New Picture for Brandon

Isn't it great. We don't always get such great pictures from the school, but this year it really came out good. God he's growing up. This morning we were discussing Germany. They have been learning about it at school. It's been such an exciting year for him. I guess it shows in the picture how happy he is.

Cold Day for a Parade

You guessed it. My girl scout troop was in a parade this weekend. Boy was it cold. When I got up in the morning it was only 20 degrees. I had Lauren put on long underwear and all kinds of layers under her coat and snow pants. It was kind of fun and not too bad when the sun was out. The problem was there was a judging booth at the end that each group was allowed to stop at if they wanted to perform. Each group was allowed up to 3 minutes and at times this caused a long backup down the line. We were 104th in the line. We were outside for more than 2 hours and very tired by the end. Today I still feel it in my calf's. The girls did look really cute in their hats and scarves they made.

Super Uterus

Just before Thanksgiving I was trying to explain the concept of the Super Uterus to Rebecca, a girl living with my friend Shannon. For those who are unaware of the concept of the Super Uterus, it is possessed by every mother or wife. It is the part of the anatomy that give the female the super human ability to find any item in the home that is lost by her husband or child. Things like; "Honey, where are my keys". Da na na na NA "they are in your coat pocket". "Mom, where are my shoes" Da na na na NA "they are under the table". She looked at me like I had lost my mind, and maybe so, but the next day as we were talking in the living room and Jim yelled at me "Anne, where is ...." and after looking at Rebecca and voicing the "DA NA NA NA NA" I informed Jim where the item was. Now. . . you may be asking, what in the hell made me think about this today. Well sports fans, this morning both Jim and Lauren couldn't find her project and came upstairs to ask me where it was. Of course I told them (without breaking stride) that it was on the breakfast bar. After he left and I was all alone again, I did do the DA NA NA NA NA. See Rebecca, Super Uterus still lives.

Progress With Testing

I got a phone call today. The school is now acknowledging the receipt of the letter requesting outside testing. They didn't waste too much time, did they. They gave me the name of the doctor that will be doing the testing. He or she is supposed to call me to set up a time. I'll let you know how long that takes.

OH MY GOD, SOMEONE HELP ME

Tonight after running around like a crazy person, making sure everyone got home. Jim says something about Lauren's necklace. I don't remembering her having one on this morning so I ask if she bought it at the Christmas shop. NO. I asked if someone gave it to her. YEEEESSSS. It was a boy. A boy in her class. GOD HELP ME. She's only 9 and I'm freaking out.

First Sign Down

Girl Scouts have been going pretty good this year. We ended up with 16 girls in our troop. More than we really wanted, but it's working out. Last night was our Investiture/Rededication ceremony. We only had one girl that was new to scouting, so there wasn't much for our troop to do but watch. The girls did get the 2 badges they earned along with their first Sign. For those that don't know, Junior scouts are a little different than Brownies. We just don't have badges to earn. You have 4 Signs, a Leadership Award, a Junior Aid Award and the Bronze Award. It really is a progressive thing. To get the Bronze you need a Sign and one of the other two awards. To get a sign you need some badges and other activities totaling 5 things to complete. At this point, if the girls were there for every meeting and went to the weekend camp, they have earned 3 badges and one sign. All in all, being one of the leaders has been fun, but hectic.

Dropping the Bomb

Last night was Lauren's parent/teacher conference. It went pretty well. She is doing pretty good. Reading is coming along well. Reading Comprehension is going a bit slower. Regular classes are going OK too. Some tests are good, some not so good. Both teachers say she works hard. After I heard what they had to say I dropped the bomb on them. I gave them the letter for the re-testing. It's been 2 years since the last testing. For any parents out there that don't know, these things must be in writing. I explained to them that I was requesting outside testing. You need to check the Procedural Safe Guards for your school, but ours will pay for outside testing if you have already received school testing. The special ed teacher seemed to know why. She admitted that the school districts rarely call a child dyslexic. They consider it a liability. She said we would turn it in to the school psychologist. I told her that I wanted the results for her March IEP meeting and this should give them their 60 school days. Please note that 60 SCHOOL days, not real days. It works out to about 4 months. They really don't need this much time, but they like to drag their feet. Anyway, they took it well and thought it was probably a good idea. Thank god they didn't argue with me about it. So now I wait and see what happens.

