Four days and three nights of camping at Yellowstone. We're going in the morning.
I optimistically wrote morning when I really have no idea when we'll actually get out the door. I've packed my clothes, the twins and gave the girls lists to pack their stuff. Normally I'm not this anal about clothes and kid packing but it's still DANG cold up in Yellowstone. At night dipping freezing. Plus, the three boys going splashing through mud, not out of the realm of our reality.
My partner in crime isn't going with us this trip. Kent and I decided we needed a trip with just us and the kids, real family time. Of course, when I say family, my mom is coming too. We wouldn't do a trip without her. Kent loves having my mom along and my mom loves spending time with us.
Don't get me wrong, mom loves time alone too and usually spends a week recovering after 24/7 with the kids but my kids as they grow older, will have these wonderful memories of camping with their grandmother. Bless her for spending this time with us.
Food has been a big worry for me. Simply because Marja over packs food and having her along is a great kid/food safety net. Plus my kids keep eating what I bought for snacks, super annoying. I'm trying to be prepared and Ean has been eating the portable applesauce, getting into cookies, whatever I may have. Greg had a chicken salad sandwich, the chicken salad is for one of our lunches.
I'm sure it will turn out fine. Although my frustration level is through the roof this very second.
I've also been having problems with Ean. It boils down to continual anger problems, impulsiveness and a complete inability to understand causality. I have an appointment set up, I want to see him thrive. He has so much potential and is such a neat kid but the belligerent behavior needs to be addressed.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Heart Attack on Hawthorne
Actually my heart attack was on Kinghorn but that doesn't alliterate so nicely and I was trying to turn onto Hawthorne. So we'll go with the original title.
Kinghorn is the street my mother lives on, Hawthorne is one of the major streets from Pocatello to Chubbuck on our side of town. Hawthorne is extremely busy and my kids elementary school, while not facing Hawthorne has part of the playground on this busy road.
Now if the fifth graders wanted to go to a certain park that's fairly close by, they'd walk through the neighborhood to a city easement that connects to Kinghorn, which they could safely walk down and turn to the park, crossing two major roads but not walking on either.
Why am I telling you this? Well today my mom and I went walking at the park, I drove her home, stepped inside, visited for a while and then left, going to the intersection of Hawthorne and Kinghorn, ready to turn right on Hawthorne. When I pulled up, I noticed that the fifth graders were about to cross, they were collecting in the easement property.
So I waited. The aid working as a crossing guard, stopped traffic to let the stream of ten/eleven year olds across the street. There was the initial group, which was 3-4 thick crossing the street, in one solid row, then the meandering ones followed and it was a lot with big spaces between the kids. Thank heavens for that because all those kids going through the easement freaked out the horse in the bordering property.
All of a sudden, this horse bolted into view, almost getting hit by a car, the horse ran straight down the center of the street RIGHT THROUGH THE FIFTH GRADERS. The crossing guard jumped and shoved kids back as the horse went straight towards them. Took about two seconds for it all to happen and I sat there, safe in my suburban, my heart pounding in complete disbelief at what just happened.
Welcome to Idaho? Where within the city limits you can have people owning acreage and horses?
My daughter, queen of the meandering tweens, missed the whole thing. She was a good two minutes behind the horse incident.
This poor animal was terrified in the street and some of the dumber kids tried to go back into the street to snap pictures on their phones. Yeah, the techno generation.
So, no one was hurt. Amazingly! Thankfully the animal didn't bolt a minute sooner when the kids were thicker going across the street, they might not have been so lucky.
I know I lost a few years during those two seconds.
Kinghorn is the street my mother lives on, Hawthorne is one of the major streets from Pocatello to Chubbuck on our side of town. Hawthorne is extremely busy and my kids elementary school, while not facing Hawthorne has part of the playground on this busy road.
Now if the fifth graders wanted to go to a certain park that's fairly close by, they'd walk through the neighborhood to a city easement that connects to Kinghorn, which they could safely walk down and turn to the park, crossing two major roads but not walking on either.
