They insist on growing up

I love my daughters. They are the most outstanding teenagers I have ever known. I don't say that because they are my girls, I say it because it is the truth! They don't act like the average teenager. They push themselves to be the best they can in school, sports and every other area of their life. They carry themselves like young ladies and are a best friend to each other. I am filled with happiness when I listen to some of the conversations they have with each other. My hope is that they always continue to be close and be there for each other.

The girls will be 16 & 18 later this year and Chardie is already looking into college applications. She informed me the other night that although she is a Junior, she has signed up for early application/early acceptance with the college she has dreamed of going to since she was 5. She will find out in November if she gets accepted. *sigh* Although I am so proud and I know that she will get in, I feel like she is half way out the door already. Did I mention that the college is local? She insists that she will always be around because she will still crave her mom's good cooking. Of course I will be there to indulge her! 

Now Brie has turned into this mini grown-up overnight. She stand about 3 inches taller than me and shows no signs of the looking like a little girl. She has really grown up so much not just physically but emotionally. Brie is our very intelligent, lively and colorful child. She keeps us entertained! She is also William's go-to person when he gets into trouble. He will go to Brie and explain what he did and tell her how much trouble he is in (very dramatically) Of course big sister eats it all up and consoles him. She doesn't like seeing him get into trouble but you better believe that if she catches him doing something naughty, she will correct him immediately. 

Little William is going to be 4 later this month. Although I have not missed a single milestone (being a stay-at-home mom) my heart still breaks a little seeing him grow up so fast. I am proud of that little boy though. He has met many milestones in the last year. It's funny, just when you think your kid will never do certain things they surprise you and do it BIG! I am trying to get him prepared for kindergarten. Some days I feel like I am doing a great job but most days I feel like I am not doing enough. That's another post for another day. 

I am just so proud of all my children. They are so inspiring and full of light. I take as much time as I can to watch them, listen to them and take in all the greatness they put out in the world. They are going to do very big things in their lives. I feel so fortunate to have such amazing children! 

Before we had Ipads & Pinterest

I was sitting in my office thinking yesterday morning and glanced over at this clipboard. It is not the best looking clipboard at all. As a matter of fact, it is absolutely tacky. It has paint drips, marker smudges and who knows what else on it. Well it turns out that this tacky thing is filled with memories...about 20 years to be exact. You see, this was Dwayne's clipboard in high school. He was very into his office supplies. He even carried a briefcase! During his rap days, he went to visit our local radio station and had DJ Laz from Power 96 autograph it. If you are from Miami you would know what a big deal that was! DJ Laz is still doing his thing.

You can see where I wrote all over it. So high school girl of me huh? Even Dwayne signed his old rap name "D-Smoothe" 

I guess one thing is for sure, we have been together FOREVER!
I hung the clipboard on my office wall. It is very special and will be treasured forever :-) 

Homemade is best

My 15 year old daughter Briahnna recently had a project for her Spanish class in which she had to bring in a food item from a specific country. She was assigned the country of Argentina. She browsed recipes and did her best to pick something that did not require us to have to buy too many ingredients. She chose Alfajores... basically two sugar cookies sandwiched together with dulce de leche (caramel). We almost considered purchasing store bought cookies and caramel but felt like it would have been cheating to do so. All in all, it was a long process of baking in batches and making the caramel filling. It took about 3 1/2 hours altogether. In the end it was well worth it. My daughter felt so proud of what she made and enjoyed her time in the kitchen. As for myself, I was so proud of my budding cook/foodie! She got to see and taste the difference by making something from scratch using high-quality ingredients. Her classmates and teacher enjoyed the cookies and she got an 'A' on the project.

She mixed up a batch of sugar cookie dough and I taught her a simple technique to make each cookie very uniform  in shape and size. 

The dulce de leche took about 2.3 hours to make! It came out really good though. This is one of those things that takes a lot of patience!

Nerds make my day!

