Christmas

I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve. It has gone by so fast. The last few weeks were rushed because I got behind between helping at the Santa shop at school all day for a week and then with the kids being sick off and on. Santa shop was fun. I love seeing what the kids pick out for their families. We didn't make it to the riverwalk this year because Brandon was sick but we still went to the Electricritters with everyone. We also went to Chris' Christmas party. We were going to go to the nature center but found out that it wasn't much and decided it wasn't worth driving all the way out there. Last night we went to Scott's family and met the two new babies. Get this one of them is named Harrison Jones. Go figure that we would have two in our family. They were really looking forward to seeing babies but didn't much know what to do with them once they saw them.  Tonite we are going to Chris' house for the Eve party and during the day we will read the Christmas story and bake the Jesus birthday cake. The kids figure Christmas Eve is just as good as Christmas because we keep them so busy and they still get to open presents. They both still believe in Santa but I think at least for Brandon it is more of a choosing to because he doesn't want us to tell him it is not so. This will probably be the last year. Jessie is doubting too. In some ways I will be glad because it is so much work making sure they don't find out. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Goldie's blog of shame and other pics

 In case you can't read the sign it says " I got on the counter and Mommy's sugar cookies twice! I also like to steal Daddy's chair and I am not sorry at all." Don't let the look fool you. she just doesn't like having her picture taken. She has been really onery lately. It's like she has two personalities. The shy, I know you are going to beat me one, and the I don't care if I get into trouble, I will do it anyway.

 Here is when she is being sweet. Her and Socks are best buddies. You wouldn't know it to look at her that she tries to eat any other cat.

                                                      Beautiful Colorado sunset

                                   BJ being a good boy pretending to be the sweet one. This will be his second    Christmas and Goldie's first at our house.

Sick kids

Jessie was sick with a real bad cold last week. She was well enough to participate in Thanksgiving but she lost her voice. She is so funny trying to read a story out loud with her squeaky voice. Now Brandon has the cold. We thought it might be strep at first but I don't think so. He is so bad that he had trouble breathing and then gets scared because he feels like he is suffocating. I hate that there isn't more that I can do for him. Jess stayed home today also even though she is not really sick any more but I was to tired to argue with her. She doesn't like riding the bus by herself, so if he is sick, I have to take her to school or she freaks out or makes herself sick. Hopefully I can get them both well and no one else will get this since we have so many Christmas stuff coming up and I am supposed to work the Santa shop at school all next week. Wish us luck and prayers that everyone gets well and stays well. I hope everyone else is doing okay also.

Halloween

The kids were Indiana Jones and a vampire princess this year. Jess decided she wanted to be scary this year. They had their school parties and parade. This year they were both in the afternoon so we only had to go once this time. We came home and spent a few minutes with the dogs then left again to go see GG. They got some treats there and then we went to Chris's neighborhood. It was kind of hit and miss there but they got enough and then we went to Chris' house and ordered pizza for dinner. We went to Rachel's Aunt's house after dinner because they really decorate and have a small spook house. They did a few houses over there but by that time they were getting tired and since it was a school night we called it quits. They still got enough and had fun going around the houses. There were some beautiful houses in Chris's neighborhood.  The kids also had a family reading night that we went to the school and had dinner and learned different things to help with reading. The got perfect attendance certificates at their end of quarter awards ceremony and Brandon made honor roll. He is doing better most of the time. It is kind of hit and miss, one week he does great and the next week he flips cards, forgets homework, does bad on tests. At least it is not a constant bad and we were very proud of him for making honor roll. Jessie is doing really well also and is excelling in class especially reading. So we are very proud of both of them.

Dad's surgery again

Dad just got out of the hospital again. He formed a blood clot from the previous surgery and they had to put him on major meds to dissolve it. He is now home and doing okay. He is on blood thinners for at least awhile. Dad thinks they will keep him on for the rest of his life. We will see I guess. It is kind of scary because they tell you if you bruise or hit any part of your body hard you should have it checked out to make sure you don't bleed to death. Plus you have to watch the foods you eat because you can't have too much vitamin K. Hopefully this will be the end for quite awhile now. He was pretty much told he can't fight fires anymore. He was thinking of giving it up anyway but you never like to be told you can't. It would have been nice if it was his idea. He is a little sad about that and is disappointed because he was going to dress up while he drove the SRDA van today and now he isn't working and doesn't even feel like going out with the kids tonite. Keep him in your prayers.

