Saturday, May 23, 2009

Catch Up, Digest Version

Life has gotten even busier in the past week and a half. I have started subbing long-term at the kids school in a 3rd grade class till the end of the school year. This has made for long days of working, still trying to be the fundraiser coordinator, and of course being mom and wife. I am looking forward to a break come June 11th.

The kids started swim lessons two weeks ago and have made great progress in the past 4 lessons. They both went into it with a pretty big fear of the water and not much experience when it comes to swimming. Alexis can't stand even the water at bath time. The one thing she does love is cute swimsuits.
She likes her teacher Rachel, but also likes to pull out the puppy dog eyes to get out of doing things outside her comfort zone. Not the most graceful swimmer YET, but getting there. We are going to sign up for another session in hopes of getting even better.
Andrew is the main reason we signed up for the lessons to begin with. He really wants a pool party for his birthday (which is this coming Wed.), but yet he doesn't know how to swim. Not a good combination. He tends to panic and starts making himself sick to his stomach. We were off to a rough start with clinging to the wall, but as of his fourth lesson he was already swimming off on his own. All smiles (and chattering teeth in the shade).
Clinging to his teacher.


Besides the obvious first of swim lessons, Aiden also had a first this past week. He had his first dentist appointment. I was disappointed that I could not be there since I had to teach. So, Dale treaded off to the dentist alone with my questions running in the back of his mind. Aiden was very cooperative and even allowed them to take an x-ray of his upper teeth. They are crazy looking from what Dale could see, but that is to be expected. The dentist thinks he has a tooth coming in the cleft area, which I have thought for a while now, but it is struggling to come through the scar tissue. If that continues then they will have to slit his gumline to help it work it's way through. Hoping it doesn't come to that.
One of the main questions I had for the dentist was, "How do I get Aiden comfortable with us brushing his teeth?" He fights us just to stick our fingers in his mouth to check the number of teeth he has. Well, that question was never asked. Before Dale could ask the dentist had already said, "Wow, you guys are doing a great job keeping Aiden's teeth cleaned!" To which Dale did not want to respond with, "we have never been able to brush them, what should we do?" So, he just left alone and let him believe that we are doing everything right. UGH!!! Any suggestions and brushing teeth?

And now on to BIG and EXCITING news (yes swiming and dentist are exciting, but.....)
I have been working feverishly to raise almost $18,000 for our 4th graders to go to Catalina Science Camp next year. It has been crazy and TONS of work to say the least. As of last Monday we were $6,201 away from our goal with the deadline approaching fast. We had only a few more fundraisers up our sleeve and I was starting to panic. We had our Fun Run on Friday, at which we were able to raise $1,650!!! I was shocked at the amount. I thought we might get about $500 but could not find the words when the money just kept pouring in. The kids had a lot of fun running and were super excited to have Bernie, the mascot of the local minor baseball team, running with them.


Though Alexis wasn't there for the Fun Run part of it, she was at the sitters, Bernie stuck around after school and Alexis got to take her picture with him. She could not stop talking about how he kissed her (little creepy to me) and was super excited to know that she will get to see him again at Thursday night's game that Mentone Elementary will be going to (of course to raise funds for Science Camp).

BUT, the biggest news is..... ::drum roll please:: I got a phone call early on Friday morning that an anonymous donor would be sending in a check either later that day or on Tuesday. My smile could not get bigger as the day went on. When the check showed up at the office right before I was walking out the door, I was shocked it was actually happening and could not contain my excitment. The check ::drum roll again please:: was for the amount of FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!! That put us clearly above our goal and ensures that the kiddos will be going to Science Camp in Oct of 2009.
It has been A LOT of hard work but well worth it all in the end. I would be making that same statement even if we didn't make the finish line. Thank you to everyone here for being my encouraging cheerleaders.
And now, I rest. That is until Tuesday when it is time to go back to work.

6 comments:

  1. That is SO GREAT that you were able to raise enough money for the kiddos--I'm sure they will be super excited for their trip!

    Oh, and I was laughing about Dale not asking about the teeth brushing since the dentist thought his teeth looked so good! As for Drew, we let him "help" us brush his or I'll do it first and then give it to him to try. I've read that you don't even really need that "baby" toothpaste, but the flavor may make him want to brush more.

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  2. Joy, wow...can I borrow you for our next fundraising event??? You would be a trooper on our Relay for Life team!!! : ) Love the pics of the kids. That water looks so inviting for those swimming lessons! Can't wait for some pool weather here....too cold yet. Our neighbors were in their pool the other day....water temp was 69 degrees. No thank you! I'll wait!

    Also have to comment about Reid being a good big brother some day. Ahhhh...we have tinkered with the idea, but for now, I believe our family is complete. Never say never, I know...but Reid is a handfull. He looks mighty cute in pictures...but whew....full time kiddo that wears me out. I don't think we could handle another one at this time...even though, yes, Reid (and Ellie) would probably love it. Thank goodness for all the neighbors who have younger ones...they give me my baby fix, and the kids a "real" baby to love up. That's fine for now! Have a great week, Joy!

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  3. I havnt been too up to date reading blogs lately but checked yours out again the other night and "caught" up on yall.
    First, this is long overdue (but like I said I have been out of the blogging world lately) but Im so sorry for the loss of your brother. I will continue to pray for yall as Im sure the process of grieving isnt over yet.
    Secondly.....YAY for raising the money! That is sooo awesome! I bet you are so relieved!! Last summer Elisa was invited to be on an All Star T-Ball team for our area and the girls made it to Nationals. It was in New Orleans, and we werent willing to shell out the cash out of our own pockets and werent willing to go into debt to get her there. So, we made it clear we would be fundraising the entire amount. We had less than a month to raise something like $13k (about 1k per girl) and we did it....it was just a TON of hard work. Fundraising like everyday trying to earn every single penny. So, I know EXACTLY what youve been going through this past month or so. Im so excited that yall reached your goal! Praise God!

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  4. Hey, Joy...me again. I wanted to comment to you about getting the video to show up. Do you use One True Media??? That's the only way I can get the videos to post. The Blogger video upload and I do not get along....AT ALL. I use One True Media to upload...and I have good luck. Copy your code...and then paste onto your window as you would be using to write text in your blogger screen. Then....I hit save and post. Now, many times, it will say that there is some error or something like that....no big deal. Seriously...erase the text that you pasted into the blogger box and then hit paste again. It will have much longer code the second time around. NO idea why this happens...seriously...but, it will work. Your video should upload to your Blog after the second time. What a pain, I know...but see what happens. Any insight from you...do your pictures come out totally backwards from how you upload them. I have to seriously think when I post because my first pic posted becomes my last and my last my first. Why??? Your turn with the insight!!!! : ) Have a great night, Joy!

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  5. When Aiden is in his high chair or somewhere that he is stilling let him hold his toothbrush and play with it. We also let Caden brush his teeth with Evan & Hannah and he thinks he is a big boy. Whenever we say it is time to brush your choppies he is the first one to the bathroom. We only use a tiny bit of toothpaste on his brush.

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  6. I am so glad that you were able to raise all of the money for the 5th graders to go to Catalina. What a great opportunity for them!!! Thank for the group effort and all of those who donated to make this possible!!! I love you Andrew and know that you will have a wonderful time. Wish I could sneak along with you!!!

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