A Very Long Weekend

This is just one of Emma's self portrait photos I fond on my phone last week. There is a series of her many funny faces very close up.

The Attachment Center we use sent out our new AT. She is not an AT, in my opinion, and we have to fire her before she really screws up our kids. For those of you who do not even know what AT is I will give you a brief description. It is to facilitate attachment between the mother and child. It involves both at all times, the child is NEVER separated from the mother for any kind of talk therapy or play therapy without the mother at least watching through a window. Children with this disorder are VERY sneaking and manipulative. They are extremely charming and it can be very difficult to determine what is the truth and what is not. My oldest has gone 11 years fooling everyone in her path that she is a kind, caring, responsible, healthy child when the exact opposite is true. SHe has no feelings of any kind towards anyone, she just mimics what she sees others do. The AT we had had lots of ideas on how to get things out of her and force the truth. My children are most comfortable in a power struggle and I need advice on how to avoid them. The AT teaches non-conventional ways to parent, normal patterns do not work b/c you are dependent on the fact your child wants to please you and my children do care if I am pleased with them. Got it?

So this very bright and pleasant lady asks all kinds of questions about the kids and then informs us she will be working with us and will be including her "team" in the therapy. I have heard of teams being used to deal with a child before so I started asking her questions and discovered she had no idea what the hell she was talking about. I assume she would be a very effective play therapist and specializes in Sexual Abuse but she is not an AT. She informed me a member of her team would be seeing the kids at school. Alone. One member was a MAN. Considering my children's extremely poor boundary issues, it is not a good idea for a woman to be alone with a single child and a man is in real danger. She began to brag about how they will be checking my kids out of school and going to McDonald's and for ice cream. AH, HELLO, how is that going to build a bond with my children and I? It is going to build a bond between her and the kids, maybe. So being the fierce mom I am, I asked her this. She responded that she would allow me to sit in the last 15 minutes when she was here. What? Then she told me she would inform the kids that anything they say to her is confidential and she would not share it with me unless they are going to hurt themselves or others. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, NOW!!!!!! Of course I only said that in my mind but I did end the meeting and call my agency immediately. The Center will be finding me another AT, period.

We met yesterday with both our SW and the kids' CW. They have agreed to support us in keeping our oldest here and getting a psycho-sexual assessment done to determine if she is at risk to offend again. We have put ourselves on High Alert and the cameras in our home and door alarms are back in full swing. We have always had rules and devices in place due to the other children acting out sexually but we allowed her to bypass some of the rules b/c she is so "responsible". She is extremely parentified and had always been in charge of caring for the children in the past so in order to help her give up this role we allowed her access we didn't trust the others with. In fact, one of the reasons we trusted her so much is b/c she had reported other children's behaviors to us in the past.

We had to show how we plan to make our home safe again and keep it that way. Here are a few things we discussed with the workers. We never allow the doors to be closed during then day but recently allowed them to enter another child's room to play karaoke and dance as long as there were always 3 or more children and the door remained open. We do not allow Hide and Seek, blankets to be used in public areas, no sharing blankets or hands out of sight, no sitting on another child's bed, no laying down, bathroom always closed, and a few more. The new ones are the offending child must be in the room with me at all times another child is on the same floor, anytime that is not possible she must be in her room with the door alarm on, she may not be alone with any child, she can not be in charge of any child, she can not tell another child what to do, she can not be alone with friends, she can not go to friend's house, she can not play in the neighborhood without me, she can no longer participate in the buddy reading program at school, every one showers alone (sounds weird but with 6 girls you tend to double up), she must make me aware of her need to use restroom and lock the door, basically she has lost all extra privileges she had for being older like staying up late and allowance. It has only been a few days but so far she understands and is doing well.

The other children.....Michael is a tad aggressive towards her, we understand completely why. Ella is scared and has told me so today. Emma is mad to some degree but really doesn't understand what has happened b/c she has never experienced anything so terrible in her pre sibling group sheltered life. The others are barely responsive but we are confident they were unaware of this situation.

