My Busy Bees

It was a beautiful day outside and the girls were looking for something to do. I, using my devilishly ingenious motherly mind, asked if they wanted to earn some money. Of course, they jumped at the opportunity. We have a lot of pine cones and sweet gum balls in the yard. I told them if they filled a box I would give them $2.00 each. They had such fun gathering them, I had to grab a few pictures.

Leighton in her Dad's Disney World hat and her very own John Deere gloves. If you have ever wondered why Leighton is constantly falling, check out her feet.
Carly was intent on getting every last sweet gum ball.

The bounty. They filled the boxes nearly twice.

Just in case you wondered what sweet gum balls looked like.

I have heard they are great for crafting..if you need some I've got all you could ever need.

After all that hard work, they needed a rest.

and a snack.

I do love these girls.

Like my sister says, they get excited about everything!

I Highly Doubt You are STILL Processing...

I posted video of Jensyn nearly two weeks ago and Blogger says it is still processing. I will have to reload and repost, later. My parents are coming to visit on Thursday, it is ad change week for me at work, the semi annual consignment sale is in three days, Leighton is out of clean jeans, I am out of clean socks, I need to go grocery shopping, and my house is a complete wreck.

Maybe when my parents are here and sleeping in until eleven (the time change kills them), I will be able to update. But, I will make the time to change my background. You know that the background is the most important thing about a blog. Without a cute background, no one will care what you post anyway, right?

Daddy/Daughter After Valentine's Dance

The girls' elementary school hosted a dance for Moms/Sons and Dads/Daughters. Dee took the girls. They were so excited to get dressed up and go dancing with their daddy.

Carly posing with her beautiful dress and high heels.Leighton in all her glory.The two of them together.

I have no idea what face Carly is pulling.

Dee wouldn't let me take a picture of him before they left.....But, I have friends who will do it for me at the dance, thanks Amanda!

Leighton refused to dance with anyone.

This is Dee making sure she doesn't want to dance.

She wouldn't even dance with Jordan.But, Carly was up for anything. She even danced with Mr. Roger when Madison wouldn't dance with him. Madison is in fifth grade and too cool to dance with her daddy.

The girls had a great time at the dance. Some of the teachers dressed up as the Chipettes, The Black Eyed Peas, The Spice Girls, and Hannah Montana and performed. The kids loved it. I won't miss it next year, even if I have to borrow someone's son to go.

When the Cat is Away....

The mouse will stay up all night sewing.

I realized that I had forgotten to buy the girls Valentine's Day t-shirts and was not up for a Target run. Dee is out of town and three clothes hungry girls in Target is NOT my idea of fun. So, I took two shirts that had stains on them. I let the girls pick three Valentine-y fabrics out of my stash. I used Wonder Under and fused them over the stains. Then I sewed along the edge of the applique. The girls were very excited to wake up to these. Yes, this is exactly how her hair looks in the morning.

Carly is not even awake.

After breakfast, a comb and brushed teeth, this picture is just for you Mom.
It is proof that I don't send my children to school with that messed up hair.

When the Bottom Drops Out From Under You

My dearest friend called me last Thursday to tell me that her oldest daughter had been to the doctor that day for an MRI. She had been limping and my friend's husband was going back in for a follow up from shoulder surgery. They wanted to kill two birds with one stone (Don't we all?) The orthopedic surgeon had found a tumor on her knee. She is nine years old. Over the last couple of days we have found out more information. It is a form of bone cancer called osteosarcoma. It is localized in her just her knee (Thank God for little miracles.) She starts chemotherapy tomorrow. She is such a beautiful, strong, intelligent, giving, loving little girl, just like her mommy. We think of her everyday and wish her luck tomorrow. She isn't in any pain (another little miracle) and we hope it stays that way.

We love you!

Here We Go Again

Jensyn finally had her speech evaluation. She has hypotonia with high sensitivity in her cheeks.

Whatever could they mean?

Don't these jowls cheeks just scream of toned muscles?
And she just loves to have you dig around in her mouth!Carly also had low tone (with low sensitivity.). Apparently my babies need some major cheek workouts.

She was seen by Denise Hamilton, CCC/SLP who also saw Carly when she was 3 or 4 years old. She was amazed at Carly's progress and didn't even recognize her. After working with Jensyn for about 45 minutes, Denise also said this, 'I think we are dealing with a little perfectionist here.' Umm-What?

