She's growing up

Yesterday Fro got in trouble at day care and she was sitting next to the teachers when they told me about it, so when we got home she went straight to her room and crawled into her frog tent. A minute later I hear her calling and the conversation went as follows:

Fro - "Mom can you come here?"
Me - "Yes, give me a minute"
Fro - "I need to talk to you Cloe to Heidi"

She is constantly keeping me on my toes!

Let It Snow!

It finally snowed in Denver this week, as opposed to staying in the mountains! Nothing really accumulated until last night. When I went to wake Fro up this morning I excitedly told her that it had snowed while we were sleeping, cuz this girl loves snow. Instead of jumping out of bed like she has in the past she rolled over and told me "Good, that means school's cancelled". I truly hated to burst her bubble but Colorado is a bit more advanced and a 1/4" of snow does not shut anything down.

Holidays

One of the best thing about holidays is the fun baking one gets to do. Over the past few years I have fallen very far behind in my holiday baking, o.k. it's been non-existent, though I still plead at least one more years vacation from Halloween baking after my dozen or so Twinkie owls I made fro Fro's pre-school a few years ago. :) Anyway, I was stalking a few web sites just before St. Patricks Day and found the cutest cookies to make. I normally stick with the shamrock sugar cookies, but when I found Leprechaun Hats I just knew I had to try them, and boy did they turn out cute. Fro had a great time helping me too, it was perfect for her. Her job was to place the marshmallows on the cookies and then she had her own bowl of frosting to cover the cookies with, she had a blast.

The finished product.

And for anyone wondering what the Twinkie Owls were see below!

I do tend to get a little carried away with the details of some projects, but they are fun! :)

Mornings are so much fun!

When I went into wake Fro up this morning our conversation went as follows:

Me: Fro time to wake up and get ready for school
Fro: No mom, I'm not done practicing.
Me: What are you practicing?
Fro: I need more practice sleeping so leave me alone!

I have said it before but I will say it again, I am so screwed!

First Snow

When Mother Nature decides to make a statement she really doesn't hold back. We got our first real snow fall a little over a week ago and boy did we get snow, kind of. My place got between 25" and 27", but we only got about 8" at my office, it's about 18 to 20 miles away! All I have to say is that I truly hope this isn't a sign of what our real winter is going to be like, especially since our school district only scheduled two snow days into the calender, and they already used them. If we get the weather some are predicting we will be in school until July. But in true Colorado style, the snow was basically gone in two days and the temp was up to 60 degree's by the next Monday.

O'well. Fro had fun. I woke her up Wednesday morning (the first day of the snow fall) with guess what, it snowed last night and there is no school today. She sat right up in bed and said YEAH! Not sure which she was more excited about, no school or the snow. Which ever she had a great time playing in the snow. It wasn't wet enough to make snowmen of snow balls so we made snow angels, attempted a fort and just ran around in it. I have concluded that snow is really for the kids, they enjoy it much more than adults, at least this adult.

Fro is not happy at all about the snow!

Snow Angels!!!!!

No, the snow isn't THAT deep, Fro is just burying herself in it. This is Wednesday afternoon, it continues to snow the rest of the day and all night so double what you see on the cars and you'll get the idea.

So here we are again on the first day of school. We are in the 1st grade this year. Fro was pretty excited this morning, you definitely can't tell from this picture, but I think she was a little nervous too. She got a little clingy while we were waiting for her class to gather, but she was very happy to help hold the sign while walking into the class room.

Her is her new teacher. She seems really nice. Fro got to hang out with her at the end of last year so this fall the transition would be easier. It's nice to be at a school that is pro-active and ready to anticipate potential issues.

Last Wednesday they had a back to school night where we went and met the teachers and brought school supplies. As Fro and I walked down the hall about every other person was saying 'hi' to Fro. It was really cute.

Anyway, we have the first day out of the way and we are keeping our fingers crossed that we continue on the same great path that we ended on last year!

