Its been a while...

I don't even know the last time I posted... and I would like to do a few catch up posts at some point to fill in the huge gap but that will have to wait for now.

We are living in an unprecedented time right now. It is spring of 2020 and the Corona Virus is spreading around the world and is now hitting very close to home.  We are under stay at home orders from the local government in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.  So what does that look like for us.  We are very fortunate, we have a roof over our heads, a pantry and refrigerator full of food, and access to amazing outside space plus our pool to keep us from climbing the walls.  We can only leave home for food or medical attention.

Andy has set up his office in our bedroom and is running JMJ from there.  He was given the great responsibility in January of being the interim CEO (while still wearing his CFO hat), which he agreed to take on for a temporary period, not realizing at the time that the world would be going through a global pandemic and he would be trying to manage people all over the world that rely on travel to do their jobs... this has not been an easy task!

Katie is still homeschooling, and her two classes, that met up once per week, are now online.  The biggest change for her is that her brothers are now home with her as well.  School has been cancelled for the foreseeable future.  We have made adjustments... turning Katie's learning space into a classroom for three (I lost my chair!).  The boys are doing a combination of assignments from their teachers, having daily virtual chats with their classes, and a modest curriculum that I have come up with based on their interests.  Luke loves history and science and is enjoying some of the virtual tours the major museums around the world have set up.  Jack has discovered his love for the human anatomy and has taken it upon himself to write and illustrate his own book.

During all this crazy time we decided we need a distraction and have adopted a little brother for our Maggie girl.... he is a Lab/Shepherd mix named Ringo and he has captured our hearts!

These are such uncertain times, people are scared, sick and dying.  There are heros on the front lines I am so very grateful for.  We are doing our part and staying home for them and for all the people who are at most risk from this virus.

Is it the ending or beging....

So its almost 2020... Im going with a new beginning.. we all need this to put 2019 behind us.  This is going to be a very quiet Christmas holiday.  We will be on our own for the holidays so we decided to something new for our family time...

Everyone got to pick a special family activity and a favorite food to have on Christmas day.

Andy - Rock Band & Mince Pies

Allie - Hike with Maggie & Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Katie - Play Telestrations & Ice Cream Sundaes

Jack - Basketball & Pancakes

Luke - Build Gingerbread Houses & Steak

Jack Turns 11

Happy Birthday to our Jack William... guess what he was sick!  This guy was all set to celebrate with a few friends at Altitude, the trampoline park!  He took it well and finally got to celebrate at the park with a few friends a few weeks later.

We are so proud at the young man Jack is becoming.  He is funny!!!! kind, loving, studious and respectful.  He could have more patience with his little brother and be less afraid of failing but his drive is what keeps me going!  We love you Jacky, keep making us smile!




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Happy 14th Birthday Katie!

Happy Birthday to our Katie Grace, we are so happy you got to celebrate your big 14 with such sweet friends!  We hope you are always surrounded by smiling faces and big hearts!  Your love and appreciation for this group of girls was very evident in your birthday speech when you thanked them all for coming.  Love you button girl!

Kindergarten Fun

Jack continues to have such a great year in Kinder. He loves is teacher and is making some great friends. I got to help his class make vases for Valentines Days, Jack gave his first book report for his class and today the school celebrated the 100th day of school!

Competition Season Begins

Dance fever is in the air... after a weeks of extra weekend practices and a week of extra nightly practices, the Majestics Petite Novelty team is ready for their first competition.  This Saturday morning at 5 am Katie and I will be picking up a teammate and her mom and heading for Magnolia High School!  Katie is so excited, she told the boys tonight she would be going to be earlier than them Friday night.  The girls have been working so hard on this dance and the moms have been working hard on the props... lots of pictures to come!  First preview, I did Katie's hair for a practice run and it was deemed the official hair for the competition...

Personalized Desktop Plaque (5x7)

Halloween in December!

A big huge thank you to our friend Szalan for dropping off Zane's old costumes.  It was a big sack of fun for today and probably for the rest of the year.  Luke has just discovered Mario & Luigi and could not have been more excited to uncover the Mario hat and we have now added Superman to our super hero dress up collection.  My favorite by far was the Bullseye costume... Oh how I wish we still had our Woody & Buzz to go with them!

Fall Soccer

Well Andy took on one of his toughest challenges yet... he coached the boys back to back soccer teams for the fall season!  He had one team of budding new 3 year old players who lets face it were more interested in smiling for pictures and picking flowers than running after the ball!  Then there was the 4-5 year-old's who were just learning about how it feels to win and were very excited and enthusiastic about scoring goals.  Coach Andy had a great time and on our first free Saturday morning with no soccer was a little sad... Winter ball starts in January.. here we come!

 

Luke was very proud to receive his own trophy to put next to his brothers from the Spring season, we might need to get an extra bookshelf for all of these, I think this will be the first of many!

