Officially Summer!

Lindy finally finished (and graduated from) school on Thursday!  We can now fully relax into our summer schedule. 

It was a really busy week with things finishing up.  Lindy had school on Tuesday and then we had gymnastics.  In gymnastics they practiced for gold medal day, which is June 16th.  It’s their little ‘recital’ at the end of the year where they show off what they have learned all year and they get a gold medal. 

Wednesday I took the kids to Lindy’s school for field day.  We woke up to pouring rain so they had to move field day from outside to inside the gym.  I had kind of dreaded going but decided we didn’t have anything else to do.  I’m actually glad we ended up going.  Everything was set up so well and everything was age appropriate and Lindy could do most of it.  Will got to come with us and he had a blast too.  It was 1.5 hours long and then we headed back to the room for a snack.  As we were getting ready to leave they came in with grilled hot dogs so we stuck around and ate lunch too.  I brought the kids home and then I headed out for a little afternoon of pampering.  I cashed in my mother’s day/anniversary gift and had a massage and pedicure.  We go to the salon Drew’s aunt owns – who is Bob’s sister.  Bob just happened to be coming to town on Wed. because Bob and Joan were taking their aunt out for lunch.  Joan mentioned I was getting a massage that afternoon and so they decided to play a joke on me.  They snuck Bob in the back door and then they led me into the massage room and he was standing there.  That was quite a surprise to see my father-in-law in there.  Thankfully I was still fully clothed.  ha!  I was hardly able to relax during my massage – I was worried he would try to sneak back in!  A lady from our church, Martha, watched the kids while I was gone.  Bob stopped by the house and surprised her too.  He was just full of surprises that day. 

Thursday was Lindy’s last day of school at her hearing impaired classroom.  This is where she went everyday last year and two days a week this year.  She ages out of the preschool program next fall and she wouldn’t qualify even if she was the right age.  We had to fight to get Lindy into their classroom two years ago.  They had originally assigned her to another school in town.  We met with a room full of people and pleaded our case and they decided to let her try it out.  Two years later she graduated with the BEST language in the class!!!  She was quite a success story for that classroom.  Her hearing teacher told me many times she had never made it this far with any students.  Lindy did such a good job in this classroom.  We loved her teachers, Mrs. Asbury and Ms. Mary.  Ms. Mary told me she needed visitation rights and I agreed to every other weekend   She said she’d take Will too!  We will definitely miss this class and we’re so proud of her for doing so well.  They had a graduation ceremony for the 6 kids that are leaving the class.  2 weren’t there that day so 4 kids graduated. Lindy is the only one they recommended to go on to a mainstream kindergarten class.  It was a cute little ceremony and then we had refreshments.  Thursday afternoon we headed out for an errand so we stopped by McDonalds and got the kids a cherry berry chiller for a last day of school treat.  Thursday night the kids had their last children’s choir practice at church.  They will sing on Father’s Day and then take the summer off.

Friday afternoon Drew and I headed out of town for a weekend in the mountains.  One of Drew’s best friends from college was getting married in Blowing Rock.  We headed out around 1pm and left the kids with their Stokes County Grandma, Janice.  She watched them all afternoon and evening until Bob and Suzette could get there.  They left Charlotte after Suzette got off work and they watched them the rest of the weekend.  I think they wore each other out!  L&W were tired tonight and I’d bet GrandBob and Suzette are pretty darn tired themselves.  We do want to thank them for watching the kids – they even watched them on their wedding anniversary! 

We got up to Boone and checked in our hotel and changed clothes.  We headed to Blowing Rock – only about 10 minutes apart – for the wedding rehearsal.  Drew read scripture in the wedding.  After the rehearsal we went to the dinner and it was at the most beautiful place.  It was called Westglow Resort and Spa.  It was in an old house and it had the most amazing view.  The dinner was so nice and the sunset was amazing.  We didn’t know hardly anyone there but we enjoyed talking with the people at our table. 

The wedding was at 2:30pm on Saturday and it was a very nice wedding.  Kendal looked beautiful; Davis is a lucky guy!  The wedding ended and we had a couple hours until the reception started at 6pm.  Another great friend of Drew’s from college and his wife, Scott and Kelly, flew in from FL that morning.  After the wedding the four of us and another friend went to downtown Blowing Rock and we got a little snack and a drink at a restaurant.  We headed to the reception and had a great time catching up with Scott and Kelly.  The reception was at the Blowing Rock Country Club which was really nice.  We had a great meal and just a fun evening.  We got to sleep in until 9am this morning – a rare event for Drew and I!  We got up and got home around lunchtime.  Bob and Suzette headed out after lunch. 

