Wow, last week was really crazy.  Started out with the car accident, then Matt got sick, and Annika is teething, then we spent all weekend researching dyslexia as we believe that is what Christian is struggling with, then we had an issue with Ryan being teased at school - then we added in baseball and just basic end of the year stuff.  I’m telling ya, it was crazy!  If you want all the details, check out my post here. 

Tomorrow is the last day of school – they go for a whole hour…  Then it is SUMMER VACATION!  YEA!  Tomorrow we also meet with Christian’s teacher, principal, reading teacher, and school psych. to discuss next year.  After both Christian’s reading teacher and we did a ton of research, we are pretty much positive it is dyslexia he is struggling with.  Of course the state doesn’t require schools to test for that for some reason…. so to get him officially tested it is out of our own pocket at $750-$800 for the testing.  If you are interested in the topic at all, here is a great resource www.dys-add.com   At any rate, we are pretty sure we are going to homeschool Christian next year using the Orton-Gillingham Method for reading & spelling (another big expense) which has a huge track record of being very successful with dyslexic kids.  (actually & adults for that matter)  and then 2nd grade level for the rest of his studies. (since he is doing fine in everything but reading)  Our hope is to catch him up to grade level and then re-access what grade he will be in the following year.  It’s all fairly stressful, but I am feeling optimistic at this point.  His reading teacher has been a HUGE help in helping us decide what would be best.  She is an incredible lady – spending numerous hours outside of what she is paid for - doing research for us, calling & e-mailing us, calling the state for us etc. 

Today I sent to the awards ceremony at school at 1:00, and then they got out of school at 2:00.  The boys had a nice time playing at Holly’s house after school.  She is my dear friend (Annika’s Godmother) who lives just down the road.  Her two boys are Ryan and Dane’s age and we just found out she is expecting another little one as well!  We couldn’t be happier for them and they are the most wonderful friends ever! 

Our garden is doing well…. I probably should have watered it today though… OOPS…  It did rain a little this morning, so hopefully that was enough. 

HOPEFULLY the car is getting fixed on Monday.

And YES… Matt is feeling much better.   And NO, Thankfully no one else got it.

Any other questions? 

C-

What is everyone doing this weekend?  We’re just staying home, and having nothing on the calendar is kind of nice!  I actually have a ton of things to do around here, but at least maybe I will have time to do some of them!  The weather is great – it is clouding up a bit, but is 94 degrees out.  The kids played with the kittens and ran through the sprinkler this morning, and I worked out in the garden for awhile until Annika woke up from her nap.  I need to get back out there this afternoon to plant the pumpkins and spaghetti squash and Preen that half of the garden.  It looks like we are going to have a pretty large strawberry & raspberry crop this year.  I’m excited about that!  Of course they will probably all be ripe when we are gone on our trip.  Such is life.

School is finishing up.  Next week is the final 4 days.  Tuesday is a normal day – and they are going strong – Ryan has 2 tests!  Wed they get out at 2:00.  Thur. is fun day and they get out at 2:00.  Friday they go for 45 minutes for closing chapel and report cards.  The last six weeks or so have seemed to really fly by, and I’m sure summer will as well.  That’s how it usually goes!  Christian’s 7th Birthday and our 13th Anniversary is also just over 2 weeks away!  Wow!  This week also brings 5 graduation parties to attend. 

Matt is starting to feel slightly better.  Good thing because he was really starting to drive me bonkers!  I love him to pieces, but I tell ya, when he’s sick he is really not enjoyable to be around!  (unless you like taking care of an adult 2 year old.)  We took him to the Dr. yesterday afternoon and he has Tonsillitis, which is what is going all over town and what Dane had a couple weeks ago.  Hopefully no one else gets it, although Annika also has a small fever, but she is also getting 3 teeth, so it may be related to that.  She is not acting sick.

I was hoping to have a garage sale for our town-wide garage sales; but I looked in the paper this morning and they are the two days before we leave for vacation.  I’m thinking that probably is not a very good plan, so we’re nixing that idea. 

The farmers are finally all in the field.  It is fun to watch them do their thing all around us. 

Annika has learned this week how to gracefully go from standing to sitting.  She used to totally crash from standing position, but now she is pretty good at getting down without hurting herself.  She is definitely busy.  She is also starting to cry when I leave the room – separation anxiety has begun.

Well, I’m off to make shaved ice for the kids!

Warmth is all around.  It was 89 degrees on the way home from school today- warmest it has been all year!  It actually felt great as the humidity hasn’t hit yet and there was a nice breeze. 

Matt is also warm with a 102.1 fever.  I thought we were done with sickness, but I guess not.  He had to preach tonight at church too for Ascension Day – poor guy!  I can’t tell you how he did because we were at Ryan’s baseball game.  I can tell you that I don’t have much patience for him when he is sick… He is sooooo whiney!  I do my best, but it gets on my nerves really fast! 

Dane, Annika, a bunch of friends and I had a great trip to the park this morning.  It was the perfect day for it!  They both got their first smothering of sun-screen for the year. 

Tomorrow night I am hopefully sneaking off to a card making party with some friends in the evening - I have been looking forward to it for awhile, so let’s hope Mr. Whiney is a bit better so he can actually watch the kids for me – because right now he can’t seem to even reach a blanket 6 inches from him by himself. 

We aleady have the insurance check in hand for our car, so now we’re just waiting for the body shop to get the parts in.  They said hopefully by June 1st.  Fun times….  Currently I’m a bit leary about driving around at night with 1 headlight….  Thankfully we don’t go out too much in the dark anyway.

I better crawl in bed and get some sleep in hopes that I’m not the next one with the fever!

C-

I only have a couple minutes before Matt brings the boys home from school and it is chaos as we do homework, eat dinner and go to baseball practice.  However, I wanted to let you know that there are a couple posts I made on http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/blog  that you probaly won’t want to miss…  One is the story of our car accident on Tue. (In case you haven’t heard about that)  and life updates – There are a couple pictures there as well, and the other is just a cute post about Annika. 

Enjoy!

C-

Hey, what do you think of the new design?  I hired Beth over at Ruby and Roja for a new look!  I need a new graphic designer in general, (My old one totally flaked on me) so I thought I would try her out on a peronal site before enlisting her help with a business site.  I told her we have four kids and their favorite colors (well, we guessed for Annika)  and this is what she came up with!  I might have driven her crazy with all my changes to the point where she never wants to work with me again…  but I’m pretty happy with the results!

Dane has been sick the last few days – there is a bug going around preschool that over half the class has had.  Starts with a fever and then turns into tonsillitis.  So I took him to the Dr. on Friday – he just got the fever Thursday night – but since it was going to be the weekend…  He didn’t need antibiotics yet, but she gave them to me anyway since it was the weekend.  (said to hold off until I thought he needed them.)   He still had the fever today, so I went ahead and gave them to him.  Hopefully tomorrow will be the last day for the fever.  Then I guess we just wait to see if anyone else gets it.  It has about a week incubation time… so hopefully we are all done by vacation time!  (in worse case scenerio… hopefully long before then.) 

We had to move Annika’s crib mattress down today.  I went in this morning and she was standing up and hanging over the edge!

Ryan’s Baseball practice started on Thursday and Christian starts on Monday.  The whole organization started out seeming really organized, but now I’m not so sure….

I’m trying to think what else we have been doing…  I have been switching all the clothes out from winter to summer.  The boys are winding down in school and are looking forward to end of the year field trips coming up.  Dane only has 3 classes left!  They had a cute Mother’s Day Tea on Thursday for all the mommies.  Last Sunday we also had a Mother’s Event with a guest vantrilloquist (I’m sure I’m spelling that wrong, but I’m too tired to look it up.)   I’m off to bed!  Happy Mother’s Day!