Help the Garcia's have a Happy Thanksgiving

Well, tomorrow is turkey day! A day to give thanks. We all have so much to be thankful for. Why not spread the cheer?

My friend Renee is still short of the money she needs for her adoption of Kellsey. Things are moving right along though. The 10 day wait is over. Frank has gotten Kellsey's birth certificate. The paperwork is being filed with the court for her tax ID or something like that. The hope is that all the paperwork goes through smoothly and she gets her visa and passport quickly and can be home next week!!! They still could use some extra funding though to help make this happen. I know Renee and her whole family are so thankful for every dollar that has been donated. So tomorrow when Renee and the kids sit down to their dinner and say what they are thankful for I know your donations will be amongst those things she's thankful for. So please make this a happy Thanksgiving for this family and donate whatever you can to bring Kellsey home. You can chip in on my side bar. This is all I've wished for for my birthday too so if you can help get them a little closer I'll be thanking you over my turkey tomorrow too ;).

Pass it on...

Just trying to get this out there. An important message that should be passed along. Make all of your friends and family watch it. You'll love it!

Week In Review: November 15 - November 21, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for November 15 - November 21, 2009

Sunday: Got up and everyone was still sleeping. So I did some blogging. Then the kids got up. Got them breakfast. Joe got up and got ready for work. He left. Me and the kids were just hanging out. I fed them lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Really didn't do much of anything. Joe came home from work. CJ woke up from his nap. I washed some dishes. I did a few loads of laundry. After dinner I put CJ in the tub for a bath. Sent the girls to take a shower. Put them all to bed. Finished up the laundry. Watched TV with Joe. Took a shower and went to bed.

Monday: I woke up early. I wasn't feeling too well. My stomach was a little funny. Not terrible just not really feeling right. The kids got up. I counted some money to get ready for a deposit I needed to make. Got the kids all ready for school. Joe brought them. I got CJ dressed. Shortly after Joe came home we went to bring CJ to the doctor for his iron recheck. We were there for a while just trying to get some information we needed for the lead tests we had done. The doctor does want us to get the apartment checked. Natalie's lead was 3, Kaitlyn's was 4, and CJ's recheck with the finger stick was 3.4. So they all do have lead in their system. Not really something they worry too much about, but given the state of our apartment the doctor would like us to have our landlord fix the problem. So we got the phone number for the CT DPH Lead Program. Left the doctor's office and went to the store to get something for Joe to make for dinner. Came home and had lunch and put CJ down for his nap. Then I waited for the school to call me to tell me that our fundraiser was in so I could go pay for it. Spent the afternoon at the school handing out fundraisers until 6:00. Joe came to pick the girls up. Went home and had dinner. Got the kids ready for bed. Sent them to bed. Then Joe and I watched some TV. I was so exhausted though that I fell asleep. Got up and got ready for bed and went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up early. Called the cable company to pay a bill I forgot to pay. Went and took a shower. Checked on the kids progress in getting ready. My friend dropped her kids off for me to bring them to school for her so she could take her boyfriend to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. I got all seven kids together and out the door to walk to the school. Walked them there and walked back minus five kids. Came home and CJ played with his friend while I swept the kitchen floor. Then I did some things on the computer and my friend arrived to pick up her son. They left and CJ seemed lost. He had a fit. I calmed him down and then fed him lunch and he fell asleep in his high chair. So I put him down for a nap. Made a few phone calls and just hung around. CJ got up from his nap and we headed out to pick the kids up from school. I had to get a few fundraisers out of the closet to hand out. We handed out some flyers for our McDonald's night tonight. I picked up one of my friends kids. Got my kids. Gave the fundraisers to people. And then we walked home. Got the kids started on homework. Waited for Joe to come back with my friends other child who got out at 4. They stayed for about half an hour playing and then their dad came and got them. They left and the kids finished up their homework and we left for our schools McDonald's night. Got there just before 5 when it began. Waited until we could order to go towards our fundraiser. Stayed there for the whole 3 hours chatting with people and monitoring the ice cream topping table and of course eating our own dinner. We had a nice turn out. The person who usually runs it was not there and left people in charge who had no clue, but it all worked out. I did have to get a correction on the amount of money we earned. They shorted us $100, but I got that taken care of. Came home and got the kids ready for bed and sent them off to bed. Then Joe and I stayed up watching some TV before going to bed ourselves.

