July already?

Ok, so I real haven't been too good about getting 'back on track' since I haven't written since May.

The school year ended in a whirlwind. I felt completely drained. Questioned my passion for my job and my ability to continue. My core, my beliefs about teaching are being questioned because of this anti-education shift, the new teacher 'evaluations' and so much more.

I am so glad it is summer so I can try to readjust to what and how I have to approach the new year. Hmmm...notice something? I didn't start with Kath. Although a ton of things have gone on with her, I am finally able to swallow it and live it. Yes, I analyze and try to negotiate the best way to teach her, guide her and at the same time treat her like a kid, but I have gotten into a somewhat comfortable rhythm. It may sound weird but I've figured out how to read her.

We decided that for the summer we would give Kath some time to just be a kid. So she is not going to summer school and she is not having any therapies. She made a comment one day in her effort to be able to stay home, "Anyway, momma. I saw the sign on the door, it says school is closed, I don't have to go!" Think she needed a break. :) Since she has been home she has started to not be so upset when she uses a pencil (she would get overwhelmed and put it down without trying too much), she has done better with going potty, she has put on her own panties...by herself!! and much more. We went for a neuro pysch eval and will get the results next week.

This summer we have also gone back to the ENT (ears, nose and throat dr) for Alex. He wasn't ready to take her tonsils out....unless she got one more case of strep during the summer. If she got one case during the summer...when most kids DON'T get strep, that would be a pretty convincing argument of how bad things would get again for her this school year. Three days later she was sick and after the July 4th holiday she was diagnosed with strep again. AND she also has a few oddball side effects. One is that her knee (joints) are tender and that she has a facial tic, she blinks her eyes in an exaggerated manner. We are hoping that if we don't pay too much attention it will go away, but she's been off the medicine for almost a week and she is still tic-ing. She goes in to have her tonsils removed Aug 1st.

A few things we have done this summer:
~ Kath has been working on remembering her ABC's and she has started to try to write them.
~ Alex has been reading chapter books on her own for the family reading contest.
~ The girls have each attended science museum classes
~ and art classes.
~ They each take dance classes.
~ We have a garden trying its hardest not to grow, we each have sections to try to get to grow.
~ We have gone to the movies, girls and I saw Cars. Roger and I saw Harry Potter. And I have gone to the movies a few times with a few friends.
~ The girls and I took Amtrak to the city where we visited Big Bro Chris. We stayed at his apartment, took subways, taxis, a bus and a ferry. We saw the Statue of Liberty (or as Kath called it The Statue of Libya).
~ The girls and I went to Long Island and stayed with Grandma Steiger, visited Grandpa Steiger as well as Uncle Charlie, the Fire Island Lighthouse and the Robert Moses beach and the Lindenhurst docks, where we met a one legged sea gull.
~ Alex and I are up to Book II of the Harry Potter books.

~ And I have made July my Novel Writing month and although I am only at 11,000 (as of the first rough draft of this, and half the month is over, I am totally amazed by how far my story has come and how much writing I've done...especially considering how much traveling the girls and I have done.

~ I am shadowing a teen summer writing camp this week, so I've actually been able to get a lot of writing in.

While we traveled we left Roger to continue with his second job, take care of the animals and to write. He is working on several stories too.

I am working on reworking my blog, and I will be trying to set up new pictures soon too.

Hope this blog finds you all well.
Enjoy!

So...that maybe sorta did some kind of catching up...