This morning I took the kids to a free bowl from 9 -11 am with the Cub Scout pack that Ethan just "graduated" from. It was nice to see some of the pack families and to watch the kids bowl. I am currently attempting to get the kids to get their rooms in order. We have decided to try to sell the boys bunk bed set as well as our bedroom set. Looking for a change and dragging it up in the move is not appealing, LOL!! It looks like closing is July 14th for this house. We are hoping that our timelines and money all come together for the property up north. Started sorting my room today and still have lots to do around here as well as keep up with the normal routine. I need some of the energy these kids seem to have and waste an uproductive things. OY!!!! Rob took his old work truck up today that stopped working to the property. We are planning to use it for storage up there for the time being.

Not much else to report, next week is the last week of school. Good and bad all rolled into one... LOL!!

Moving on UP...

LOL!!! Not to much new to report except the kids activities are done. YAH!!! The only thing left is 8 days of school and 5 of them are 1/2 days, summer camp for the boys, and a field trip for my girl scout troop. Rob has the spot were our new home is going set up to be cleared this week, as well as a 10 -15 foot wide driveway up to the middle of the property and a spot for a chicken coop and garden. As we have money we will do a little more clearing and leave the better oaks in place. There is a property across the way diagonally that got rid of all the pines and not so great trees, they left the oaks and planted grass and I must say its just beautiful. I look forward to doing the same down the road. Rob also purchased our next project, I mean home. We now own a used Modular Daycare that we will be turning into a home. A little untraditional, but apparently its better than the rest of the stuff we looked at last weekend within our budget. We are looking to get away from all the bills, so this is our fresh start. Other than that I am starting to pack this weekend and get rid of stuff and prepare for our move. Our time line is still a little in the air, we are waiting on the bank to determine when the closing will be.

Changes

Changes, Changes... Everywhere... I think they will be for the best. Looks like we are going to try to make a go of moving onto our 5 acres. We are trying to get things in order to move up over the summer and that way we can start the new school year up there. We all are very excited about the move. I think it will put our family in a different place and give us a new begining. As we know a time line I will be less cryptic. The kids are doing well, they are finishing up the Spring Soccer season down to a few games left. They have really enjoyed going back to it. Scouts are winding down also. The boys have a Summer Camp Trek this summer with their troop. I am very excited for them. They will be going to Kennedy Space Center, then off to St Augustine to tour, then to middle of the state to tube and then to the Peace River to do some fossil hunting and back home. Should be a lot of fun. More to come later. Just a little tidbit.

Almost done...

Well we made it through another school year, well tomorro is a half day so ALMOST made it, LOL! The last few weeks have been insanely busy. I will try to add a few catch up posts here and there w/ some photos. The kids are well and we are looking forward to our summer. We plan to swim, read, watch movies, catch up with old friends and play!!! We also are going up to Alabama for a wedding and family vacation.

So the results are back...

I had my meeting with the school this morning. Megan is on the low end of average for intellegience. Her speech other than a slight tongue thrust is good. So basically nothing they can do except for what they are doing. I have her in tutoring 1x a week, the teacher is sending home books everynight that we are doing above and beyond her homework, and she is doing extras for her in class. We did decide that she processes things a bit slower. At this point they are not recommending retension. We will have to make up a little lost time over the summer. The teacher tutoring Megan says she is a breeze to tutor, she is like a little sponge and wants to know more. She is normally this way with me unless she has it in her head to do something else. LOL! Ethan we are still waiting to see the verdict for him. I am praying he will do ok. If anyone knows a way to organize a 8 almost 9 yr old and keep him on task at school, feel free to enlighten me. Ryan we are just waiting to see where he ends up for next year (its not neighborhood schooling here, they like to call it choice and I like to call it lottery) He has started guitar lessons and is loving it.

Other than that we are well, just hanging in here. This economy has caused us to make a lot of hard decisions. We just keep shoveling forward in hopes that it will get better.

School with the littles....

