Jordan Gets Baptized!

Sounds like a great name for a book. Maybe a future joint venture for Jo & I? His new love is writing & I'm not terrible at illustrations, so maybe...

I'm so far behind in the blogging world, I don't know if I'll ever catch up! I guess I'll start with the recent baptism of Jordan.

We were able to have a few family members come to town for the big day, which was really nice. Both my parents, Dave's mom, & my younger brother Grant (just got home from a mission in the Phillipines) came out to witness the special occassion.

Jordan, waiting for the font to fill with water.

My Mom, Dad, & Ty

Dave & Logan, who looks like he's devising a plan of sorts.

Ty & Grant, goofing off.

Jojo & Daddo (as Jo used to call him)

Just before the baptism.

Amazingly, I captured a true Logan-look. He's totally a Mikey & that grin proves it!

Dave & my Dad goofing off. Nice grills!

Watching the water rise.

So handsome in his Sunday best!

Jojo & his Yaya (Dave's mom)

Jo, with the honored mom. :)

Proud parents. :)

My Mom, Dad, & Jordan.

On August 31, 2010, Jordan was officially baptized & confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm so proud of him for making the decision to join the true church of Christ!

Jordan's thrilled to be able to go to Scouts, finally. He's been looking forward to it for some time now & it couldn't have come soon enough!

Spring has Sprung!

There are cherry blossoms everywhere in our little community.

Around the corner from our home is a business park, sporting a "lake" with real whales in it. They like to hang out in the same place all day, spouting off (at their mother?). For the longest time, every time we would pass this corner, Jordan would diligently search for the sharks he knew were in there.

Checking out the "floaters" they spotted. They were much more interesting than trying to spot sharks!

Of course, what's a nice Spring day walk without posing in front of whales?

There was much drama to get this pic, so even though 3/4 of the people in the pic have their eyes closed, I'm posting it! It was sunny & Jordan was counseling everyone to close their eyes for the picture so they won't have to complain about mom making them pause for this shot.

And of course it isn't Spring without a little kite-flying at the park.

Apparently I missed getting a picture of Logan with his Super Hero's kite. He was pretty mad at the kite though, after it didn't magically take off like he had planned. He's all about the Super Heroes right now. I can barely get him out of his black Spiderman costume long enough to wash it. It needs a serious patch job. The neighbors think we're crazy & are unsure if he even owns anything other than a Spiderman costume. I'll have to try to get some pics up of him, as Spidey, once I get the thing fixed.

Overall, we had so much fun trying to fly kites that day. I smiled, laughed, & ran so much I was sore from it all the next day. Fun times!

Toof-less & Some Visitors!

Jordan sporting a new grin.

Jojo lost another tooth, but this time the Tooth Fairy was nice enough to grant him his request to keep it. We made a little pillow box to put it in & wrote a note to the TF to please leave the treasured tooth. She left him a 5-spot (NICE!) & was swiftly on her way.

Jo gave his first talk in Primary the following Sunday (amazing, for him, since he is so scared of getting up & talking in front of others!). It was *so* adorable, the way he could no longer say his "S's" quite right.

We were lucky enough to have the space available when a friend needed a place to stay this month. She has two kids who often stayed over as well, one of them being Jordan's age. Gracie was a joy to have around! The kids couldn't wait to get up in the morning to see if she was there, & Grace would always watch out the window of the casita to see when we would open our blinds, signaling we were all up & ready to take on the day.

We had so much fun, having them here. My friend Tami was the model houseguest & I miss her now that she's in an apartment. They were with us for about a month & the kids still ask about Gracie in the mornings.

Jo & Gracie crafting together

February is gone!?

February flew by for us. It was a busy month, with Tyler returning home for his schooling. Plus with Logan & Hayleah going to preschool 3 days a week. And we can't forget about Jordan & his schooling (though I think I let a little too much slide with this one).

I'm going to try to catch up on some posts in the next few days, as time permits.

Can you believe Spring is already upon us!?

School for Jojo

Since implementing the warm fuzzies, things have been going remarkably well! Jo continues to try to test me, but I'm seeing an improvement in him. His feelings of not being able to do something are, more rapidly than I expected, being replaced with the confidence he was lacking in but was so deserving of.

We're using the program K12 right now. It's an online school but most of the work is not done online. I received several boxes of text books, reading books, & other material, in the beginning & our mornings are filled with accomplishing something worthwhile.

I went to a mom's meeting last week with some girls from an LDS home school group I belonged to, what seems like a lifetime ago. It was so good to be with old friends & bounce my thoughts off them & share in lots of laughter & fondue (a bonus, I know).

