Kate finishes another Girls On The Run Season April 26, 2009
Posted by irisia in kate, Kate accomplishments.Tags: Girls on the Run
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Yesterday, Kate ran her 5K for her Girls On The Run spring season 2009. Our school had 2 groups this time since we had so many girls who wanted to participate. I would say we have about 40 girls in the program this Spring. Kate ran the 5K. It was such a beautiful day. They had balloons, tables with fun and educational information, medals for all the girls, etc. It was really such a joy and a treat. I forgot my camera but I’m going to try to hunt down some pictures. I’m proud of her. She had a tough time running and did a lot of walking but she was super and we both had a great day.
I found this picture from the fall ’08 GOTR. Howard said she ran a little bit more at the last run but he said he had to push her a lot. He laments that she only does it to socialize but we both know that’s important also. I love their goal: “encourage girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running… addressing their physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual well-being.”
This is SO sweet. Kate makes me a .PPT to say sorry April 4, 2009
Posted by irisia in kate, mom.Tags: daughters apologize, funny spelling mistakes, funny spelling mistakes kids, kids apologize, kids spelling mistakes
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The last few weeks with Kate have been rough. She’s only 8 but she has been acting spoiled and a little rotten. He has not been grateful and she has said some things that are just very shallow and disappointing. So I’ve been getting on her case. Some times I’ll ask her to apologize. Some times I’ll tell her it was wrong. But, it’s been so many times that half the time, I’ve just been calling her bratty or sassy and telling her I’m disappointed in her. She’s SUCH a sensitive child so the fact that she has not been phased by me going as far as calling her bratty really surprised me.
So this morning, she was sitting in the office working on the computer. She kept telling me not to come in. Turns out, she made a PowerPoint presentation that was beautiful. It had all this beautiful clip-art with hearts and pictures of moms and daughters. The very best part was the last page:
Periodically, I will tell the kids that I carried them in my womb for NINE LONG MONTHS. I guess Kate did not know how to spell womb. I love the beautiful way she spelled it. Matt came by and told her to hit the spell check. I told him, not on his life. She’s only 8 and this is coming totally from the heart. That’s what makes it even more endearing.
Kate gets her first A honor roll March 17, 2009
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I am so excited that Kate got her first A honor roll. I knew she could do it but I’m not sure she knew she could. I’m such a strong believer that truly believing you can do it is one of the biggest factors in success with grades – this and talking to the teacher. I believe teachers work harder with the students that they think care more. It took me until my second semester of college to get straight A’s – partly because I felt it was more important to my father than it was to me, and partly because the belief that it was more important to my father led to the bad grades which led to me believing that I really was dumb.
One thing that drives me crazy is when I asked the kids “how did you do on your test” and they say – “I don’t know, I haven’t received my grade yet.” So I say to them, I’m not asking you your grade, I’m asking how you think you did. To them, I may as well be speaking a foreign language. They can’t possibly fathom how I can expect them to have a magic ball and figure out ahead of time what their grade is going to be. They think I’m mad to ask them to predict the future. But I’m really asking them to tell me about the past. When they saw the questions, they were either certain of the answers, had absolutely no idea, or were somewhere inbetween. Perhaps I will spell it out to them this way and see what they say.
I’m so proud of Kate. I hope she keeps doing this.
Kate goes to the Valentines Dance February 15, 2009
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I took a couple quick snapshots of Kate at the Valentines Dance.
Kate
Kate and Rose
Kate has a rash that I can’t figure out for the life of me February 13, 2009
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Kate cam down with a rash on Sunday night which is not a big thing. But this rash got worse and worse. In some spots it was solid red. In others it was raised bumps. In other places it was just red spots with no raised area and she was scratching like crazy. She went to school Monday but when she came home, it looked terrible. Monday night it got a lot worse and was all over her face. So I kept her home Tuesday. Then Tuesday night it got worse again and her face was all puffed up with red everywhere. So I kept her home again on Wednesday. She also started to run a fever so I took her to the doctor. He said it was hives from contact with something and that it would run its course. Wednesday night, we had her sleep in our bed since she always seemed to get so bad at night. We had changed her sheets the night before on her bed and it didn’t make any difference. After that night, she was much better. So I took her to school on Thursday. OK, here’s the wierd part. She was pretty good on Thursday. Then, we came home. She went outside to sit on the porch for about 20 minutes. She had a friend with her and was eating an orange. She came in and was the worst she had looked. We thought it was very unlikely that she was allergic to her friend or the orange. Then she came up with the theory that it could be the soap they used on the dog at grooming. yesterday was Annie’s 4th birthday and we hugged her all day. I need ideas about what this could be.
Jack volunteers 8 hours and Kate volunteers 5 at the BBQ sale February 9, 2009
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The boy scouts had the annual BBQ sale fundraiser. Jack volunteered 8 hours over the span of 2 days. But, lil’ Kate volunteered for 5 hours!! Really she was just going with Howard since I had to go out of town. But, what a trooper for an 8-yr old to hang out at a fund-raiser for 5 hours straight. I hope she gets the same bug for community service.
I had a great time cheering today. January 11, 2009
Posted by irisia in kate.Tags: cheerleading coach, silly coach cheers more than girls
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So today, I was just really in the mood to watch basketball and cheer. When the got there, the games were running behind and it was not even half way through the previous game. So I sat down on the bench and cheered for the younger kids. It was the 6-7 age group and they were really good for that age. They had a LOT of heart. There was one young girl who I remember coming to signups and trying to decide whether to sign up for cheerleading or basketball. She was playing basketball and she was great. She even made a free throw. It’s hard to imagine being about 4 feet tall, throwing a ball from that far away and making the basket. That’s just awesome. So for our game, I was having so much cheering, I stayed down on the bench and cheered instead of sitting on one of the upper benches and being a coach. The funny thing is I had been trying to remember our cheers from highschool forever since we don’t have a lot of cheers. Several good ones came back to me. We cheered for the 8-9 year olds. They didn’t win because they weren’t good shooters. But they were good at defense and they kept the ball on our side of the court quite a bit. I know I looked like a total fool when I was the only one who jumped off the been with a whoop and a hooray bouncing up and down several time when our guy made a free throw but I figured it could have the benefit of showing the girls how to really get into the game. They’re young so they cheer somewhat rotely going through the words and the actions. But the real joy of cheering is in enjoying the game and really putting a roar in the crowd to give some juice to the players.
Kate wins the Terrific Kid award sponsored by Kiwanis Club December 13, 2008
Posted by irisia in kate, Kate accomplishments, Kate school.Tags: kiwanis club terrific kid
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We received this beautiful certificate/invitation a week ago stating that Kate was named the Terriffic Kid in her class and she was invited to a terrific kid awards banquet at the school one week later. The parents were invited and there was a wonderful buffet breakfast. Only one child was chosen from each class based on citizenship, academic improvement or one other category which I can’t remember. The children were chosen mostly by their teacher but some were peer selected. When the awards were given, the school counselor read what the teacher or children wrote. The kids were given a certificate, a button to wear, and a packet with other items including a couple gift certificates for pizza and ice cream.
With a 5K at Marvin Ridge, Kate finishes Girls on the Run December 7, 2008
Posted by irisia in kate, Kate accomplishments.Tags: Girls on the Run
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Yesterday, Kate ran and walked her 5K for Girls on the Run. She has worked on this all semester with 2 practices each week. She got a huge cut on her knee the Thursday befor the hike on Saturday which makes it tough because if the scab cracks, it would be very painful. But, she did a great job. Howard got to run with her. Matt was great by meeting them at certain way points with a hoorah. Howard said the paper took a picture and asked for her name. It would be great if she would get her picture in the paper. Go Kate!
