Speech Therapy, please.

So its horrible. I'm an english major and my children's articulation is horrible. I don't know why, I talk to them alot! Now if you ask my mom, she'll say I don't. I don't know why, but it just feels weird to have a running conversation or sing to my children in front of people. So I don't.

But at home... all day.... alone.... they are the only three people I can talk to.

Billy went in last week to get his evaluation done. He has articulation problems, duh, I know that. When he says "Mommy, I brought your phone." It really sounds like "Mommeee, I bought yer bone." I can correct him till I'm blue in the face, and it accomplishes nothing.

But!! I do get boasting skills... as Ms. Sue was testing his vocabulary to see where he stood on that scale... she started... he answered.... "Oh, Mom, just so you know we are already at age 6." and I'm thinking what the hell does that mean? Am I supposed to be shocked that my kids knows all these words? If he didn't, I would be shocked. Of course he knows body parts, animals, and activities....

"Ok, we are at 10." What? "oh, it means he has the vocabulary of a 10 year old child." Ok.

He's 4... almost 5.

"We're at 12, now" .... then he got envelope wrong... he knows what an envelope is. He always checks the mail with my brother.

13....

and he finally got 5 wrong in a row, so she stopped the test. My 4 1/2 year old recognizes objects and words that a 13 year old should know.
WOO HOO....

So, then I call Tri care and run around with them on the phone, because they have managed to send my boys to two different locations. So we get it squared away. And I take Beau in this morning.

Literally, I have to carry him in. He had decided last night, that he was going to stay up after mommie went to bed. So I put all my kids to sleep and then went to my room to lay down. I can hear my kid playing Dora on the computer in the living room.
He crawls into my bed a little after 2 am... and this morning at 8, he doesn't want to wake up. No surprise. So I take him to the therapists and he's kinda like, "hmmm, I just wanna go back to bed." Then she starts the questions and words games and he perks up. He loves these games at home.

So then she tells him, he doesn't have to say the words anymore, he has to point to the picture... but thats not what he wants to do. He wants to tell her what every picture in the squares are... She's trying to hurry the test along because she remembers how long Billy took.

So, then... he gets bored. If he can't tell you what he wants to tell you, then you can just go away. She asks him what a shoulder is... he points to the hand... she asks him on another page what the elbow is... he points to the wrist. What's the panda? He points to the other animals and tells the names... she asks to point to the panda... he flops his finger on the page, rolls his eyes at her... then looks at me and says he wants the ipad. I've offically given up at this point, I already know he's done. Boo is in the room with us and she knows he's done. She has sat down at the table because Ms. Sue told her she would let her answer a few questions... so she's waiting.

So I know my 3 year old made it to at least 6 year old vocabulary... what the actual test would have been... no clue. but that's my stubborn evil genius for ya. ;)

Speech Therapy....

So we always knew Billy was pronouncing some letters wrong... instead of Gee it sounded like Dee... and other letters, but he was 2 & 3 & finally 4... we figured he would eventually grow out of it.

When he started Pre-k this fall, his teacher pointed out that he might need a speech therapist to help him with his articulation. If we were able to get help outside, than it could speed up the school's processing to get him seen.

In October, I made the appointment with his pediatrician. His doctor agreed that he was hard to understand and put in the recommendation to see the pediatrician speech therapist for review.

I was finally able to make an appointment, but of course it was at the hospital across town instead of our regular hospital. So I make the thirty minute drive, get on base, unload my double stroller, and pack it with three children.

I walk into the huge hospital, ask for speech therapy, they send me down the hall, upstairs, around the corner, and I wait. I'm late, but I'm standing in line. She finally calls me to the desk.

"You need to go to pediatrics."
Are you kidding me..... Do you realize how hard it is to push a regular graco double stroller.... now stick in a 4 yr, 3 yr, and 2 yr old. Ugh. I'm sweating.  So I try to pull this stroller out of line and head back down the hall, pass the elevators, to the other side of the hospital.

Hi Pediatrics... Nope... wrong place. Ugh... It's ok. Just go next door.

So I go next door. We meet Sherri. Billy does his "test," my other two find it fun and start trying to do it as well. Sherri decides that Baby's too young, but she's going to test Beau on the spot. Yay.

Well, if we get Billy in speech therapy now through the base and in school, he will be understandable by next year. If we get Beau in therapy now, he will be understandable by school start in the fall.

