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Reconnecting

Have you ever gotten to reconnect with an old friend? I got that chance last night. It was so great talking to someone who's known me for so long....Someone who knows me inside and out, and loves me just the same. It was even better when we started finishing each others thoughts like we used to. We laughed, we talked seriously, we talked about food and special fajita spices and grape juice wine, we teased each other the way we used to.. it was great. It's nice when you can pick up with someone like you never really left off. :) Now where are those damn yahoo emoticons when you need them? :P

Friday Five

Compliments of JD's Blog...

1. What phrase, or phrases, do you say a lot (holy cow, geez, seriously?)

Unfortunately.. the "F" bomb is part of my vocabulary more than it should be.. I'm workin' on that. Other than that.. Seriously.. or holy crap. LOL

2. Swimming: Are you a kamikaze off the boat, take the plunge from the deep end, or a gradual, slow submersion from the shore or shallow end kind of person?

Well.. as an avid lake goer... We all know that it's best just to get it over with and sink your body in all at once. ;)

3. Have any tattoos? If not, what would you get?

*impish grin just like JD's* Yes... I have a red butterfly in the small of my back and I *love* it. It's beautiful and it means a lot to me.

4. What is your favorite tree?

Easy. Weeping willow.

Ditto...

5. Two pronged question: What is your favorite non-physical thing about your spouse? What is your favorite physical thing about your spouse or significant other?

Non-physical: His heart. He has such a goodheart. He's an amazingly GOOD man. Sometimes I don't feel worthy of him.

Physical: His back. Especially the spot right in the middle between his shoulder blades where I lay my cheek. I lay my cheek there and the world is right as rain again.

My birthday was great... And it's back to business as usual.

I spent time with The Bestfriend, The Husband took me out to dinner *and* bought me some pretty fall flowers (and got the most romantic card ever!). The kids showered me with homemade cards that told me I was so so so so so so so so so so great. I love those.. the homemade cards. Even when the twins use up an entire package of construction paper and bring me 50 birthday cards that all say the exact same thing.. It's my favorite. :)

I had Andy's goal setting conference at school this morning. He's really reading below grade level right now. Which I knew. I don't know how he passed the dyslexia screening last year. He's still reversing a LOT of things. B's and D's almost all the time. E's and 3's. He is even writing his 5's backwards a LOT. He gets word placement in a sentence mixed up. She gave him a simulated TAKS test (Texas' state standardized test) and he passed 8% of it. 8. That's NOT good. He couldn't even finish it. She finally had him stop because he was getting so discouraged and she didn't want to bring his confidence down any further. Bless her for that. So, she's got the folder started for the dyslexia re screening process. She's also got him in a small reading recovery group with the dyslexia therapist that works with Justin. I told her that I don't *want* Andy to be dyslexic... but that I just really feel that he is. And when Justin started seeing the dyslexia therapist in 2nd grade, it just made a world of difference in his reading strength and confidence.. and I just want that for Andy. She agreed.. She told me what a sweet boy he is and how much she really enjoys having him in her class. He has such a good heart.. like his daddy. :)

Hannah's goal setting conference was last week and it was much the same as Andy's. Both of the twins are showing the dyslexia warning signs just like Andy. It frustrates me that 4 out of my 5 children struggle SO much with reading. Reading was always a strength for me in school, so it pains me that they don't find the same in enjoyment and escape into reading that I always did. For them it's a frustrating battle of decoding words and by the time they've decoded a particularly hard word, they've gotten so frustrated that they've forgotten most of the story. It's sad to me. I want them to get into the therapy groups like Justin did, and the sooner the better. Justin is finally able to read for pleasure. And that excites me and warms my heart. I want that for Andy and the twins. Hannah's teacher also said that she's really lacking in vocabulary and conversation skills. She doesn't pay attention very well. So we've been working on teaching her how to have a proper conversation and not go off into twin land and start talking about whatever pops into her head instead of actively listening and processing what's being said to her. Honeslty, it's ADD at it's ugliest with the twins. We have that screening going on right now, as well. I hate feeling like there is something "wrong" with each of my kids. If it's not a learning disability, it's a behavior issue or a mental illness. But, as much as I hate labels like that..labels come with action plans for solutions. And that makes successful kids. I just wish I could just send my kid off to school, they learn normally without extra intervention, and act normally, without extra intervention, come home to lead a normal life. I was given 5 special kids.. I feel honored and overwhelmed all at the same time.

