House Guests

It looks like we'll have some extended-stay house guests soon! The folks over at Lessons From Charlie & Amelia (my sister and her family) put their house on the market on Thursday night and got an all-cash offer for 3k over asking price after all of a whopping two days on the market. The catch is, the buyer wants to close on April 25th. The original plan was for my sister to move down here and take up tenancy of our rental house up the street. But the tenants who are in there now have a lease that goes to the end of July. So with things happening WAY FASTER than any of us expected, it looks like my sister and her family will be down here within the month and finishing out the school year here! When I told Ben his cousins may be living with us for a few months he looked at me blankly and said, "Wait... What?!" Which is pretty much the same reaction I got from Joel ;) Come on down guys!! LOL.

Pretty Sunrise

The only up-side to having to drag myself out of bed at 6:20 on a Monday morning was this beautiful sunrise! We had an eventful weekend, including a dinner date with friends Saturday night, Ben had a friend over to play in place of flag football on Saturday which was cancelled due to rain, Becca had a friend's birthday party to attend, and Joel's second cousin's daughter and her mother came over for dinner last night. (At least we THINK that's how they are related... some distant relation...) anyway the daughter is starting a pediatrics residency at the hospital Joel works at and they were in town looking for an apartment for her. In another odd coincidence Joel's second cousin is a pediatric oncologist also. Joel had heard a vague rumor at some point that he had a distant relative who was also a pediatric oncologist, and they met at a conference a couple years back and confirmed their relation.

Taxes & Parent-Teacher Conferences

I started working on our taxes this week after much procrastinating, which yielded an unpleasant surprise. Our federal tax bill looks to be about double what it was the past couple of years. Not really sure why, we did have more income but not so much more that I thought it would be a particularly big deal. Not sure if some tax rules may have changed, or what. I think we are going to take it to a professional this time for a second opinion (although we better do that soon as we do not have much time left!) In the meantime I am filling out a new W-4 with extra withholding, for next year. A LOT of extra withholding, which is not going to be pleasant to get used to :( But... probably not as unpleasant as owing 10k in taxes.... right....

We also met with Ben's homeroom teacher and his math teacher. To backtrack a little, on Tuesday we met with the therapist who has been helping us deal with Becca's behavior issues (wetting her pants, general hyperactivity/overstimulation/anxiety that she seems to have). Becca has been doing MUCH better and has completely stopped wetting since we started the behavioral therapy. Some testing puts her in the sort of "wait and see" category for ADHD, the therapist not wanting to diagnose someone so young. But her schoolwork is fine right now and her teacher seems to be able to redirect her attention okay at school for now. But while we were wrapping up with the therapist and telling her we would not be back for another visit unless something came up, we got on the subject of Ben's school issues.She handed us a sheet of paper with a list of ADD symptoms, and every single one of them sounded like Ben. So Joel and I decided we would not mention this to his teachers and just let them tell us what they thought.

So we arrived at the conferences yesterday, which were back-to-back, and both Ben's teachers brought up ADD on their own and both said they thought Ben behaved exactly like a kid with ADD. His homeroom teacher even said he reminds her exactly of her own son, who was just diagnosed with ADD recently as well. We were shocked to find out from his math teacher that he is not staying in his seat during class, he is getting up and moving around, and seems totally incapable of concentrating/paying attention although she was quick to say that it doesn't seem malicious at all, or like he doesn't care, just that he can't.

So we came home and scheduled an intake appointment for an ADD evaluation for him, which is a long process that involves two parent sessions and probably four sessions of testing with Ben, so it will be a while before we have any results.

Caroline's Baby Doll

Love the smiles on these girls!

The Trouble with Fractions

After school today Ben is starting math tutoring. He has been having some trouble with school in general lately and math in particular. Most of his troubles are organizational-- forgetting to bring home materials he needs for homework, forgetting to turn in assignments (or not being able to find them), etc. We had a big blowout over homework yesterday when he forgot AGAIN to bring home everything he needed. His video games systems have all found a new home in my closet for at least two weeks/ until a pattern of responsible behavior starts to emerge.