Newest Member of the Family

So after almost eight years, and Cloe's many pleas I finally broke down. Meet Tallulah, she's a 2006 Passat, 6-speed manual transmission, (fake) leather interior, and actual leg room in the back seat. Reggie was a very good car and it was sad to see him go, but it was time to move up in the world, plus poor Fro needed more leg room cuz she will continue to grow and she barely had room to move her feet in the older style Jetta!

The "Anti-Foot Fetish"

So anyone of you who knows me knows that I do not allow anyone to touch my feet. I don't do pedicures, or anything that gross! There is a reason for this little explanation of one of my many idiosyncrasy's, I was in Super Target the other day and I was in the frozen food aisle (not sure why that's so important but here it is). I was walking down the aisle and this guy stops by me and the conversation went as follows:

Guy: "Excuse me but I hope you don't mind me saying so, but you have incredibly sexy feet.

Me: "Um, thanks."

I then make my way, hopefully more nonchalantly than I felt, to several different aisles to make sure he wasn't following me, and then I left!

Let's say it all together now, eeeeeewwwwwww!!!!!!

I must also explain that I did not have sandles on, my shoes had a "T" strap buckle, so no part of my feet were exposed! I just don't understand!

We made it!!!!!!!

May 22nd was kindergarten graduation!!!! Definitely a day to celebrate. It was really cute. The class put on a little performance. They sang three songs, signing the words to all. They sang True Colors, Lean On Me, and I didn't catch the title of the third, but they sure had fun performing. Ya gotta love little kids singing! Since the day was nice graduation was held at a park near the school, and in spite of the fact that someone brought a case of beer, yes to a kindergarten, public school function, it was fun. After the kids got their certificates and the little gifts the teachers got them they got to play on the play ground and eat cupcakes. It was a great way to end the school year. Fro even went up to her teacher, gave her a hug and told her she likes going to school with her. I think that was music to both our ears.

The good news is she will be going back to the same school for 1st grade. I've been told by several people (teachers and parents) that both the 1st grade teachers are excellent so that's good, but the fact that they already know her, have dealt with her, and are willing to make accommodations is a BIG load off my mind. It's summer time though and we have plans to play as much as we can and enjoy the sun.

Cloe getting her certificate from her teacher

Riley, Cloe and Emma

The Class

And The Award Goes To....

A few day's before school ended there was an award assembly for all the students. I got a little card in her back pack letting me know that Little Missy would be receiving an award during this assembly. I wasn't sure what it was but I was (still am) pretty darn proud of her, especially considering how the whole school year started. Anyway, I went and she was the one in her class who received the award for Belonging. Now, to explain there is a national award program that this is attached to and there are eight different awards that go along with it. A student from each grade is selected by the teachers and staff to receive these awards. The explanation went by very quickly and at times it was hard to hear, but basically the belonging award is to recognize the student who is welcoming to everyone, friendly, and helpful to others. She was pretty excited when her name was called. Unfortunately my pictures didn't turn out, too dark to even work with. She was very proud of it and was sure to show everyone!

This is just a quick pic of her being a ham!

Spirit Run

To kick off Warder's Spirit Week the school has a "spirit run" fund raiser. So instead of sending catalogs home with the kids for parents to buy over priced junk, the kids have to go around and get sponsors for the run. I will be dating myself here, but it's very similar to jump rope for hearts (I think that's what it was called) where we would spend the afternoon jumping rope and people sponsored for times jumped. Anyway, they got sponsors per lap or a flat dollar amount. It was really cute. The kindergarten had to "share" the track with the 4th grade and the teachers were very insistent that the kinders not run over the 4th grade, they all thought that was pretty funny. Fro did great, she raised $85 and ran 21 laps! She was very excited, but was glad when it was over.

Getting ready for their turn to start running.

Taking a lap

Where Oh Where Have We Been????

Yes, it has been a while since I posted anything on this, we have been busy settling into the new school, finding the right therapy group (still in progress) and being thankful that I still have a job.

