This post is keeping it real. I think I have seen it all sometimes and then I wake up in the morning and find this. BLAHHH!!!
What the heck!
So I thought someone (easy to figure Matthew since the seat was left up) had just not flushed the toilet…which is usually my girls issues not Matthew’s. But as I got closer I saw that indeed he had not flushed the toilet but was very relieved that he hadn’t because sitting at the bottom of the toilet was his T4K. What is a T4K? A T4K is a special ortho appliance that Matthew wears in his mouth every night to help correct his bite. Why was this (expensive) mouth appliance in the toilet? I called Matthew to the scene of the event to find out. He came and looked and thought I had put it in there. WHAT?!? After explaining to him that under no circumstances would I find it necessary, appropriate, funny, or any other possible reason be ok to put his T4K in the toilet full of pee. He seemed just as confused as I was as to why it was there. We fished it out with some very long BBQ tongs and while we were sterilizing the tongs, the T4K, our hands and the sink, Matthew had a partial recollection of a fuzzy memory of using the restroom early that morning and having something in his mouth that was bugging him so he spit it out. This makes a lot of sense because Matthew has had a handful of incidents over the years where he does something weird while sleep walking. So the best we can figure is that he wasn’t fully awake and spit it out while he was using the restroom. Still gross. Thank goodness he didn’t flush it!! We would have never have even guessed where it disappeared to.
So far I would say our summer has been going great!
Our theme for the summer ‘Work Hard then Play Hard’ has been going pretty well. We have to jump start it again when we are gone out of town for a few days or even if I work it gets thrown off. I guess it might be more accurate to say that if I insist on it, they are cooperating for the most part, and it is working. The overall quality of their efforts and work is improving too, which was one of my biggest grievences. The electronic chore chart seemed to be the key for them and me.
Along with working on improving our work ethics we have done a lot of fun too. We are chipping away at our bucket list of things we want to do this summer.
Swimming, has been going successfully. We have gone as often as we can. I love having three swimmers now too. Last summer I hired a lady in our neighborhood to do private lessons for the kids and she had Emilee swimming after a few lessons. My kids are not scared of the water and I have found for them that if I want them to learn to swim 5-6 private lessons is better than years of summer group swim lessons. At least here in Olathe Kansas. I usually have a brief 1-2 lessons to refresh everyones swimming skills or work on better technique if they are more advanced. I didn’t get around to it this summer though and Emilee keeps asking to take swimming lessons because she ‘can’t remember how’ so I did sign up her and Alli up for a few private swim lesson through the YMCA but still haven’t heard back from them. They have been getting better on their own just going to the pool a lot so I might end up not worrying about it.
We went to a pottery painting place a few weeks ago. We have done it before but we found a new place to try. Everyone picks out their own piece of pottery and then can paint it however they want. When we are all done painting we leave it there and they fire and glaze it for us and we pick it up when its done. Everyone likes it and has a fun time but Matthew could take it or leave it and Emilee suprisingly gets bored with it pretty quick. Alli and I spend a lot more time and detail so it takes us a lot longer. We were annoyed and feeling rushed by the end because Matthew and Emilee were done and not very patient waiting for us. We decided we would save that for a Alli and me day out next time we did it and leave the other two home.
Matthew had a busy week earlier this month. He wanted to sign up for a baseball camp and it happened to be the same time as the Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) he went to with his friend Finn that invited him. He spent the morning at baseball camp and then he ate lunch in the car on the way to VBC when I picked him up. He liked basball camp even though it was really hot. They had some new tips and drills for him that he learned. His favorite part of VBC camp is the food packing drive they do for Harvesters. They get to assemble bags of food for people that need them. They also have a shaving cream fight and fire truck hose everyone off on the last day that is fun.
Harvesters food assembly.
Shaving cream fight.
Shaving cream fight.
Alli has been working hard on her gymnastics. The gym offers 2 hour camps throughout the summer to focus on more specific skills so she likes to go to the tumbling ones. She has her front and back hand springs down pretty good. She can do them on the trampoline, she just needs to be a little braver to do them on the floor. She does them great with a spotter too.
We go to the library a little more often in the summer than we usually do. They have a statue of a bull dog that they hide somewhere in the library on Fridays. That is the day they like to go because if you find him you get to pick out a prize.