Brandon's imagination

Last night Brandon was trying to keep me in his room instead of going to sleep. We were sitting there talking about what we were going to do today. The kids were already hyped up because we went to the airport museum yesterday and they loved looking at all the old planes. Especially Brandon.  Anyway we were talking about chores and he said his chores for today were to milk the cow, feed the chickens, grind up pumpkin for the pigs and plow the fields. Then he said that he had to fix the buggy. I asked him what was wrong with the buggy and he said the wheel broke off. He needs the buggy to pick up rocks because he is making a fence out of rock to keep the cows in. He also needs to buy a new rope. Now by this time I'm thinking he is asleep and dreaming, which he has been known to do, but then he looked over at me and said what are you doing, patting Socks? He also remembers it this morning so he was awake. I don't know where he got all of that from, especially when we were looking at old planes not farming equipment. His imagination will take him far one day if I can just get him through school first.  Doing homework with him is a major drain on my patience. Being ten does not help his focus issues at all. I swear his brain disappeared. It took him about forty minutes to do his math homework the other day, and he got several of them wrong. This is math that he did last year so it is not even new to him. Simple mistakes that he should know better.  One problem he was supposed to find the perimeter of the two inch sided square. He added 6+5. He doesn't even know where he got those numbers. But then I asked him how he got the measurements for a rectangle he was supposed to measure and find the periemter on and he said he guessed. When I made him measure with the ruler, he was right. Go figure. He also had no problems with finding the radius of a circle, which was a new concept for him, so I am thinking he does much better with geometry because there are pictures so it is more visual than just numbers. Sometimes I am not sure we are going to survive school. At least he has his imagination.

Dad's surgery

Dad had his surgery on his leg last week. He had to have the artery replaced so he is in much more pain than with just the shunts. This time he was in the hospital for four days and came home Tuesday. The doctor said he had a good pulse in his leg and is doing fine. He is all bruised up and his whole leg is swollen. He is just glad to be out of the hospital. Who said you can rest there? He said he could do a better job taking care of himself than they did. One time he had to wait three hours for his pain meds when he asked for them and if you need to use the bathroom forget it.  He is using a walker a little bit around the house mainly outside. Mom stayed home yesterday just to keep him in line because when he came home on Tuesday he wouldn't sit down and was really hurting by night time. If you read this Uncle Jim, Dad was actually wearing those crazy pants you got him for Christmas one year.

He said they were very comfortable. He is due to go back to the doctor on the 12th to see if he can go back to work etc. Slow recovery but he is doing fine.

School and my birthday

School started last week for the kids. Brandon is in 4th and Jessie is in 1st this year. They both got the teachers they wanted so that was good. Jessie is having a little trouble dealing with all day. Not because she can't handle it but because she misses the mother daughter quality time we had while Brandon was in school. She enjoys it otherwise. She is such a social butterfly that she thrives and she is a good student so it is pretty easy for her. Her only problem is going to be to make her do her homework but so far she has done it without a problem. Brandon has already forgotten his homework once and got into trouble for talking twice and we are only a week and a half into it. The medication the doctor put him on to help with his ADD isn't working so we are trying something else out. We'll see what happens.

The kids wanted to pick out their own presents for my birthday so Mom took the kids shopping after doing GG's hair on Sat. Brandon wanted to get me flowers so Mom talked him into fake flowers so they would last. He was very picky on which flowers and what vase and then they bought some of those glass rocks to put in it. When they were wrapping it up, Jessie put some flowers in and the vase shattered. Mom said they were both ready to cry. So while they cleaned up the mess, Scott ran out and bought another vase.Of course I didn't hear about all this until afterward. Jessie bought me two candles and two statues. One of a little girl holding  flowers and the other was a bird. Mom said the pickings were slim but Jessie said I would like them and that I would like anything they got me anyway. She was all excited because she thought she found a dolphin statue but it turned out to be a shark. Mom said she loves taking them shopping because they have such strong takes on what they want and don't want. You can't talk them into anything once their minds are set. She loves to see what they are going to pick out. It was a good birthday I got lots of things I needed and we took the kids to the city park rides because we got rained out the last time we went so we tried it again. This time it was really nice weather and it wasn't as crowded since it was a Sunday evening. Everyone had a good time.

