Mechanical Pencils and ADHD Don't Go Together....

Sigh.... My poor, sweet Aaron. He has a heart of gold. He truly has the biggest heart of all 5 of my kids. He is also, one of my hardest kids. He (and therefore we) has ADHD and some OCD tendencies. The doctor warned us that junior high was going to be really tough for Aaron to adjust to. The freedom, the different teachers and more demands for his attention. We prepped. We talked all summer about how different it would be. We tweaked meds and did whatever we could. A few months in, he's not doing so well.

I got an email today from his science teacher asking me if he had a nervous habit of taking apart and reassembling his mechanical pencil in class. Ummm, no, it's an annoying habit and I promised to set fire to all of his mechanical pencils tonight and send him with normal pencils from here on. :)

His grades are a roller coaster. 4 A's, 3 F's. He is extremely bright, but ask him to TURN IN homework? What is wrong with you? Ask him what his assignments are??? It has been a battle every day. I am lucky because the teachers post the assignments online so I can look it up. And his twin brother is on the same team, so I can check with Kevin to see what is going on. But Aaron needs to take the wheel. He needs to learn to own it. I've told him I can't turn in his homework, his teacher can't take it out of his backpack. It's all on him. The good news is that as of today, he is only failing one class. I see glimmers of effort on his part.

There are days when I just want to shrug it off and hold his hand and say, "do this page and this one...". But what is that going to get me or Aaron? It's easier now, but where will my sweet boy be in 5 years, drowning in high school... Billy and I always have these long conversations after everyone has gone to bed about whatever is the crisis of the day. And whenever Aaron takes center-stage (which has been often this semester), we commiserate about how hard it is, but we never want to make it easy for him. Because in the end, we want to raise a productive member of society. A child that won't "need us" when he's 30. My brother "needs" my parents and he's 43. No ADHD, no diagnosis or anything. But my mom never wanted him to suffer consequences. Never wanted him to fall down. He went to 3 different high schools because he couldn't/wouldn't conform or follow rules. He would do something stupid or not fit in well and my mom would yank him out and let him start over. I'll never understand why she did it, but I watch him today, unable to conform, keep a job, and expect my parents to fix it. (usually just with a check) So I know what I don't want to happen to my child. We will do the hard stuff now. And he will succeed. :)

My Sweet Girl Turned 10 And I Survived The Sleepover...

Sorry for the delay in posting, my blog has been acting up and I got frustrated and put the blog in time out for a few days....

Saturday went off without a hitch... We started off at a place called Sharkeys for hair do's, nails and make up....

After the girls were primped and ready, they did some karaoke (Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, naturally...) and danced...

Then we had pizza and cupcakes...

I have no clue what she is doing...

And headed home... Where Part II starts with mustaches and Just Dance on the Wii....

They were asleep by 1:30, somehow the shorties slept through most of it, but I did find a stow away...

Just Dance On The Wii... Priceless...

I'm just going to post video of Kevin and Olivia dancing to the Wii... Unfortunately, the sound isn't great, it's James Brown, "I Feel Good".....

Olivia and I are off to stuff goodie bags. How did I get myself into a slumber party of 10 girls?! ;) Mani's, Hair Do's, and Karaoke... It may be Wednesday before I recover.... I can't believe my sweet girl is almost 10... Onto the double digits....

We Finally Got Rain And I Made It Back To The Trainer....

I am very happy to say that we finally got rain this past weekend. For 3 days in a row, we were absolutely pounded with rain. Now we have a backyard mud puddle, but that's ok with me.... Billy worked a lot this weekend, so the kids and I shopped for Olivia's birthday party. I still can't believe that I'm about to have 10 girls overnight on Saturday. Because, yes, they ALL rsvp'ed that they were coming. Lord, it's going to be a long night. :) Tomorrow is my last chance to get things done without any kids along, so I hope it goes smoothly.

I got myself back to the trainer yesterday after taking the summer off. There's just no way I can go when the kids are out for summer. But now everything hurts. I know, in a good way, but I am hurting. Picking up a 40 pound kiddo is no party today.... Back tomorrow, especially at my age, I've got to keep as much from sliding to my knees as possible! :)

We're still having trouble with Aaron and the 6th grade experience. I don't want to hover over him, but I also know he is overwhelmed and barely treading water. It's a hard balance to maintain, I'm hoping he grabs onto the job and I can breathe easy.

I should probably get moving and wrap some presents while Olivia is at school. I can't believe she is almost 10! Of course I will drown the blog with pics after the party. :) That is if I survive it, of course....

NOOOOOOOO, Not The Baby Wipes, I Can't Let Go Of The Wipes!!!!

