School pictures

The BIG kindergartner!

The BIG 2nd grader!

BOTH my kids are in school now. I can't believe it! They are doing well and I love that I can volunteer any time! (Without younger ones, it's pretty easy!) The pictures might look fuzzy because I took a picture of their pictures on the wall.

Funny story

I have many pictures to upload, but until I have the time, I wanted to remember what happened yesterday after church (on Joel's birthday!) Julianna was given some nail polish by a girl in her primary class. We got home and were just kind of doing our own thing, and after a little while I noticed that they were in the bathroom with the door locked. So I go over to find out what they are doing, and Blake has his big toe painted and he very excitedly tells me, "Look Mom, Julianna painted my toenail!" And then Julianna showed me her work on her nails (and arms, and fingers) and was also very proud. I first tell Blake, well, that's very nice, but only girls are supposed to paint their nails. His excitedness immediately goes away, and he says, "Oh, well, can you take it off now?" It was too funny. So of course Julianna says the same thing (she's not much for nail polish anyway.) The funniest thing is that whenever Julianna gets any kind of girly thing, Blake is way more into it than Julianna, probably because she doesn't always get into girly things that much, so he's always excited to try them. And now that I think about it, even on the way home from church, I could hear Blake asking Julianna, "Are you going to paint your nails when we get home?" It's so funny having a boy and a girl!

The reading bug

Reading books in the backyard after their sprinkler trampoline jumping.

This summer has been so relaxed and nice so far. The kids are getting along great, for the most part. I am keeping them busy with all the free or cheap things around town ($1.00 movies, free school lunches at the park, library reading program) and we also do something really fun every weekday that I call "school time." I went through all our workbooks and found kindergarten reading and math workbooks from when Julianna was in kindergarten that weren't all used--many pages left over (I'm not sure what she did in kindergarten...). So Blake is doing those, plus a handwriting practice one. Julianna got her 1st grade books sent home that aren't all filled in, either, so we're finishing those, plus some other workbooks I had. At the beginning of school time, I read them 2 or 3 easy readers--Julianna has TONS from school that have piled up over the years. I chose 3 the first two weeks to read every day. This past Friday on the 2-week mark I decided to see if Blake could read the book by himself. I was SO surprised when he read every word without help from me! Of course it's mostly from memory, but this is the beginning stage of reading! I tried uploading a video of him reading this book, but it didn't work:( Julianna of course zooms through these easy books, but she still loves the practice. At the end of school time, we do kindergarten sight words--so far Blake knows 8 of them. My goal is for him to memorize the sight words before kindergarten.

Something else that is cute--at night sometimes I catch Julianna and Blake whispering. When I come up, I find them reading a book together. Julianna was reading a book to Blake last night (Big Dog, Little Dog), and Blake said, "I wanted to help her read better." I can tell he's secretly jealous of her reading abilities. But he will catch up soon--in two weeks he has made TONS of progress. He can even spell simple words if I ask him--he will think about the sounds in his head and then spell the word. I'm glad I'm taking a little time each day for "school time," because it will certainly pay off when school starts again! I've even caught the reading bug--I've already read 3 books this summer and well into my 4th!

We're looking forward to seeing Joel's family this weekend for the 4th, running in the Orange Stake 5K, and seeing the newly engaged Briana (and maybe meeting her fiance?)

Best news in a long time

On April 21st, we had the biggest blessing come to our family in a very long time. Julianna was evaluated by the Inland Regional Center and finally qualified for services. We have been fighting them since she was 3, but year after year they did not qualify her for this reason or that. Two years ago after her evaulation and denial, we thought we were done trying with them and decided to move on. But 6 months ago, I felt strongly that I needed to try one more time. My persistence paid off, not to mention the MANY prayers being said for her to get this help. So now that she's a client, she will get services IN THE HOME--something we have needed for a long time. It's great that she can go to school and get help there, but she comes home and we struggle with how to help her in daily living skills, behaviors, the list goes on and on. Very soon there will be trained people coming here to help Julianna in the home, plus we might get respite care as well. The best part is the regional center will be there for her when she is an adult, so we don't need to worry about that anymore.

Since getting this long-awaited yes (almost a week ago) it is amazing how much my spirits have been lifted. I feel like a brand new mom, like I can do anything now. Just knowing that I have more support coming has seriously brightened my whole attitude toward life! A huge burden has been lifted for sure, and now I don't have that little nagging feeling inside saying, "She needs more help," because she has it now.

