Kennedy's 14th Birthday...better late than never!

This is the look on Kennedy's face when we woke her up a little early for school on her birthday and she came out for breakfast to find gifts waiting for her!  She said, "Me China, no birthday!"  We told her that from now on, her birthday will always be celebrated!  She smiled from ear to ear!

Here she is receiving either the Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia DVD.  She is reading both series of novels in Mandarin at school and LOVES them!!

Learning all about getting a new wardrobe for the changing season!  She is starting to get into clothes a bit now.  She has NO interest in dresses.  That's MY girl!  I guess we are just not frilly girls around here.  Sorry, mom!

We saved a suprise CD for the birthday meal at Kennedy's favorite Italian dinner spot!  Justin Bieber, or however you spell his name.  Kennedy seems to like the blonde haired, blue eyed boys...she also likes the boy meeting that description who plays "Peter" in the Chronicles of Narnia.  Sigh.

Make a wish!

Close up of the cake she chose.  I took her to the bakery and said she could pick any cake.  There were some really fancy and expensive ones...but she chose the cheapest, most decorated one she could!  She went straight to it and said THIS one!!!  Whatever makes you happy, my girl!

Mia was as patient as she could be with a day that was all about someone OTHER than her!  She finally asked when someone was going to take HER picture, since she is so cute!

Sorry it took so long to post pics from Kennedy's birthday on March 3rd!  It has been quite busy around here!  Kennedy began her day with gifts.  After school, we took her out to an Italian place she loves for some spicy sausage pasta and her cake.  We ended the night...a school night I might add...with roller skating!  She truly enjoyed the entire day!

Last week, we had a meeting with Kennedy's ESL teacher and counselor for next year...in NINTH GRADE.  Gulp.  Yes, you read that right.  She should technically be in 8th grade this year.  She was in 6th in China, but the grades are NOT equivalent. 

You may recall that we decided to temporarily place her in 5th grade at my school for one semester to get her used to school in America and early English learning in a more supportive setting.  However; if she were to keep on track from this grade level, she would be DRIVING herself to 7th grade.  NOT ok!

Next year, we will place her age appropriately.  The district we live in (not the same as the district where I teach) agreed to place her one grade below where her age puts her, which would be 8th.  However, we would be right back in the same boat we would have been in if we had placed her in 7th or 8th this semester.  That school does not begin until 8:50.  Charles leaves by 6:00 or 6:15 each morning, and I have to be at work by 7:30.  Kennedy would have to leave the house on her own and get on the bus.  I am still not comfortable with that idea.  Her high school has a 9th grade only campus, and the bus will pick her up before I have to leave.  I feel much better about that.

The counselor and teacher are WONDERFUL!  That helped make our decision as well.  They are going to allow me to enroll her the last day of this semester so she will be eligible for an oral language building ESL summer school class in the district for all of June, possibly part of July.  It uses a discovery learning approach to really encourage the use of spoken English.  I am THRILLED about that and know it will REALLY help!

We worked out her class schedule.  She needs 8 classes, as they are on a block schedule format.  She will have ESOL I (English/Language Arts for newcomers to the country) with her ESL teacher, World Geography with the ESL teacher and a Reading/Study Skills course with the ESL teacher.  She will take Algebra I, and the ESL teacher will spend time helping her in that class as much as possible.  She will have Biology as well.  She will take the required Physical Education class.  For fine arts, she chose Dance, and she is REALLY excited about it!  Finally, she has to begin her required 2 years of foreign language.  I panicked because Spanish and French are typically the only choices.  THAT would be awful while still learning English.  But...guess what?!!  They offer Mandarin Chinese!!!!  We sure did sign her straight up for that!!  It should be an easy A, and help her hold on to her Chinese as she works toward English fluency!!

The 9th grade campus is a much smaller setting than the 7th/8th grade Junior High campus, so we are feeling good about the decision.  The summer school option was a certain bonus.  While I can hardly even SAY out loud that Kennedy will enter HIGH SCHOOL in August, we are confident that it is a better choice at this point than the other option for 8th grade.

Other than that update, we are on Spring Break this week!  Mia started off on Saturday morning with strep throat.  Nice.  She has had a few doses of penicillin now, and feels much better.  STILL, what a way to start the break!  As I type this, we are having a lovely thunder storm.  Perfect weather for spring break.  UGH!  Oh well, at least we get to sleep late and do nothing! 

Charles took the girls to the rodeo yesterday.  They had a BLAST!  I will encourage him to blog about it and post some pics!  They could NOT stop talking about all the fun they had!  So...stay tuned...