Cinco

Yesterday, I was honored to become Iverson Charles' godmother!

Being a child's godparent is such a blessing. I love the special relationship it creates and the extra guidance God helps me to provide. Here is Iverson with both of his godparents (his Godfather is Isaac's brother Noah) and also with just me:

I also think it is really neat that Iverson is Andrea and Isaac's fifth child...and Iverson is my fifth godchild! It was meant to be. Hence, Cinco! It might stick.

I dearly love all of my godchildren: John, Emma, Camille, Tucker and now Iverson. You are each amazing human beings and I'm so thankful to be part of your lives. I'll always pray for you and be here for each of you no matter what you need.

“On this day of baptism may God, who loves us all, smile lovingly upon Iverson, so innocent and small… and may He guide Iverson throughout the years ahead as blessings light the pathway where those tiny feet are led.”

And finally, Mr. Baby Hog with Iverson:

A quick shout out to the Johnson family: we are so blessed to have you in our lives and to truly be part of your family. There are so many good quotes about friends being family, but this is my favorite and applies so much to you with us:

"Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs. The ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile, and who love you no matter what. There's a point in real friendships when you stop being friends and become family."

May the Force be with You

Other than Finn, we are not big Star Wars fans in our house. In fact, I'd even say we are NOT fans. However, Finn REALLY wanted to be Finn from Star Wars for Halloween this year. The last couple of years, we've dressed up together as a family (Batman one year and dinosaurs last year), so I tried REALLY hard to change his mind.

But, it kind of stuck and before long, Korri really wanted to be Rey and Mac wanted to be Yoda. I waited as long as I could to order the costumes in the hope that they'd change their minds (I REALLY wanted to go as Hotel Transylvania characters), but finally had to give in. The things moms do for their kids! LOL

Of course, we didn't get a family picture, but here are costumes (Mac changed his mind to Luke Skywalker at the last minute once he realized Yoda's costume came with a walking stick instead of a lightsaber!):

So we had Finn, Luke Skywalker, Rey, Princess Leia and BB8. Jim REALLY REALLY didn't want to go as Star Wars, but came around when he found this costume! It was cumbersome to walk in, so he made it to the end of our block before heading back home, which was fine so he could hand out candy.

And you seriously could not have ordered better Halloween weather in Minnesota than it was last night: between 45 and 50 degrees with no breeze or humidity! I was even warm at one point when we were walking around (the coffee and Bailey's might have had something to do with that; in addition to my super warm The North Face winter coat!).

After a rocky start (Finn and Mac both were crying for different reasons when we first headed out), we had an amazing Trick-or-treating. We met up with Angie's family, which was a blast until Mac missed the curb and fell and cut up his hand. Thankfully, I could leave the Bigs with Angie and take Mac home to get fixed up (nothing warm water and a Band-Aid couldn't fix).

And the spoils:

I do love that while my kiddos love getting candy as much as the next kids, they aren't greedy and when it's time to be done trick-or-treating, they are fine being done...even without a full bucket. Mac was pretty sure he got one thousand pieces! This year we went longer because we met Angie's family but normally we are done after an hour or less!

And our school has a "buy back" program where you can donate your candy and it is sent to soldiers. So we let them each keep 10 of their favorite pieces and the rest gets donated. And honestly, other than taking a LONG time to pick exactly which ones they want to keep, they don't even complain about it! Trust me, we do NOT need this overflowing tub of candy sitting around here! (daddy hasn't taken his spoils from it yet, though!)

And can you guess which one did this? So organized!

So, if they still want to do the family costumes next year, we are thinking Harry Potter. We'll see, I guess! Maybe I'll be a Dementor since I feel like I suck the joy out of their lives! Ha, well, not all of the time ;)

And our kiddos can't wear costumes to school, so this is my compromise:

Student of the Month

We have a Student of the Month at our house: Finnegan has earned the honor of Student of the Month for October! (He earned it once before in Kindergarten.) Each teacher picks one student each month that exemplifies the quality/characteristic they are focusing on that month or a student who has gone above and beyond.

