If you know Caleb very well, you know that saying he is a picky eater is putting it lightly. Caleb is a horrid eater. He wasn't always as bad of an eater as he is now. Sure, there were a few things he wouldn't eat, and he was never as great of an eater as the two older kids, but he still ate. The last year though, we've had a serious struggle. What Caleb will and will not eat has gotten narrower and narrower. For the last nine months Travis and I have talked to him about what happens to calves when they don't suck (figure relate it to something he's going to understand) - they get a tube up their nose and their milk goes up their nose to their stomache so they get the nutrition that they need. I've talked to my pediatrician about these concerns multiple times over the last few years. He's always assured me that Caleb will eat when he gets hungry and I have kept that as my mantra.
The first ADD medicine that we had Caleb on (Vyvanse) was a stimulant which means it could also act as an appetite suppresant. Nash had this problem but after some discussuion he realized it was improtant for him to still eat something even if he wasn't hungry. Nash also didn't want to be taken off his meds if he didn't gain weight which is what would have happened. This summer we switched Caleb to a non stimulant ADD medication (Metadate). This medication should not affect his appetite at all.
Knowing how picky Caleb is about his food, I hate having him eat school lunch because I can't keep tabs on how much he's eating. So, since the beginning of the school year I've been sending him a home lunch. This is not an easy task. Caleb will not eat peanut butter sandwhiches. He will not eat ham sandwhiches. He will not eat spaghetti-o's or lunchables. In fact, he will not eat meat...period. He does not like sauce of any kind. He will not eat the majority of fruits and generally won't eat any veggies. He will eat: Pancakes, waffles, french toast, bacon, eggs, cheese quesadillas and go gurt. Tell me how to pack that into a lunch. He can't open the go gurts without help and won't ask anyone in the lunch room for help opening it. If I put any kind of chips or cheetos in there he'll eat those but nothing else. If I put a drink in he will drink a it and if there are fruit snacks, he'll eat those. The first week of school I packed him a half of a ham sandwhich, cheetos, a fruit snack and a drink. He would eat the fruit snacks and the drink and maybe one or two cheetos.
Mind you, the whole lunch thing doesn't sound too awful, right? I mean, they do eat lunch early at school. However, take into consideration the following: Caleb will take 45 minutes after he gets out of bed to get his pants and shirt on. This leaves him time to eat what he can in the car on the way to school. That means he either eats a piece of toast or some dry cereal (he refuses to have milk on cereal anyway) or a go gurt. Not exactly the most nurishing of what should be the best breakfast of the day. Combine this breakfast with the lunch he just ate.
Now, dinner, well, that's a whole nother problem. It use to be that I would dish a little bit of everything onto Caleb's plate and I would tell him "You have to eat all of something. At the very least half of two somethings." He would fight it for awhile but eventually (when he got tired of sitting there and watching everyone else get up and go) he would eat something. If he complained I would tell him that I am not a restuarant. He could either eat what was there or wait until breakfast. This too, would convince him to eat something. Now, remember how my pediatrician said he'd start eating when he was hungry. Well, as of late when I give him his plate he will start complaining about everything on said plate. When I tell him his options are to eat what's in front of him or wait until breakfast 9 times out of 10, he will choose to wait for breakfast! Even though he has just said not 5 minutes prior that he was hungry. Now don't get me wrong, if I make a big breakfast for dinner, he's all over that. But really, how much nutrition is there in pancakes or waffles or french toast? He can't eat eggs for every single meal! If I feed him bacon all the time he's going to have a heart attack at 15!
And that brings us to today.
Last night I went to bed at 11 pm and he was in bed asleep by then as well. This was early for him - he generally stays awake reading until midnight. I woke him up at 8 am so he had had 9 hours of sleep. Should have been plenty, right? He told me his stomach hurt so I told him to use the bathroom and then get dressed so he would have time to eat some food (he literally only ate 1/2 of a serving spoon of rice for dinner last night). Caleb proceeded to sit on the bathroom floor for the next 35 minutes. I walked back into the bathroom for about the 15th time and repeated what I'd already been saying "If you don't get dressed you aren't going to have time to eat before school so your stomach is going to keep hurting. Hurry and get dressed so you can have plenty of time to eat!" He just sort of started at me. At this point I knew we weren't going to get anywhere. We have to leave home by 8:40 to get to school on time so Nash doesn't end up with all his morning work as homework. I just looked at him and said, "Caleb. I don't know how to help you any more. You won't get dressed so you can eat. You don't eat and you don't feel well. You don't feel well and you won't eat. Just go lay on my bed. I'm taking you to the dr. today to talk to him about how you eat." Normally this would elicit a blood curdling scream and a quick response to action. He sort of looked at me and shrugged like whatever. I felt defeated at this point. I got Nash to school and came home so I could teach preschool. I had moved all my pm kids to the am class so I could haul him into the dr. this afternoon and still make it to work at the grocery store on time. By the time I was done teaching and could go check on Caleb it was 1:00 pm. The kid was STILL sound asleep. He had fallen back to sleep after I went to take Nash to school and apparently didn't move. I woke him up because by this point he had been asleep for 14 hours which is unheard of - even for him & he's my late sleeper. We got him dressed and he said he was hungry. I asked what he wanted to eat and he said toast with cinnamon and sugar. I went and made said toast. I did not cut the crust off. I don't always cut the crust off - they've gotten use to that and will just pull it off if they don't want to eat it. He finally came in and sat up to the counter. He pulled half the crust off of one side of the toast and then laid his head n the counter in an attempt to go back to sleep! He never ate his toast. He did tell me he had thrown up earlier. It wasn't true throw up - he's got his croup back and I think he was mostly choking on drainage that was stuck in the back of his throat.
