Saturday, December 29, 2007

Aiden




Aiden received a digital camera for Christmas...and man is he the photographer...this is his favorite picture he took of himself.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Aiden's Christmas Program












Aiden's class had a great little Christmas program where they sang and danced. They sang about 5 Christmas songs in French and 2 in English. This week was such a sad week in our home that these brief moments of joy and distraction were welcomed by all of us!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Aly's Christmas Breakfast











Aly's preschool class celebrated Christmas together with a Breakfast, Rhett and I got to attend as well. It was fun, and as always we enjoyed seeing her in her school environment.  One of her favorite friends at schools name is Aidan, so Aly loves to tell our Aiden that he has a girls name! 

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2007

I am Thankful
So my last post of the summer was a frustrated one...why is it that I am more likely to blog and talk about my frustrations than celebrate the great things that happen everyday?

We finished out the summer well. We took a nice trip to the ATA World Championships, and all really enjoyed ourselves. School started off well, Sweetie loves her school and so do Rhett and I. The boys school was more of the same, and gradually got worse...Rhett and I made the difficult decision to change their schools. We moved them to another public school with immersion, and most of the problems we were having have subsided...the teachers are great, but we still think we want them to go to a private school. I am just thankful that they are doing well and they are happy.

Ethan has really made a big surge in his French Language profiecency. He speaks it about 70% of his day at school, and does it well. He really enjoys it too. He does not want to go to a school that is not an immersion school. Rhett and I will pray about and try to decide the best course of action for the rest of the year. He is such a good hearted child. He is creative and loves to imagine things. It was so sweet the other day he told me that he wanted to be a super hero when he grows up. Aiden chimed in and said " I thought about that, but I don't want all of that responsibility" Ethan said "Well it's no fun if you can't help people"

Our schedule remains hectic (like most families) but we manage to carve out our time together, and I feel blessed that we all seem well connected. My children give me the gift every day of watching them grow up together.... that was something as a child that I missed out on, but I pray that they will continue to be close as the grow older.

Rhett got a promotion at work, which gave him an extra 6 days off that had to be taken before Jan...so he is off work next week, so he and I will get some time together. We also have our first ever weekend away without kids planned in a few weeks.
We are both excited about that!

Posted by Scatterd at 3:57 PM 0 comments


THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2007

So now I m 30...now what?
LOL...really I m not freaked about it. I ve already had my time to kick myself for not having my education wrapped up like I had hoped to, and now I m done kicking myself. It's funny though 30 is supposed to be one of those big numbers... maybe by the time I hit the big 40 it will mean more to me who knows?

Posted by Scatterd at 10:39 PM 0 comments


UGH... Parents
So I know I posted that I was feeling a little taken advantage of yesterday well this morning brought the icing for the cake so to speak. One mom shows up with an extra kid in tow, and leaves the extra kid with me just to "observe" so then I had to explain over and over again to her that I didn't have enough supplies so her and her friend would have to share..just as I was kicking myself for not standing up to her another mom walks in wanting me to allow her 4 year old to stay with her daighter...I told her no, I m not a babysitter. We exchanged a few words, she thought I was being unreasonable...but I stuck to my guns. This week Aiden was upstairs with another teachers art class never once did it occur to me to send Sweetie up there just to watch, I mean come on people! I m super glad that next week is a short week, and then I ll have a few weeks off!

Posted by Scatterd at 1:50 PM 0 comments


WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2007

Our gardening
So we started some seeds (tomato, peppers,cucumbers, watermelon, and various herbs and lettuce) about 10 days ago, and now we have plants !! Tomorrow I will order some hydroponic garb and we will get started on our little experiment. Really since we moved our lives have slowed down and become more simple...and we will continue to try to move that way!

