Chandler's Baptism

Chandler was baptized today- and what a great day! I can hardly believe our oldest is eight. Time flies by way too fast. We are so proud of the choices he is making, way to go Chan! Grandma came from Washington to share this with us and we are so glad she did, we are having a lot of fun.

Grandma also convinced me to make the girls costumes for Halloween instead of buy the pre-made ones at the store.
So glad I did- they are just so cute. I never thought a witch would be so fun- thanks Grandma!
I'll post pictures later this week- after we wear them. :)

Catch up

okay- so "it's in the mail" really means something to us this week. $$$$. :) Yay!

Grandma is coming from Washington for Chandler's Baptism and she's going to be here for the next 5 days!! even more yay!

None of my kids have the swine flu (yet)

Halloween is almost here

and Halloween is almost over. Dentist appointments are scheduled for the first week in November.

Fall is playing tricks on us- is it cold, is it warm? what ever happened to something in between?

Chandler looks ADORABLE in his glasses. Shhh, don't tell him I used the word adorable.

Kady is walking around the house doing silly things and saying "LOOK!"
So awesome when the baby learns to talk- it's when they turn 3 we wish they would shut up for a while.

Spencer has done something by "accident" every day, and then claims he did it on purpose.
So honest.

My Washington Driver's License expires early next month and I have to get one from Iowa now. Does that mean after living here for 2 years I'm officially "One of them?"

I picked up the Iowa drivers manual to study, because when I took the free online practice test- I failed. Miserably. Twice.
Apparently I must be a bad driver since I can't manage to pass a written test. so don't ever accept a ride from me. Geesh!

Cory's work is going well- we are officially in business for ourselves, and by we I mean he. He travels about 3 days a week- every week and I so look forward to a relief pitcher by the time he gets home. It is also about this time that I have finally caught up on laundry for the week and he dumps more on me. Gotta love that job.

Chandler is getting baptized this weekend- we are so happy for him and the choices he has made. Saturday, 10/24- 10am at the chapel.

going private

In an effort to protect our family's privacy online from unknown lurkers, we have made the decision to make this blog by invitation only. You must have permission from us in order to see our updates. I will be sending out emails to those we know (and for the emails we have). If you want to continue to see our mundane stories of daily life and occasional funnies- and you do not receive an email from us within the next couple of days- please email us with your email address.

I know this may come as a shock- but have you seen how cute our kids are?? :)

To see more clearly

It is no secret that Chan struggles in school. He does very well in mathematics, but with reading and writing they can easily frustrate him and send him into a meltdown.
He has been placed in a Behavior Disorder program at school because of this. C and I are not pleased with this decision and we have been making the school re-evaluate him from numerous specialist just to get their opinion on his placement. We believe that while he is in the BD program, he is learning more bad behaviors that otherwise he never would have tried. He is missing out on the routines and friendships that are being set in his general education classroom and it is because of their opinion that he would disrupt the class, that they do not want him to be with them.

This is frustrating for us and we work hard every day to help Chan make good choices so that he can be in a classroom with his friends and learning what they are.

During our last round of meetings with Chan's special teachers it was brought to our attention that he does not cross the center meridian of his body when he does work. He favors his right side. So when he writes or draws, the paper has to be to the right of his center. If you move the paper to his left and tell him he cannot move the paper, he will pause and think about it, then he moves his entire body to accommodate his center and right side. It is interesting to see the way he maneuvers his papers to accomplish this. Something like this could have easily gone overlooked for ever, but with the experience of one teacher, it did not. It was also pointed out to us, that while Reading and Writing frustrate Chan, it may simply be a vision problem and not a skills problem. It is amazing to me, that no one (including ourselves) has ever thought of this.
He gets frustrated easily when reading a book. He can read each word if you cover up everything around it and he can read usually one line of a few words at a time, but to leave him a whole page of words- he gets mad and will refuse to do anything.
An incident that occurred to make this teacher aware of a possible problem, was that he would lay his head down on his desk to try and see the page better. Many others, including myself just assumed this was his way of quitting, when in fact he was simply trying to get a better angle and see if the words became recognizable to him.

Heartbroken. The only word I can think of when I think that a problem that has plagued us for about 3 years could possibly be something so simple.

I scheduled an eye exam for Chan with a specialist (not just his pediatrician). Chan was reluctant at first, but he let his eyes be dilated. The rest of the what should have been a 15 minute exam was a long pleading for 30. "please, open your eyes" was repeated way too many times.

It was discovered that in fact Chan does need glasses. He has astigmatism in both eyes, along with a sightedness problem. It was not made clear to me near or far, as the doctor was clearly ready to be finished with Chan. We have been ordered glasses and will receive them this week.

I feel good thinking that this could change a lot for him at school. I only wish that we would have done something sooner.

Finally.

That's it.
Just a sigh and finally.

C is officially back to work. The best part. His office is in our house. Well, he may not appreciate that as much as I do. He is working for himself. He has a few clients (enough to pay the bills) and things are looking up. These past three months have been hard, faith trying and a little depressing at times.

I have found that while most stay at home mom's like having their husbands around, they still like their routine and space during the day. I don't quite feel that way. I enjoy every moment he is here. Even if he is too busy to talk, or watch a movie with me. Just having him here is like having a cherry on top of your favorite ice cream. But not the Maraschino Cherries because those are disgusting.

There is some travel involved, but that is something I am okay with. It is the sacrifice we make for being able to stay living where we are now, keeping the kids grounded.

The amount of faith it has taken these past few months has been more intense than I have ever had. I can honestly say that through this financial trial, this might be the first time that I didn't just do enough to get by. I worked harder, prayed more, and leaned on Christ more than I ever had. All the while keeping an outlook that I normally would not have. Hope.
I feel confident and am pleased with my attitude during these last three months. Now if I could only find out if that was enough to get me a free pass through any future trials. :)

To my dearest neglected blog:

Dear Blog,
First I want to say, it's not you. It's me. I hope we can still be friends, though.

September was a bummer. No good news to report. Life was mundane and unexciting.
One post. So Sad. For you, I mean. Really, what does it take to be more neglected and unnoticed than having no one care. You have hit rock bottom and I am afraid that there may be nothing I can do to save you. I might try, but that would involve some sort of effort and honestly- It's now October and I don't know if I want to put forth the effort, or if I would just rather enjoy the cold, windy, rainy dark cloud weather that has found its way to the armpit of nothingness. And by nothingness, I mean Iowa. Maybe this is just another excuse for the affair I have been having with Facebook, but let's be honest. It has more of what I want.

You have been a good way for me to vent, but I've lost my flow. I've lost the passion. The fire between us left along time ago and I am willing to work at this to try and make it better, but I can't do this alone. You have just sort of sat there and been unimpressive and boring and seriously, I'm gonna need more from you too.
Starting today, I'm going to bookmark you again. I know, this is a big step for me. See, I am trying. Let's do this together. More blogging the good times and a little bit of positive word flow. No more brain blocks and idiotic attempts of something sassy or funny. Just the real deal and happy endings. Nothing made up- the real stuff.

I appreciate your attempt at helping me, but I was looking for a more meaningful relationship with something other than my own mind. Sad- for you, not me. I have really great friends and a supportive family. So great in fact - it has led to your neglect. I'm a bad blogger. my smooth moves and fast typing have all but dried up. But like I said, I will try to give it another go, if you'll have me back.
So what do you say?
Are we good?

Let's just take this slow at first, I don't want to rush this.

I still love you, just not like I used to. (We'll work on that too.)

Love,
your sister from another mister.