Trick or Treat 2008

Well the season for Trick or Treating sure came up really fast this year. This was our first year to go out and about with our littlest. We were able to go to the local 'Trunk or Treat' event at a local church. My DH and I have never participated, so we were a little shocked to see a line of over 200 kids at least to go through the trunk or treat, they probably had over 400 kids when it was all said and done. The church backs up about 15 cars in their parking lot and they hand out candy to the little kids, good idea and alot safer if you don't know which houses to go to, plus it was a really good opportunity to visit with parents and see alot of really neat costumes.

Needless to say our littlest was a little overwhelmed by it all!!! But he got the hang of it pretty fast. Also, he has never eaten candy before, so this was a night for alot of firsts.... Amazingly, he zeroed in on the lollipops in his goodie bag and by the time we left he had eaten over 3 lollipops!!! Sugar on a stick!!! I think we might have created a new candy monster...

He went as a race car driver, I think he was really cute and he didn't fuss over wearing any part of it and kept the hat on, once he saw all of the kids dressed up. Plus he loved to swing and run around with his pumpkin candy holder. Then we went back home and he helped dad hand out candy. Sorry I don't have any photos, but momma had to go the HS football game and work the concession stand as a band booster. From what I hear, he had a ball running to give out candy, he was running to meet the kids when they got to our driveway regardless of how scarey some of their costumes were and was handing out hugs as well as candy and had a ball waving to everyone as they left. He is 'Mr. Social'.

His usual bedtime is about 9:00pm and that night my DH was lucky to get him in bed by 10:30 and apparently he didn't put up a fight at all, he must have been exhausted. So I think he got into the swing of things and probably can't wait until next year!!!

Check out the rest of the photos!!!

Trick or Treat 2008

My Littlest, Another Day, Another Word!!!

I have not written about this until now, but I have been a little bit intense about my littlest DS not really embracing speaking. He is now 27 months old and still is very much into his own language.

I guess I am feeling a little like it might be a reflection of something that I have done wrong or not done enough of, I am taking it personally.

My DH says not to worry, but I have still been worried...

Our littlest suffers from allergies, and I have learned not to take him to the doctor for routine antibiotics and have learned to work through the occasional three day period of ear inflammation, sore throat, drippy nose, etc.

You see when my teenage DS was little he suffered with allergies also. There were numerous nights when he was having earaches and his sister would place him on her chest and sleep with him in the recliner, she couldn't bear to hear him cry because the pressure on his eardrums was hurting him. I routinely had him on antibiotics, talked with doctors on whether or not he needed tubes in his ears, etc. An ENT surgeon that I worked with, even though he routinely was putting tubes in kids ears everyday, so he would never put his own child through the procedure, too much risk with anesthesia. Plus all of the teachings about our children developing into antibiotic resistant individuals because of our inappropriate and misuse of routine antibiotics when they are of no benefit to the healing process, especially with allergies and ear infections.

So some of the reasoning behind our decisions against antibiotics and surgical intervention, but sometimes you wonder if you might have a child with a hearing loss.

Our teenage DS lived through the experiences, had no speech impediment and only shows minor hearing damage from the first three years of his allergy struggles.

So I have some history with being fearful re: possible hearing loss.

With our littlest, he said the obligatory mama, dada at the right stages and then stopped after about one week, really haven't heard it since. He developed his own language at about 11 months old and hasn't demonstrated too much interest in acquiring any of our language. So when you might be expecting him to say cup, cow, ear, no, yes, etc. He doesn't... But, it is weird, he has said multi-word statments out of the blue, here and there...i.e. what are you doing?, etc. He just is not into single word statments.

So my intensity has gotten a little worse over the past few weeks. I have been reading and researching the subject quite abit. Do I need to get him into an Early Childhood Intervention Program, do we need to get his hearing tested, etc?

My DH has remained calm throughout my ramblings and said that there is nothing wrong with our littlest, he doesn't have a hearing loss, chooses not to speak when prompted and not to worry!

Well, it seems that within the last week, when my intesity for worry has increased, now all of a sudden his latest statement is 'what's that?' and making 'duhduhduh' and 'buhbuhbuh' phrases all of the time.

He still laughs extremely hard at me when I am reading to him, he wants to look at books himself and doesn't want mom around, laughs when I say his numbers, colors, letters, etc. and runs away.

So I guess I need to take a 'chill pill' as my DH says and just trust my littlest and the Lord for helping him to learn and develop his skills at the pace and rate that he chooses and not according to what I think he should be doing!!!

So excuse me when I might post about my being thrilled when my littlest says a new word or phrase!!!

I guess we all still have a lot to learn?!?

Encouraging Your Child

I guess you could call me a mom who can put on some pressure?!?

I have strongly encouraged my darling teenage son to step up to some challenges. I thought this year academically would be too easy for my son, but it has surprisingly turned out to be pretty intense. He is now practicing his alto sax about 1 to 2 hours per day in preparation for the All Region Band tryouts Dec 3. In addition to that he is active with the NHS and their activities re: the National Election. Plus he is working on his homework about 1 to 3 hours per day depending on the course.

I have been speaking with him trying to see if he might be interested in attending a prestigious christian college in Illinois? (NO) possibly applying for a military academy, you know the tuition would be free and they are the top ranked universities in the country for science and engineering majors? (NO) applying for Harvard, Yale, etc. (NO) So as you can see I am narrowing down the field of choices or directions to investigate based on my extensive questioning...

So I just had to find another opportunity for him in the field of science/engineering/math, possbily an experience that might be of benefit and allow him to narrow down his possible career/major choices and something prestigious to apply for...

