Sunday, March 17, 2013

School Denial

I knew that I would not be able to graduate from Kaplan, if I wanted to be an RD, so from day one I have been researching schools and chatting with others so I have a game plan in place.  The two schools that offer an online BS in Nutrition are Kansas State University and Eastern Michigan University.  Their programs are quite different and KSU is my top choice, but I went ahead and applied to both schools.  I have been exchanging emails with the Nutrition advisor at KSU so I knew my Chemistry would be an issue and it was.  What I wasn't expecting was to not be granted admission to the school at all, I figured I would be accepted to KSU but have more difficulty getting into the Nutrition program.  I received a C in both Chem I and II, sadly prior to 2013, this would have been acceptable, but now they require at least a B, so I am now researching my options to retake those two classes.  I quickly looked at Blinns schedule, but I do not think it is doable for me.  It is not online, and each is offered for 4 weeks from 4-8 every day, Mon-Fri, I just do not see how for 8 weeks I could leave work early and then go to school for 4 hours, when would I study, or see the kids?!?!  That is too much.  I am inquiring as to whether the Chemistry that Kaplan offers is acceptable, if it is, there are two terms left before Fall semester at KSU starts, but since I was not admitted to the school itself, I do not know if I can take those and still start in the Fall.  I have emailed my contact at KSU and am waiting to hear from her.  I am not letting this stop me, nothing will, at this point.  I am just trying to find out if I may need to delay admission to KSU until January 2014 or if I can still get started in September 2013. 

I have not heard anything from EMU yet, so that is not ruled out yet. 

Spring Break

Personally, I was dreading Spring Break a bit, from a financial standpoint.  Not only was I paying our normal daycare expense, in March, but I would also have to incur an extra weeks expense and I was FREAKING out.  It would be one thing if the daycare didn't charge for the week they weren't open, especially since the same daycare was offering a spring break camp that my kids could go to, for $240!!!  I could not afford to take a week off work and neither could Matt.   I don't have any family close enough to watch the kids and asking Matt's family to do that would be a lot to ask for an entire week.  I then asked at Payton's school if any of the teachers were off and might be interested in making a bit of extra money, 3 of them were!!  I told them I could only pay $30 a day, but needed them from 7:30-3:30, none cared.  Monday Matt was able to take the kids, so that saved us some money.  Rhonda ended up watching the kids Tuesday and Wednesday and she was AMAZING!  Made the kids lunch, from scratch, baked brownies, took the kids to the park, played with them outside, had Garrett practice his reading while Payton napped and did all the dishes they used, by hand!  Plus had the kids clean up, so I came home to happy kids and a clean house.  Thursday and Friday Reagan watched them.  Reagan has watched the kids before so I knew she was an amazing sitter too.  She also took the kids to the park (for a picnic lunch), played a ton outside, made a fort for her and Garrett to read in while Payton napped, and ordered pizza on Friday so they could have a little pizza party.  She also UNLOADED my dishwasher!  Everyday, my kids were worn out and they had a blast.

Two nights we also were able to go to Stefani and Joe's lake house, that was SO much more fun this year now that Payton is a bit older.  Tuesday night, we fished, I almost got a hook in the throat, but other then that, we all had so much fun.  Thursday night, the hot tub was set up, so the kids "swam" in it for hours, then we took a boat ride.  I am hoping we can go there a lot this summer.  Payton is looking to be as much a water baby as Garrett so it should be a lot of fun.

Friday, March 8, 2013

I'm Back! I Hope.....

I can't believe how far behind I am on posts!  I want to blog, I think about it, but then I never get time in front of the computer.  I've tried doing it from my phone, but the posts end up in cyberspace somewhere and not on here, so I give up on that.  Let's see if I can do a quick recap of the last 3 months.

Christmas - we drove, yes, drove, to my parents house.  Overall the trip wasn't bad, Garrett got sick about 15 miles outside of town, but other then that the drive was pretty uneventful.  Once we arrived in Michigan, Matt got terribly sick and we ended up at Urgent Care on Christmas Eve and the ER the day after Christmas.  Turns out he had Type A Influenza and some other infection I can't even think of the name of right now.  His Christmas vacation involved a lot of laying on the couch feeling miserable :-(  The kids, on the other hand had a blast!  We saw as much family as we could cram in and then drove home.  We celebrated Christmas with Matt's family on New Year's Eve that was also fun, especially for the kids.  Matt was still feeling pretty miserable on New Year's Eve so we laid on the couch and did nothing.  That's ok tho, after the whirlwind trip we had, hanging out relaxing was just fine with us!