Emilee went to Target with me the other day and was dying to have me record her doing one of her ‘most favorite things ever’ so here it is for your enjoyment…Emilee slides on a red cement ball!!
Jovee had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year. She gets to pick a friend to go in the ticket booth and try and get as many tickets as they can in a minute or something. I thought it was pretty cute when I heard she had picked Matthew to help her. Clever girl.
You might have picked up on it by now that Matthew and Ryan share the love of baseball. They spend as much time as possible playing, watching, practicing and enjoying it together. They have had some pretty awesome experiences together too-all their own baseball stuff they do together playing and coaching and practicing and then the Royals Wild Card game, Royals Spring Training, and family Royals games we go to. Matthew’s Christmas present last Christmas was Crown Seat Tickets to a Royals game, which are the 4 rows directly behind home plate. Front and center, best seats in the house to watch the game. So close you can keep the Ump honest. The tickets for the game he got were for a game this month so Matthew and Ryan went last Saturday. Watching the game, seeing the players up close, sometimes getting an autograph (Matthew almost got Salvador Perez’s autograph but wasn’t quite bold enough) is pretty fun. They also have a private all you can eat buffet available to them throughout the game. This isn’t hot dogs and nachos either. They have that if you want but it is real restaurant food, like all kinds of meats, appetizers, and treats. Matthew stuffed himself on shrimp, shirley temples, ice cream bars, his own personal ice cream sundae, which according to him, “had so many toppings on it I forgot there was ice cream on the bottom!” The seats are in the line of the TV camera’s too so everytime they showed the batter you could see Matthew and Ryan. We recorded the game at home so they could see themselves on TV afterwards. We texted them and told them we could see them and to have Matthew wave at us. Luckily the camera was on the batter when he waved so we saw him. The girls thought it was pretty awesome that someone had just waved at them on TV. They had a pretty fun time. Matthew said it was worth the wait, even though the Royals are not very good right now (almost the worst team in MLB) and didn’t win. Still lots of great memories.
He got a bonus game too. Not crown seats again, but the Monday night after the game Ryan took a client from work to the Royals game and her grandson happens to be a friend of Matthew’s from his previous school so he took Matthew and her grandson too. They lost again but Matthew had fun seeing his buddy.
A few weeks ago Ryan and Matthew had something going on and it was a gorgeous night so we went to a park to play. I was pushing the girls in the swings and realized that I knew the person standing next to us. Her name was Nikki and her younger sister Sarah was my kids first babysitter. She used to watch them when I worked in the summer and then through out the school year for dates and stuff. The kids LOVE her. She was their main babysitter for about 4 years until she moved to California. They still talk about her and remember all the amazing times they had with Sarah. She is graduated now and actually just got back from a mission about a month ago. Her parents are still in California but she came to visit her sister for a few days and happened to be on her way to meet Nikki at the park. My kids were over the moon excited when she showed up. They were running and playing tag with her within 5 minutes and so excited to see her.
When the girls told Matthew about it later that night he was pretty disappointed he didn’t get to see her. She ended up stopping by later that week for a few minutes to see Matthew too. I thought he might be ‘to cool’ but he was just as happy as the girls and had perma grin the whole time she was there. Emilee couldn’t get close enough to her and Allison was trying to tell and show her everything about her life in ten minutes. It was pretty cute. I love that they have those fun memories of her babysitting them. I think Matthew was 6 the last time she watched them. Emilee was only 1-2 so she doesn’t even have any actual memories of her but the older two have built her up so much she loves her by association. I am glad we ran into her. She was only here for a week then headed home for a bit before going to school, so it was good timing.
This is the slide show that was put together for the 5th graders. Matthew started going to this school in 3rd grade so he isn’t in it until then, but there are a lot of his friends in it.
Well yesterday was Matthew and Allison’s last day of school, and today was Emilee’s so we are officially in summer mode!
Emilee and I went to the elementary school for the last hour or so to watch the 5th grade slide show with Matthew and eat treats with him while they signed t-shirts and year books. Then we went to Alli’s class and ate popsicles and danced and took silly pictures with her. Then the whole school lined up in the halls and all the 5th graders walked through the school for their ‘final walk’ while everyone cheered and gave them a high five. It was a fun time.
Shirt signing.
5th grade teacher Mrs. Janovick
5th grade Final Walk
Ms. Cristi, Emilee, Ragin and Reese. Emilee’s besties.
