More Pics from Kellen's Visit

 Joining in for soccer practice.  If they would have had an extra shirt, I think the coach would have let him play in the game later in the week too!

 Lunch one day at Memorial Park.... Lunchables.  My biggest mistake was not buying three of the exact same kind.

 Chillin' between the camps and evening sports.  a.k.a. forced Mythbusters watching.

 Picnicing at Plamann park - which was flooded.

 We had limited time between fishing camp and ninja camp, plus a 15 minute drive between locales.  On Thursday, I'd planned to take them out to pizza buffet.  On Thursday, the fishing trip bus was 15 minutes late!  MickeyD's drive through it was!

Sunday Fun Run

The first thing we did with Kellen was the Neenah Summer Fun Run.  Jacob has never done it before, but the neighbors do and he's really wanted to.  Also, it's free!

  We ran into the neighbor, Lucas, before the race.

 Discussing strategy..

 And they're off!

 Jacob running in

 Kellen running in

The post-race goodies.... pizza, cookies, fruit, dilly bars!  Nice spread!   (did I mention free!!)

Also, Jacob finished ahead of Kellen, but Kellen placed higher in his age group.  Therefore they both could claim victory!

Catch Up Posts

I think the next series of posts might explain why there haven't been any posts lately.  I'll start with last week when we took Allison totally (almost) off her medication.  It looked like this:

I say "almost" because I did give her a small dose before her first gardening camp - didn't want that to go badly.  So - we survived!  The upside was that Allison was hungry.  The downside was that it didn't help any of the behavior patterns we wanted it to - which is also an upside because it assuages the guilt I was planning to have over the fact that the meds which help with issue 1 might cause issue 2.  Now we know it's not med-driven.  Too bad, that would have been easier to address.  Oh well.

Last week we also babysat this girl: 

... 130 pound Leonberger "puppy" named Gaia whose "people" are friends of ours who went out of town for a few days.  She's super nice (though she does take up a lot of space!) and was walked way more than she needed because the kids loved doing it.

We traded in the puppy about an hour before the boys arrived back from Chicago on a mission to pick up Kellen.  The boys have been enjoying a variety of camp experiences this week.  More pics to follow in the next post.

Also - med check update

What kid doesn't want their orthodontia off?  Mine, apparently.

What's it like to motivate a kid off her ADHD meds?

6 x "please go get clothes on"

4 x "we're leaving at 8:40am"

5 x "you have to brush your teeth"

Result:  one girl, eating breakfast, in her pj's, watching TV, at 8:28am.  Mom's blood pressure rising.

Montessori Camp

Jacob got the spot in Montessori School late last week.  We broke the news to him on Sunday.  Montessori summer school camp started Monday.  He didn't get a lot of processing time.  Given that, I've been generally pleased with how mature he's been about trying it out.

Day 1: not interested in going, but after an explanation of how he had to try it out - he went.  He stood no more than 2 inches away from me on the playground before going into the building.  Afterwards, he said it was fine but he wasn't going back.

Day 2: oddly, no morning resistance to going back.  He stood apart from me on the playground but didn't run off with the other kids.  Afterwards, he wasn't interested in going to the picnic with the other families, but he said he had a new friend and wanted to know if he went to Montessori, did that mean he got to go to school with his new friend, Alex.

Day 3: not interested in going AT ALL.  Why?  Allison woke him up.  If Allison is involved in the morning routine, then all sides of the bed are the wrong sides of the bed.  All other mornings, Allison was actually still sleeping when we left in the morning.  (It's nice when they start staying home by themselves for short periods of time.)  However, once he got to the school, he dropped off his backpack and ran off with the other kids on the playground.  Also, he said he made another friend in his class.

Day 4 - last day.  Since the kids aren't up yet, I don't know how it will go.  This week has reinforced the knowledge that kids are adaptable.  Also, playground politics exist everywhere.  In Montessori, it appears to be who is and is not in the Avenger's Club rather than at JB where it is who plays football on the playground.  Maybe smaller schools breed closer friendships, but you also have fewer kids to choose from.  

It's a diverse parent group as well.  I was actually watching a same-sex couple with their (I think) son in boys' clothes, longish hair, and pink backpack - and wondered about how much parenting philosophy ultimately influences kids in the long term.  I'm sure there have been kids on communes who grew up to be investment bankers.  Kids in WASP families who grow up to live on communes.

We survived!

Jacob had his birthday party at the indoor soccer arena.  I think (overall) the boys had a lot of fun.  There was a lot of "fart" talk.  And there is a clear reason why I don't teach elementary school!

Happy 8th Birthday, Jacob!

School's Out

Shockingly, the kids didn't really want their pics taken after school either!

This one before he saw me.  The new 3rd grader!

This one when he didn't know I was looking.

Sure - Allison posed with her blue popsicle mouth and face tattoo (5th grade now!!).  Notice the coats, pants, and crappy weather.  It was in the upper 50's. 

Then for fun - some basketball after school before heading off to piano lessons and soccer game.  I just like the jump-shot pics.