Why am I telling you this? Well today my mom and I went walking at the park, I drove her home, stepped inside, visited for a while and then left, going to the intersection of Hawthorne and Kinghorn, ready to turn right on Hawthorne. When I pulled up, I noticed that the fifth graders were about to cross, they were collecting in the easement property.
So I waited. The aid working as a crossing guard, stopped traffic to let the stream of ten/eleven year olds across the street. There was the initial group, which was 3-4 thick crossing the street, in one solid row, then the meandering ones followed and it was a lot with big spaces between the kids. Thank heavens for that because all those kids going through the easement freaked out the horse in the bordering property.
All of a sudden, this horse bolted into view, almost getting hit by a car, the horse ran straight down the center of the street RIGHT THROUGH THE FIFTH GRADERS. The crossing guard jumped and shoved kids back as the horse went straight towards them. Took about two seconds for it all to happen and I sat there, safe in my suburban, my heart pounding in complete disbelief at what just happened.
Welcome to Idaho? Where within the city limits you can have people owning acreage and horses?
My daughter, queen of the meandering tweens, missed the whole thing. She was a good two minutes behind the horse incident.
This poor animal was terrified in the street and some of the dumber kids tried to go back into the street to snap pictures on their phones. Yeah, the techno generation.
So, no one was hurt. Amazingly! Thankfully the animal didn't bolt a minute sooner when the kids were thicker going across the street, they might not have been so lucky.
I know I lost a few years during those two seconds.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Sometimes, Even when you suck at something
You do it anyway.
Which means, we planted our garden this year! Now I've listed the hundreds of reasons why I don't like the outdoors. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, there's really about three reasons I don't like the outdoors but I'll mention them again just to be perfectly clear, this is more then just weird stuff in my head.
Basically, if it grows, chances are good that I'm allergic to it. I don't have food allergies but I can't breath when the pollen count is high. High pollen count triggering hay fever is a sure fire way to set my asthma off. Throw in the simple fact that if I don't premedicate with benadryl before pulling weeds, my arms break out in hives. Gosh, was there ever a chance on me loving the outdoors?
So when we plant our garden, and we forget to water and then weeding is just no fun at all, usually there's a couple of things for us to pull but by mid July, we give up.
So if I hate the outdoors, why bother planting at all?
First and foremost we believe in being self sufficient. Part of that is knowing how to grow things. It's the same lifestyle choices that include not going into debt, living within your means and being smart about your finances. Secondly, with all the crap going into food, isn't it nice to know you're eating something the way God intended you too, without nasty chemicals and questionable farming practices.
So we keep trying. And this is a new year. Maybe, just maybe, this is our year.
I'll believe that when I see it!
Which means, we planted our garden this year! Now I've listed the hundreds of reasons why I don't like the outdoors. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, there's really about three reasons I don't like the outdoors but I'll mention them again just to be perfectly clear, this is more then just weird stuff in my head.
Basically, if it grows, chances are good that I'm allergic to it. I don't have food allergies but I can't breath when the pollen count is high. High pollen count triggering hay fever is a sure fire way to set my asthma off. Throw in the simple fact that if I don't premedicate with benadryl before pulling weeds, my arms break out in hives. Gosh, was there ever a chance on me loving the outdoors?
So when we plant our garden, and we forget to water and then weeding is just no fun at all, usually there's a couple of things for us to pull but by mid July, we give up.
So if I hate the outdoors, why bother planting at all?
First and foremost we believe in being self sufficient. Part of that is knowing how to grow things. It's the same lifestyle choices that include not going into debt, living within your means and being smart about your finances. Secondly, with all the crap going into food, isn't it nice to know you're eating something the way God intended you too, without nasty chemicals and questionable farming practices.
So we keep trying. And this is a new year. Maybe, just maybe, this is our year.
I'll believe that when I see it!
Understanding Aspergers
I am going to talk about one of my children, and I ask that even if you know who I'm talking about or suspect what child this is about, to please not use names for their own privacy.
