Wednesday, March 6, 2013

All A's

Maysen and Stockton both earned straight A's this trimester.  They have been perfect this year.  I have no idea how Maysen pulled off an A in French.  She has been worried about that class for a month.  Not obsessively, but it has been in the back of her mind.  She was frustrated because she thought she would get an A-.  She said she could have taken an easier class so she could keep her 4.0.  I tried to explain that getting one A- wouldn't wreck her chances to get in a good college.  She was surprised when I told her I only earned one 4.0 in high school.  At least I think I only earned one, maybe two but not more.  Anyway, last Friday both Maysen and Stockton won arrow cards.  Those things are like gold at the end of the trimester.  They basically give you extra credit in a class of your choosing.  Maysen gave it to her French teacher.  He gave it back to her today and told her she earned an A without it and she should save it for another class.  Wow.  Unbelievable!  I am so proud of her for not giving up and for working hard even when she was discouraged.

Stockton asked me to check his grades before school.  I had checked them yesterday and he had all As. I checked this morning and he had two A-.  What?  Stockton was shocked as well.  In his English class he was .1% away from an A.  He was .2% away from an A in his PE class. I told him to ask his teacher about extra credit in English.  That was the first class of the day.  He was so close, you never know.  (Later I realized that he should have asked if he could have extra credit for participating in the spelling bee, I bet she would have been okay with that.)  Stockton came home with a big smile on his face.  I said, "Did you get it?"  He said he did.  He talked to his English teacher.  At first he didn't think she would work with him, but soon she came up to him and said that she found somewhere she was able to give him an extra point. Nice.  Stockton then gave his arrow card to his gym teacher and was able to get an A in that class as well.  Wow.  I am so proud of both of them.  I'm proud that they work hard and that they will find ways to fix their problems without my help.  They certainly are growing up!

Jorja and Preston also gave me proud mom moments today.  They had parent teacher conferences.  Preston was first.  Of course he is doing great.  Top of his class and loving school.  He loves his teacher and is so happy there.  Mrs. Moon said she was so excited that he will get to be in Chinese next year.  Me too!

I am kicking myself for not audio recording Jorja's conference.  Miss Liao and Jorja had an entire conversation in Chinese.  Jorja sounded confident.  You could actually hear her speak!  Their conversation was on how different animals sweat.  I only understood frog.  Jorja said, "Frogs don't sweat because they are awesome."  Maybe I'll talk her into telling me her part of the conversation, but it was so cool to hear her talking to her teacher.  It is hard to know how Jorja is doing in Chinese.  I have no idea what to go by.  Her teachers and nothing but praise for her.  After Jorja talked with Miss Liao, she was sent away so they could talk with me.  Well, so Miss Liao could talk in English.  She is not allowed to use English when her students are around.  Mrs. Todd said that Jorja had come leaps and bound from where she started.  She said she raises her hand more and talks louder.  At the beginning of the year Jorja was usually picked to be in groups towards the end, because she was so quiet.  Mrs. Todd said that now she almost always gets picked first or second.  She said she thinks the kids are realizing how smart she is.  Miss Liao was blown away when she found out Jorja started Chinese in the middle of second grade.  She had no idea.  How awesome is that?

Anyway, it was a pretty great day to be a mom.  Well, everyday is a great day for that . . . just some days are more enjoyable then others.

After school we went to Max's birthday party.  It was an Planet Play. They take the Pass of All Passes, so that was pretty fun.  We did Go Karts, Miniature Golf, Bowling, Laser Tag (lots of times).  The kids had the buffet.  Stockton was just wandering around the buffet picking up what he wanted and eating it right there.  I told him to get a tray and eat in the party room.  When he got to the room, he had his food on his tray!  I said, "Stockton!  You were supposed to put your food on a plate and then put the plate on your tray?"  He looked at me and said, "Really?"  Oh boy.
Max's cupcakes
 Stockton's food.  The buffets win with him.
We had a really fun night and stayed until it was almost bedtime.  The plan was for Stockton and I to leave around 5:30 so Stockton could go to diving.  Stockton was having so much fun that I hated to pull him away. We decided to skip diving for today.  A fun way to celebrate getting a 4.0.

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