Saturday September 10th

I woke up the morning and realized that the world was crazy!! Brett was at Bountiful Baskets, an every weekend kind of thing. He'd taken the van for obvious reasons. Duncan had been invited to go wake boarding with his buddy, and he advised me he needed a lunch. I jumped up and ran to the park to get the van and go get him a lunch. By the time I got home he had already left.

Samantha had been invited to two birthday parties. She was so excited she could hardly stand it. As soon as I got home she was telling me she needed to go get birthday presents. Since I wasn't 100% what time her parties were at I decided it was better to get them then to not. So we ran to the store and picked out some presents.

I thought the insanity was over when Tori advised us on the way out the door that she was seeing a weird spot. The way she described it really didn't sound like a "floater". She said when she moved her vision it stayed consistent in the same line of sight. Well not her words but that's how I took it.

I called the On-Call and advised him Dr. Bernstein was her doctor and she had Sticklers Syndrome. Two magic words and we were in to see the on-call at 1:00 pm.

We got there and of course had to wait to dilate her eyes.

Then she is the best patient and the world!! She is no trouble what so ever.The doctor said her retinas are flat and attached beautifully. He did however see some Lattice that is common in Sticklers patients. He said she was fine but needed to see Dr. Bernstein in the next couple of weeks.

Duncan then had a soccer game. Tori of course had to wear here awesome sunglasses!
The boys lost again. It was cold and windy, but they did have fun. Again we saw some good things happening.

Jason fell asleep! Something wasn't quite right with this picture.

Friday September 9th

This day started out on the sad side. Our friends Funeral was that morning. We dropped Jason off at the In-Laws and Brett, Duncan and I went to the church. We stood in line for the viewing. We just happened to sit next to the Stake President. He's a sweet man, but he just also happened to be the the Sunday before when I was a boobing mess!! When we got into the Relief Society room Duncan hunted out his buddy who was in the corner with a few of his friends who were playing on their iPhone. Duncan stole his Dad's phone so he didn't feel left out.

We of course hugged my sweet friend and her sweet daughter and made our way back to the chapel. I was asked to conduct the music so I had to sit up front. I asked my family to join me up front. I learned quickly that there is no way to not cry so just let it go. Besides most people don't pay attention to the chorister anyway....=)

Side note: Duncan's friend Curtis asked his older brother why he wasn't crying. He responded "Because I'm too entertained by watching Duncan boobing.." Ya the poor kid must take after his Mother.

Later that evening Duncan had his first soccer game of the season. They were slaughtered. You could see the boys slowly deflating. There were definitely some good things happening though.
I don't have to yell at Duncan to keep running quite as often as I used to.
The girls and Jason played on the play ground for just about the whole game. Towards the end we say Tori trying to drag Jason around the field. Grandpa Siddoway jogged around to pick him up. Once he got moving he continued moving.
After the game it was time for Family Movie Night. Duncan decided he didn't have to visit his old school so all the boys stayed home. Brett dropped us off and the girls and I had a ball.

Waiting in line for some dinner. Hot Dogs and chips.
Gotta have popcorn and snow cones.
My sweet girl. Well at least she can be sweet sometimes....
Tori and her friend. I love seeing her interact with her friends.
This is quite the fun night. What could be better then watching a movie outside.We walked home in the light of the moon. Quite a fun evening.

Past Due Posting

I can't believe September is so close to being over already. Seesh!!!! I started typing up this blog entry and it got put aside. So now I'm finishing it!

The 6th of September was a CRAZY day!!! I had an appointment to apply for SSI at 9:04am. It was really just feeling out the application in front of a Social Security worker. That was a shorter meeting than I anticipated, but it didn't free up my day any. I had to go to my training, which I anticipated being late for. After my training I had Jason's IEP. This was the longest IEP meeting I've had to date.

Jason's old teacher was there along with his new teacher. We went over his new goals and health plan. I think his new teacher is just that....a NEW teacher. She said she had worked in a school for kids with Autism before, but I think this is her first official post. She had originally started going to school to be an Occupational Therapist and changed her mind, to become a teacher. So that is something in her favor for working with Jason. I'm really excited to have Jason work with this Speech Therapist. She is very excited to use whatever means necessary to help him start communicating. She said she wants to use Sign Language, Speech, and PECS. Whatever will help him to communicate in anyway. She might be getting us a touch screen so he can use his teach town program at home more effectively. I'm hopeful for this year but am going to hold off on a complete judgment for a few months.

Duncan then had soccer practice. Since we are a one car family this day required us borrowing a vehicle. Thank goodness it was available!!! Brett and I dropped Jason and Samantha off at the In-Laws borrowed the truck, and then took Duncan to soccer practice and Tori went with him. She is starting Orchestra this year so she had her Orchestra Orientation that evening. So Brett got to bring Tori and Duncan over to the High School.

The reason that Brett had to do all that running around instead of splitting it up, was I got to sing in Relief Society that evening. I was supposed to put together a group but.....well there is an explanation on the video. I know I'm cheesy. I recorded myself singing. I figure most of the time this blog is about the kids so I've gotta throw me in there sometimes. By the time this day was over I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

September 26th

The only thing of note I can remember is I asked the girls Tori's age to sing in Relief Society for me. I had originally asked the Young Women, but they had the Stake there so they couldn't do it. My sweet friend Kim had the girls come and practice a little bit, but for the most part the girls sang it with very little practice. I brought Brett's computer and played the MP3 and the girls sang. We practice in the library about 6 times and then it was time for the meeting to start.