We made it to the pediatrican's office at 4:20 and went in. When the nurse came and got us they weighed him and checked his height (he's actually up to 40 lbs now and he's 3' 9"). The nurse asked what we were there for and I sort of gave her the run down. She went out and eventually Dr. Clarke came in. Dr. Clakre checked him over good and then pulled up his chart. He showed me his growth chart and miracle of miracles the kid is actually gaining weight. He's in the very lowest percentile on the growth chart but his numbers are slowly going up on the line. That was a bonus I hadn't expected. Dr. Clarke said he wanted to run some labs to check his mono status, his thyroid, his iron levels and his liver. He said that if all the labs come back normal he wants to try an appetite stimulant. It was at this point that I pointed out that Caleb is not eating when he's hungry. That really threw the dr. for a loop - I could see the confusion written all over his face. He sort of debated what to do at that point and then said, "I don't want to be hasty in getting a feeding tube in him. Let's check to be sure that there's nothing else physical going on and try the appetite stimulant first. If that will push him forward and get him out of that I'd rather do that than a feeding tube." I told him that was fine with me. He said that if the appetite stimulant doesn't work after a few weeks I will need to call him and there's a pediatric GI down at Primary Children's Hospital that runs a failure to thrive clinic. I explained to Dr. Clarke that the failure to thrive is my biggest concern. The number of foods Caleb's willing to eat is shrinking by the day. Not only that, but the condition in which he's willing to eat those few foods is also changing. There isn't a single food I can say that without a doubt he'll eat every time. There are numerous other foods I can promise you that my other children will eat every time you put it in front of them. I cna't say the same thing for Caleb. My concern is that eventually he's going to start showing symptoms of someone with anorexia and those are things that are not easily fixed. I am thinking this because he's starting to show some of the coping mechanisims that people with anorexia use - pushing food around their plate and flattening it out to make it look like they ate more - he does this all the time lately.
I love my pediatrician because he really does listen to me when I tell him what I'm concerned about with my kids. He doesn't just brush me off. And, I could tell by the look on his face that when I said he's choosing to wait until the next meal even though he said he's hungry concerns him. But, we are eliminating the simple things first. We did the blood draw this afternoon and lab results should be back by Monday or Tuesday. If they come back normal (I'm assuming they will) I would think that he'll be able to start the appetite stimulant by Wednesday next week. If we try it for two week sand there's no improvement, then I guess we'll head down to Primary Children's to meet the pediatric GI and get his input. So for now, we wait....and hope Caleb disliked the blood draw enough today that he'll actually start to eat something!
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
Fall is upon us...
Well, the last few weeks of summer zoomed right by - as is to be expected! Once the kids were in school I had my preschool open house and got a few loose ends wrapped up. I've got 3 classes this year: a 4 yo am class with 8 kids, a 4 yo pm class with 7 kids and a 3 yo class with 6 kids. Brookelyn goes to both 4 yo classes (she likes her friends just a little). I originally hadn't intended to teach a PM class but ended up with 14 kids on the roster and was like, yeah, not teaching 14 4 yo's at one time! We started preschool after Labor Day. It's been a bit insane to say the least. I canceled one day this week because the storm was so horrendous that I was worried we would lose power during the day and I didn't want 8 4 yo kids there with the thunder shaking the house and the power off. I knew if they were anything like Brooke that it could be completely traumatic for them. Fortunatley the power never went out so now I know that even when it seems super ugly outside we should still be fine to carry on in the lights inside!
Brookelyn started back to speech the first full week of school for the school district. She goes on Tuesdays from 12:30-1 and on Fridays from 9-10:30. She is loving it - just like last year. Teacher Angie is great with her and she is progressing so quickly! Hopefully she won't need services through her entire elementary school career!
Nash & Caleb are both in robotics at school this year. Caleb also BEGGED to sign up for choir. Choir is BEFORE school once a week. This means he has to be at the school no later than 8:05 am on Tuesdays. He is LOVING it. Both boys are working with the school counselor this year. Last year I just had Caleb working with her on some anger issues but after a few bullying incidents with Nash last year I wanted him to work with her as well. I worry that somone is eventually going to push Nash too far and he's going to knock their lights out (which they will have coming and fully deserve), however, I know it will also land him in a heap of trouble - so, we are trying to prevent it. Normally Robotics Club is just for the 4th and 5th graders. However, seeing how completely anti social Caleb is (another skill he is working on with the school counselor) I wanted to see if it would help him integrate into the school setting a little better. Mr. Hawkes (Nash's teacher & the Robotics Club advisor) was more than willing to let us give it a chance. And, so far, so good.