The big shocker from this evaluation--the psychologist feels strongly that Julianna does NOT have autism, but global delays, anxiety and sensory issues, and perhaps motor tics--they said she is a "unique girl." We are getting closer to figuring her out. Regardless, she is still our Julianna, and we love her just the way she is! We are so lucky to have such a smart, funny, beautiful little girl.

Thanks to all of you who were praying and thinking of us!

Spring Break happenings

I celebrated my 29th birthday. Last year in my 20's! Blake always has to do something silly in pictures now.

Some good friends "egged" our door as a birthday surprise for me. We didn't see it until Joel left for Priesthood session--we were inside watching conference, or in the backyard working. It was pretty sneaky, and it totally made my day!

My birthday present was a raised bed garden--I really want to learn how to garden this year. Here I am with Blake during our "groundbreaking" ceremony. We also went to a movie as a family and a few days earlier, Joel and I went to the temple and had lunch together. It was a great birthday.

When the yard was being done, we moved our trampoline to the concrete, and the kids thought it was extra fun to jump on it this way.

A "before" shot of our yard, just one side of it. The weeds were out of control!

And the "after" shot. We had the ground cleared, and sprinklers and grass installed. The other side of the yard is dirt for now until we get a swingset, and the trampoline is moved over there again, and there's room to expand my garden. We love having grass, finally! We will plant in the edges as we go--we just wanted the grass in for now. We also finally caught the gopher that's been living in our yard for YEARS.

We've also had lots of soccer during the break--2 games and a few practices. Here's Blake ready to go to his first soccer game.

Here's his coach talking to him before the game--the pictures are blurry because I was sitting far away.

Standing in his position. Whenever the whistle blew, he was VERY good at going back to his position. In fact, he might have been the only kid who did this. He seemed a little shy when the ball actually came within kicking range, but he was very good at chasing that ball everywhere. He played the ENTIRE 30-minutes (I think his coach forgot to switch him out). At the end of the game, he said, "I kicked the ball THREE times!" We asked him how many times he will kick it in the next game, and he said, "Um, like 20 times!" He is liking soccer and whenever we are getting his "uniform" on he says, "I'm a soccer player now."

Spring break is almost over now...it's been fun!

Bedtime blues

So Julianna has been REALLY scared at bedtime lately. This hasn't happened in a few years, at least. I asked her why she was so scared, and she said, "There's monsters in my room." So I told her I would kill the monsters and then she would be okay, but this didn't work. So for the last few nights, I've had to stay by her bed and tickle her back until she falls asleep. But of course I can't keep doing this!

Last night before their bedtime I was telling Joel about this new fear of Julianna's, and Blake overheard our conversation. He said, "Oh, monsters? Julianna, I told you I was just kidding." He really said it like this. So it sounds like Blake planted this fear of monsters in Julianna's head, probably through whispers while we're downstairs. Thanks, Blake. He continued to tell Julianna that there are no monsters, but so far, she won't believe him. And I guess that means I will continue to tickle her back until I figure out what will work. Any ideas?

Another reader in the house?

Tonight after dinner Julianna and I went over her spelling words for the week. She is now getting to where she can sound out her words on her own without my help (the 3-syllable words are a challenge, though). She REALLY liked reading her spelling words tonight, and I almost saw that look in her eye that says, READING IS FUN! So after the spelling words I told them it was time to read our Book of Mormon verses (Joel was still at mutual). And she said, "Mommy, I want to do it." So she went to get the scriptures and tried to find the place we are at, and when it was her turn to read, instead of me reading a few words at a time and her repeating, she wanted to look at each word and try to read it by herself. It happened to be a long verse, but she didn't want to stop until she finished it. This was a HUGE first for her--the first time she has ever shown a desire to read something on her own, and I'm glad the first book she showed interest in was the Book of Mormon! I am hoping that this interest in reading will only continue to grow and that before long she will be reading all her books instead of just looking at the pictures! I have a feeling that by the time she is 8 in December, she will be a reader! And then getting her own set of scriptures for her baptism will be a gift she will use! I am excited to see what happens this year.

Just because...

This is what Blake does when I ask him to do a nice smile.

Julianna actually has a wiggly tooth! Much better than having it yanked out by mistake in the bathtub, like her first lost tooth in November! This one won't last much longer.

They love this little "laptop" and play all the games together, when they're not fighting!

We headed to Orange County on New Year's Day to open presents with Joel's family. They got spoiled rotten! Such nice presents that they really love. It was a fun day. Then Briana came to our house and went to church the next day and we celebrated her birthday before she went into the army reserves on Jan. 4th.

Just busy again with school, preschool, doing crafts, new calling, and staying healthy (the kids were sick most of the winter break, and right when school got back, I got sick!) So I took some pictures today so I could have something to put up here, since it has been a while. Nothing big to report right now. But pictures are always fun, right?

Julianna's 7th Birthday

Julianna singing in the school Christmas program with the regular 1st grade class. She's in the second row, middle, in a blue shirt right below the boy with his head turned.

Blowing out her candles. She really liked doing this and did not hesitate at all.

Her presents that she requested: "Lots of Strawberry Shortcakes." Well, we got her 3--there just wasn't enough variety at Walmart!

Holding up her 7 fingers. It was cute--she looked at her fingers to count to make sure she got 7. I guess she hadn't thought about it yet!

At the SD Zoo on Dec. 4th, at the polar bear exhibit. This picture was one she requested--she said, "You should take my picture here!" So she stood there and made sure I did it.


Well, Julianna is now 7 years old! She was so excited for her birthday this year. Once it gets close to Blake's birthday in November, we start telling them the order of things: First, Blake's birthday, then Thanksgiving, then Julianna's birthday, then Christmas. Well, Julianna's birthday couldn't come soon enough. Since we went to the zoo before her birthday, she was upset that we didn't have cake and presents for her when we got home. Luckily she had gotten a package from Grandma Maxwell with a gift that she got to open that night--a fun laptop that she really likes. Another funny thing on our zoo day--when we got to Temecula on the way there, I had to stop for the bathroom (yes, I'm lame). We happened to drive by a Bob's Big Boy restaurant with the big statue out front. She was so intrigued by this and said, "I want to touch that boy!" I didn't want to stop--I just wanted to get to the zoo. But Joel reminded me this was her birthday thing, so we turned around and let her and Blake get out to touch the Bob's Big Boy statue. And on the rest of the drive, she kept asking about Bob's Big boy. So we told her that after the zoo, we would eat there for dinner, and we did. I'm always going to remember that. Then the next day, Sunday, she knew the kids were going to sing to her in Primary, and again she thought she'd be coming home to cake and presents since people were singing her a birthday song. So we made it to her birthday, finally! I got to bring treats into her school class, which was fun. Then we did her presents first, which Blake had to put under the Christmas tree. After she opened them, she told us she didn't want to take the toys out of the package. It wasn't until yesterday after school that she was holding the boxes and said, "Okay, I want to take the toys out now." Blake was so excited to play with the Strawberry Shortcake toys! Much more than Julianna was. Anyway, I think she had a fun birthday. This morning she asked, "Am I done being 6?" She is getting so big and smart! Her red hair certainly attracts a lot of attention. Especially at zoos and amusement parks. She got stopped so many times at the zoo that she asked, "Why does everyone like my hair?" It was cute. We love Julianna!

Blake's 4th Birthday and Julianna's first lost tooth

In front of the Capitol Building.

In front of the Luxor.

At the play area of Legoland.

Blake's first experience in "driving school." He didn't like it much, but he got his "driver license."

Another cool Lego creation--the Excalibur.

On the boat ride.

The helicopter ride--Julianna loved going up and down. Joel took the picture from his helicopter.

Sunday morning before the primary program--they both had speaking parts and did well!

Singing Happy Birthday to Blake yesterday. He loves telling everyone he's 4 now.

Well, a lot has been going on since I posted Friday. We went to Legoland for the first time on Saturday to celebrate Blake's birthday. That place is SO fun. We loved it! They were big enough to go on almost all the rides, and some of them had a "kid waiting area" where they could play with Duplos. The Miniland with all the creations of different cities/towns in Legos was really cool. I especially liked the Las Vegas one! It was a really fun day with the family.

On Blake's birthday we did a little party at the park with some preschool friends and Sunbeams and it was a lot of fun. Blake was so excited to open his presents! Then that night we sang again to him as a family. Blake is so much fun and is excited to be 4! He kept asking me if he was "old" now, and even thought that he would be 5 the next day. He can't wait to grow up. He still loves all his superheroes and Star Wars and is always dressing up in something. And he can write his name now by himself and loves to draw and write his letters all the time, and knows all the sounds of the alphabet. He still loves collecting his sticks to play with in the backyard, and now our neighbor cat will actually come to our sliding glass door, letting Blake know it's time to play. It's almost like we have a cat! Anyway, I think he had a good birthday.


Julianna's missing tooth smile.

Her little tooth in her hand.

