Wait...What?

Donovan's school is not a mainstream school. They educate children that are "special needs". I'm not too fond of that phrase and I'm lo to admit I've used it. He couldn't handle/process mainstream school (they couldn't handle/process him ha!) and was suspended twice in first grade. Yeah, not for him we thought. The school he's at now is nothing short of a miracle. They got him reading by the middle of 2nd grade. He transferred there during the last quarter of 1st grade and he only knew his letters and numbers. He had no desire to read at all and somehow, they got him reading. Now? Donovan is in 5th grade and reads at 8.5 to 9th grade level. Yep, that's my boy. We love this school and his teachers are some of the most amazing people we've ever met. The staff gets the kids to understand things that I barely understand myself. Today, he came home so darn excited waving around some paperwork and I couldn't even begin to guess what it was th...

Photo courtesy of the 18mo old who won't be happy unless she can play with a real phone, not a fake one, because, HELLO? she knows the difference. The girl's parent/teacher conference was on Thursday and she got a glowing report. She's intuitive, caring, kind, helpful, smart and makes really hard repetitive patterns. She's a smart one, this kid. She's going to get this reading thing in no time. I don't think we'll need to worry about her academically. For that I say, Whew!!

We started Kindergarten today! Mommy and her big girl. That's right people...purple and gold pride! SKOL Vikings!! Rocking the cowboy boots of course!

The obligatory Back to School photos........part one (part two is the girl and she starts Thursday) with Daddy with Mama

My son was suspended from school today. My seven year old boy. Officially suspended from school for one day. I completely understand why they had to suspend him and yet? I felt like throwing up when the words hit my brain. In full disclosure, I forgot to give him his medication this morning. I very rarely, if ever, forget to give him his meds before sending him to school. On the weekends? It's happened. But during the school week I make sure he has taken them because I'm sending him to other people. People who don't know who he is at home, people that don't know us as a family. I'm sending him to his peers. His peers that will judge him and will do it in front of him without trying to whisper because they are seven. That's how seven year olds roll. I get that. He doesn't. He doesn't get that his classmates will label him as the troublemaker. The yeller. The fighter. The one who punched, kicked and pulled at his teacher, para professional and principa...

So the boy has had a rough week. On Monday he physically moved a child out of a seat so that he could have it. On Thursday he attempted to twist his teacher's arms behind her back because it was time to leave the library. (Side note, glad he loves the library, shitty that he has to act out his way) Today they were all walking to their specials and two classmates weren't walking in a straight line, per the rule and he felt the need to go tell them. Then he pushed and kicked them to get in line. I'm not going to lie people, I cried when I heard this news.Finally, this afternoon he missed the bus because he didn't want to stop coloring and had a meltdown in the hallway. When I got to the school to pick him up, his paras were holding him in the hallway because he had been kicking and screaming. I know his medication hasn't really taken effect yet but I hope it does soon. I haven't updated ya'll on that, have I? (just checked, that's a no) So, to recap: He wa...

We laughed. A lot. We got all prettied up just for the fun of it. We tried pears for the first time. Auntie Fluffy was lucky she walked away with all her fingers. We went to a preseason game against my 'Boys. I don't know who won because I had entirely too much fun with my coworkers who came with me. Damn did my belly hurt the next day from all the laughing. And somehow, someway, I gained a 1st grader. What. the. hell? I don't know how it happened either. But he's a cute one yes?

We had a scavenger hunt geared towards everyone going to school this year. That was a hit, no if ands or buts about it. The kids had a blast, especially the Monkey. She followed the big kids everywhere and was screeching in excitement right along with them! We had a cake made with a school house on it with crayons, chalkboard and pencil decorations piped on it. Our baker also sent along a portable chalkboard that opens up to hold the chalk and eraser. Super cute. We learned to roll over. We also learned we don't like being on our tummy. At. All. I think we can name this photo "Aww crap!" We got to meet Paul Allen, the voice of the Minnesota Vikings. He's the one with the whitest, biggest smile I've ever seen on a man! Really nice guy. We even got our photo put on the KFAN website. The husband was very excited to see his girls on there.

So did you figure out the questions from yesterday? Did your eyes glaze over? Mine did. I thought it would go better after a full nights' sleep but yeah, no. In looking at my scores, I thought I did ok but um, I don't know now. I just googled ACT score and it wasn't pretty. If I tried to get into a decent school with a 20 on my ACT, I think they would laugh at me. And my SAT? Bwahahahaha. 354 Verbal and 409 Math. Thank goodness I didn't go into debt by going to school right away. At least now, when the baby that's baking goes to school, I stand a shot at getting a degree that I can actually use. Has that happened to you? You miss the school work but not the drama of school? Is it just me? I find myself really into the books you were forced to read in school. Beowulf (before the CGI Angelina movie came out thank you very much), The Great Gatsby (though the Robert Redford one is my fave movie version). I've found that the book is usually better than the movie. I t...