Our new school is so completely different from the last one that it's hard to believe it's in the same district as the last one. Fro started just after winter break and the first month was a little tough, but believe it or not the school actually dealt with the issues as they came up and since then there as been little to no issues. Amazing what a positive environment and teachers who show they actually care can do. Fro has even said she loves going to school! Never thought I'd hear that. Anyway, she's doing amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better teacher or environment for her. They've gone so far as making a HUGE game out of her picking what she's going to eat at lunch, she has lost her appetite (a side effect of her meds). I've been told it's quite the scene. In-spite of this lack of appetite and her loosing some weight (10 lbs total since last September) she's grown and inch and a half! Crazy kid, she's gonna be tall and skinny, and hopefully into sports that will pay for college. :)

I know that this will come as a BIG surprise, but I haven't taken pictures since Christmas either, what a bad mother I am!!!!! I couldn't resist adding this one cuz it's just too dang cute!!!!!!

Cloeisms Take Two

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope Christmas and New Years was fun and exciting for everyone. I've been on vacation since Christmas so it's been nice. Usually with that long of break I am so ready to get back to a routine, but this time I really want another two weeks or so of vacation. Anyway, it was nice while it lasted.

So Fro got Wall-E for Christmas and we have watched it several time already. Well we were watching it tonight and if you've seen it you might recall in the beginning it shows Wall-E finding different things in the piles of junk. One of the things he finds is a bra and puts it over his "eyes" like a mask and Fro thinks this part is hilarious. Well tonight she says "Hey Mom look, a boob holder!" I had sudden flash backs to Beaches when Bette Midler is singing in her little play describing the bra as over the shoulder boulder holders, ending the number with "Do you wear a tit sling or do you wear a brassiere. It just makes me laugh! The things kids come up with, well at least my kid! :)

Holiday Zoobalee

Cloe's last day at Semper was Thursday 12/18/08!!!!!! To say I was excited would be an understatement. The nice thing about staying for two more weeks, once I found another school, was that she got to participate in her holiday program, one she had been diligently practicing for. She was most definitely the cutest Hyena in the Zoo!!! (Yes I am biased). Anyway the pictures are a little dark, she was in the darkest costume and placed in the darkest corner of the stage so please forgive the pictures!

Just a little stage fright to begin.

This would be little Miss Sassy telling me I needed to move up to the front row of chairs. She actually pouted a little when I couldn't. Always the life of any party!

The whole gang!

It was really cute, I just wish that instead of the CD doing all the singing the teacher would have allowed the kids to do all the songs. Guess that would have been too much work! (oops was that my out loud voice)! Anyway, it was really cute!

Now we are onto different adventures at a new school, where her first day there will be a field trip to the movie theater! The whole school has been reading "The Tale of Despereaux" and once they finished they would all be going to see the movie! What a cool field trip. Wish I could have done something fun like that when I was in kindergarten. I am still a little anxious with everything, going from one very bad experience makes me very apprehensive, but I do have a good feeling about this school, and her new teacher has experience teaching kids with her disabilities, so that's a huge advantage over the last one. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens. I am much wiser now and even though it's been four months of fighting I still have a lot left in me! :)

First ER trip

So we made our very first ever trip to the urgent care at Children's hospital last night. Fro slammed her finger in the car door and she did a very good job. I was originally going to wait for the morning, cuz of course it was after 5:00, but when we got back from the hospital after seeing Carrie and Brody I took another look at it and decided it needed professional help. So we hit the urgent care and it was a good thing we did, cuz she did break the finger, and got a very nice laceration under the nail. Poor thing was so scared when they tried to give her the shot to numb the finger. I had to practically lay on her to keep her still so they could administer the meds. They finally ended up putting in an IV and sedated her completely, which ment we spent the whole night at the hospital. I was good until I they started trying to remove the nail and had to fight her to try to keep her still. She did announce to everyone in the hospital as well as anyone within a five mile radius of the hospital that she hated the hospital and the Dr. Good thing the doctor didn't take it personal. :) The staff was so good with her, even after all her rants. I had put a Sponge Bob bandage on over the gauze to get her to the hospital and when they bandaged her up they didn't have any Sponge Bob bandage so one of the nurses got a Sponge Bob sticker, cut him out of the sticker and taped it to the bandage so she could still have Sponge Bob on her owie. Sorry no pic's, I was so tired when we got home today all I wanted was to go to sleep. We had to re-wrap it and I didn't even think about pictures. Anyway, we survived, and she has a nice bandage to show off to everyone for the next few weeks!

