CRT Celebration....

 

Grant's teacher does the funnest things!  We got to do this for Haden last year, and we got to do it for Grant this year!  We make a poster, encouraging him and if he gets discouraged during the testing, he could look at it.

We came up with this idea and had fun with it!  Each of us came up with our own sayings.  Grant loved it!!
(you can click on the picture above to make it bigger)

The night before each testing day, they were asked to get a good nights sleep.  And the parents were to keep track and if they did it and turned in their paper, they got to be part of a kickball game.  Grant was sure to keep us on track with bedtime each night!!

  

Grant playing in the kickball game!!
Thanks to his teacher for sending me pictures!

Also today they had a pizza party and a lego party!

Grant and Haden carried in his container of legos to school this morning, Grant was so excited!

  

He had a lot of fun today with all of their activities!!

We are so grateful for an amazing teacher that makes these testing days worth it!  

 

Update on Cole's new adventure!

 

Let's just say that I am grateful for answers to prayers!

Throughout my life I have prayed for many different things, and always my Heavenly Father has given me answers.  Not all are the answers I want or was hoping for, but I do get answers that are right for that moment in time.

We have been concerned for Cole's ability to focus for a long time.  Throughout this time we have prayed for how best to help him.  We have been able to get through things and better help him each time.  He was still focusing at school and doing things to help himself focus as well.  At those times he didn't need the extra help to keep himself caught up and on task.  When he started to really struggle, our prayers were answered this time with the thought 'I wonder if there is a Do Terra oil that would help'.  Seriously it was a passing thought that I had, I know people that use them and love them.  I talked to some people I know and trust and got their input on some oils.  I mentioned the thought to my Mom and sister one night while we were out to dinner.  My sister told me if I felt like I should look into it, to do it.  So I kind of looked around but wasn't sure.  My Mom knew of a lady that used the oils and she had talked to her about it.  This kind lady gave us a sample to try, and has since given us another sample with the hopes of our order getting here soon!

On Thursday we started using the oil Intune.  We used it Thursday and Friday but not over the weekend (I wanted to make sure I had enough to last him until our order came).  Talking to his teacher she said he is doing really good!  Throughout this week, he has done awesome!  In fact one day he came home and said 'Mom do you know what?  Usually movie days are the only day that I can really focus, because if I don't I won't be able to watch the movie.  But today I heard every thing Miss Poley said.  I knew what I was suppose to be doing and had a good day.'

Re-read that conversation.....

Cole has NO clue why I put the oil on him.  Not only have we noticed a difference be HE has too!!!!  Like I said, prayers were answered!

I went into his class the other day, and usually I redirect him quite a few times because he is so involved in all of the other conversations going on.  While I was in there, I didn't have to say one word to him!  He was quietly working and doing exactly what he needed to be doing.  He wasn't turning around to see what the other kids were doing or talking about, he wasn't watching me and seeing what I was doing, he wasn't staring off to some corner of the room...he was doing exactly what he was suppose to be doing!

I am so grateful for the thought I had, for the answer to my prayers in how to help him.  I am so grateful for the support we have received and for how this has truly helped him!!  

 

Stubborn to the core!

 

Kahle has shown us that he is more stubborn that any of our other kids.  And when it comes to potty training he has not given in easily!  To the point Jeff and I have no clue what to do for him.  We have tried the potty training tricks, the charts, the stickers, the prizes, treats, the charts to get big prizes, making him clean it all up himself, losing electronics (wii, xbox, etc), losing snacks for the day and on and on....name it, we've probably tried it!  He currently has a large Batman and Mikey (Michelangelo - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) on the back of the toilet.  He could care less that he doesn't get them.  He is not wanting to do this and to be honest I don't either!  I am so tired of cleaning out underwear, of making sure he cleans out the underwear, of the whole situation!

So Jeff and I have decided that he is going into pull ups, the cheap kinds that don't have any fun pictures on them.  He will have to go back to having his bum changed like a baby, and his fun toys on the back of the toilet -- yeah they are going to be put up.  We are going to start all over and see if he realizes that he may be stubborn, but we can be more stubborn than he is!

This has got to work, this child cannot go to pre-school next school year if he doesn't do this!

So cross your fingers and say a prayer for all of us!

Even though we have 5 kids, this just goes to show how different each child really is!

 

Haden's Allergy Test Results - ACK!

So I am at Haden's baseball game last week...I get a call from his ENT wanting to notify me of his results.  He was quite surprised with them, at a loss of words at times.  Basically said that he is shocked Haden isn't worse off than he seems, or that he doesn't combust when he goes outside!  His numbers were high in most of what they tested for!

I requested that I get a copy of the lab results, just to have myself.  I opened them up and was shocked with what I saw!  No wonder the kids asthma acts up!