I was driving Chardie and Brie to school this morning like I always do. Wednesdays are my favorite because they have late start. This means a little extra sleep and a more relaxed morning. Even before the girls get in the car they start up with all sorts of chatter, jokes and foolishness. Of course being the awesome mom I am, I fully participate in the shenanigans! I laugh myself almost to tears most mornings. This morning the topic was science classes. Chardie had to double up on sciences since she could not fit Biology in her schedule freshman year. So this means both Chardie and Brie take Biology, same teacher but different periods. Brie told Chardie she wishes they could have been in the same class so that they could work on projects together. This is where I intervened. I told them that I know their projects would be the best of the best because of how much they put into every part of it... research, proper grammar, neatness... They both agreed and then made a confession. They said that when they do projects with other students they redo a lot of it. Brie says she saves all the work in her thumb drive and offers to print the project out for the group. What she really does is fix everything that was wrong or correct typos. Both girls admitted that if it was up to them that they would do the whole project themselves so they can get an excellent grade. I tell you what, those girls amaze and inspire me. They care so much about their school work and strive to be the best. Makes me proud. Makes me want to do even better. Most people think I am nuts for driving the kids to school and picking them up since the bus stop is right in front of our house. It costs me a small fortune in gas each week. I don't care. What I get out of our morning conversations in the car is priceless!

School is back in session!

I was up bright and early this morning to take the girls to school. Chardie was the first one off since she has an early bird class. She was ready and very excited to start her junior year.

I came back home and did a few things for about 30 minutes and then I was back in the car going back to the same school to take Brie. I am giving her up to 2 weeks to get acclimated with her new school scene and then she will get dropped off with Chardie. I am not doing all that extra driving if I don't need to!

I leave you with this classic video that parents all over the place are thinking in their heads ;)


Happy Back-to-school!

Freshie!

Here is our high school freshman dressed and ready to start her first day at her new school!
You can't see it but her bands on her braces are in her school colors...orange and blue.

We attended the freshman parent breakfast and it looks like Brie is going to have an amazing year.

Lately...

It has been so hectic around here. I have been all over the place making sure that everyone gets to where they need to be and doing the last minute appointments before school starts back on Monday. Brie starts tomorrow for "Fresh Start" day. It's the day where only the freshman class will be there so that they can get all the basics of their new school. I have been so caught up in getting things done that it hit me... my baby girl is in high school. My. Baby. Girl. :*(

She is so excited and is not nervous at all. I still pass by the middle school every day and get so emotional! We will attend the freshman parent breakfast tomorrow morning. Of course we have been there and done that but you still do it all over again for each of the kids. The girls have been picking out outfits and accessories and of course changing their mind a thousand times! They are both ready for the next chapter in their lives and we can't wait to see what amazing things they do this year. Funny thing, Chardie has been a bit emotional lately. She said that she came to the realization that she is going to be turning 18 next year and she will no longer be a kid. It made her a little sad because she is in no rush to be an adult. I am in no rush for that either! I will post photos of their first day :-)

Update on the girls

Last week was a busy week. The girls completed volleyball tryouts and they both made the team. Chardie will be on Varsity and Brie will play JV and will also get to join in on Varsity practice as well as get a little play time if they need her. They are both pretty happy and are excited about the season. They also picked up their schedules and got all the classes they needed. Remember in past posts how happy I was to finally have both girls in one place so I don't have to be scattered around all over town? Well they will be going to the same school and will playing the same sport except their schedules are very different. One has early bird and the other doesn't. One will have early dismissal second semester and the other one doesn't. So, you know what this means.... yep, scattered around again. We came up with a solution for mornings though. I will take them at the 2 different times for a couple weeks until Brie becomes comfortable with her new school and then she will get dropped off early with her sister. She will be able to go to the library at that time. It still freaks me out that both my girls are in high school! As far as afternoons go I still have about 4 months before that happens. I am looking forward to the girls going back to school in a week so I can focus more on teaching little Will his school lessons at home.

Has school started back in your city yet? Are you prepared?

Oldest child = Guinea pig

I was listening to the girls having a conversation the other day about high school issues. Chardie was explaining to Brie how good she has it since her big sister has already been there and done that. Chardie said that it is not fair that she is the guinea pig for everything and then Brie seems to have things so easy. It is hard being the oldest sibling according to Chardie. You work so hard to figure things out and it seems as if things are just handed to your younger siblings. We always have to remind Chardie that this is nothing new. It has been this way forever and she is not the only big sister to go through it. Hey, at least Brie has an excellent role model! Chardie makes Brie want to be even better. You can't beat that!!

The girls are having volleyball tryouts this week. They are both very excited about it and I look forward to the upcoming season. At least this year I will be at ONE location only. I am SO happy about that!