So this afternoon, Aaron gets out of shower and tells me the shower won't drain. Mental note, pour in Draino before bed... 20 minutes later Simon needs to go to the bathroom, runs in with me close behind, slips in water and crashes down. Water is pouring out of the base of the toilet and coming up from the shower drain. It's NOT clean water. The smell was unexplainable. 3 inches of sewer water is in my bathroom. Fantastic.... Our plumber isn't calling us back and SAWS (city water co.) is in no rush to get to our house either. So we begin clean up with the water turned off....

Then SAWS arrives......

"Suckers, not our problem, it's your pipes." (well, that's what I heard...) Awesome... This feels expensive..... And I think we're going to have to sleep at my parents' house. Plumbers come and the good news is that it isn't a broken pipe in a wall as feared.... It's a severe clog.... Caused by.... FLUSHABLE BABY WIPES!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO........ I swear the plumber was grinning when he said it. Jerk. I don't know how to salvage my weekend at this point.... I'm off to cry in a heap, carry on without me. In a heap with a glass of wine....  :)

After Shots To The Neck, We Needed A Slow Day...

So yesterday just went on and on... I decided today was just going to be a lot of nothing. So we went to Target. :) Nice.... We picked up a few birthday presents for Olivia, some adorable and unnecessary clothes for Emi. :) Finished up with the free cookie for the shorties and we went home. No pressure, no rush... It was so nice and I couldn't have asked for better behavior from Simon and Emi. Total win. Whew....

I have got to figure out a better 3-5pm plan. Somehow it ends up being the worse part of the day. The shorties want attention from their older sibs that have been gone all day. Big kids have to start homework and need help. Oh and I have to make dinner and corral said shorties out of the kitchen. I get short tempered, I'm trying to explain a math concept, make chicken parm and entertain little ones. It's too much and I can't feed everyone crock pot dinners every day. My mom used to cook on Sundays and freeze stuff, but I'd hate to go that route. I mean, it usually wasn't good....

So I need to get in the real swing of planning Olivia's slumber party. I am not good at games and stuff, so I need to figure out what exactly we're going to do with 10 girls. :) I'm really hoping they watch a movie or karaoke. That would be easy to do.... Well, I suppose I should go and have some kind of conversation with my husband some time today. :)

Whew, We Made It Through The Botox Shot....

 LONG day.... We left for the 9:30 appointment by 8:45 this morning. (It's downtown, traffic is iffy...) I didn't even eat breakfast I was so worked up. I mean it's Botox and my 2 year old's neck.... By the time they were ready for us, it was almost 11. Yeah, that made me happy. I had both the shorties and entertaining them in a small room and trips to the potty is always a good time. Anyway, this is my sweet Emi prior to the shot....

Obviously not the least bit concerned... :) That was my job....

When he prepped to give her the shot in 2 places, he warned me that Simon probably shouldn't watch (his shot is scheduled for next month) so I stepped out with him. I felt like such a piece of crap. I should have been the one holding her. So she screamed like I have never heard her scream, the door immediately swung open (thank you doctor for thinking to get me in ASAP) and I grabbed her. :( She sobbed for a few minutes, then she was quickly calm. What a girl. I told her she was such a brave girl and she turned to me and said, "Doctor helped me." Awwww.... So we left and immediately headed to McDonalds and home. I am wiped out. Apparently they are too, they're both asleep still and it's way past the normal time. I am going to break a rule and have wine on a school night. ;) That was traumatic.... And that is my episode of Toddlers and Tiaras....

I promise to blog more regularly, it's just been hectic with appoinments and school and Olivia's birthday on the horizon.....

10 Years Have Passed.....

So I Seriously Underestimated The Emotional Stability Of A Fifth Grade Girl...

Good Lord, this child is an emotional tsunami! Yesterday I was all excited that Olivia's teacher had been reassigned. She even was placed in the classroom she originally wanted and with her bestie. So I go to pick her up (she called for a ride, that should have tipped me off...) and the minute her booty hit the seat she burst into tears. I mean bawling, not a tear quietly streaming down the cheek. Sigh... When I asked her why she was so upset when the day before she was complaining about not being able to ask too many questions. Her reply? "But that was only one thing! She was getting nicer." Aaacckkk..... Thank God for her best friend, once they were on the phone and acting silly, she was happy again... For a few hours...

Friday night movie was "Big". The kids really liked it and Billy and I heard jokes that we didn't get when we watched it when it first came out. Then, according to Billy, who is in charge of bedtime, Olivia started crying again. I hate to admit it, but she gets it from me....

Kids start CCD tomorrow, I hope they like it. If we're lucky, someone they know from school will be in there. Tonight I need to finish my preschool homework. Family picture collages... I am so uncreative, I don't enjoy these projects. There's always some super mom that creates some amazing poster and then everybody else feels like a loser. :) Tomorrow I plan on watching a lot of 9/11 specials and crying through most of them. Have a good one!

