Outside Stuff....

I love my children... Truly I do but I enjoy other subjects also. :) Here are some of the pretties on our lots. I am trying to take my camera off auto focus and enjoy its full potential.

Ethan's LAST single digit birthday....

WOWSA!!!! First off we had a great day! We went to see the movie Up, then off to the boys Karate class, then out to dinner, and back home to open presents. Phew... Makes me tired just thinking about all the festivities... LOL!! I am pretty sure he was happy with all his Legos. I tell you this kids LOVES legos!!! Well Legos and video games... Ha!

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.

Ryan's Graduation...

Oh man, talk about bitter sweet. Watching my BABY grow up and leave elementary school. He is getting so big and testing so many boundaries. Anyway, he had his Moving Up Ceremony today and also had a drum club performance. We enjoyed watching him, he was the first child to cross the stage so he was a bit nervous. LOL!

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.