Yesterday Sara and I took Riley to see his birthmom.

I survived my birthday. That's all I have to say today.
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You know it's going to be a long day when you accomplish 12 important things on the to-do list all before dropping the kids off at school by 8am..............but forget to put on deoderant!
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Don't worry. I stopped back at home before I went to work.  :)
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Brittney's 400m relay team took 1st place at the track meet yesterday.

Individually, she took 2nd place in the 200m dash.

I'm not sure how her team did in the 800m relay because I had to leave before they ran it.

I do know she wasn't happy with her pole vaulting because the coaches entered her in so many running events that she didn't get to warm up and compete pole vault with everyone else. So instead of working her way up in height by starting at a low height (4ft) and working her way up as she made it over like everyone else competing, she had to start at 7 ft. She could have jumped it fairly easily but she was so frustrated by the time the coach let her jump that I'm not sure she ever really qualified yesterday. 

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 Tonight Brittney's got track practice, Riley has Little League baseball tryouts, Zeke has Special Olympics Track and Field practice and Anthony has soccer. Steve's the assistant coach for soccer so he'll have to be there and I'm supposed to attend a parent's meeting for Little League. I wish we had two more parents!
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Brittney has a track meet this afternoon at 4pm at the Brookings High School track. She'll be pole vaulting, running the 200m, running the 200m relay and the 400m relay.

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My shoulder still hurts so I've done as little as possible with it. So not much typing or texting. I was thinking that I was starting to go for a record of how many children in one family would receive detention in one week.

Anthony received detention because he called a teacher a dummy. I guess it's not the worst thing a kid could call someone, but it's still not appropriate so to detention he goes. Later, when I visited with him about the incident at the therapist's office, I think I got the story straight. They have a different teacher at the end of the day for some kind of reading thing. That teacher handed out a purple paper with writing on it. Anthony told me he had trouble seeing the words and got frustrated, so he tore the paper, crumpled it up and threw it  away. When the teacher got upset with him and said the paper was ruined, Anthony countered with, "No it's not! You can tape it!" Then it turned into even more of a power struggle and the teacher wouldn't let Anthony tape the paper back together, which in Anthony's mind would fix it. That's the point when he called the teacher a dummy and was given detention

I have to admit, Zeke's incident is a little bit funny if you know him. I had to drop him off on Friday morning because I had to get Anthony to Sioux Falls by 9am. Zeke was supposed to walk right to Mrs Rounds room and meet his teacher's aid. Instead, he went to the cafeteria and had breakfast, which he has been told before that he is not allowed to do. Then he lied about it when they asked him. That was problem number one. Problem number two came when he, I think, refused to finish his math paper at math time. The teacher made him stay inside during recess to finish it. He found the teacher's book and proceeded to copy the teacher's answers onto his paper. And then he lied about it. So now he has detention. I'm still not sure where the teacher was during that time because there should have been someone with him. Anyway, Zeke did not have a fun weekend at home because he wasn't allowed to do any of the fun weekend things the other kids got to do.

Anthony had his first soccer practice on Saturday morning. Steve took Anthony and Taylor and was going to take pictures for me to post but he got too busy coaching because the real coach never showed up. They had no coach and no equipment. I think it turned out ok because Anthony and a few other kids brought balls from home but hopefully by Tuesdays practice, they have the head coach there.

Now it's time to get the family ready for church and my mom's retirement party!!!   :)
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My shoulder hurts too much to type today and I need to try to type the minutes from last nights BIAC meeting during Anthony's therapy this morning. If I get that finished and can type more, I'll post more.

Echo Room Question

Sarah asked what the Echo Room is. Here is the long answer:

Last year, my mother-in-law moved in with us. We took our fairly large storage room downstairs and put up a wall, complete with studs and sheetrock. It wasn't big but it was large enough for a twin bed, dresser and a few other things. Eventually, Sandy found an apartment in town and so we had an empty space. The options for the room were a storage room or a toy room. Because the room was virtually empty by this time, when the kids would go play in there, their voices would echo.

At the same time, I was studying a book in my Tuesday morning Bible study entitled The Sacred Echo by Margaret Feinberg. The book talks about learning to listen for the sacred echos - God's persistant voice - in your life. When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn't just whisper something once, he repeats it in the same theme, idea, impression or lesson in your life in suprising and unexpected ways. Until you finally hear the sacred echo and realize that God is at work.

I was also at another very chaotic time in my life and decided to be selfish and turn that extra little room into a study for myself. I taped and mudded the sheetrock joints, primed and painted, added a heating vent, put up trim, added an in-wall bookcase and was ready to add furniture and a carpet. I searched until I found the perfect desk at the perfect price. I got it at Rude's Furniture at a significant discount because it had a couple of tiny scratches on it.

