Happy 9th Birthday Tristan!

 the kids relaxing in the shade

 in the evenings our entire back yard is shady and we play outside till nearly 10

we are making progress on the fort

 Teresa likes our pets

 Kelsey and family stopped by on their way to Jerome Saturday

 Tristan chose a Kung Fu Panda cake at WalMart

I offered to make a cake...

 love how they are all blowing

Tristan and his birthday presents. The chatimal hamster is pretty funny.

I was nice and let Tristan celebrate his birthday even though he's struggled with his behavior lately. We love him anyway! I thought I would mention some fun thoughts about him on his special day.

You are unique. You are my only child that wanted to come early because I actually went into labor and had you 10 days early. It was the only time the pain medicine did not work. I was in terrible pain and then as soon as you were born I was super ticklish and couldn't stop laughing and then I got really bad chills and couldn't stop shivering. You were my smallest, weighing a fun 7-11. I immediately noticed that you are built thin like your dad. Your middle name is the same as my dad's and you also inherited his curls and spunky personality. I like that you don't give up when you really want something and that you are not too shy to say what you want, even if that's hard on me sometimes. You are brave. You like to climb high. You are funny. You have a cute giggle. You like to talk a lot, you like lots of attention. You like to taste everything but finish nothing. When you don't want to eat you ask if you can fast then I have to remind you that it's spiritual not just starving yourself.=) I think it's funny that you want to go without food or sleep but when you are tired or hungry you get grumpy like a baby. You still fall asleep in the car a lot. I like to watch and listen to you play with your siblings. Those are the good ole days. You are very curious and clever. You can be pretty indecisive, what you say you want for a gift changes every second. It all sounds good to you! You are cute and maybe a romantic, have always had a crush on some cute little girl. You like to be in charge. You like to play games. You don't seem like you are big enough to be 9. Maybe it's because Avery is getting so big and his feet are already bigger than yours. Maybe you could just stay my cute little guy forever?;)

We are so happy to have you in our family Tristan!

Today we had a fun day playing at Boondocks twice, swimming at surf n swim with friends for a few hours and eating cake, ice cream and pizza. He also had lots of fun playing with his new toys. He got some playmobil and lego toys he wanted as well as a water balloon launcher, the game headbands, and a chatimal which is pretty funny. He requested pancake puffs for breakfast so Cory made him some before work. Tomorrow we are going to launch some water balloons at the park and go see Cars 2.

Oh and we had a nice Father's Day and are very greatful for Cory and our dads. Cory is a great dad and is working on the fort for the kids and has also been doing some maintenance on his car and works hard for us every day. We love him so much! I thank my dad for all the values he instilled in me and many great childhood memories. The kids gave Cory cards and a bow and arrow set that they wanted, lol. Avery also walked around the house and found presents for Cory like a package of yakisoba and a boy's life magazine. He is very sweet and thoughtful.

Oh and Tristan lost his tooth at McDonalds Wednesday. He was chewing his pancake and bumped it and it was bleeding but he was scared to touch it. I got a napkin and as soon as I grabbed it it fell out. We ate breakfast and McDs waiting for the scout office to open so Tristan could pay for and apologize for taking something from the scout store at day camp. Lidia and Aiden hiked Adams canyon with their PE class that day. There is a waterfall at the end but you have to walk in the freezing water to get to it so they peeked at it from afar and headed back. We'll go as a family sometime and go all the way to the fall.  Lidia had a tooth pulled Wednesday afternoon. She won't touch it or let me but likes to go to the dentist. I should let her pay the dentist bill. lol I took Tristan for a consultation with the orthodontist and he will thankfully not be getting braces for several years. The plan is to wait until he has lost all of his baby teeth and then pull the two baby molars that do not have permanant ones behind them and pull the matching ones on the top and let all the others just slide forward and that will also help with the crowding. I need to take Lidia and Aiden in for a consult too, gonna need to add dental insurance soon...

the fort

 we have been working on the fort this week

 the kids just can't wait till it's done

 Aiden has helped Cory quite a bit and even gets to use some power tools

 Cory's first power tool died. We bought a new drill after throwing this one away.

we decided to put laminate tiles down over the plywood floor

now we need rails and a roof and a ladder and then we are turning the bottom into a sand box

Cory is running Ragnar Wasatch Back today and tomorrow. Sounds like they are making good time and having fun. I am glad the rain decided to wait until Father's Day.

