It's great to be 38!

I don't really get all excited about birthdays. Not just because this is my 38th and I'm getting older. I just never have been a big birthday person so a low key margarita by the pool with the Teacher of the Gifted was a great way to celebrate. 

Addie helped me get ready for brunch..

I got a few new charms for my bracelet...

I'd rather have gotten a new dishwasher but the girls were so proud of what they'd picked out, that I couldn't help but love it.

Addie and I ran by Nanny and Poppy's and picked them up for the monthly Vidette Community Dinner at the church. Small towns are such a blessing.. Fried chicken and deviled eggs are just a couple of the many reasons...

Then we came home and Addie Belle packed her bags to head to her cousin Emma's tomorrow. I'm going to help Jessica get some boxes unpacked and Addie is spending the night with Emma. 

The David Bennetts are about 30 miles from the Pete Bennetts. I have a feeling Jessica and I will be burning up the road between Vidette and Harlem over the next few years. 

Ali Grace and her daddy headed off to 4-H camp this morning. Whenever one of the kiddos is gone, I always miss them but it does give me some special time to spoil the other one rotten. I know Addie and I will find something to get into this week..

Aunt Jess, Emma and Sarah arrived safely Saturday night and Pete helped Jess get all the boxes unloaded. I kept Sarah and Emma along with my two yahoos and it's clear from the picture below why I don't have 4 children...

We've gotten a ridiculous amount of rain this week and the dirt road has gotten to the point that it's difficult to navigate. My only other choice is to take the farm driveway through Mama and Daddy's drive. Then you have to contend with the goats in the road...

Either way, this sign on my screened porch is still true...

Looking forward to a great week playing with the unreal amount of frogs that have descended upon us from the freaky amount of rain we've gotten...

Honing our surfing techniques in the pool...

and of course fitting in some cousin time...

Chill out Grill out School's OUT!!

Although the girls got out of school a week ago, I've been teaching a class so I haven't been able to start my summer fun until now. Tomorrow is the first official day of my summer break!! WOOHOOOO! I absolutely love summer break here at home. I always enjoy a vacation or a getaway weekend here and there but for the most part, I like staying up late watching the Braves and sleeping late in the morning.Of course I consider anything past 6am sleeping late since I get up at 530 during the school year. I can seriously go days and days without leaving The Ponderosa and not think a thing about it! 

Both the girls have worked hard with their 4H Market Goat projects. It's a time and money intensive project but the girls get a  hoot out of it so I guess it's worth it. Teaching a goat is kinda like teaching middle school....

You win some....

And ya lose some...

But you never, EVER give up!

We're looking forward to a few weeks of nothing but pool time...

and grilling out....

But mostly just chilling out...

The girls had basketball camp at EBA this week and had a blast!! I am so glad since they'd have been camped out on the sofa soaking up TV while I had class if they hadn't had camp. Kudos to the EBA Varsity Basketball team for hosting a camp that both girls loved!! Next week Ali Grace is off to 4H camp and Pete is going as a chaperon. He understands that this will probably be the last summer that Ali Grace wants anything to do with him for at least 10 years or so, so he's taking advantage of it. I suppose Addie Belle and I will find something to get into here on the farm next week.. Never can tell. I'm just so excited about spending some time with my family this summer I don't know what to do with myself!!  Doesn't this F. Scott quote from The Great Gatsby sum it up just perfectly?

 

Last but not least...Congratulations Bert and Erin on the birth of our newest Lyles cousin, Ryleigh Anne. I think she is just gorgeous.

and congrats to Robin, another Lyles cousin who's just graduated from high school! I'd rather not think too much about this since I toted her around on my hip when Pete and I first married and looking at her makes wrinkles form on my face instantly.

Here's to a bunch of new beginnings.. it's summer time y'all. Go out and enjoy it!!

Calm down, Mama! A view from the "inside"

As the school year winds down, I am one stressed out Mama. I've been out of town for work. The girls have had all sorts of school obligations and Pete works all the time no matter what time of year it is. It's so easy for parents to get their nerves all in a mess this time of year and that causes us to lose perspective on what's really important.

