THE GRINSTEAD FAMILY

CHRISTMAS BREAK!

We are officially on Christmas break. It feels great to have 16 days off. Not a lot planned. My sister, niece, nephew & parents are planning to come visit on Christmas day. We'll go to a family friend's for dinner & fun. Saturday morning the girls will get up and bargain shop while my dad keeps the kids. This is all contingent on the weather cooperating. There is a big storm in the forecast, so I'm not sure it will happen.

Last week was a rough week at school. The kiddos were pretty active and many misbehaved. I was beat from dealing with behavior problems. On the flip side, I do love being at school & seeing the excitement of the holiday season through the eyes of the kids. It is so cool. The kids enjoyed their holiday parties at school. I was able to "pop in" to both parties for a few minutes while a co-worker hung out in my classroom. That is one of the benefits of working in the school.

Jake played in his last indoor soccer game. They won, which was a great way to end. He is still deciding if he'll play the 2nd season which begins again in mid-January. He also had basketball practice and his team scrimmaged a 7th grade girl's basketball team. They lost, but he said it was tons of fun.

Allie had her last tap/ballet class of the year. She is on break until after the New Year. I have her signed up for a pottery class that starts in mid-January. She can hardly wait. Art is definitely her "thing".

A couple of weeks ago, we found out Jake wasn't doing so well in school. Long story short, he was being lazy and let his grades slip. After a grounding, much talking and the decision that he would do better, he has. He is back to the old Jake bringing home mostly 100% on tests and assignments and nothing lower than a 90%. He is a smart kid, just apparently needed to be reminded that being lazy isn't acceptable. Oh & we explained to him that sports were a luxury that would be taken away if his grades weren't where they needed to be...maybe that was the reason things changed.

We made a flying to trip to visit Scott's family for a Christmas celebration. It was wonderful to see Scott's sisters and their families from Kansas City and Texas. We don't see them nearly as often as we'd like. We had to leave earlier than expected, so we weren't able to visit his aunt or his grandmother like we had hoped or get any photos taken.

I'm finally done with my Christmas shopping. I had a hard time this year getting it done with working and the kid's busy schedule. Allie was easier since Jake no longer believes in Santa. I was able to have him with me when I got her stuff. The hard part was getting Jake's Santa gifts with Allie along since she still believes.

This week brings: frosting Christmas cookies, making some homemade ornaments for our tree, making appetizers for Christmas Eve, Jake has basketball practice, we have dinner plans with friends, take down Christmas decorations, clean/organize and of course some bargain shopping after Christmas.