Cinnamon Rolls & Addiction to them

For those who might not know, Miss Nennie Michelle has a very huge cinnamon roll addiction. She just cant resist their smell yummy charms and the sweet goodness. I made some yesterday morning and had to hide the rest of the pan to make sure that there would be some left for today. I was pretty proud of myself and my hiding abilities because in her total frustration she yelled out this morning "What happened to them?!" Todd and I have talked about her needing support group for this, and find ourselves very happy that there isn't a cinnabon stand out in the mall, or oh the fits that could possibly be thrown. If allowed I swear she would eat a whole pan of them by herself, calling them her precious the whole time. Forget the ring Smeagel, cinnamon rolls are what really matter the most.
I have been thinking about doing an odd or interesting fact about the kids for a little while now. This morning catching Steph in her grand tear through the fridge just reminded me of it yet again. So Thursday will be odd or interesting little things about each of the girls. I think the first ones for each of them will be food related.
I hope that everyone is having a great week, and is looking forward to the holiday weekend.

Wandering the back yard

Good morning Monday! The last of the dark storm clouds seem to have cleared out of the area, bringing us a very bright and already very warm start to the week. So what do you do on a Monday morning when you are trying to fight off the after effects of migraine medicine that you had to take the night before? Well, I of course pick up my camera and go out in the back yard and wander around looking for something to shot a picture of. Because my hope is that if I can get my mind to work to be able to shot a decent picture then maybe I can get past this drugged up feeling sometime today.

I'm not sure just what kind of tree this is, but I love the tiny white blooms that I just noticed this year. It has made this tree very popular with the butterflies, bees, flies, birds. Oh heck let's face it...this tree is just very popular. If I'm remembering right this is the one tree that stayed green through the winter also, I don't really remember it losing any of its leaves. I really like this one, and would rather have it be the one that sat in the fence line rather than the one that we do have. Don't shade is shade in Arizona, but if I'm going to look crazy wandering around with my camera taking pictures, I would rather have it right in my own back yard than up close to the neighbors house.

I hope this week is off to a good start for everyone, and that it brings good things to all of us.

Sunday Siblings

Well considering that the week got off to a pretty rocky start, I'm glad that by yesterday all was well under the roof here. Actually I was just more happy about the fact that we still had a roof here! Some days two teenage girls living under the same roof can have some very bad side effects.

The IEP's for the year are done, and Thursday I got the last of Steph's test results and not only is math above level her reading and writing are too. So that means across the board for the first time that she is no longer behind on any level. Paige has made some great progress also, and we are keeping her IEP just to keep so that she has a place to go and hide out when she feels to overwhelmed with everything. So tomorrow they start their thrid week of school and all is off and running very well so far. Chey is back in drama club this year, and is doing very well with the lowering of her depakote that we did this week. I have only seen a bit of an increase in her sleeping seizures, but I think that may have had a lot more to do with the cold that she was fighting off this week.

We are nearing the one month down on Todd's TDY to Colorado, which mean only a month and a half left to go till not only he is home but getting home on Chey's birthday. True to recruiting form it has sounded like he has had some very interesting days doing the job. We will all be happy to have him back home, but I think I will like it the most. I'm a little tired of having to fight with the mower and the weed eater to get them to work! Okay that isn't the only reason I miss...I also need that "scary guy" that live here to get back home to help keep all of the neighbor kids out from under our carport! Okay, okay, okay...those aren't the only reasons why, but I really do need some help with those two things.

Anyway, I hope that everyone is doing well, and has enjoyed a quiet good weekend.

