Student Counsel, Foxes and Life in General

I think I'm really going to like this weekly update thing! It's helping me notice more of the little things that have been going on.

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This week, Bria ran for Student Counsel at her school. You might remember what happened when she ran last school year. Well, she was really excited to try running again. We stayed up late and made her some campaign posters. (Projects like that always seem to be late at night, right?). The next day, she took them to school and hung them up. Another girl started teasing her about her picture. Bria came home upset, but we had a good talk. I've been trying to teach the kids not to place value on what other people say to them. Bria is a very confident person, so I knew that she would get over it soon. Well, Monday when she went back to school, someone had ripped her picture off her poster. After a little bit of investigation by the teacher, it turned out to be the same girl who had made fun of her. I was grateful to the school and the teacher for not just taking it lightly. The other girl got sent to the principal's office and disqualified from running for student counsel. Bria's teacher helped her fix her poster and told Bria that she should try not to hold a grudge. What a great teacher! I was worried that Bria would be upset if she didn't win after what happened. I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked her up Thursday after school since the results would be in. As soon as I saw her, I knew that she was in! It turned out that the 4th grade needed 7 class representatives and only 6 people from her class were running. No other class had anyone! So, they all won! And ironically, the other girl would have also been in had she not ruined Bria's poster. The whole thing was really a good life lesson for Bria. And next week, she gets to start Student Counsel!

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Speaking of school, Logan and I got to spend quite a bit of time helping at the Book Fair at Max's school this week! It was easy and fun! We went three days and two of the days it was just the two of us. The only snag we ran into was when Logan had to use the bathroom. I couldn't leave the book fair unattended, so I kinda slipped out for a second to direct him where to go. But, he got lost coming back and just laid down and cried. Poor kid! It was pretty funny, though.

Logan seems to lay down a lot when he gets frustrated. I took him shopping at the mall this week. He was so tired of walking that 5 times I had to pick him up off the floor. He would just lay down in protest. Funny kid!

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Bria and Max had Parent Teacher Conference this week. I really wanted Dave to come and I'm so glad he did! It is so different going to PT Conference with someone who knows how the education system works. Instead of them just saying that our kids were doing well (or not well), Dave would ask what the teacher used as an indicator, how they were probed, and exactly where they were at. Both of our kids are doing really well. Max is a math wiz! After the conference, Dave had Max take a math probe from a program he uses at his school, and Max scored at just above a 3rd grade level - he's in 2nd grade this year. Bria's strongest subject is also math. We want her to take the same probe Max did, but we haven't yet. They both are good at reading, but struggle with reading out loud. I guess I need to have them read to me more often. It's hard for me to remember sometimes! I think we'll have them both read to Logan more often. They all three would benefit from that!

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Logan isn't in school yet, but he IS in pre-school! He absolutely loves it! I'm having a lady in our Ward do it. She has a very small class and it is awesome for Logan! He is such a young boy for his age group. With a late August birthday, he needs all the help he can get! But, so far, he's almost learned to spell his name out loud and write it down. He can get L-O-G-A and then gets a little confused. Max told him today to think of AMEN but instead say A-N at the end of his name. Max is a really good big brother to Logan. He always takes responsibility for teaching his little brother. It makes this mama so proud!

This is the poster Logan took to his first day of preschool. Max helped him color the boy to look him him. Logan tried to get in on the fun and drew and extra arm. We decided to call it a light saber instead. It was pretty funny!

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Logan got his stitches out this week! It was so not a big deal. I wasn't sure how he would take it because getting them in was kind of traumatic. But, no biggie! I think it will heal up really well. Maybe not even have a scar! We'll see as it continues to get better. It looks so good now! Max wanted to keep the stitches really bad and without even a blink, the Dr said "Sure! Here ya go!" Super gross! I need to find a way to somehow get rid of them. Max thinks it's the coolest thing in the world!

