Hey There!

Yeah, time did get away from me the last couple of weeks.  School is busy heading into the last couple of weeks for the term with assessments, report cards, activities, you name it, it is looming over all of us!

I went book shopping last Friday when I had a lunch date in town with my hubby!  Would you believe all these years we have met 2 times for a midday lunch date?  Neither of us have had jobs where it is remotely possible for such a civilized happening!  Teachers are not renowned for their long lunches (HAHAHA!!) and with Lyle on site and all the security and safety rules it never happened.  So, I took the bus into town, walked to the office and sent him a text that I was downstairs!  So nice!  Granted, it was a quick order type of place, but we did get to sit down and visit like real people with no kid interruptions, so plenty enjoyable.  We even walked all around the botanical gardens on the riverside before he had to get back to work.  Anyway, book shopping!  You will get to see them when we get home for a visit.  Grandma and Grandpa-would you like a field guide to Australia birds, or a common birds and their habitats in narrative form?  I found both!

Big time score here as well, I bought 3 tickets to see the Bolshi Ballet next weekend!  They will be performing The Bright Stream, which has not been performed outside of Russia until now, and was banned under Lenin.  The tickets are on the 2nd balcony, so nosebleed section for sure, but the girls and I are very excited to go!  Since the boys missed out on this one, I bought family tickets to the Queensland ballet to see Giselle.  It is a much smaller venue and we have decent seats, so pleased there.  The kids really enjoyed Annie last year, and Ian and Annika are so good when we take them out (as long as there is a parent between every kid, we are gold!) it is a pleasure to take them with us.  I have to remember to buy Ian a new pair of dress pants though-I put his old ones on him-and yep!  He has grown nearly 4 inches this last year!  High water pants!

The lower grades had their Fun Day yesterday.  They have all sorts of stations they can visit to make, create, and enjoy.  Ian made a pasta necklace, got a spider painted on his face, listened to a story and got a cool bag from the public library ladies.  He also drew a funny face on a balloon!  I got to take a couple of his friends around with him and we all had a good time.  He certainly did not argue about bedtime last night and slept an extra half hour this morning!

I had a meeting with Ian's teacher and the school psychologist as well yesterday.  I requested that they test Ian as he has been struggling so much with remembering information, processing information, and reading.  He knows just a few sight words, still doesn't know most of his letters, and looks to see what others are doing so he can understand the instructions for an activity.  On the good side, they didn't tell me what I didn't already know, which is our boy is bright, but struggles with learning.  His math is well above average, and his patterning and problem solving skills are literally off the charts (you should see the intricate layouts for his cars, legos, army men, etc.  Military strategist bar none here) but his letter recognition and recall is waaayyyy low.  His speech has come a long way and no problem understanding him now!  We will be working to figure out how he can learn in the classroom, but multi modal input is going to become a primary focus for him.  Think drawing letters on his back, him drawing with his finger on the table or on his hand, lots of repetition, etc.  He also has very poor working memory skills-this means that he cannot hold more than 1 piece of information in his head at a time and use it.  No wonder reading is so hard!  It is as if he is seeing the words new every single time.  Since he is a great puzzle solver and pattern maker, I am looking for home reading systems that will break reading down into patterns.  It will be a very phonetic approach, with lots of repetition (and mom, this goes above and beyond Spaulding method!).  What a ride this will be.  The psych did note that Ian is a sunny personality who is willing to put his best into a task and such a polite guy!  Ian loved the time spent with him, and wants to see him just to play those games again!  On a clinical side, the psych is fascinated with kids like Ian as he doesn't see them too often-really high in areas and really low in others, complicated with the memory issues.  Challenging, but rewarding to work with.  I'm grateful that I am his mom and know what to DO with all this information to help him to learn.  I'm grateful Ian is so good at trying his best and willing to work to please me and himself.  I'm grateful for his sunshine and happiness and crazy games he can play for hours.  I'm grateful for his sisters who are willing to read with him and help him with his homework and step over his layouts instead of messing them up and causing world war III in the playroom.  I'm grateful to his daddy who loves his boy over the moon no matter what.  I'm glad I have a kid who will be able to find what he wants to do with his life and be happy.

On that positive note, I'm off until next week!

13 and Mothers' Day

So the biggest turns 13 on Friday!  So hard to believe she is a teenager.  Such a nice kid too.  I know we love our kids, regardless of who they are, but it is so fun to really like them as well!  She is having a few friends over on Saturday to go shopping at the mall (and taking the bus on their own there and back again, hope it doesn't turn out like the Hobbit) and a sleepover, which we all know there will be little sleep to be had by anyone!  Her cake will be chocolate with white frosting and sprinkled with mint m&m's.  Yum!  Some things for her to look forward to-getting a facebook account!  She has to friend any family member who requests her, including me!  Ah, the fun of venturing into social networking.  She also has an instagram account, but with no wifi at home, has limited availability to upload and share photos.  Bummer for her!

Here's a picture of her new bed!  We went to Ikea last weekend and picked up a Malm style (classy lines and all white) bed frame and ordered her a new comforter set and sheets with some throw pillows.  She loves it!

The new bed.  Yes the slats show-we got a queen for her double mattresses.  It was intentional!

A blast from the past!  Alex "helping" daddy shovel snow our first winter in Massena, NY

In other news, working 2 days a week is so nice!  I have time to get things done, but also get my teacher fix and make a bit on the side.  Happiness for the mental state and for the bottom line.

