Tid Bits

I feel like I am on a merry go round that keeps picking up speed. I have been so busy but when I come here to blog and share it all, I have a hard time remembering what has been going on. Ha.
I have been starting to go to the gym regularly. Tim has been doing some type of pre-training for Iraq so he has been going in late every morning. So he and I have been going to the gym together. I told him before going that he had to be nice to me. He enjoys making his soldiers work so hard at PT that they puke. He loves watching Biggest Loser because he likes how mean and tough Jillian is. He has been very nice to me…..no Jillian like behavior. He told me he just can’t be that way with me since I am his wife. Very sweet.
The kids are all jazzed up for Halloween. Connor plans of being the Punisher…..he wants me to go out and buy him more guns though. Gavin got a hoodie and gloves that are a skeleton costume. After talking to his friend, he doesn’t think it is cool enough and wants another costume or some type of wicked weapon to wield (say that 10 times fast). And Laurel was going to be a purple bat, but when we went to the store and saw all of the sparkly princess dresses, she was hooked. She is going to be Snow White. She insisted that she needed red lipstick for the costume so after some thought I gave in. I mean, what fun is Halloween if you can’t use a little makeup as a little girl. We are going to be going to a Trunk or Treat for my friends ward tonight so hopefully I will has pictures to post of them soon. Connor is bummed out cause I won’t let him go out to trick or treat this year. Am I being too mean? But he can do the trunk or treat so I am sure he will get over it.
I swear that Laurel lives in a musical. It makes me laugh cause Tim hates it when I make him watch them…..he says that it isn’t realistic that people will break into song for no reason. Now his own daughter is doing it all the time. What a hoot. She sings even where there isn’t anyone around for an audience. And they are necessarily songs that are known. She makes them up as she goes a long….sings about her day or what she is doing or what she wants to do….whatever strikes her current mood. I wish that I had a way to capture some of it on tape.
I had an IEP meeting about a week ago for Connor. He is struggling pretty bad at his new school. I think it is due to it being a different environment and trying to readapt to a new place….there is always a time of adjustment. I also think that they aren’t giving him all the services that he may need. And I took him off his meds before we moved here. The school wants to move him to another school entirely and put him into a program that would keep him in the same classroom except when he has to go to his 2 elective classes. I am not happy about that choice. Part of me, thinks that it is a good idea. Who wants their child to struggle? I find myself second guessing sometimes about how I may have an unrealistic expectation for what Connor should be able to do, but then I talk to him and realize that I am not too far off of what he can do. My big fear is that I put him in this program and then he is forever stuck and won’t be allowed to progress out of it ever again. I want him to reach higher, not remain in a comfort zone. I have come to the conclusion that part of his struggles are also from his laziness (for lack of a better word). He has been able to get away with people carrying him through for so long that he expects it now. He knows that if he says he can’t enough some adult at school will step in and “save” him. I feel like my time is running out…..he only has 5 more years of school (although I know that technically, he can stay in longer. I am hoping that he doesn’t need to.). Anyhow, I decided to put him back on his meds and ask for an aide in the classes that he struggles in the most. I want them to really exhaust their efforts before I put him into this other program. It would just feel too much like taking 2 steps back and then freezing in place. I know that they are going to be difficult when I go back with this plan….they already act like it is all said and done and he will be going to the program that they want because they don’t want to put forth the effort. I try hard not to be frustrated and to believe that Heavenly Father has a plan for Connor and me to make this work. But there are times…..in the darkest parts of the night……that I feel like a failure.
Gavin is still Bakugan crazy. He mopes a lot because he wishes that he made money to buy them all the time. If there are any good suggestions on how to do that out there, I am all ears. After hearing him grumble about how I NEVER buy him anything, I sat him down and gave him and economics lesson. I showed him how much we make and where all it goes. It was an eye opener for him, I think. He didn’t realize how much it costs to “live life”. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the grumbling. He has become a wheeler dealer though. He took the Bakugan that he already owns and has sold them for some major profit to be able to buy more. I am impressed that he can find kids with the disposable income to do it and then gets them to do it. I was never that resourceful as a kid.
Lastly, my niece, Elisa, is getting married in February. She asked me if I would be her photographer. I was blown away. I was so flattered and honored that she would entrust that task to me. I am shaking a little in my boots about the prospect. It isn’t something that you can “do over” if it somehow gets messed up. But I think that I am up for the challenge. It made my mom cry to hear about it. My dad has been the one who has taken so many wedding pictures for family. But he has gotten to the point in his Alzheimer’s that he isn’t capable or interested in doing what used to be a passion of his. So, in essence, I am carrying on that torch. I hope I can fill his foot steps adequately.
Well, I need to be getting back to housework. So not into doing that lately, but it is the never ending task……