Have a great week my friends :)

I am so happy that the girls have returned from their volleyball camp in Charleston. They both had a great time and learned a lot. Of course after visiting College of Charleston, they are both considering applying there. I would be fine with that since it is only 2 hours away. It was certainly very quiet with them gone! Well, it's time to go cook them a big ole dinner. Have a great day friends! :-)

Flashback Friday | 1991

This was me back in high school when I was just 17. In those days I wore a size zero and I loved to dress up for school. This shot does not show you how big my hair was in the front! Dwayne took this photo when he decided he would just waltz into my class during the middle of the school day. As you can see I was not exactly happy about it since he popped up and surprised me. Hey, he could have at least given me a heads up so I could be ready. I remember everyone thinking it was so cute of him to take a random picture of his girl. Senior year was amazing! :)

Hmm, I wonder why was I holding my folder while everyone in the background was doing school work?

Throwback: Don't Mess With The Man's Records!

Over the weekend, Dwayne and I cleaned out and organized one of our storage rooms. We came across a lot of things that were keepers and just as many items that were either going to be donated or thrown out. Now if you have been reading Momfiles for a while then you would know that we are really old school. Actually my husband sort of takes old school back way more than I do. We came across billions of cassette tapes...EPMD, Slick Rick, Luke, Vanilla Ice, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Salt 'n Pepa and the list goes on for days. He has a suitcase full along with a few shoes boxes full. He refuses to ever part with them. He tells me if I ever try to get rid of his collection that it will be grounds for divorce! Of course he says this in his Bernie Mac voice.

We had at least a couple dozen mix-tapes. I remember making them off the radio and the DJ always messed up the last part of the song. If you have no idea of what I am talking about then you are a youngen.

After we browsed through some of the tapes we moved on to the records. He has a big box full that he has actually put in his will. I think they will go to William.

I laughed so hard when I saw the Beat Street album. On the left hand side it says "Dwayne AKA Little Wizard" bahahaha! That was his Junior High School dance name.

We sure reminisced over some good times. He has the first album Prince put out and so many other classic artists. Now I need to buy Dwayne a record player.

Do you still have your old cassette tapes or record albums? If you are laughing at us right now, shut it up!

The last jacket this child will ever get

Back in early November Dwayne and I ordered a Letterman's jacket for Chardie since she has expressed numerous times that she really wanted one. She has already lettered twice so we finally broke down and let her get it. As we made the order and picked out the patches, I asked the salesperson what the turnaround time was. He said roughly 6-8 weeks since it was the holidays time. He said that it would be closer to 8 weeks. You should have seen the look on my child's face. I think she was thinking more like 1 week. So for 7 weeks I had to listen to her complain and whine about how her jacket was taking forever. With all I went through having to listen to an impatient teenager I told her that this would be the last jacket she would get for the rest of her high school career. I also informed her that she better wear it all the time since we spent $200 on it. You see, my child is one of those girls that will love something and finally have it and decide that it is not quite her style.

Well the jacket came in on New Year's eve and she has almost not taken it off since then! She is so happy with it. We ordered a size small short since she is a little munchkin. She could not wait to go to school today to show it off. After all, she will be the only girl at her school that has one.

She loves the HUGE volleyball patch with her number on it. It is way bigger than we were expecting actually.
She wanted the embroidered letters for the back instead of the chenille. She is my classic baby.

Of course she has her full first name. She goes by "Char" at school but I think she wanted her full formal name since she is once again my classic baby. I am glad she finally got it so I don't have to hear about it anymore. Oh the things you do for your kids....

First day of school

Well the first day of school is finally here and the girls were up and ready! I charged my camera battery last night because I don't care how old you are, you will get your photo taken. Don't they look so pretty? I am so excited for them and they both have amazing schedules. We are all looking forward to a fantastic school year!

I wonder what will happen

William is very fond of his family. He LOVES his family. Mom, dad, sisters and dog. He asks for everyone at all times of day if he does not see them. He walks back in my bedroom at random times if he thinks he might have heard his dad and will call out "DAAAD!" He wakes up in the morning asking for Chardeeeee... Breeee.... When we are dropping the girls off someplace he sobs and cries out their names. Well school starts back on Thursday and I am so curious to see how he does without his sisters. He really became very attached over the summer. I know he will be fine overall but I am wondering if he will go through any behavioral changes. Well William will have a fun-filled "school year" of his very own. I have big lesson plans for him and will do the best to get him on the road to academic success and also potty training. The potty training will start in a couple months since he really is not showing that he is ready quite yet. Maybe once we get into a new routine with the girls being gone most of the day with school and volleyball, we will factor it in. I am ready to home school my boy and look forward to some great adventures along the way.

