One More Catch-Up Post...

I can't believe that the last time I posted a blog update was July (before my recent one a couple weeks ago)! I missed so many fun things that happened this summer and fall.

So one last catch-up post in pictures:

First of all - our big family trip this summer was to Silverwood (a semi-local version of a smaller scale Disneyland). We spent the whole day there, only going home at closing time. It was exhausting but the kids had a blast.



The older boys kept trying to win toys at the game booths with no luck. Gabe (age 5) kept begging to go to a certain game and win this giant stuffed lemur. We told him that it's very hard to win toys, so not to be disappointed. However, his first attempt up there he won a small toy AND a large toy (he got three balls for one attempt). He was VERY happy and proud of himself. He named his giant lemur Mr. Cuddles.




Billy Jr and Gabe LOVED the little kids' rides. There were a lot more of them this year (little kids' rides)!



Abby got tired of walking (even though we had a stroller with us) so her big brother offered to carry her for a (short)while!



To beat the boredom, one summer day I took the kids to a local "island" walking trail.



Look at Billy Jr's socks!! That was after they played in the water some.



When we stopped to read some signs along the nature trail (talking about the type of native plants there) -  Brayden saw something brightly colored in the weeds. It was a geocache!!



Gabe got a pair of sunglasses from the geocache.



First day of school!!!!!! Everyone was pretty tired in this picture from trying to adjust to the new early morning schedule. We have a 10th grader, 7th grader, 5th grader, 2nd grader, and kindergartner!



Gabe's in kindergarten now!

Billy (dad) made us an awesome homework station!  This was just after it was completed, but now it has books on the shelves below and some lamps. :)

That brings us to....Halloween! 

Carving pumpkins:

Billy jr didn't want to touch the pumpkin guts so he tried wearing plastic bags on his hands:

Abby even helped!

Four of the finished pumpkins....

The kids' costumes: Owen was a scary clown, Gabe a ghost pirate, Brayden a werewolf, Billy Jr a ninja, Abby a princess/Elsa, and Eden was a pink poodle. Also two extra friends pictured here... :)

Crazy Owen!

The candy haul! The boys were trying to play a game where they traded/bet candy. Surprisingly it didn't end up in a fight. ;)

Then mommy and the girls went on a road trip to visit their Auntie and cousins (including a new baby cousin!) This was actually my first time taking a long trip alone with the baby, but also my first time driving over the mountain passes and on a freeway. Yikes! My Garmin GPS did a very good job helping me though. :)

We went with the cousins to an aquarium. :) 

Abby and her cousin hugging...awww. What the picture doesn't show is Abby trying to claim EVERY animal there as HERS. "Mine!" she'd say, and try to edge out her cousin from even getting close to the glass/fence. 

Cute Abby :) 

Pretty fishies!

And a petting zoo too!

 The end for now! We had a lot more adventures that I didn't get pictures of. However, I'm going to try to do much better at that in the new year! :)

Until next time....

You can't force something that just doesn't fit...

Education is not one-size-fits-all.Everyone learns in different ways, and that is a scientifically proven fact. So why is our public schools - in general - rigid in how they teach children? Some children may excel and flourish in that type of setting. I have a couple children who do very well with the teaching and learning methods at public school.

Then I have those who don't...

I have a child who's learning style is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole...it just doesn't fit.

I'm tired of trying to pound him into fitting the public school mold. It doesn't work for him. The only thing it's doing is destroying his confidence and self-esteem. How fun is learning if everyday is just more stress and pressure to sit completely quiet and still or else risk constant discipline and being labeled a difficult student/child?  What does that do to someone's self-worth?

I knew it was finally time to readdress things when my son continually called home from school at least once a week with various complaints of  headaches and stomach aches. He admitted later that he was never sick, but that he can just concentrate better at home. Not to mention that the stress of having to always focus on sitting still gives him anxiety (thus the stomachaches and headaches..)

Why keep pushing things? Who or what is it helping?

Thankfully we live in a time when there are so many other educational options. There is traditional homeschooling, unschooling, online/cyber schooling, eclectic homeschooling, classical homeschooling, and so on and so on.   My current plan is to enroll him in an online school for the remainder of this school year. His academic progress and goals will be supervised by a certified teacher as well as his curriculum and testing. We can then evaluate where we are at the end of the school year and what works best for him beyond that.

The bottom line is that I'm responsible for my child's education - every parent is.  I can't worry about what others might say or think, but only what is best for my child. And right now...he's drowning. I can't sit back and watch him struggle anymore...

Check back next week for more updates and holiday fun! I'm in my last week of school myself for this year, so I hope to pick back up with the blog again over break. :)

ADHD or Typical Boy Behavior?