The kids aren't allowed in the echo room unless I'm there, and even then, they know that if I'm studying, they need to wait - unless there's blood! I do some sort of Bible study there almost every morning from 5:15 to 6:00am. It's the place I listen for God's echoing words in my life. My current study is the Prayer of Jabez. Very interesting but that's another post for another day :) I also read through the bible every year so I do that section in the mornings too. The room contains all my study books and a small TV and VCR. The TV is for DVD studies of one of my favorite teachers, Beth Moore. She's amazing! But that's another story for another post too :) The room also has a small refrigerator and my plug-in sentsy warmer. The only things I haven't found and added are things for the walls and a nice, comfortable office chair. I'm really picky and it has to fit my budget so for now I'm just using a folding chair.

So here is the Echo Room :

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Anthony Says

Anthony's been having a lot of trouble at school again this week. He is very disrespectful of adults when they are asking him to do something he doesn't want to do. On Tuesday, among other behaviors, he called the student teacher a dummy. The teacher had a conversation with Steve that afternoon and then I received another phone call last night about behavior yesterday. So when Anthony wanted to go to church last night, I informed him that because he couldn't control his behaviors and attitudes at school, he wouldn't be allowed to do anything else. He was really mad and started mouthing off to me. I told him he better settle down because he was already on my hit list. As he walked off, he yelled, "Fine! Go ahead and hit me if I'm on your hit list!"
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You know it's a good conversation if you can cry and laugh in the same hour :)
For the record.....I almost initiated a hug tonight!
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Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

Sometimes I feel like I accomplish more before 8am than most people do all day. I guess that happens when the day starts at 5:15. When I get up, I usually grab a cup of coffee and go downstairs to the Echo room and study for about a half hour. Then I take a shower and start the rest of the day.

The physical things like laundry and cleaning sometimes takes a back seat to kids attitudes and behaviors. Today for example, Brittney was yelling so loudly as they drove off to school that I could hear her even with all Steve's windows closed. Zeke was in fine form this morning, too. He had Special Olympics swimming practice last night and didn't get home until 7:30pm. By the time he had supper and got ready for bed, it was way past his usual bedtime. The result is that he's extremely uncooperative this morning. I'm sure the neighbors heard his screaming all the way down the block! He was tipping chairs over in the dining room and refusing to put on any clothes. We finally just dressed him and left him on the floor while I helped everyone else.

So far, Steve, Brittney, Riley and Sophia are gone. I just have Taylor, Zeke and Anthony left to deliver to Medary Elementary before I head to work. Should be a fun day since the afternoon headstart kids are going to the Children's Museum today!
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BTW: The home visit yesterday went fine. It lasted just over two hours and looks like there's no reason we won't be approved & relicensed.
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The new tub/shower is in and working.

The next step will be new sheetrock around the shower.

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Today after work we have a home visit to renew our foster/adoptive license. We renew our foster care license every year but are only required to renew the adoptive license every three years. We're very interested in renewing this year for obvious reasons :)
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The old sub-flooring under and around the tub is now out

and the new sub-flooring is in!

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Upstairs Bathroom Project

Starting

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Taking out the tub/shower

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All the instructions said to wear safety glasses.

They just didn't specify how to wear them!

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The shower and old insulation is finally out.

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Questions about Downsizing

I've had a few friends question the downsizing and wonder if they'll be on my hit list. Don't worry! The whole intent of the downsizing project is to be able to have more time to invest in my family and friends :)
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Downsizing #4

The next item on the chopping block is:

Starting in May, I've cut back Anthony's weekly therapy appointment in Sioux Falls to every other week. Both his therapist and I feel comfortable doing this. He's been doing very well, both in school and at home. He still has trouble in low-structure environments and in high-stress environments but overall the therapy is helping him learn how to cope. I'll also have more time to work with him at home this summer.
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I stayed up way too late in the middle of the week. I didn't get home until after midnight on Wednesday night. It was worth it at the time but I paid for it later. Thursday I worked all day, had an Early Childhood appointment in the evening and then went to a friend's house for a party that night.
By this morning, I was pouring myself a huge cup of coffee for the trip to Sioux Falls. Anthony had his usual Friday morning therapy appointment at 9am and then Zeke had an appointment with his orthopedic doctor at 10:30. She was pleased with all Zeke's progress and decided to modify his braces so they'll be a bit more flexible. His next appointment will be in 6 months for a general checkup. We also left her with the velcro clothes (see the old blog for pictures) so another child can use them when they have full casts like Zeke.
After a quick stop at Taco Bell for lunch, we headed back home. By the time I put together the enchilada hotdish for supper tonight and got everyone fed, Steve was itching to get outside. Branch pickup is tomorrow for city-wide cleanup so he had all of us hauling branches from the back yard to the curb in the front yard.  I did my part then snuck back inside ;)
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Now he's taking the kids to get icees for all their hard work!
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Birth Certificate

In South Dakota, if you want a copy of your birth certificate,
all you have to do is fill out this form and send in $15.
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Unless you've been adopted.

