Busy house today

Alika and Sean lifted some weights and then did a little yoga. Alika always has funny stories from the Montessori school. Yesterday a little boy was coloring and singing, "I'm going to break your heart girl." A little girl came  to Alika sobbing that he was going to break her heart and to make him stop.

Sean decided to wear a box. What can I say he has the figure for it. We had to buy him new pants today or he may have been wearing a box for real. We sent a big box of hand me downs to Nate. Steph said Penny needs some hand me downs too and she wishes I had a girl bigger than Penny. I told her to sew some lace on Sean's old pants. Who knows maybe Penny will grow to like Spider Man and Iron Man. I bought Sean a shoe holder to hang in his closet for his vast collection of shoes. We bought dress shoes for the wedding. He was not happy about that, he said "those aren't mine." We got some Spider Man shoes too. Not sure why I indulge this shoe obsession.

The box soon became the basis for a robot costume.

Alika then trimmed Steph's hair and they started working on hairstyles for the wedding.



There is a plus to having the maid of honor be a hair stylist. Steph gets her hair and make up professionally done on her wedding day.

On a sadder note: I gave Napster to a student on Tuesday and he ran away last night. If anyone sees a large furry manx cat wandering around Sandy it's mine. I called and had his micro chip information updated and he was wearing a color. I feel bad. I was hoping he would adjust and be happy.

Girls update: Talked to the case worker yesterday and I am pretty sure the girls are going back to Jenny and Ryan. The case worker just doesn't care. She said it's a boarder line case. The only thing boarder line is Jenny and Ryan's personalities. I asked what happens, do the girls just go back? She said the state would keep custody for a month or more and Jenny and Ryan would have the girls and if "something really bad happened" the state would take them and they wouldn't get them back again. Good grief, define really bad! Being left alone, hungry, dirty, witnessing your parents trying to kill each other, being sworn at, hit.... none of that is really bad. I guess it's not really bad until one of them is dead or in ICU. Makes me crazy. I talked to the foster mom and she is beside herself. She said the girls therapist said they both have bad PTSD. I guess that's not "bad enough" though. 



Slushy weekend

We waded through the slush and went to Huntsville today and ate brunch at an Inn. Sean took the pictures while we were waiting to eat. The Weber river is high and the snow and rain are still coming and the melt hasn't begun. It could be a major flood year.

Another Sean photo, Steph and AJ checking out the menu.

The inn had a dog in the front entry named Lady Blue. Sean thought she was awesome. She was very mellow. The owner said the dog was on pain pills for her hip.

We went to the lake condo for a while. Sean wanted to play hide and seek. He is so funny he hides in the same place and then sends you to count and look for him over and over. Today's hiding place was under the blankets on the bunk bed. He would hide with me and send Don to count then hide with Don and send me to count. Once he even hid under the blanket with AJ and Steph. He says "go count I'm going to hide in the bed." Sean's word of the week is "actually."

Alex and the puppies came over for tacos this evening. Last night we took Grandma to Red Lobster and Alex met us there. Grandma said it was the best meal she'd had in a long time. It was hard for her to get out. She fell this week and landed on her knee which is now black and blue. We had a heck of a time getting her off the floor.



Alika and Sean playing some old school Nintendo.

Ryan texted on Friday and asked if he could come see Sean today, I said sure. When we decided yesterday that we were going to Huntsville I texted him and told him to come before lunch and he said he'd be there at 11. I actually thought he was going to show up. For some reason I told Sean he was coming and I never do that. Sean was excited to see "Daddy Jenny". About five minutes before he was supposed to be here he texted from his dad's phone and said he had phone and car problems and wasn't going to make it. I told Sean and he said "tell him to walk." I said "Sean, I'm sorry it's too far." He looked and me and said "I'm OK" and continued playing.



David's doings

David and Corbin playing computer games. Do they look smart? Well guess what, they really are! David has been coming back to planet earth lately. He got a job at Artic Circle and is working 5-7 pm a couple of days a week. That's not the real news though. He got his ACT scores back and his cumulative was 28. He had 32's in Science and English, which is the 98th percentile for the nation. His overall scores were in the 95th percentile. His math score brought him down. I stand in awe of that boys intellect. How someone so smart can perform so poorly in school is crazy. And no, he's not bored. He didn't do well at the "gifted school" either. He just hasn't seemed to care. Now I see glimpses of caring. He was proud of his ACT scores. He said he's going to study and take it again to see if he can score higher. He wants to major in music in college. Don found a summer music composition camp in Bloomington Illinois that David is considering. His friend Corbin scored high on the ACT too, but he actually studied.