I had a huge shake up about four months ago. In a round about way, that was really unprofessional and caused me a lot of stress, it came to my attention that some of my child's teachers suspected my child of being mentally ill. There was reference to hearing voices. All kinds of inappropriate behavior, mostly in the classroom. It was a very emotional time for me, as I tried to figure out how to tackle both the possibility of a mental illness and the interactions that were occurring with teachers.
When I finally had a chance to sit down with one of those teachers it became clear to me that some of the problem was not understanding how this child expresses them self. There was also the problem that we've had continually with not understanding social norms and what society deems as acceptable behavior. So this problem definitely had multiple faucets and needed to be address on multiple fronts.
I was very lucky to be involved with a group of online ladies that gave me a ton of support during this time, as I tried to sort it all out and understand what was actually happening.
A huge blessing for us at this time was already having access with a professional that was helping this child deal with some other issues. So testing, in trying to figure this child out was relatively easy. We ended up with me filling out a questionnaire, having a teacher fill out the same questionnaire, and sitting down and going point by point over what it takes to diagnose aspergers to figure out that the behavior we were seeing was specifically because of aspergers.
So what does that mean? How does aspergers affect someone long term. Well, for me as a parent, I felt relief in knowing that my parenting decisions, which were often under scrutiny from other family members were correct. I often got flack for correcting behavior, at the time it happened, being told repeatedly that I was going to damage this child's self esteem.
Truth is, with aspergers, the individual doesn't understand or follow social cues often not even recognizing them. They struggle with having regular conversations often inserting information that's not appropriate with the topic, but is central to a few key obsessions this individual might have. Conversation skills, body language, expanding interest, all things that must be taught to the aspergers child. If not taught, they will do these socially awkward behaviors as adults. Forever being labeled "weird".
Suddenly all the work socially that, as parents, we've poured into this child makes sense. There's also a sense of purpose in continuing to help this child grow and mature socially, since it will not happen if this child were left alone.
The diagnosis really has opened the window of understanding to our child. Now that we know, we know better how to help them.
It's been an emotionally full four months since we started this journey and it's not over but it's so much better. For everyone, especially this wonderful child of ours.
I had a huge shake up about four months ago. In a round about way, that was really unprofessional and caused me a lot of stress, it came to my attention that some of my child's teachers suspected my child of being mentally ill. There was reference to hearing voices. All kinds of inappropriate behavior, mostly in the classroom. It was a very emotional time for me, as I tried to figure out how to tackle both the possibility of a mental illness and the interactions that were occurring with teachers.
When I finally had a chance to sit down with one of those teachers it became clear to me that some of the problem was not understanding how this child expresses them self. There was also the problem that we've had continually with not understanding social norms and what society deems as acceptable behavior. So this problem definitely had multiple faucets and needed to be address on multiple fronts.
I was very lucky to be involved with a group of online ladies that gave me a ton of support during this time, as I tried to sort it all out and understand what was actually happening.
A huge blessing for us at this time was already having access with a professional that was helping this child deal with some other issues. So testing, in trying to figure this child out was relatively easy. We ended up with me filling out a questionnaire, having a teacher fill out the same questionnaire, and sitting down and going point by point over what it takes to diagnose aspergers to figure out that the behavior we were seeing was specifically because of aspergers.
So what does that mean? How does aspergers affect someone long term. Well, for me as a parent, I felt relief in knowing that my parenting decisions, which were often under scrutiny from other family members were correct. I often got flack for correcting behavior, at the time it happened, being told repeatedly that I was going to damage this child's self esteem.
Truth is, with aspergers, the individual doesn't understand or follow social cues often not even recognizing them. They struggle with having regular conversations often inserting information that's not appropriate with the topic, but is central to a few key obsessions this individual might have. Conversation skills, body language, expanding interest, all things that must be taught to the aspergers child. If not taught, they will do these socially awkward behaviors as adults. Forever being labeled "weird".