Samantha hasn't been involved in much at school - just keeping in touch with friends. But, that's ok. She's dancing about 7 hours a week. She has a ballet class for an hour and a half on Mondays. She dances for 4 hours straight on Wednesdays (her competitive class, a leaps and turns class & a tap class), and an hour and a half on Thursdays for her pre pointe ballet class & her hip hop class. She's staying busy enough with all of that! She has a dance convention on the 25-26 of September down in Provo that she's looking forward to as well. Should be interesting as I get to take all three of the other kids and we tag along. I believe that Friday afternoon the kids will get to swim at the hotel pool until they are completely water logged!
All three kids are still taking piano lessons. We had to find a new teacher since Austin left for college. The kids started with Rowena on Sept. 1. I asked Nash how he liked it after his first lesson and his comment was, "It was good. Except...she's really, REALLY particular about timing." Ha! The kid has always struggled with keeping a steady beat so I'm not surprised that this is what stood out to him. I conpared it to being the lead drummer in marching band (or any band) and how if he's off the whole rest of the band is off. I told him that when you are in marching band the judges know you're music and they are listening to all aspects of it so if the lead drummer is off and gets the whole band off then the judges will dock points. I asked how he would feel if he was responsible for getting the entire band docked points. It was at this point that the purpose of timing sunk into his head! He's getting there! He's got a metronone app on my phone and he's started counting his beats out loud while he plays so I am starting to see steady improvement. They will be having a Halloween recital on Oct. 30th. Sam's learning Addams Family theme song for this. I told her if she nails it I'll record it to use with the preschoolers for our Days of the Week song!
Travis said they are expecting snow in Alaska now. Could be a long cold season for the guy seeing how much he loves the cold weather! He's headed off shore next week to do a job. I think that makes him happy - he likes the helicopter rides and he hasn't been off shore in quite awhile. He's getting ready to go hunting when he comes home as well. The boys are hoping to be able to go with him on this trip but I don't know if that's going to happen this year or not. We'll see when it's a bit closer!
The weather has gotten quite a bit colder here so Fall is for sure right around the corner. I've been working on Halloween costumes and have Brooke's all done. I've got mine started and have the costume for Travis cut out. Sam's will be last this year as it's going to be my most challenging one to complete. Nash & Caleb don't need me to make anything but we've got to gather lots of pieces! Hope we can find them all before it's too late!
Hope you are all having a great day!
Brookelyn started back to speech the first full week of school for the school district. She goes on Tuesdays from 12:30-1 and on Fridays from 9-10:30. She is loving it - just like last year. Teacher Angie is great with her and she is progressing so quickly! Hopefully she won't need services through her entire elementary school career!
Nash & Caleb are both in robotics at school this year. Caleb also BEGGED to sign up for choir. Choir is BEFORE school once a week. This means he has to be at the school no later than 8:05 am on Tuesdays. He is LOVING it. Both boys are working with the school counselor this year. Last year I just had Caleb working with her on some anger issues but after a few bullying incidents with Nash last year I wanted him to work with her as well. I worry that somone is eventually going to push Nash too far and he's going to knock their lights out (which they will have coming and fully deserve), however, I know it will also land him in a heap of trouble - so, we are trying to prevent it. Normally Robotics Club is just for the 4th and 5th graders. However, seeing how completely anti social Caleb is (another skill he is working on with the school counselor) I wanted to see if it would help him integrate into the school setting a little better. Mr. Hawkes (Nash's teacher & the Robotics Club advisor) was more than willing to let us give it a chance. And, so far, so good.
Samantha hasn't been involved in much at school - just keeping in touch with friends. But, that's ok. She's dancing about 7 hours a week. She has a ballet class for an hour and a half on Mondays. She dances for 4 hours straight on Wednesdays (her competitive class, a leaps and turns class & a tap class), and an hour and a half on Thursdays for her pre pointe ballet class & her hip hop class. She's staying busy enough with all of that! She has a dance convention on the 25-26 of September down in Provo that she's looking forward to as well. Should be interesting as I get to take all three of the other kids and we tag along. I believe that Friday afternoon the kids will get to swim at the hotel pool until they are completely water logged!
All three kids are still taking piano lessons. We had to find a new teacher since Austin left for college. The kids started with Rowena on Sept. 1. I asked Nash how he liked it after his first lesson and his comment was, "It was good. Except...she's really, REALLY particular about timing." Ha! The kid has always struggled with keeping a steady beat so I'm not surprised that this is what stood out to him. I conpared it to being the lead drummer in marching band (or any band) and how if he's off the whole rest of the band is off. I told him that when you are in marching band the judges know you're music and they are listening to all aspects of it so if the lead drummer is off and gets the whole band off then the judges will dock points. I asked how he would feel if he was responsible for getting the entire band docked points. It was at this point that the purpose of timing sunk into his head! He's getting there! He's got a metronone app on my phone and he's started counting his beats out loud while he plays so I am starting to see steady improvement. They will be having a Halloween recital on Oct. 30th. Sam's learning Addams Family theme song for this. I told her if she nails it I'll record it to use with the preschoolers for our Days of the Week song!
Travis said they are expecting snow in Alaska now. Could be a long cold season for the guy seeing how much he loves the cold weather! He's headed off shore next week to do a job. I think that makes him happy - he likes the helicopter rides and he hasn't been off shore in quite awhile. He's getting ready to go hunting when he comes home as well. The boys are hoping to be able to go with him on this trip but I don't know if that's going to happen this year or not. We'll see when it's a bit closer!
