There was a song I used to sing in elementary school, that was titled my headline for today.

It sure feels like things are turning around for my kids and me the past couple of weeks.

I was approached yesterday by Austin, and he excitedly informed me that he REALLY wants to be in Cub Scouts!! I don’t know much about this program, but I do know they encourage family participation, community involvement, they teach the kids skills, and confidence. They also build character, shape them into good citizens for the future. I truly was surprised in a great way when he told me this bit of news. I have been wondering for the last couple of years, what would be of interest for him. His other siblings were in karate, and he was not in anything. But, he also didn’t have any interest in sports, or the like. We have an informative meeting tonight at the kids school, so we’ll see how involved i need to be, as I do know this is a family commitment.

Both Autumn & Adam also expressed interest in joining, so should be interesting to say the least.

Just when I thought things were going at a decent pace, very much manageable, this might be adding to our weekly evening list of activities. I’m ok though. I’m mentally prepared for something more in our schedule now.

We have a great support system for after school care now, behaviors are improving the way we hoped they would, homework is getting done, huge kudos to April for that!

Home life is great, still working out a few kinks with cooperation, but overall, we’re doing much BETTER!

Allie had a meeting with her karate instructor last night, and has agreed to finish, and obtain that BLACK BELT. She’s been working for this for 4 years now.. she can’t quit.. she gets it, and so we’re going to proceed on.

Adam made dinner the other night. It was so cute. He decided he wanted to do everything, so I let him.. I guided him, but he was so excited and thrilled to be doing all the work himself. I am going to encourage that again. 🙂

Parenting is hard, but super rewarding when you start seeing the fruits of your labor.

Never give up.

The fun is here, and we’re in the middle of it. These years are short. we must embrace them.

We’re starting our 2nd week of school, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about the way things are turning out so far.

I have arranged for my step-sister to pick up my kids everyday after school, so she’s their after school care giver.

She has a schedule — designated homework time, play time, reading time, snack time, etc. I just LOVE it! She’s the one that I count on for things and she’s always there. I love that she cares about my kids, and dedicates her time to be all the things I can’t be during their few hours after school. They have expectations, she doesn’t allow certain behaviors, there are consequences for such behaviors, and I don’t have to worry about “suspensions,” etc. This arrangement makes this mom super happy and at ease about things.

Allie was supposed to be a bus rider, but that schedule was putting her home later than I liked for her, so we worked it out for her to ride with April also. She’s meeting her and then getting a ride home. It’s working out just beautifully.

Last night, however, Allie informed me that she wants to quite karate… she’s almost to her black belt. she has 12 more classes to go, until meeting this goal. I was taken back, and in shock at this news. She refused to attend class last night, super stubborn about it. I called on my dad, because he has been a huge supporter for this the last 4 years. I can’t just let her quit. Chandler, her instructor refused to accept her decision last night. He said see you in class on Wednesday. So.. she has another day to truly think about this, but I can’t just let her throw away all the work we’ve put into this. She’s doing so well too. I know she took the summer off, she feels like she’s behind everyone else, but truly, she’s not. The instructor told her that everything they are doing is just review. sigh.. just not what I expected to hear from her last night.

On to another subject..

I ordered a light up shower head for the boys shower, and it needs to be assembled. Austin saw it, and he got all excited, asking me to please let him install it by himself. He said, just lay the stuff out for me, with with the instructions, and let me do it. I think that is just amazing! He is one smart cookie.

I am just hesitant to take a breath and relax just a little, for fear of something that could happen to interrupt these few and far between calm moments.

I have to say, life feels pretty good and we are enjoying our space and family and free time. School life is good so far, our family life is good, and there’s no chaos to report… lol

Quite a bit has happened since my last posting, but I’ll try to summarize as best I can.

Vacation was a bit stressful, but overall good. Kids had some behavior issues, which is expected. Respect & obedience were the 2 main offenses, and it was bit trying to get them to listen. Both my grandmother and my mother struggled with patience, as did I during this week of “fun.” We managed to go to Legoland, the beach, had pool time at Oma’s, went out to eat, and played Rummikub each night. Fun was had, don’t get me wrong.

