The grades are in ...

Ty-Guy struggled a little (well ok, a lot!) last semester with turning his work in. The work would usually be completed, but somehow it never made it to the teacher's desk; and ultimately to the grade book. This resulted in many failing grades. He worked hard the last few weeks before Christmas break and was able to get all of the work turned in. His report card came home today with all A's!  What a turn around! 

Being in 3rd grade, Connor's academic grades come in the form of 1's, 2's, & 3's. A 3 is excellent, with a 1 being needs improvement. There were NO 1's and he received a few 2's, but got several 3's as well. His conduct was excellent this go around. Although, he has never been "bad", he typically doesn't stay on task, which results in a lower behavior grade most of the time. 

Sarah completed her first college semester at UNG with 2 A's, 2 B's, and 1 C. This kept her at a B average, so she was able to keep the HOPE Scholarship for spring semester.  She only made one C her entire high school career, so she was bummed about receiving a C in Art Appreciation her first semester in college.  I, on the other hand, am very proud of her considering how hard I know college can be.  

This spring she is taking English, World Geography, Psychology, Philosophy, and First Year Seminar. Currently, she is planning on enrolling in classes at the University of West Georgia this summer. 

Bo and I are so proud of all 3 of them!  They have done so well in school!   

The Birthday Gift

My neighbor just came to my door and handed me $20.  His son, Watson's, birthday was last week.  Tyler and Watson are buds.  Unbeknownst to me, Tyler took $20 of his own money and gave it to Watson for his birthday.  Knowing that I wasn't aware of Tyler's gift, his dad wouldn't let Watson accept it, so he returned the money.  When I returned the money to Ty, he said that Watson was saving money for an xbox and Ty wanted to help him. I think we will make a trip to Target tomorrow to find a birthday card for Mr. Watson and maybe slip a twenty in it ;)

Will the real Tyler Richardson please stand up?

If you know Ty, you know he is a spaz.  I mean that in the kindest of ways.  He is constantly jumping, bouncing, and climbing the walls.  I have actually received a phone call from his teacher saying that Tyler is literally climbing the walls in the cafeteria, AGAIN! His brain runs at 90 MPH and so does his mouth...lol.   He is extremely compulsive and does so many things without thinking them through, which causes people to misunderstand him.

Something happened the other day that has had him on my heart and I never want to forget it. I started not to blog about it because I figure not everyone would be interested, but then I remembered what I created this blog for.  I want to share the moments of our family with others that care for us, but most importantly, I want a record of the little moments that are always forgotten as time passes and life happens.

Tyler received this text the other day from 2 different friends:


He came to me and said, "Mom, I don't know what to do about this.  I only have seven people in my contact list."  Bo and I discussed it with him and explained that it was just a chain letter/text and could be ignored...blah, blah, blah. Nothing bad was going to happen if he didn't send it, nor did it change his relationship with God.  God loves you anyway, we told him. He had tears in his eyes and said, "But, I feel like I'm letting my friends down.  They must have thought of me as a friend if they sent it to me and it makes me think that they care about me.  If I don't send this back to them, they will think that I don't care about them and I love my friends."  He felt the message must be true since he has been struggling with some things lately and his struggles ceased around the time of receiving it. Obviously, we had a deep conversation with him, and he came to an understanding, but what a heart!

Tyler's compassion gets overlooked at times due to his daily struggles, but this is the real Tyler. He is misunderstood by many. Ty may be a spaz, but he's my spaz, and I love him dearly.

Thank you for allowing me to monopolize your inbox so that I can treasure this memory!

Can I dote for a minute?

I know I'm running really behind on updating the journal (and I'm sorry about that!!), but I just need to take a minute and brag on Tyler.  Let me preface by saying that the only phone calls that I receive from the school are complaints regarding Ty. So, today when my phone rang and identified CMS as the caller, naturally, I cringed.  To my surprise, it was his math teacher calling to report that Ty made a 93 on his math test today.  Although, that is a wonderful grade and we are proud of him for that, I couldn't understand why it warranted a phone call home. He has made higher grades before and I didn't receive a call. Apparently, this test was extremely hard and very few people passed the test at all.  Tyler had the second highest grade in the class. I took the opportunity to ask how Tyler was doing overall and Mr. Young had many good things to say about him, praising him greatly. To some, this might be a normal way of life, but not so much for us.  This was excellent news from the school today!  That is one phone call I didn't mind taking!  Way to go Tyler!

