Here He Comes!

Henry, that is.  To high school.

Last week Henry brought home a form to choose some of his classes for next year, when he'll be a freshman in high school.  It's crazy to me that he's growing up so fast.  I know that lots of people who are our (Jay and I) age have kids in college or married or are even grandparents, but not us.  We are at the beginning of the teenage years for our kids.

So far, it's been good.  Henry is a good kid who makes (mostly) good decisions.  He has good friends and does well in school.  He thinks about his future some, as evidenced by some of the classes he is choosing to take next year.  I think high school will be good for him.

William is growing up as well.   He just earned his first merit badge for Boy Scouts.  He attended the 5th grade Maturation Program at school.  He escorted two nice young ladies to the Valentine's Tea at his school and squared danced with another.  As much as he complained about most of these events he seemed to enjoy them.  It's a good lesson - sometimes you have to do things that you might not choose to do, but you should always make the best of whatever situation you find yourself in.

At least that's what we keep telling him.

All I Want...

..is money to save for something that my mom and dad won't buy me because it costs more than they would spend.  At least that seems to be the philosophy that Henry, William and Tessa have adopted.  Which is fine with me in a lot of ways.  

For Christmas both grandmas gave them money.  No it's not the same as opening up a fun toy or other gift.  But it allows them to save for a bigger or more expensive gift than they would normally receive.  

After Christmas Henry decided to buy a Jazz jersey for one of their new, talented players.  Obviously Jay and I buy him clothes but I'm not spending $60 on a shirt for a 13 year old boy.  Henry was happy to save for the jersey, however and buy it himself.  

William had birthday and Christmas money to spend so he went with a new telescope:

It's nicer than the starter telescope that he got a few years ago and he loves it.  He spends hours looking at star charts and trying to figure out where different objects in the sky are located.  He's been able to pick out Mars as it rose just after sunset.  He can't wait to take it to Moab in April when Jay takes the boys camping for a few nights in Arches National Park.  It has been a great gift for him. 

Tessa had saved lots of her allowance and between that and Christmas money she bought a new American Girl doll:

Her name is Grace and she is the 2015 Girl of the Year.  She is a baker and an entrepreneur and apparently has a movie coming out later this year in which she takes a trip to Paris.  Tessa bought a little accessories kit to go with Grace and it came with her cute beret, some tiny little postcards from Paris and some little plastic macaroons.  Tessa is very happy with her and has enjoyed playing with her so far.

Now they are all broke however so it's time to start saving again.  That's OK.  We don't have room for another telescope anyway.

5 Year Anniversary

Today is the 5th anniversary of Henry's big thyroid surgery and cancer diagnosis.  In some ways I can't believe it's been 5 years and in some ways it doesn't seem like it ever happened.  

Henry is fine.  He is healthy.  He does whatever he wants to do.  Every morning he takes his thyroid pill.  Every six to twelve months he has blood work and doctors appointments.  The thyroid pill is easy and he is really good to remember to take it every day, first thing.  The blood work is more painful and anxiety inducing but it's never as bad as he thinks it is going to be and we push through it.  I sometimes worry about the results of his blood tests but they have never been anything other than normal; if they are off a bit, it only means a tweak in medication dosage.  No big deal.

So, five year later, we have this:

Happy Anniversary!

White Christmas

We have had a fairly mild and dry late fall, early winter so far.  Today we woke up to this:

Henry was running a fever, so it was good that we didn't have any big plans.  Last night we hunkered down and watched A Christmas Story:



Today we stayed home and hung out.  Jay made a yummy dinner and Henry took a two hour nap, as he was still feverish.  He seems to be on the mend, however, and is currently engaging in a Madden Tournament with Jay and William while Tessa and I stay clear upstairs.


We didn't do a ton of gifts this year but everyone got something that they had asked for and enjoys.  We were able to spend the day together with a minimum of arguing.  We had good food and plenty of treats.  It was nice.

Merry Christmas!

Summit School Happenings

We absolutely love the elementary school that William and Tessa attend.  The teachers and staff are amazing and we have had so many good experiences at Summit.  Both William and Tessa have had fun activities this month.

William is in the Gifted and Talented program at Summit and had to do a research project on a subject of his choice.  This year his topic was the French Revolution.  He did a lot of research and wrote a two page paper on the subject.  The culmination was a presenting a PowerPoint presentation on the subject to his 5th grade class.  He did a great job!

Tessa's 3rd Grade teacher has spent a bit of time during December teaching the kids about The Nutcracker.  They wrote reports, learned about dance and music and decorated their classroom with a nutcracker theme.  Today they performed a version of the story.  They all had parts with costumes.  Tessa was Marie/Clara and she did a great job!

We are so lucky to attend Summit Elementary!

William's 11th Birthday

Today is William's 11th Birthday.  To commemorate the occasion I decided to write down a few things about William as he turns 11.

• He is the most curious kid I know.  He is interested in so many things and takes the time to learn about them on his own time.  His interests are diverse and include sports, video games, astronomy, history and coin collecting.  
• He has been dying for his own electronic device and received an iPod touch for his birthday.  So far he loves it, although I hope it doesn't get too crazy.  This morning I called him upstairs to get ready for school and he texted me that he was coming.  Sigh.
• He is funny.  And not just funny as in "ha, ha" funny.  He is clever and creative when it comes to his sense of humor.  Anyone who knows William at all can attest to that.
• He is looking forward to going to middle school next year.  I'm not looking forward to having three kids at three different schools, but William is excited.

William is such a great kid.  He never wants a birthday party - he just wants to go out to dinner with our family.  This year he chose Buffalo Wild Wings.  Tonight we are having a cheesecake for his birthday dessert - no regular birthday cake for William!  

I kind of feel bad that he almost always has school on his birthday so it makes it hard to fit everything in on his actual birthday.  But he seems to like having his birthday dinner the weekend before, opening his gifts the night before (so he doesn't have to wait until the night of his birthday) and having cake (or cheesecake) after dinner on his actual birthday.  It kind of turns into William's birthday week of celebrating, which is fun.  

Happy birthday, William.  We love you!

Store Bought Mom

Hey, look at that.  I took pictures at Halloween.  Notice that the only costumed Wright this year was Tessa (as Hermione from the Harry Potter books).  The Wright kids are getting older, I guess.

I was able to help with Tessa's class party this year.  When Henry was little class parties stressed me out but at this point I'm pretty chill about it.  Lots of moms are willing to help so all I had to do was organize and buy treats.  I went with pumpkin shaped sugar cookies and frosting from a local store.  The kids were able to decorate their cookies and eat or take them home.  It was fun.

One of the kids asked me if I made the frosting for the cookies.  Before I could answer, Tessa piped up and said, "no.  She's more of a store-bought mom."

Yep.  That's me.  But at least I bring cookies from the store.