Brandon's last baseball game

Brandon had his last baseball game last week. Mom took a vacation week since it was the last week before school started. We did lots of swimming, had a campout and bbq in our back yard. We went to the riverwalk and rode the boat and rented paddle boats then got ice cream. The last baseball game was supposed to be the week before but it was rained out so they postponed it. I was going to video tape it but forgot the camera. It was a really good game despite the fact that some of the players couldn't make it.

Brandon got a hit three times and was able to run home every time. He really likes it and is already talking about doing it next year. I am hoping to find a cheap pitching machine some time because I can't pitch very well so he can practice batting.

Brandon's birthday

Supposed to be a mountain rescue scene

 

Brandon's already ten. He was so excited, I think he started counting down after Jessie's.  He is a little torn about being ten. In some ways he feels "grown up" but in others he still wants to be a little kid. Sometimes I look at him when he comes in the room and expect to see this little boy and am surprised.  He had a great birthday. This year he wanted practically everything emergency oriented. His cake he wanted emt/rescue since he had fire the last few cakes. It is supposed to be a mountain rescue but the frosting was melting because it was so hot. Not one of my better ones. He got lots of cool toys. I asked him if there was anything he didn't get that he wanted to spend his birthday money on and he said " I don't know what didn't I get that I said I wanted?" I figure that if he doesn't know then he must have gotten everything. Scott bought him a child size fire pack because he was feeling guilty about missing his birthday and then Scott was home after all. Scott's family came out Sat afternoon and gave him their birthday presents.  We went to the mountains on Sunday for his actual birthday. It was the first time both dogs have ever been so they were pretty excited too. It was fairly cool up there and not a lot of people so it was nice. The only downfall was there was a huge party at the park so they couldn't play there which Jessie was pretty disappointed about. Brandon said it was the best birthday ever.

fire station for matchbox cars

the big rock at Rye

dogs exploring the water

kids playing in the water

4th of July and GG's birthday

Jessie's present

Cuties. GG loves them

silly string war

playing with bubbles

We did GG's birthday on the 4th of July like usual.  GG said it was a great birthday and one of her best. The weather was beautiful so we were able to eat outside which she loves to do. She got a couple of dark chocolate candy bars that she loves and a waffle maker. She also got the also salt she wanted. It is basically fake salt since she is on a low salt diet. Jessie made her a heart with the two of them on it and Brandon did a birthday dance for her.  She also got a gift card to Walgreens which she loves because she does most of her shopping over there since she can walk over.  She also received crossword puzzles.  She likes to do a couple a day. The wind only came up really bad once while we were eating cake. Since we couldn't do fireworks because of the burn ban, we had to get creative. We did bubbles and silly string and when it got dark, we played with light up toys.  Even GG gets a kick out of the light up stuff. For the bubbles we had a bubble maker and wands and the electric wands. If you want giant bubbles get the bubble swords. Don't get colored bubbles though they are messy and the color doesn't show up except to stain your clothes.  The silly string was a big sucess as usual. We do that every year because Brandon loves it.  In some ways it was even better than fireworks because it was more interactive and the kids were moving so they didn't get as tired.  Everyone had a lot of fun and it was an earlier night which was fine since some of us had to get up for work the next day. All in all a great holiday.

Goldie

We got a new companion for BJ. She is 9 months old. They say she is a golden retriever/ lab mix. She is very sweet and a little skittish about new things. She is crate trained so that is a plus. I was a little upset we when we first brought her home because on her paperwork that they didn't show me but read to me it said she does not get along with cats and she was not housebroken both of which I specifically asked them about and they told be they didn't know about the cats and she was housebroken. We weren't too sure if we were going to be able to keep her because of out cat but it is working out. Luckily because everyone is already in love with her. I wasn't going to get another dog quite this soon but BJ was getting depressed with out a dog companion. He has always been a dog's dog. Even though Fear wasn't the greatest playmate he was still there with him. I decided to just keep an eye out for the right dog and figured when the time was right she would come to us.  The kids asked me to call the shelter and ask if they had any new dogs and in and when they told me they just had a golden retriever/ lab mix come in, I couldn't resist. THose are my favorite breeds especially the golden retriever. I still miss Shane and CJ was one of the best dogs I had. I was a little surprised when they brought her out because I was expecting more golden retriever looking but I am a sucker for floppy ears and the kids really liked her. We are still working out the kinks of a new dog but BJ is very happy again and Jessie's estactic to have a girl pet. She has more energy than BJ and I didn't think that was possible. I'll have to post more about her when we have had her longer and know more about her. Right now we are trying to figure out how big she will get so we can order her her own crate.

