Amazing 9yr olds!!

I am so blessed to have such amazing 9yr olds.  When it comes right down to the nitty gritty and disappointing, they take it better than most adults and make me proud.

This was taken when they were 7yrs old

First, we as a whole family were supposed to go on a Disney Cruise this year with my family.  Yep, we should've been on the ship right now.  But we couldn't afford it and decided we better not go.  That was disappointment #1, when I had to let the children know that we weren't going, they of course were disappointed but handled it like Champs, all of them.

Then my mom and Jeriann decided that they could afford to take one of the kids and would pay for them.  My mom felt like Aaliyah did not get the visit to Disneyland that she should have gotten when they went last time and felt like she needed to make up for it.  So they paid for her ticket and everything was set.  As time came closer and closer to the cruise, Jairyn some how figured out that Aaliyah was going and he wasn't.  We were riding in the car one day and he flat out asked if she was going.  I told him that she was and he started to tear up a little.  I felt bad for him and let him know that the last time he went with Meema he was very homesick and so I thought it was better that he didn't go this time.  He swallowed his tears and said that he understood and that he thinks his dad has fun things planned for the summer so he should be ok.  Then he stuck his head out the window.  When he came back into the car, he announced, "There, now it is fair, I got to put my head out the window."  lol...I told him I was proud of him for how he was taking it.  He didn't say anything more to me about the cruise.  This was a few weeks ago.

Two days before the cruise we found out the scores of the FCAT tests the kids took in April.  Jairyn passed the test with 4's (out of 5) in both his reading and math.  Aaliyah did not pass as she received a 1 in reading and a 2 in math.  This would mean that she would not be allowed to move on to the 4th grade.  She was quite disappointed and sad, even fearful that I was disappointed in her and even mad at her.  I told her that I love her very much and that I know she tried her best so there is no way I was disappointed in her.  Sam went to talk to her teacher, Mrs. McLaren, to see if there was anything that could be done.  She has two more options and opportunities to move on to the 4th grade.  The first is to pass this portfolio that they have been working on for the past week and will continue to work on for the next week, meaning she wouldn't be able to miss any school and therefore would not be able to go on the cruise.  If she does not pass her portfolio, the last option is go to summer school, which is really not an option for her as she is going to WA to visit her mom for the summer.  So that left the Portfolio option and no cruise.  I was thankful that I had not yet let her know she was going. I quickly called the cruise line and found that it would only cost $50 to have the named changed over to Jairyn.

On Sunday we got up early to meet Mom, Jeriann, Shaun, Janie and the boys over at the Fairfield Inn by Orlando Airport.  I had previously packed Jairyn's bags and he had no idea, he still thought that Aaliyah was the one going on the cruise.  After we said our hello's and visited for a few minutes, Mom asked Jairyn if he would like to go on the cruise.  He proceeded to tell her that he and I talked about it and thought it would be better if he didn't go this time, he even started to tear a little, but kept a smile on his face. Mom said that isn't what she asked, she asked him again if he wanted to go on the cruise.  He told her that he did, but he doesn't have any clothes.  Mom looked at Janie and said, he should fit into some of Haidyn's clothes, shouldn't he?  Haidyn will be 3 the end of June, lol...Jairyn looked at both of them a little confused and a goofy grin on his face and said, "sure, ok..I'll wear Haidyn's clothes."  Then he got a big smile on his face and told how it would be his and Aaliyah's first time on a cruise.  How sweet, he still thought Aaliyah was going to get to go.  When he realized that she was not going to go, he gave her a hug, she tearing up and sad because it was learned for everyone that she did not pass the FCAT and would have to stay behind to go to school.  I felt so bad for her, if anything she really needed the vacation now.  She was/is such a trooper and of course handled it like a pro.  Jairyn was saying how he didn't have his bathing suit and hoped that Haidyn's would fit him, ha ha...I finally let him in on the secret that I packed his bag and he would have his own clothes to wear.  He is one happy little boy on a cruise ship right now.

As for Aaliyah she is the trooper I always knew she was and is doing her best to wait until it is her turn.  Meema mentioned to her maybe she would get to go to Hawaii with her one day.  That brought a smile to Aaliyah.  She is hating school at the moment, but we are praying she will do well on her portfolio...what ever happens, I know it will be the best for her.

Today, Aaliyah announced that she missed Jairyn!!  What a sweetie pie.  I don't know what the kids will do when they are all separated from each other for 2 months this summer.  Teighlor, Taiason, Jaemyn and Jairyn with their dad, Aaliyah with her mom and Tariyah and Aamerik here at home with me.

Blueberries and Ice Cream, but not together!

Today was a good day to go Blueberry picking.  We went to Futch Family Farms in Polk City, FL and picked two buckets of blueberries.  Everyone seem to enjoy themselves and have a good time.  I think it would have been better if we got there earlier in the morning instead of noon time and the heat of the day, it was 85 degrees out.  But that didn't affect the taste of the blueberries.

Yummy!!  She is another of my blueberry lovers!

Aamerik LOVED the berry farm and would take fist fulls and put them in his mouth.  

He would go to everyone's bucket to get his berries, lol

This was after he emptied his bucket, he was HOT and TIRED!!  He did good tho, he got a lot of berries.

Jairyn showed him where to get his own, but he didn't know he shouldn't pick the green ones!!

You can almost see the heat rising off of her face, lol...she is flushed for sure.

I am really glad I took them on this out, even though there were these yellow flies that would bite/sting you!!!  OW!!!  I noticed them mostly when we were in the shade.  There were a few smaller bugs too and I found a bigger beetle in our bucket with the berries, but thank goodness I got him out before we brought him home.  It was worth the fun tho.

