I Cried Happy Tears Today!

Disclaimer: This goes against my "Do Not Blog" Rule, but since it is positive about Noah, I am going with it.

We're coming into conference times, starting next week.

Last year conference time was so stressful. Everyone else was posting about how wonderful their kids were doing and how much the teachers loved them. I left both conferences crying last year because I was frustrated at how frustrated the teacher was with Noah. Academically, he was way ahead of the other kindergartners, but he was doing dumb things like throwing books across the room when he was mad and goofing around with other kids when he could easily have been paying attention.

By the end of the year, I almost pulled him a month early because you could tell the teacher just couldn't stand him anymore. It was enough to make a mother's heart break. Noah was part of a group of four boys that were messing around all the time. The problem was also that Noah isn't sneaky, and always the one getting caught. He would take the shenanigans of the other kids, add a bit of flair and spice, take it to the next level of obnoxiousness, and be the one who got in trouble. I started wondering about ADHD, even though I was quite sure that it wasn't the proper diagnosis for Noah.

At the last conference of the year, his kindergarten teacher actually told me that "Mrs. T is pretty worried about having Noah in her class next year." What a wonderful thing to hear, huh?

Over the summer, we played with his food selections and frequencies. We had an AWESOME summer. His aggression all but went away and he learned so much that I was hopeful for a good first grade year.

As this year started, two of the four boys that cause the trouble got sent back to kindergarten, one didn't return to Noah's school and then there was Noah. I was very hopeful. I was still concerned about the preconceived notions of Noah from Mrs. T and I worried that he wouldn't have a fair shake this year.

There have been many emails back and forth this year as Noah has settled into first grade. The jump from Kindergarten to first grade in work level has been huge. His teacher makes and takes suggestions and Noah is doing quite well. She has said numerous times about how much he matured over the summer.

Last year when he got in trouble, it was for being aggressive or rude; this year it's for talking without raising his hand.

This week is the first week he has gotten perfect behavior EVERY DAY so far and we have been praising it BIG TIME. But then I got this email from his teacher yesterday:

Kristi, Noah seemed kind of sad today. He talked about doing school at home tomorrow and said he did not want to come to school. Just wanted to let you know this. I asked him why and he just said he likes it at home. He didn't say if anything was bothering him. If something is bothering him, please let me know. Thanks! :) Have a great night.

I responded with:


Thanks for writing. I really appreciate your being so in tune with him. It shows how much you really care about our kids. I think he is getting really stressed out about being good all the time. Especially when he so close to having a perfect week for the first time all year. I asked him about it, he just says he's tired from working so hard all the time. I am glad that he's working so hard and learning so much. Please keep me informed if things get worrisome. I also think he's fighting a virus of some sort...he sounds scratchy even though he never admits when he's not feeling well. Thanks again for your concern. We are so lucky to have you teaching him this year. See you tomorrow at lunch. Kristi

And the icing on the cake was this morning's note from her:

I think something is going around. The kids have been coughing-on each other and on me-ha-and it's not even winter yet! He has been working very hard! I am proud of him. He did say that he wanted to sit at the yellow table all year. I told him he would probably want to sit with friends for some of the time, but he said no. I said that would be fine, but he freely moves back and forth which is great. I think he likes being at the yellow table kind of away from the "temptation" of messing around. I think he is such a great kid...he has a great sense of humor, he loves science, and learning. He is working really hard on self-control...good for him! See you soon!

(Note: The yellow table is the extra table in the class and I suggested to Mrs. T that maybe he would want to do his quiet work there to avoid distraction. I suggested it to his Kindergarten teacher last year and she wouldn't do it)

I am actually crying happy tears again as I re-read the note. It feels so good for others to see the greatness that I knew was there all along.

What a difference a year can make! I am actually looking forward to his conference next week.

Photo Story Friday: October School events

Warning: Long-ish post ahead!


October events for two boys in school seemed to be plentiful. Of course, Mommy came along for the ride (actually, driving in Noah's cases) taking pictures all the while. The boys are so used to mommy tagging along with the camera that as of now, there are still no "Mom, you're embarrassing me!" I am quite sure that will come soon enough.