The weather has gotten quite a bit colder here so Fall is for sure right around the corner. I've been working on Halloween costumes and have Brooke's all done. I've got mine started and have the costume for Travis cut out. Sam's will be last this year as it's going to be my most challenging one to complete. Nash & Caleb don't need me to make anything but we've got to gather lots of pieces! Hope we can find them all before it's too late!
Hope you are all having a great day!
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
End of summer
Well, we are down to about a week before school starts. I took a week of vacation from the grocery store last week in order to get all my stuff ready for preschool. It was a much needed vacation but I'm still not 100% ready for preschool to start! I'm close, but not quite ready! I have turned in my work availability to the grocery store for September. I'm going to try to work a closing shift on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I figure we can give it a shot for a month and see how it goes. If it's too hard I can chop a day out of that and just do two days a week. Travis got a notice from work saying that last month was slow but it's about to get slower so I'm pretty sure having a job that gets me a discount on groceries won't be a bad thing! He also applied to be a substitute bus driver while he was home this time. This could be interesting!
While Travis was home this last time we made a trip to Manti. We got to go to the Bown family reunion up Manti Canyon. The kids had a great time playing with and seeing their cousins. Made me sad we didn't get up there more this summer! Maybe next year??
The girls and I went with my mom to Park City on Friday to do some school shopping. We had a little success at the outlets but we did the best at Gordman's in Ogden. After we came out of Gordman's it was pouring rain so we went next door to Applebee's to have dinner and hopefully wait out the storm. Luckily by the time we finished eating the rain had stopped. It was still a super dark night though because there was still a ton of cloud cover. We got back on the road and missed the freeway entrance. We went up the road a little further and my mom was going to just turn around. If you've driven on Riverdale Road in Ogden you know this road. When heading west you have a right turn lane, three straight lanes, a no travel lane and then a left turn lane. If you don't know about the no travel lane two blocks back you can't turn left. Well, we didn't know about the no travel lane. My mom was in the farthest straight lane and was preparing to turn left. She had her signal on and had stopped in the intersection. About the time she stops I notice that the left turn light is about two lanes over. I look next to us and see the lane there has lines painted in it. I tell mom, "You can't turn here." So, mom checks mirrors for traffic, turns off her left turn signal and starts to go. Meanwhile the kid headed east waiting to turn left decides to turn as well. Let's just say that the dodge neon he was driving didn't fare as well as mom's Toyota Sequoia. The cop was really decent, no one got hurt and it was an adventure for the books. It scared the girls but they were fine since we were barely moving when it happened and they had seat belts on. But, now they can both cross off "Get in a car accident" off their bucket lists!
Sam's back to another dance boot camp this week (this is #5 and #6 this summer). She recently decided to join in on another dance as well. This one is being choreographed by a guy named Rick who really knows his stuff. He's the one that choreographed the dance that was the reason she chose this studio - as soon as I heard he was coming to choreograph for the studio again I knew she'd find a way to be involved! Joining this dance means that on Friday this week she's dancing from 8 am until 7 pm. It also means she's picked up an extra day during the week just to practice this routine. Right now she's sitting at an hour and a half practice on Mondays, 3 hours on Wednesdays and an hour on Thursdays. Oy! Talk about dedication! I just hope one day she has a daughter that dances like she does so she can see how much effort goes into it on everyone else's part as well! One of the dances her studio has placed her in has a required dance convention coming up in September. It's a 2 day event and it's down in Provo. Just to register for the convention is $200 plus we have to pay for a hotel! I feel like I've already paid for a semester at Julliard! (Which, for the record, is where she keeps begging us to send her!)
Speaking of dance, I finally made a decision about Brookelyn and dance class. The only preschool class they offer at the same studio as Sam is either 10-10:45 am or 3:00-3:45 pm on Mondays. Considering I teach until 3 and the studio is a good 30 minutes away, this is not going to work. So, I decided to enroll her at the Cache Valley School of Ballet for at least the fall. Tuition is less for her than it was for Sam. Classes are at 3:45 so it's going to be a bit hairy to get her there, but thanks to Laura I think I've got it figured out. If someone from this end of the valley registers for the preschool class I can talk to them about carpooling and maybe switch Sam over come January. If not, she can stay at the Cache Valley School of Ballet for the school year and then next year she would be in the kindergarten class so it should be later in the day! Oh the drama of having to schedule so many dance lessons! I actually wouldn't even worry about it except for the fact that she's asked me every day for the last six weeks when she starts dance again!
I think Nash is excited to go back to school. He got the teacher he wanted - Mr. Hawkes - who does a lot of science based activities and science is his favorite subject. I think he's pretty excited to see his friends again and get back into the swing of things in Robotics Club. Just don't even ask how we're going to manage scheduling another activity! This child has read 19 books this summer for a total of 4.664 pages. INSANITY! I suppose it's making up for all the years I couldn't get him to read if his life depended on it!
We found a new piano teacher for the kids since Austin is going away to school. They will start with her on the first of September. That gives them about a two week break of no piano lessons before they start back up. Sam's been learning to play Mama Mia this summer. It's sounding really good. She's really getting to be quite good at the piano. Nash hasn't written any more music that he's shown me (he wrote some Batman song with lyrics and music all by himself). I think my kids are more like their father than they even know!
