AJ is smiling!

Finally a picture of AJ with a smile. It made me so happy to see it. I can tell from this picture that all is well with him. He looks a bit skinny, though.

Funny 5 weeks ago I saw a picture of him and I thought he looked a bit fat. Its a wonder what 5 weeks in basic training will do for you!

Frustrated!!

I am so frustrated with Erin these days. She is terrific kid BUT I am having trouble motivating her to do anything more than hang out with friends. Her grades are OK but not as great as they could be and now that she is not on a soccer team she is not exercising and getting a bit lazy & making poor choices with food. What can I do?
With regards to school, we have tried everything. We have yelled, offered incentives for good grades and taken away privileges bad grades. Nothing seems to work. We let her know that she cannot get her drivers license unless she has a "B" average. At the end of the school year she didn't have any "D's" or "F's" (which is great) but she didn't have the B average. This summer she is taking Spanish III at College of the Canyons (to get ahead) and we told her that if she got an "A" in the class she could get her license. Well yesterday she told me that if she does well on her final she is certain to get a "B" in the class. She was not upset with this. In fact, she seemed just fine with it. I know I don't really have a lot to complain about BUT it is hard to see her not working up to her potential. She does NOT spend a lot of time studying. She had nothing else going on this summer and could have spent the extra time to insure the "A" but she didn't. I don't know what else to do. She certainly isn't in trouble as she is passing all her classes BUT she is not putting in much effort and really not trying as hard as she can. What can further can I do to motivate her? We do follow through on our "punishments" so she knows that we mean business. How do I get this to be more important to her?
And then there is the whole sitting around issue. I want her to take care of herself physically. Discussing it with her, or any teenage girl for that matter, is a delicate issue. You never want to make weight an issue. You always want to make health an issue. I want her to want to take care of herself now and make it a life long habit. Exercise is a daily part of my routine and she knows it. I want her to do the same. Next week we will go check out a local gym which she claims she will go but we all know how that often turns out. A friend of hers already belongs and they say they have a plan to go together every other day. We will give it a try--I certainly won't lock into any long term contract. Also, school starts in 2 weeks and she will have PE. She will continue to be on the soccer team. They have a new coach who, I believe, will work them much harder. I think it will be a tough couple weeks for Erin but she should get back into the swing of things in no time after all she is still so young!!!
I guess I should consider myself very lucky that these are the issues I am dealing with. I know it could be much, much worse. I love and adore my daughter and I only want the best of everything for her. I can't do it all for her and I just want her to have the motivation to do it for herself. I want her to be the best she can be and it frustrates me to see her being lazy. I am always the optimist and I will continue to be. At some point it is going to "click"--hopefully it will be sooner, rather than later.

Happy Birthday ERIN

Yesterday was Erin's 16th Birthday. Every year I take a picture of her on her birthday. Here is this years photo:

She sure is becoming a beautiful young lady, if I do say so myself.

OUR FIRST SIGHTING

of A.J. in his uniform.....

Taken 7/28/08

He wears it well!

Here is something to brag about....

On Saturday I received my electric bill for the period 6/24-7/23/08. It was ...

$98.56.

Yes!! we recently installed a whole house fan and that has enabled us to use are a/c sparingly.

2 OF THE GREATEST PEOPLE I KNOW....

I am so lucky to have them BOTH in my life. I have been getting to spend a bit more time with Erin lately and I have been having a blast. She is quite a nice young lady!

And Dave, well he is usual terrific self.

A.J. CALLED!

Yesterday was "Doolie Day Out". It is the one day in all 5 weeks of Basic Training that the cadet is taken off campus, given a chance to relax and call home. It is the half way point of basic training and the transition day from, as they call it, Beast 1 to Beast 2. Beast 1 is spent entirely on campus. The cadets learn the ropes and are issued all their uniforms and military gear. Basically, they are being acclimated to the Academy. Beast 2 is a 2+ week camping trip. They left this morning, very early, on a march into Jack's Valley. For the next 2 weeks they spend the entire time living in tents and doing numerous team building and other activities. It is said that it is much more fun than Beast 1. And I predict A.J. will enjoy it immensely.

Well yesterday A.J. did call. We knew the "day out" started at 8AM, our time, but we didn't know when we would get our phone call. We also knew A.J. was being hosted by the head football coach, Coach Calhoun, but we didn't know any more than that. Dave and I waited and waited and finally at about 10:45AM he called. Oh, it was so great to hear his voice. We had prepared a long list of question beforehand so we wouldn't forget anything. First and foremost he said he was doing great. He was enjoying it, best he could, and knows he made the right decision. That is all I really needed to hear, the rest was just gravy. All and all, in the course of 2 phone calls, we spoke to A.J. for about 40 minutes.

Here are a few of the highlights.....

1. His roommate is on a 4 year exchange program from Singapore. He is already a 2nd lieutenant in the Singapore Air Force. They get along great and will remain roommates for the remainder of the year. His roommate helps him out tremendously because he already knows the ropes. His name is Ed.

2. A.J. is the largest boy in his class of 1300+ students. He is the largest in weight but not height. It came in handy the day before when they had FIELD DAY and his team killed in the tug-o-war. He was the anchor and no "war" lasted more than 15 seconds.

3. So far he has lost 9lbs. He is not worried about it, yet. The food is not great but is managing to eat and keep in down. He is given ENSURE to drink to help maintain his weight but he says it is horrible so he doesn't drink it much.

4. He did well on his math placement exam and was happy about that.

5. He was lifting with the football team about every other day but that will stop during Beast 2. He was lifting well and was happy with how he was progressing.

6. He enjoys getting our letters and hopes we will all continue writing. He says not to include any pictures as they will be taken but copy and paste them right on to your paper and he will be able to keep those.

Here is a picture taken on SATURDAY....

He tells us he is not allowed to smile, hence the straight face.