The children got along today. All day. Got along. No kicking each other. No screaming at each other. No timeouts. Who are these children? Can I keep them? Usually there's a lot of the boy teasing the girl, then baby girl gets bossed around by the girl, then baby girl gets bossy back and yeah, it's downhill from there. The only tears, most times, are from the dictator but she's the drama queen. I think we'd be shocked if she didn't toss a fit. The Concerta is still keeping the boy up until, well 11 since he's up right now. He's taken to playing on Daddy's laptop in Daddy's bed until he gets super tired. I've decided to just go with it. He hasn't been tired in the morning or during school. I let him sleep as late as he wants on the weekend. Perhaps he'll go to bed at a normal time somewhere in the future but for now, we're ok with this plan. Plus? He is so super excited about going back to school tomorrow. Lord please let this be his ...

At least this year she is.* We took Peanut out of preschool for the rest of the year. We did this the day after I was released from the hospital. We did it for several reasons. Mainly it was the money. We just bought the minivan a couple weeks earlier and then I end up in the hospital for a week plus the two ER visits a few days before that. I'm sure our bill there will be more than the minivan. The other reason, the more important one I think, is that she had no connection to her teacher. To be honest, it really was the teacher not having a connection with any of the kids or parents that I could see. I realize she isn't my son's preschool teacher from last year (a saint in our family) but this teacher is the polar opposite. I never heard singing or fun being had when I would go to pick up the Peanut. The teacher wouldn't really talk to the parents about the child's day. The teaching assistant was fabulous and wanted to do more things with the kids and the teacher w...

Yesterday, the girl went to her first day of preschool. She has been in this classroom before with the boy when we had IEP meetings last year so she knew what she was doing. Too bad Mama didn't know what she was doing. I was certain that class was from 930-12. We got there 15 minutes early. You see where this is going yes? Yay, a point for you. We stroll in to say hi to the ladies in the office that she hadn't seen since May. I look over at her room door and see that it says to come in, not the stop sign that it normally has before class starts. You still see where it's going? Another point* for you, you smart one. I looked at the ladies and said, "Uh, class starts at 930 right?" and they laughed, asking me if I looked at the paperwork for her class and I said well yeah, but that was back in June. I can't remember yesterday. Mama dropped the ball. Class is from 9-1130. Well then, I won't forget now. Or ever. Here she is right before we went in with me apo...

Yesterday I had a meeting with all of the school officials that are helping determine the best path to take with the boy and his Aspergers. It was a long meeting, a lot of information to take in and in the end, so worth it. There were many ideas tossed around, books recommended (one of which we have already, yay us!) and the notification that, officially, he qualifies for school district programs for Autism Spectrum Disorder students What that means is that my boy will be getting some of the best help from this panel of educators. Next week we meet for an IEP meeting with his teacher to lay out a plan specific to him. Right before the winter break this year, it will be reviewed and new one written up for him. I also found out that we don't have to pay for the last 3 months of preschool. When he qualified for these programs through the school district, it meant his preschool tuition was absorbed by the district. I'm not sure how that all works but really, I'm not complaining...

Am I the only one who thinks back on high school and misses it a little? Don't get me wrong, it was four years of not so fun times but it had it's moments. I think about it once in a while. Last night for instance, these kids came to my register and asked for a favor. It wasn't busy and I was CSMing so I asked what the favor was. They asked if I could say something over the intercom. I said it depended what it was. They told me and I said no, I could possibly get in trouble. They asked, nay begged, for the manager and Terry came over. I explained what they needed and he was hesitant but then ok'd it since it was all in good fun. They were having a scavenger hunt of hilarious proportions. I went to page and the guy said he needed it on video. Great. He whips out the cell phone. Somewhere at Minnetonka High School people are going to watch me paging "Hemorrhoid cream is in the Pharmacy department, thank you". That my friends is why I am Employee of the Month. I ...

That's all I can do right now. I'll update more later. Right now, I'm on my way to the nursing home to get my gramma-in-law's glasses and a couple other items. She's in the hospital (2nd time in 5 days). She had a heart attack last night, has pnuemonia and kidney failure. She's alert right now, knows what's going on, who's there and whatnot. The girls and I just went to see her yesterday with my MIL and she looked great. It's horrible how things can change in a few hours. Monkey Boy is in preschool fullsteam now. He really seems to like it a lot. No complaints from the teacher so far. I'm waiting though. Oh ye, of little faith. The other grandparents'-in-laws are moved into the assisted living apartments now in Fargo. What an emotional time for them. I've never really had a house to be attached to since I was a military kid. I mean I've only lived in 4 different houses/complexes, that I can remember. I was lucky. My MIL is having a ro...

One of the more entertaining stories in the news today. I think I needed a cigarette after we watched this . It's gonna be a long winter. Ed Bradley , Jack Palance and Gerald Levert have all died this week. There's the trifecta of bad news. No more please. Unless it's FedEx . No, I kid, I don't wish his death. Permanent loss of voice? Sure. I have tomorrow off and need ideas of what to do with the husband and kids. It's suppposed to be 37 degrees, very sunny and only slightly windy. We want to do something outside the house but not expensive. Ha! Long list of requirements I know. I'm gonna look around the good ol' web and see what she has for me. Any ideas, send them this way. There's a new show coming on the The National Geographic Channel that I am really wanting to see. I love elephants, esp elephant babies. I think being a mom makes me want to see this too. Isn't this the stuff we were forced to watch in high school and we hated it? I find my...