We haven't had much excitement this summer, but the kids are happy and healthy so I guess that's really all that matters! We are looking forward to having new adventures as soon as school starts! Back to school night for Sam is tomorrow and the boys are next Tuesday! Look out 7th, 5th & 2nd grade!
While Travis was home this last time we made a trip to Manti. We got to go to the Bown family reunion up Manti Canyon. The kids had a great time playing with and seeing their cousins. Made me sad we didn't get up there more this summer! Maybe next year??
The girls and I went with my mom to Park City on Friday to do some school shopping. We had a little success at the outlets but we did the best at Gordman's in Ogden. After we came out of Gordman's it was pouring rain so we went next door to Applebee's to have dinner and hopefully wait out the storm. Luckily by the time we finished eating the rain had stopped. It was still a super dark night though because there was still a ton of cloud cover. We got back on the road and missed the freeway entrance. We went up the road a little further and my mom was going to just turn around. If you've driven on Riverdale Road in Ogden you know this road. When heading west you have a right turn lane, three straight lanes, a no travel lane and then a left turn lane. If you don't know about the no travel lane two blocks back you can't turn left. Well, we didn't know about the no travel lane. My mom was in the farthest straight lane and was preparing to turn left. She had her signal on and had stopped in the intersection. About the time she stops I notice that the left turn light is about two lanes over. I look next to us and see the lane there has lines painted in it. I tell mom, "You can't turn here." So, mom checks mirrors for traffic, turns off her left turn signal and starts to go. Meanwhile the kid headed east waiting to turn left decides to turn as well. Let's just say that the dodge neon he was driving didn't fare as well as mom's Toyota Sequoia. The cop was really decent, no one got hurt and it was an adventure for the books. It scared the girls but they were fine since we were barely moving when it happened and they had seat belts on. But, now they can both cross off "Get in a car accident" off their bucket lists!
Sam's back to another dance boot camp this week (this is #5 and #6 this summer). She recently decided to join in on another dance as well. This one is being choreographed by a guy named Rick who really knows his stuff. He's the one that choreographed the dance that was the reason she chose this studio - as soon as I heard he was coming to choreograph for the studio again I knew she'd find a way to be involved! Joining this dance means that on Friday this week she's dancing from 8 am until 7 pm. It also means she's picked up an extra day during the week just to practice this routine. Right now she's sitting at an hour and a half practice on Mondays, 3 hours on Wednesdays and an hour on Thursdays. Oy! Talk about dedication! I just hope one day she has a daughter that dances like she does so she can see how much effort goes into it on everyone else's part as well! One of the dances her studio has placed her in has a required dance convention coming up in September. It's a 2 day event and it's down in Provo. Just to register for the convention is $200 plus we have to pay for a hotel! I feel like I've already paid for a semester at Julliard! (Which, for the record, is where she keeps begging us to send her!)
Speaking of dance, I finally made a decision about Brookelyn and dance class. The only preschool class they offer at the same studio as Sam is either 10-10:45 am or 3:00-3:45 pm on Mondays. Considering I teach until 3 and the studio is a good 30 minutes away, this is not going to work. So, I decided to enroll her at the Cache Valley School of Ballet for at least the fall. Tuition is less for her than it was for Sam. Classes are at 3:45 so it's going to be a bit hairy to get her there, but thanks to Laura I think I've got it figured out. If someone from this end of the valley registers for the preschool class I can talk to them about carpooling and maybe switch Sam over come January. If not, she can stay at the Cache Valley School of Ballet for the school year and then next year she would be in the kindergarten class so it should be later in the day! Oh the drama of having to schedule so many dance lessons! I actually wouldn't even worry about it except for the fact that she's asked me every day for the last six weeks when she starts dance again!
I think Nash is excited to go back to school. He got the teacher he wanted - Mr. Hawkes - who does a lot of science based activities and science is his favorite subject. I think he's pretty excited to see his friends again and get back into the swing of things in Robotics Club. Just don't even ask how we're going to manage scheduling another activity! This child has read 19 books this summer for a total of 4.664 pages. INSANITY! I suppose it's making up for all the years I couldn't get him to read if his life depended on it!
We found a new piano teacher for the kids since Austin is going away to school. They will start with her on the first of September. That gives them about a two week break of no piano lessons before they start back up. Sam's been learning to play Mama Mia this summer. It's sounding really good. She's really getting to be quite good at the piano. Nash hasn't written any more music that he's shown me (he wrote some Batman song with lyrics and music all by himself). I think my kids are more like their father than they even know!
We haven't had much excitement this summer, but the kids are happy and healthy so I guess that's really all that matters! We are looking forward to having new adventures as soon as school starts! Back to school night for Sam is tomorrow and the boys are next Tuesday! Look out 7th, 5th & 2nd grade!
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
More summer!
We are not too exciting over here this year. Taking that "part time" job at Ridley's has slowed down our summer fun. We still have a few adventures here and there though.
Recently, we celebrated Caleb's 7th birthday! Holy cow! Where did that go? When I asked him what kind of cake I was making he looks at me, very thoughtfully, and says, "Um....I want a pterodactyl." I just looked at him like "Are you serious child?!" Well, that morphed into "I want a Jurassic World cake." Which I was happier to oblige to because that leaves me lots of room. Then he added in, "Oh, I want a volcano on it too." Of course he does! So, here's what we ended up with.