On top of all this fun stuff happening at home, my DH went to work this AM to see another contractor working on the building he is supposed to start on this week. He is devastated. We are not sure what this means for him and his job stability. It is entirely possible the brothers he works for has decided to put him on salary like they have discussed for months. The only issue with that is they didn't give him any warning about the other building and he is hurt. He also has at least 2 job offers that have been on the table for months that he can start with a days notice. All will be fine just more stress until the meeting to get details at 2PM. Keep your fingers crossed.

UPDATE: My agency and the Attachment Center have both called and we have a plan. The therapist that came out will stay on but only as a Sexual Abuse Expert and the owner will be our AT. I am thrilled! We have heard from other families he is great. Everyone agrees we are better off finalizing this week all together instead of postponing it or just her. The county they are from is extremely poor and does not have resources available to them like the state does. Once we finalize the adoption we would pull from the state instead of the county. Our agency does not have to continue with us after we finalize but they have a policy to be here when we need them and they committed to working closely with us and our AT until we had this under control. I feel like things are moving forward even though we are scared to death at moments.

The *#it has hit the fan

We discovered some devastating things have been going on here. At this point we, are not sure what will happen with our oldest but the police and DFCS will need to have a full investigation probably this afternoon. Our new AT specializes in this and I am hopeful she can help the other children involved work through this. I am not sure if it is in the family's best interest for her to continue living here at this time. We reassured her no matter what she is a part of this family and we love her. My DH and I are still in shock. She showed no remorse, only embarrassment. I tried to help her understand this is not who she is, it is something she has done. I hope that sinks in. She has promised not to hurt herself or run away but I am not convinced she won't. This is going to change her life and ours forever but we have every intention of adopting her regardless of the outcome.

I know I am going to forget some things but here it goes in no particular order......

I took the kids to a Safety Festival last week and since you can't see their faces I thought I would post it. From left to right A, B, Emma, B's friend A, D, E, P, and my son A. They had a blast getting to climb all over the vehicles, getting tons of stickers and misc. goodies, free ice cream, hot dogs, and sodas, and building wooded fire trucks.


We found out we are losing our agency SW and Attachment Therapist. Both are taking new jobs for different reasons.

We have a tentative adoption date, October 18th. I say tentative b/c the court has not received our latest background check and due to a new state law we had to redo it after we filed but before court. It has taken up to 5 months to get them back in the past and I will be shocked and amazed if they get it in a couple of weeks this time. On top of that Michael will probably have issues due to his criminal background even though he has DHR approval he has things in his past that would get him denied if it wasn't for The First Offender's Act. Unfortunately, GCIC (who maintains the records of all person's in GA) works under a different law which prohibits them from removing it from his record even though it can not be used against him. Confused? I am sure the Judge will be too w/o all the info and that could take time.

We have put a plan in place for my son. The next time he is a danger to himself or others he will be placed into a Residential Treatment Center until he is healthy enough to return home. We have explained this to him and that no matter where he stays he still lives here and is a part of our family. He has done VERY well for the last week or so and maintained control of himself while having his rages. I hope this is a turning point for him but I do not think he will be able to maintain forever. Fingers are crossed, though.

My friend with the tumor has had to terminate her pregnancy and move several hours away to her parents home. She is devastated by her boyfriend's inability to cope and his breakdown during all this.

My friend, Eve, had her baby boy and decided to parent him. On one level I am happy for her b/c I believe families should be preserved if at all possible. I worry how she will support both her children w/o a job or child support and she claims to not be feeling a bond with him. On the other, I am sad for myself and my children, we were really excited.

Emma's sisters are due to go back to their Gma's very soon as long as their Mother is not living there. Of course, she is and only claiming to be at her Gma's.


I have begun to be very strict and everything is black and white for my oldest even if it seems to be an accident. It is working! She really needed me to be exact and take all her control away. She rarely does anything really wrong so it was hard to nail her on anything and I found myself giving her the benefit of the doubt all the time. Now she gets a consequence even if it is more likely to have been an error and she is so much more respectful. I call her on everything and it is draining but the results are amazing.