Mud

Don and Sean mudding the sheet rock in the basement. There was a bad peice under the window that Don had to pull out and replace. Sean was very helpful. Today we go and pay for the carpet. They measured yesterday! Yipee, we are really getting close to having enough space that AJ and Steph can settle in.

Pirates, teachers and my stress

Sean just couldn't be happier about Alika being upstairs. Yesterday she made pirate hats for him and gave him a hair cut. He tells her "Alika you are my BEST friend."

She even made a pirate hat for his bear.

Sean pitched a fit until she made him an eye patch. Can you blame him, what's a pirate without a patch.

A couple of weeks ago Alika started working at Sean's school as a teacher's aide. Today I snuck up on her when she was dealing with about 30 kids hanging on her calling "teacher." The first day she worked really confused Sean.  We went to the downstairs classroom and I said "look Sean it's Alika." All the kids were calling her teacher and Sean said "Alika's not a teacher." He wanted to leave the school really bad so we left. Out in the parking lot he looked at Alika's car, touched it, talked about it, walked around it a few times and then got in my car. On the way home he said "there are two Alika's, teacher Alika and sister Alika." It really confused him. I think he honestly believed that there was an Alika impersonator at the school. He's gotten used to it.

Now on to my stress. Lanette (The foster mom) texted me today freaking out because Ryan's attorneys are really pushing for him to get a trial home placement with the girls. I don't even know how that can be possible. It just makes me sick to my stomach. Yesterday I asked Kylie what she'd been up to and she said "I saw Jesus." I said "who did you see Jesus with?" she said "Lanette." I asked her where she was when she saw him and she said she didn't know. I told Lanette and she said the other day Kylie told her she saw Jesus and he knew her name and he was cool. Kind of strange. I just don't even want to think about Ryan getting those kids back. It makes me need an ativan!

Spelunking

Alika has moved upstairs to AJ's old room. Sean thinks that is totally cool because Alika one of his favorite people is now closer to him. He wants to sleep in her room. Alika has a cool net draped from her ceiling over her bed. She put a spelunking light on Sean and told him they were in a cave exploring.

There was so much giggling going on I went in to see what it was all about. I said "My that net must protect you from mosquitoes." Sean said "It keeps out the dinosaurs!" How is that for strong net?

The remodeling is not done but we are making progress. The tile is in, the transition of rooms has been made. They are measuring for carpet on Wed. Wedding update: We met with the photographer yesterday. The food is ordered and the rehearsal is scheduled for April 12th at 10:30 a.m. Steph made the baskets for the flower girls and the pillow for the ring bearer.

Jenny and Ryan update. Ryan texted me on Wed and wanted to know if he could see Sean on Thursday because the girls were going to be at his house for two hours. That means either the state has given up on their demand that his father move out or Ryan has convinced the state that his father has moved out. I was working Thursday and couldn't take Sean to see him. I told him I'd get him a copy of Sean's soccer schedule. He hasn't seen Sean since Christmas. I'm having anxiety again worrying that they might get the girls back. I'm really selfish because I don't want that for the girls but even more I don't want Jenny and Ryan in our lives anymore than they already are and if they have the girls I know the contact will increase.

The pickle jar

If you want to rearrange the pickles in a jar you have to remove a couple of the pickles. This begs the age old question, what do you do with the pickle's that you took out of the jar? We are moving rooms at the house which means there are lots of pickles out of the jar. So many in fact that our house is looking ghetto. I thought I'd take a couple of pictures to record the beauty. The tiler is here today so I'm hoping for carpet next week.

Alika's makeup and some of her bathroom stuff in the upstairs hallway.



Our out house. Hey it's got two toilets and leaves for toilet paper.



Removing all the fixtures for the tile.

I foresee a trip to the dump in our weekend plans.