A former high school classmate recently posted on facebook about her frustration with her son's grades. Her son is a smart 6th grader. Mercy don't I know what a change 6th grade is. There's no arguing that kids change drastically when they hit those tween years. Her contention was that 6th graders belong in the elementary school and not the middle school. While that argument may well be true, I wish people would not make that judgment based on their children's grades. You see- I'm a voice from the inside. I am a teacher and I am a mama. It's really a unique position. What I really want you mothers out there to understand is that your child's grades are in no way a reflection of what they know. They do not show how smart your kid is. They may well show how compliant your kid is to completely random demands, but in all honesty they are a poor representation of how much your child has learned. I can say this- my own child got the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence this year so I'm not just all sour grapes. Am I proud of her good grades? Sure I am. But do I flip out when she gets a bad grade for losing her homework? Nope. She's 11. Add that to the fact that she's ADD all day long and you end up with quite a few of those. So her grades aren't great sometimes. Does that lower grade mean she understands less material than she did before? Absolutely not. Did the grade where my 8 year old lost 5 points for not putting her name on her paper actually show she only knew 95% of the material and not 100%? Nope. That's why this Mama doesn't stress over it. Has your child ever gotten a "folder grade"? In other words, a grade that only reflects his or her ability to keep worksheets in a certain order? Mine has. That's certainly a teacher's prerogative. But ya know it's also my prerogative as a mother not to give a rat's hind end about such grades. And please- save the bullshit about teaching responsibility. If being able to keep papers in a certain order is a reflection of responsibility then hell call me irresponsible. I'm very very interested in what my girls are learning and how much of the material they understand and are able to apply. I am in no way interested in how well they keep up with worksheets or whether or not they turned in their homework on the random day it was graded.  So you understand what I'm saying Alisa Smith McMahon? Connor's a great kid and he may have benefitted from another year at elementary school. But not because of his grades. Grades mean very little in the big scheme of life. I've learned that lesson. I'm proud of good grades. But B's don't bother me when I know my kid knows enough to make an A. It's what she KNOWS and UNDERSTNDS that's important. Not what's printed on that report card. And take that from a teacher and the mama of an honor roll student. Again- so proud of an all A report card but no prouder than I am of kindness, good manners, sportsmanship, or hell even their ability to climb a tree out in the back yard. I would posit that all of the latter probably have more bearing on success throughout life.

And speaking of climbing a tree in the back yard. Alisa posted an article this week about Americans having it all backwards when it comes to parenting. Honey after reading that I thought heck y'all maybe I AM a good Mama afterall and not a slacker!  :)  The article was highlighting Swedish and Finnish studies showing that mothers who took a more relaxed approach to parenting had children who experienced fewer injuries in their teen and adult years. The study cited an antecdotal story about German  5 year olds who regularly use pocket knives. Hardly ANY ever injured themselves. Hello. Thank you. I've seen more than a few eyebrows rise when Addie Belle Bennett hops right up on the kitchen counter, stands up, reaches to the top cabinet and gets herself a tall mason jar to pour her sweet tea into. I don't know why but it's never bothered me. She's never had a stitch. Well except that one time when she was barely a year old and pulled a tv table over onto herself and nearly chopped her own finger off. :)  Ali Grace has never had stitches. Neither has ever broken a bone. Other than the finger incident, neither has ever been in the emergency room due to an accident. They may tomorrow. Never can tell. But I don't hover. They play outside and I'm usually not watching. They climb trees and I don't get a twitch when they get a little too high up. They swing on a homemade rope swing and since I didn't intervene, they figured out an ingenious way to keep from swinging back into the podium where they launch the rope swing. They climb on furniture. They chase goats barefooted outside. Allowing children to take risks hones their ability to discern what they're capable of according to the Swedish article. I just don't sweat it. I think it's more my personality than it is a parenting style but the article made me feel a little better about telling my kids to get the heck out of the house because the weather's too nice to be inside. Forgetting homework doesn't infuriate me nearly as badly as sitting in front of the TV when the weather is gorgeous outside.

So folks that's my rant for the week I guess. We've been busier than a one armed paper hanger around here. Ali Grace had her first dance at school last night:

We had tea with one of Addie's best buds, Ms Linda, in Sandersville this morning.

