Photo Session with Mom

Here are some pictures I took of the boys today. We always try to take one for Jason's birthday (which is tomorrow.)

Family Update June 08

Well, school is over and summer is in full swing. We have attended three VBS programs at three churches, two themed Outback Island and one was Cowboy Canyon. This week the boys have another one called Power Lab. They have loved both programs and were kind of bummed that there was no VBS to attend last week.

This week and next they are attending Swim Camp, which is an eight-day swimming lessons program (M-Th for two weeks.)


Music Man has completed the second grade. He is gearing up for third grade at Hernando Hills Elementary School at the same school he attended second grade. He will have a new teacher who does a modified curriculum. We have an Assisted Technology consultation next month to evaluate his needs in the way of testing and doing his assignment. Because writing is difficult for him, it takes an incredibly long time for him to complete written assignments and tests. We are looking at computer system to help him do his assignments on. Music Man has been doing well physically speaking for quite some time. He did have two episodes in November and we saw his specialist. Assuming that he was refluxing we made some modifications and have not had any episodes since then. Unfortunately, since that means he could be refluxing again, we need to have a barium swallow study done and rule it out (or in.) If he is refluxing again, it could mean we have to have his nissen fundoplication redone and the GTube will have to stay in place.

Farm Boy will be back in Mother's Day Out next year again with the same teacher at the same school. Most of his buddies are going to kindergarten, so he will be one of, if not THE, oldest in his class. He loves his teacher and enjoys the program. His teacher actually writes her own curriculum and works with the kids rather than just supervises them for six hours. They also get to go to the gym and have recess, both of which he loves.

That's all for now. I'm still trying to get used to blogging. :)

Family Update May 08

Well, it's May. Spring in Mississippi brought lots and rain. The Mississippi has overflowed her banks with no signs of receding. I am awesomely amazed at the amount of water that has dropped from the sky this spring. It is reminiscent of the flood of '94. I was at GSU and though we got rain there, it was nothing like what my hometown of Albany, GA received. That is what we are experiencing now. I've taken some pictures of the River and will share them in a different post.

School is drawing to an end. Music Man is gearing up for third grade. I am very ready for this school year to end. This is the first year I have not enjoyed as far as school is concerned and I don't feel he made as much progress as he could have. I'll leave it at that and just say that I am ready for second grade to draw to a close. :)

Music Man has been playing tee ball on Tuesday nights at the Field of Dreams. It is an incredible all-inclusive ball program that allows all children (and young adults) to play. He is truly in his element here and enjoyed every minute of it.

Family Update April 08

Well, it has been quite a month in our household. Spring is springing and boy has is sprung! It has been super, super wet here these past few weeks. We are taking every opportunity we can to get out and enjoy the nice weather when it is here, but we have seen more cloudy and rainy days than sunny in the last month. We have thankfully been spared the bad weather, though it has been all around us. Hernando is nestled in a spot that seems to hide from the really bad stuff. We just get a lot of rain.

We have about six weeks left of school for this year (OH MY!!) Summer will be here before we know it and that means I will have a THIRD Grader!! (OH MY, OH MY!!) We are gearing up for an end-of-the year IEP and tee ball! (More details forthcoming!)

Family Update March 08

My last post was right after school started so I will go back to there, catch you guys up and attempt to make this a more regular thing, which was why I started it in the first place. :)

Music Man is in the second grade at Hernando Hills Elementary School. We have four elementary schools in Hernando, each now housing two grades. He is in a regular classroom for homeroom, activity (computer, PE, art, music, library,) lunch and recess. He gets all of his academics however in the sped classroom. He gets a lot of one-on-one attention there but is expected to do his own work. His teachers are wonderful and he is getting his therapies at school. His favorite class is PE although he loves working on his Edmark program in reading. A lot (if not all) of his testing is done orally as he still has a hard time with penmanship and writing and it takes him a very long time to complete an assignment.

Farm Boy is still attending Hernando Baptist's Mother's Day Out program. He goes on Tuesdays and Thursday for a full day and loves it. He's learning a lot and loves to do his "homework" when Music Man is working on his. They each have a few friends that they are close to and we recently had some new neighbors move across the street from us, who are exactly the same age as Music Man and Farm Boy.

Over the weekend, we took the boys and Bella to a state park we had never been to. We hiked 2.5 miles around a lake and had a great afternoon. Everyone was of course exhausted afterwards, but it was a beautiful false-spring day (its 33F as I type this!!!)

I am also working through some paperwork for Remembering Your Baby, trying to get us up and running as an official non-profit organization. The laws in Mississippi are so different from those in GA and FL, I suppose from the not-so-nice non-profits that sprung up after Hurricane Katrina. Anyway, I took a break from that over the holidays and now we are getting started again.

OK So the Mommy-Induced Forgetfulness Strikes Again

And I completely forgot about this blog. Last night as Jason and I were just relaxing in the quiet after the kids went to bed, it hit me. He was actually reading a blog from a pastor-author and I had this brilliant thought that maybe I should blog so my updates would become more frequent again. Yeah, that was actually my thought process ... funny huh? So sometime in the wee hours of the morning, admist the weird dreams and urges to get up for the bathroom, I remembered that I had indeed created a blog last fall. Wow. When something like that hits you, there is nothing to blame expect mommyhood. So here I am. Let's see .... I'm not really sure where to start. I last posted in September and lots has happened since then (again, hence the need for this blog!!)

I think I will allow this post to "just be." I'll add another one today updating the past few months, hopefully with pictures .... my camera cords are MIA and I have a lot of pictures I need to get off of it .... we'll see.

Anniversary Present to Ourselves

Jason and I just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Every few years or so, we forfeit anniversary presents and redo our bedroom. This year was a year for that. We had grown tired of the sage green leaves we have had since before we left Florida 3-1/2 years ago. We went with something TOTALLY different, warm and rich with lots of texture. The transformation started on our anniversary and is almost complete! Jason topped it off with a fountain (!) created from an incredible planter/urn. Our bedroom is truly a haven now! (And I haven't gotten the hang of adding pictures to my blog, so bear with me while I am learning!!!)

New Family Member

We have a new family member. Bella came to us through a friend of a friend, who is a soldier deployed to Iraq. Bella is 11 months old and a full-blooded Golden Retriever. She is beautiful and so playful. She can already sit and sometimes shake. She likes to play fetch but doesn't always give up the ball she has gone after. The boys are, of course, thrilled to have her.

Testing 1, 2, 3

I'm giving in and setting up a blog. I just can't spare the time anymore to upload webpages for my updates. With a blog, I can go back to more regular updates and hopefully make the fam a little happier in getting the goods on the boys. So here it is, my first measly post. :)