Week Ending October 11, 2009
Last week was a busy one for me and the kids. Monday I met Neil after work at the mechanics to drop off the red truck. It needed a seatbelt replacement. Who knew safety could be so expensive? Nick and Cierra wanted to go so I piled them in the green truck and off we went. They have such interesting conversations. I wish I could remember now what it was they were going on about this time. After getting Neil and Derek, we stopped at the QT for gas and the kids were allowed to go in and pick out a drink and a treat. Of course, Rachel was upset that she didn't get a treat and Cierra's drink was absconded by another child so Neil had to make a pitstop on the way home after taking Derek back to his mom's house to please the princesses.
Tuesday we went and picked the red truck up. Neil has obviously been working too long of hours. He called me from work and asked me to meet him at the mechanic's. I asked him how that would work since we would then have three vehicles and only two drivers. He met me at home and we headed up together. He lingered a bit too long after I dropped him off, but luckily, nobody showed up for scouts so he wasn't actually late for anything. Aaron had his combined activity at 6:30 - water balloon fights and treats. Neil took him over and then he got a ride home with one of his leaders.
Wednesday Neil had the late shift. Aaron asked to go to a church youth group with one of his school friends and Nick had a pack meeting. I took Daniel, Nick, and the two girls to the pack meeting, which luckily was fairly short. After the meeting I took the kids for ice cream. Baskin Robbins has a buy one get one free sundaes on Wednesday nights so the three little guys got a single scoop of chocolate and Daniel and I each got a sundae. We got home before Aaron made it back and so I got all the kids bathed and into bed, then crashed myself.
Thursday, the kids had a half-day so we had our cub scout den meeting right after school at which time I realized that I had failed to bring all the needed materials for our activity. So we learned the Cub Scout promise, motto, and sign. My goal is to have all the boys earn their Bobcat by Christmas. We scheduled a get-together for Saturday so the boys could work on their spaceships since we wouldn't be having a den meeting the following week due to fall break.
Friday was another half-day and I had parent-teacher conferences for all the kids. Cierra has Exceeds in the majority of the areas and Meets in everything else. I always wonder how the kids can be such geniuses at school when they seem to struggle so much at home. Nicholas is in the mostly meets area with a few spots where he is just a bit behind. But his teacher says that is typical for all the students because the concepts are ones that will be hit on throughout the year and complete meeting of the standard won't be accomplished until the third or fourth quarter. He does have some speech issues which translates into his writing. His "l"s are often heard as "w"s and his "th" sounds are expressed as "d"s. While this isn't completely unusual, the teacher is having a speech therapist come in to observe him to make a better determination and intervene if necessary. Meanwhile I am working with him and making him pronounce his words correctly and he loves to write words so I am able to use that desire to help him hear and write the words more phonetically. Daniel is doing great academically, but he still struggles socially with his anger management. He is very helpful when he wants to be, but can lash out quickly when he is upset or feels under attack. We haven't had any serious incidents this year so far, so I see improvement.
Friday night Neil and I went out to dinner. We went to the Sugar Bowl in downtown Scottsdale. After eating, we wandered the streets a bit and went into a shop that specialized in Native American goods. I was reminded of home looking at the kachinas and jewelry. I asked Neil what the date was and realized it was my dad's birthday. So I gave him a call and we talked for a little bit. I had talked to my mom earlier in the week so was pretty much up on all the latest news, but it's always good talking to dad.
Saturday was busy. I worked on cleaning the house in the morning while Neil went out to Ben Avery with Nick and Aaron. He needed to sight the gun he's taking next week when he goes on his elk hunt and thought he'd spend some time shooting with the boys. The sighting took a while and so they skipped the shooting part so they could get home. Cierra had a birthday party to attend at noon so I took her to that after leaving Neil and the older boys cleaning instructions. After the party, we stopped by the library to pick up some materials I had put on hold, then went to the grocery store to pick up some last minute necessities for the party. Everyone showed up around 5:00 and we got the boys busy gluing and sanding their spaceships. Only one boy got his done well enough to actually decorate, but he was the one I was most worried about because his mom is a single mom and doesn't have a lot of extra time. The other two moms are stay-at-home moms like me and the dads are pretty involved in the boys' lives. It was fun having new people over and getting more acquainted with the families. The boys had a blast playing out in the backyard and were quite disappointed when it was time to say good-bye.
Sunday was church. We got up at 7 and made it to church on time. I was subbing in primary and I think the lesson went pretty well. We talked about how serving others shows our love for Jesus. The kids wrote some thank you notes on flowers for the Bishop and then couldn't decide on who should get to take them, so we all went down to the Bishop's office to deliver them then headed back for sharing and singing time. The kids are practicing songs for the Primary Program coming up next month. They sure are getting really good. We were low on numbers due to fall break, but the kids who were there definitely made up in volume.
