Things on the Computer

Since we have a computer and a laptop things seem to be spread out beween both our computers. So I decided that since I had several hours before Jason would be ready for work that I would move files from the desktop to the laptop. While I was moving things I found this Christmas Graphic I made a few years ago so I thought I would share it while I was busy waiting for files to transfer over and before I head out in the crappy weather to pick my hubby up at work.
Hopefully sometime this weekend I will also get to upload the pictures I took at the Lights on the Lake.. some are better than others, but its kinda hard to take good pictures while driving the twisty turning paths at Lakemont Park.. lol..

Hanging Out..

Just hanging out at home tonight. Alex and I took Jason to work earlier and had dinner at CiCi's.. not my orginal intention.. but a friend mentioned it earlier and it made me hungry for it.. Ran into some friends from Hapkido there.. that was a nice treat. Specially since we haven't been to class much lately with the holidays and schedules being crazy lately.
This morning was an earlier morning than normal as Alex had a student council meeting this morning. So we stopped and picked his friend up and took him as well.. silly for two moms to drive in when one can. So off they went to their important meeting and home I went to clean and shower and misc things. Including putting mp3s on Alex's upgraded phone. He got a Juke this time. Rather small sized as adult phones go but great for a 9 year olds hand. He loves it and loves that he can put sooo much music on it. No need for his Mp3 playeras anymore so I guess that can be my spare since mine only has 512 memory and holds way less music than his new phone which holds 2gb.
So now we are just chilling. Alex is playing his new Kingdom hearts game, was going to save it for Christmas.. but since its technically just an upgraded version of the same game he got last christmas we decided to let him have it rather than giving him the same game twice. Specially since this is more a whole family thing than just Alex. He is happy. The bigger screen and 3 d rendering make it a heck of a lot easier for him to play.
When he is done.. around 8.. I will watch some tv before sending him to bed.. We have to wake back up around 2 and pick Jason up from work and then get up early again in the morning cause tomorrow is his IEP meeting.. Fingers crossed that it goes well.

Chatter About Life

This blog is always a bit of a double edged sword for me. I want to blog so my friends have something to read and so I have something written down on the other hand I have a rather boring life and can't find something to write most of the time.
Alex is on vacation this week since it is Thanksgiving time. We had confrences during the week last week. He is doing fairly well. He struggles with certain subjects. The problem lies in alternatd methods of teaching being avaialble rather than in him just not knowing the material. He gets it.. More than gets it but he panics in the classroom setting when he feels rushed. He has an IEP meeting thursday to address but modifying how things are done for him to make him succeed as well as getting an in classroom aide for him to see for his best interests. He gets frustrated and confused easily and panics when that happens. His reactions aren't always whats acceptable in the situation when that happens and an aide would be able to help him see that. Help him know when someone is helping him so he doesnt think they are yelling at him. Which continues to be a HUGE issue for him.
As I said last week was a holiday as you know, so some talk about how that went. We always eat at home for Thanksgiving. Sort of a preparation for the insanity that is the Christmas season of visiting and visitors. It always works well for us and we are always glad for it. This year was no diffrent. We ate at home around 1. The day went great. Got up. Put the turkey in. Watched the Macys parade together... then got the food ready and ate. After we ate we watched Fred Claus in the afternoon and then headed out to the Lights on the Lake at Lakemont park for a nice ride through the park looking at all the pretty lights. We ended up getting a season pass this year so we can go back whenever we want. So far we have been 3 times and notice diffrent lights each time. .. You also get a free hot beverage from Sheetz and a free combo meal from Wendys each time you go so that also helps make it worth the 29$ for the season pass. We visited Santa when we where there on Thanksgiving but since we didnt have the camera and Alex wasn't really santa picture dressed we will go back another day for pictures with the big holiday man.
Think thats about it for now. Kid has off again tomorrow for that lovely pa tradition of no school on the first day of hunting season @@ whatever. .. lol.. It was rainy all day today.. Hopefully its a bit nicer out tomorrow. We could use some nice cheerful looking outdoor weather to get us in the mood to finish our Christmas decorations.

Consideration

Our day usually starts around 8-8:25 in the morning when the alarm goes off to get Alex ready for school. And if Jason works the evening before usually doesn't end until about 3 am. So it REALLY REALLY annoys the hell out of me when people don't have the manners to check the time before they call my home.
This morning the phone rings at 7:50. Its the special ed support worker from Alex's school calling to tell me they scheduled his IEP meeting for January 5th.. At that point I am not sure which is more annoying.. the fact that she called before 8 am or the fact that she wasn't informed that a meeting was schedule by my request for December 4th.
Then there is my mil .. who is still hospitalized. She calls at 10 til 9 this morning.. knowing that I leave the house right around that time to take Alex to school and she continues to talk and talk even though I say to her.. Hey I have to go... over and over..
Last night the hubby tells me a scouting friend was trying to get ahold of us cause I said he could put the pinewood derby track in our garage.. there was no missed calls or messages on my caller ID.. turns out he called my mils phone not mine.. but even so.. why the hell did he decided to maek the call at midnight( the time my mil recieved the missed call from him on her cell).. Why do people have no consideration for others peace and quiet??

Freakin Cat

He looks soo sweet when you look at him .. really he does.. You would never know that as soon as we try to sleep he turns into the devil incarnate.. Running around the house like a mad creature.. scratching at doors, boxes and bags.. Beating the crap out of the other cat.. Meowing like he thinks he is freaking Celine Dion and we are all waiting for his big concert.. Stupid creature.. I wanted to sleep... :(

Halloween

Love this time of year. Its my favorite reallym, both the fall and the holiday. I love the ability to pretend you are anything you want to be. I love watching the seasons change and the leaves on the trees change. So I am going to share some pictures from this month. Some are Alex in his Halloween costume and some are from the pumpkin patch.

The Trees Changing Colors

Reindeer at the pumpkin patch

Posing Cute for Mommy

On the Hayride with Daddy

Hubies Halloween party. He came in second place in the costume contest. .

Handing out candy at grandmas and grandpaps house.

This last one is from freaky friday at school. Not the whole outfit.. but this is his karate pants and shirt.. a brown jeans belt and his hardy necklace and arm bands.. he also wore his hardy hat and a army coat.

Oh Sleep.. Why have your foresaken me..

Its my own fault really. I know better.. Go to bed before midnight.. wake up around 2 or 3 am.. so why did I got to bed before midnight.. when I knew better?
Because my son kept me up off and on all night last night and then woke me up two hours early this past morning.. so I was soo tired I barely kept my eyes open for the last 5 of CSI and knew there was no way in hell I was making it through ER let alone the news so off I headed to bed. Slept well for a while and then of course.. 1:30 I woke up and now I am not sleepy.. worse even.. not sleepy and my stomach is upset.
So what better to do with my extra non sleeping time than bug the ones I love with a new blog. LOL..
So, provided Alex is feeling better.. ( fingers crossed) here are our plans for the weekend.
Friday after school we are supposed to be going to see High School Musical 3. Lets home I can get out and get the tickets in time.
Saturday we have a long day planned as long as the rain holds off. We plan to go to the pumpkin patch in the morning. Then head to the halloween parade in the next town over. Folowed by a webelos den Halloween Party for Cub Scouts in the evening.
Sunday ... is kinda iffy early on. If it rains saturday than I guess it will be the pumpkin patch on Sunday. otherwise we will hang at home til around 5 and then start getting ready for a halloween party we are going to at 6.
So, lots going on.. nothing huge but fun all the same. Hopefully it will be nice out and we will get lots of pumpkin patch pictures to share.

Chrismas Wishes

My biggest Christmas wish?? That the USMC stops yanking my brothers chain and lets him go. He came home injured from Iraq over a year ago and they have waited and waited and waited all this time. Just give him back to us already. He has lost a year of his life in limbo. He wants to move on and make something new out of his life. Go to school, Get a house and move on. We miss him and want him home.

Rambles

So it probably seems like I am the worlds most inconsistent blogger. I will go days and blog everyday, sometimes even two or three times a day and then there are the periods where I went months if not a year without blogging. Mostly I guess because I think things are just too dang boring or mundane to care. Which is strange I guess when you figure I read others blogs purely for the boring and mundane. Maybe I don't blog because I lack that freedom of saying what I feel without worrying about the backlash it might bring. Will I make someone mad. Loose a friend, hurt someone?
There are only a few people in my life that genuinly would without reserve be glad to read anything I said and not take offense at any. They are a rare few and strangely enough though I feel closer to them than anyone I talk to in real life I have never actually met any of them in real life and have only spoken to one of them on the telephone. These women know how I feel, when I feel it. May it be a weird thing or a funny thing. A happy thing or a sad thing they share with me and I share with them. Over the years I have been in many email groups. Some where filled with rules and petty fights. Some with quiet reserve and good friendships.. but none like this one. We are sisters in email. My only regret is that I may never get to see them in person and it something I very much would love to do. This wonderful group of women. The realists and the dreamers, the fighters and the believers keep each other going when things get rough and each of us knows without a doubt that the others will support us in our choices and changes. Whether those are a career, a home, a baby or a marriage. Nothing happens to one of us that the others haven't shared, prayed or sent love along the way to get us through. So to my very special ladies. Brought together by our children when they began kindergarten. Let me say. I love you and I am glad everyday to know when I wake up.. you will be there.. filling my email box with Laughter... Tears.. Stories.. AND.. of course... Dirty Pictures ~

Halloween!

