Fall Fest 2010....

(Click on the picture collage to see it bigger)

We had so much fun at Fall Fest this year. We had our niece, Heather with us (in the B&W picture). She rode the dance float with us. The girls and I had matching outfits for the Dance Company. After the float, we finished watching the parade and then the girls danced in the street. I tried to blur out the other kids so you could see who belonged to me. Mine are the ones in color, the rest are black and white. The fun thing they did as well was rode horses again this year. It tickles me to see them get so much enjoyment from them getting on the horses. There was one horse that was throwing a hissy fit, when it was Bethanie's turn to get on, and we passed on that one. No sense in having her on a bucking bronc at the age of 8! In the collage above, the second picture down on the left is me taking a picture of some of my family FROM the float. Jeff took a picture of me taking a picture of them. :P It was really a lot of fun. This is Madison's second performance ever, and this time her shoe didn't come untied. She was wearing sneakers with Velcro. :O) I could really see her loving the dancing. Bethanie has been in dance for 5 years now, and I can really see some of her (attitude) personality coming out in her dancing and she seems to feel more comfortable out there! She is a great performer!

ExCiTiNg NeWs!!!

So, the other day, I gave Matthew a Scantron Assessment. It measures knowledge and gaps in your child's knowledge. I wasn't shocked to see the results. It is rather impressive. Matthew scored in the 92 %ile nationwide for Language Arts and reading! The printed test results shows he has mastered 11th grade level stuff. Other areas there were no more places to master, he mastered it all already. Part of the reason I like this K12 program is that it is student paced. We are moving Matthew up in grade level for the Language Arts and Literature. I had options to move him up into high school level, but I am fairly conservative. I decided to leave him in the 7th grade (he is currently doing 6th grade right now), Language Arts and Reading because Composition is introduced and he has not done much with it. If he still flys through this, we will bump him up some more. There are many complexities happening here. Matthew is socially and emotionally around 4 years old. I can guess this by putting Madison's emotions next to him. But he is an 11 year old by physically, and intellectually, he is way above. So far in his History and Science classes, he has 100% average. He memorizes everything. But in these areas, you have to take them step by step. Composition will be a challenge for him, only as far as the writing goes. He doesn't physically write very well, but he can type. Otherwise, as his Learning Coach, I can scribe for him, which is another option (if I can keep up with him, he talks very fast especially when he is excited!!!). Anyway, this is a strong positive for Matthew. Keeping him challenged without overwhelming him is important. We are going to be introducing Spanish to him in October, as well as Art (which I am totally excited for)!!!

DeVeLoPiNg TaLeNtS...

I have always loved music. I like to sing, though I am not particularly talented in that area. In High School, I was part of the choir, and I started in band when I was in 5th grade. I played the flute, and eventually the Piccolo. I was the only piccolo player in our school. It was a LOT more work than the flute, but it played the same mostly. So, its been nearly 20 years now. So I decided to start taking piano lessons (along with Matthew). Here is a song I have been working on. The trick for me is to use my left hand. I am very right hand dominant. Anyway, this isn't perfect, and don't ask me how I filmed it. :O)

AnOtHeR sHaMeLeSs pLuG...

My girlies are selling Little Caesar's Pizzas, cookie dough and other delights! You can now order online and have it delivered to your home! So, for those of you in say...ARIZONA, UTAH, CALIFORNIA and even in KANSAS, or where ever you live, feel free to order! The products are really de-lish, I can vouch for it! All I ask is that if you order, let me know so I can keep track of what was ordered for the girls to be credited to their dance accounts. This is a great fundraiser because a large portion of it goes into their dance accounts to help pay for their costumes, shoes and other items for dance. Just go to: http://www.pizzakit.com/ and then toward the bottom right look for ORDER ONLINE. Our customer order number is: 67693. Please be sure to use that number so it gets credited to The Dance Company Fundraiser! It is simple to do! And thank you for helping support the girls in such a wonderful adventure in their dance careers!!!

To contact me:

email: ladysam25@nckcn.com

cell phone: 785-275-2066

and I am also on Facebook.

AuDiT DaYs...

Last Tuesday was the first of Lawrence Virtual School's audit days. Tomorrow is the second out of two days. These two days are rather demanding because it requires Matthew and myself to be on top of the game. Matthew is only taking half day courses and doing very well. He will be starting art class soon, and then hopefully Spanish. Even though he is taking half day classes, he is already 25% of the way through his literature course. He amazes me. Just need to get through the audit days. I am constantly worried that he will melt down and I wont get him through what needs to be done, THEN WHAT???

