Sunday, October 20, 2013

Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Today may of been one of the last warm days of the season.  Tonight the first frost is predicted.  So we took the kids outdoors this afternoon for our annual painting pumpkins with tempera paint.  

We do not have as many pumpkins this year as in years past, so we will forgo carving a pumpkin this year.  We do have plenty of gourds on the other hand.  It was the squash of choice by the kiddos when we visited the pumpkin patch last week.  We usually opt for painting because 1) the pumpkins last longer and 2) Pumpkin wants his pumpkin to last until after his birthday in February.  He is a pumpkin fanatic!  







As you can see Pumpkin & Princess had a lot of fun decorating their pumpkins.  We did take the pumpkin inside before the predicted frost and I am sure that they will move around the house as the holiday approaches. It is never boring in our household!  (Hahaha)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Life Goes On

I meant to post sooner than now.  Famous last words of a parent!  (wink, wink)





We visited a pumpkin patch over the weekend and I have been taking some seasonal nature shots with the camera.


Things have been extremely crazy and stressful at work.  Anytime someone new comes along it is bound to happen.  Hoping that the dust settles in a few months as a new normal is established.  Although it is tempting to stay home with the kiddos, especially with all of the problems that Pumpkin has been encountering lately.


Pumpkin is still having a few rough patches at school, but on the bright side we had two good days last week and today was a good day.  So we are making a bit of progress.  Our pastor has been helping us and suggested have one to two goals to focus on each week to make progress easier to accomplish.

We took Pumpkin to our pediatrician this afternoon.  His ears are good, but it looks like he needs to have his tonsils removed.  I will have to call the ear, nose, throat specialist office tomorrow.  I imagine that if they take his tonsils out that they will either put a third set of ear tubes in or take the remaining non-functioning ear tube out of his right ear.  We also talked with our pediatrician about the reoccurring behavioral glitches that Pumpkin has been having at school and she has recommended that we see a behavioral pediatrician.  She said that it might be possible that he has some processing problems, but without testing and an official diagnosis she does not want to prescribe medicine.  So we are looking into a friend of the family that is planning to open a clinic in town soon.  If that falls through we will probably have to drive at least an hour or more to see a specialist.  She said that an out of town specialist could take up to six months to get into for a first appointment.  I am not for sure if our health insurance will cover any of this, so prayers would be appreciated.  In the mean time our pediatrician recommended that we wean Pumpkin off his allergy medicine to see if it has an affect on his behavior.
 
I have been falling behind on my intent to participate in "Making Your Home A Haven."  Week One focused on lighting a candle daily and praying for peace.  It took a while, but I did finally find a candle that does not make my allergies go haywire.  So far, I only lit it on Saturday.  I did better at remembering to pray for peace for my house, peace for my family, and peace for me.  It does have a calming affect to repetitively pray for such simple requests.   Week Two focuses on a planning a family game night and to pursue gentleness in the home (quiet voices, gentle touch, controlling anger).  We have yet to partake in a family game night this week.  Hopefully we can play some Candy Land on Thursday or Friday evening.  The kids really seem to enjoy this particular game.  Gentleness was lacking this evening with nerves frazzled, but we always have the chance to begin anew tomorrow.  I am hoping that as I work on this journey that my life with feel less stressed and more blessed.

Well, I suppose a good night sleep would help, so I better be thinking about heading that way soon.  Blessings and peace to all!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Topsy Turvy

It has been a rough fall.  In more ways than one.

The house is in need of deep cleaning and organization.  I am actually embarrassed to have company stop by.  I just do not know where to start.  Stuff just piles up, then it has babies and more babies until it is an uncontrollable mess.  I still have some areas that I have yet to touch.  I am not sure if it is that I am afraid to find something that I do not want to deal with (some stuff has been sitting around since before mom died, waiting for me to come back to it) or if I wonder what really is the point since it will be a mess once again in such a short time.  I was utilizing the e-book "31 Days To Clean" by Sarah Mae, but I did not make it quite past the first week.  I did a big flop trying to keep up with the kitchen cleaning schedule, being a working mom, and managing the kiddos in the evenings.  I guess I need to try it again, but at a slower pace.  I did come up with the following cleaning mission statement that I have on the wall in the bedroom.


To me they are pretty lofty goals, which honestly would be easier to achieve if I did not work outside the home.  So, I will slow plug away at achieving what right now seems the impossible.  I did stumble across the website Women Living Well this evening and they will be having a five week challenge:  Making Your Home a Haven.  I am going to try the challenge and see if it helps to inspire me to be more diligent about the cleaning and organization of my home.

Pumpkin is having a lot of discipline problems at school this year.  First grade is really rough.  I had the honor of meeting with his teacher and the principal last night pertaining to his behavior at school.  He has yet to reach the same maturity level as his peers and his social skills are lacking at times which is leading to some serious problems.  He also has it stuck in his head that he is a bad boy, so he thinks he needs to act like a bad boy and that nothing that he does is right.  I have a whole list of things that were suggested to work on, but no ideas on how to actually accomplish the tasks at hand.  I walked away more frustrated and feeling more like a failure as a parent than before I attended the meeting.  

It was suggested to give him a few more weeks until the mid-term arrives, then the school will probably recommend that we visit the pediatrician about his behavior.  We took him to the pediatrician last fall and his behavior problems then were a combination of an ear infection and lack of maturity that equaled his peers.  Our pediatrician said he was a typical boy and he would mature in his own time.  

I just do not know what to think or what to do.  We have been praying every night with him about school and I have been praying with him in the mornings too.  Yesterday morning Pumpkin told me that my prayers were not working.  I replied "You can pray that your room will be clean, but if you do not try it will not get clean.  It is the same with school,  you can pray to have a good day and make good choices, but you have to try if you want things to get better."  He is a good, smart, loving kid and it is so hard to see him struggling with school this year.

Well it sure is late and I have to be at work early, so I best be shutting everything down for the evening.