Shawn's Birthday

Shawn's birthday was really fun this year.  And when I say really fun I just mean that he was actually excited about it.  He's usually not one to giggle with excitement over his birthday but this year he showed some mild enthusiasm.  Usually I make a nice big cake for birthday's but I skipped that this year.  I know shock and awe people, but he told me not to make one.  I had a cake order to deliver on his birthday then teach preschool the day after and start getting ready for Thanksgiving as well so he asked me to make him a yummy dinner instead.  So I did and it was great and relaxing.  I even managed to surprise him with his gifts.  Well surprise him with the gifts from his parents I should say.  I was in charge of picking things out that he needed for his bike.  He needed just about everything so it was really fun picking things out and he was so excited, seeing as he can now go out on a ride when its colder outside.  It was a great day and I realized this is the 10th birthday we've been together, that's kind of a long time!  Happy birthday Shawn I promise to make you a cake next year!

Perent Teacher Conferences

Yesterday I was able to go meet with Devin and Caroline's teachers at school.  It was really nice to go in and talk with the teachers, especially Devin's.  I had never met Devin's teacher and I've had questions about his reading abilities, and Devin is a little terrified of her so I went in not really knowing what to expect.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Yes she is loud and really tall and with Devin being so quiet he gets nervous around her but she seems to know what going on with him.  She is concerned with his reading level.  He can read for his age group but he's not the greatest at the comprehension part, at least when he's reading.  When he listens to his teacher he can answer the comprehension question's so she thinks the trouble is with his eyes.  I'm not sure I agree with that but I'm glad she is doing everything she can for him so he doesn't fall behind.  So Devin is getting extra reading help in school to make sure he stays up with the rest of the class.  I have tried lots of things with him and he is not getting reading down like I feel like he should.  He's doing great in math.  So great he's getting extra math time to push him to excel even more.  This boy stresses me out.  He's such a sweetie though, his teacher asked if he ever gets in trouble at home.  Oh yes he does.

I have met Caroline's teacher a few times just because I was able to go to back to school night before George was born.  And I was in no way concerned about her but I figured if I'm already at school I may as well see her teacher.  Caroline is a star student apparently.  She sets a good example to others, is organized, and loves learning.  She does need help with spelling though.  It almost made me a little happy to see that her enrichment spelling wasn't going so well.  They are harder words than some other kids get but she relies so much on memory to do well and it hasn't worked with spelling. It'll be good for her to have to put more effort into her work.  She knows it too.  When I read over her student reflection worksheet that she filled out I started laughing.  Here are a few examples of what she wrote.  The underlined ones are what she chose.

When I think about the quality of my work, I can honestly say:
I did my very best
sometimes I could have added more effort
I rushed through it for the most part

If I know a test is coming I:
study for several days or more
just look it over the night before
rely on my memory from being in class
(she actually circled the middle one first then thought she better be honest)

One thing I need to work on is to: take my time more on things but not be too slow.

She is so funny and very aware of her abilities and what she needs to work on. She knows she's smart and can get by mostly from memory so hopefully we can help her understand that not everything will be easy for her and she needs to put more effort into things that she may not like and that's fine.  It was a good day and I'm so glad I went!

Graham's first soccer season

Remember when I used to post about soccer every few weeks?  Yeah that's not happening anymore but I thought I should at least post about the first time Graham played soccer.  It's funny how when we first moved here we were so excited about putting Caroline in soccer and couldn't wait for the games and I would seriously get nervous when she played.  That doesn't happen anymore either.  We thought that it was about time for us to let Graham play soccer since his older siblings have had lots of chances to play.  For some reason I thought Graham would be awesome and pick up the game really quickly and be really competitive.  That didn't happen.  He does really like soccer but after the first game where he did cartwheels down the field and spending lots of practices throwing his ball down the field and pouting when he didn't make a goal.  (That was a proud parenting moment, let me tell you.) I realized my children just are not super athletic. I"m ok with it.  It also doesn't help that Shawn and I have spent zero time practicing with him.  He did love playing with his friends Bryce and Ian and his coach was awesome.  It was a fun season but as usual I'm ok that its over.  Graham was so excited to show off his trophy, it was pretty cute.  So we'll see if we sign him up for spring, its up in the air.  He was always entertaining to watch though!

Here are the Superheroes!  They were a good little team.

Devin and Caroline entertained themselves by jumping off the stands with their friend.

And hiding under the blanket.  It was SO cold! And yes I'm pretty sure that is Graham walking around on the stands, as you can tell he was really into the game. 

