Opening Day

Opening Day has become somewhat of a holiday in our house.  Jon always takes the day off of work so he can catch the first pitch of the Cubs game.  He also enjoys the same meal....nachos!  Today was no different.  Jonathan came home early to watch the game, which started at 12:05 and he enjoyed nachos during the first inning.  The great thing is the kids were all at school so I could actually sit and watch with him this year.  The Cubs ended up losing 1-0 in the 10th, but it was still a good day to enjoy baseball!

What's This I See

Sunday's are typically pretty laid back at our house.  Church and then relaxing.  This morning we didn't make it to church :(....but I did wake up to Jonathan cleaning the house.  He had picked up the living room, cleaned the kitchen, and was starting to vacuum.  I just love him!

Movie Night

Jon has been really wanting to rent a movie lately, and I have either not wanted to or we have had something else that kept us from being able to.  Tonight was wide open, so I told Jon that we could rent whatever movie he wanted.  He settled on 2 Guns.  It was okay...not my favorite...and not Jon's favorite either, but it was one we had both wanted to see...and now we have.

Spring has Sprung

I was so excited to look out the window today and see little patches of green in our front yard!  They are day lilies, and I am so excited to watch them grow this year!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Tonight Matthias started flag football.  It was very cold and very windy, but we all made our way out to the field to watch.  Justus, Charley and I ended up leaving to head to Community Group.  Jon decided to take Matthias out for some Daddy time.  They went to Chili's to get dinner and then got to hang out until the rest of us got home.

Hanging with Baby Theo

Tomorrow is one of my friend's birthday, and her husband decided to surprise her by taking the day off and taking her out for the day.  That meant that I got to watch Baby Theo!  He is such a sweetie, and Charley loves to help me take care of him.  She also gets a little jealous at times, but overall loves having him over.  It was fun taking care of him, and also giving our friends time to themselves to enjoy the city.

Science Experiment

Last night while doing Justus' reading homework, which was about plants, there was a little experiment that involved colored water and a celery stalk.  Justus was really excited to try it to find out what would happen, and since he was so excited about it there way no way we couldn't do it.  Thankfully I already had everything we needed so that made it easier.  So before bed we put the celery in some blue water...and when we got up this morning the leaves were turning blue.  Justus wasn't too impressed, but I'm glad that he was excited about it.

In other Justus news, today we had his consultation with the school in St. Louis.  It went really well.  I had to fill out some evaluations and am sending some to school for his teacher tomorrow.  She said her initial concern was Justus' lack of communication and language skills....something I have also been concerned about.  She recommended another evaluation to see what was going on in that area, but said we should wait until we get the results from this evaluation in case something showed up in this one.  Now we are just waiting until Justus' teacher sends in her forms and the school can look over and evaluate his situation.  I am so thankful to have started the process and am looking forward to meeting with the school in a couple weeks.

Back to School

This morning it was back to school for the kids!  I was ready after most of their Spring Break was spent in the house since it was too cool to go out and do much.  I think the kids were pretty excited to go back to school and see their friends.

Lazy Day

Sundays are pretty low key in our house.  We get up and go to church, but once we get home we are pretty much done for the day.  The kids played with Legos, had rest time, and then wrestled with Daddy, which is one of their favorite activities.

The Circus

This morning some of our friends called and said they were going to the Moolah Circus and it was being held at the arena that is just a few miles from our house.  We decided to join them since we have been trying to go out and do/see something every other weekend with the kids.  It was a pretty good show...although Justus got bored.  Jon ended up leaving at intermission with Justus and Charley while I stayed with Matthias and our friends.  Matthias loved it!  Afterwards we went out to dinner at Pizza Street, which is a pizza buffet.  I ate way too much, but we all had a great day!

Final Day of Spring Break

For our last day of Spring Break it finally warmed up!  I decided to take the kids to lunch at McDonald's and in the afternoon we took their scooters and headed to one of the local parks.  They had fun riding on the paths and playing on the playground.  I think overall we had a great Spring Break.  We didn't go anywhere or do anything too exciting, but they each got a couple of treats and we were able to do a few special things.