I love this time of year. Its my favorite season, my favorite holiday. It just makes me happy. Anyway, now that that part is out of the way. Last night was Alex's Cub Scout Pack Meeting Halloween Party. All went very well and he had a great time. His costume looked awesome. He made a wonderful Jeff Hardy. And it only took me about 45 minutes when we got home to get all the dyes out of his hair from the color stuff we put in to complete the effect. Here are some pictures of Alex aka Jeff Hardy v.2 lol.

It should require a license.

To be a parent.
We had pictures tonight at our karate school. Alex did really well for the largest part of the time. Then comes the group shot. Alex is put behind this little white belt and thats when the trouble starts. The kid is supposed to be sitting on his butt and Alex behind him sitting on his knees.. Well the kid keeps popping up on his knees and cracking his head backwards into Alex's chest. The first few times Alex told him you need to sit down. Then it got to the point where he did it soo hard he knocked Alex and the girl next to him over sideways. So at this point Alex is getting really agitated. He gets himself up and into place and the boy continues to hit him. So Alex puts his hands on the kids shoulders and pushes him back to sitting each time he starts and tells him you needs to stop. He also says he told him "If you want to fight with me this isn't the time for it" So after a few times of pushing the kid off of him the kid keeps going and Alex starts verbally telling him to stop.
This is when one of the adults in the group with him notices and steps down and scolds Alex for the situation. Which upset not only me but all the parents in the group watching the phots and Alex who storms off and says he is done and doesn't want his picture taken. I go up and put him back and tell the instructor it wasn't him that was causing the problems and they get back in their places. Unfortunatly the problem wasn't remedied so the cycle started all over again with Alex getting hit til he is in tears cause he can't make the boy stop and no one else was. None of the parents wanted to yell at him cause his mom was literally standing 5 feet away and CHOSE not to do anything about it even though it was obvious that her child was being horrible. This is the same parent who when the photographer was asking the grade levels of the kids laughed out loud and told him he was wrong when Alex said he was in 4th grade. How the hell do you know lady and why in Gods name are you laughing at my kid and ignoring the fact that you birthed the devils spawn.
Anyway. So Alex finally has had more than enough and comes crying up to me and says he isnt doing it he is done. I talked to him explained it wasn't fair for him not to be in the picture and the crappy little brat to be in it. So I have Jason take him back over and between him and the photographer they find him another spot.
The good news is this boy is one of "those" people that we get from time to time at the school. They come because they have a free month or a special and then only last about 3 months because they just don't have the committment it takes to do 4 days a week every week to attain the goal. I told Alex as much and hopefully the kid will be gone before too long.
In light of the issues today we talked it over with each other and then with Alex and the BSC( Behavioral Therapist) and decided that maybe it would be for the best to skip the karate schools Halloween Party on Saturday. Last year we had 100 people signed up and probably 120 came and it was a packed house and Alex had a really hard time with all the people. This year we have 160 signed up which means probably 180 will come and the school was already packed full last year. I don't think Alex can handle it this year. So, we have a few options. The first is that we all skip it and do something together. The second is that Alex goes with his therapist for a few hours on Saturday and Jason and I run down to the party so that I can take pictures for the schools website. The other option is that Alex and Jason stay at home while I run down alone and take pictures. Or.. and this may be the best choice. Call and ask my mom if she wants to spend the evening with Alex while Jason and I go to the party and take the necessary website pictures. Whichever we decide the main choice is to make sure he has the best time.
I also decided since he isnt going Saturday he will get to wear his Jeff Hardy costume tomororw night instead to the Cub Scout Party. We where not going to let him because the theme is a character from a book, but hey... Jeff Hardy has a autobiography if you really want to get sticky on the details.. and since he is soo excited about his costume and is skipping the other party I think he should be allowed to wear it. Speciallly since he has chosen NOT to go trick or treating this year and will be handing out candy instead.

Oh The Things He Says

1) During his Black Belt Test.. ( to his testing mate, while doing two on one fighting) "You Hold Her, I'll Choke Her"

2) To his Daddy ( Alex helped with Jr. Black Belt testing yesterday. Three Brown Belts where testing and Alex was the only Jr. Black Belt that showed up. So he had to fall for them and fight them)
"How do you feel today after yesterday" Jason
"Like I went threw the washing machine a hundred times" Alex

Let the Crazy Stuff Roll!

The first month back to school is crazy for us getting Alex back into the groove of things.. but it has nothing on the months to follow.. The beggining of October signals the start of parties and clubs and meetings and tournaments.
This month we have something almost every day..
Drs Appts, Music Lessons, Student Council (New Addition to the plans and Alex couldnt be more excited if he tried) Karate Class, Tournament Class, Karate Pictures and Halloween Party.. as well as an annual Halloween Party we always go to.. Then some blackbelt tests that Alex needs to attend as well as the Tournament on October 25th that Both Jason and Alex will be competing in for Board Breaking and Self Defense respectivly.
Alex is working very hard to remember his tournament routine. What breaks he is using and his intro and he still has to work on a self defense set for the tournament as well. He won't be doing Point Sparring because, well to be honest because he hates it. And because he needs new sparring boots and with pictures and class fees and entry fees I just cant hack the extra cash for the boots right now.. so it all works out. Rather pay board fees than Boot fees. One he likes. One he doesnt.

Now on to the student council thing. Last year I noticed that three girls in his class where announced as class representives of student council. So I asked Alex how they got on student council and he says they told the teacher and the teacher submitted their names and then the person in charge chose. He REALLy wanted to be on student council and hadn't gotten the chance. So when the year began I encouraged him to tell his teacher that he wanted to be on the student council this year. So he was soo excited last friday when the annoucemtents where made and he was chosen to be on student council for this school year. The meetings are the second Wednesday of the month at 8:30.. so he has to be at school early but that isnt a problem for us. He is really looking forward to being part of this and I am soo happy for him.
Thats about all I got for now. Will update more later this week I hope. I would really like to get some new pictures taken and put up soon.. Fingers Crossed.

Cleaning.

WARNING: BORING CONTENT BELOW

We are getting company tomorrow. My dad from Ohio. So we have been doing a bunch of cleaning today. Did a ton on the porch. Have like 10 bags of trash to go out this week and some other stuff to go to the garage until we get it hauled.
Now I am working on cleaning out the shelf in our hallway. It has all of our scouting things on it. Leader Guides, Project materials etc. I now have all the books in binders. All the supplies in a container and all the trash in a trash bag. The top shelf is completly empty so I have the camera case up there now. Need to clean off the top of the stand in the living room now where the camera case used to live.
Still have some laundry to finish and need to run the sweeper and mop the floors and then I think thats about it for the cleaning. The bedroom is ready for my dad to sleep in. Hopefull the weather won't get to hot while he is visiting since his bed is in the attic and it gets hot as heck up there. Anyway. Nothing much else to say. Alex is coming out about every 20 minutes to tell me he can't sleep. Its hard when he is going "but mommy.. I can't sleep" but I know it wont be any better to let him stay out here than in his nice comfortable bed.
Alright.. off to watch some DVR while I finish the cleaning and make sure Alex is in bed.

Closing up the fan factory.

Well, at least thats what our house looks like during the summer. We have 15 fans that I can think of running during the summer. It brings a nice breeze through our house for the most part. Unfortunatly the weather has been cold for a few days now and the house is starting to be a bit more chilly than I want it to be.. and it hasnt been getting up to the 80's like it normally does when it is 40-50 at night.. So I closed up the shop so to speak and took all the fans out of the windows and shut down the non window units.. Now lets hope the house warms up some.. cause I am FREEZING!

Updates

This Blog here is actually one of 4 I have had since 2004. The first two. A family blog and a school blog for Alex where hosted on our personal web server. We no longer have the site or the server but I had the blogs saved on my computer. So I just moved over those blogs to this site. They are from 2004-2006. There is a mix of blog postings and pictures under those years. I also moved over the entries I had on my live journal. So if you are bored. You can always go back and read the old posts and see the pictures as well.

Sleep Would Be Nice!

