eeny, meeny, miney, mo....

So, Hannah is an eighth grader. That is stress enough... but WHERE will she go to High school???? THAT is the question of the year!
So, I am going to use my blog as a pros/cons place. I will write my pros and cons for the 3 choices. Hopefully it will help me to see it in writing. Please feel free to give any thoughts or advise... we need it all!!!!! Keep in mind, Hannah loves drama, music and such...

Pros-
Righetti HS-

• Public (read FREE)
• lots of activities and elective classes (lots of drama, choir, band, arts, etc)
• most of H's friends will go here
• lots of sports

St. Joseph-

• Familiar (I used to teach there, Tim coaches football there... we know the faculty and admin.)
• Small (650 students grades 9-12)
• closed campus
• very academic.
• Lockers
• Rich history of traditions
• All the sports offered... big sports school... I think that they require students to participate on at least one team.

Orcutt Academy-

• Public Charter (read FREE)
• brand new (H's will be the first class... they get to set the traditions, chose the mascot, colors etc. First graduating class)
• small 125 students per grade
• closed campus
• Very Academic
• Supposed to offer band, choir, drama etc... we will see
• Will incorporate the International Baccalaureate program... pretty inovative and rigorous higher level classes

Cons-
Righetti HS-

• HUGE 2500 students grades 9-12
• open campus (they can leave anytime)
• easy to get "lost" in the system
• some gangs
• no dress code (NONE, you should see what some of those girls are wearing or should I say NOT wearing!)
• you can get a good education but nobody is paying attention or pushing you
• No lockers- you have to carry everything all day

St. Joe-

• EXPENSIVE $7000 tuition plus books and everything else
• time committment for parents (bingo, working games etc)
• Cliquish and snooty (rich people's kids: kids getting brand new car for 16th birthday etc)
• Strict dress code (girls have to wear collared shirts.. those are not easy to find, etc)
• Religion Classes required (not that we mind them SO much, but we don't nessessarily want to pay for classes in Catholosism when we aren't Catholics)
• No classes offered in Music, drama, etc.

Orcutt Academy-

• NEW (I know that I said that was a pro, but they are also just working out the bugs... would the first class be a guniea pig class?)
• pieced together campus (sharing with the Jr. High the first year at least... no estimate on when they would have their own facility)
• Lottery to get in
• Dress code is unwritten so I will put it here until we see
• less offerings of sports and clubs etc in the first few years

So, that is what I have so far... I will continue updating as I think of things...

Halloween... and other stuff!

Mom and Dad always come down for a visit right around Halloween. The kids love having them around so they can see the costumes and everything. Bekah LOVES for Dadad to play games with her and for Mimi to do crafts with her. She gets things all ready for their visit, and practically has their time planned out from the moment they hit the front door. This year, I witnessed something that I never thought I would see... she got Dadad to play John Madden Football on the gamecube! So of course, I had to take a picture of Dadad playing video games...

This year, the girls carved pumpkins... no help from any adults again this year...


This is Hannah's masterpiece...

This is Bekah's Jack-O-Lantern...


Costumes this year were interesting... Hannah was going t0 be a pirate.. then a dead prom queen, then just a purple person... she finally decided on a "bad Fairy" she bought purple wings that were battery opperated and "flapped" and then put the rest together from what she owned. She did a pretty good job, I think.
Being an 8th grader, she didn't want to have anything to do with our festivities... she and her friends went Trick or Treating by themselves, so the only pictures that I have with her are the "before" shots... then I remembered that I needed pictures of the wings, so I got a shot while she was walking to the car!


As you can see, Bekah was a "Clone Trooper" from Star Wars... She found the costume and never looked back... I tried to talk her out of it, because I knew she wouldn't like wearing the mask... but she was determined to be a clone trooper... so, here she is...
We had the Ryver Family over for Chilidogs and went Trick or treating... here is the Whole crew.. Matthew Flores, Bekah, Austin and Andrew Ryver...