Next week we are headed up to Channel 3 news station for a "field trip" tour with other home schooled kids. Jo is very excited... he's hoping for some airtime. It's not what I expected his reaction to be, but I'm learning new things about him every day!

I'm loving where we're at & where we're going with this!

Four Whole Weeks

It's not been common knowledge, since I wasn't sure how well things would go, but for the past month we've been homeschooling again. We did it with Tyler for a handful of years (3rd-7th grades), & though I wanted to do it with Jordan when he was Kindergarten age, the Husband wasn't having it.


With all the struggles Jordan was having, I decided to give homeschooling a shot while he was on track break. It wouldn't hurt anything, I figured, & it would give me an idea if this kiddo was even teachable by his mom.


For the first several weeks, it went very smoothly for the most part. He would have a small meltdown here & there of "I can't do it's", but other than that it went surprisingly well. He enjoys the time we spend together learning about new things.



His teacher called me last week to find out where he had been all week. When I started to explain to her my decision to bring him home, she was more than pleased. She wasn't able to give him the attention he needs, even with her semi-small (for Vegas, anyway) class size, so I think understood it was what he needed before even I did. She was so supportive & I was very surprised. Most teachers I know feel superior for their years spent behind a desk & don't think I'm qualified. I didn't get that from her at all!



This week I implemented a new system that I'm hoping will help him build up his confidence. He has a small jar & some little pom pom's (aka warm fuzzies) to put in it. For every task he completes without constant need for reassurance (something I didn't realize he felt he needed so badly until we began this journey), he gets to add a warm fuzzie to his jar. When the jar is filled, he gets his choice of what kind of party he'd like to have (a pizza party, he tells me).

It's exciting to see how much this small "reward", one little pom pom, motivates him to have a positive. I already see such a big difference in him. The biggest thing is he's so much happier. He really disliked learning a few weeks ago, now he's asking for more when our "day" is done. His reading has gone from "I don't like you for forcing me to do this" to complaining if it's not his night to read out of the scriptures with our family.

He's a great kid who I enjoy being around so much. I'm so thankful we're in a position that makes this choice even possible!

Funny kid

Yesterday, while at the ever-dreaded, eViL Walmart, Jordan & I are browsing through the aisles to kill some time. Logan & Hayleah are in preschool 3 days a week, but only for less than 2 hours each day. Since it's a minimum 30 min. round trip, I prefer to stay in the area instead of head back home. Walmart is across the street, so we've been frequenting this place of ill repute far too often.

Anyway....back to Jordan.

At the end of the hair care aisle is the back wall, packed with every brand of feminine products you could ever want, need, or consider using. While looking at some hair stuff, my attention is drawn to my normally quiet (only in public) child who is excitedly (read: loudly) telling me about this "free" stuff I need to come see.

Lo & behold, he certainly did a bang up job picking out the word "free". He's becoming such a great little reader. It was on the front of a package of pantyliners. Stayfree, to be precise. He was (loudly) insistent we needed to get this because, well, it's free. He went on & on trying to convince me (loudly) about how great free stuff is. He can't really hear me (over his own bad self) & apparently I'm not making much sense while trying to use my quiet voice & contain my giggles at the same time.

We definitely got some looks from those around us, but I didn't mind too much. It takes more than someone still in their pj's & slippers, or someone sporting a fabulous mullet to make me feel embarassed at Walmart. :)

I love that kid. It's rare a day will go by without him giving me a good laugh. :)

Preschool

Days 1 & 2 have been a SMASHING success!! I don't expect the trend to continue (not pessimistic, just realistic), but for now I'm enjoying it.

I'm feeling like a really bad mom, though. I keep forgetting to take Logan & Hayleah's pictures, & pics of their new classroom, to post but I'll try harder tomorrow.

We switched Jo back to his old class due to some GROSS misrepresentations & outright omitting of the facts on behalf of the school.

Slightly off topic, but my Mom used to tell me even if you don't outright lie, it's still a lie if you leave out the truth! Someone must have missed class the day they taught that one!!

Anyway, Jo's happy as a clam & had a great day hanging out with me & later going to the park for our Wards playgroup. It was a fun day for me too. And the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS!!

LOVE the fall!! :)

Change (the non-fun kind)

There are a few members of our family who avoid, whenever possible, & shun, whenever impossible, this fact of life. Jordan, my strongest-headed boy, is by far the best at the latter part.

We moved back in March & things haven't been the same for him since. He seems to have trouble letting go & has abandonment issues leaving over the old house. He went from doing well in school to not wanting to go to school anymore. Church was the same thing...he didn't want to leave my sight. There were a lot of tears & often trouble that would follow if he didn't get to stay with me. This went on for months after the move.

