Spring has Sprung!

Spring has finally arrived!  Pat has been busy digging and planting corn.  We haven't seen much of him in the last few days.

Spring also means baby chicks!  This year we decided to add a few ducks to the flock.  It's been a few years since we've had ducks.  We don't raise a lot of birds.  We tried to sell some last year but what we have to sell them for to break even is a bit higher than most people are willing to pay.  So we'll stick to raising them for ourselves.

 We moved them out of their tub into a plastic calf hutch.  We can't let them roam, or they will become really expensive dog treats, so we have an area penned off where they can roam and 2 hutches for shelter.  It works well.

 Shelby loves the chicks.  As soon as we set foot outside she asks "chicks?"  She tries to pick them up and then squeals at them.

Tate is our chicken whisperer.  He'll just quietly stick out his hand with some feed and they'll come up to him and start pecking away.

Mother's Day

Today is hard.

I think Pat knows that.  Yesterday he spoiled me.  We took the kids and went to the Terry Redlin Museum and then to the Children's Museum.  It was a fun day.  After that we went to a sporting goods store and he bought me some UnderArmour workout gear, which I would never spend that kind of money on myself.  He even looked at ellipticals and gave me the ok to get one.  I've been looking at them for years.

Today is still hard.  Not too long ago my mom would call once a week and tell the same story over and over again.  Not just the same story she told last week, but the same story she had already told you earlier in the conversation.  Then I would call my sister and we would compare the same story she told and vent about what was wrong with her (we didn't actually know then) and how annoying it was.  What I wouldn't give for the phone to ring and to hear my mom's voice on the line.  So today is hard.  I love my children and am grateful that I am their mom, but I miss the mom that helped me become the person I am.

Last Day of Preschool

Tate had his last day of preschool on May 1st.  Yep, he was still wearing his winter coat, hat, and gloves on the last day of school!  Have I mentioned we get out ridiculously early here?

 That afternoon, they had graduation.  It was a big deal for him, and probably a bigger deal for me.  This marks the end of a 4 year stretch of having a child in preschool with the same teachers.  They are obviously fabulous for putting up with me for 4 years :)

On the last day of school, each kid takes a turn sitting in the big rocking chair and their classmates can say something nice about them.  Tate's teacher teared up trying to tell us about what some of Tate's friends said.  He's made some great friends this year and I hope they become lasting friendships.  Here's to my brand new kindergartner!

Therapy

Cole has been going to PT for a few weeks now.  It's going well.  I can see a difference.  He still hasn't mastered the bike, or the swing, but last time we tried he didn't get frustrated like he has in the past.  We'll be going down to just once a week.  I am a big believer in PT.  It's bizarre, some of the things they do, but it works.  Cole does a lot of things that make him dizzy.  He nods his head up and down, sitting still and while walking.  He does a lot of balance activities and multi-tasks, like throwing and catching 2 balls, or catching while jumping on a trampoline.  Once the weather turns nicer, we will be putting more time in on the swings and on the bike.  I finally hooked up the trail-a-bike and am hoping that helps him.  Tate and I checked it out this morning and he had a blast.

Shelby Turns Two

My baby turned 2 at the end of March.  

We had butterfly cake,

she opened presents and got lots of activity books.

She even got her very own Strider and a new helmet.

I think holding her baby cousin was her favorite, though.

She's my snuggler, my troublemaker, and everything in between.  Life is never dull when Shelby is around!  We love you, Shelby Kay!

Therapy

I have never been so excited to find out something is wrong with Cole.

Cole will turn 8 in June.  He still won't ride a bike and can't swing himself on the swing.  I get frustrated and he gets frustrated and shuts down.  When Shelby was in for her checkup (she's 2! and I'll get to her birthday post before she turns 3), I asked our doctor about some of Cole's issues.  She suggested we take him in for a short assessment, aka free, by a physical therapist.  I checked with his PE teacher at school, but wasn't hopeful he would notice anything, he didn't, and I wasn't hopeful the PT would notice anything either.  Cole tends to be anything but text book and I figured he has learned to compensate with other things so well that the same would be true with this latest issue.

He had his PT assessment today.  I explained to the therapist about his ear and what's been going on.  He looked at me and says "he has a vestibular impairment.  That was my specialty."  I think my mouth hit the floor.  He ran the assessments and wouldn't you know it, my boy is a text book case.  The even better news: they can fix it!  We start after Easter.  Here's to a summer riding bikes on 2 wheels and swinging!

Potty Training and Trimming Nails

Those are 2 of the things I dislike the most about having kids.  My kids are finally getting to the age where they can sit still to have their nails trimmed.  Shelby only because if her brothers do it, she must do it.

Unfortunately, that mentality is also following her into potty training.  I've been trying to capture a picture of her, but have been unsuccessful so far.  She walks into the bathroom, closes the door, lifts up the potty seat, lifts up her shirt, sticks her belly out, and says "potty".  Since she doesn't have "that" body part, I think she thinks it's her belly button.  She'll tell me "potty" once in a while and I try to sit her on it when she does that, but other than a few toots, we've been unsuccessful.  I'm in no rush.  I've learned twice that you can't force it.  The fact that she's interested already is a major improvement.  She's a full year ahead of either of her brothers in that department.

March Madness

I introduced Cole to the world of college basketball this year.  Okay, only to the NCAA tournament and only because the Bison made it in.  I remember filling out brackets every year and losing horribly to my dad.  I always had a thing for the underdog, but in the long run it doesn't pan out so well.  I thought this year Cole would be old enough to understand what's going on and since the Bison were playing, he'd enjoy following along.  So far, so good.  He's getting into it a little more.  Our brackets don't look too bad, except he picked Ohio to make it to the Elite Eight.  Oops.  I kind of a like having an older kid who can do these things with me.