They really did a good job. I know the girls thought I was nuts, and they were nervous. But, their sweet little voices really added a lot to Sunday's lesson. Thank you GIRLS! I owe you cookies!!!

September 25th

The girls started swimming lessons on Saturday. I think we are officially done with Dance. Don't tell Tori that though, because she will change her mind. =)


We went to Mark Bello's baptism, and it was wonderful. It's always nice to feel the spirit when a knew member receives the Holy Ghost.

Duncan had another soccer game. The Ref was a little out of it, and I felt like he wasn't paying attention. Duncan played well, and I'm proud of the effort he has started putting into the game.

Jason completely crashed. I had him in my arms most of the game, but he woke up and wanted down. The grass didn't even phase him.
This is the angry crew. Not really angry, but these are the Dad's that get a little involved. I thought it was funny so had to snap the picture.

September 24th

On the 24th it was a little crazy!!! Brett is a Webmaster and they are revamping the whole website. So they hired a photographer and had a professional Photo shoot. They asked Brett for photo's of our kids and they wanted them to participate.

Samantha got to sit with this lovely "Grandma" and read to her and have her push her on a swing.
Most of the rest was Duncan and Tori. They got to sit at a picnic table and do "Homework".
The Make-up lady tucked Duncan's shirt in for him. He was quite embarrassed.
Then we went into a building and they had some "school time" photos taken. Brett was playing with the blocks just as much as the kids were.
They got to work on some "Art" for the pictures, so after the photo's were done and it was someone else's turn my kids sat down and had some more fun.
They had Duncan on one side of the couch and Tori on the other. Duncan had the computer, Tori had a book. Duncan being the computer wiz that he is found a game to play. So when they were done for a minute the girls wanted to see what he was doing. This is what my house looks like most of the time.
FREEDOM!!! The kids were just so happy, to finally get a chance to run through the fountains.

September 3rd

Jason had another evaluation today. One of the school counselors from the district is interested in following Autistic and Developmentally Delayed kids from preschool on. He seems very excited to try and figure out how to be more helpful. I'm excited to help in whatever way we can. So Jason got to go to the Early Learning Center again and play with some new friends. The counselor said they would meet with "The Team" that was working with Jason and let them know what their findings were. I was not involved really in any way so I just took video. It's quite long. =)

September 2nd

My Mom came down on Thursday and painted more of the girls mural. It's getting closer and closer to being complete. Tori said that when she is feeling a little scared at night she just turns toward the wall and looks at her picture and she starts to feel better.

My Mom is putting so much effort into the girls room, because Tori has a tendancy to look to the bad thing in life. So we want their room to be as happy as it possibly can be, so that they can have a beautiful retreat.

Gotta love the lady bug and butterfly.

September 1st

Duncan had Scouts with his new leader on Wednesday. I thought this was a good opportunity to get his new Merit Badge and his Scout badge sewn on. Looking pretty good.

August 30th

Sunday was pretty normal. We went to church it was the 5th Sunday so it was joint meeting. The topic was our ward missionary efforts. This is not something that I feel very comfortable with but we have the missionaries over all the time now and they seem to always be trying to get us to help with some family or another. I guess I need to be more open.

Then we went to my folks house. I'll admit I was a little ruff on my Dad. His patience levels hasn't been the best lately, and Jason needs people to have all the patience in the world. Can't wait for Grandma and Grandpa Siddoway to get home. Jason and Papa have quite the bond, and I look forward to seeing that grow.
Jason crashed. I don't know why but he was one tired kid.
My parents goofy dog. Gotta love Gus.

August 29th

I know I haven't posted in a week. I've been a little run down. I swear it always happens at the end of the month.

On the 29th, we went over to the school and Brett worked on Duncans fitness stuff for Scouts, Tori and I worked on the bar, and Samantha worked on crossing the bars. These are things that have been very important to the kids so we decided to take the time and see if we could help.







After Duncan finished his fitness test he watched Jason while we worked with the girls.



Then Duncan had a soccer game. The wind won the game more then the kids did, but Duncan's team did lose their first game. We'll see how things progress over the season.

This is my studly little man.

You can see how the wind was blowing, the boys would kick the ball and it would stop in mid flight.

Tori was my awesome babysitter as always. She really does a good job of watching Jason. At one point Tori had to use the bathroom, so she ran up to tell me Samantha was watching Jason. Well you know how well that would be, so I walked over to the playground to check on them. Samantha had tackled Jason and was trying to hold on to him, so he wouldn't go into the road. I love my girls!!!!




We stopped at Jason's Deli on the way home. The kids favorite part, FREE ICE CREAM.
Yes, he is eating the bottom of the cone first.

The beautiful sky as we drove home.

August 2nd

Jason slowly crashed watching the boys play Rock Band. It was even before the sun went down. This boy was worn out!!!!

Tori took this picture when we got home. She actually ran inside, and grabbed the camera. It was a pretty night!
This is really how Jason watched Rock Band half the time. He just sits, and enjoys the movement or music. Maybe both.