Halloween 2014

Wait is this really our last Halloween here?  That seems really weird to me, but its true.  This year we did nothing for Halloween, I"m not kidding, we didn't even carve a pumpkin.  We were really lame.  Don't get me wrong the kids had costumes but that's about it.  Last year I made cookies for each of their classes and went to the class parties, this year I sent in some apple slices and caramel dip.  Super mom here people.  I'm still using the I just had a baby excuse.  Devin had a music program last night at school that was hilarious, not that it was supposed to be, but to see him up singing getting almost all of the cues for hand movements wrong and making the weirdest faces ever, it was really hard not to laugh.  I loved it and recorded the entire thing.  I'll try to post the video but I'm not sure I'll be successful.  This year since Caroline has been into reading Harry Potter the kids all decided to be characters from the book.  Caroline was Hermione, Devin was Harry, and Graham was Ron.  I made their cloaks out of black fabric that had been sitting in my closet for about three years and my friend had some red felt for ties and we ironed on a Hogwarts patch and called it good.  It was perfect, I kind of loathe spending lots of money on costumes they only wear maybe twice and these babies were the perfect price of $0.  I love it when stuff like that happens.  It was freezing when we went out trick or treating but I kind of loved it because next year I doubt it will be nearly as cool in Dallas.  Who knows maybe we'll even make it down to Houston for some Halloween fun.  I"m going to miss the crisp cool Halloween nights we've had here!  I soaked it in this year.

Devin at his performance.  He did a great job, it was very entertaining.

Graham as Ron.

Here is Hermione!

And Harry of course.

My friend that I made the cloaks with stopped by with her kids so we could take a quick picture and remember the Halloween of Harry Potter.

And of course enjoying some hot cocoa when we got home.

Can you believe they used to be this small?!  I know its not technically a Halloween picture but   apparently in 2010 I didn't even take a picture of the kids in their costumes.  We didn't carve pumpkins or go trick or treating because my sister that was visiting got sick.  So I guess this year is actually more exciting than our first year then!  I don't feel so bad anymore.    

Life is crazy

Things have been pretty nuts around here.  I have had several cake orders lately which has been nice but it turns out having a little baby at home and doing cakes takes up almost all of my time so the house seems like its constantly messy and I haven't been able to make a yummy homemade dinner in a really long time.  I'm getting sick of pizza and gilled cheese for dinner.  I'm even getting to the point where its not as fun to make stuff because I'm making the same things over and over again and don't have time to do anything I want to do.  Like make my kids birthday cake.  So Tuesday was the last day I had an order due and I was really looking forward to a relaxing evening with my sister while she as in town.  Then about 10 minutes after the kids get off the bus the little boy I watch for my friend cuts his leg open.  And it wasn't a little scratch it was HUGE!  I heard him scream and ran over to him and I was in shock with how big the cut was.  It looked like a page out of one of Shawn's books, my hands were covered in blood trying to keep the bleeding down.  Luckily my sister was there and is almost done with nursing school so she and my neighbor that is always prepared patched up his leg as best they could while we sat on the ground waiting for his mom.  It was so deep he needed to be put under completely and in the OR to have it stitched up. I felt terrible the entire rest of the day and then a lot of the next day as well, and still some today.  His mom is wonderful and told me not to feel bad it was just an accident but wow it wasn't fun, and I really wish I could have prevented it somehow.  Needless to say we are looking forward to having a weekend to rest and relax.  Too bad we will have to wait another week because Graham has two soccer games, and Caroline has activity day recognition night on Saturday, oh and Shawn has a conference he has to go to.  Can life slow down just a little?  That would be great, I'm really tired.  I"m glad I have these cute faces to see everyday though.

Graham's Birthday

If you want to feel better about your parenting skills read this post.  I have been having a hard time keeping up with everything that goes on around here and I totally dropped the ball with Graham's birthday.  This is going to sound so lame but I had an order for cake pops for this Tuesday and had to get started with the order on Saturday.  Cake pops are the worst, I never want to make them again.  Anyways, the order was for three different kinds so I got to spend all of Saturday morning making three different cakes before even starting on Graham's birthday cake.  Thankfully Shawn is on a REALLY easy service right now and has saved my sanity so many times this month.  So Shawn and I made Graham's birthday cake together and stayed up until midnight (me) and 1am (Shawn).  Since we have lots going on this year we decided to do simple birthdays.  So we at least had to make him a cool cake.  I'm really happy with how it turned out and Graham loved it which is all that matters.  He is such a sweet boy.  He thought his birthday was amazing even though he didn't even get to pick out his dinner, or really do anything other than opening presents.  I love my Graham.  Here's what he's like these days.
1. He is very intense. Every emotion he has is at an extreme, happy, sad, or mad.  You will know exactly how he feels and hear all about it.
2.  He thinks or should I say knows he is the coolest person on Earth.  Put him in front of a mirror and he will dance and entertain himself for a while because what could be better than getting to see yourself dance and do awesome moves.
3. He speaks his mind. Last week Shawn made him bring his bike into the garage and after Shawn told him to hurry his bike wasn't that heavy Graham looked at him and said, "Well you are a lot bigger than me so maybe its not heavy to you but it is to me!"  Good point buddy.  On to the pictures!

Getting some birthday snuggles from dad.

Opening presents.  He loved everything.  It was really fun seeing him run from one thing to the next.  

And his cake.  He loves building legos so this was the simplest thing we could find to make.  He loved it and it was really fun working with Shawn.

Building legos with Devin and dad.  He is really good, maybe from watching Devin build all the time but he barely needed any help from dad.  He could benefit from some better focus though. ;)

And this is what George did the entire time.  Not really surprising! 

Happy birthday Graham!  I promise next year will be more exciting!