Happy Birthday Isaak

I know I've been a horrible slacker with blogging. Sorry! 

Having a job where I actually create things everyday, I get into work. 

Isaak, you turn 14 today! Woo hoo! You haven't even hit that gigantic growth spurt yet, and you're already taller than I am. I have a feeling you are going to be taller than Mica. We shall see. 

Lots of good things have happened to you this year. You decided you're going to let punks roll off your back because you are better than that. You have great teachers this year, so your grades have been all A's. Some big projects are stressing you out at the end, so we'll see if your grades stay all A's. In the past you had some not so nice teachers, not all supportive teachers, and excuse my language – asshole kids that put a negative light in your life. It's wonderful things have turned around.

A few things with school: You got the Rotary Honor Roll, your team won Think Tank. 

You got into a new high school called Buena Vista. I'm a bit stressed because it's kind of far, but there is busing. Knowing Omaha Public Schools, busing isn't always a guarantee. Of course Mica looses busing, with the new schools built. I really don't want him driving my new car. The schools are very far apart. Fingers crossed it all works out. I hope the bus gets you, and then I'll only need to worry about Mica. How cool will it be to go to a new school, with a beautiful outside and inside, and no upper classmen?! You are excited about your fresh start. 

You started back up with one of things you love, piano lessons. When Covid happened they got shut down. Then your teacher got pregnant and didn't teach any longer. Her mom teaches, but she's really strict and not into creativity. We found someone walking distance. He loves to teach the notes, but also encourages creativity. They have recitals with other kids he teaches. You are motivated with that. Your instructor said you can come to practice on one of his three pianos as long as you text ahead of time. All we have room for is a keyboard. He has a story for every song that I person plays. I love storytellers. He's all about you writing songs too. Here's a song you wrote.

You still love to draw, get excited about small things like the bird's nest outside your window. Right now you want to be a phycologist. 

I got you a few shirts. You're into artsy tees. You love being in the kitchen, so you got a sushi set. I'm looking forward to that.

Happy Birthday! 

I hope things continue to push forward in a positive light.

Love,

Mom

  

WW: Rotary Honor Roll {Linky}

Isaak has struggled for a few years. In 5th grade he had a horrible teacher, in 6th grade he started a middle school where he only knew one person, and in 7th grade the pandemic hit. When the pandemic hit he went from an A | B student to a D | F student. He went back to school and pulled his grades up to being a B student. 

He was loosing his confidence. I’m not sure he’s totally gotten it back. 

BUT now he’s an all A student. 

He was nominated for the Rotary Honor Roll. 40 kids were picked by the teachers, He had to write a paper, teachers read all of them and voted for who they felt had the most leadership. Isaak was one they voted up. He was one of the 16 chosen. He’s up for scholarships. 

He also got into his school of choice for high schools. A new school, a new slate. 

Here he is with his Rotary Honor Roll Letter:

WW: Dinner {Linky}

Isaak is 12, and had this strong desire to make steak. I bought some, and he made a good steak. Why can't I get our 15 year old to volunteer to make dinner?

Times are a Changin'

I feel bad because online learning hasn't been Isaak's jam for awhile. He used to be an A, B student, but his 5th grade teacher was all kinds of difficult. I've never encountered a teacher that isn't a good teacher throughout my boy's education except for her. In 6th grade he was new to middle school. Lots of emotions went with that. He only struggled grade wise at the quarter marks. 7th grade hit, emotions were better, but the pandemic is here to stay for awhile. He followed in Mica's footsteps, and stayed home. The poor boy struggled big time with online learning. He was sad because he doesn't have any friendships, and he was confused on different levels with each teacher. I felt bad for him. His report card came in and he had 1 C, 1 F and all the rest D's. 

Off to school he went. I really wanted to get vaccinated before this happened, but what choice do I have? It's depression and a child that isn't exceeding in school, or more success in his academic endeavors with the possibility of picking up this asshole of a virus.  

Isaak went back to school on Monday. Schedules had to change. I am worried about picking up covid. Isaak has managed to pull up his grades just in 3 days. He now has 1 B, 1 F, 2 C's, and one D. 