Our new dog has very sharp teeth and has nipped the kids a few times when the kids are not being too smart. This has caused the kids to be covered in tiny scratches and a few large marks. The school has started to ask questions about them and even taken the girls aside to ask about marks on my son. He had a huge lark on his face from a rage he had and ended up with a rug burn under his eye and a deep scratch in his arm from the dog (we took him to the ER even though we were sure it was overkill). It concerns me they are having these conversations but I am covering my rear with our SW and AT. Everything is documented but this is also why we decided to put a plan in place for Michael.

We have been nominated by our agency to be The Adoptive Family of the Year. I am not sure what all this entails but I do know there will be prizes and a really fancy lunch with up to 1200 people. We are waiting for our invitation now they just called last week to tell us to be looking for it and that we had been selected. Sounds like fun.

Ruthie threw a fit the over the weekend in front of a neighbor kid and humiliated me. She started screaming like I was hurting her when I touched her hand. The poor kids was horrified and too scared to leave. I had to go down and explain things to his parents and I was so lucky that they were such good friends with our neighbor that has 15 kids. They understood as much as they could w/o actually parenting children with these issues. They have a daughter with special needs and did understand embarrassing fits.

I have decided to reveal my kids' new names and begin to refer to each of them by the new ones. We gave our children the choice of just adding our last name or adding a new first or middle to the mix. All were required to keep their original first and last name as middle names. Ex. Their original name was Jane Ann Doe they would be Mary Jane Doe Smith or Jane Mary Doe Smith. We didn't wan them to think or feel that who they were was changing or that they lost who they were when they were adopted as many other adoptees I know. Most of my kids had no idea they had a middle name before so it didn't seem very important to them to keep it. Five of them threw a fit about having to keep any part of their old name but we stood strong.

B- 11 is now B. Cyr (pronounced Sear) H. D. She asked for this name b/c it is my middle name and is my Gma's maiden name and she is being called by it not B

P- 9 is the only child that has retained her name, she only rearranged it b/c it is so unusual that people thought she was a pet or a boy (I will tell you after the adoption the name but it fits so well I am glad she chose to keep it) Marie P. H. D. She will continue to be called P.

D-8 also took my middle name it is just the one I shed at 18 when I changed my name legally to Cyr, she decided to take it in memory of my dear aunt that passed away since she has come to live with us. Ruthie D. H. D.

A-7 will be Michael A. H. D. after my husband. This was his request and it took us a bit to agree b/c it made me feel weird for his parents. He was so set on it our therapist suggested it would do more damage to him to refuse, kind of a rejection of him as our son.

The twins decided they needed 2 new names b/c they matched so well. LOL

C-5 will be Ella Mae C. H. D. Mae is for my Gma and Ella is from the Disney movie Ella Enchanted, she claims she is a princess now. We actually call her Smella for good reason.

A-5 will be Ava Ann A. H. D. Ann is a family name on my side (My Mother, sister, and niece) and is my DH's Mother

Emma is adding her original name back on her birth certificate as a second middle name but is still being called Emma Jane b/c she couldn't remember who Alyvia was when it was called. LOL All the other kids quickly picked up their new names over the summer and the school agreed to use it.

Things have been difficult but I have tons to blog about when the kids go to school............

Pictures

I figured out the picture thing! Only problem is getting a decent photo from my phone because I can't find the cord to my digital camera. Be patient, many more pictures to come.

A Room, An Evil Mom, and A Sick Friend

My son was a freak yesterday. He weighs less than 40lbs and managed to pick up and toss over his entire bed in a rage. He pulled his dresser, table, and benches over and threw all his other things in a pile. He has a favorite Spongebob night lite and he took it by the cord and swung it until it shattered then threw all it's pieces at us. We have no idea what got him going but before he completely flipped out he slapped and punched Emma. She was quick enough to get hers in before he ran off to his room. SHe was upset but really proud that she reacted so quickly.

My son told a neighborhood kid over the weekend that I was evil because I held him to the floor until he cried all the time. WOW! The poor neighbor kid was shocked and I am sure she ran home to tell her parents. It is true, though. I do hold him to the floor and I do it until he cries (shows any emotion but rage). I am not evil, he is possessed when in a rage. I let him know it truly hurt my feelings and he needs to watch what he tells people about other people. I see a real issue on the rise with this.