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Bria's teacher showed them this super annoying You Tube video this week called "What Does the Fox Say". My kids have spent every spare minute watching and talking about this song! Okay, I'm probably exaggerating a little bit. But, it doesn't take too many times of listening to feel that way. Even Logan keeps singing it around the house. Have you ever watched the movie Serendipity? It's one of my favorite movies! This music video reminds me of Lars the Shanai playing boyfriend. I honestly can't believe this song OR music video actually exist!






We have a very busy week next week, so I'll definitely have plenty of updates!

National Conference, Stitches & Mother Daughter Night

It’s high time that I started updating this blog again! It’s pretty sad that it has been all the way since January! I found a food blog not that long ago that I’ve been following. She posts every Friday about random things that happened during the week and calls it Friday Things. I really like the format/idea of how she does it. So, I thought I would give it a try on this blog. Maybe if I schedule in my week that Fridays are “blog about the week” day, I’ll be more likely to stick to it!

So, here’s what we’ve been doing this week. It’s been a doozy. On Wednesday, I was so tired, I took a 2 hour nap after picking the kids up from school. I could not figure out what was making me so exhausted until I looked at all of the craziness that’s been going on.

 

1.

Dave is doing so incredible in his career right now! He loves being Principal at Edgemeont and so far it seems like everyone loves having him! Last weekend, he got invited to present at the National DLD Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The State Special Ed Director asked him to do it about 6 months ago and talk about the incredible difference that happened at Erickson (where he was counselor) last year. When he called the conference organizers to let them know, they said they were already full. I guess this particular conference, most of the presenters have to go through an application process, so Dave’s case was a little different. Anyway, we kind of let it go, thinking that it was a lost opportunity. Well, at the beginning of this school year, he was meeting with the State Special Ed Director again and the conference was brought up. Dave told him it was full, and he immediately got on the phone, pulled his magical strings and Dave was back in. It’s not every day that you get to present at a NATIONAL conference! Way to go, Dave!

2.

Speaking of Sun Valley, I got to go with Dave. My awesome friend Emily watched our kids so I could tag along. I just happened to be the same weekend as our Anniversary! 13 years. It’s crazy how fast time has flown! It also amazes me to think back and watch how our love for each other has grown stronger and stronger. I’m one lucky girl!

Neither of us has ever been to Sun Valley before.

And I seriously doubt we would have noticed except that we were just in Europe. I was expecting a really western atmosphere. We are in Idaho after all. But instead of Western, it had this strange European/German/Swiss kind of feel.

We had the most wonderful food at a German restaurant that we ate at twice. We saw several half timber houses and even found some Emmentaler cheese that we JUST got to eat in Switzerland! It comes from the same valley that my ancestors originate from.

 

I can’t even believe they know about it! But, several people commented on it in the grocery store (that had a “Chateau Drug” sign). It is delicious cheese! We bought 5 bricks to bring home.

 

3.

After going to Sun Valley, we surprised our kids with a quick trip down to Bear Lake to visit Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Frank. I’m kicking myself for not taking any pictures! I was gorgeous down there! The fall leaves were in full bloom….even more so than in Sun Valley.

 

4.

Dave had his fall carnival on Monday. I took the kids down for some games and dinner. It was great! On the drive down, I asked our kids to be really well behaved so that everyone would know that the principal’s kids are well behaved. Somehow, Bria took that as her personal responsibility to be the very best she could be or her dad would lose his job. Whatever works, I guess. They were all three incredibly well behaved and we had a great time!

My favorite game was the Wack-a-Mole. It was a live version. Too funny! And possibly and little dangerous!

 

5.

Tuesday was kind of a crazy day. I was getting a picture of Max ready to post of Facebook. Logan came to sit next to me. I was so focused on getting the picture off of my phone to post that I didn’t notice Logan picking up my quilting rotary cutter. He sliced his right index finger pretty darn good. Deep enough to need 4 stitches. Although I still don’t know how they could fit that many on his tiny finger!

