Cortney's Crew

I have debated writing/telling people about this because it's not completely my story, but then again, it is, because I'm living through it as the mom.  So as a friend and/or family member reading this, please remember that I'm entrusting you with sensitive thoughts.  And yes I know this is also on the internet, so anyone could read it as well.  But I also know that I needed a place to write all of this down and get it recorded.  It will help me as I sort though all we are going through and it could possibly help others. This last year has been horrific.  Really and truly there isn't another word for it.  I didn't realize how much trauma I have truly been through until yesterday when I was on Facebook and I was looking at posts from other moms of their kiddos starting middle school.  Now I know middle school is bad.  I went through it already with Riley, but Alexandra was a whole new playing field.  Seeing those pictures I had a literal awf...

So this goes with my last post.  Alexandra and Scarlett beat me upstairs last night for bedtime.  When I got there Scarlett gives me this look and said "Guess what?" and then responded by pulling out a pair of Alexandra's dirty socks and shouted "I won the stinky socks!!!"  It was hilarious!

A few days ago Alexandra was teasing Scarlett.  They were racing up the stairs to bed and Scarlett told Alexandra that she was going to be the winner.  Alexandra replied that Scarlett would win her stinky socks.  Now Scarlett thinks it hilarious.  Every time she beats anyone up the stairs she yells "I win the stinky socks!!!!" 

So instead of a Thankful Wall this year, I printed this up and gave it to everyone on Tuesday.  They had until dinner on Thanksgiving to fill it out and then we talked about everything we wrote down.  So I'm just scanning them in so we have them to remember! Here is my list (you can click on them to make them bigger!)  Dean's list (He wasn't so good at following instructions!)  Riley's list  Alexandra's list (She's learning cursive this year - and the underlined words are words she thinks she may have misspelled - that's what they do at school.)  Scarlett's list (Grammy sat with her and asked her about each category that she thought Scarlett could answer.)  Grammy's list It was awesome!  I got the idea from last years December Ensign .

So this year has been rough financially.  We are currently having to put a new engine in the Tahoe and that is going on a credit card.  Let alone all the other stuff that has happened this year.  The Tahoe is kinda the breaking point though (and it still needs new tires).  So I had talked to my mom about how Christmas was going to be so much less this year then other years and telling her how I didn't think we could afford presents for them or any extended family.  At that time we needed to put tires on the van as well.  She told me to talk to the girls and if they were okay with not getting any toys from them, they would buy us van tires for Christmas instead of presents.  She also told us we could come and clean their house for them as a present instead (yay - so much more affordable!!!) So I had a long talk with the girls (Riley and Alexandra) and fortunately I have AMAZING children.  They are so understanding and not selfish at all.  We...

Last year Alexandra took the COGAT ( Cognitive Abilities Test).  They determined that she is Gifted and Talented.  So we had long talks with her teacher about what we should do with her.  She could stay at her school and have an ALP (advanced learning plan) there or we could move her to a center school where they have classes full of just GT kiddos.  We decided she would do amazing in a GT class so we put her on the waiting list for a new school.  We found out the last month of summer that they were opening up another 3rd grade GT class and she was accepted.  So we moved her over to the new school for 3rd grade.  As a mom you always worry about whether you are doing the right thing for your kids and this was even more of a worry for me.  She was going to a school where she wouldn't have her friends and she was going to be a year behind in some things.  (The GT classes study a year ahead in math and language arts.)  So the last 3 month...