In Motion

It is Friday again...wow where did the week go? With appointments for school and other stuff to get done this week it just seems to have flown by. So when I picked up the camera the other day to try and get some shots for the Feline Friday, I figured what better than to capture the feline that was in motion the most this week. So of course I have pictures of Eclipse yet again this week. She may be Steph's cat, but I have noticed that if Mom is up and moving around a lot and has busy days, Eclipse will do the same. The real problem is trying to get a clear picture of the cat in motion this week. I also have the problem with her that as soon as she sees me with the camera she get really close to me so she can get the petting and playing that happens so that I can get the calm close ups. It was a very fine line to walk with her this week to get the pictures I wanted of her moving around the house, and not get her in a mood with me about the not doing our usual routine of playing.

Since I had to put the camera on a high speed motion setting and burst mode, the light was dependant on where she was. I just kind of wish she hadn't decided to stand right in front of the windows in the living room. On here the two that I'm posting don't bother the eyes to much, but in the folder in thumbnail view all that white in the background makes them a little tough on the eyes.

Anyway, it is Feline Friday time again! Which means time to head over to Steve's again and check out all of this weeks wonderful felines, and if you want to play along, just post an entry on your own blog and leave a link in comments. I hope everyone has a very wonderful, relaxing weekend! Feline Friday at Steve's

Huge Milestone

On July 3, 1995 Miss Stephanie was seen at Rehab at Aiea in Hawaii for a Speech-Lanuage Evaluation. It was just the first of many evaluations for her, it was the one that I had been screaming at doctors to get for a good while. She was 4.4 years old, and by the time it was over I knew just how sever her delay was. She tested overall total language age equivalent of that of a 1 year 5 month old child. On November 18-20 we sat down with the team for the school to sign into action her very first IEP. Today Stephanie and I signed her 13th IEP, and her very last one. She hasn't used anything that she is entitled to in a good 3 years now. We have kept in in place as an umbrella for just in case she should need something. Come this spring with the change of a federal law Stephanie will no longer qualify for an IEP. There is still a year to year and a half delay in her expressive language but all other areas are either right on or very much above according to the testing. We will meet with her counselor sometime in the upcoming months to talk about the possibility of doing a 504, and Steph has asked that she be the one to make the final decision on pursuing that or not. For more years than I can remember all she has really wanted was to not have that IEP anymore, to not be viewed as a child with special needs. Today we signed the final one, and I agreed to let her make up her own mind on the 504 plan. Now I will of course make sure that she understands everything and asks all the important questions, but I guess my time of having to step a little to the side and let her make some big life choices is on it's way here in the next couple of months. I am so proud oh my Miss Stephanie, she has worked so very hard and done so very much. She has gone further than a lot of people ever thought she would, and dealt with more mean peers than any one child should have to. She learned to stand up and fight, and to show them all just what anyone can accomplish when they set their mind to it. Yeah, I'm a little emotional here tonight. I'm happy and I guess scared at the same time here and feeling just a little sad maybe. I know I'm done yet with her, but as of today being the one to have to make the choices for her is done. Now she gets to make the next one on her own. Yes I still have to be a part of it or at least sign the paperwork for it, but she gets to make the choice of weather or not to do it at all.
I'm so proud of you Nennie!

Big Mistakes?

Big mistakes? Maybe I should have kept one of those for myself. Oh right...those probably won't work for my mental mistakes. Seems I forgot just how to read a calendar at some point in time last week. I have appointments down on the right date but in my head I have the dates on the wrong days of the week. Maybe if I eat some of the chocolate that Todd sent to us last week it will help. Dad got the erasers for the girls since I mentioned that I need to pick some up for school year. I never dreamed that they made them that big though. The girls loved them! They made all of us laugh about the things that Dad can find every now and then. The chocolate is going quickly and if I don't hide some of it I'm sure that I'm not going to get any of it. With the way things seem to be going this week I may need a hidden stash of chocolate just to get me through. I hope this week is treating everyone well, and that it won't be a week that just drags on and on.

I'm not sharing!

