Communication

Generally, I think that my husband and I have stellar communication skills. But this past week, it has been a real trial. I think it comes from a few different sources. First of all, we have had a lot going on and haven't spent as much time making sure that we are being as effective as necessary in our communications with one another. Secondly, Hubby has been in pain with some dental issues and has been on some pretty strong pain meds. Thirdly, I have been really short-changed on sleep this week. Not because of any one reason, but because that's what happens to me every so often.

You see, I generally sleep all the way through the night. I don't get up for drinks or restroom or anything. If I do wake up, I stay in bed. Once I have to physically get up, I'm done for the night. I just cannot fall back asleep. It interrupts my sleep cycle in a most vicious way. This has been the case for most of my life. Add to that the fact that I am both a night owl and an early bird and well, it all adds up to sleep deprivation.

Occasionally, I can grab a short afternoon nap while Jeriah is at school with the bigger kids but this week, it has been so hit and miss. Part of it is that I lay down but cannot fall asleep for the first two hours, which gives me about 30 minutes to nap before needing to go pick up the kids and then I'm worried that I'll oversleep so I automatically wake up about every 5 minutes.

Okay, so with all of that being said, I know that I need to work harder to try and get better rest at night and see what I can do to sleep through the night again. I may even take some Benadryl tonight just to get myself to fall asleep a little bit more quickly. You know, jump start my sleep cycle.

And as far as communication goes, I know that with the pain meds that Hubby is on, I cannot have the expectation that he will be able to listen and understand what I am saying. And I need to not take it to heart when he doesn't. It's a difficult thing for me, because our communication is so easy most of the time. I am just used to the way it normally is. This is just a short season. Soon, he will be better and our communication will be back to normal as well.

Until then, I'm going to work on being more understanding, try to minimize trivial conversation and let him rest as much as possible. I think that is the best thing that I can do right now. By doing those things, it will allow him to rest and hopefully get to feeling better and will minimize the number of opportunities that I have to allow my feelings to be hurt.

Could you keep his healing and my emotions and my ability to sleep in your prayers this week? I'd greatly appreciate it! In the meantime, I have a LONG list of things to do while Hubby is laid up. Guess this is as good a time as any to get all that stuff done!

(Linking up to: Home Sanctuary and this week's Company Girl Coffee.)

Gotta Get Stuff Done!

Hubby is having some severe dental issues so I am off of work for the remainder of the week. Since I know this (in advance) I can plan the remainder of my week accordingly. I have a number of things that I would like to get done over the next few days. I am going to make a list here and cross them out (along with the date) that I get them completed. Here goes:

Wipe down dining room table and re-set decorations on top (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Sweep and mop dining room floor (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Dust dining room

Clear off kitchen counters (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30) (10/30)
Unload dishwasher and put dishes away (10/27) (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Load and run dishwasher (10/27) (10/27) (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Clean stove top (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Clean counters (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30) (10/30)
Clean out fridge and wipe down interior
Clear off top of fridge
Sweep and mop kitchen floor (10/27) (10/29) (10/30)
Dust kitchen

Finish folding and putting away clean laundry (planning to do this 10/29)
Put folding table away (planning to do this 10/29)
Tidy up kitchen bar (10/27) (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Tidy up low bookshelf (10/29) (10/30)
Clear off end table (10/29) (10/30)
Clear off entertainment center (10/29)
Dust living room
Vacuum living room

Clear off computer desk (10/29) (10/30)
Straighten front closet (10/29)
Hang jackets and coats (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Clear off cedar chest (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Clear off train table (10/28) (10/29) (10/30)
Dust front room
Vacuum front room

Do laundry (times like a million!)  (10/30) (10/30)
Clean vanity (10/30)
Clean mirror (10/30)
Clean toilet (10/30)
Clean bathtub (10/30)
Straighten cabinets (10/30)
Move storage drawers (10/30)
Sweep and mop bathroom floor
Dust bathroom

Straighten top of dresser (planning to do this 10/30)
Move storage drawers (maybe?) (planning to do this 10/30)
Straighten top of chest of drawers (planning to do this 10/30)
Make bed with fresh linens (planning to do this 10/30)
Fold and put away clean laundry from this room (planning to do this 10/30)
Take dirty laundry to bathroom (planning to do this 10/30)
Straighten closet (planning to do this 10/30)
Clear off nightstands (planning to do this 10/30)
Straighten drawers of nightstands (planning to do this 10/30)
Dust our bedroom
Vacuum our bedroom