Suddenly all the work socially that, as parents, we've poured into this child makes sense. There's also a sense of purpose in continuing to help this child grow and mature socially, since it will not happen if this child were left alone.
The diagnosis really has opened the window of understanding to our child. Now that we know, we know better how to help them.
It's been an emotionally full four months since we started this journey and it's not over but it's so much better. For everyone, especially this wonderful child of ours.
My Children
They are growing, which of course is what we want but still, as a mother, it takes me by surprise.
My twins will be in first grade next year. Those awful awful years that were all screaming and diapers, throw up and laundry, I seriously never pictured reaching the point where my children would all be in school full time. It seems crazy, just crazy to be at this point now.
They enjoyed Kindergarten but in all seriousness, it was hard to go so seldom. That alternating day schedule is just hard on kids. My kids especially, they went to head start four days a week for two solid school years. That was huge for them, so it seemed like back tracking to only go two or three times a week.
The eternal question "Will you keep them together for first grade?" seems to be asked with more and more frequency as this school year ends. I find it amusing because does it really matter? Well for the record, I'm letting the school do whatever they want so they most likely will be separated. I do think it's good for twins to develop their own friendships and their own interests. Luckily my guys aren't super dependent on each other. Although my straight arrow Greg is willing to compromise his standards and lie to protect his twin. It's the only time, he'll lie. It's pretty funny, also, it's easy to spot and correct. I'm hoping he outgrows it soon.
Ean still struggles getting along with other kids. He's such a kind child in his heart. His spazziness and impulsiveness makes it much harder for classmates to spot although he definitely is trying and that's the first step towards change. Grade wise, Ean of course has done well. Ean's brain is wired in a way that makes memorization easy and he loves to learn. That means if he ever does really poorly in a class, for whatever reason, he isn't trying. Thankfully he still loves learning and this hasn't been an issue.
This is the child that taught himself how to write cursive at the end of Kindergarten. I love watching him teach himself. It's really amazing to observe.
The next in line, oh my goodness, can you believe Kate the Great is off to middle school? Of course with the sixth graders in middle school, it's earlier then I would like but it is what it is. I can't change it, only be positive and know we've done our best to prepare her.
I'm so glad Kate's IEP is in place. That awful year Jane went into sixth will not be repeated because Kate has back up and resources already available to her.
I am so proud of Kate this year. She struggles understanding why learning is hard for her but if graded on effort, she'd get a 100% this year. She's tried so hard and I am very very proud of her effort. The state testing really has been a blow because with all her effort she still scores less then proficient on multiple subjects. I keep reminding her on how much she's improved and THAT's what her dad and I believe really counts.
And my Jane will be off to high school I don't know how that'll go. I really don't. Jane is trying, like Kate and it shows in her overall quality of school work. I think she's finally figured out how to do school work even with her learning disability. She's looking ahead at goals and careers and I love seeing that. My oldest is an incredible young woman and I hope she sees what I see. An individual that's kind and caring, works for goals, reaches out to others, loves the Lord. Wish I could credit for who she's becoming but I suspect I'm mostly the guide on this journey.
I love them all. Seeing them do well gives me joy. Despite the hair pulling, there has been a lot of joy this school year. I hope next year is the same or even better.
My twins will be in first grade next year. Those awful awful years that were all screaming and diapers, throw up and laundry, I seriously never pictured reaching the point where my children would all be in school full time. It seems crazy, just crazy to be at this point now.
They enjoyed Kindergarten but in all seriousness, it was hard to go so seldom. That alternating day schedule is just hard on kids. My kids especially, they went to head start four days a week for two solid school years. That was huge for them, so it seemed like back tracking to only go two or three times a week.
The eternal question "Will you keep them together for first grade?" seems to be asked with more and more frequency as this school year ends. I find it amusing because does it really matter? Well for the record, I'm letting the school do whatever they want so they most likely will be separated. I do think it's good for twins to develop their own friendships and their own interests. Luckily my guys aren't super dependent on each other. Although my straight arrow Greg is willing to compromise his standards and lie to protect his twin. It's the only time, he'll lie. It's pretty funny, also, it's easy to spot and correct. I'm hoping he outgrows it soon.