The kids have wonderful memories, we helped my grandmother clean some of the house that she’s not able to attend to anymore, due to lack of energy, etc.

We took a 4 generation picture, took her mini golfing, went to a brewery, where the kids had an experience, just being in one. They served food, so it wasn’t like it was strictly a bar, but I never have taken them to anything like that before. They even asked if the living wall with plants on it, was watered by beer.. lol

School was to start the day after we got back from vacation, but I still didn’t know which school they would be attending until the night before we headed back home…. 2 days before school started… I had mentally prepared the kids that they would be changing schools, and they weren’t excited, but they accepted it.

And then, my dad called me that evening, and said that their current school was able to get them in!!! This made my stress level decrease tremendously. I was worried sick about that. They have been going to this school since kindergarten, and just because we moved 1 mile down the road, to the opposite side of the highway, this was going to change boundaries. I was really glad that there was room after all.

We have completed day 2 of school as of today, and I look forward to hearing about each of their days this evening. I know they all had great days yesterday. Thank goodness!

Allie was the only one who had a bad experience, but it was with being a bus rider. It didn’t drop her off at home until 5:15… she was supposed to be earlier, but apparently, her bus had broken down. I wasn’t made aware of that until this morning, but I had already made arrangements for her to ride with my step-sister from now on. She will get home earlier that way.

Anyway, cheers to a great school year with blossoming kids, and great memories.

Vacation is upon us, and I have been so busy on the daily task of work, the local wrapping up of things that need to be handled before leaving for a week, that it hardly seems possible that it is that time already!!

I have plans for us to go on a boat ride, 2 actually. The first, being a slow cruise boat, followed by a speed boat going 50mph in the ocean! that should be thrilling to say the least.

We will also go to Lego Land Water Park, visit family, go to the beach, hang out by Oma’s pool, go miniature golfing, enjoying some scenic sunsets, flying kites on the beach, enjoying some local foods, and hopefully visiting a farmer’s market.

Whatever we end up doing, it will be together, and that’s all that matters.

We will be visiting and having quality time with Oma. She’s 86, and by far the most lovely person I know.

I had an amazing childhood with her. We were always so close and had lots of fun, laughs, and quality time.. lots of time. I cherish every moment with her, so I want my kids to know her too. 🙂

Stay tuned for more after vacation..

For now.. I’m entering

VACATION MODE…….

It’s the last day at the RAC for my 3 youngest kiddos. They all seem to be happy about it. They don’t care much for the field trips, which is what I would be excited about if I was a kid. It costs a bit more to send them here because of those fun outings. I will definitely look into other options for next summer though, since all 3 of them feel the same way.

In the meantime, I counted up the number of “incident reports” for each of the kids, and here is the breakdown:

Autumn: 6 – hitting someone, being disrespectful to staff, not obeying, calling someone names, pinching and biting someone, and cursing at a person for bringing a bug into the building, and she wanted to take it back outside and set it free. When the camper refused to comply, she cursed.

Adam: 5 – pouring juice on someone’s lunch tray, dumping applesauce on someone, telling someone they would beat them up, telling someone they would kill them, and the last one putting small objects into the water fountain.

Austin: 3 – putting small objects into the water fountain, refusing to listen and obey, and pulling his pants down, almost pulling out his private part in front of his brother.

Fun times were had this summer, as well as some OMG moments.

Maybe they will mature a bit before next summer comes.. one can only hope.

Here we are.. 3 days of fun remain at the RAC.

We are starting out with a GREAT week, and I only wish that every week was like this. No real issues, no incident reports, no accidents in the pants, no major meltdowns or sassiness, and everyone seems to be getting along well. I can almost let my guard down and relax. ha

We leave next week for a full week trip to San Diego to visit my Grandmother aka Oma. She is 86, still living at home, completely independent. We try to make annual trips to see her and enjoy the time we can get with her. She has a very special place in my heart, and I want my kids to be able to experience what I got to when I was young with her.

