This Other Blog That I Do

Technically, there is more than one. I have one set up for James to talk about video games. I am hoping it helps his grammar and spelling and basic english skills. I'm also hoping it helps him get the video game rants out a bit in a format where there are others to "listen" to them.

Then there is the business blog. I'm just getting started with that.

Finally there is the Journey blog. That is the one I was referring to in the title. I realize I've been very lax in posting to this blog. For the year so far there have been less than 10 posts and here it is, the 5th month already. Wow. Honestly, it's been too much "effort". Though honestly, that doesn't make any sense. After all, it's just typing and clicking and that's it. So I'm working on doing it more. All around.

This other blog is my food journal exercise log health rant blog. I needed somewhere I could put it all down in one place. Somewhere that the focus was my health and what and how I'm dealing with it. I want this blog to be about family and my relationships with them. Showing off pictures of the kids and that kind of thing. I don't want the health thing to distract from that.

My goal for the month of May is to post 4-5 times a week on this and the health blog. I would love to post frequently on the business blog, but if I don't have business, then I can't do that. My hope for posting that frequently is that I can sit down and really look at what I'm doing, where I'm going, and where I want to be. Be prepared for a lot of mind numbing posts like "I did 4 loads of laundry and washed 3 racks of dishes today. I knitted for a while. The kids and I went for a walk." Those are the kinds of things that I want to keep track of.

I want to start having recipes on both blogs, food pics too. The ones here will be more family focused. The ones there will be ones that I'm trying as a way to be healthier. They will overlap I'm sure.

The kids are doing all right. Jack is crawling and pulling himself up. He'll be walking before he turns a year old, I can guarentee that. As it is, he walks along the furniture so it's just a matter of time before he lets go. He'll be my earliest walker. Abbey is pulling herself up to her knees and rocking back and forth. She'll be crawling by the end of the month I think. Up to now it seems like she hasn't felt the need to be moving, but something has struck up the nerve in her to do it. They have a check up on Monday so we'll see how they are doing weight and height wise. It's a shot free appt, so that will be nice.

Izzy still isn't speaking. We are working on trying to teach him sign. I've talked to his ped about a lot of things going on with him. We both feel he may be on the Autism Spectrum, though most likely, not very severely. It seems that his language abilities are the most severe of his issues. A lot of his behavior problems directly relate to his inability to effectively communicate his wants and needs. I'm calling to try to get him in to a speech and language clinic at WMU.

I went to an Autism Conference not long ago. I learned some things and it was a nice afternoon. I met a woman, I believe her name was Ashley, from an organization here in town called Parent to Parent. They are all parents of children with special needs. Parent mentors and resource ideas and all of that. I'm looking at being connected with possibly another parent who had a child with a severe speech issue similar to Issac's. I'm also going to do the training to be a parent mentor because of my experiences with James, Jayden, and Izzy. It was suggested to me to try to get Izzy in to a music program of some sort.

This has been something that I've been working with James and Jayden on already. Music theory. I am going to keep doing that and try to expand it to include Izzy. I am now in search of beginning piano books for them. I'm not sure what will work best, and odds are it may end up being different for each of them, but we'll see how it goes. I have the keyboard and the music knowledge myself.

We are applying for a Y-Grant. It will help us get a reduced fee to join the YMCA where the kids can take classes. We are thinking swim for James and dance for Jayden. This summer James will be taking an art class and Jayden will be doing cheerleading through our local parks dept. I am also trying to get Jayden in to a summer reading clinic. I am hoping they can help her break through her barrier and make sense of the letters and how they form in to words.

We are in the final stages of an evaluation for Jayden. I asked that it be done so that we could discover if the suspected dyslexia is actual. I wanted to know if there were any other things going on that could inhibit her learning. I don't think that we will get a diagnosis like Autism or anything like that. With James' eval, Asperger's was the anticipated result. With Izzy, mild Autism/PDD-NOS is the anticipated result. With Jayden, severe Dyslexia/AD(H)D is the anticipated result. I just hope that my intuitions regarding my kids stay on par with what I experienced with James and that I'm not totally off base with Jayden and Izzy.

James is growing well. He's constantly wanting to eat. At his age, that doesn't surprise me. I'm glad to see that he is beginning the typical teenage need to eat. I know that pre-teen and teen boys grow quite a bit. I also know that James is hoping this starts to happen naturally, and soon, so that he can stop doing the hormone therapy. His endo has said that is what will happen. Once he hits the typical teen growth James will be able to stop with the growth hormones.

James wears glasses full time now. He has needed them for a while, but convincing him to wear them has been difficult. The way they feel on his face bothers him, understandably so. He picked out a pair that he really likes and I made sure to pay extra for the replacement warrenty. He is now comfortably reading chapter books. He's read Percy Jackson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and is working on How to Train Your Dragon. All in the past month. I think we are definately developing a love for reading with him!

This summer for our schooling we will be focusing on reading. We will include a little math and science with that, but it will mostly be reading. The other focus will be social. Working on family interactions. Helping out around the house and outside in the yard. Behavior and attitude. Being a good role model for younger siblings.

One of the things I'm having a difficult time teaching James is being a role model. Because he is such a concrete thinking, he has a hard time understanding how his actions affect others. He also isn't grasping the notion that how he acts toward his brother and sister is how they are going to act toward the ones younger to them. It's very difficult to teach him to think outside of his very small box where he believes that how he acts is in direct relation to how others treat him first. He can't see that he is not actually reacting, but acting first and the others are either reacting to him or mimicing his previous action. It creates a lot of smack my head against the wall moments for me.

Katy has gotten herself in to trouble. For the past few months her grades have really gone down. She has started to alter her perceptions to something much darker and definately unacceptable. She has made herself "mentally ill" in order to fit in more with friends, when in fact there isn't anything wrong. She has a boyfriend that is very consuming of her energy and focus. It's a relationship that is much too, in my opinion, intense for someone who is only 12. She keeps "forgetting" that she is only 12 and really is trying to be much older. This all came to a head a couple of weeks ago. I won't go in to specific detail as to what she did, however it did get her grounded and pulled out of school and homeschooled for the last month of the school year. Jenn felt it was necessary to remove her from the friends and school in order for Katy to refocus on what is really important. This summer when Katy visits, she is going to find out what it really means to be intensely involved in a relationship. The side effects of all of that, of having an "adult" relationship. Instead of lounging about reading all day, she'll be helping me cook and clean and take care of the three youngest kids. This will be all day long.

She had changed her relationship status on facebook, at one point, to married. That is how involved she feels that she is with her boyfriend. I want to show her what being married REALLY is. It's not all fun and games and hanging out together. That's dating. Marriage is responsibility and time consuming. It is about love and respect as well. However a child of 12 (she really is still very much a child) doesn't have the life experience to understand the love and respect part, not really, not completely. She says that she loves her boyfriend, and I'm sure to her that is what it feels like. I remember that kind of love. It is nothing compared to what I have with Jason. I don't want her to get so focused on that feeling that she closes herself off to everything and everyone else that she will experience and meet in the future.

Do I think my lesson will work? I have no idea. I know I'll be talking with her about it, the intensity of her relationship, as well. Trying to explain how it is taking her focus away from her school work and therefore, taking away from her future. Thankfully her boyfriend will be in high school next year, he's a grade above her. While he'll doing school online instead of attending a physical building, my hope is that it will lessen the intensity of the relationship.

Well, I suppose that is enough of a update for right now. That is what has been going on here. Prayers and blessings for everyone.

Starting (Continuing?) a New Business

Yes, there is some confusion as to whether it's starting or continuing. Jason has a degree in photography that is just sitting there getting dusty. He has been showing me how to use the Adobe Photoshop program. He has also told me that I take really good photos of the kids.

