The Latta Family

I mean- duh.  He's lucky.  But this is something he doesn't even know he's lucky about. Let me back up.  The first weekend I met Doug's parents, they were working on building a barn for my sister in law's horse.  The horse wasn't there yet (she wasn't my sister in law yet).  But Doug was pretty open about his feelings on, "My kids won't ever do horses.  It's a total money pit." Well . . . fast forward 13 years. We were at a birthday party for one of Andrew's friends.  Andrew was about 7 and Alexa was about 2.  The party was at a horse farm, and the kids got to ride.  Well . . . other people's kids rode.  Andrew didn't want a doggone thing to do with that horse.  It took awhile to convince him to give it a try.   Meanwhile, his 2 year old sister would have done anything to ride, but she wasn't old enough.  I laughed and laughed.  I tried to tell Doug, horse people are born, not created, and pretty much he could say all he w

There's a new game.  You're going to read this and go, "What the heck?" Is this for real?" Unfortunately it is. This "game" was brought to my attention at dinner the other night.  Doug told me that the game has swept his third period.  The game has reached epic proportions.  And since he told Andrew about it, it will be carried on to the middle school. What could this fascinating, amazing game be? You call someone's name, establish eye contact, then you do what Andrew's doing- and blow air out of your hand, and then quick take your hand down, and then the person you blew air at, is froze. They can't move until someone comes up and touches their neck.  It's pretty intense stuff.  I mean- you could be froze (that's student speak) at a critical time, like class change.  And you're just stuck there, waiting until someone touches your neck.   Andrew got in the car today, and said, "I smoked someone in 3rd period toda

I love when Alexa trumps Andrew.  Usually she's at a complete disadvantage: physically and her wit is not quite as quick . . . yet.  Andrew's gonna have to start thinking faster, because she's getting good. She got 'im good tonight. So we're sitting in the Chick Fil A drive thru line and Andrew is playing a song, that has a tongue trill sound in it.  He says, "Did you know I don't know how to make my tongue do that?"  WHAT?!  How did I know he can't do that!!!  I literally had no idea!  Alexa, from the back, "You can't make that sound?!" And she does it. I do it.  We're making the sound together. Andrew says, "Well, y'all know how to make a guy feel good about himself." While I didn't actually see her facial expression, I am pretty sure a massively mischievous look overcame her expression as she realized what this meant.  SHE could do something he COULDN'T!!!!  The angels sang from above as they looked

This is a tough school year.  It feels like there are a lot of changes happening.  I'm struggling with them.  It's bringing about a lot of inner turmoil.  Why am I struggling with these changes? Is it because I hate change? Is it because I am becoming one of those old, crusty teachers that refuses to try new things because the old way is what I'm familiar with, and the old way is the "right" way? It's not just at school though. I feel like our community is changing so much.  There is so much development happening.  Another parcel of land is sold, yet another shopping area is being developed, more roads, more traffic, more angry feelings whenever I have to go somewhere because I'll have to sit through lights, and stop and go traffic, more waiting in lines or to be sat at a restaurant. I know, I know, change is good, more options, more tax base, more everything . . . but is change better? One of my all time favorite movies is "You've Got Mail&qu

Parenting is sooooo soooo hard.  (pretend you see me thrown, face down, on the couch, in utter defeat). You're cruising along.  Everything is great.  Your kids are brilliant.  They're well behaved.  They're polite.  They're model citizens of the world.  And then.  Then they're not. I had Alexa's parent conference yesterday.  It wasn't what I expected.  It turns out, my sweet girl talks. Incessantly.  She said, "incessantly"  She's moved her seat  . . . a lot.  She's placed her near other students that don't talk, but then they become distracted by her excessive talking. See here's the thing.  This is true.  I do not doubt what her teacher has said.  Alexa does talk incessantly.  I frequently find it's distracting to me.  However, it's so much a part of my life, I have learned to tune it out.  I have no idea how to tell her- "ZIP YOUR LIPS GIRL!" I don't want to stamp out who she is.  I don't want her