Who Would Have Thunk It

You know, you just never know. I was working with Lauren this morning on her clarinet. It was not going well. YES, TEARS. Big surprise. She just was having problems with the whole concept of some notes are held longer then others. I was trying to clap it out. Then I tried humming it. I just wasn't getting anywhere. Then I remembered the CD's and DVD's that came with the lesson book. I grabbed the CD and showed her how to put it into the stereo. We started playing the lessons and the light went on. She just had to hear another clarinet playing what she was supposed to play. Duh, I guess that's why they give you the CD's. She really is a auditory learner. Nothing like Brandon, he's is a visual learner.

Veteran's Day

Today I would like to honor two veterans. The first is my friend Shannon's husband. Hello Tim. Tim has been to Iraq twice and was also in Desert Storm all those years ago. The second person I would like to honor is my Great Grandfather, Samuel Ashton. Sam died in the First World War and is buried somewhere in Belgium. For these two and all the others that have worked real hard for us to keep the freedom we sometimes take for granted, Thanks guys.

The metal shown above was sent to Sam's family for him giving his life for his country. It is signed by King George.

Searching the Schools

Jim and I are once again looking at houses. This becomes so stressful because of the school systems in our area. We want a better school district for Lauren while finding one that will at least consider leaving Brandon in his private school. The responses have been mixed. The one said they had kids at Brandon's school, but would have to evaluate his case. Another said they wouldn't even consider it. They said it would be handled in house or he would be sent to the IU. He really wasn't very nice about it either. He seemed irritated that I would even bother him before I moved to his district. So they were taken off the list of possibilities. The third said that they would probably leave Brandon where he was unless they felt they could give him more. He seemed very positive about what they could provide and sounded upbeat about what it would be like for Lauren. Mostly it sounded like nothing would really change for her at all. Of course we could stay in the same school district. Overall the system is not rated very well, but they are willing to leave Brandon where he is and Lauren is now getting 4 days a week of after school help/tutoring. The middle school is really scary, but there are some charter schools in the area. So I'm not real sure what to do at this point. We did put in one offer, but it was in our present district. We'll see.

The Finisher

Why oh why do they think that because Brandon is small for his age that they can pick on him. Jim took Brandon to the park last weekend. Brandon really loves the big sand box. While they were there, another boy started hanging around Brandon. He had a large stick and was taunting Brandon with it. Brandon was ignoring him for the most part. Jim had tried to stop it but the boys Mother didn't seem to care. Finally, the boy attacked Brandon's tunnel that he had been working on and that did it. Brandon jumped up and decked the kid with two punches. Jim grabbed him and told him it was wrong, but at the same time really felt that the kid got was he deserved. For punishment, Brandon was told they would have to go home so he really got mad at Jim. The kicker was the kids Mother. She had the nerve to say to Jim that her kid was usually the bully. Jim's reply was that he was the bully and if he hadn't been taunting Brandon, it wouldn't have happened. You see, Brandon is used to wrestling with Arion. You know Arion. 5'10" tall and 240 pounds. Not a little person. So what these kids don't realize is, that to Brandon, size doesn't matter and they really can't intimidate him. The lesson here is you can start with Brandon, but he will finish it. Not sure we like this lesson.

Freaked Out At Cub Scouts

Last night Brandon had his cub scout meeting. Jim thought he was fine so I didn't go to help out. Well, I won't make that mistake again. At 8:20 pm Brandon came running in the house and disappeared. I waited for Jim so I would have a clue about what was going on. I knew something had gone wrong. Jim came in and told me he wasn't sure what happened. During one of the games being run by one of the parents, Brandon had disappeared and they found him 15 minutes later hiding in the girls bathroom, crying. I went upstairs and finally found him in my bedroom, sitting in the dark. I pulled him into my lap and started the long process of figuring out what had happened. You see, when Brandon get upset, he shuts down. No talking. I was able to get him to nod one way or the other and at one time he burst out, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I started with the thought that someone had said something to him. Then I went though what I knew was supposed to be happening during the meeting and finally got to the balloon game. Before Jim left he had mentioned that they were going to have the boys sit on balloons and pop them. I then found out that this was what upset him. I think it was the noise. Sometimes we forget that certain noises are hard for Brandon to take. Mainly it's been music at church or concerts at school. He has earphones to help soften it, but neither of us thought the balloons would set them off. After I told him it was OK to not like the balloon popping and that he should have just told Daddy, he calmed down. Then I let Arion spend about 5-10 minutes of guy time and he was back to his old self. So today's lesson is no balloon popping around Brandon.