I picked Allie up in San Antonio over the weekend, and she completely surprised me. She actually participated in a DANCE that last Friday night at the Duke Tip program. WHAT? I could hardly believe it when she told me. It was a hip hop dance, and she does not care for that type of music AT ALL!! She finally came out of her shell a little bit, and that warmed my heart so much. She wants to go again next year, so that makes me happy too. I was so worried when counselors told me she claimed to have “selective mutism.” I know she has social anxiety, but after this performance, I’m sure it’s just a major hurdle she CAN overcome, and DID after 3 weeks of being around the same group of people.

I still don’t know which school the kids will be going to next year. I’m almost certain it’s going to be a change for us, but I did apply to stay at their current school, so hopefully we find out in the next week for sure.

I am sooo happy that Autumn & Allie are getting along so well, as they are now sharing rooms. They have always had major issues with this. Autumn was a constant pest to Allie. It almost seemed as though Allie hated Autumn. I know she doesn’t, but it was just never nice between them. Now, they are wanting to spend girl time together in their room, with the door closed. They want to stay up late talking.. I love this. This move might be a really good thing in that regard. I just never expected this.

The boys really miss the king size bed in their room. We had taken that out over the weekend, and put their bunk beds in there. They loved sharing a bed. haha Now, they claim they are scared to go to sleep, and miss all that room in the bed. they are just sooo funny.

When Allie was unpacking her boxes the other night, she pulled a little gift for me, that she had gotten in Italy. It was a little bracelet with rubies. It was meant for my birthday and it was my birthstone. how thoughtful is that? She does love me.. haha

I can’t complain right now, and things are really good, just enjoying these moments while they last. 🙂

Having 4 kids, there’s always bound to be something going on.. right?

I just have to understand and know that. Each one of these kids is special, in that they are unique individuals with different needs, personalities, triggers, moods, demands, and how they show and need love.

I picked up the kids at the RAC yestserday, and Adam had a write up. (of course, someone typically does). He had 2 incidents.

1st one involved a kid on the playground, who took a kick ball away from him. Adam told the kid if he did it again, he would hit him in the face.

2nd one involved a kid at the roller rink, who accidentally bumped into him, and Adam said, if you do that again, I’m going to kill you..

He is the one kid who pretty much stays in the “on edge” angry mode constantly. I think he must get that from me. 😦 I believe that I am in that mode also. I try to think before I speak, but sometimes, the emotions get the best of me.

Needless to say, the consequence for these 2 things was no “chromebook” for the night. He gets it back today, after I pick them up, but only if he has a good day, making good choices.. time will tell.

Then, there’s Austin. He told me he wanted to play on his chromebook this morning, after he was ready to go. I told him, no, as he was grounded until late this afternoon. He was so upset. I told him, if that continued, he wouldn’t get it back later today either. It would go into tomorrow. He continued acting up, and didn’t listen or obey me as we were leaving, so he is grounded until tomorrow. He’s really upset with me about that too. I had told him to listen and obey, and then he would get it back, but he chose otherwise. That’s the consequence.

Autumn hates the RAC. She’s bored as can be. I hate that for her, but really.. what other choice is there, and they would eventually get bored no matter what place they were at for the summer. Even at home, as they claim that is the best place to be. I love that they want to be home, but they have to get out and be social too. lol

Then, we have the cereal situation. I currently have 10 boxes of assorted cereals in the pantry. My cousin recently pointed out that I have sooooo many choices, and I should limit it to only 3.. she made me think of this in a different perspective, so I am heeding her advice, and will be doing just that. I told the children about it, and they are on board. wow! It’s going to be interesting. Life is full of choices, and I should limit some of those where I can. It can be overwhelming. Some people don’t have that luxury, and I really don’t want my children growing up expecting things. I know they act spoiled now, and I want to change that any way I can.

We ended last week pretty good. I was hoping that trend would continue into this week, but, as expected, there was an incident report at the end of the day yesterday, at the RAC.

The incident report involved Austin, and the Parent notification report involved Adam. While in line, at the RAC, Austin decided to unzip his pants in front of Adam, to show him his “private.” OMG! What?? So.. Adam told on him.

