Fall Break

Fall break has come and gone! Mackenzie came home from her first day back at school and I was informed that we should have done something fun because she needs to write a 5 paragraph essay on their break activities. Apparently, part 3 of my root canal and taking family pictures wasn't entertaining enough for a 5th grade essay! But she's very creative and will come up with something, hopefully the truth! We did get together one night with friends and had pizza and played Rock Band until the little ones were ready to go to bed. Other than that, it was business as usual around here. Lauren and Mackenzie took one afternoon and roamed the neighborhood looking for anyone who would take pity on them and support Lauren's Soles4Souls fundraiser. They did get 6 bites, althoug I gather taht Mackenzie did the selling and not my shy Lauren. Mackenzie is not afraid of anything! Lauren spent some time working on a math project that will be due Friday. She has 5 soccer games between now and then and we knew she wouldn't have time for anything more than the normal homework. She played 2 games last night. She is on both the Varsity and JV teams for the middle school. She will play every Varsity game in the field and sometimes as a back-up keeper and will switch off with another girl and play every other game as keeper for the JV team. She also had a make-up game for her rec team last night. They lost both games, but she played well and had a good time.

Fund Raisers...Aaargh!

Along with all of Lauren's sports programs come a few fund raising "opportunities". I have never been a big fan of fund raisers and really don't like the idea of sending my kids door-to-door begging the neighbors for money. So I'm spreading the word this way, hoping someone will take pity and help us out.
The HMS soccer team is in dire need of new uniforms! In order to pay for them, the girls are taking part in the Soles4Souls program. For a $5 or $10 donation, you can provide a pair of shoes for needy people around the world. Her soccer team will receive 40% of the proceeds and use it to purchase new uniforms. Check out today's Spring Hill Advertiser News for the complete story!
Her basketball team will be hosting an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at Applebee's on October 25th from 7-9 a.m. Tickets are $5 and the breakfast is yummy!
Next week will kick-off cookie dough sales for the HMS Band to go to Disney World over Spring Break. While there they will participate in several clinics..and have some fun! She will also be selling some Sonic cards to benefit the HMS Basketball program.
With so many choices, there's something here for everyone! Leave a comment if you're interested in any of these fabulous fund raisers and save my daughter from going door-to-door!

Field Trip

Today I went with Ashtyn on her kindergarten field trip to Gentry's Farm. What fun! We had a great day together and I got to meet some of Ashtyn's cute little friends. Her biggest thrill...riding the bus! I drive her every day and she really wants to ride the bus. This was huge for her and she was so excited that she got to sit in a seat with 2 of her friends and no seatbelts! First time on a bus can be pretty exciting! She played in the corn and wheat troughs, saw some goats and cows, went on a hayless hay ride and picked her very own pumpkin!

Good News!

The last few weeks have been so crazy busy that I haven't felt like I could pull it all together. Every day brought new chaos and upset previously made plans. I have been trying to get some evaluations done for Sierra and finally had the one I was waiting for yesterday morning. She was being tested for her speech and cognitive development and they have decided to refer her for the Early Childhood Intervention Preschool Program based on her scores. She scored in the "delayed" to "severely delayed" range in every category that they tested her in. I cried. Partly because I am so grateful that she will be able to get the extra help that I have known she needs. And partly because the "severly delayed" stung a little bit. I don't know that any parent wants to hear that their child is having some problems--no matter what they may be. I'm excited to have her start and to see the progress that she makes. She will go every day except for Wednesday for 3 hours. I am a little sad about that. I'm not ready to send her everyday, but I know she'll love it and have a great time.

And Lauren made final cuts for both the HMS basketball and soccer teams! She had her last day of basketball tryouts Saturday morning and soccer tryouts ended yesterday afternoon. Soccer practice starts today with games in about 2 weeks. Basketball won't start until November. She is very excited and we're proud of her. She loves sports!

We got Mackenzie signed up for basketball through our county rec league. She will start with practice later this month and have games on Saturdays. Hopefully their soccer season will be over by then! I'm going to need some kind of planner to keep up with my girls' schedules!

The little girls are just loving fall! With the cooler weather they can play outside and have a great time in all of the leaves that are covering our backyard!

Time Flies When You're...Busy!