I’m not going to say that he didn’t cry, but he was definitely a trooper! He’s our first to get stitches, and hopefully our last. I was really surprised when the Dr told me to keep in uncovered as much as possible after the first day. I guess it heals faster that way. Logan loves waving his hand around and showing everyone his stitches. It grosses pretty much everyone out. He thinks that is the coolest part! One more week and we can get those suckers out.

 

6.

So, the picture I was going to post about Max on Facebook was about school. His teacher told me that she has a really advanced class this year so she’s been adding a few extra hard things. She’s been starting to teach them multiplication and the kids loved it. Apparently, Max was asking for something more challenging than the easy multiplication that she’s been giving them, so she challenged Max to solve 8x12. When he got home, he still hadn’t figured it out, so I made him work on it until he did. It took quite a while (and about 10 scrap pieces of paper), but he finally got it solved! I love that he loves problem solving so much!

7.

Thursday was the Mother Daughter date for Activity Days. Bria is all about getting alone time with just us girls. So, it was, of course, a really great night! The leaders put together a super fun activity. Our favorite part was the donut fishing. I stood over Bria with a donut on my fishing pole. I was supposed to keep my eyes closed while Bria gave me directions for getting the donut into her mouth. She couldn’t quit laughing, though! I finally opened my eyes and started my own game of getting the most chocolate possible on her face. We were both laughing so hard!! It was definitely something that we’ll both remember forever! Haha!

That’s it! That was our week! But, we have an equally busy weekend coming up. It’s been busy, but a good kind of busy!

Bria and the Student Counsel

I think this story is too funny not to share. The kid’s school decided to have a student counsel this year. Anyone in grades 3-5 could run. They wanted representatives from each class. Plus the fifth grade (I think) got to have a grade president, etc. This kind of thing is right up Bria’s alley. She is super motivated and loves any kind of project. She was thrilled that they were doing this.

Last week, she brought home two blank posters and said that she needed them done by THE NEXT DAY. I have to tell you, this experience worries me for when she’s in high school. We stayed up late and got those posters done. That was Tuesday and the voting was starting on Thursday.

While we were making her posters, we talked about what it meant to run for office. Bria wrote down a list of things that she wanted to do if she won. Some of them were pretty good, and some of them weren’t. She wrote that she wanted to have the lunchroom serve pizza every Friday. So, we talked about campaigning on things that she actually could change and not something that she couldn’t. In the end, she really had come up with some great ideas! My favorite was having a fun run to raise money that could fix leaky holes in the school roof. She came up with that on her own. I was pretty proud.



(This isn’t the greatest picture, I took it from my phone).

Thursday was parent teacher conference. Her teacher told me that she was really impressed with Bria and the campaign. There were 9 kids in her class running for class representative – more than any other class in the school. That day, her teacher had all of the kids running get up and give an impromptu campaign speech. She said Bria did an outstanding job. She said that Bria had some really solid ideas. Then, she asked Bria if she remembered to vote for herself. Bria said that she felt bad for her friend Regan and decided to vote for her instead. So, during the parent teacher conference, we had a discussion that if you’re running for office, you think you’re the best candidate and should vote for yourself, not someone else.

The kids had a 4 day weekend and went back to school this Tuesday. All of the kids who ran for office were so anxious to find out the results of the election. Bria said that every class was announced over the morning announcements, but her class was asked to go to the principal's office. The election came down to a tie. It was between Bria and another girl. So, the class held another election and the other girl won. Bria was so devastated! She cried the whole drive home from school. This was a day that I’m so glad I drive our kids.

The ironic thing is, Bria would have won by ONE vote if she had voted for herself. She was pretty discouraged, but I talked her into running next election. I sure love my girl!!

