Ahhh...school supplies

I'll start off by saying that this is the third year that we've had to buy school supplies, and you'd think by now that I would have it all down, but I don't. I even went EARLY this year to get Max's stuff - school doesn't start here until after Labor Day - Sept. 4 to be exact. That's TWO WHOLE WEEKS by my count - amazingly early for us. None of that OH MY GOSH TOMORROW is THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL AND MAX HAS NO SUPPLIES for us, no sir. Well, sort of.

Max has to buy TWO sets of school supplies because he's an immersion student. For some reason these kids use two times the supplies that they would otherwise use, even though they are spending half the time in each class as the other kids. Weird elementary school immersion program math I guess. Regardless, it's not a big chunk of change, and it's all community property, so I don't mind purchasing the stuff.

So, we printed out the list and headed off to Staples. I had already tried to get the items from Drugstore.com and from Peapod, but neither had enough of the stuff to make it worthwhile, and we didn't need enough groceries at the time to have Peapod come. Of course as we are driving to Staples the boys decide to start spitting out all the things that we need at the grocery store and we do indeed have enough, but we were already on the way. Anyway, off to Staples for all the supplies.

You would think that two weeks before school starts at an office supply store is a safe place to get all of your supplies. I can believe that the local grocery store is cleaned out the night before school starts, but it's two weeks early and Staples in in the business of providing school supplies. Heck, they've even done this at this particular store for years. But do we find all the things on our list? No. The shelves are empty and the cute little displays are picked over - two weeks before school starts.

Glue Sticks. The space for the big glue sticks (Elmer's brand, of course) is there. Big glue sticks? Have these people never used one before? Who in their right mind would give a second grader a big glue stick. The little ones are so much better - they dry up and you just replace them, but the big ones are three times the size. So when a kiddo leaves the cap off you've lost the equivalent of three of those little glue sticks. Regardless, they were out.

Elmer's Glue. Yeah, good old Elmer's glue. But the school doesn't want the cute little 4 oz size - guess the kids waste waaaaay too much for that. They want the bigger 8 oz size. Does Staples carry the 8 oz? Yes! Is it in stock? No! They only had room on the shelf for maybe 10 bottles or so, so they had obviously not consulted the local district when they made their lists to see which size they would require. So no glue for us. (I should mention that our next stop was Home Depot and they have plenty of the larger size glue there.)

Kids scissors. Yes - a great invention. What kid doesn't like cutting stuff up? But they don't want just any scissors - they want Fiskars. Don't they know that it took me about three months in Texas to get my hands on a pair of these? Don't they know that Staples doesn't carry them? Not sure exactly where to get these, so I opted to get another type hoping that the community pile didn't doom Max to a year of using a pair of not-quite-Fiskar's scissors. Go community tool pile.

Erasers. The staples of school life. We even watched a How It's Made on these a few weeks ago - very cool show if you haven't seen it before. Those little pink erasers were on the list when I was a kid, and you'd think that Staples would have a bajillion of them in stock. It's not like you can over order these things, and again, not a big surprise that they are on the list. Shame on you Staples for missing this one. We are eraserless as of this post.

Tissues. Now, it was along shot, but Staples actually had a space for the kind that we wanted. Amazing, but out of stock. Not a big deal as I wasn't counting on them being there.

The rest of the stuff we got - markers, crayons, hand soap, hand sanitizer (they actually did have this - wrong brand, but hey - it's the same basic stuff), and a few odds and ends. We walked out with a whopping $17 bill. Not quite the $55 that the school was going to charge us for the school supply packs, but we're only half way down our list.

So, tomorrow we're off to Target to get the stuff listed above, plus the tissues, and Ziplock bags, and whatever else is on that list. Not sure what they are used for, but the school wants all three sizes from the immersion kids. Who knew that they go through so many in one school year. Anyway, it's still two full weeks before school starts and I am apparently the last one in the district to buy school supplies. Next year it's back to the night before school, but it will be for three instead of two, so I might need to start this whole process in the early spring as it apparently takes this long to gather all the lovely items on the list...

And one last thing. Staples, you let us down. Yo are all about your easy button, and here I was list in hand facing many many empty shelves two weeks before school starts. Shame on you for not supporting my attempt at being a responsible parent. And man, in this case maybe procrastination does pay off...nah...I'll just start earlier next year.

I am Paper

Just saw this over on Angry Pregnant Lawyers's Blog. It's pretty short, and funny, so tell me...are you the scissor sneaking up on me?

You Are Paper

Crafty and creative, you are able to adapt freely to almost any situation. People tend to underestimate you, unless they've truly seen what you are capable of. Deep down, you're always scheming and thinking up new plans. Your mind is constantly active. You are quite capable of anything you dream of. You can always figure out a way to get what you want. You can wrap a rock person up in your sheet of trickery. A scissor person can sneak up and cut you to pieces. When you fight: No one can anticipate your next move If someone makes you mad: You'll attack them mercilessly when they're unprepared

Are You Rock, Paper, or Scissors?

Swimming Lessons

This summer the boys took swimming lessons at our gym. All three thoroughly enjoyed it, and while Sam is still a bit hesitant, all three made great strides. Max is swimming by himself - quite a way across the big pool. He can swim under water some too - that's his new thing after seeing his cousins doing it. He loves doing the cannonball and slipping down the slide. He's gotten a big dose of courage from teh lessons, and continues to make progress. Sam is making steps, albeit baby steps. He is now jumping in with some assistnace, or into shallower water all by himself. He gets so excited when he "sticks his head in the water," when all he actually does is put the very tip top of his head in (face down but he keeps that part dry). He's still getting more comfortable in the water each and every day. I guess this is one sport that Sam won't be the master of anytime soon (he's a natural athlete). Ian on the other hand, is in hog ehaven int eh pool. He's trying desperately to swim - face in the water and everything. But, he tips his head up too far and his butt sinks. He'll get it very soon though as we swim about two times a week and he's fearless. He is so fearless that he will jump in water over his head if you aren't watching. Kind of scary, but encouraging that he's found something that he loves that is exercise!

So, the lessons are over for now - maybe more in the Fall as the boys are already asking - but here are some pictures!

(Well, pictures to come tomorrow - blogger is misbehaving!)

Toning Up

I really enjoy exercising. I know, it sounds crazy, but I get lots of energy from it, I feel better, and I sleep better at night when I exercise regularly. I am certainly toning up but have run across a big downside. Well, not really big, and not terribly noticeable to anyone but me (probably not even Tom notices!). But, I never would have expected this to show up. When you tighten up your muscles, your fat jiggles more, and jiggles by itself as your muscles are more toned. Bummer...but it's true...

So I am toning and am slowly getting rid of the jiggly fat, but man, oh man this part isn't fun. All those jiggly parts - the parts that you don't ever want to own up to, are making themselves known because they are suddenly on their own. I guess that it's nice because I can see muscle definition, but before the muscles were defined, the fat and the muscles moved together as one and no one, not even me, seemed to notice. Good thing that no one else knows, but I had to share this in case you ever decide to tone...

In case you were wondering I'm healing up nicely and have been back at the gym for a few months now. However, my core muscles, those that help you stand up, balance, and do just about everything are still in terrible shape. After the little guys were born the abdominals never quite came back together, so those were sewn back together in April. While I can walk without falling over and can lift heavy objects, my balance on one foot and my ability to keep myself upright on one foot when fatigued is non-existent. It's pretty funny to see me doing balance things at the gym. I think my trainer gave me a bunch of those exercises to provide entertainment for others working out while I am exercising. They sure do get their money's worth watching me attempt NOT to fall over! So, slowly but surely I'm getting stronger and hope to get back on the skateboard soon - but that takes a LOT of balance, and I'm not sure I have it just yet.

Back FIll

So I am a bit behind on my posting due to all of our travel and have started filling in the stuff I've missed and changing the dates as I create the posts. So, periodically a post will pop up that is dated a few days before today (or tomorrow, etc.) I have a bunch to share and want to keep it semi-organized, and this is the only way to do. So, keep your eyes out for more stuff coming soon - from a week or so ago!