So we wait for the therapy to call. They finally called, but only for Billy. Really? Whatever... So he has his evaluation next week...

Upgrading Beds....

For birthdays this year, my mom wanted to purchase beds. Well, I finally cleaned out the spare room.

So Boo picked out pink paint and her room was painted.

(Details of the moves and pictures will be later. )

She upgraded out of the crib finally ;( (my babies are all growing up) and recieved her brothers toddler bed. All of her stuff went into her new room and somehow it doesnt seem big enough ;) I am happy though that she not only upgraded her bed, but her closet is now twice the size.   ;D

Billy was given a full bed and bedroom set including a night stand and dresser/mirror. He loves it. He picked out light blue paint and constantly says he lives underwater now. It is a very calming room.

Beau was moved out of the shared bed room with his brother. He now lives in a neon green room! My papa brought over a wooden twin bed w shelved head board and a night stand. Beau is getting used to the upgrade in bed size.

So soon pictures will follow with the process to get these rooms decorated and we will finally start on our room and the play room.

Pizza Lasagna

Pizza Lasagna

 

 

 

Yes, that is exactly what I said!

 

 

So, my mom is a Family Consumer Science Teacher... Home- Economics renamed.  A few things. 1 my mom does not like marinara sauce - its gross to her. So when I went on my lasagna kick, she tried it but didn't like it. Then I made her the chicken alfredo lasagna and she loved me for it.

 

2. She hates cooking lasagna and refuses to. So when it came up in class to cook, she asked me. No, she didn't call me. She asked me point blank in front of her students so I couldn't back down. ;D I love her.

 

 

So she asked about the recipe... it was so long and tedious... ugh, no. That's not how I cook it. So I told them a faster easier way to do it.

Then I asked what kind they were cooking.

Kind?

There are different kinds of lasagna.

Ohyeah baby!

 

 

I have cooked chicken alfredo

sea food alfredo

beef marinara

turkey marinara

vennison marinara

2lb beef

and about 30 variations of beef... depending on how much sauce, cheese, and meat i put in each.

 

Then I said there had to be like a mac& cheese lasagna... or a pizza lasagna.

 

 

So here are the ingrediants:

1 lb sausage

1 can marinara sauce

9 strips of lasagna noodles

1 pack of pepperoni

1 bag of italian blend or pizza blend cheese

mozerella to top

and grated parmesean to dust on to eat

 

optional:

is basically whatever toppings you like in pizza... you add in!

The girls wanted mushrooms.

 

 

Layers...

Sauce only!

Noodles (3 across) (After you cook your noodles)

meat/sauce (make sure you have cooked your sausage)

cheese

pepperoni

noodle

meat/sauce/toppings

pepperoni

cheese

noodle

meat/sauce/toppings

cheese

left over pepperoni

mozerella

 

cook for about 30-45 min on 350*

after it cools

ENJOY

Alpha Phi Legacy

My mother chose St. Mary's University as her college in the 70/80's because of its high established reputation. She took her classes and walked the campus. She would see the Greeks on campus and always dreamed of joining one, but as she puts it, she was too "proud" to let someone humiliate her in front of everyone. She couldn't or rather wouldn't go through rush back then to join.

When I chose St. Mary's as my college choice, my mother was estatic. She had a legacy that she could pass on, but as my first semester came to a close, she began to feel sad. When I asked her what the problem was, she told me about her views  of the sororities. She admitted that now, she regretted not joining because she would be able to have me as a legacy in her sorority. I laughed it off and comforted her.

In the late 80's and 90's Sororities and fraternities went through a major makeover due to large amounts of hazing, deaths, injuries, and other emotional trauma. Laws were passed that now prevented these same acts from happening. Several chapters from all of them were shut down across the nations universities. St. Mary's included. I told her that if she had joined, there would be no legacy to pass on. She questioned my remark. I told her that all of the sororities that were there at her time, were all kicked off campus and they were all new. She smiled and agreed, but still wished she had greek letters to pass on.

Well, spring Formal recruitment came and after spending time with different members of the other sororities during the fall, I knew where I wanted to be. It was fun hanging out with the women of Alpha Phi. I didn't get along with alot of the girls in high school, but this mixed group of personalities made it work. They all showcased each other and brought out the best.

So after going through Open House, and the second night, Pref night came. Jennifer point blank asked me what she had to say to get me to join. I told her, it was as simple as saying she wanted me to join. So she did. That night when I signed my card, I "suicided" Alpha Phi.