Noah's school is so small (202 in the entire K-12 school) that they don't have buses. Instead, fields trips require parent drivers. There's nothing so embarrassing as getting an email from the teacher on the morning of a field trip reminding me that I haven't put my new insurance info in the car yet.

The first of the field trips was Noah's trip to a play, Fantastic Mr. Fox. As I sat down with Noah, I noticed something STICKY in his hair. It was quite yucky feeling, even though I couldn't see anything. Then, just after we got the kids settled, the school's fire alarm goes off. The class heads out to wait and Noah is now obsessed with the stickiness in his hair.






While the wait seemed to take forever, Noah also had to share his ickiness with other fascinated first graders.












After we got let back in and the play started, everybody settled down, but after the show, when the actors came into the audience to mingle with the kids, Noah didn't want anything to do with the "scary" characters.









The next week, Aaron's preschool class took a field trip to the library. I was amazed at how many kids had never been to the local library before. It was quite a long walk, but it was a beautiful day and one of the parents knew a short cut path through the woods.









Aaron put on a puppet show with a little friend from his class












Got a bracelet to hold his own library card (which has long since broken)

















And they even had a story time with Miss Rita, the children's librarian. Notice my little boy the one who wormed his way onto Miss Rita's lap.












The next week, Noah's service field trip got a little goofed up. They were scheduled to go rake two homes and it started raining by 9:00 and never let up.

So because the kids were already going to McDonald's the parents decided that we might as well take them for lnh anyway. Because there had been no outside recess, the kids were very wound up and Mrs. T had no lesson plans done for the day since they were supposed to be gone, they played in the play area of the McD's for close to two hours. Rather than taking Noah back to school for an hour and a half to watch a movie and then drive the 15 minutes back to school to get him, we started the weekend early and I brought him home after lunch. He thought he was so special to be leaving early.

I don't know if they are going to try to make up the raking trip or not.






This week (finally), Aaron had two events.

The first was a "pumpkin patch" at his school. The teachers actually made an imaginary pumpkin patch outside, complete with scarecrows, hay, and pumpkins. The kids went in small groups to three stations; a scary story, donuts and cider, and "picking" pumpkins.








For some reason, Aaron decided to feed his pumpkin to the scarecrow...who knows why?

















Luckily, the last event didn't cause any hard feeling between brothers. Noah's school isn't allowed to do Halloween, so Friday was a regular day of school for him. But Aaron's does, complete with allowing them to wear their costumes to school.


SPiderman is quite the hot costume this year. Mine is the one on the left.












They made cookies












and played games













I don't believe November holds as many activities, but I am looking forward to lots of days off with the kids, between conference days off (which of course fall on two different weeks) and Thanksgiving break.

I hope everyone has safe Halloween fun this weekend and comes back on Monday to sign Mr. Linky if they shared their weekend events on their blog.

Thursday Thirteen; "Whither Thou Goest"

It's no secret. Our kitten Pumpkin is driving us crazy. He is unusually pushy. Rather than sitting nicely on our laps, most of the time he has the need to climb and stick his yucky, I mean wet, nose on your chin or neck. He is driving older sister Minnie nuts too.


He feels the need to always be in the center of whatever action is happening. Minnie has learned to stay out of the way, but not Pumpkin. So much so that Pumpkin got banished to the bedroom during Aaron's birthday party Sunday, while Minnie sat in a corner and watched the entire event.

1. It started the very first day we brought him home...snuggled into Noah's lap.

















2. In the present box as Aaron opened his birthday gifts












3. Being involved in bedtime stories













4. On Grandma's lap during a birthday party













5. Wrapped up cozy warm by Aaron


















6. He doesn't even just reserve it immediate family members. He took a snuggle with Cousin Kira












7. And took a nap with mommy













But his most common activity is to follow Minnie around everywhere she goes.