But he always proves that I worry too much. He loves this way of schooling. I love it for him! Not so much for Bethanie. She is too emotional for me to deal with much of the time. (I am being EEEEEVIL). :P

hAiR!

Bethanie really wants a wig for her Halloween costume this year. This year, she is going to be a FLAPPER girl. You know, the flapper dresses of the 1920's or so? So we were goofing around and found this. She isnt wearing it.

ThE SmAcK dOwN...

My poor dad. He has to take so much abuse! Madison sits and pummels him like crazy! She is so persistent on "taking him down". They look forward to torturing each other and have lots of fun doing it (usually). This is only a snippet (below) of what went down today. For proper sound effect, turn off the music below on the media player.

and more proof for the non believers...

WeEkEnDs...

Usually, weekends are NOT my favorite time of the week. Usually we are on a dead run doing this that and the other thing. Today, my day consisted of deep cleaning and debugging Bethanie's computer (Matthew fills it up with viruses and other junk), a nap, a little fun shopping with the girlies, and that was about it! I didn't even have to make supper! So, while I was debugging the computer in Bethanie's room, Carlisle the Cat decided to show off. He stayed like this for a while, long enough for me to take a couple pictures. :O) He is so silly!

KuDdOs!

I have to give props to Matthew for going above and beyond my expectations, especially today, with his school work! He is such a delight!

LaBoR DaY...

We really had a lot of fun today celebrating Labor Day. Jeff's parents, my parents, my brother and his sweet family all joined us for a ham dinner. We had a lot of fun just sitting around talking. Sunny's daughter, Heather, is 15 now. She is growing up so fast. She took all these pictures for me. Sadly, we didn't get pictures of everyone that was there (I forgot to, and Heather gave me copies of the ones she took). I am totally looking forward to Fall. Today we did some Fall cleaning before everyone got here, and I even put up a few fall-ish decorations. I guess I am eager!! But it is hard not to be. The weather is beautiful out side!

MaTtHeW...

I know that many people cant get onto my Asperger blog anymore, since I took it private. But you know, just email me if you want on it so you can follow along with what has been going on with him.

I wanted to share this picture with you. This is Matthew working at his school work. He did AMAZING this week! He accomplished ALL of his assignments very willingly and attentively! He even gets to sit in his PJ's while he does it! This particular lesson was a US History lesson. I REALLY LOVE this Virtual Public School business! I wish I knew about it a few years ago! We could have saved ourselves a ton of stress, anxiety and heart ache over it!

HoLiDaY WeEkEnD...

The weather is PERFECT weather over the past few days! I LOVE FALL!!!

Today my sweet husband took my dad up to Omaha to visit the Temple and do some work. I am so happy to see this! They have both wanted to go for quite some time. I guess it isnt the right phase in my life. It is increasingly difficult to leave my children for that length of time. Its not as though we can just hire any baby sitter. So, my feeling is that my time will come when I can go and do the work too.

Bethanie and Madison are both doing fine after their falls. Those girls are going to give me even MORE gray hair! I swear they think they are invincible! Hopefully the falls knocked some sense into them. I doubt it.
:O)


Anyway, on Monday, our family (both sides) are coming over for a HUGE ham dinner, and just to visit. I SO NEED THAT!

Day by day, my strength is getting better. I still wear out easy, but the medication is really helping me. Yesterday, I spent an hour doing yard work. The girlies helped me (clean up rotten apples in the back yard, ick) but I paid for it much later. It felt good to to actually accomplish SOMETHING, rather than just sleep!

pLaYgRoUnDs ArE dAnGeRoUs!!!

So, on Monday, Bethanie hurt her arm at recess while playing on the play equipment. Off to the Dr. we went! No x-rays were needed. She just bruised her right shoulder blade inside pretty good. She is getting better. So, last night, after school and supper, the girlies wanted to go play at that same playground. We weren't there 10 minutes before Madison fell off the curly slide from just above half way up. FORTUNATELY she landed on her bum but she sort of went forward too, squishing everything inside. She really had the breath knocked out of her. I carted her off to the ER since it was evening. She had some x-rays taken and we found that she has cute bones. Nothing broken, she just jammed her back. Its swollen, and she can walk, but she just asks not to be squeezed when we hug her. :O( MY BABY!!!!