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Rehanyn's Kindergarten Program

Here's video from Rehanyn's Kindergarten Program







There's also another video on FaceBook :-)

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!

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!!!

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 :-)

Tristan's 1st Grade Program

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Ready for Easter!

Easter bask...errrrr....buckets are filled and ready....

Got lots of stuff for $1...thanks Wal-Mart!!!!

Adreyn

Tristan

Rehanyn

An adventure in failure.

I'm racking my brains trying to think of something interesting to post. I have come to one decision that I will not be writing about cooking my way through Julia Child's cookbook. (I can see my wife rolling her eyes and calling me an idiot already) A relief to all of you I'm sure and a chance to save my wife from more embarrassment.
My wife has a way of taking what happens in our lives and filtering it down so when you read about us you get that warm and fuzzy feeling. My portion of this blog will be relating what has happened to me and trying to find the humor in it. It's really the only thing I am half way good at. Today I tried rotating the tires on my car. This turned into a drawn out process involving several trips to relatives homes, me and my car covered in pneumatic tool oil. Did you know you can actually overfill the oil reservoir on an impact wrench? I didn't, but I discovered this truth only after I wiped the oil off my car, the garage floor and my glasses. I did finally succeed in this venture, but I sometime wonder if God is watching and laughing as my attempts always seem to go awry. I know God loves me, and I hope he can forgive me for all the times I cursed when things didn't go my way. God Bless and have a great week. Jason Halbmaier

Another Basketball Performance by Adreyn

Cup Stacking!!!

Adreyn, Tristan, and Rehanyn's school had an open house last night. We went to each of their classrooms and got to see their school work and talk to their teachers.

We were going to watch Adreyn's Basketball Performance and when we went to the gym they had these stacking cups that the kids were able to show off their stacking skills. Here's some video of them stacking: