Big milestones

Today marks a huge milestone. No longer are the days where I take my kids to the same school and know that they are going in together as a team. No longer are the days where I know my son is going to watch over his sister, or that his sister can go find him if she has a problem. I remember when I was pregnant with London thinking, one day they will be in separate schools but I won't need to worry about that for a long time. Uhhhh the time is now. The years have passed and we are at this point already.

I walked Isaiah in to his jr high school. I saw his face was nervous but not wanting to show it. He didn't know where his locker was. He didn't know where his homeroom was. I literally had to go help him find his locker and open it. I saw so many 7th graders with big scared eyes looking up at me asking for my help. I left the school and knew the rest was up to him. Now all day I am thinking about how each class is going. On pins and needles waiting to hear.
London went to her school and was all alone. No older sibling to turn to. I felt sad! She was one of the tallest in her class. Stop growing beautiful girl.
So blessed to have the most perfect children. Yes they fight. Yes they drive me crazy, but they are perfectly imperfect.
Now onto 2017- 2018 school year.
XOXO-

my boy

This week was an emotional week for us. I walked into the week having no clue what I was getting myself into. I knew Isaiah had basketball try outs for a competitive team in the city and that it would be with all his friends from the year before and at school. From what I understood beforehand, there would be two teams and most of the players would make it to one of the teams. So I wasn’t that worried. Well when I picked Isaiah up from his tryouts on Monday night, he had a red and sweaty face. He looked like he had worked his little fanny off. He got in the car and I saw tears in his eyes. He seemed worried. The coaches said that if you got an email, that meant you didn’t make either of the teams. So all night Isaiah kept asking if I received an email. So I took him to school and he was just not himself.  I got to work and opened my email so I would immediately be notified the minute I would get an email. I was so worried. I prayed to Heavenly Father that this would work out for him. He wanted it so bad. Every time I would hear or see that there was a new message, my stomach would turn. I would look and it would be some junk or spam messages. So with each message and as the time would get further and further into the day, I would get a little more hope for him. 

At noon I opened “the email” and immediately my heart dropped. How am I going to tell him? That is one of the most hard conversations to have with your children.  Yes, it’s not the end of the world and I could think of harder things to deal with, but to your child, this is their whole world and their self esteem is wrapped up all in this try out. Especially knowing ALL of his friends made the team. Tears dropped the rest of the day. I had a hard time focusing the rest of the day at work. I had to tell my son he didn’t make the team when all of his friends did. I prayed to Heavenly Father, asking for help that I would know the best way to tell him, that I could be strong for him, and that Isaiah would be in a good position to hear it. I watched the clock get closer to school getting out and my nerves were shot.

I was outside of the school in my car as I heard the bell and watched the kids rush out all playing and laughing. Isaiah was out quickly and got in the car with a big smile on his face, but almost holding back his nervousness. He said “Mom, my day got better. I can’t wait to tell you the big news.” I am thinking, WHAT??? He said, “I got told I got put into the SEM program today.” My eyes filled with tears and I was shocked. (The SEM program is something both my kids have always wanted so bad. It’s a group of kids with the better grades that are entitled to get out of class once a week to do fun activities. I never thought my kids would ever be in this group.).  How did Heavenly Father not prep this for me and him perfectly? For him to find out he made SEM the ONE day he was going to find out pretty sad news, just blew my mind. I had no doubt that this was one of his tender mercies for us this day. I gave Isaiah a huge hug and told him how proud I was of him. He then looked up at me with his big hopeful eyes, we both knew what question was going to come next. “Mom, did you get an email?” I sat there for a second looking forward at the car in front of us, still waiting for London to get in the car. “Yes honey, I did. I am so sorry.” I watched him silently cry for a good 4 minutes. I tried hugging him but he was so still. It was heartbreaking. We had a good conversation about how as hard as this was, what an amazing opportunity it was that he got into SEM and Student Council and how he should be proud of himself. I dropped him off at art class and he had such a cute smile on his face. I watched him grow that day. He picked himself up and kept his head  held high. I am so blessed. This was a good learning experience for the both of us. I thank Heavenly Father for helping 

us that day… my boys future is so bright.