The math tutor is because in addition to forgetting assignments, etc, he is also not paying attention in math class and having trouble with fractions, which is pretty much the only thing he's been studying in math this entire quarter. The quarter ends Friday, and his math average is an 80 (a C). He got a 78% on a quiz on Friday and has a unit test on fractions this coming Friday. His teacher is letting everyone make corrections to Friday's quiz for half-credit, so I am hoping he can get the quiz grade up to a B and with a little extra help get a good grade on Friday's unit test and hopefully make it out of the quarter with a B (though that might be too much to hope for at this point). The math tutor is one of the other teachers at his school, she is coming over to the house every Monday at 3:30, and I am hoping that this week maybe she can find an extra hour towards the end of the week to help him study for Friday's test.

The math issues would not be so aggravating if he weren't so absent minded / disorganized. His homeroom teacher says his desk and cubby are a mess and he can never find anything. His backpack and his homework folder are a mess too, despite my daily pleading with him to clean them out / only bring home what he needs, etc. We may be meeting with his homeroom teacher this week as well to work out a plan to get Ben more organized/take care of his materials. This year his teachers have been nice about giving out extra copies / letting him turn in assignments late, but in 5th grade I understand that the teachers will not do that anymore. In which case we will have a big problem if he doesn't get his act together :(

Moody, but still cute

We were at flag football from 11 until 2 so Caroline didn't go down for her nap until 2:30. I got her up at 5 to get ready to go out to dinner. She was very discombobulated! But cute, always cute :)

Injured

Ben fell of his bike and sprained his wrist this afternoon. Fortunately he waited until after his first flag football game to do it. Upon inspecting his bike Joel realized that the cover for the gear mechanism was missing. "Oh that?" Ben said. "That came off the other day and I threw it in a dumpster!" Which explains why he has gotten his clothes caught in the gears and fallen off his bike three times this week. 

Feels Like Spring

Finally! It has been cold and soggy all week. Here's hoping the sun and warmth stick around!!

My Irish Child

Becca was very excited for St. Patrick's Day today after Ben told her stories about previous years at school, where leprachauns (no idea how to spell that) visit the classrooms and hide things, mess up peoples desks, leave candy, and turn the toilet water green ;) She took very seriously the request from her teacher to wear green today, so when I saw this shirt at Target yesterday morning I got it for her even though it is 2 sizes too big ;) She can probably wear it on every St Patrick's day all through elementary school LOL. She was also happy to hear that she is the only one of my kids who could actually pass for being Irish ;)

Random Weekend Pictures

Joel had to work this weekend, so we try not to plan too much on those weekends. So it was a quiet weekend. The weather on Saturday was great, sunny and in the low 70s. Ben had his first flag football practice, although there was a mix-up with the time and the coach didn't show up :( But Joel and one of the other dads did some scrimmages with the kids and they had fun. Ben is the youngest on the team, since it's the under 12 league (10 and 11 year olds). But after seeing the other kids, it was the right decision to put him in that league even though he is not quite old enough. He is just as tall as his teammates, even one who just turned 12. He played well in the scrimmage and seemed to make friends quickly with his teammates. Rebecca and Caroline enjoyed running around on the adjacent field in the nice weather, and after practice we took the kids to PF Chang's for dinner.

The weather Sunday was awful, cold and pouring rain. Ben and Rebecca had Hebrew school in the morning, and they were supposed to dress up for Purim. Becca wore a dress-up costume and announced that she was Queen Esther, and Ben (never one to want to draw attention to himself) dressed himself entirely in Under Armour brand clothes (shirt, shorts, sneakers and sweatshirt) and announced that he was going as "The Under Armour Guy".  Caroline and I did some shopping at Target while Ben and Becca were at Hebrew school, where I got her some clothes and a rain coat. I discovered that according to the clothing sizes at Target, she is a 3T for height and a 4T for weight, which makes clothes shopping for my not-even-2 1/2 year old somewhat awkward ;) Becca spent the afternoon at a friend's house, and Ben decided he was going to go out and ride his bike despite the rain, and came home soaking wet.

Happy Purim!

My Cupcake Princess enjoying a pre-breakfast gluten free hamantaschen. 

Just in Time for Purim

Ben has already taste tested the chocolate ones and pronounced them yummy :)

Booked

Deposit paid, rental agreement signed and in the mail. Joel and I will be taking our first week-long vacation without the kids since, well, ever. In fact since our honeymoon itself was only 6 nights, it may be our first week-long vacation by ourselves EVER.