Famous Firefighters

The boys have become famous on this fire.  The Denver Post took a bunch of pictures at the High Park fire they were on and got a couple of our truck and dad in the rearview mirror.  Then the Pueblo Chieftain came out and took a picture of them too and did an article on them.  It was mostly about our employee Jason because for one thing his dad knows the reporter, but also since this was his first fire and it was such a big one, they thought it would be a good human interest story.  So I'm including the pictures and the article so you can see them.



Dad in Rearview Mirror of Truck



Our truck in front of house they were trying to save. 
Jason is walking and dad is in the driver's seat




Back in Pueblo after working on the High Park Fire near Fort Collins are new firefighter Jason Gutierrez (center) and veterans Scott Atterberry (left) and Bob Antle. They are on alert for possible deployment to the Waldo Gulch fire currently burning near Colorado Springs. Photo by Chris McLean 6-28-12





HIGH PARK FIRE Scott Atterberry of Colorado Wildland Fire Services shot this photo of the High Park Fire burning near Fort Collins while he and his team were helping fight the blaze recently. Courtesy photo

Posted: Friday, June 29, 2012 4:00 am

Baptism by fire

Puebloan's first tour of duty engulfed him in the High Park Fire

Puebloan's first tour of duty engulfed him in the High Park Fire. Jason Gutierrez's introduction to wildland firefighting truly was initiation by fire.

"It opened up my eyes. I pretty much saw and experienced things that I'm told I may never experience again in my life," said Gutierrez, 37, a rookie firefighter who returned Wednesday from his maiden experience at the High Park Fire, one of the state's worst wildland fires ever.

Gutierrez was among a three-person crew from the privately owned Colorado Wildland Fire Service that spent 14 days fighting the massive fire that's been burning near Fort Collins since June 9.

Less than a month after completing a couple of fire science courses at Pueblo Community College, Gutierrez said he was called on to provide firefighting support at the raging High Park Fire, which in three weeks has scorched more than 87,000 acres.

Gutierrez said he and crew chief Scott Atterberry and Bob Antle left Pueblo on June 12 and spent the next two weeks doing structure protection and providing fire support to ground crews battling the massive blaze.

The trio returned to Pueblo on Wednesday and will have two days to rest before the unit can be called back into action.

As contract firefighters, the crew responds to requests for assistance as needed in fighting fires throughout the country.

Gutierrez said he felt prepared for the duties he performed during the long 16-hour days at the High Park Fire, but he admitted he was caught off guard by the strength and relentlessness of the fire.

"It's hard to explain but when you are in a fire, it sounds just a like freight train coming or a jet engine firing up," he said. "Then you see this red glow and the trees light up behind you with an intense heat blowing at you like a furnace."

Gutierrez said much of his time was spent trying to provide protection and mitigation to homes in the path of the flames.

"We sprayed foam on houses and we worked to clear trees, bushes and other debris from near the homes," he said.

Scott with his father's day present. (The tool, it is called a Rhino Hoe) It came the day the were leaving so I gave it to him before he left so he could break it in.

Fearless

I had to put Fearless (our dog) down yesterday. We aren't sure if it was the cancer or old or age or what but he was getting more aggressive. He had been slowly getting worse for a while but we able to manage it. After Scott left on the fire, started getting more aggressive towards Brandon especially and even I wasn't sure if I could completely handle him anymore. We were hoping he would start to decline more physically and make it easier on us to say well he can't walk, breathe whatever becuase he still seemed happy a lot of the time especially outside. I was going to try to wait until Scott came home but Thursday night he chased BJ into Brandon's room while I was in there too and trapped us all in. I couldn't break him of his episode. Luckily I had me cell phone with me because I was waiting for a call from Scott and was able to call Mom and have her come over and knock on the door to get him away. Then I was able to settle him down. So I decided I couldn't take any more chances and took him in on Friday. Mom stayed with the kids. I am so grateful she has a job where she can take off quickly when needed. I was able to be with him the whole time and he was very calm like he knew and was okay with it but I still feel guilty. I know I made the right decision and the safety of my children come first but it doesn't help to not feel like you just killed him. Jessie already wants to look for a new dog but I told her that we were going to wait and make sure that we get the right choice for all of us not just a replacement. BJ does need a doggie companion eventually though he is just too much of a dog lover.
On another note. Scott is doing okay and is safe. Him and Dad had a close call yesterday though. THeir division almost got caught in the fire and they barely made it out. Keep praying for them. They just got volunteered to take one day off and do another seven when their fourteen is up. I am glad Dad was on this one with Scott so they only had one rookie otherwise he would have had two new guys with him and who knows what would have happened. I trust Scott's abilities and have never really worried about him on fires even now but keep praying in case I am wrong.