It's Friday And It's Turning Out To Be A Good One!

Ahhhh, forget my whining from yesterday.... Deep exhale.... Yesterday evening didn't get better, one of our older boys is not adjusting to middle school and it has really been unpleasant in the evenings around here. What is just so frustrating is the boy's scores are off the charts, but partly due to his ADHD, the focus and drive is almost nonexistent. His grades are in the toilet and it's the 3rd week of school. But we talked to his teacher and she doesn't want him pulled out of Pre AP math (we don't either) and he will just live in tutoring until he decides to finish homework, or show the work, or listen. That boy is graying my hair, but when he works it out, he is going to be amazing. I just wish he could see it.

So this morning started off well there, the shorties and I headed to the grocery store, smooth sailing. When I got home the elementary school called. Apparently Olivia's teacher is being reassigned to a different school due to head counts and Olivia (and the other 22 kids) will go to a different teacher starting Monday. While I would HATE to be in that teacher's shoes.... I am DANCING... I can't stand Olivia's teacher. She was new to the school, cold, strict... Yesterday when Olivia was doing her homework, she told me that the teacher got mad at a kid for asking questions. Seriously?! So Olivia, being the sensitive one that she is told me she didn't want to ever ask her because she didn't want to get yelled at. Well, problem solved! And she got reassigned to the teacher she originally wanted. So YAY for the Ryann's and having a great Friday...

So all of this has me changing my whiny tune and feeling grateful. Laundry is washing, babies are sleeping, and I think I'm going to pile the kids in the car after school for a Sonic run. :)

The weekend has nothing monumental going on, the big kids start CCD Sunday, (they call it Faith Formation now) I'm sure they're thrilled. I have what appears to be potty trained short people, so all is good. Billy had a good work meeting today and will be home early. Have a great weekend!

I Am So Bored Of Myself And The Worst Part Is, I Can't Escape Me.....

Does that ever happen to you? I had a hard time logging onto the blog because I had nothing to say of any interest... This happens every so often, I'm sure I'm not the only one. But I bore myself. I stay at home with my kids, I have no real hobbies. My kids are my hobbies and my job, I suppose. I am immersed in 6th grade happenings, mean girls that pop up in 5th grade, and whether or not Simon is going to use the potty or the couch, if you know what I mean. I haven't posted a status on Facebook, because I fear my childless/single friends with "defriend" me. Yuck... These funks suck, and I know it will pass, but apparently not today. What do you want me to fill you in on? That I mopped the floor, emailed a teacher, did some laundry and broke up countless fights over Little People?? (not actual little people, the toys, for my childless friends... :)

My husband would say, suck it up and get over it. You have a blessed life. DUH... And I will get over this. I blame my last birthday and the recent swollen eye saga. I mean when you puttering around and feeling old, who wants to catch a glimpse in the mirror and see the face of a boxer? Does nothing for the self esteem.... Maybe I need to get back to the trainer. I hate to work out, but I always feel better the next day, sore but better.

So I hope that tomorrow's blog posting isn't so boohoo. Maybe I just need more caffeine. This is why my kids bought my a Starbucks gift card for my birthday, they just get me....  :)

Preschool, Starbucks and Cupcakes....

My sweet babies went off and left me for their preschool today. I mean, walked off and left me in the dust, don't let the door hit ya, lady.... Of course I tortured them with pictures before we left...

Billy and I went to visit my mom afterwards, then I was off all on my own, possibly the first time since school let out in June. :) No haircut, maybe next week. But I did some birthday shopping for my Olivia, made the important stop at Starbucks....

And then off to Gigi's Cupcakes. This is one of the very few times that I have felt relieved to have Celiac's Disease. No way I could walk in and out of that place and not gain 10 pounds. But I got a little of everything for the after school taste test for Olivia's birthday. Look at these cupcakes!

And my sweet tribe, forks in hand.....

I'd have to say, a good day by all accounts!!!

My Littlest Ones Are Back At School....

Here are my not-so-babyish babies.... We're still working on looking AT the camera....

They were thrilled to get back to Miss Monica and make new friends. Even though I appreciate the quiet time, I miss them. I will do another post this afternoon, I have to get moving on errands before school is out!

The Shorties Go Back To School Tomorrow....

So I am getting bags packed for Emi and Simon to return to school in the morning. They only go twice a week, but it's good for them and for me that they socialize with other short ones and I get a haircut. (terrible run on, sorry!) I absolutely LOVE their teacher (same from last semester) and it will kill me when I have to move them in January to the 3 year olds room. They are really excited to get back to Ms. Monica's and I just hope that includes using the potty like at home. I have them both trained well now (knock on wood, it's been a long time coming...) and I would hate for them to regress...