On Turning 35

I guess this is a milestone. Every birthday is, but this one has a nice round number - 35. Looking back it's been a great 35 years overall - a few bumps along the way but I can't complain much. I have a great family, enjoy my job, have great friends, and have a pretty positive outlook on things. So, what more could I need? Dare you ask? CAKE! Tom, the smart ass that he is, put 35 candles on the cake. It was amazing that we didn't set the smoke alarm off - we have for lesser things...but it was well worth it. I got to eat cake on my birthday, and today, there was nothing better.

Driving through the mountains

I am in love with Ohio and West Virginia. Not sure that we could live there any time soon, but if I could pick any place to move, I might just choose one of those states. On the way out to Illinois, I slept through WV, but thought that Ohio was fantastic. It was country, but had big city elements; was open and green, but was populous enough to have all the services that you'd want. On the way back I saw it all - in all of it's mountainous splendor. It was, in summary, a place we'd like to live. If it were only a bit closer to the DC area...

So we drove to Illinois to see Tom's family and celebrate Great Grandpa's 80th birthday. The rents came to DC and the Florida kids were dropped off here by their mom, so we all roadtripped together in two vans. The kdis loved it - got to trade places and ride with Grammy and Grandpa, etc. Total mayhem. While we were in Illinois, we also celebrated Grammy's, Max's, mine, and Emily birthdays's. It was hot (not Texas hot but close), but we all had a great time. The kids got to play with their Florida cousins, they all got to ride a horse, they got to splash in the pool, and we all got to eat cake! A great trip all around.

We did see a few odd things on our trip, as well as the regular trip stuff:




Tom wanted to cut the glare so I suggested that he hide under this. He did long enough for me to snap a pic, and then he decided that he looked too much like a dork to keep doing this (even though he could see the screen perfectly. Silly man.)


Ian's headphones kept sliding down and falling off, so we adjusted them up as far as possible and added these socks, and he was good to go!

And it's not my worst nightmare, but the boys wanted pics in these chairs:

They'll learn soon enough that this isn't UT orange...or Garnet and Gold...


The boys enjoyed learning checkers outside of Cracker Barrel in Ohio. They were so excited, and actually "getting it," so we let them finish the game. It was speed checkers at the end, but Sam, teamed with Mom and Ian, played against Max.

We saw this truck in our detour through West Virginia (we wnadered off the highway in search of hte elusive Chick Fil A). If you can't read this (it's a phone picture so I don't expect you to be able to) it says: "Happiness is a good dump," and written upside down right below: "If you can read this roll me over."


I'm just going to add the smilebox's here, so feel free to peek at our trip!

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Now THIS is storytime

Piles of kids, all ready for bed - what more could you ask for?

Beautiful Child

Ian photographs well - awake or asleep. Here he is konked out after Max's birthday party on Saturday. I snapped a pic then passed the camera on to Tom to grab a few. Couldn't ask for better light...or a more beautiful little face!

Happy Birthday Max!

So you are finally a big 7 year old. Congrats - it's quite an accomplishment! I hope that the next 70 years are just as productive - you are turning into quite the little man!

So in honor of his 7th birthday, Max had a party. In typical Phipps fashion, the August party involves water, pools, cake, slip and slides, and this year squirt guns and water balloons. We also added a pinata, which despite it's complete failure to behave in a pinata -like manner, it was a big hit. It was an afternoon that was under the threat of rain, but not a drop fell. it rained all day Friday and all day Sunday but was clear as a bell on Saturday (Whew! Was getting nervous about having 15 6 and 7 year olds indoors for two hours!). And a big THANKS to those of you who suggested alternate activities just in case - it was much appreciated! The kids splashed and played for about a hour, then we ate cake. It was an odd cake - not quite what I ordered, but close enough ( a soccer ball appeared on the cake - but Maya and Miguel also appeared o there, not wuite sure why they joined the party!). The kids ate it and Max loved the soccer theme, so all was well in that department.

