Summer the 1/2 way point ...

The kids have been out of school now for about 6 weeks . The boredom has set in . We joined a gym with a great childcare benefit [ which I love] and a great play space for the kids , plus a pool [ which Zach loves ]. That seems to have helped in alleviating the "mom , I am bored and don't know what to do "... for now .
In other news the chickens are getting huge ! We now have 12 chickens ! Lonnie has built them a HUGE coop , I joke that their living room is bigger than mine . Allow me to introduce you to them , Paprika is a red star [ or red sex link] she is very social , then we have Reba [ another red star .. she looks so much like Paprika it is hard to tell them apart good thing Paprika answers to her name with a cute twist of her head and a cluck ... then we have Big Red .. a fairly un-creative name since she is a Big red star . Then we have 3 Rhode Island reds .. Margelo , Patty [ which we generally call Margelo2 ] and then Rhoda [the baby of the flock] , Pepper is a black star sex link and quite the character ,Dee Dee is our Delaware she is a talker being hand raised and hatched she thinks she is human , Barbara is a Plymouth Barred Rock she is black and white striped .. she will be my first to lay .. she is the biggest and has already shown signs of laying . The Next ones are Sid 1 and 2 they are called a Red Leg breed .. which I have found is a mystery breed they are white and very soft , then we have Buffy , she is our Buff Orpington she is a apricot color very sweet .. but tiny I have had her for about 10 weeks and she is smaller than any 10 weeker I have had so far + she was around 6-8 weeks old when I got her . Buffy was free because she was not thriving at the big chicken farm she came from , they felt like her chances were better in a smaller flock . I have never heard of a Bantam Buff Orpington , not to mention the farm she came from never orders Bantams ... but hey maybe ? I doubt she will ever lay an egg but she sure is cute and sweet .
The Garden is coming in nicely , the sunflowers are at 5-6 feet tall , the watermelons have been going cray we have ping pong ball sized melons so far . The ear wig levels are at critical mass ... they are eating the blossoms on my Zucchini I have 10 plants , I should be over run with Zucchini .. but no! I have only had one small one so far . It has been a very wet and cooler than usual July , so no tomato's yet ,we are due for a heat wave this week maybe some of the fruit will have a chance to ripen before the rains come again.
Zach has been doing very well, he is talking SOOO much . He has learned to pronounce the letter "S" .. when saying SSSSSucker [ although he does not actually say the "CK" sound in the middle ] . He ate ground turkey and mushrooms .. it was hidden in spaghetti sauce . But he actually made a deliberate effort to put them on his fork . He would usually eat the noodles and avoid the chunks and sauce .. if it happened to stick to the noodle it was allowed to pass .So progress none the less .On the downside, his sensory issues have been front and center . He was outside a few days ago , when he started screaming and puking . When I got close to him he was shivering and saying "cold" , keep in mind it was only 75 degrees outside .. but certainly not cold . So he came in the house in a panic , found a sweatshirt , cried some more until I put it on him and zipped it all the way up , put the hood on ...then he was comfortable enough to go back outside . I was then on high allert , watching for heat stroke .
In other news I have 3 very short lessons to complete before I am certified as a Occupational Therapy Aide ... a 1 year course completed in about half the time . Lonnie is still working at Burton, and was able to get his crew a nice bonus .. despite his boss not wanting to give it to them . He faught the good fight and won ! A rare occasion in the construction industry these days .

Summer ... so close and yet so far .

I have been working feverishly at getting the garden in .. Lonnie and Peyton actually planted the whole back garden , so that just left the front raised beds and the flowers for me to get done .
I am anxiously awaiting summer as it marks a break in the constant running I do . Although since Zach did not qualify for summer school , I am going to have to get him into another form of schooling or therapy . I keep thinking that experiences will help expand language , so maybe we will just take advantage of the many great parks and museums ... good thing summer is not here yet as I would be caught unprepared.
For those who don't know we have invested in Chickens , I say invested because it is not cheap [ no pun intended ] to get them up and running . They are old enough now that they don't need a heat lamp so that saves me some money on power . Now they are just eating their weight in food , good thing chicken feed is cheap ....They have been fun , they are better than TV some days , we have 9 Chickens after losing one ... I think it was a runt and was just not thriving . Only the strong survive ... I wonder if the other Chickens voted her out ....?
I have officially decided to change my name to Dad ... Zach has started repeating "MOM!" over and over and over ... much like Peyton does , although he obviously has missed the fact that she stops saying "MOM!" when I say "WHAT !?" ... because he will say it for 10 + minutes until distracted . He will also say "wait I have an Idea " ..... but imagine saying that as one big super word and without consonants ... now imagine hearing that again repeated continuously . he will generally say that he has an idea when I interrupt something he wanted to continue , for example I bring him inside before he is ready ... "MOM!, wait I got an idea " ... "Zach , what is your idea ? " .... " ME , go outside !" .... to which I always reply "No " , and then we start back to the "MOM !" ...... I just keep reminding myself that I do WANT him to talk ... Right ?
Lonnie has been coaching Peyton's T-ball team again this season . This also will be the last season ... Peyton has decided that it is not her thing . I am not sure what her thing is , but we have ruled out soccer , t-ball , track and field [ she has not done track , but knows she wont like it . I know now not to make her try it ... it is a waste of time if she is not into it ] .. she wants to try Karate ... I think we will start with swimming lessons and perhaps guitar lessons .
Well that is all the important stuff I can think of for now ....

Oregon

Zach and Merriah wrestling Peyton , keily , Merriah and Megan playing cards

Without tv , the ceiling fan was very entertaining .