After picking blueberries, I decided to treat the kids to an ice cream.  They deserved it and were very well behaved at the farm.  I ate most of my ice cream and then gave Aamerik my cone...I knew it would be a mess, lol...it was.

Aaliyah was acting like she was exhausted, lol...such the drama girl.  She's so funny!

Teighlor got a Watermelon slushi and kept giving herself Brain Freeze.

"See mom, almost gone."

Yep, was a literal mess.  When we got home and washed the blueberries outside in the baby pool, he got himself soaking wet and ate more blueberries.  He is such fun and a cutie.

Organizing Mood

I have been in sort of an organizing mood lately...not sure why...guess I feel I am a little chaotic or something, ha ha...anyway, we asked the children what they feel that Sam and I have taught them so far and then what they feel we still need to teach them or haven't done as well at teaching them.  I made them both into poster and I will hang them up so when they feel I am nagging at them I can direct them to the lists and show them that it is my responsibility as a parent to make sure I am teaching them correct principles.  We will see how this works. ha ha

Then on pinterest there was an idea for chore cards, so I decided to create my own of those as well and then on Saturdays I will pass them out so the kids know exactly what needs to be done.  I also wrote a list of what I expected in the evening time as I come home from RS presidency meetings and things are often not done and they aren't in bed and....I made a list of what they need to check for themselves before they are allowed to play and have free time.  Again, I have tried several different things in the past, we will see if this works. Wish me luck, lol

We had FHE evening last night with Sis Cook and Sis Chadwick, it was such fun to have FHE with someone else.  We learned about the personal lives of our Apostles and that we know small details about our everyday friends, so why not know small details about them.  Makes sense to me.  Teighlor made special White Chocolate Candy, Aaliyah directed the music, Jaemyn was in charge of prayers, Tariyah was supposed to have the scripture but didn't want to do it cause she wanted to do music and Jairyn was in charge of the activity.  Of course he wanted to play a Wii game but I had to set limits, lol...so I introduced him to an activity that was my dad's favorite.  Fold a piece of paper in 1/2 and then in 1/2 again so you have 4 horizontal sections.  The first section is the head and drawn by 1 person, bringing the lines of the neck just over the fold to the 2nd section, then fold the 1st section back leaving just the 3 sections open.  Pass the paper to the next person and that person draws from the shoulder to the waist bringing the waist lines just over the fold and then fold their section back and again pass to the 3rd person.  They will draw from the waist to the knee, bringing the lines of the legs just over the fold.  Again fold it back so it is not seen by the next artist and they get to finish the picture with the feet.  You can set limits of only Animals, only People, anything you want.  Here is the finished product of what we created together.

One thing I learned about my children during this time is that we need to have more visitors, they really had a hard time sitting still and being reverent.  Makes me wonder how they are in Primary, lol...Tariyah really struggled as she wanted to be called on all the time, and cried if she wasn't.  I guess it is a learning process.

We each had an opportunity to tell what talent we have.  I really couldn't think of one for myself, other than the talent of no talent but wishing I had lots of talent.  Sis. Cook and Sis. Chadwick asked the kids what my talent and here is what a few of them said... Teighlor ~ she is good at nagging (she said it with a smile), Jaemyn ~ she is good at finding me the best school to go to, Jairyn ~ she's good at being on the computer. Wow, what a few eye openers, guess I need to make sure that a couple of my kids think I can be better at something else too, lol  It was fun though.

Mormon Prom ~ Tampa, FL

It is that time of the year for Prom. She didn't go to Savannah like she was originally planning, for Prom, but we found out about a "Mormon" prom being held in Tampa at the Airport Marriott.

Time came upon us to find a dress.  We really couldn't afford to go anywhere, so to the Salvation Army it was.  If we had no luck there, we would have moved on to Ross.  But we did have luck.  We found this gem of a dress with a vintage style front, bad part is that it had a yellow stain right in the middle of the chest, it was a little big around the waist and chest and it was sleeveless.  The dress was marked at $9.99 and I found a shirt of almost similar material to use for the sleeves, $3.99. $14 for a prom dress, not too bad.  At the register the guy made sure I saw the stain before he rang it up and I told him we were hoping it would come out.  He only charged me $ .99 for the dress!!!!  JACKPOT!!!!!  I paid $5 for her whole dress!!!

Next was the task of taking it in on the sides, that wasn't too bad, turned out ok...then I un-stitched the sleeves from the shirt I bought and attached them to the dress.  Worked out pretty good and this beautiful now became a modest dress.  I put bleach on yellow stain, it seemed to work, then I washed the dress.  You can see a light, light yellowing from the bleach, but only in certain light and barely even then.

So besides her messy hair, I think the dress was a success.

She looked Radiant and said she had a great time.  I was really glad that she was able to go.  I couldn't find her a ride, so I decided to take sometime for myself and go on a self-date.  I had been wanting to watch the Hunger Games again (I was kind of disappointed in the movie the first time around and I wanted to give it another chance) so I found a theater where it was playing at the perfect time.  It was a Cine-Bistro, so I got to have dinner while I watched the movie.  Ok well 1/4 of a dinner, I could barely eat any.  But I really, really enjoyed myself, and the movie got out at the perfect time for me to head back and get Teighlor.

I did enjoy the movie much more the 2nd time around.  I think a lot of it is because the cameras were so jumpy and shaky in the beginning that you could barely tell what was going on, but still good over all.

Earlier in the day we went to Winter Park to Eric and Jessica's for Bailey's 1st Birthday party.

The kids loved the pool there and enjoyed spending time with family.  Tariyah wanted me to take her picture.  She is growing up so much and will be starting Kindergarten this fall at Bethune Academy.