So, it is 2:46am and I would REALLY like to be sleeping. That would REALLY be nice. Unfortunatly, I have a sore throat. On top of that my neighbors have been soooo loud all day and still haven't stopped. Then you add that I can hear the cat out here scratching at my barely 6 month old couch and you can see why life is scheming against me in the sleep department. Unfortunatly, I can't just lay in the bed awake because Jason works at 7am and he needs to get some sleep. I NEED to get some sleep. Alex has school in the morning and I have a meeting at 8:15 at the school for the Q-site committee. But here I am at the computer. Just remembering that I need to find my notebook I use for Q-Site. Also remembering that Alex forgot to study for his spelling test. Which means he has to get up early and study. The good news is, my meeting is at 8:15 and school breakfast doesn't begin until 8:30 so he will have 15 minutes to sit outside the door of the room my meeting is in and study for his spelling test. That will definatly be more helpful than trying to force him to get up early and study.
I would go take a shower right now so that I didnt have to get up even earlier to take one. Unfortunatly it is 40 some degrees out and the windows are open because if the cooler air fills the house overnight then we need less fans during the day to bring down the 80 degrees the temp gets up to during the day. Our bedroom and Alex's room are warm enough at night not to be an issue.. but getting out of the shower with wet hair in a cooold bathroom definatly lacks the plus side of life in my opinion. Oh well, guess I will go lay on the couch and see if I can doze off there. Maybe watch a few of the DVR'ed shows that I know the rest of my family doesn't wish to watch with me. The ones they act like I am torturing them when I watch. Namely anything on the CW. Anything that runs during the day or anything that doesn't involve MMA Fighting or Professional Wrestling.. or Pokemon.

Change.. Bored... Sorry..

I apoligize if you have some strange layout experiences on my blog today. I can't decide what I like and keep changing it til I find something I do like.

PSSA Results

We got the letters from school today telling us what our students individual scores where on the PSSA ( Pennsylvania System of Schools Assessment) Alex's grade ( 3rd last year) tested in two areas. Math and Reading.. and he was soooo worried about them all year that he made himself sick over it..
In the Reading the scoring is as follows
Advanced is 1442 and above
Proficient is 1235-1441
Basic is 1168-1234
Below Basic is 1167 and Below
Alex's reading score was 1367 which is Proficient.
With Assessment Error Margin of 1322-1412.
Which meaning on a diffrent day or enviroment he could have scored up or down to those numbers.. the lowest is still proficient but the highest is Advanced.. and he was only 80 pts away from advanced..

Math Scoring was as follows
Advanced 1370 and above
Proficent 1180-1369
Basic 1044-1179
Below Basic 1043 and Below
Alex's score was 1355 which is proficient
With Margin of Error being 1298-1412. Even before that he was only 15 pts away from Advanced He got 9 out ot 9 in Algabraic Concepts and Data analysis and probability 7out of 9 in Meausurement and Geometry and 27 out of 30 in Numbers and Operations. Which makes the state recommendations of advanced math work in both of the 9 out of 9 categories and continued grade work in theothers as well as in alll the reading sections.. he is soooooo happy.. In Math the entire grade level 3 ( this years grade 4's ) scored 20% over the state proficient level.. Highest in the school

The Trials of Having an Autistic Child!

The one thing I truly dread in the day to day of Alex is when he gets hurt. If its a small insignificant hurt like a bump he can cry and whine for hours. If its a big, important hurt. ( like the time he had cellulitis in his foot.. or stiches in his face) he will just go on like nothing is wrong. Not worrying about or acknowleging the pain. This is the problem I am currently having. On friday he hit his toe HARD at the karate school. Oddly enough not during class but after. His toe was purple the next day when I checked. I told him we would keep and eye on it and it didnt get worse or seem to hurt more than it did the time prior that I checked it. Today though he comes hobbling out of school with his teacher. Seems another student was swinging a chair around and hit Alex in the foot ( not the one with the sore toe) after a while at home he is fine and never said another word. The foot looks fine and he is walking fine on that one. BUT when I go to check the other foot this evening it is more purple than it was and is now swollen and purple down to the joint. I asked him if it hurt more he says no. Then tells me well. It probably looks worse cause when teh kid hit my foot the chair it swung back around and hit the top of my other foot.. OF COURSE.. the one he didnt complain about. So now its swollen and purple and when pressed to be honest he says it does hurt really bad... so I guess we are off to the ER. Will talk to Jason and determine what to do. If we wait til morning no one will get any sleep. And if we go to the DRs office tomorrow it will take 2 days for them to read the results rather than the few hours in the ER.

UPDATE: We are home. Dr took X-rays. No breaks. The tendons are injured but he says it will be ok. Meds and Try hard not to reinjure it this week.