New Eyes

I’ve been avoiding this blog because I’m so behind. I still do want to catch up, but I realized this week that by procrastinating the catch up, I’m getting more and more behind. This week has been crazy. The kids seem to have a million things going on in life. Bria and Logan both got new glasses. It’s been less than a year since Bria got her eyes checked and she’s been complaining about headaches and saying she couldn’t see. I decided it was time to get her eyes check again. The first time I let her pick out her own glasses. Not that I didn’t like them, but I wanted to have more say this time. She really could have kept the same frames, but I always felt like I couldn’t see her beautiful eyes. We settled on a beautiful pair and I don’t think they hide her face as much.



I think she is such a beautiful girl!

Logan needed to get glasses, too. I actually posted this part on my other blog. I’ve had so many people ask me how I knew he needed glasses. Max has never had his eyes checked and Bria only did because her teacher noticed that she was struggling to see the board.



Honestly, the answer isn’t because I was a super observant mom and noticed a problem. After we got his eyes checked, I still was amazed that he needed glasses. He acts like he can see everything! He constantly points thing out that he sees from a distance. He plays games up close on the iPad and never seems to act like it bothers him. He just seems like a normal 3-year old to me.



A few months ago, one of my friends asked me if Logan has a lazy eye. Ummm…no. Not even close. I wasn’t sure why she was even asking. I decided that he has big beautiful eyes and that’s why she thought that. Plus, if he’s looking at something sideways, of course one of he eyes would gravitate toward the middle. She obviously didn’t know what she was talking about. My children are perfect, right?



A little while later, I had another friend ask the same thing. And I’ll be honest. I was kind of offended. Who asks that to someone? Hello….filter! My kids are my pride and joy! Anything even slightly offensive comments bring out my mama bear instincts.



I was a little discouraged. Was there something that I wasn’t seeing? More than one person pointed it out, so there must be something worth looking into. So, I finally scheduled an eye appointment. I just went to our regular eye doctor, but I’ve had a few friends mention that I should have taken him to a Pediatric Ophthalmologist. I didn’t even know those existed. But, I do think that our regular doctor did a stellar job. I still can’t believe they charge the same fee to examine a 3-year old as everyone else. It’s a lot more difficult.

His appointment lasted over an hour. It didn’t help that he was a little star struck by the doctor and kept nervously giggling instead of answering questions. Kids this little obviously can’t read, so he had to examine him a lot differently. He held up a stick with pictures on it and would ask Logan if the butterfly was on the top or bottom. Then, he had him look through the gigantic exam glasses. Not to mention shining lights in his eyes about a million times. He dilated Logan’s eyes and did more and more tests to determine his exact prescription. I still can’t believe how patient my boy was. Oh, and I learned that a good eye doctor can determine a person’s prescription just by looking inside their eyes. Before that, I was convinced that advanced eye technology was on the way to replacing actual doctors.



So, what was the diagnosis? He is far sighted and has been primarily using his right eye to focus. His left eye muscles are weaker and when he tries to focus on close things, that eye is used less and goes slightly off centered. Like one millimeter. He doesn’t have a lazy eye (and when the doctor said that, my inner mama bear was screaming “See? I was right!!”) BUT, if he doesn’t wear his glasses, his left eye muscles could get weaker and it could cause major problems down the road. I guess once your eyes are done developing in early childhood, problems like that are irreversible.

By the time the appointment was done, Logan was incredibly tired and wanted absolutely nothing to do with trying on glasses. I had to just choose a pair and cross my fingers that they would look good on his face. I was pretty worried that he wouldn’t wear them after he refused so adamantly then. But, as soon as his new glasses came in, he was so excited. Of course, we had been telling him how awesome glasses are. He’s left them on all the time ever since. He loves all of the attention he’s been getting from just about everyone. Even strangers at the store comment on how cool his glasses are. Yesterday, he told me that his super glasses turn him into a super hero. That’s my boy.

And to be super clear, I am so grateful now that I had friends willing to ask me something that I didn’t notice myself. I feel like we are so blessed to know what his problem is and be able to get it fixed before any permanent damage happened.