A friend of mine is in the hospital, they discovered a brain tumor and are doing emergency surgery in a few hours. It is not certain she will survive and if she does what condition she will be in b/c of the location of the tumor. She has chemo and raditation to look forward to if she does. She is 28.

Sick and Old

We did go yesterday and all went smoothly. I think my attorney thinks I am an idiot because she repeats everything to me slowly. Last time she was critical of the kids behavior. Hello Lady, the kids have a horrible past dealing with the courthouse and nothing good came come from being there. Why wouldn't they be acting up? Made sense to me. All we have to do now is get our fingerprints done again and update our homestudy. No problem.

P has been sick for 2 days. She started throwing up in the middle of the night and I was upset she woke up the dog telling me her throat her. I felt horrible when I heard her crying and wretching. I ran in there to help catch it before it hit the floor. What is wrong with me, the dog has peed on the floor now so let the puke hit the floor. She has been miserable laying on the sofa and so sick she didn't hear the other kids get up and go to school. She woke up frantic that they had overslept b/c I was on the other sofa passed out after being up all night.

I found out from her sister, D, that she had gotten in trouble the last afternoon she had ridden the bus home. She had been trying to be funny with the 2 ladies on the bus and called one an old lady. The bus driver had her move up front and wrote her up. I understand that name calling is rude but in our house "Old Lady" is not bad. It is something you strive to be. It is said teasingly and lovingly. I call my Mother, The Old Lady, of course, I also call her other things to my sister but my child doesn't know that. Anyway, P was trying to be funny and this lady was upset. Why is old a bad thing? It just doesn't seem fair. Well, I forgot to mention in our house crazy is normal, that could be part of the issue, too.

Filing the Petition

We are on our way to file the Petition for the Adoption of our children. I am so excited.

A Night Out

Emma went to spend the night with her 3 sisters (not the ones that live here, her natural ones), Nana, and her Mother. She was so excited to go and I was thrilled for her. She barely knows her sister Kendalyn and really needs to get to know her. I am sure she will be filthy and in need of a healthy meal after running around outside and eating tons of junk food over there. (I am sure she would have been fed good food but she insisted she needed to bring snacks for them) She only called 2 times this visit. I am waiting now for another call when she wakes up.


We took the other kids out to a dollar movie and saw Surf's Up. Does it matter that the grown ups liked it more than the kids? It was very funny but several of my kids fell asleep. They filled up on popcorn and passed out.

The puppy is ruining my life. OK, maybe that was a bit dramatic, he is just ruining my new carpet. I must admit in here but never to my DH, he is a cutie. He has been sleeping on my DH's side of the bed and last night he kicked him repeatedly and barked in his sleep. I can't wait until he grows too big to sleep there. Our last Dogo used to squeeze between us until he could reach his head up to my pillow. He would do this very slowly until he was comfy and I would wake up with his dog breath in my face. Have I mentioned I am not a dog lover? DH is exhausted and complaining about getting up in the middle of the night to let him out. Boo Hoo, Buddy Boy. I have gotten up every night for the last year with our new kids and he sleeps right through it. I really have no sympathy for him.

Kids are really enjoying their new playroom. Every minute they are awake they are down there. I am only regretting that it took so long to finish it. I am trying to get some pictures to post, please be patient.

Another Family Member

Well against my better judgement we are getting a dog. I am not happy about this in the least but I was outvoted by every other member of my family. Personally, I think I should be the only one that counts b/c I will be the only one taking care of this beast. I am home all day while they are at work and school, why is it that I am being forced into this.

He will be delivered to the airport tomorrow and my DH will be driving the hour to pick him up. Every one here is thrilled to death about his arrival. He is an Argentine Dogo. The only good thing about this breed is they do not have any odor. That is a huge thing to me b/c every dog we have had besides a Dogo smell so bad I get headaches. They are very large and white. They look like huge Pitbulls but are pack dogs, actually boar hunters. They are very easy to train and smarter than a German Shepard. They are protective but only if you are in danger and are friendly if you know the person. They read their owners very well and are great lap dogs if you had a giant lap that is. I am sure I will have tons to post later about this subject.