I've read many a books, visited many websites, frequented many message boards and Facebook groups and yet I feel that I'm not any closer to an answer. When is behavior attributed to ADHD and when is it typical boy behavior?

Some books I've read have even gone as far as saying that ADHD doesn't even exist. These authors suggest that ADHD is an invented disorder to label hyperactive or busy children. There is a startling statistic that boys are diagnosed with ADHD at a much more frequent rate then girls are.  Also, many of these children are diagnosed based on behavior or academic issues at school. However, how much of that is ADHD verses different learning styles and personalities?

I'm going to share something - maybe a little shocking, or maybe not. So far all three of my oldest boys have been suggested to possibly have ADHD by their teachers. Only one has been diagnosed. My oldest son's teachers began to mention ADHD in as early as kindergarten. Every conference seemed to revolve around his behavior issues and ADHD. Finally we had him evaluated when he was in second grade. The pediatrician also ordered an IQ test. Our trusted pediatrician diagnosed my son not with ADHD but with being highly intelligent and bored, and his IQ test proved that "diagnosis". However,  still the school wouldn't accept that and even suggested we get a second opinion.  Thankfully my oldest son grew out of those behavior issues, thrived in school, and has succeeded on his own just fine. Imagine though if we had gotten a second opinion and that doctor had suggested medication. We would have been medicating him for no reason.

Then there is my second son. He's quite active and hyper. Teachers also began discussing his behavior very early on and throwing around the ADHD suspicions. I tried a new experimental program in which a pediatric psychiatrist from Children's Hospital met with my son and I via teleconferencing. He interviewed me and Brayden for an hour - asking a variety of mostly yes/no questions about his behavior. Afterwards he faxed a diagnoses of ADHD to our primary doctor along with a prescription for medication. I was really unhappy. I felt that it was way too easy to throw a prescription at us, and that he never got to actually get to know my son. The whole diagnosis process seemed to be far from an exact science. It would have been easy for me to over-exaggerate on my answers and receive the diagnosis and prescription even if my son hadn't had ADHD.
A couple years later we decided to try two different therapists. I think that the suggestions and information that they gave him helped a lot. They confirmed his diagnosis of ADHD. One of them suggested medication, and we decided to revisit that idea. The new psychiatrist evaluated Brayden on a couple different occasions as well as worked with his therapist. He prescribed medication and we decided to give it a go. Brayden's academics were also struggling now, and this was one of our biggest concerns. The medication had to be adjusted and changed a few times, but eventually it seemed to really work! He started middle school with A's and B's and got on the honor roll for the first time. Amazing! People were actually complimenting us on his behavior.
But then he started having adverse side effects from the medication. He developed a tic. Upon reading more about this medication, I really didn't like the idea of giving him a powerful stimulant for his growing and developing brain. So we switched medication again - this time a non-stimulant type. The tic seems to be going away finally. Yet, watching him and talking to others I really begin to doubt the ADHD diagnosis again. Yes, he's my most difficult child. Yes, he struggles with reading (although he got an A in writing!). Yes, he has impulse control issues. But he can also loves to spend  hours learning about something he loves - such as metal detecting, or rock hunting, or medical procedures. He says that he wants to be a surgeon when he grows up. He has behavior issues - but how much of that is his personality and how much of it is a disorder? And what about diet? Diet has become a big possible cause of ADHD and other disorders. Studies have shown that processed foods and artificial dyes can cause ADHD-like behavior. So then, is it his diet that is out of whack?


Lastly, there is my third son. My third son had a pretty successful kindergarten through third grade. However, fourth grade hit and he was becoming Mr. Social. He has always been silly and goofy, but he really started to get out of control in fourth grade. He gets into trouble at school WAY far less then my oldest two did, yet his teacher suggested that I have him evaluated for ADHD because he has a hard time concentrating on work in class.  I was surprised, yet not extremely surprised that the teacher brought that up at our last conference. It seems anytime a child has difficulties sitting still in their desk and focusing on work for long periods of time then they are suggested to have ADHD. However...now natural is that? How natural is it for busy, active children to be expected to sit still in a desk and focus quietly for hours? Studies show how important it is for boys to get up and move around. Some classrooms have actually experimented with this by allowing children to stand at their desk or play with a ball, etc while listening to lessons. Results showed that the students were still listening and learning while doing that, if not better!



Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I believe that ADHD is a completely made up disorder. I know that some children really do have things they struggle with. I am merely speaking from my own experiences and asking my own questions.  Is ADHD over-diagnosed? I'm betting it is - based on my experience. So then, what exactly defines ADHD? Is it an exact science or is there room for error?

