I went to Target to grab the boys school supplies and a swimsuit for me for vacation.  She's not a big fan of riding in the carts anymore, but she's also not a reliable walker to stick with you.  I usually have her ride for awhile, and she does okay as long as you're moving, but once you start stopping, she's not a fan!  After awhile she'd had enough of it in the cart and wanted held, so she would ask me "hold you? Hold you?!" 

How adorable is that?  You hold me?  Hehe, funny.  But you're so sweet!  She's been asking more now too. 

After that, I let her walk around with me as we were finishing up.  By walk, I mean she runs, and I try to keep up.  Mostly she does a lot of running back and forth from one point to another without making a lot of forward progress!  However, if you move to the tile floor from the carpeted clothing section at Target, she's not a fan.  She wouldn't walk on the tile, but she would run until she was content on that carpet!

As we were getting ready to check out she decided walking on the tile was okay if she help my hand or helped push the cart.  She'd hold onto the platform on the bottom of shopping carts and push while I pushed up above.  She moved quickly with it too!  On our way out of the store this way, she was attracting other people's attention as they smiled and said how cute as she pushed away!

Motivation

Sometime in the past week, I convinced Keith to hang our degree frames on a wall in our bedroom.

With just under 3 weeks to go now until my last class and assignment are turned in, this is motivation hanging on my wall!