I have some disappointing revolations the past few days regarding my youngest. I knew they were struggling in school, but I guess I didn't realize the extent until the report cards came home and I have had contact with both of their teachers. Ethan has had a difficult time since 1st grade, I have tried to work with him and his 2nd grade teacher worked her butt off to get him up there. Then he went on to 3rd grade and has become so disorganized that all the improvement we made is not pulling him through. His teacher has told me that his biggest issue is his organization and that he doesn't complete stuff. How do you get a child to become organized and complete his work. We have gone through the glasses and provisions for him having possibly ADD. His holistic testing was not as good in the one category as we had hoped, so now its all riding on FCATS. Ugh! Then there is Megan who has been behind the ball since last year. She is just a very inattentive child, who gets frustrated very easily. She got a wonderful teacher this year in 1st grade, but she was on maternity leave from the end of January till April. So she has gotten further behind than I had hoped. I had a meeting w/ her teacher Friday and was surprised that she is still testing this far behind. So we devised a plan and I also went and hit up the guidance office who was supposed to have her Student Study meeting this week. They tell me they have an appt for her on 5/14. I told them I am going to have to dig my heals in here. I feel Megan is getting the short end of the stick. Not only is she a child who is behind, but her teacher went on maternity leave and she was left for over 2 months with a new teacher who is not equipped to help Megan. AND I feel they should have been testing her for learning disabilities. Now they read my request as she has dyslexia and there is nothing that can be done. I told we don't know till we test. Now we are left with very little time to get her the help she needs. I told them I am not signing off on retaining her. I will work with her over the summer. So they understood where I was coming from and they would move up the SST and they got me in Thursday at 7:40 am. I went back and told her teacher who is very pleased. Also the guidance counselor applauded me for standing up for Megan and promised me she'd have the testing done before the end of the year and try to have a follow up too, so that next year Megan will have everything in place. I have been reading on LD and lets just say my baby girl fits the bill. I don't want to keep her back and its a combination of things. Maybe I am being unrealistic, but I want to try to help her get ahead.

Hoping we can figure something out for them and that Ethan's FCAT Testing comes back good. I have also signed Megan up for tutoring with a teacher friend.

A small update:

Easter was wonderful, we had a great time with some good friends. I am so thankful for them. We ate good food, swam, talked, and egg hunted. It was a good day! Our family went to Lion Country Safari the day before so we missed all those crazy city egg hunts as we do every year. I don't know how people deal with all the mobs of people. Perhaps that is yet another dose that I have my momma. :)

Ryan: He is doing beautifully in school, very proud of my boy. He is getting ready to transition to Middle school next year, in fact I need to get his application turned in soon. We live in a county with choices.. You make a list of what you would like and they pick whatever they randomly feel like and put your kid there. Doesn't that sound great? Ok... so I am praying he will get one of our top 3 picks. He is thriving well in his Boy Scout Troop, they are going on their second campout next weekend. It sounds like so much fun honestly.

Ethan: He is doing ok in school. His biggest pitfall is his lack of organization, I have tried and his teacher has tried. I just pray he did well in the state testing which he informed me was EASY Mom!! Cub scouts is so-so for him, he is loosing interest which is making thing tough. He wants to be big like his brother. The next year will be interesting with them being more seperated in school and activity.

Megan: Oh lord, she is just a handful. She definately came last for a reason. She is pushing all my buttons at once to see what I do. She is doing ok in school, she is coming along better in reading and math thankfully. Hoping it will be enough to get her through. She is liking Girl Scouts but that is yet another so-so. It will all work itself out one way or another.

It's hard to believe how quickly time is flying by...

Sometimes it feels so slow like please hurry up. And other times its just like OMG... I can't believe that we have already blown threw all this.

