What would you do?

Today Gabriel was our only kiddo in school. Dallas was sent home "sick" yesterday. (they read his temp at 101.5, I got him home not even 20 minutes later and it read at 98.5. In his defense it DID go up that night to 100.3, so I let him stay home today to recoop) So anyway, skip to the end of the day. Dallas had laid down to rest because he wasn't feeling the greatest. I asked my sister in law if she could give Gabe a ride home, since she'd be there to pick up my nephew Kyle. Gabe gets home, and I noticed right out of the car that he had on a different hat than his own. When he came in I asked him about it. He said that the people at recess told him to put it on to wear because his was gone. I then asked him why his own hat was gone. He told me that at breakfast that morning a "big kid" came by him, took his hat off his head and claimed it as his own. I asked him if he told anyone. He said yes, he went and told G. the lunch room aid. I then asked him what G. did. He said G. asked him what color the student was (we have a very diverse school here), what grade he was in, and what color Gabe's hat was. Things didn't go farther than that. So, when it came to recess they told Gabe to use a lost and found hat to keep his head warm.

My question to you is how would you have handled the news? I was VERY upset to hear what had happened. As I think any parent would have been. But what would your next step have been?

My next step was to email his teacher, to see if I could see what she'd heard of the situation. I didn't want to pursue anything any farther until I'd confirmed Gabe's story. I mean, after all he is only 6, and the hat he came home with was batman. Batman just so happens to be his favorite character. I could see it going something like this: Gabe lost his hat in the morning. Gabe saw a batman hat that he wanted. Gabe told a story to the lunch aid and got the hat use out of the deal. I talked extensively to Gabe before sending the email. Telling him I was going to email his teacher about the problem. I told him that after doing that the teacher would likely email G. to see what happened, and how things were followed up with. And that if he was lying, now would be the time to tell me because one way or the other I'd get the truth from G. He assured me he was telling the truth and that G. would confirm that. So I sent the email. His teacher emailed me back with this:

Jamie,
Thank you for writing! I can tell you are upset and I hear what you are saying. No one should be bullied and Gabe should not have his hat taken by someone at breakfast. No, I didn't hear about this but I was in a meeting this morning and had a sub in the classroom. By the time I got to the classroom Gabe probably forgot. Even if he remembered to tell me, I'm not sure I would have found the hat or the boy but I would have followed up and checked it out.

I am forwarding this on to G., Mr H. (Dean of Students) and Mr R. (AP) hoping this email raises awareness at a minimum or preferable a solution. Thursday I will not be in school but I will follow up through email.

Please let Gabe know this was bullying and bullying is not ok. He was right to tell an adult and this is something he should be persistent about communicating to the teacher (me) with an emphasis on "someone took my hat off my head and kept it!".


So, now I'm waiting to hear what happens. I don't expect to get the hat back. And as I told the teacher, its just a hat. But the hat isn't the matter I'm concerned with. I'm concerned with the ACTION. When Dallas was in Kindergarten at this school he had a BRAND NEW COAT stolen. Never to be seen again. I know that these kids don't stop with a hat. And to be so bold as to take it OFF HIS HEAD??? Wow. I mean, come on. Kids can have the same hats! Parents can shop at the same stores. What gives him the right to just TAKE it? Even if he DID think it was his (if he'd lost his, I don't know) what gives him that right? Its a total bully move, and NOT ok in my book!!!

What would you as parents do from this point??


Ok, on a lighter note, I have a cute thing to share from my night. At dinner time the kids and I were sitting at the table eating. Dallas and I sit on one side, Kaleb and Kendyl on the other, Gabe is on the end, and Todd's spot would be on the other end, between the babies and I. So, on any given day if the twins have something stuck on their face I'll tell them "wipe your cheek" or something of that sort. Well, if its something big that they're not getting, I'll ask their twin to look at them and wipe it. They happily do this. Well, tonight it was Kaleb who had something on his face. And I was trying to show him where to wipe it. I told him "Kaleb, wipe your nose with your napkin." And do you know what the twins did? He looked at Kendyl and she looked at him, and he goes to wipe her nose! It was just instinct for him to do it. He could SEE her nose. It gave Kendyl and I the giggles, and he looked at me like "what??? I'm wiping my nose!" She then took her napkin and wiped his nose for him! Ahhhh, twins. I love it!