Better Late Than Never!

Well it has been about 18 months since my last post, I hope to go back in and fill in some gaps, but for now we will just live in the present!

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving Break.  For the first year, Katie had the entire week off from school and she loved every minute of it.  On Monday we caught up with the Ferrara Family and used up some energy at Stomping Grounds, then unfortunately on Tuesday it was apparent that Jack was once again sick for the holiday!  Apart from cancelling one night at The Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas we pushed ahead with our plans and headed for Mansfield Wednesday morning.  We had a great time with a combination of lounging around in pjs & running like monkeys playing soccer on the golf course!

The kids were very excited to help set the table for our Thanksgiving Dinner and were even more excited to see macaroni & cheese as a side item!  Each one of them took a turn to say their favorite blessing and everyone took their turn saying what they were thankful for.  I was thankful that none of the kids were thankful for our Wii game and that most of their thankfulness was centered around our family!

Katie's 8th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday sweet Katie Grace!  She wanted an ice skating party and that is what she got.  What we didn't realize when we booked the party that we would be doing three private skating lessons to get her ready, but they paid off.  She had a great time and was very confident on the ice!

 

The best present Katie could have gotten was that her friend Sidney came to the party, she misses her 1st grade friend a lot and was so happy to have her there!

All the girls had a great time and looked adorable in their matching scarfs!

 

Sugar Plum Brunch

Katie and I were invited by our friends Monica, Rylee & Makenna to the Missouri City Ballet's Sugar Plum Fairy Brunch at the Quail Valley country club.

Katie and I had such a nice time.  She was truly excited to get dressed up and have girlie time!  The room was decorated beautifully and we got to meet a lot of the dancers, then the girls all piled up on the floor so they could see the mini performance.  Katie is now begging to see the whole ballet again, we will have to try and work that into our holiday schedule!

Enjoying our last few days of summer

The Innocence of Competition

In May Katie joined her first competitive swimming team, First Colony Gold. Having stayed in swim classes year round and participated in the swim team class at her swim school she was ready. The first few practices the group was split between those who could swim across the pool and those who couldn't. Katie made the could team, this is our learning year.. We still have to figure out each week where we are supposed to be and how everything works, and Katie is learning about being in a race. Her natural instincts don't generally inspire a need for speed and we are working on that and while she is not the star swimmer on the team, she is the one with the biggest smile. She loves everything about being a part of this team and because of that I am willing to get her to practice four times a week and spend hours in the heat on Monday evenings sitting around to watch her spend about 2 minutes in the water!

Tonight was our fifth swim meet, and Katie loves swim meet days. Mostly she says she loves to relax between races, really I think she loves the camaraderie of the girls. Real friendships are forming and she loves the hours spent just hanging out with these girls that are her age!

I was so proud of her tonight, as she was sitting in the ribbon chair alongside some of her teammates, she cheered on her friend, rallying her teammate who was desperate for a first place blue ribbon..... And the friend got it, and Katie cheered for her even more. Katie is not in this for the first place blue ribbon, what excites her is participating, and tonight was so pleased with her two 4th place ribbons because green is mommy's favorite color... Maybe next year she will bring home a blue one for Daddy, but until then I will be very proud of my cheer leading team player, she will always come first for me!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Our little Lukey has turned two!  I don't know where these past two years have gone, but we sure have been busy... Luke is such a little joy to have around and always has a smile on his face.  We have started potty training and it is going great.  He is so proud of himself and we are of him!  His favorite foods are grilled chicken and all fruits.. not a big veggie fan!  Luke loves his bed time routine and his favorite book is Happy Birthday Thomas.. it was a library book, but he got his own copy for his birthday.  We sing every night either Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or we hum Brahams Lullaby.  He is still in his baby bed, but I doubt it will be that way for long.  His bed is getting pretty crowded with bear, Mickey, and his nene (blanket) and now his new prized possesion his Percy pillow pet from Nana.

He loves to play roll call games with all of our family member names and this usually happens at bed time.  Last night he was telling me all of his friends names in his bed and he continued with all of his loved ones. 

We had several birthday celebrations, first at a splash park with our play group friends, then his birthday party at home with friends, then on the day breakfast out with the family and an afternoon at the pool!

His birthday party was a huge sucess... it was all about his favorite things.. trains!  We had a conductor come and give the kids a train ride around the neighborhood and Thomas was the theme for the rest of the party.  The kids all looked so cute in their matching Thomas t-shirts and all of Luke's presents had a train theme.. he was so excited!  Andy had lots of fun setting up the new tracks for the kids to play with and we now have more than enough trains to go around.

Teeny Weeny hunt

Our latest obsession has been to collect tiny little colorful balls left behind at parks from some sort of toy ( I have hunted for this particular toy without success).

Iwas first introduced to the colorful little balls by the son of a friend who gave them their name. What started out as a cute little game where each kid was happy finding one or two has today turned into a full family obsession!