Our evening always winds up at the "Pumpkin Man's House" . A neighbor carves the most wonderful pumpkins.. about 20 each year. We have to go see them. (Hannah missed out this year... ) Here is Bekah's favorite of the year...


And here are some of the others...


And here is a picture of the Girls With Mimi and Dadad last night... They left early this morning to drive to Phoenix to see Aunt Dee.
The house seems very empty this morning... The kids don't have school today (a genius move on the school district's part, I must say.. they always schedule a teacher inservice day on November 1st.. that way, the teachers don't have to deal with the Overtired, sugar hangover kids!)

My Baby's growing up!

Hannah got her hair cut last night... it is so cute, and yet grown up and sophisticated too!

I should have bought more...

Man, am I a slacker when it comes to my blog!

School is underway. Hannah is enjoying being an 8th grader and being "upper class woman". She has some really great friends. Tonight, she and Sammy are at a drug free party, sponsored by several businesses in town, just for Jr. Highers. She has become the sleep over queen, and spends at least one night at someones house most weekends.
Bekah is a fourth grader, and so far this year has been 1000% better than the last one! Her teacher this year is a great man who is very soft spoken. (when I said to someone that he was quiet, Bekah said "he isn't quiet, he talks all day long!"... so we had to explain that I meant Soft spoken...) Last year her teacher was a yeller...so this is a good change for Bekah.

Football has started. So we spend fridays going to games. The kids reall enjoy it this year. And they spend the game time with their friends hanging out which means that I can enjoy the game too!

Soccer is underway and the girls are doing well. Today we got back the soccer pictures for Hannah. I never buy pictures because they are not usually great. We get 1 individual picture, one photo button, and one team picture with our registration, so that is all I usually need... well this year, Hannah's pictures are DARLING! I wish I had bought several... oh well, I guess that is what a scanner is for. Several of the parents are upset that the photo company chose this picture for the team picture... it isn't "Serious" enough or something... I think that it portrays this team very well! They are a bunch of goofballs and are having so much fun being on the same team, I LOVE the picture!

End of Summer.... bummer....

So, summer is coming to an end at the Pettey household! We have started soccer practices and Football practices... the girls and I took a quick trip to our friends, the Hoffman's, in Fresno to swim in the pool...

We had loads of fun! The weather was warm but not extremely hot (low 100's).

Then Sunday evening, we headed to Pismo Beach... You know, we live so close but we have never stayed there as a family... so we decided to play tourist in our own neck of the woods. The girls LOVED being able to walk out of the hotel and down to the beach. We never moved the car, we walked a mile down the beach to our favorite chowder place, Splash Cafe, for dinner. We walked across the hotel's parking lot to Marie Calendars for breakfast, we ordered lunch from Marie Calendars and I walked over to get it... we had a great time. Bekah swam in the pool for hours! We walked on the beach and found these little bitty crabs and 3 unbroken sand dollars. We played in the waves... it was wonderful!! There is a HUGE brush fire that is just south east of us, that has been burning since July 4th... the smoke makes for some amazing sunsets!









We came back today and now have to get ready for school to start Thursday... sigh... I love summer. I am bummed that it is over.

2:26 am................

So, here I sit, at the computer... sounds from the living room confirm that the teenage girls here for a sleepover aren't sleeping. Why do I sit here still? Thinking that I can outlast them? Thinking that I might hear a bit of their conversation and get a feel for my daughters friends? Thinking that if I go to sleep now, I will oversleep and not be ready when their parents show up tomorrow? I don't know why, but here I sit.

My daughter turned thirteen yesterday. I am the mother of a teenage girl. I am really NOT happy about that! NOT! She is already hormonal and hard to live with, now I am going to have to start letting her be... just a little... on her own. Maybe that is why I am sitting here. I am not fond of one of the friends that is here, and there are two others that I barely know (in fact, I find it interesting that neither family came in to meet us before leaving their daughter here to spend the night! I would never do that! What if we were somehow deranged?) and I am trying to get a sense if my daughter makes wise choices in her friends... 2 of the 5 girls she invited, I think are pretty trustworthy... but the jury is still out on the others.