A pretty weekend

“The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best is now.” Chinese proverb

We did plant trees last year but it will be years before they provide much shade. The neighbors to the north had their trees cut down because of a wind storm now we have no shade in the back yard.  Our quick fix is to put up a couple of big umbrellas on the back porch.

AJ and Steph spent their weekend in the basement working.

They have been painting all weekend. The tile is getting put in on Wed then we will order the carpet.

Wedding update: The flowers are ordered, the menu selected. I was excited to see the bulbs coming up. The wedding is (hopefully) going to be outside and when we were at the reception center last week it didn't look very spring like. They assure us spring will have sprung by April 15th.  One of the nice things about having it at Eldredge Manor is that if the weather is bad it will just be held indoors without any stress on our part.

Today is my brother Tim's birthday. He's on vacation somewhere in Florida with his family. Being the cake sort of family we are I made a cake in his honor and we ate it. Of course we put a candle in it and sang happy birthday to Uncle Tim and Sponge Bob. Sean blew out the candle. We had a nice dinner this afternoon. Alex and the puppies came too. Alex and Loreal have put in an offer on a house and our not so patiently waiting for an answer.

Painting the basement

The wedding invitations are sent, the cake ordered, the photographers contract signed, wedding dress ready, flower girls ready, tuxes fitted. Now it's on to AJ and Steph's next project. Fixing up the basement. Alika is moving upstairs and AJ and Steph are moving down. They will have three rooms so they will have their own bathroom, kitchenette, dining room and guest room.

AJ supervising all the work Steph did while he did his homework.

What the girls are up to

Sean looks kind of silly and the girls are cheesy. It's obviously a camera phone picture.

I haven't written about the girls in a while. They are good. I'm still doing third party supervision once a week. This week was chaotic. We got back to the DCFS building and Ryan was a no show for his visit. Jenny had to get to work, the foster mom wasn't there and the kids didn't want to stay with a case worker they didn't know. I put them back in the car and met the foster brother at a Burger King on Redwood Road.

Jenny kept going on about how DCFS better make visits around her schedule.... Jenny was complaining that Kylie can't count and doesn't know her ABC's. Who's fault is that? This is why I don't write about the girls because it makes me think about Jenny and that just annoys me. Trying to have as little Jenny and Ryan in my life as possible improves my mental health. Jenny told me yesterday she was having a meeting today and getting unsupervised visits starting next week but she called me today and said she didn't get them. I don't have a clue what's going on with custody of the girls.

Last week I took the kids to Costco. They ate every sample in the store. About 15 minutes later Kylie broke out in hives. Well crap, what on earth was she allergic to, the cereal, the muscle juice, the smoothie, the burritos, Chinese, chips? Fortunately I had bought benadryl so I pulled over stuffed a half a tablet down her throat and gave her a swing of Mountain Dew. It was funny in a not so funny sort of way. I haven't a clue what she reacted to.

Addendum: Thursday, Jenny had a hearing today for the felony fraud charges. They scheduled a resolution hearing for April 10. I am guessing that means it will be resolved and once more she will be ordered to pay a fine that she will never pay and not suffer any consequences. I bet they will even give her more welfare while she doesn't pay back what she stole. No consequences for stealing and lying which will just reinforce her stealing and lying.

Weekend Amusement

Sean needed to be out and about so we borrowed Ethan from next door and out and about we went. Ethan is without a doubt one of the most active children I know. He never stops. He is one speed and it is full and he is a tornado of destruction. We were really looking for fun outside of our house so that we didn't have to clean up after him. EVERY time he goes in Sean's room he dumps EVERY toy out of EVERY box and drawer in his room. I honestly don't know how his mom does it. I would just be in a corner banging my head against the wall. Whenever we ask if he can play she just says "I'll get his shoes (and or clothes if he has stripped)." She doesn't even ask where we are going or how long we'll be gone she is just greatful for however much peace and quiet she gets and I totally understand.

We did a little swinging.

They did a little climbing.

We went to this new place in Centerville called "Wild Child" and they did a little boucing.

And drove some cars. They met a cute little girl named Sara Catherine.

On Sunday we did a little bowling.

We went to Boondocks. We had never bowled there before. Don and I had never been there. They have really nice lanes.

The only downside was there were so many games and things that Sean was way to distracgted to bowl.