Ski Awards

The girls ended up having a good time at their ski awards. Tailor insisted that she didn’t want to go, she wasn’t going to get an award. I forced her to go. She ended up with 2nd place in 11-12 y.o. girls (neck medal). She also got her coach’s award (trophy). Good thing she made it there. I was surprised that Emily didn’t get an age group award since by the end of the season she was skiing about the same as her buddy Julia who got 2nd place. Then she got the most improved skier award (trophy – 2nd year in a row). It was based solely on times. She missed two of her races due to her GATE program. That meant her first races were included in the times, and they must have been pretty lousy. Sabrina, being on the development team, didn’t get any awards. However, we’ve had a difficult time convincing her that to be on a racing team she has to go around the gates, not straight down. She was enthralled by the trophies. She asked how she could get one next year. Daddy told her that she has to go around all the gates from the top of the hill to the bottom. She asked if she’d get one even if the other person was faster than her. We told her she’d have a chance. Another local paper picture.

Elementary School Musical

Similar to the High School Musical, but without the drama, campy music and gag me acting. So no, not really similar at all. Emily was in a class play/musical. It was about California gold history called, “Gold Dust or Bust.” It actually turned out quite cute. Better than I was expecting. She got into the local paper and everything. I'll have to try to scan the picture and post it as well.

Now, back to my Sabrina. When she gets an idea stuck in her mind there is just no altering. She decided she wants to go to Chocolate World for her birthday party. Take a few friends with. When I explained that it costs over $1000 just for our family to fly to Pennsylvania and that she couldn’t go there for her birthday, she was very upset. She argued with me all the way to school. You see, she doesn’t WANT to go to the pizza parlor or the bowling alley for her party. But if she can’t go to Chocolate World, she did decide that Golfland would work. Got a little ticked at me when I told her none of her friends’ parents would let their kid drive 4 ½ hours to the Bay Area for mini-golf. So, I told her what her options were. Nearly in tears, she exclaimed, “It’s MY birthday and you're giving ME options?!” At school, it took her 10 minutes to get out of the car. She took so long, the bell rang to go to class. I did get out of her that she wanted me to walk her to class. By the time we got there, her teacher had already started (she starts early), so I wasn’t about to follow her in. She walked through the door and never looked back. I heard from her teacher the next day (saw her in the drugstore – the fun of living in a small town) that she was at her desk in tears. Sabrina told her it was because her mom didn’t give her a hug and a kiss. And no, her teacher’s hug and kiss would not be good enough. She may get stubborn and hard to reason with, but after an argument, she needs to make sure you still love her.

Social Butterfly

I haven’t written about Emily yet. Yes, she’s my most even tempered, easy going one, so there isn’t always a lot of stuff to write. Today she is my social butterfly. Yesterday, after school, she went to friend Leta’s house. She’s spending the night there. Then the two of them are going to friend Anna’s house for a turtle club meeting from 11-1. This is Emily’s first time at the meeting. They decided if they only let turtle owners be members, it would be a very small club. They’re really just coming up with an excuse to have a play day. I can still call it that. Once Tailor hit 6th grade, I got in trouble for calling it that. It was then called “hanging out.” Anna’s mom will serve something for lunch. Brian, Tailor, Sabrina and I are going to Reno. Tailor has temple baptisms at 4pm. So, after the turtle meeting is over, Anna’s mom will take Emily to friend Autum’s birthday party that starts at 1:00. Autum’s mom said she’d keep Emily until we get back from Reno. They’ll feed her dinner and everything. So, she’s going to 3 different friends’ houses today for playdays. I have a feeling she’ll be glad to go to bed tonight!

Sabrina's report card

Her report card got a little better. There’s only one thing that has a checkmark on the “Experiencing Difficulties.” That’s her “Written Expression.” Of course there are two categories her teacher checked on the border of “Meets Expectations” and “Experiencing Difficulties.” That’s her “Comprehension” and “Listens to and Follows Directions.” The best, though, is what her teacher wrote in the comments. “Sabrina’s reading has greatly improved this trimester – thank you for all your hard work. Sabrina has a lot of creative ingenuity and uses it quite well when it’s something she is interested in or has control over. Otherwise she shows little or no interest.” I think it sums up Sabrina well. If she likes it, she does it. If she doesn’t like it, as little work as possible to be done – including not actually reading anything, guessing on everything works for her. Her reading has improved so much that she’s not testing borderline reading recovery anymore. Of course, that’s because she likes reading now – occasionally.