Pick up toys outside (10/27)
Straighten front porch (planning to do this 10/30)
Straighten back deck (planning to do this 10/30)
Put propane tank away (planning to do this 10/30)
Store bikes for season (planning to do this 10/30)
Mow grass and leaves (10/27)
Pick up brush and branches (10/27)
Clean out flower bed and ready it for winter
Clean out vehicles (planning to do this today 10/28)
Clean out storage shed and organize (planning to do this 10/31)
Start going through and emptying out storage unit

Some other things I want to do:
Wolf Scout activities with Koren (10/28)
Webelo Scout activities with Cephas (10/28)
Daisy Scout activities with Oralee (10/28)
Make file folder games for Oralee and Jeriah (10/28)

Oh - and did I mention:
Figure out four Halloween costumes and create them (10/29)
Find activities for 20 fifth graders to do during their "party" (planning to do this 10/31)
Prepare to volunteer in the classroom (planning to do this 10/31)
Grocery shopping  (10/30)

That should just about cover most of it. I'd just like to get most of those things done by next Monday evening because Tuesday morning, I am back to work again.

Wish me luck!

School, school, school

I cannot believe it is already Wednesday! It just seems like this week (or this month really!) has flown by! Monday, I worked in Oralee's classroom and that was interesting. This time, the teacher and her practicum student (formerly called student teachers) were teaching lessons and I spent my time walking around the room, going to kids who had their hand up to ask questions, keep kids on task, etc. I find actual teaching to be so much easier to be honest, but I still enjoyed it.

After helping out in Oralee's classroom, I dropped by Cephas' classroom to offer my assistance there for future Mondays. Beginning next week, I will be going into the classroom and helping in his classroom when I am done in Oralee's classroom. And next week is also their Halloween "party" time and I have been recruited to help pass out snacks and do some fun activities with the kids for the last 20 minutes of the day. Man, have times changed! I remember our classroom parties went for an hour or so when I was in elementary school.

Then yesterday (Tuesday) was parent teacher conferences. Cephas was our first conference. He is doing really well. For the first time in probably 3 years, he is reading on grade level. Just barely but he's on grade level. No interventions needed. I think that he just needed time to come into it on his own. But regardless, he is doing well. His teacher even asked us if he has trouble with other kids and adults and social situations. The VERY first teacher who recognized it! It was refreshing to have her ask. For the last three years (2nd, 3rd and 4th grade) Cephas has had issues with students and teachers alike. And I think part of it is that with other students, he tries too hard sometimes and then he gets to be annoying to them. And he is a social kid. He likes to talk a lot. His teacher doesn't view that as a bad thing either. She said we just need to continue working with him on what to say and when to say it. Which has been something that we have worked on for 3 or 4 years. She said that sometimes he seems to be missing that internal filter on what to share. And she said that one of the problems that he may have had in the past with what Cephas called "being singled out by the teachers and getting into trouble even when it wasn't my fault" could simply be because his voice carries. So when he told us that his classmates were talking to him and he was trying to tell them to be quiet so that they wouldn't get into trouble, his voice was probably the one that teacher heard and that was why he was getting into trouble. So nice and refreshing to have a teacher with 22 years of experience for him! Now the question is, can we keep her? Oh - and we ended up with a 30 minute conference instead of a 15 minute one because she had a gap in her schedule and there was the social issue to discuss as well.

Then we went on to Koren's class. His teacher had rave reviews for him. He is an incredibly hard worker, he is serious and the other kids look up to him for his work ethic at school. He received a couple of 2's on a math test (I'll explain the grading system in a minute) and will need to have a re-teach on those concepts. He has NEVER had a 2 in math before. He has even been in the highest math class possible too, even testing out of a full chapter in second grade to be able to move up to a higher math class.

Okay, quick side note, our school system grades as follows:
4 - exceeds district standards
3 - meets district standards
2 - approaches district standards
1 - does not meet district standards (and generally interventions are put into place)

He continues to struggle in reading but is continuing to progress. He has struggled in reading for the longest time but it could also be caused by the fact that he is actually legally blind in one eye without correction and doesn't see that great even with correction. We have been told by his optometrist that he will never be able to drive because he won't be able to pass the vision test. I think if he can have larger print books, he will do much better. That is something that I will email and suggest to his teacher later today.

She also said that he is an incredible artist and recommended that we enroll him in art classes. However, on his report card, his art teacher graded him at a 2, so I think I may need to meet with her and find out what the difference is between her opinion of his art and the classroom teacher's opinion of his art.

Then it was time to meet with Oralee's teacher. It was a quick meeting and I really didn't learn anything new about her, since I'm in the classroom every other week anyhow. She is a social child, but she is also an eager learner and participates in class. She holds back a little bit until she is sure of herself or her answer. She also is still working on recognizing her letter names and sounds.

We had a little bit of a break and then it was time to meet with Jeriah's teachers. We met with his classroom teacher, his special education teacher and the speech language pathologist who is working with him. He had two basic goals on his IEP that we set at the beginning of the year and he is rapidly working towards one of them. We may even have to meet earlier to redo his IEP with new goals if he meets them before the end of the year.

One of his language goals was to create sentences that had 5 words or more during 75% of his utterances. At the beginning of the year, his sentences had an average of 3.7 words. Now, two months into the school year, his sentences have an average of 4.3 words. This is based off of 100% of observed utterances. Also, at the beginning of the school year, the average amount of sentences that contained 5 words or more was 13%. Already he is at 33%. If he continues at this rate, he will likely reach the goal of 75% around February. His IEP is to last until August of next year. And most likely, he will reach this goal before then.

Also, his teacher did a Kindergarten preparation book where she is testing the kids on their knowledge of Kindergarten concepts such as shapes, colors, numbers, uppercase letters and lower case letters. Jeriah knew every shape, every color, every number, every uppercase letter and all but one lower case letter (l) when "tested". The teacher had numbers 1-20 on the page but she had only prepared (and therefore only "tested") for 1-10, not realizing that there may be a student who could go higher. He also can rote count to 16 (he missed 17 when she did it) and can count 1:1 correspondence to 16. She said that was really good because often times, kids can count more quickly by rote than they can when doing 1:1 correspondence so that when they try to do the 1:1, they will often end up with a number higher than the actual number of objects. But not Jeriah. He was on track with it.

The thing is, Jeriah can recognize numbers up to 100. Not just up to 20. I plan to take some numbers and additional shapes with us for our Home Visit next Wednesday to show her the differences in what he actually knows and the kind of activities that he is currently working on at school.

She also had him draw a picture of himself. His picture included a body, head, legs, arms, hands, feet, eyes (with pupils), nose, mouth and hair. No ears though. Maybe that's because he doesn't like to listen so much anymore! :) He is really coming into himself and is showing more independence and asserting his own opinions and thoughts more often now.

Let's see, there was also a page where she had them try to cut out shapes. He did not do well on that one at all. I think probably because most of the time at home he is told, "No Jeriah! Put the scissors down!" So we might need to work on that a little bit at home.

She also mentioned that Jeriah could drop kick a playground ball. We already knew this because he started doing that his summer with soccer balls. But it was neat to see her excitement about it. I did mention to the teachers the fact that Jeriah only kicks with his left foot. He will not kick with his right foot at all. I don't know if it something that we need to be concerned about. I know that for me, personally, I tend to kick more with my right foot than my left, but I'm right-handed. Jeriah is also right-handed, so I would think that he would also be more likely to have his right foot be dominant, but since the exact opposite is true, I felt it was pertinent to mention to his teachers.

For his next "testing" for Kindergarten skills, his classroom teacher said she may need to come up with some other options for his numbers and letters, shapes and colors. Instead of testing to see if he knows his letters, she is going to see how he does on letter sounds. I am not sure what her plan is for the shapes and colors and for numbers, she is going to just need to increase the parameters that she is "testing" him on. All good things though!

It's actually kind of amusing to us that our Special Education preschooler has more Kindergarten-level skills than our neurotypical Kindergartener. I actually feel a little bit of compassion already for Jeriah's Kindergarten teacher. He seems to be about a grade or two higher in letter and number skills, on par with fine motor skills and lacking in his social abilities. What a combination! But it very much reminds me of, oh, myself, in the early years at school.

Webelo Camp Out

As planned, we met up with the Webelo group at the kids' school on Saturday morning while Hubby went on to work. We left for the lake shortly after. Once we arrived at the lake, we unloaded our gear and the boys set the tent up.

I didn't realize it, but in Scouts, there is a kind of unspoken rule: "Don't do anything for a boy that he can do for himself." This includes setting up tents and campsites. My two boys worked together and had our tent set up in no time flat! They worked together and got the job done.

And here you can see the fruits of their labor. At this point, Oralee and Jeriah were playing inside the tent while Cephas and Koren were off getting instructions from the leaders.

The boys made lunch for the group (meatball subs on a camp stove, applesauce and hot chocolate) and after lunch, they went for a 3 mile hike. After lunch, I left Cephas and Koren in the care of another Scout mom, who also happens to be one of our neighbors and the mother of some of the boys' friends. I needed to get the little kids back into town so that I could focus more on the boys and their activities.

By the time I got back out to the camp site, the boys had already gotten back from their hike and it was almost time for them to start making our dinner. Gosh, but there is something that just rings about that statement. Time for THEM to start making OUR dinner. Yes, I do think I like the sound of that. But first, we needed more wood. Because this woodpile (below) apparently wasn't big enough. So off they went to bring back wood.

And then they needed to saw it down. Here is a picture of the Littlest Woodcutter (aka Koren). Isn't he adorable just plugging away? He cut that log down into 1' lengths. It was a 12' log. That's a LOT of cutting for the little guy. And he wasn't even a Webelo. He's just a Wolf (three grades lower!). By the time he was done with that log, he came over to me and I looked at his hands. He already had calluses from raking and mowing and riding his bike (yes, he grips his bike handles THAT hard!) and after sawing down a 12' log, he had new calluses in the middle of this hand. He couldn't be coaxed away from doing it though. He was bound and determined to finish that log.

The older boys MAY have alienated him a little bit while they were cutting down some of the logs to usable sizes saying that he was just a little Wolf and couldn't do it. So he MAY have been extremely determined to show them that he most certainly could do it. And outdo their efforts in the process. That little boy is going to have workin' man hands by the time he's 10. And nope, he's not a farm boy. He's a city kid. You'd never guess it looking at his hands though!

The next order of business was for the boys to receive instructions on how to start a fire with a flint and magnesium and then they each got a turn to try it out.

Then the boys went off to gather a few resources for kindling. Paper, dried leaves, small twigs and then tiny little branches. After they had the base of their fire started, they were allowed to feed the fire to get it hot enough for it to burn the actual wood.

Then, the Den Leader told them that they were done feeding the fire and he added the logs to the fire pit and built it up nice and hot. That was really nice because the day was cloudy and cool and threatening to rain nearly the whole time.

Mmmmm, nice and hot! Then we had to let it die down and cool some so that we could make dinner. We had an assembly line where we each made our own pizzas - tortilla shell for the crust, tomato sauce, cheeses and cheeses, hamburger/pepperoni/sausage, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, white onion, it was DELISH! We wrapped them in foil and then the boys cooked them on the coals of the fire. So melty yummy!

The boys cleaned up the meal and then went off to play games while the adults sat around the fire pit and built it back up. About an hour after nightfall, we called the boys back to camp and let the fire die down again and we roasted marshmallows and then built the fire back up again for ghost stories.

And then it was time for bed. It was GREAT day and the boys had SO MUCH FUN! And so did I! I cannot wait for the next campout!

Weekend Plans!!!

We have a very busy weekend planned. I cannot wait for it all! On Saturday morning, Hubby has to work and the kids and I will be going to the kids' school to meet up with Cephas' Webelo den.

Then, we will be heading out to the lake for a camping trip. I wish Hubby would be able to come along and be a part of it as well, but due to his work schedule, it's not possible. We will get out to the lake, set up our campsite and the Webelos will make some lunch. We will eat and then in the afternoon, we will be going on a three mile hike. It's during this hiking time that Hubby will be coming out to join us (and to pick up the younger kiddos who would be better suited to being in town with their dad) and the other boys will be able to work on some of their own skills and badges and such. We will eat a dinner prepared by the boys and then have a campfire time with skits and s'mores and fun stuff like that. Afterwards, the boys will be playing some games in the dark and then we will head to bed. In the morning, we will get up and the boys will fix breakfast. We will eat then break down camp and then head back home.

