The Bright House

In our cul de sac we are probably known as "The Bright House". We have 8 houses in our cul de sac, and we are the only ones that turn on all our outside lights at night. We have 2 garage lights, 1 front porch light, and 2 lights on each side of our house that shine down the sides. Plus our back patio light. Now that it is Halloween time, we have bright orange and green lights strung all around the sidewalk, front bushes, and tree. Plus we have a street lamp at the end of our driveway. And since Mike and the boys wont sleep in the dark, the bathroom light, hallway light, den light, and a kitchen light are always on. Every morning Christina and I leave about 6:40. It is still dark outside. All the other houses are dark, even down the street. I counted 10 houses before someone else had their garage lights on. Our house stands out, brightly! I wonder if it is annoying? Oh well I feel safer this way! Someone would have to be fool to come to our house to rob it with all these lights on. I wonder why people dont turn their lights on? At our house in Surprise we had a timer on our lights. As soon as the sensor got dark, all the lights would come on. I liked that alot. Here I forget that all the outside lights are on half the time, so they stay on day and night. Probably wastes alot of electricity, but that is a price I will pay to have a slightly better peace of mind at night.

Zacharys Speech

Hello! Well we had the meeting with Zachary's Teacher and Speech Therapist to see if he qualifies for speech therapy provided free by the school district, he needed to get 85% or lower. He scored 65%. He will go twice a week, Tues and Fri. Its during school. His problem areas are: ISH, CH, J, R, S, Z, TH and BLENDS. She is pretty confident that Zachary will do fine. When you correct him and he slowly repeats it, he says it correctly. So its just a matter of training his brain to remember those sounds. He is at a 3 yr 1 mo old level. That's younger than Caleb! Caleb does sound older than Zachary a lot of the times. She expects it to take about a year. Here's what Zachary's teacher wrote in his parent teacher report: Zachary has adjusted to our class procedures and routines. He is making satisfactory progress at this time with first grade skill and benchmarks. He can read words in List A and is working on List B. He is reading on level for this time of year. He is working on reading fluently and decoding unknown words. When saying some of his sounds he puts in extra sounds. ( instead of saying "D" he says "DUH" so DONUT comes out like "DU-O-NUT".) On Dibels (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), he scored 'low risk'. (no risk is what you want, low risk is he might need extra help, high risk is definitely needs help) We will be working on these skills in class. Zachary is working hard to improve his letter formation and placement. When writing, he writes one or two simple sentences. He needs encouragement to add details and extend his story. In math, he sometimes seems to understand quickly. Other times, he needs small group or individual help to understand the new concept and complete his work. Zachary listens and participates in all our learning activities. He tries his best on all he does. He is very proud of his progress in letter formation. She said she wished all the kids in her class was as well behaved as Zachary is. She said he never talks out loud, always raises his hand, is very polite. He has made quite a few friends, and is enjoyable to have in her class. Once the speech teacher has Zachary in her class, she will retest him for the language part. When she told us what he did bad on we were shocked. We think he just didn't know her, and you all KNOW how he is around adults until he gets to know you. She showed him 30 pictures of everyday things and he was to tell her what they were. He knew 9. yes 9. Come on, your telling me that he couldn't identify all 30 things? No way. I think once he knows her and she retests him that he will pass. So I am in the process of turning the play room into a school room as well. As we speak, I am printing out some things from a web site the teacher suggested. (Kevin and Kim, this would be great for Rivers as well) (Urs, for Will too!) http://www.starfall.com/ . I've been trying to teach Caleb his letters and numbers. He's a little more difficult than the other two. He just doesn't care to learn them. So I am starting one letter a day. I think trying to learn all 26 at the same time is too hard for him, so maybe one letter at a time will be better. I really want him to go to Preschool the beginning of the year, but I just found out he needs to be potty trained. He is when it comes to peeing, but he still wont poop in the potty. He only wears a diaper during that time. But they wont take him that way. I was pushing hard, but now I'm giving him more time. When he's ready, he'll go. Next week there is no school on Thurs or Fri, and Mike has to work in Pensacola Fl so we are going with him for a 4 day weekend. Its about 7 hours north on the Panhandle. So that's whats going on over here. Hope all is well, Love you

Weve been in Florida now for just over 2 months. Sometimes it feels longer, other times it feels like yesterday. At least the temp here is very similar to Phx. I couldnt stand to live in a cold atmosphere. I need warm weather and sunshine. Im staying at home right now with my 3 yr old. Eventually I want to go back to work for a few days a week. I will wait till after the holidays since we will be gone for 2 1/2 weeks. Im enjoying staying home. Im trying to work with my 3 yr old, getting him to learn his letters and numbers etc. Most times its fun. We are working on Calendars right now. And the letters in his name, and Zacharys. Well this is my first blog, and I am looking forward to writing how and what is going on in our life, as we adjust to living away from my family. My hubby has been away from his family (Washington) since he was 18. Which was 19 years ago. So he has been gone for longer than he lived there. The move was much easier for him. Where as me, I had never been away from my family, and we are very close. I see my parents and brother* at least once every 2 weeks. *I Have another brother, but he is in the Navy, and he and his wife, Michelle, along with their 9 month old daughter just moved to San Jose. He has 3 more years, then they are looking to move back home, near our parents, and hers. My other brother is going to be attending culinary school, and is wanting to move out here afterwards to work as a chef in one of Disneys restaurants! Im really hoping that if he moves out here, that my other brother and family will move out here, so thier daughters skin is improved, like my 6 yr olds. (more on that later). Then after my grandparents are passed on, I hope my parents move out here. That is my plan for my family. lol. Think they'll do it? If they did, that would be the best ever. I miss them so much. Ok, gotta go, the family wants me to watch Heroes with them.