Flashback Friday 3/02

A little late...but it's still Friday!

This week's flashback foto:
My oldest three boys - the first two in desperate need of haircuts LOL, and then poor Owen, the first of my string of baldie babies.

Its Birthday Week! Starting with Billy Jr....

Our crazy week of presents and cake every other night starts this week! And this year is a year of big birthday milestones.... Billy Jr will turn 5 and get to start school in the Fall, Owen will turn 8 (in April) and get to be baptised and start Cub Scouts, Brayden will jump into the double digits and turn 10 (and start Webelos!), and Alex will *gasp* start his teen years at 13!

First we start with BILLY JR!

Happy 5th Birthday my little man!

Billy Jr was my BIGGEST baby at a whopping 9 lbs 12 oz.

Here is my sweet little boy with a big heart, on his first day of life and today at 5. :)

Lesson Learned

Last night after dinner, Billy sat down on the couch to find a piece of paper wedged between the cushions where he usually sits. He took it out and read it. Soon he was laughing and reading it outloud.

I can't deny that Alex is quite the clever one! I also can't deny that we are gullible parents.

Because we fell for it.

And guess what...he didn't get his room done.

Hey at least it  makes for a cute keepsake, and hopefully a couple lessons learned!

Cuteness Overload - and updates....

Wow! Sorry its been so long since I last updated. I could have sworn I had updated since my last "home sweet home" post...oh well, moving on...

Things are going well! Baby Abigail is a month old now. Wow! She still sleeps mostly all the time. She does at least wake up to eat, however sometimes she even tries to sleep through those feedings. She only is wide awake for about one 30 min period a day. I love the newborn phase, but I really can't wait until she feels like an actual new family member who is awake when we are and interacts with us. :)
Her last weight check-up put her at 5 lbs 6 oz. That was at 2 weeks old. Yay! She has another weight check-up the end of this week. I am hoping she'll be around 6 lbs 4oz. She should be gaining 1 oz per day or so.  I have included tons of new pictures of her - so enjoy!

The boys are doing well in school. It was a bit bumpy at first, but I think things are settling into a routine. Now *I* need to work on my routine. I would rather just sit and hold the baby all day. :) However, things fall apart fast when mom just sits around all day (sigh). So I'm trying to get one project done a day and do a bit of quick picking up in between the baby's feedings. Sometimes she will let me lay her down for an hour or so, but sometimes she cries as soon as I put her down....so each day is different in my productivity.

Gabe turned THREE! I thought I put a post up when he had his birthday. :( I guess not! I will make sure to update that soon. Alex, Brayden, and Billy Jr all have their birthdays in a couple weeks - so it will be BIRTHDAY OVERLOAD here soon...

Not much else to report, although I'm trying to think up new names for the blog and a new design. Perhaps: Bunches O' Boys and a Little Lady, or Bunches O' Boys & One Girl...hmm I'm not very creative. I'll have to keep thinking!

A size comparison with her Gloworm!

Well Loved Toys - UPDATE!

So....after I told Billy about Gabe's poor old Woody doll he said we should just go out and get him a new one. :)

I had to take pictures for the blog of course!

Gabe was SO happy! He was shocked at first and just kept saying "Woody?" over and over. Finally when Woody was out of his box and had his hat on, Gabe did a little dance and squealed with delight. :)

Here are the new and improved Woody pix...

Surprise!!!

So happy!

Giving Woody doll some love...

Summer fun picture overload!

Its been awhile since I updated! We've been busy this summer so far.  Its been a fun summer!

So here is my update, in pictures....

First we had the end of school year picnic for the boys' homeschool "school". Here is Gabe pretending to sleep on the playground.

There was a watermelon eating contest too. Here is Owen with his best bud.

Alex got to set off his rocket he made during rocket class as well.

3...2...1....

Lift off!

But I actually missed Alex's launch so here is another kid's rocket launch. Pretty cool!

Next we went camping! Fun times!

Gabe giving grandma a flower. :)

Gabe standing on the same rock his grandma got a picture of his daddy doing at two also.

The roaring creek!

Not Alex's catch, but he was still proud of it!

No more pictures please!!

A pan full of creek fish and blue gill.

The big fish daddy caught with two little creek fish.

Gabe LOVED the spicy Dorrito chips with Tapatio! Crazy kid. lol

As we were leaving, I caught this great photo of a momma deer and her baby.

Next we had some fun in Cashmere at their annual ping pong ball drop. You catch these ping pong balls from the sky and win prizes. fun fun!

Billy Jr. waiting for the helicopter with his basket on his head!

Nana's idea to catch more ping pong balls!

Here they come!

And more!

Finally we spent a fun afternoon playing in the water this week.