Wednesday: Got up and got the kids ready for school. Went to playgroup with CJ. Had to get a fundraiser out of the closet for someone. Then I got a phone call while at playgroup from another parent about wanting to pick up their fundraiser. They were able to come right then so I went and got her fundraiser out of the closet too. She came and picked it up. We finished at playgroup and left to go to the grocery store. Got some groceries and came home and put them away. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I just hung around the house. The phone rang and it was another fundraiser person. Arranged for a pick up for him, but realized we didn't actually have a fundraiser for him. Hmmm. Went to the school to pick up the kids. Talked to my PTA VP and the person who was supposed to show up to get the fundraiser that we didn't have didn't end up showing up. Maybe he realized that someone else had picked it up? Lets hope. Came home and got the kids started on homework. Cleaned up the kitchen and the living room. Some friends came over to put a new power source in our computer. Then they left and I cooked dinner. We ate dinner. The girls cleaned their rooms and then played a Nintendo game before they were sent to bed. Joe and I watched TV. I fell asleep. Joe woke me up because he dropped a glass and needed to vacuum. I got ready for bed. We went to bed.

Thursday: Got woken up by my phone ringing at 5:30 in the morning. I have no idea who it was. Tried to go back to sleep, but our upstairs neighbors were making noise. So I tossed and turned for the next hour and a half or so. Joe had to get up and go to work early. I got up shortly after he left. The kids had trouble getting going for some reason this morning. So I kept having to push them to get ready. We left the house and walked to school. Got them to school and came back home. Just hung out with CJ for the morning. Fed him lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I went and took a shower. I cleaned up the kitchen. Then went to get the girls from school. There was some drama in the parking lot so I hung around to see that it got resolved. Then I was chatting with some friends before I finally headed home. Got the kids going with their homework. Then we brought the kids over our friend's house to watch while Joe and I went to a meeting for newly identified gifted children. After the meeting we went back to pick up the kids. They were finishing up dinner at our friend's house. We hung around for a little while and then left for me and Joe to get something to eat. We got a pizza and came home and put the kids to bed and ate our dinner. We watched some TV and then went to bed.

Friday: Got up early. Got the kids ready for school. I brought the girls to school and then got ready to start popping popcorn. Spent the morning at school selling popcorn and handed out a fundraiser. Then I came home. Joe had to leave for work shortly after that so I brought him to work. Came home and CJ didn't want lunch so I put him to bed. I had something to eat and counted the popcorn money and cleaned up the living room. Then I got CJ up from his nap and went to pick the girls up from school. I asked Natalie's teacher if we could have a conference next week. She said we could do it now. So I got Kaitlyn and went up to Natalie's classroom. Natalie has been getting discouraged with her writing in her "Reading Response Journal" which is letters she writes to her teacher each week about what she has been reading. So Natalie hasn't been pleased with her 90's she's been getting lately on this because well you know a 90 isn't a good grade in the mind of a student used to getting 100's. I've been explaining to Natalie that her teacher is pushing her. Which is exactly what she told me she was doing. And I'm glad she's giving her a challenge. So she talked to Natalie about it and explained to her that she knows she can do this which is why she expects more of her. I think she got a better idea of just what her teacher expects out of these letters and better yet I know just what she wants so I can help her accomplish this. We left the school and went to the store. Got Joe and came home. Figured out dinner. Ate and the kids played while I caught up on some things on the computer and Joe watched TV. Then we put CJ to bed and the girls stayed up a little while watching TV with us. Then we sent them to bed. I washed a load of laundry. Wrote my Nintendo Wii video game review. Watched some TV. And went to bed very late.

