Looking for the Silver Lining

They say when it rains, it pours... I'd like for that to be a positive statement sometime. On top of our already grim financial situation, and me looking for a job (and going back for my Teacher Certification), we found out on Thursday that my husband, our only income and person holding our benefits, is getting laid off. We are trying to look at this in the positive. He wasn't happy at his job, so now he'll be in a great position to look elsewhere. He wanted a change in careers, well, this sets him up great for that. I was worried that someone wouldn't be here for Kid Jedi if I had to take a full-time position, well, now Daddy will be there. He was upset because he worked for a Health Insurance Company and they don't pay well, well now he can change industries.

The good news is, we are covered under benefits through his Severance time, which would put us through the middle of August, which is good since we just started Therapy for Kid Jedi's ADHD, and we may be able to go during the day and see the Psychologist we really wanted to see. And my wonderful parents are paying for me to get my Teacher's Certification, NJ has an alternate route for people with Bachelor's Degrees which doesn't require you to go back to college and pay those high tuition bills.

As difficult as this situation is, I really feel like it's a door opening rather than one closing...I just wish it wasn't right before Christmas!

Tackle It Tuesday - To Do list

I've been battling some illness for the past several weeks, add to that being blue because of my parents heading back to FL and having to go back to work (not that I've found anything yet), not a lot has gotten done around this house lately. So this morning, I decided that, since, if I was working outside the home, I wasn't sick enough to stay home, I had to treat this job as any other job and get some stuff done. So today, my to do list is:

1. Switch laundry ( I went to bed with clothes in the washer & dryer) - Done
2. Change sheets - Done
3. Wash dishes - Done
4. Switch laundry (wash towels)
5. Straighten Living Room
6. Find something to organize Kid Jedi's Art Supplies
7. Call Dr. Mintz to make appointment

This is what I'm tackling today, let us know what you're doing and head on over to 5MFM for more tackles.

Affirmations and Assurances

With the rough roads we've been facing, it's easy to get down, down on life, down on myself, down on just about everything. Well, I've decided that I'm done with being down. I have a wonderful husband who has been in a job he is not very happy at for several years now so that I could stay home with Kid Jedi. I have a wonderful albeit trying little boy. I have great parents, sisters, brother-in-law, nephews, and even my mother-in-law and father-in-law have really turned out to be very supportive in everything we've been going through. So, I am saying here and now that I will not feel sorry for myself. I will remember that me working outside the home, even if we have to find childcare for Kid Jedi on vacations, will be good for my family and me. I will look at what I do have, not worry about what I don't have.

I will remember that because of this face...

Everything I do is worth it!!

It's been a loooong 2 weeks.

I'd like to say I've been really busy working around the house, getting this place organized or even that I've been sending out my outdated resume to find a job, but, well that would not be true. I have been doing some work around the house, and I've substituted twice since I last blogged, and I went to the funeral of my best childhood friend's father. I guess my heart isn't really into going back to work and a big part of that is more health issues with Kid Jedi.

Well, health issues may not be the right term...I'll explain. When we decided to look into medication for Kid Jedi's ADHD, we went to see a Psychiatrist on staff at CHOP's ADHD Management Center. She wanted to see if Kid Jedi's iron levels were low since that can cause RLS which we know he has from his June Sleep Study, and while they were drawing blood anyway, she decided to check his liver functions for a baseline in case we did go to meds, also his B12 since my Grandmother and I have low B12 and his thyroid. Well getting the blood drawn was a nightmare, and it took us forever to get the results back...Iron within the normal range but on the low side of normal, Bilirubin a little low, Proteins a little high, ALT and GGT a little high...and B12 HIGH, and by high, I don't mean a little high, it is DOUBLE what it should be. So, being the English Major/Psych Minor that I am, I research. What does it come up as with a high B12, well, first almost nothing comes up for high B12 because most people have a deficiency, not an over-abundance, so the very few references I do come up with about High B12 (eliminating the ones from people who take B12) were that it is usually only seen in liver damage and Leukemia. Talk about scaring a poor mother to death.

So, I get in touch with Kid Jedi's pediatrician last week and we now have to get more bloodwork, fasting blood work at that. Did I mention that Kid Jedi's so deathly afraid of needles that it took both me and my loving husband holding him down to just have his hand held out for the tech to take his blood from his hand? Yeah, and we have to do this first thing in the morning. We are going at 7:45 the day after Thanksgiving. We also have to go to a GI specialist to go over what could be causing these issues.

I hate bloodwork, I know tests and screenings are really a good thing, but bloodwork? On an ADHD/Anxiety child? Who is so afraid of needles that he cowered when I got a Mantoux test? Come on.

On the positive side school has been going better. He still has bad days and we'd be lost without his Aide, but he's doing better. Oh, and the Aide told me that she thinks he's doing fine in a group setting, so meds are off the table, at least for now.

Oh, and I go to a temp agency tomorrow to get put on their rolls too, so maybe I'll work a little more. I'd really like to get some kind of permanent position at a school right now, either an Aide or long-term sub. I think I'm going to take the Praxis test and do the alternative route for a teacher's certificate.

Tackle it Tuesday - Halloween costume

This week has been busy, to say the least, with looking for a job, I'm really trying to organize around here, but this week has been spent making Kid Jedi's costume. For Halloween, he'll be...a Jedi, Luke Skywalker to be specific. We went and looked at the costumes they were selling, and I didn't like them. I couldn't justify spending $40 for a costume made of cheap polyester when I could make it myself. So for $14, including the pattern, I made this.



The belt is a regular belt, it's a Pirates of the Caribbean Disney belt, but it's what he wanted to wear (and we already had it). This is Kid Jedi after Trick or Treating at Adventure Aquarium, they do a free trick or treat night (2 actually) each year for passholders.




This is what I've been tackling, let us know what you are tackling and check out 5MFM to see what others are tackling.

Tackle It Tuesday - Tackling Everything.

Well, Kid Jedi seems to be adjusting ok to school. We still don't have enough information on what we need to do, but that's coming. In the mean time, we, like everyone else are facing tough financial times and I need to go back to work. I signed up to substitute, I think I'm going to go to a temp agency too to put my name in. It's tough here because I still need to make myself available for Kid Jedi so he doesn't get worse and since we don't know everything we need to look into appointments, and we also have the issue of his anxiety and a major change like this could spiral that out of control, but well, this isn't really about that, though I am tackling deciding how to bring in more $$ (any advice is welcome).

Anyway, this week, with looking at going back to work soon, I will be tackling some organization around this house. I have no pictures because I don't really have the time to take them. The plan is to get the kitchen and dining room cleaned up, the tables are magnets for clutter, and get caught up on laundry this week. I will take pictures today and post all my progress next week.

We also had a wonderful celebration this weekend, my nephew made Eagle Scout this weekend. He got lots of great letters, though he got one from Shane Victorino from the Phillies which looked more like a response to a general fan letter than for an Eagle Scout, and more importantly he became one of a few Eagle Scouts, about 1% of all scouts become Eagle Scout, it's a lot of work and I'm very proud of my nephew.

This is what I'm tackling, check out 5MFM and see what other Moms are tackling.

Good first week back at school

Kid Jedi's first week, well 4 days, back at school were a success! The first day was the only day he had a meltdown, which is pretty good seeing as he went from no school for 2 weeks to being in school from 8:20-3:15. The second day he threw something, again, didn't happen again. Third day, he was under the table several times and took his shoes off, he said they felt tight - he doesn't really like to wear shoes. Forth day, he says he took his shoes off but the Aide didn't say he did and he played with playdoh when he wasn't supposed to, but whoever thought that leaving playdoh at the Kindergartner's table where they have to sit all day was a good idea?

Thursday the behavioral therapist came in and put Kid Jedi on a behavior plan, they divide the day into 14 segments, he starts on blue, one warning gets him green, two yellow and three red. If he gets green or yellow he gets a sticker. He needs to earn 11 stickers and he gets a reward when he comes home. Thursday he got 11 stickers, Friday 12.

The happiest part of the week for me, other than the smile on his face at pick up, was on Friday he told me how much he liked school. That's a big thing since last year he kept telling me that he wanted to stay home on the days he had PreK, he only went for 2-1/2 hours 3 days per week.

I'm waiting on my DH to decide what time of day is good for appointments so we can start counselling and for a call back from CHOP to get an appointment regarding medication (we still aren't sure what we are going to do, but figured going to the professionals would give us more and better information than we can get researching it on our own).

Kid Jedi's 1:1 shadow told me on Wednesday that she's already in love with him, he's such a great kid, his teacher gave me a lot of credit for being able to keep up with him. Oh, and Kid Jedi told me on Thursday that there's a little girl in his class at Table 1 and they are in love with each other.

We went to a birthday party for one of the little girls in his class on Friday night, everyone said hi to him and seemed excited to see him. And the birthday girl apparently always talks about him. I'm glad he's made a positive impression on the kids especially with as bad of a start to the school year as he had.

I'm not too happy that they don't seem to be incorporating what the doctor from CHOP had recommended for him in reference to keeping him challenged, especially since he thinks math is boring (they were drawing three of things one day). Of course, this is the first week and he has to walk before he can run and he needs to stay focused on what the whole class is assigned before he can get more challenging work.

On the down side, we had to pull him from karate. He wasn't improving his behavior there and we got a call on Wednesday from his instructor about doing individual lessons, but there was no way we could afford that, and I don't think that's the best thing for him right now anyway.

Here's hoping to an even better week next week.

We have a plan!

Sorry I haven't updated sooner, with Kid Jedi getting tutoring, and, well him just being home all day, things for me are taking much longer to get done than normal.

There is an IEP in place, the doctor's recommendations were not included right now, they felt that they would go under the behavior plan that will be included when they get the behavioral therapist in, but, his wonderful teacher asked for a copy of the doctor's recommendations and I know she'll let his 1:1 know about it, I'll let the 1:1 know about it.

So what is included: Kid Jedi will have a 1:1 shadow every day all day at school starting Tuesday; his tutoring lesson on Friday as well as this coming Monday will be in his classroom to start transitioning him; the school OT will consult with him as needed once per week for 30 minutes (increasing to intervention or decreasing as needed); the behavioral therapist will be in to put a behavior plan in place and to work with Kid Jedi's teacher, 1:1 and us (and I will make sure that the doctor's recommendations are included); he will be removed from the classroom daily (like they do other children who need to work on reading, etc.) to work on following directions and focus (compliance is what they call it). Other than the doctor's recommendations not being directly included, I'm ok with the plan but I will keep on them especially since the doctor's recommendations include higher leveled work as needed.

All that being said, Kid Jedi will return to the classroom on Tuesday. His 1:1 will hopefully stop by during his tutoring session on Monday to meet him. He's excited, and scared. I'm nervous. The school is expecting him to get worse before he gets better.

As far as treatment, we haven't decided about medication, but, when we can get an appointment (they have a wait because of them being booked with appointments), we will be consulting with CHOP on that to make that decision (if we go, they do a full workup on him including an EKG before putting him on medication). We will be making an appointment this week to go back to the psychologist who diagnosed Kid Jedi for counseling...they are doing a research trial on a new therapy, but we'd have to either wait for the trial or wait for the meds (if we decide to do that) and we don't think that's in Kid Jedi's best interest.

On Friday during his tutoring, he did run out into the hallway once. This is a great improvement from his first week of school when he was in the classroom for 3 hours and ran out of the room, or tried to, 3 times; the tutoring session was 2 hours and he only left the room, or tried to once.

I picked up a notebook to send Kid Jedi back with which will be for us and his 1:1 to communicate in. I'm really nervous about letting him go, but I do know that this will be good for him.

Another step forward

Well, we got the recommendations from the doc. IEP/504 meeting is at 2:00 today, so I have to copy the school recommendations and get them to the Child Study Team early. I was going to email, but was told by my wonderful HIPAA knowledgeable hubby that email is not confidential and it would set a bad precedence for the communications, so now no email, but I have to take my ADHD combined type to the High School (where our Child Study Team is housed) so I can drop off the info so it can be included in the IEP/504 for our meeting this afternoon. I'm happy with the doctor's recommendations for the classroom so that's a plus. I'm just really hoping we can get him back in the classroom quickly.

Kid Jedi's been doing ok with his home instructor. I can really see his impulsivity when he works with her. He ran away from her twice today when he was supposed to be doing work, but, of course, things were different today than yesterday since DH and I were at the doctor's getting the report so my parents were here.

The doctor also told us of a clinical trial going on at the hospital comparing 2 different therapy protocols. We're trying to decide what to do with that. No meds at this point, we're not sure about that either especially with his asthma and he tested a little high on the anxiety scale and most of the meds increase anxiety. So, we have a lot of research and talking to do. But, hopefully we'll have a school plan in place and get Kid Jedi headed back to school.

Chugging along

So, Tuesdays I usually try to do a tackle, to say that it's been difficult to do the last few weeks is, well, an understatement. We have been dealing with Kid Jedi's school problems in that he's still not back in school, but we are getting a tutor today and she'll be with him 2 hours per day until he's back in the classroom. We should have an IEP meeting on Thursday, we don't have a definite time yet, but I'm hopeful that it will happen.

So, this week's tackle is just to get Kid Jedi learning some things, we did 1 hour of lessons this morning, he finished his lowercase alphabet section of the workbook and is almost finished the math readiness section, which is pretty good for an ADHD kid, we are taking a break right now and this afternoon we'll finish math readiness and do some reading. Library either today or tomorrow.

I also need to make Kid Jedi's allergist appointment for his Asthma, which is needed because he's starting to cough again.

I feel like the Little Engine that Could, and if I don't say "I think I can", I'm afraid I won't. I'll just keep going and we'll make it.

Check out 5M4M for Tackles.

We have a diagnosis!!!

So yesterday at the way too early hour of 8:00 we packed up to head to CHOP. Keep in mind it should only take about 1/2 hour for us to get there, but since we would be hitting rush hour traffic heading into Philadelphia, well, it took us almost an hour.

Well after finally getting in to see our doctor at 9:30, we talked, and talked, and talked about Kid Jedi's behavior, at home, in school, in Karate, from birth to now. Kid Jedi, at least, got to go play with the intern to get evaluated (I want his evaluation part next time). Then we got to answer some questions, go into more detail about things, bring Kid Jedi back in, go wait while the doctor and Kid Jedi played, again I want that part next time, and then some more talking.

Though we normally wouldn't have a diagnosis for about 2 weeks, since Kid Jedi's being kept home from school because the school can't or won't intervene until he's diagnosed, she told us that, yes Kid Jedi has ADHD, that's it, no anxiety, depression or ODD (which the Child Study Team thought he had), oh and of course he's gifted, which we knew, but she told us that he's actually more gifted than the IQ test shows because his ADHD causes false lows on those tests because of distractiblity. We (the hubby and I) go back next week for some ideas for intervention...no medication at this time (we saw a PhD, not an MD so if she wants meds, she has to refer us for a consult).

So, I call Child Study Team when I get home and tell them, yes he has ADHD, to which she asks about ODD, and I tell her, very proudly (and smugly) "Nope!" I didn't get into the giftedness, they should realize that with his test scores, but the psychiatrist will include recommendations for that in her report. Then, she asked for recommendations...hello...she's lucky we got a diagnosis. The way she talked previously, she had worked with other students going to CHOP previously, but apparently not, because otherwise she would have known that it usually takes at least 2 weeks for diagnosis and recommendations, not the same day. Of course, I pleasantly told her that we were lucky that we got a diagnosis, they only did that because of Kid Jedi being kept out of school. To which she responded that she would contact our principal and tell him what's going on.

I called the teacher's extension to let her know what was going on and to let her know that I would be attending Back to School Night tonight. I also thanked her for everything she's done. After all this, the little girl next store, who is in Kid Jedi's class, brought over a folder of some worksheets and papers for us, which I am grateful for. I'm so glad that even through this battle, Kid Jedi has a teacher who really cares about her students (even if he's too much for her classroom right now).

So today I call the Child Study Team, again, to see what we can expect next and the timeline that they have in mind for getting Kid Jedi back in the classroom!

No school for a while

So, Kid Jedi went back to school yesterday and I got a call at 10:30 from the head of the Child Study Team. Their new recommendation is that we keep Kid Jedi home until he has his evaluation from CHOP on Wednesday. She said that he's learning bad habits and it can be detrimental to him to keep being punished for his doing things he has no real control over. So we'll be homeschooling for the next few days. His teacher sent home some worksheets, and said she'd work with me to get some more work to him, but they aren't doing a whole lot in class right now. Oh, and I can see why he doesn't want to do the work they give him. It's worksheets where you write the letters and then circle them in the picture below, and on the back it's coloring. Exactly the thing that Child Study Team said was torture for him last year!

He was supposed to stay until 12, but I picked him up at 10:45 at the Guidance Counsellor's office, she was great with him. He actually drew a flower on the chalkboard, my son who can't stand to write or draw drew the most beautiful flower! Again, I heard how much he wants to please and how smart he is, but he just can't control himself.

Child Study Team thinks he may have ADHD, but he definitely has some sensory issues. We'll see on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'll work with him here which will probably put him even further ahead of where they are teaching. When I worked with him Thursday, I went over 25 sight words that he should know by the end of Kindergarten, well he knew 19 of them, and of the 6 he said he didn't know, I've seen him read 4 of them. We're now working on writing them.

The school is hiring an one-on-one aid for him, they are looking for someone who has experience working with kids like Kid Jedi. Hopefully this will all work out. He's too smart to let fall through the cracks!

Looong first week of school

Well, to say that it's been a bad week would have to be an understatement. We got a call from the principal the first day of school to discuss Kid Jedi's behavior in the classroom. He called in the Child Study Team, you know, the people who said there was nothing wrong with Kid Jedi, he was just bored. Well, they went to see him on Day 2 of school, which was apparently worse than Day 1 since I got a call at 11 asking to come meet with the principal to discuss Kid Jedi's behavior and our options. He advised that a Behavior Therapist would be coming in to set up a Behavior Plan for the teacher and said that if we wanted, we could keep Kid Jedi home until the therapist could come in. Yeah, not happening, he needs to get adjusted and keeping him out until next Friday does him and his teacher an injustice because they lose that time to build an understanding of each other.

I did mention to the principal that I didn't want Kid Jedi to fall behind, I almost heard laughter at that, he said that that would not be a problem, he was very impressed with his vocabulary, and apparently Kid Jedi is the only Kindergartner or First Grader who can say his (the principal) name correctly.

After the first day, we called the ADHD Management Team at CHOP to see if we could move Kid Jedi's 9/22 evaluation appointment up, he's now going 9/16 and if anyone cancels in the meantime, we'll go in even earlier, though at this point I don't think that will happen.

And to top all this off one of our cats died after Kid Jedi went to bed on the first day of school, so I got to pick him up early from the principals office and then tell him what happened. We decided to keep him home yesterday because he was having such a difficult time with dealing with the cat's death (and yesterday was a full day, not 1/2 like the first 2 days), we knew that he would be even more unbearable in school.

So as of right now, his interventions are a weighted vest (I hope this works, I put something on his lap yesterday while we were doing some work and it helped), and he will have a shortened school day until we see what CHOP recommends. Next Friday the Behavior Therapist comes in and a behavior plan will be in place. The Child Study Team will be providing me with a report to take to CHOP on Wednesday so they can see what his school behavior has been and what they decided to try.

Here's hoping today will be better.

Met Kid Jedi's Teacher

Today was the Kindergarten Meet and Greet at our preschool I'd love to post pics of Kid Jedi with his teacher, but I forgot to take them. This is him getting ready to go.

This is him in his seat, which will probably be moved.

The reason it will probably be moved, is that in the 1 hour that he was in his classroom for his Meet and Greet, he decided at one point to try to go back to the playground. And, since his Kindergarten class has 20 students, one teacher, no aides, she's moving him so he doesn't have a beeline to the door.

He got the teacher that came to our Child Study Team conference, which is good. She talked with me a bit after the Meet & Greet, told me about him trying to leave and expressed some concern over his immature grip, she verified with me that they thought he didn't need OT for that, and yes, of course, when he was with the OT he held his marker the correct way, well, once he was verbally corrected. I advised his teacher that we were getting him evaluated by CHOP and she is more than willing to work with us. She is a wonderful teacher and very open to our input on what she can do to make it easier for Len, which is great. I'm going to be keeping in touch with her a lot this year, and try to figure out what helps Len so we can get a plan in place for him that will follow him and make his school life easier.

We will be going back to school on Tuesday, so hopefully he will get into the swing of things and the routine will help him. He tends to be a little better when he knows what to expect, but, well you never know with him.

Tackle it Tuesday - Ending summer

Well, Kid Jedi starts Kindergarten one week from today. I'm happy for him, but sad for me, I'll miss him being here. Next week I'll do my back-to-school post about what we did to get him prepared, but this week, I'm just cleaning up summer.

We have this one last week of summer, though I don't think we'll be heading to the pool since it's in the 70s this week. This week is the week that I make sure Kid Jedi goes to bed on time and gets up by 7 so he can be ready to be at school by 8:20. We are also reorganizing our home with a lunch station in the kitchen (Kid Jedi has full-day Kindergarten so we get to pack lunches for the first time), cleaning the launch pad and setting it up for backpacks instead of beach bags, getting an area in the kitchen or dining room set up so we have anything he'll need for homework together, and, well taking advantage of these last free days before schedules become our life.

I don't have any pictures yet since I'm still in the cleaning up stage, but, they will come (probably next week). I'm also looking for good, healthy, ideas for school lunches for a kid who doesn't eat a whole lot of fruits and veggies.

This is what I'm, sadly, tackling this week, head on over to 5MFM to see what other Moms are tackling and let us know what you are doing.

Wordless Wednesday - fun with Grandpop

Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts at 5MFM.

Kid Jedi is out of control!

Well, the first day of karate wasn't good at all. Well, actually the first 20 minutes weren't too bad, but the last 25, well, my hubby thought we'd be asked to never bring Kid Jedi back again, EVER!!! Well, because of this, I did some research on impulse control.

We were told when we had the Child Study Team evaluation that Kid Jedi's problems in school were basically that he was bored because he knew what they were learning and since he has problems with things like coloring, which they use to teach the kids what Kid Jedi already knew, it was torture for him. He could use some orthotics to help with his balance and intoeing (which I've been trying to get someone to do something about for 2-1/2 years)...oh and there's a slight chance that he has Sensor Processing Disorder, so go buy a book and do what it says...a whole lot of help I can tell you. We went to the pediatrician and did get Kid Jedi the orthotics and they recommended a place to have him evaluated for Sensory Processing Disorder, but it's not covered by our insurance and it's $400 just for the 1-1/2 hour evaluation!! Well, we've put that off for a bit, not only because of the price but because my husband doesn't think Kid Jedi really has SPD, but that the Child Study Team put that out there to justify their evaluation, especially since the OT couldn't find anything wrong with Kid Jedi's pencil grip which the head of the Child Study Team said was very immature. Oh, and his non-verbal IQ is 129, overall 119 and that's with him refusing to complete a section of the test.

Anyway, back to the research, everything I kept coming across referred to ADHD, now I've been saying for a long time to anyone who listens that there's no way my son could have ADHD because he can sit all day and play with Lego blocks without a problem. Well at a family graduation party, my cousin told me her son had ADHD and she had the same reservation about the diagnosis, but they explained that they could hyperfocus at times too, and that's what I kept coming across, especially if they are in the impulse control/hyperactive side of ADHD and not the inattentiveness side. So, needless to say I called our pediatrician today and we are working with CHOPS Center for Management of ADHD to get him evaluated, we won't be able to actually see a doctor until the end of September or the beginning of October, but they do a full battery of tests - IQ, basic skills, depression, anxiety, and a 2 hour psych eval, the psych eval alone is about as much time as our Child Study Team spent evaluating him. To give due to the Child Study Team, since Kid Jedi was in preschool at the time of the evaluation, they had to look at him for early intervention and since his IQ was so high and he had no obvious learning disabilities, there wasn't much they could do. I do know that ADHD is not commonly diagnosed in 5 year olds, but we need something here. Since he's been out of school, he's just been getting more and more unruly, he even was sent out of Sunday School 2 weeks ago because he kept trying to crawl to the door.

I'll let you know how things go.

Tackle it Tuesday - miscellaneous changes

With all the changes that we have happening here, there's a lot going on. So, my tackle is more of a to do/done list than one task.

Yesterday we signed Kid Jedi up for Karate which was recommended by the Child Study Team to help him focus, but in the evaluation, of course, he got distracted by the mirrors and ran around so he could see himself run and almost couldn't get signed up because he wouldn't refocus. So, we're hoping that he will pay attention in class and stay on task, otherwise we'll be looking for something else for him to do.

I have another yard sale this Saturday at the campground my parents stay at during the summer, so I'm getting lots of stuff together, I already sent down 2 totes full of baby toys, books, other baby equipment with my sister, and I'm working on getting more together, and though we could use the money to help pay down our credit cards, anything that doesn't sell is getting sent to VVA for a donation. We really need to get rid of the clutter in the house.

I have some more baby blankets and burpies to make, I may sell some of them at the yard sale, depending on if I can get them made.

And lastly this week I'm getting all my paperwork in for substituting. I was approved by the board, had an interview with the Junior/Senior High School yesterday and picked up my transcript, I am getting my fingerprinting done today and then I just have to get my drug screening done and go to the Dept. of Health to get my PPD/Mantoux test done.

Good bye clutter, hello freedom!!

This is what I'm tackling this week, let us know what you're tackling and head on over to 5MFM to see what other Mom's are doing.

The way we say things...

Kid Jedi and I are off to the shore today for the week!!! Now we live in south Jersey, so really we are going "down the shore", it's one general area, once down there, you can go to the beach and sit and relax, but from home you go down the shore, one of those odd colloquialisms that are everywhere.

I remember when I went to school in Western PA, the oddest thing I ever heard was that they were going to "red up dinner", which, of course, means they were getting dinner ready.

These sayings as well as whether you call your carbonated beverages soda or pop and the totes that you bring your purchases home in bags or sacks are what make our language in the US so rich and identifiable, you can tell where people are from just from what they say or rather how they say it.

What interesting local sayings or words do you have?

Ch-ch-changes

A lot has been going on here. We had VBS last week which was such a blessing, I don't even know where to begin. Kid Jedi had some times when he was running around when he should have been with his group, but not many and no one cared, they all loved him!!! Kid Jedi was also so moved by the Bible stories and memory verses that he asked Jesus into his heart, at 5! We also attended church services at the church that ran the VBS and we loved it, Kid Jedi came out from his Sunday School class so excited with his craft project, it made my day.

We also made a tough decision, we are getting rid of our credit cards and moving to be a cash only family, which will make things a lot tighter here at first, but in the long run, we will be blessed beyond measure for this change. Since this decision, I have been feeling much better about our situation, primarily because I hate credit cards.

I put my application in for Substitute teaching and once I get my criminal background check done, I'll be all set to get my license to sub and I'll be on the rolls at our local Junior/Senior High School. Once my license comes in, I'll put my name in our elementary school as well as the other 3 elementary schools that send to our HS. I'm nervous, but excited.

I can't wait to start paying down those credit cards, and it's going to be a big change since we've been relying on them a lot over the past 5 years, the journey may be long, but it will be steady and definitely worth it.

Oh, and I'm starting decluttering with having a yard sale with a friend of mine (our street isn't good for yard sales, but hers is) and I'm getting rid of a lot of Kid Jedi's baby things, like the travel system, umbrella stroller, etc. I will be keeping some outfits, etc., but if I don't need it, I'm letting it go!

I so feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders now that we aren't using credit cards and I'm getting rid of stuff. I'm beginning to realize that the stuff is what holds us down. Changes are coming, and they are all good!

In the Hot Seat at VBS

Kid Jedi got put in the "Hot Seat" at his VBS yesterday and answered all 3 questions about the previous day's Bible story. We're having fun. He's thinking here.

Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts at 5MFM.

Grandmom's Ginger{bread}

Ok, so this is more of a modification of Gingerbread than anything. I made this because my Mom had made Tastefully Simple's Ginger Snappy Bread when we were over there last week and my son loved it, to the point that he kept asking for Grandmom's Ginger, so I tried to make it myself, and to say it was a success is really understating the reaction. I don't have a picture of the cake because, well, it got eaten and I wasn't really planning on posting this today until I saw that the MckLinky Blog Hop was for a recipe. So, here's the recipe:

Grandmom's Ginger{bread}

2-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup HOT water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 9x9x2 pan with shortening and lightly flour.

2. Beat all ingredients together with electric mixer (the electric mixer helps to break up the shortening) on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

3. Bake 50 - 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. You can serve this plain or with vanilla pudding, however you like your gingerbread.

Check out 5MFM for Tackle it Tuesdays and MckLinky for other recipes.

Tackle It Tuesday - Getting ready for changes

Well, things they are a changin'. With Kid Jedi going to Kindergarten next year, and our financial situation needing help, it's time for me to look for something to bring in some income. First thing is I got an order for a receiving blanket and some burpies which I will do, maybe I'll make some more to see how I can do with that. I need something that will keep me on Kid Jedi's schedule especially since he had so much trouble at preschool this year, and I enjoy having the summers at home and can't bear the idea of having to put him in camp or hire a babysitter for him for an entire summer.

In preparation for me not having so much free time (or at least not being home as much), and with the realization that I'm probably done having children since being pregnant at 41 doesn't appeal to me too much, it's time to start really de-cluttering and getting ready for a fall yardsale. Everything is in the planning stage this week since Kid Jedi's been sick with a fever and cough since last Wednesday, finally feeling a bit better yesterday and Saturday, I got the fever.

I will be posting my progress on this endeavor. I think I'll start with going through Kid Jedi's toys, I gave him the incentive of whatever money we make with selling his toys he can use it to buy some Legos, now to figure out how to store them.

This is what I'm tackling head on over to 5MFM to see what other Moms are tackling.

Three Things You Didn't Know About Me

Three things you didn't know about me, well I could probably put any 3 random things here since there isn't much you do know about me, but here are 3 things even some of my friends and acquaintances may not know.

1. I can't stand the way sand feels when it sticks to your skin, but I love going to the beach with Kid Jedi and listening to the waves, even going out into the ocean sometimes.

2. I'm afraid to swim because when my father taught me to swim, he did that thing that parents do where they keep walking backwards and I panicked and thought I was going to drown, I've been afraid ever since.

3. When adults mispronounce things, it's like nails on a chalkboard to me, and here in South Jersey, there are some things that people do all the time like instead of pronouncing Acme "Ack-me" they pronounce it "Ack-a-me" or water "wooder" (there isn't a d in water and it's an a, not an o), bad grammar annoys me too but that's another story.

Wordless Wednesday - pool fun

Kid Jedi's a little leery of pools still, he and his buddy were doing a lot of splashing which Kid Jedi doesn't really like, so he's not too sure he should go back into the pool.

Check out more Wordless Wednesdays at 5MFM.

Tackle It Tuesday - More baby gifts *Updated with pictures*

Well, now that I'm home from the free movie at our local United Artist Theater, I'm ready to finish my tackle. My Mom has a baby shower for a friend this weekend and she asked me to make some burpies, I usually make the ones made out of diapers with flannel down the middle and ribbon on either side of the fabric, and I am making them, but I got a pattern from YouCanMakeThis.com for a receiving blanket and one for burpies and I'm making them. Last night I cut everything out and pinned it up, today it will be sewing. Come by tomorrow to check out my pictures of the finished product.

****Update - Pictures****

This is everything I made: 4 burpies in 2 different styles, 1 receiving blanket:

This is the receiving blanket:
These are the burpies I usually make:

These are the burpies that match the receiving blanket:

This is what I'm tackling, let us know what you're tackling and check out other tackles at 5MFM.

I am worth it!

So, I'm a SAHM, one of the most difficult and rewarding jobs I've ever had. On any given day I can usually have my happiest and saddest moments...well, lately the happiest don't seem to be happening. It's not really Kid Jedi's fault, he's still the same child that I've had for the past 5 years, it's mine. We've been going through a lot this year with Kid Jedi and his preschool. To say that he had a few problems in adjusting is putting it mildly. I spent the second half of the year picking him up early on an almost daily basis, keep in mind he only was in school for 2-1/2 hours a day. We wound up going through our district's child study team and in the end found out that he should have been in a preschool that was more structured with smaller classes and more academics. Academically he was beyond what the preschool was teaching and socially he was behind the other kids, the teacher, well, they weren't impressed with her but wouldn't say anything to her about it. They also advised that when other kids act up, he does too but doesn't know how to stop and settle by himself. We are working on getting some coping mechanisms in place for him so next year will be better.

Anyway, like I said the way I've been feeling really isn't his fault, his behavior issues just made how I was feeling worse. Well, I kind of had a meltdown today and my wonderful husband and I discussed a few things that need to change in our home, nothing major, really just superficial things like organizing things, getting rid of clutter, things everyone has to do at sometime, but one thing he said to me, which is prompting this post, is that I need to figure out how to be happy with myself again. I don't really know the last time I was happy with myself and I'm not really sure why either. I'll be working this out here for a while I assume.

One thing I do know is my spiritual life is lacking, I've been looking for a church home, I found a church I really liked but I really wanted something a little closer so Kid Jedi would be able to participate in evening Bible study/AWANA type things...there's a closer church that a little boy from Kid Jedi's preschool class attends and I will be attending there to see what the services are like. But really, I just feel so far removed from God that it hurts.

Another thing I discovered in thinking today is that I really need to get over my perfectionist tendencies and competitiveness. My perfectionism paralyzes me at times, I tend to want things done so perfectly and I know I can't achieve that level so nothing gets done. I also compare myself, and my son and everything else, to everyone else and of course I never measure up, intellectually I know that I'm just as good of a mother and wife as everyone else, but I only see the aspects where I have difficulties and they don't seem to.

Don't get me wrong, I love my life, I love my husband and son more than anything in this world, they are my light. I just don't love me, I'm not happy with my weight, I'm not happy with how I clean house, I'm not happy that I will be going back to work next year. I miss being really happy about things, I used to be that girl that always smiled, now I feel like it's a chore to put on a happy face and the stress of Kid Jedi's issues at school and in certain social situations just makes it worse.

I know it will get better, and I know I need to work through a lot, and that's why I'm here writing at 1:00 in the morning, because I know, deep down, I really do know that I am worth taking care of and I am worth having a pleasant home, and I am worth just as much as anyone else.

Now if I could just move those feelings from my brain to my heart, I'll be good. Please bear with me as I go through all of this.

Tackle it Tuesday #28 - Lego kits

Kid Jedi loves Lego bricks, and I mean loves them, he would play with them all day and night if we let him. Until the last few months though, he would ask for kits, his Daddy and I would build them with him and he'd proceed to tear them apart within days, sometimes hours. Well, since our collection is getting large, I decided that we should go through the pieces to the kits and rebuild the ships. This process has actually been going on for about a month.

I don't actually have any before pictures of this, but sad to say, this is where I am after putting all the remaining pieces into kits again.


This is what I did with the kits. If there were any pieces missing I put a note in the bag, and we are missing several pieces for some of the kits.

This is where we are putting his completed kits for now, we are working on a system to store his completed kits and his loose bricks, but we decided it would be best to build the kits we had first and go from there.

What I discovered in doing all this is:

1. We have a lot of kits.
2. We need a good system for storing pieces and keeping kits together or we will be replacing kits.
3. We need to get said system in place ASAP because...
4. We will be getting lots more Lego kits/bricks in the future.
5. If we are going to keep kits together we may want to buy duplicate kits so Kid Jedi can use the pieces to build his own creations too.

This is what I tackled this week, check out more tackles at 5MFM.

Wordless Wednesday: The semi-toothless grin

Not the best picture, but this is Kid Jedi after losing 2 teeth in 9 days...no adult teeth peeking through yet though.

Check out more Wordless Wednesdays at 5MFM.

Cancer Strikes again...

Well, as you already know this isn't going to be a happy post. I got some really bad news last night, one of my cousins, Lisa Upchurch, passed away at 39 from cancer. The worst part, no one knew she was sick, and it's been going on for 2-1/2 years. Lisa was a wonderful person, she had her difficulties of course, but so did everyone. I just don't think she realized that we all still loved her. She went through some hard times back in HS, but that really didn't matter, she married someone most of the family didn't approve of, but that didn't really matter either, she had a little girl who she decided to put up for adoption (the little girl's aunt adopted her), and then she had a little boy who she kept. None of this makes her a bad person, it makes her human, but I don't think she knew that we saw it this way. Lisa and I were close when we were kids, even when she lived in KY though I was in NJ, I never stopped loving her or caring about her. I may not have agreed with her choices at times, but they were her choices. I wish I could have lent her my support during this difficult time, but we had lost touch over the years, something that I will regret for a long time.

I HATE CANCER!!! I'm so sick of it taking everyone away from me and their families. Lisa left behind a young son, her Mom, her Dad, her brother, nieces & nephews, lots of aunts and uncles and too many cousins to count. My sincere hope is that she left us to go into God's heavenly arms.

Don't miss out on any opportunities to reach out to anyone that you love and you've lost touch with before you don't have a chance. I wish I had one more chance to talk to Lisa, to let her know how much she has always meant to me, how much I love her and how often I thought about her, that chance is gone, but I will be getting back in contact with her brother, that opportunity will not slip away.

Lisa...I will miss you!!!!

Tackle It Tuesday #27 - Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I live in a house of chocoholics, to the point that my wonderful husband bought chocolate peanut butter when he saw it in the store, he and Kid Jedi say it is good, I couldn't tell you, I'm not a big chocolate person. I decided that for Kid Jedi's preschool graduation (June 5) that I was going to make chocolate chocolate chip cookies, but since, as usual, I had more to do than I had time I made them from mix. Well, today I made the recipe that I found on Food Network and it got 2 thumbs up from Kid Jedi. Here's your recipe:




Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies



2-1/4 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 sticks butter, softened

1 c granulated sugar

1 c packed brown sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

1 Tbsp vanilla

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa

2 c chocolate chips or M&M's or 2 Hershey's chocolate bars, chopped

1 c chopped walnuts (optional)



Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. In another large bowl, stir together butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla and cocoa. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined. Add chocolate chips and walnuts, if using, and stir to distribute evenly.



Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets and bake about 10 minutes (I had to cook them for 12 minutes on Airbake pans). Cool for 2 minutes on pans, transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.



Enjoy!



This is what I'm tackling this week. Let us know what you're tackling, then head on over to 5MFM for more Tackle it Tuesday posts.

Check out Friday Feasts at Momtrends.

Tackle it Tuesday #26 packing

Ok, no photos for this one. Kid Jedi had a sleep study last night and that left me exhausted beyond all reason. However, we will be heading to the shore tomorrow morning early; as in get up, eat breakfast and get in the car, so today I will be tackling packing for our trip. It's only for overnight at my parents' trailer at a campground, but since it's the first one of the season, games and some books have to go down too. So today, we will be deciding what games and books we can do without at home for the summer and pack some clothes, load up the car. We will probably be at the campground by 9 am tomorrow.

This is what I'm tackling, let us know what you are tackling and check out 5MFM to see what other Mom's are tackling.

Wordless Wednesday - Preschool graduate

Check out more Wordless Wednesday at 5MFM.

Tackle It Tuesday #25 - Foyer

Well, Kid Jedi graduates from preschool this Friday and we're having family over for a mini-celebration. So, I figured I should get some cleaning done. Today it was the foyer. These are before:


This is the bench we have to use as our launch pad, obviously nothing is launching right now.


The steps going upstairs, this is where I put things that need to go upstairs, obviously I haven't taken things up to put them away in a while.

From the front door:

The after pictures will be posted later today, I'm waiting for my floor to dry from being scrubbed so I can put the bench, coat tree and shoe basket back.

(EDIT)

Here are the after pictures:

And the on the bench/Launch Pad are the teacher gifts for Kid Jedi's teacher and assistant (Popcorn bowl with Caramel Popcorn and Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn from Dale & Thomas).

This is what I tackled, let us know what you tackled and head on over to 5MFM to see what other Mom's tackled this week.

Tackle it Tuesday #24 - Giraffe Lovey finished

Well a few weeks ago, I had blogged that I intended to finish this lovey for my friend who was due June 23. Well this past Saturday, we were blessed to have a new little girl in this world. She was a few weeks early, but healthy. She's now home with her loving Mom, Dad and big brother. Anyway, I spent yesterday finishing the lovey.


It came together really quickly and I love the way it looks. I will definitely be looking at more sewing ideas from You Can Make This. As a matter of fact, my next sewing project is a handbag pattern I got from there.

This is what I'm tackling this week, let us know what you're tackling and check out more tackles at 5MFM.

Wordless Wednesday - School Picnic

Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday - Mother's Day Flowers

See 5 Minutes for Mom for more Wordless Wednesdays.

Wordless Wednesday - pure amusement

Having fun on the bumper cars. Check out more Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Tackle It Tuesday #23 - Giraffe Lovey

This weeks tackle it is for a friend of mine who is due with baby #2 on June 23. I got this great pattern from You Can Make This and my kid Jedi picked out the giraffe lovey to make. So far, I've pieced the pattern together and laid out the pieces.

Today I will be cutting and, hopefully, sewing. You'll have to check back to see how it looks.

In the mean time, let us know what you're tackling and check out 5 Minutes for Mom to see what other Moms are tackling.

Tackle It Tuesday #22 - laundry on the line

My favorite part of spring & summer (and a little bit of fall) is hanging clothes on the line. And, taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather we've had here on the East coast, that's what I did today.

See, clothes on the line. I love that smell, but of course now I'm sneezing all over the place.

This is what I'm tackling this Tuesday, let's hear what you're tackling, then head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and see what other Mom's are tackling.

Back to Weight Watchers

Well, I tried to get back on track at the beginning of the year, then I got sick, then my son needed a tonsillectomy, then we had a ton of behavior issues with him at school. Well, now it's my time. I went to WW yesterday, I was up 6 pounds from when I stopped in October. Today is my first day on program, and it's going to be a tough one, we are going out to dinner, which is made even more difficult being a vegetarian. We are heading to Carraba's after taking the little guy to see Monster's vs. Aliens. I already looked up the points for everything, decided on the Taglirini Picchi Pachiu, but at 12 points, I'm only eating half, the other half will give me a day during the week that I don't have to cook!

It's hard for me to focus on me, it always has been, but as a Mom, it's even harder, but if I don't focus on me, I won't be here for my family. It makes me sad that my son even sees me as fat, well having a big belly anyway, and he's only 5. I know he loves me and fat vs thin isn't a big deal, but it made me realize that I'm not being a good example for him, so today, I start. Today I work on me so I can help him.

Celebrate our Earth

Today is Earth Day, it was first celebrated as a national "holiday" in 1970. It's a good day to refocus on what we can do to be good stewards of the Earth. There are simple things like recycle, switch to reusable bags for shopping, recycle, buy organic (or at least local), recycle, buy a reusable drinking bottle, recycle. I know I am kind of a stickler about recycling. I recycle pretty much anything I can, as a household, we always have more recyclables than trash, though I'd really like to cut back on all of that.

This year in honor of Earth Day, we will be, weather permitting, working in our garden. We usually plant a tree or a nice bush, this year we will be putting in a euonymous but I don't know if it will be today. In further effort to be good stewards, we are making a compost pile and a raised garden for vegetables. Inside, we are slowly converting to green cleaners, right now we are using Green Works, Seventh Generation and Method products, but I would like to switch to homemade products which are even better for the environment because of less packaging and shipping costs.

Happy Earth Day! Enjoy the wonderful planet that God gave us to take care of.

Tacke it Tuesday #21 - Prayers for a little boy

Today, my tackle is dedicated to Stellan, a little boy who is undergoing heart surgery today. You can check out http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to see his story. He was found to have a heart defect in utero, but when he was born, the defect was gone. A couple of weeks ago, he started having SVT attacks, they are performing surgery today.

Today, I tackle prayers, and lots of them for a little boy, his family and his doctors and nurses. God is good!

This is my tackle, head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to see what other Moms are tackling.