Anyway, we will be spending a week on Kiawah Island, July 13th to 20th. We will be dropping Ben and Rebecca off at overnight camp on Sunday the 13th, driving to Kiawah, and then returning to camp on Sunday the 20th to collect Rebecca before heading home (Ben will be spending an additional 2 weeks at camp). Caroline will be staying at home with babysitter extraordinaire Sharon, who has agreed to stay at our house for the week and drop off/pick up Caroline from summer camp and do the whole mom thing for the week while we are away.

Now Joel and I have four months to talk ourselves out of feeling guilty! (Joel keeps saying, "Well, we could just bring her with us...")

Trading Places

Caroline spent the day home with me yesterday, still feverish but eating like a horse and seeming generally happy if a little less rambunctious than usual. Ben got off the school bus yesterday and immediately announced that he didn't feel well and his stomach hurt. He spent the afternoon/evening mostly lying on the couch and didn't eat dinner. As expected, this morning Caroline was back to her usual self and headed off to preschool, while Ben is lying in my bed watching TV ;) At least a sick nine year old is a lot easier to take care of than a sick two year old :) Rebecca as usual remains unfazed by the illness around her, and has not missed a day of school yet this year.

Sick Baby

Fever? Check. Diarrhea? Check. Tired? Loss of appetite? Check, check. Poor baby fell asleep on the couch before 7PM :(

Feels Like Spring

We had a beautiful warm and sunny weekend, and the warmth and sun is continuing for at least the next couple of days, with temperatures forecast to be in the 70s today and tomorrow. (Wednesday it looks like it's going to be cooler and rainy but it looks like the overall trend is heading in the right direction!)

Joel and I were supposed to go to a fundraiser Saturday night but our babysitter got sick so we had to scrap those plans. We had a nice weekend anyway, if quiet -- Rebecca and I both got hair cuts, Ben spent Saturday afternoon playing at a friend's house while I spent some time with Rebecca trying to make progress on the bike-riding front. She is so high-strung shall we say, that her nerves get in the way of managing to ride her bike for more than 5 seconds at a time because she gets scared. We made a little progress with that. Unfortunately when we went back out to give it another try yesterday we discovered one of her bike tires was totally flat, she must have gotten a flat tire yesterday. I was unsuccessful in locating the source of the leak so far, so the bike-riding has been put on hold.

Saturday night we hit up one of our usual spots for dinner, Burger 21, and Sunday (after skipping Hebrew school due to the time change) we had a nice visit from Mort & Mary and the first barbecue of the year, with steak, chicken, salad and quinoa. I also made gluten free blondies with chocolate chips, and Mary picked up several varieties of gourmet ice cream from the store so the kids had a delicious version of brownie sundaes.

I also bought the movie Frozen for Rebecca yesterday on iTunes; while I was doing laundry and straightening up yesterday morning she watched it twice (after having already seen it twice in the theater) and then last night after dinner I sat down and watched it with her since I had not seen it myself yet. She and Ben got to bed a little late because of that, but I figured the time change always messes up our schedule a bit anyway so I didn't mind too much.

Got Whipped Cream?

Pajama Day!

I forgot to take a pic of Caroline when I dropped her off this morning , so an after-Pajama Day shot will have to do. I sent gluten free pancakes in with her so she was not left out of the pancake party!

25 Years (But I'm only paying tuition for 10)

Saturday night we went out to dinner with friends and then to CJP's 25th anniversary celebration at Temple Israel. Hard to believe that we are in our 7th year of having a kid at CJP , with three more to go ;) I calculated out that tuition once, it's into 6 figures ;) They had a green screen thing where you could get your picture taken and then choose a background, so I chose this one. The next morning Ben wandered downstairs sleepily in his pajamas, looked at the print out of this pic that was laying on the kitchen counter, and asked, "Why were there dinosaurs at the party last night?"

March is Schizophrenic

Yesterday was sunny and a high of about 72. Caroline and I took an early morning walk around the lake while Ben and Rebecca were at Hebrew school, and the kids spent much of the day outside. Rebecca went grocery shopping with Joel after Hebrew school, hopped out of the car around 12:30 and disappeared for the afternoon. She resurfaced around 4 after realizing she hadn't eaten lunch and was starving and had a grilled cheese sandwich and then disappeared again for another hour or so until we finally dragged her inside. Ben also spent most of the afternoon outside playing though he was slightly easier to keep track of ;)

It's good that the kids got some outside time yesterday because today it is in the 50s and raining right now and is supposed to drop into the 30s by late afternoon, with the forecast calling for freezing rain and high winds. Ugh!