Happy First Day of Spring

This morning we had a little play date with some of our friends.  We went to one of the local parks.  It was so great to get out of the house.  The kids were excited to have some friends to play with, and I was excited to have an adult to talk to.  It was a little cool this morning, but it has turned into a beautiful day!  After rest time I sent the kids in the backyard to soak up some sun.  They are now riding their bikes/scooters in the driveway.  This evening I get to enjoy a Girls' Night with our community group ladies.  I am excited to have a little time to do something fun.  Happy first day of Spring!

Daily Excitement

Today I have been waiting not so patiently for Miriam School to call me to set up Justus' diagnostic appointment.  I waited most of the day and then called them.  Yes...I am totally that person.  They are still trying to figure out a date/time.  Hopefully we will hear from them soon.

The exciting part of the day was the kids finding a box of glow bracelets.  They entertained themselves for most of the morning with them.  It's the small things in life.  Tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be warm and I am looking forward to some time outside.

A Year Later

So it has been almost a year since my last post.  Yikes!  But I need to start recording some of our family fun, so here I am.  I won't even try to play catch-up.  This week has been filled with lots of craziness.  The kids are on Spring Break, which is fun for them and kind of exhausting for me.  I am trying to make it fun, so they have gotten a few treats including some new Lego Minifigures, a new video game, and a new movie.  I think they have enjoyed the sporadic surprises.

One of the main reasons I want to start writing out some of the stuff that is going on is because I feel like big changes are coming.  (1) Charley is starting Kindergarten next year. (2) I will be going back to work part-time in the fall. (3) We are in the process of getting Justus diagnosed with Asperger's.

Charley starts Kindergarten in the fall!  It is a bittersweet feeling.  She has been my little buddy while the boys have been at school the past couple years.  It's a little harder sending her off to school than the boys...I think because she is a girl and the baby and because I have spent the most one-on-one time with her.  She is so ready for school though, and I am excited for her to make new friends and learn new things.  We registered her for school last week, and will find out who her teacher will be soon.

Charley starting school brings another big change with it.  I will be returning to the workforce...eek!  I know that I worked at Target part-time a couple of years ago, but this feels totally different.  I feel so unprepared and a bit lacking to go back to work.  We are still trying to figure out what kind of job will work best for us, but I am hoping to get a job in the school district or something that would allow me to be home in the summer with the kids.  I filled out my first application on Sunday night.  It was done through tears as I struggle with filling it out.  I felt inadequate as I tried to update my resume and write a letter of interest.  It was way more difficult than I thought it would be.  I have been out of a professional setting for almost 7 1/2, and I do not feel ready to return to it.

Throughout the school year we have noticed some major struggles for Justus.  We have had many discussions with Justus' teacher regarding his behavior at school.  At the beginning of the school year we realized that he was really struggling with focus and transitioning from one activity to the next.  After talking with his teacher we decided to get him evaluated for ADHD.  It was an eye-opening experience as we had to fill out a survey and asked his teacher to do the same.  We never realized how much Justus struggled with focus and attention until we had his teacher fill out her survey.  It was kind of a shock to read her report.  We hoped that once he was diagnosed with ADHD that all of Justus' struggles would magically go away.  Well....they didn't.  A lot of his struggles with focus and attention became better, only to reveal other struggles.  We began to notice that he was struggling with social interactions and that he really struggled with changes in the normal routine at school. During this time we started watching the television program Parenthood.  In the show one of the characters in diagnosed with Asperger's and we really saw a lot of similarities between this character and Justus, so we started doing a little research on Asperger's and decided to talk to Justus pediatrician.  We then decided to take Justus to a counselor, since the pediatrician could not diagnose Justus with anything like autism/Asperger's.  We saw a counselor for a few weeks and took the GADS survey, which is an initial test to see if Justus displayed enough symptoms of Asperger's to get him officially tested/diagnosed.  (We are finding out that it is a long process, and expensive to get diagnosed.)  The results from the survey put Justus in the "highly probable" range for having Asperger's.  Today has been spent calling different organizations and schools to see what our next step should be.  We found a school in St. Louis where we are going to get Justus officially tested for Asperger's, among other things.  They will do an evaluation to determine what exactly is going on with Justus.  Now we are just waiting, but I am glad that we are starting to figure some stuff out.