Random

It's supposed to be summer break for the kids. They have summer assignments that consume a good bit of their day, everyday. It's as if school did not end. They still have practices and camps so I still drive them all over the place each week. So much for saying good-bye to the carpool line. I'm not complaining. I have not heard the "I'm bored" bit as yet. Of course I am one of those old-school moms that will put your butt to work if you feel you have nothing to do. I think my girls have caught onto that pretty well. Also I have noticed that I am spending less on food. Yes, you read that correctly LESS. I guess since the days aren't as structured as school days I am not forced to buy as much stuff to accommodate breakfast, morning snacks, lunch, afterschool snacks and game snacks. I can get used to this. So how is summertime coming along in your home?

Flashback Friday- The "big hair" days

My BF from High School posted this a few weeks back from the high school days. I kept the beauty supply shop in business with my cans and cans of stiff holding hair spray!

Trashing your school is okay?

I was at Chardie's high school waiting in the carpool area (early of course) and was noticing the vast amounts of trash throughout the parking lot. The trash was made up of primarily of food related items and a lot of fast food bags and cups. The part that was most noticeable is how these fast food bags filled with empty wrappers and napkins were perfectly placed alongside the driver or passenger door in the ground. Only several yards away lies a HUGE metal trash can. It sits there empty. Last I checked, high school students range from ages 14-19. You would think that they know better than to do that. Obviously not. What burns me up is the groundskeeper is left to clean up all that trash do by himself. When Dwayne and I were in high school, students that were caught skipping school, cheating on tests, caught fighting or anything that could result in detention or in-school suspension were forced to do the grounds clean-up (work detail) of the school. We even would have to wake up at the crack on a Saturday morning and report to the school for work detail. It was so humiliating and trust me, you opted to stay away from trouble to not have to endure further work detail duty.

I decided to speak with the nice gentleman and asked if they ever have students help with cleaning up the trash. Sadly he said No and that the teachers, staff and administrators did not care about the matter. It seems they only look at graduating numbers to keep the school up on their quota and maintain a "good rating". Hmm, but these soon-to-be adults can't even show some respect and pride for keeping their school looking nice as well as protecting the environment? I was really pissed off to hear that. He says they get detention and they mostly just sleep. So you skip school and your punishment is to sit in a heated or air conditioned classroom and just chill out? That really sucks. It really, really does.

Glad there was no technology in my days of school

I was driving home this morning after dropping the girls off to school and thought about what school is like in this time and how different it is from my days. Back in my time when report cards came out I would buy myself a good few days to a week before I showed my parents mine. I would hope that none of the other people they worked with would mention that their kids got their report cards. That would be some very stressful days for me! Now in my kids' time, we can read the big flashing sign in front of the school that tells you the exact day report cards come out. You also get an automated call from your principal reminding you about report card day. I must not forget the lovely email reminder as well. Poor kids, they couldn't get away with what some of us could back in the day!

Another great parent tool we have is Parent Portal. This would vary depending on your district but it is a website that you can sign into to check your kids grades, absences and tardies. I have even set up to get emails each time teachers update my child's record with any information. This really keeps you informed and is a great deterrent for if they even think about cutting class. Lucky for me my kids come to me about their school related stuff but you never know if something can get left out on purpose. Boy oh boy am I ever so lucky that there was no real technology in my time!! I'm sure some of you agree ;-)

First day of high school!

Chardonnay started her first day of high school today and we are so thrilled for her. Dwayne and I attended a parent breakfast and got to meet some of the teachers, staff and the her Principal. We feel so confident that she will have an amazing high school career. I am glad that I am not sad at all. I am so overjoyed to watch all my kids grow up and will be excited to see what they become in their adult lives. After all, the goal is to watch them grow up and guide them in a positive direction to become productive citizens. I can barely wait to see her when she gets home today to tell me all the details of her day.

The girl was giddy with excitement! We had to make her calm down and take deep cleansing breaths on the way to school so she would not pass out over being so hyped up!