***Brag Alert***

Denise went on to explain that Jensyn is incredibly bright and understands that what she is saying is not what we are saying. So, Jensyn is not going to say it until she can say it right. Hence, the perfect Mama, Dada, Uh-oh, Yeow, but NO OTHER WORDS. There is no Ca-for Carly, La-for Leighton even though she can make the L sound. This will be a little harder to treat, but we believe in Denise. Jensyn's expressive (what she says) language is around a eight to twelve month old, but her receptive (what she understands) language is near a three year olds.

Jensyn will have therapy once a week, and we have a call into the Early Intervention Team to try to get her set up in that system. Carly used it and it was wonderful. In my opinion, a great use of our tax dollars. We might even get our old case worker, Karen Troutner-Watkins.

So, now it is back to picture signs on everything, nuk brushes in every drawer and not missing any opportunity to work on speech.

Oh Leighton, you were soooo easy.

But, I am paying for it now and I think it is only going to get worse.

What Five Days in the House Can Do to You....

Where is Carly, you ask?

Can't you hear the Wii music in the background?

She was in video game heaven.

Valentine Crafting

I have been crafting the last couple of weeks. Here are the fruits of my labor:

Hand sanitizers for the girls' teachers.Treat jars for the girls' teachers.Look closely at Ms. Small's jar. It is a Bertolli Pasta Sauce Jar. I used all recycled jars; an applesauce jar, two salsa jars, a salad dressing jar, and a cheese dip jar.

Dee kept asking me why there was 'trash' in the dishwasher. The lids are Mod Podged paper. I just printed the labels, cut out a circle and taped them on using packaging tape. Then, we filled them with Hershey's Hugs and Hershey's Kisses.I opted for homemade valentines this year and the girls picked out last year's popular iLove valentine. Carly and Leighton chose their own playlists.Some people commented that the earbuds get tangled when you put them all in a bag. When the child tries to pass them out, the string or earbuds come off. This would send Leighton into a downward spiral. My handy-dandy Food Saver to the rescue. I made bags out of several very large plastic bags from work. I put the iLove inside.Sealed the top.Cut right above the seal.And ended up with this great little package.These are Leighton's all ready to go.

Carly's looks the same. So no need for a picture right?Yes, she has a very large class, 22 children.The girls were out of school for three days. So, if you add the weekend it was five days of total togetherness. We crafted to pass the time. Leighton and I made heart garlands out of shredded crayons and wax paper. She helped me with this display in the entry. Not too bad for five.She helped with this one too. All the hearts on the windows/sidelights are the melted crayon hearts. We had a great time making them. Carly had a great time playing Wii without being disturbed.

There's Snow Way!

We got snow!! The girls have been praying and wishing for snow all winter. It started snowing on Friday night and snowed all day Saturday. The girls woke up at 6:30 and wanted to go out immediately. I had them wait until 10:30 and it nearly killed them. They didn't want my help with dressing and were not dressed properly. They went out and played for about 15 minutes and then came in freezing. I stayed in and took pictures. Jensyn cried the entire 15 minutes, she wanted to go out with girls so bad.





We got up Sunday and drove to the girls' school to sled down the hill. This time I dressed the girls and they were all toasty warm.

(Leighton is starting to sneeze in this picture.)

Jensyn went down with Dee and LOVED it.

She signed more, more, more as soon as she got to the bottom. I didn't get a picture of either Leighton or Carly going down. But, I did have plenty of time to get this picture of Carly coming up the stairs. She was distracted at everyone going down the hill. It took her forever to get back to the top. Leighton went down ONCE. Then strangers came and she was too embarrassed to go down again. While we were trying to convince her to go down, Jensyn climbed onto to the tube wanting to go down. It was a good thing I had my foot on it. Dee and Jensyn went down one more time and the tube popped.

We headed home on snow-packed roads. (I felt right at home)

The house on the corner.

Our front yard, note the footprints. Leighton couldn't leave one square foot untouched. The girls made snow angels.

The angels didn't turn out since the snow was on top of 2 inches of ice.

Busy

I finally fixed our shredder and was happily shredding nearly three months of papers when I found this To Do List of Leighton's.

Satrday

1. Fiks Mare and Josuf.

2. Clen down stars.

3. Woter the plants.

4. Clen the tabol.

5. Wosh the tabol.

6. Vacyoom the Flor.

7. Ficx the Pikchrs.

8. Ficx the cawch.

9. Ficx the windos.

10. Ti bloons.

11. m you sic.