Saturday: The kids slept in which meant I got to sleep in. Good too since at 5:30 a.m. someone was outside our window screaming that they fell and hurt their ankle or something. They were very loud. It didn't last too long. At least not that I know of by the time I heard it. I was thinking maybe I should call an ambulance or something for this person, but then it stopped. Got up and cleaned up a little. Got the kids breakfast. Played around on the computer. Joe went to work. I just hung out at home with the kids. Fed them some lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. I laid down on the couch and fell asleep. CJ got up so I got him out of his crib. Washed dishes and started dinner. Joe got home from work and we ate dinner. After dinner I was very crampy so I laid down on the couch. Joe got CJ ready for bed and put him to bed. The girls stayed up a little later. I brushed Kaitlyn's hair and then she brushed mine. Then we sent them to bed. CJ wasn't really going to sleep and we couldn't figure out why until we realized the girls light was on. So we had to break up the little party and get everyone to just go to sleep. Joe and I stayed up. Playing around on the computer and watching TV.

Check out more Week In Review posts!

Watch Out for the Punk Punks

Recently I was contacted by someone from JumpStart.com. They wanted me to have my children try out a new Wii video game called "Escape From Adventure Island". It was due to release on November 17th. I was offered a chance to check it out before it was released. This is what I was told about the game:

Escape from Adventure Island is designed for children between the ages of 5-9. It's an action-packed game that invites players to use their explorer skills and brain power to find a way to escape the mysterious island that they crashed landed on. As players race to collect the pieces needed to repair their blimp, they will navigate 3D worlds both above and below the water. Along the way, players will practice over 150 math, reading, and critical thinking skills all while having fun!

I thought this sounds like the perfect game for my daughter Kaitlyn. Perhaps it will help with her reading skills which she struggles with. So I anxiously accepted the offer. A few weeks later the game arrived in the mail and we opened it up and tried it out.

I was excited to see that both my 7 year old and my 10 year old were enjoying playing. As a matter of fact they were quickly fighting over who got to play it next. Unfortunately it is only a one player game. This was something I wished was not the case. I wish that it was a multiple player game. It wouldn't stop the fighting in my house I'm sure, but it might have made things a little bit easier. Then they would have only been fighting about which section of the game they were going to play. Instead of who would play next and what section of the game they should play.

In the few weeks we have had the game we haven't even begun to fully get into every aspect of the game. Both girls are very interested in it though. Even though it says it is for ages 5-9 I believe they could even raise those age limits. Natalie found some parts challenging. There are multiplication, division, and fractions on it for math which are exactly the things Natalie is working on at age 10 and in the 5th grade. From what I saw they did seem to be more simple multiplication and division problems, but I didn't sit there and watch them play the whole time. When I asked Natalie if it was challenging for her she replied that yes it was. So still fun and challenging even for a 10 year old.

We did find that it was difficult to navigate through the game without having the nun-chuck hooked up to the controller. That turned into a bit of a pain every time they wanted to find a different area to explore having to hook the nun-chuck back up and then unplug it to play the games. Now granted, Kaitlyn always seems to have trouble getting the Wii remote to work just right. Not sure if it's where we have the bar located for the remote or what, but even still Joe found it difficult to navigate without using the nun-chuck too.

All in all though I think this is a great game. I certainly don't mind so much having the girls play this video game even on weeknights when they have school the next day. I do feel like they are learning all sorts of things and I look forward to them continuing to explore more of the game. If I could change anything about this game it would just be that it was a multi-player game and the navigation in the "story mode" was a little more user friendly. I have to say though I do definitely highly recommend this game to all elementary age children. It retails for only $29.99 and is available for sale now. It is rated "E" for everyone by the ESRB. I think it would make a great Christmas gift for your children. It's got what mom wants (education) and what kids want (fun and adventure).

Here's a video of the girls playing the game. Be sure to watch out for the Punk Punks...

McTeacher's Night

Tuesday night we had the first of two McTeacher's Nights. A fundraiser at McDonald's where for 3 hours 15% of all proceeds go towards our school. We get people from the school to come out. The teachers and staff come and we flood McDonald's with a bunch of O'Connell School students, parents, teachers, and staff. We had a nice turn out. Unfortunately our new Vice Principal did not see fit to come, but our old Vice Principal did which I thought was nice. We managed to raise $356 for our school. So a good night. And it was filled with lots of fun and great memories.