When we get back home, it will be just in time for Hubby to leave for work, so we will unload the vehicle and get everything put away. Then, Cephas and Koren have been hired for another lawn job for the afternoon, so we will head over there to do that. It's for the family I work for so there's a bit of added pressure for them to do a fantastic job. And of course, I'll be around to make sure that they actually do a fantastic job and will be able to help them out with it and oversee it and also to jump in and correct anything that needs it. I'm a little bit nervous for them (and for me) because I know that the family can be a little bit particular about things. I would really prefer that we be able to go over and do the work once Hubby gets off of work so that he can go along with as well or so that he could be home with the little kids. We will just have to try it out and see how it goes though. One way or another, we will make it all work. I'm actually pretty excited about the whole thing. I am just nervous too.

Sunday evening we will spend time together as family. I'd like to have some time playing board games or card games with the kids that evening, but I'm really up open to the family's suggestions for that evening as well.

Also, one other thing I haven't mentioned. We have cut out the kids' computer time during the school week. It seems a little bit odd maybe, but it really works for us. Before, we were limiting the amount of time they had on the computer, which wasn't working quite as well. They would lose track of time and it was difficult to enforce the exact amount of computer time and all of that stuff, so we decided to just cut it out. Computer time is now limited to the weekends. Eventually, we may go back to some limited computer time during the week, but for now, this is really working well for all of us.

Sometimes It All Goes As Planned

And other times, it just doesn't. Like the plans I had for the kitchen.Yeah, not so much. I had high aspirations for that room. However, I am okay with it not getting done and this is why:

We worked together to rearrange our bedroom.

It was time spent one-on-one with my wonderful Hubby. We were able to put our room - our little sanctuary - first. It was a small way to show each other that we were putting US first. I mean, in the end, we still ended up doing some of what needed to be done in the kitchen, but we took care of our special space first. We made our room and us a priority.

It's a very basic principle that often gets lost, I think. We tend to get caught up in the kids and their activities and the busy and the to-do list and work and and and...and we neglect us. Not because we mean to, not because we want to, but because we both understand. Which is also great. But sometimes, we need to just stop. Be still. Put our spouse back into the spot where they are supposed to be.

So that is what we did. We spent time rearranging our bedroom and thoroughly cleaning it from top to bottom. We did this while the kids were at school and then we laid there and just talked. We held hands. It was a wonderful time to reconnect.

I love my husband so much! I take him for granted though. I'm working on changing that. And this one day, in this small way, I showed him that I value him. I value us. I value our special time and our special place. I think we both needed that. Oh - and one other thing - I did it without even thinking and without bringing up the work that also needed to be done.

It was a blessing to him. It was a blessing to me. I think that once a week (maybe on Wednesdays, when I am off from work) I am going to spend some time focused on our bedroom. I had initially hoped to get some of the other house maintenance done on that day. And that still holds true. But the main focus on that particular day will be our sanctuary. It's also the only day that we both have off from work while the kids are in school and don't have any other things planned.

And do you know what else? Sometimes it all goes as planned (by us) and sometimes it all goes as it is supposed to. Just a little food for thought.

(Linking up to: Home Sanctuary and this week's Company Girl Coffee.)

Kitchen Plans

Okay, so I got a jump start yesterday on the kitchen. Hubby and I moved a bookshelf that has been in our kitchen since we moved in to another area. It will be going out to the storage shed to be used for storage purposes out there. Then we moved the armoire into it's place and while we were at it, we pulled the fridge out and swept and mopped under that. Today, my to do list is pretty typical for a kitchen job:

• Take the bookshelf out to the shed.
• Do the dishes. (Yes, there are dishes in my kitchen left over from yesterday. No, I did not do them last night. Thanks for asking though!)
• Clear off the counter tops.
• Clear off the stove.
• Clear off the top of fridge.
• Clear off the decorative shelf space above our cupboards.
• Clean the sink.
• Clean the stove.
• Clean the microwave inside and out.
• Clean out the fridge and wipe down the interior. (Thankfully, the freezer portion is not in need of this too.)
• Then sweep and mop and voila! Kitchen is done.

You will notice that I did not mention dusting or washing windows. I'm being realistic here. If it gets done, that is awesome. If not, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Our one window is mostly blocked by the armoire and before that, it was the bookshelf. It's also a window I have to clean from outside and it's kinda chilly out there. Also, as far as dusting goes, most of the things that need to be dusted will end up being dusted in the process of clearing things off and cleaning them. That's good enough for me for right now. I think the kitchen will take about an hour and a half to two hours to get it all done and tidy and looking great.