He was pretty excited and really, that's all that matters. I got to thinking while making this that the kid hasn't even seen Jurassic Park, let alone Jurassic World. Looks like we'll be having a Netflix marathon while I have a few days off this week! The boy loves his dinosaurs! I think about 3-4 of his 7 cakes have been dinosaur related! He got some fun birthday gifts and was super excited about the one from his great grandpa and great grandma Reeder. I need to get a picture of him with it! He woke up sick today so it's apparently going to have to wait a day or two.
The boys finished up their summer camps at the end of June. They did 2 weeks of a space camp and 2 weeks of paleontology camp. The fourth grade teachers at Canyon taught the camps and they did a great job. The boys loved it and it was well worth the $80 I paid. Nash will be sad when he is too old to go next summer! This was their astronaut helmets they brought home.
Sam's been to two week long dance boot camps and 2 mini boot camps. The week long boot camps are a Monday thru Friday 9 am - 1 pm with an hour and a half of ballet, an hour and a half of jazz and an hour of conditioning. She does not love conditioning, but she does love her four pack! She's hilarious to watch talk about it! The two mini boot camps she did were only three days long and each one was only an hour. She did a lyrical one and a jazz one. This week she is at GIRLS CAMP! So, she's missing two mini boot camps, but that's ok, she was ecstatic to go to Girls Camp. I hope she has as much fun and loves it as much as I did. I can't wait for her to come home and tell me all about it! They went to Cinnamon Creek, which is where we went every year but once. But, they get to go down to the dam and swim one day! Lucky girl! We only ever got to play in the river! I never did go through all the stuff she had out to pack so I'm hoping she had everything on her list and didn't forget anything important! I don't think I mentioned in my last post that she found a website where you can search for pen pals. She now has a pen pal in TX, NZ, Turkey, London, one of the Dakota's and one of the Carolina's. She's become very good friends with the one in Turkey. They talk daily and have even been able to facetime on more than one occasion. Sam sent her a package with a bunch of candy, some coins and her favorite book. (Note to self, sending a box of stuff to the country Turkey will cost you at least $30. Don't let the dad take her shopping to include candy - he buys the big bags, not the little boxes!) She also has a cousin that moved to Saudi Arabia that she writes to as well. She's becoming quite the world traveler through her writings! Oh, and she finally lost her LAST baby tooth on Sunday night. Yay! Now they can put her braces wire all the way back where it belongs!
Brooke is still going to speech class (for a few more weeks). We had her IEP meeting at the beginning of July and she has achieved all the goals they set for her in her original IEP meeting! Yay! That means she now only goes to speech once a week instead of twice a week. It also means that once she achieves her new goal they will add her to the large group class. That class is an hour and a half once a week. She will love it I'm sure because she LOVES school and she LOVES speech. I can only imagine her excitement when I tell her she gets to go see Teacher Angie for almost as long as she comes to preschool (she has only been going twice a week for 30 minutes each time). The catch is figuring out how to pick her up from that class because it ends right in the middle of one of my preschool sessions!
Speaking of preschool, I had intended to only teach until noon every day. I got to looking at my registration list and I realized I had 14 kids on my 4 yo class list. I do not want 14 kids in one class. So, it looks as though I'll be teaching 9:30-3 three days a week and only til noon two days a week. Oh well, it means I'm loved, right? :) This should be an interesting adventure to say the very least! Most of the 4 yo kids I had this past year and we already know one another. There are only about 3 or so new ones. Right now I've only got 4 kids registered for my 3 yo class so unless I get some more kids registered that will be a little class. I guess Brooke can always come to that session too! :) After all, she was going to every single preschool session I had until January last year! I know it will all work out so I'm not too worried about it right now. I did ask for the entire first week of August off so that I can get ready for preschool though. Since taking the job at Ridley's I haven't had much time to get things done like I wanted to. I was hired for part time but I've been scheduled for anywhere from 24-34 hours a week since July started and it will stay the same through the rest of the month. It isn't a bad job (could for sure be a lot worse), it just takes a lot of time out of the day when I'm scheduled for 9 hours at a time! The kids have been mostly really good to watch themselves while I'm at work. There's been a time or two that I've had to get upset with them, but for the most part they've done good. I did tell them at Ridley's that once school starts I can only work the weekends and I would prefer to close. Honestly, I'd rather not keep working, but we do what we have to do to reach our goals I suppose!
We did go to the pool once this summer
Recently, we celebrated Caleb's 7th birthday! Holy cow! Where did that go? When I asked him what kind of cake I was making he looks at me, very thoughtfully, and says, "Um....I want a pterodactyl." I just looked at him like "Are you serious child?!" Well, that morphed into "I want a Jurassic World cake." Which I was happier to oblige to because that leaves me lots of room. Then he added in, "Oh, I want a volcano on it too." Of course he does! So, here's what we ended up with.
He was pretty excited and really, that's all that matters. I got to thinking while making this that the kid hasn't even seen Jurassic Park, let alone Jurassic World. Looks like we'll be having a Netflix marathon while I have a few days off this week! The boy loves his dinosaurs! I think about 3-4 of his 7 cakes have been dinosaur related! He got some fun birthday gifts and was super excited about the one from his great grandpa and great grandma Reeder. I need to get a picture of him with it! He woke up sick today so it's apparently going to have to wait a day or two.