What have you been up to????

So we've been in school for over a month now and it hasn't been the most enjoyable experience. I figured I'd have to be a "hands on Mom" when it came to Fro's schooling, but this is ridiculous. You know the saying, "You can never go back", well whoever said it did not have kids. I was called the second week of school to take Cloe home, I believe it was around 8:30 in the morning, school starts at 8:05! Her major offense was running away from the teacher. I refused to take her home, as I explained to the principal it was rewarding her behavior, so I gave them two options 1) I sat in the class room with her to reinforce what the teacher did or 2) I take over the principals office, they supply me with the curriculum for the day and I teacher her there. Luckily they picked option one. It's gone down hill from there and we are at the point of figuring out which school she will be transferred too, by my request.

Her Dr. had us fill out the Conner's questionnaire, it's used to diagnose AD/HD. When we went to the appointment for him to give us the results he informed me that he didn't even evaluate the teachers questionnaire because it was so negative it wouldn't give us any usable results. I have to say I felt vindicated with that statement, I seriously thought I was going crazy and Fro truly was the spawn of the devil! She has been diagnoses with AD/HD and we are seeing a councilor who thinks she may have Aspergers syndrome in addition to the AD/HD. What an adventure we are on!!!!! The good news is we are getting some answers and we have the option to change her schools, I just feel she has been so negatively labeled she will not get a fair shot at her current school!

Wasn't sending our kids to school suppose to give us a little break and not be so difficult?????

Life is pretty exhausting right now, and I thought I didn't sleep when I was in school!!!!! We're working through it though. I really like her councilor and she seems to like her too. We have a big meeting this Wednesday with people from the district, including the superintendent and the district director of special education as well as myself and her councilor so we'll see what happens.

I hate to say it but that's pretty much been life for the last month. I am on information overload and had to take two mental health day's to recover. O.k. I only planned one, that was bamboozled when Fro was suspended, so I made up for it a little when my car decided to blow a spark plug and had to be fixed! The nice thing is that bad things happen in three's so I should be good for a really long time! Oh, my kitchen facet had to be replaced after giving me a shower and I as trying to do dished Tuesday night! Life is an adventure!!! :)

Anyway, Fro is showing no scares at this point, which is good. I plan on getting her into a new school before we see any. It's pretty exhausting for her. As you can see from the picture below she was so tired one night she couldn't even get up to turn off the light, all she could do was reach for the bowl she was playing with earlier (don't ask me why she was playing with it) to make it dark enough for her to go to sleep!

1st Day of School

It's hard to believe that summer is basically over, the high tomorrow is only 63 degrees, I may need to pull out my winter coat!!! :) And with the end of summer comes the first day of school. Fro is now in kindergarten, how time has flown, I swear she was three only yesterday.

The build up to school wasn't much, the only difference from her pre-school was that she got to take her new yellow back pack to her new school. We both have survived the first week, she started on Tuesday. We parked the car and were walking across the street and we had the following conversation.

Cloe: Mom you can go back to the car, you are just dropping me off.
Me: Well, I want to walk you to your new class room.
Cloe: No mom, you need to go back to the car, I can go myself
Me: But mommy needs to make sure you get to you class o.k.
Cloe: You're going to be late for work mom, look at your watch (as she points the it) you're going to be late!
Little Miss independent!

She did finally give in so I did walk her to meet her class. They had all the kids assemble outside on the play ground so they had music playing and the principal was encouraging everyone to dance! It was fun. Anyway the time came and all the kids were to line up with their teacher, and the parents were to stand off to the side. Pictures were being taken (see below) and kisses were given. I stepped back a little way to make room for other parents and Fro so sweetly said to one of them, "You're standing in my mom's way"! Wonder if she'll try comedy out as a career or if she'll just be the class clown. All the parent around us were laughing. Good thing she's so cute!

