Silly School Stuff

Yesterday I worked in the morning, so I worked with my sweet T instead of working with the other kids in the afternoon. My teacher and I came up with a good activity to do that afternoon. This is the cloud project. =)

Today we made some caterpillars. They are pretty cute. Especially the antenna. They are the waxed covered pipe cleaners.
Then I decided to talk about shadows. Hey it was a beautiful day and we needed to get OUTSIDE! I told one of the kids to sit in the middle of the classroom and used streamers to show how light travels in straight lines. Then explained that whichever way the sun is our shadow will be on the opposite side. Then we went outside and traced their shadows. Fun.

Samantha at the Dentist

Sam had one more cavity to fill. It was quick and wasn't too bad. I love having my Sister-in-laws Dad be our dentist. He is so good with my kids and does such a fantastic job!

Jason and the O.T.

Today was the O.T. Evaluation. He was pretty good this morning. We talked about all our concerns with Jason. And how we want to help him learn to cope with being frustrated. As well as simple, yet not simple, things such as potty training and getting him off his bottle.

We were in this room for our discussion. Jason ended up with a swing in the middle. He enjoyed that.

Then he sat on the bench and watch the ipad for a while.
We went down to the gym and let him have free reign. This is where he spent most of his time. I will have to invest in a ball pit.

Jr. High

REALLY? I'm not ready! I'm not ready! I'm not ready!!!

Ok, having said that. We had Duncans' Jr. High orientation last night. We dropped the kids off at my parents house and then drove over and spent a good hour and a half with Duncan.

The boy struts!!! I had to laugh every time he was with the group. He's going to do just fine.
We had a little show about the extra curricular activities in the gym. Nice!
He even looks right in the Jr. High desks. Sad isn't it?

Silly School Stuff

Today we talked about the water cycle. We actually watched Blue's Clues because they have an episode that very CLEARLY shows it. Since my kids all like shows like Blue's Clues I figured it would work.

This was the little hand out I drew for them to bring home.

Then we did some name caterpillars. We just printed each letter of their names on a circle. My kids love to glue. =)

Spring

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa Siddoways. Thank goodness its warm enough.

FHE

Tonight for Family Home Evening we watched the Sorcerer's Apprentice. SO worth the watch!!!! I would buy this one for our collection it was that entertaining. At least it was for my family. =)

Class Pictures!! LOL!!!

Oh my word! I dropped Jason off at the school today and learned it was class picture day. Apparently the teacher forgot to tell everyone. Jason was....well.....Jason. I decided to tag along and take some awesome pictures!!!! =)

I'm just glad he's got teachers that are tough enough to put up with him.

Gym Fun

On Saturday there was a nutritionist at the Gym. We decided to go and check out some of her recipes.

Our trainer had put the tractor tires and punching bags up in a bit of a play land for the kids. Jason LOVES tractor tires. I am seriously going to get some for my back yard!!!!

Young Men

I can't believe that Duncan is in Young Men. Sigh!

Last week they went to the temple and did Baptisms for the Dead. He said he felt so peaceful and it was such a good experience. If I ever get him to settle down I'll have him do a blog post on it.

Then of course yesterday was the first time he passed the sacrament. He was so nervous and excited at the same time! I wanted to get there early, and get the full experience of being a Deacon. The whole time he was biting his cheeks as if to keep himself from smiling. When it was all finished he sat down next to his Dad, and whispered, "I passed the Sacrament." Brett smiled gave him five and that was that. =)

Tori and i got pedi's tonight. She was so excited to go for the first time. She is such a good helper with jason, i wanted to reward her.

Today's projects

Last night I was looking online for ideas to do with my class. I found a bunch of suggestions for Spring. So I brought a tub of soil, and we planted some grass seed. It was suggested that you let the kids use scissors to "Mow the Lawn". I figured since most of my kids are unable to cut with scissors it's a good fine motor skill project as well.

Then we talked about the rain and the clouds. I had them sponge paint a paper gray, and then they brushed a lot of glue onto another one. I then put glitter on the glue, and waited for them to dry. Then cut them out. This is the end project. Kind of fun.


Then of course there is my songs. I've been recording a bunch of songs on my kids ipods. I play the piano and sing and then we listen to them at school. My kids LOVE music, and could listen to singing all day. Here's a lovely clip of the songs about spring. Don't listen unless you want to hear my awful piano playing. I just thought I'd share if anyone was interested.

