Geek of the Week July 2015

I swear this kid gets more geek of the weeks than anyone else.  He is such a ham most of the time.  I am glad that he could really care less about what others think.  It will serve him well over the years. This is him dancing like Michael Jackson just because.  Brenny has a song in his heart that just wont quite and sometimes he just has to get his groove on.  Even if he is a dork doing it. 

Brennen reminds me so much of my dad sometimes.  They look a lot a like their eating habits are the same (produce junkies, and popcorn) They even have the same mannerisms and tender heart.  I see so much of my dad in him everyday.  Here he is driving my dads beloved Pontiac.

geek of the week June 2015

My kids really wanted to hang their swords on the wall.  I
 told them absolutely not, we will not hang any swords on the wall of our living spaces.  we are not that kind of decorators. One night I came home from running some errands and found this in our living room

I guess they found the loop hole.

Martial Arts May 2015

William and Brennen have been taking Marital Arts for a year now.  This is the perfect sport for them.  They get to wrestle and fight and play with swords.  They just love it.  I love that I found a place very close that I can afford and that they love it.  The other great thing about this studio is that they only have 1 tournament a year.  This happens to be one of the tournaments.  My boys take this very seriously.  Brennen did great and won 2nd place in swords for his level. I only let him compete in 1 event this time because it costs to enter the event.
 William was able to compete in 2 events this year. He did swords again and grappling this time.  William took first place in grappling even though we just moved him up to the next level  He also placed in swords but not as high as he would have hoped.  He was so disappointed in himself because he swept the swords tournament last year. I told him it was okay becuase he did so well in grappling. I bet with a little more pracitce he can get right back up on top of the podium for swords with his new higher level.
I am grateful that they have something that they love and we are able to give it to them. 
  

Peter Kinder Grad May 2015

Peter graduated from kindergarten but just barley.  This little one has really struggled with the academic part of school.  This baffles me a little because I know he is smart enough.  He knew all his ABC"s  by shape and sound before he was even 2 years old.  After much trial and error we realized he is also blessed with the curse of ADD.  I say blessed with the curse because it is both.  With ADD you can notice so many things, your brain has the ability to do so many things at one time.  People with ADD are very curious, smart, excellent problem solvers because they can think out of the box, and creative just to mention a few things.  But they are also cursed, because it is so hard to focus on 1 thing at a time that it can take forever to learn something.  Their brains are working so hard that they get exhausted and just can't take any more so they let their attention wander.  I myself have ADD and my wonderful mother had taught me many tricks to help me to be able to focus.  The older I got the easier it was for me to know what I would need to pay attention and when I knew I wasn't going to get anything out of . . .

Recognizing the signs we decided to give him the caffeine.  We have already gone through this with Ellie and between her doctor and I opted to try the caffeine route first.  This is something these kids are going to have to deal with their whole lives.  I like the caffeine route because I can control the side effects.  (This doesn't work for everyone but it worked for Ellie and we were going to try it for Peter).  Peter didn't like soda for breakfast (that is what we used for Ellie) so I found some sweet mints that have 1mg of caffeine in them per mint.  We tried these so I could dose him appropriately with it being such a small dose.  

I gave him them in the morning for a few days then I went into the school to talk with the teacher and see how he was doing.  When I talked with her she was so excited that Peter had been finishing his morning work everyday without complaint of needing help.  We found the trick for him.  After that announcement I told her about his mints.  

Something that people don't realized with ADD people is that it takes a lot of energy to focus and those with ADD are focusing on so many things at one that there just isn't enough energy for their brains to function "normally"  Caffeine helps give them that extra boost so they can focus on the things that they are supposed to focus on.  It was a little late before we figured this out so he is still behind but we will just have to wait and see what the summer brings. 

