Wednesday May 9

I know I have said it before....and I will say it over and over again...

We love it here.

Yes....there is a LOT to get done....

BUt we are getting it done....little by little :)

And loving (most) of it along the way.

It was another beautiful day and I am really exctied for summertime when we can work and play together all day, every day.

While we were outside eating dinner, Madi says to me "You know I feel different since we have been out here."

I asked her what she meant and she said that it feels like she has been let out of prison :)

Silly girl.

But I am sure happy she likes it here and approves with the move.

Their lives changed a lot to move out here....all our lives have.

Most of it has been for the good.

And I am so happy about that.

Tuesday May 8

We got ourselves 9 little trees today.

We wanted some shade trees by the apple trees....

I would love that area to be where we have our picnic table and BBQ, but shade is a must :)

Not sure if the apple trees will be a permanent fixture where they are.....but if they die out we will just replace them with the same kind of trees we planted today.

They are little and skinny right now, but are supposed to grow pretty fast.

I think it will make a nice little area for picnics and stuff :)

Madi, again, was a great helper.

Cassi was too, but she ended up going indie to entertain Porter for a little bit.

Good kids :)

I circled some of the trees.....they are still kinda hard to see :)

Monday May 7

Today we decided it was time we tried to mow down what we had of actual grass.....

and Then mow down some weeds too.

We need to make sure we keep the weeds under control or it is gonna end up looking like the forest it was when we moved here :)

Madi was so helpful.

She had fun weed-eating.

She also drove the 4-wheeler and trailer around so we could fill it up with grass clippings.

She did most everything without being asked.

She is such a super kid and she was so helpful the whole afternoon.

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Cassi was also very helpful.

But she was helpful by playing so good with the little ones.

I just LOVE this picture!

It cracks me up and just makes me happy at the same time :)

She has a lot of fun with the kids....and they love to hang out with her.



Thanks girls for being so awesome.

For FHE we talked about how well it works for us to work as a team (seems to be a theme around here :)

How we each had our own jobs to do, but the whole thing couldn't have been done if we didn't each do our part.

I also told them that in the summer time there will be a lot of work to do.....but as soon as work is done, there will be lots of time for play.

Only a few more weeks and they are out of school.

Crazy!

I am excited and scared and sad too.
I got an email from Madi's teacher for a party for the 5th grade graduation.

I have to admit, I got a bit teary eyed.

I can't believe Madi will go into middle school!!!

So crazy!!!

But it is very exciting too.

Sunday May 6

The girls decided to open up a restaurant in Elsie's room.

And they decided to use her window as the drive-thru.

They played like that for a long time.

It was really nice.

Port came up and ordered some food.....

And also made sure to return his basket :)

Fun stuff.

(Yes, Elsie is still in her jammies.  She had a fever this morning and so she stayed home with Dad and Port.  She seems to be doing fine now.  We will see how the morning goes.)

Saturday May 5

We made a quick trip to a from Idaho Falls today to participate in my sister Sara's service project.

The big girls stayed at the church to help out while Brent went with Sean and the little ones to their house.

Sara had a good turnout and we got some good stuff done.

She had memory boxes to cover with paper, small teddy bears to hot glue together and diapers to cut and sew together.

Madi spent some time working on her hats too.

I am glad we got to make it to be a part of it today.

I am very proud of my girls for wanting and being so willing to help out too :)

Cassi, making her bears.

She was proud to make 9 of them with cute little bows around the neck :)

Sara and Madi

Emmy and Cassi

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Afterwards we headed to Sara's house for BBQ.

And Elsie got to spend time with her Emmy.

And we had to take a shot with Curious George.

Samantha, SJ, Emmy, Elsie and George

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On the way home we stopped by the Malad Gorge.

We have driven by them for the past 11 years saying we need to go look at them, just never have.

So it was a good time to take advantage :)

It was pretty cool and pretty scary.

The picture does no justice at all for how far down it was.

We had to get another picture with George at the Gorge :)

That monkey has had quite the weekend!

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And even though it is 10:30 right now.....

Dad and the girls are outside right now looking at the moon, which is the closest, brightest and biggest the moon will be all year.

Perfect night to check it out :)

I am so glad we came across this telescope.

Madi loves it.

Cassi thinks it is pretty great too.

But I am thinking I should make them come in and go to bed!!!!!!!!!

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An interesting fact that Dad just looked up.

Elsie had kinda a rough day today and he was reading that when the moon is closer to the Earth, sometimes people who are sensitive to weather and it's conditions, are adversely affected.

Could be a good excuse for how she felt today.

I know she also drove all day, but even her speech this morning was very slurred and you could tell she was off all day.

