Post About Nothing.....

Lately, when I'm not looking, I return to my computer and find surprises....

Like these "self portraits" of the boys.

We Survived the Hotel Experience....

and had a pretty nice weekend, despite a stomach bug, one small hotel room, and an asthma attack at 4:00 am (which meant a 4:15 am run to the store for medicine). Delaney's team had two games: they won the first, and tied the second. Basically now they have to win or tie their next game to move on in state cup. Their BIG game is next Saturday.....

Sorry this is short today, but I'm in catch-up mode as far as the state of the house. It's probably never been this messy- I hate that!

I Have Four of the Six of us Packed.....

and we're leaving in 2 hours. Not too shabby....Now how we're going to fit all of us in the car is a whole 'nother story, as we've picked up an extra kid for the ride(but that's Rob's job, so I'm choosing to not worry about it). It's scheduled to be wet the entire weekend, so I'm packing multiple outfits per child. Soccer in the cold, wet, muddy outdoors we're used to; However, doing it while on the road is a big pain.

If the girls play well, we'll have several more weeks of this fun. If they don't, then we'll have one more soccer weekend, of this year. State Cup, here we come.

And, In Our Spare Time This Week.....The Science Project

Here you go....
She's so proud of the work I,I mean, she did. Actually, let me clarify- she absolutely did the experiment. I may have helped w/ the beautification, but what are we REALLY judging. The brains or the beauty? And for all you scrapbookers out there...I know, not *that* beautiful.

My Mom is Not Going to Be Able to Post Much This Week...

Because she needs to spend every waking moment entertaining me. You see, it's my spring break, and all of my lesser siblings are at school. So I get my mom all to myself- at my beck and call- every waking moment. And, just to make it extra special, I've been waking up early. So you'll have to excuse her lack of posting. It's for a good cause- ME.

Still here...I'm celebrating 1/4 of a spring break this week!

One of the four kids has spring break (the other three are off next week). It makes it difficult to actually DO anything :) So to celebrate Trey's first day of spring break, I let him stay in his PJs all day long. Yes, I was actually just lazy today, and as we weren't going anywhere (due to Delaney being home w/ a stomach bug), I just let him lounge around. Lucky boy!

Potentially moving forward with a Due Process hearing is an expensive proposition

It was a somewhat discouraging morning. We had the sit-down with the Education lawyer to discuss Trey's case, and where we go next. All in all, she felt that we have a very strong case. Great, right? But then she explained the 'normal' out of pocket expenses involved in going to court (although we were getting a discounted rate): $100,000 plus, potentially. Ouch. The discounted rate was discounted, but you can imagine still more than we were anticipating.

No wonder few people pursue due process hearings. And, now I understand why school districts are so quick to stick to their guns. Who can afford to take them to court? If we had that kind of money, we wouldn't be bothering to try to get the district to pay for Trey's schooling.

We can pursue mediation, with legal aide supplied by the district, but that seems to be a conflict of interest, doesn't it?

"You look like a duck", said Jake to the dental hygeniest....

to which she responded with, "I hope I'm a pretty duck!". "No- you're an UGLY duck....", said Jake. Fortunately the wonderful, totally un-ducky hygeniest had a great sense of humor and realized it was the laughing gas. Partly- the other part was just Jake being a stinker.

Do I blame him? He was getting a pulpectomy/root canal from a small HOLE in his tooth that our previous dentist failed to fix.

Happy St. Patricks Day.....

I now know what my favorite color is, and let me just *hint* to you that green is NOT it. Actually, I think I really like green, but only one of my four children own a green shirt. How does that happen? I'm the purchaser....there is blue in great abundance, w/ some red and orange thrown in for good measure.

It was difficult this morning to prepare the kids for St. Patty's Day when they do not own any green. Trey had to make do w/ an army green (really more brown) shirt of his brother's, and Jake will be settling on a navy blue sweater w/ a lone green stripe. He is taking in a huge sack of green grapes to share at their Green Buffet.

Delaney headed out the door in a neon yellow jacket (I think she's secretly hoping to get pinched), w/ one lone green sock hidden under her jeans/shoes.

Emily, however, headed out in style. A long sleeved dark green shirt, covered up with an oversized hoodie (bright lime green). She also has a bright green clip in her head. No pinches for her!