I had a difficult couple of day with Eclipse and food this week. She wanted her dry food and till Wednesday all I had was canned. Angel loved the canned food enough for both of them though. The dry food ran out last Thursday, and due to needing to really wait for the pay day Wednesday, Eclipse was a very not happy kitty cat. Come Monday morning before Chey and I had to leave for the day I had to stand guard over Eclipse to make sure that she ate finally and that Angel didn't do push her out of the way thing again. Angel was the very not happy kitty cat with me because of not letting her near the food, but Eclipse finally ate, and seemed to take forever doing it just to further irritate her sister. You know like sister often do. These two brat cats have dealt me on heck of a week of attitude, but Monday was the only day that I got some pictures of them.

It is Friday again, which means time for the felines to come out and play over at Steve's. So head on over there and check them all out. Everyone have a great weekend!

Feline Friday

Oh Good Grief

I think the best part of the day today was...hmmm I seem to be coming up short on just what the best part of the day was here. The got going when I went outside to roll the trash can out to the curb and realized that Chey's scooter was missing, and I'm not sure because I need to talk to Todd, but it just seems like there is something else missing out there. Well what fun, there is a thief in the neighborhood. No time to waste this morning though had to get going with the errands of the day before getting on the road to Tucson. Middle school to pick up paper work that was supposed to be waiting for me in the office but wasn't, so had to wait 20 minutes to get that. Then off to the high school to fill out paper work for Paige and some meds that she needs during the school day, should have been easy to get done, just needed to go into the nurses office and let them make copies of doctors orders. Well instead of easy a 30 minute wait is what Chey and I got in the main reception office, and then another 20 minutes of getting the paper work done in the nurses office. I was really glad that we left the house at 0800 this morning, because we ended up getting on the highway heading towards Tucson with exactly an hour and thirty minutes to get there. I was just really happy that there wasn't any traffic delays on the way there, and we still got there 20 minutes early. (No I didn't speed, I set the cruise control!)

Oh and then the reason for the Tucson trip today. Seeing the doctor, the doctor that I just so very much love...NOT!! Today it hit me that just once I would really like to leave that office without having thoughts of causing great physical pain to that man. Just one time would be a wonderful thing really, I don't think it is asking for to much. Oh and the picture is of what the temperature in the car was when we were finally done with the hour plus appointment almost 2 hours in the office. It took the car what seemed like forever to cool down for the drive home.

Anyway, Chey's appointment, confusing as it was went basically well. We caught him up on the last four months, and talked about the couple of things that have gone on with Chey in the last week. In his usual manner he blew me off and told me that I was wrong about what I thought I was seeing, but hey I have gotten pretty used to that in the last year plus of dealing with him. There was another doctor in with him today though, and after describing him to the middle school nurse, I now know that it was the head of the clinic. He was doing evaluations of Chey's doctor, so I took the time to sit and talk with him about Chey and the things that were going on. After him consulting with Chey's doctor and voicing his opinions about her treatment, Chey's doctor agreed. Geez thanks! Today I saw Cheyenne's irritation grow with her doctor, I think even she is tired of his flip flopping about her treatment. She looked right at both of the doctors and told them that she wants off of the depakote. So come the 21st of this month we are going to lower her medication another 250mg, which will put her at 750mg daily. We will go with that as long as there are no issues between then and November 29th when we see the doctors again, and then take her down another 250mg, which will put her at 500mg. After that her next appointment will be in February of 2008, and she will be due for another 72 hour EEG and a MRI. The plan for right now is before the EEG in February we will probably drop her down to 250mg depakote. If there is going to be any issues with seizures we should see it sometime in the next couple of months is the basic thought. I understand why Chey brought it up today, and why she would love to be done not only with the medicine but with the whole doctor thing. She is just as tired of hearing one time that what is going on is seizures, and then very next appointment we are both treated like we are idiots that don't know what we are talking about. The good news is that after today with the other one there, he will be sitting in on all of Chey future appointments, but I'm thinking if all goes well with the lowering of the medicine here that come February it will be time to request change back to the doctor down here in Sierra Vista. He was very clear that he wouldn't have any issues taking charge of her care once she has been stabilized for a year. Well, we are at the year plus mark, and I think I have had just about enough of dealing with doctor OCD in Tucson.