January was rather uneventful, or as least as I remember it, lol.

February brought a few birthday's and an anniversary to the house.  Garrett turned 6 on Feb 1, Payton 3 on February 16, Matt and I celebrated 8 years together on February 12, and I had a birthday on February 18.  This year I was just not into planning a party at the house, so we opted for two parties on the same day.  In the morning we had all the family over and Matt made some of his famous chili, then in the evening we had a swim party at Aerofit.  This worked out great!  The grandparents were able to enjoy the kids and see the joy on their faces from the gifts they received, and there weren't a bunch of kids runnning around.  In the evening, the kids could be loud and crazy and Matt and I got to visit with our friends and not feel bad about anyone getting splashed or worrying about who can and can't handle the stairs, etc.  The kids had a blast, of course!  The swim party was a huge hit and I think that theme may be revisited one day.

The business is hanging on, it has it's ups and downs, being gone for Christmas hurt us but we are back on track now.  School is going great, I am still maintaining an A average, so I'm very excited.  I've just applied to both Kansas State University and Eastern Michigan University.  I'll need to transfer for my senior year, then I'll take my licensing exam and go on for my masters, but that's still a ways off.

Payton is doing great!  She is such a happy kid, we still haven't hit the terrible 2/3/4's, I know it will hit, but she's still just an easy going kid.  Her newest thing is to wake up and climb into bed with us, Garrett never did this and Matt and I both struggle with putting her back to bed.  Lately she's falling asleep on her floor, not sure what's going on with that, but I just go in and move her.  We are constantly struggling with her and her hair, she just does not like it pulled back, so we've "donated" a lot of hair ties and clips to Powersports.

Garrett is doing great as well, we are trying all kinds of new things at school and home to help keep him focused and on track.  His big thing is he hates his glasses, so that is a big struggle for us, but what would life be with a kindergartner without some sort of struggle!  We are so proud of him though, he was recently tested for the Gifted and Talented Program and was accepted!!  I'm not entirely sure what all this will entail but we are so proud of him!  Yesterday, I was able to go on a field trip with him to Blue Bell and that was so much fun!  I'd never been before, so that part was pretty fun, but getting to spend the entire day with just him was just what he needed.

Ok, I don't want to make this too long, I just wanted to do a quick update and I am making a commitment to myself to post at least once a week.  The whole point behind this was so I could remember my kids as they grew up and I'm already forgetting things from 3 months ago!!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Garrett's behavior

Since the first day of school, Garrett has found it hard to behave.  I don't mean that he's malicious or mean, or even rude, the poor kid just can't seem to keep his hands to himself, his mouth closed or his butt in a chair.  I've spoken with his teacher multiple times, all at my request.  The 3rd time we talked, she gently suggested we talk to his pediatrician and the dreaded initials were spoken, ADHD.  I talked to a few people and as best I can tell, he's still a bit to young to test, he has to be 6, but I'm hoping at our meeting with the Dr that we can talk about options.  Neither Matt not I are thrilled with putting him on meds, I am hoping first to try adjusting his diet in some way.  Unfortunately, the first 2 appointments have been rescheduled.  I'm now set to meet with Dr. Schamms on Dec. 20.

It's hard to explain exactly what his behavior is like.  Like I said he's not mean, he's just unable to control himself, that's the best example I can give.  He'll get in trouble, the teacher will correct him, he'll do it again, she'll correct him, he'll do it again, he'll sit in time out and then do it again, where he'll lose a major privilege, one example was he had to stay in her eyesight for an entire recess.  She realizes he has to run so sitting by her side would not help, but he could only go to certain points on the playground and come back and had to play by himself.  It's hard for me because he gets in trouble at school, then come home and loses privileges at home.  I'd start to hate school too if my life was like that!!  If it's a chemical imbalance and he really just can't control himself then I truly feel bad.  If he's just being a boy and needs to be disciplined, then alright, I can live with that too. 