Something has changed

Jason has been a little goofy the last couple of days. He will not go into mine or my parents back yard alone. I think my little man who has no fear has begun to be afraid. He is afraid of the train, and the big dog in my parents neighbors yard. hmmmm..........different

Crazy schedule

Today was very hard. This morning started out with me having to convince my children that they really did need to get ready for school. They really did need to brush their hair. They really did need to get their shoes on. Some mornings just don't cooperate! I had to work this morning, and Jason did better last time grandma and grandpa picked him up from my class room, to take him to preschool. We did this again, but this time Jason wanted to stay outside. So that was the second struggle of the day. School was school. I'm supposed to be working with my two students who need a signer, but there ability levels are so different it's hard to figure out how to work with them both. I'm trying to devise a plan on how to incorporate both of their needs into one set lesson. Primary children's north called me to set up appointments and just happened to have a cancelations for today. So that added another thing to the schedule. As described below, it was awful!!! Tori had achievement days at the same time. Thankfully my friend Kelli picked her up or I wouid have been late for the appointment. At five Duncan had soccer practice. Thank goodness the in-laws let us borrow the truck, because Duncan would of been late for that. Brett also was able to attend the practice, which I'm sure the other coach appreciated. We had been asked to speak at a cub scouts about compassion, that again Jason was really bad. My sweet mother-in-law choked up when speaking of jasons disabilities. It was hard to follow her. Then Duncan had to be to young men's at seven. Thank goodness once again Brett was home, Duncan would have been late there as well. I got home and crashed. I about cried myself. Too much for one day. I don't know why Jason was so naughty today. I just hope he doesn't get sick.......sigh.

Speech Therapy Evaluation

Oh My WORD!!!! That was AWFUL!

Ok, well it was more like Jason was AWFUL!

This was Jason at his worst. He even threw a fit and tried to hit me when I said no. You should have seen the look on the speech therapists face. It was, "What am I getting myself into????"

Basically it was the basic speech evaluation, which is close to none right now. She played with Jason long enough for me to fill out the paper work, but as soon as I was done she jumped up and really look flabbergasted. I told her this would be the perfect time for the O.T. to see him. She looked relieved and said, "Oh........you have another evaluation with the O.T.? That would be a REALLY good idea."

I had to snap pictures every once in a while because if I didn't find it funny I would have pulled my hair out.

Jason fell in the garbage can....??????

Finally I told Samantha she could watch a movie on the IPad if Jason would watch it too.
If we are doing this once a week, Samantha is going to need to stay home. =)

Silly School Stuff

This was yesterdays afternoon activity. And of course this is my LOVELY rendition of what I tried to teach the kids. I had them color it so that their parents have some idea of what we are trying to teach the kids at school.

I drew the trees on the board and then had equations to put on the Equal or the Not Equal tree. I explained using the monkey as a scale, that if there is one banana on one side we need to have one banana on the other side to be equal, or the same. I think one of my kids got it. As the numbers got to big, he got confused. So that was where we stopped. It was kind of fun.

Diagnosis at last

Well today was the day. I dropped the kids off at my Mother's house and then picked Brett up from work. We drove up to the U of U and were advised that Jason is Autistic. =)

Yes I know, we've know for a VERY long time, but we wanted to finally get the official diagnosis. I kind of thought I would be a little upset. However, I wasn't.

He's Autistic. We've known that for some time. Getting a diagnosis changes nothing as far as who my son is.

The next step will be to see if we can qualify for Social Security Income. That would be very helpful in the event that we can get Jason to wear a loaner hearing aid. Of course it would also help with the many medical bills that Jason seems to pile up.

Keep your fingers crossed for us. I've heard that SSI can be a real bear!

Today's Boot Camp

I finished again!!! And I almost finished TWICE!!!

30 crunches

40 bicycle crunches

15 leg lifts

40 Round House Kicks

40 TRX Reverse Switch Lunges

50 BoSu Switch Foot

30 Jumping Ball Squats

40 One Arm Snatch Press

Block Run

30 Band Squat Press

100 Dumbbell Punches

I made it through this once, and then when I got to the block run on the second time I didn't have time to go around the block again. So that was substituted with 8 laps of the gym, side steps, front run, back run, and grapevines.

Then I got to the last and only got 30 dumbbell punches in. Not a bad days work!

Aaronic Priesthood

My sweet baby boy was given the Aaronic Priesthood today. I can't believe he's twelve. He was called up in front of the ward to let everyone know that he would get the priesthood today and then they had him sit down. Brett sent him back up to ask the Bishop if he should have been sustained. The Bishop shook his head no so we thought maybe protocol had changed. However in Relief Society and Priesthood the Bishop and his Counselors ran around to all the classes and asked for a sustaining vote. Someone stopped Duncan in the hall and told him the whole ward would remember the day he received the Priesthood because it was a little unusual.

Brett gave the blessing, and there was a whole crew of men to support my baby. Grandpa Child, Grandpa Siddoway, Gary Sharp (Brett's Cousin), Bishop Robertson, Scott Cline, Keith West, and John Peterson. I love these men and am grateful for the example they are in my sons life.

Brett blessed Duncan with the ability to remain a good kid, (not exactly his words). I'm grateful for my husband and his worthiness to use his Priesthood. It sure makes this Mom feel a lot better.