8. The computer desk

















9. Wishing that Minnie would give him his bed back












10. Sleeping with Noah


















11. Fighting over the furnace the minute it is turned on for the first time this fall













12. Even following to the facilities














Of course, Minnie doesn't always like a tag along little brother

13. I'm not sure if this is a hug or a fight, but it is the most common position of these two cats lately.












In all reality, Pumpkin is a very sweet kitty, but he really is driving us insane. The struggle comes with the fact that Noah absolutely loves him. I can't imagine the kind of irreparable damage we would create if Pumpkin went to live somewhere else.

So I guess he can stay. But I really wish he'd leave our necks alone!

Thursday Thirteen is my favorite meme of the week so feel free to let me know if you are participating this week so I can visit you by signing Mr. Linky below.

Tackle It Tuesday; Gratitude

I have been thinking a lot about gratitude lately. Do I show it? Do I show enough example for my kids to display it?

It all came to a head yesterday afternoon. As I have mentioned, tables have turned recently and we are severely struggling to make ends meet. I spent yesterday applying for nighttime jobs to try to supplement our income a bit. I don't mind taking another job if it means that we won't feel this panic any longer, especially going into Christmas.


Because of this, I went to a consignment shop a few weeks ago and got Noah both a fall jacket and a winter coat. He didn't like the winter coat, and disliked it so much that he "lost" it. I understood the situation...the coat was quite a bit too big for him and didn't have a hood so I finally decided to break down and spend the money to get him a good winter coat. I justified it by saying that it had to make it through two kids. I'm sure the old coat will turn up and then he'll have an extra and it will fit him better next year.

I found a good deal and was happy to get it for him. I knew it would keep him warm and it wasn't "puffy" so I knew he wouldn't complain. When we got home from school yesterday, I said, "Hey Noah, I got you a new winter coat. Please come try it on." Rather than, "Thanks Mom", I got "Mom, No, I don't want to try things on." And he proceeded to throw a bit of a tantrum. Then when Steve got home, he went to go take the boys outside to play. He told Noah to go get his new coat and Noah's response was, "No, I'm going to throw that coat in the garbage. I don't want it!"

So now I get a call at work from Steve yelling me at me because he's mad at Noah. So I told him, "Fine, I'll take the coat back. Then I can put that money toward getting the mortgage paid."

When I got home, I indeed went and put the new winter coat away. Steve says, "Here we go again."

Apparently, there had been quite a battle when I got off the phone about said winter coat. Now all of a sudden it's, "No Daddy, no Mommy, I want the coat" begging and pleading the while. At bedtime, while I was doing books with Noah, we spent some time talking about gratitude. We talked about people who don't have all of the things they need. I was also very honest with him about Mommy and Daddy not having a lot of money right now and how we worked very hard to get him the coat and when he doesn't appreciate it, it hurts our feelings. He seemed genuinely repentant.

This morning was the coldest morning of the year. The winter coat is still hanging in my closet, out of sight. I was VERY tempted to send him off with no coat, but that would just be abusive. So I sent him with his fall jacket and hat and gloves. A small, very bad, piece of me is really hoping that Noah feels a little cold on the playground today. I hope I am teaching him a lesson and not scarring him for life.

What does this have to do with Tackle It Tuesday, you may ask?

Let me tell you.

Aaron received gifts for his birthday all week last week. When someone gives you a gift, the proper thing to do, whether they were there when you opened it or not, is to write a thank you note. I was told this when I was younger, and it is maybe the ONE thing that I credit my mom for in my upbringing.

I think I mentioned this after Noah's birthday. We always get them written, but for some reason, I tend to forget to put them into the mail...every time

So here sat Aaron yesterday getting them all written. I bought the kind where you just write the person's name, the gift, and the child's name as a way to make it easier. Aaron is actually writing his name LESS clearly since school started...I'm not sure why.








The nice thing about my Grandma Buelke is that every time she has ever sent a present for one kid, she always sends one for the other. Noah got a really neat seed book from her.



So he wanted to write one too.












Now I just need to make sure they make it into the mail today.