12. wrek.

13. wotr the plants.

14. ABC padrn.

15. Watr Plants.

She had checked each item off as she had done it, I assume. I really hope she didn't actually water my plants three times. And how exactly was she going to fix the windows? Number 11 took me awhile. (say it out loud)

She had additional days written; Sunday, Toosday, Winday. Those lists had only the number of items with checks next to them. Either she couldn't think of anything to do or decided to take those days off.

Random Statements/Info/Thoughts

Jensyn is delayed in her speech. The pediatrician is still not worried, but knows me too well. She gave me permission to have a speech evaluation done. (I don't need a referral for my insurance, but it always holds a little more weight when coming from a pediatrician instead of some crazy mom.)

I have made the appointment three times, it has been cancelled twice by me. Once, I didn't have our new insurance cards and the second time, Jensyn had (has) a cold. By the time I finally get to the evaluation she will be talking!

When I went to look up Carly's old speech therapist, I found out that they are still using her image on their website and brochures. Check it out here. See if you can spot her.

She is on the second page in her adorable glasses and a navy blue top.

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Carly has started a new math program at school. We have used Touch Math for years, but she is still struggling on a daily basis. I hope that this new program works as well as her EC teacher thinks it will.

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Leighton is doing well and has been asked to join the Enrichment Program for Kindergartners. She enjoys Ms. Coley's class and I am amazed at her logic abilities. She brings home some difficult worksheets with Independently Done! written on them. I am concerned that some of her horrible attitude is because of her boredom at school. I am looking into a supplemental program to keep her engaged.

Side Note: You could spend weeks looking at homeschooling sites, sites for teachers, sites for parents, etc. The Internet is an amazing thing.

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The girls are in the midst of selling Girl Scout Cookies. They have both met their goals for this year, but if you are in need of cookies...we can hook you up!

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I have been trying to organize and craft more. Those are the two things that make me the happiest. They are also counterproductive. You can't do one with the other. I am sure you can figure out which one wins most of the time.

I actually took pictures this time, maybe I will take the time to post some later this week.

Obedience

Leighton has a thing about not getting in trouble at school. She is very proud of the fact that she always gets a "4". {Each students starts at four and then has a tag pulled for each infraction-at 0 you are in the Principal's office.} Today I was helping Amanda paint her new addition. All five of the children were playing together. Madison, Carly and Leighton were playing school. Leighton had to go the bathroom. Madison was the teacher and needed to write her a hall pass. Well, Leighton, not wanting to have her tag pulled, waited and waited and waited. You guessed it, she waited too long and didn't make it to the toilet.

I am beginning to think that therapy is in order. She is taking this obedience thing too far. (except at home) Her anxiety level over this stupid tag pulling is CrAzY!!

Jensyn Speaks!

O.K. She didn't actually speak, but she is making more consonant sounds. This is for Amanda. She loves the high pitch 'lalalalalala' that Jensyn says and wanted video of it. There is a lot of 'cutting room floor' footage. The first video is part of that. It is particularly bad as she hits the camera out of my hands. The second video is short and sweet and provides Amanda with just what she wants.

New Year, New Me!

Dee started his new job on Monday, and I feel as if I have started my job too. I just realized that I have not been a mom to Jensyn these last fourteen months. Yes, I took care of her, played with her, fed her, and loved her. But, I didn't do the 'mom stuff' with her. I didn't talk to her non-stop all day, count out oranges at the grocery store, explain where and why we were running errands, having her 'help' clean the house, teach colors while sorting laundry, go pick up the girls and get to see all the kids, etc. I just sent her into see Dee, so I could get those things done. As most of you know, Dee is not a big talker. We are lucky for 15 words a day.

I just can't help but think that is at least part of the reason for her speech delay. Just the last two days she has learned 3 or better signs and uses them consistently. She is even using the few words she has {uh=up, ba ba=diaper, mmmmmmuh=moo, bu bu=bawk bawk (chicken)} on a more consistent basis. I am feeling very guilty and very inspired to get back to my job: being a mommy. I had forgotten just how fun it can be. Jensyn makes even the grocery store fun!

Is That a Compliment?

Last night at dinner Leighton told me, "This dinner is as good as a cookie with Pinocchio's face on it, with no blood in it."

Uhhhmm, Thanks?