The Kiddo Report

Athena 

I woke up this morning and walked out of my room to see my two year old beaming with excitement. She ran to me with a bounce in her step exclaiming "Mommy! Mommy!"
Pure joy and happiness. That is my daughter. And so full of love.
I picked her up in a hug. With her check pressed against mine she said "Love Mommy."

Mind you, she isn't always pure happiness everywhere we go. But at home , in her heaven, she is.

Even if she feels disobedient and destructive and winds up in trouble. She can bounce back in a moment and be all smiles and warmth.

Last night we had our weekly Friday pizza and a movie family night. She had apparently missed daddy that day because it was him she wanted. She sat on his lap and kept hugging him until their faces squished cheek to cheek. "Love Daddy!" she would say.

She also loves her brothers. She wants to be with them and hug them, sit on their laps and lay with them on the couch...even when they are telling her to go away.

I want her to stay this positive, hopeful,loving and happy forever. I want her to dream big and know that she can do anything with her life is she wants it big enough (determination and hard work). I hope to help her be strong and make her dreams come true. Hopefully with Sterling and I raising and supporting her it will be enough to keep the world from breaking her spirit.

The Boys

 Now that the school year is getting late in months our boys' teachers are asking more of them. More of their behavior and more of their work.
Tiberias has had a hard time learning to control himself and follow the rules at school. He was to be wild and play fight. He loooved school until a few weeks ago. Now he is tired of being told to control himself.

We thought about homeschooling because our boys' teachers are having a hard time getting the boys to be how they want them. However, looking at the pros and cons of them attending school vs homeschooling I have decided it is best for them to go to school. Best for them to learn to control themselves, follow rules and get their work done on time.

Tiberias

Tiberias has a hard time listening when instructions are given, doing what he knows he is suppose to and keeping his shooting sounds and fighting moves inside of himself. He also tends to be in his own head instead of paying attention to what is going on in the class.

Sterling and I changed our children's lifestyle about a week ago. We stopped giving the kids sugar in the morning (poptars, pancake syrup, sugar cereal, muffins). We limit their electronic time. They get about an hour a day...which they earned themselves by doing chores, homework and remembering to do things without my telling them.

Tiberias uses his electronic time to sit and watch a movie for a rest in the evening. Sometimes he likes using 5-10 mins on his tablet during the day.

We have also started giving Tiberias green tea before school. If he has ADHD, which he very well may, the caffeine will calm him down.

Here is what has changed with Tiberias since the sugar and electronic cutback:
He is calmer in school. He follows rules better and has stopped getting in trouble. Everyday when I pick up the kids I ask "How were you in class today?" Ty always says something like "I did amazing!" And he is proud of himself. Of course I email the teachers to make sure my kids are giving me the correct reports on their behavior.

We will probably cut out the green tea one week and not tell his teacher. Then when the week is up let her know we did and ask how his behavior was.

One huge discovery we have made is that sugar makes Tiberias go crazy. I think I always gave him sugar all day even if just a little so I never had anything to compare it to. But now that he gets sugar only after school I can see a difference. He is well behaved and calm then I give him some cookies or muffins and he gets wild , loud and too silly.

It's a good thing Tiberias loves healthy food too because he's about to lose most of his sugar from now on.

Lachoneus

Luke's problem in class is that he is bored so he gets distracted by anything that will take him away from having to write on paper.
If all learning was on electronics Luke would become a genius. He is a very smart boy but hates paper...unless it's art. He loves doing art.
But electronics are so fun to him that he would excel if given all work on electronics.
The problem there is that he then learns to be always entertained and instantly gratified. Real life requires doing things that are not so fun. Real life also requires doing things on paper...some times. ;)

 I think that , it being late in the school year, Luke's teacher is requiring the students to do a lot more writing paragraphs. Luke is not great at coming up with things to write. He doesn't like having to use his brain that way. That is the biggest problem with his paragraphs. If you tell him to write about something he loves he will still sit there for a long time claiming he is thinking. Claiming he is trying to come up with what to write and he never does. He doesn't know what words to use or what to say.

Lately he has been bringing school work home because he doesn't get it done in time during class.
To motivate him to get his work done during class we have said "If you do extra well in class your teacher will let us know and you will get 30 extra electronic minutes. If you do not get your work done in class you will lose 30 minutes." And, "If you are good all week you get to pick a prize from the dollar store" (big motivation).
Unfortunately this week he did not do well. Twice he brought home class work to finish.

Parenthood

It's not easy being a parent. And we are trying so hard to be amazing parents. It's a lot of work and meditating. And we pray our children will grow up to lead healthy, success lives and be happy during it.

Athena Meets the Police

Today was our 2nd day of foster parenting class. It is a 6 hour class and we cannot bring our children. So all three kids go to a family for the day. We rotate who takes them on each time so it doesn't fall on just one family.

Today our kids went to a family that is pretty big. They have 6 and one on the way (I believe). They have fostered and even adopted so they wanted to help us in our journey.

Well, during class after lunch I received a phone call. It was a police officer. They told me that my daughter was found wandering the neighborhood alone. She had escaped the babysitters and was 2 or 3 streets away from where she should have been. I told the officer that she is a daring independent girl and will go alone on a walk if she sees a chance.

The officer said "You still should give the babysitters a hard time to teach them to be more careful next time."
I then talked to the father who was babysitting. He had been trying to get ahold of me as well. I could only imagine how embarrassed the parents felt. And I knew Athena could have run away on my watch too. I had not warned the family that we typically keep our doors locked. It keeps unwanted people from being able to enter but also keeps a toddler from escaping.