Zach , less than impressed with mossy rocks .

Peyton and Keily found a smiley rock .

We took a road trip to Oregon for the funeral of Lonnie's good friend Monte [ Monster ] . While it was a sad occasion and unfortunate reason for traveling .... it was a good trip . We discovered that Zach travels very well , and that he loves the nature in Oregon . He learned that deer dropping are NOT chocolate chips nor do they taste anything like them . He learned that you can actually fall off of bridges , gravity sucks . The kids got to see their big sister Merriah , they both really love her . They also got to meet Grampa Tom and Grandma Sandy , who were gracious enough to allow us to stay in their home . [ thanks again Sandy! ;) ] We saw crazy Grandma Dewey , and met their cousins Alexis , Cheyenne , and Savanna . I found my Giant pine cones on the last day , which is something I have always gotten each time we go up there . Thanks to Ben for the tip on the location of the pine cones , as they were doing an amazingly good job of eluding me .

SORRY .

It has been a while since I wrote an update , so this morning seemed like the best time to do it .
We have had a bunch of triumphs and a few tribulations over the last few months . I will start with Peyton . She has changed classes and is now loving her new teacher . Peyton is in tutoring 2 mornings a week and that seems to have helped with her confidence levels .Her teacher says she is a day dreamer .... NOT my kid ! She is probably dreaming of shoes knowing her . Lonnie has signed up to be Peyton's T-ball coach again this season , although I beleive at this age they call it Coach pitch . Peyton is counting the days till her birthday and her party the following Saturday , which happens to be the day of her first T-ball game .. so that should be a fun filled busy day . SOOO April 18th at our house FREE cake ! Time it TBA . We baught a bounce house castle and huge water slide for her party , hopefully it isnt snowing ! IT is spring isnt it ?

So on to Zach , he has been in Preschool for a few months now and he is loving it ! His teacher's name is Miss Jenni ... which he can say , but it sounds like he is channelling Forrest Gump .His aide's name is Miss Tiffany and he really likes her , he calls her all the time on his pretend cell phone . . Zach was FINALLY approved for SSI so he is officially disabled in the State's eyes and with that he now gets Medicaid ... and thank goodness for it becuase he needs to have a very expensive surgery soon . We go in to see the Neuro Surgeon on April 20th for a consultation , and more than likely he will be in for surgery before the end of May . I will try to update here as I get information . His language skills are still hovering around 70 ish words that I can understand , it turns out much less that others can understand . With his Medicaid I can now get him back into therapy that he needs to help him along his path , and they will pay for diapers ! And hopefully a new bigger stroller , his was only made to hold up to 30 lbs and 30 inches ... he is obviously much bigger than that .

Lonnie is now a foreman at Burton Lumber and also still does some design work in the office for them . I have recently started online courses to become an Occupations Therapy Aide and then I hope to go to the community college to be an Certefied Occupationa Therapy Assistant .

That is all for now I have to get Peyton to school .

Zach's first day of preschool.....

Today was the long awaited first day of preschool . I was so nervous that he was going to cry and scream .He has been kind of sick this week , with a double ear infection and a nasty cough . I almost didn't send him to school , but am glad I did . Because exactly the opposite happened , as soon as the teacher opened the class doors he nearly knocked them over running in the class . He was very happy to be back to class , he hung up his back pack gave me a hug [at my request] and went off to play . When I picked him up he had had a great day ... no crying and he used all his signs and words just like I hoped he would . His teachers said he was a great example for the other kids to follow and a great addition to the class ! On the down side his best friend Natalia did not end up being in his class like we had originally thought , although I am not sure he even noticed .My anxiety and trepidation about the district preschool program is greatly reduced .

Zach and Xander , and the foiled escape .

" Grab my hand " .... This is the point I had to put down the camera and be the mom , since Zach actually got a hold of the blanket . He also got in with Xander twice , trying to nap with him . I didnt get pictures of that for obvious reasons . " Come on baby I hold " Says Zach

Zach and Xander having tummy time , Zach also had his baby doll on the blanket but I moved it since it is not the cleanest toy in my house .

I have been watching Xander on Tuesdays and Zach just LOVES Xander . I had put him in the play pen to take a nap and Zach decided to get one of his cube chairs and help Xander escape . They also enjoyed tummy time together . It was too cute . Zach just really didnt like the idea of his buddy being in a cage . probably some kind of cardinal sin in the toddler world .

SNOW!!!!!

So this year we had a VERY white Christmas . Zach and Peyton LOVE playing in the snow . And this year Mom bought me snow boots[ thank you ] so I can go out with them now . They will go out get exhausted and soaked , come inside and change mittens and go out again . Peyton really likes to play with the icicles and eat snow . Zach will sit in one spot and just pick up handfuls of snow and shift it back and forth , he will make the occasional snow angel too .

Lonnie and Peyton built a snow hill in the side yard for sledding and with over 2 feet of snow they were able to make a really big one !

Finger Painting

Some how I took these pics with the intent of posting them and my camera phone must have swallowed them ... So here are a few pics of the kids doing a " wet sensory activity " , which actually led to a bath for Zach so he had 2 "wet" experiences in one day . On a normal day I schedule sensory activities for mid morning . I start getting my supplies gathered after breakfast but before I take Peyton to school . This was the day that changed that routine , Peyton all of a sudden came down with a stomach ache as soon as she saw the paints . So we compromised ... I told her we would wait till she got home to paint and she made her stomach ache magically disappear ! Kids are really powerful people . ... when they want to be . Girls in particular .