Spring School Pics - Really?

I'm a little upset about how my kids' school chose to do spring pics. I didn't really understand why they needed spring pics when they had fall pics, but I thought what the heck? We'll have then taken get a proof and decide if we want to purchase. NOPE. They sent home a whole package of pic to "sample". If you want to keep all, some or none you pay for what you want to keep and send the rest back. DUMB!

The package they sent home is $40 (which is a discounted price for what you get) and it comes with some cool extras, but now I have to tell my 5 year-olds that we probably aren't going to keep the pics. This frustrates me in many ways. 1.... I can't believe the school chose to go this route instead of pre-purchase or seeing a proof and then ordering. 2. I feel like it is Lifetouch's way of tricking people into buying more pictures. 3. The price sheet that came with the pics said it was the prices for reorder not that it is the prices for the package we received. I had to call Lifetouch to find out what to do because... 4. The school didn't give us any instructions on what to do with the pictures either. 5. What do they do with the pics people give back? What a waste of paper and ink.

Looks like I will be scanning the pics which I know is probably not right, but, hey, they gave me the actual prints instead of a proof with a watermark. What do they think people are going to do with them.

Thankful for a wonderful aunt who is willing to help my child when I can't!

I know as a parent we aren't supposed to compare our children, but I think it is bound to happen anyway. Now, I know my children aren't the same sex. That is pretty evident. Personality wise they are pretty opposite as well. We've always been able to tell that Luke has been more into books and letters and numbers than McKenna. She has always been our more artistic one.

Well, recently we have been becoming more and more concerned that McKenna is really lagging behind at school. We used to think that she had a real perfectionist side and that when she felt like she couldn't do something she just wouldn't try. While that may be partially true, it isn't the whole story. Where Luke is excelling in the classroom setting McKenna seems to really have a tough time learning in a group and needs much more hands on and one-on-one attention. This shouldn't come as a surprise since her had is a very physical, hands on learner and I am as well but not to as extreme a level.

Being a parent, you always wish that you could help your child. Kenna does a much better time working with Mike because he truly understands her and has more patients for helping her. I have never struggled with letters or numbers and have a hard time not pushing to hard when I'm working with her. Ultimately she shuts down on me and nothing gets accomplished.

This morning I had a conversation with their teacher and our fears were confirmed. She really is having a hard time keeping up with her classmates. So much to the point that her teacher is looking at having her evaluated for some extra help. We really need to pin down her learning style. As happy as I am to know that we weren't imagining things, it made me sad to think that I can't give her that help she needs.

As it as been becoming clearer that she is having a hard time at school an idea has been creeping to mind. Mike's aunt is a kindergarten teach in a different school district and I have been toying with the idea of seeing if she would be willing to work with Kenna. After talking to their teacher, I ran the idea past Mike and he wasn't to keen on the idea. BUT, I thought this is the one thing I could do. I can reach out to family and see if she would be willing to give us a hand. What's worst that would happen? She could say she doesn't have time or just doesn't want to. At least then I tried. So against Mike's feeble objection, I gave his aunt a call at school when I knew she would be in between classes. I prefaced my request with "you can say no" and then laid the situation out with my request. ( I hate asking for help and always feel guilty when I do.)

This is where I say that I feel so blessed to have the family we have. Mike's aunt is willing to work with Kenna for 30 - 45 minutes one evening a week or every other week starting next Tuesday. So between some extra help in school and with Mike's aunt I hoping that we find something that works for her and causes learning to become fun so she can reach her full potential.

I know I started out talking about parents comparing their children. I think in my case it isn't so much us comparing Lucas and McKenna as it is the rest of the world. People seen to think that because they are twins the should always be pretty close developmentally. While that may have been the case up to the age of 2, things have changes since then and despite sharing a birthday they are truly individuals. My concern was that she wasn't going to get all the help that she needs and wouldn't move on to First Grade with her brother. What is the big deal some might ask. The big deal is ... Kenna a child who is already hard on herself when she doesn't catch on as fast as her brother. Then, you add in that despite her family working hard to treat her as an individual she still has the identity of a pair. What kind of blow does that give to her self esteem? Right now she still thoroughly enjoys going to school even if it is hard for her. Would that love of school remain? I'm afraid the answer would be no.

So, again, I am so thankful for a teacher who concerned enough about my child to recommend her for the extra help she needs and I am even more thankful to the family member who is willing to give time out of her week to help my child succeed where I can't.

He can see!

Luke got his new glasses today!