I wish parenting came with a direct handbook, for your specific child. Like - Oh you have an empath artistic child much like yourself, this is what you should do... Except I did my homework always. I didn't test well, so I did all my homework to compensate for that. He must get his lack of wanting to do his homework from his father. 

Here I thought less distractions from other kids would help him to focus. No chance of getting into middle school drama when a child is at home. Skip over that awkward voice changing time. Teachers and school rule. 

He went to school on his first day back with this hoodie on. It says, "You Can"! I do believe he can.

WW: Isaak's Closet {Linky}

 

It's spray cool whip, and three sparkling water cans.

If you have a chance, enter my Ripley's Believe It or Not! Mind Blown giveaway.

@Firmoo Optical Prescription Glasses Review

Guess what? Isaak's glasses came in. He has 20/20 vision, and an astigmatism on the one side. His doctor thought it would be good to get glasses to fix the astigmatism, while he's young. I debated because his vision is 20/20.

What I like about Firmoo Optical https://www.firmoo.com: They have someone there to help you at any time + They let you upload a photo to try on glasses. 

I had to ask if we should be looking at adult, or child sized glasses. They said, "Children's because they come in different sizes."

We didn't try on too many pairs. Why? Because Isaak was stuck on having black frames. He didn't even want to try anything else.

New glasses for back to school time.

We did get a school plan, for the fall. For now they plan on having the children present only 1/2 of the time to keep class sizes down. I think it's best Isaak leaves his glasses at home. Then there's less chance of them getting lost, or damaged.

We did add things:

• No scratch lenses
• Blue light protection
• A cleaning cloth

So our free pair that I got to review, ended up costing money. At least they'll be more protected.

Prescription:

The prescription was easy to upload. I was a little worried that it would be a problem that they butchered Isaak's name. According to Target, Isaak Apel is now Isaac Apple. I even corrected them when I walked in the door. 

Shipping: 

It didn't take long at all to get the glasses! They shipped them out fast!

I told Isaak that I want him to wear them while he reads, and is on any device. 

Cleaning Cloth:

The cleaning cloth is graffiti cool! 

Have you gotten glasses online? 

Disclaimer: I was given a discount on this product in exchange, for my honest opinion. 

Isaak Needs Glasses Sort of, Kind of, Not Really

Isaak's pediatrician said, "Isaak you look far sighted. Time to go get your eyes checked." I don't know how someone can look like they need glasses, but he's the doctor.

I called up Target to get him in, for an eye exam. They said the appointment would have to be a few weeks out because everyone was coming in to get their eyes checked with the close down from COVID-19.

I was so ready to cancel the appointment with looking for jobs, possibly having an interview or starting a job on the same day.

It all seemed to work out. We went in, he tried on a few pairs, but refused to try any more. He did play a prank on Mica. My idea! I shot a photo of him with a pair of glasses on, and sent it saying Isaak needed them.

I corrected his name from Isaac April to Isaak Apel.

Mica told Isaak during the exam that they stick needles in his eyes. He knew better. He has a fear of needles, so the thought made him nervous. Just puffs of air went into his eyes.

His eyes tested fine. His left eye does have astigmatism like mine. It's oh so slight. She put the stuff in to dilate his eyes, and said it would be a few minutes. She wrote him out a script, put it in an envelope, and handed it to me. The lady upfront had us pay, she said, "Goodbye!" and we were on our way.

Off to the tax man. We got some tax form just last month from the year before. What the heck? Aren't all those forms supposed to come before tax time? As we got to the tax guy, we got a call from Target, "Where's Isaak? The eye doctor needs to see him." I'm new to getting eyes checked, so when they said, "Goodbye!" I thought that was it. Tax man said the form was nothing to worry about. I wish they told me just to email them it, instead of coming in.

I ran Isaak back, after a major cleaning she was ready for him. He's fine. He should get his eyes dilated more! The boy went home, and slept like a baby.

I did mention to Isaak that I'd get him glasses if I got some to review. I did get a pair to review. The review will come soon. Get this...the prescription she plopped into an envelope had, "Isaac April" not the corrected "Isaak Apel". Then to order, they wanted a PD number. I had no idea what that is. They recommend a doctor figure out that number. Oh joy! We did our best to figure it out. Seeing they are closed. Travis deals with measurements a lot at work.