The next week should be much quieter – especially since there are rain and storms in the forecast for almost everyday.  Could be a long week at home!

Field day at Lindy’s school.  Crab soccer.Relay cup stacking race.Jumping the creek (or in Lindy’s case – Running in the Creek)They let a couple kids at a time go out on top of the parachute.Lindy went and sat in the direct center.Then the nut laid back and put her arms behind her head.  Everyone around was laughing at how funny/cute it was!Lindy and Ms. MaryAt the graduation the class sang a few songs.Lindy really gets into her singing!The graduates.  I think this is such a great picture.  Lindy and her friend Elaina are smiling so cute at each other.  And this shows how INCREDIBLY SMALL she is.  Just look at that height difference!Our little graduate.Getting her preschool diploma!Lindy and Ms. Glenn, a teacher assistant who came in each day to help out in her class.Lindy and Ms. Mary again.Lindy and Ms. Carter, her speech therapist.Lindy and Ms. Ellen, the lead hearing impaired teacher in the county who has been coming on Tues/Thur to help in her classroom all year.Lindy and Ms. Asbury.  Thankfully we are going to see Ms. Asbury some next year as she is going to do a monthly private tutoring with us since we are losing all Lindy’s services.  Lindy and Mr. Massenburg, or Massenburger as Lindy calls him.  He is the principal at her school and she had him wrapped around her little pinky!!!A little comparison of Lindy on her first day at her school and her last day at her school.  She was such a baby when she started!!The first day of school compared to the last day of school this year.On a random note, we got our very first and very yummy tomato!  Drew, Will and I split our first little tomato.  Lindy wanted nothing to do with it.Drew and I at the wedding rehearsal Friday nightThe amazing view and sunset we watched.Drew and Davis – college pals and roommates.All dolled up for the wedding!Kendal and Davis!Scott and KellyThe Wake Forest crew.  Drew, Davis, and ScottDrew, Davis, Scott, and another friend, Suresh.

Muddy Week

It’s rained a ton so our backyard is very muddy and Drew ran the Marine Mud Run on Saturday – and he was VERY muddy!

Monday we headed down to Bob and Suzette’s for a Memorial Day cookout.  Our Duke student, Molly, went along for a little Southern family hilarity!  A tasty meal was had and a few games of Catch Phrase.  Although I do not think I was ever on the winning team. 

Tuesday Lindy had school and then we had gymnastics after school.  We headed home after gymnastics and then I  headed back out to Lindy’s IEP meeting.  Lindy had met most of her goals since her last IEP meeting so she got a lot of new goals this time.  Her teacher had completed recent testing on her and Lindy did great.  On the PSL-4 her auditory comprehension was 92 (or 4.5 years old) and her expressive communications was 108 (or 5.5 years old).  The total test average was 100 or 5 years old.  She’ll be 5 at the end of next month so she was right on target.  Ms. Asbury said Lindy was backwards of most students.  She said most have higher auditory than expressive.  Lindy has a big vocab but doesn’t necessarily understand everything she says!  On the Bracken her total test was an 88, which is in the average range.  It comes out to 4 years and 2 months, which is a little lower but Ms. Asbury thought vision was an issue in a few places.  She also said because Lindy had done so well on some other part that she had to start the test at a higher level and so she missed a few more of the higher level things.  The final testing she did was something called the Preschool Developmental Checklist that our county has.  Her total test was a 129 out of 134.  She blew that out of the water!  She missed three on the fine motor skills part – not surprising since she has severe vision loss.  So we wrote her a new IEP and I signed it – we unfortunately will just not use it.  Because we are choosing to hold Lindy and Will out of kindergarten this year and send them to preschool again, Lindy will lose her services.  It’s something we’ve thought long and hard about and we think this is the best decision for her.  She is obviously doing well and she’ll be in preschool 5 days a week next year and I’ll be working with her at home so we think she’ll be okay.  When we register her for kindergarten next spring we’ll bring her IEP and get everything back in place for her to get services started when she does start kindergarten in the fall of 2013.  (Which already makes me sad to think about and it’s a year away!).