Good Ego Day

Yesterday was a good ego day. She doesn't get too many of them, but yesterday was a good one. She had a clarinet lesson. There are 3 other girls in her lesson that are taking the same instrument. Her teacher told her she was the best out of the class. I told her I was really proud of her for practicing so hard. She had practiced during the week. It's actually going much better than I remember it going with Arion and the violin. I remember having to fight with him all the time to get him to practice. She has been practicing each morning and it really shows. It's nice to have her being the best at something.

Frustration

Sometimes Lauren's memory issues are more frustrating then Brandon's language issues. Case in point. Last Monday, Lauren had "Chapter 2 Test" written in her agenda book. I asked (like any mother would) what subject the test was in. It seemed a logical question. She couldn't remember. Go Figure. She had just copied it from the board and didn't pay any attention to what it said. I asked her to find out. The next day I saw that she had again written "Chapter 2 Test" in her agenda book, so I asked if she had figured out what subject yet. The answer was of course "I forgot". So I wrote a note in her agenda book asking the teacher (who initials the book every day) what subject it was. No response. The next morning I e-mailed both teachers, even though I knew only one teacher would know what I was talking about. I received an e-mail from the one teacher that the subject was Social Studies. GREAT. So I ask Lauren that night "What are you studying in Social Studies". You guessed it. "I can't remember". So I ask her to bring it home so we can study over the weekend. You see by this time we have lost a week in study time and the test is on Tuesday. So, of course, she brought home Science. So I e-mailed the teacher to remind Lauren to put the Social Studies in her book bag and let me know what to study. The teacher e-mailed me that she had to know the words highlighted in the book and she had already had Lauren put the book in her bag. So tonight we have to study and hope it's enough for her to get a good grade.

Lauren's Eye

When I got home on Wednesday, Lauren told that her eye was hurting her. She told me she had been at the nurses office and that the nurse had taken some pencil shavings out of her eye. It was red and swollen. After supper I tried to flush her eye, just in case they didn't get it all out. When that didn't seem to work and I couldn't see anything else, I tried a cold compress. Finally I sent her to bed, thinking that it would work it's way out while she slept. No such luck. When she woke up, her eye was even more red and swollen. She said it hurt more when she blinked. To keep her from rubbing it I finally put a patch over it. That seemed to help. Then, instead of taking her to school right away, I took her to the place where she got her glasses. I THOUGHT the woman who checked her eyes was an eye doctor. There were initials after her name. I was informed that she was not qualified to check her eye and was referred to a REAL doctor. Guess where I WON'T be going back to. I called the real doctor and asked if I could bring her in and was told that I would have to make an appointment. GREAT. I made on for 2:15 pm and then took her to school. WHY, I DON'T KNOW. She said her eye was feeling better. I left her there at 9:14 am. They called at 10:10 am to tell me to come and get her. I left work and picked her up and then took her to Jim's Mom. Oh, by the way. That patch I worked so hard to put on, yeah, they took it off. Then back to work, which was one bad thing after another. Just not my day. Then at 1:40 pm I left and took her to the REAL doctor. He was really nice. He ended up numbing her eye and flipping her lid to find another piece of shavings. So now we have eye drops for the next 3 days. She has small scratches on her eye and we need to keep them from getting infected. The funny part was the e-mail from one of Lauren's friends asking if she was alright and if she had to go to the hospital for the CUT on her eye. The lesson is not to blow into a pencil sharpener. Lesson Learned.

New Picture for Lauren

We got Lauren's school pictures yesterday. Not too bad. She is very happy. Boy is she growing so fast.

