I Bet She Felt Pretty

 I love the costumes some people wear to the Renaissance Festival. I want to make M and D costumes like this for next year when we go to the faire. Then they can wear them for Halloween as well. I should probably start making them sooner rather than later. I wonder if my machine still works?

Not Sure Why I Still Live in Minnesota

I jest, actually. I know exactly why I live in Minnesota, but every Autumn I start to question my intelligence. I love warm weather and flowers and green and butterflies. I can grudgingly admit that Autumn has its charms if it doesn't try too early to impersonate Winter. The scent of Autumn can transport me to my elementary school days; to a long ago pumpkin patch; to raking leaves for neighbors.

My family is here in Minnesota. I couldn't really imagine living anywhere else. I joke about how terrible it is sometimes, but it's really all I've known for most of my life. Minnesota has four distinct seasons. I'm sure I would miss that at least a couple of days a year if I lived elsewhere.

My Littlest Princess

When I was a young girl, my parents and my aunt took me to the Renaissance Festival. The most enduring part of that whole day was how much I wanted a flower crown. All these years later, I still have mine, and I made sure both of my girls have one as well.

It's Impossible to See a Zebra and Not Photograph it With a Blog Name Like Mine

A Little Magic in the Ordinary

It looks like a pair of glass stones to most people, but these particular stones contain magic. D received them from a wood fairy and a mermaid. A small amount of sugar glitter and the stones become even more magical. Such a small thing, but they made my little girl so happy.

Dang, My Boy is CUTE!

Looking for the Slo-Mo Button

 It's one of those things that people tell you all the time when your kids are babies... "Oh the time goes so fast." I always laughed and agreed but I don't think I really realized how quickly the years would seem to pass. But suddenly my first baby is 10 years old and in her final year of elementary school. She's irritated by this only because she will be out of the school the year before her little sister starts Kindergarten there. She feels a bit ripped off that she doesn't get to go to school with her.

By the end of this school year I will need to face the fact that my first baby will be in middle school. There is a smaller school that I hope to send her to but there are a lot of people who'd like their kids to attend school there so we will be subjected to a lottery. If she doesn't get selected as a student there, my first reaction is to home-school her. She learns pretty easily (especially considering the difficulties her brother faces) so I think it would be okay. I think. I'd still rather see her attend the middle school though.

Middle school scares me though. I'm not ready for any of my children to graduate to the pre-teen angst. Middle school was hard for me. Girls can be very cruel to one another. I have a strong feeling that it's worse today than it was when I was in school.

M still assumes the best of people, which is both good and bad. Sometimes she just doesn't realize that someone is not being kind to her or that someone may not be treating others nicely. I've talked to her about a few of the girls in her class and she's been slowly separating herself from these girls with questionable motives. Her teacher remarked at her conference last week that M is especially kind. She helps her classmates who have more trouble learning than she does. She doesn't realize she's helping herself as well (to teach someone to do something reinforces your own learning of it) and she does it selflessly. I want her to retain this kindness, but I don't want people to take advantage of her kindness either.

I don't want them to hurt her beautiful heart. That's the part of parenting that stinks the most...knowing you have to let your child get hurt sometimes...knowing it is a part of growing up and growing away.

Twelve Years

I don't think I've posted our engagement photo before so here it is. We look like babies. (Also, I look thin.) Twelve years ago today Craig and I got married. I sometimes think he regrets his decision. Maybe everyone wonders that sometimes. I know I found who I want to be with. I just wish I could make his life happier.

I love you Craig.

Still Struggling With the Cat

Our cat is still with us. (I'm sure everyone is thrilled with the cat status updates!)  I just don't know when the time is right that it is best to let her go. Ideally, (which seems an odd word choice) she will pass on her own time, without too much pain and too much more destruction of our carpeting. My husband's patience has long run out on the cat. Mine is getting very close. She's 16 years old so I know she's probably not long for this world, but it's irritating to clean up cat pee and poop from outside the litter box. I thought one of the best parts of having a cat is they did their business in a box.  Not so when they start to get old I guess.

I never ever WANTED a cat. I took her on when my college roommate could no longer keep her and she was actually a pretty social cat. She let me touch her paws with no problem, she greeted people at the door instead of running to hide. She learned to sit and lay down for a treat. (She doesn't do this anymore though!)

When I first took her home to my parents' house after I graduated from college (and learned I inherited a cat) I woke up almost every morning with her perched on my chest. I almost had her trained to come when she was called. I tried to teach her to roll over, but she never did master that.

I know I will miss this furry face one day soon.

Have YOU Ridden a Pachyderm?

