Teacher Birthday

Previously, I may have mentioned I do not have any creativity…HOWEVER, it appears I may have a little, tiny bit.
When Cadence said to me, ‘Mom, I’m so sad, I didn’t give Mrs. W a b/day gift or card’, I replied w/’ohhh..when was her b/day?’.  She informs me, ‘Oh – it’s tomorrow.’
This was at 9 pm.  Grrrr…I didn’t know what to get her, I had used all the quick and easy stuff on teacher appreciation week.
We went to Walmart the next morning at 7 am, walking the craft aisles, easy gift aisles, etc looking for something quick and easy.
Then I saw the small wooden letters…since blue is her favorite, I quickly found the blue paint…and some cute ribbon…and next to the ribbon were adorable buttons..
I took it to work to get it done on my lunch.  First I spray painted the W blue.  Then I took an old pencil and put white polka-dots on it…I attached the cute ribbon after it was all dry – super glued the adorable daisy buttons and the end result:


The best part – I can say this was alll me!! 

Teacher Appreciation Week - Thursday

When I found this one on Pinterest, I loved it b/c it was simple and cute..turns out the class was having rootbeer floats on Fri as a treat after their zoo trip...so guess my gift choice was meant to be! And since giving a 6 pk of mini-pop would be weird, I added a bag of m&m's.

Mrs. W, thanks for being an 'AW'some teacher! Love, Cadence

 

 

Bryleigh only attends school 4 days a week, for less then 3 hrs a day.  I still appreciate all she does, ESPECIALLY since she's working w/a class of special needs kids.  I wanted to get her something, so Bryleigh gave her a basket of goodies on 1 day.  4 bags of candy, an insulated cup & the basket it came in..

Mrs. L, Thanks for being so sweet!  Love, Bryleigh

Teacher Appreciation Week - Wednesday

What goes better w/soup then crackers?  Personally, I'm diggin the purple bow from the Dollar Tree.

Mrs. W, you're o'fish'ally the best!  Love, Cadence

Teacher Appreciation Week - Tuesday

This is my favorite gift of the week!  I just think it's so cute...I really wish this was something I had come up with on my own - but again..not that creative!

Mrs. W, Thanks for being 'SOUP'er!  Love, Cadence

Teacher Appreciation Week - Monday

I wish I were more creative and could think of amazing & awesome ideas on my own..

Thankfully, since I cannot, I can turn to Pinterest!  I swear, what did un-creative...increative (?) people do before the internet?

My open letter to Pinterest would go like this:

Dear Pinterest, thank you for making me look awesome!  Sincerely, a mom with no creativity



Mrs. W, Thank you for helping me bloom... Love, Cadence

 

Holy 1st Communion

Why is it, on important days…ones that are planned, SOMETHING always goes awry? Sometimes I think I just have bad luck. Other times, I feel like God is testing me. Most times, I don’t really care why it wrong, I’m just pissed that it did.

Cadence’s 1st Communion was one of them. Dennis notified his DM that he HAD to be home on 5/5 because it was his daughters 1st Communion. His DM ran him into Laredo, TX earlier that week – but swore to him that he would be home in time. He was supposed to be home the night before, but as my life goes, he was not. Nor was he home first thing that morning. Or later that afternoon. He finally arrived that evening, long after the ceremony and even after the party.

I asked for advice from Mom’s w/kiddo’s that had already received the Sacrament. The #1 thing was to get her hair done professionally. I immediately asked my cousin to do Cadence’s hair. Since it was 3 mos early, I was proud of myself for actually having something arranged long before I needed it. That rarely happens for me.

Two weeks before Communion, my cousin calls me to inform me that she’s decided to go to Columbus w/my Aunt for my other cousins daughters pageant and do her hair. BUT she lined up one of her best friend’s to do Cai’s hair, and since she was the one that taught her everything she knows, we were in good hands.

Ok, I said, though, honestly, I was hurt. I asked months prior to have my cousin do it. Cadence is shy and awkward and I wanted to make sure she wasn’t acting like that when someone was doing her hair.

I get this was her niece in the pageant and that technically Cadence is just a 1st cousin once removed, but growing up the way we did, I guess I always considered our kids/their kids, more than a cousin once removed.