Silly pictures with Carlee, Alli’s bestie. I am pretty sure the other girl in the picture is Alli’s nemesis for some reason…maybe because she is gutsy enough to photo bomb a picture. LOL
Emi had a fun time today for her last day and got her little preschool diploma and gave Ms. Cristi a big hug. She will see her a few times over the summer when I work, but once kindergarten starts next year we probably won’t see Ms. Cristi to often anymore. She is an awesome teacher. Allison and Emilee love her to death. They love her so much that Matthew holds a grudge against me for not having him go to her for preschool. (It was her first year and I already had him enrolled in another one when I found out she was going to do it). Apparently his preschool experience was hardly bearable.
Switching topics a little, a few years ago we started working with a therapist with Allison to help her deal with her emotions a little better. One of the things he wanted us to start implementing right away was a ticket system that basically for doing things we want her to do she earns tickets and then can use those tickets to do things she wants to do. It is supposed to help her learn cause/effect, choice/consequence, need/wants, etc. We started out all gung-ho and did good and then have been off and on after the first little while with it. I won’t bore you with all the details as to why but it has become a pain in my butt. Everytime we go see him I know he is going to ask me if we are doing it, and I always go in with the intentions of telling him where he can stick his stupid ticket system, and then I always leave telling him we will rally and try again. He is a good therapist…or at least good at getting you to agree with him to do something. So we go home try it again and start the cycle over again. Again, I won’t bore you with details as to why it falls apart and all the different things we have tried, but two years later we haven’t figured out how to make it maintainable…until now…I think…I hope.
I found an app the other day called Chore Monster. Basically it is the same thing her therapist has been wanting us to do. The app tells them their chores for the day and when they do it they get points and they can use the points for rewards. Same thing. Being electronic for some reason makes a huge difference for me. There is a parent app that goes with it called Mothershp. So I had to basically plug in the ‘master chore chart’ and the rewards and then the kids can get on any of our phones or ipads and find their chart. I can totally cater it to each kid and make it more specific for one and general for another. It is easy to change if something isn’t working (without certain kids even realizing it and throwing a fit), I don’t have to redo a whole chart or carry stupid tickets everywhere with me, or remember to get or give tickets because I didn’t have them on me. They don’t get lost, they can’t be torn up, scribbled on, or leave me mean notes. The parents are the only one with access to changing things. All the kids have to do it click ‘done’ or ‘claim’. I can even set it up for Matthew that he can just basically use it as a reference so he knows what his jobs are because he doesn’t need to be monitored as much, except for his electronic usage which this will do too. For the girls I get a notification when they complete a chore so I can approve it or not, which is awesome because I can check it right then to make sure it was done right or not. Which leads into another thing we are working on this summer.
Each summer we make a bucket list of fun activities we want to do. Each summer I also have to adjust and let go of my house being as clean as I like it all the time, which is something I like and want but I don’t want it to be more important than other things to me. I do feel like the kids should help contribute to keeping the house clean though since we all live in it and they should learn to care for their surroundings. So, last night Ryan and I told the kids that along with our regular bucket list we were going to have a summer theme too. We had a mini family meeting to tell them that the theme we picked for this summer is ‘Work hard and play hard’. We even made a poster to hang up to remind everyone of the theme everyday. Then we talked about using our time wisely and doing our jobs we are supposed to do, to the best of our ability and try our hardest the first time. We talked about how learning to work is good thing and helps them become responsible capable people. All things that Ryan and I have been wanting to improve and work on lately. Then we showed them the app and how it works.
Of course there was some skeptisism and baching but today was our first day and it went pretty good. They like that it is an app too so they get to use the phone or ipad to see their jobs and use an electronic. The app also gives them a ticket everytime they complete or cash in their points. Just a fun little side thing the app does is there is a little wheel they can spin with each ticket and win a ‘prize’. It is totally silly, the prizes are another spin if they get a smiley face, if they get a sad face it is a bag of hammers, or a dirty sock, or Matthew got a bag of farts last night. The wheel is just a little bonus. They don’t actually get anything from spinning but they think it is hilarious to see what is in the bag.
Today was our first day of implementing it. The kids got up and got their jobs done and then started using their points to play. It worked pretty good, they all did their jobs, they all have plenty of points, they all had fun doing things. It was a good day. Crossing my fingers that it keeps working.