This is what his teacher wrote:

Finn Thomas is our October Student of the Month for Cooperation. Finn is very polite to all people in the building. He is always finding ways to help others and includes new friends when they want to join him. Finn has a drive to do well in school and encourages others to follow in his path. He has a kind heart and makes sure others feel comfortable and welcome in our classroom. We are lucky to have you in our class, Finn!

Picture of Finn with the other October Students of the Month in the school (Finn is in the back row, second from the left):

We may have our challenges with this kiddo at home, but it brings us great pleasure to know that he not only keeps it together at school but also thrives and sets a good example for and helps others. I was telling a friend just today that my goal is simply to raise kind humans...and it looks like we might actually be doing that!! So proud of Finn. Keep up the good work, Buddy Boy, and continue making this world a better, kinder place.

Love this boy more than words can adequately express:

Articulation

Mac has struggled with articulating his "k" and "g" sounds since, well, forever. He occasionally says other sounds wrong...but I think he's just being lazy with those. When Mac was between 2.5 and 3 years old, my friend Jess, who is a speech therapist for young children, told me not to even really think about it until he is 4 because they most likely wouldn't do anything to correct it until then anyway. Okay, easier said than done, but she's the expert and I totally trust her and her advice.

Move forward about a year and last spring, Mac had his Kindergarten screening and they flagged him for articulation (duh!). But since he turned 4 over the summer, they had me come in at the end of school last year to get everything set up to test him this fall, if it were still an issue. It is/was.

Well, that testing happened over the last month and the school speech therapist called today with the results...he doesn't qualify for services. Now a bunch of conflicting emotions went through me. I'm so happy he isn't "bad" enough to need services, but I feel like he still needs help, so now we are stuck int he middle in "no man's land." I talked with her for a bit, which was somewhat helpful.

I'll get the actual report on Wed, but she said to qualify you need to score 70 (percent, I'm assuming) and Mac scored 90. Again, good news! She said that once they test you, they won't test again for a year and she thinks once he's in Kindergarten, it will all come...but we could test again at any point during his next school year. The older you get, the threshold for qualification changes (which is why they waited until 4 to test him to begin with!). Mac's pediatrician told me at his well child appointment that at this age, if they can understand over 75% of their speech, they usually aren't worried. And I think most people can understand almost 100% of what he says...because he is great at verbalizing and communicating. She said I could come in and meet with her and she can give me tips and tricks to try at home. Thank you, but I still felt like crap.

Jim didn't answer when I called him, so I did the next best thing...text Jess to get her thoughts. Thankfully she is the BEST and called me right away and we chatted. Basically, Mac CAN make those sounds but just isn't (when we have him exaggerate the "k" sound, he can) and that is a good thing. If he physically couldn't make the sounds, we'd have a much bigger problem to deal with. She also said that "k" and "g" are harder to learn because they are in the back of the throat and his substitutions ("t" and "d" respectively) are common and appropriate. I felt SO much better after talking with her and she basically said to try to work with him for 5 minutes a day in a fun game-playing way and that it will come. I really appreciated her perspective and advice.

As any other parent knows, any time your child struggles or lags behind in any area, it is hard. And if anything positive came out of our early journey with Finn, is that I learned how to advocate for my children and know when things aren't right. Mac's articulation isn't "right" but at least I know it isn't a huge deal right now. We can check into private speech therapy but that usually isn't covered by insurance and gets really expensive real quick. So we are back into a "wait and see" holding pattern. I don't like waiting.

In the meantime, I'll just keep loving this beautiful face. I told him right before this picture that I was going to kiss his face until it fell off! He thought that was hilarious! And yes, he's wearing PJ's and one of my workout headbands!

Broken Board - TWICE!

Okay, as you know, Finn broke a board a few months ago. But the situation has never presented itself for either Korri or Mac and I was starting to feel bad for Korri because she REALLY wanted to. Well, tonight Korri and Mac (while Finn was at flag football practice) agreed to do a karate demonstration at Street Party of Hope in Buffalo benefiting Buffalo Hospital Foundation's Community Cancer Care Fund (out of the goodness of their hearts to support a good cause...and to get Dojo Dollars to spend on karate stuff!!).