Athena often attempts to leave us and go take a walk alone. We have to watch her so she doesn't run away.

Anyway, I did not yell at the family watching our kids. They told me what happened and then told us the whole story later when we picked up the kids.

Here is what happened...
Luke went downstairs to play in the playroom and Athena followed him. The father of the house saw them go downstairs and he went out to his car to put something in it. He came back in the house and took another load out to the car. He came back in the house and went down to check on Athena. She was not there. They all searched the house, the yard and the house again. Then they hit the street searching for her. By this time a neighbor had Athena a few streets away and had called the police.

The police officer came and that is when Athena met her first police officer. Hopefully she won't be this much trouble all of her life.

Thankfully nothing bad happened to her while she was out on her own. We love her so much!

Goodbye Bunnies

The babies are almost old enough to leave their mom. They will be moving to new homes soon. I finally got cute pictures of them. Here they are with a bunny maze Sterling made. In our bathroom.

 Buttercup grooming her child

100th day of School & Tea Party

The 100th day of school celebration! Luke wore a home designed shirt. 100 Lego Star Wars characters. And Ty dressed with his class to be 100 years old.

 

My friend Martha asked me weeks ago to help her with her daughter's tea party. Her daughter was turning 2 and needed a girl's party because she typically had to put up with her two older brothers. So she asked me to help plan and throw the party and she hired me to take pictures at the party. 

I made paper plate and bowl tea hats. Martha made finger foods. I helped decorate and I set up my backdrop in her living room. Here is Athena hiding under the table because she wants to put the baby doll bottle in her mouth even though I told her not to.

 Friend Leah

 Friend Chloe

 Birthday girl Abi

(

 Luke was there because we had a baptism to go to immediately following the party)

It was a lot of fun. After that we went to the stake center and watched a baptism. I wanted Luke to be there to witness because he too will have the privilege of making that step this year.

Trying To Get Home

When our trip to Utah was over we gave ourselves two whole days to get home before our foster parenting class. We were very aware of what could happen to turn a 10 hour drive into a much longer one. 

Ster was sick so I had to drive. The weather was snowy at first but after an hour or so it cleared up. Ster was really ill though. So when we stopped for lunch in RockSprings at Mcdonald's the kids played and Ster called the military medical line to see if he should find a Dr. nearby.

Eventually they determined we should just continue on our trip. 

When we got to Rawlins we had a flat tire. The weather was bitter cold and snowy at this point. Poor Ster had to get out and put the spare on, which proved long and difficult. The spare was located directly under the van and it was stuck.

Ster called the tire store nearby and it was expensive. So we decided to drive to the next town and get a better deal there. We had just enough time to get there and get our tire on hopefully before the shop would close. 

When we tried to leave Rawlins the highways were closed due to weather. The weather was about to get worse. It was freezing cold out.

We got a hotel in Rawlins and decided to make the trip to get our tire fixed as early the next day as the roads would be open. We worried they might not open until late Friday. But we were hopeful.

We knew the kids would love staying in the hotel. Unfortunately we did not have our swim suits with us to make the kids' night even more fun. 

We got Burger King and checked into the hotel room. Watched a movie before bed. The boys shared a bed and Athena slept on the couch.

The next morning we ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel lobby. We packed up, cleaned up and hit the road. One hour after we finally left Rawlins Ster realized he had left his gun up high, hidden, in our hotel room.
We had to go back to Rawlins. As we got to the hotel and Ster went inside the hotel maid was just bringing the gun down to the office. Luckily he was able to get it without problems. And we hit the road...again.

It was a long drive. We were so ready to be home and done with the driving.

We picked up a pizza in Rapid City and went home. Home sweet Home. It was probably not yet 7pm when we got home. Ster went and picked up the rabbits (Buttercup and her seven children). The Stewarts had a blast rabbit sitting our adorable babies. They let them out and played with them as the rabbits roamed a little every day. They even sent me a picture while we were in Utah.

FOSTER CLASS
Saturday morning we took our kids to the Johnson's home. The family of Luke's friend Anthony and his little brother Jake (Athena's age) from church.

Our foster care class was from 9am-4pm. We do it every other Saturday for two months. Ster can't do it on weekdays so we had to take the loooong Saturday classes.
I thought it would be fine. But that first day was torture for ME. Ster is use to long boring classes ("Death by power point"). Well, the first half of the class was fine. Then we took a one hour lunch. Ster and I went to the mall and ate Asian food.
Then we went back to the classroom where time became slower and slower and slower. I kept eating the coffee cake and oranges to stay awake. But that made me sick. I became sicker and sicker. By the final 30 minutes of class I was standing, pacing even, near the exit ready to throw up in the trash can.
I thought it was simply 5 hours in the same room and eating too much coffee cake. I was so sick.

We picked up the kids and I was like "How will I ever survive another class?!" But the next day I decided that something else must have made me ill. And we'll find out at the next class session.

So I have a plan...for class #2 tomorrow; Bring gum and candies to keep me awake. Bring a big bottle of water. Bring paper to draw and color on for my sanity. Sit in the back of the class instead of the front. And, pray for help.

Visiting Roundys

Ready to go to church. Cute picture with aunt Hannah.

 Aunt Abi reading

 With cousin Chloe

 Playing video games. Dad brought all his video games even the retro ones to play with his brothers.

 Licoln logs

 Travis & Aubry's baby Madi...

 Little Chloe

 We went out to get shakes