So lets see... we have kids that have been sick and got better. Parents who are now getting sick. We had a chopped full couple days, I personally am relieved its done. So much prepartion that for the most part was fun but to clumped together. In the past three days, I have had my first meeting with Megan's troop since we seperated from the kindergarteners. It was mainly still run by Meg's leader who works for council now, but it was much calmer than having 20 girls in a room. We did our swaps for ingathering, which turned out SOOOOO cute. When I get my computer fixed (doesn't want to upload my photos) I will upload some pics. Then saturday we had ingathering and it was fun, but after all the prep and then being the hot sun was again happy that it was finished. Meg didn't get to do her swaps this year because we had to leave early. She had Father/Daughter Dance w/ Daddy at her school @ 4 pm. Again, have some cute pictures, will share when I can. They had a good time and it was a good memory for Megan. Then today we had our cub scout Blue & Gold Banquet where our boys earned their ranks. My oldest Ry has now finished cub scouts and is moving on to Boy Scouts. I am very proud of him as well as Eth for working hard to finish their requirements. I think a good time was had by all.

Tommorrow I have a field trip with my Diva and the rest of the week is fairly uneventful.. YAH!!!!

More lost teeth and such...

Things here are about the same. We are all done with soccer till probably the fall. I am actually happy that scouts and school will be the only thing occupying the kids time for a while. Speaking of Scouts Ryan is crossing over (moving up) to Boy Scouts in March. This sunday he will be presented with his rank at our Pack Blue & Gold. And then in 2 weekends after that he will go over the Ceremony and officially be welcomed into his new Troop. I think he is a bit nervous, but I think that is understandable. Luckily many of the boys from his den are coming with him. Ethan is earning his Bear rank this sunday. Because most of the moms who have run this pack for the past 2 yrs are moving onto Boy Scouts we are loosing a lot of our support system, so there is a possiblity that Ethan will be joining a new pack (he has friends there so he is very happy). With Megan's scouting her leader actually is working for council now so I am stepping up to do Megan's troop w/ her help. She is working on bridging to be a Brownie in May. First meeting for me is friday night with the girls. Outside of that Ryan is going into middle school next year and we are applying for a special school, a Marine Oceanographic Academy Prep School. We are praying that he makes it in as he is very excited about it. They only 25 students out of the district for each grade. So we have recomendations coming together and such. Ethan and Megan will stay put at the school they are at. Oh!!! And speaking of Ryan he has lost 3 teeth in the past 2 weeks... Crazy... I keep teasing him that he is a snaggle puss! ;)

Other than that not much else to report.

Healing Arms, Lost Teeth, Cookie Sales, ect.

Its been a little while since I checked in. First of all my girl has lost 2 teeth on the bottom, she looks a little snaggle tooth ish now. LOL! She also started selling cookies, she has worked a cookie booth and walked the neighborhood. We have also got some orders from friends and family (THANK YOU), so she is doing pretty good with her sales. Then we have Ryan who we went to the Orthopaedics yesterday and he is now allowed to take the brace off and in just over a week he is allowed to return to PE at school. Huge steps. He has decided to bypass soccer in the spring, I think he is being a nervous nelson since the dr assured him he would be ok. But its his choice. Ohhhh and he got student of the month. They a passage from the nominee and she said that he was a boy scout and she sees in his daily school life. That he is respectful to others and always willing to help. Talk about melt my heart. Not much up with Ethan other than his stubborness. LOL!!! He fell off his bike last weekend and we thought maybe we had another broken bone on our hands, but we got the swelling to come down and we think he just bruised the heck out of himself.

Another day, Another Sinus Infection....

OY!!! I had a 2 week follow up for Ethan today and went ahead and put Ryan in since he has been complaining his head hurts. Sure enough he has a sinus infection, but at least we are nipping it in the butt now. Ethan on the other hand has been through 2 rounds of antibotics and he is still complaining his head hurts and its affecting his lungs (asthma). So she wants him to go see an Optometrist, if his vision is fine then I will see the allergist to rule that out and then off to the nuerologist. Then there are his heals that have been hurting him off and on for a few months. So we have orders for an xray and we will see what the findings are and go towards the Orthopedic from there. So lots of doctor appts in my future. LOL! Oh well, we are all tired so perhaps tonight we will hit the sack after we eat our belated Turkey Dinner that I cooked during the day. Not to much else to report other than the boys got the ok from the State to have their business on the property that we have a contract on.