Way back Whens-day. . .a classic series of twins!

Today's way back is one of my all time FAVORITE series of the twins. I used to set them in the chair, and try to THAT picture, the one I could send on to the many relatives who wanted the "perfect" picture. And in turn I wound up with many that were perfect for me!!! I love how expressive Kaleb is. He has been that way from the moment he was born!!! ANd Kendyl was always a hard nut to crack. She's just sit there, double chin sticking out like "what are you looking at!?!?!"

These pictures are from September 2005, so they would have been 2 months old. And captions are a MUST on these!!!!

Kaleb- Pssst, Kendyl check it out!!!

Kendyl- I don't WANT to check it out
Kaleb- You're mean!

Kaleb- I don't know what I was looking at before but this is SO much better!!!

Kaleb- EEEEWWWW! She's touching me!

Kendyl- Hi mommy!
Kaleb- Suck up!

Kaleb- You talkin' to ME?

Kaleb-Ok, ok, I take it back! You're not mean!! please forgive me!

Ahhhh, its hard work to be that expressive!

My little camera ham

The very hard to capture princess!

Its Wednesday! Time for a little way back fun!!! If you'd like to play along, or see other way backs, head on over to Twinfatuation and join in!!!

Two for Twos-day. . .a war is waged!!!

Its Tuesday, which means that its time to play along on Two for Twos-day with Eight is Great! Head on over there to check out more wonderful twosomes!


This picture was just taken last night! Its a picture of the war that's been brewing in our house for the last couple of months! Dallas is in the green, Gabe in the black.
Yes, you're seeing right! That's a war! A CARD game of war! The boys have learned how to play it in school and have been having a blast playing with each other! They recieved an actual "war deck of cards" for Christmas which is nice, since its a little bigger than a normal deck!!! We've tried to learn old maid, and crazy 8's, but war is what they always come back to!!!! Ahhh, the good old SIMPLE games of childhood!! Gotta love it!!!

Mommy moment Monday.

Is it really Monday again? Man, it amazes me just how much the time flies away from me! I swear since the second I found out I was pregnant with my first baby time just goes so fast!!!!

I have a couple mommy moments this week, but I, unfortunately, don't have the time to share them! With today being a holiday, the kids have the day off, and are DRIVING ME NUTS!!! They've got cabin fever in the WORST way and it seems to be coming out in ways of trying to annoy their siblings, screaming at the top of their lungs, and crying. Ah yes, it is a Monday, and I AM a mommy!!!

So, today instead, I will be leaving you with two poems I got about being a mommy this week. They came to me via email and I found something to love in both of them!!!!

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom .


So very very true isn't it? How many things you didn't realize BEFORE you were a mom that you do now!!!

And this next one really hit me in the opinion of a mom. . .so true isn't it? How we come back around to realizing just how right our mom was all along!!!!!!!

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
they don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what
the vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
and get their answer when a little
voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth
is not measured by height or years or grade...
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother...

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she
shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

The weather that's creating problems!!!

The weather here has been creating some MEGA problems on the road! We warm up enough to make everything slush, and then we go back into the deep freeze and everything turns to ice. That's how its been most the winter. And then of course you add in to that the fact that we've gotten alot of snow, it just makes things worse. Well, all last week we were in the deep freeze. Our highs were around -5F. NOT fun. Well, this creates a TON of black ice on the roads from cars exhaust. And last Friday the black iced took my dad for a ride in the truck he was driving. He wound up hitting a patch of black ice on a bridge overpass. It spun him numerous times before he came to a stop. He bounced off guard rails, and dividers. Luckily, this was at 4 am so not many people were on the road. He was really worried he'd hit another car, and hut someone.

The cops came by to help him out. The car was pretty un driveable because it smashed totally the front drivers tire. He was going to try to change the tire and limp it the 2 miles to work, but the cop said NO!!! He'd had a cruiser she was driving that morning get TOTALED while she was out of the car helping someone, the roads were that bad, and it just wasn't safe. They wound up towing the car to his work, and then insurance towed him to the body shop out by his house. He called me that morning to see if I could come down and pick him up and give him a ride home.