Summer

So far vacation is nice but with problems as well. Brandon started baseball and is doing pretty well. He gets bored when playing outfield though. This is a noncompetitive team so they take turns at the different positions. He has practice on Mondays and games on Thursdays. With his focus issues he will be lucky not to get whacked upside the head with a ball while he is in the outfield. The school officially diagnosed him with ADHD without the hyperactive aspect and a cognitive learning disorder. Anyway I couldn't find any summer programs that Jessie would like so she is doing the summer story time at school. When we opened up the pool for the summer it was really dirty. The cover had come off during a storm. As I was vacuuming out the pool, the pump went out. So now the kids can't really swim very much because it is so dirty and I can't put much chemicals in until the new pump arrives.  When it does get fixed I will be lucky to get them out of it.  The good news is Scott went on his second fire of the season. The first was only five days but this one, The High Park fire, should last longer. Some of you may have seen it on the news since it made national news. He told me that they have to verify with state patrol who they are whenever they enter a new area because there are some people that are impersonating firefighters, getting into the evacuated areas, and looting the houses. How sick is that? I am starting to wonder if there isn't more bad than good in the world any more. I am trying to stick to a summer schedule of chores and school activities and reading but not with a whole lot of success. If you are reading this Rebecca you are not alone. Sometimes I just let it slide if they are actually playing nicely with each other because I don't know how long it will last. Hopefully things will get smoother as the summer wears on.

Brandon's field trip and field day

Brandon had his field trip to the Cheyenne Mtn. Zoo yesterday. He had a lot of fun. They had tour guides so they learned a little bit about the animals and the zoo, not that he could tell me anything of what he learned. His guide was kind of slow so they didn't get to see tons of the zoo. It was really hot, but they had water bottle/misters so that helped. Since I wasn't able to go to that one I don't have much info on it. He just said it was fun. They did get to feed the giraffes though and they had a baby giraffe. At least no disasters this time so that was good.

Field day was the usual chaos. I stayed with Jessie's group for the first part and Brandon's the second part. One of the kindergarten moms, who hasn't done these before, was a little over the top trying to keep the kids in line and doing what she told them to do. Hopefully she will calm down before next year.  This year was very hot so the water games felt good. Last year they about froze. The only problem is that everyone got sunburned.  Brandon's group were too competitive when it came to some of the games like flag football and soccer.  I thought they were going to come to blows a few times. I don't think those games are good for kids that are overexcited to begin with. Scott did get them to consider using the firetruck to push the giant beach ball  against each other instead of pushing it with kid power for next year. Two of the kids in our group alone had to get ice packs because they got kicked in the face.  They got bored and tired watching the fifth grade versus teachers kickball game and were very glad to get home to an airconditioned house. Besides being hot, tired and sunburned they had a great time and that is all that counts.

Jessie's field trip and graduation

Jessie with her alligator hat and SME T-shirt (it has all the names of the kindergarten class on the back)

Yesterday Jessie had her field trip to the zoo. This year they had the good idea of giving the groups animal hats so it was much easier to track your group instead of looking at kids that look alike in the identical t-shirts. Jessie's group was the alligators. I was in charge of her and three other kids. They were easy kids for the most part except that the boys kept running ahead, Jessie stayed with me, and the other girl kept lagging behind. Plus Sienna had a thing for peacocks and kept following them around instead of looking at the rest of the animals. They had snacks to eat during the zoo, which was nice because in previous years, the kids had to go through the whole zoo and they did snacks at the end of the day, which by that time they were very thirsty and hungry. After the zoo, we met in the park for lunch and they were able to play until the bus came at 1:00. They had a lot of fun and I think this was the best zoo field trip I have been to seeing as this is the 4th time I have done this field trip between both kids. It will be kind of nice to do different ones from now on.

