This seems to have been a very long two months, but at the same time the summer has gone by so fast. In the last two months we have done a great many things, & been many places. Let's start off with the places first. At the end of August into September we took our yearly scheduled family vacation. This year we took a trip to Florida to Disney World. When we arrived in Florida after traveling all night, we went to Josette's house ( Chantelle's sister who moved to Dunedin this summer.) We left the kids with her for 2 NIGHTS while we went to Disney World without kids!!! We had a lot of fun; it gave us a chance to remember why we got married, and why we enjoy spending so much time together. After our day at Disney World we took the next day and spent it at the Orlando temple, this was the first time in about a year and a half that we have been to the temple together. It was very nice to be able to go as a couple again.
After our two days of being free of kids, we went back to the kids talk about a fast way to raise your blood pressure. It took about a day to acclimate to the higher blood pressure for both of us. We spent Wednesday and Friday with the kids at The Magic Kingdom. Brokton, Evelyn & Jenai loved Disney World, especially the parts with Mickey Mouse. We took the kids on most every ride surprisingly enough their favorite ride was Space Mountain, Steven had met another parent who has an Autistic son & he said it's a sensory thing; the kids like the feeling of going fast. Disney World was also very accommodating with all of our children's Dietary needs, they were able to provide Gluten free Pizza, Hot dog and hamburger buns even dinner rolls!!! For once we felt like we were all eating just the same as everyone else. They were also great about people with special needs. We got a "guest assistance card" which allowed us to go in through the handicap entrance and get to the front of the line quickly. This greatly decreased the stress we would have felt if we had to wait in line with Mr. I can't wait, and Ms. Talkative. Brokton tried to convince Chantelle that he didn't need the card so we waited in line to see Ariel without using the card. He wasn't even in the line most the time he was playing nearby but he was still on the verge of a meltdown at the idea of waiting in the line with all the people around him. So he decided that the card was a good thing after all. While we were there it was very hot & very humid even more so than it is in Virginia, we also could plan on a daily basis that it would rain at least once. We all came home very tired, but very well rested as the vacation was needed by all.
We soon got Brokton back in School, However we were Surprised to find that his teacher had changed and that he was being main streamed into other classes. It was a very long first two weeks of school, each day finding out newer things that they had decided to change. Steven finally went in and spoke to the principle to find out why he was being main streamed; he only found that the Principle was pointing the finger at the teacher. Steven came home and called the teacher who then began to try to blame the principle, he then pointed out that the principle had blamed her. The story soon then came out about how they felt it was best for him and he didn't have any "educational goals" in his IEP so they thought it would be okay. She was just lucky that Chantelle wasn't talking to her because she would have gotten a piece of her mind right then and there. In the coming weeks we met with the teacher & had an I.E.P meeting and set some new goals & also specified how much time he was allowed to main stream into the other classes. We have tossed the idea back & forth of just having all of our children be home schooled, the system is getting so political & hard to work through that you almost do not have any control over what they do with your own children. The jury is still out on the whole home school thing.
In the past we have been talking about adoption, we have always wanted to have just one more Child, we feel like having a family of six would be the perfect number! We have put in our papers to start the process of adopting a baby through LDS social services. We are very excited that we may have the Chance to add someone new to our family.
In the past months since school has started Chantelle has been teaching Seminary for our local ward and an adjoining ward, except for the early morning part of it she is having a good time. She is really loving the chance to get in and study more about the Old Testament and more about where her ancestors came from. Steven is still working hard and getting ready for the busy retail season, he will be going into Vacation lock down on November 17th all the way till after the New Year. He will also be going into a six day work week as well, hopefully with the flexibility of his current position it will not be too demanding on our family.
In the past few months Evelyn has been spending more time playing with Jenai, this has help Evelyn's problems with imagination, she has in the past not been able to pretend play. Jenai is great at doing so and is teaching her big sister how much fun it can be to pretend. Today she was out in the backyard with playing with the Telescope, sticking it through the hole on the patio table and playing she was on a ship. It was so cute and such a joyful thing to watch her play on her own using her imagination.
In the past three weeks we have also been attending some classes as a family on managing our anger, As Brokton gets older we have been seeing an increasing problem with his anger. The classes have been great; they have classes just for the kids and one from Mom & Dad too. The classes have really taught us a lot about looking at things in other ways and not just jumping to a conclusion about a situation with our children. This has really helped things around the house a lot more. Brokton & Steven are getting in less arguments and we are also able to help Brokton recognize his anger & channel it in different ways; even find new ways to express his anger through words and not just actions.
Hope all is well with everyone. If we have some time in between kids, seminary, anger management, and trying to file a years worth of papers sitting on the dining room table we will put together a photo show to post.
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