Highlights 2012-2013 post #4

Summer is done and the new school year started. Tay is in 8th, Ki 6th, Kelten 4th, and Knightin is in 1st. My kids still for the most part like school. Ki loves it, he actually doesn't like to miss. Knightin likes school, but really fights homework. He made big progress through this year. By the end of the school year at his IEP, they felt like his next year he would graduate out of the special needs group.  I have mixed feelings about that, I am glad that he is progressing academically, but when he is getting the extra help that way they also work with him socially, but I guess they don't do the social without the academic. So his help may stop in his 3rd grade year. I guess we will have to look into other possibilities at that point. He is a clown, and he makes us laugh all the time, but he does struggle with getting overwhelmed at times and with personal boundaries. We really need to find someone that won't cost us and arm and a leg to see if we can get him diagnosed.  Anyway, the other kids besides Ki like school because of the social, they think it is way better then hanging out with mom. Kelten is sweet and easy going, Tay is my main helper and really does get put through a lot being the oldest child and a girl. But over all she doesn't complain. She struggles some with normal teenage stuff and is trying to find herself, but she is a spiritual beacon in our family, such a good example. Ki is is goofy, silly, sometimes even a bit weird, and that is exactly how we like him. He a lot of times is in his own world of discovery. He is his daddies kid. He reads math books, engineering books and biographies about famous people throughout history for fun, and loves Khan academy were you can teach yourself math. He loves to soak it all in. He also is a big origami fan and has made some pretty cool items. TJ is not forgotten, but she isn't in school yet so she is talked about last. My little girl is growing up fast, and acts like a little mommy, not always in a good way. She is spunky, and a little sassy, and full of life. She was left home with me for the full day without Knightin at all. We lasted until about November, before I needed a break from her sweet, sometimes cute constant chatter, so for the sanity of both of us. I enrolled her in pre-school. I was lucky that one of the schools still had some room. TJ is my first child that I voluntarily put into pre-school. Knightin went for 2 years, but that was through the early intervention program to help him out, not because both mom and daughter needed a break from each other,. TJ loved it and thrived. It was defiantly the best decision I made.

Well, I guess that sums them very quickly up, so I will stick in their yearly pictures.

 I just happen to love this picture of Tay!

 

My kids are certainly growing up!!

So our big happening this year, that the kids are still talking about over a year later is we finally took our kids to Disneyland. It was a year and half in the making, and the kids even earned an extra $320 for them to split for spending money. Because we kids of have a split family when you do activities like this, the older one in a whole different stage then the 2 younger ones, we opted to drag my 2 sisters with us ( they went kicking and screaming the whole way, I assure you. Fully paid vacation, yeah, they scored!). That way we could split up and make sure that each age group had the fun that they wanted. Sometimes Todd and I had the big kids and sometimes we had the 2 little ones. It made our trip some much more fun. The kids had a blast and are always wondering when we are going to go again. Yeah I don't know, it was kind of expensive. I admire the family that go often, I don't know how you do it.

What was even more fun about this trip, is that we did it around TJ's birthday and we gave her a complete Princess day Disneyland style. Though I have to admit we didn't give her a Disney princess pamper, that was too expensive for my blood, but We pampered her ourselves. She had a princess dress, jewelry, she got to wear a little make-up, after all it was a dress-up magical day. Then the whole day she got to decided what to do, and we took her shopping to find that special gift. It was great and we got the birthday pin so staff and guest told her Happy birthday, and she got many compliments on her unique princess dress. When people ask her who she was, she told them " I am Princess Tanyda" Yes baby girl you are!!! One of our 2 amazing princesses.

This is just a handful of the pictures I took, but I didn't want everyone to get to bored.

Man, Disneyland ended and we all had to come back to reality! Why can't we figure out how to make normal lift feel like a vaction, then we would always be in heaven! :)