Sunday, May 30

stuff

Bought new dishes...chocolate and sage green (the bowl at the back top shelf show the color better than the ones at the front)


One of my friends from high school took pity on me and told me her way to make sausage gravy. It is so good!!! Much better than what I've been making...and it's easier too :-)

Yummy homemade strawberry jam--so good!!!!!!

Saturday, May 29

Cake!

Here's pics of the latest cake I made for a friend's daughter's pirate birthday party!



Tuesday, May 25

NICU Reunion...I really need to have about 6 hands not just 2!!!!

So, the NICU Reunion is in a month...yes, really, a MONTH! Invitations have to go out on Thursday...are they ready to go out? Ummmm, not quite. They are printed and the envelopes are addressed, but I still need to stamp the envelopes (with a rubber stamp, not postage stamps), stuff the envelopes, seal the envelopes, and make sure they get to the mailroom at work (so they can be postage stamped there).

About 2/3 of the items we ordered for the Reunion have arrived...YAY!!! Of course, the stuff that has to be put together...yeah, still hasn't arrived but they did say that it would for sure ship by June 6th...hopefully they aren't lying.

We have to make a HUGE treasure map to pretty much cover one big wall on the 2nd floor of the hospital (we are talking about 12x10 or so). We also have to make a ship's wheel or compass rose for another wall (about 4x5 or so). Oh, yeah, our theme is Pirates and Princesses...the first area you enter is the pirate area and then you follow the treasure map to get to the enchanted forest on the way to the castle...It should turn out pretty cute!

I have to START and finish the Reunion scrapbook from last year's Reunion...I guess I procrastinated that just a bit huh???

The week of the Reunion I have to get the cakes done for the Reunion and we have at least 15 or so hours of decorating to get in too (if not more). I have decided that I'm gonna make a pirate ship cake and then several princess cakes...at least I think that's my plan for now...we'll see :-)

Oh, and they decided to change my food order again...(for the 3rd year in a row) and they want us to do peanut butter sandwiches....UMMMM, KIDS WITH ALLERGIES...yeah lets have some anaphylaxis with our party...luckily my manager is working on this for me...


yeah, I think the Reunion is gonna kill me this year :-)

school update


I guess I should update on how things went with our meeting with the principal after T's parent/teacher conference: We started by saying that we do NOT want Ree to get T's 1st grade teacher next year...I guess I figured that the principal would know that but she did look a little surprised...she wrote it down though so that should be taken care of. We talked a little bit about the type of teacher we felt that Ree would need in 1st grade since she is so young and hopefully we get a good one. (kinda hoping she won't get A's 1st grade teacher but that teacher would still be better than T's!). Then we spent quite a bit of time discussing what we feel Tristan needs in a teacher for next year and what our expectations are for 2nd grade. We want a teacher who will encourage Tristan...not just get frustrated by him. We want a teacher who understands what his physical limitations are and figure out how to make allowances for those limitations. We want a teacher who is strict and holds Tristan accountable for his actions while still realizing what a sweetheart he is :-) We want someone who we can trust to do her best to teach our son. I don't think any of those are unreasonable requests. So, a teacher had been recommended to us by some people so we requested her...and the principal agreed that she would be a good match for him but then also suggested another teacher that she thought might be a good fit. This other teacher has been working in the special needs department but now wants to come to mainstream classes. I can see why the principal thinks this teacher may be a good fit for Tristan...I guess I'm just not so sure. Tristan's special needs are related to mobility and muscle strength...not intellectual...so while the school has to classify him as "special needs" so he can get his physical, occupational, and speech therapies he's not like some of the "special needs" kids there at the school. I guess I don't feel that he needs a "special needs" trained teacher as much as he needs a teacher that keeps him on task and encouraged. So, anyway...the principal is gonna think about it and then decide which teacher she thinks would be best for Tristan. We have told her that we want to meet with the teacher before school begins so that we can all be on the same page and hopefully Tristan can have a good and productive school year next year and so we as parents don't have to be so frustrated again (as we have been each year that he has been in school.

Really, I just want Tristan to have a good year...Kinder was so frustrating with having to switch teachers for him in the middle of the year...then 1st started out on the wrong foot and has never gotten better...please, please, please let 2nd grade be better!!!!!!

Thursday, May 20

soooo....

My jam didn't turn out quite right...Now, don't get me wrong...it tastes great!!! But, the chunks of strawberries all floated to the top and some of the sugar sank to the bottom...leaving the jam triple layered. Maybe I shouldn't have used that pectin from last year :-). Oh well, I had my first taste of the jam this morning and it tastes soooo good!!!!

The school year is winding down...apparently we missed the teacher conference for Rehanyn...I didn't know we had one scheduled but apparently we missed it, oh well...luckily her teacher was okay with that. Tristan is doing okay...I mean, as far as we can tell since his teacher doesn't communicate with us. Adreyn is of course doing great...I'm glad she likes school! Ree does well in school too...they just keep telling us that she needs to slow down...like we didn't know that!

Jason is getting busy again--Yay!!! They got back the account that they lost in Feb so that has helped out alot!!!!