Jessie's graduation diploma and certificate

Her graduation was this morning. They were supposed to dress up, although not all of them did. She was so excited to finally wear one of the fancy dresses she got from her cousin.  They did a little poem which Jessie's part was "E is for exercise to make the body strong." Then they sang a song. The teachers gave each child a candy and certificate based on their personality. For example, a milky way candy bar for the kid that was the daydreamer, or whoppers for the kid that told the biggest stories. Jessie's was the Almond Joy because she was always happy and full of joy. Then they got their diplomas and were done. We had refreshments and she picked up the rest of her papers and stuff. She is very excited but also a little sad. She really loved kindergarten and her teacher. Mrs. Pagano said she was really going to miss her and if she had a girl she would want her to be like our Jess. Jess is also a little scared because next school year she will be in all day school. Scott and I took her to lunch at Wendy's and we are going to take both kids out to dinner after Thursday. She still has to go to school the next two days so she isn't competely done yet.  I can't believe my little girl is finished with Kindergarten already. Where has the year gone?

Brandon and the Rockies trip

So in my last blog I said that Brandon wasn't going to get to go on the special trip to the Rockies baseball game. Well the teachers decided to make an exception for him because it wasn't lack of trying on his part. So he got to go after all. It was an interesting trip. Here is how it was supposed to go: They leave the school at 8:15 for the two hour ride to Denver. They eat lunch at 10:30 at a park and then head to Coors field around 11:30 to find their seats and watch batting practice. The game started at 1:00 and they were planning on leaving around 4:00 so they could get back to the school around 6:30. The first part went as planned. The batting practice was a washout because Brandon said that they hardly did anything except toss a few balls around and completely ignored the fans. They were in the nosebleed section so they couldn't even see what was going on except on the screen. Their biggest thrill was there was a swarm of bees in the stadium that some guy sucked up with a vacuum. They played it on the big screen and all the kids thought it was great. It even made the news.  Brandon forgot his money on the bus so luckily a few of his friends' parents that were there bought him some food and he will pay them back on Monday. I guess that is better than him losing the money. I can't believe how expensive the concession stands are. For $16 he got a drink, popcorn, an air head candy and sunflower seeds. They left during the seventh inning so they could get home by 6:30 or so. It didn't bother the kids to leave early because by that time they were probably getting pretty bored and tired. The bus Brandon was on blew a tire on the way home right outside Fountain, which is about 30 minutes from Pueblo. The other bus had to drive all the way back, drop off the kids, and go back up to get the rest of them. We were at the store and Scott was waiting at the school for Brandon and we picked up food for dinner and figured it would work out about right that everyone would get home at the same time.  Scott called and said they just told him about the tire and were hoping to get another bus going up to save time so we brought Scott's food to the school and took BJ home because he went with Scott.  On the way home Scott called and said they just told him that the other bus, who just got to the school, was going to have to go back for the rest of the kids so it was going to be another 45 to 60 minutes. He came home to eat and then went back. Brandon finally got home about 8:45. I think the bus incident was more exciting to the kids than the game. Two state patrol cars stayed with the bus because they were on the interstate. When the kids transferred buses one of the state patrolman used a snake stick to make sure there were no snakes in the grass when they walked through. Oh, he said to say that he got a big foam finger and purple sprayed hair and a t-shirt so he's happy. All in all I am not sure it was worth all the hassle for them just for making a reading goal but they got a good adventure out of the deal anyway. Next year maybe they will stick to something closer to home and not so long of a trip for a bunch of elementary students. Now he is bugging us about getting a cell phone so he can call if something like this happens again. This coming from the boy who forgets his wallet on the bus. I told him if he shows more responsibility we will consider one for Christmas. A nice cheap prepaid phone that won't be a big deal if he loses it. Now we only have to get through two more field trips, graduation, field day and the last day of school. All next week.

update on GG and Brandon

GG is still having trouble with her back. The first epidural failed and the second did help and she is in a lot less pain, but it still didn't work 100%. She still has pain and it is hard for her to do a lot of things. She is debating whether to go into assisted living or hire in help.  Mom and I have been helping her as much as we can but she doesn't want to be dependent on me because if one of the kids is sick or I have to get a job she doesn't want me to be put in that position of deciding what to do about her. She goes to the doctor again on Monday so we will see what he says and make decisions after that. It is hard on all of us seeing her suddenly go downhill but especially for the kids. They thought she would live forever and now they got a big dose of reality that she is human and almost 97. They are taking it kind of hard. Since she can't get out here to have her hair done easily any more, Mom has been going to the apartment and I take the kids every few weeks so they can still see her and know we aren't lying to them about her. For a while they thought we were and she was gone because they hadn't seen her. I didn't say much about her to them because I didn't want them to worry and she wasn't up for much company when she was at her worst. Once they saw her they felt much better though. Please pray for GG that they find something to make her comfortable so she is not in pain her remaining years.