We also started crossing a few things off our Summer Bucket List too. We went to lunch with dad. We got new books to ready at the library (first of many times this summer). We went swimming (also first of many times). AND we always have a night or two that we go fire fly hunting. A friend of ours told us about a really cool place she found that has tons of fire flies so the girls and I went to check it out tonight. It was amazing, there were thousands of them, we will have to take dad and Matthew with us another time (they were at a baseball thing). I took some pictures and videos but they don’t do it justice.
On the hunt for a fire fly.
Interesting how some bugs are terrifying and others are awesome.
This past weekend was the Hawaiian Hitfest Baseball Tournament. It is the biggest baseball tournament in the US, at least according to Twitter that is what they say. They have over 700 teams competing in the tournament. It was a pretty rainy weekend so the original game schedule was moved around ten times working around the rain, it finally got sunny enough to get the final rounds in though.
First game we won 12-2. Second game was probably our worst game ever. Ever. We lost 9-1. We were run ruled and only one of our ten batters batted more than once. It was rough. Our next game was canceled for rain, and we thought we were out of the tournament. We squeaked in the final games, we were lucky to get the very last spot. After that it was single elimination and we played until we lost the second to the last game and took 3rd place in our division. They had to play hard and work their way back up to the top after the big loss. The first game back in the finals the boys were on fire! Everyone was hitting awesome and our defense was unstoppable. Derrick on our team is a really powerful hitter, he has been really close to a home run for a while, he finally got not one but two homeruns back to back. It was pretty exciting good baseball!
The last few picture are Alli and Emilee playing around. They spend their time at the playground, climbing trees, riding scooters, playing in the dirt, eating junk food, and any other games they can think of with all their baseball buddies. All the siblings have fun playing together.
Celebrating with the trophy!
Jake just made it home and Matthew is rounding third to come in.
Can’t hit them all…
He had some good hits.
On his way in to score.
I didn’t get a shot of the full team with the trophy this time.
Ryan is a big James Taylor fan. He has been since high school. When we were dating I was ‘tested’ to see if I was cool enough to appreciate a little JT music. I knew a few of his songs and liked them but wouldn’t call myself an avid fan or anything. Later on when our kids were born Ryan and I both sang them several different lullaby’s. I stuck with mostly a variety of primary songs. Ryan’s favorites to sing them were the Spanish ‘Aye, Aye, Aye, Aye’ song (which is actually a Spanish drinking song but the way he sings it sounds like a sweet lullaby and none of us understand what he is saying) and ‘Sweet Baby James’ by James Taylor. He is still one of our family favorites to sing to on our spontaneous road trip karaoke break outs.
A couple years ago, James Taylor did a one night concert at the Star Light Theater… we totally missed it, and didn’t even know about it until about a week after it happened. Ryan was more than a little disappointed. Chances of another opportunity seem pretty slim. Well, a few weeks ago when the girls and I went to the Sprint Center for Disney on Ice, I was looking at their upcoming events and noticed there was a one night concert for James Taylor in May! Yeah!! We got tickets and are going next week. Ryan is pretty excited. James Taylor probably won’t be doing concerts to much longer so he is glad we got another chance to see him. He is even missing Matthew’s baseball game to go, which is a very rare occurrence (Matthew isn’t missing it 🙂 ).
Sticking with the James Taylor theme I am going to post a video I have had on my phone for years. A little blast from the past. It is pretty stinking cute. We had to drop one of our cars off to get something fixed so the kids and I took Ryan to work. We were about halfway home and ‘Sweet Baby James’ came on and Matthew and Alli were singing it pretty good, so I pulled over in a parking lot and started it over to get a video of them. Matthew is about 7, Allison is 3, and Emilee who unfortunately is never shown in this video (I was focused on my singers and she wasn’t singing) is sitting next to Matthew is 1.u
After the concert…
We saw James Taylor last night. We had a great time, it was a good concert. I recorded him when he talked and then sang ‘Sweet Baby James’
This has been a good week. I have tried to focus on ‘the little things’ more and enjoy the moments. There have been lots of good moments.
