Mitchell's Birthday!

August 28th, 2008, Mitchell turned 15 years old.

Mitchell is my first child, he is my parent's and his dad's parent's first grandchild, he is Grandma Sweeney's first great-grandchild, he is the one that made Toni, Amy, Sarah & Julie aunts and he made Michael, Joe, Daniel, Jacob & David uncles. He is a pretty special boy. He has an important part to play in our family.

He changed my life 15 years ago arriving on the day he was due by emergency C-Section at 8:07am. As a baby he was anxious to walk and move like everyone else in his life. He got frustrated when he couldn't do it quick enough. Mitchell always wore a smile when he was a toddler. He loved to be chased around the house and to be tickled.

But now he is a big 15 year old teenager. He is 5 foot 11 inches tall. Just last week I chased him around the house and up and down the stairs. He loved it! He hates being tickled now but loves to flash his cute smile. Despite the typical challenges teenagers bring to one's life, Mitchell is a pretty good kid.

For his birthday we went to Arriba's Mexican Grill for a delicious dinner. We all ate too much food and went home stuffed.

Next, we opened the exciting cards sent by Grandma & Gramps, Great-Grandma Sweeney, and Nana & Popo. Then he opened the big gifts. Mitchell enjoys BMX biking and there is a track a few miles away from our home. So his first gift was biking pants and shirt to wear at the track.

The next gift was Guitar Hero and an extra wireless guitar. Grant was probably more excited about this gift than Mitchell. Grant was with me when I bought it. So he had to keep it a secret for a whole week. He begged me to let him tell Mitchell what it was before Mitchell opened the gift. Guitar Hero has been a big hit at our home ever since. This may shock you, but I even played it and I never play video games!

The boys are pretty intense when they are playing. Lastly, we had Lucious Angel Roll. This was Mitchell's special request dessert. It is angel food cake rolled up with a lemon, cream cheese, whipped topping and strawberry filling. It is very YUMMY!

The School Adventure

Today was the first day of school for the boys and I. What a busy day!

Mitchell starts school at 7:30am at Corona del Sol High School. The streets around the high school were packed with cars. I wasn't sure if they were parents dropping off their kids or if these were students driving to school. It was a very busy place. Mitchell states that he had a pretty good first day. None of the kids he met at church are in any of his classes but he ran into some of them at lunch. Mitchell no longer has to take early morning seminary. Seminary is one of his classes during the day. He gets "release time" to go to the seminary building which is down the street from the school. One day down, only 179 to go!

I'm pretty sure he is awake in this picture.

Grant wanted to take the bus to school. His bus stop is 0.06 miles from the house. Not a far walk. Lucky! The bus was there right on time - 7:48am. Grant is in 6th grade at Pueblo Middle School. His frist day didn't go as well as he liked. There was an annoying kid in his band class and he wanted more food in his lunch box. He also seems to be having some conflict with one of his teachers. This was not the fresh start he stated he wanted to have. Brent and I spoke with him tonight about how to have better day tomorrow and that he can still have a good school year. Unfortunately, he was stuck on the injustices of the day. How do you help your kids get past that? How do you help them forgive, not get offended by what others say and not care what others think? Challenging problem. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a better report tomorrow.

Grant the 6th grader!

My first day went pretty well. I teach 8th graders at Aprende Middle School. I have a great group of students. So far only one of them are annoying. Not bad since I have over 110 students. Hopefully, the kids stay charming and quiet the rest of the year :) I like all the teachers I get to work with this year. It's really a great place to work.
This is me at the back of my classroom. I put up a bunch of stuff so the kids can get to know me. I really need an updated family picture with all 10 of us kids in it. The one I have is from 2001!


I hope everyone else has a great first day of school!