The boys finished up their summer camps at the end of June. They did 2 weeks of a space camp and 2 weeks of paleontology camp. The fourth grade teachers at Canyon taught the camps and they did a great job. The boys loved it and it was well worth the $80 I paid. Nash will be sad when he is too old to go next summer! This was their astronaut helmets they brought home.
Sam's been to two week long dance boot camps and 2 mini boot camps. The week long boot camps are a Monday thru Friday 9 am - 1 pm with an hour and a half of ballet, an hour and a half of jazz and an hour of conditioning. She does not love conditioning, but she does love her four pack! She's hilarious to watch talk about it! The two mini boot camps she did were only three days long and each one was only an hour. She did a lyrical one and a jazz one. This week she is at GIRLS CAMP! So, she's missing two mini boot camps, but that's ok, she was ecstatic to go to Girls Camp. I hope she has as much fun and loves it as much as I did. I can't wait for her to come home and tell me all about it! They went to Cinnamon Creek, which is where we went every year but once. But, they get to go down to the dam and swim one day! Lucky girl! We only ever got to play in the river! I never did go through all the stuff she had out to pack so I'm hoping she had everything on her list and didn't forget anything important! I don't think I mentioned in my last post that she found a website where you can search for pen pals. She now has a pen pal in TX, NZ, Turkey, London, one of the Dakota's and one of the Carolina's. She's become very good friends with the one in Turkey. They talk daily and have even been able to facetime on more than one occasion. Sam sent her a package with a bunch of candy, some coins and her favorite book. (Note to self, sending a box of stuff to the country Turkey will cost you at least $30. Don't let the dad take her shopping to include candy - he buys the big bags, not the little boxes!) She also has a cousin that moved to Saudi Arabia that she writes to as well. She's becoming quite the world traveler through her writings! Oh, and she finally lost her LAST baby tooth on Sunday night. Yay! Now they can put her braces wire all the way back where it belongs!
Brooke is still going to speech class (for a few more weeks). We had her IEP meeting at the beginning of July and she has achieved all the goals they set for her in her original IEP meeting! Yay! That means she now only goes to speech once a week instead of twice a week. It also means that once she achieves her new goal they will add her to the large group class. That class is an hour and a half once a week. She will love it I'm sure because she LOVES school and she LOVES speech. I can only imagine her excitement when I tell her she gets to go see Teacher Angie for almost as long as she comes to preschool (she has only been going twice a week for 30 minutes each time). The catch is figuring out how to pick her up from that class because it ends right in the middle of one of my preschool sessions!
Speaking of preschool, I had intended to only teach until noon every day. I got to looking at my registration list and I realized I had 14 kids on my 4 yo class list. I do not want 14 kids in one class. So, it looks as though I'll be teaching 9:30-3 three days a week and only til noon two days a week. Oh well, it means I'm loved, right? :) This should be an interesting adventure to say the very least! Most of the 4 yo kids I had this past year and we already know one another. There are only about 3 or so new ones. Right now I've only got 4 kids registered for my 3 yo class so unless I get some more kids registered that will be a little class. I guess Brooke can always come to that session too! :) After all, she was going to every single preschool session I had until January last year! I know it will all work out so I'm not too worried about it right now. I did ask for the entire first week of August off so that I can get ready for preschool though. Since taking the job at Ridley's I haven't had much time to get things done like I wanted to. I was hired for part time but I've been scheduled for anywhere from 24-34 hours a week since July started and it will stay the same through the rest of the month. It isn't a bad job (could for sure be a lot worse), it just takes a lot of time out of the day when I'm scheduled for 9 hours at a time! The kids have been mostly really good to watch themselves while I'm at work. There's been a time or two that I've had to get upset with them, but for the most part they've done good. I did tell them at Ridley's that once school starts I can only work the weekends and I would prefer to close. Honestly, I'd rather not keep working, but we do what we have to do to reach our goals I suppose!
We did go to the pool once this summer
And we are going to go again on Friday to celebrate the end of the summer reading program with the city library. It's also going to be our mini "On Caleb's birthday, birthday celebration". Kids are pretty excited about that one! I'm hoping at least one of them wins something from the grand prize drawings that they've got all their tickets in.
Samantha also played softball this year. She hasn't played softball in a few years so I wondered how she would do. She didn't do too bad. When I was growing up and played ball our pitch was a slow pitch and the pitcher took a good step forward off the mound. That wasn't the case with Sam's team. They struggled to get the ball over home plate and fast pitch was a decent challenge for them. When they were able to get the ball over the plate (without pelting the batter) Sam was able to get some good hits. We only won once or twice, but they had fun. They played in a single elimination tournament after the fourth of July that Travis was able to coach (her regular coach was out of town). They lost, but I think they still had a good time. I hope she will play again next year, as she seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Although, we've got to get her to quit running like a ballerina! You can tell she's a dancer when she runs! It's pretty funny to watch!
So, you can see that even though I've been working many hours and Travis is only here hit and miss, we've still had a few adventures this summer. The beginning of the school year is quickly approaching so I'm hoping we can squeeze a few more adventures into our time off! Hope your summer is going great too!
