Around Here...the end of 2014

I cannot believe the year is over! Well I can, but where has time gone? Where have I been the last few months? I feel a bit out of touch right now with this blog and I feel bad I haven't been keeping up lately, but around here things have been very busy and a bit stressful (for a few reasons, but mostly good ones). So to close out the year I'll leave you with a small update on what's been going around here...


Mikey

• Started Middle School and has transitioned fine with a few expected bumps... a new found homework load and responsibility for himself has become a true reality. 

• He has reconnected and rekindled friendships with buddies at his school he hasn't had class with in a few years and all is right in the world again.

• Has turned 12 years old, grew 3inches in the last year, is getting facial hair, and his voice has dropped an octave. Just recently we did not recognize him over the phone! (I have early bloomers and officially no more baby boys)

• He has also auditioned for this year's CHIME winter drama production of Wicked and      landed the lead role of Fiyero, and we can't wait to see him in it in February.

Danny-

• Has thankfully transitioned nicely into high school. He is working hard, getting some great grades and really loving it!

• Joined a social skills intervention program for special needs teens called the PEERS group at CSUN and what a great program that has been for Danny. He has made new friends, has gained a new found confidence and practicing some his new social skills every chance he gets. 

•  He joined the Anime club at school as a direct result and encouragement of this PEERS group. It so nice to see him getting involved at school already and feel some connection with his peers.

• Jerry has started to get him behind the wheel and learning how to drive...a little bit

Christian

I've been grateful that its been an easy transition for our two youngest because honestly this school year has been focused a lot on Chris getting through his Senior year and everything that entails...

• Started his Senior year and in so many ways the beginning of the end of 4 great years of high school at Cleveland Magnet. It seems like yesterday he was just a freshman.

• Learned how to play the snare in order to join and help keep alive the school marching band and was named drum captain. This has been extremely fulfilling for him and will be something he never regret doing. If anything he wished he would have have done it all 4 years.

• Couldn't have made us prouder earlier in the semester than by getting nominated by his school's college counselor for the very prestigious POSSE Scholarship program.  This was a 3 month process of 3 different interview levels and at the end of it all he had been selected as one of the final POSSE Finalists.  Even though he unfortunately did not get this particular scholarship it was truly an achievement in itself!

• Because plan B's are there for a reason- Chris applied to over 11 schools in all and so far has received 7 acceptances letters...Woohoo! We're all feeling blessed to know that he'll have options to fully look at and consider before making a decision as to where he will start college next year. There's a lot to consider including academic programs, location, costs and the results of financial aid, but what's for certain is that there is an ultimate plan that God is unraveling in front of him.

• Other than this he has been enjoying his senior year by attending the school's senior activities with his girlfriend and his best friends, and looking forward to the more exciting ones coming up this next semester, like Prom!

I was determined to get to my Project Life and my One Little Word projects going and guess what...the year's over and neither has really been touched! Ugghh... I've been really disapointed, but in the big scheme of things some things just had to take a back seat.  I am hoping to catch up with them and continue in 2015.

All in all, 2014 has really been a great year and feeling blessed for many things,
but I am looking forward to 2015.

2015 is going to be:
a year of many decisions- some easy, some not, some very exciting!
a year of more performances
a year of exciting moments, proud moments, bitter-sweet moments
a year of cherishing the times we have together and memories made
a year of growth for all of us in faith, maturity, bonding, strength and more importantly Love.
a year of letting go and really letting God!

I'm ready (I think) and I will be keeping you posted as the year progresses of all this new year brings.

In the mean time we'll be celebrating New Year's tonight with family and some good friends, and then finish enjoying our Christmas break together before all goes back to normal.

Thank you all for your continued support and for stopping by to read and follow along.
Your visits mean more to me than you'll ever know.

And to end this 2014 from my little corner.... Have a safe and wonderful New Year!!! 