Fallish Photos

We had an drs visit today and I happened to have my camera with and it just so happened that there was a beautiful old tree w/ lots of flowers around it. LOL!!! Here ya go....

Oh and check out the different personalties of my sweet girl...

Can hardly believe that Halloween is here and then I just know that the rest of the year will zip on by. I haven't had time to get to the pumpkin patch, well let me rephrase that we unloaded pumpkins at the begining of the month but because I didn't have Megan we didn't buy. And every time I have had time its raining!!!! So today I FINALLY took them to pick out a pumpkin at the church. Of course over half of them are rotted at this point. But anyway we managed to find a nice pumpkin and of course our traditional three munchkins. Poor Ethan had been home sick with me all day but was feeling a bit better and I knew I wouldn't have time later on. So when you see his picture you will clearly see he doesn't feel well. Daddy is off to the west coast to start working on the business venture that will put us in the Aquaponics business. Enjoy my munchkins, they sure are getting big.

And a few more...

Yah they were super silly tonight. We went to the doctor and then went and had chinese at a restaurant called Pei Wei. Mmmm!!! It was so good, we rarely eat out these days so it was a great treat. We are starting to get completely slammed w/ soccer and scouts starting up, but we honestly enjoy both things so much. We also got rid of the big truck and took on way lower payments with a new Scion. I am starting a seasonal job at QVC on the 13th, looking forward to that inspite of the hours being 9 pm to 2 am, also praying they will keep me on after the holidays. The plus to it is it doesn't mess with the kids stuff to much and when it does Rob will just step in. We are pretty much hanging in here, the economy stinks right now and Rob's business is not the best but we are hanging tough.

When life gives you lemons, just make LEMONADE. :)

Kids n Bubbles...

My silly lil kiddos.... They were blowing bubbles outside the doctors appt and having a good time. Thought I would share....

Our last week before school...

Wow!!! Can't believe monday starts it all again. Seems like summer was dragging by and then all of a sudden it went soooo fast! Didn't get to visit everyone that I had wanted to, but I will have to try to sneak them in before soccer starts. Here are a few pictures of the kids doing some fun stuff with some good friends... Enjoy!

A little update on the family:

Ry ~ He finished off the school year on the Honor Roll. He has just done amazing since 2nd grade when we started doing some changes. He also got a 5 out of 6 on the three components of the FCAT test, which from what I understand is outstanding. When I took him for his Annual Check up his Ped was so very proud of him and sung his praises multiple times. The boy was grinning from ear to ear. He has also finished up his Webelos I rank in Cub Scouts, by February/March of next year he will cross over into Boy Scouts. I am so excited for him, but it will be different as this is more of a journey about and BY him. We will still be there for him, but it will just be a different format. He is really looking forward to Fall Soccer, he moves up to a new age group which sometimes is intimidating because he is low man on the totem pole. We have decided to pass on the Competive team since Gas is so expensive. We also visited the allergist this week and has been very healthy... Thankfully one of three. LOL!!!

Eth~ Well this year was a struggle for him. Alot had to do with the fact that his 1st grade teacher last year was very off task with the reading. So he started behind the ball, he made a lot of progress with help from his teacher (what an angel) and his reading buddy through Big Brother/Big Sister. So hopefully with a little help this summer we will get him up to speed for school. He has finished his Wolf Rank in Cub Scouts and is going to be a Bear next year. With becoming a Bear comes more opportunities. He is really loving it and this summer we are going to work on some of his belt loops. And of course he is sooo looking forward to Fall Soccer. I am curious to see if he becomes intimidated because has again moved up to a new division (like Ryan) and normally that sets them back a bit. But he is excited that he is now in Rec Soccer and there are GOALIES!!!! LOL! We have had a really rough fall/winter/spring with him, he has been on many steriods and antibotics and we need to figure a way to manage him in order to keep him healthy. So the allergist did a lung function test and while his capacity is good some function of the lungs is at 48% and should be 75% or better. So for now we have added Advair 2x a day in hopes to keep him healthy, we go back in July to see his progress.