we've taken away prized toys, sent him to bed early, taken away tv time, tried rewarding him for good behavior, setting a goal to receive a toy for good behavior.  The best he's done i s go 4 days straight receiving a sticker in school, usually it's 2 days.  This past week, he didn't get a sticker even one day.  Mrs. Sowell is amazing and I love her as his teacher.  I think it was a good match, she's firm but gives him the hugs he needs to.  She has reassured me he's doing great academically and that's not even a concern for one second.  But, if he doesn't start figuring out how to sit still he's not going to be able to participate in reading groups or other thing, so I'm hoping we can resolve these issues before he does end up falling behind.

Elf on the Shelf

I loved the idea of the Elf on the Shelf last year, but honestly, I just couldn't justify buying one.  But, this year, I got one and I've been so excited about it!  I was going to wait until December 1 to bring him out, but Garrett is just having SUCH a hard time behaving at school so I thought it might help him a bit.  After school on Thursday, I sent the kids to wash their hands and I quickly set the Elf box on the fireplace hearth.  @ hours later, after their baths, I finally said, "Payton, Garrett, what is that?!?!"  So much for my great surprise, lol!!  Payton didn't really know what it was, Garrett remembered it from the movie right away.  We got him out and named him Charlie.  I broke from the "rules" and let the kids alternate holding him while we read the story, then Garrett carefully set him on the fireplace mantle.  I've had a ton of fun with him every night.  The first morning when they got up, he was taking a marshmallow, the second morning he was having a tea party with a beanie baby bear and this morning he was found peaking out of Garrett's stocking.  Hopefully I can post pictures soon.  Oh, and the second day he was renamed to "Red".  And, he has been a big help around the house, still not working at school though.

Santa Clause

I wasn't sure how Payton would react to Santa this year, but she seems quite excited about him!  We saw him at the mall the night before Thanksgiving and while we didn't wait in line to see him, she did wave and talk to him from the outside of the fenced in area.  She waved, said hi, then in her cute little voice said, "Santa, I would like a bike, with wheels".  Might have been the cutest thing ever!  Santa picked right up on it and said, "I'll make sure that bike has wheels sweetie".  We've now seen a couple Santa's and have an elf on the shelf, who is reporting back to Santa and every time, she says the same thing, "I want a bike. With wheels".  Why in the world does this child thing she would get a bike without wheels?!?!

Garrett, on the other hand, is very excited about Christmas and Santa.  At a birthday party on Saturday, Santa made an appearance and when Santa asked if he had been good, Garrett said, "no".  At least he was honest!!  And yes, I'll get to that more, but he has not been very good lately.

I normally don't go see Santa at the mall, but maybe this year we'll break tradition and wait in line and sit on Santa's lap.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Wacky Wednesday

Last Wednesday was a HORRIBLE day!  It didn't start out bad, work wasn't even bad, but from 2:45 on it was bad.  First off, we've been struggling with Garrett and lunches, not that he doesn't want to eat, but I keep packing him a lunch and then he buys it.  Well, on this particular day, I had packed him exactly what he wanted and told him not to buy his lunch, when I picked him up, he had bought lunch, so he paid $2.35 plus the money wasted on what I packed and had to throw away.  Matt and Garrett went for a bike ride, and I went to pick up Payton, when I got home, I didn't notice that Garrett's bike was sticking out a bit and I ran right over it!  My tire instantly deflated.  I'll admit I overreacted, I flew into the house in a rage and started screaming, Garrett went to lay in his bed and Payton went in her room and started reading (I felt bad for her, she had no idea what was going on, but instinct kicked in and she decided to hide out and read).  While putting the donut on my car, Matt discovered it was almost flat, so while I headed to the office to attend my class, he took the kids for air and to get Garrett a haircut (pictures were Thursday).  I thought well, the day can't get much worse.  Just as class finished up, Matt called, Payton had thrown up all over herself.  So, yes, the day got even worse!  We had to hose off the seat, she got a quick bath, I could barely hold her she smelled so bad.  I felt bad, all she wanted was a hug and she stunk so bad!  But, the good news is, we think she just got car sick, she showed no other symptoms and slept fine and was fine the next day.  I am hoping not to revisit this day for a long, long time!!!