Steve has done one thing every night at dinner ever since the boys were really small, that is starting to become a habit. Whomever made dinner each night, right after prayer, Steve always says "Thank you mommy for making dinner" or I say "Thank you daddy for making lunch". It is now becoming habit for the boys to race to see who can thank us for the meal first.

So gratitude can come in many forms. I don't expect the boys to bend over backward just because I washed their underwear. But I worry that I am not displaying enough gratitude in my own life, and therefore not instilling it in my children.

So I open it up to you, my readers. How do you teach gratitude in your household? How would you have handled the coat issue?

I will be eagerly awaiting your thoughts.

Weekend Top Five

You know, some weekend I struggle to try to think of five interesting things we did. This weekend I have the opposite problem. I am having trouble narrowing it down.

Aaron's birthday took over the weekend quite well. A birthday weekend is always fun.


Hold on to your hats people...here we go.


5. Friday night at the mall

Every one kept asking me what to get Aaron for his birthday. It became a quandary for me as well because Aaron is different than Noah was. Noah knew what he liked and what he wanted from an early age. Aaron just kind of goes with the flow, which makes it a little more challenging.

So we decided for his birthday to let him go to Build A Bear and make a bear for his birthday, since he never had before.

He filled it with fluff
















Gave it a "bath"














Gave it a name on the computer ("Man") for his birth certificate











and gave it a hug to officially make it his own


















Of course, the bear had to accompany him to the play area in the mall, including a trip down the slide











and when we went into the book store, there was a special Friday night story time with Spot the dog there to greet kids. Spot the dog loved "Man" too.















4. Saturday Morning Toy Battle

There are no pictures for this joyful experience. Saturday morning has become a battle ground in our household. It is the ONLY day of the week that I require the boys to clean up their rooms. It has become more them complaining and me yelling at them and it is pretty much as ineffective as is it is stressful on all of us.

After an hour and a half of the fight on Saturday morning, I had had enough. I marched upstairs and just started scooping up toys off of the floor. One by one, I marched all the way to the basement with them. Noah of course flipped out but I was determined to follow through.

I am not quite sure about how to have him earn them back yet. I guess we'll see what happens next Saturday morning during clean up time.

3. Birthday Trip to Chuck E Cheese

Since we knew we were having Aaron's party the next day, we decided to take the boys to CEC for a fun night on his actual birthday. Deb brought her girls to join us.




Aaron enjoyed the games
















Aaron and Noah rode the simulator together









Tried to play skee ball without throwing the ball into other people's lanes

















and Aaron learned to do something else that I had never had to deal with before...token begging
















2. Church

After all the hullabaloo, I didn't do anything wrong this week.. Woo Hoo! Actually, I have pretty much hid in the choir room or Sunday School rooms so as not to offend anyone and because I don't really know whom I can trust anymore.

The good thing though was that my cherub choir performed really well, even though about half of them were gone this week. Noah participated really well...he really is one of the strongest singers in the group. He is on the top, 2nd from the right.








1. Aaron's Birthday Party

We have quite a small house, so at about 2:00 Sunday afternoon we decided to clean out the basement and try to hold the party downstairs. It worked out pretty well.


We fed the kids


















They played Halloween twister. I learned that my niece Piper is EXTREMELY flexible.












Noah picked out trophies for prizes to the winners. Look how proud my birthday boy is in front.











Had cake. Nancy brought the cake for us. She called on Saturday morning to see what kind of cake. I said, "Oh, just pick whatever." About two seconds after I got off the phone, Aaron says, "No, Mommy, I want chocolate." so he got to call her back and make his request . "A Chocolate Superman cake"







All of the kids loved playing with the Lincoln logs that Aaron got from Grandma and Grandpa













So, yup, it was definitely an action packed weekend. I hope you will consider participating in the Weekend Top five. Feel free to steal the button at your right and sign the Mr. Linky below. Ii really is a fun way to sum up your weekend and also make a user friendly post for your readers to share your weekend events.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

We Love You!

I Got A Call From The Teacher Yesterday...

A call from the teacher pretty much never amounts to anything good. I am very vigilant on the email front with Noah's teachers. I have to be. If I don't advocate for him, no one else will. So I keep the lines of communication lines open right from the beginning.

The bill collectors are ringing the phone off the hook, so I haven't been answering lately if I don't recognize the number. So I didn't answer the local number. I listened to the voice mail about a half hour later.

I was very confused by the message. It started talking about Noah and another little boy, B, playing a game on the playground with throwing rocks so they both had to take out the lion and tiger (the classes discipline system) for the behavior. But she told me that B's mom was throwing a fit because B said that Noah was the only one doing it so the mom wanted B's lion and tiger restored. Then out of the blue, she started talking about Noah being extremely upset and fighting with this same boy about God.

It threw me for a big loop. B's family are Jehovah's Witnesses so Noah already knew that they didn't celebrate parties and the holidays the same way that we do so I couldn't imagine what the problem was.

After I got home from work, Noah was in bed so I went up to talk to him about it. I asked him what had happened. At first he was scared to tell me but I told him that no matter what he said, I wouldn't be mad since we were talking about it and then he started opening up.

He said that he had a big fight with B because his mom had said that God's name wasn't God. And that he had called B's mom foolish for saying that.

So I took the Bible that Noah had on his nightstand and told him that just like I call him different names like Noah, Noah Stephen, or Bud...God has many different names too. Then I started naming different names, and on purpose, I mentioned "Jehovah" as the third or fourth name. He shouted "that's what B called him!" So I turned to the name Jehovah in the Bible and we talked about how we all believe in the same God but in different way sometimes, and that I was proud of him for being proud enough to talk about his faith. But then I made it clear to him that it is important to always respect how other people view God, even if you don't agree with them.

So this morning when I walked Noah into school, I talked with the teacher and then the mom that witnessed the entire exchange. This mom is friends with B's mom so it was a little skewed but I got the general gist of what happened. She did say that she was surprised at how deep Noah was thinking about things and impressed with his knowledge base. That made me feel proud as well. I feel like I handled it pretty well and I am hoping that things will clear themselves up.

Unfortunately, this mom had an issue with Noah last year in kindergarten too, so we'll just have to see where this goes.

In general though, I was quite happy to have had this discussion with Noah opened up and I love that Noah is thinking so hard about our faith and how it applies to our every day life. At times, I think talking about it with my six year old is the best way for me to think about my own faith and remembering to keep it foremost in my life.

Have a great weekend.

Is There Such Thing as Too Many Birthdays?

Yes, I know...broken record, but a birthday is a big deal. The funny thing is that Aaron's birthday still isn't until tomorrow, and it seems that for some reason, for our household, birthdays don't last one day. They seem to last for at least a week each time around. It had been the same this time.

Aaron's real birthday is Saturday. Due to friends being out of town and the Big Game (Michigan vs. Michigan State) at 3:30, we needed to postpone his party until Sunday. But that doesn't stop us from starting early.

Uncle Matt, Aunt Jenny and cousins were here last weekend and brought Aaron's first present of the event.



Gotta love a card that makes loud music every time you open it.













awesome clothes with fun orange pants













and Hungry Hungry Hippos, which we are playing constantly. FYI...kittens love little white balls that belong in a kids game.








Fast forward to Thursday. Two more birthday celebrations...




A birthday serenade from the class



















and passing out yummy Halloween cookies










Then. Just when you think birthday celebrations could stop, at least until the ACTUAL birthday, grandparents show up...



with another card














and a Tonka rescue helicopter










I don't think this kid actually knows when his birthday is. Another package arrived in the mail today from my grandmother and we will take him to Build a Bear on his actual birthday for a present from us. And then of course, Sunday party time (of which I still don't have planned, even though it looks like we'll have nine kids here),

Stay tuned for a heck of a Weekend top Five next week. I imagine I'll be exhausted.

Happy Friday

(Hey Shannon, do you have any idea where my signature html code went?)