Then, it was pinata time. Since we are pinata novices, we got one of those pull string pinanta that you can whack at until everyone has had a turn, then pull the stings and the candy will come out. Or so we thought. Tom and Dad hooked up this great rig so that Tom could move the pinata out of harm's way and all the kids could take a whack. Max was up first, and we covered hius eyes with a bandana. All was well with the first swing. He made contact then was encouraged to take another swing. Well, that's where it was apparent that our first pinata outing was not to be. Max hit the pinata and the pinata hit the floor. After a small giggle, Tom grabbed it, Dad grabbed Max so he wouldn't swing at Tom, and we all stood there laughing. So, Tom lifted up the pinata thinking that there's still the pull strings, so we were good to go. Wrong again. The kids pulled the strings and the strings all ripped off, but it took several punches from Tom to get the thing to spit out it's candy. So, we are NOT pinata masters, and while Ian and Sam are already demanding pinatas for their birthday, i'm honestly not sure what we'll do. Tom dumped the candy onto the heads fo the kids (yes, onto their heads - a few "Ows" and "heys!" and the kids had their 5 lbs. of candy. Maybe that's where we first went wrong. Do pinatas come with poundage ratings? Well, they should. At least the ones that I buy should - lord knows we overfilled it this time!

Anyway, it was a great party. The kids had a good time, the clean up was easy, and the weather worked out perfectly. Couldn't ask for a better 7th for the little man.

Happy Birthday Max!

It All Works Out

Tonight we ate dinner at Don Pablo's after picking up Baba from the airport. Tomorrow is Max's birthday party and it was pouring rain all through dinner (it was sprinkling when we got there but poured for a bit while we ate), and it was making the party plans for tomorrow look a bit sketchy. But, when we were walking out of the restaurant we saw this:

Isn't it beautiful? It was a big old double rainbow, but all I had was my phone to take this pic, so you can imagine what it really looked like. So, even if it rains tomorrow (cross your fingers that it doesn't) we saw one of the most beautiful rainbows we've ever seen...and Max wanted to hunt down the pot of gold at the end...

One Year

Today is the one year anniversary of Mom's death. I can hardly believe that a full year has passed. It seems like almost yesterday that I was flying back and forth to Texas to visit with her and help care for her in her last two months. Those months went so quickly. There's so much more I wish I could have experienced with her and so much more in life that I wish she would have been able to see. But, I go on knowing how deeply she loved all of us, and how proud she was of the way we'd all turned out. She and Dad are truly the foundation upon which my character is built. Without both of them I wouldn't be the person I am today - stong, independent, caring, slightly off center...and the list goes on.

So, while I'm terribly sad that she's gone from our lives and that the kids won't ever know the really cool person that she was (the grown up part - they know how cool she was as their Mimi!), I am greatful that I got to spend the first 33 years of my life with her and really get to know her not only as a mom, but as friend. So Mom, this is for you:

Ahhh...placemats

I love placemats and always have. I don't like the regular run of the mill pretty placemats designed to make your table look nice, but the placemats with cool stuff on them. It all started out with the holiday placemats, but thanks to the recognition on the part of my brilliant mother that I simply adored all placemats, and that they could be a learning tool as well, my obsession slowly spread to all types of placemats. She started me off with a few learning placemats and slowly added to the collection over the years. This comes in handy when you have three active boys who don't particularly like to sit still at meals or eat quietly. So, mealtime conversation has evolved into discussions about how much things cost, or which president is on which coin (and why Baba gave Ian a dollar when he asked for one and didn't give one to anyone else - Ian was the only one who asked - smart kid - and you know that this topic comes up quite often).

We also talk about what color states are (no, not red or blue states, although in this house that will be a normal topic of dinner conversation soon enough), and how long it takes to get from here to say, Idaho, and so on. We've also had all kinds of discussions about plane flights and driving and why Alaska is on the bottom of the map but how it's really above the top part, and why you really can't drive to Hawaii. Talk about confusing when you are four!
There's also a set of placemats that no longer grace out table. The kids have given up on the Periodic Table placemat and I've basically banished the human body placemat for meals. The periodic table is great when you are learning letters and numbers, but I guess it's just too boring for mealtime use. The human body, while cool to look at and chock full of info, was a bit much for meals. I wasn't so excited about discussing body parts and blood supply while chowing down. So, those are "retired" for now.