Appointments Appointments Appointments

There used to be a time when I loved to always be on the go. Since I've gotten older and we had kids I mostly would rather just stay home. It isn't so much that I don't like to go places. I like to take the kids to the zoo, to the park, pretty much anywhere fun. It's the grocery shopping, doctor appointments and other "necessary" running that I don't like to do. Since Mike had surgery back in August and we were dealing with his many appointments and the stress that goes with being off work (even if it is workers comp) I had put off making some of the many appointments we were all due for. So, since we are close to Mike going back to work I decided to make all the appointments.
Over the past couple of weeks and the weeks coming it seems like all we are doing is running.

First, it started out with me having to go to the Dr for strep throat and bronchitis. A week later Kenna ended up with an ear infection and strep throat. That same day Luke and I had eye doctor appointments and Mike had PT. My prescription has remained about the same for about the last 4 years. I have some mild far sightedness and an astigmatism. I'm looking forward to my new glasses so the glare from driving at night and in the sun doesn't bother me quite as much. We found out the Luke, on the other hand, hasn't been using his left eye at all. He is so far sighted in his left eye that his right has compensated to the point that he doesn't use his left at all. So we have started patching his right eye for a while each day to strengthen his left eye. We should get his glasses in either the end of this week of the beginning of next week. His initial prescription will only be a fraction of his end prescription.

Yesterday the kids had dentist appointments. McKenna had a hard time at first, but then settled in and did just fine. Luke doesn't even need me by his side. He does great. Both check ups turned out good. No cavities for either one. Though we will probably be needing to an orthodontist in the next year because Kenna's teeth have a lot of crowding.

Next week Mike has a dentist appointment and McKenna has a speech evaluation with the cleft clinic at Children's hospital on Tuesday. On Wednesday mike has his next follow up with the surgeon. Then hopefully he'll be back to work. We both think he's ready.

A couple of weeks after that Kenna has a follow up with her ENT to check her tube placement and check her hearing again.

The end on February or the beginning of march Luke will see the eye doctor to get his glasses adjusted. Hopefully that will be the end of our run of "necessary" appointments. I really would just be having some fun.

Looking back over the last ten years.

As we leave 2010 and start a new decade, I decided to take a cue from a friend of mine on Facebook and try to do a quick summation of the last ten years. James is using his status to summarize each of the past 10 years in 5 words or less. I may not be able to keep each year to 5 words, but I will keep it short.

2001 - College Graduation, Moved to MN, 9/11, Met Mike
2002 - Got engaged, Bought house, Scooby, RIP Jim (Mike's dad)
2003 - Got married, Zoe, Mike shoulder surgery #1
2004 - My Sister got married, RIP Grandpa Johnson, Got pregnant
2005 - McKenna and Lucas were born, Mike's mom got remarried
2006 - I changed jobs
2007 - Mike turned 30, My 10-year class reunion, Found out about Kenna's cleft palate
2008 - First vacation since getting married (Vegas), Kenna got ear tubes, I turned 30, Replaced
my 13 year-old Grand Prix, RIP Grandma Pearson, Mike had appendectomy, RIP
Grandpa Zweber
2009 - Mike helped my dad replace our back deck, bought 1962 Galaxie, (pretty uneventful
year)
2010 - Kids turned 5, Kenna got second set of tubes, RIP Scooby, Kids started Kindergarten, Mike had shoulder surgery #2

Now as we are about to enter the new year, we are happy to know that Mike will be returning to work after being off for just over 4 months. The kids a growing by leaps and bounds, loving school and making great friends. We look forward to spending more time with family and friends. It is exciting to see where we started 10 years ago and is amazing to think of who we may be 10 years from now.

I pray that everyone have a very happy and healthy 2011 and that the next 10 years brings everyone as much happiness as we have experienced over the 10 years.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wonderful Christmas Weekend

It truly was a Wonderful Christmas Weekend! Other than the fact that we all had colds and Mike wasn't able to go to Christmas Eve at his aunts' with us everything was wonderful!

We started the weekend with me getting off work Christmas Eve morning and driving home on snow covered roads after yet ANOTHER snowfall. That may sound like a bad start to the weekend, but there wasn't much traffic on the roads and knew I didn't have to work that night so I didn't mind. After a couple hour nap, I got up and we made the choice to attend the 3:00 Christmas Eve service. We all got cleaned up and dress. For a while Mike even started to think he might feel good enough to go to his aunt's. With that in mind we headed to church. The kids behaved so well in church I was actually able to pay attention to the sermon.

Buy the time church had ended, Mike was starting to feel pretty poorly and decided to was going to stay home after all. Despite that, we decided that the kids and I would still go and he would stay home and try to get a little rest. I put together my veggie pizzas to take and off we went. I'm so glad we did. Normally for Christmas Eve we have appetizers and then exchange white elephant gifts and play some games. This year, since Mike wasn't there we just decided to go to eat. Before eating I got a chance to spend so time having some fun time talking with Mike's cousins and family. The food was great as usual.

