Nate's Halloween Story

Nate brought his scary Halloween Story home yesterday.  It is quite a funny little story and I think I have a boy with a lot of imagination.  I just wanted to publish him out in the world.

A Vampire and a Pumpkin

Once upon a time there was a vampire who didn't have any friends. Then Vampire met Pumpkin. They became friends. But soon, the Vampire ate Pumpkin! Pumpkin turned into a Jack-o-lantern and grew inside his stomach. He was so mad he ate Vampire! Then the vampire's neighbor, Mummy, all wrapped in paper, attacked Pumpkin! The pumpkin ate him as well. The end.

Have a Happy Halloween!!

13!

She was such a cute sweet baby and now she is 13!  It is amazing how fast time has gone by.  The last 13 years have brought a lot of joy and pain and a lot of laughter and tears.  I would not take any of it back.  It has been such a great joy to raise this girl into the fine young lady she has become.  I am excited to see what the next 13 years bring.  Happy Birthday Madison!!!

Disability

What is a disability really?  Doesn't everyone have some type of disability?  I wear glasses.  I have a disability.  I can't run the Ragnar or do step aerobics.  I have another disability.  My disability is not a big deal to the rest of the world and many of our disabilities are not.  Then their are the other types of disabilities.  The person who is in a wheelchair, the person who has Down's Syndrome.  Very visible disabilities.  You see them and you know they need assistance and will need assistance for many things throughout life.  Then their are learning disabilities.  Learning disabilites touch a large spectrum of children and adults.  Sometimes they are ignored because they are not severe, sometimes they are misdiagnosed, some are severe and limit learning.  Parents of children with disabilities have to be strong for their kids.  They have to fight for every right their child is entitled too.  I only have one child who displays a disability.  It started early.  First we thought it would just be speech.  Then we noticed she did not pick up and retain information as quickly.  Then reading was a struggle, math was a struggle, everything was a struggle.  I had watched this with younger siblings and knew what to look for from my education as an elementary school teacher.  The special education teachers would test her, but could never pin point what the disability was.  Finally after 8 years we finally got an answer.  Dyslexia.  Not mild dyslexia, but moderate to severe dyslexia.  School is tough.  Now in Junior High it has gotten even tougher.  How do I help my child's teacher understand her disability is really the same as wearing glasses, or being in a wheelchair.  She just needs to be taught in a little bit different way then other kids.  How does a Junior High teacher reach the 1 out of 200?  How do I help that teacher do that?  That is the question today.  How do we make the transition from one teacher who makes your child special and gets right to their level to 7 teachers with 200 other students?

Milestones

After an entire week of Olivia in underwear and only having two accidents she is potty trained.  It has been so nice not having to change diapers.  It is very strange however, to think I will never change one of my kids diapers ever again.  As we enter May, I realize I am making a couple of milestones.  Madison will finish elementary school and start Junior High in the fall.  Nathan will finish kindergarten and will be in first grade and go to school all day, and Olivia will go to school in the fall too.  I remember thinking of the day when all my kids would go to school and how that day would never come.  Now with only a month of school left I wonder how the time passed so quickly.  I am excited for the milestones we are reaching and excited for the ones that lie ahead.

Spring Birthdays

I am a little late in posting these, but better late than never.  Two weeks ago we started the spring birthday craziness!  Rylee's birthday is on March 29th, a week later is my brother followed the next day by Olivia then my mom a few days after that then there is my sister in law, my sister and my niece all in April.  It is a crazy time of the year.  This year is even a little more crazy planning for my brother's upcoming wedding at the first of May.  Hence the lateness of the post. 

Rylee turned 8 the year Olivia was born.  They were actually both due on April 17th so I was very worried that Olivia would try and show up on Rylee's birthday.  Luckily we made it past that and she came a week after Rylee's birthday.  Rylee had a nice birthday.  It was two days after we got back from her dance competition in St. George.  I attempted to make her a cake but that went terribly wrong as it usually does.  I think I have successfully made the cake I attempted for Rylee twice maybe three times in 11 years!!!  It all started on her 1st birthday.  Hopefully for year 12 I will get it right.

Olivia turned 3 a week later.  Olivia loves the movie Tangled.  We decided to get everything Rapunzel.  We got her a Rapunzel Barbie, a Rapunzel dress, the movie Tangled and the Rapunzel crown.  She was in heaven.  I was going to make her this great Rapunzel cake for her birthday, but again setbacks.  We could not find the toys we needed for the top of the cake and I had to settle on Walmart making the Rapunzel cake.  Again maybe next year I will be more successful.  It will be nice to have a birthday break the next kid birthday in our family isn't until October when Madison turns "13".  I do not think I am ready for that.

Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

I love my boy!!!  The last six years went by very quickly.  Nathan is growing so fast.  He is such a sweetheart.  He is my thoughtful, kind hearted little boy.  He is so easy to please.  I love what a great brother he is to his sisters and how he endures all the girls stuff around him.  I am sure it is not easy being the only boy.  I love how he wants to snuggle all the time and he already is such a gentleman and opens the door for me.  I miss my baby boy, but I love the big boy he is becoming.  It was a slow start we got off to, with machines helping him breathe, but now it is hard to keep up with him!!!

Nathan does not like cake so we had donuts!!!

White Christmas

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.  Snow for Christmas, I could do without.  Truthfully I could do without snow all the time.  It was funny to hear my friends say it was too warm for it to be Christmas.  I laugh.  I remember the warm and sunny Southern California Christmases where when you got your new bike from Santa you could always go out and ride it right away.  Nathan asked for a scooter for Christmas and rollerskates, but we decided to wait until his birthday.  My thinking is why spend the money on something they probably won't use for a couple of months when we can get them something they will use right now.  I was starting to think that it would be so warm that my plan may backfire on me.  NOT TRUE!!!  Yesterday morning we woke up to about 8 inches of snow.  I think for Christmas the perfect gift would be a Snowblower :)