Our Week

Alex updates:  He is progressing in the walking department.  We are so proud of him!

(Don’t mind the little yellow alien at the end of the video – that would be Bella and her fetish for other people’s clothes)

His head banging is seriously reduced!  We are so proud of him!  He is still doing it in the car seat, but not on the hard concrete floor and that is a huge improvement!

This was a really big week, Bec’s last full week with us, so I cancelled all therapies.  I don’t know that I’ve EVER done that before.  It made me feel guilty :), but that’s just me.

Lots of changes for my Sammi girl!  Jason and she went to the high school for a meeting on the tablets they will be renting to all of the students.  Monday Sammi and I registered her and meet with her counselor. (Poor lady had Bec last year and Sam this year!)  We went to Freshmen Orientation on Friday. It was loud.  It was crowded.  It was obnoxious with standleaders, band, cheerleaders, drill team – basically a mini-prep relay – AND she handled it, no problem!  So grateful!  I can’t ask for an IEP or a 504 until at least 3 weeks, and they would prefer 6.  We shall see what we shall see.  So far she is handling her anxieties – way to go babe!

Remember the little yellow alien at the end of Alex’s walking video above – that would be this creature!  If she finds clothes on the floor, they go on her body. It’s awesome for learning to dress herself except she can’t figure out that everything doesn’t go around your neck, shirts, shorts, underwear, bras, it’s all the same to her!  -And she loves the bath!! If she hears the water running she scoots into the bathroom to see if she can get in.  I get cries of “Mom!  Come get Bella!”  They call her the Peeping Tom!

Becca asked me to take her back out to Tomball and do a photo shoot of her, her viola, and her pointe shoes.  She is so happy that this summer she was able to learn so much more Ballet.  After her trip to Iowa, her summer has basically been ballet, viola, and her psychology course.  She loved how the pictures turned out.  Bella screamed the whole way through.  We finally figured out that she just wanted to play the viola too!  Then she stopped screaming and kept “crawling” away.

And finally these two pictures.  She likes the first one.  She says it’s symbolic…she is walking away, moving on.  That’s probably why I like the second one.  :)

Tuesday Becca wanted to see some uniquely Texas locations – Bucee’s and the Blue Bell Factory.

Wednesday for YW we had a great activity on Weddings and what to look for in a future companion.  One big point made was to be what you are looking for!

Another item on Becca’s “Before I leave Texas” list was some good Tex-Mex. Just so happened that some friends from church invited Sam and Jes over for swimming and pizza, so we took everyone else out to Gringo’s for fajitas!

Playing – Duck, Duck, Goose          Swimming (notice the the extra shirt  and PJ shirt on Bella)

New slippers (They came from Becca’s closet.  We boxed up all of her keepsakes this week.)

On Lizzy’s list this summer was to dissect a frog.  We figured that last summer we found so many dead frogs in the baby pool in the back yard that getting our hands on a specimen wouldn’t be a problem.  For some reason this year the frogs are smarter.  This is the first one we have seen in the pool and he hopped out before the sun could bake him.  So we are going to have to resort to buying a frog dissection kit.  She and I are going to do that for her 5th Grade Science Fair.

Coloring

Xylophone – she loves it!! Is it the sticks and the power or the incredible amount of noise she can make??                        Playing with Brother’s light box (looks cooler in the dark)

Food related:  Joy’s favorite snack is bread with mustard and one of her sisters was kind enough to take the time to write out JOY – she loved it!    

Lizzy made this pumpkin bread all by herself.  I was in and out that day and she did the whole thing without help.  It was delicious!! 

Sammi made us a Boston Cream Pie – a two day endeavor!!  It was awesome!

Bella, oh Bella. She lost her g-button four times this week.  Just the call you want to get from home during Freshmen Orientation, “Mom, Bella’s button fell out.”  The balloon is busted and I’m nursing it along.  Hopefully we are getting a new one on Monday.  They will only pay for a new one every six months.  We usually only last about four for Bella.  Lots of phone calls.  Here’s hoping it’s here on Monday!

A friend found these stickers on the internet – love it!  Cute Jessi helped me put it on the van.  Don’t know if it will help or not.  Most people don’t realize there is a difference between handicap parking and handicap van accessible parking.  I’m just grateful that Bella is still small enough that I can pick her up.  My heart goes out to parents who can’t and can’t find parking.

I registered Lizzy for Fifth Grade at Mittlestadt Elementary.  That is the school Joy and Bella go to.  I would rather deal with one Elementary school than two, but District policy leaves it up to the principal discretion. She was kind enough to allow Lizzy to come as well. I have to provide transport. She will be my first one to attend public school during Fifth Grade.

Friday morning was Bella’s ARD.  She will be attending for a 1/4 of the day.  The hope is she will be able to work up to 1/2 a day.  That means I get to provide transport. That means four times to Mittlestadt a day, six on the days that Lizzy stays after for Fifth Grade Strings!  People keep asking me what I’m going to do with all of my free time now that everyone will be in school.  What free time?  I’ll be in the car from 7:50 until 9 with Elementary and Middle school dropoff and then back to the Elementary by 10:30.  Then repeat at the other end of the day.  Plus we have to fit in all of our therapies.  It’s gonna be great!

Swinging

                                                             These two LOVE the water!

Becca requested a game of “May I?” 

Bec wen to Kleb and helped out with their Summer Orchestra and preparing instruments for new students.  Grateful for these experiences.  She has really gotten to see into her chosen career. 

Jessi was also in Summer Orchestra, but over at Doerre.  She has been working hard on her new music already.  Harp is crazy – first off, they stick you in the back in a practice room, rather than with the rest of the Orchestra.   Secondly, while the rest of the kids are pulling one note at a time, Jessi is playing the piano accompaniment on the harp.  It’s no wonder she is improving so quickly!  So much is expected!  I wonder how long she’ll stick with it, though.  It’s beautiful and she loves it, but expectations on the harps are just so much higher and she has such a laid back personality.  We’ll see.  Meanwhile, we love listening to her practice!

Bec and some friends went out on a group date on Friday.  The traditional handing off of the keys (ornery kid wouldn’t stick around for the flash to go off!)  They were going up to the park to go ice blocking.  The cute Texas kids were completely confused by what that was.  :)  But half way there the storm of the century turned them around and they ended up with games upstairs and frozen yogurt.  Oh well, “It was fun.” Bec said.   That night she finished her five week psychology class twenty minutes before the deadline!  That’s my girl – nothing like a deadline to keep ya going!

 

 

 

My Jessi and Sammi at the temple bright and early on Saturday morning.  Love being there with them!