Wow! It's been quite awhile since I've grabbed a moment to update my blog. Maybe that "farewell to summer" was a little traumatic or we could just say that my girls are BUSY! This really is the craziest time of year for our family and it always leaves me longing for the lazy days of summer again.
Soccer has started. The three older girls all play--Mark coaches the older 2 teams--and Lauren is also a referee. Needless to say, our Saturdays are slammed! We spend all day at the soccer fields and try to find time for all of the other Saturday chores during the week. The girls love playing and it's a lot of fun. I love watching them play because they have such a good time. I'm sure that when they are older their "soccer Saturdays" memories will be a highlight of their growing up years. We get to spend a lot of time together, cheering each other on. Sierra is the older girls' biggest fan! I really should get her a cheerleading outfit!
Lauren is also smack dab in the middle of her school tryouts for the basketball and soccer teams. She has made the 1st and 2nd cuts for basketball and has just one more day of tryouts on Saturday. Cross your fingers! Yesterday was the first day of tryouts for soccer, with 3 more to go. She's Mark's "boy" and just loves sports! We hope she will make both teams! Go, Lauren!!!
Mackenzie and Ashtyn just had their fall festival at school. They had a great time with their Aunt Mary and Granny! I hear there was face painting and tons of inflatables. Ashtyn is having a great time in kindergarten and loves having so many friends. I had to pick the girls up early the other day so I could see them before my flight to California and she walked up to the office with a group of about 10 girls. Mrs. Fielder said they all wanted to walk her up and say good-bye, so she let them. Can't hurt any feelings! Mackenzie is also loving school. She has always been our little social one (zip the lip in the hall, girl!) and loves being with her friends!
I spent last weekend in California with my sister and High School friends for our 20th (can that really be?) class reunion. It was a lot of fun and so great to take a break from our family hustle and bustle. I loved seeing my family and friends without having to worry about flying with the kids or working a nap into the schedule--it was just me and that was completely FABULOUS! I got to watch my niece and 2 of my nephews play in their soccer games and even did a little shopping! Thanks Mark, Mary, and Helen for helping that happen. I don't even think the girls missed me much, but I sure missed them!
Sierra has had her speech tested and has been observed in her preschool. She is behind in a lot of areas and they now want to do a complete evaluation to find out how to help her. That's scheduled for next Monday. I guess I'm a little nervous about what they will tell me. I tried to get the teacher to tell me what they are looking for, but she wouldn't commit to anything--just that they will be observing her speech, cognitive development, motor skills, etc. We have started to wonder if maybe she is mildly autistic, or maybe has some kind of sensory disorder. We are anxious to put a label on it and get her the help she needs. We just think she is absolutely perfect and love her to pieces!
Mark has been slammed at work. It seems he brings it home every night and on the weekends lately. I've been warned that the next 6 weeks will be long ones! Perfect timing, since this is our most choatic time of year as well! I'm already looking forward to spring!
I do love Fall though! The weather has been wonderful and Sierra and I have enjoyed the great outdoors. The little girls are talking about Halloween costumes and our family's birthday season is just around the corner!

Farewell to Summer!

Labor Day began with the older girls and Mark heading up to the Rec Center early Monday morning. Some of the people who were evacuated from Louisianna due to Hurricane Gustav are taking shelter in our county rec center. The girls and Mark spent their early morning hours serving about 350 breakfasts. They had a good time and were happy to help.
We spent the rest of the last official day of summer having some fun in the sun. My girls have always loved water and swimming, so Monday we headed up to Wave Country to add some fun water slides into the equation. What a great day! We were worried that it would be crowded, but we were pleasantly surprised. The little girls had a blast on the smaller slides and by the end of the day even Sierra was going down them by herself. She wouldn't even let me help her get up onto the slide and would turn over on her stomach as soon as she could. That girl scares me! Mackenzie took off to the new 40 foot slides before we could even get settled. She had to be the first one to try them and that's where she and Lauren spent most of their day. The wave pool is always a favorite too, but even more so because we missed going to the beach this summer. Of course, there aren't any pictures of the older girls because they were off with their friends avoiding supervision all day.
We left in the afternoon and headed home to get ready for a BBQ with friends. We had a great time just hanging out and eating lots of yummy food.

First Full Week of Kindergarten

Ashtyn is just loving kindergarten! I thought the adjustment to the full day schedule, 5 days a week would be pretty hard but she has done really well. She's pretty tired when she comes home but she loves her teacher and always has something fun to tell me about her day. She spends her recesses chasing the boys and then "torturing them", I didn't really want to know more than that! And she's a little bit chatty during rest time. What a girl! And the extra bonus is that she and Sierra play so well together in the afternoon when Ashtyn comes home. They've missed each other during the long day and have a great time just hanging out.

My Little Preschooler, cont'd...

We have just finished Sierra's 2nd week of preschool and she absolutely loves it. She wakes up every morning asking if she can go to school, especially since Ash is going every day, all day. The problem...her teachers don't look forward to it as much as she does! I was told on Tuesday when I picked her up that if her behavior didn't improve, they wouldn't be able to keep her. I didn't know that you could get kicked out of preschool! Not many can brag about that! I was devestated and spent a couple of days in tears. I wasn't going to send her back on Thursday, but Sierra wanted to go and Tasch convinced me that she has seen improvement in the short time that Sierra has been going. I was pretty emotional about leaving her, so I sent her with Tasch. She had a little chat with the teachers and they agreed to try to help her more. I don't have any other options right now. I'm checking into some other preschools with separate 3-year-old classes and I have an appointment to have her speech evaluated on September 10th. She's a sweet, good little girl but she does have some tantrums still and hasn't been real cooperative at school. She needs to learn to stand in line,to be quiet during singing time, and clean up her lunch. She doesn't like crayons and didn't do well with scissors. She doesn't cry when I leave her or while I'm gone and hasn't had any potty accidents. I'm sure she will get better with time and she seems happy when I pick her up. For now I'm picking her up an hour earlier because that's the most chaotic time. And I'm just crossing my fingers on some better options!