I’m going to re-dedicate myself to keeping a weekly/monthly record of our lives hopefully through this blog. For now I'm keeping it private (as in not telling anyone I have it).
I am infinitely happy that I started journaling in one way or another from the time Jack was born until around the time that I got pregnant with Piper. I've been terrible at it since.
My only saving grace is that I kept up (as much as I could) with our Family Yearbooks.
I'm going to start journaling again now - what's current - maybe with or without references from our past. Here we go...
Jack: took the ACT (that was delayed over and over) in July and after the ACT, Jack got his first job at TJMaxx and he takes a lot of pride in it - and really loves what he does. They mix it up so he doesn't get bored and the socialization and manners that boy has - WOW! I'm so impressed!
Patrick took Jack and a few of his friends (Brock, Tommy, Misi, Chase, Carter) up to our time share in East Canyon for a "guys trip." Patrick set the trailer up and wouldn't you know it? The boys ALL slept in Carter's 12 man tent. Patrick made their meals, took them boating and they went swimming had a pickle ball tournament, watched Avatar and made some good memories before starting their Senior year.
He is so even keeled. He has always been obedient and drama free - he gives parents that complain about teenagers hope! Not saying he hasn't made mistakes - he's had some doozies - but with everything in perspective - very few bumps in our road.
Maisie: When we got back - HS soccer was in full swing. Two a days led into practice 5 days a week that led into games 2 days a week and practice 3 days a week with Team dinners in between. Maisie plays starting JV keeper and back up Varsity keep.
She has her first crush on a boy named Jonathan. She is still great friends with Boston, Kennedy, Vivianne and Paige.
Izzie: switched BK teams over the summer. Her coach Uli was unreliable and played favorites. 8 girls from her team left her comp team to play for another club bc they didn't like the way Uli did anything. During try-outs the club owner Martin decided that Izzie, Hope and 2 others would join another BK team. At first Biz was devastated. She thought she had been singled out and that this was the worst case scenario. I advised her to take it in stride and see how things shake out. Turns out - this was the BEST MOVE EVER! Biz loves her Coach - loves her team and has stepped up to be a real leader for the team. Silver lining!
Because there are so many Isabelles, Izzies, etc. she has started going by Biz. We've called her that for years - but it simplifies her life so much - why not? Her BFF is still Mila Valentine. There are several of her friends that opted to be home schooled, so she is making new friends everyday - being so social and friendly makes that easy for her.
We had a "come to Jesus" with Izzie about 6 weeks after school closed. We found out (by reading her texts) that she was in a very negative, toxic cycle with Kaia. The negative things Kaia has been saying for years were amplified and constant because of the difference her family and our family chose to navigate our way through the COVID situation. As parents, we went from assuming Kaia was a quiet, nice girl to seeing with our own eyes that she is extremely negative and that she was hiding major issues from her parents. Kaia is very young and impressionable. I assume she is repeating what she is hearing - not specifically about us - but in general. It's difficult to know exactly what she is hearing/learning as she is/has always been raised by anyone available.
7/4 weekend: I am feeling very positive about the changes we have introduced with Izzie and am feeling even better about how things are turning out for her. The changes we’ve made have been the following: we took away her phone - so she has had no communication with Kaia or Kaia’s girlfriend or Kaia’s other Tik Tok friend she’s never met IRL. She also has no access to the internet so she hasn’t been able to look at or get involved with anything that isn’t age appropriate.
The cut from Kaia has been life changing. Izzie is no longer pouting, raging, up all night texting, etc. She is back to her happy, positive, helpful self. She has been very positive about everything that she comes up against. She has a good relationship with Mila and is excited about getting to know the new girls on her soccer team. She is excited to go to practice - she is engaging with the girls and coaches both on and off the field.
Piper: was asked to play BK keeper for the 2012 (the team she age wise should be on) as well as play for the team she's been with BK 2011. We left it up to her - she loves to play keep - but she's such a good defender and is comfortable with her 2011 team - so we'll take it as a learning experience and re-evaluate if she gets tired of either.
She doesn't really have a good group of friends - like Jack and Izzie - she's friends with everyone but her favorite friends to play with at recess are Kaia and Jane.
We're going through a hard phase with Piper this year. She's going through the lying, deny everything, cry about everything, screaming, yelling, sassy, door slamming, stealing teenager phase - except she's 8. SO MUCH FUN. She literally could care less what we say - she does what she wants - when she wants - right in front of our faces without a second thought.
We had the choice to go back to school online, half-time or in-person. All our kids begged to be taught in person. They are all such social people - they really craved that time and environment.
The weekend Patrick and Jack had their "guys trip" the girls and I went up to Logan. Alta was in a mini tournament up there - so we watched A LOT of soccer, ate out A LOT, went shopping, swimming and took a little tour of Utah State (where I went my Freshman year).