My pockets are currently full of these tiny little balls covered in dirt and the majority were collected by my husband!

5x7 Folded Card

Birthday Colors Blue Birthday Card

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Happy Valentine's Day

Sending Hugs Kisses Valentine's Card

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From our loved one's to your's, Happy Valentines Day.  Hope you day (and every day) is filled with love, laughter and lots of hugs!

xoxoxo

Calling All Firefighters....

Jack truly had a wonderful 3rd Birthday Party.  The Houston Fire Museum was his pick as it is his favorite place to visit.  He loves to sit in the big fire truck cab and pretend to drive, put on a helmet and slide down the big pole.  What made this trip to the fire station even better was that he did it with a lot of his play group and pre-school friends.

It was a great mix of kids and everyone had a great time.  The party coordinator Pat gave the kids a great presentation on fire safety and manged to hold her 3 year old audience captive for the entire program. 

All the kids enjoyed dressing up and the parents enjoyed touring around the museum.  Jack especially loved his fireman's cake & cup cakes and asked to have one of each!

After a nice long nap when we got home he tackled the pile of presents and could not have been happier with all his gifts.  He helped find a place for them in the play room and even manged to share with his brother and sister!

Trying Times

I just recently read a blog by a mom who chronicles her daily tribulations on being a mother, http://momastery.com/blog/, and how she finds writing about these things to be therapeutic.  Well I will try anything so here goes!

I was really hoping the 6th year of Katie's life would bring an end to the childish (not the right word but cant think of anything better at the moment) behavior that started when she turned 3.  Our Katie has a lot of emotions and struggles to express them, so she gets her point across in a variety of unpleasant forms.  Screaming, crying, hitting, sulking  just to name a few.  Now this started slowly not long after her 3rd birthday (we completely skipped the terrible two's) and has been a slow ramp up over the past few years to the point that I feel I need to write about it to provide me some comfort.

We could not love her anymore than we do and she is such a special, sweet girl I just hope she can learn soon how to express herself in a more rational matter.  I think her problem is that her head is so full of wonderful ideas to share, opinions to get across & stories to tell they all get jumbled up and when it actually comes time to focus on something that is not in her mind there is just not room for her to process it.  Then comes the scene... they used to just be saved for the privacy of our own home which was comforting.  I used to chant to myself, let's just get out of the house and all will be OK.  Not sure if it was the soothing car ride that calmed her or just the distractions of things outside our home, but in public she was perfect.  Sadly this has changed making little outings a stressful time.  We have always cherished our Sunday evening family dinners out of the house, but now they have become something we just try to get through so we can get back home.

Knowing in our hearts that she was not ready for big school kindergarten we chose to put her in a small private school where as it turns out she is one of 5 students this year.  It has been such a blessing as she is doing very well accademically and loves her class.  

Earlier this year Katie's Kindergarten teacher had expressed concerns about her ability to focus on class room tasks.  She was not completing work timely (or at all) and was continuously needing extra instruction to understand tasks.  After a nice meeting with her teacher who expressed these concerns but also reiterated how incredibly capable and bright she was, we sought the advice of our pediatrician. After a series of interviews with their in house specialist, Katie was diagnosed having ADD.  As this is an affliction that affects many in my family (and quite honestly myself as well although mine has been more adult onset) we were not overly surprised and started the task of educating ourselves as much as possible.  

Well then now real dilemma begins.  What do we do with this new knowledge?  Where does ADD begin/end and how does it relate to her emotional outbursts?  To help us better understand these questions we have sought a second opinion from a Child Psychologist who specializes in kids with ADD.  We are hoping after a series of meeting with Katie she will help us develop a treatment plan so we can all just enjoy this time in our lives and not have to walk on egg shells and wonder when the next flare up will be.

I have definitely tried to change my approach to these tough situations which is not always easy.  My first instinct is to scream & shout which I know does not do anyone (especially myself) any good.  But this is a hard habit to break.  We would like to get to a point again where we can reward good behavior, but I think we need to have a little more consistent good behavior before this will work.  So for now I am trying to take a very calm approach to the situations, remove her from the scene and once she has calmed down do my best to talk rationally.  This very morning I implemented a strategy that I am excited about and I hope it sticks.  I showed Katie how to hold her hands by locking her fingers together.  We practiced counting to 3, 5 & 10 for those times when she feels she might hit someone or shout at someone.  She was excited to try and started telling me other ways in which she could use this technique.

We have also tried to make some positive changes in her diet.  I have read that too much sugar & possibly gluten can affect behavior, while she has never had a sugary diet, I have cut back even further and have brought many gluten free products into her diet as well.

 

Here is hoping we get some good guidance from our various Dr's and we can help Katie better express herself, and once she can watch out b/c this girl has a lot to say and it's going to be GREAT!