We also have some recent acquisitions. We were at the national Zoo and each little man wanted a placemat. So, we have three new additions to the family - the Saltwater Fish placemat, the Old McDonald placemat, and the Counting Animal placemat. These join the Solar System (we have two of those), the Power Rangers (yeah, not so educational but cool), the Multiplication placemat, and the favorite Dinosaur placemat.

So, if you don't have any placemats in your stash at home, check these out and see if there are any that float your boat. I'm sure there are, and they will be handy when we come to visit...

Time for Testing Again

It's time for the boys to start the next round of testing. I haven't mentioned this before in the blog (at least I don't remember mentioning it), but the little boys receive speech services from the school district, and have since they were 2.5 years old. Initially Sam was receiving fine motor therapy and Ian was getting speech therapy, but in actuality both were receiving speech services. Sam's fine motor caught up, and his speech was doing fine for his age, so he graduated when he turned three. Ian graduated from the Early Intervention program into the school district's program, which in Leander was a classroom based program. Ian thought it was super cool as he rode a bus to school for a few hours a few days a week, and was in a real class. Problem was, he moved into that class when he turned three (Feb. 25) and we moved mid-March. So, he went to "school" for a whopping two weeks. He did enjoy it and still talks about it to this day.

When we moved to Virginia he started receiving service here at home once a week. We loved the teacher and Ian made lots of progress. Along the way she mentioned that Sam needed re-evaluation as his speech was falling behind. The teacher in Texas told us that we needed to keep an eye on him and the his speech indeed started falling behind. He was evaluated and started receiving services this past Fall, and also started making good progress.

Along the way Sam developed some behavioral issues that we weren't sure how to deal with. He was overly aggressive, super emotional at inappropriate times, seemed to get himself all worked up for no reason, and was unable to calm himself down. He also was unable to sit still through a meal, or even through a short activity, and started hitting and pinching his brothers. He would spin in circles when he was overwhelmed and exhibited a few other off behaviors. Sam's teacher mentioned that he might have Sensory Integration Disorder, which is on the Autism spectrum. We tried a few things here at home and made huge improvements, and she decided that he needed to be evaluated so he could receive more services. While she was able to provide us with a bunch of info, and these few things we've done have improved his daily life greatly, he still has a way to go before he can control his body so his mind has a chance to do it's work (on the speech stuff for now - the rest of education later). Sam is a sensory seeker and is constantly craving input from his environment. His behaviors all point directly towards that and it's clear when we provide him with a little bit of extra sensory input, he functions much easier. Sam's speech has also fallen behind a bit more and he seems to be stuttering more lately, so we're concerned that his body is not only disrupting his ability to speak properly, but also is disrupting his ability to learn how to speak properly. So, Sam will be evaluated by an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, and a psychologist. They will also interview us about Sam's behavior to get a clearer picture of what's going on.

Ian was also showing signs of some delays relating to trunk strength. He has general weakness in his trunk and has some problems with activities like throwing and coloring. They are going to have an Occupational Therapist do an evaluation to see if there's any actual delay there, and if there is they will provide services. They will also review Ian's speech testing to see how he's doing. He's made so much progress, but he is still pretty unintelligible if you are a stranger or if you don't know the context of whatever he is talking about. His testing comes in about two weeks, but Sam's starts tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the OT evaluation, so it should be fun for Sam. He doesn't have much trouble with OT related things (at least in my opinion), but hopefully if they do find something it will tie in with the other behaviors and will help them help us make sense of this all. Like I said some of the little things we've done to help Sam learn how to deal with his senses have made a huge impact, and if the school district provides more services for him Sam will be in a much better place once school starts in a year and a half.

So, while I'm a bit apprehensive about this testing, it's more along the lines of "how can I get Sam to misbehave so that they get a good picture of what his trouble is" instead of the "Oh my gosh there's something wrong with my kid" variety. We really want Sam to be successful at whatever he chooses to do in life, and while his sensory stuff is mild, it's still there. Any help we can get for him early on will be much better for him in the long run.

