Summertime is upon us.. Kids are sleeping in, playing on their video games, snacking on whatever they can find in the house, and mom is working.

The kids are now at the age where they are too old to go to the summer day camps, or it’s just better to be at home, because of the $$ and they really aren’t doing anything that they wouldn’t be doing at home already.

I work close enough to the house, so I can swing up there and check on them, make a nice lunch, hang out for a few minutes, and all that jazz.

I just have a struggle with finding out what I can get the kids to do that would be more beneficial than just lounging at the house all day.

The struggle is real.. I can’t just take off work to do things, but I can try to get them out after work, or on weekends.

I need tips on what these kids can do throughout their summer break. google might be able to be of assistance on that one. 🙂

Happy Summer regardless…

I received an email from the school stating that my student would be receiving an award during the assembly, which was yesterday. I was trying to figure out WHICH child of mine it could be, since I have 3 kids who attend the school.

I saw one note that said it was for grades 9-11 only, so that narrowed it down. I was expecting it to be Autumn. Allie wanted to attend the ceremony with me, so we were there a little early to be seated in the auditorium. We scanned the QR Code for the program, and then it revealed that it was for grades 7-11… now, that changed things.. This covered ALL 3 of my kids who attend here.

Were we in for a surprise, or what?!

Austin received an award recognizing him for top math score in the school, AND in the ATLAS state testing.

Autumn received an award recognizing her for painting excellence.

On the way home, Adam asked if I was proud of him, even though he didn’t get any awards. Why YES of course I am, I told him. He has A’s & B’s, not failing any classes, and therefore YES I am super proud of him for that.

Just for that, Gramma & Papa Keith recommend that I take the kids to Dairy Queen for dessert to celebrate. We will do JUST that!!

When you’re a single parent, you have to balance between kid fun and adult fun.

With 4 teenagers, they are mostly into their own devices, and don’t exactly want to hang out with Mom during their free time. Shoot.. they don’t even want to leave the house..

The second that I mention that I am going to do something with another adult, without them.. hold the phone! They want to know why and when I’ll be back, etc. What is that about? I can be home all day, and they don’t come upstairs to visit with me, unless they’re in dire need of food. But, to hang out with me to watch a movie, play a board game, chat, cook or bake with me? Na.. that’s not in their plans.

It’s nice to be wanted and needed, but hey.. let’s do it when I’m home, and willing and ready to do it. Not act like you want to, when I finally have a plan outside the house.

We have the tracking app, so the kids know where I am at all times. I am not hiding anything from them, so it’s funny when I get a text from one that says ” why are you still at ______?” Like I’M the teenager here.

It’s nice to know they care, but it would be nice if just one of these kids would want to get out of the house themselves.. 1 has her license, 2 are hopefully going to get their permits this week.

Let’s do this!!

Surely, I can’t be the only one having all the fun, outside of the home. 🙂

This month it is finally beginning to feel like spring. I am in the mood to do all the spring cleaning, and I want it done now.. haha

I have been struggling with the flu this past week, and stuck at home. With that, I also have thoughts of re-arranging, decluttering, updating furniture for the boys, and even Allie wants to move into the front living room, as her bedroom. I’m up for all of it.

While stuck in my bed, I went online and ordered both boys double beds and mattresses. Austin told me that his feet were hanging over the edge of the bed, so it really was needed.

Austin ordered a standing desk. I sold his old one. This weekend, we will assemble the new beds, get their room in order, sell the old twin beds, and get the house looking good again. I have let it get out of control, but no more of that! This mom is ready for a refresh in the house, and it’s rejuvenating and exciting! I think the boys are even ready for a change.

Earlier this week, we put up room darkening curtains in both the front living room and the boys bedroom. They are nice quality and do the job well.

We also recently tested out a different internet provider. They gave us 10 days free trial, and I had Austin be the tester, and compare both services. The new one is half the cost, and BETTER than the other one. So, we made the switch, and it’s been great so far.

Cheers to a fun weekend of cleaning / decluttering / donating / organizing.