Poor girl.

Hope she can get some good sleep tonight.

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On the drive home, the kids wanted to know about when they were born.

So we spent quite a long time remembering what happened when I went into labor....or was put into labor with all 4 kiddos.

It was a lot of fun to reminisce about those days.

Each of them have a pretty great story to tell.

No one has a boring story.

They each have some drama, scariness, and very happy endings.

Love my kiddos :)

Friday May 4

Tonight was the school carnival.

It was moved from our school to the middle school so it could be held indoors cause of the rain we have been having.

It worked out pretty good.

The highlight of the night.....

Both Madi and Cassi's teachers were part of the dunk booth.

They only had 5 teachers doing it....so the girls were excited when they found out each of theirs would be volunteering.

They both have such great teachers.

I am thankful for how great they have been for my girls.

What better way to thank them than to dump them into freezing water.....then make them climb back up so it can happen over and over and over again :)

Madi got Mrs. Harvey down on the second try.

Poor Mrs. Harvey had already been dunked several times.

But she came prepared, she has done this for many years.

She wore her dry suit.

But she still said it was really cold!

I love this look that Mrs. Janzen is giving Cassi......

Almost begging for her not to dunk her :)

She had been dunked several times too......and Cassi got her down.

The ones who didn't hit with the ball got to go push the button anyway.....so she was down at least 10 times before it was Cassi's turn.

They were great sports and made it really fun for all the kids.

You can't forget the bouncy houses.

Madi, Cassi and Porter wanted to go on every single one......

Elsie was happy to stand to the side, as long as it was away from the DJ's area.

That was loud.

Elsie had a fun time....but I do think she would much prefer a nice quiet walk in the park :)

Elsie's classroom has been passing Curious George around to each child's home.

Elsie got to take him home this weekend.

He went with her to PT yesterday and to the eye doctor this morning and then to the carnival tonight.

And the best is for tomorrow.

We will be making a quick trip to Idaho Falls for the day to participate in my sister Sara's service project.

I am excited to be a part of it.

But guess who else will be there?

Emmy!!!!

Yay!

So George gets to meet Emmy and Sara and also Elsie's little cousins.

Pretty great weekend to have George with us :)

Elsie and Porter both made this bean bag shot into the clown mouth.

Great shot kiddos :)

Thursday May 3

Madi had her 5th grade field trip today.

And she was happy that dad could go with her.

They went to Eagle Island State Park for a Civil War reenactment.

Madi was pretty excited about it all, and Dad was too.

They both love history, especially war history.

But the bad thing was it rained on them the whole time!

Brent said there were several kids and parent helpers in just t-shirts.

Cold!!!

But they had a fun time anyway.

I thought I would let Madi write a bit about the day, since I wasn't there :)

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I went to a civil war thing.

It took like 30 min. to get there in the bus.

We went to different booths that taught us about engineering, Abraham Lincoln talked to us about being shot, clothing and how they washed the clothes, nurse booth and Doctor booth and musician booth.

There was another soldier guy who taught us how to hold a gun like we were in the army.

He wasn't very nice to us.

There was a cannon demonstration where they shot a real cannon.

They also shot a real Gatling gun, which was the first machine gun invented.

We had lunch in pouring rain and ended up going home an hour early.

And I need new shoes cause mine have holes in them and my feel were soaking wet.

I got to come home with dad even though school wasn't out because my socks were soaking wet, and the other parent helpers kids went home with the parents anyway.

It was really fun, but it was not as dry as rendezvous was last year.

I am glad my dad got to go with me.



Wednesday May 2

I can't wait for summertime.

I love to see the kids run around out here.

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Today was another run-around kind of day.

Brent and I went to Elsie's school for her IEP.

It made me excited for next year....but also so sad to leave those wonderful people behind.

She has been well taken care of.

My favorite news from today.....

We were told that Elsie no longer requires extra services in the area of cognitive and social.

That is awesome.

She still requires special services in speech and PT and motor skills....etc.

But our little bug has grown so much in this last year

I am so excited about all of her progress, especially in the social and cognitive areas.

Miss Laura was there for the IEP and she said after it was over she would stop by and say HI to Elsie.

Well, when I picked Elsie up from school, she came running to me and the first thing she said was "I saw my best friend Laura again!"

That makes me excited for this next year.

Still scared, but very excited :)

I just wanted to show how much Mater has grown in the last 6 months.

He is a good dog and I am glad we have him around.

He is a good partner for Porter.....(but I think Elsie thinks he is her very own dog :)

Tuesday May 1

The girls and I had a fun Mother/daughter date tonight for Relief society.