I am wondering if they will help my daughter clean the living room before they leave... there is confetti and starburst candies and m&m's everywhere... I think they were having a "food fight" with candy!

My 9 year old wanted SO BADLY to be one of the big girls... she stayed up until 2, but is finally asleep... I will not be happy if those shrieking, giggly girls wake her up! She wants to be 13 also, but I am glad that she is still in single digits!

So, it is now 2:37, the lights are back on in the family room... they are being noisy... WHY did we agree to a sleepover???? Did she catch us at a weak moment?? Was I not really paying attention??? I did this 2 years ago and vowed NEVER to do it again... but, here I am!

Heaven help me... I just went out to get a glass of water, and there was talk of "bases" and I am sure no one out there plays softball! I am SO not ready for the teenage years!! I have to trust that I raised her this far to be a smart, sensible, modest girl. I have to trust, because I am not always going to be sitting in the other room listening... and I am not ready to lock her in a tower... not yet anyway!

Well, It is time for me to go to bed I think... I can't outlast them, but I can trust that she is who I think she is... someone who will NOT be talked into breaking the rules... someone with an ounce (or more) of sense... someone who will look me in the eye tomorrow and tell me what all happened while I slept.

Moments in time...

Ok, so I have been challenged to record the next ten minutes of my life...
8:40pm- why would anyone want to know what I did for ten minutes? Really?
8:41pm- my head hurts! I have a sinus thing going on and the area behind my left eye is throbbing... it makes my eyes water... I wonder if the computer screen helps? hahaha
8:42pm- Hmmm... my husband will be walking in the door any minute... do I really want to be here on the computer? But I have to, I have 7 more minutes to go...
8:43pm- Why am I hungry? Maybe my sinus trouble has screwed up my hunger sensor in my brain... Or, maybe I just need ice cream...
8:44pm- Ok, so my life is pretty boring... did I tell you that we went up north to see Hannah's Birthmom Lauri this past weekend? Maybe I should blog about that, instead of my hunger pangs!
8:45pm- My house needs to be cleaned so that Hannah can have a sleepover party on Friday... why am I sitting here? It is like there are magnets in my rear that keep me from getting up... that and I have 5 more minutes to record!
8:46pm- Have you tried diet pepsi Jazz- Strawberries and cream? It is so good! The empty can on my computer tower can attest to that!
8:47pm- Bekah is out watching tv... the amazing thing is that she hasn't yelled for me to come and get her something or "watch this commercial cuz I want that toy" or anything... Hmmm... maybe I should go check on her!
8:48pm- wow, just two more minutes to go... Tim still isn't here, so that is good! I am going to go clean up the living room tonight... just as soon as I finish this blog post!
8:49pm- My head still hurts. It helps to close my left eye, but then my right eye starts to hurt...
8:50pm- well, there you have it, nothing earth shattering happens in my life! That is a good thing!

Ok, so that is over, let me share a bit of our weekend trip.
We went up north to visit Lauri, Cameron and Julie this weekend. Lauri is Hannah's birthmom, Cameron is Hannah's 14 year old half brother and Julie is Lauri's mom.
We all went on friday morning. We got to Julie's about 3:30pm. We had dinner with them all at Julie's house. Then Hannah, Lauri and Cameron went bowling. Tim, Bekah and I stayed and watched a movie with Julie. Then Hannah spent the night with Lauri and Cameron and we spent the night at Julie's house.
Saturday, we went swimming and I hit a scrapbook store. Then we drove home. It was a quick trip... but Hannah had requested some time to get to know Lauri a little bit better, and I think that was accomplished. Here is a picture of Hannah, Lauri and Cameron... remember, he is a year and 3 weeks older than Hannah...