When your kids are in school, you expect a safe and innocent environment in the classroom, right?

Well, this year has been a lot more than we bargained for in our school. There is a former teacher who was recently arrested for inappropriate behaviors with 25 students. This is just plain terrible! The students impacted all came forward, after 1 student was caught in the car with the teacher, leaving campus.

With all of this in the news, I had to tell my kids about it, so they would hear the facts from me, rather than stories from other kids. Because we all know that is what kids do. They amplify situations, embellish facts, and before you know it, things are way off track.

That teacher is a former teacher, so thank goodness for that. My kids did have them as a teacher in one of their classes previously, but never got any weird vibes from them. Again, thankful for that.

Grateful that the school and principal are taking this matter very seriously, and addressing everything as it comes, especially when the news is covering this story with a fine toothed comb. They are offering counseling and therapy to all of those impacted by this.

I do have reassurance from my kids themselves, that they know what safe and unsafe adults are like, so they can prevent being groomed or falling for things that are strange / or seem inappropriate.

Thankful for that too!

you just never know now days, what are kids are going to face in this world, let alone SCHOOL!

When you have kids that have to wake up early for school, and do all the things, you hear all kinds of stories / excuses that cause delays in getting out the door on time.

Today: We’re waiting on Adam to get in the car.. he hasn’t come out of the house yet, and he is the one usually on time, and we wait on Austin.. but this time, it was him. so.. I was just about to go inside the house, when I get a text, “There’s a ladybug in my shoe.” I darted inside the house to see if he was just sitting there, not putting his shoe on because of this delicate bug, and sure he enough, he was… oh my!! So, I took care of it, and off we went. He said it wasn’t a problem though, and he could have dealt with it.. but he wasn’t.. hahaha

Last week: We were waiting on Austin to get into the car, but he was delaying us by 10 minutes so far.. grr!!! So, I was about to go inside after him, when I got the text that his hands were wrinkled, and he just couldn’t put on his socks and shoes, or his skin would rip.. oh my!

This past weekend: I told the boys that they would be helping me assemble 3 conference room chairs for the office. Austin replied that he just didn’t see himself doing that because it’s first of all, child labor, and second, he gets sweaty and that’s just not going to work for him.

Well, the boys DID end up doing the assembly of the chairs, they had fun doing it, and we went to the movies afterward as their reward for the efforts.

In other news, Autumn is sick, as usual, and has missed so many days. She self diagnosed herself a few times. From mono, strep throat, flu, ear infection, to pneumonia.. All of which, the doctor declared as NO. We are treating as sinus infection and she has an inhaler, the nettipot, and augmentin.. WE will see if we can’t get her better, so she can fully functioning and back at school. Literally, she has been picked up early from school every single day for the last 2 weeks. The nurse determines that she needs to go home, so guess who has to go get her.. thankfully, I have some back up help at times, because this can be tough.

Allie’s appointment is coming up at the end of this month, so we will hopefully get answers on what is going on with their nerves and vision issues. This has been going on so long now, it’s just sad.

So far, we are starting the year out RIGHT!!

New doctors for the kids, scheduling appointments to get things under control with mental health and the physical health.

My oldest son was officially diagnosed with ADHD. He also has puberty taking over, so the doctor is helping him with treating his dry skin and acne starting to pop up. (check those boxes :0 )

My oldest child has been prescribed a very expensive (Tier 4) anxiety medication, that is no longer covered by our insurance as of 2025. So, this new doctor we are seeing knows this, and they are GIVEN samples by their reps, so she GAVE us 3 mos supply. She said as long as they continue to receive samples, she will GIVE them to US!! Amazing! We are also waiting to see a specialist for the vision / headache issues they’re having, so that should soon have answers too!

My youngest daughter thinks she has mono again, so we have an appointment scheduled to get her checked out once again, but at our NEW doctor, so I am excited about that. We have been through so many dr visits, and not getting anywhere it seems with each child..

My youngest son; still hasn’t had an accident in his pants since Nov 19th!!!! Woo Hoo!!