I was super lucky that all the girls liked me, because on Bid Day... I got to go "Home".

*~ * ~ * ~ *

 

After my first year in Alpha Phi, I understood my mothers desire for a Legacy. So I surprised her with a gift of lifting regret. Alpha Phi allows women to join through the Alumni chapter. So I asked my mother to join, then went even further and convinced my grandmother to join! In one day, a year after I joined, I shared my experiences with the most important women in my life and became a 3rd generation legacy all at the same time! =) It was wonderful.

 

 

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

 

It has been 8 years this year since I have joined. I still love and cherish my sisters. This summer, I was able to take my daughter through New York on vacation back from my aunt's. While we were there, today we stopped and I took her picture in front of the Founding School's house. I hope that when she finally goes to college, she will choose Alpha Phi. She will be 4th generation and it will be great to get her picture in front of the house again in 16 years.

 



Legoland

While we were visiting my cousins in Dallas for her wedding, we decided to take the kids to Legoland. It starts off in a rollercoaster style ride. Then you can go into different themes... We collect giraffes for my oldest, so it was a treat for him to sit on it.

 

 

They have a ton of activities to do and all ages can play. Legoland in Texas was a great adventure for the kids for behaving during the wedding.

Dallas Wedding

My cousin got married this weekend. She chose a beautiful church because of its architecture. It had natural lights at different times of the day because of the unique shape of the building and angle of the windows.

 

For her venue she chose a natural preserve. They host weddings and events to help keep up the costs to keep the natural habitats at bay and not over run by the public.

 

 

Fire & Ice Concert

There is a guy from the Transiberian Orchestra that came to our school district and taught the orchestras new tunes. Then he hosted a concert. Mom bought us all tickets.

 

My kids were excited. :) I like taking them to concerts like this because I hope they will get interested in a musical instrument. In fifth & sixth grade, I played the violin. My brother also played the violin, but was more interested in Soccer. My husband spent a few years in band, playing the tuba. My mom played the piano & guitar.

Easter Leftovers ;)

My mom started a tradition when I was a kid to buy duckies or chickies for us for easter. It was all fun and games, and really exciting to get the red & blue chickies. Except one year....they didn't die.

We took really good care of them, and our red & blue chickies... became big red & blue chickens. They would follow us around and play with us in the back yard. If I can find that picture, I would so post it. Then a neighbors hunting dog got loose from their yard, jumped our fence, and ate our chickens. It was a sad day at our house. Mom stopped buying us chickens.

Well, now my kids are at that age. It's now looked down upon for chicken sellers to dye the eggs, to get colored chickens.. so sadly my son won't be getting a green chicken, no blue chicken for Billy, and no pink chick for Baby... but they did get a chicken from my mom last year. And it has grown alot.

And they still play with it. This is my sister in law holding it for Beau to pet. I'm glad that some traditions are staying in the family and that my kids get to experience this.

Braided Pig tails

My daughter was born with barely any hair. It has taken a loooooong time to grow. Now its long enough for braided pigtails! We took the picture and emailed it to daddy.

Wall Trax... really?

So my mom bought my boys wall tracks. The smart idea was that I would no longer have to tell the boys to pick up their tracks, or step on the tracks while checking on the boys at night. They were to go up on the wall and out of the way.

I was able to get the first track up, and then the boys asked to get the second track linked to it. My daughter ended up playing on it while I was trying to let the sticky wall mounts dry.

I speak for the Trees

I recieved my degree in English. I am a huge reader. I love reading. I read as much as I can even if its only about 10 minutes worth on some days. Most of the time, I end up reading after I have the kids down for bed.

Some days, when they are playing quietly enough I sneak into the corner of the couch and cuddle up with a book. So they see me reading from time to time.

Everyone in my family has bought books for my children. So we have a ton of them all over. The books no longer fit on the shelf, so they have been put on the shelf in the living room and into drawers. They pull the books out of drawers and off shelves and climb on me so I can read to them. Beau loves the Blue truck book and depending on what Billy is into is what he's asking me to read. We read the Pixar Cars book so much, he could recite the story back to us at 2 yrs old and its since fallen apart.

My husband started buying Dr. Seuss, my mom brought over my old books, and finally the Lorax was bought. All my kiddos will stop what they are doing and come sit by who ever has started a story. I hope they become big readers like me.

We read the Lorax by Dr. Seuss.