Wednesday was kind of our first day of summer break.  The first day we’d been home with no school to go to.  We had a good morning but things got dicey in the afternoon.  I called someone and the kids went crazy.  We might have to have a very structured summer if they can’t behave when I’m not right next to them. 

Thursday Lindy had school and we did a parent session.  The kids had choir practice that night. 

Friday I went grocery shopping in the morning and then I got the kids and we headed to Target and Sam’s Club.  After Target we stopped at Krispy Kreme to enjoy a free doughnut on National Doughnut Day.  Yummy!  I figured it was just a glazed doughnut but you got your choice of any doughnut they had!  We headed to Sam’s and the bottom dropped out while we were in there.  We browsed a few more aisles until it stopped raining and we checked out and headed home.  Then round two of the storm came through and wow!  It put a hurting on our street.  As Drew said “The rain was of biblical proportions for five minutes and then it stopped.”  We were all standing at the front windows watching the wind and rain blow completely horizontal.  It hailed as well.  After the storm I went to the back window to find our backyard a complete mess.  Our patio table and umbrella were turned over, all the kids’ yard toys were scattered, a trashcan with pool/water toys was emptied and the lid was up in the wooded area, and we had big limbs broken off a tree in our wooded area.  It actually looks like it got struck by lightning.  Then we walked out front and three of our immediate neighbors lost large limbs off their Bradford pears in their front yards.  I drove down the road today and there are about 5 more houses down the road that all lost huge limbs.  Some limbs took down light posts and gutters with them.  Our little road is a mess!  It was one heck of a storm.  Thankfully it was short lived and it moved on.  We were supposed to go to the NC Zoo with Brenner’s Children’s Hospital but it was cancelled due to the severe weather. 

Saturday was Drew’s big day at the Marine Mud Run.  He ran it with his friends Kris, Ryan, and Robert.  They headed out early Sat. morning and then Katie and the kids came over around 10am.  We put Micah and Claire’s car seats in our cars and we headed up to Pinnacle to watch them cross the finish line.  Almost immediately after walking up to the finish line we saw Drew, Kris, and Robert round the last corner and then we waited for them to finish through the big mud pit.  They unfortunately had the mishap of losing Ryan on the course.  Ryan was waiting for the other three at the mud pit and the other three were waiting for Ryan (who they thought was behind them).  They finally all met up and came through the mud pit and across the line.  The kids, especially Will, weren’t so sure about all the mud!  We headed home and the guys finally made it back after they waited in long lines to get rinsed off and changed.  Katie and Kris hung out for awhile and then they headed out.  Drew and I both helped Jamie, Ed’s wife, with a wedding she was doing on Sat. evening at Tanglewood.  I was her assistant wedding director and Drew married the couple.  Drew dropped the kids off at a playground with Ed and Molly and then picked them up when he was done with the wedding.  I was there for before, during, and after the wedding helping Jamie.  It was a family affair! 

Today we had church and we had a really neat worship service.  We had the Inner Rhythm Choir, a group of adults with developmental disabilities, join us for worship.  They did a great job.  We know several of the choir members so it was fun to see our friends perform.  This afternoon I took Lindy to a birthday party at our neighbors’ house.  In the past Will has gotten to go to the parties but this year it was a girls only princess tea party and Will wasn’t invited.  He actually handled it better than I thought he would.  He hung with daddy and got to ride bikes and play games.  Lindy enjoyed seeing Belle, the Prince, and Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast.  She got her fingernails painted, got a tattoo, played Bingo and ate cake.  I wish I could just be one of the moms in the background but I unfortunately turn into the hovering mom when she is out on the back patio and there are steps to fall down. 

So that was enough typing.  Here are some pictures.

Good times outside.She had Drew’s belt stuffed down her pants.  ha ha!Happy Doughnut Day!Some of the storm damage.  You can see two trees with limbs down in this picture.  Our backyard.Pre-race on Saturday morning.Best picture of the kids we could get.  Claire cracks me up.  The boys in the mud pit.After the race.  Muddy boys.  I felt like I had run a race after carrying Lindy around there all morning.  Sweet girl before church today.I broke the rules again today and put her in sandals and so we painted her toes again.  They are such sweet, crooked toes!  Lindy getting a tattoo from Mrs. Potts.Lindy and the Prince.Lindy and Belle – who incidentally is a member of our old church so it was fun to see her again!Happy Birthday Elia!  She is second from the right.