And I know they’re not Catholic so they don’t get how important this day is for a child who is, but that didn’t make the hurt feelings any less.

I appreciated that she lined someone else up for us, but the pageant wasn’t a mandatory event for my cousin to go to…but again..Cai’s not ‘real’ family..

While my hurt feelings were just that, when my emails/mesgs to her bf weren’t returned about when/where to meet to get Cai’s hair done, I was furious. First her bf had said she’d do it, 2nd, I shouldn’t be relying on her bf, I asked MY family and clearly I wasn’t important enough for her to skip one weekend or even come home early.

Maybe it was dumb, it was just getting her hair done, but when I asked that question, I rec’d at least 5 texts telling me ‘I wish I had gotten ___’s hair done professionally’ and so I made sure that was one of the first things I lined up. I actually think I had that figured out before Cai even had a dress!

When I realized my cousin's friend wasn’t going to be doing it, I raced to the salon. First, I didn’t have the $ to get it done, but I was hoping maybe it would be cheaper b/c her hair isn’t that long – no, apparently, it’s not. Second, it was a 45 min wait. Cai had to be at the Church in 50 mins for pics. Clearly getting her hair done – not happening.

I raced home, did what I could w/no knowledge and it fell out before the ceremony started.

On the WAY to Church, I got pulled over b/c I turned left into the right lane. But really, it was b/c after I passed him, he saw my black passenger. It’s good to know racial profiling is still alive and well.  That may sound harsh, but it's true.  Jaiden told me later that night, 'the 2 years i've lived in Toledo, the only 2 times I've been treated badly was out here (we live in a suburb of Toledo)'.  Once when we got pulled over & once at Cai's school.  Ouch.

He was a jerk. He came to the passenger side, though, she wasn’t the one driving. I handed him my license and he told me why he pulled me over. He asked me who the car was registered too, I told him, he asked how I knew him, I said it was my husband. He looked at my license and asked if I still lived at that address (which is where I had just turned from)…then he said, is your license ok? I said, yes…he said, you’re not lying to me are you? umm…WHAT?! Seriously, what?  I get people lie, but quit being so judgemental and realize, some people are actually honest..

Look, I’ll be one of the first people to say a lot of cops get bad press and aren’t really as bad as people say, my aunt & uncle are both retired officers, I used to work at the police dept for 2 yrs while in college…but sometimes, they are. And he was one of them.

While he was waiting for the license check, he said, so we’re pulling people over to check the licenses and to make sure they’re buckled. Hmmm…you said you pulled me over b/c of my turn. Let’s cut to the chase…Jaiden is black, I get it.

He asked where we were heading…not that I understand why this is any of his business, but I replied to my daughters 1st Communion and he said oh who, looking into the van – Cai raised her hand and said, me…

He told her she looked beautiful and good luck.

When my license came back clean, he told me to be careful of how I turn.

Suck.It.

Once at the Church, it didn’t get any better. It was hot and we were running late and Dennis wasn’t there and I had to do everything by myself and Cai was the only child in her class only walking w/one parent.

During the procession and during the whole ceremony, Cadence continually searched the back of the Church just incase Dennis walked in. Broke my heart.

After the ceremony and pictures, we raced to my aunts house for her party. She had a great time and I was happy once it was done. I was sooo tired and I just wanted to crawl into bed. Dennis got home shortly after I was done cleaning up, so we went and picked him up. Cadence was so happy to see him, it had probably been close to 3 wks since had been home.

At the end of the day, when I look at these pictures, it was a beautiful day. Do I wish Dennis was there, of course, do I wish her hair had been done, yep…but she received an important sacrament, so I will not let those setbacks overshadow what she celebrated.

“May you always feel as close to Jesus as you do today. May you always count on Him to gently guide you
on your way. May you always trust in God to answer every single prayer. May you always feel Him blessing you with tender, loving care.”




a bit of organized chaos

Receiving her Communion
"With all the strength of my soul I urge you young people to approach the Communion table as often as you can. Feed on this bread of angels whence you will draw all the energy you need to fight inner battles. Because true happiness, dear friends, does not consist in the pleasures of the world or in earthly things, but in peace of conscience, which we have only if we are pure in heart and mind."

--Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

 

Right after receiving Communion...she knows she's blessed

 Josh, Liz & Cadence

Bry, Chai, Colin, Tae

Cadence & the Priest

I love my girls!!

Our gift to Cadence was an outfit for her AG doll...her hair was actually done, but Bryleigh played with it during the service.

Probably my most favorite picture of the day!

Disabilities

It's taken me a long time to be able to sit down and right this post.  It's so hard to hear how bad your child's learning disability is...especially when you are in denial.
I mentioned here that we knew she had some learning disabilities, but even though her teacher told me she was a grade behind - I was still hurt and sad when I listened to the full report from a therapist that administered a a 4 hr diagnostic testing. 

I wanted to cry, tell them they were wrong..that MY child couldn't have reading issues.  We've read to her since she was an infant..before she was born...that her dad & I LOVE to read and no way could we have a child that would have an issue reading. 
After I listened to them and let the information sink it, I went from sad to mad.  I was mad b/c I worked with her..I spent hour upon hour reading with her...writing until the pencils were dull...and yet it was like not a moment of that mattered.  I couldn't place my anger..was I mad at her?  How unfair and what kind of mom would be mad at their child?  Was I mad at God because I have an amazing daughter and she doesn't deserve to have to struggle with something like learning?  Was I mad at myself because this somehow must be my fault??  Should I have read the night we skipped because I was so tired?  Was it somehow related to have a leg full of dvt's early in my pregnancy? Was it because I received morphine while I was pregnant with her?  Was it because they did TWO x-rays while I was pregnant?  I didn't want them to, but my dr. had to figure out what was wrong with me and why I was in so much pain (turns out - I have 3 kidneys and she was backing one up...worst pain ever!  Even worse then delivery!)...Was it Dennis' fault?  He struggled in school and his brother is learning disabled...is it genetic??

A lot of praying, yelling and crying later and I finally came to terms with her being learning disabled.  And it's not just reading, it's math and money and science. 

But to prove God loved my child, that God knows she is smart in her own way and that she just Learns Differently, she loves her Religion class and excels at it.
That actually brings a lot of peace to this momma's hurt heart.

So began my google journey on learning disabilities - narrowed to reading.  Quite a few pages said children entering school w/slight dyslexia (which she was also diagnosed with) would probably adjust quickly after being in school a short time and most of their problems will reverse.  However, children from poorer homes, who ususally weren't read too and weren't around books will struggle longer, if not forever.   I was mad b/c Cai wasn't adjusting quickly and they are lumping all the kids in one of those two groups.  So if she's not the mild dyslexic that reverses shortly after starting school, I 'read' that she was one of these other kids who will always struggle.  Every child's disability is unique and it's not fair to write it that way.  Especially when a mom is researching b/c she was just told her child has a learning disability.  Nice way to make you feel like shit.

She had her testing at one of the local universities b/c our insurance doesn't cover it.  Of course.  If you EVER need to have your child (ren) tested for learning disabilities, speech problems, etc - check with your local university.  It is MUCH much cheaper than Sylvan or other private institutes.
They suggested bringing her in for therapy once a week for an hour.  Because it was in the middle of a semester she only had 8 sessions.
Even thought it's only 20 mins from where we live, it's about 30-40 minutes from work.  The sessions were right after school and it's very difficult for me to get her there.  Thankfully, my mother-in-law and mom have been quite helpful taking her to therapy, which I appreciate more than I can show. 
She did well during the first session, the grad student she was working with was a bit apprehensive.  My opinion was that she wasn't very comfortable around kids...but she was very sweet.
After Cai finished the first session, they sent us her updated evaluation and suggested we bring her twice a week, for an hour each session.
I was able to schedule one on Fri's and since my mom is off on Fri's she takes her to those appts.  My mother-in-law and I split her Mon appts.  It's still stressful, but knowing this is helping her - well that means more than the stress!

As she finishes her 2nd session, I hope that there is a little (I mean, I'll take a sprinkle) of improvement. 

So now we wait for her school year to finish, which is just a few short weeks away.  Enjoy summer - with a shorter summer session to attend - and pray..a lot...that it all starts to 'click' for my girl..