This is the art piece he came out with that day. So proud of his talents and his ability to pick himself up after he falls.

Enjoying the summer

I was really worried that since I am no longer a stay at home mom and I could wake up and my focus was merely just spending the day with my kids. So now that I work, things have changed quite a bit. Luckily I am able to work early in the morning so that I can get off early and have the rest of the day to be with the kids and enjoy our summer. Yesterday was a great day. We were able to go to the Natural History Museum and really learn quite a bit. It was fun to see Isaiah's brain like a sponge with all the education we were getting by being there.

Then afterwards we went to an old cafeteria style placed called the Lion House. The kids loved and laughed probably the whole lunch and I am sure they were laughing at me. But I enjoyed just watching them laugh regardless of what they were laughing at. lol.  Later in the evening, we rode our bikes to the Farmer's Market by our home. Spent an hour there. Got home and watched a movie at home. I felt fulfilled after creating so many memories in just 12 hours.  These kids are my happy place. They both are my best friends and I really enjoy them in every way. Can't wait to see what else we will do together this summer.

#summernights #summer2016 #naturalhistorymuseum #lionhouse #farmersmarket #bikeriding #singlemomlife #lovinglife #happiness #yolo

Student Council

I am so proud of this kid. It's not easy to put yourself out there and "trying out" for student council at Odyssey Elementary. He needed two different Letters of Recommendation from people that are outside of the family. On his own he chose his Scout Master and our Bishop in our ward.  I didn't want to be doing this for him. I wanted him to learn to ask for these things on his own. I listened to him make one of the calls requesting that he would be willing to write this for him. He handled himself so well.  Here are the two letters that were written for him:

Just like mentioned in these letters, Isaiah handles himself very well with adults and can carry on a conversation with them very easily. I really believe he would do a fantastic job at being a leader. As a mother, it's so hard to watch him go through this process cause you don't want their little fragile hearts hurt. I have tried explaining to him that this is all a learning process and no matter what, there will always be new adventures just like this. Today is the day he meets with the board and is interviewed for the position. I took them to school today and Jake had him dressed so adorable. I actually saw a little piece of paper that he was holding and reading. On it was a few different columns and above it said "What I do well" and another "What things I could bring to the position" . When I saw this, he realized and quickly folded it up and put it away. I was really in awe of my little dude. He had sat down and taken the time to make these lists. I wish I had a picture of it for memory purposes but I will never forget that cute little list. There is no doubt he would be a great leader, if he doesn't make it, I know that he can try out again for another position and no matter what will help others at some point.

#student council #elementary #proud mom #odyssey elementary #single mom #working mom

lunch days

Last week after London was being a little stinker and she actually got out of the car to go to school without giving me a kiss and saying she loved me, I thought it was time to spontaneously pick her up from school for lunch and to have a little one on one time. It was amazing to see the change in her attitude after having that little bit of quality time. So after that day, I recommitted to doing this once a month with each child.
So today Isaiah had a little cute reminder alarm set on my phone while I was at work and it popped up saying, "Order Papa John's, come pick me up from school. And yes I really want to go." I thought that was so cute cause he knows how my mind works and I usually question myself thinking he would rather stay at school with his friends. So after the reminder, I did exactly like. Ordered Papa John's, picked him up, we went home and enjoyed some conversation and some funny tv. It is so fun to see each kid in that light of being alone and seeing how cute their personalities are. I appreciate that they still enjoy being with their mom. Isaiah is such a bright child. He knows WAY more than I ever did at his age. I really don't ever have to worry about him with most things. He is a little too wise beyond his years. He has an adorable smile that is contagious, and has the best personality. We have the exact same sense of humor and it is easy to enjoy time with him.
I hope to keep this up. I know that if my mom would have done something like this growing up, I would look forward to it every month. As much as I don't want to be one of those mom's, I'm going to say it- my kids definitely are my best friends. Knowing they go with their dad this weekend, makes me hold on tighter and not want to let go.