Uh it's been 5 months

Well summer happened, we spent it at Raging Waters,  brady and Kendra did summer sports camps at hartnell,  I did girls camp with MY daughter getting to go this year and then we got ready to get everyone back to school.  Juggling the 4 school schedules (includes my Montessori work schedule) is so so difficult.  I've messed up a couple times and being the room mom again is keeping me on my toes and really involved but I like it that way.

It's now almost Halloween and we road tripped to utah for lincolns wedding,  we had my parents here,  I got a pretty decent primary program accomplished,  Jared has worked his butt off leaving me feeling like a single mother plenty of nights and gosh we are just tired most days.  We've had some trials with Kendra and Caden.  Life gets tough sometimes but we are grateful we have the Gospel to keep us grounded. Heaven help me is definitely my current motto. 

The great eight!!

The young boy turned eight. It was a while ago but I kinda forgot about this whole blogging world. So, it was a great birthday. He had a small nerf gun party since getting baptised causes the greater celebration. His best buds came and fired away. They had a blast! I regretted the store bought cake but I made up for it with his baptism buffet. Brady is another year older and he's still our panicky-zero to sixty kind of boy. But he's loveable, a smartie pie, and a very kind friend. Love you bud.

A liitle place called disneyland

What is there to say really? It was more than magical. It was full of fun, lights, wonder, anticipation and screams of amusement and horror. The highlights were being with my bro, Shannie and their kiddos, and being surprised at what rides the kids loved and hated. Ray Ray was infatuated with the princesses. Brady was mortified on the tower of terror (see pic). Caden was awesomely patient and loved the pirates, teacups and the whale's mouth. And Kendra is my thrill seeker, wanting to go on every scary ride a hundred times.  Jared and I loved having family fun time and watching the kids in awe of everything. Way to go Walt, we totally enjoyed ourselves.

Utah trip

Just pretend its November. Recap: we went to Provo to see our boy Lincoln. We were Mormon tourists big time. We played, went to the spoken word, walked temple square, ate, hiked the Y, rode horses, enjoyed a fine turkey day feast, had a blast at a trampoline park, relaxed in the hotel, swam, drove (lots) but most importantly, loved every single minute with the Selk family. Yes that was a huge run on sentence and the pictures are out of order but you get the point.

Sometimes it hits me

Yesterday i became quite overwhelmed with the fact that i have a special needs child. This school year nearly every single thing has changed for my Caden. He is 9 and is being faced with a new school, new teacher, new instructional aides, a different speech therapist and a different occupational therapist. Oh and his primary teacher at church became the relief society president. He doesn't even handle new shoes well.

Everytime he has a major behavior problem at school they write an escalation report and notify me to record the events and communication. For the past two years i received maybe 4 phone calls. This year i receive 2-3 every week. We've held an emergency meeting with his team & we've all been tirelessly grasping at any new ideas to help him "turn it around" (as we coach him).

His diet, sleep patterns & habits are put under a microscope. Its tiring. Its complicated. Its sometimes seems hopeless. Autism is what it is. He is what he is. And we love him even more because of it, but it is difficult.