Ean still struggles getting along with other kids. He's such a kind child in his heart. His spazziness and impulsiveness makes it much harder for classmates to spot although he definitely is trying and that's the first step towards change. Grade wise, Ean of course has done well. Ean's brain is wired in a way that makes memorization easy and he loves to learn. That means if he ever does really poorly in a class, for whatever reason, he isn't trying. Thankfully he still loves learning and this hasn't been an issue.
This is the child that taught himself how to write cursive at the end of Kindergarten. I love watching him teach himself. It's really amazing to observe.
The next in line, oh my goodness, can you believe Kate the Great is off to middle school? Of course with the sixth graders in middle school, it's earlier then I would like but it is what it is. I can't change it, only be positive and know we've done our best to prepare her.
I'm so glad Kate's IEP is in place. That awful year Jane went into sixth will not be repeated because Kate has back up and resources already available to her.
I am so proud of Kate this year. She struggles understanding why learning is hard for her but if graded on effort, she'd get a 100% this year. She's tried so hard and I am very very proud of her effort. The state testing really has been a blow because with all her effort she still scores less then proficient on multiple subjects. I keep reminding her on how much she's improved and THAT's what her dad and I believe really counts.
And my Jane will be off to high school I don't know how that'll go. I really don't. Jane is trying, like Kate and it shows in her overall quality of school work. I think she's finally figured out how to do school work even with her learning disability. She's looking ahead at goals and careers and I love seeing that. My oldest is an incredible young woman and I hope she sees what I see. An individual that's kind and caring, works for goals, reaches out to others, loves the Lord. Wish I could credit for who she's becoming but I suspect I'm mostly the guide on this journey.
I love them all. Seeing them do well gives me joy. Despite the hair pulling, there has been a lot of joy this school year. I hope next year is the same or even better.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Once a Mother Hen
The kids are in swim lessons. To be the most accurate, the boys and Kate are in swim lessons. Much to Jane's chagrin, she's sitting this round (and future rounds) out. She thinks this is incredibly unfair but in reality, she's old enough that she could be teaching swim lessons, if she had a bit more knowledge and skill. So the group swim lessons, way beyond her age.
Kent and I were discussing that we're going to designate one Monday night a month for a family swim. We'll go to Blackfoot which has a pretty cheap indoor pool. Since it's less then 30 minutes away, it's the cheapest way to get our entire family into the water. That should really help Jane and Kate with their swimming skills.
When we started a few weeks ago, I seriously felt like a terrible mother when I realized my big, tall, just barely turned eight year old was so afraid of the water, he wouldn't jump into the pool. A little bribery in the form of "take and bake" Papa Murphy's Pizza however encouraged Ean to take the leap, so to speak, and conquer his fears.
I wish pizza could cure other woes.
Today was another typical day at the pool. Ean and Kate's classes had an unusual low amount of students. Of course that's always exciting because both of them got extra time with their teacher. The twins were also down one boy in their class most of the lesson. Unfortunately the "feel no fear" three year old was still there. Greg and this little boy ran into some trouble as they tried to share the same section of wall just off the steps. This little boy shrugged Greg off of himself, and Greg panicked and grabbed this little boy which dragged him down.
My mother hen self, ran forward and laid down on the sopping wet cement to grab this kid. His mother kept saying not to worry but the teacher wasn't there and I can't help but worry. Apparently this kid knows to hold his breath but he's three and a really young three to boot! I couldn't not do anything.
I do think I scared him more fishing him out . *sigh*
Thing is, to do it all over again, I don't care who's kid is in the pool, I'd find myself laying on the cement and grabbing the kid. It's ingrained. Protect.
Of course then I got to spend the rest of the lesson with my whole front, chlorine wet, yuck!