Anyway, I have blankets packed, lunchboxes dusted off and am trying to figure out my own day. I would be returning to my trainer (took the entire summer off from the pain...) but since I still have this eye problem, I can't exactly work out in glasses that fall off my face regularly. I say haircut. I haven't had one all summer and it really is too long. Then I'll go see my mom at the nursing home, much easier to do without my kiddos along.

Billy and I are back doing Weight Watchers. Sigh... Let me just say, 20 years ago, he never would have been concerned with a scale. Then again, 20 years ago, he could eat whatever he wanted.... Anyway, back to counting points and not frying anything... Until the holidays of course.... :)

Surprise For Me, Hubby Took A Half Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day. I wasn't expecting much, beyond my older 3 kids telling me they were bored and asking what I had planned to entertain them. But we woke up to unbelievable weather here, after weeks and weeks of triple digits, it was 81! There was a breeze blowing and I haven't seen my kids since we got home from the grocery store. They have been outside all day with their friends just soaking up the weather...

I finished Olivia's birthday invitations and have them addressed and ready to go. I wanted to go taste testing cupcakes today, but the cupcake store is closed for the holiday. I thought that was really weird. I would think a day for grilling and stuff would be a day to sell cupcakes, but they don't agree.... Tomorrow after school will have to do, I suppose....

We decided with the nice breeze we had today (which unfortunately for other parts of Texas have fueled the terrible wildfires...) we took dinner outside and of course I took pictures... Excuse the dead grass/hay in the background, we gave up trying to keep it alive in July. :)

Then after dinner, a quick game of soccer....

Until reinforcements arrived... With extra balls.... Mid game....  :)

Long Day, I Still Have The Eye of a Prize Fighter...

Well, according to my doctor, there is no infection in my eye. She thinks it's allergies. But I have no other allergy-like symptoms or have I ever had eye reactions to allergies. I freaked because I thought she wasn't giving me a script. My eye has been this way for 2 weeks and I NEED my contacts back. But lucky me, I left with antibiotics, a steroid cream, and eye drops. A trifecta. :) Here's to hoping for a normalish eye very soon.

One of my older boys has a big case of the sensitives... And honestly, in this house, that isn't going to work. We tease A LOT. I can be very sarcastic and they've grown up with it. My best friend says her son wouldn't survive over here... (I choose to not take that as an insult, seeing that I am his guardian if something awful happens.) Anyway, I think the changes that come with moving to middle school and the workload have just hit him. The 3 day weekend should do him a world of good. He seems to like one big aspect of middle school... All the girls... I dread Kevin at 15.....

Tonight we did pizza and paper plates for dinner, now Billy and the big kids are watching "Spaceballs". I should get in there, but I need to finish Olivia's birthday invitations and I keep procrastinating... (like posting in my blog instead....) I better go, I'm not sure how much I will post over the Labor Day weekend, we don't have anything planned, (Billy isn't even taking the day off) but everyone is home and the time slips away. Have a great weekend and enjoy!

It's Finally Friday....

Well, after yesterday's running around, I thought I would just sit here all day with the little ones and do 12 loads of laundry. No such luck, I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I'm lucky that Billy can just work at home so I can go, but what a waste of time. I have some kind of eye infection and it isn't going away. So off I go this afternoon. Hopefully they will have some kind of super eye drop and I will be back in my contacts soon.

Yesterday evening I went to Olivia's Meet the Teacher night. While I am still not wowed by her (she just seems so quiet and asleep, she needs Starbucks stat!), Olivia told me she really likes her and that's what matters. When I got there, the kids had done a newspaper that was divided up into "about me", "my favorite things", "something that changed my life", and "my hero". My sweet girl had me as her hero. What a girl... It was really sweet and she had also had written out the story of the the babies' arrival at the house and how she had waited so long for a little brother or sister. :)

Tonight I need to work on birthday invitations, and dinner is take out. Sounds perfect to me. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Busy Day, Open Houses And Haircuts!

This will be short again, the littlest ones had Open House, Simon got a haircut, and then we rushed home for physical therapy. We're doing lunch right now so I can hurry them to nap time. They  had a great time seeing their teacher, I really just wanted to go to see the official head count for their M-W class. There are 5 kids, I think it's going to be a great year for them. (and me...cough...cough....) They start back in a week.

This afternoon is a mad dash to get everyone to get homework and instrument practice done, hot dogs for a quick dinner and then I have to go to the elementary school for Olivia's parent orientation. They don't want kids in attendance, so Billy will be home early to hold down the fort and get the shorties ready for bed. A long day.... So I hope yours is productive, they say we're not supposed to hit 100 degrees today, we shall see! I am looking forward to a slow, lazy Friday at home.....