Picture Day

Always a treacherous day for a parent.... did they mess up their hair, getting something on their clothes, smile nice (or did they use their fakey smile).  Steve always takes their picture at home when we know they look good.  He got some good shots this year!

Almost a forced smile but not quite

The big sister has it under control

Ready to go to school

First Day of School

Sigh.... The first day of school was mixed results.  We had to switch daycare providers so it was a lot of change for the whole family.  While Gretchen had a good day at school, she got in trouble at the new day care for doing something to her brothers.  When she came home, she was upset and felt like it was hard to be in a new place.  Evan was sad and upset when he came home.  He doesn't like school or the new daycare.  Sigh.  I couldn't get a good reason out of him but it seemed like something happened yesterday since he ate so very little for lunch which is not like him.  Oddly enough, the child who has the most problems with transitions had no issues.  Sean was happy.  School was fine.  The new daycare was fine.  I was worried the most about him and he was fine.  His lunch bag is missing.  The new one I just bought cannot be found at daycare so I was not happy but he was so that's what's important.  Hopefully it goes better tomorrow..... 

3rd Grader in our midst

Big sister has a tough job!

The Professional

Like many parents, I wish I could be in Gretchen's head sometimes to see where something is going.  Other times, I'm glad I'm not.  Today we had the following conversation:

Gretchen:  I have decided I want to be like Taylor Swift.  Is that a good idea?
Me:  Um.....
Gretchen:  I need to know everything about her.  What do you know about her?
Me:  Um....
Gretchen:  [Sigh] I need a professional
Me:  A professional what?
Gretchen:  Someone who really knows all about her.  I want singing lessons too.  How many will I need to become a superstar?
Me:  Um....

Summer Camp Blues

Gretchen has a bad track record with her things.  I know this and she knows this.  Last summer we went through countless containers of lost sun block, bug spray, bathing suits, etc.  It drove me insane.  I promised myself this summer I would be more relaxed about it!  And that lasted about a week.....  She has been in summer camp for two weeks.  The first week she lost the new can of sun block and found it but when it came back home on day 4 it was completely empty.  So I put in a tube of lotion sun block and a half full can.  The tube is gone.  She can home with a tick last week which Steve quickly removed but it freaked her out so know she is using the bug repellent.  I already had a can of Off in her bag and Steve added a tube of Repel which is now gone.  Monday she went to camp with a hoodie.  It has yet to come back.  When we ask her to look for it, her response is outrage.  "How am I supposed to remember all that?"  I offered a reward if we could go 5 days in a row without losing anything but that did not garner a lot of excitement.  Today I told her the next tube of bug repellent or sun block will be paid for out of her piggy bank.  She was not happy which made me happy - maybe, just maybe, I can get her attention.  I think that makes me a bad parent but I am at a loss on how to handle....

Summer Work

We made the decision to not send Gretchen to summer school this year.  She gets services right now and should probably go to school for three more weeks if not the whole summer.  So it's a difficult decision for us to say no to summer school.  Until I had children with learning disabilities, I subscribed to the belief that summer should be fun.  As an adult, I pine for the days when I got up in the summer and wonder just what the day would bring me.  I wasn't a summer camp kid so I was on my own a lot.  The first summer after my parents separated, I used to go to the library in the morning and looks for books to read.  I would read there for awhile and then come home.  I remember feeling lonely though I don't know if I could have explained that to anyone at 9 years old.  The main reason we don't go to summer school is that we send Gretchen to an outdoor day camp that doesn't bus from the school she would have to go to.  Last year we promised ourselves we would do summer homework but we did not get very far.  This year, we are doing better with it.  Gretchen is on the second day of activities.  We're trying to do something four days a week with two activities per day (choices - math, reading and/or writing).  We joined the summer reading club at the library and signed up for some library programs.  I'm trying to balance my view that summer is for fun with what Gretchen really needs.  The truth is she needs both:  she needs to keep doing school activities and she needs to do physical activities to bolster her self confidence.  It's hard to know how much more we should be doing.  It's probably not enough but we are doing something this time.  

Apologies

I have a bunch of posts that I didn't publish so if you are getting stuff from 6 months ago, it's because I never published it.  I meant to revise it or add more then I forget.  Also, I will be consolidating the blogs this year sometime.  It's too much now to keep up with.  After the boys 5th birthday in July, I will have a new combined family blog.  I started this combined blog 3 years ago but haven't done anything with it yet.  I will very soon!

There is no crying in baseball

We did our annual baseball game as a family this past weekend. The kids sit pretty well through an entire game if we keep feeding them....  We had ice cream, hot dogs, pizza, french fries, cotton candy, pretzels, Teddy Grahams, licorice and lemonade.  Though this particular time Gretchen and Evan were motivated to stay the whole game so they could run the bases.  Apparently Wrigley has a thing on every Sunday game in April/May were kids can run the bases after the game.  Sean wasn't as interested in staying as Gretchen and Evan. Though when it came time to run it, Sean wasn't going to miss out.  You can see in this picture Evan is standing there waiting for his brother and sister (he's in the blue shirt/red shorts). 

The Easter Girls

Sam and Gretchen in their Easter Dresses

Spring Break Rules!

We surprised the kids with a trip to Dollywood over spring break.  First though we went to visit our friends in Hendersonville NC.  We didn't tell the kids where we were going after but then we drove to Pigeon Forge TN to stay in the Dells of the south!  Dollywood was very cold but a very nice amusement park.  Clean, affordable and a nice selection of rides, I would love to go back when it isn't 45 degrees.  After that we traveled to Lexington for a visit with more friends and then to Indianapolis to the Children's Museum (we did that last year and they asked to go back).  It was a long and exhausting week but between the cabin in Pigeon Forge and the hotel visits and uncle Todd's drum set, it was the best vacation ever according to the kids!

She stayed up to midnight!

Of course she was completely bored and couldn't believe how boring it was.....  guess we're not too exciting.

Happy Holidays!

A Girl After My Own Heart

When I was a kid, I taught myself how to rollerskate at the Taste of Chicago on Navy Pier.  My dad worked at Chicago magazine which sponsored the event and was working the booth there.  I was bored hanging out with him so he gave me some money to go do something else.  I remember it fondly because I pretty much held the rail all the way around the rink.  I did this for four days and I was pretty good by the end.  Gretchen went skating for the first time with Girl Scouts.  I hadn't been on skates in about 12 years so it was an experience for me as well.  After a good crying fit, she gathered up her resolve and did what I did at her age: hung to the wall for dear life and kept going around and around the rink.  By the end of the afternoon, she was asking me when we can go back and skate some more.