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!!!"