And Then It Was Gone In A Flash

This weekend started off pretty good. Lauren and I decided to start working on her camera shots badge. We went to the mall and visited a camera store. Then we stopped and got some new shirts for both her and Brandon. When we got home we started going over the stuff she needed to learn. How to clean, maintain, load and take pictures. She needed to learn about three different types of cameras, so I got out my old 35 mm camera for her to use. She needed to take some pictures so after walking around the neighborhood, we headed over to the park. It seemed like a great place to get pictures of nature. Brandon loved it because while she was taking pictures, he played in the large sand box they have. We came home and Lauren only needed about 4 more shots to finish out the roll. Sunday was good too. Went to church, then my sisters. Watched a movie, harassed my niece, GOOD TIMES. When we got home I started cooking. I planned to make bread, apple butter and turkey tet. This is when things started going a little crazy. Jim's mom came over and the kids went out to play. The bread was giving me a hard time till I moved it closer to the stove. While I was milling the apples, Lauren came into the kitchen carrying the camera. She then opened it and pulled the film out and asked "Mommy, how was I supposed to take this film out?" Yes, the memory was not working again. She had forgotten what we had discussed on Saturday morning. I ran over, but it was too late. The entire roll had been exposed. The only thing to do is to trash it and start over. Here are some pictures I took while she was using the 35mm. She now loves this camera, if she can only remember the differences.

Webelos

Last night at dinner we were discussing the things that Brandon needs to learn to earn his first cub scout badge. The first badge is not so hard. He has to know the handshake, the motto, the solute, what Webelos stands for, etc. So Jim and I are asking him "do you remember the sign?". Then Jim asked his he remembered what Webelos stands for. Brandon thought for a minute and then said "We Blow". After Jim and I stopped laughing we reminded him that it meant; We be loyal scouts. Still makes me smile to think about it.

Grave Hunting with Grandpop


On Monday I had my long awaited trip to New Jersey to work on the family tree some more. Me and Dad do this about once a year are usually around my birthday. This year I asked to do it a little early so we could check out a cemetery or too. We started at the Trenton Archive. I was hoping to find more information on the old death certificates, but the ones before 1900 do not have any information like parents or where they are buried. Very disappointing. So I had to change gears and only really found 2 new pieces of information. At about 12:00 we headed to the cemetery I wanted to check out. After eating a great lunch at a cafe across the street we headed into the Church office to see what they had to say. They handed me a list of the old section to look over and low and behold, I found a name that I didn't expect to see. You see I knew they had one surname there. I knew my great grandparents were there. I knew my gg grandparents were there. I knew my ggg grandmother (Mary) was there and hoped that her husband (Stephen) was there. This name on the list was a gggg grandparent. VERY COOL. Thank God I had printed out some pedigree charts before I went. Dad and I went out to find the grave and after about 10 minutes of looking find it. I started taking pictures and then we wondered into what they said was the newer section. In my view, this was still a very old section. After a little while we were able to find Mary and Stephen. I then almost had a heart attack when I noticed that his parents were right next to them. As we walked around I started seeing names that I recognized. LOTS OF NAMES. It will take me quite a while to figure out how many were actually related, but I did find another set of gg grandparents from another surname. I guess they all lived very close back then and that's how they all met to marry. I might have to ask the church is I can review their old records. Here are some of the old stones I found. You might think I'm nuts, but I had the BEST time.

Update on Lauren

New things have been happening for Lauren. First, she has decided to play the clarinet. I bought one on e-bay which turned out to be much cheaper than renting. The instrument even turned out to be pretty good. Secondly, the school sent home a letter stating that she now qualifies for an after school tutoring program. They will bus her home when she is done, but we will need to see how long that takes. She gets done at 5:30 pm. If it takes very long to get home, Jim or I will just have to pick her up. Right now it's two days a week, but they are trying to get funding to expand to four days. For once it seems that they are stepping up and giving her more without me have to do anything.

Horse Camp

Last weekend (I know it's Thursday, very busy week) Andi and I took the Girl Scouts to Camp Wood Haven to earn their Horse Fan Badge. OK, imagine this. 2 Leaders, 12 girls, no beds. Well they had very thin mattresses to lay on the floor. After the first night Andi and I doubled up to help our backs. It rained almost the whole weekend. We really don't have very good luck. Last time it was 98 degrees and this time rained. Anyway, the girls had a good time and although they didn't get to ride, because of the wet conditions, they did get to groom them.

Jim is supposed to have an overnight this weekend with the Boy Scouts. Brandon is very excited. It might be a little chilly, but there is no rain forcasted.

Here are the girls in all their rain gear.



Here are our sleeping conditions.



Here is Andi with her pony. The leaders had to lead in the horses.