Me, I'm just staying busy with work and stuff. The NICU Reunion is about 5 weeks away so we are getting pretty busy with that...just finished printing the invitations today and have to get them mailed within a week or so...

So that is that...not too much going on here...

Tuesday, May 18

Click to play this Smilebox photo album: Rehanyn Program
Create your own photo album - Powered by Smilebox
This photo album generated with Smilebox

Rehanyn's Kindergarten Program

Here's video from Rehanyn's Kindergarten Program







There's also another video on FaceBook :-)

Saturday, May 15

what's up???

Well, today I took 4 pounds of Strawberries and made....

Homemade Strawberry Jam!!!!

It smells so good!

It has to sit out until tomorrow then into the fridge and freezer it goes :-)

Yummy!!!!!!






I also took the 3 kids grocery shopping today...fun for them...not so much for me. However we got it done and all the groceries put away :-)


Yesterday I went over to Tasha's house and got her to highlight my hair for me. Right when we finished up it got really dark outside (it was noon) and then the torrential rains began. So, I stayed at Tasha's house for another hour until the storm lightened up. It was still raining when I left but was at least drivable. I guess I should say that it was driveable until I got out on Hide-a-way Lane and got to the bridge that I had to cross to be able to go home. Below is the video that I took of the water rushing across the road and down...It was like a rushing rapid!!! After watching for a couple of minutes I ventured across and made it home. I was really glad I was in the Suburban...I don't think the Aveo would have made it :-) Enjoy! Notice the rushing water on the right of the screen!

Sunday, May 9

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day

to my

Amazing Mother

She raised 4 kids while working full-time night shift (5 days a week)
She was always available for us
She made it to all of our school activities
She always planned ahead for meals and almost always had them ready on time
She sewed ALOT of our clothes growing up
I still remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing the sewing machine going because she found it hard to sleep on the nights she wasn't at work (I totally understand that now!)
She always had the best stories from work!
The house was usually clean--often unusually clean considering there were 4 kids living there.
Overall--she is the BEST Mom ever!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day also to my sisters

Tamra--the crunchy Australia one with 3 little girls and 1 little boy who homeschools and does all the other crunchy granola momma stuff :-) Love you! Can't wait to see you in November

Tasha--the crazy one with the girly girl and crazy boy who is working for her husband and loves to shop at Kohl's and has a flip-flop addiction! Love you too and I'm glad you live close by!! (especially since you can highlight my hair for me--see you Friday!)

Debbie--the one who married into this family and has 3 kids with her and 2 in Heaven. I know these past couple weeks and years have been tough. Here's hoping they get better from here on out. Love you!!!! Hope to see you soon too!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's in my life!!!

Friday, May 7

Teacher Conference

Had our final Parent/Teacher Conference with Tristan's teacher...It was supposed to be last Wednesday but an hour before the meeting she called and had forgotten that since it was TAKS testing day no parents were allowed on campus. We rescheduled again for today (and gave her two options for days we were available--she picked today) and when we got there she had forgotten that we had scheduled the meeting. So we spend about 15 minutes in the office while people go to find her. We get in there and she of course isn't ready for us. We sit down and she asks if we have any questions. Jason asks if Tristan is going to be able to go to second grade or if she was gonna recommend that he be held back. She said that he would be going to 2nd grade because academically he isn't having issues. She said that "all" of his "issues" are "behavioral". She says his behaviors (unable to sit still, moving around, fussing when he has to write or read) are "disrupting the entire class" and occur "all day, every day".

Well, #1 unable to sit still---this is part of his low muscle tone...he can't sit still, it hurts his back to sit still for any length of time...even the Physical Therapist has told her that! He can't help that!!!!!!! #2 moving around---he moves around a lot because it is more comfortable for him! #3 fussing---he doesn't like to write sentences because it's difficult for him with his limited motor strength...BUT when he is encouraged he can write sentences very well!

Then she decided to review all the special "accomodations" they have for him (PT, OT, ST, and Socialization groups) as if we didn't know what therapies our kid was receiving.

After saying only negative things about him for at least 10 minutes (the only thing positive that she said was that Tristan is very smart and can do the work when he wants to) she asked if we had any questions Jason said "No, we're good...is there something we have to sign?" Then she said, "I know you have to have something to say, you always have something to say." When Jason didn't say anything else she went on to say, "I know that you have never liked me, but I have done my best with Tristan and I hope that someday you can see that I have and that it's good." She asked me if I wanted to say anything...I just told her that I didn't have any questions and that I've seen improvements in Tristan this year (thanks to PT, OT etc....NOT thanks to her) and since I was seeing improvements I was fine.

We signed the paper and got out of there. We went straight to the office and made an appointment with the Principal to make sure that Rehanyn does NOT get this teacher next year, and we want to discuss which teacher Tristan gets for 2nd grade. We are gonna see if we can meet Tristan's 2nd grade teacher before the end of this school year so we can start the school year on the right foot and be ready to go and have us and the teacher all on the same page.

So, there's the update on the teacher stuff :-)