Sam's Trip to the Dentist

Recently all three boys hit the dentist for their 6 month check up. All was well and good until the dentist peeked at Sam's x-rays. She saw a shadow - the dreaded "there-might-be-a-cavity there shadow that dentists can spot amongst the highlights and shadows of the x-ray. I've got to say that the x-rays themselves are pretty cool - you really can see all of the teeth in their little heads - ALL the teeth. Max had a bunch that were almost ready to pop out, and Ian and Sam had a stash ready to go in a few years.

Anyway, back to Sam. He had that little shadow and so we scheduled a follow up to have the cavity filled. It was a smallish thing that was on a baby tooth, but it was one of the last baby teeth that he would lose, so it really needed to be filled. That appointment was yesterday. You might think that it was traumatic since I'm just now getting around to posting about it, but that's not the case. It went surprisingly well - Sam was a complete trooper.

We had an early appointment and he and I headed over there, arriving on time. We had to wait for about 10 minutes, but it was no big deal as Sam had no idea what was about to happen. We had explained to him what was going on, but having no idea really what a cavity is or a drill or anything like that, he really wasn't sure what was going on. The hygienist and the dentist came in and hooked him up to the laughing gas, and set up Cars the movie so that he could watch it while they were working. The laughing gas and the movie did their jobs, and when the dentist came in to start working, aside from being slightly distracted by the movie, Sam did exactly what he was told and hardly flinched when they administered the Novocaine. He had a tear running down his cheek, but said that it was because it tasted bad, not because it hurt. Amazing.

He sat through the whole thing - about 20 minutes when all was said and done, and didn't take his eyes off the screen. He even managed to laugh at the first few scenes of the movie. Did I say amazing already? He went through the whole thing and not a peep about the drill, the having to hold still, or anything. Simply amazing. Sam is my hero (until he turns back into the little 4 year old boy that he really is...)

Our California Trip

We had a great time in California over the Fourth of July holiday! We headed out there to celebrate my youngest cousin Alan's graduation from high school. We flew out at the crack of dawn on July 4th, so we were able to catch the fireworks with the family at Disneyland. The boys were so exhausted that Max and Ian slept right through the fireworks. Sam woke up in a foul mood right before the fireworks, but you can't blame him - we woke them up at 3:30am eastern and it was 9:30 pacific when we were seeing those fireworks! Anyway, cool show - lots of fun. Then we hit Disney, celebrated Alan's graduation with family, got to hang out with Ray (who is in California for the summer working), got to swim a bit in Ann nad David's pool, and got to meet Baby Skye!!! She is Kelly and Colin's little girl, and she is adorable! I even managed to squeeze in a trip to two scrapbook stores - one very cool and the other terrible. Managed not to break the bank but got to check out some of the cool new stuff! So, here are some of the pics from our trip. It was one of those great vacations as well as a good time with family!

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

So we're in the car today (Max, Ian, Sam, and I) and Max blurts out: "So Mom, I forgot how the baby is actually born from the mommy. Can you tell me again?" Dang Tom for riding in the car with our good friend Matt. Dang Max for being so inquisitive. Dang me for answering all of his questions and encouraging him to ask them! Well, not really. I just love this stuff, but wasn't ready right at that moment to explain how it really happens. I told him that I'd sit down with him later and explain it. Tom's going to love this one...

And I'm adding it to the list of questions that I've gotten in the car - along the lines of "What does God do for me" and a few years ago: "Where do babies come from?"

Gotta love the kiddos... ;)

It's a game show for me!

Man, do they have my number over there at the Fox channel. There's a new show coming out this summer called "Don't Forget the Lyrics," hosted by Wayne Brady. Wayne Brady is THE FUNNIEST guy on TV today. He's multi-talented, and honestly, this format might be a complete waste of his talents. But I'm glad he's on my game show.

Let me explain. I know the words to just about every song out there...four words to be exact. No more, no less. There are a few fromt eh 80's and a few kids songs that I know more words, but for the rest it's four. I most likely know the song that you are thinking of right now, but I don't know more than four words of it. I can most likely hum the tune, but again, not sing enough of the words to even get a title sometimes.

So, you can see what the draw is for me to this new show. I'm not holding my breath as it's on Fox, but Wayne Brady is cool, and I might actually know a few of those words...certainly not enough to win the big bucks though. Maybe one day I'll learn a few more words...