I think it was the first demonstration for both kiddos. Anyway, after both kiddos went to the Dojo booth to jump in the bouncy house for a bit and then they got hungry. As we were leaving, Master Chris asked if Korri had already broken a board tonight and I told him she'd NEVER broken a board...so she did!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kn4oCg2rA91iLHM96

She said it was really easy and wondered if they had a "medium" board to try! That's my girl!

And then they asked if Mac wanted to! I was like, um yeah!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9jR7nsFdnSGaASe8

I mean, the first attempt was really just to check out the situation, right?

They were both so proud of themselves! I love the confidence karate gives them. Even in the demonstration...they are in front of a LOT of people whom they don't know and they did what they were told and did it well.

Now, when are mommy and daddy going to break a board? LOL

Mac's graduation to his blue double striper belt is tomorrow night! He's SO excited.

Second first day

Today was Mac's second first day of preschool, but first day of Pre-K (4's and 5's compared to 3's and 4's last year). And I think I'm going to like afternoon preschool vs morning. He can get up when he wants, he can slowly ease into the day (i.e. have some tablet time!), eat breakfast (or two or three!). I'm hoping that was the issue last year with not wanting to go to school.

Anyway, he was more than ready today. In fact, we ended up having to wait for the bus, even though his pickup time was at 12:15, which is the time school is supposed to start! Weird...but we are only 4 minutes from school, but still!

This was his "really excited" face:

And me with my baby:

We took these pictures around 11:50 because with that weird pickup time, I was worried the bus would actually be early. Ha, I needn't have worried. We played basketball to pass the time.

And finally at 12:22pm, it came!

I remember the time because I had a hair appointment at 12:30 and Google said it took 6 minutes to drive there! Plenty of time!

He really has grown up so much in a year. His confidence and personality amaze me every day, and make me crack up a lot of the time! I can't wait to see what he does this year.

He came home on the big bus with the Bigs and when I asked how his first day was, he said it was short. I asked if that meant it went fast and he said no, it was just short! So I think he must have had fun!

My babies aren't such babies any more. I wonder when I'll actually come to terms with that fact?!?! Probably in twenty years! Who am I kidding? Probably NEVER!!! ;)

And finally, last year's first day (left) compared to this year's first day (right):

He's gotten quite a bit taller!

A First for our First Day

Today was the first day of school for Finnegan (4th grade) and Korrigan (2nd grade). It was like any other first day of school...try to get sleepy kids moving, making sure everything is in their back packs, teeth brushed, pictures taken. Then our morning ended with this:

The bus never came! Or it MIGHT have come, but before getting to our house it stopped, turned around, backed up and went the other way! So after waiting over 45 minutes and the start of school quickly approaching, we decided I would just drive them. So our new first is me dropping them off at school! Can you believe I've NEVER done that before?

It was actually kind of fun. And Korri was having a difficult time with being late (which she technically wasn't...she's just used to being early), so I was able to walk her to her classroom and connect with her teacher about it. I was volunteering for the incoming Kindergartners anyway, so it all worked out. But, sheesh!

So, here is my big 4th grader this morning:

This is his last first day of school picture in elementary! I can't believe middle school is knocking on our door. I need to stop thinking about it. There's plenty of time to worry about that in the months ahead!

Here is my very excited second grader (which is a HUGE blessing):

She's all sass. She picked out her outfit and hair style. She picked the blue spray for in the hair and she requested to pose in her picture! Love her so much.

I couldn't even bribe them to actually touch, but here they are in the same picture at least (that's something, right?):

We took a LOT of pictures while waiting for the bus, but I won't post them all here! Here's hoping for a better drop off this afternoon!

May God bless this school year and keep all children safe and help to create an environment where they can learn and be successful!! Amen.

