2013 Track Season

Track this year was not grand. Emma was very sick the week they did the trials to determine what races/events kids would do. She did not perform well and got put in the events that no one wants. We were proud of her though for not quitting. Her first meet was back in March. She had the one mile, two mile, 800 meter and shot put. It was not fun to watch and it wasn't fun for her to compete. 

She came in DEAD LAST on the two mile race (she had to run a total of four miles that day, had only been practicing for a couple of weeks and was still not 100% well) but she finished it. A lot of the girls only went a few laps and then quit, others waited until they had been lapped and then stepped out early making it appear as though they completed the whole race, but they didn't. I have photographic proof LOL! Anyway she finished the meet. She finished the season. She's not sure if she's going to run again next year. I hope she does but we'll have to wait and see.

Meet 1

The one even that she did enjoy surprisingly was the shot put. And she was pretty dang good at it! 

Meet 2

After the coaches saw her almost die in the 2 mile race they never made her do that again. Thank goodness. She still ran the 800 and the mile. 

Meet 3

Something fabulous happened. One of the relay teams was down a girl so Emma got to SPRINT! They did so well! The first runner got a great lead, Emma extended it, they kicked booty. Their team placed second but it was a TIGHT race. So much fun to watch. She had so much fun running it. This girl is made for sprinting. They were awesome!

Meet 4 

This was the last meet of the season unless she was invited to Alpine Days. She didn't want to run because she knew she wasn't going to qualify for any of those events in Alpine Days. With pressure from her coach, mom, friends and a boy we got her to run her last race of the year. It wasn't pretty but she did it.

See how excited she is to be running?!?

Time to celebrate the end of a hard season with DP Cheesesteaks.

Braces!

On April 29th Andrew got his braces. Once again, there was drama.

Andrew was going to get them put on on April 15th. I didn't send him to school that morning. He hung out while I got ready. Right when we were headed out the door I got a call saying I was suppose to be at the ortho over an hour ago. Now I know that there is absolutely no way that this was the case (it would have been impossible for us to be there when they said we should have been) but something got mixed up, I didn't want to fight, so we couldn't do braces that day. He went back to school worried that kids would think he was a liar since he didn't have his braces on.

Finally the day came. It seemed like it took FOREVER to get them on. The appointment went through lunch. It was a bit crazy. That night he was pretty sad. His cheeks were sliced. His teeth tender. He was a mess for a good week if not more. He wanted to stay home from school for DAYS. We had to take him back to get some pokey wires clipped. He got more wax and finally things got a bit better. We're already noticing a difference in his teeth. It's pretty exciting stuff. I'm so grateful that we have been able to get both kids' mouths taken care of. It's such a blessing.

Registering for High School

I'm not sure how registering works in other areas but here it is sort of intense and CRAZY! 

Sophomores have the lowest priority and are the last class to register. Makes sense. They are given a list of class options weeks in advance. They have to select the class they want, the teacher they want and the time slot they want it in. They are responsible for making sure that they have met all of the credit requirements. No counselor approves their selections. They then have to go online after the other classes have registered to check and see if the classes/teachers/times are available or if the upperclassmen have taken what they need and adjust accordingly. Once you have a plan A you then work on plan B, plan C, plan D etc. Clear as mud? 

Class registration opened on April 11th at exactly 3:00pm. All of the hundred and hundreds of kids go online at the same exact time and try to secure the class schedule that they have so carefully planned for weeks.

Emma had two amazingly awesome older friends come to help her. They advised her on teachers and helped with the process since it was all new. Emma was a total stress case. It was so funny to watch. I have a really great video of her when she realized that she got every class she wanted and the she didn't need any of her backup plans. Too bad I can't get video to work on Blogger. Trust me, it's adorable. She was so relieved and so excited. Her class load next year shouldn't be too bad. I'm hoping that she has a wonderful high school experience. 

Teen Living

Emma took a class in school called teen living. They covered all sorts of things that would come up in a teens life and even into adulthood. They talked about peer pressure, dating, babies and even had a mock wedding ceremony. She enjoyed the class and felt it was helpful for her. It helped her deal with the loss of her classmate and some of the other trials that a teen girl can have.

During the class they are given flour sack babies that they have to carry for a week. After that they received a mechanical baby for a weekend that cried, needed feeding, diapering, burping and rocking.

Emma really liked her flour sack.

Emma really hated her mechanical baby. It was so incredibly needy. Keep in mind that the teacher that programed these babies has never had children. She relied on Google to get her information on how a baby behaves. Do I sound judgmental? I should because I'm judging.

Paul had to help her feed it while she was getting ready for church. If we sat it down and let it cry it would be considered a missed need and it would effect her score.

I then got to burp it.

Emma went to church with wet hair but her baby was fed, burped and diapered.

Evil baby!

In 3 days it ate over 44 times (If I'm remembering correctly) Each feeding lasted 30 minutes and then required 20 minutes of burping. AFTER EACH AND EVERY FEEDING! It would need diaper changes constantly and cried off and on all throughout the night. Now I'm no expert but I did have two babies. This was out. of. control.

At the end of the weekend Emma was an emotional wreck. This is her late Sunday night, in tears and DONE. I think she was hoping I would say, "go sleep baby. I've got this." but that never happened.

She was so sleep deprived it wasn't even funny. Did I mention that all of this took place during finals week. Lovely! In the end she got an excellent score and has vowed to never have children.