This time he didn't exactly say no!!! Whoo Hoo!!! The Texas Aerospace Scholars program!!! He just said he is filling overwhelmed with keeping up with all of his coursework, classes, practices, etc and didn't see how he could add in another set of deadlines, so he was willing to try but just didn't see how...

So I asked him if he would would be willing to try if I acted as secretary. He agreed so I filled out as much of the paperwork as I could, higlighted where he needed to sign, made sure he accomplished the deadlines as outlined, got copies made, itemized his responsibilities of work to complete and broke down the steps so he didn't feel overwhelmed, one letter here, another there(letter to State senator requesting nomination, letter to Principal requesting nomination, etc.) and mailed it off. And he completed everything within the timeframe, and didn't complain, now just the waiting...

It looks like an interesting program, so check it out. Texas Aerospace Scholars Program If selected he will hear by Dec 19th, he will be assigned online work every two weeks to be completed during the year and then he will hear if he is chosen to participate in a 1 week internship at Johnson Space Center this summer, all expenses paid. The other great thing, is that if he is nominated to participate and chooses to continue with this program, there is a possibility for being an intern at Johnson Space Center during his college career!!!

Okay, I will back off and try to calm down. I am just thrilled he agreed to apply!!! I think it would be a tremendous opportunity for him and hope that he is selected, I also think it would help him to understand whether or not, he is interested in being a possible science/egineering major.

It was also interesting to my DS to see how the staff at the high school was jumping through hoops and scrambling to get his transcripts and his letter from the principal just right...An opportunity for a local high school student to be offered a position in this program, would be of importance to the entire community, just one of the items of interest in living in a small town. So he was kinda' surprised about their extreme willingness to help once they knew what it was for...a source of community pride.

The other thing my DS has said is 'no way am I going to be an astronaut and fly in space, mom!'.

I guess we will see, as far as I am concerned 'the sky is not the limit for my DS!'.

Updated Band Photos

Some more photos from a recent HS football game, note to review pictures #65 and #69, not the greatest photos, but they highlight a really cute teenage DS.

Friona Star Floydada game photos

Of note, boy we have to put in alot of hours as band booster parents! Not only do we make sure that all of the band kids receive a snack at all home games, plus drink but we provide the meals and also snacks and drinks at all away games. We have raised over $2000 this year alone and that is before we cook our 15th annual Enchilada dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving! That should bring in another $1500 after expenses. I also need to say that we don't take out any of the band funds to provide the food for the kids at their events, we have the parents contribute or cook it all as a donation. We typically feed 55 kids each game and tomorrow night we are hosting the 7th and 8th graders for the game as well. So we will be feeding over 85 kids for that game!!! Tomorrow night, I get the priviledge to work the football concession stand with some other band parents. We are able to make $250 for working the stand and this will be our second time this season. What we won't do for money! All for assisting our kids with their expenses if they make the state level for solo/ensemble (pays for Fiesta Texas entry fees, dinners and other fun events) and to offset their trip which occurs every other year. This is not our year to travel but we are full steam ahead for our fundraising efforts. They hope to travel to the Ozarks for their trip next year, now that would be fun!!!

Operation Christmas Child

It's that special time of year!!! Christmas is upon us, but I must share one of our families special ways to kick off the holiday season. If you have never participated I encourage you and your family to contribute to this special ministry. Our family has been blessed to be a part of Operation Christmas Child for the past 5 years.

It is a special way to provide some much needed items for children around the world and to share the gospel and plan of salvation.

We have been saving up gift items throughout the year and we typically fill up and send two to four boxes per year.

Click on the link and see how to participate.

Rite of Passage

It seems like the years have passed way to fast. I guess I was not prepared for this event. My darling teenage son has started the quest towards graduation...

He arrived home yesterday with the obligatory class ring info...

You might laugh, but it is true, I was unprepared and kinda' shocked.

Our son doesn't mind marching to the beat of his own drummer. So we are looking at ring vendors separate from the one offered through the high school. Shocking what rings cost nowadays. Why back in my day...

I guess I am dating myself aren't I.

At least at the moment, he chooses not to drive, he wears his shoes til they almost are falling off of his feet and he really never asks for much in the way of clothes. So we have gotten off fairly cheaply over the years.

I guess you could say, I need to get it together and get geared up for the other events left to follow. Class pictures, college applications, announcements, etc....

Where have all of the years gone?

Don't Walk, Run From Layaway Offers

I love google reader, it is so easy to review the updates from all of my favorite readers.

I think you should check out this wonderful posting from Common Sense With Money, she really has outlined a wonderful mini education session regarding the latest offers and returns of layaway plans. She's right, 'run, don't walk from layway plans'.

Black Friday

You might be wondering what in the heck is 'Black Friday'. Well, I was educated about this great phenomena last year. Basically, Black Friday is the sales day after Thanksgiving. If you are like me, sometimes you can get some great buys for the holidays. Some of the stores like to release the info about what they plan on advertising beforehand, therefore giving customers a jump on your purchase plans. This is wonderful!!!

The sales releases are starting to roll in... Right now they have received notices from Sears and Ace Hardware about what to expect. As always, the items could change somewhat based on your region or their last minute adjustments based on their competition...Better to start planning now on what your priorities might be.

Check it out...

Sears Black Friday
Ace Hardware Black Friday

Psycholbabble Parenting

I really enjoyed the posting on Jess's site. Please read it for yourself....Making Yourself At Home

Psychobabble Parenting

It is a wonderful blog statment, full of tremendous wisdom.

2008 UIL Marching Band Competition

My teenage DS wanted to make sure that I updated my PhotoBucket with the pictures from the competition this past Saturday. I think the band marched really well, though their scoring didn't reflect that. Check it out for yourself. 2008 UIL Competition pictures.