During his kindergarten class graduation the teacher had all the kids come up to receive their award.  She also gave them a special award.  When she got to Peter she gave him the award for the best smile.  She could never get over his darling dimples.  When she interviewed him just before school I tried to tell her to put her blinders on when it came to his dimples because he can talk you out of doing things with that smile.  She really struggled with that

Ellie Voice Aug 2015

Ellie has been taking voice lessons, something she has really been enjoying. I tried to get her voice lessons many years ago and she always told me that she already knew how to sing.  After years of trying I finally let it go.  I know she has a talent for it I just wanted to help it grow.  Well she finally came to me and asked for the voice lessons.  Coming across as voice teacher is harder than you think.  They aren't that many and many of their prices are a little over my budget.  We asked around and got a tip from a friend of this teacher.  She has a master in voice from BYU and she was fairly close.  When you're trying to juggle kids schedules proximity is a huge bonus.  Ellie has been learning and growing in her voice talent.  Here is a snippet of what she can do. 

Lagoon with Cousins July 2015

This was our second time going to Lagoon with the kids.  This time we went by ourselves for most of the day.  My sister Stephanie and her family joined us later.

Little Peter Pie was too small to go on most of the big rides but that didn't stop us from trying to sneak him on.  We would wait in line and I was trying to teach him how to stand as tall as he possibly could.  Try rising up on his tippy toes just enough that it looks like he still had his feet on the ground. He didn't quite master that skill.  So we did the next best thing and tried to rush past the person measuring.  We succeeded on some of the rides but not all.  He was very disappointed about that.  Peter really wanted to ride the Colossus.  I knew he was just too short but we waited until the person checking heights took a break.  We quickly ran past and got on the ride.  Peter loved it, he wasn't scared at all. Once we got off he asked to do it again.  We rounded the corner to get back in line but no luck, the checker was back at his post.

We all had a great time.  I even tried the Cannibal.  Talk about an intense ride.  To begin they put you in a cart that just has a lap belt, then the cart goes in this tower and takes you up a dark elevator of sorts.  The whole time going up the elevator I kept saying "oh geeze, oh my, oh my, oh geeze"  I was very nervous.  Once you reach the top this large garage type door opens and you see nothing but sky.  The track is nowhere to be found.  It gives you a couple of seconds to let this all sink in and then it drops you straight down in a concave curve.  I am not gonna lie.  I was screaming, and not like a little girl but like a grown woman who was plummeting to her death.  Oh my it was intense.  The ride proceeds to do some loops and turns then on the back side of the tower we came up in it decides to turn us upside down slowly.  Remember we just have a lap bar holding us in.  Everyone and I mean everyone at the end of this ride are just in shock.  Grateful to be back in one piece.  Not once did I see a group return with smiles and cheers of joy.  That has gotta say something about the intensity of the ride.  I am glad I did it but I don't think it will be a regular occurrence.

We opted to save some money and packed a picnic lunch which we ate in the car.  As we were sitting in the car with the AC on this Dragon fly kept coming on the antenna.  I don't know what was attracting it but I got a cool picture from it.

Sleeping Kids May 2015

I woke up to find all my boys huddled together on my floor.  I was a little confused as to why they were there and my door was locked.  Typically if they find their way in my room they leave the door wide open, they never lock it.  Then I came across this note.  I guess it explains everything.

Apparently something big went down while I was sleeping.  I guess I am just glad they didn't wake me up.

Peter Soccer June 2015

 

We decided that Peter was finally old enough to be enrolled in an organized sport.  I know that he has been old enough but with 4 kids all having a sport plus their other extra curricular activities there just isn't enough time in the days to get everything done and everyone to their practices and games.  As it was I had all 3 boys enrolled in soccer and almost every week I had to miss someones game or part of it to get the other kid to their game.  Not to mention it totally ate up our Saturdays.  We love to play as a family on Saturdays and with soccer taking over it was really just another day of rushing not a day for us to be together as a family.

Peter really didn't love soccer.  He kept telling his coach that he really wanted to be a wrestler not a soccer player.  Oh well, at least I tried.