School's Out!

The kids get out of school here really early. Our last day was May 19th. Shortest. School year. Ever. That's what we get for moving in the middle of the school year, I guess. It was a bit of challenge for Hayden, as he is our only High Schooler. Many people move in the middle of the school year. I wish it was easier for kids to transfer. Our school in Washington started in September, semester end was the end of January, and then last day will be June 25th. They took six classes that for the most part lasted the entire school year. Hayden was taking Advanced English, AP Biology, AP World History, Adv Algebra/Trig, German 2 and Orchestra. He was excelling in all six classes and has maintained a 4.0 throughout high school--actually pretty much his entire life. Until now. Sad day.

The schools here start in the beginning of August, semester ends before winter break, and then the end of the school year is in May. They take four classes per semester and the classes cover the entire year in one semester. So it was really hard to transfer in.

• He had to drop AP World History because it isn't offered at our High School. He still ended up taking the AP exam, we'll see how he did in a month or so.
• He had to drop orchestra because there wasn't room in his schedule!
• He is the only Sophomore in AP Biology. I guess they aren't allowed to take AP classes until Junior year here.
• His advanced English class is called "AIMS" here. I think it's a program they have to test into. Since he was in a similar program in elementary school, he was able to move right in. It is a lot of work, but he didn't think it was any harder than his honors classes in his old school.
• He had to ride a shuttle to a different school to take German. They don't offer it at his school. So now he has two years foreign language. Next year they won't have the shuttle. I think he's supposed to do three years foreign language for college? Problem.
• Math was really hard. He missed learning about several topics and had to pick it up on his own, or by asking for help after school. It's hard to transfer into a math class mid year. You just aren't sure what you've missed! Not all programs teach the subjects in the same sequence. This has been a huge stress for him.

He was able to do great in all of his classes, considering that he moved right after end of semester in Washington (which was beginning of fourth quarter here). He got a high A in Biology, an A in English and an A in German. But that math class was killing him. I know he could've done it if he hadn't moved in the middle of the school year. I feel bad for him. His first B. But he is okay, and ready for next school year. Some other things that made his last month of school really stressful:

• He was running on track, so he didn't get home from school until about 5.
• Early morning seminary. He loves it, but he also had one month less to finish memorizing all the scripture masteries and finish reading the Doctrine and Covenants so that he could honor.
• Mutual one night a week, violin lessons one night a week, Family Home Evening one night a week. It made for some late night homework.
• Violin audition. He auditioned for the Phoenix Youth Symphony. The excerpts he had to prepare were really hard. Really, really hard.
• Lifeguarding. He started working a couple weeks before school got out. So the day after track ended, he started working. He would go right after school, and not get home until 6:45. Add in everything else, and it made for no free time.

I think I was more stressed out about his life than he was. Those weeks when he needed to spend every minute studying, he wasn't able to. But he did his best and ended up with an 88 in the class. Unfortunately, their GPA doesn't count pluses or minuses, so an 88 is just a B. Not a B plus. So now he has a B on his GPA. But he is a great kid, a well rounded student, and a hard worker, so I'm hoping the GPA won't affect his scholarship potential.

And now that the stress is behind us, and all he is doing is lifeguarding (and finally having a social life!), it's all good.

A post I meant to do long, long ago

Sometime near the end of February, when Hayden was still in Washington, but the rest of the family was down here in Arizona, I received this picture text from him.

That is the view of the road on the way home from school. Notice the snow.

I laughed and replied, "Don't worry, you'll be down here soon and wearing shorts every day!"

He then texted me this picture.

I couldn't stop laughing.

Father and Son campout

The one consolation to having mostly sons is the Father and Son Campout. One night a year, dad takes the five boys camping while mom and Regan do girl stuff. While we were in Washington they had a family campout instead of a father and sons. While we did enjoy the family campout, Regan and I missed out on our girl time. So imagine our elation as Dix packed up the boys and headed out at 9 am on a Friday morning.

Hayden couldn't go because he had to work on Saturday morning.

But other than that, we had a perfect weekend planned. Skipped school, plenty of chocolate, a craft night at the church, girlie movies. It was perfectly planned. And it was going beautifully.

Until Porter called me at about 11 am. He was lost. They got to camp, and Porter wandered off to go exploring. By himself. Dixon's phone was dead or out of range, or more likely, both. But Porter had his phone.

So much for my quiet day.

We kept talking and texting pretty much for the four hours that he was lost. Yes. Four hours. And Dix didn't even notice that he was gone. So here are some of the things that he texted me: (I'm not fixing the grammar or spelling. This is just what I read. )

After me asking if he was okay:

1:48--Yes im just stressed out

2:33--I'm going to eat some pine needles. (His survivor mode took over and made the stressed out mode go away.)

2:35--Can you look up to see if a century plant is edible?

After I answered yes, he asked, "Ol dead ones too?"

I then proceeded to help him find the camp by him describing the landmarks and Hayden and I (because he was home from school at this point) trying to direct him to the camp using google earth. Keep in mind that we didn't know exactly where the camp was. (Blind leading the blind?)

I told him to head north on the road.

2:51--It's only going east and west. (I could tell he wasn't stressed anymore. He used an apostrophe.)

2:58--K i was just going east. Is there any water?

Did I mention that all he had on him was his phone and a knife? No water. We live in Arizona. Not good. After three hours, he was getting desperate for a drink.

3:02--Can i eat prickly pear "leaves"?

I of course googled it, and told him that yes, yes he could. Hayden proceeded to run out to the desert to try some at the same time so that he could experience it, too. Silly boy.

3:36--I turned around and now the cliff canyon ravine riverbed tjing is to my right and im jeading towards the sun

Dix finally got the frantic messages that I left him. He called Porter.

3:44--He called me

Dix drove around the camp honking the horn until Porter popped up out of ravine. Good times. But so much for a peaceful weekend!

Later that day--"I was only half a mile away from camp when hayden told me to turn around:(

Just for the record, Porter filtered some nasty water from a lake/pond/big puddle with his shirt so he could drink it. And he found a tin can and cut it in half in preparation to use it to catch/drink his urine. Seriously. This kid is a survivor.

A Picture of My Mom--by Turner

My mom's name is Leslie.

My mom is 39 years old.

My mom likes to.....(blank)

My mom has her eyes. (Still laughing. He's pretty literal)

My mom weighs this much: 20 sec.

My mom's birthday is on.....(blank)

My mom was born in....(blank)

My mom's favorite food is....(blank)

My mom likes to help me at silverwier (one of his chores is emptying the silverware)

My mom is the best at chess. Hahaha. That's why he beats me every day. I guess he's trying to butter me up because if I don't play with him, he's stuck with Cooper. :)

You gotta love kids. Especially this kid.