Natalie with whip cream on her face after we pushed her face into her icecream

CJ

Kaitlyn pretending to eat with her friends

I managed to catch Kaitlyn while she was running around playing

The principal eating his dinner and chatting it up with a preschooler

A very angry Natalie because she got caught walking on the chairs and she was punished

So see what fun. Well, except for the punishment in the restaurant. It's always so hard when other children do things that I never in a million years would expect my children to do. Natalie did get to get up after her punishment and continue to have a good time with her friends. Only after promising she wouldn't do it again. That was hard for the stubborn girl to do though which was why the face in that picture ;).

Meet an Intellectually Gifted 10 Year Old

This is my daughter Natalie. She was born on April 22, 1999. I dreamed the world for her. I've watched her grow and change for the past 10 years. I worried greatly about her when at 17 months she was put into the Birth to Three program for a speech delay. What did I do? Was it my fault? What will this mean for her future? And I fought hard with Birth to Three and eventually the school system to keep her speech consistent. Then half way through her Kindergarten year I got the news that she was being discharged from speech because she was all caught up. I had my doubts. For a few years I continually checked in with her teachers and reminded them that she had some language troubles and if they noticed any issues to please tell the school speech pathologist. Eventually my fears went away though and I stopped telling her teachers about her speech delay. She was doing so well in school. She worked so hard. Just last year they started giving actual letter grades and she was a straight A student! She just blows my mind. I never managed to get straight A's in school. She's amazing. Way more amazing than I ever could have imagined.

Last week we received a letter in the mail that Natalie had qualified for the intellectually gifted program. I knew she was being tested for this program. I tried to play it off as no big deal if she made it in or didn't make it in. I knew it would open all sorts of doors for her, but the last thing she needed was pressure from me. After all she's way harder on herself in her school work than I could ever be. I'm afraid I couldn't hide my excitement though when she got accepted into the program. I am one proud mother. I am the mother of a gifted child. Not sure I can take too much credit for it though. It's all her hard work. She has come a very long way from that speech delayed 17 month old who didn't say a word.

Tonight Joe and I went to an informational program about the gifted program. We learned what special stimulation our daughter is going to receive. We learned how to best advocate for her education. We learned how to deal with her ourselves. And we learned that we live in a state that does not believe they need to mandate the education of the gifted. We are lucky to live in a town that believes in fostering the talents of the gifted, but all the state of CT requires towns to do is identify that children are gifted. They don't say how, they don't say when, and they don't give funding.

Natalie will be pulled out once a week for special fun activities. The gifted teacher works with the teachers in the school so she won't miss out on any important learning. Natalie has already met the gifted teacher and they are going to begin an assignment of inventing something. So far all Natalie has said she'd like to invent is a robot to clean her room. It will be interesting to see how this idea develops.

My name is Monica and I'm the parent of a gifted child. Stay tuned to see what this journey brings us...

Did you think I forgot?

My promise to keep reminding you about my My Birthday Wish? Well, I did not! Frank is still over there waiting out the 10 day wait period. That should be up on Friday. And then the fun will begin for him. The mad dash to get birth certificates, passports, and medical records and clearance. All in anticipation of bringing his little girl home to their anxiously awaiting Mom, Grandma, and brothers and sister. Funds are still making it difficult though. So please chip in on my side bar whatever you can to make this all happen before Christmas. We want Kellsey home where she belongs. Home where she can get proper medical care. Home where she can get constant love and hugs and kisses. Home where she can get spoiled rotten. Home where she can have thousands of pictures and videos of her taken just the way any little princess would want it to be. Home where she'll have two older sisters to play dolls with and an older brother to tickle her and a little brother who will surely look up to her in complete amazement. Home into a loving mother's arms. Lets give her all of this. Wouldn't you want a place like this if you didn't have it? Don't you want this sweet little angel faced girl to have that?