Teenager VS. Free Spirit:

Teenagers is a very misleading term. What comes to mind when you say teenager? Selfish, stubborn, attitude, rebelliousness, etc. So what’s misleading about the word teenager? Well, that teenagehood (is that even a word?) doesn’t start until thirTEEN and it ends at nineTEEN. I’ve only heard that the decent human being inside of your child may not come back to you until they’re 20, but I certainly know that teenagehood begins BEFORE thirTEEN. It’s like morning sickness – since when was pregnancy sickness confined to the morning. Maybe it was one of the 5% of women who came up with that term. I got to see glimpses of the teenager inside her when Tailor was 11. The sudden, out of the air, random screaming. But this 12 year old who occupies the body of my daughter is, most definitely, a teenager.
Now, for my free spirit. Yesterday was the last day for the girls on the ski team. Sabrina has been on the “developmental” team. It’s for the new skiers. Once they can go down the hill and around the flags confidently, they get put on a racing team. Sabrina has been excited to be drafted onto her sisters’ racing team. The ski lodge set up our course on the racing hill as well as one other set of flags. When it was Sabrina’s turn, her and a friend went down on our course. After going around some of the flags, it seemed as though the two girls were switching places. Then, no, the other girl kept going around her poles like she was supposed to. It looked like Sabrina was either going to the other flags or that she was going to run right into the rope that sectioned off the course. Maybe even go through it and into a tree. Instead, she straightened out and went straight down the hill. Forget about weaving around all the poles. The quickest way from point A and point B is a straight line, right? We all laughed so hard I had to wipe the tears off my face. I caught up to her when everything was done and asked her what happened. She said, “I WON!” Guess she’ll be on that developmental team again next year.

"The Boy That Yelled Dad"

The boy said, “Dad, I want to go with you.” Dad said, “No.”
Dad said, “Can I go with you, cook?” The cook said “No.”
The cook said, “Can I go with you, duck?” The duck said, “Yes.”
Then he killed it. Then he cooked it. Then people asked for cooked duck.

THE END

"The Boy That Yelled Dad" by Sabrina Walmer, 1st grade

Blogspot

OK, I'm starting this blog as a journal for myself and my 3 girls. It's quite a task having 3 daughters in the same household. I can't wait until they're all teenagers. However, I think raising 3 girls is nothing compared to starting a blog for the first time. Yikes! I think setting up anything online for the first time is there just to make you feel idiotic. There's the "how to find a cute background." Then there's the making sure you click on the correct "Add a Gadget." How do you change the font, the color, add a picture, etc. Once you do that, you can actually type a posting. That's pretty easy, luckily. Finally, how DO you send this link out. Still have to do that one.
I do hope this blog doesn't end up just being rants. Rants are very easy. However, I do want to make sure I share the fun stuff that goes on in a busy famiy of 5. To start with, I must relate Sabrina's "story." Weeks ago I mentioned to a friend how Sabrina struggles in school. Where my two oldest started reading before they started Kindergarten, Sabrina waited to really start going until 1st grade. It can take an hour for her to read a 1st grade level picture book. She gets distracted quite frequently. This friend of mine has her PhD in Education and said it's probably because Sabrina's brilliant. She told me forget the reading, get Sabrina to write. So, as I began bugging Sabrina to write me a story or a letter, our parent organization at school sent home a flyer for a writing contest. A great excuse to find out what is in this little girl's head. I talked her into writing a book for me. She worked on it. She wouldn't let me see it. I had no idea what she was doing until she was done. Then she showed me her story - the one she copied from a book we have. Back to square one. I told her it had to be from inside her own head. It took a week, but she finally wrote something, in crayon no less, from her own head. Today she stayed home from school with pink eye. We had the perfect opportunity to type her story out. She insisted on doing it herself. I set her up on the computer and told her to type. We'd fix spelling and grammar later - just type. First obstacle - those squiggly lines. Talk about perplexion. After a while of convincing her to ignore the squiggly lines, I went upstairs to shower. I'd just got a perfect lather all over my hair when the wailing began. Not just a little whimper or even a solid cry, but a wailing. I jumped out of the shower and yelled down to find out if she was hurt. Of course not. After I got back into the shower and she came up to talk to me, I found out she "broke the page" she was writing on the computer. She accidentally pressed the enter key about 50 too many times. What a reason to wail. Once I was decent, we sat down together and I helped her type out her story. About 50 words long. About an hour to type. "Press the shift button BEFORE you press your letter." "Be careful to only press the enter button ONCE." However, very cute. It's what came out of her own head. I help with all the commas and quotation marks and captalization. Her story reminds me of those paper little booklets she bring home from school to read. See below for her own story: