Toys and Groceries

Christina had her modeling Expo last weekend. Out of 12000+ people, she was one of 300+ that got picked to attend the Expo. Out of those 300+ about 25 were given call back cards. Unfortunately Christina didn't get a call back card. However, that doesn't mean her chances are over. She is on NYC Agencys computer composite card website for an entire year. She also has a list of 400 legitimate agencies to send her composite card to. We had a fun weekend. Saturday was the first day in a long time that it was just the 5 of us. And no extra kids! Christina joined us running errands, shopping, and eating at Cheesecake Factory. It was really nice having us all together for an entire day. We used the gift card that Uncle Bruce gave us. (at Christmas we each gave the other the exact same gift...a 50$ gift card to Cheesecake Factory! Great minds think alike!)

We also went to Toys R Us so Caleb could spend his birthday money and his gift card from Mama Linda and Poppie. (Only 2 months late...oops!) There were only 2 things he wanted... 2 Jets.

Mike had to convince him to buy other stuff! Zachary still had money from Easter, so he got Poke'man Cards. Once Caleb had more toys (for him and Daddy), Christina had what she was buying, and I had Alvin and the Chipmunk Movie, we headed to checkout. The cashier asked the boys who all the toys were for, and we said "Its for Calebs birthday." and pointed to Caleb. Next thing we know, the cashier is saying Happy Birthday to You! Then before we could correct her, she announced that since it was his birthday we got 15% off the entire bill, AND she added a 5$ gift card to take off 5 more, THEN gave us a 5$ gift card for next time!!

OK!! Its Calebs birthday again!!

Plus she gave the boys paper birthday crowns, and balloons. Then she announced over the speaker system that there was a special birthday boy in the house. Caleb just stood there the entire time starring at her. Zachary had a little smile on his face because he knew it wasn't Calebs birthday, but he was enjoying all the attention. By the time the announcement came, Zachary was in giggle mode. I think every time we shop at Toys R Us, it should be one of the kids birthday!

Last night we made chocolate covered frozen bananas. Yummy! Yesterday I went grocery shopping. I go once a week. Mike usually stops at one half way thru the week to buy more milk and juice. The fridge just isn't big enough for me to buy 4 gallons of milk and juice. I cannot believe how much money I spend on so little amount of food. I had 1 shopping cart full. Every week I spend at least 200$. This time was 250! AND that was after I used coupons I clip out. That little act I spend 20 minutes on, saved us $31.43 And buying items on sale saved us 43.01 for a total savings of 74.44. And I STILL spent 250! I wonder what our parents spent on groceries in a typical month? How about our grandparents!? I wonder what the price will be when our kids have families of their own? Of course, we eat at home much more than we eat out. I plan out our dinners the week ahead of time, so I am not over buying. Between the cost of gas and food, I may need to go back to work! Nothing too exciting planned for this week. Caleb and I are starting Story Time at the Library on Weds. I'm already done with the 2 books I got last week. Is it Wed yet?? Oh wait! There is something exciting! Zachary is in his class play on Thursday night. He is a firefly! We looked at wings for him, but so many were girly, pink, purple, and glittery. Then Christina remembered she had blue ones in her chest at home. They are perfect! Small, and BLUE! As ungirly as butterfly wings could be! Yeah!!

On Saturday or Sunday next week we are going to Universal to ride the Simpsons Ride before the park opens to the public. Since we are premier annual pass holders, you get in an hour before anyone else! Now, I just have to convince Mike to get up and be gone at 7am!