My children loved the story, so I bought the original animation from Walmart. They sat still and quiet.... and watched it about 30 times.... I could only sit throught it the first 4 times... then its to the point that mommy has chores to do and doesn't have to worry about coming back to a mess.


Finally I took my kids to the theater to see The Lorax on the big screen... They were absolutly glued to the screen. I think I watched them more than I watched the movie.

I took them to IHOP to eat. They had all the different Dr. Seuss themed food. Then I had to go by Walmart to pick up some groceries. They wanted to plant a Truffula tree.... but there arn't any... so I found the next best thing.

Flowers that look like the trees.

We planted these and my kids managed to get me in the garden every day to water. We'll see how they survive the hot summer and winter.

Water Table

It's still cool outside, the heat hasn't set in here in Texas. That however, does not slow or stop my kids from playing with their new favorite outside toy!

 

We have decided to do different activites with it daily. I've had them play with just water, cold water, warm water... and then I added bubbles to the water today, so they had a blast making different size bubbles.

 

Luck of the Irish

I'm Irish.

 

and I LOVE St. Patricks Day.

 

This year I started the day off for my children with Irish Milk. ;)

Green food coloring in milk

I bought the fascinator at Party City and all the tulle at Hobby Lobby. 

 

So I knotted her tutu. And put leggings and a jacket on her because it was cool.

 

I found these shirts last year at Target and fell in love with them. I bought one for each boy and they still fit!! I also found one kind of like it for my hubby.

After spending time at GG's taking pictures with her, I took the kids to the local park to spend some time. They love climbing!

 

Early St. Pattys

One my hubby's best friends, has been coming over every Friday if possible. If he's out of town, or I'm just really out of it, he doesn't show.

Since hubby is deployed, I've been relying alot on Papa, my brother, and this friend to do all the guy stuff around the house that I can't do.

The other upside is besides my mom, he's about the majority of my adult conversations.

He was going to be gone for St. Pattys day, so when he came over I made him a mixed drink with Apple vodka and green food coloring with sprite.

Total Girly girl

I have been painting her nails every day. So today I found those old nails that you slide on. I used to play with these as kid! The local Dollar Tree is now carrying them. She played with them for hours!

Trying to escape

So my kids learned how to unlock the door.

and they run outside...


So Papa came over to fix the problem... he put a latch on all my doors where the kids can't reach.

 

 

But they have been trying. ;)



Finally Long

So I have been trying to grow out my hair, because I want be able to get a perm like I had in high school.

My hair is naturally wavy, but not that cute thrown up into a pony tail every day. At least I would have the cute curls, when I have no time for anything else.

And it's finally getting long!

Dallas!

So we took a trip to Dallas during spring break to get out of town and visit family.

At the mall near my cousin, my children found this!

 

 

Later on my mom & I agreed to make my 3 kiddos and my cousins 2 pre-teens to the indoor play place near their house.

The whole place is like this. We didn't realize we had been there for over an hour.

They even have entertainment for my 21 month old to bounce and play on.

Rock band

My daughter has discovered our Xbox Rock Band instruments

She bangs, and tries to use the drum sticks. She has no rythem, but its cute.

 

And look at her hair! It's finally getting longer...

No more flooding!

My best friend couldn't figure out what to get the boys for their birthday, so he handed me some cash and smarted off, "Get them something useful."

I laughed and headed to the store. The one thing my kids didn't have was a water table. They LOVE playing in the water and my bathroom has flooded several times because of it. The sink and the bath tub have been plugged with several things so they could splash as it filled with water, then over flowed because they couldn't unclog it.

My bathroom needed a break. So I bought this. All the other photos I have are the kids literally playing in it. G has deemed it his swimming pool.

Dinosaur Party

 

February brought on the boys birthdays. B turned 4 and G turned 3. This year they are both into Dinosaurs. B loves PBS Dinosaur Train and G just loves dinosaurs of all kinds. He was overloaded at Christmas with different sets.

 

So we decorated for Dinosaurs. Since Hubby was gone I enlisted his best friend to help ALOT. I adore Jacoby for everything he did that day. But we set up tables in yellow and green.

 

Even my bathroom got a caveman makeover! He he. Awesome set from Factory to You, and matching towel and toilet covers from Family Dollar finished that scene. I used black paper and covered my bathroom door front and back. I used chalk to draw on it to show it was the bathroom. Then I left several chalk pieces for the kids to draw on it while they were in there.