Splits Club

At karate, they have different badges that you can work toward achieving; like attendance, academic, sparring, etc. Well, one of them is the Splits Club and it is exactly what it sounds like: do the splits and you earn the badge.

Well, Korri has been working on doing the full splits for a while (forward not front and back) and has been SO close. Today at class, I mentioned to Master Hourscht that she thought she was ready to test for it. At the end of the class, Mr. Newman tested her:

And she did them with only a faction of space at the bottom (which is allowed!)!! So proud of this girl and her determination. I really don't know anybody else who sets goals like her and works unceasingly to accomplish them, especially when it comes to manipulating her body. She is now working on one-handed cartwheels...so hard...but I know she'll do it!!!

Anchored in Faith

I have amazing memories of Bible camp from when I was growing up. I went to Lake Beauty Bible Camp and Pilgrim Point Camp and I often went by myself! Well, Korri was asked to go to Camp Omega with her friend Maria and I wasn't too sure if she'd want to or how it would go.

Ha, I should NOT have worried in the least. She said yes immediately and was super excited about it (I didn't even bother asking Finn!). The nice thing about THIS camp is that it is was for three days and two nights, which I think is perfect for this age range (6-8 year olds). Also, it was the same theme (Anchored in Faith) as her VBS was last week and even had the same counselors!!

I dropped her off Sunday at 4pm and after waiting in quite the registration line (note to future self: get there BEFORE check in starts!), we found Korri's cabin and she was ready for me to go! I think it helped that she was there with her friend Maria and a new friend she's been getting to know through Maria's church, Elizabeth.

Even though Korri got a bottom bunk and she really wanted a top bunk, she didn't fuss at all! I was very proud of her. Maria's mom threatened life and limb if we didn't get a picture of the girls outside their cabin and I'm happy to report that both Maria's dad AND I remembered!

And then I left. Let me tell you, it was far more difficult on me to leave than it was on Korri! I just kept thinking about her and what she was doing. I knew she would be okay, especially since Maria went last year and she knows how to take care of things! The camp offered "Bunk Notes" so I could send emails to her that were delivered to her cabin, so that made me feel better (although I found out later that she received all but one right before I picked her up!).

The boys went to Memere's for a few days, so Jim and I enjoyed some time alone. And then before I knew it, it was Tuesday morning and time to pick Korri up! Jim and I got there just before 11am for their closing ceremony, where they talked about their bible verses and sang songs. Then we signed Korri out, took a couple pictures and headed home!

Korri's counselor's name was Holly and their high school helper was Anastasia (Anna). We kind of grilled her on the way home but she couldn't remember a lot of details. But every few minutes, she'd think of something new to share. One of the best things was that she told me she helped two girls who were homesick (which was also verified by one of the other moms!) and even gave one of them her stuffed animal to sleep with! She really and truly does have an amazingly kind heart. She said SHE didn't get homesick at all and wants to go for a week next time! That's my girl!

Here are a few pictures that I got off the camp's website and a couple I took at the closing ceremony:

So, she already said she's going next year! Hopefully we can coordinate with Maria and Elizabeth again (I think it's always more fun to know a couple people). Thank you, Kochs, for including Korri! Great memories were made!

Another thing to note for my future self: when the suggested packing list says to bring "toiletries" it means to include shampoo and conditioner! Oops...at least it was only two nights!!

Oh and on the way home, we stopped in Jordan at MN's largest candy store! I mean, when in Rome, right? Jim wasn't feeling great, so Korri and I went in and had so much fun (last time we went it was PACKED and it was NOT when we went this time, which was so nice!).

Korri picked a giant push-up sucker and a peach lemonade for herself, Harry Potter candy for Finn and a sour toilet candy thing for Mac (he'd gotten one a couple years ago from Dr. Bob and talks about it ALL. THE. TIME...so it was a no brainer when we saw it!). I picked up a pecan nut roll for Jim and me (Yum-O!) and some Zott's to share. We got out of there for under $20...which clearly tells you that Jim did NOT go in! It was fun spending time with just my girl!