Random Updates

So February has been pretty abysmal in the blogging department... Oh well. Work has been really busy because I have to fill in for a coworker who left on maternity leave in the middle of the month, and even without that it would have been busy anyway.

Becca has her spring musical performances this weekend, one of which conflicts with Caroline's first piano recital, so we have a bit of a juggling act to do this weekend and Becca has extra rehearsals after school most of this week, so the usual chaos and confusion is a bit amplified :)

I imagine I never mentioned second quarter report cards; Becca got all As except for a B in literacy; Ben got all As except for a B in science, and Caroline got mostly Ms for Mastery with a few EMs (exemplary mastery) as well. Caroline continues to complain that school is too easy and boring; Becca continues to have issues with anxiety and focus which we are trying a lot of different things for, and Ben still has math and science teachers that suck ;) He gets to go on a 3 day Washington DC trip the end of next month, and Becca has a weekend religious school retreat at Camp Thunderbird in April so as usual there's plenty on the schedule.

The weather has been improving and the flowers are starting to bloom, and I am definitely ready for spring!

Costa Rica

Apologies for being a bit lax in the blogging department! Here are a few pictures from Ben’s and my quick jaunt to Costa Rica! Only one scorpion sighting!

Then and Now, Super Bowl Edition

2005 Eagles vs. Patriots Super Bowl:

2018 Eagles vs. Patriots Super Bowl:

And the biggest difference of course between then and now — EAGLES WON!!!!!!!

High School Class Registration

Yesterday Ben brought home a 9th grade course registration schedule and last night I attended a meeting with the principal of Providence High outlining the ins and outs of course registration. It's a bit confusing. And not anything like when I was in high school. For one thing, all the "core" courses seem to be something called "4x4"s, which means they meet an hour and a half every day for 1 semester and then are done. So at any given time, he will only have two core courses at a time, and two electives. Most of the electives are "A/B" which means they meet every other day for the whole year. So you can't have an odd number of either type on your schedule,  because a 4x4 needs to be paired with another 4x4 for the following semester and a A/B needs to be paired with another A/B for the every other day thing.

So some things about this strike me as odd, like you could have Math I as a Freshman first semester and not have Math II until second semester Sophomore year, and wouldn't you have forgotten Math I in the intervening year?

Other slightly odd things are that there's no honors track any more, so students aren't assigned to honors sections and you just sign up for honors or not or AP or not as you see fit. Also, I am slightly peeved that the recommendation for students who took Spanish I in middle school is to retake it Freshman year because Spanish II is really hard and they don't really feel like many students would be prepared for it.

Another weird thing is that Gym/Health is only required Freshman year, though there are other classes like swimming, yoga, weight training, team sports that students can use as electives.

For Ben's schedule, we've decided on honors English and honors science, standard social studies and math (he doesn't have the option of honors math in 9th grade), Spanish, gym/health, and then he gets 2 more electives for which he is hoping for team sports and sports & entertainment marketing ;) (I see a theme here). Seniors get first dibs on electives and the schedules won't be finalized till summer, so it will be a while before we know what his actual schedule will be, I think.

Check Ups

I took the girls for their checkups yesterday. Becca measured at 55 1/4 inches (51%) and 73.6 lbs (43%) which is great growth for her for this year. The previous year she had grown very little. Caroline measured at 47 1/2 inches (83%) and 51.2 lbs (77%) which was also a couple of inches and around 5 pounds of growth for her. Caroline got a large amount of wax cleaned out of her ears, about which she was not happy :) And when the doctor made small talk with her and asked if she was learning a lot at school she replied, "No, it is way too easy for me!" and then proceeded to launch into a litany of complaints about school.  The doctor seemed a little taken aback :)

Peace and Quiet

I am enjoying my first day of having the house to myself in over a week! Thanks to MLK day, Ben's stomach bug and 3 snow days, Ben didn't go to school for a week and the girls only went one day last week. Caroline also came down with the stomach bug Thursday night, but had fully recovered by Saturday. Keeping fingers crossed that Becca doesn't come down with it! She and I are the only ones who avoided it.

We also had a minor(ish) flooding issue, when Ben clogged one of the upstairs toilets and it overflowed and ended up in my kitchen. The kitchen ceiling looks more or less okay, and I went out and bought some caulk over the weekend and caulked the heck out of both upstairs bathrooms in the hope of preventing any such thing from occurring again since this is the second time that has happened.

And in good news, the Eagles are  heading to the Super Bowl for a rematch against the Patriots, so I guess I need to plan a super bowl party!

Fly Eagles Fly

Ben wrapped up in every piece of Eagles clothing he could find, including 2 hats and the blanket off his bed. He spent the first half of the game pacing around nervously, and then finally settled down when it became clear that the Eagles were going to win. Super Bowl bound!