This week is fall break for the younger kids but Aaron only got today off for Columbus Day. So it's back to getting up at 5:30 in the morning for him and me. I'd better get to bed.
Tuesday we went and picked the red truck up. Neil has obviously been working too long of hours. He called me from work and asked me to meet him at the mechanic's. I asked him how that would work since we would then have three vehicles and only two drivers. He met me at home and we headed up together. He lingered a bit too long after I dropped him off, but luckily, nobody showed up for scouts so he wasn't actually late for anything. Aaron had his combined activity at 6:30 - water balloon fights and treats. Neil took him over and then he got a ride home with one of his leaders.
Wednesday Neil had the late shift. Aaron asked to go to a church youth group with one of his school friends and Nick had a pack meeting. I took Daniel, Nick, and the two girls to the pack meeting, which luckily was fairly short. After the meeting I took the kids for ice cream. Baskin Robbins has a buy one get one free sundaes on Wednesday nights so the three little guys got a single scoop of chocolate and Daniel and I each got a sundae. We got home before Aaron made it back and so I got all the kids bathed and into bed, then crashed myself.
Thursday, the kids had a half-day so we had our cub scout den meeting right after school at which time I realized that I had failed to bring all the needed materials for our activity. So we learned the Cub Scout promise, motto, and sign. My goal is to have all the boys earn their Bobcat by Christmas. We scheduled a get-together for Saturday so the boys could work on their spaceships since we wouldn't be having a den meeting the following week due to fall break.
Friday was another half-day and I had parent-teacher conferences for all the kids. Cierra has Exceeds in the majority of the areas and Meets in everything else. I always wonder how the kids can be such geniuses at school when they seem to struggle so much at home. Nicholas is in the mostly meets area with a few spots where he is just a bit behind. But his teacher says that is typical for all the students because the concepts are ones that will be hit on throughout the year and complete meeting of the standard won't be accomplished until the third or fourth quarter. He does have some speech issues which translates into his writing. His "l"s are often heard as "w"s and his "th" sounds are expressed as "d"s. While this isn't completely unusual, the teacher is having a speech therapist come in to observe him to make a better determination and intervene if necessary. Meanwhile I am working with him and making him pronounce his words correctly and he loves to write words so I am able to use that desire to help him hear and write the words more phonetically. Daniel is doing great academically, but he still struggles socially with his anger management. He is very helpful when he wants to be, but can lash out quickly when he is upset or feels under attack. We haven't had any serious incidents this year so far, so I see improvement.
Friday night Neil and I went out to dinner. We went to the Sugar Bowl in downtown Scottsdale. After eating, we wandered the streets a bit and went into a shop that specialized in Native American goods. I was reminded of home looking at the kachinas and jewelry. I asked Neil what the date was and realized it was my dad's birthday. So I gave him a call and we talked for a little bit. I had talked to my mom earlier in the week so was pretty much up on all the latest news, but it's always good talking to dad.
Saturday was busy. I worked on cleaning the house in the morning while Neil went out to Ben Avery with Nick and Aaron. He needed to sight the gun he's taking next week when he goes on his elk hunt and thought he'd spend some time shooting with the boys. The sighting took a while and so they skipped the shooting part so they could get home. Cierra had a birthday party to attend at noon so I took her to that after leaving Neil and the older boys cleaning instructions. After the party, we stopped by the library to pick up some materials I had put on hold, then went to the grocery store to pick up some last minute necessities for the party. Everyone showed up around 5:00 and we got the boys busy gluing and sanding their spaceships. Only one boy got his done well enough to actually decorate, but he was the one I was most worried about because his mom is a single mom and doesn't have a lot of extra time. The other two moms are stay-at-home moms like me and the dads are pretty involved in the boys' lives. It was fun having new people over and getting more acquainted with the families. The boys had a blast playing out in the backyard and were quite disappointed when it was time to say good-bye.
Sunday was church. We got up at 7 and made it to church on time. I was subbing in primary and I think the lesson went pretty well. We talked about how serving others shows our love for Jesus. The kids wrote some thank you notes on flowers for the Bishop and then couldn't decide on who should get to take them, so we all went down to the Bishop's office to deliver them then headed back for sharing and singing time. The kids are practicing songs for the Primary Program coming up next month. They sure are getting really good. We were low on numbers due to fall break, but the kids who were there definitely made up in volume.
This week is fall break for the younger kids but Aaron only got today off for Columbus Day. So it's back to getting up at 5:30 in the morning for him and me. I'd better get to bed.
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