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| Monday, April 28, 2008 |
| HELP!!!!- FAS/FAE |
This is a desperate cry for help. As you know we have suspicions that the bwins have FAS/FAE/FASD. I finally crashed last week with schooling/disciplining them. We need help. We need a diagnosis one way or the other so I know how to deal with them.
I have been trying to find out how and who makes a diagnosis. I called Child Study Centers in Ok and Texas and they are booked until September. Obviously, this doesn't help us any. We leave in August.
HELP! Who does a diagnosis like this? Can it only be done at a Child Study Center? We need it done soon. I want it to be done by professionals who truly know what they are doing, but are these study centers the only people who know about it? HELP! Any help would be greatly appreciated. |
posted by 6blessings @ 10:48 AM  |
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| Thursday, April 24, 2008 |
| Cardboard and Duct Tape Boat Races |
A few years ago, a friend of ours entered a contest for a college scholarship. She had to make her prom dress out of duct tape. She did an excellent job and made it quite a ways in the contest. A few weeks ago, H came home and announced that her 8th grade was going on a field trip as part of a science project. When she first told me about it, I laughed. I thought it was almost impossible for an 8th grade student to accomplish what they had been asked to do. Their assignment was to build a boat out of cardboard and duct tape and then race it. The kids spent the first part of last week achievement testing and the last part building their boats. Yesterday, they went to a local college aquatic center to race. I told H that I wished I could be a fly on the wall. Instead, she took her camera. All of the kids had been put in groups of three to build the boats and they had to pick a representative to race it. H was the chosen one. Yesterday after school she was so excited to tell me that her team had taken second place!! Over 30 boats raced. Her group was the only group of girls to ever even win a race and she made it all of the way to the finals. She had to row with her arms and she's got the bruises to prove it!! I was so proud of her. The picture at the top is of the two final boats. H's boat was the colorful striped boat. I have uploaded the video of one of her races on youtube. Here is the link in case you're interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbXTzsESbHM It's really pretty cool. Congratulations H, S, and L!! You girls rock!! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 8:01 AM |
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| Monday, April 21, 2008 |
| For Sale- The Best House Ever!! |
Well, it's done. The house is officially for sale. 2700+ square feet 4-5 bedroom plus study 2 full baths large living room and kitchen full utility room fireplace MIL 2 1/2 acres 3/4 fenced back yard lots of trees wooden treehouse/play structure with swingset Anyone interested?      This may not be the fanciest house with the finest features, but it is the best house ever. On beautiful sunny days the kids have all the room in the world to run and play. We've held fun softball games in the back. The kids ride their child-sized four wheeler out back. We are off the main roads so it is very private. I never have to worry about the kids being outside playing for hours. On beautiful spring evenings, it is so nice to open all of the windows and enjoy the fresh air. To tell you the truth, we have realized how much we love where we are and how much we adore our home. We will go from our beautiful, large, peaceful, quiet country-like setting to a concrete home with concrete all around. We will most likely be several floors up (we've heard 5- with no elevators) in an apartment. There will be no quiet. We will be in the city. There will be no fresh air. There will be no yard to play in and ride bikes all around. Some days like this are very hard. Our selfish nature pulls us down and shows us all that we're leaving behind, all that we love, all that we consider perfect. However, we know God has a plan. We are just praying that His timing is perfect for the sale and that the next family will love it as much as we do. All for HIM! |
| posted by 6blessings @ 12:52 PM |
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| Friday, April 18, 2008 |
| Firehouse Fun |
Last week we went on a field trip to the fire station. One of our closest friends is a fireman. He works at the main fire station in the city. His wife, one of my dearest friends, also homeschools. They have a daughter that is in Kindergarten just like the bwins. They also have a 3 year old daughter that they brought home from China last July and are in the process of bringing a precious little boy home from there hopefully this fall/winter. Here's a picture tour of our exciting trip! This was actually the finale. A ride in the fire truck!! How cool is that! As you can see, everyone was all smiles.  This is the only fire station in the city still with fire poles. There are about 6 or 7 of them all around the station. They are very high up so our friend gave the kids rides. Here's El taking his turn. There are flaps on the floor that open up as they slide down. Poor J (our friend) had to climb several flights of stairs each time to take the next kid down.  L getting to spray the fire hose. Lots of fun!
All four kiddos on the front of the truck. This is one of my favorite. It shows the bwins' true size. The wheels of the fire truck are the same height as the boys. They will be 7 in June. They are completely and utterly fascinated with wheels on any vehicle. They notice the wheels before they notice the color or style.
 "Driving" the fire truck.