Monday, June 29, 2015
Summer 2015
Well, to be honest, it hasn't been too exciting around here. I took a new job at our local grocery store, Ridley's, at the beginning of June. I'm just cashiering and have been working between 24-30 hrs a week. I work mostly nights which allows me to haul kids to all their various activities during the day time! So far it's working out well. It's been a good preschool income substitute and the main manager has been great to work with as far as my schedule goes. The work isn't too tough and it's not far from home. I'll be able to keep working there once preschool starts, I'll just have to cut back to weekends only. Not super fun, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.
The boys signed up for a few summer camps at their school. The first two weeks of June they did a space camp and they had a ton of fun. It's the 4th grade teachers that teach it and they really do a great job. Last week they started paleontology and they will finish that up this week. They didn't want to sign up for the Harry Potter camp so this is the last of their summer camps. It's been lots of fun for them and I'm glad they've had the chance to participate in it!
Samantha has finished up the June Boot Camp and the Hip Hop and Lyrical mini camps. She starts the July Boot Camp on July 6th. I think she really likes her new studio and she seems to be making friends, so that's good. Her very first YW Girl's Camp is coming up on July 14-16. She's super excited to go. I'm glad she likes her teachers so much. She really seems to enjoy going to her activity nights, which makes me happy because she tells me the girls stare at her when she goes to church. Granted, we don't go often and I'm sure they worry the church will catch fire when we walk in, but still. Staring is rude.
Brooke is going to speech during the summer. Her classes will continue longer than the boys. She goes until nearly the end of July! She really likes Miss Angie and loves going to speech twice a week. She nearly beats me over the head with her homework folder daily because she's dying to get her homework done! Let's hope that enthusiasm lasts her entire school career!
Sam and the boys are still going to piano. They got to pick a piece of music that's a just for fun piece for summer. Sam's chosen Mama Mia and Nash wanted to do the Batman theme. I was looking through his book the other day and it seems he ended up going with a different song from the book we chose - the Batman theme must have been a bit more difficult than he's ready for. They really are doing quite well with their lessons these days. Nash has even written some of his own music. That means both Sam & Nash have written their own music now. They get that from their dad, NOT me!
I've started getting a few things ready for when school starts back up! I've got 11 registered 4 yr olds and 3 registered 3 yr olds right now. I am not worried about the 3 yo class filling up as it usually doesn't until the mid to end of July. Good thing I raised my prices for this year I suppose!
I'm also still trying to sell the ItWorks products. It hasn't taken off as quickly as I'd like it to, but it's a work in progress. I do have a booth lined up for the 4th of July on the square in Hyrum. I'm hoping to do well at that. Even if I don't make my first million from ItWorks, I've found products I love and that make a difference for myself and my family so that's really what matters!
Travis comes home again on Wednesday night. The kids are excited he gets to be home for the 4th of July this year - that's a rarity at our house. We're planning to go to the fireworks show at the stadium again this year. I was "lucky" enough to get an early shift at work so I'll be able to go as well. :)
So, nothing too exciting here, just daily life happening. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Fourth of July!
The boys signed up for a few summer camps at their school. The first two weeks of June they did a space camp and they had a ton of fun. It's the 4th grade teachers that teach it and they really do a great job. Last week they started paleontology and they will finish that up this week. They didn't want to sign up for the Harry Potter camp so this is the last of their summer camps. It's been lots of fun for them and I'm glad they've had the chance to participate in it!
Samantha has finished up the June Boot Camp and the Hip Hop and Lyrical mini camps. She starts the July Boot Camp on July 6th. I think she really likes her new studio and she seems to be making friends, so that's good. Her very first YW Girl's Camp is coming up on July 14-16. She's super excited to go. I'm glad she likes her teachers so much. She really seems to enjoy going to her activity nights, which makes me happy because she tells me the girls stare at her when she goes to church. Granted, we don't go often and I'm sure they worry the church will catch fire when we walk in, but still. Staring is rude.
Brooke is going to speech during the summer. Her classes will continue longer than the boys. She goes until nearly the end of July! She really likes Miss Angie and loves going to speech twice a week. She nearly beats me over the head with her homework folder daily because she's dying to get her homework done! Let's hope that enthusiasm lasts her entire school career!
Sam and the boys are still going to piano. They got to pick a piece of music that's a just for fun piece for summer. Sam's chosen Mama Mia and Nash wanted to do the Batman theme. I was looking through his book the other day and it seems he ended up going with a different song from the book we chose - the Batman theme must have been a bit more difficult than he's ready for. They really are doing quite well with their lessons these days. Nash has even written some of his own music. That means both Sam & Nash have written their own music now. They get that from their dad, NOT me!
I've started getting a few things ready for when school starts back up! I've got 11 registered 4 yr olds and 3 registered 3 yr olds right now. I am not worried about the 3 yo class filling up as it usually doesn't until the mid to end of July. Good thing I raised my prices for this year I suppose!
I'm also still trying to sell the ItWorks products. It hasn't taken off as quickly as I'd like it to, but it's a work in progress. I do have a booth lined up for the 4th of July on the square in Hyrum. I'm hoping to do well at that. Even if I don't make my first million from ItWorks, I've found products I love and that make a difference for myself and my family so that's really what matters!
Travis comes home again on Wednesday night. The kids are excited he gets to be home for the 4th of July this year - that's a rarity at our house. We're planning to go to the fireworks show at the stadium again this year. I was "lucky" enough to get an early shift at work so I'll be able to go as well. :)
So, nothing too exciting here, just daily life happening. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Fourth of July!
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