It's been awhile

Wow it's been too long since I've posted anything. I can't believe that summer is over already and it is now fall here in Alaska. The leaves are turning and falling and the snow is almost halfway down the mountains now. It's been getting into the 30's in the mornings and I've been having to scrap my car windows in the morning before going to work. Not sure if I'm ready for winter yet.

This summer was pretty busy but we did manage to have some fun. Mason went to summer school this year and I think it really did him some good. His reading is so much better now. If he would of have 2 maybe 3 more weeks I think he would have been to were he needed to be when he finished the 1st grade. He started the 2nd grade and this year he had a really good teacher that seems to really be willing to work with him. Since he has ADHD the medication he's on only tapers his behavior it doesn't control it completely he still needs structure. This year his teacher is really trying to help him like his kindergarten teacher did. I think he's going to have a really good year.

Michael has been doing really well also. He didn't have to attend summer school again this year and he's really seeming to retain a lot of information. Therapy has been going well for him too and he's adjusting so well to change. He's had so many changes this year. First change his occupational and speech therapist moved to a new building. It didn't take him as long as it usually does for him to adjust to a new place. Second he got moved to a different classroom and has a different teacher this year in school. Originally he was suppose to stay in the class he's been in for the last 3 years but his teacher got an unexpected student and she had to move someone up. There was only Michael and another kid in his class that moved up to the 4th grade. Well it turns out that the other kid and another kid in the other class don't get along and they yell at each other all day long so they decided to move Michael instead to avoid the yelling. He was a little confused the first week of school but he seems to be adjusting well to his new classroom. I'm not sure if I really like his new teacher this year. The verdict is still out at the moment. There are some things that she does differently than his teacher that he had the last 3 years and I'm not sure if I really like the differences. Maybe I'm the one that is having a hard time adjusting. I really liked his old teacher. She was one of the best teachers Michael has ever had.

In July Michael celebrate one year post leg surgery. He seems to be doing really well and his legs are really getting strong. Mike and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in July. I can't believe that we have been married for 10 years. We've had our shares of ups and downs but I can't imagine my life with anyone else. Mike is the one and only for me. We really didn't do anything too special for our anniversary. We hadn't see Mike's sister is quite a while so we took the kids to Fairbanks the weekend of our anniversary to visit her. We had a wonderful trip there and back.

These are some pictures that I took on our way to Fairbanks. The fireweed was so beautiful and Mason was so cute standing in front of it.

We went to Chena Hot Springs while we were in Fairbanks and above is some of the pictures I took there. Michael didn't get in the water with us. He really wasn't into the whole thing so he sat in his wheelchair and played with his music. He seemed to really be enjoying himself as you can tell in the above picture. Mason had a blast. He was really fasinated with the fish pond they have there. It use to be the theraputic pool but the closed it down and turned it into a pond.

Well this entry is turning out to be pretty long so I will post more pictures of our trip and the rest of our summer in another post.

Happy Memorial Day!

It's been awhile since I've written. Hard to believe that May is almost over and today is Memorial Day. Nothing special going on here. We were going to go to Fairbanks and visit Mike's sister with Mason since Michael had therapy on Friday but I forgot that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law go to Dawson City every year with a group of friends Memorial Day weekend so those plans got cancelled and we ended up having to stay home. It's not bad though. Mike and I went out Friday something we usually don't get to do because of the kids. Saturday we hung around the house. We did some shopping then barbequed.

Mason's birthday is Wednesday so we decided to celebrate it on Sunday since Mike was off because he took the weekend off. We went to church with my parents then we through Mason a small birthday party at my parents house. My dad grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs and we had cake for Mason's birthday. Mason was happy with all the presents that he got. Mike and I decided to do something educational for Mason this year instead of typical today. I found these kits at Fred Meyer's from the Smithsonian Institute. One is growing crystals the other is making gummy bugs that he can eat. Mason was very excited about them. Today I'm going to clean house a little and clear off the kitchen table then Mason and I are going to sit down and do the crystal kit. They can't be moved once the process is started so we have to have a nice clear area to start off with. I think it's going to be a lot of fun for both of us. Mike may even join in.

We finally got our new vehicle. We got a Toyota Sienna and I absoutely love it. Two weeks ago we took the van in and got the auto starter, seat warmers, and DVR player installed along with the undercoating done. We still need to get the wheelchair lift installed and the crystal fusion but on the windshield. That's going to have to wait though because the second week we had the van a rock hit the windshield and now we have a crack in it that needs to be fixed before they can do the crystal fusion. Not sure if we are going to be able to do it at all because since the crack happened before the crystal fusion was put on we have to pay out of pocket to have the windshield fixed and right now our finances aren't the best. Long story that I really don't care to go into. Personal reasons. I'm hoping we can get it done though because I think it will really come in handy this winter.

The kids last day of school was Thursday so they are both enjoying summer vacation. Mason was suppose to go to summer school but we got a letter like the second the the last week of school telling us that they had too many kids sign up for summer school so Mason got put on a waiting list. Now we have to wait for someone to drop out and then it depends on how far down the list he is. More than likely he won't be going at all. My parents are going to be watching the kids every weekend until school starts since Mike and I both have to work on Mondays and Fridays so my mom is going to work with Mason on his math and reading 15 minutes a day and so am I. Hopefully that will help him out. It's not really summer school but it's close enough.

Michael is doing great and getting stronger and stronger every day since the plates were taken out of his legs. We found out that he's not going to be in the same class next year like we thought. We had his transition meeting Friday and met his new teacher. The jury is still out on what we think of her. She's defintely not like Michael's old teacher. I guess only time will tell how well she is going to work out. It's going to be a big change for him next year. New teacher, new classmates. He's also going to have a new physical therapist and occupational therapist at school. It's going to be a rough beginning for him. He doesn't handle change very well so it's going to take him a few weeks to get use to all of the new people. At least he's going to be going to the same school and there will be familar people around so hopefully that will help some. I'm going to take the first day of school off so I can take all of his incontience supplies to school and see how his handling the change.

I need to get Mason in to see his pediatrian because we need to get his medication changed before the new school year begins. I'm hoping the second grade will be better than first grade was.

We just need to keep praying for strength and courage that we can make it through the rest of this year.