Christmas All Year Round

Well, it's time to start thinking about taking the Christmas tree down.

Isaac is objecting to any such talk.  He loves to watch the lights slowly fade from white to multicolored and back again.  Many nights during the Christmas season, he sneaks from his bed to enjoy this relaxing site during the dark and quiet of the night and falls asleep on the couch.  Part of me says that I should be more careful not to let him form bad habits.  The other part of me leaves the Christmas tree lights on all night to allow him this small pleasure.

December 2008

Isaac is a kiddo that enjoys Christmas all year round.  His teachers at school know that he'll be interested in any book that has a reindeer in it, whether it's December or May.

July 2008

When Isaac was four, he began asking me to watch the Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed-Reindeer video in June.  At the time, I was desperately trying to get him to understand that any language he attempted would be rewarded, so I dug through the Christmas boxes under the stairs.  I emerged dusty and smiling.  I handed him the video proudly and said, "See, you asked Mommy for Rudolph and you got it!"


Little did I know I was creating a monster.  I dug through the boxes often that summer, pulling out all kinds of Christmas stuff.  I made him a Rudolph cake using my Cricut machine, putting sunglasses on Santa, to celebrate his summer birthday.

Isaac turns 5!

Isaac's love for the poem, The Night Before Christmas, inspired a game we played when he needed calming down.  I would recite it and leave out words for him to fill in.  This Christmas he worked extra hard and memorized the whole thing, with me jumping in every so often.  He performed it as a gift for his teacher and paras in his special ed classroom.  Then, he performed it for all the grandparents as well.


I love to watch all my kids enjoy Christmas, and I'm glad we have Isaac to remind us of the sweet things of Christmas all year round.

A Little More Holiday Spirit

Thanksgiving Break always ends with our annual Taylor Tree Lighting Ceremony.  OK--there's not much of a ceremony, but we put up the Christmas tree then turn off all the lights in the house and bask in the Christmas tree's soft glow.  It officially starts the Christmas season for me, and I love it!

This year putting up the Christmas tree brought more holiday spirit with it than usual.

Josie was full of her normal questions about everything, and one question caught me off guard.  She asked why we didn't have a star on top of our tree like everybody else.  The real answer is that I always had an angel on the top of my Christmas tree as a child, so that's what I looked for when purchasing a tree topper for my family.  But, as I glanced up at the angel and began to answer her, something else came out:  "We have an angel to remind us of the angels that came to announce the birth of the Savior to the shepherds on the very first Christmas."

"Oh!" she said, looking delighted.

I smiled and thought how odd it was that even though it's always my job to place the angel, I hadn't thought of the true meaning of this Christmas symbol in years.  I went on to explain that people put stars on the tree to remind them of the new star that appeared in the sky on the night of Christ's birth.

This little parenting moment, like so many others, had me thinking for days.  It's not that I'd forgotten what we are truly celebrating at Christmastime.  It's just that, for the past few years, all the "commercial stuff" of Christmas seemed completely separate from the true meaning.  Josie reminded me to look at the symbols of Christmas hung all around me and remember the meaning behind the symbol along with all the fun memories of Christmases past.  She reminded me that, even to a little child, the wonder of Christmas isn't about what is under the wrapping paper.  She reminded me that this season of giving places Christ and Santa in our thoughts together and, with a little effort, we can enjoy the wonder of both.

Each day, Josie asks me about hiding places for Christmas presents and vibrates with the excitement of unknown surprises.  Each night, Josie prays that Jesus will have a good birthday this year.  Thank you for these sweet reminders, Josie!

A Builder

I have often heard life described as a book in which each new day is a blank page upon which we can write.

Although I love to write, I feel this analogy lacking.

I have always felt more like a builder...

The Builders

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,

 Some with ornaments of rhyme.

 

Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.

 

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And one boundless reach of sky.

Sweet Success

 Who says fine motor therapy can't be fun?

Ahhh, the sweet taste of success! 

Isaac Speaks: Update

Picture taken in Utah at the Inn on the Hill

Sept. 22, 2010:   I had a great day with Isaac today.

I found an unfamiliar bag next to the pile of backpacks in the foyer. I picked it up to find a letter in it saying my child was to present to the class about themselves using this half piece of poster board and this questionnaire. It was due any day this week. It being Wednesday already, I couldn't believe I had missed this assignment coming home. Oh well, I thought, Isaac is not one to tell me about extra stuff he gets assigned.

After all the regular reading homework had been done, I sat down on the couch with Isaac to fill out the questionnaire. It was wonderful. I asked him the questions. He answered them. And I understood him! Many of the answers I never knew, like the fact that his favorite candy is orange Starburst. Like the fact that when he grows up he wants to be Robin (from Teen Titans) because Robin is awesome. His favorite sport is football. And his favorite animal is a mammoth (I would have guessed elephant, so I was close). His favorite ice cream is "chocolate cookie dough." It went on and on, front and back. What fun we had!