After the blessing Duncan turned around to give his Dad a hug, and my sweet boy had tears streaming down his face. He is such a GREAT KID!

I had to take pictures!!! Grandma and Grandpa Child, Duncan, Grandma and Grandpa Siddoway. They are such a HUGE support.

Had to get pictures of my sweet family.
Duncan's best friend who was able to be there because he is the Deacons Quorum President.
Bishop Robertson. He's such a sweet guy, and put up with a crazy Mom who needed to take pictures of everything.
Then we celebrated Birthday's at Grandma and Grandpa Siddoways. Duncan, Grandpa, and Alaric. Alaric wasn't as excited to blow out the candles as these two were.
Then we celebrated Duncan's Birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Child's house. Brett made the cake from scratch and it was absolutely divine!!!
All in all a pretty good day!

Duncan's Orchestra Concert

My lovely Father-in-law uploaded these for me!! Thanks Dick!!!

Saint Patrick's Day

In the middle of Sam getting her tooth drilled I realized it was St. Patrick's day and I needed to have a craft ready. I didn't have time to look online or go to the store, so I quickly devised a plan. I had seen something similar to this online, but it used a plastic cauldron and then put chocolate coins inside. I figured my kids could dip cotton balls in orange paint. So, here you go.

Playing outside

Yay!!!! It's almost warm enough. The kids wanted outside anyway.

Duncan is twelve

Twelve years ago today; was the beginning of my adventures in Motherhood. We were scheduled to be induced, and we drove out to the hospital. Of course I was terrified but so excited to finally meet my little man. I had decided I was going to give birth naturally, but I had not even known about the awful affects of pitocin. I think I had reached a 7 when I finally decided to have the epidural. It felt like forever before the anesthesiologist showed up. As soon as I turned on my side I thought I was going to die. About 10 minutes after the anesthesiologist left, I called the nurse in and begged her to check me because I was still in a ton of pain, and i felt a ton of pressure. Of course being a first time mother and the fact that I was only 3.5 hours into labor I had to Beg the nurse. The look on her face was priceless when she discovered I was truly ready to have that baby. She called my doctor and he told her to have me push once and see how far I got. I pushed once and then the nurse paled a little. She told me NOT to push and she'd call the doctor. Apparently Duncan was ready because he crowned the first push. The doctor told her to give me some more medicine so I was completely numb and he was on his way. The longest part of labor was waiting for my doc. 3 pushes and the sweet baby was here. He was 7 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long.

He was surrounded by family within minutes. Mine and Bretts. The thing i remember about Duncan was hw had a huge cone head. His head is gargantuan, and his hands and feet were huge. He was perfect.

They had my husband take him to have a bath and I fell asleep I woke up when Bretts best friend showed up 3 hours later and my baby still wasn't back. I sent him to find out what was going on. He was just barely helping bathe him. Apparently the nurse thought they heard a murmur and were freaked out. It took forever for them to find the NICU cardiologist. He listened rolled his eyes and advised them he was fine.

We were able to bring my sweet baby home two days later and we've loved him to pieces ever since. Love you Duncan!!!!

Bad Tooth Week

This has been an awful dental week for the Lutz family. Samantha and I had a dentist appointment today, and I thought we were in for a quick fix type a deal.

I was first. He didn't even have to numb me. One of my fillings was just pulling up so he drilled it out a little and refilled it. Easy as Pie.

Then Samantha. John was AWESOME and she didn't even flinch when getting her mouth numbed. He starts out by telling me the one tooth is broken more then having a cavity. So he would start there and see how long it took.

Samantha required a Pulpotomy. This is the cheaper, easier version of a root canal. Our dentist is my brothers Father-in-Law so he was awesome and took some good pictures of her tooth for me. Considering everything that Samantha had to go through she was quite the trooper.

Before the filling

After the filling.

Birthday Party

My nieces had their Birthday party yesterday. My girls had so much fun! Duncan was banned to the play room, because it was a Princess party and my sister thought that Duncan would start laughing at how over the top it was.

Maren was so excited!!
Taylor was such a sweet little thing.
Tori was the "Helper" because she was so much older then the rest of the kids, but she was very excited.
Samantha loved her Tiara.
This is Princess Amerah. Way over the top, but PERFECT for a little girls birthday party.
I couldn't keep Jason upstairs, or with pants on. This is what he did almost the whole time.
Dancing, curtsying, the girls enjoyed every minute of it.

Once again, Jason trying to pop the balloon.
Samantha thinks she's funny.
This is what Duncan did the whole time. I don't think he was very disappointed at being un-invited to the party.

Cake! I couldn't keep Jason's fingers out of the pink frosting.

Crowns and everything. It was definitely a good time.
Thanks Leslie, the kids had a ball!! Happy Birthday Taylor and Maren!