Highlights from the past few months...

A lot has happened since my last post.

Scouting!

In May, Connor and Tyler concluded the 2012-2013 Cub Scouts year.  Connor has stepped up to Bear status.  Tyler completed all of the Cub Scout requirements and crossed over to Boy Scouts.  He also earned the Arrow of Light Award.

Sports!
Connor has played on two baseball teams since the spring.  Over the summer, Tyler decided to try his hand at baseball and joined a team as well.  They both played very well and gained a lot of experience with the summer league.  Currently, Connor is playing on another baseball team and Tyler is playing soccer.  Practices just started last week.  I love watching my boys play sports!

High five for stealing third base!! Go Connor!

                        

Tyler is up to bat!

Vacation!

We spent a week during the summer in Cape San Blas, Florida.  This is our all time favorite place to be.  Typically, we stay for 4 nights.  This year, we took the plunge and stayed a week.  Needless to say, we had a great time!  The weather was beautiful the entire stay.  On the last day, a storm was brewing and drew sharks to the shore and Connor actually caught one with his net! 

Helen, Georgia

With my mom living in South Carolina, Helen is halfway between us. We met there and rented a cabin near the Unicoi State Park. We tubed down the Chattahoochee River, then filled our bellies with a wonderful meal and topped it off with goodies from the candy shop! 

New School Year!
Tyler started the 6th grade.  Connor is a big 3rd grader!   Baylee sure did miss the boys when they started school!  She moped around the house for days.

First day of school

College!

Sarah made the transition to dorm life on August 16th.  She truly has the cutest dorm on her hall!  

Panoramic view

Her classes started on the 19th and she is already smothered in homework and tests.  She says she loves it, though!  So far, she has come home every weekend :)  Yes, I know...that won't last long, but we are soaking it up while we can!

Two Freckle Monogram Boutique!
Sarah is off to college and the boys are getting older.  I considered applying for a part time job, but figured it would be more fun to combine my two loves... sewing and monograms! I love sewing and I love anything monogrammed!  So, I combined the two.  I have been creating the sweetest baby burp cloths, trendy pocket tees, monogrammed tanks and sweatshirts, and adding personalization to kitchen towels, bath towels, beach hats, and so much more.

To see some of the my items, please visit Two Freckle Monogram Boutique on Facebook.  Don't forget to like my page while you are there!

We are very proud of our kiddos!

Connor did very well this year in school.  He received a certificate for "Being the Fastest Reader While Comprehending".  He worked very hard this year to earn that award!  He also received a physical fitness award for improved health and performance. 

_______________________________________________

Ty ended 5th grade with straight A's, perfect attendance, and an award for having the second highest Accelerated Reader points in the 5th grade!  Each semester the kids take tests and earn points on books they have read.  They are required to earn 16 points.  Tyler earned 492!  He did very well on the CRCT this year as well.  A score of 800-849 meets the standard and anything over 850 exceeds.  He scored the following:

Reading: 841
Language Arts: 839
Math: 851
Science: 921 
Social Studies: 843

As you could probably guess, science is his favorite subject!  He also received a class superlative certificate for wittiest classmate.  Seems very fitting for him!

________________________________________________

Sarah graduated with straight A's and a 3.7 GPA.  She is very excited to have earned the HOPE scholarship.  She received a plaque for earning her academic letter (earned for having an A/B average) all four years of high school.  She was nicely decorated on graduation night, too.  The gold cord is for graduating with honors.  The blue and white cord is for serving all four years of high school in HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America)  The medallion is for having over 250 service hours in HOSA.   

Graduation slideshow

A big thank you to Sam, Nanci, Jenny, Bryan, Lauren, Jennifer, Stefan, David, Sherry and Gene for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend Sarah's graduation!!  I created a slideshow of Sarah from birth through graduation night.  You can view it by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef8Syg87M9k&feature=youtu.be