Saturday

Well, our two weeks of fun are pretty much over. Everyone goes back to school and work on Monday. Shawn actually thought he had to work today (he only works occasional Saturdays) but he got all the way over there and found out that he had his schedule wrong and another pharmacist was working. Oops! So we got another day home with him, which made us happy.

Today I've been helping Josh with a big project. He's entering a video contest about underage drinking. He has to make a PSA commercial about why he chooses not to drink. The concept he came up with is great but it's been a bit difficult to pull it all together. We filmed the majority of it yesterday and he edited it this morning. He needs to film one more scene, but it's the trickiest one because it involves getting a police officer involved and we've had a hard time tracking one down who can help us. His school resource officer will do it, but he'll have to wait until next week and we were hoping to get it done earlier. He still has time though, so it will be fine.

What he has done so far has been pretty great though, he really loves the editing process especially. I love that sort of thing too and I love that he and I share so many interests. We both like techy computer projects and we had a fun time today working on voice overs and editing audio clips. I could spend all day blissfully playing with stuff like that and so could he. We figured out how to take the background noise out of the dialog in the video and he recorded a voice over that came out really great. We were both super excited about it, it was a fun afternoon.

Everyone always talks about how stressful it is to raise teenagers, and I know I still have a lot of teenage raising ahead of me, but so far I actually enjoy my kids more and more the older they get. Josh will be 14 in May and so far we're not going through a lot of teenage drama. He's actually quite enjoyable to hang out with!

(I promise to go back and read this post and remind myself that I said that when I have a particularly stressful teenage parenting day, lol.)

So now that our Christmas vacation is wrapping up, it's time for me to start looking ahead at what is coming up in the next few weeks. It's officially January and if you know me, you know that I hate January. I'm determined to power through it and not hate it this year, but I always say that and I usually still hate it, lol. I'm busy this month though, so maybe I'll make it through it this year.

The first thing I have to do when school is back in session is get the lottery process started for Josh and Clarissa's schools next year. School around here is a weird thing. We are really really lucky to have some awesome public schools in our area and we have several choices as to where to send our kids, but the specialized schools work on the lottery system. The elementary school that Josh and Matthew have gone to is a technology magnet. It's a great school and the kids have loved it there but you have to apply and get in through a lottery process and with Clarissa starting Kindergarten in the fall, we've hit the application time.

It's kind of ridiculous that I'm stressed out about getting my kid into a good Kindergarten. I'm even applying to a back up lottery school if my first choice falls through. School was much simpler when I was a kid, lol.

We're also entering the lottery process for the high school Josh wants to go to next year. We have an amazing public high school available to us that if he gets in will allow him to get his high school diploma and his college associates degree at the same time. When he graduates high school he will have already completed two years of college. It's a small school full of all honor kids who love school the way Josh does. It's a great opportunity for him and he really wants to go. I'm just crossing my fingers that he gets in. You have to meet certain requirements to apply, which he meets, but then it's a lottery to get in. The application process starts Monday for both Josh and Clarissa's schools and the lotteries happen in February. They basically pull names out of a box and you just have to hope they pull yours.

Matthew is the only one I don't have to worry about next year. He will be attending the same middle school that Josh currently goes to, which is just our regular neighborhood school, so there is no application process. With all three kids moving up to new schools next year, it's going to be a crazy time!

The other fun thing I'm looking forward to this month is that I'm having an Heirs viewing with two friends in our new basement TV room! I've convinced two friends to watch it with me. We're planning to get together several times in January and watch the whole series. I'm still in Heirs withdrawal mode, so I'm excited to watch it again!

So with video editing, school lotteries and Heirs viewing parties on my mind, I'm going to push through January. I've got things to look forward to. I'm going to beat January this year. :)