Just Another Week

This past week wasn't too exciting. We started school up again, Monday was President's Day, Elizabeth's favorite president is still Abraham Lincoln, So we read some books and articles on him. As well as going over some other noteworthy presidents. We found some fun videos on You Tube to watch, even a couple that sang all the presidents! After lunch I put the kids in the new stroller laid them all the way down with their little pillow pets they got from my Aunt Susan for Christmas and a little blanket. I played Piano Guys on Devin's mp3 and Elizabeth listened to The Magic Tree House #1 "Dinosaurs After Dark" and some of #2(not sure what the name of it is) and I pushed them and walked around the neighborhood for an hour. We ended up at a fun playground where the kids played for over an hour. That evening was Elizabeth's theater class. They are starting to work on the play. This day they worked on the Finale. She got her part that day too, but she knew what it was already because Amber her director called before we went on our trip and asked Elizabeth if she would be so kind as to play small Kristoff, as none of the boys in her class are well, capable of a lead role. They're either too shy/quiet or asked to not have a lead, or just didn't have the right personality for it. She asked a couple other girls, but they adamantly refused to play a boy part. Elizabeth was a bit hesitant at first but when I explained that they needed a strong, good actor to play the role she agreed and said she could play the role well. I was so proud of her for being mature enough to know all parts are important and for being diverse enough to be utilized where she is most needed. Even if that means playing a boy. She told me, "It IS just pretending, anyway." I told her how Peter Pan has often been played by a girl, and she thought that was so cool. She may not have gotten the lead she wanted(Elsa of course) but she is happy to at least have a lead role. I think she'll make the cutest little Kristoff EVER! Tuesday Devin had a hard time getting back into the groove of going to preschool, but we managed to get him there. That night we met with a neighbor of ours Tisha who has been helping us with learning about and using essential oils. We met at her house where she and a couple other gals from our neighborhood did a little class on the oils. Tony came with me which was super awesome supportive of him. He will tell you openly though that he can tell a big difference in the kids when they have and don't have oils! After the class he went home to relieve my dad who was watching our kiddos. I stayed and talked to the great gals who where there. They all know Elizabeth at least from primary. One was her primary teacher last year so she knows oh so well our troubles with her. They all also homeschool! Even after everyone else had left Tisha and I talked for a couple more hours. It was great, she's become a wonderful friend! Wednesday was a typical day, Devin has started requesting to do ABC Mouse while I do school with Elizabeth, and is learning lots! I LOVE IT!! That evening was Bravo classes. That night Tony and I decided we definitely want to use oils for our family. We've seen them help our kids and we know they can help us too and in so many ways. So I text Tisha and set up a time to put in an order for an essential oils kit with her the next day. Thursday Devin had preschool and he went in kicking, screaming and crying. :( After class we had his IEP meeting. Devin is a very smart boy and he is MUCH better for them than he is for us at home! But he has obvious and pretty severe social/emotional issues. He doesn't play with any of the other kids and usually gets upset if they try to play with or sometimes even close to him. He won't talk to or interact with them, he goes to a teacher and tries to talk through them. So we added and adjusted a few things to reflect where he's at now on his IEP. We discussed a few things that I thought would help, and they ran some things by me, which all sounded great. They have a lot of good ideas. I think the new teacher aids are helping a ton. And the teacher seems to have changed her way of thinking a bit(for the better) as well. His speech is starting to fall behind again too so that's something they're going to work more on. Overall I felt it was a great meeting, it went so much better than I thought it would! I did discover that Devin seems to "hold in" a lot of his "sensory stress" while he's there which is why he goes completely crazy when he gets home. So they're going to try to get him to open up about how he's feeling and do more sensory diet stuff with the OT while he's there. After that we came home and had lunch then we went over to Tisha's house and Elizabeth enjoyed playing with a couple of her girls(she has 7 kids) Devin watched tv happily with her older son. ;) While she got my order placed. Then we talked for a while since my kids were content to stay and play. Then she invited us to go to the park with them and the other two gals and their kids(they have 5 each) which Elizabeth begged to go, so I agreed. We had to stop by home to take Devin potty and grab a couple things, oh and Elizabeth HAD to sit by her friend Hannah so I grabbed her booster seat, tore a nail getting the back off(as their wasn't room for it in their car) and gave her the seat of her booster. Devin then had a meltdown cause he had to go with mommy in her car.....ugh. I put on classical 89 and he was asleep in minutes....after he calmed down. We caravan-ed to the Layton park which is huge and lots of fun....they even still have a merry go round!! And ducks along a river! My kids were in heaven! Elizabeth loved having so many friends to play with, especially Hannah, and Devin loved the fun park even though he was in his own little world the whole time. I really enjoyed talking with my new friends. And by the end they talked me into joining their homeschool co-op group(it wasn't terribly hard to do) Elizabeth was ecstatic, and Devin will probably only go every other week or so as it's at the same time as his preschool on Thursdays. It was the best afternoon I've had in oh so very long! Friday was just school, oh and Devin graduated from his first level on ABC Mouse! Then I let the kids watch a movie with lunch! We had pizza for dinner and that was the day. Saturday was busy! Tony went to his carpool buddy's house and changed the brakes and something else that has to do with the breaks on his car. Then shortly after he got home we drove to Herriman to celebrate February birthdays at Matt's house. Devin was feeling really off so he stayed on my lap through all the opening of presents. but branched out when we had lunch. Elizabeth was thrilled to have pizza again!(that girl would live on pizza if we'd let her!) Then the kids went and played in their basement for a bit while we visited. Then they came up for cupcakes and ice cream then we had to be on our way. We stopped at Shoe Carnival as Elizabeth needed another pair of sneakers(her frozen ones are ready to fall apart and they're always muddy from the backyard) so because they had a bogo 1/2 off sale both kids got new sneakers to wear only when we go places indoors, and their old sneakers are to be worn to play outside. Then we drove to Boondocks where we surprised them with a playdate with their friends Liza and Lilly from our old condo complex. They had a good time there for a few hours. We enjoyed visiting with our friends while they played.(We decided we like Chuck E Cheese or Nicklecade better, but it was fun) They got a couple fun prizes then we parted. We went to dinner at Burger stop which we discovered has really good burgers! Then we came home and called it a day. Sunday we cleaned up the play room, and planned our trips and such for this summer, and had fun planning other trips we probably won't be able to go on this summer but hope to fit into next summer. It was just a "hope to go there sometime" list. We visited with our home teachers in the afternoon. Elizabeth told them all about our fun trip to Disneyland in her cutest way. Then we visited with my parents for a bit. Had dinner watched Mary Poppins for movie night and that was our week!

I didn't take very many pictures this past week, but I did find these!
Playing with their bubble guns from Disneyland....they LOVE those things!

 It was hilarious the other day Elizabeth comes running to me telling me to follow her. She showed me this and told me that it looks like Buzz is trying to help lost toys under the island get out!  Devin chimed in that was exactly what Buzz was doing! Now every time we leave Devin talks about how Buzz can come alive now we're not there. Lol!

Devin sure LOVES his Buzz Lightyear!