Her birthday group at Pattison's & her cake




















First day of 6th grade

I took the summer off from blogging but I'm back now. Ericka is doing good and enjoying the 6th grade. She had fun this summer and even spent a week with grandma and grandpa. After her week in Pasco we all met at the beach and stayed there for a few days. She ended the summer with a birthday party at her favorite place, the rink. It's hard to believe that she is already 11 years old. Surprisingly this was her first rink party, odd considering how many years we have been taking them skating. She had a good time celebrating with her friends and family that drove up to spend the day. She likes summer but by the end she was bored and ready for school again.
School on base has been wonderful so far. She has made some new friends and I'm happy to report there has been no bullying at all. She is one of the smallest in her class but that is nothing new. She is getting good grades so far and likes her teacher too (Ms Rose). Her teacher focuses a lot on reading so Ericka has been reading some good books. Math has been a bit tough but they are helping her with that and she is catching up fast. In 6th grade they have the option to be in band and she didn't want to do that. The kids who aren't in band instead do the school newspaper, community type projects, and some other fun things. They recently went around base planting trees and picking weeds. They are also planning to send letters to the troops for the holidays. She gets to go on a field trip to the dam on the 20th. She seems to be much happier at this new school. Out of the six she has been in this is her favorite she says. We also found out that she passed all three sections of the state testing (WASL). Her reading level was only 6 points from being off the charts. They are trying to keep her from being bored but the books that are at her level are a bit too mature. She doesn't like being told she can't read certain books.
Other than school keeping her busy, she is now in the first month of her 4th year in skating. She is excited for another season and since she is at the top of her division she should do well. Nationals are in Illinois this year so maybe we will get to see Chicago, we'll see, it's awhile from now though. The first meet will be Nov 8-9 in Everett, a meet we have never had so it sounds fun. The team is getting bigger and she has a lot of kids to skate with so it makes for fun practices. She is in the adult group again this year but has to continue to keep up and so far she has. She is happy and doing much better than she was a few months ago.

A Whole Bunch of Stuff

Pictures:
Ericka with the Riverfront Park Bloomsday sculptures
Ericka's Regional photo
Watching our flooding river rage down at the park.

It's been too long and I have so much to update. Ericka has been doing okay but we have had some hiccups. The problems in school have continued, but it's more with the adults than the kids. She is doing fine with her school work but the social stuff is getting old. She has a girl in her class who she just does not get along with and the school counselor is trying to force them to be "friends". If Ericka tries to avoid this girl she will go tattle on Ericka saying that Ericka is being mean etc, and then Ericka finds herself in the counselor's office or principle's office having to explain herself. They are actually taking her out of class or taking away her recess which is unacceptable. She is trying to avoid conflict but keeps getting accused of committing "relational aggression", which is some stupid term they use for a kid who purposefully leaves another child out to cause "social and emotional pain of another". Whatever happened to the ability to decide that someone just doesn't deserve to be our friends? Ericka is not mean to this kid but will do everything to avoid having to play with her or do work with her because this girl is physically aggressive. This girl is cruel to Ericka, leaving bruises from kicking her and leaving a nasty gash to Ericka's side from pushing her down a hill (I even took pictures) but the counselor believes that everyone can learn to be friends through talking, something has not worked thus far. I absolutely do not agree with this lady's philosophy. She is trying so hard to make sure that noone's feelings get hurt but in the process she is actually causing more problems. I agree that Ericka should be civil and not be outright rude, but we have always taught her that if someone is mean to her that person doesn't deserve her friendship. We have told her that she should only put her energy into people who make her feel respected and do things to show they care. There are so many other things going on there that just tweek my nerves. I am just happy that she will not be returning to that school and neither will Nathan. We have decided to enroll them into the elementary school on the base. It is in a different school district which means we will have to drive them back and forth everday to the base and back but it will be so worth it. Troy and I went yesterday to "interview" the principle and counselor to get a feel of how they do things there. We told them about what has been going on at this other school and they were left just shaking their heads. This other district has 6th grade in elementary school which seems to me a better situation for Ericka. I don't think she is socially ready for middle school, especially now that her self confidence has been stripped. We hope to give her another year where she can build that back up again before having to move on. The base school is really nice. There are several programs that I have yet to see in any other elementary the kids have been too. There is track for all grades, which both kids want to do. They have a math and science club that Nate can't wait to be part of and they also have several other things that set them apart. Their testing scores are extremely high with reading being over 90 % passing. The way they do things there is so different. The principle took us on a tour of the school and it's really nice. The building is only 4 years old, they have a high school size gym, all the classerooms are large. The school library is huge and they have a nice courtyard where the kids can go and read. The name of the school is Michael Anderson Elementary (named after one of the astronauts killed in the Columbia shuttle accident) I guess he went to the original school when he was a boy so they honored him when the new school was built. The kids were all very quiet and well behaved and it was peaceful. All the adults and most of the students were dressed up in fairy tale costumes because they are learning about types of literature. They also invited both kids to come and spend an afternoon meeting the teachers and kids that they will be with next year. It will be nice since all the military kids know what it's like to be new. The kids are so happy with the idea of being on base they didn't care that they will be having to make new friends again. I hope that it works out and that Ericka will be better off not having to go to middle school quite yet. She went on a field trip to the middle school yesterday and said she was not ready to go there yet. I think she is also not wanting to leave her brother behind. They were both relieved when they found out that they will be in the same school for one more year.
Besides that stuff, skating season is over as far as meets go. She qualified for Nationals in two relays but we just can't afford to go this year. We are still going to practice until July, keeps the kids busy and they still want to go. She is already training hard for next year. She was bummed when she fell in her final race and didn't place in her division. Even though she fell she came in 5th out of 16 girls who started. She was first in all her Novice heats so it was really disappointing to her not to be on that podium for division but it's a lesson learned. She will be at the top of her division next year so that will help her.
The only other thing we have been dealing with is an eye problem. She developed a sty a about a month ago and the darn thing kept getting bigger despite treatment. We ended up having to take her in twice to have it cut and drained so she has been a little uncomfortable. To add to that she took a nasty fall at practice, and was hit in the chin with a skate so she looks like she has been in a few fights. She's a tough one though. She is excited for summer and all the fun stuff we have planned. We hope to go to Silverwood a few times, visit grandparents, go camping, and of course a trip to Gigi's in Cannon Beach. I think once she is out of that school she will be back to her old self in no time.