But I find that keeping a "business as usual" attitude makes it all fall into place. It's only when I tell people or teachers what it's like afterschool in my house.. making sure everyone gets a healthy snack and the chores get done, and making sure Jason takes his medication, and how I scatter the homework times for each kid so that I am able to having one on one help time with each of them... and then they look at me in disbelief and say something like "I don't know how you do it, you're amazing".. and I just think, "no I'm not". It just the way it is in my house. It's what needs to be done. It's not amazing. It's just business as usual. I find I enjoy the hectic pace most of the time. It gets overwhelming and I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of permission slips and practice spelling tests and announcements that I get 5 times because they haven't figured out I have more than one kid and I don't need to know that there is a PTA meeting on 5 peices of paper. But the times that I'm sitting on the couch helping someone with a math problem.. or snuggled up reading a Magic School Bus book with someone.. those times make me realize, this is being a mom. And I love it. :)

Now I really feel old...

So it's my birthday. Woo hoo, I'm 31. I kinda thought turning 30 sucked, although it was a lot of fun because my friends made it a lot of fun. But turning 31 seems worse. Not sure why. But whatever. LOL

I started thinking about my friend Carolyn.. who's birthday is in two days. She became a grandmother this year. At the age of 36. The baby that she had at 18 had a baby at 18. And it got me to thinking. Oh shit. Justin is 12. I got pregnant with him at 18 and had him right after my 19th birthday. If he were to "follow in my footsteps"... That's only 6 or 7 years away. Umm. NOT COOL. SO NOT COOL! To put this into perspective... I've lived in my home for almost 7 years. I saw my very good friend JD(Hi Sunshine!! it's been too long!!) right after we moved in here. And honestly.. that seems like it was maybe last year. Time has FLOWN by. Years have flown by. I can't imagine how fast the next 6 or 7 years is going to go by. And what if my kid does what I did and knocks some poor girl up and makes me a grandmother in that same amount of time??? NOT COOL!! LOL I called The Husband and told him of my feeling old woes... and he laughed at me. I told him, oh sure.. you can laugh. You're already in your 40s... in 6 or 7 years you'll be close to 50.. that's a perfectly respectable age to become a grandfather. Then I told him I'd kill Justin if he follows in my footsteps. LOL Hopefully that apple fell nice and far from the tree. LOL

So there you go. Crazy as ever. Worrying about stuff that hasn't even happened... as usual. Happy Birthday to me!

What a weekend!

So this weekend was my brother's company boat party. Big party barge middle of Lake Travis, 3 kegs, no kids. Can we say a mother's dream?? Yep. AND I conquered my fear of heights. Well sort of. I'm still terrified of anything over 15 feet. But the top deck of that boat was 15 feet and I jumped off it into the water not once, but three times.. Go me!!

The kids stayed with grandma.. She took them to the pool, so they had a good time yesterday, too. Always nice.

Tomorrow is going to be a big adventure.. Dave and I are going to take the kids to 6 Flags. By ourselves. No friends, no helpers. Should be interesting. We've been saving money for it, so it's going to a good day. I hope....

It's been a while..

Yeah, it's been a while. I suck. Didn't have internet for a while, yada yada yada... Loving summer break.. not so much. Kids are pretty good. Still total heathens, but pretty good none the less. Tonight I wowed them with some batter fried mahi mahi fish tacos. Made a mango baja sauce that was TO. DIE. FOR. Yes, it was that damn good.

And this is probably going to become a food and kid blog. Yep. My two great passions.. being an awesome mom and a fabulous cook.

According to my 5 favorite heathens, I am both today.

Life is good. For now... ;)