Life with a Teenager

Life with a teenager can be very challenging. You have a person looking to find who they are, the direction they want their life to run, while all still just trying to be a kid. With these challenges come the parents trying to allow the teenager to find who they are, guide them in the right direction they want their life to run, while still wanting them to be a kid.

Yesterday, I was blessed with a moment of kids just being kids. I have a friend, Tracy, on Facebook and real life, who recommended a Wii game called Just Dance. This game looked like a lot of fun on her video on FB, so Juan and I ran out to go get it. We played together for a couple of hours, and then some of his friends came over to join in the fun. See the video below for a great teenage moment. I love you Juan...stay a kid!!!!

Thank you Tracy for the recommendation and the opportunity to watch my baby just being a kid! GREAT MEMORY!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brERSotj_ME

Snow in So Cal

From Palm Springs to Winter Wonderland in less than 30 minutes. Amazing! Many think of Southern California and they imagine beaches and sun. There is plenty of this, however, the best thing about living in Southern California is you can generally see a beach or snow within an hour or so. Sunday, Juan and I (Brad was sick in bed and couldn't go...BOO!) joined the Elamparo Family (Juan's girlfriend's family) to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram which took us up to the San Jacinto Mountain Park. You take a aerial tram, which holds about 80 people, up to the mountains. Once you arrive, you step out to 14" of snow. It truly is an amazing site, not to mention COLD!!!!!

We spent the day sledding, having a snowball fight, and sharing lots of laughter. It was really a GREAT time, and I look forward to going again in the Summer and Winter.

Thank you Southern California for offering such great weather diversity.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Christmas 2009

The Christmas celebration began with my annual California Christmas celebration on the 19th. I look forward to this event all year long. It is great to have all the California family get together to celebrate the year and the Christmas season. It often includes lots of planning, cleaning, and stress. But with these things it results in a GREAT time.

We begin with visiting and cocktails and then move to the food. This is always yummy! Then we start a game of Christmas Bingo. This is a Christmas tradition from the Devor side of the family which I have adopted as my own. This is always a Christmas tradition we all look forward to each year. The most prized BINGO prize is a bottle of Brut. This may give you an idea of what kinds of prizes are part of this game.

I was excited to have 19 people (including Rachel from Kansas) come and pile into my itty bitty house this year. It was great to have everyone together. Maybe someday I can have a combined California/Kansas Christmas.

Christmas Eve Brad had to work. After work, we went out to dinner, played games, and got ready for Santa. I may have a 15 year old, but we still put out cookies and egg nog for Santa. Never stop believing.

Christmas Day we opened presents, had Hawaiian French Toast for breakfast, and went to opening day of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes stars Robert Downey, Jr., which is one of Brad and my favorite actors. We both feel he has such great talent and enjoy most movies he makes. Brad was quite a trooper. He came down with the flu on Christmas Day, but went along with all the plans for the sake of Christmas. Gotta love him!

I hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas and are blessed in 2010.

Who am I to speak?

I haven't added to my blog since September. Since then I keep looking at some old friends' blogs and wonder why aren't they blogging. I have e-mailed, facebooked (a verb now), and pestered them about updating their blogs. They since have and I have enjoyed every moment of hearing about their lives. However, here I am not blogging myself. So, I am going to give this another whirl. I will not throw out any promises, but I will give it my best effort. I learned on Shannon Albert's blog (www.shannonalbert.me) the best bloggers have their own domain name, pictures, and regular updates. I will look into these Shannon, I promise.

So, 2009...it is coming to an end. Today is Christmas (well, 12:20 a.m. December 25th) and I can't seem to sleep. Maybe I am waiting up with the hopes I see Santa. HA!! We'll see. Anyway, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the year. Here are a few of the lessons of 2009 for Emily Devor:

Having a teenager is a sure route to cardiac arrest: Juan is 15 years old and a freshman in high school. Without going into a great deal of detail (to protect his privacy), Juan has created some challenges for me this year. I am trying to remember what it is like to be a teenager and be respectful of what he is going through right now, but SERIOUSLY!! Is this age completely necessary...can we just go from 12 to 27. I am sure my insurance company would approve, by not having to pay for any more blood pressure meds.

I will never lose my passion for teaching:
I have been so lucky this year to go from pink slip to Principal. There is a long story. But in the end, I was assigned my first Principal position this school year. I love the position and continue to learn everyday. People often ask if I miss teaching. The answer is always YES. I was born to be a teacher, wanted to be nothing else but a teacher. So, to say I don't miss teaching wouldn't make any sense. This is NOT to say, however, I don't enjoy being a Principal. It is just now I have to be more creative in finding ways to "teach." One of my commitments is to take a grade level a week to teach intervention to a small group of students. This has helped class sizes during intervention, but selfishly has given me opportunities to directly work with students each day.

I love my husband:
I remind myself of this lesson everyday. Brad and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary earlier this month. I love him more each and everyday. Do we drive each other completely crazy somedays, weeks, or monhts. OH YES!!!!!! But when all is said and done, Brad has taught me so much about myself while letting me grow into who I am. Brad has given me nothing but support for anything I want to do. Brad has taught me to calm down during stressful situations. Brad has taught me I can't control EVERYTHING. I love you Brad!!

I love reality TV:
My guilty pleasure revealed. I love all types of reality TV. I am so entertained by the lives of others...real of not. They make me giggle and reflect on us as a society. It's hard to believe there are actually people out there who would put their lives on TV, and I love watching every second of it.

Those are some of my lessons for this year. It is know 12:40 a.m. and I really should get some sleep. I will make every attempt to update my blog for 2010. Fingers crossed! MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!