Not my best picture, but me with my horse - Duce.



Here's Lauren in the dining hall. And no, the food was not that great.

Letter for Brandon

I got a letter from Brandon's school on Friday. It came home in his backpack. It says that he has started a new reading program. They feel that Brandon should attend a Reading Tutorial. Isn't that great. I didn't have to say a thing. They just sent a letter for me to sign. At Lauren's school I could do back flips and they still wouldn't give her a tutor. God I love this school.

OMG, HE HAS A DATE!!!!

Shhhhh. Don't tell I told. When he announced it at dinner Jim and I just looked at one another. On the outside I said "That's nice". On the inside I was screaming for joy. OK. You don't understand right? Let me explain. Arion is 20 years old and has never, to my knowledge, been on a date. He only ever went to one school dance. I couldn't get him to go to either prom. He barely ever even went to any ones house to hang out or go to a party. That's how it is when someone is slightly agoraphobic. They really hate to go anywhere. Now, he might have done something when he was away last year, but all I ever heard about was class and his dorm. Every time I called he was in his dorm. He didn't even like to leave to eat. So I told Jim that I thought we should not make a big deal about this, but both of us are dieing of curiosity. I won't even be here to see her, because I will be away with the girl scouts.

Girl Scouts Kicked My Ass

Last weekend was a little hectic. I had been on the waiting list for some training and hadn't really thought that I would get in. On Friday I got a letter and an e-mail that I could go to the first part. You see what I needed was both parts. Part 1 is Fire & Cooking. You need this to build a fire or cook with your girls. Part 2 is Overnight, which you need to take your girls on an overnight trip. The problem was I hadn't turned in the silly Home Study course that you are supposed to do first. I figured that if they sent me the stuff they knew that and I decided I would go anyway. At that point things started to turn crazy. I tried to call the office and found out the the Girl Scout office was closed for that Friday. GREAT. Then I tried to send an e-mail and got "out of the office" replies. OK. Then I decided to fax my Home Study form. Two out of three fax numbers would not pick up. So I took a copy with me. I pack up some stuff and drove to the camp. I get there early, yeah I'm annul. There I find out that they had another cancellation that morning and they now had room in the overnight portion. GREAT. I didn't bring any overnight gear. So now I'm trying to find Mary, my sister, who lives not that far away and get her to bring me some stuff. Jim's in the air taking another lesson so there is no way to reach him. I leave a message with Arion, knowing that chances are 50/50 that Jim will get it. Then we HIKE up the hill to the camp site. Pay attention to this. We are at one of the FAR off sites. This means you walk up carrying your stuff. I helped some of the others because I didn't have as much. We get there and a couple hours later Mary called and was at the Camp. She agreed to meet me half way so I start to hike down. The I realize that she took the short cut and I went the long way. Back up the short cut trail I go. Later in the lesson the Home Study course was mentioned. We are told that if we didn't turn in the test paper, we can show them a copy so they can sign our cards. Of course they had told me I could leave my paperwork in the CAR at the bottom of the camp ground. So after the first part I walked down AGAIN with the leader to get the person for the next session and get the paperwork. That makes three (or four) trips up and down the hill so far. The next day we were told we needed to take a TOUR of the camp. That's right. A very LLLOOONNNGGG walk around the camp, so we could see all the sites and facilities. Then drag some carts back up to the site and load up our stuff. After we were done, we then dragged all the stuff back down to our cars.

I got home in time to shower and take Brandon to his first Tiger Scout Popcorn sale.

Yesterday I had a very bad limp and still feel a little stiff today, but it done now for 5 years. Thank God.

The "P" Word

Last nights adventure, I am happy to report, was Brandon just being a very funny, very cute little boy. As we were starting dinner, and one of our neighbors kids walked into the house looking for Lauren and Brandon to play. I explained that we were eating dinner and they would be out soon. He said we wanted to say goodbye to Nellie, our dog. Brandon piped up with "She's a girl". Isn't that cute. Yeah. It would have been much better if he didn't follow it with "Because she doesn't have a penis". Yeah real cute.

My Big Tiger Scout

Last night Brandon went to his first Tiger Scout meeting. He seemed to have fun. Two of the boys he knew from T-ball. They talked about some great trips and selling popcorn to raise money for the troop. Today he gets to wear his uniform to school for 911. Next week we will get the scarf and other patches we need to finish his shirt. I hope he ends up liking it as much as Lauren does.