The Playroom

The check came this week and is already spent. It is so sad to have that kind of money just go so easily. The kids needed school clothes and we spent a fortune on finishing the basement for them. Today we will haul all of their toys down there and they will be let loose to play. I have provided them with tons of storage for all the little goodies they have and room to grow on. I am hopeful I can teach them how to put everything back in it's place. OK, truth be told, I know this place is going to be a wreck but at least it will be in the basement so company can't see it. LOL

I try to post pictures later with my DH's camera phone so don't count on a clear photo. We did the room in primary colors to match the crazy pattern on the commercial grade carpet that was left over from a JumpZone my DH built. It is very kid friendly and wild. The walls are all bright colors and are yellow, orange, and green. We are using accents of red and royal blue. I painted one entire wall in black board paint and set up a mini classroom for them to play school properly. The other end of the room has a sectional sofa, TV, XBOX, VCR, DVD player, and all the movies. I have 2 cameras and a hand held color video monitor with sound that we are installing to keep an eye on them. All the other wall space is now shelves for storage. I really can't fit another thing in there to hold toys. I will be decorating the walls with their artwork that I have saved and framed. Every one that has seen it wants to be a kid again.

Jensboys

I can not log on or figure out a way to log onto SofA. It keeps coming up as banned and that I am a stinking spammer. Help me! I am starting to have tremors from lack of contact.

I sure hope you still read my blog otherwise I may be banned forever.

My Son is Losing Control

My son has gotten progressively worse since school started back. He embarrassed his sisters and I at the OT Clinic yesterday and trust me that is difficult to do at this satge in the game. I am just tired of restraining him. He needs to be held and will go to great lengths to get me to do so.

I contacted the school for the 2nd time about having a meeting to meet his SID (Sensory Integration Dysfunction) needs. His teacher, I am sure by her reaction or lack of, thinks I am a crazy person and tried to put me off on the Assistant Principal. I was pleased b/c I have met her and she is aware we have special issues. I called her and she jumped right on board. She is willing to put together an emergency IEP meeting and see what they can do to help. I think I am going to have a problem with implementing the sensory equipment in class b/c his sensory issues do not effect his education which is part of the requirement. It is however destroying our family so hopefully they will be sympathetic.

My goal is to discuss this issue and a possible move to a contained classroom like his sisters. He is currently pulled out of 1st grade for the maximum time in a Resource class. He is 7 yrs old and can not recognize any Sight Words, most of the alphabet, or any of their sounds while he watches Emma read and she is a year younger. This bothers him b/c they are in the same grade and his younger sister by 2 years is catching on faster than he is. My feeling is all this is having an effect on his behavior and self-esteem. I want my son to succeed.

Our Agency Saves the Day

I love my adoption agency! They have been so supportive and today they topped their best efforts. Still no news about the Adoption Assistance check so I called to tell my SW that our van was dead and I can't make any of the appointments until I get our money to fix the van. It was not a threat, I thought I needed to let them know I can't do OT, PT, Speech, or any of the other doctor appointments this week. Get this.....they GAVE us money to fix the van. I was shocked, I told them it wasn't necessary and they insisted. I was just trying to cover my rear and they really stepped up. This is not something little either, $1500. I am so thrilled to have my van towed tomorrow and hopefully be fixed quickly. Without them we truly couldn't have fixed the van.

I have the most annoying cricket screaming for a mate outside our front door. The darn thing can be heard across the house. Last night it woke Emma up and she had to crash on our floor, again.

