<p>Wow, Amanda, that’s crazy tight bus timing! glad he made it :)</p>
<p>Wow Amanda - that’s some timing there! Despite all the problems/annoyances, won’t it be nice to have them home??</p>
<p>D’s school also had puppies over last weekend to help de-stress. She was bummed she couldn’t go since she had to go to study sessions instead! But they seemed to have a lot of support during the crunch time - they had free hot chocolate and coffee in the big hall and they had a “study” party of sorts from 8pm - midnight, with free give-aways during the entire period!</p>
<p>She is so relieved now that the big exams are done - couple more to go early next week but she isn’t too worried about those. She aced her Calc final - she’s so thrilled with her accomplishment! When her advisor told her she should sign up for this, I was reluctant, especially since it was a honors level Calc 3 class - she was one of a handful of freshmen to take this specific class, but she ignored my warnings and went ahead. Guess she did know better!</p>
<p>Counting down to next week …so ready for a break…</p>
<p>Argh connections. Now I know why I sprung for the extra $150 for a non-stop Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately there is only one nonstop per day and that was before his exam today. He had an hour between connections & his flight is going on an hour late. Hoping everything is running late into PHL or NYC. Lucky I thought about where to connect and made it as close as possible, as I will be driving the 3 hours to Philly if he misses his connection.
Ah well, a little holiday drama. I was thinking of making cookie dough tonite, maybe not.</p>
<p>Easy yet evil cookies: layer of chocolate chip cookie dough topped with Oreos or equivalent (Peppermint Joe Joes from Trader Joe’s worked really well) topped with brownie batter. Warm, they won’t cut up pretty but they will ooze all over in a glorious chocolatey mess.</p>
<p>Slithey - that sounds absolutely inhuman! And I hope your D is feeling better (via the other thread). Best wishes to you!</p>
<p>Enjoy your kids, everyone. I don’t get mine for a while yet. Her worst final is over; she has steady work through Weds, but she’s taking Saturday as a “me” day to go see a play, do some shopping, and then see another show on campus in the evening. Yes, I do think she is glad she went to college near NYC!</p>
<p>We’ve been grabbing non-stops whenever we can. Our nearby airport has very few, so we gladly drive an hour or two in order to avoid needing a connection. I also find I’m not so wiped out after flying if I’ve only had one take-off and touch-down. Besides, the drive is sometimes shorter than the connection and its wait time.</p>
<p>D got her grades, and she did very well- all As and Bs, which made us very proud. As we were loading up the car to come home, I asked her if she was happy with her choice of college, as we looked at the quad. She told me “There is neve a day that I regret my decision to go here. I love the campus, I love the people, I love my classes. I love it every day.” </p>
<p>I can’t ask for more than that.</p>
<p>Of course, she already gone for the weekend. Hopefully, I will get her back on Sunday, since she has taken over most of the cookie baking!</p>
<p>What a great feeling, gsm! Congratulations to your D, and to you.</p>
<p>Wow, gsmomma. It doesn’t get better than that! </p>
<p>I hope the travelers made their connections and returned home safely.</p>
<p>Drama averted. I love how they can make up time in the air. Luggage did not make it however & hoping that arrives today. So there was an extra hour in the airport waiting in line to fill out the form. Oh well, at least he made it.</p>
<p>S said “it is typical for the mom to have a homecooked meal upon arrival” uh, not when you arrive at 11 PM. H was going to stop along the way home, but S said he wasn’t hungry. I love it. I am making his fav soup now. Maybe Sunday dinner if he’s going to be around. Maybe it won’t be such a rush if he’s home for 3 weeks.</p>
<p>I did make the cookie dough, but found my cherries do not have stems and that is required for my chocolate mice. Third trip to the grocery store coming up.</p>
<p>Ah, all is well. Now I can’t wait for the others to arrive.</p>
<p>I planned to have homecooked meal for ds last night but he was late, then we decided to get a christmas tree, then ds last was hungry so we stopped for dinner on the way home. I’ll be cooking tonight.</p>
<p>I just found out they had puppies at ds school too. I guess I need to go to the pet store for my puppy fix. ;)</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC App</p>
<p>fogfog, the jargon these days is twice exceptional for gifted and learning disabilities. I have two, with one who is really gifted and has meaningful learning disabilities. I have worked on this a lot through starting in 2nd grade – the boy could not read starting in 3rd grade and for whom hand-copying a paragraph took and hour in 4th grade and left him in such pain he couldn’t work until the end of the day. He got into a lot of good schools, Ivies included, and is at the high end of his class in college. Lots of accommodations in HS and some in college. I’m happy to be of assistance. I find the PMs get pretty full, but I think that you can email me on one of my addresses from within CC.</p>
<p>Argh now relative drama,</p>
<p>H just called & MIL wants to come for Christmas Eve & Day & sleep over. I’m a terrible person, but I don’t want her to come. One night this year that I will have my 3 kids together & I would like to have them to ourselves. And again with me being the terrible person, but she is grandmother to my youngest only, so it’s a little awkward with my older kids.</p>
<p>We don’t even have enough rooms/beds for all the kids since we’ve downsized. MIL sleeping on the sofa next to the tree on Christmas morning, ugh. H is one of 6, so it’s not that she doesn’t have anywhere to go, she wants to stay here & then head down to some relatives in NYC, we are a midpoint.</p>
<p>I would be happy to have anyone for dinner & we have had some interesting guests over the years, but they don’t sleep over. One year we had her stay in a local hotel & that was almost worse, as H had to check her in & drive her back and forth to the hotel right in the middle of everything, so he didn’t really enjoy the evening. </p>
<p>Maybe H can explain it to her. There is something about it being “just us” up late after everyone leaves and then brunch and opening gifts- which for us is like noon. Then they all go over to my X’s for Christmas Dinner. </p>
<p>I happily hosted my MIL for a few days over the summer and various of his siblings for a few days. I just one want holiday. Am I asking too much? I am freaking out a little with my kids all being so far away. Older S & D don’t come home for Thanksgiving & this is the first year with the youngest being at college down South.</p>
<p>ldinct, I don’t think you are a terrible person. I think I would feel the same as you if I were in this situation. Is your H on the same page as you and willing to talk with his mom?</p>
<p>A hotel may not be terrible if you can find an appropriate break for your H to take her. Otherwise the answer can be no as long as your H is agreeable. If he isn’t, then find something that can be a good compromise to both of you.</p>
<p>Scoutson is home! Happy, healthy, with more facial hair and weirder t-shirts - I guess he’s doing okay. He turned 18 after Thanksgiving, so this was my first sight of the adult son. Yeah, still my boy. We’ve both survived and even thrived through the semester, but sooo glad to be able to finally hug him!<br>
It’s great to read about all the homecomings, as it has been great to be a part of all the adventures on this journey. I have also peeked at the 2016 thread, and I am very thankful to be on this side of the admissions ordeal. Wishing strength to all of you who have another ride on that roller coaster ahead.
