Accident, Car Shopping and School Conferences.

It has been an eventful few weeks here lately.  About 2 weeks ago, I was downstairs exercising at 6:15AM when my cell phone rang. It was Thomas. Either he pocket-dialed or called and then changed his mind, but he wasn't talking to me, although I could hear his voice.  I could hear him saying, "okay, let's move the cars out of the way." Then, the phone went dead.  From those few words, I was able to ascertain two things.  First, he was in a car accident. Second, he was capable of moving a car out of the way and thus okay. I tried calling him back, but he did not answer. About 15 minutes later, he called to tell me he had been rear-ended, but was okay. He was stopped at a red light when a car drove into him, causing him to hit the car in front of him. The car behind him then swerved into the next lane and hit the car to her right.  He had no recollection of the impact or calling me. He said he felt fine, but had a bad headache (he relayed this to the arriving paramedic who asked, "well, did you have breakfast?").

Ultimately, we learned that the car was a total loss and we had to buy a new one. Thus began the great car hunt of 2015. We had several thoughts--buy a car that was close in value to the Camry, buy a "beater" car and pocket the difference, or buy a new car that Thomas could drive for 8 years and then pass on to Jack and Anna.  Our preference is always to buy a new (or newish) cars and drive it for a while, but we had intended on driving the Camry for another 4 years. Ultimately, we decided to buy a new car.

We bought a 2015 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid.  We had planned on buying another Camry, but I fell in love with the car; and after driving it, Thomas agreed.  It was a few thousand cheaper than a comparable Camry and because it was the end of the model year, we were able to get it for about 7k below MSRP.  Of course, it was still more than the we got for our totaled 2009 Camry, so we are back to two car payments. Although, together the 2 payments are still less than what we once paid for a single car (back when we were 2 incomes with no kids).

On to school conferences.  In short, our kids are all awesome little geniuses (that's the mother's slant). Jack is still a great reader, in fact, his teacher said he tested on a 4th/5th grade level and she actually cut him off because she had the information she needed.  Both he and Anna get pulled out of class for a special reading group (comprises about 20% of the second grade, so not all that exclusive :).  They are both doing fine at math. Jack still has some issues getting along with classmates and specifically being physically aggressive. It is very difficult for Thomas and me. We have tried everything we can think of to help him kick (no pun intended) this behavior, but nothing seems to work. He improves a little each year, so we are hoping that eventually he will just outgrow it.

Anna's teacher "adores" her.  She thinks Anna is very intelligent and sweet. The feeling is completely mutual, Mrs. Lowe is Anna's favorite teacher ever and we think she tries extra hard to please her. So far, this is working out: Mrs. Lowe thinks Anna is great, so Anna works hard at being great.  Kara is also doing good, she is continuing her track of perfect behavior and is testing high in most areas. She does not do well on the "nonsense words" test.  Apparently, she tries to find real words that will fit and is unable to do the exercise of just reading the sounds.  She is reading really well, so hopefully she will get the hang of it at some point (or not). She is very methodical and precise with her schoolwork, so I can see how she wouldn't appreciate a test where she is asked to read something other than real words.

I don't mean for this to be a braggy post.  I recognize that kids have different skills and develop at different ages. I also know that mine are too young for this data to be truly meaningful.  We tell them all the time that they are blessed to be smart enough to do anything they want, but it doesn't really matter if they don't put forth the effort to achieve it. Effort and determination will win the day.  But, for now, we are very proud of the progress they are making. We really hope that Jack's love of reading and history continue, that Anna keeps thriving, and that Kara always loves school and learning as much as she does right now!