Deep Freeze

Our lives are in the school deep freeze right now, and there hasn't been much to blog about.  My brother in law Ben jokingly asked the other day when I was going to do a blogpost so I figured I needed to write something soon.

Karson had her first session at 212° Academy yesterday.  I have learned not to ask to many questions about school when she gets home because it's usually the LAST thing she wants to talk about.  I really wanted to know how her day was but after TWO short-answered questions, I didn't bother asking anymore.  I knew she would eventually start telling me about her day, and she did in bits and pieces throughout the afternoon.  She told me about the special interest areas they are going to be studying.  She was really excited about a couple, specifically book publishing, 3-dimesional drawing and the CSI lab.  She told me about lunch and recess where they got to walk over to the Lovers Lane Park and how once they were done with lunch, they could play.  "We got like 45 minutes, Mom."  Awesome.  I'm hoping I might be able to volunteer some and actually get to see what she's doing.  I'm thankful to WCPS for this opportunity.  The goal is to eventually have an advanced middle school for 6th, 7th & 8th grade students--they are actually looking for land and adequate funding.  Lorie Richey, the gifted supervisor, told us they are grooming these kids for Gatton Academy, which is at WKU and the nations top high school in America.

WCPS's article 212 and the students selected. 

Karson was also recently identified as having outstanding leadership skills and was recommended in the area of Leadership for The Summit.  She has to complete a leadership portfolio (which will be scored by a committee).  One of the requirements is to have three letters of recommendation.  Now, I can think of lots of people who are highly educated that I'm surrounded by daily but am related to, so I didn't want to ask them.  I wanted to find three people that had direct interaction with Karson, weren't related and would feel comfortable enough to write a letter on her behalf.  Here are the three wonderful letters I received:

I adore these people and am grateful for their influence in Karson's life.  This was just ONE piece (of seven) of the leadership portfolio. She is still working on her essays.  Karson is a natural born leader. We are thankful to be her parents and are continually amazed by her accomplishments.

Isaac is right on Karson's heels in the academic arena.  He is involved in the pull-out program at Plano for gifted students.  However, he didn't tell me about it.  I learned this information from my neighbor Jennie, who has a daughter named Mia, who is in Isaac's class and also involved in the program. Sheesh, my kids definitely leave school AT school.  Isaac has become a much more dedicated student this year.  He gets his homework done promptly and takes a little more pride in his work.  I received a kind email from his teacher last week stating that she is only going to give Isaac challenging words and not make him do 20+ spelling words that he already knows.  This is nice because his homework load isn't quite as much, and he's learning more difficult words.  Challenging Isaac is a challenge in itself.  I can totally see him programming his own iPod app. by the time he's in high school.  I've already been researching art institutes in Nashville for gaming instruction.  I'm not sure if Isaac will be as committed as Karson in the school programs (ex. Quick Recall, Academic Team, etc.), but I imagine he'll become involved in things like STLP and Robotics.  He loves being creative and using his talents to entertain or expand his thinking.  Keeping my fingers crossed that he'll one day be invited to participate in 212°. They'd be lucky to work with a brain like his =).

Miles is still very much my adorable 6-year old.  He loves getting kisses from his mama.  He loves playing dress up and romping through the house like a super hero, Mortal Kombat player or whatever he sees fit.  Time with his friends Trapper and Samuel are HIGH on his priority list.  He loves school and his new teacher Ms. Ferry.  I want to bottle up his preciousness because I know very soon he'll be just as big as Karson, and I won't be able to pick him up and snuggle with him.  It's amazing how quickly time passes especially once the school year starts.

Our children are the proud owners of three tiny kittens:  Castor, Golam and Buggy.  I have NO idea if I spelled those names right? or why our kids picked these peculiar names for the kittens?  I think they were trying to avoid the traditional names they've given other kittens like "kitty" or "gray kitty" =).  I guess I should praise them for being more creative with their naming skills.  The kittens don't live with us--Matt is highly allergic so cats are OUT.  They live with Pap and Nana about a minute away.  I think Karson has spent every afternoon there the last three weeks.  She loves those kittens and would probably sleep outside with them if she could.  We've taken them to get all their shots and plan to have them spayed soon. 

The month of August is coming to a close for us, and we almost have a complete month of school under our belts.  It's hard to believe that the orange tent is already up in B.G. and places are pulling out all of their Halloween decorum.  Enjoy these last little pieces of summer, looks like fall is rolling in.