Garrett's enrichment scores are great! Here they are...

His verbal score is 128 which is the 97th percentile. This score is above average.

His nonverbal score is 107 which is the 68th percentil. Average

Garrett's composite IQ score is 121 which is the 92nd percentile. Again, above average. The 92nd percentile means he performed better than 92% of other students his age on this test.

He is amazing! We are going to the zoo tomorrow and in preparation he has studied the silverback gorilla, okapi, and tapir!

Did I mention he is very athletic too...he is just like ME!

Field Trip

Today was so great! Adam did presentations all day so he has this evening off! He picked up both the kids and we met at home to go out to the OSU dairy barn. Garrett's class had an after-school field trip. We were a little worried about the smell, many of you know how Garrett is with not-so-pleasant smells and sights. He did great. Madison looked like Rudolph because she pinched her nose so hard and for so long. Garrett saw how they milked cows and then got to pet a calf. They even brought bottles out and he got to feed one he also put his hand in the calf's mouth to suck on his hand. He pulled his hand out and it was slimy, he did great with that too, I hope he is getting over his weak stomach. It would be an understatement to say that Madison did not like the calves. One actually got spooked and jumped over the fence and Madison screamed liked I have never heard her scream before, and she is a screamer. She was very frightened. It was fun even though it stunk and Madison screamed and cried most of the time. Yea for family time!

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

I greatly enjoy Cowboy football. I was so excited to hear that Adam got home team escort and the Friday night assignment. Friday nights the team stays at The Atherton at the Student Union and Adam gets there at 5pm and gets home at 1am. This morning he had to be there at 7am and won't be home until midnight. The upside is that we get overtime money and the DOWNside is that the kids and I don't get to see Adam. He also is still doing homework and going to class and mowing yards! He is such a hard worker. I can't wait until he graduates so he can relax and we can spend time together. We will have a normal family life! And I won't be a 'single' mom much longer! A blessing among all this is that I know that he comes home and when I wake up he is there next to me.

Garrett and Madison's Grammy came up last Friday for Grandparent's Day! Grammy doesn't get to come up very often so they really anticipate the times she gets to come. Garrett's school celebrated Grandparent's Day by inviting them to eat lunch with them at school. She bought Garrett a couple of Magic Tree House books and Madison some "shakers". (a.k.a pom-poms)

I love my weekends with my kids, it goes by so fast. It seems like I am always cleaning and not getting to enjoy my time with them. After school everyday I have to clean up from the morning then I have to make dinner and clean up dinner. Then it is time for showers and bedtime routine. And my weekends are used for more thourough cleaning. And there is laundry, unending laundry.

We got up this morning to see Adam on "The Walk". The team and coaches walk from the Student Union to the field every game day. We go to see Adam walk, it is so much fun to see him out there. Everyone is cheering and screaming for the team but the three of us are there just for Adam. We are so very proud of him.

The Primary Presidency was dissolved and I am in Young Women's now. Just when I thought I was stressed to the max I get something that takes more of my precious time with my kids. I have to bring them with me to Wednesday night activities and they don't have dinner until 9pm. We don't have it before because I am cleaning and preparing things as soon as I get home until it is time to go. I know the Lord will help me through this and I know He will bless my children. It is just so hard.

On top of all this stress, my parents have court on Wednesday. I am so worried about my mother and father. I am so envious of my California family, they are everything that I want. Adam and I just have to look forward to making our own extended, happy family. That is something that we anticipate; our own happy family.

School, New Offer

My sweet Garrett started school today. He was so excited, he loves his class and teacher. He was so thrilled that she had Magic Tree House books. She even let him check one out of her personal library. He went to singing and he sang all the songs to Madison and I. He said he will always choose reading for his center time. I hope that he will be challenged, over the summer he was learning about the Revolutionary War, Pyramids, and Tsunamis. His favorite thing to do is go to wikipedia and search topics and read about them. He wants research guides instead of books he says. He can't get information fast enough. Not only does he read it, he learns it. He will spout off facts weeks after he reads something. I can't forget Madison, she is smart as well. She loves doing letters and writing. Today she wrote her name, Daddy, Elayna, and David (from the No, David! books) a lot. I was getting bored of it but she loved to write. I did not discourage it. She loves to read as well, her reading is memorization which of course is a precursor to reading. She has a handful of books that she loves and has memorized. I love my babies and I am so proud of them. I look forward to the years to come learning and growing but I cherish the time when they are young.