SKATE MEETS ETC

Well let's see, first I will go over the Auburn meet from January.
Elementary Girls Novice = 3rd Place in 500 meter 4th place overall (out of 14 girls)
Elementary Girls Standard (elite) = 6th Place overall (out of 10)
Elementary 2 Mix Relay =2nd Pl in heat, 3rd Place overall (out of 10+ teams that started)
Ericka did pretty good. Her and her partner did a really good relay. She was the starter and gave them a good lead. She just had a couple of bad starts but overall she did well.
She did her first Dash for Cash race. This is when each skater goes out on their own and gets timed for one lap. The fasted time in that division wins and they get whatever cash was in the pot. There were 7 girls in Ericka's division, 3 that were 2nd year elementary and 4 1st years. Ericka didn't win but she got the fastest time for the 1st years, she got 11.73 seconds for one lap. She had been skating since 5 am that morning, raced the whole day and DFC was at 9:30 pm so that time wasn't even her best. (her best time is 10.78) to give you an idea, world champion indoor skaters average around 8-9 seconds. It was a good meet for her and she found out what she needed to work on for the next one.



Next the Bremerton Meet (Feb 23-24)
Elementary Girls Novice = 1st Place in all heats and semifinals 2nd Place overall (out of 15)
Elementary Girls Standard (elite) = 6th Place (out of 10)
Freshman 4 Girl Relay = 1st Place (out of 5 teams)
Freshman 4 Mix Relay = 3rd Place (out of 6 teams)
Elementary 2 Mix Relay (with Nate) 5th Place (out of 10 teams)
Elementary 2 Girl Relay = 4th Place (out of 10+ teams)
She knew what she needed to do and did it! She raced her little heart out. She got to do some relays with the older kids and was able to keep the lead they had. She got tons of compliments and came home with 3 medals. Her and Nate got out of their heat in 3rd pl in the relay, they worked well together, next year they will relay at all meets. The elementary 2 girl was quite interesting. They had heats, which they made it out of and then they started the final. This relay is 20 laps, each girl doing 2 laps 5 times each. They were in 3rd pl and only had 2 laps to go and one of the teams fell and got injured so they whistled the race over. They let the other division do their relay and then restarted the elementary race, not enough time to rest. So Ericka started again and got a huge lead and had them in 2nd but at the last couple of laps in the end both girls got too tired and weren't able to keep their lead so they got 4th overall, but it's the best racing I have seen Ericka ever do. She was breathing so hard she went over to the coach and just laid right down on the floor, he had to drag her over to the side. She did great starts, passed when she needed to and even passed both of the biggest skaters in her novice division. There were a lot of people who said they couldn't believe how fast she has gotten since last season. It helps that she can finally go to every practice and has one of the best coaches out there (besides Joe). She also wants to go back to Nationals this year so she has a goal, which helps.

Anyways, she is doing good. She is still getting high grades. She wasn't able to qualify for the Highly Capable program, her math scores weren't high enough but her reading skills are topping the charts so she qualified for a different program instead. The only difference between the HC program and what she is in is that the HP program gives them advanced work and a study plan for all subjects. She will only be getting advanced work for reading/spelling/writing. It also means that next year when she goes to Middle school they will allow her to take enrichment English classes. I think it worked out better in the long run, she has trouble with math like I did (but thankfully not as bad) and I think she would have been overwhelmed with that. She also was afraid of being called one of the "brainy nerds". This way she will be kept in a normal class but just be given harder work in the few areas she excels at. They have already been doing this to some extent though. I will say that I am very happy she will be out of this school soon. It has worked well for Nate so far but it's been harder for her. Their way of dealing with girl conflict is a joke, and I will just keep it at that. As long as she is getting good grades and she is happy with everything else we told her not to let the adults ruin it all for her. It's amazing and scary how a group of "educated" people can be so stupid and they are the ones responsible for my children's education, makes me tempted at times to become one of those renegade parents and just pull them out and get tutors (that I can interview before handing over my kids). I am actually serious! They have a program here through the school district that is more of a charter program that goes through 8th grade. The kids learn at home or in small groups (at their level) and they have to meet with a certified teacher once a week and have so many hours of community involvement (volunteer hours etc). It is tempting and she would probably do even better.