Then you have no access to your original birth certificate

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If you want it, you first have to call the State Dept of Health and ask for vital records in Pierre, give them information and then wait to see if they are willing to sign a release of information.

If they decide they'll allow you a release of information, you'll receive a signed form like this one:

They'll also include a cover letter with instructions about what else you have to do.

It will look something like this:

Then you have to sign a release for confidential information

and have it notarized by a Notary Public or Clerk of Courts.

That form looks like this:

Once you've done all that, you actually have to

petition the court of the original adoption to open the confidential records.

That form looks like this:

If you find your way through all that maze of paperwork, complete it and petition the court, it is then ultimately up to the judge to decide if you can have the information and how much information to give you. He has total control over the file and can decide to give you no access at all.

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If you complete all the paperwork and the judge is willing to sign the court order for a release of confidential adoption records, then you can finally fill out the application for a birth certificate and send that and all the other paperwork along with $15 to Pierre.

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They will then send you a copy of your original birth certificate.

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The toilet is gone in our upstairs bathroom and so is the sheetrock behind it.

It's really hard to work on potty training a two year old

with only one toilet in the house -and that's all the way downstairs.

We're going to tear out the tub/shower this weekend

and the new tub/shower is scheduled to be installed on Monday.

I'm not sure yet when the new toilet is going in

but it's currently sitting in a box in our garage.

Downsizing #3

The third cut I've made in my life lately is that Steve and I are no longer doing lawncare at the church. It took at least 8 hours every week, usually on Friday or Saturday, and we had to either have one of us with the kids or figure out what to do with them while we both mowed, and it was also very dependent on the weather. We enjoyed it but it was really hard to juggle all the kids every week to get it done. Because of insurance and payroll, we weren't even able to have the older ones help us. It was another thing that was hard to let go of since I've been doing it since 1993. (That's 19 years if anyone's counting ;)
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At Headstart this morning,

the governors wife stopped in and read to the kids.

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Anthony had a school play in his class today.

He and his friend Gage were spring frogs.

I left work, went to the play, stopped at home to grab Anthony some lunch and in a few minutes, we'll head back to headstart for the afternoon class.
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Downsizing #1

The first bit of downsizing I did for my family was to "share" our dog. That's a child-friendly way of saying that we gave our dog to someone else. It's a win-win situation. I had no time for taking care of a dog or playing with it, nor did most members of my family. The older kids who could help just aren't home that much right now. Also, the dog was so little (about 4 lbs) that the 2 year old would drag it around the house and practically strangle it. They loved each other but it wasn't a particularly healthy relationship. As much as we all loved the dog, it needed to be in a family that has time for her.
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The only time I've really missed her is when I now have to sweep under the table after meals again!
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This is Totally Me :)

Downsizing #2

One project off my shoulders! I resigned from the VBS team last night. I loved coordinating the preschool area and have a heart for the kids but it's all a part of my downsizing. The VBS program has grown so large that it takes us 6 months to put together the entire week so that it runs smoothly and has the most impact. I think last year we had nearly 200 kids!
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I had already made the decision to step down but it was affirmed yesterday when I worked from 8-4, and then on our schedule there was a VBS meeting at 4:15, a Special Olympics potluck/spring meeting at 5:30 and a Baseball meeting at 7pm.
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The Lord's blessing is our greatest wealth;

all our work adds nothing to it.

Proverbs 10:22

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Bathroom Remodel

The last bathroom remodel is over and so we have decided to start another one. We've had issues with the toilet in the upstairs bathroom for a couple of years but we kept replacing parts and rigging it to work again. This last time, I finally told Steve that we were pulling the old one out and putting it on the curb for spring cleanup. 
Now we have a new toilet purchased, a hole in our wall where we ended up pulling out the drywall because it was gross, a new tub/shower purchased and someone coming tomorrow to look at putting it all in for us. I'm probably going to end up painting and putting tile down before we're all done.
We've been married almost 15 years.............we'll see if we can make it through another project and still be friends :)
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Taylor asked if she could blog and I said yes.
I won't be held responsible for any spelling errors or weird posts.

