Sorry for the delay between posts this week. I don't have a layout to share, either, unfortunately. Sammi had another intake this last week, this time with a speech therapist, and she is definitely being recommended for speech services When she turns 3, she'll switch to the school to get speech services, and I'll have to take her up there to get them. I think that's probably a good thing though, because then I can talk to them about Shabree's speech services as well. Though Shabree is still making pretty decent progress, but she needs to work on keeping her tongue behind her teeth when it comes to saying her S's.
Syd seems to be doing pretty well on the Ritalin, she's definitely focusing better in school, according to her teacher, though it seems to be wearing off by the time she gets home from school, because homework can still be tough to deal with, so I will probably have to speak to the doctor about that.
Becca sprained the tendon in her foot, so she cannot jump or run, which means no karate for 6 weeks, and light activity in gym. Bec wanted crutches, but the doctor said no, which I agreed with, because if she favors it, it'll have a harder time healing. She just needs to go easier on it than she has been. She's glad to be out of karate for awhile, and there are times when I want to take her out and put Shabree back in, because I think Shabree would enjoy it more at this point. Becca doesn't practice, and hates going, but we're contractually obligated, and besides, she's paid up for awhile longer, though I don't remember how much longer. Once that runs out, we're going to have to re-evaluate whether or not it's worth it. For now, I would have to say no, it's not. Why waste our money on it? Though I gotta admit, the girl sure does have fast reflexes and a HARD kick. She's hurt us all kicking us in play. She doesn't even know how strong she really is, and she doesn't really pull her punches, though she THINKS she does.
I got a layout done this week, a paper one of Alex's 14th week. I have a number of pictures printed out for her, and page kits made up so all I should have to do is put them together. I'm not going to do a lot of journaling in her week by week book, that'll go into her other book. It should be very nice once I'm done, but I need to cut out more titles on my wishblade, and I'm almost afraid to do that, because the blades are 40 dollars, and it's a good question whether or not I'll have that to spend.
I've started writing this past week, but I haven't put nearly the effort into I should have. I asked the girls what they'd write, if they were writing a novel, Becca said vampires, Shabree said princesses. Well, I don't think I can write about vampires, there are too many vampire stories out there as it is, but I think I could write about princesses, I was thinking I could make each girl into a fairy princess with her own special powers. Princess Alex's would be the power to charm, lol. Princess Rebecca would make beautiful things, Princess Sydni would have the power of speech, Princess Shabree would have the power of friendship, and Princess Samantha would have the power of "No!" LOL... I'm still working on this obviously. Jerry said I should switch the power of speech to the power of persuasiveness, and that Sammi has the power to ease other's suffering. Other than that, he liked my ideas.
We went to John's Incredible Pizza last night to celebrate Becca's birthday, we ended up taking Jane and Steve and their kids, by going to John's, I then dropped Jerry and the kids off, except for Sammi, and we went and picked up Jane and Steve, then came back, stood in line FOREVER, finally ate, then Jerry took Jane and Steve home. Then... LOL... Jerry got LOST on the way back, he overshot the exit, and couldn't get back over to John's, so despite leaving at 8:30ish, he didn't get back to John's until 11. But that was all right, he had Alex, who managed to get a nap, and all my girls are little Energizer Bunnies, so they were happy to just play and have fun, plus we had a second meal. They got all kinds of prizes, and I ended up finding a card that had almost 1500 tickets on it, so I got an Ariel checkers game (tic tac toe, too) and some cute little things for Sammi, a wand, and a headband with pink fuzzies on it. It wasn't QUITE as good as the time we got to play for free for 2 hours (we actually overlapped the cards a bit and only got to play for an hour and a half, but dang did we have fun then! Best hour and a half EVER) Becca got an MP3 player from her mom, and will be getting Twilight for her birthday, plus we will be getting her a bike sometime today.
Speaking of bikes, I got a bike from freecycle, and Jerry's supposed to fix it so I can ride it. It's a nice enough bike, ugly color though, but we have to take the rear derailer off it so it can be ridden. It'll be nice once it's fixed up and repainted though, and I'll have a bike to ride with the kids. They're supposed to be building a Wal mart over here, a super Wal mart, and I was thinking I'd ride my bike over there instead of taking the van. Well, of course, that would only work for small trips, but it'd be good exercise. Who knows when they'll get it built anyway? I can't wait though for them to build it. If I ended up going there every day on my bike, then I could probably get that day's dinner, and it's not like I could buy a whole lot of extra, for one thing, because I'd have to carry it home on my back mostly likely, but also, since I'd only be buying for that one day, it might actually save us money. But who knows how that would actually work out? It's a nice thought though. I would probably discover things I'd have to go home and grab the car for, lol... knowing me.
Well, Becca will be 14 tomorrow. 14! I've known her since she was 4 (come June), which just AMAZES me. I love that girl. I love her like my own...well in my mind, she IS my own. I mean, just because I didn't give birth to her doesn't make her my daugther. We've got 10 years of a mother/daughter relationship with all its ups and downs. When I set out on this journey, I set out to never have her thinking she was any less to me just because I didn't give birth to her, and I think I have succeeded. I DO have people who don't even realize she's my step daughter, so that's proof right there that it's working. Even as crazy as she makes me/us sometimes, and how often I have to remind myself, she's a teenager, and this too shall pass, and that I have to be her parent, as much as I'd love to be her friend, I think she's a great kid overall. And I've told her that, too. I've told her that she means the world to me, I've told her that she's just a really great kid and I am proud of her. Sometimes when you're worried about a kid's disrespect, you just have to be grateful that disrespect is the extent of the troubles with a kid (well, her grades too... ) but she could be into drugs, boys, she could be killing us with worry, she could be doing a lot of really bad things, and she's just NOT. She's a really good kid with a few flaws, and who doesn't have a few flaws? Okay, she grumbles about doing a few dishes...but she eventually, with some prodding, does them. So yea, all in all, I'm happy with her.
Well, I'm going to wrap up. I think I need to go talk to Jerry about going to Walmart to get that present. She's not going to be very surprised though. She thinks she may be getting a bike, but she'll have the satisfaction of knowing she was RIGHT. LOL. That's worth a lot right there, I know it was to me when I was a kid. I loved guessing my presents and knowing I was right. It was fun.
All right, I'll try not to go so long between posts, and I'll do my best to get a layout done and up, though I'm not getting the feeling that anyone cares. But I do enjoy doing them to an extent anyway. I'd rather do paper ones though, and even those I haven't had much time for lately. Oh well, enough rambling!