Aaron's Birth Story in T13 Style

In honor of my youngest's 4th birthday on Saturday, I thought I would do my T13 on Aaron. It really is an interesting story just because he had so many quirks for so long, and it is amazing that after spending his first two years of his life worried about lasting repercussions, he is now a perfect, albeit a little crazy, little boy.

1. Aaron was due on October 23rd, he came on the 25th. I went to the doctor on the morning of the 25th. It was decided to induce me the next morning.

2. This is how the cell phone conversations with Steve went that morning..

9:00 AM "Hi, Honey, Dr. is going to induce tomorrow morning. Tell Fred (his boss) that you won't be in the rest of the week"

11:30 AM "Hi Honey, Noah and I just left the library and I think my water just broke. I'm not sure, so I think we'll go home and have some lunch

12:00 PM "Hi Honey, I think I am going to head to the hospital, so why don't you meet me there when you get off of work. " I walk Noah over to the neighbor's house and drive to the hospital. Freaked out the neighbor but I knew I had a few hours before anything actually started.

12:30PM "Hi Honey, Dr. says I am already dilated to four and things are going fast so why don't you head over as soon as you can

1:30 PM "Steve...come now!"

He was born at 7:01 PM

3. We called both sets of parents to let them know things are in the works. Nancy my stepmom says, "I'll call your dad..he's out on the course"

4. Although it was never discussed, Dad and Nancy came in about an hour later while active labor had started. I don't know if I was ever more thankful to see two people in my life. Having Steve on one side of me with his big, bony hand and my dad on the other with his warm fleshy hand was great...especially since I am quite sure I caused them both quite a bit of pain.

5. Nancy did things that I didn't know were nice while you are in labor, such as cold wash cloths for my forehead. According to Steve, she stood in the bathroom "whipping" wet washcloths at him. The image still makes me giggle...I don't really know if that happened or not, I was a little busy at the time. When things started going wrong (see below), she was the one in my ear whispering to me to pray for Aaron, and she was the one holding my hand (and probably in a lot of pain) while I was there for what seemed like forever being stitched up after a lot of rippage and large episiotomy. No epidural...I was too scared of the needle.

6. Aaron was born with the cord so tight around his neck, that he wasn't breathing for several minutes when he was born. His first APGAR was a 2, the second was a 7. It was the scariest few minutes of my entire life. I will never forget the SILENCE in that room for the rest of my life. In the picture you can see how purple he still was five minutes after his birth.




7. Aaron broke his collar bone on his way through the birth canal. The doctors didn't notice it because they were busy trying to get him to breathe. I, on the other side of the room, brought it to their attention.

8. Aaron as VERY stiff as a baby. I spent much time worried that it was a lasting effect from #6.

9. Both of my boys were extremely jaundiced at birth. With Aaron, I never got the bili blanket that I was supposed to. (I had been through that with Noah) I knew that if he kept nursing and pooping, It would work out. After a week and a half of trips to the hospital for blood tests, he was pronounced fine. Here is the only picture we have where you can truly see how yellow he still was three days after he came home, of course being kissed by big brother two year old Noah.




10. Aaron failed almost every hearing test as an infant and young child. Again, I thought it was because of #2.

11. After a string of constant (they never healed) ear infections and strep throat, we got his tonsils and adenoids out an tubes put in at two years old. He never had another infection again.

12. Aaron didn't talk until after his ear and throat surgery. He healed almost instantly from the surgeries. We think it was because he was so shocked at the ability to hear.

13. Aaron has an UNUSUALLY small head. For the first year of his life, we had a string of CT scans, MRI's and head xrays to rule out severe problems. His head was so far below the chart that they had two or three different nurses come measure it at each well child visit to make sure they were doing it right.


Once those few things were taken care of, e ended up with a wonderful, beautiful, goofy, happy little boy who is healthy and adventurous. Have a wonderful Birthday my Special Boy. We love you.

Wordless Wednesday: Aaron's Turning 4!

Aaron through the years



3 Months













6 months















9 months













12 months...1st Birthday




















18 months












2 years

















2 and a half
















3 years























3 and a half years










Stay tuned tomorrow for the birth story saga.