When we got home, the kids put out their reindeer food and we crawled into our new jammies, cuddled a bit and then put out cookies and milk for Santa and headed to bed.

Christmas morning came early. This year we actually woke the kids at 6:00 since Mike and I could no longer sleep due to difficult breathing and coughing from our colds. It was the best Christmas morning since they were born! They finally are able to really take their time opening gifts and enjoyed everything they got. Santa brought Luke his remote controlled monster truck and Kenna's remote controlled Barbie car. Luke got LEGOs and hot wheels roads. Kenna got Barbie stuff, littlest pest shop, and tangled stuff. They both got movies, puzzles, books, games, and art stuff. I received a beautiful necklace from the kids that has four hearts on it, which I was told stands for our family. Mike gave me a digital frame. He receive a rechargeable trouble light that he wanted and the kids gave him a new video game. We both received US Mint watches from my parents.

After spending some time at home opening gifts we went over to Mike's mom's house to have brunch and open gift there. We had some yummy food, opened presents and then some of them played a game. The kids both got a pillow pet and Kenna got some Barbie clothes and Luke got a floor puzzle of the USA.

The rest of the day was family time. We kicked back, relaxed, played with the new gifts and watched one of their new movies.

Sunday brought a quiet day. I spent a lot of time helping Luke build with his LEGOS. We worked with their new art kits tracing fairies and cars and decorating them. We played some games and watched a little football. We event found time to fit in another movie. It was a good day.

Now Christmas is over and the tree must come down in the next day or so and we have to get back in the swing of laundry and getting all the toys (old and new) put in their places. Oh yeah, and the kids are chomping at the bit to go spend the gift cards they received so we have to do that too. SO...HERE...WE...GO

Christmas Love

Anyone who knows me well knows that I absolutely LOVE Christmas! Growing up preparing for Christmas was a BIG deal on our house. All the Christmas prep had music involved. Whether it was Mom playing the piano and us girls singing Christmas songs or having music blaring from the stereo, there was always Christmas music playing in our house. Putting up the tree was always a family affair. I love to turn off the lights in the house and just have in the Christmas lights. (I actually love it so much that I put up Christmas lights in my dorm room and they were pretty much on all the time unless my roommate and I were both gone.) We would spend a whole day making cookies and treats. One of my favorite memories combines said treats and Mom playing the piano. (If my family reads this, they will know exactly know exactly what I'm referring to.) I love to give gifts. So much that for years I would buys gifts for everyone. As I have gotten older, my love of gift giving hasn't diminished but it has been harder to find something special for everyone I would like to give gifts to. I know. I know. I could always make gifts, but that takes time and involves planning not to mention some creativity. Two on those things I am not so good at. I could find/make the time to make things if I wasn't such a procrastinator. That's where the planning comes in. I cannot plan for Christmas months in advance. (Procrastinator remember?)

This year I am more in the Christmas mood than I have been in years. It could be that we had our fist major snow fall over a months ago and have had more than 30" of snow already this month. As tired as I get of our 5 months of winter, for me, it wouldn't be winter with out the white stuff. I think the thing that is making it feel like Christmas is the fact that the kids are at an age where they truly understand Christmas. McKenna is my spiritual child. Over the years, she has made comments that have shown me that she (at a young age) believes in God and has a relationship with him that many people strive to have. I have even overheard her explaining to a classmate that presents aren't really what Christmas is about.

As always, our Christmas tree went up the weekend after Thanksgiving. A local radio station starts playing only Christmas music about that same time and my car radio has been tuned to that station for the past four weeks. With the kids being in school now, we were able to get all of our Christmas shopping for them done just after Thanksgiving. Last weeks the kids and I bought Mike his gift from them. Today we will be taking them to purchase their gifts for one another. We intentionally put that off so they don't tell each other what they picked out.

The big area where I have fallen short since that kids where born was in the baking department. Up until this year we have NEVER made Christmas cookies. We have always relied on the box of cookies and candy that my Mom sends after she and my sister have their all days baking marathon. we have also never left cookies and milk out for Santa. This year the kids started asking why. So, on Sunday we baked. We made sugar cookies, one other type of cookies and chocolate blobs. They kids had a blast. They enjoyed adding all the ingredients for the chocolate blobs than dropping them to the parchment paper to cool. They did a good job cutting out the cookies. They LOVED frosting and decorating the sugar cookies. I was so proud of them and how they cooperated with no arguments. And they managed to keep things fairly clean in the process.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!