Baseball

Lidia and Shannon at the school 5k a few weeks ago

 Aiden's Hip Hop Pic

 Avery's Baseball pic

 the online pic of the fort plans we are kind of going by ;)

Tristan's Baseball pic

Maybe I shouldn't have signed Avery up to play. He has a fit every time things don't go his way and wants to quit. Today he cried when he got out and then he thought he could just tag a kid and get him out even without the ball. He also refused to share the helmets and bats so the coach had to take it from him. He is now refusing to swing and just wants to use the tee. I was informed today that the city does not give the kids a trophy. Avery is totally expecting one after his last game this week. Cory went by and ordered both of them one at the local trophy shop today. We promised so we plan to deliver. Tristan is enjoying the game more than Avery but still doesn't want to practice unless we force him to. Cory took him to the batting cage over the weekend and they had fun hitting. We started building the fort in the backyard. I think the kids will love it. I got a trailer bike for Avery today. He is nervous and won't pedal yet. Well have to keep trying.

pictures!

 Avery graduated from Kindergarten

 with his teacher Ms Lambson

 creepy but no worries he is just looking down a hole he and Cory dug

they are building a fort in the back yard

 Lidia's recital

 I made their "Daphne" costumes

aspergers

I read this today http://www.nea.org/home/42315.htm and thought it described Aiden pretty precisely, Avery too. Now to me these autism spectrum disorders are so varied that I'm not sure why they are all grouped together. I don't view my kids as having a problem because at home we function fine and all is normal to me, but when they are at church or school there are real struggles that I don't have the answers to so I am finally going to take them for an evaluation, for real, but I'm making calls and taking them to specialists not just some random shrink or an ignorant physician. I am hoping to get this done before school starts and hoping that insurance will pay for some of the cost. I think I was looking down the wrong path before thinking about ADD. The issues are definitely social stress related, not picking up on cues etc. I would like to better understand how their minds work and be able to better help them figure this world out. Wish me luck.

School's Out!

Hooray no more school for a while! Well, except I have to have Lidia and Aiden at summer PE at 8am for three weeks but I get a few mornings off before that starts. The kids all have friends over today except Aiden is going to a friend's end of year party tonight. Lidia and Avery had decent grades, the other two not so good. No video games for Aiden this summer and none for Tristan either until he learns his Math facts. Not gonna be fun for me to enforce but we need to get them to care about school. Guess I'll be home schooling this summer, gotta keep up reading and math skills.

The kids wanted to give their teachers a gift so I was busy this morning making gifts at the last minute so they could give them to them after school. Some have several teachers so it was 10 gifts. I ran to WalMart and bought glass mugs and etched their names on them. I have to get 4 recital dresses made this weekend. I made Lidia's so now I have to get busy on the others. I want to go see XMen, I hear it's great but it may have to wait till next week. Tomorrow I am hanging out with Carrie, have not had a girl day in a while.

It's starting to warm up a bit and the cherries are growing. I hope we get lots of raspberries too. I want to make sauce and jam but if Avery gets to them first he may just eat them all. I bought some at Costco and he ate them all before anyone else got to them. He told me red is good for you and then started eating the strawberries. Not sure if we'll get nectarines since we had some cold days this spring. I have doubts about our little garden too. The raspberries are sending out runners so we may end up with a side yard full if we don't pull them. Today Cory may put in the posts to start working on the fort for the kids.

Last night we had a ward cook out and softball game. Cory, Lidia, Shannon, Tristan and Avery had lots of fun playing ball. It was fun to watch. The boys actually did better than they have been doing in their little league games. Maybe the big softball is easier for them to hit. I don't play sports. It's not a talent of mine. I have accepted it. It just frustrates me if I try.

Aiden had fun at Garrick's house. I let him stay till 11. A few of the boys spent the night but most went home before I picked up Aiden. They were watching a movie when I got there, it had gotten chilly outside. I don't think anyone ended up camping out back. Garrick's younger brother is a Tristan too. These boys that Aiden is friends with were all in a different class than him this year. That bugged him. Next year each period is different so he'll likely see more friends during the day. However, junior high kids don't really get any recess and that may be hard for these boys that need to run around and play. I really liked Lidia's teachers this year so I hope Aiden works well with them next year. If I sub much that will also help Aiden feel more at ease at school. He's totally a mama's boy. hee hee. I went on a fieldtrip with him the other day and he just wanted to be by my side the whole time. I had to tell him to go and play.

Tristan said he needed to stay in 3rd grade and bring his grades up. Umm, too late dear but you get to start a clean slate in 4th grade so let's do better! A good way to start would be to study your math facts this summer. He has not given in to that idea yet. The stubborn child is refusing to do just about anything we ask him to right now so we are having to get super strict and follow through every single time. I know that your stubbornness will help you succeed when you change your mind kid. It's all up to you.

Cory is out running this morning with Warren. He says he hates running now but he's got to get ready for Ragnar. I love having him home but I certainly notice having another person to clean up after and do laundry for. It's just funny that you notice a difference because you would think you wouldn't when there are several of us here. Luckily Cory is good at helping out around the house and yard.

Avery was cute at his kindergarten graduation. Aiden had a 6th grade graduation too this week. He thought it was boring. I need to post some pictures.