So fingers are crossed for good things in the next couple of months here. I'm hoping for Cheyenne to get just what she wants here with getting off of the depakote. I will not lie though, the thought of taking this medicine all the way down scares me to no end. But come this February it has been three years since the onset of the Epilepsy, and I know for all of us we will through on heck of a huge party the day we hear that she is done with it.

I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I'm sure that tomorrow will be a much better day.

Balancing on the Edge

Friday again so it means time for some feline photo's again. Eclipse was in a balancing mood today. Little bit of a show off actually, sitting on the gate and twisting all over the place.

Angel on the other hand was very happy to just sit and watch her sisters little showing off show today. I think she is trying to become a permanent part of the things that sit on this shelf this week.

It is time to head over to Steve's and check out all of the felines this week. I hope everyone has a good safe weekend.

Steve's Feline Friday

First Day of School

Ahh...the first day of school. Which yes is very much done and over now for all of the girls, but I figured I would wait to post about their day till after it was done. Poor Paige here had on heck of a day to start her 10 grade year, and I don't think it is going to get much better for her. If I had to pick a teacher this year that is going to deal with full blown "Pagie" attitude, I'm betting it is going to be her biology teacher this year. After reading through his "information sheet" that he typed up about his class, I'm even more sure that if Paige decides to give the attitude it will require Mom stepping in, and based on the wording of this information sheet I don't particularly care for this teacher already. For everyone that has known me a good while, you know if I don't like someone already, there is a good reason as to why. I'm going to be hopeful though, who knows maybe it will be the English teacher instead, who I think believes she is some kind of comedian. Anyway, I'm hoping that Paige has a better day tomorrow, and that the teacher that offender her so much will learn by tomorrow that sometimes keeping opinions to himself is a very good thing.

Cheyenne on the other hand had an excellent first day of school. According to her being in 7th grade is great because she wasn't worried about her first day in the middle school. Her only complaint is about the fact that since she is the third child going through that school, that all of the teachers knew her as soon as she walked into classes. She got all of the "cool" teachers that he sisters had before her, and just in general had a great first day of school. My hopes for Cheyenne this school year are to see her just have a great school year, and miss no days of school due to the Epilepsy this year. Speaking of which we have her next appointment with her neurologist in Tucson next Monday. She will miss enough school due to appointments that she has to have, so let her have a good health year otherwise. I already know that in February she will have to do another 72 hour EEG, and I believe that on Monday we will have to talk about having another MRI done. But that will be a post for after her appointment next week.

I know a bit photo heavy here, but time for Stephanie. She had a great start to her 11th grade, but never one to pass on a make you laugh minute, she couldn't pass up on clinging to my leg this morning begging me to not make her go to school. She started trying last night with the talk me out of making her go to school. Really funny thing is that she is the same child that not that many years ago faked not being sick but drinking ice water before having her temperature taken. She chose and got a pretty heavy class load this year and I'm hoping that she doesn't burn herself up before the end of this school year. All in all she had a good day though, there are some rule changes for school that neither her or I agree with, and there are some clothing rule changes that she didn't like at all, but teachers she likes and that is always a good thing.

That's all of them and with that the 2007-2008 school year is off and running. To quickly if you ask me, but hopefully it will be a good year and summer will come again just as quickly. I hope everyone is having a good week.

Rain...what else whould there be?

Have I mentioned that I getting just a little tired of the monsoon and the rain here? Don't get me wrong, I really do like rain, just not for as many days as it has been raining here. So far it is looking like tomorrow may be our best chance of not having so much rain and maybe some sunny skies. That would be a very wonderful thing to see happen, I'm going to hope for that.