Here's a view of Isaak, with glasses:

He'll just wear them at home.

The "Free" pair of glasses ended up costing a bit with all the extras: Lens coating for finger prints, blue light protection, a cloth for cleaning, and shipping. It adds up! Hopefully they take his prescription with his name spelled all wrong. 

As for me, I haven't even worn my glasses or rings, since COVID shut things down. I have 20/20 vision. I just have an astigmatism like Isaak. I get tired of my lenses fogging up with wearing a mask, and I don't want to touch my face if I don't absolutely have to. I wash my hands more if my rings are aren't on. 

What about you? Do you wear glasses, or contacts?

Dear Isaak,

You just turned 12 today! Happy Birthday little man!

For Your Birthday You Got: 

Stratego - a board game

Some artsy markers

A room makeover, which was a lot of work! See pictures below! We went with triangles!

 I painted the base coat over the tape to prevent it from bleeding through:

You helped label what triangles were going to be what colors:

We mixed our own tints, to give variety without having to buy more paint. Tape tear off reveal:

All day yesterday you worked on putting your room back in order:

 I'm thinking about making 3 of these (the colors of his room) to go on the blue wall:

You've been acting 12, for a few months now. I remember when Mica was about that age.

Things You Like:

To Draw: Muscle men mostly | You got the Art Award in Beveridge Magnet Middle School

To Talk: You are a talker, sometimes I need a mental peace and quiet break and have Mica and you go for walks | You love to talk on the phone to your girl friends

YouTube: You like to watch prank and art videos

Movies: You've always liked action and superhero movies, but I'm noticing you like romantic comedies sometimes too

Shows: In particular you love that new show on Amazon called Upload, and if Chris Harrison is on with some cheesy Bachelor type show you are glued to the TV

Food: Pizza and Tacos

Pet: You got his first pet this year named Sunny, he's a Leopard Gecko

Piano: An instrument you picked up just this year | We got you lessons, then COVID-19 happened | You got the Piano Award in Beveridge Magnet Middle School

Things You Don't Like:

Chores of any kind, for the most part - Does any 12 year old like to do chores?

Being cold, you wear your heavy duty robe around the house, and coat around when you were in school

You say that you don't like school, but you were really sad when you found out that school wasn't happening for the rest of the year

COVID 19 is messing up everyone's daily routine | We won't do a lot of celebrating because of this! We do plan on having Pizza Hut pizza, and playing games

When people act like jerks

Your hair getting longer, and in those eyes

Overall you are sensitive to other's feelings. You are creative, innovative, charming, and a great son to have!

Love,

Mom

Random Tid Bits

1. Today is my last day of classes. It's the boy's last day as well. Kind of odd feeling!


2. It took me for...ever to write my final exams! Getting used to google forms wasn't that big of a deal. Except I kept forgetting to make questions mandatory. Why do they even have that feature? If you didn't want them mandatory, just don't assign points to those particular questions!
   
   I wrote about 300 questions in total, 100 or so for each of my 3 classes. Of course I've changed things being all online, so it really was new everything.





3. I decided to go to get my allergy shots yesterday. I was in a rush because shhh I was supposed to be working. Hey some nights I've been working in the evenings writing tests.
   
   Off I went. On the way I realized the main street that takes me to the clinic was closed, due to construction. I'm not complaining about them working on the street. I just don't know the area well, or what way to turn. Off I went into a neighborhood  I was hoping would take me to the clinic. Instead I got lost. Finally I got out. I decided to use Waze to take me to the clinic. There were a lot of roundabouts the way it took me. I finally got there.
   
   Afterwards I got home, and was all wheezy. This is the third time I got like that after shots.
   


4. The boys are getting a fresh coat of paint, for their birthdays. Isaak's getting triangles. Much like this image. Except he's getting an undercoat of cream, and red-orange and blue-green triangles.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Now I'm being all indecisive on his bedding. I have so many in my shopping cart, just sitting there. I don't know that I want to give him new bedding now, maybe for Christmas.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   I think this is my favorite! BUT I'd have to get a duvet. It's just a cover. It looks like Isaak, considering he loves to draw.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   These are at Target: