First update in quite a while!

Finally! It feels so nice to be typing on the laptop and actually writing! I'm pleased with the work the computer repair place did. It was a great price too. While we had to wait almost 3 weeks because the screen was backordered, they replaced it within about 3 hours this past Saturday. We were using the laptop hooked up to our desktop monitor. Not very convenient. The only time we were even bothering was to pay bills or for Jason to do his homework.

It's been a very busy couple of months around here. Ethan and Alex finished swim lessons for this session just a couple of weeks ago, Catechism is wrapping up for the year this next weekend (I believe) and all the hard work they put in to play rehearsal paid off. Saturday was spent at Catechism in the morning followed by "call" at 5pm and the show at 7pm. I went alone to watch that night, while Jason stayed home with Jackson. It turned out so great! The director did a great job casting the parts. The actress who played Annie has an amazing singing voice! As well as many of the other actors and actresses. Ethan and Alex did good in their parts. I wish I would have gotten some pictures or video but no luck. On Sunday, Jason's parents came up for a visit and to go to the show. The boys had to be there at 1, and the show started at 3pm. Jackson slept for about half of it and near the end he got antsy so we stepped out. It worked out nicely since I had gone the previous night. Everyone else was able to enjoy the show.

We had the Blue and Gold banquet a few weeks ago for cub scouts and my parents came up for it. It was really nice.

My dad's SMILING!! For a PICTURE!!

My beautiful momma and handsome daddy! They just celebrated 41 years of marriage!

My dad showing the boys his Eagle Scout card!

Daddy and Jack-Jack <3

Our Pinewood Derby was March 23rd and Jason's family came to watch and to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. It was great to see Jason's dad, sisters, brother and niece. We missed having his mom come up but were glad his mom and dad made it to the play. Alex's car did really well coming in 2nd and 3rd for each race. While he didn't win a trophy OR a spot in the regional races, he had so much fun and loved making his car this year. We all got to see Jason in action emceeing the race. He's such a ham...

Last week, Jackson and I spent the whole week volunteering at the Scholastic book fair. It was crazy busy for a lot of the time, but we had a good time. He keeps begging to go to the "library" - where we held the fair - and to school, since he got to hang out in the preschool classrooms on and off throughout the week. I am so thankful to the preschool teachers and the other 2 moms who were also working at the fair, including the fair chairperson. She did an amazing job with it, while also working in the preschool in the mornings. She was always right there when I had a question or needed a hand and I hope I did as good a job as she says I did. She even bought pizza Friday night for my boys and I and her family! And took Alex to the spring carnival while E, Jack and I kept the fair open late that night! Talk about awesome teamwork. I would work with her again in a heartbeat. Plus she's such a nice lady! Shout out to CINDY!!

I wanted to write a quick update on our winter fun list so here goes.

We dropped a few more things: sledding; snowman/snowfamily; ice bubbles; s'mores; origami; coloring contest.

We did the following but mostly without pictures: paint a picture - just mom and Jackson; make a fort; play payday - just the boys.

Also I decided to move a few things to our Spring activities. It will be an "unofficial" bucket list and will most likely blend over into Summer. Just things we still want to do but haven't yet. No pressure. Those items are: Lego movie; bonfire; ice skating - indoor arenas are plentiful; go for a hike; video game contest; Detroit Institute of Art; Detroit Historical museum; library event.

The family portrait is being added to our 2014 goals.

Unfortunately, we fell very far behind on our "Saint studies". The nice thing about it not being required is that we can do it at our own pace and will catch up and keep going throughout the year :)

Tomorrow I'll share a 2014 goals update since it's somewhat long!

By the way, April is Autism awareness month! In fact, today is World Autism Awareness! Let's not just promote awareness, but acceptance.

How is Ethan doing?

I've had a few people inquire about Ethan and how he's doing. I haven't really updated in a while now is a good a time as any.

It's been almost two months since we decided to have him start taking the Prozac. Within a few days, we saw changes in him. He started opening up more at home, and dealing with frustration better. It seems as though at school, he's been doing great too. Even when he does get upset, he calms himself easier, and I don't think I have heard of even one instance of him needing to leave the classroom!

Now I know some of this is due to him starting to mature, but I feel like the medication is helping him cope too. E has told me he's able to calm himself and keep the frustration "in his head" more, rather than having verbal outbursts. Not always, but much more often. Things that would have disappointed him previously immensely? Yeah, they don't seem to bother him as much. If he misses a day - yesterday for example - we see a drastic change in his coping skills. He's very whiny and overly emotional about certain things, especially video games.

E has even done wonderful in gym. First trimester is over now, and so is gym, but my child who hates anything athletic/active (for the most part) made it through no problem, even getting an A-, with an A on the last two tests. One was 25 correctly done sit-ups, and the other was 25 correctly done push-ups!

He starts study skills today, and I really believe he will get so much more out of it this year than last. He reminded me yesterday that he will probably need a binder and looseleaf paper. This is not something he would have thought of before, and when asked this morning what he needed to do if he got a syllabus from his teacher today, he responded with "bring it to you, mom!" (with a little sarcasm, like duh, mom! LOL)

We were discussing on the way to school what he thought he might have next trimester, Spanish or Art.

E: I hope I have art!

Mom: Really? I thought art is stressful to you?

E: It is, but I'm not going to let that hold me back from doing art!

That right there made me so proud of him!!! I said something like I'm proud of you buddy, and I know how much you like to draw so I'm glad. :)

I also told him that he is such a good example not only to his younger brothers but me to not give up even when something is hard or stressful for us!

6 months ago, I don't think he would have said that, or been able to express a lot of what goes on in his head sometimes. Especially when it has to do with stress, anxiety and frustration. That's not to say he wasn't or couldn't communicate well. He just couldn't explain how he felt and then when a situation became frustrating or upsetting, he had an even harder time not only dealing with the situation, but explaining his feelings and thoughts. It's like a cloud has lifted for him, and I'm so grateful. I never thought we'd put him on medication, and even though it has been one of the hardest decisions we've made as parents, it has definitely, so far, been one of the best ones.

My boys all amaze me everyday, and show me that anything is possible.

Another quick story about E. He was in the MTSS classroom for reading remediation (his scantron scores dropped due to him rushing through the tests, and it's procedure for him to go there, regardless of his ACTUAL ability...) and they were reading about carnivores. The teacher asked if we are carnivores and E said "well, actually, we are omnivores!" The teacher had him define omnivore and explain to the class why as humans, traditionally at least, we are omnivores! She said he seemed to enjoy "teaching" the class, LOL. Also she told me that even though he's in there, it's hard, because the other students are working at 3rd-7th grade reading comprehension, and he's got it all and should be working on TENTH GRADE reading comprehension!!! But he's an absolute joy to have in her classroom, her words, not mine. :)

We have conferences for E and Alex next Tuesday right after school. I already know their grades though.

Ethan:

• Math - A
• Reading - A
• Science - A
• Social Studies - A
• Gym - A-
• English - B+

Alex:

• Spelling - A
• Social Studies - A
• Science - A
• Handwriting - A
• Gym - A
• Spanish - A
• Math - A-
• Reading - B+
• English - B

Great Job, E!!

E had his final spelling bee for the year yesterday. He was in the 6th-8th grade group this year, and happened to be the youngest one up there.

He was starting to get overwhelmed after a few rounds but did pretty well. At one point, we thought he was out because he was given the word "guerrilla" and he spelled "gorilla". Since they are homonyms, and he spelled one of them correctly, and the sentence they gave wasn't completely clear as to which word, they gave it to him!

27 students to start, and by the end of round 8, it was E and an 8th grade girl. E was up first and was given "khaki". His nerves had set in, I think, because he knew the word but started with c, then tried to correct himself, which isn't allowed, so he had to just keep spelling it. The girl got a chance to correctly spell "khaki" and did and then was given the final word, "laborious", which she got correct also. E was runner-up, and he did wonderful. He was disappointed in himself - absolutely no reason for him to be though! We found out after that the girl was now a 3-time winner of the bee! So he only lost to the returning winner!

The girl and E were both given a trophy - she got one for first place, and he for runner-up/second place - as well as 2 tickets to Michigan's Adventure and a Kindle Fire!! He's been checking that out all morning after mom set it up yesterday for him. Since it can access the internet, we are going to "share" it as a family and it will be under supervision, as well as the parental controls and password are turned on.

We went to Michigan's Adventure for the first time last summer, after E won the bee and received 2 last year. In fact, we planned a whole vacation around it, our first family vacation. It was a lot of fun. I know he's excited that we are going to go again this year. Since it's on the other side of the state, we will make a weekend trip of it and do some other fun things too. It kind of forces us to take some down time this summer ;)

Proud of my boys

This weekend was a big one for the 2 older boys. E had the regional spelling bee and Alex had the blue and gold banquet for cub scouts.

I took Ethan along with my mother-in-law and Jack to the community college where the bee was being held. I made sure E was okay with me not sitting backstage with him. Last year, Jas sat back there, just in case. He was so funny. He said to me "No, mom, I'm ok. I'm mom's big boy. I'm your big boy!" LOL. Yes, buddy, you sure are. So we went and sat down to wait for the kids to all be called back so they could start the bee. We waited for almost an hour! Finally they called the kids back and announced the judges and the gentleman who was giving the words, as well as stated the rules. E was #25 so we had a little of a wait. During the first round, each child had to state their name and school and then spell their first word. Of course, my son, the ham that he is, had everybody in the audience laughing. I even heard at least one person behind me say she remembered him from last year. He really does shine, and make an impression on people. I really don't know why I worry about his future so much. He's going to do just great out there in the big wide world some day. I just hope that "someday" doesn't get here too quickly... Anyway, he got the first word right: denture. They were having difficulty during the first round with sound so after all 75 students had a turn (53 made it to the next round), they took a 15-20 minute break.

Second round came and it was eventually E's turn again. This time: oratorio. He spelled it incorrect - ouritorio - but after a big sigh of disappointment, he walked off stage calmly and was just fine. :) I found out later that 38 kids went out in the second and third rounds, and round 12 ended with just 2 left. The last 2 boys battled it out for 13 more rounds, when the top speller finally run in round 25! Crazy! Anyway, so after E got out, I gathered our things, met my M-I-L and Jack in the lobby and picked E up from backstage and he got his "prizes" - a certificate, a dictionary, and a tote bag with a ruler, pencil and pad of paper inside. He decided since he has the same dictionary from last year, he wants to donate this year's to his classroom. When I asked him how he felt about getting out so early on, he said he was ok, and "how am I supposed to spell the word right, when I couldn't even understand what he was saying?" and "I don't remember even studying that word!" Ha. He is certainly something else.

Big thanks to Marsha - my M-I-L - for helping me out with Jack. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you!

Alex went with Jason and my F-I-L to the blue and gold banquet. They got to eat chicken shack and enjoy some time visiting. After lunch, they had the awards ceremony, starting with the younger kids (tiger, wolf and bear) and then the webelos got their awards and they did a special "arrow of light" ceremony.

Alex received his Bobcat patch and pin (finally!), his Wolf patch and pin, his Blue and Gold patch, Order of the Eskimo patch (for winter fun day), Scout Sunday patch (for wearing his uniform to church in February for Scout Sunday), and his Gold Arrow Point for finish 10 electives in his Wolf book.

He was so excited to show us when we met up at the house. I don't think he stopped smiling at all! Love it! We are excited to work on more electives with him, as well as belt loop activities, the family fun book and the Light of Christ book (so he can earn the family badge, and the pin/badge for Catholic 2nd graders!). I'm planning to drive over to the Scout store and pick those 2 books up this week, so he can finish them before the end of the school year.

At his next pack meeting, he should get his first two belt loops - collecting and video games. He is starting to collect coins from around the world and has a pretty nice start from old coins Jason and I had and gave to him. He found a 1943 steel penny at the consignment shop a couple of weeks ago that we are going to go back and get one of these days. ;)

As soon as we get all his patches on his uniform shirt and patches/pins on his red vest (before next Tuesday's den meeting?), he wants to wear his uniform on their next casual day - probably this Thursday! - to show the kids what he got. Seriously, the boy is so excited!

These two make me proud, not just because of what they do, but because of how they handle things. Even though Ethan didn't win, he took it in stride, mostly, and worked hard up until then. Alex worked hard to earn those badges, and wants to continue to work hard to earn more. So I'm proud that they aren't giving up, that they are building character, trying new things, working hard, learning, and having fun all the way! Speaking of learning and trying new things, Ethan went up to two of the other contestants on Sunday to introduce himself. While we probably need to work on his etiquette a little, he's made great strides in that. Before, he would have been oblivious to the other boys and girls, but he told me he wanted to go meet them! Baby steps are becoming leaps...

Oh yeah, and a big shout-out to my in-laws, Marsha and Joe! Thank you so much for treating us to dinner Sunday night and for coming with us to the boys' activities! It meant a lot to us and it was so nice to see you guys. I hope we can make it down your way sooner than later. And even though my mom had to work, thanks to my mom and dad, Linda and Gale, for thinking of us, texting me to find out how they did, and for trying to watch the live-stream, even though it was a crappy audio! I can't wait to see you guys again. It's been too long. :(