Meg~ Lets see... School well she made it on to 1st grade BARELY. Her teacher was less than impressive and I seemed to have to jump through hoops of fire to get what I requested done. We have 2 student evaluation meetings and thankfully the guidance counsler understood my side. She made a lot of progressive the last marking period because of my request of a reading buddy, more support work for him and the teacher to make some adjustments. I really feel it could have been so much better, so we are praying for a better teacher this coming year. She has had a great year with Daisy Scouts. They were able to do a service project for a family in need, I was very proud of her generosity. We are looking forward to next year when we sell cookies. And Meg played fall and spring soccer (the boys only played fall soccer). Daddy coached the Spring soccer to give us an opportunity to see if she wants to proceed in Fall again. We are on the fence, I might try something through the community center. We went to the allergist with her and last year when she was tested they determined that she has a low Immune System. We also discovered that her tetanis shot did not hold, so I took her for another shot. I had to take her to have her blood drawn to see if she held that shot and will figure out how to proceed from her. Unfortantely just like her mother and one brother she is sick a good bit of the time. We have had a lot of behavioral issues with her and are just trying to figure out something that works with her. She also displays many of the ADHD stuff that her big brother, so I feel us going down this road again.

R and C ~ We are hanging in here, it has been a very difficult year. The business has suffered greatly. We have picked up a little business but have lost double or more of the business we gained. Its a very hard time for many families. Our home is in the process of being sold, the payments are just greater than what we can do at this time. But home is where the family is so we will survive. I worked in an insurance office as a secretary from August until the last day in May. I enjoyed it but due to childcare costs outweighing my paycheck I am at home for the summer with the kids. I have also accepted a Subsitute Teacher position with the school district. I am hoping that I will be able to get a more permanent position with benefits but for now this is a good opportunity to work the same hours as my kids. R has many projects in the fire... LOL!!! He has acquired a FREE RV... so that should give you an idea of how much work will likely be involved in it. We plan to put it up on our property in Ocala, so that when we visit we have a place to stay. He has also planned and is occasionally gone up to start storage shed to put some of our stuff in for the transition. We hope that by next summer we will permanently be residing on the land. Oh I also have a new set a wheels or should I say a well loved set of wheels... LOL!!! I now own a 96 Town & Country Van. It has a lot of quirks that we are working through (so add another project to Rob's list... OY!) We are coming up on the one year anniversary of my mom going to heaven. Its been a rough year full of bumps and tears, and I think coming closer to that date has just made it that raw again. On a bright note, my Mother in Law, has come to live with us. It has been a fairly easy transition and its nice to have family closer.

Well that is about all for now, if you made it this far you are a Saint. Thanks for stopping by... We will be off to Alabama next week for our yearly family trip. The lake is full of water this year and we are soooooo excited! I will have lots of pictures to share when I return.

Just had to share a few of my kidlets. They are growing up before our eyes. Megan is doing great in Spring Soccer and the boys (and Meg) are enjoying Scouts. Summer will be here in a flash.

Fun @ The FPL Encounter.....

And here is Ethan with Harriet the tranatula... Creepy Crawlies....

Ryan got to hold a baby Florida Alligator... And to think they get 14 feet long.. WOW!!!

And Miss Megan with a Self Portrait ... She got ahold of the camera... LOL!!

The pictures are a little blurry... I realized when I got home there was a finger print on the lens... DUH!!!! Oh well the kids had a blast!

Meuw & Some Soccer Pics....

The two littles started soccer 2 weeks ago and Ryan starts practice friday. And of course here is lil Red sleeping in my laundry. Lil Stinker!