Friday's Picture Post

We've had a busy couple of weeks.  I'm working on my addiction to time wasters (namely the iPad).  So one afternoon Tate wanted help with his Lego building and I obliged.  We were close to finishing when he told me I could go lay down if I wanted to or do something else.  I said no, I could finish helping him.  A few minutes later he told me he was going to go have a rest :).  At any rate, here is his Lego hotel, which has now been transformed into something else.

 Last weekend, my sister and her family traveled up to get their new puppy.  One of my CC runners breeds her golden retriever and she had her batch of puppies just before Christmas.  Shelby thought he was great as long as he wasn't in her face.

 Even Juno got some loving.

Shelby also really liked his play yard.  The puppy, not so much.

 We've also been out enjoying the last few nice days before winter reared her ugly head, again.

 There were plenty of snowballs thrown,

 and Cole even built a snowman.

We also managed to find time to finish his 40 books so he joined the Super Reader club at school.

The Milk Debate

Look at this!  4 days in a row!

Anywhoodle, since Shelby is not yet 2, and she's tiny, she is on whole milk.  She goes through a lot of milk so instead of buying 2 kinds, I switched us all to whole milk.  We were going through over 3 gallons every 2 weeks.  It got to the point where I finally stopped and asked myself why I am buying milk.  So I stopped buying milk.  We've gone to tank milk and I'm wondering why it took me so long to do this.  The taste!  Oh my goodness!  If you haven't had milk straight from the tank, you are missing out.  There is so much flavor!  We have a plate cooler, and our milk is constantly agitated, so the milk comes out mixed and ice cold, no shaking involved.  I fill a gallon jug about every other day.  It certainly saves on trips to the store and money.

Catch Up, Again

So the last 5 months...

• I finished cross country in October.  I took a group of my runners to watch the state meet.  That was fun.  I miss being part of that.  
• Harvest was not fabulous.  It got done, but that was about all that was positive about it.  
• Tate is exhausted all the time, which is causing us some worry.  I'm hoping it's just that he's growing, but he will willingly nap.  What 5 year old does that?
• Shelby refuses to nap.  She is going to be trouble.  She now has a mouth full of teeth and talks all the time.

• Thanksgiving was spent with my family in Iowa.  This kids love being together and we had a good time.
• Christmas was low key and spent at home.  Cole did a great job with his lines in the Sunday School program and Tate sang his heart out.

• In January, Pat and I travelled to Frisco, TX, to watch NDSU win their 3rd straight national championship.  We had an absolute blast.  It helped that it was in the 60s on game day. :)

• Cole started piano lessons when school resumed.  Two of his 4 lessons have been cancelled or rescheduled due to weather.  I am tried of cold.

• While we were in Texas, the boys were introduced to MineCraft.  If anyone understands this game and can explain it to me, I am all ears.  Otherwise, my typical response is glazed eyes and feeling ready to explode with "I don't care!"  I just don't get it.

 And there you have the highlights since September.  3 blog posts in 1 week!

I Love to Read

**Disclaimer:  I love to read.  I enjoy reading and I want my kids to enjoy reading.  Do not read this post thinking I am against reading in any way.

February is I love to read month.  I hate it.  I love reading, I hate all the work that comes with February.  Our school does some fantastic reading things with the kids, but they all come to a head in February.  

They do One School, One Book which means the entire elementary, pre-k through 6, staff, custodians, bus drivers, cooks, everyone reads the same book.  We read one chapter a night until the book is finished.  Every morning they get a question to answer about what was read the night before.  It's a great program.  The problem, they also do Fast Start Reading, and the first grade is doing a super reader's squad challenge (40 books in February).  That means, on top of the chapter every night, he has a poem to read, his guided reading homework, and the books for the reading squad.  That's on top of the library books we have to read and Cole's piano practice.  That's a lot of reading to do between the hours of 4 and 8, if there is nothing else going on.  Cole likes to read and he's good at reading, but it's a lot.  We already dropped the ball with the One School book.  We forgot that last night so I read it to them over breakfast.  At least it's cold and no one wants to be outside.

Research

Oops, so it's been almost 5 months since my last post.  I may update you before the next 5 months, but today is something I need to blog about.  I know I've mentioned before that my mom has FTD, frontal temporal dementia.  My Dad has been taking her to research appointments at Large Hospital and has even consented to donate her brain when she is gone.  The problem is that they can do all the research they want after a person has been diagnosed, but it does them little good if they don't know what causes it or how it starts.  Large Hospital has been hoping to start a study on those with a family history, but haven't had the funding.  Enter my sister and me.  Today the call came in.  They have funding.

I am scared to death.

Of course, I consented and have appointments set.  It's nothing difficult on my part.  Memory tests, scans, blood draw.  The scary part is that I don't want to know.  Being in research means they will run tests every year and if we have it, it could lead to an earlier diagnosis.  I don't want to know.  I do not want to know which road I will travel down until I am traveling it.  It's scary seeing my mom and wondering if that will become me.  I'm not sure I can handle actually knowing.

So I do this for my kids and my grandkids.  If they can learn something from me.  If they can find a way to stop it, stall it, or treat it because of this research, then it is worth knowing.  I pray the data they collect from me and my sister will be worthless, because I pray this disease ends with my mom.  If it doesn't, then I pray this research gives my kids a better future.

But, I'm still scared to death.