Kent and I were discussing that we're going to designate one Monday night a month for a family swim. We'll go to Blackfoot which has a pretty cheap indoor pool. Since it's less then 30 minutes away, it's the cheapest way to get our entire family into the water. That should really help Jane and Kate with their swimming skills.
When we started a few weeks ago, I seriously felt like a terrible mother when I realized my big, tall, just barely turned eight year old was so afraid of the water, he wouldn't jump into the pool. A little bribery in the form of "take and bake" Papa Murphy's Pizza however encouraged Ean to take the leap, so to speak, and conquer his fears.
I wish pizza could cure other woes.
Today was another typical day at the pool. Ean and Kate's classes had an unusual low amount of students. Of course that's always exciting because both of them got extra time with their teacher. The twins were also down one boy in their class most of the lesson. Unfortunately the "feel no fear" three year old was still there. Greg and this little boy ran into some trouble as they tried to share the same section of wall just off the steps. This little boy shrugged Greg off of himself, and Greg panicked and grabbed this little boy which dragged him down.
My mother hen self, ran forward and laid down on the sopping wet cement to grab this kid. His mother kept saying not to worry but the teacher wasn't there and I can't help but worry. Apparently this kid knows to hold his breath but he's three and a really young three to boot! I couldn't not do anything.
I do think I scared him more fishing him out . *sigh*
Thing is, to do it all over again, I don't care who's kid is in the pool, I'd find myself laying on the cement and grabbing the kid. It's ingrained. Protect.
Of course then I got to spend the rest of the lesson with my whole front, chlorine wet, yuck!
Ean is Eight!
Dipping my feet into blogging again. I had to have a break for a variety of reasons but I won't dwell on that right now, lets get to the serious stuff.
My middle child, my TRUE middle child stuck between two bossy older sister and two very demanding twin brothers turned eight?! Yes, Ean the great, Ean, king of all destruction, Ean is EIGHT.
There were times when I wondered if he'd make it to adulthood. There are STILL times when I don't know if he'll make it.
Unfortunately Kent and I were both sick over his birthday, so we had to stretch out the celebration for days. Ean was very dissapointed to have cake and homemade mac & cheese ON his birthday and then two days later get to have friends and Mormor over for homemade pizza and brownies.
It's been awhile, there was sarcasm in that paragraph, you all got that right?
Kent scored on gifts. Kent searched ebay, found and bid on an old style electronics kit. The type of kit where you hook up wires and makes lights, whistles, bells, sirens and who knows what else happen. Ean spent five hours on his birthday playing with this little gem. He is seriously in heaven. He also got some lego stuff from his grandparents, some books from Mormor and from us, a car that jumps.
The twins have already requested that car for their birthday. Apparently I need to do some serious shopping ahead.
I'll keep this short and put other updates in another post. Great to be writing again, albeit brief this time round.
My middle child, my TRUE middle child stuck between two bossy older sister and two very demanding twin brothers turned eight?! Yes, Ean the great, Ean, king of all destruction, Ean is EIGHT.
There were times when I wondered if he'd make it to adulthood. There are STILL times when I don't know if he'll make it.
Unfortunately Kent and I were both sick over his birthday, so we had to stretch out the celebration for days. Ean was very dissapointed to have cake and homemade mac & cheese ON his birthday and then two days later get to have friends and Mormor over for homemade pizza and brownies.
It's been awhile, there was sarcasm in that paragraph, you all got that right?
Kent scored on gifts. Kent searched ebay, found and bid on an old style electronics kit. The type of kit where you hook up wires and makes lights, whistles, bells, sirens and who knows what else happen. Ean spent five hours on his birthday playing with this little gem. He is seriously in heaven. He also got some lego stuff from his grandparents, some books from Mormor and from us, a car that jumps.
The twins have already requested that car for their birthday. Apparently I need to do some serious shopping ahead.
I'll keep this short and put other updates in another post. Great to be writing again, albeit brief this time round.
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