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| posted by 6blessings @ 7:54 AM |
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| Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |
| Gymnastic Happenings |
J wrapped up his first (and last) gymnastic season about three weeks ago. He had his State Meet on March 14. He had 25 kids in his age group, the largest group there. He finished 3rd on floor, 5th on vault, 7th on pommel horse, and 11th all-around. I thought he did terrific for his first year. (The photo above was of a meet he participated in where he had 20 boys in his group and he was the all-around champion. I didn't get to see it because it was 2 days after my surgery. The trophy is still on our mantle. ) Last weekend was the girls' State qualifying meet. All three girls did well. E competed despite her fingers and right hand being swollen from a beam fall. She even won the floor championship. Z is improving at every meet and is doing really well too. H took second on balance beam and had a good meet as well. Their State competition is the first weekend in May. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 8:19 AM |
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| Thursday, April 03, 2008 |
| Tattling and Turtles |
Tattling. It's a word that every parent has to define and draw their own lines on. When is it okay and when is not? This is an issue that we have been dealing with on a regular basis with L and El recently. L especially has had trouble with it. On several occasions since Easter candy arrived, he's run in after I've been doing something else and said (quite proudly I might add), "El got Skittles (really M & Ms) out asking." Of course, I correct his "out" to "without" and then tell him that he is tattling. I talk to El also about the situation. After 4 or 5 rounds of this, I notice one brother trying to get the other in trouble a lot and a second brother repeatedly disobeying/stealing. Of course, both had to be dealt with.
Last Saturday, I went to help H and her youth group with a fundraiser for their summer mission trip to New Orleans. I returned to a front yard littered with candy wrappers. Apparently, D had told them they could have some Easter candy and they chose to be very irresponsible with their trash. I called L out and asked who did it. The answer: "El." I next called El out and asked who did it: "L." They both got a good talking to about littering, but mostly about taking responsibility for their own actions, not others. Then they were made to pick up the trash.
Now for the progress... Last night my ankle was absolutely killing me. I had been on it a lot, it was very swollen, and I had a large raw sore around my incision on the outside. The boot is hard to walk on without another shoe on the other foot. It makes me too uneven and hurts my hip and back. Therefore, I constantly have to wear a shoe, no sock feet or bare feet. I was walking to the kitchen to get a drink of water before going to bed and heard a squish and then a stickiness. With each step, my foot was sticking to the ground. Yep, you guessed it, GUM! I took off the shoe that was balancing me out and looked at it. Red gum. Hmm... The bwins were chewing some red watermelon Extra gum earlier. I set my shoe down and resolved to find out who the culprit was in the morning.
This morning I showed the bwins my shoe and asked whose gum it was. L immediately started in, "El...(pause, brain was thinking)... I threw my gum in the trash." WOW! Sweet momentary victory. He started to blame brother and get him in trouble, but rethought everything and told me his personal status. I was very proud of him and told him so. I thought this was great progress. It's hard for adults sometimes to think this way, much less a 6 year old boy who doesn't think clearly all of the time due to his b-mom's irresponsibility. I felt we had gained a behavioral victory.
As for El, he, knowing he was stuck and better not lie, told me he threw his gum on the floor. I emphasized how wrong it was to throw gum on the floor and then gave him the natural consequence of cleaning my shoe. He did not like this task one bit and cried in frustration throughout the whole time of trying to remove the gum. Soon he realized how bad it is to throw gum down instead of in the trash.
As for turtles, here's the massive turtle the boys found in our driveway after a recent rain. They tried to keep him in the wagon, but we ended up having to get a large cardboard box to keep him in until all of the siblings came home from school to see him. He was released to freedom the next day after the compassion of Z was expressed.
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| posted by 6blessings @ 6:37 AM |
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| Tuesday, April 01, 2008 |
| Gearing Up For Next Year |
5 Pair of SNOW BOOTS- 400 and 600 grams of Primaloft insulation, waterproof, slush-busting leather suede, gripping rubber soles, and most importantly...antimicrobial so they don't stink! Yes, we're gearing up for next year. We are a family that enjoys the warm weather. Other than the other year we lived over there, we have not weathered a real winter. Where we will be this coming winter has temps that will drop below zero and don't come back up for a while. They have snow and ice festivals where they carve magnificent structures in the snow and ice and they stay there for months. Needless to say, this will be a little different environment for us. We are trying to take advantage of end-of-the-season sales to gear up for next year. Everyone now has boots, except H. D and I bought Arctic Parkas at the same clearance place (Land's End) that we bought the kids' boots. D and I clearance shopped for winter sweaters recently, getting several for around 10 bucks a piece. Brrrr...... For those of you from winter areas, I know I'm sounding a little like a sissy. That's because I am. I like being warm. Actually, the new coats are very toasty with their down lining and the kids absolutely love their boots. El and L like to wear them around with their short sleeve shirts and shorts. Ha! Ha! All of the kids are looking forward to snow. |
| posted by 6blessings @ 9:39 AM |
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