Tomorrow is the first day of the new school year here. The girls are in mourning over the end of their summer vacation. Steph was talking last night about dressing in her mourning clothes for today. Poor baby girls, summer is over for them and now it is time to get back into the daily grind of the school year. I'm sure it will go quickly though, and before they know it we will be at yet another summer vacation.

I hope every one's week is off to a good start, and if you would like some of this rain that we are getting, please feel free to take some of it.

Our head in the clouds

We have some very low cloud here this morning. The girls like to see the clouds low like this so they can "Our heads are in the clouds today Mom". The rain just keep coming here. I posted on the first of about having just about 9 inches of rain in the month of July, and as of this morning we have added another 3 inches to that count. I keep hearing on the weather reports that the pattern is going to break here soon, but they have been saying that for about a week now. Last week there was a funnel cloud spotted over the Huachuca mountains which are in the pictures background covered by the clouds. As of this morning the local paper is filled with more stories of just what all of the flooding is doing to the roads, the washes that have been totally washed out, more rock slides, and mud slides. I've enjoyed the rain and seeing everything turn green, but we really need to have a couple days break from this. I'm hoping for sometime this week the get in the car and head out to Garden Canyon and see just how full the creek is out there, but I need the rain to stop for a couple of day to be able to drive through the washes to get out there.

Today marks the last two days of the girls summer vacation, come this time Wednesday morning they will all be off for their first day of school. Summer has gone by so quickly this year. Chey cant wait for school to get started and the older two would rather not have to do it already. I'm torn on it, there is a part of me that says it is time for them to get going again and another side of me that says it just wasn't long enough. Anyway, I hope everyone has a good start to the week.

Find a place to hide out

What do you do if you are a feline and Mom is on a cleaning spree moving furniture around? Well, Angel and Eclipse are pretty used to this and say find a nice dark room with a really warm blankie and curl up for the day. You stay out of the way, and make it really difficult for Mom to find for getting pictures for Feline Friday.

The sister cats have pretty much spent the whole day hiding out in my room away from the moving furniture and the mopping of floors going on here today. Which will be fine because come tomorrow it will be time for them to find a new hiding spot so I can work on the room.

It is time for the felines over at Steve's, so head on over and check them all out. To play along just make a post and leave a link to your our site.

Everyone have a great weekend!




Feline Friday

Registration Done!

YAY!! As of this morning all of the registration for the 2007-2008 school year is done! I'm happy that I waited to do both girls at the high school on the same day, because it only took a hour and a half to get it all done. Believe me that is much better than it would have been. All books for the older girls are in their hands and ready to get going for the first day of school next week. Fees weren't to bad for both of them this year and only thing left to do will be going out the night school starts and getting the final supplies that are going to be needed for the start of the new year. I finally learned my lesson last year about making so many trips out. Just wait till they are done with the first day and then in one shot go out and get all of it.

I know not every one's kids start as early as we do here in Arizona, but I wish everyone much luck with the up coming new school year. I also hope that everyone is having a very good week.

Arizona Monsoon

Now just a couple of weeks ago this whole back area was nothing but brown. Well, not anymore, green is the the color and that would be due to all of the rain that we have had in the last month. Monsoon started July 1st, and here we are just one month into the season and we have already had 8.13-8.85 inches of rain fall. Last year was a record year for the monsoon and our 3 month total came out to about 13-15 inches depending on where you were in Southern Arizona. This week the forecast is for lots more rain, and I'm thinking we may just break the record high from last year, after all we are off to a really great start so far. With the blue skies this morning I'm guessing that the rain will wait to roll in till sometime later this afternoon or early evening time. The news pages this morning were filled with stories about mudslides, rock slides and major flooding going on around the state. One very sad story out of the Tucson area about a gentleman that died because of getting trapped in his vehicle in a wash yesterday. Firemen could get to him to get him out of the vehicle due to him being wedge under a bridge and the water levels and flow being to much. They had to wait for the water to go down some to get to him. So not all things the monsoon brings are good.

I hope everyone is having a good day, and be safe.