The girls each made a cute little charm bracelet.

Then they also had a hair-do class.

They did the girls hair in cute hair styles.

Except Elsie....she didn't want to do it.

But I was excited to learn how to do the waterfall twist that Madi got....could never catch on how people were doing that.

Now I know how....super cute!

And Cassi got a cute little hairstyle that was really cute and easy.

Easy for those days I don't have time to do it....but make it look like I did it anyway :)

Fun night.

Thanks girls for hanging out with me :)

Scared to push her into the real world

CP Connection #5

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How could you not love that smile????

That laugh???

Everyone who knows her, loves her.

But I am scared to death for what the future year holds for her.

Elsie will start Kindergarten this Fall.

She has been in the same preschool, with the same teachers, and many of the same kids, for three years now.

I am terrified to throw her into a new classroom, with all new kids.

Kids who don't know her yet.

Kids who might not give her a chance.

I know, that's dumb, right?

But I still can't help but feel that way.

I don't ever want this girl to be made fun of.

I don't want people to assume she is not as smart as she is.

But I guess that is a fear of every mom, not just me.

And I can't protect her from what others in the world will do.

But, I have a feeling that these 'world' things are gonna bug me more than they bug her.

Yes, she can get her feelings hurt.

But she also knows who loves her and she knows what is important in her life.

And she loves back.

So hurt feelings don't tend to stick :)

I need to let her stay that way.

I need to not let myself and my worries change how she deals with her life.

She is an amazing little girl.

She is such an example to our little family.

She is our Sunshine :)

Tomorrow we will have her IEP to see what the plan is for next year, Kindergarten.

There are tings Elsie can do very well...but compared to other kindergartners, I wonder how she will do.

She is learning to cut with scissors.

She does good.

But the scissors she uses at school are specialty scissors that pop back open after you shut them.

I am also curious about how school work will go.

Elsie knows all her letters and sounds and how to write them.....but writing them legibly is a challenge for her.

And doing it fast is hard for her too.

Her preschool teacher said they would have modifications for her....I just wonder what.

I am excited for her to learn and grow.

But still so worried and scared at the same time!

I just want everyone to see her for the Angel she is :)

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Little extra update:

So I just got off the phone with Elsie's school PT.

She will be unable to make it to the IEP appointment tomorrow morning, so she wanted to give me a call to go over what goals she has for Elsie.

She told me that holding Elsie back this year was the best thing we could have done for her and the progress she made this year was incredible.

I wanted to reach through and hug Miss Holly right through the phone.

I love her and love that she has really taken the time to figure out how Elsie learns the best.

She told me that she did not do standardized testing with Elsie.

She said that it really focuses on standing on one foot and jumping up and down....stuff Elsie cannot do.

But she feels that there are other areas that Elsie does well.

And if they only looked at those standardized tests scores, what she does well would be looked over.

Miss Holly has figured out a great way to make Elsie work her very hardest without knowing it.

She said that it is funny, you usually have to have a kid do something that moves their body in order for them to work academically.

Elsie works the opposite.

I love that Miss Holly figured this way out.

She hides letters or says she is looking for a sound and hides these things where Elsie will have to bend down, or reach up high....places that gets her body moving and doing those PT things without Elsie knowing it.

She also told me that she did not set hard goals for Elsie over the next year.

She said that she knows this is gonna be a hard transition year for Elsie and she wants Elsie to get to know the PT and teachers before they try to push her too hard.

If that makes sense.

She said that she would hate for the first time to be 'too hard' for Elsie and have that experience ruin the rest of the year.

And if anyone knows how Elsie works....that is exactly what could happen!

I am so happy that she really loves Elsie and put real thought into her future and how to help her grow but also be happy.

She said she didn't care where Elsie fell  in the age appropriate categories.

She said that she just never wants her physical issues with CP to ever effect her social-ness and love for life.

I thanked her for being such a big part in Elsie's progress over the last three years.

Then she said to me that she will miss Elsie so much.

She said that she loves all the little kids she gets to work with, but every once in a while there is a little one who she feels teaches her more then she teaches them.

She said Elsie did that for her.

Made me smile and brought tears to my eyes.

I am Thankful for the m=amazing people Elsie has in her life that have pushed her to be the very best she can be.

I know that as she moves on she will meet even more great people who will push her even further.

Today while Miss Holly was working with her, the special ED teacher form Mary Mac was there to watch.

I asked Elsie about it and she first told me how much she loves Miss Holly.

Then she said that Laura was there, I am assuming that was the name of the Spec. Ed teacher....

Anyway, she said that Laura was her new best friend.

Lets hope this next year is just as awesome as the last three preschool years have been!

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