With Love,

Around Here...Its Catch up Time

Ok, so its finally time to catch you all up on what's been going on around here in these parts of Camachoville in the last few month or so, but there has been so much going on with all the boys that I'm going to tackle each one at a time. This post might be a little late and a little long, but I need to get these events recorded. Its been a big year for all my boys.

Christian
Around here...Christian has just finished up a very difficult Junior year. He took his normal 6 periods which included 2 AP classes, plus a zero period and an independent study Health class. A crazy 8 classes total this year. It has also been a year of an emotional and time consuming curriculum in his Humanities CORE classes. The push for getting ready for college has set in as well and is his current course of action for the summer. The stress is far from over.

But it hasn't been all work and no play for him either. This has truly been such a busy yet exciting year for him, his music and his expanding band playing along with his cousin Jordan (the drummer).  He's been able to find a variety of venues and opportunities to play in the last few months and we've never been so excited to see where he's headed.

Chris has had the opportunity to perform as a solo act at the Guitar Merchant in March which he got a good response from and helped him gain some confidence for his other gigs.  He then had the opportunity to play again at the Pablove's Benefit this year not only in a beautiful duet with his friend, Leah, but he also reunited to perform with his former "Big Brother" band which he had performed with last year at this same event. That had also been Jordan's first performance ever so this was his return to this stage.

Chris and Jordan have found that they are not only super close as cousins, but they work really well together as musicians and have been trying to expand their musical chops together by having joined a band earlier this year, and now have recently split off together to build their own band along with Junior, a former band mate/friend. They've been in the process of writing and co-writing their own originals and have taken a couple of opportunities to do some 'open mic' nights at The Rack in Woodland Hills to get some practice and feedback to perfect their act. They have some gigs coming up this summer they're working on as well so we're all really excited to see where this all goes for them.




Danny
Around here...Danny had a tremendous 8th grade year both socially and academically and it ended amazingly for him as well.  It was so gratifying to see that because of his good grades, he was invited during the last week of school to attend his 8th grade picnic, a recognition ceremony, and a formal 8th grade awards ceremony and of course his Culmination ceremony.

During the recognition ceremony he was awarded 5 certificates of distinction and Danny was so proud of himself as he went up to receive each one.

At the 8th grade Awards Ceremony, we knew he was going to get some kind of an award but didn't know which one, and we were proudly surprised to find that he had been chosen by his teachers to be awarded two separate awards- The Optimist Award and the Lynn Stern Memorial Award. We were beyond proud and he was happy to see first hand just how well hard work pays off.

 His 8th grade Culmination ceremony was short, sweet and beyond emotional for me. Danny so ready for this day. He looked soo handsome, felt great and he showed it. His beaming smile as he proudly held his certificate said it all, and he let us know from his seat that he knew he had accomplished something big for himself, and it turned me into mush to say the least. He is ready and very excited about going to Cleveland High School along side Christian at least for one year together and we can't wait to see what he'll accomplish while he's there.

Mikey
Around here...our little Mike also had a great last year in elementary school. His teachers made it possible for him and all his classmates to have a very exciting 5th grade year that included class elections, plenty of fieldtrips, an annual project, a 5th grade Disneyland trip, a 5th grade hockey game, and a beautiful band recital in which he played the saxaphone and performed a song he co-wrote with 2 friends. They fit in A LOT of events and made tons of last year memories together.

One of the projects Mikey took on for himself was to once again join the spring drama club to do a play called Starship (about a bug who wants to be a human starship ranger)  in which he played the role of Tootsie Noodle. We were once again taken by surprise to see Mikey's personality shine in this role which included beautifully singing a ballad with his love interest 'Mega Girl.' (wink, wink). He really does well in drama and his drama teachers loved what he did with his role. We can't wait to see what other roles he'll take up in the years to come. He's an artist in the making.

At CHIME, the 5th graders participate in a 'Step Up' ceremony of sorts as they cross from elementary school to middle school which he'll be attending next year. They have a wonderful tradition of allowing the children who wish to do so, to say end of the year speeches to express there feelings about there experience at CHIME and Mikey was one of those kids. He was funny, articulate and took a chance to thank his teachers and his friends for all the great years he's had so far at CHIME and that he was looking forward to having 3 more years to go.


