These are Not my Children

Both Taylor and Mandy received awards at school last week. However, I believe the awards were actually meant for someone else's children, not mine, because of the awards that they received.  

Exhibit A:

Mandy received the Random Acts of Kindness award for, "Making sure her teacher never has to clean a messy science lab alone and for gladly looking for ways to help out in the classroom."

Wait!! The child who, at home, will NEVER help clean?? The one who can't be bothered to help out at all and she gets an award at school for cleaning and for helping??

Very eerily weird.

Exhibit 2:

Taylor received an award for, "Always on task, respectful, and follows rules."

Wow! So the child who starts fights, can't remember the rules of our house, and rolls her eyes at me is awesome at school.  What the hell?!

Well, in the big scheme of life, I guess that it's great my children are wonderful in public. Ok, ok, it's awesome that my children are so amazing in public and that they are making great choices in life. 

Mandy also received her medal for the Science Fair - Second Place!! Whoo-hoo!! She did her board all by herself, which made Ken and I cringe because it was not aesthetically pleasing. However, the teachers loved her idea and her data and she was the one that you could tell did her work herself.  Haha!!

Honor Roll - again!

I am extremely proud of Taylor and Mandy.  They were both given awards today for once again making the Honor Roll at school.  Taylor was awarded for GPA of 3.0-3.5 and Mandy for a GPA of 3.5-4.0.  Both girls have worked very hard to keep their grades up, and we are proud of them for working so hard all year.


Sixth grade was first, and Taylor's name had to be called twice because she was talking and didn't hear her name the first time.  We were so proud!

 Daddy did his usual hamming it up for the camera shot - he loves to tease the girls when they get their pictures taken, especially when it's in front of their friends.

Fifth grade was next, and Mandy was initially upset when her name wasn't called in the first round of Honor Roll students.  She didn't realize that she had the higher award, and I was very relieved that she didn't start crying during the assembly.  Her smile was enormous when she realized she was getting the higher honor.

Both Taylor & Mandy were glowing with pride when they returned to their classes.  Their final day of school is Friday, and they are excited to be done.

Jordan is Student of the Month

OK, I am still trying to wrap my head around this entire deal, but it happened - Jordan was honored as Student of the Month.  I picked the girls up from school right after the Parent-Teacher Conferences, and Jordan informs me that she has another conference scheduled.  I immediately start to grill her, demanding to know what she did wrong that would require another Conference.  Jordan continually professed her innocence, and said she had a note.  As I was driving home, I told her to get the note out of her backpack.


As we pulled into the driveway, Jordan finds the piece of paper, screams, "here it is!" and then puts the note directly in my face.  While I walked to the front door, I read the note, and realized that it was a note to inform me that Jordan was receiving an award the following week and what time.  Then, I saw that it was checked for "Student of the Month."  I sat down on the bench out front and laughed.  Jordan came over and asked me why I was laughing, so first I had to apologize to her for accusing her of getting in trouble, and then I explained that she is getting an award.  I did, however, ask Jordan who she bribed for Student of the Month, and she started yelling, "No one!  I didn't have to bribe no one!  Wait, Mama, what is 'bribe'?" 


Amanda, however, was not impressed that her sister was receiving the Student of the Month award.  She started a tirade, "I have worked for YEARS to get Student of the Month, but I don't get that award.  I help my teachers, I do my best, and do I get that Award, NO!"  On and on she went into the house.


So, the day arrived and Jordan was honored as Student of the Month.  Sadly, her teacher wasn't at school that day, but she didn't seem to mind.

For overall academic performance

What a big smile!

Mandy gets an award

Mandy won the Teachers Award for "improving in all academic areas, turning in all homework and meeting weekly Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math goals."

For Mandy, this is a huge accomplishment.  While Mandy is amazingly bright, she is also incredibly lazy when it comes to her day to day work.  

We are very proud of her!  

Taylor wins an award

"Fantastic growth in Reading, a fabulous attitude, and a real concern for learning."

I cannot express how proud I am of Taylor.  She repeated 2nd grade and has been struggling to catch up most of her life.  She has spent this last year really working on her overall behavior both at home and in school.

Taylor is working really hard at the current 4th grade level in order for her not to have to work quite so hard in Junior High and High School.  As a teacher, I am so happy that she understood this concept and is working to continue every day in school. I have only gotten wonderful praise from her teacher, and all of her hard work is paying off.

Congratulations Taylor!  Keep up the great work!