Many times throughout the past few years I have been brought to tears by frustration and sadness because I couldn't REALLY talk to Isaac. My sign language wasn't good enough, and therefore neither was his, to give him a range of conversation much beyond the labeling of things. And although he could label a great many things, it just wasn't enough. Then, when he started to talk, there were so many times that I didn't know what he was trying to say. My head would hurt with the effort of trying to understand, but still, it was not enough. I knew I was standing on a beach looking out over the ocean, unable to see the vastness that lay beneath the waves. It hurt.

These past few months, we have started being able to really speak to one another and today was a shining example of all that is left to be explored with him.

I spent a good part of the evening working on the poster board for his presentation. Isaac is still at the scribble phase in his fine motor, but that fact didn't bother me as I looked at his answers and filled the space with his favorite things. I had a great time using my scrapbooking supplies and stickers. At one point, Evan came in and commented that he had the same assignment but it wasn't due this week. He spoke of his plans for the poster board and the bag he needed to fill with things he wanted to share. Huh, I thought, the second and third grade teachers must have come up with the idea together.

Now, here's the kicker: If your brain is working at a quicker pace then mine was, you've probably figured it out already...At 11:00pm Mat came to bed and I woke up to move Josie into her own bed. As I lay down after a few hours of sleep and thought back over the evening, I realized that the letter inside the bag had no defining characteristics like a teacher's name or grade on it and that the bag I had found was Evan's all along! How's that for communication?

I couldn't stop laughing. After I woke Mat up with my "quiet" giggling, I decided I'd get up and write it all out in my blog.

UPDATE:

For those of you wondering what happened with Isaac's project, here it is...

 His teacher, Mrs. Pfohl, was nice enough to give him some time to present it to the class.  He dressed up in his Robin costume, used his musical Kung Fu Panda birthday card for an attention getter, and told the class about himself (with a little help from Mom).

He concluded with a video of his favorite dance from So You Think You Can Dance.  It's called Yellow.  Check it out--  http://youtu.be/rrxOBxlQmho    It is amazing!!!

20 Kisses

Anyone who has ever tried to teach a child to count has probably been frustrated with "The Teens."  My kids always sound something like this....10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20.  They are fine after that.  The teens are always learned last.

They also need to be taught how to read and write these mysterious numbers!  Grrr...and understand that you say the second number first...9...teen, but write it last.  Why is it so confusing?

Josie and Isaac are in this stage together right now.  Because Isaac is older he's been working on it longer.  Because he has Down syndrome, Josie is pulling ahead.  But, I had to laugh as we put our Halloween decorations up last month because they were trying to help each other count the ghost lights we were assembling in the front yard.  They were proud because they were doing it repeatedly without my help and always coming up with the same answer:  23.  I was amazed at their consistent results!

I was amazed because there are only 12 ghost lights.  They must have been skipping around a lot.

That is when I thought to myself---These kids need more kisses.  One of my favorite strategies to teach counting is a daily dose of 20 kisses.  They help me count (when they aren't giggling).  They get repetition and I get to kiss their faces off.  It's a win-win.

It doesn't help with the reading and writing part, but it's really fun.

Preschool Fun for Halloween

 ONE PUMPKIN

TWO COOKIE JARS

THREE CARVING TOOLS

FOUR GHOSTS

 

FIVE JACK-O-LANTERN LIGHTS

SIX YELLOW LEAVES

 (just go with me on this--they really

wanted leaves)

 

SEVEN HALLOWEEN SONGS

EIGHT LEGS ON A SPIDER

NINE PIECES OF CANDY

TEN HALLOWEEN BOOKS

and

Grandmas may need to get out their

glasses for:

Colorful

Honeymoon-- January 1997

Sometimes laundry, endless mess,
and the continuous needs of my family
seem to turn my "happily ever after"
to a monotonous gray.

But, if I can get a little rest and look
at life from a different perspective,
I see that my family is what makes my life
COLORFUL.

Isaac 2006

Kimball and Evan 2005

Evan 2006

Isaac and Josie 2006

Evan and Josie 2006

Kimball 1998

Kimball 2006

Isaac and Mat 2006

Josie 2008

Evan 2009

Ambra and Mat 2010

Fall = Football

In our house, fall equals football.

It has taken me years to get used to this concept as I tried to fit football into the schedule as if it were a regular activity instead of
THE ACTIVITY.

This year, with both Kimball and Evan playing (and Isaac helping them practice), we have football everyday except on Sunday.

Football practice always runs from 5pm to 7pm. "But, that's dinner time!" you cry? Yes, it is. The past few years I've wrestled with football practice and lost. I tried getting dinner on the table early. I tried eating dinner together after practice. I tried everyone attending practice and enjoying the fresh air. I tried everything I could think of not to miss out on the family time.

This year, Mat informed me that Kimball had practice Mon, Wed, Fri and Evan was on Tues/Thurs. I forfeited the match. Football wins again. But, this time without the struggle. Guess what? It worked!

I don't attend practices. I make dinner and we eat at the regular time. Whoever is at football eats when they get home and everyone is happy. Mat and I split up on Saturday to watch games which are often scheduled at the same time. I found out I like watching football a lot more without hearing Mat's knowledgeable comments and analysis. I like to be blissfully watching my boys and telling myself how well they are doing. I sometimes even cheer for both teams (if the other team is losing badly and I feel sorry for them). These things I can never get away with when Mat is close by.

