Wii Recycle

We just rearranged our basement "rec"room and the Wii is down there.  With the new setup, the Wii has gotten alot more attention lately.  We don't have room for recycling upstairs so I toss it down the stairs and the kids are supposed to put it in the proper bins.  It often piles up, I have to harrass them to do it and then it's an arguement on whose turn it is.  I found a solution- if you want to use the Wii, recycling needs to be cleaned up.  I made a sign as a reminder, Hannah wants it on a shirt or bag.

It's been working really well.  Parker always asks before he plays and the recycling is always cleaned up.

Stubby Pencils and Report Cards

Another great year of school has gone by.  The kids both had great teachers this year.

Parker continued to do well (A's and B's) and has had some of his accommodations dropped from his SEP.  The school has requested assistive technology for him.  Basically a small word processor he can use at his desk for writing assignments.

Hannah's marks were great.  All A's and A+'s except for gym.  She had a dance routine that was supposed to be performed with two of her friends.  One was away for a week and then one was absent for a few gym classes.  They never got the chance to do their routine so her mark was disappointing.  Truly not fair to the kid who was always prepared to do it.  I despise group assignments.

Here's a sign of hard work.

Most dedicated Shimpokai member

Parker brought home a trophy tonight from judo.  He earned "most dedicated" out of the three awards they gave to the kids class.  He was pretty excited and so are we.  Last summer he was assesssed by OT and he saw a neurologist.  He was diagnosed with dyspraxia and poor muscle tone.    The OT was putting in a referal for physio but when she came to the school to do a reassessment, she decided that he was benefiting more from judo 2-3 times a week than he would from the in school physio that they could provide.  After he had been to judo only a few weeks, she could already see a difference.

Parker has plugged away at judo all year, earned his white and yellow/white belts, gone to two tournaments and been defeated pretty quickly.  The tournaments are an eye opening experience.  They can be pretty aggressive, kids and instructors.  But the Shimpokai club really does practice  "gentle way".  His instructors always check in to see if he's ok after a match, letting him know not to get discouraged.  At practice, they work side by side with the kids, dividing them into smaller groups and giving extra coaching when needed. 

About 6 weeks ago, he turned the corner.  He defeated one of his rivals and he's been on a roll ever since.  His last tournament is on Saturday.

  

Little Miss's first sleepover

Lydia has been looking forward to her first sleepover for months.  She's been very excited about it.  Yesterday she had her tonsils, adenoids and tubes done.  She was such a brave girl and didn't shed a tear the whole time.  I was very impressed that this hospital waits until the kids are under before they do and IV's.  That was a big plus.  She had been trying out her dad's cpap machine so she was ready for the anesthetic mask.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Unexpected Gusts

My previous post was about Jeff losing his job and how we are dealing with it.  I think this post from http://www.helpothers.org/story.php?sid=12805 sums it up pretty well.

A Child's Response to Life's Unexpected Gusts

--posted by Ashly on May 18, 2009

Last spring I was walking in a park. A short distance ahead of me was a Mom and her three-year-old daughter. The little girl was holding onto a string that was attached to a helium balloon.

All of a sudden, a sharp gust of wind took the balloon from the little girl. I braced myself for some screaming and crying.

But, no! As the little girl turned to watch her balloon go skyward, she gleefully shouted out, "Wow!"

I didn’t realize it at that moment, but that little girl taught me something.

Later that day, I received a phone call from a person with news of an unexpected problem. I felt like responding with, "Oh no, what should we do?"  But, remembering that little girl, I found myself saying, "Wow, that’s interesting! How can I help you?"

One thing’s for sure - life’s always going to keep us off balance with its unexpected problems. That’s a given. What’s not preordained is our response. We can choose to be frustrated or fascinated. No matter what the situation, a fascinated Wow! will always beat a frustrated Oh, no.

So the next time you experience one of life’s unexpected gusts, remember that little girl and make it a Wow! experience. The Wow! response always works.

Have FAITH like a child.

Silver Linings

 

This is week three of unemployment for Jeff.  Being "laid off" came as a pretty big surprise and his company didn't want to do it but they are short on projects for him to work on.  After we got over the initial shock, surprisingly we weren't all that worried about him finding a new job.   Despite the fact that we were supposed to get an awesome new health plan next month, we had made plans to get some major projects done and we really, really need a vacation.  We've been through soo many bumps in the past and everything has always worked out.  So what's the silver lining?  Jeff is making the most of his time off and taking care of things around the house that have been on the back burner for too long.  He's helping out with the kids I look after which means I can get out for a wolk with some and leave some home.  I can do things with the older ones that I ordinarily can't do. ( We went to a Superstore cooking class yesterday)  And he's able to put in some volunteer hours with the Family Resource Center and the school by giving them some tech support.  You would think things around here would be more more stressful but for now they are pretty relaxed.  We're dealing with unemployment with a sense of humor and the faith that all our needs will be provided for just like they always have.  There's always a new experience around the corner.

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at his Word and taking the next step. - Joni Erickson Tada -

Snip, Snip

The past few months, Hannah has mentioned cutting her hair to donate it for a wig.  There are several organizations out there that take real hair and turn it into wigs for kids with cancer.  Hannah's had long hair since kindergarten and has gotten to the point that she wanted something different.  I think we're going to send her hair to www.wigsforkids.org 

Here are some photos we took of the big day.