Poor Girl

Emma had a friend spend the night for the first time. It was actually the first time for anyone except family to spend the night with any of my kids. It was a real eye opener, let me tell you. A lot of my kids wear pull ups at night due to their past abuse and possibly the smallest bladders in the world. We have made them feel good enough about them that they completely forgot every thing I said when I asked them to change for bed. That part is not unusual (forgetting every thing I said part) but them coming down in just their pull ups was a bit uncomfortable for the girl. They were prancing around in them when she came out of the bathroom and was shocked to see so many big kids nearly naked. Coming from a small household she was already overwhelmed but holding it together. She was completely confused why they had them on and my kids started telling her that they wet their beds every night and they wear them b/c I make them do laundry. What? She just couldn't wrap her mind around the laundry and bedwetting thing, how did they go together? I heard her asking Emma if it was like this all the time in here and Em told her, "No, they are just being good for you."

Poor girl barely ate a thing. She is extremely picky with food which is not something we an issue with anymore. My kids were shocked that she would just throw food away instead of giving it to them and she couldn't believe they wanted her food. She is used to getting what she wants to eat for each meal. This was like stepping into The Twilight Zone for her. She said it was fun and wanted to come back but I would love to be a fly on the wall at her house when they ask her how it was.

A Bit of a Meltdown

Well, my son had a hard time last Friday and did very well over the weekend. He has had a hard time every day after school but able to keep it together and not hurt anyone.....until today. He was told if he sat down and did his homework in a timely manner he would be able to join his Dad at work with a couple of the girls while I took everyone else to OT. He was excited and sat right down. I walked away for less than a minute and he was flipping out b/c Emma was finished with her homework and announced she would be able to go. My son had to write, no copy, 10 simple spelling words. He is fully capable of copying these words, he has done this many times. It ended up being a big ordeal and of course he was unable to go with DH. He had to be carried out to the car and strapped in several times before he decided to stay.

Once we got to the OT's office he had calmed and seemed fine. Three of the girls needed to go to the restroom, this happens every where and every time we go out. I walked them to the bathroom andstood in the hallway between the restroom and the office. I heard someone crying and realized it was him. He was laying on the floor bawling. I asked him to come into the hall with me and he refused and began kicking and screaming. In the hall it turned into an all out tantrum. He threw his folder at me and and ripped up all his paperwork. When the girsl were done I tried to escort him back in and it ended up in a restraint to protect me. He had started hitting, kicking, and scratching me. He laid there for 20 minutes and started crying. I held him for another 20 minutes in a cradle like position that usually helps. His OT thinks it is SID related, I am not so sure. Maybe. I do know he hasn't been like this in a long time and once school started he has needed to let it go again a couple of times.

Money

I know I mentioned that we were waiting on our Adoption Assistance to be sent a while back. It still isn't here! Everyone is pointing their finger at the kids' CW for not doing the original paperwork correctly and then failing to send it to the regional office for filing. Fine, but where does that leave us? Waiting for a check that may or may not have been written for June, July, August, and soon to be September. We can easily afford Emma but adding a sibling group of 6 added a financial burden that we can't maintain for long and on top of that b/c they didn't mention a delay would happen once we signed so we didn't save up for it. Instead we over extended ourselves in a new house in need of lots of repair and school starting. Shame on us for trying to provide a better house and life for all of us.

The latest on this is the Regional Adoption Coordinator (RAC) is investigating where the correct paperwork is. She emailed the kids' CW on Friday and has not updated us yet. I hate to tell them off b/c they are the ones in charge of getting us our money but I am livid. Everything has gotten behind now and we are in a pickle. I need that check this week! Somehow I do not htink my screaming that will help. I am trying to be patient but I am now calling my poor SW every pother day to see if she knows anything. My DH is freaking out b/c his new position only pays him monthly now so we are really in trouble. Once they fix this it should not be a problem again, it is just getting it started.

Push, Push, Push

P's teacher called this morning and I missed the call. She left me a message that she would call this afternoon so I was nervous all day waiting. Turns out 2 girls from another Special Ed class that walk with her to Music pushed her repeatedly. She did a great job controlling herself and told the teacher. She was happy to know the girls got a U in behavior for the day and a note to their parents. Then she goes on to tell me P told her that a kid named Mathew in her class likes her. The teacher is concerned about her giggles and that she has misunderstood this other boy. I agreed that was entirely possible given her history. When I talked to P this afternoon she claims this child told her, "I have a crush on you." Seems pretty normal for a 10 yr old boy, right? I warned her that at 9 she does not need to be holding hands or kissing but that it is normal to like being liked and to like boys. She blushed and denied liking him back. Yeah right, I was born yesterday. She talks about him every day.

