silhouettes

With the wide open spaces out in North Dakota, I had some fun with sunsets and silhouettes.

so many blessings

I feel like this school year is off to such a great start.

Cassidy's school teacher reported that she has not noticed the confidence issues she had last year. Instead of getting upset and crying when she doesn't understand what to do, she has been able to 'dig right in' to writing assignments and projects.  We are so glad to see that she is starting to feel more confident in herself.  She continues to be the most organized of the four children, and is frequently ready for school waaaaaay before her siblings are.  She has also found confidence in her piano studies!  The other day she got a nice card from her piano teacher praising her efforts and her positive attitude and patience with herself.  She had been struggling with this, and breaking down and crying last year.  She seems to be coming out of this and is playing much more confidently.

Lucy is such a great, hard worker.  She tries so hard to succeed and to be a good girl.  The other day she came home in tears because she was talking and had to move her behavior chart clip down. When I went to sign her binder, I was expecting to see her chart at a lower 'needs work' level.  Um, no. Instead of being at the highest it could be, it was one down from the top.  I think she holds herself to a high standard! A little reassurance and a hug went a long way.

The other day I got an email from her teacher. The subject was: "This is a secret..."  I was curious, so I opened it up and this is what I read:

"Hey there...I just wanted to let you know I have chosen Lucy for our "Superstar" for the month of September. She is always prepared, engaged, enthusiastic, and above ready to learn every day. We will have a celebration ceremony on Thursday, Sept 29 at I believe 2:30. I will let you know if it is any different. If you would like to come and see her receive her "award" for this, please feel free to do so. I also believe we will be having some homecoming festivities here from 2-3 as well and you could stay and watch that as well if you have time. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks and I really appreciate her wonderful attitude in class!!!"

WOW!  I get to go this afternoon to see her receive this award.  I am so proud of my LuBelle!!

And Jack.  Along with all of the advancements in church has come a new found excitement for him. He is no longer with the little kids; he is with the young men.  He gets excited to put his scout shirt on and to be a part of his young men's group and cub scout troop.  He also seems to be finding out that hard work pays off.  He has never been a great student in school... I think that a lack in focus and motivation has been his biggest downfall.  This year he started leaving papers with really good grades around for us to see.... and came home with a few tests too!  He has a harder time relaxing to take tests, so this is very encouraging.

Along with all of these successes, comes positive praise.  He had a setback yesterday and some of that positive energy left for a while.... after things cooled off that evening he came to me and asked for, then gave me a huge hug and told me he didn't want that to happen again.  He noticed a difference in the spirit of our home... because of something that was initiated by him... one that he didn't like.  I am hoping that we can keep the positive energy rolling, and that now that he has had a taste of how good it feels to get praise and positive attention, he will keep applying himself and doing his best to focus and buckle down even when things get difficult.

Oh, and one more thing that absolutely made my day.  He has been telling me about his 'Music for Me' class and how it is fun because all of his goofball friends are in it with him.  He said they get a little rowdy sometimes in there... I warned him to be a good kid.  Well my phone rang last week and when I heard it was his music teacher on my voicemail my stomach dropped.  All I could think about was how he told me they were a little rowdy.

'Hi Mrs. Lindner, I just wanted to let you know that I have Jack in my 'Music For Me' class and today I was so proud of him.' (Waaaaaait... what?)  It gets better...

'He volunteered to sing a solo in front of the class for a little game we were playing.  I was really impressed with his willingness to do this and by his attitude in class.  He is a really good kid, and he has a very good voice.  I really hope to see him in Chorus some day.'

Hallelujah!  My kid- who we knew had a good voice but who refused to sing in church in Primary with the 'babies'- all of a sudden turns 12, goes to middle school, is a good kid even when his buddies are rowdy and VOLUNTEERS TO SING A SOLO?!?  Needless to say I was in tears I was so excited and proud to hear that teacher's message. I played the message a few more times, and then hugged him repeatedly. He sat there beaming.

If there is one thing I have learned with him the past month or so, it is that a little positive reinforcement goes a long way.  I am sad to think of all of the scolding and negativity that I projected towards him when we struggled over the past few years... way too much...I think back and feel bad.  I guess we are all learning together.  Him, how to be a productive student, church member and family member. Me, how to be a better parent.  I really hope we have something started that we can hang onto and use now.  Neither of us need to be perfect, as long as we are trying our best.  We will have our ups and downs but now that I have seen the stark contrast, I am going to do my darnedest to be as positive as I can even when we hit a valley. And I really think he will too.

life on the farm

I did my best to capture some 'everyday moments' on our vacation.  Honestly, candids happen to be my favorite kind of photo... capturing genuine emotion and personality and telling a story all by themselves.

stars

I am a newbie to nighttime photography, so these could be a little crisper images, but when you look at all of the tiny twinkling dots of light on these images, it is a little mind-blowing. Some are brighter than others, some white while others have a golden hue.... and did I perhaps catch a bit of the milky way?  Honestly I don't know but the whiteish haze is pretty cool too.

soda coma

Isaac got very used to helping himself to soda in Aunt Hiedi's Cafe.  When he figured out he was just the right height to reach the fountain, he figured it was fair game.  We joked about it quite a bit, and tried to limit him but just when we would turn our backs to help Hiedi with something around the cafe, the next time we'd find him, he have a glass.... OR TWO in his hands.

One night during dinner I looked over and Isaac was like this:

 And sure enough, when I checked, he had fallen asleep (passed out? ;) ) just like this.  We were pretty sure- and the joke from then on out was- that he had put himself into a soda coma.  It was also very likely that his vacation was exhausting!

corn fields

There are lots of cornfields out in North Dakota!  (Okay understatement of the year.)  It was super neat to be able to go out to a field and pick corn, then to cook it and eat it like 15 minutes later.  The variety of corn we picked was called 'peaches and cream' and it is just as sweet as its name claims. The kids enjoyed the experience of picking corn and we were lucky enough to bring some back with us to freeze.  Now all winter long we can enjoy that sweet corn, and the sweet memories of where it came from.