The top picture in the collage is my favorite. It is Kimball and Mat running the chains for Evan's game. It is my reminder that, maybe, we're not missing out on family time after all.

Now, if only I could get used to March Madness...

Homeschooling Josie

(My genius friend, Angie, had an adorable slide show on her blog which

lead me to discover a website called Picnik. I LOVE it! Making collages
is so much fun.)

My sister, Cama, always teases me that I like to play "The Glad Game." For those of you who have never seen the movie Pollyanna, I'll explain. All you need to do to play The Glad Game is look on the bright side of EVERYTHING. Pollyanna says there usually is a bright side no matter how bad things get.

Well, I found the bright side to Josie's broken leg. I get to homeschool her this year. And, we are having so much fun.

She was all set to attend Bright Beginnings Preschool with Miss Karen like she did last year, but her trampoline accident and immediate surgery squashed those plans. She has a metal plate and five screws in her left tibia(shin bone), and just a good old fashion break in her fibula(the little bone next to the tibia). So, she has been through three casts these past 6 weeks and has more to come as the year marches on.

It's nice to have her home with me. I homeschooled Kimball for preschool and kindergarten until we moved to Loveland in March of 2004. But, both Evan and Isaac attended preschool. Evan, who's currently in third grade, still talks about the "glory days" of preschool.

"That was the best! You worked a little and then played. You sang and then played some more," he reminisces.

I put her in preschool because she wants so much to be big and go to school like her brothers. I also thought she might find some little girls to play with, but the two children she chose as her best friends were both boys. Oh well, I can't deny that boys are fun. I had considered keeping her home this year to spend more time with her, but I didn't want to disappoint her. So, I guess the broken leg wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. Let's just all pray it heals as completely as the doctor assures me it will.

Until then, I'll try to soak up the extra time with her and enjoy it. The pictures above show a few things we've done. We have played games and learned to say "Good game" to each other whether we win or lose. We learned all about mixing colors to make new ones. We built a cardboard doll house that she is still coloring on. And, I made two charts to remind us both to keep track of all she's learning. She earns stickers for a Treasure Box prize for doing her handwriting and math work. She gets to put an "X" in a box on her Book Count for each book we read. When the Book Count chart is full, she gets to pick out a book at Barnes and Noble. Also, I get to use the calendar and weather chart I made when Kimball was little.

How can I not be enjoying this opportunity that life handed me to homeschool Josie?

It's Cake

One of the reasons I like to scrapbook and blog is because, when I look back on the pictures, I look for the good stuff. I skip over the ones that reveal the messy house behind the kid.

I can look at the smiles and completely forget that I stayed up until one in the morning making those paper reindeer for the top of Isaac's cake.

I can grin to myself knowing that the reason I put the water for the seal right in the middle of Josie's Pet Shop cake was because the cake had a big dent in it.

I can remember how Evan loves to watch me decorate and hovers asking me to squirt frosting on his finger.

I can remember that Kimball wasn't always too old for a character cake.

I can forget the fact that Mat would rather have pie. Forget all the work behind the birthday party and feel for a few small moments that this thing called life isn't all that hard. It's cake. 

Mom, in case I forget to tell you...

I have been called to be Isaac's primary teacher and this week's lesson is on talents. The first question it asks is: How have you benefited from the talents of others?

As I pondered that question, I began thinking of my mom. She was usually happy and loved to have fun, but she worked hard too. I have often thought of how I want to be happy for my kids like she was for me. When I was little, I would watch her working and smiling and I'd ask, "Which have you liked better, being an adult or being a kid?" I think I expected her to say "adult" because that meant I would be as happy as her when I grew up. (I worried a lot as a kid.)

She always answered--no matter how I phrased the question--that she liked them both. There were good things and hard things about each. She was right.

I'll always remember one particular day when I was working at the Chocolate Factory. My boss, Ineke, was making caramel apples and I was stocking the cases. As she stirred, she looked out the window and said, "Well, here comes a smile-ly lady." I walked over and saw my mom coming down the sidewalk with a big, beautiful smile on her face. I said proudly, "That's my mom."

I have benefited from so many peoples talents, but today I'm thankful for my mom and her ability to smile through thick and thin. I wanted to write it down, in case I forget to say it...Thanks, Mom!

A Trip for Evan and Mom

For our mini-trip, Evan and I went to Glenwood Springs.  We went in July and the weather was great, but it took Evan a little while to get use to the smell of the Hot Springs Pool.

We spent a whole day at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.  It was a blast!  I gotta say it:  I LOVE to play laser tag.

Evan rode the Giddy Up about 40 times. No joke. There usually wasn't a line so we would stop by often and he would get on and stay on for awhile.

The Alpine Coaster is a mix between an alpine slide and a roller coaster. You can control how fast you sail down the mountain.

The cave tour was cool. Evan had a running joke with our tour guide that all the formations in the cave looked like some form of chocolate.

After the tour ended, the guide asked us to wait and soon brought back a chocolate bar from his native country of Romania for Evan. It tasted like a Mounds bar and was called a Bounty bar.