Bring on 2025..

I’m ready!!

This year has been interesting to say the least.

The first hurdle that I have to cover, is having a kid that pooped his pants almost daily, to not at all, has me jumping for joy so much! We tried everything this year…. He went through counseling, set timers to check in with his body every hour, the school counselor showed him where personal bathrooms were located, and his mom even paid him $5 / day for a week, to hopefully solve this. Something just finally clicked. I am so thankful that we don’t have to throw away anymore pairs of undies! Woo hoo! He’s proud too. It’s been a real struggle, and I was over it. He didn’t seem to care that he would smell, and shrugged his shoulders when his peers made comments at school. It was very painful to know that he was going through this, but even more concerning that he didn’t care… Thankful we can leave that in 2024….

The second hurdle is still ongoing, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel. My oldest struggles with severe anxiety and panic attacks. We have been seeing therapists for several years now. So many different medications have been introduced, that it’s impossible to remember all of them. One of the psychiatrists left the company we were going to, the other one had a baby, and the company finally had to shut down because the owner was in legal trouble due to medical fraud. What frustrations! I had to change who we were seeing, and keep her on the same medications.. but, no.. we did find a new place, but they put her on different medications.. trial and error again. it was really frustrating because we would go each month to appointments, and they would be about 2 hours each visit. sooo annoying. They really didn’t dig into her case much, just prescribed the medications and we would move on. The wait time was the unbearable part. 2 different sets of waiting periods.. intake, and then the wait to see the doctor himself. As of 2025, we are joining the insurance with TowMate, so we will be in better hands. We went to the current doctor’s office yesterday, and requested the release of documents to the new doctor. That was so freeing feeling. I feel lighter already.

However, in addition to the anxiety, we’re also dealing with constant headaches and stomach aches. So, we are in the midst of resolving those, and there is a specialist appointment next week to hopefully reveal what is causing all of this.

Finally, I am still dealing with the typical kid issues, like boys needing to take showers daily, reminding them to clean up after themselves, brush their teeth, etc.. fun fun~

Cheers to 2025..

Let’s close this chapter, and hope for brighter days ahead!

The last few weeks, Autumn has been begging me to send her back to in person school. So, I had a meeting with the principal, we got her schedule lined out, perfectly, actually. We did this on a Friday, and she was re-enrolled on Monday. It was that fast! The counselor and the principal did ask her a few questions, on why she left in the first place. What issues were there, and what can be done differently this time? She shared her experiences, they listened, gave their feedback, and that was it. She had a great attitude, and was ready to learn. She loves art, and was able to get into 4 art classes, and she is making the most of it. I am really proud of her for this. She needs to interact with her peers, have in-person schooling, and the structured schedule. It is great for her development and communication skills.

It is also a benefit that all 3 kids are in the same school! That hasn’t ever happened before. So, it makes morning drop off easy breezy.

Autumn does have a few ups and downs in her emotions, almost daily. Today, hopefully she’s having a good day. Yesterday was a terrible day for her, and she said she had cried 5 times at school alone. Someone gave her a hard time over her drawing dragons vs drawing a real live animal. Oh my! She is very talented at drawing animals, especially dragons. She includes so many intricate details. I do know kids can be extra critical of each other at this age, and some just plain mean. Hopefully that is not the case here, but I will continue to ask how her days are, and determine if it needs to involve me intervening. 🙂

Life is pretty decent these days, but so many doctor’s appointments.

For the month of October, we had 8 different appointments between the 5 of us. I guess that doesn’t seem so bad, but it’s time.. Time is precious, and I would love one full week without an appointment of any kind. Fingers crossed that this could be the month.

For the month of November, so far.. we have 4 appointments on the books.

Last night, I had the boys deep clean their bedroom, closet, computer room, and bathroom after dinner. AND laundry. They LOVE me. hahaha I have to stay on top of them, or they will just let things get out of control, and before you know it, it’s a DISASTER!

Cheers to the upcoming holiday season, where we can hopefully spread some cheer and enjoy all the little things in life.