I have a new job offer and I am very much at peace with this job. It is to be an assistant to a 2nd grader. I feel so comfortable with this that I might actually take it. I feel like this little boy needs me and I could help him. Madison would go to school two days a week and go to a dear friend's home the other times. Adam would take off Thursday and Friday so we don't have to pay so much out for care. The reason I tried getting a job was to put ourselves in a better spot financially. I still hate leaving my sweet Madison but she is really excited to be with our friend. She called Grammy and told her even! I just hope I always have enough energy to make my children my focus and my top priority and not less stress and tiredness get to me. If I accept I will start on Monday.

Jobs

I finally got a call Tuesday afternoon to set up my time for the interview. It is today at 4pm. Thanks to wonderful Brooke she will be watching the rugrats while I go sit in the hot seat. I have never had an interview before, we'll see how it goes. I will let you all know. Also some great news with Adam's job...he was chosen as Police Officer of the Year in all of Stillwater. They choose officers who go above and beyond the call of duty. Adam has been doing presentations for campus and workplace violence to MANY groups. I can say MANY because he is never here. I am proud of him. I hope he knows I am supportive of him, but I think he only hears me saying that I miss him and he is not here enough. I do try to make a point to tell him how much I appreciate him and that he is a great father and husband. So I hope I will know soon about my job and I will let you all know.

Transfer

Garrett was accepted for a transfer!I am thrilled! It makes me very curious because in the request they ask for a reason and my reason was that I applied for the library assistant position and I would like my son to be at the same school in which I work. And with that being accepted gives me hope. Am I reading too much into it? Who knows. I was just telling Adam that I would call Monday and withdraw my application and wait until next year and Madison would just go to all day pre-k. But this gives me a little bit of a reason to keep waiting. Nobody likes to play the waiting game!

Lately...

Carolyn Confer called me about a month ago and told me about a job opening at Sangre (elementary school) for library media assistant. I turned in the application as soon as I could, which was about 3 1/2 weeks ago. I had not heard anything so I emailed the lady in charge of personnel applications and she said my application was being used for all teacher and library assistant positions and that the job at Sangre still has not been filled. It is a little frustrating because we need to make arrangements for preschool for Madison. We were put on Rennaissance's waiting list and they called and said they had a spot open for her, we couldn't say yes or no because I don't know if I have the job. School starts the 13th! When my first started teaching she received her job offer 2 days before school started! I hope that doesn't happen. I am still on the fence whether or not I want to work. No, I know I don't want to work but I have to do something to help. Madison and Garrett both want me to stay home, it breaks my heart. I wish I could have waited for next school year for Madison to be in pre-kindergarten. Garrett is excited for 1st grade, we keep telling him not to grow up and he does it anyway...stinker.

The rugrats went to the dentist Wednesday. Garrett did great and has a perfect grin. He needs to lose some more teeth and the dentist already has us talking about orthodontists! This was Madison's first visit. Garrett was a great big brother and went in with her to make sure she was going to be okay. He stayed in there and Madison did great. She was of course quiet but she let them clean her teeth. She has a beautiful smile as well.

Adam and I took the kids to see Space Chimps last Friday. It was a cute movie. The kids enjoyed it. Saturday night Adam and I actually got to go on a date! (Thanks Chad and Jess) Adam's birthday was the next day, Sunday, so we celebrated the night before. I had bought tickets to see The Dark Knight, it was a surprise to him. Yea me! It was a great movie! Heath Ledger was amazing in this movie! I love spending time with my husband, he is so much fun to be with. I hope it is reciprocal.