Kid Update Part two

I know, I know, I already did a kid update this week, but there are a couple things I need to write down before I forget.
This week I took Tony to the orthodontist. I really don't get alot of alone time with him. The other kids I seem to manage it more, but they come to me, him I have to seek out. At home he's often quiet, reading a book etc, but you get him by himself and he is hilarious...but first, the reason we went.
The oldest three kids recently had their dental checkups and Angie and Zach were in the no cavity club. Tony, well, he had 12 cavities. The dentist adviced us to take him to the orthodontist because maybe his bite was a factor. So, I made the appointment. I have alot of respect for Dr. Oliver, and he seemed to remember me, granted I've only had my braces off for 3 years. So, he wasn't too concerned about the cavities, they are in baby teeth and he said that they are extremely small, but he does have a cross bite, which means some of the back teeth are over the top and some are over. He also said that his jaw is small, but the only way to fix that is surgery but not until he's an adult. He may need braces later to close the gaps, but Dr Oliver says that's easy to fix. Tony is getting a thing called an expander though to straighten out that bite. I'll post more on that when it happens. Apparently it looks kind of like a retainer, and it has a key you have to turn twice a day.
So, Tony hears the word surgery, and he immediately starts crying uncontrollably. I start to pick him up and Dr Oliver stops me, and just holds him in the chair and talks to him. He's a father of four, but it still struck me as really sweet.
So, he's asking Tony what he wants to be when he grows up, and Tony tells him, a 'grossologist'. So of course, the orthodontist says "what's a grossologist?" and Tony says you know they study gross things, and if I find some moldy teeth I'll save them for you because I know you love teeth" At this point, I am about to fall out of my chair, because of all my kids, this is the one that definately WILL NOT be a "grossologist". He vomits at the site of his own blood or the smell of dead crickets and pretty much anything else 'gross'.

So, this school year has been really tough for me. Angie and Tony are both "labeled" as gifted and talented. I say labeled because they are in a small school so Tony is the only GT kid in his grade and there are two in Angie's grade. The other girl is Tony's age but she skipped second grade. So, their teachers grade them very tough. Tony had one "B" which was an 89, and Angie had all "A"s but two were barely "A"s. So, I alternate between being mad and being grateful. I've had a couple of teacher conferences. Sometimes, I debate whether to pull them out of school altogether and home school them. But, we've been studying at church learning how to stop and hear the word of God in our lives from the big things to the small, and I think I got my answer.

Last night was family night for the school book fair. I kept Angie out of dance last night, because my cousin is here visiting and she also had way too much homework to do, mostly UIL stuff. So, Brian and Tony went to cubscouts, and I took the rest of the kids to the book fair. I told them to be good and no running or screaming and they could each get a book (yes even the babies). So, they shopped for their books and while I waited in line, they sat at a table and had a cookie and punch. I might add that I bought 84$ worth of books, but that's what happens when you are a mom of five.

So, getting to my point: all week Angie has been talking about this cookbook she wanted. For those that don't know, she is quite a foodie, she loves food network, helping in the kitchen, trying new foods that other kids wont touch, and she drives me crazy with her constant critiquing of my meals. So, anyway, first there were 3, then 2, then only 1. So, last night we go to the bookfair, and she goes straight to that table and....no book. I can see on her face she is disappointed, but she quickly clears it and helps the other kids find a book. Then, her teacher comes over and hands it to me. She said she put the last one back and she was going to buy it for her if we hadn't.

And right there, I thanked God for showing me that even though I don't always like it, for whatever reason, my kids are right where they are supposed to be.

Kid update

So Brian and I are back from our two night stay in Wimberly. It was great. I was planning our next trip, probably for our fifteenth in a year and a half. It was much needed, we don't get too many date nights and its been three years since we went anywhere just the two of us, but most of the time thats ok. yesterday we came back to the chaos that is our life, and sadly, no laundry fairy came to fold the giant pile of clean clothes while I was gone. I'd post a picture of Zach sleeping in it, but its on Brian's phone. I've already designed my laundry room for when we finally build our house.

Angie is working hard on UIL. We've learned 300 words, but she has 300 to learn in about 10 days. THe list came out in September, and I wish they would have given it to us then instead of mid October. I'm sure other kids have been looking at it six weeks longer. I've been pushing her a bit, and last I pretty much washed my hands of it when she wasn't even trying. She's loving the music memory and oral reading. She has a field trip Friday to see the nutcracker and she wanted me to go, but parents aren't allowed. I think they could only get a certain number of tickets, but I was told that I could go to Gattiland with them. Uhhh, no thanks.

Tony didn't make the teams for UIL. His feelings were kind of hurt. He said he kept waiting for them to call his name, and they didn't. I felt bad for him. His poem was awesome. I kept telling him read it again, it was so entertaining, but I really don't think they were looking for someone who did voices and had the whole thing memorized so they could act out the parts. Maybe I should have made him do it "right", but I couldn't bring myself. I really need to work on helping him find his niche. He is so bright, but I don't think people see it, because unlike his sister, he's not a people pleaser, and he's always testing the boundaries. Next year will be better, they add a couple more events in 3rd grade.

Zach is well, Zach. No other words describe. We were working on reading, but I've taken a break. I'll probably start back up after the holidays. Its really stressful because he's a toot, but if I get the least bit frustrated with him, its uncontrollable waterworks. Angie and Tony didn't learn to read until kindergarten, because I didn't know any better, and maybe I'll have to do the same with him. Once the older kids learned, they just took off, so we'll see. He's such a good big brother. I love watching him play with the little ones outside. He's always so sweet and helpful. But he's a regular pest to Tony and Angie. Just this morning he was copying them and driving them crazy.

