First Day of School - Fall 2011

Fist day of school for the boys always comes faster than we want it to. Summers at our charter school are shorter, allowing kids to retain more skills and knowledge and giving us more time off for breaks during the school year. We love it, but wish it lined up with the the school district a little better. It's always hard going school though, knowing the big sister is laying in bed being lazy.

So, here are my handsome boys on their first day of school, August 2011...

Joshua, 3rd Grade

Bryson, 6th Grade

Nathan, Kindergarten

...And the big sister, on her first day of school, a couple of weeks later.

Rachel, Sophomore

Working Mom

About a year ago last spring, I was asking about openings at the school, looking for part-time work, hoping to be able to augment our income to help even out the deficits caused by owning two homes and not very reliable renters. At the time, the only position that was open was one that would require me to work all day, a couple days a week. With Nathan being only in kindergarten, I didn't see how that would work very well for our family. We prayed about it, and decided it just wasn't time yet, and we needed to trust in Heavenly Father (since He led us here in the first place) and trim the budget wherever we could.

Then, later that summer, when I dropped Joshua off for summer reading program, the vice-principal asked me if I was interested in a part-time job at the school as a morning aide in one of the classrooms. I went home and talked to Steve about it again. We prayed again, and decided that this fit into our lives better, and wouldn't cause too much stress for me or our family. (I am first, and foremost a mother, and I love being able to be home with my kids!) So, I interviewed and got the job! We felt like it was a blessing and answer to our prayers.

I was blessed to be assigned to 3rd Grade, to work with Mrs. Mary Harris, one of the most amazing teachers I know. She teaches kids to be responsible, holds them accountable, and empowers them to be the best they can be. Their motto in 3rd grade is "If you don't get it today, you might get it tomorrow. But only if you try." As the year progressed, I learned to really love Mrs. Harris. We became very good friends as we struggled through her mother's stroke and Sarah's illness together. We work well together, and agree on almost everything, including how to raise kids and having unwavering faith in God as our strength. She is an amazing teacher, but also a wonderful friend, whom I gained much respect for and support from.

Fast forward... in retrospect... 

Nearing the end of the school year, the other aide left and I was given the opportunity to work more hours. That helped financially, but it also meant more time away in the afternoon working and in the evenings doing the things I couldn’t do during the day…  I have since discovered that during that time, I was kind of on autopilot, whatever event, chore, or concern filled my life at the moment is what received my attention.

I love my job, but that 8-week experience taught me that there is nothing more important to me than being home. I discovered that my presence in the afternoon and evenings really does matter in my family. Did they survive? Yes. Are they unchanged? No, not really. Through this experience we all changed, and I’m grateful that we had an opportunity this summer to regroup and refocus on what really matters most and, working together to make our home and family what we want it to be, even when Mommy is working.

Snowshoeing with Bryson

In January, Bryson's fourth grade class went snowshoeing at the Mink Creek Nordic Center near Pocatello. Steve took the day off so I could go with Bryson's class. We had such an amazing time together. I borrowed snow gear from my sister-in-law, and for the first time in my life in Idaho, I was actually warm while being in the snow all day. First, we gathered in the yurt for instruction and then got our snowshoes. They were a lot different than we expected, nothing like the "tennis rackets" we expected from watching cartoons. We went on a hike (about 3 miles round-trip) over hills, through gullies, and across fields. The guide stopped often enough that we didn't get too tired, and taught little nature lessons throughout the hike. We also played hide and seek in a gully. It was so fun, so beautiful, and we had such a good time together. My little Bryson was such a trooper. He just kept going with an energy I hadn't seen in him before. I think it had something to do with being in nature. It must have energized him.

Trudging down the trail

Rabbit tracks in the snow Bryson spotted in a clearing

Bryson's class

A tree-chair we just HAD to try out

After the hike, we went back to the yurt and had lunch. Then we went back outside and the grown-ups (the old tired adults) watched the kids play games in the snow... tundra, fox and geese, and capture the flag. The grown-ups were actually recruited for the last game, and that's when I was exhausted. Imagine a 37 year-old, running through the snow in snow bibs and boots trying to catch 10 year-old boys... Yeah. I was pretty sore. But, it was a glorious day and such a great time with my Bryson boy!

Back into the Swing of Things...

Well, we've been back in school for... a month for my Charter School kids, and 3 weeks for my Junior at Century High School. Yeah, I can't believe she's that old, either. Rachel is in 8th, Bryson 4th and Joshua 1st grade. I can't believe any of them are that old. The first day of school was pretty exciting. Sarah was still sleeping (she still had another week of summer break), Rachel was spending record time in the bathroom with the spiral curling iron, and the boys were dressed by 7:10 and making their sack lunches in the kitchen. Nathan was all caught up in the excitement, too, making his own lunch and packing his "pack-pack". (Sarah and I had to take him to the park to eat his packed lunch that day.)

Joshua, Rachel and Bryson on the first day of school
August 14th, 2009

...And Nathan on their first day of school...

Sarah's first day of school
August 20th, 2009

So, after a month, how are things going? Bryson had a major homework meltdown and Joshua had a little period of "bad choices" at school the first week, but everyone seems to have settled in and is doing great now! ...Whew! We love the kids' teachers, the new administrators at the charter school, and the new routine that comes with school schedules. Rachel's life changed a little bit this year with some of her good friends leaving to the traditional jr. high, and the new homework load of 8th grade. But, she's been busy, involved in student council and mostly happy. Sarah has only had one "sick day" so far, and we're thrilled that she's enjoying her classes and strengthening friendships. Nathan and I hang out all day at home (if we're lucky) and plan to have lots of trips to the library for storytime and special mommy-time at home. All in all, I'd say school is going great, and things are good. I'm holding my breath that life won't get much crazier and that homework time won't put me in a mental hospital this year!

Baby Blues is one of my favorite cartoons. Steve clips it out for me at least once every couple of weeks as it seems to apply so directly to my crazy mommy-life with my great kids! This was one he cut out last Spring, during burn-out season, but it also seems so applicable now....

Kindergarten and the Zoo

Not really much difference there....
Okay, Mrs. Turpin's class is a little better organized, and maybe a tad more exciting, but the animals are pretty much the same.

I went to the Pocatello Zoo with Joshua's kindergarten class yesterday. He's such a sweetie. He picked me to be his walking buddy, and I savored the moments we spent together. Our zoo isn't very big and doesn't have a lot of traditional zoo animals. But it's a nice walk, and stocked with animals that are mostly native to Idaho.

We cruised through the whole zoo in less than an hour. I think the kids were anxious to eat lunch together and play at the tree house and on the equipment at Ross Park.

The weather was kind of cool, threatening to rain the whole morning. We got lucky, though. The storm didn't come in until after lunch and almost time to go home.

I love that I have the opportunity to go on field trips and volunteer in my kids' classrooms. I am so grateful I can be a stay-at-home mom so I can do these things with them. It makes me smile to see Josh's face light up when I walk into his classroom, and he just beamed when he announced to his friends that "my mom's commin' with us!" I've decided that irresistible little smile is just one of my mommy pay-checks!

Hooray for Sarah!

Sarah's grades came in the mail today. She worked tirelessly the last few weeks of school to get everything caught up and all her past make-up work in. (With all the zeroes, she had some pretty poor grades for a while.) And guess what? All those hours of hard work and tears really paid off! She pulled out a 3.2 GPA this semester, with more than 30 absences. We're all so thrilled. I know she felt pretty crummy most of the time this year and with the emotional and spiritual struggles that followed the physical ones, I can't imagine the inner fortitude she must have gathered to do so well. (The Parent Push doesn't very often get those results, without the teenager caring quite a lot, too.) So, hooray for Sarah! We're so very proud of her!

Taking the Oath

This morning, Rachel stood with several of her fellow students, and took the "Oath of Office" for a student officer of The Academy at Roosevelt Center. She was elected Student Body Vice-President for the 2009-10 school year (her last and 8th grade year). She's ecstatic. This year's officers seem to be a pretty strong group of kids and their teacher adviser is really excited to see what they can accomplish next year. Ms. Phelps was Rachel's 6th grade teacher... loved and greatly respected by all. Great thing is, she feels the same way about my kid. It makes a mom pretty proud of her beautiful little girl!

Rachel receiving her official binder of procedures and duties

Taking the Oath

With the approval of his daughter, Steve has volunteered to be the parent adviser to the Student Council and work with Ms. Phelps and two other teachers to help these kids be successful leaders of their peers. I think he'll really enjoy it. He already made a hit with the kids at the school. He made "really cool" status when he high-fived all the kids on the way up to receive his adviser binder.

Rachel said her friends are really excited to work with him. It shouldn't make him much busier (he'll probably have early morning or lunch meetings), so I think he'll like being able to volunteer at the school and do something he enjoys. You never know, "Kiddie Politics & Government" might be his new calling in life!

Sweet Sarah...

My sweet Sarah has been sick since Spring Break. The head cold she had that week kept her home the week after, and the two weeks following that she was home throwing up, with what we thought was a PLE relapse. We took her in to the doctor to have her blood tested again, and her albumen level was at 4.0. That's higher than it's been in years! (Here's where we insert a head scratch and a "huh?") It's not very helpful when the doctor is as baffled as you are. In theory, her PLE symptoms are supposed to subside when the protein levels are good. I use the term, "in theory", because Sarah's body rarely does things by the books.

Dr. McInturff, her pediatrician, put in a call to her cardiologist and in consultaion days later, they decided to put her on an antibiotic that would cause better motility in her digetive tract, hoping to get her over this hump. In the meantime, we went to the orthodontist for unrelated matters, where they did a full scan of her head to see if her jaw was having problems that were causing her bite to open again. They discovered that her sinus cavity was about 80% full of junk. I told Dr. McInturff this and he put her on a different antibiotic and treated a sinus infection instead. We thought this would help with the gagging, and therefore the throwing up.

At about the same time we discovered the sinus thing, we also watched her more carefully and noticed that she seemed really down and discouraged again. After a couple of heart-to-heart talks, Steve realized that she was having some serious issues within herself, generally related to her self-worth, if Heavenly Father really loved her, why her prayers weren't being answered, and so on. Steve made her write some statements, positive things that she knew she should believe and could recite until her mind and heart did believe them. She's an amazing young lady. Through this exercise, we learned that really does know the answers to those questions, the discouragement was taking over. Steve taught her that what we focus on is what comes about and that if she focused on the blessings in her life, and these true positive statements, her mind could heal and then, in turn, heal her body. Armed with these statements (he made her say aloud at least 20 times ther first three days), antibiotics, and a plan to get the make-up homework done in reasonable doses, she faced life the next two days with so much courage. By the time Thursday of the third week rolled around, she was feeling much better, not throwing up anymore, and anxious to go to school for one day, and have a weekend to recuperate. Her daddy gave her a priesthood blessing, and she went to bed focused on a successful Friday.

Imagine the joy we felt when she got up Friday morning and announced that she felt great! (We hadn't heard that for weeks.) She went to school, stayed all day, and had a great day. She walked home from the bus stop with a friend, dumped her backpack on the floor with a huge grin and hugged me. It was great to have the real Sarah back again! She then added to my astonishment when she asked if she could walk with her friend to pick up another friend and then walk to the elementary school to watch them practice their flag twirling. Feeling good and acting like a normal teenager? WOW! It was amazing. She had a marvelous day, and I went to bed that night thanking the Lord for His mercy and the incredible blessing of healing for our sweet Sarah.

The Diagnosis

A few years ago, when Bryson was in kindergarten, we became aware that he had some special challenges and was struggling (mostly socially) at school. Before that, he was tested and diagnosed as having a "developmental delay" and enrolled in the school district's early intervention preschool to help him catch up academically and be ready for kindergarten. He liked going to school, but struggled with the separation and anxiety associated with that. In first grade, we suspected that he still had issues that needed to be addressed. As we read and researched the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome, I felt like I was reading books and articles written about my little boy. We had him tested at his new school (the Academy - a charter school which he loves and thrives in) and although we didn't get doctor's diagnosis, the tests showed that he had a high probability of having AS. We read and researched some more, changed some of our behaviors and how we talked to and dealt with Bryson. We learned how to work with his special needs and rigid routines, giving him plenty of help with daily transitions, space to be alone, and stopped making him do things on our terms. Things seemed to get better, and Sarah's health started getting worse.

Here we are, now, in 3rd Grade. He still loves school, but hates reading, writing, spelling, math, and basically anything he doesn't want to do. Bryson's teacher is very concerned about his lack of attention and that he's falling behind the other kids in school. We also fight daily with focusing and getting him to complete his hour's worth of homework in less than three hours. So, we finally focused our attention back on our special boy and took him in for a physical. His pediatrician explained to him that we needed to meet with his friend (Dr. Christensen, a child psychologist) so we could learn how his brain worked. He told him that teachers usually teach all kids the same, and sometimes, some kids' brains work differently. If we could find out how his brain works, then the teacher will be able to help him learn in the special way he needs to and learning will be much easier, and more fun. Wow! He was actually excited. I almost think he knew something wasn't really working, and was actually relieved that somebody noticed that he wasn't really getting what he needed.

After hours of testing and pages and pages of surveys, we've finally got a diagnosis for our sweet little Bryson boy. The doctor has concluded that he has an Attention Deficit Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome. The attention deficit could be caused by the AS, but we really can't tell unless we try to treat the ADD and see what happens. We've received recommendations from the doctor about what he thinks might help as far as therapy and treatments, but we haven't made any decisions or met with his pediatrician again to even begin to decide what to do for him. I've begun re-reading a book that was really helpful a couple of years ago, and it's given me a lot of insight and ideas of how to help him right away.

He's so sweet and so talented and so smart... I just want so much for him to be happy and successful. I hope and pray with all my heart that we can help his challenges become strengths and he can grow into the amazing, talented and smart husband and father I know he has the potential to be. I also hope and pray that with the other challenges in our lives, Steve and I will be able to help all of our children feel the love we have for them, gather strength in our faith, and work together to keep our family strong. We've got two children with very special needs, and three others that need us to be there for them, too. So many times, struggles with children that cause stress pull families apart. I can see how that would happen, but we promised each other and God a long time ago that we'd never let that happen to us. We're strong when we're together, and with our hands in His, I know we'll be able to make it.