So far we really like her teacher, and we got our first night of homework done and turned in! I'm really excited about this year and she seems to be as well, so far she is excited every morning and we haven't had the whole separation anxiety yet. The only thing for me is, I can't believe I have a kindergartener!!!!!

You will also notice that Fro has a new hair style for the new school year. We finally had enough of the fights to comb and fix her hair so one morning I told her, fine we would go to the beauty salon after work and cut her hair. I forgot all about it until we were on our way home and she announced that we still had to go get her hair cut! It's so much easier now, and I still think she looks so cute!

My little poser!

Standing in line waiting to go to class

Fro and Mom

(We're #1)

5 Yr Up-Date

Yesterday we went to our favorite pediatrician for Fro's five year check up (yes we are a little late). Anyway, for those who haven't seen her lately she is now 48 inches (yes that is four feet!!!!) and 64.1 lbs. Needless to say she is in the >97% on both height and weight, though she is in proportion so we aren't worried. She is a strong little girl too, it took me and two nurses to hold her down for her shots! We are all done, until next year so the trauma has passed.

I just can't believe she'll be starting kindergarten in less than a month. How crazy is that! I know I'm gonna be in for some fun because she had another interesting conversation with Debbie, the Pre-school director. A few day's ago the kids wanted to go for a walk and in order to do so each child had to hold onto the rope, well Fro decided she didn't want to hold on to the rope so she had to stay at pre-school with Debbie, and their conversation went like this:

Debbie: "Cloe why aren't you going for a walk with your friends?"

Cloe: "My friends don't want me to go, and I'm going to have nightmares about it."

WHAT????!!!!!

When the kids and teachers got back Debbie pointed out to Fro that her friends were back and she again announced that they didn't want her to go and she will have nightmares about it!

Can you imagine what she will be like as a teenager??!! I am in soooooo much trouble!

The Joys of HR

When I went into HR I figured I'd have to do my fair share of firing, ya know, performance issues, failed drug screens, attendance, drinking on the job. Well this week I can add bouncer to my resume because I had to throw out my very first drunk! Some guy, more than likely a vagrant, somehow climbed into our warehouse through one of the bay doors, the tall ones that semi-trucks back up into to deliver or pick up merchandise, and began wondering through the warehouse. Either my janitor stopped him or he stopped my janitor, who happens to be from Somalia and speaks only a few words in English, favorite phases are "I am fine" and "No good". Anyway this guy stopped my employee and tried to communicate with him, in his drunken stupor, it was kind of funny. Good thing I work for a manufacturing plant and I have a lot of big, tough, beefy guys to back me up and assist me in these fun little duties! I have to admit that my job is never boring, frustrating and infuriating yes, but boring NO!!!!!! :)

Gymnastics

Our latest adventure was to enroll Fro in gymnastics at "The Little Gym". It's such a cute little place, and all the teachers are fabulous. Fro had a little bit of a hard time at the beginning of each class because she wanted to skip the stretching and go straight to the equipment. I think her favorite thing to do was the uneven bars, she didn't like to turn around, she just loved to swing. :) Anyway this Saturday was her last class and they have a performance for all the parents for this last class, each kid gets a turn to show off their skills on the balance beam, the uneven bars and the floor. It was so cute. At the end each kid got a "shiny gold medal" as Fro calls it. She was really happy to get it, but didn't want to stand around and wait for everyone else to get their medal, and wasn't too happy when she had to go back up to the "podium" so we could take all their pictures, as you can see. It's been fun watching her learn the different skills and see her excited to "go to practice". We had to run some errand after her class and she had to show everyone her shiny gold medal. She's very proud of it.

Showing off!

My little poser!

I can't get the video I took to load, so I may just have to e-mail it out for anyone who wants to see it.