Aiden finally started pooping on the potty. We were starting to worry, but last week he just started doing it on his own. Yeah, only one kid in diapers. He's really a climber and a daredevil. He's finally beginning to get out of his fit throwing phase which is awesome. He may be ready for Tuesday school next year.

Sweet Emi. She's the baby, but she is growing up. Watch out daddy, this girl has a thing for shoes. I couldn't keep shoes on all my other kids at this age, but she wants to wear them 24/7. And to see her face light up and hear he ooohh and aaahh when she gets a new pair, priceless.

Well, I will update more later. That giant pile of laundry is calling my name, and we are shampooing carpets today.

Food Drive 2009

My boyscout
My boys

This year my mom helped out with the food drive. She set up a booth at the local grocery store to collect cans and then she went with Tony door to door to collect. It was a huge success. I just hope that the boys learned a positive lesson from it. Mom was kind enough to take a pic for me, but wasn't quite sure how to use the camera. You can tell its Tony though, so thats all that matters.

Den Leader

Ok so I get confused as to whether he is a den leader or a pack leader, but for the next big montly meeting his den is doing a skit. The boys wrote it, so it involves Native americans and a bear, so this week they made customes. Brian cut out the brown paper bag vests at home and let the boys decorate them at the meeting. Next week they are working on sound effects.

This year has been kind of hard on him because of the lack of parent involvement and he has 10 7 year olds, but I hope that at the end of the year he can look back and be proud of what he's done.

Pam finally got her girl scout troop up and going. pray for her. Right now my moms house is really full on Tuesdays. They had a rally and signed up 16 girls from first to fifth grade, but didn't get them any leaders. So, Pam said they could meet with her troop until they found someone. Last week they worked on Operation Christmas child boxes, and this week they are making placemats for Thanksgiving dinner at the soup kitchen. She's a bit overwhelmed.

The new addition

Well, Emi is ready to transition out of her high chair and into a booster, unfortunately, our table only has 6 chairs and we are a family of 7. So, Brian decided to hire someone at a woodworking shop in town to build us a bench. Its not varnished yet, but Brian told him to make it big enough for four adults. Its massive at seven foot long. Brian said we had room for another kid. I told him that if he wanted to have another I wouldn't hesitate to. Then he says "so you want to?" and I say, "I'm gonna have to think about it, I'm not sure." Too funny.

Kid Update

Well, looking back at a few posts, I see that I haven't done an update in a while, if ever. So here goes, keep in mind this may be a long post, after all, I have five.
Angie is doing well. We had a couple of rough weeks with school, but after a parent teacher conference things seem to be going much better. Right now she is preparing for UIL. Third grade has 5 competitions, and she is in three. I think she would have done them all, but her teacher made her choose three, and frankly I am thankful for that. I'd much rather her concentrate on doing well in a few, than have her spread herself too thin. So she is doing Spelling, Oral Reading, and Music Memory. Spelling consists of 600 words to memorize, so I've been quizzing her on about 25 a night. For oral reading, she is reading, Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out by Shel Silverstein. Music memory, which she is the most excited about, consists of memorizing 16 classic pieces. THey play a short portion of it, and the kids have to name the composer and the piece. I'm thinking about downloading her cd to my mp3 because there are a couple of songs that I don't care for.

For UIL Tony's grade just started practicing this week, so they haven't named teams yet. Tony is also reading a Shel Silverstein, the one about a the crocodile that goes to the dentist. He reads it very well, but we have to remind him not to dance or add stuff. There are only 3 events for 2nd grade, so we'll see if he does any. right now he is in bad need of a haircut so he has a mad scientist look to him. His hair is like his dads, it just grows bigger not longer. Reminds me of when we were in college and Erick and Brian decided they were going to grow long rocker hair, and they just grew big 'fros.

Zachary is going through a big growth phase right now. He is pretty emotional sometimes. He keeps bringing things home, such as grasshoppers, to have as pets. We were working on reading skills for a while, but I'm taking a break while he gets through this emotional thing. He misses a sound and its these huge tears. I want him to love to read and learn, so I am just reading to him for now. He's such a good big brother.

Aiden is somewhat potty trained. I think Brian is going to lose his mind if he doesn't get it soon. He's pee trained, but not poop and it doesn't seem to bother him one bit to walk around with it in his pants. He has definately been the most challenging in this area. He'll be 3 in Jan. and our first three were all trained by now. He loves following Zachary around, doing flips, and his speech is improving every day.

Miss Emi is growing up. She's her brothers' shadow. She has no problem making her needs known, so at 17 months, she is just now really starting to talk. I guess it beats Tony, who didn't say one single word until 2 1/2. She says please and thank you, and since she is going through a biting phase, she has mastered the word sorry. One of her favorite words is "crab", for the hermit crabs that Pam keeps as pets. The kids have to "walk" the crabs, which is basically an excuse to let them out of the container, and Emi goes crazy. She loves it.

We finished our Texas Naturalist book, and since we are focusing on UIL right now, I am just reading stories at night. Right now we are reading My Father's Dragon, a Newberry winner written in 1944. I just ordered the second and third book of this series. I missed out on reading so many good books as a kid, its nice to get a do-over.

We missed two weeks of bible study, but were back this week. It went pretty well, until Aiden had to go to the bathroom, and Emi's scream could be heard throughout the entire church, so I missed about half of the bible study, but Brian really enjoyed this one. We were kind of at each other before, but its amazing how it lifts you. I love hearing about what the kids learned. Zach is in a class with his age group and Angie and Tony are in a class together. They actually moved Tony up because they thought he'd get more out of it, and one of the gentlemen bragged about how he aways knows the answers. Tony says he feels kind of like he cheated because he really learned them from watching the kids bible video we have.