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.

Treat or treat

Holidays oh holidays, Let the craziness begin. The spookiness seemed to go on and on and on around here. Jared and i had to cancel our annual couples costume party since there was just no days available to do it. The school parades, and class parties seemed to keep coming. But the kids looted up and enjoyed every minute. This year we have Mike & Amy Salazar (Hartnell bball) living with us. They've joined the family extremely smoothly and we are really enjoying  having them along for our fun family stuff. We hit Spreckels with them and Kendra went with Grace Vasher out in las palmas.  Halloween done.

Holy ketchup

I have a lot of "catch up" to do. So I'll start with first day of school pictures. They were super happy to start kinder, 2nd, 4th, & 6th grades. I'm relatively happy with their teachers this year but jared and i know their educational success falls mainly on us and our approach and support. I'm the room mom for Kendra and Brady. I'm always a room mom for Caden but special ed is a whole different world. And Ray Ray couldnt  care less if i was in her room but i still help out when i can. It'll be a busy year I'm sure, but we will do our best to stay happy in true Anderson fashion.

dang you Gabby Douglas!

the olympics are AWESOME, im sure we all can agree, however those mesmerizing gymnasts make me miss like CRAZY coaching this ultimate sport. it all started when i was 16 years old, thanks to Renae Borgia i got the hook up to train (for weeks and weeks). to learn and do all this gymnasticy stuff was overwhelming at first but i had always admired the sport. long story short and 4 babies later i finally stopped coaching 16 months ago, but who's counting.
the list of things i absolutely adored about 17 years (off and on) of this "work" is awfully long. Of course it's all about the kid; taking these little balls of energy and teaching them to safely tumble, balance, spring off boards, and swing on bars.

i will say im pretty proud of the great friends i brought in to coach with me. bonding over cartwheels and handstands is something that's hard to describe.

Running field trips of 30+ big-eyed hyper-spazzes and the dozens of birthday parties i hosted were definite highlights. My special little caden was able to bring his class to the gym his 3rd grade year. my heart will never forget what it was like to work with those kids and their unique needs.

i miss chatting with curious parents about their child's athletic level,progression and mastery of the skills. i miss the chuckles amongst coaches at a gymnast's "attempt" at a certain skill, i admit it was more than a chuckle most times. i miss good bosses that supported me and appreciated my efforts. i miss herding my little turkeys from event to event. i miss setting up and creating different approaches to teach the same basic but crucial skills. but most most most of all i will whole heartedly miss the excited shout of, "coach laurie, i DID it!!!"

im not too late--we celebrated this guy's bday for a long time

man oh man does this guy make me smile.  he was very excited for his birthday, he only had a couple " must haves":  popsicles at school, a cuddleuppet (as seen on tv, its a blanket and a puppet, you should hear him sing the song on the ad)  and the scooby doo mystery machine. he also wanted to go roller skating for his birthday but we had to wait for a saturday that worked for our schedule.  proud to say i made all his dreams come true, eventually.

but it did take awhile to get all the celebrating done.  his bday was on a wednesday so i went and did the school thing.  teacher kim gave him moon dough which he loved.  then his family gathering, including shae, ashlee, and lincoln scored him some treasures like muppet puppets, a dvd set and science fun stuff.  he definietly felt like a king for the day.

oh the memories we've had with this guy.  he always found mischief in his quiet way and he loved his new baby siblings but just for a quick minute then he was on to other things.

he's grown, changed and progressed so VERY VERY much.  jared and i are extremely grateful for all those that have been an integral part in that.  family (of course), primary teachers, school teachers, therapists and dear friends that have shown genuine concern and love will always hold a special place in our hearts.  nine birthdays later we just couldn't love this guy ANYmore.  love ya CADE!