2 Months & 20 Pounds

Arion had his physical last weekend. Good for my stress, bad for his. They told him that he weighs to much. They said that he could come back November 25 if he lost 20 pounds. They told him to start running and diet. Well, Arion's will power is not the best. He keeps telling me that he will start tomorrow. Jim has joked about buying a lot of fatty foods. I don't think Arion is really trying since I came home from a neighbors party Tuesday night to find him eating 20 wings from Dominoes. He also asked me about going back to the big college from last year if he got good grades and got his scholarships back. I told him it was a possibility.

So Far, So Good

So far, thing are going good with the kids at school. I was really worried about Brandon starting a new class. Sometimes he doesn't do change real well. He was so excited and really was happy to be going back. When I asked him how his day went he said it was great. He told me one of the boys was causing problems, but he loved being in his new class. Highlights seemed to be the BIG equipment for recess and the BIG lunchroom with the BIG kids. This makes him a BIG kid too. He also has two of his friends, not just one. When I asked what part of the day he didn't like he said nothing. YEAH. Next week he starts back with all the therapies and more real class work. I have a good feeling that things are going to go well.

Lauren seemed to have a great day too. She knows some of the kids in her class from last year and is making some new friends. The two bullies that she has had in her class for the last two years are both not in her class. Thank God. She likes the teacher and says she nice. The new bus route even picks up some of her other friends from school, so she gets to spend some time with them.

Arion is still meeting his teachers. The worst seems to be one teacher that drools. GROSS. He liked his Abnormal Phyc teacher. There is just one more he needs to meet on Friday. That should be American Cinema. He should love that class. He leaves Friday night to go for his physical on Saturday. It's kind of far away, so he will be spending the night in a hotel.

In two weeks we start the ciaos of Girl and Boy Scouts. Brandon can not wait to start and asks me almost every day if we can go. When I get his shirt together, I will take a picture. Until then I have to get things together for Lauren's troop. Since I am one of the leaders this year there is so much to do.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for all three kids. Brandon was the first out the door with Jim to the sitters to catch his bus. Then came Lauren and then I drove Arion to his first classes at the local community college. At this point he still hasn't called me. I asked him to call after his first class and he didn't. Big Suprise. Oh well, I hope it's going good. Everyone was a little excited. Brandon couldn't wait to see his friends and have recess on the big kid equipment. Lauren was very proud of her outfit. By the way, Arion wouldn't go for the first day pictures.

Weekend Fun

This weekend was nice. We went to the river and it was really nice. Even Nellie had a good time. Silly dog just went in and laid down. Lauren found a very small snail, always looking for animals. On Monday we went to Jim's brothers house. We had a nice time and the kids spent time with baby Jack. Specially Arion. Don't know why that kid doesn't think of a career in child care or preschool teacher. Anyway, it was nice to relax for a while before school starts.

Decisions, Decisions

Life with Arion has been really stressful lately. He has been thinking of joining the Army all summer, but he has also been dragging his feet to get things done. I have been telling him to have a back-up plan just in case they won't take him. You see the Army is funny about ADHD. They definitely want you off meds. Arion has been off for quite a while. There are other issues, i.e. weight. The recuiter has advised Arion to lose weight and he has, but not that much. So I talked Arion into registering for the local Community College. The main issue is health insurance. If he's not a student, he can't stay on our policy. So we signed up at late registration and Arion set a date for the Army physical. Now the problem. The school called and said they needed payment NOW. If we didn't make the payment Thursday night, they were going to drop him. So after a long discussion with Jim, Arion and myself we decided that he would stay and complete this semester at the Community College. If the Army did agree to take him, he would go in under a delayed program. This means the rush was off for the Army and Arion will get another semester under his belt. Now we just wait and see how the physical goes. I'll let everyone know when we get the result.

Squigglypoucht

You could also call this Arion's Speech Therapy, Part II. As some of you know, Arion loves to teach Brandon new stuff. It's just that most of the time, it not anything that's really useful. This time is no different. He has now taught Brandon that there is a part of his body called a Squigglypoucht. My spelling might be off, but the word is made up anyway, so who's counting. Now when Brandon pokes Arion in the stomach, Arion says "Oh my squigglypoucht". Then Brandon will reply "I got him in the squigglypoucht". GREAT. Now Brandon wants to know what a squigglypoucht is and exactly where is it. God help me.