We’re heading out for the tree, so Happy Holidays to all and special prayers for Avon mom.</p>
<p>I was just thinking that with two S’s I’ll be on the receiving end of this with DIL’s in the future, ha ha. MIL has 6 boys so she has it rough there. Although all of D’s boyfriends were very devoted to their mothers. Current bf is not coming from CA because he feels he needs to be with his mom. I’m not sure I can expect that from my S’s.</p>
<p>I have a fallback idea if H isn’t able to talk her out of it. A Hotel, but she has to drive herself back & forth and head to the relatives in the am on the 25th. She is driving down from Maine herself, so 5 mins shouldn’t be a problem. She doesn’t drink at all, so I’m not sure why this should be a big deal. We should be able to prepay it. Not sure how this didn’t work out last time, H felt he had to check her in, just in case they asked her for a credit card or something.</p>
<p>DS is home! Definitely taller, lots more whiskers (not quite a beard…), and skinny! Seems really happy, chatty (relative - for him), and ready to relax. Slept 14 hours last night and has started eating everything in the house - this after noting that the dining hall at school has more options for breakfast!<br>
Good talk in the car from the airport (an hour) about where “home” is - not at school and not yet here where we moved since he went to school. So he’s feeling rootless; I’m glad he could talk about it and he did brighten up when he saw that his room here is almost identical to the one at “home” and that his cats fell all over him with love and excitement.
Heard from two good friends with HS seniors who had bad news with EA/ED - so much happier to be on the other side.
Enjoy your homecomings!</p>
<p>Got 2 of D’s 3 grades (she’s only taking 3 classes so she wouldn’t be “overwhelmed”) – A- in one class, F in another. Yes, F. She told me she was struggling (because the professor told her she was failing); she had the chance to turn in some assignments (not do-overs – turn them in the 1st time) and she thought she had done so by the deadline, but guess what – she didn’t!</p>
<p>I told her this is really bad. First, I think she was partying too much. Second, how can you not realize how badly you’re doing in a class? Third, why didn’t she buckle down and make this class her top priority? Probably because she didn’t think she’d really get an F, and because there are no immediate repercussions. </p>
<p>I’m deciding what to take away. No spring break trip, that’s for sure. And if she ends up with anything other than an A or B, she can transfer to a SUNY. I’m not paying $50K for her to screw up.</p>
<p>No more Mrs. Nice Guy.</p>
<p>Ouch…harsh reality check for Classof12015 daughter. If there is a positive to her circumstances, it’s that the wake-up call is coming early and loudly. No opportunity to ignore sliding grades over a couple of years and then wonder how (or if even possible) to remedy–instead, an opportunity to make an immediate about-face and call it a valuable lesson learned. Good wishes to you and her both.</p>
<p>^thanks, Mom. 
At least the A- shows me she is not entirely in over her head…</p>
<p>Boychild is home. We had a nice sit down over cheese, crackers, a bloody for me and beers for the guys. I thought I was going to have to break the bad news that I have no intention of spending $1000 for him to fly to Florida over Feb. break to sleep until two in the afternoon, when he told me he wants to stay at school instead, chill, maybe do some skiing, get some work done, etc., etc., etc. Needless to say I’m thrilled. Then he took off to go get some stuff he needed at CVS and stopped into his job to check his schedule. He’s working 46 hours this week. :)</p>
<p>Class, understand how you can be steaming mad about your D’s grade but taking things away? You can tell her you won’t fund her spring break but I don’t see how you can stop her from going. It’s one grade and you don’t know even know what her other grade is yet.
You can sit her down and tell her you won’t continue to pay $50K+/yr for her education. My cousin and her DH refused to pay for their son to continue at the expensive private school after he screwed up his freshman year. They made him come home and he enrolled in a state school near where they live. </p>
<p>Also, and this probably goes against conventional wisdom, I think not carrying a full load can be more detrimental than a full schedule. Too much free time can be a bad thing. It’s easy to tell yourself since you only have a few classes, skipping once in awhile won’t hurt because you have so much free time to catch-up. Of course, you never do the catching up.</p>