D came home and said another child spit on her and hit her. I don't know if I believe her for sure b/c it came when P was getting attention for her incident. She said the teacher sent a note home to their parents.

I am noticing more and more that B avoids affection from me. She walked right up to my DH last night to hug and kiss him but ignored me completely. After she went upstairs to pick out her clothes for school she tried to argue with me about another child's clothes. I had to remind her I was the Mother and what I said was law for the millionth time. SHe is so disconnected to me that it makes me sad for her. I hope we are able to help her past this, she deserves to feel love. In the meantime, she is driving me crazy on purpose and hiding my frustration is difficult but very important.

Waiting

At the last possible hour my oldest and DH decided the didn't have anything to wear tomorrow and I am expected to stay up and be sure the load of laundry is dry. Yes, it can't just be put in the dryer, I must be sure it gets dry. My dryer has been freaky since we moved here and only works when it feels like it. It can go through thte entire cycle is done or cut off randomly through the cycle.

I am not happy about htis byt I am thrilled about why I haven't done any laundry all weekend.
We have had a great weekend. DH took us to breakfast at Waffle House. Yeah!! He then had to go to work for a bit so we took my son to get his hair cut. The lady cut it WAY too short, the good thing is it will grow back and he hasn't a clue. We were able to meet DH later at the pool for a much loved swim.

The best part of the weekend was no one got in real trouble. We had so much fun and everybody behaved. Everyone took their meds w/o complaint, did their chores, worked out fights w/o tattles, and smiled. I am so happy my kids are becoming happy, fun people to be around. Isn't that what a parent is to do? Make their kids likeable and happy. I must be doing something right.

Speaking of family, my DH's Paternal Gpa died a while ago, maybe 2 months or so. Anyway, we got a call today that his aunts and uncles that have had nothing to do with DH basically his entire life want him to have the small inheritance that his Dad would have received had he not drank himself to death. Keep in mind it really isn't much but to them it would be a lot. We have decided to spend the money on a special quick trip with the kids to see the ocean. I made the suggestion to DH b/c he never had those growing up and he always dreamed his Dad would come and do family type things with him. Every time we think about the first time most of our kids saw the ocean was with money from his Father's family. In a round about way, he will have a fun memory of his long lost family.

So now I am trying to figure out where we should go. I love St. Augustine Beach and he is thinking Panama City Beach. His is cheaper and mine has less drunk teens even though it will be after peak season. We are thinking of taking a long weekend in the middle of September.

(My dryer just shut off again for no reason. AGGHH!)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Wait a Minute Who are You?

I took the kids to McDonald's this morning to play and have breakfast. They were so good and eating like champs so we headed to the indoor playground for a bit. We were stopped by a couple and their little girl to ask if what kind of program I ran. This happens ALOT. Emma recognized the little girl and ran to hug her. She was from her class at school. That sparked a whole new conversation as they followed us to the playground. They wanted to borrow Emma and when I offered to invite their dd over to spend the night sometime they were thrilled. They got to see how I parent first hand and kept telling me how impressed they were. They have not allowed their dd to spend the night out yet but were now very excited at the prospect of letting me take her sometime. They laughed and said they were really excited about Emma spending the night at their house b/c they could sleep past 6AM if their dd had a playmate to entertain her. They made sure to get my number and since they were almost salivating, I know they will call soon.

As we were sitting there other unattended children kept coming up to the table and sitting with us. That happens alot, too. I have no idea why but almost every time we are out other people's children flock to us. We have had them sit down and eat with us and realize we had someone else's kid. Some people really do not supervise their kids well in public. If I had one leave the bunch, I would know right away and I have 7. How is it possible they lose their kid when they only have 1 or 2? I could walk out of any fast food restaurant with additional kids and I swear their parents would not know until after I left the parking lot. It makes me so mad and yes, I have had 2 little boys get in our van and buckle up.