My girls were brave enough to ride an elephant at the Renaissance Festival last weekend. I'm not sure how little D's legs even straddled that huge elephant! They both looked so small on top of such an awesome creature. I felt kind of badly for the elephants there too though. They had 2, and all they did all day was walk in a circle. Of course it is just for the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and I don't know where they are for the remainder of the week, but I hope they are treated like kings or queens.

We Learn to Deal With Learning Disability

 K Man's official medical diagnosis is a "disorder of written expression" (which is also called dysgraphia) and ADD NOS (though I disagree with this assessment since it was made before his dysgraphia diagnosis.)  We obtained the diagnosis a little more than a year ago and floundered all last year about what to do with the information.

This year, the school is taking things more seriously. (It was an unusual year the last part of the school year last year and we wondered if some of the issues were related to family crises such as losing an uncle at a young age and a grandfather having a life-threatening illness.)

We've met and drafted a 504 plan. Thus far, the principal and the district psychologist do not think he qualifies for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), mostly because his IQ scores during his testing were high. So, we know he is intelligent (which, if you know him, is quite obvious.) but his school testing is consistently below grade level in reading fluency (though not comprehension), writing and especially spelling. Spelling in particular is a nightmare. He has fewer words to study (an accommodation we put in place last year) but still spells only 1-3 words correctly on a given test. Occasionally, there is an anomaly and he'll get 12 correct even when he's only supposed to study 10. (This has only happened twice.)

Under his 504, he will be tested away from the majority of his class in small group settings or just him with a paraprofessional. He expressed great relief when he heard of this because he said "Oh good! Now I don't have to hear the kids sharpen their pencils." It should be noted that he's been known to sharpen his pencil several times during the day, but if he thinks this will help, so be it. He will have non-reading and non-spelling related tests read to him so we can test his knowledge in each subject without bringing his disability into the mix.

There are other accommodations as well.

After I asked some questions, he told me recently that it physically hurts him to write for any length of time. I can't imagine what that is like, especially when everyone is asking you to write all the time. He pointed to the area beneath and around and his thumb and said his wrist also causes him pain. For someone like me, who loves to write and loves the feel of a great pen or pencil on paper, this is disheartening to hear. He'll never love writing like I do.

He consistently reverses letters and numbers even now in 3rd grade. Bs and Ds are especially difficult still, as well as 2s and 5s. He's been taking his spelling tests on the computer for a while now. When he reads he skips words, skips entire lines, adds words and sometimes simply guesses on what he thinks the sentence will be. His fluency has improved since the end of July (when my bigs started school) but it is still below grade level.

I wish there were some magical solution to make his brain work like most everyone else's, but I suspect that he wouldn't be the unique kid that he is if that were the case. The challenge is to teach his differently-wired brain to learn the things he needs to succeed in life. Our journey is just beginning and I worry daily. I don't ever want to have a regret I didn't help him enough.

Who Knows What this is? A QUIZ

WHAT IS IT? I know, do you?

I'm Told These Are The BEST

I had NO IDEA there were such awesome pencils on the planet. A friend on Facebook let me know and I had to try them, especially with my addiction to office/school supplies. The package boasts TICONDEROGA: The World's BEST PENCIL. So I've somehow gone through a decade or two **cough cough** without knowing about the best pencil evah!

Honestly, I haven't had much time to test the pencils yet, so the jury is still out.

Clipping

As a teenager I won a gift certificate to an office supply store in town. I'm sure most kids wouldn't care about anything there, but I was thrilled. To this day, I walk into an office supply store and get a rush. I love pens that write smoothly. Paperclips. I rarely use them, but I love having them around.

Cherish Yesterday-Dream Tomorrow-Live Today

Fall is here and so is the busy schedule.

Argh.

Renaissance Festival- looking forward

I haven't been to the Renaissance Festival since I was around 10 years old. After my 20th year class reunion, a former classmate and I have connected and we're heading to the festival with our families. I'm excited to take photos there!

Blast From the Past

M asked me to play "Barbies" with her the other night and I found some of my old dolls that I had given to her. A couple of big memories were these 2 dolls, from the "Sunshine Family." I had their craft store which included a spinning wheel and a pottery wheel, along with their baby, which we still have...somewhere in this house.

The parents have terrible hair after all these years, but I was impressed I had most of their clothing still (no shoes for Mrs. Sunshine) and Miss M was interested in my interest in my old dolls.

Fairies Appear from nowhere

Sometimes magic appears when you least expect it. M was wearing a sequined top and the light hit it just right to create fairy sparkles in our living room. Small thing, but fun.

The Forest for the Trees