Faces

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Cleared Up

Well the problem at school has been resolved, finally. After several times of Ericka being called into the principle's office they were able to figure it out. The other little girl admitted that she had lied about a few things because she was angry. The girls talked it out and are now getting along better. Ericka learned a few lessons about social games. She learned the hard way that adults don't always make the right decisions either. She talked to the school counselor about the principle humiliating her by coming in the class before he even knew for sure she was guilty. Either way it's cleared up and hopefully it stays that way.
She is happier with that out of the way and has some good things that have happened over the last few days. She got an A on her math test which is awesome since this subject seems to have been giving her some problems. Between her teacher and her dad helping her she has figured it out. She also found out that she won the poetry contest. So she gets to have another piece of her work published. They also just tested her for the TAG program so we should find out if she qualifies soon. I hope that if she doesn't make it that it doesn't crush her. We have explained that it's extremely hard to get into and that if she doesn't it's okay.
Anyways, we will have a very busy weekend coming up. We have our first meet of the season in Auburn and Ericka has been practicing hard. She will be racing in almost all the events she can.

She is doing Novice Elementary Girls (for kids who haven't placed at Nationals) 300 m &
500 m

Standard Elementary Girls 300m 500m and 700m
Elementary 2 mixed relay and Elementary 2 Girl relay
Freshman 4 mixed relay
Last man out race ( every lap the last person has to leave the floor until top 3 or 4 people are left)
Dash for Cash
She will be having heats in each distance. So if she makes it to finals she is going to be one tired girl. They are expecting almost 300 skaters. Wish her luck!!!!

Christmas Break & A Mean Girl

Ericka had fun during her Christmas break, she spent most of the time at home relaxing or at the rink. We went down to the Tri-Cities to visit family. We weren't able to see everyone we wanted to but they were working so we will see them next time. We went over and visited Troy's brother Mark and got to play with cousin Mathew. She had a good time reading to him and chasing him around the house hearing him giggle. She got grandma Cindy hooked on the Wii and they played some pool, which Ericka figured out really fast. She was happy with all her presents and has been reading her new books she got.
She was ready to go back to school since home gets boring after a few days. Now, only after a couple days back we are dealing with problems with another kid in her class. She has a girl in her class who has decided to bully Ericka but goes home and tells her parents that Ericka is being cruel and verbally abusive to her. I got a call from her mother telling me that if it doesn't stop she is going to the Principle and has already talked to the teacher. Ericka's teacher never called or told me anything so I assume she probably knows that it isn't Ericka causing the problem, this made the other mother mad and feels she isn't being heard etc. This girl and Ericka were friends at the beginning of the year but she got mad at Ericka because she says Ericka stole her job helping the autistic boy in the class. The boy responds better to Ericka and she gets him to talk more so the teacher has her working with him instead. When Ericka won the essay things got worse because this girl wasn't allowed to enter the essay contest because she didn't turn hers in on time. This girl is almost 12 and towers over Ericka but somehow her mother thinks Ericka is bold enough to take her on. Ericka can be opinionated and bull headed but she has never gone out of her way to be nasty. This girl has been given her own cell phone which she has been using to call ours and prank call. We took her skating a couple of weeks ago because Ericka thought that she would give the girl another chance but it didn't work. She has threatened to punch Ericka and Nathan both and just got caught throwing things at Ericka during class the other day. She sits two desks away from her and will whisper taunts trying to get Ericka in trouble. She teased her so bad yesterday that Ericka ended up in the school bathroom crying. I wrote the teacher a letter and we are going to the school today to talk to her and the counselor. I knew she was having some trouble with this girl but figured it was just typical girl games but unfortunately things have gotten out of hand. I think it stems from the girls being competitive and it is starting to affect Ericka's school work too. I talked to the teacher and she even said she noticed that she isn't volunteering as much and has purposefully messed up just so she doesn't look smart etc. We both agreed that things need to be dealt with immediately especially now that the girl is also picking on Nate too. This girl has threatened several times that she will get Ericka in trouble so that she won't get into the gifted program. I am hoping that the school does what they need to in order to get this over with quickly. I just don't want to get anymore dang phone calls from her mother, like they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Christmas Funnies

Thought I would add some pictures we took tonight. Ericka wanted to be silly and as you can see it wasn't hard for her. There isn't much going on in Ericka land right now. She is still doing good in school and skating. She is excited for Christmas and loving the fact that she will be out of school for two weeks, she likes school but a break now and then is nice. I'm sure she will want to bake cookies and fill up on sweets as usual. We will be snuggling up watching all those good Christmas movies and chugging down the hot chocolate and cider.