Ok, so there it is. I finally feel like I caught you all up and in good conscience can move on to our summer activities ;) Time is going by so fast that its hard to keep up with everything that's going on, but we're trying to enjoy every minute we have together.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're all enjoying your summer too.

From my corner to yours...see you again soon!

Around here...small celebrations

The last few weeks have been super busy, but full of parental satisfactions and some celebrating. To some it might not be a big deal but around here, in our house, it really is.

Around here...

Danny has been having a wonderful school year.  Danny has never been too fond of going to school, but like everything else with Danny, something has clicked this year in him and he has stepped it up for himself. He has been showing himself just what he's been capable of doing, and realizing the importance of good grades and is striving to get them.

This attitude has paid off for him in the last few weeks. Two weeks ago Danny got in the car after school with a huge smile on his face and a medal in hand. During the 8th grade pinning ceremony he received a pin for no "U's" on his report card and then he pulls out this medal from his shirt. He says he then got a medal for being the best student in his US History Class. He wasn't the only one, but it doesn't matter. He was recognized for his achievements. Way to go Danny!
                                                                                                                                                    

The following week, Mikey was recognized with a "Kindness" award! At CHIME, each month a different character trait is focused on and January's trait was Kindness, so Mikey and 2 other children were handpicked by their classmates as students who have demonstrated this character the most this month. Its supposed to be a surprise for them, but once Mikey saw me there he knew he was getting an award, lol. We are so proud of Mikey, and we are not surprised whatsoever that Mikey would have been picked for this award because he truly has a heart of gold and is always kind both at school as well as at home. Well done, Mikey!
















And the accolades keep coming for Danny...

This past Friday was the Honor Roll ceremony at Danny's school, and the letter we received said it was for Honors and High Honor recipients. I'll be honest, Jerry and I didn't know where Danny was going to fall, but I'm going to admit that we assumed he was on the Honor roll for GPA's from 3.0-3.4. We were excited nonetheless because that still would have been an accomplishment for D of course! But to our overwhelming surprise we witnessed and realized when they called his name that he was actually a High Honor Roll recipient. WHAT??!! Wait a minute...Danny had received a 3.86 GPA and was in fact in the High Honor Roll. OMG!! As you can imagine, we were speechless and overcome with so much pride and emotion.


 

Christian, has had a crazy 11th grade year. Its been a tough one for sure.  Just to give you an idea- He is juggling 7 classes, he's been recently named the Senior Editor for the beginning journalism newspaper for his school, he's part of a band outside of school, and has a beautiful girlfriend he likes to hang out with. (Yes! A girlfriend, but that is a conversation for later, lol). And on top of all this, he is getting ready to take 2 AP tests, and has just scheduled to take both his SAT and ACT tests in March and April test because the college application process is beginning in this household as well!  Phew...it really is a lot to handle but he is holding up and striving to keep up his grades and be able to have a normal teenage life at the same time. Jerry and I talk about how we don't remember life being so complicated at this age, but things have definitely changed since then.

Its TAX SEASON again!!! So what does that mean at our household? That Jerry is once again working really long hours, including weekends to do work on people's tax returns before April 15th deadline. This is unfortunately not something new for us, and has become a yearly expected routine, but it is hard to know that he is working soo many hours without much of a break. But Jerry is always working hard for us, and does it willingly and I can't tell him just how much we appreciate him for all he does. We always try to do something special when the season is over to celebrate so we look forward to that. Thank you Babe always and we love you!

So that's it for around here. 

A few moments to celebrate and acknowledge for all my boys. I love them soo much to say the least!

 However, there is always something going on, and as far as for me- I am always working on something new and creative as well, and the sewing machine has surfaced once again, but I will be sharing those things with you sometime soon. ;)

Looking forward to what February might bring, and we're excited to start

 this month off by celebrating our niece's 1st B-day this weekend. YAY!

From my corner to yours...Thanks for stopping by!