Time's flying

I'm not exactly saying when you're having fun, but nevertheless it's going by very quickly.

Kaelin got the Responsibility Character award this month.  Very proud that my girls are such good citizens in school.  Responsibility surprised the two of us since she's a tad flighty, but hey, maybe she's different in school.  YAY!

Chase and Cole had their orthodontic visit and Chase decided to do away with the green bands and he went with pink and black.  I talked him into pink for Breast Cancer Awareness and then he decided black too.  Looks good and the boy isn't afraid to sport pink!

Everything else is just coming along.  We're still waiting on Cole to get all Bs so we can give him his cell back, give him his letter jacket and he can have a little more freedom.  One test and the progress set him back.  He was on the tippy top of that C when his College Prep Chemistry test got the better of him.  I guess he better learn some better study habits.  He's not very good at that yet since he's never really studied before.  Tough lesson to learn as a sophomore for sure.

Jaemin's speech is really coming along.  He still really struggles with certain letters and sounds, but his sentences are slowly getting longer, more complete and more understandable.  Glad his therapy is helping.  Now, we get to start doing more OT exercises at home.  The school's OT checked on his light pencil grip and is planning to give us a list of exercises we can try doing with him to strengthen his upper body (arms and core).  She's suggesting an exercise ball he can sit on and watch tv, like adults use.  So that's our next purchase.  He's getting more patient and willing, so I think his therapy is helping him along.  I can see progress....slowly, but surely.

2012 Reminder

I'm not totally disappointed that my mother-in-law really wants an 8x10 photo of the kids every single year.  It gives me an excuse to force the big ones to just get dressed and let me take their pictures.  The girls will allow me to do that anytime...but the boys, not so much.  They'll do stuff for grandmas, that they won't do for me.  I'm now all finished with 2012 reminders of my babies.

No internet break

forced internet breaks are great to an extent.  We went down on Thursday and came back up some time Monday.  It was nice to find other things to do, but I had Kohls cash to print before it expired, Chase had homework he needed the internet for and I couldn't print any coupons.  But, we all survived.

So, what's changed.  Really nothing.  No exciting time in our lives.  It's been a miserable week at work.  Everything that goes wrong with our providers is being blamed on me, by the provider, of course.  My boss 100% backs me up because she knows it's not anything I can do anything about....just circumstances....but I understand their passion.  Hopefully, tomorrow's better.

Got snarked at by our school's superintendent for having any concern of kids waiting on the front steps of school because the doors are literally locked until 7:30 while teachers and staff (and the principal herself) parade their kids through those same doors into the warm and safety of the school right in front of those kids.  I respectfully asked if they insist on their kids going in if they could just use the side entrance, but that's when I got the snarky remark about it being all about me.  I just know my baby and her friends don't understand at their ages the fairness of this.  To be honest, I struggle with it.

Chase had a good football day Saturday.  He made his tackles as cornerback and then went in as the back up runningback on offense.  He never got a TD, but he got some yardage for them and a sore hip.  I hope the other two runningbacks are better for this Saturday.  I wouldn't really want him playing both sides all the time at this very young age.

We're working on a grade issue with Cole.....or should I say Cole's in charge of straightening it out.  Hopefully he's able to so I don't have to, but we'll see.  It's a big misunderstanding that cost him a grade because of another student's bad attitude and lack of any work ethic.  I did finally find Cole some jeans that fit.  They finally were delivered last week.  29x34's.  He could have used 28s, but unless I wanted to pay $60 (at least) I couldn't find any.  If the boy grows anymore, we're in big (I mean tall) trouble.

On to the rest of September.  There may not be much, but I hope it's better.

Happy Birthday to #4 & #5

Yep, my last two babies have birthdays on top of each other.  However, since they are 1 days apart I want to try as hard as possible not to combine them to make sure they each get their own day.  It's not like we have big birthday bashes every year anyways.  So, Jaemin got cupcakes and Chelsi got cupcakes and before we ate supper we had them blow out their candles so dad and Chase could be there for it.  My sweet little babies are now 4 and 7.

Make a Wish Update

So, after 7 months of not hearing from Cole's wish granters, I thought I'd just email the local office to get an idea of how things work.  He was asking questions, I just couldn't answer.  They emailed me back and said while the wish granters are supposed to periodically update you on what's going on, they may not have been because we had put down our dates for next year and we're too far out yet.  I now understand why they say they grant most wishes in 6 months.  It's because the physician has to be contacted to make sure the wish is safe for the child, in whatever condition they are currently in, and then the wish can go to the board and be granted.  The approval from the physician is not good for more than 6 months.

She let me know that they plan to contact our cardiologist around November or December so that he can go in May, our first choice.  At this point, we don't suspect Dr. R to say no, but as most parents to heart kids, you also know that you never know anything.  I asked about finding out if Korea is even doable and if they don't anticipate it is if he can go ahead and have his 2nd wish instead, to go to Cabelas this year before wrestling season.  She basically told me that if Cabelas is his one true wish they can change things and arrange for that, but she said generally, unless a doctor says no to a wish for health or safety reasons they will most often get their one true wish.  Of course, this is barred if someone wishes to meet a celebrity or something like that where the celebrity has ultimate control.

So, we're just letting things ride out to see if by the end of December he's either granted Korea or for some reason he gets Cabelas instead and we'll reevaluate what we'll do then.  We're going to try to do both, if at all possible, since Cabelas is not far from here, even though we've never been.  I don't know we can actually afford to go to Korea, but if we can we'll do that as well.  If he gets Korea, we'll let him find something at Cabelas we would never normally do.  Anyone that knows us knows we do NOT over spend or lavish our kids with gifts by any stretch of the means.  We really do just want Cole to feel ever so special one time in his life.  He knows he could have had a worse life or worse case scenario for his healthy, but it doesn't take away his hurt of not doing things other kids can do at this age.  I hope one day he really does understand this and accept it, but for now he's a teenager, that can't see past it. We're doing our best.

My sweet, smart little girl

Chelsi's 1st grade teacher emailed me to let me know she got the Respect character award for this time.  She said "Chelsi shows respect by listening attentively, being considerate of her classmates feelings, using good manners, encouraging others to do well, and by playing fair."  So proud of her!

On top of that, the teacher over the gifted program called to to let me know that she spoke with the school psychologist and principal and because she scored 99% on the reading test and a 94% on the math test screen and then went on to score a 120 on the Wechsler IQ test.  She is now accepted into the school's gift program at age 6 and 1st grade.  WOW!  So much for delays from being born 10 weeks early, etc., etc.  

I can't wait to write our letter next year for her Korean mother, to leave in the file, so she knows how smart her daughter is.  No one can take credit for this, on Earth, except Chelsi and at least one of her Korean birthparents.  My good little girl.

TOUCHDOWN!!

What happens when coaches finally give a quiet boy a chance to show them what he's made of?  That quiet little cornerback intercepts and runs 70 yards for a touchdown!  This is the 1st touchdown of the season!  I was so glad I had my camera in my hand just in case and had no idea what was going on when I looked in the viewfinder to see the ball in my son's hands.  Everyone loves watching him run.  They all tell us he runs like a deer or gazelle.  He has long legs and a really long stride, so he looks slow, but he covers a LOT of ground.  There was no one near to catch him, so he made it clear of everyone the whole way.  His sweet name was announced many times for all of his tackles too.  I hope he has a great school career in football since he really does enjoy it so much, even when they weren't playing him for the first 5 weeks.  He earned his spot!

Interception from before the 30 yard line.

He's in and they're celebrating their first touchdown this year.  

 This boy is always on the bottom.