The first week of summer the boys attended day camp at the Academy of the Sacred Heart...and enjoyed all of the activities they had for them everyday (horseback riding, taekwondo, hiking, basketball, swimming, music, and arts and crafts)! I think it was the perfect transition for them into summer. This week Ethan is doing a half day rock climbing camp, Aiden is doing a half day art camp, and Sweetie is with me at my art camp. Yesterday Ethan proclaimed "Mom, I really like you! THanks for thinking of things I like and putting me in camps that are fun." I m glad they are enjoying themselves, every kids deserves a fun summer camp experience. I ll also be glad to have them home, but it's all a balancing act...to some degree I think they need to have a few things of their own to do.

Posted by Scatterd at 9:19 PM 0 comments


Feeling a little taken advantage of!
So I m "teaching" summer art camps right now...I had 4-6 year olds (25 of them) last week, this week we have 20 6-12 year olds. I have several parents who drop their kids off at 8:30am class doesn't start until 9am, and then they show up around 12:20 to pick them up...class is over at noon! I feel like the bad guy when I say you know it's really not time for class yet, or you need to pick them up on time...I don't want the kids to feel bad, but come on people!
Other than that complaint it really is going pretty well. I enjoy giving kids time just to play with art supplies, I keep my "agenda's" loose and really just try to go with whatever vibe the kids are giving. As much as I like it, I am ready for next Thurs which will start a weekend family vacation of sorts...to the ATA Taekwondo world championships. followed by several weeks of peaceful non commitment to anything!!! So I will enjoy the kids at home, and probably not go anywhere if I can avoid it. I have one more week of camp to teach in July but that's it...the rest of the summer is ours!





FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2007

Just another day in paradise
Today He got up around 7am with the kiddos and I slept about 45 minutes. When I woke up I came out to Rhett and the kids all cuddled up on the couch under a big blanket watching Scooby Doo.... what a great thing to wake up to, your sweet children cuddling with your sweet Husband and all as happy as clams. I fixed the kiddo's breakfast and got dressed. When he left for work the kids and I ran to the library and by the grocery store. We were home by 11 and I fixed lunch, read to the kids let them watch tv for about 30 minutes and we all took a nap. He came home for lunch just as everyone was waking up. We headed outside to the little pool we bought (its 40 inches deep) for about an hour. After coming in we all settled in and watched the Sugar Creek Gang that we had checked out at the library. This is our last day of calm for a little while. The next few weeks the kids will be at various camps and I will be teaching camps for the next three weeks.

Posted by Scatterd at 3:24 PM 0 comments


THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2007

The Boys are out of School
Tuesday was the boys last day of school, and I am so glad. It's nice to have them home, and Rhett and I have actually slept until 8 am a couple of days. With the school year ending I have mixed feelings, I am pleased because I feel like the boys are learning alot..but I am weary because I feel like Ethan is a victim of Public School categorization. Because he has a speech delay, it seems the teachers are just looking for a disabled category to place him in.His teacher was sold on the idea that he was dyslexic...being that my husband is dyslexic I thought that might be possible, so I agreed and I did all of the leg work needed so that he would be assessed. The expert said, she didn't really know why Ethan was sent for assessment that even though his writing is messy he shows no signs of dyslexia. His teacher then suggested maybe he is ADD, even though all year long she tells me how attentive and focused he is in class, and he had 100% in conduct all year long...geez is she just searching for some label? Ethan does fine in school, mostly B's some A's, one C (an 82% which is a C in his school) he just has a rough time with his handwriting... Hubby and I have decided that the school just needs to leave him alone. The worst part is that E knows that his teacher thinks he is slow, and it's starting to effect his self esteem. Next year he will return to the same school, but the following year I am hoping to move him to a smaller private school. I will become the weird parent who refuses to allow the school to "screen" for disabilities

Today I registered for some online courses through LSU, I have a few petty basics to get out of the way before I can finsih up my last 3 semesters so I was thrilled to find an online option. My art camps start next week, and my first one is full with 25 kiddos ages 4-6...oh goodness, hopefully the week goes by fast.