Suprise at Dinner

Last night we went to Brandon's favorite place, the air port cafe. As you eat you can watch the planes land and take off. It's just a small local air port, but it's the one Jim uses and it's close. We all order, nothing strange, the order comes. I ordered soup and fried mushrooms. Brandon got the usual, cheese sticks. Not normally an entree, but he eats them. I ask Lauren if she would like to try the mushrooms. She is starting to get to the point that she will try new things. She ended up handing it to Brandon. Now, as some of you know, getting a child with a sensory disorder to eat is something of a challenge. It's not just the taste, it the feel. Getting Brandon to try new things is next to impossible. And even if you can get him to try, most of the time, he doesn't like it. Well I almost dropped over when he popped that mushroom into his mouth and chewed it up. No comment. I looked at Jim. I asked Brandon what he thought. No comment. I gave him another and he ate it too. I guess he liked it. He wouldn't eat anymore, but of all the things that I thought I might be able to get him to eat, fried mushrooms was not one of them.

I Hate Ants

Last night I came home to find my kitchen invaded with sugar ants. I HATE ANTS. They are everywhere. So I start cleaning and spraying. I KNOW SHANNON, chemicals in the kitchen. So here I am, trying not to get the ant killer near anything related to food, while cleaning everything and throwing out anything else. I ended up emptying the spice/baking cabinet. I have lived in this house for 12 years now and I have never pulled everything out of this cabinet. In the end I ended up throwing out almost half of what was in there. Of course this morning I came down and the ants had now found a ice cream bowl that Brandon had left out. Oh well, I have all weekend to re-clean everything and continue to kill the little buggers till their gone.

God Help Me

As mentioned before, I was stung by a yellow jacket and was put on steroids. OK, let me tell you, if you are having problems with menopause, DO NOT GO ON STEROIDS. The last four days have NOT been good. Last night at about 4:00 am I realized it was the steroids. Let me explain. For the last four nights I have been having problems sleeping, usually not a problem for me. I have also been having more then the usual hot flashes. The last two night have got my legs killing me from the leg cramps that hit just after the crazy nightmares. I'm so tired that I just wanted to crawl up in a ball and hide from the world. All I can hope is that it will start to wear off since the prescription has now run out.

Take A Look At My Bounty

They laughed at me when I said I wanted a garden. I got my pots and planted my stuff. So far it's been fun for the kids to see the stuff grow. Before today, we have picked one or two things, but nothing much. Today we had our first big harvest. Not bad. Two tomatos, 1 melon and 5 carrots. I know it sounds funny, but I told Jim I would be happy if we just got some tomatos out of the deal, so I'm pretty happy. The melen is about the size of a softball. Here take a look.

Back From Vacation

Well we're back from our Staycation. We had a great time. To save money we stayed at my brothers house in Delaware and did day trips together. The kids had fun hanging out and it was great to really have some time with my brother and his wife. The house they now have is great and very roomy. During our stay we went to a museum, a potato chip factory, Fort Delaware on Pea Pod Island and took a 4-6 hour canoe/kayak trip. To finish up our week we had to leave Rick's and head back home for a minor league baseball game that my work was paying for. The only problem with the whole week was I got stung on my toe by a yellow jacket on Thursday and by Saturday, my foot was really getting swollen. I ended up calling the doctor and going on steroids. Right now, my toe is just really red and itchy. Here are some pictures of our fun.



The Kids outside the museum



Lauren and Sarah in the eagles nest



Matt and Brandon watching TV



Fort Delaware



Checking out the Big Guns (Brandon kept calling them Canyons)




Small Gun demonstration (very loud)



Kids line up to enlist



Brandon plays dominoes with the Prisoners



Canoeing on the Brandywine




Look, Uncle Rick finds a dead snake, what fun.



Brandon gets his rowing lesson.



Brandon prefers this way.



Brandon with a mascot.



Lauren hanging with some friends at the game.

Target Practice

Brandon has figured out a new way to do target practice. I found him out on the back porch, blowing bubbles and then shouting them with the squirt bottle from the grill. It was pretty cool till he blew the bubbles in my direction and then shot me instead of the bubbles.