Luckily he's ok, and didn't get hurt. They're up in the air right now what they'll be doing with the truck. It got pretty dinged up. IT doesn't LOOK that bad, but you know how it is with cars, always costs more when it comes to getting them fixed. The insurance people will be out on Monday to look at it, and make a decision from there.

Oh, and you may be wondering how cold it was when he got in the crash??? Yeah, that would be a balmy -23. Sucky.

These aren't the best quality, because I took them on my cell phone, but here is the front of the truck. This is what hit first. It took the bumper and pushed it up and under the frame, and slashed the tire completely. They're thinking he may have had the suspension on that side get mucked up too.
This is the back drivers side. He hit here next on his rotation. The picture doesn't show it much, but its pretty dented in. And it actually went in so far that it pushed the tail gate over, and made it shift enough to do . . ..
. . . This. It just totally popped the tail light out on that side.

This is knealing to look under at the major damage. Could have been worse, but still sucky when times are so tight.

A rambling post. . . ..oh, and some PICTURES!!!

Its been a long time since I've just rambled on and on here. Mostly due to the fact of my computer being down, but still. I've missed it!!! Its seems that there has been so much that has gone on with my family in the last few months. The kids all seem to have grown older, wiser, and know how to push more buttons on mommy's nerves. The house has taken what feels like strides forward in its progress, well, in comparison to looking at it week by week and thinking NOTHING is happening that is!! I don't know. Things just feel DIFFERENT!!! I think I'll update on the kids first.

Yesterday was a big day for my little man Gabriel. We found out at conference time just before the holidays, that Gabe needed glasses. Well, with the holidays we didn't have the chance to get him an appointment. We did get him in last week however. He is at 20/30 vision out of his right eye, and 20/60 vision out of his left eye. Oddly enough just backwards of what Dallas's vision is. (though Dallas's 20/60 will never improve because of the new lense that is in there) The doctor was pretty concerned about that. She said we'd give glasses a go for 4 weeks. The prescription would be at half of what its SUPPOSED to be (mostly because if she gave him the whole thing at once it would be too much and he wouldn't want to wear them) and in that 4 weeks she hoped that it would change the 20/60. If not, we're looking at having to patch with him as well. Fun. I HATED patching with Dallas. And I don't know that Gabe would be as tolerant of it. Dallas is one who can laugh at himself if someone is laughing. He takes it in stride. Gabe is MUCH more sensitive, and would take it all personally. SO we'll see. But he just got his glasses in last night. He looks pretty good in them. But MAN! This kid was VERY hard to find glasses for. Dallas can put on any shape, and it looks ok. Gabe's face wasn't so kind on us. I don't know what it was but we had to search and search for ones that "fit" him. He's pretty happy with what we came out with though. Here he is last night just after getting home from picking them up! Oh, and might I add, dragging 4 kids out into -15F weather to go get glasses isn't my idea of fun?? Yeah, add in the -25 windchill that was there yesterday and it made it royally PAINFUL!!!

Gabriel, with his brand new glasses.

Then, after mommy was done taking some pictures of his new look, the VERY first thing he did was run for a book. I was so happy to see him sitting there. You would have sworn he was seeing the world through a brand new pair of eyes!!! He has been having so much trouble seeing things, and his eyes have been working so hard that reading has NOT been a favorite for him. But now, now that he can see, he's running for books! It was AWESOME, and truly a heart warming site for this mommy!!!!!

Gabe reading, and actually SEEING what he's reading!!!

Things with Dallas are going well. He continues to amaze me each day with just how advanced he is in school. He's reading at a 6th grade level, though I have a feeling that he's beyond that now since that was at conference time . He reads anything and everything he can get his hands on. He too was much like Gabe, but with his glasses he's really taken off. I hope the same thing for Gabe. But anyway. He's also working on MULTIPLICATION!! Can you believe that? His class won't work on them at all this year, that's something they learn in 3rd grade. But he gets taken out of class for a "math group" a few times a week so that they can allow him to continue on at his own pace! He just seems so grown, so mature. Well, I can say that, but then in the next second he's off doing something silly, and something he knows he's not supposed to do, just like all little boys do!!!!