The picture below is my little friend.  Not sure what species he is, but figured grandma and grandpa Curtis would like him.  He has been banging on the windows that flank the front door.  Body is about the size of a chickadee and the blue on the head and neck is brilliant!  The rest of him is black and shiny.  His tail is very long and quite an agile flier.  Very pretty birds and they are all over our neighborhood.

Ian and Annika love to put together bouquets of flowers for me.  They use the hibiscus flowers accented with cuttings off the hedges and long stems of grass.  Quite the budding florists!

Here's Ian's tough look!  He finally got his uniform for tae kwon do classes.  LOVES it!  The instructor is a gem.  He's from Korea, has a high level black belt in the sport, and speaks very little English, but the little boys who do his class adore him!  Such patience and the enjoyment he gets from sharing his sport with the littlies is so fun to see!  Yes, I did let the appropriate people know how much he enjoys his job!  Unfortunately his visa is up in July and has had no luck getting it renewed.  I haven't told Ian yet. . . Annika has been loving the rhythmic gymnastics class she does at the same time.  So much giggling from all the little girls!  She gets to use the aerofit practice clothes from aerobics last year.  Thank goodness!

And it wouldn't be Mothers' Day without saluting my mom!  Because of the confidence you instilled in me I am who I am today and letting me know that there were no limits on what or where I wanted to be and do with my life!  I don't think you quite thought I would go this far away, but the strings leading home are always there to be followed.  Your grandkids love you and sleep under your quilts of love every night.  How excited are they to see you in a couple of short months!

From my grandma Louise I have my love of baking.  I remember making so many Christmas goodies with you and Aunt Carol-once we were big enough to not destroy the kitchen we cooked in!  One of my most treasured possessions are the hand written recipes for those candies.  Yum for many holidays to come-but the divinity will have to be made here in August!

To grandma Carol-you have filled a place in my heart left by the loss of grandma Bonnie.  Your sense of humor, ready laugh, and vibrant personality I so look forward to when we are home!

I so love all the ladies in my life-my aunts are the best and from each of you I have learned something about being a better mom and a better person all around.  My cousins and cousins-in-law, so nice to have girls of our generation to figure out how to navigate our own kids through the modern day pitfalls of growing up.  My mother in law who raised an incredible man who gifted me (on a no return policy!) with his children.

And my sister-a devoted mom with an adorable chick who is growing up so beautifully!  I thought of you when I saw this a few days ago and had to put it in here for all of the moms I know!  I think we can ALL relate no matter the age or stage of life we and the kids are in!

Love you all!

School Pictures

Finally!  Alex had hers done the first week of school, the others before the end of the first month.  We just got them last week-nearly 2 months to see how they turned out!  Alex doesn't like her hair-the pony was not cooperating, but she has such a great smile!  Annika had just cut her own hair a few days prior-of course.  Ian just smiles and says how handsome he is.  That's my boy!

Plugging away on everything else!  I've been on a bit of a cooking jag and obsessively wanting to share recipes, so here's another one.  SUPER yummy-even Ian eats his veggies this way!

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup mashed pumpkin (note all squash is called pumpkin here.  Canned pumpkin works great, but even better is baking your own, scooping from the shell, mashing/pureeing and using.  Use butternut squash-delicious!)

1 c wholewheat flour

3/4 cup plain flour

1 egg

1/2 c vanilla yogurt

1T cooking oil (I prefer olive oil)

1 t baking soda

1t baking powder

1 T vinegar in measuring cup, add milk to make 3/4 cup and let set 4-5 minutes

1 t cinnamon

1 t ground ginger

1/2 t ground cloves

Oven at 350, I just dump it all into a mixing bowl once the vinegar and milk has worked, mix until it is incorporated, put in cupcake liners and bake!  I have done regular size muffins and mini muffins, but not cake.  As it is sooo  moist, if you use a cake pan, use an 8x11 or jelly roll pan.  Muffins bake 15-20 minutes, minis 12-15.

Not a typo-there is no additional sugar in this.  The squash is sweet and the yogurt is too.  To reduce sugar further, use unsweetened Greek Yogurt.  I really can't tell a difference!

If you don't like pumpkin, replace with banana, applesauce (reduce milk to 1/2 cup), peaches or plums (reducing milk to 1/2 cup)

Also yummy to add in 1/2 cup choc chips!

Annika is selling Girl Guide biscuits this month (girl scout cookies!) and does not like the door to door approach.  She does not like hearing no and it makes her so sad!  They only have 2 varieties here!  The horror!  NO THIN MINTS and NO TAGALONGS AND NO SAMOAS!  All we have are shortbread and choc dipped shortbread, and mini choc dipped shortbread.  Yes, I will survive, but no Thin Mints??  Really!

Alex is planning her birthday party-sleepover with the girls!  A trip on the bus to the local mall, pizza and sushi for dinner with a choc cake, white frosting, and mint m&m's on top.  She scored big-a bed frame from Ikea (Malm style-white and simple!) with new sheets and comforter from Target.  Already got the bed and assembled it-the rest coming Thursday as they have arrived at the store!  Will have to post a pic next time!  It is pretty-and very Alex.

Happy Birthday to my Mom!  And almost happy retirement to my dad!

Love you all-counting the days down until we get to visit!