I am a HUGE food person! I love food and everything you could create. I enjoy finding creative ways to add a theme to the food I set out.

So we had nuts and berries, we add dinosaur eggs. All my tupperware had their tight lids to keep in the freshness and out the flies....

We had tea... hot dogs I had cute names for everything. We cut up the watermelon to look like a T-Rex head... so the kids loved their fruit salad.

Isn't he awesome!!!

This was the mama dinosaur protecting her hard boiled eggs. I boiled them and then cracked the eggs before dipping them in color. Thats how we got that design on them.

We had dinosaurs on the table to play with along with bubbles, streamers, and confetti. He played with his dinosaurs and crashed for his nap shortly after!

These were the treat bags. I stuck in candy and dino toys. The boys stamped all the bags ahead of time for a craft time.

Just like Nick Jr. Dino Dan, we printed out stickers and put them on regular sprial notebooks so each child took home a field guide to explore with.

I LOVE Bingo. So every year I make the bingo cards. This year I ran out of labels so some of the girls wrote in the names on the rest of the cards. The call out cards have now become flash cards for the boys to learn from.

I used my cricut to cut out the felt vinyl for her shirt and puffy painted the edges and the year on it. Then I used the tie&knot version for her tutu. I bought all the tulle from Hobby Lobby.

A nice big Dinosaur for them to beat.

They always get their own cake to blow the candles out on, and a different cake for the other kids. We used cupcakes this year to make it easier.

We had dinosaur prints leading to the house and used some more footprints for the musical dino stomp (our version of musical chairs)

Every child got to take home Dinosaur eggs.

And we had cute decorations like this one. My kids had a blast! They keep asking for another dinosaur party. My mom made caveman outfits for them, but they didn't end up wearing them, so at least I already have Halloween costumes ;)

Hubby's Secret Mission

So my husband was able to take leave before he left the country. Yay!

When he comes into town its like bugs to a light. Every one swarms him and tries to get some time with him and the kids have to fight for attention during the parties. So this time I recieved a phone call with instructions.

"I am coming home to visit the kids. Don't tell anyone! I don't want anyone to know I'm coming home so I can have some quality time with my kids."

"but what happens if we end up pregnant?" (We have been trying since my brothers wedding in september to try to conceive another girl, so that Boo can have a sister.)

"Ok, good point. Fine. Tell my dad and your mom. AND NO ONE ELSE!"

OKay.

So hubby came home and spent 4 days with the children. He built forts, ate popcorn, watched Disney movies, played dolls and dinosaurs, and filled up their brains with wonderful memories. He was even able to get in one last Glowstick Hide & Seek before he left.



This time though, I didn't take the kids to tell him goodbye. I left my mom babysitting and dropped my hubby off at the gate.

We both decided earlier that we couldn't handle a heart felt goodbye this time in public.

A sand box

So we have wanted to put a sandbox at my house. We couldn't find a cute one at the store that would give all three kids room to do their own thing. So we've been going over different building and painting ideas for how to make one ourselves. My mom brought over some wood and I spray painted them green. Then on another day she came over and we started to paint them.

 

I didn't do the greatest free hand bugs, but I tried.

I tried helping my mom do her dinosaur side by cutting out a cricut cartridge.

We double painted some so they had different colors.

I think it came out super cute. I didn't get a picture of the other 2 sides, but maybe when we finally put it together and put sand in it, I will post about it again.

 

Hiatus

Yes, I've taken a long hiatus. After the hubby left, things got crazy. I kept up the spanish day with GG until my kids jumped on her and hurt her nose. Then we started making our visits spaced out. The boys had their birthday in Feb and because they were close together, we usually throw one big party.  But I have a ton of crafts and stuff to update on. So here we go!

January 13, 2012 - Special boxes

Last summer as a project, my son picked out a wooden box and I helped him paint it light blue. He carries it every where, shows me his "secret toys", and hides it under his bed when its time to sleep. He keeps his favorite cars in there so his brother can't take them. This last week, the other two have been carrying and playing with his box much to his frustration. So, to stop the fighting and tears, I bought them their own.

This is the original box. Unpainted.

It has a small latch.

For my daughter I painted hers pink inside and out.

My oldest wanted his inside painted too. (Apparently we only painted the outside.) So I helped him add in his and Nana's favorite color.

I am just now realizing that I never took photos of my other son's box. It's dark blue out and green in. But the little rascal has hidden it and wont tell me where. ;)