On a different subject, the school has finally acknowledged that Brandon does have a learning disability. They can't tell me an exact term, like dyslexia, just that it is an cognitive learning disorder. He has major focus issues, as in he doesn't focus much at all. His listening skills are pretty good, which is his saving factor. They are going to keep him in small groups a few hours a week to assist him and next year he will have someone take notes for him because he can't copy from the board. He is unable to do several things at once and can only follow one step at a time. They say that with work he will eventually work around it and learn to cope and hopefully some of these skills will start to kick in better with time. They were doing a focus study but I haven't gotten the results back yet to see if he might need medication or what we can do to help with the focus. He doesn't have ADHD because he doesn't have the hyperactivity but just the focus issues. It is frusturating because there is nothing I can do to make it better for him except help him through his homework and extra help on the weekends. They are doing an AR field trip for the kids who met their AR goal all four quarters, which of course he didn't since he has difficulty reading. He already missed out on a McDonald's lunch in the classroom last quarter. Only he and two others were left out. I don't know how many won't be going on the field trip. Does that seem fair to single out the kids that didn't make it? I realize that the kids should be rewarded for their efforts but not so pubicly. It is like rubbing it in the faces of the kids who didn't. Some of it is his fault because he keeps getting books that are almost, or are, out of his reading level but they won't help him pick out the books and they are color coded, but with different shades, and I don't think he really pays attention to shades, all he sees is green, yellow, etc.

School is almost out for the year so that will be another blog or maybe several. The last week of school, which is the week of the 21st, we have Jessie and Brandon's field trips, Jessie's kindergarten graduation, Field day and the last day of school assemblies. It will be a busy week.

St Patrick's Day

Since St Patrick's Day was on a Sat this year, the kid's school decided to celebrate on Thursday instead. Brandon didn't do much being in third grade but Jessie's class went all out. They made a leprechaun out of a paper mache balloon and they made leprechaun traps. They each got to make a trap however they wanted and then place them around the room. Jessie was so excited to go to school today to see if she trapped a leprechaun. She was so excited coming off the bus she started talking before we even took a step. Apparently the leprechauns visited their classroom but were too smart for the traps. All the traps were sprung or tipped over and a green coin was left in each trap for their effort. Leprechauns are pretty wild because they also left green footprints and flipped all the kids' discipline cards to red. Mrs. Pagano was teasing the kids saying they all would have to go to the Principal's office since they were all on red. She wasn't too disappointed in not catching one, she had too much fun. The trap has gold coins and nuggets (rocks painted gold) inside and she put some lucky charms cereal in the box. She wanted leaves and stuff to make the leprechaun feel at home and gave him a ladder to crawl in the box with a camouflaged stick so when the leprechaun goes into the box he would hit the stick and close him in. I assisted with the ideas a little but most of them were all hers and I just helped with the gluing since we had to use a hot glue gun.

The outside of the trap and her balloon leprechaun

The inside of the box as best as I could get.

We also did Chris' birthday on Saturday so we had a green theme. He had a good day and good presents. GG didn't stay as long because of her back. She was hurting too much but I think she had a good time anyway.

update

On the way home from school, Jessie was telling me there was a new girl in her class named Pavin. She said she was completely deaf . I asked her if the T.A. was translating for her and Jess said yes but her teacher also knew sign language. I told her she would have to learn more signs so she could talk to her because it must be hard for a little kid to not be able to communicate easily with friends. She said that Pavin could speak and read lips. I asked if Pavin had a cochlear implant and Jess said yes. I asked if she was making friends with her and she started laughing and I asked her why she was laughing and she said it was because she made up the whole story. She does have a T.A. who is deaf and has a cochlear implant so I am thinking that is where she got the idea. Nothing wrong with her imagination.





She was sick this last week with what we thought was just a bad cold and fever but when she went to the doctor for her regular checkup, she had a major ear infection and we didn't know it because her ear wasn't hurting her. She is feeling much better, especially now that she is done taking the antibiotics, which was torture for both of us to get her to take. She still loves school, although I have trouble getting her to do her homework because she gets bored easily. Especially the sight words; if they aren't in a story she doesn't care. This new kindergarten teacher is much better than Brandon's was though and Jessie is much farther along and already reading pretty good on simple stories. Her biggest problem is that she is so used to making up the words she forgets to actually read what is there and still tries to make up the words.