Thank you to my parents

I owe my parents a big apology and a big thank you. I've actually been saying this to them a lot since kid Jedi started preschool. My son is bright, anyone who meets him will tell you that, he loves learning things, he started reading at 4, nothing big, but, well he's observant too, loves to push people to see how far he can go, and this is most apparent in school. While he tests me and his father like any other 5 year old, at preschool, he seems to feel that he only really has to play. I do understand that since he already knows what they are learning (letters, numbers, colors, basic skills), it is a little more difficult for him to be interested in what they are teaching, but why does he insist upon not sitting down for circle time, or any other time where there is down time? I had to pick him up early from school today because he wouldn't sit and do his project, a walrus puppet for the letter "w". Apparently he also took another little boy's fish and crumpled it too, according to him, the other little boy crumpled kid Jedi's nose and tongue, but the teacher didn't see that and he didn't tell her because she was on the phone with me and he didn't want to interrupt. Now, keep in mind I get this call at 11:10 and he's done school at 11:30. What's up with that? Why can't his teachers keep control of one child. I know he can be a handful, but come on, he's been in the same class with the same teachers since September why can't they exert control over him? I never really have any issues with him when anyone else watches him so what is the deal with him and preschool?

I got so upset with his behavior today that I wound up calling his pediatrician to see what I should do. Basically she said that since his behavior is fine at home it's probably not behavioral, but rather a maturity thing for school. He's being evaluated by Child Study Team because of his preschool teacher wanting him to be evaluated and the pediatrician said that that's the best bet for school behavior. She also recommended a sleep study since he wakes up tired even after the 11 - 11.5 hours sleep he gets each night.

So, once again to my parents. Thank you for always loving me and supporting me no matter how unbearable I was and I'm sorry for all the times I was difficult.

Cleaning House, moving on

Well, it's finally starting to get warm this South Jersey Spring and with it comes my desire to clean house, clean out the house and garden. OK, so the last one will have to be another post, really so will the first one. Today I'm talking about cleaning out the house, purging, decluttering, whatever you want to call it. Today I'm talking about a sad rite of passage for a Mom, or at least this Mom. I am cleaning out my maternity clothes and my son's outgrown clothes, and when I say cleaning out, I mean getting rid of anything that I absolutely can't get rid of.

When we had our kid Jedi as he calls himself, we intended to have 2 children, but with me being a SAHM and finances being what they are and the economy basically taking a downturn from the moment I stopped working, gas prices jumped over $0.50 per gallon the week my son was born and continued to escalate from there, well it became apparent that we couldn't afford a second child. Oh, I fought it, I packed away his clothes to hold onto for another one in case we had another boy. Last year I started to slowly, very slowly, release the hold these things had on me. I started to lend the clothes to a friend of mine. As we all know when you lend, you may not get back, or at least not get back in wearable condition. I have to say she did OK with them.

Well, now I'm giving them away. I've been slowly going through the totes to get rid of all the clothes I don't have some bizarre emotional attachment to, and I'm going to finish that up this spring. Today, I was going through my maternity clothes, and this was just as difficult as going through kid Jedi's clothes if not more so since I haven't tackled anything under 18-24 months of his clothes. The church I go to MOPS at, and I've recently started attending services there too, has a maternity closet. Well I have maternity clothes so I was going to give them my tote and 1/2 of maternity clothes, I say going to for 2 reasons, 1 - sad to say there were a couple of outfits I loved so much that I am holding on to for about another year or so just in case God's plans aren't our plans and 2 - we aren't going to MOPS today since my son has a cold. The clothes are packed up to go, I set a couple things aside for one of my friends who is pregnant with her second child, but most of it's going, I kept 3 outfits, a dress, a pair of jeans that I loved, a sweater and a cardigan, and those things I didn't feel right donating, you know lingerie.

It is still going to be a slow, emotional process for me, because I'm still not really ready to admit that kid Jedi will be an only child and, well, it's difficult for me to let go of anything. But the process has started, and like the lady who runs the maternity closet said, my clothes will be in the maternity closet if I ever need to borrow them back.

Wordless Wednesday - I did it all by myself!

Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to see more Wordless Wednesday.

Tackle it Tuesday #20 - Photo organization and ordering

Ok, so I finally went scrapbooking for the first time in about 6 months a couple of weeks ago. I am going to an 18 hour, 2 day crop the Friday (6-midnight) and Saturday (10-10) after Mother's Day. Well as such, I need to order some pictures so this week, I will be looking through my tons of pictures from 2007, yes I am 2 years behind and ordering some. I will also be renaming the hundreds of pictures I took from February until now so that I can upload them to Winkflash and save them to a DVD-R for back up.

Spring cleaning is coming too, it would have been this week, but rain kind of makes cleaning windows difficult.

This is what I'm tackling this week, let us know what you are tackling and check out other Mom's tackles at 5 Minutes for Mom.

HELP!! My life is not mine

Ok, so I knew that about 6 years ago when I got pregnant that my life was no longer mine, but the past few weeks have been insane around here. I have had to meet with our school district's Child Study team because my son's preschool teacher doesn't know how to handle him, there's nothing wrong with him, but in doing this, it's making his life easier at preschool. He's above where he should be academically and his preschool teacher admits that, she just doesn't understand why he can't sit during down time. She wanted to tell me that he had ADHD at one point but knows that he can sit and pay attention. It couldn't be that she's teaching these pre-k4's the alphabet and my son is a beginning reader and he's bored with what they are doing. I will admit that my son has an overactive imagination, he has "disappeared friends" and has all sorts of adventures where he's fighting the bad guys or saving someone, but I can control him, he doesn't seem to have a real issue anywhere else, not that he doesn't misbehave elsewhere, but it doesn't seem to be to this extent. We're on vacation this week, next week he has all kinds of activities in school going on, so I will go in and observe him the following week when they have a normal week, but until recently I didn't even feel like I was able to do that.

Anyway, we also spent most of last week making an Easter bonnet for my son, yes an Easter bonnet for a boy. They had an Easter Parade at school on Friday. You can see here what we did for his bonnet.

This week we are cleaning and baking. My sister gave me an Amish Friendship Bread starter which is great but I have no one to give the starters to because there is no school this week and chances are I won't see anyone, so my sister is getting 2 back, one for her and one for her friend that gave it to her and then I have to figure out what to do with the other starter and bread baking day is tomorrow.

Hopefully when we go back to school next week, maybe even by the end of this week, things will calm down and I won't want to pull my hair out every day, oh and maybe my insomnia will go away too.

I so can't wait for summer vacation!

Tackle It Tuesday #19 - Easter Parade

This past Friday, my son had an Easter Parade at his preschool. For this parade, all the children needed to make Easter bonnets out of paper plates. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to make a non-girly Easter Bonnet? Well, we came up with a boy theme, dinosaurs. It has dinosaurs in plastic Easter eggs and a paper volcano.

Here's my son in his hat:


This is what I tackled this week. Let us know what you've tackled this week and head on over to 5 Minutes for Moms to see what other Mom's are tackling.