Allison has day camp coming up for Girl Scouts. They are supposed to make little trinkets called ‘swaps’ to pin to their hats and trade with each other all week. They suggested that each girl bring 15-20 of them to have ready to trade. Alli and I did some research together and found some cute ones she wanted to make and then we went to Hobby Lobby and got all the supplies for them. We have worked on them a little bit for the past few nights. She has at least 35 now. She is pretty excited. She is counting down the days until camp. The one on the left is a cotton candy swap, the middle one is a ‘squishum’, and the right side is a slime stress ball of course. It wouldn’t be right if slime weren’t involved somehow.
Emilee and I went to the Zoo together. She has wanted to go for a while but the weather or our schedule hasn’t cooperated. Usually we go with a group but it was just the two of us so she got to sit on any statue she saw, choose where we sat on the train, tram, and skyfari, and pick all the animals she wanted to see. Today we made cookies together too. I let her measure everything herself even though I had almost the same amount of flour on the floor as the cookies did when we were done.
She saw a polar bear, while sitting on a polar bear, while holding a polar bear!
We rode the carousel TWICE!
The back seat on the train is backwards, so its is like riding the train backwards!
With Matthew I have cornered him a few times and made him talk with his mom. He tries to act like it is an inconvenience but he loves it. Once he starts talking he just keeps going and going. He is good at including all the details he can recall. He had a double header tonight. He has been working hard on hitting lately and he has decided he wants to start working on pitching too. He had some great hits tonight but his play of the game was when he was playing 2nd and the hitter hit a line drive a little to Matthew’s left. Matthew ran at it then leaped and caught it in mid air and closed the inning. It was pretty awesome. He got a standing cheering ovation from me and the rest of the parents of course but he even had parents from the other team coming over and telling him what an amazing catch it was. He was pretty happy.
Matthew is finishing up his last year in elementary school. Our school district has a building just for the 6th graders right now, and they are building a new middle school right next to the elementary school that will be finished for him to go to 7th and 8th grade at. He will be riding the bus and going to into Springhill for school next year. He is pretty excited. He is looking forward to switching classes and having more classes. He is pretty pumped to have PE everyday too. I think elementary school is a little to slow of a pace for him sometimes. I think he has made some good buddies and it should be a good experience for him. He has decided to stop with violin and piano. He did his required (by me) year and isn’t that big of a fan of either of them. I wish he would pick one of them to stick with, he did decide to do choir though, so he will still have some music in his life. He had his choice of four electives, two each semester. He ended up choosing STEM, a full year of choir, and Art.
This past week the band and orchestra did their end of the year concerts and the whole 5th grade did their musical performance. It was a fun time. The kids were all excited to be ‘graduating’ and moving up to 6th grade. After the performances they did the end of the year awards for everyone. All the kids got a candy award from their teacher. Matthew’s was the Baby Ruth Award, because he knows all things baseball. Most kids got a Continental Math Award, he got it for participating in a specific Math competition. They had Silver, Gold and Platinum Reading awards. Matthew recieved the Platinum Reading Award, he had to read a minimum of 3600 pages this year to get it. He actually read almost 10,000 pages thanks to his love of Harry Potter and reading the entire series twice this year among all the other books he read. Each teacher also picks a Student of the Month. Matthew has already gotten his classroom, PE, and music student of the month earlier this year. For the awards night he also recieved the Orchestra Student of the Month award. To earn that one you go above and beyond to work hard and do well in class and are a good friend and kind and considerate to everyone. The last award he got only about 10 kids out of the 97 kids in the 5th grade earned. It was the Presidential Award for straight A’s. Matthew thought it was pretty cool that the Presidents signature was actually on it, and the pin he got with it is from The President as well.
I was a proud momma. He is a good kid and works hard at doing a good job when he does things. The amazing part is that I really don’t have to nag him to do it either. For the most part he is responsible and takes care of his homework, school assignments, and projects and other responsibilities without me having to tell him. I have had to fight him on practicing his instruments, but he can always play his music he is supposed to, he just doesn’t go above and beyond for those. I am proud of him and his hard work. He is turning into a great young man.
5th Grade Teacher, Mrs. Janovick
I just noticed he had all his shirt buttons done up. 🙂
Presidential Award.
Cleaned house on the awards!
Finn, a friend and neighbor.
This happened later in the month but I’m sticking it here with all of his other 5th grade stuff. Matthew decided to play some of his songs he learned for the talent show.