Zachary and School

We had the meeting today with the people from Zacharys school. Mike and I have really had a hard time deciding if Zachary should be held back or not. Most of the papers he brings home are S (satisfactory) or S- (below satisfactory). Rarely does he bring home a N (needs improvement). We know he is behind on his reading, but we have him in tutoring 2 hours a week and that has really helped him. Do you hold a child back because he is slightly behind? Or do you work extra with him and bring him up to speed? We walked into the office and not only was his teacher there, but so was his speech therapist, his guidance counselor, the school psychologist, and a resource specialist(?). We immediately felt like we were being ganged up on. However we got a pleasant surprise. We got a bunch of paperwork handed to us. Listed was every type of speech, language, comprehension, hearing, vision, vocabulary and etc testing that they had done on him. We definitely know where and why he is having such difficulty. It all relates to his speech and language. His Non Verbal IQ is 139. (90-109 avg 110-119 high avg 120-129 Superior 130+ Very superior.) His Verbal was 120. Obviously we are talking about a very bright child. So whats the problem?? Its his comprehension of Language. He says things like "that ball is more big than the other ball." Rather than say BIGGER. He doesn't say past tense words he uses present tense. "I sleep all night last night." Rather than SLEPT. He has difficulty retelling storys that he just read. In his writing he writes short simple sentences with spelling matching his speech difficulties. He has trouble articulating which is impeding his reading and writing success. All of these are fixable! Starting tomorrow he is attending a Language class for 2 days a week for an hour each day. There will only be one other girl in there. He will need to be in there next year as well. So that means they are not yet willing to assume he will need to repeat! Nothing of course is certain yet, but his teacher said several times that Zachary has really improved these last 4 weeks that he has been in tutoring. It seems now that he is reading a little better, he is more interested in reading. So I have some ideas to help him here at home. All is not lost! We are not giving in yet!

Dinosaurs, Cats and Sushi

The other evening the boys were on the floor in the family playing with their Rocket Ship set they got at the Space Center. Mike was flipping channels and came across the Jurassic Park movie. Of course they start yelling, "stop it here daddy, we want to watch that dinosaur movie. We wont be scared, we already saw it at Uncle Owiees." (thanks bro) So we went ahead and left it on the movie. Within minutes Zachary got up, went into the playroom and grabbed his 2 dinosaur toys, a big green truck, and several dolls. He gave Caleb a dinosaur, and put the people in the truck and they both attacked the people with their dinosaurs. It just happened to be at the same part as in the movie where the kids and guys in the green jeep get attacked by the T-Rex. It was cracking us up!

Then while Zachary was attacking the people and the truck, Caleb started having his dino attack the jets and rocket ships. I don't think Mike and I watched the movie, we were too busy cracking up and watching the boys play. What fun they had! Mikey is SUCH the handy man! Our speakers were out in the Durango (it couldn't possibly be due to the loud music I listen to right?) So instead of taking it in and having someone else do it, costing several hundred dollars, he went to Best Buy and bought speakers for $35. Since they weren't 'Durango' ones, he couldn't just take out the old ones and plug in the new ones. So he drilled holes in the plates and put in screws with some special glue and fit them in himself! He is always amazing me with how he can fix almost anything he wants and is so creative about it as well. YOU ROCK MIKEY!! (and now I can rock out again! Thanks honey!)

Christina gave both cats a shower the other night. Don't they look so pleased? Mikey and I went out on Date Night a few nights ago. We went to our favorite local Sushi place. This is a baby octopus. He was yummy! This was our dessert. Extra shrimp heads and sea urchin. I don't think we had ordered the urchin before because it didn't look familiar to us. Oh wait, yes it did. It looked like cat throw up. Actually took us a min to decide to eat it! But it was pretty good. Christina has her modeling Expo tomorrow that I am taking her to, and Mikey plans on finally putting up the trampoline. We hadn't put it up since we weren't sure on what our plans with this house would be. We have decided to stay here at least one more year. Since I doubt the market will turn around enough for us to sell our house and buy/build what we want here. We probably have 2 more years here. We love our neighborhood and all the kids' close friends live nearby. Might as well get the trampoline up, and put in a small putting green for Caleb. We can do a few things that we want, as long as we can put it back the way it was. Which wont be a problem. You can buy sod anywhere! And I am going to continue adding to my garden. I have a tomato plant, rosemary, basil, catnip, mint, and parsley so far. They are doing good so far!