My other handsome man in glasses, Dallas

Ahhhh, now we're at Kaleb and Kendyl. These two are truly a test of my patients lately. I love and adore the fact that I have twins, don't get me wrong. But two in the same stage is really a challenge for me. I don't know how the families with higher order multiples do it!!! These little stinkers know how to work together, as if they have this unspoken connection/communication and they push every last button of my nerves that they can find. Which wouldn't be bad on occasion. But this is all day every day. And you know, I knew this day was coming! I really did! People used to tell me all the time when they were little (like under 6 months old little) that it would get easier as they got older. And I just laughed. Because having had Dallas and Gabe only 14 months apart I'd had a preview in some ways, of what was to come! I just have to say that I WAS RIGHT!!! I've been heard saying MANY times in the last month or two that I would take brand new just home from the hospital baby twins over the monsters that have been living in my house right now! I don't fully mean it of course, but man! These two are gibing me a run for my money!! I know a lot of their behaviors stem from all the uncertainty in our lives right now, with the two houses thing, and daddy being gone a lot, the winter deep freeze we're in and not being able to get out to get their energy out, etc. They sure can be sweet, and cute, and are both the biggest little love bugs ever. But if they want to get under your skin they know just how to do it, and how to do it in a quick hurry!!!!

I took this picture of them last night. I just love it. I think it really
shows their personality! They would do ANYTHING for each other.

This is the "ok mom, we're so done taking pictures" pose! Gotta love it!

Mr. Kaleb. My little spitfire, and my little clown! He'll do anything for a laugh
from anyone, but the second he feels he's been wronged MAN does he let you
know it! The tears start, the fit is thrown, and he usually winds up in time out!!!

And then we have Kendyl! She is the princess of the house and she isn't afraid to
let the boys know it!! We've had to start a rule that the boys aren't allowed to touch her things.
She's been in tears many a times in the last few weeks because the boys have broken something of hers. Girl toys are SO much more delicate than little boys toys. She also knows how to whip all these little boys into shape! Each and ever boy in this house (her daddy included!!) are wrapped around her little finger! And she KNOWS it!!!! She's sweet as can be most of the time. But cross her, and watch the yelling begin!!!!

Just one last one of the twins snuggling!!!! They're so darn cute!!!


The house. . .well, the plumbing has been completed to the point of passing inspection. The only time the guy has to come back now is for the final inspection after all the fixtures have been set. So that's nice. They've moved on to electrical. Its a big job, but they have a good start on it and hopefully soon we'll be ready to get that inspected and be able to move onto things like sheet rock, and getting the kitchen and bathroom put back together. The house is still mostly torn apart, and still mostly unlivable. We're hoping to be in there by the first week in April at the latest. SO there IS an end in site. I'll put some pictures up of that later.

Oh! And any day now I could be having a new niece or nephew! My sister in law Sara is due on the 25th, but is hoping for any second now!!!! I can't wait! A new little baby to snuggle and love!! WOO HOO!!!

Ahhhh, so nice to be back!!

Way back when-sday!!!!

I have been thinking about this one for MONTHS!!! I've been waiting for my computer to get fixed so that I could post it! This picture was supposed to be posted the week in November that my wedding anniversary fell, and wouldn't you know, I crashed the week before? So I'm posting it now, and sharing with all of you, my wedding picture.



We got married on a nice sunny November 25. In 2000 to be exact. So our last anniversary we happily celebrated 8 years as a married couple!!!! We were 19 and 20, setting out on a new life together. Not sure what the future would hold, or where it would bring us, but knowing that we would be happy to do it together. We were facing many more challenges starting out our new married life than most. On the day that we got married, I was 12 weeks pregnant. 12 weeks pregnant with our first miracle. The one they told me had to happen young, or wouldn't happen at all. But we were in love, and blessed, and were going to make the best of it. Our first year of marriage was a tough one. Not because we couldn't handle married life, but because it was full of so many unexpected surprises. Like how just 2 months after we said I do, our baby tried to make an early appearance into this world. At just 20 weeks 5 days he would have been way too early. And after some time in the hospital, we spent those first several months as a newly married couple worried, and waiting to see what would happen. But through it all our love and faith carried us through. And now, 8 years, 2 houses, and 4 kids later we're just as happy as we were back then. He's my very best friend in this entire world and I don't know where I'd be without him!!!