In Julianna news, we had a big surprise tonight. When she was in the bath, I was trying to wash her hair using a cup to pour water on her head like I always do. She started to bite her hands (something she does when she's mad) because I guess she got water on her face (she doesn't like this). I went to take her hand out of her mouth by just pulling it down like I usually do. Well, maybe I did it with too much force? It didn't seem like I did. But from doing this, she ended up losing her first tooth! After I pulled her hand down, she screamed, and I thought she was just mad. Today has been a hard day with her--she's been screaming a lot and bugging Blake and I really was at the end of my rope. So when she let out this scream, I was so done. And I just walked out of the bathroom to calm down. As soon as I walked out, I had the thought, maybe she lost a tooth. So I walked back in after a few seconds and saw the blood trickling down her chest. And sure enough the tooth was gone! I was lucky to find the tooth among all the bath toys and took it out to show her. At first she was a little scared, but then she felt good because she lost a tooth! So we put it in an envelope to give to the tooth fairy. She didn't want it under her pillow, so we put it under a pillow in the loft area. I'm just happy that we didn't have to worry about a wiggly tooth!

First days and Blake's boots

Sorry it's sideways (I was too lazy to rotate it on my camera.) Now those blue boots are very special around here. Lots of his friends have rubber rain boots (don't ask me why they sell them here). So of course he's always wanted some. Well, I've always wanted to get him some, but they are not cheap. I happened to see some on clearance for $5 at Wal-mart, when Blake was with me. They are a little small, but they'll work for now. HE LOVES THEM! Now he can be a Jedi, or Batman, or whatever he wants, all the time. He used to wear my Ugg (not real Ugg) boots around and now those are ruined. I'm glad he has his own now.

Blake's first day of preschool--second year now. The co-op is in its second year and it's going to be great! He told me he had to wear his hat, because "we wear hats to preschool."Her Kai-lan shirt from Grandma. She loves it! Especially because Rin-too (the tiger) is on it.
Better late than never! Here's Julianna on her first day of 1st Grade! (which ended up being Aug. 31st so we could spend more time at home potty training). It was also picture day, so even more reason to get her dressed up! I volunteered on the first day and got to stand next to the guy taking her picture and approve the smile! It was fun. I like her class and her teacher. I'm hoping it will be a great year. And I'm proud to say that this girl is a BIG GIRL! Only 4 weeks and she is fully potty trained. What a difference it makes around here.

Haircuts

I was feeling ambitious today, and decided to cut both the kid's hair. I think they turned out pretty good.

In more exciting news, Julianna now does #2 on the potty!

In the most exciting news, my brother Cliff got home from his mission on Tuesday! I get to fly to Utah (by myself) this weekend to see him and more family.

Big Updates

Three significant things have happened this week that have been miracles.

1. I decided to fight my HUGE red-light camera ticket in court yesterday. Because the officer who issued the ticket (using the camera?) didn't show up to court, I get my whole $456 back. SO glad I went in and took the time.

2. Today I was an advocate for Julianna at a meeting put on by the area board for developmental disabilities--in attendance was the new Director for the Inland Regional Center (the IRC has denied Julianna year after year even though she's diagnosed with autism). The new director wanted to hear firsthand from parents their concerns. I emailed the person in charge of the meeting and after hearing my story, she wanted me to be one of the key speakers at the meeting and share my story. We'll see if Julianna will finally get help! The IRC services help more at home, which is something I've needed for years now.

3. And here's the BIG one--drum roll--Julianna can now go #1 IN THE TOILET! We decided to hire outside help for a few sessions (and only had to do this because the IRC isn't helping us--big reason why I spoke at the meeting) and toward the end of the last session, we had a miracle! She did it! We are so happy for her. HUGE burden lifted from me, even though this really is the beginning of another long road to finalize it, but for her to do this makes me so glad we paid for the extra potty help.

So those are my updates!

"We're happy we have a swing in the house, Mommy!"

That's is what Julianna keeps telling me, now that the swing is fixed again (this time for good!) Tonight she even told me to take a picture of her while she was swinging. (Blake is mad that he can't swing by himself like Julianna.)




Here she is before getting on the bus on the last day of ESY (Extended School Year). In 4 short weeks she will be in first grade, going to school ALL DAY! What will I do?

Kindergarten graduation!

Crying because she wouldn't take a picture with her teacher, so she took one with me instead!

Holding her rose from her best friend Drennen.

Standing on the stage after her name was announced.

With most of her class

We no longer have a kindergartner. Julianna graduated on Friday! Her teacher announced the class in alphabetical order, which means Julianna was last, of course! Each child got a nice diploma with a graduation picture, a certificate, and a picture and poem. Julianna's little "When I grow up" answer was, "I want to be a writer because I like books!" I loved it! We are so proud of her! On to REGULAR 1st grade (no more special day class/SDC). How did we get old enough to have a 1st grader?