Not sure why Austin chose to do this, and even when I asked him, he said he didn’t know. (That’s what he had told the counselors also).

I’m sure hoping they’re getting all this MISCHIEF out of their systems now, and they grow up to be responsible, good citizens.

The other thing that amazes me, and I’m not going to scold Austin for, is his knowledge on how the internet and technology works. He is such a bright young man. I heard him telling his siblings about how he can have internet in the car with the “hotspot” through the iphone. oh my!! I don’t even know how to work that. He also told me that he changed the password to the internet connection to a simpler one, instead of the combination of words and numbers. wow!! That kid is something!

While he is amazing, he is very much up to mischievous things.

We moved, and I had placed our old Direct TV equipment into a box, as I have to return it to the company. He had helped himself to it, and tried hooking it up in his room. He really misses the AT&T internet. We don’t have that now. We have Cox Internet. long story.. anyway, he lied to me, and told me that he didn’t know where the box was. I told him exactly where I had it, and I KNEW he had to have moved it. Please go find it. He went to the GARAGE and grabbed it for me. I told him, he absolutely cannot be doing things like that, especially since I need to return all of the equipment, or I would get charged $$.

Until the next bit of fun, have a great day.

Allie has been in San Antonio now for about 2 weeks. She has just a little over a week to go, before we pick her up from her Duke Tip study program.

She is attending for a Creative Writing course, that is an intense college level course. There are high expectations, one of which, is to present in front of a group of people. They are in her class, it’s not a huge group, but she is terrified.

Apparently, she’s having panic attacks, and is highly anxious about working in groups and getting up front of the class.

She has now even gone as far to say that she has a condition called “Selective Mutism.”

I received a call from both the director and one of the professors yesterday about this. They reviewed her medical records, and found no indication that this was the case. I told them that’s because she does NOT have this. She had to have found it online and diagnosed herself.. I have never heard of this, and no doctor has informed me that she has this condition. I was laughing about it, but really.. what is this girl saying about herself? Does she really believe that she has this “condition”? Is it really a thing? I just cannot believe that the psychological world would actually say that this is real. EVERYONE has some sort of anxiety about getting up front in a public group to talk. You only get better my practicing, but that feeling will still be there.

I feel for her, but this environment is good for her. Forcing her to socialize, rather than just be in her dorm room, playing the Sims. She hates it, but I don’t want her being a recluse. This will force her to engage, and it’s a completely safe environment. There should be nothing to be afraid of there. I just want her to thrive and enjoy the experience.

The parenting part of me just wants my kids to be successful in all that they do.

The struggle part is hard to watch…

Let me just say that anyone who has ever thought raising 4 kids all alone would be fairly easy, is just living in la-la land.. (that’s me, by the way). I thought how difficult can it be?

I’m laughing on the outside, but crying on the inside. For real!! I need all the help I can get.

It’s not the managing of our schedules, and daily routines that need help.

It’s the pooping of the pants by the boys, the constant disrespect from my 10 year old girl, the lack of obedience, while the oldest, is not interested in socializing with others. It’s how to be a good parent with balance. Love and discipline.

I expect them to help carry groceries, without me asking 10 times. I expect them to pick up their dirty clothes and bring them to the laundry room. I expect that they wipe their own bottoms, take their own showers, dry themselves off, not be afraid to use the bathroom by themselves, or go into their bedroom to get their pj’s on. I want to help them become these strong, independent individuals, and have respect for others.

I want them to make good choices, and not think it’s ok to bring a “lighter” to their day camp, and then lie about how they don’t know how it got into their back pack.

These struggles are not just seldom occurrences, but DAILY!

I’m telling you, I CANNOT make this stuff up.

These kids are my world, but sometimes, I feel like I need to go to a peaceful place without having to deal with such intense stressors.

But, that wouldn’t be a realistic parenting solution.

Facing the problems head on is the only way.

I’m doing that, and I’m doing it alone, trying to be the parent that I need to be for these kids.