We were able to keep him at the same school for the rest of First grade but had to move to the new school to begin Second. I was really worried we'd have more of the same attachment issues, just after things were starting to look up, but he did very well from the first day. There was only a 2 week break from First grade to Second.

Since starting Second grade, he's had problems with his school work. One day he just decided he didn't want to be at school anymore & tried to leave campus (thank goodness they caught him!). The Vice-Principal called & they were suspending him for the day. Suspension!? I went in & talked with him & the school counselor & let them know if they sent him home, they would only be giving him exactly what he wanted. I put it in their hands, but explained there would likely be many more instances to follow if they chose to deal with it by sending him home. Thankfully they saw it my way & kept him in "in-house" for the day.

Things have been okay since then.

I think we figured out the problem though. With his abandonment issues still fresh with him, it should have been clear from the beginning. There has been problems with the air conditioning unit for his classroom. His teacher, Ms. Bussey, & class have had to move FOUR TIMES, in the past four weeks, to other classrooms. It's like abandoning his space over & over again.

Poor kid!

He was supposed to be on track break (we are "lucky" enough to be in a year-round school) for the rest of this month & when he goes back it would be more of the same...move to someone else's classroom who's on break, use someone else's desk (only the top, though...the child whose name is on it has all of his belongings inside it), look at the walls that are filled with things that don't apply to what they're learning this year, etc.

I got a letter on Thursday letting me know they were taking volunteers to move to a new class (overcrowding BIG TIME) & it would be on the track we wanted most. After thinking about it all night & talking to Jo about it, I signed it, saying we'd like to move to the new teachers classroom. I received a letter back that said we will be moved & he will now be on track 5, but when I told him about it took me a while to talk him down. He was fine with it in theory, but freaked out in reality.

I figure he was going to be shuffled around next month, when he comes back from break, for who knows how many more times, so why not once more for the year & that will (almost) guarantee no more moves. He's excited about it now...we'll see how he feels about it on Tuesday. I'm excited for him. I really hope this helps him get through these struggles he's going through.

Next year I think we'll be re-zoned for the new school they just started building. I'll deal with it then, but three schools in four years has to be hard for ANY child! :(

Birthday Party FUN!

Last weekend we celebrated both Jordan & Tyler's birthdays. Vickie came in town from Reno for their birthdays, as she has every year since we moved to Vegas.

Tyler invited a large group of boys since we decided to have a party "in" this year. He wanted to take a bunch of friends to Gameworks but after finding out how much something like that would cost, we decided against that idea. We set up the casita with a few small tv's, some game systems, & a lot of cold refreshments. The boys arrived shortly after we got home from Soccer practice.

I didn't realize how many people were actually there until I went out back & did a head count so I could order what I thought would be an appropriate amount of pizza for these STARVING, growing young men. Ten boys & seven pizzas later, there were still a few left hungry but we were headed off to the movies to see G.I. Joe.

All the boys seemed to enjoy the movie & afterwards (instead of letting them roam around Town Square like they wanted to...it's a NUT HOUSE there on a Friday night!! I never knew!) Dave & I came in both cars to pick them up & drop them each off at home. It was fun seeing a few boys from our old ward we hadn't seen in a long time.

These are the only pictures I got of the bunch. It was impossible to get them all together in one shot.

Here are a few pics of Ty on his actual birthday.

We gave him his gifts from the family that day. We love to mess with our kids & give them a hard time whenever possible, so that small cylinder-shaped present in the front is actually just a wrapped can of soda. There were a few other gag gifts, too.

Jordan's birthday party was on Saturday. He had six friends come to celebrate with him & celebrate they did!

As soon as they got here they all got a "lab coat" (essential for budding mad scientists!). They made some goggles, picture frames, & each got a name tag.

We made slime, which was either the coolest thing ever or the grossest thing ever, depending on who you asked.

We had an atom bust contest. Each of the kids would get a balloon tied to their ankle & they would try to protect it from everyone else. They had so much fun chasing one another around, trying to pop everyone elses "atoms"! It was the loudest but funnest part of the whole party, if you ask me!

Our eyeball cake turned out to be a hit. Jordan wanted red velvet cake to have more of a "real eyeball" effect.

We had some pinata issues (I think I filled it too full) & instead of breaking it open with a stick the kids had candy & toys rain down on them (somewhat painfully, I imagine....hey, I told them to stand back! LOL). After gathering up all the candy, they had fun practicing their newly acquired kazoo skills with one another.

We had plans to make an exploding volcano but the time simply went too quickly. Overall it was an extremely fun but exhausting weekend! The kids were so fun to have over & it was great seeing everyone enjoy themselves so much!