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Camp K!

Love Camp K!!!

A,E,I,O,U & sometimes Y

 AEAiu y Oiyaeu

By   TaYlOr AnNe WiLkInS

Zeke Said

Zeke Said 


Zeke:I am going too run a way!

Mom:Just Laghet

Zeke: Just  walked to the Door

Zeke: went too the street

Mom:Had too go get him

The End

By Taylor A. Wilkins

Taylor is in a Play!!

Got   Taylor 2 be a Play  Apirl 23-25  Awosme!



From Tayor A. Wilkins 

My Mom Froght

My Mom froget my Aunts  #

 I thought i should Blog abuot this!!


From Taylor A.  Wilkins

Downsizing

I'm downsizing my life. No, I'm not getting rid of any kids. I've decided that my life is too hectic and I need to make some changes. I'm giving up a few things and changing some schedules for summer. Each kid will still have their one summer activity but hopefully I won't be running from meeting to meeting or juggling work schedules so much. More on that later. I really need to concentrate on being a better mom and wife and Christian. It's not about what the world sees, it's about what's happening internally in the lives of myself and my family.
Although I have to admit that I was proud at the church Easter breakfast when we received at least three compliments on how well-behaved our children were. A few years ago, their behavior would have been all I was thinking about as we ate but I can honestly say that yesterday, I just enjoyed being there with them :)

Easter Sunday

Anthony's School Concert

No school concert picture would be complete

without a sibling's fingers

in the picture!

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Door in the Dining Room

Sorry this story took so long to post. It's really not worth the wait but here it is anyway. Zeke has been having lots of issues/attitude problems lately. I'm not sure what it stems from but I'm guessing it's because I've been gone so much lately. And even when I'm home, I've mentally checked out because I'm so tired, both physically and mentally. I deal with challenging children all day and haven't had a lot of energy left for my own kids. Anyway, Zeke has been stealing things and not listening to teachers/parents/authority figures. It's been quite a challenge.

At school, he threw a banana peel at lunch and then lied about it. He's not been doing what the teachers ask him to do and then smirking at them. He was being innappropriate in the bathroom at school. He's been really defiant at home. He's been missing at GAP after school twice because he's not where he's supposed to be. When confronted, he either laughs, plugs his ears and says "I can't hear you!", or just screams. It's been a bit of a challenge, to say the least.

The other day, Zeke wanted to watch TV and I told him no. He started throwing a tantrum on the floor so I let him know that if he continued, I would escort him to his room. He screamed louder and then plugged his ears and said, "I can't hear you!" I picked him up and deposited him on his bed in his room where he continued to scream. When I was back in the kitchen, he started to slam his door over and over. My blood pressure was starting to hit the boiling point. As I was stomping back to his bedroom, I realized that I didn't need to be so stressed about him slamming the door. I turned around, got my tool box, took out my flat head screwdriver and hammer and walked calmly back to Zeke's room, where he continued to slam the door and scream.

I calmly took the pins out of the door hinge and removed the door. Zeke immediately stopped screaming, his eyes following me and the door. He finally asked, "What are you doing?"

As I carried the door down the hallway and placed it against the wall in the dining room, I informed Zeke that he could have his door back when I thought it was safe for him to have it.

No more door slamming :)

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Riley Says

Last night, Riley was chatting with me as he was giving me a backrub. The conversation took many interesting turns but the best was when he was giving me more information from puberty class. He told me that it wasn't fair because "the boys only got papers but the girls got goodie bags, with pads and stuff."
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I'm sorry to say that puberty class is over for this year so I'll have to get my interesting stories from elsewhere now.
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I just looked at my post from the other day and noticed that I used the word "got" incorrectly. I never talk like that so I'm not sure what happened. Obviously I was a little tired. Steve's working at the bank until they close at noon today and I've got the post-it note chores for the kids. Most of them are eating breakfast and there's only been minimal tattling so far. So this morning while I'm enjoying my cup of coffee, I'll get a little posting done :)
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I have a door in my dining room. I'd love to post a picture and explain why but we've got a health and safety check from the Federal Review Team at work this morning so I don't want to be late! I'll explain later :)
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I'm home and tired.
The sitters were amazing.
I'm tired but I think we'll need to unload trailers today.
It's also my nephews 3rd birthday and a family end-of-the-year party for cheer.
I have to admit, this morning after I got Taylor off to church since she has nursery duty, I turned on spongebob for the other kids and crawled back into bed.
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