Brandon is starting the TCAP testing in school. It used to be CSAP but they changed it. I am not sure if it because of the testing or what but his attitude hasn't been very good lately. You would think he was a teenager already. All he can say is he is stressed but he doesn't know why. I think he does know what's wrong, at least to a point, but he doesn't want to put more pressure on me so won't say. He is way too observant for his own good and he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Yesterday he was asking me about the tornadoes that killed all those people and wanted to know if we were safe. I told him that it was unlikely but yes we have had tornadoes in Colorado and if one did happen all we could do was pray. He told me that we would not only pray for ourselves but for everyone else. Like for instance, if a family was divorced and a mom had one kid and the dad had the other then you would not only pray for yourselves but for the other family that was separated from you so that they would be safe also. I am not sure where he got that analogy from but it gives you an idea of the thought process he has. Nothing is simple with him. Which is why it surprised me when he picked a really simple science project for the science fair at school. Why does pop explode when you shake it? Brandon was liking school better, especially since he has started to go to small groups for some of his work and was feeling more confident, but he is starting to not want to go to school again. Maybe because of the testing.

BJ is just as onery as ever. The winter is hard because he is stuck inside a lot. Not that he minds the cold but no one is out to play with him. He is having trouble because Fear is not playing with him as much as he used to and he doesn't understand why. Fear is doing good considering he is almost 12 but he doesn't tolerate a lot any more. It is hard because he gets so grouchy and growls and snaps at everyone when he is not in a good mood which is more often than not but we don't have the heart to do anything about it as long as he is still doing ok. BJ will be much more controllable when he has a younger playmate. In the meantime luckily it is starting to get warmer so the kids can take him outside more often. He still likes to play with Socks (the cat) but they have to be careful since he is bigger than Socks. They chase each other around and will lay on the ground next to each batting at each other while BJ "talks" to him.

We had to take Socks to the vet and spent a fortune on him because he got some sort of infection that almost killed him. They don't know what is was but he is fine now. He must have been not feeling well for a while because he is a lot more active than he had been. Now he goes crazy tearing around the house. We changed his food to something hopefully a little more healthier and he likes it so much we have to hide the bag because he was tearing into the bag during his transitional phase between the new and the old.

Scott's unemployment has completely ran out now so hopefully fire season or something else will happen soon. It is so frusturating to apply to so many jobs and not even hear back. At least he doesn't have to waste a lot of time putting in 7 applications a week for jobs he know he doesn't stand a chance at to satisfy unemployment any more and concentrate on ones he stands a chance on. We still have money from the last fires so we are still ok as long as we only do bare necessities. It is amazing what you can get by on when you have to but I am so tired of telling everyone no we can't do that all the time. Somehow I became the responsible one in charge of finances so there the bad guy. Scott backs me up but I still feel like I am the one saying no since I do the books. I am hoping to use a little of the income tax refund money to do something fun after we buy things we need like another shed. We want to move Brandon into the other room this summer and we need something to store all the stuff in so that is priority. They are really looking forward to having their own rooms especially Brandon. I have posted Jessie's birthday pictures to shutterfly so if anyone is interested in seeing more pics they will be there shortly.

Jessie's Birthday

Jessie's birthday cake

Jessie just turned six already. How could that have happened? Just yesterday she was a little baby in my arms. We had her family birthday party the weekend before her birthday. She got lots of great things, among them two new dolls.

Elizabeth and Emma

She also got a bike basket and some art stuff and a necklace with a diamond J from Brandon.

We had a girls day on her actual birthday after she got off of school. She got a crown and Happy Birthday sung to her at school and then Mom and I picked her up from school and went to the mall. We ate at Subway and she played on the little playground they have there. We didn't intend to stay there as long as we did but a friend of hers named Ashton, who has a crush on her, showed up and they played together forever. She said he offered to help her into the school that morning so she didn't slip on the ice (there was no ice). When we got home she posed for her six year old pictures in different dresses. I will post those later, they haven't been fixed yet. She was going to do more by changing hairstyles and jewelry but she was getting too tired by then. I guess we just have to have a fashion show later. Brandon came home and she opened her card from Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim. She had a good birthday but now she is sad that it is all over and Brandon is already talking about his.

Some of her decorations


Puzzles



car seat carrier for dolls