Hope you all had more luck than I did going green today!

My Sister Said I'm Getting Boring.....

So, here you go: a long overdue update.

We've been running around from muddy soccer field, to muddy soccer field- with an end of year basketball party, and a final indoor soccer game, thrown in for good measure. A couple of birthday parties, just to round it all out (but not Emily's....we're drawing her birthday out, just for fun), and you have a nice snapshot of our weekend.

We really *are* going to have a party for Emily- it just will probably not be until April. Or as my sister suggested, I could just have a dual party for Emily and Trey, in May- I'm sure she would LOVE a pirate party w/ a bunch of 4 year olds.

I'm on a mission to try out three new recipes a week, which while fun, is difficult. I have to pick things that my children will actually try, which is limiting. If anyone has a great recipe website suggestion, I'd love to hear about it. I'll share the ones I find as well.

More updates to come later (when Jake is not sitting here chatting AT me....he's a talker).

State Cup (Soccer) is Approaching.....

This year instead of playing all of the games during the coldest part of the year, the state has shifted the games to the end of March. It will be a huge improvement, but it still means we will be traveling all over the state of Washington throughout the next month. We've done it for several years now, so it really doesn't phase me- but then someone who is NOT involved with the craziness that is competitive youth soccer reminds me that it is just that....Crazy. As the boys continue to play other sports (like baseball, and potentially football), it will be interesting to see if the parents are as nutty as the soccer parents. My gut says, "Absolutely!".

Happy 9th Birthday Emily...

Emily is now 9! Hard to believe....but I'll tell you a little secret. She still looks just like Emily at age 3 when she's sleeping. I know that will eventually vanish. I only have to look at Delaney to realize eventually all traces of the little people they once were fade away. But when I gently (or not so gently) nudge her awake, and her eyes pop open in that distinctive Emily way, it takes me right back to when she was just a wee little thing.

I Knew it Couldn't Last: Jake's NOT an Angel....

He's an "A", as in the Athletics....much more fitting!

He's also quite creative with the Webcam....I discovered this picture the other day. Nice nose Jake.

And most importantly I love him (most of the time), angel or not.

Daylight Savings Time: Not a Fan!

We've all had such a hard time making the adjustment. Trey was 25 minutes late for school yesterday, and getting Delaney up at 6:00 am- next to impossible. We also had just wacky weather all weekend (hail, snow, sleet, sun, you name it). All of this combined to just leave us all a bit out of whack.

But, we're back on track today (kind of). Emily is going to be a bit late- she's the only one still off - kind of figures...she always marches to the beat of her own drum.

My parents left this morning to go back home, to Texas. They have sworn they will never visit during Winter again. Wimps!

It's Official: Jake is an Angel.....

OK, well he's officially ON the Angels t-ball team. Probably the only time in his life he will be viewed as an angel.....practice starts next week. I hope his coach is ready!

I Met a Fellow Mom at Trey's School....

who happens to be deaf/HOH, raising (at least) two deaf children. We were standing near each other at the swingset, and she was asking me questions about Trey and his experience with his CI. Her daughter is going in for bilateral CIs next week. She was amazed at how well he is doing, and we continued talking about my other four. The look of astonishment on her face, when I told her that the other three are in inclusive classrooms, w/ little intervention was priceless:) My typical encounters are with hearing parents of hearing children (who also express some degree of amazement, when they figure out how deaf the children really are), or hearing parents of HOH/deaf children, who have similar experiences. She is the first deaf/HOH parent of deaf/HOH CI children who I've really spoken with. It was such a great conversation, and she truly is appreciative for even small steps. The fact that I have Emily who is completely, 100% deaf (for all intensive purposes....maybe a few dbs here and there), and is mainstreamed successfully is miraculous to her. It was a nice reminder how miraculous this technology really is (for us anyway). It reminded me we should be celebrating the small steps, as well as the huge leaps forward.....

7 Hours on a Bus.....

For a spring league soccer game.

The girls were hungry and digging into their food within one hour of being on the road....
We took lots of fun pictures.

And got to listen to the kids sing there and back. They knew almost every word to High School Musical 3.

Was it worth it? Ask me in a few days....for now, I'm glad to be off the bus!
And for those who are wondering, it was a tie :)