Here are his results...
(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

This is what the numbers mean - 

0 - <0 .35="absent/undetectable</p">

1 - 0.35-0.70 = low level

2 - 0.71-3.50 = moderate level

3 - 3.51- 17.5 = high level

4 - 17.6-50 = very high level 

So as you can see, pretty much most trees and grasses he has high or very high allergies.  On this page there is only one moderate, the rest or high or very high.

On this page he is NOT allergic to egg whites, cows milk, codfish, shrimp or herbarum - those are all absent or undetectable.  The rest range from low to very high.  We knew of the cat and dog allergies, he has had those since he was way little...but those numbers are in the 40's!!  We did not know of the peanut allergy....shocked all of us on that (including the ENT who was surprised he didn't have to have an epi pen with him, since it is a very high level one).

I asked the ENT if we needed to cut things out of his diet, because he hasn't had an allergic reaction (meaning swelling, stopped breathing, etc) to anything food wise.  The ENT told me to wait until we see the allergist, so we can make a plan and decide what we need to do.  

Now that the lab results are back, we are waiting for the referral to go through.  Hoping to hear back from them in the next couple of days, so we can make some decisions with the allergist.  And get this all under control!

A new adventure for Cole (and us too) -

Since this sweet face was born Jeff and I have noticed there was something a bit different about him than our other kids.  We weren't big at comparing our kids but there were a few things that were kind of 'off'.  Growing up Cole was easily distracted, he would move from thing to thing, he had no interest in things like coloring or reading books.  Things that required you to sit for longer than just a few minutes.  When he would do breathing treatments they would cause him to fall asleep, if any of us do them they cause us to shake and my other kids would get wired.

Going through pre-school his teacher mentioned the same thing, that his mind seemed to often wander and she would have to re-direct him.  I voiced my concerns at a Dr. appt.  but the Dr. I think thought I was crazy.  Said she didn't think that was anything to be concerned about.  I decided we would watch Cole and see.

I talked to his Kindergarten teacher about my concerns before school even started.  She told me that she would watch him and if she felt there was a problem she would let me know.  She did mention that he moved a lot, he preferred standing when it was allowed and if he was gluing he wanted to kneel on the ground so he was eye level with it.  If Cole could kneel he would quickly finish, if he was standing or sitting he wouldn't finish it.  And he never bothered anyone, kept all of his movements to himself.  But she referred to him as young and a little immature. He was young, but he was older than when Grant was in kinder.  She said he just liked to move, and wouldn't be too concerned about it.

So he went onto 1st grade with his teacher being aware of this.  I told her if she saw anything that concerned her to please let me know.  We met for our parent teacher conference and she did talk about his lack of focus at times.  But at that point it wasn't hurting his learning, he was still able to stay on task or get caught up on his own if he wasn't sure what he is suppose to be doing.  So school continued on!  Everyone who knows him, knows the kid can't keep still!  Cole loves to be moving, dancing or drumming.  He isn't hyper, but his lack of focus is there.  Well his awesome teacher came to me, letting me know his focus is not there.  If he doesn't know what to do, or gets caught up in something else and has lost his focus, he will just sit there.  He won't ask for help, or directions, he will just sit there doing his own thing.  He is having to be re-directed more and needing more help than he did before.  Jeff and  I have done a lot of talking and figuring out what we are going to do.  You see ADD and ADHD run in my family, so we would not be a surprise if he was ADD.  But at this point he isn't to where we feel he needs medication for it, and don't really want to take him to a Dr just yet.  After much thought and prayer, we are going to try some oils and see if they help.  We used the oils (we are trying Do Terra Intune, we might add another one, but we are starting with this) on Thursday and Friday and his teacher said that he had really good days, both of those days.  At home he seems a little more crazy, but I don't know if that is just because he is staying on task and actually focusing at school or what.  But if he is doing better at school, I will take him being crazy at home :)

We are trying the oils, and hoping that they help him so that he can feel successful at and in school!  I want him to know that he is smart and amazing and can do anything he sets his mind to!

 

The little things going on....

I need to get back into blogging/journaling better!  So here I go :)

Monday Cole stayed home from school.  His asthma was flaring up, so I kept him home to do breathing treatments with him.  While my Dad was watching Cole and Kahle (we were at the CRT Pep Rally), Cole started complaining of an ear ache.  He was in tears!  We got him some tylenol and made him comfortable.  We call the peds office and they set up an appt. for the next morning (it was already too late to get one that day).

Tuesday morning Cole and I woke up at 5:30 with him running a 101 fever, and in pain.  So glad we had an appt. for him!

He has a nasty ear infection!  Poor kiddo!  Got him medicine, he is on the mend and we are to go back in 2 weeks to make sure it is clearing up.

Since he was running a fever, he couldn't go to school on Wednesday either.

Kahle LOVES Coleman, and was so excited to have his buddy home with him!

Luckily his fever cleared up, and he was good to go back to school on Thursday.

On Friday we got to meet up with Kristin and Konner!!  We have missed them so and couldn't wait for Friday to get here!!

We met up for Sushi, and talked and had a good time!

Then they came with Lorey and I to pick up kids from school!

Delaney LOVED holding Konners hand and walking around with him!

After picking the kids from school, we headed to the park to meet up with other friends.

Haden was being so cute pushing Konner in the swing.  He had Konner laughing so hard, it was adorable!!

The group shot :)

Oh Kristin it was so good to see you!  Miss you like crazy!!!

 

Kahle tripped over his own feet and landed on his head.  See the nice mark on his forehead?!  It actually didn't swell too much and he cried for a minute but was good to go after a hug and a kiss!

Saturday was spent at home.  Haden didn't have a game, and so we cleaned out the toy bins, sorted toys, threw away broken ones and got it all organized.  

   

Saturday night the kids took their showers and before bed, we headed out to visit Jeff at work (since we hadn't seen him at all and he wouldn't get home until after 11pm).  Before we went to get Jeff, I stopped at Maverick and the kids got to pick out a shake and a candy.

If you know me, you know that I am not a fan of taking my kids out in their PJ's or without their hair done.  But that's exactly what we did and the kids were SO excited!!

We got to Jeff's work and they were excited to see their Dad!  He drove us back home and went back to work, so he could have a car for the night.  

Later Kahle ended up throwing up :(  Delaney kept complaining her tummy hurt, but went to sleep and we didn't hear from her in the night.  Kahle hasn't thrown up since, but Delaney did this morning.  I just hope it's a one time thing and everyone else doesn't end up sick!  

How many more days until summer?!  When we can just enjoy each day, enjoy being together and take on whatever comes our way!

 

CRT Pep Rally!

On Monday, April 15th Schorr Elementary's 3rd, 4th and 5th graders went to Liberty High School for their CRT Pep Rally!  To get the pumped up and excited for the CRT testing they had coming up!!

This year Jeff got to join us at the CRT Pep Rally, he went with Haden and his class and I went with Grant and his class!

Haden's class getting ready to go in!

This is Haden's 2nd time going, he was excited and couldn't wait to be there!

I love going with the 3rd graders!  They are excited, but once they get inside they become a little nervous, still excited, but not sure what is happening :)

Heading inside, walking through the band, cheerleaders and football players!

High Five!

Haden is ready to go!

 

He's a bit unsure of what is going on :)

There is lots of cheering, chanting, screaming and dancing!

   

Haden got into the dancing :)
Jeff said Haden and his friend Jonah were fun to sit by because they would plan out what they were going to do before they did it!

 

A little mesmerized by the cheerleaders....gotta love boys :)

He had fun, even if you can't tell ;)

Love these two!  (it was a bit sunny)
Haden's favorite parts were dancing and watching the Haka!

Love him!!

Grant's favorite parts were watching the Haka and high fiving the cheerleaders and football players when they were walking in!

Here's a little video of the Haka....a favorite for sure!

I love that Schorr Elementary School makes the tests fun, and even if the kids are nervous it is played up to be exciting!  They make them feel like they can do it and Rock The Test!!

Glad that Jeff and I were both able to go and be there with both of the kids!

CRT Spirit Week!!

Can I just say that my kids attend a pretty awesome school?!!
Well they do! This last week they had CRT Spirit Week! CRT's are tests that the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students have to take. And to make the test a little less scary, our school makes it FUN! We had spirit week last week and tomorrow I get to attend a Pep Rally at Liberty High School where they pump up the kids and get them excited!!

Each day there was a different theme, to remind the kids what they need to do during CRT testing (the whole school was able to participate in the fun though) and to get them pumped up!

 

Monday - Get a good nights sleep PJ day - wear your favorite cozy PJ's to school to show you will get a good night's sleep each night before the testing!

I didn't need to rag tie Delaney's hair (since it is already naturally curly) but I 'had' to because it was cute!

Tuesday - Our future is BRIGHT! Wear sunglasses and/or neon colors to school!

Wednesday - We're going to SOCK it to the CRTs - Crazy sock day!

Kahle of course had to join in each day, he loved it all too!

My crazy kids in their crazy socks!!

Thursday - Our thinking CAPS are on - Wear your favorite hat to school!

Friday - Testing Genius - Dress like your best testing genius (nerd) to show that you are going to ROCK THAT TEST!!

Check out each of my cute nerds up close....

Aren't they cute?!!

We had a lot of fun!  It's a lot of work with all 5 kids wanting to dress up, but it is worth it!!