With the help of both sets of grandparents, the girls went to their 4-H banquet where Ali Grace got a ton of awards and Addie Belle got her very first award for being on the livestock team.  I am so proud of both of them. Through literal blood sweat and tears they stuck it out last year. Showing livestock ain't for the faint of heart y'all. It's hard, dirty and sometimes frustrating work. But kids who can do that are making a future for themselves by learning all sorts of life's most important lessons. And that's something that makes this mama prouder than all A's.

Surviving til summer

So I've gotten behind blogging. The warmer the weather, the more I want to be out in it and the less I blog. Just have to condense all the fun from the past 4 weeks into one post!

Ali won 2nd place for her bee project at DPA!

The girls have been swimming every time the temps get into the 70's...

Addie got the most adorable haircut ever...

We had a fabulous Easter Sunday...

the orange tree bloomed and Pete put screens on our bedroom windows so I can sit in bed, watch the Braves, listen to the crickets and smell the sweetest  smell in the entire world- orange blossoms.

Addie sang like an angel in the EBA spring concert...

My neglected porch got a little TLC with the addition of 6 new ferns..

We had a GREAT time at Cocoa Beach with Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Carlos...

We've resolved to enjoy the sunshine first, and do homework last.  We are anticipating summer. I can feel it! I cannot wait to get more family time when school's out!!

Hello Spring!

My sweet Ali Grace made the Honor Roll this 9 weeks at Edmund Burke Academy. I'm very proud of her. I don't think Ali would mind me telling you all that she has ADD. Because she wasn't hyper and didn't bounce off the walls, it was very hard to diagnose. All I knew was that it took her hours to do what others could do in minutes. I detest homework- that's a known fact, but truly, she should have been able to do a few math problems each night without tears. Her 4th grade teachers really mistook excessive homework for rigor (a common problem amongst teachers I believe) and the homework was outrageous. That compounded with her ADD made for complete misery so she started Concerta. It was a miracle drug for her. After a year or so it started to bother her that she had no appetite at lunch. As you can see, she's thin as a rail and I felt like she was old enough to decide for herself whether to take the meds or deal with the ADD. She wanted to try to go without it. She has done so well! She has to work a little harder than others and mindless homework is painful for her, but she pushes through it. Most of her homework assignments this year have been reasonable and that helps too.

We had a great time this weekend. The weather was gorgeous! The best thing was Aunt Jess, Gran, Emma and Sarah visiting! Jess came down for a job interview and we rode over to Harlem to see their new house! Getting a new house is so exciting! Isn't it gorgeous?

I can't even describe how happy "The Elder Bennetts" are to have "The Younger Bennetts" living so close by. Addie, Ali, Emma and Sarah are just inseperable when they are together and I am thrilled that they are going to put in many many cousin hours over the next few years!

After touring the new house, we went into Augusta to get Ali Grace yet another dress for Social. Hopefully this will be it for awhile! She really needed some new church dresses anyhow. Gran hung right in there with the four horsemen (chaos, bedlam, madness, and mayhem). 

Pete bought us a whole flat of FLORIDA strawberries. Oh so much better than the California ones! The Bennett girls plus Rubi enoyed sugary strawberries on the porch. Oh how I love little berry stained faces!

The girls nagged and nagged until finally Jess and I relented and let them get in the pool. It was 78 degrees outside but the water was cooooooooooooold! I was admonished by a friend about sore throats and earaches. Hogwash! That was my reply. Heck my kids are hardly ever sick. We haven't had a sore throat in years and the only ear infections we ever get occur in late

July due to being underwater 90% of the summer!  I attribute their good health to playing in the dirt and polar bear plunges!

I wish I'd gotten a shot of Sarah Rose. She was the first one in. She is SO SO precous! Her little teeth were chattering when she got out but she said "Aunt Carmen did you see me? I kicked that water's butt!"  It cracked me up!!

One of best reminders of spring I noticed this weekend! My orchids are blooming! Ignore the dirty window.  : )

This is the part of the blog where I'm going to resist ranting excessively about my piece of junk dishwasher that just died. It's 5 years old and cost a fortune. Pete had already replaced the motor in it once. One of those fancy shmancy models. LG. Don't buy one. That's it.

Enjoy your week everyone.

Oh- one last picture of Ali Grace tonight before Social at the Augusta Country Club. Just growing up too fast. Way. Too. Fast.