Honestly, Jason isn't super social. He doesn't have a lot of free time to dedicate to photo shoots. A wedding is something that is scheduled months in advance so he can easily make sure he has the needed time for it off of work. However, things like family photo shoots are scheduled, often, a couple of weeks in advance, at most. They also take less time to do.

I really enjoy taking the photos. I love working with the kids and getting them to act naturally. I like working with the natural light, and as Jason has told me it allows for the best photos.

With all of that, we are officially going in to business. At the moment it's very small scale. This summer I will look in to getting a business license and tax ID number as well as registering our business name locally. I know this will mean extra work come tax time. I also know it has the potential for some extra income for us.

If you are my friend on facebook, I've sent you a like/fan request. I've also started a blog. At the moment, I'm uploading photos of different times Jason or I have taken photos of the kids. To act as a portfolio. I'll be ordering some business cards to hand out as well. I know that to begin with we'll be using a lot of family to build the portfolio and get the word out. That is fine. So if you are family (or not) and would like some nice photos done as a portfolio builder for me, give us a call. For the portfolio builder, we are doing no charge. We'll give you a CD/DVD of the pictures that are taken, sized to 8x10 so that they will be good quality printed up to that size and a stack of business cards. Just spread the word when you are asked who did your photos. If you want, we can get photos printed for you for the cost of the printing.

An Editorial I Wrote.

Yes I know it's been over a month since I posted. I have pics to put up and things like that. However, here's a quick post with a link.

I wrote an editorial to our local paper. There was a case that had been moved to our county from where it had happened about an hour south of here because the judge felt that it wouldn't get a fair jury in it's home jurisdiction. It involved a very horrific death of a young woman, who was 16, and she was homeschooled. She had special needs, the same diagnosis as James in fact. Her parents were the cause of her death, though they didn't set out to kill her, that was a horrible accident. The parents were found guilty of 1st degree Child Neglect and Abuse as well as Torture. Yeah. The young woman's name is referenced in the editorial. If you search her name through Mlive you'll find the articles regarding the hearing if you want to know more.

Because the young woman was homeschooled many many many people came out and said that there need to be tougher homeschool laws because "look at her". In fact, she had been in Public School for many years and the abuse had been reported, however CPS had dropped the ball. I believe the girl's grandmother is now looking in to a civil suit against that agency, which I completely understand. If they had followed through, the young woman would still be alive. It was stated during the trial that the investigators for the state knew of the methods of restraint (torture) and condoned it.

Needless to say, I was angry. It made my blood boil to read about this trial, that this child should have been treated so cruely, that the state passed her over, that people would assume that because she was homeschooled that was the root of the problem.

I don't know if the editorial will be printed in the local paper, right now it's just online. Our local paper has shrunk considerably, as have many/most in the US, so space is limited and I was told there were many editorials ahead of mine waiting to be printed. Here is the link. Let me know what you think.

I Made Butter

I know, that's make you go "What did she say? Did she REALLY MAKE BUTTER?" Um, yeah, I did. I'm rather proud of it too! I came across a recipe for it via a friend of facebook who directed me to Bella Cantina and this post. I also made the PW Potatoes the other day. And that Apple Dumpling recipe looks so yummy and easy.

Anyway, I made butter. I used the food processor like the directions said. Instead of doing it by hand, I then tossed the butter in to my newly aquired Kitchen Aid Mixer (thank you Income Tax Return!) and worked it that way. After doing all of the washing and letting the mixer work it a bit, I added some honey. It is OH SO GOOD!! Jayden helped with the food processor part.

Considering I have a small processor that only holds 3 cups of solid at a time, I bought it more to help with making puree out of veggies and fruits for baby food, I had to do it three times. Put in the cream, then hold the button for about 5 min until it got to the butter/buttermilk stage. Out of the quart of heavy cream, I'd say I got about a pound of butter (yes a pound!) and close to 2 cups of buttermilk. I have another quart in the fridge so I think that next time I'm going to try the whole thing with the mixer, first with the whisk, and then the mixer beater. I figure if you can use a Kitchen Aid to make merengue you can use it to make butter, and it would save me a few steps considering the bowl is 2 1/2 or 3 quarts, something like that. With the next batch I'm going to do garlic butter.

OK, I know this may seem like a trivial thing to be super geeked about. However, at Thanksgiving, I'm always searching for honey butter and I have such a hard time finding it. So now, I no longer need to search. I can take about 45 minutes and make up some myself! We went through a 9 pack of Thomas' English Muffins this morning enjoying our butter! Next time I do it, I'll take pics to share the process with you all.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and find joy in the trivial things! Prayers and blessings everyone.

Portraits of a Teenager, Part Three

Here is the final installment of the photo shoot with Katy. She wanted some pics that really showed the color in her hair and I think we almost got that. I handed her my MP3 player. She was curious as to what I had on it. It's why the funny face because some of it she just doesn't like. I told her it was for working out and it had a good beat for that. There was some real face making over my choices of Lady GaGa and Beyonce. Oh well. The last pics she is really smiling and laughing. I told her to imagine James falling down the stairs and it got a great laugh. Siblings are so cruel!

I will have some new pics of Jack and Abbey soon. I am waiting on a pair of pants to be washed up first. They are a bit overdue for their 6 month pics considering they are a week shy of 7 months! Where did the time go? This time last year it was still sinking in that we were going to have twins, we didn't even know for sure (well I knew because of the dreams, but Jason didn't) that they were in fact boy and girl.

Prayers and blessings everyone. Enjoy the kids while they are there for you to cuddle and not complain about it!

Portraits of a Teenager, Part Two

Here is the second part of the photo session with Katy. These are all just random faces that I had her make at me. Yes, there are red streaks in her hair. Yes, the back of her hair looks rather purplish.

Katy had been wanting to dye her hair black and then get red streaks and purple tips in it. I was very much agains the black. Her natural color is so dark anyway. And being a teenager, though she vehemently denied she would, I knew she would get bored of the look and want to change it, only to find out that dying it that drastic color had made it so the only way to get it out is to bleach it all, or cut it all off. She, of coarse, took this as opposition and decided it needed to be done all the more.

I talked to Jason the night before I went to pick up Katy because I had a "PLAN". I knew Jenn was OK with the color streaks, but not really with the black, though she understood why she wanted to do it. When I got there, I asked when Katy was going to get her hair done. The answer was an I don't know. So I offered Katy, with Jenn right there to say no, if she felt she needed to (she knew I was going to ask, I had mentioned it to her on chat the night before), that if she agreed to not do anything thing black that I would take her the next morning to get the colors put in how she wanted and that I would pay for it. Jenn looked at her and said "I'd take that deal." As you can see, Katy took it.

So here she is once again in all her goofy teenage glory. I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your week. Prayers and blessings.

Portraits of a Teenager, Part One

While Katy was here for her mid-winter break, I took the advantage of a sunny day and set her up in our "stuido" and got out the camera. I wanted her to be comfortable and not stiffly posed with a half ass fake smile. I pulled out my Game Boy and MP3 player and let her play around with those. I ended up with 36 pics that I REALLY liked. I'm going to seperate them in to 3 different posts of 12 pics a piece. 36 is a lot to scroll through all at once!

We always love having Katy here and it would be great if she could come down more often. I know that as she gets older, the once a month we see her may get even more scarce because of her commitments to other activities. I think that will just have us cherish our time with her even more. Here is the first set of 12 pics. The last pic it looks like she is upset. That's not accurate. I had told her to just start making random faces at me and I am rather certain that she was trying not to laugh at me.

Prayers and blessings everyone. I hope you enjoy the time you have with your children while they are still there to enjoy.