another sunday...

Wow, seems like the weekends fly by and before I know it, it is sunday. Which means tomorrow is Monday. So going to try to make the most of this day and see what we can get accomplished.

Tuesday night, I came home from work to be notified of a scheduled family meeting for that evening. Jake tells me that they (he and Lucas) have an agenda with some topics that they would like to discuss.... I thought I had walked into Intel or something. But after dinner, we had our little family meeting. Apparently their sleeping arrangement of sharing a bedroom is not working out for them. So we figured out a compromise of moving furniture around and even seating arrangements in the vehicles. We worked out a plan to see how they do with more responsibilities around the house and to earn more allowance. We established that I am not the maid and that one particular job is not one particular person's job. If the garbage can is full - take it out. If the dishwasher needs unloaded, unload it... These boys are growing up and past time to take part in helping more around the house. But it was a productive meeting. Funny how the littlest things can into such turmoil. I wish that so many other issues in the world could be solved by a family meeting at the kitchen table. Now they want to meet more often....

Monday, Jake started lacrosse. So he will be at practice two to three times a week. Then in a few weeks, we will be having games again on saturdays. Busy times. But he likes it. I am a little worried about his coach though and not really sure how to handle that. I have seen this guy coach last year and sportsmanship and the kids having fun, was not the priority. Jake has had two practices with him now and he says that he doesn't like him. "It is all about winning and not being failures..." There is going to be a lot of additional coaching by the guys with Rhino Lacrosse who also play for the Lumberjax. So it will not only be his coach. I like this part of it. So the president of the league is going to be helping with the team over the next couple of weeks, I think I might talk to him a bit and share my concerns. Am I making the right choice with this, or is this a lesson for Jake that things are tough and he needs to find a way to work through it. But sportsmanship is so important. I don't want him to lose the fun though either... I am just not sure what to do.

I finally got my passport application in on thursday. I was going to go to Seattle and do the app in a day process. But found out that you need to show proof of travel. And since my trip is more than 2 weeks away, I wouldn't be able to get an appointment. So went to the office in Hillsboro and paid the expidite fees and sent off for the passport. Now just keeping my fingers crossed that it will be here in time.

Thursday was also a day of conferences. Jake's went well. I really like the team he works with. His teacher is on maternity leave and he really likes his sub. He says that she is stricter than his regular teacher and she is working on "the rules" for the class. Jake is my rule driven kid for sure. He does not like to see kids getting away with things and not going by the rules. So after his conference, we headed to Lucas' school. Wednesday got away from us and we totally missed his conference. I wanted to talk to his teacher though so we just kind of showed up. It worked out that no one else was there. This school is set up so weird with the conferences. It is just kind of walk from class to class and hope that the teacher knows what kid they are there to meet about. But Lucas just hates school. He is having such a hard year. I wanted the teacher to know this and to try to figure out what exactly is going on so we can make the rest of the year better for him. So I told her this and then let Lucas explain to her what was going on. I think it was good. We were able to show Lucas where there were things he could do to make things less stressful on himself with school work. She is going to move some kids around and strategically place Lucas near another kid that he gets along with. So in the end, I think it went well. His grades are really starting to slip and I think the whole attitude of "hating" school is showing. I hope that he can finish the year on an upbeat now.

After the conference, we went to the Beaverton School District about open enrollment schools. Apparently with the Option schools we have, it is creating a low attendance for the smaller schools in the area. The school that Lucas goes to is HUGE!!!! I don't think it will be a good place for Jake to go to next year at all. So he applied to the option schools and neither of them got in. I looked into private schools even. Oh boy - those tuition costs would kill me. I got talking to some other parents and found out that boundary exceptions are not needed anymore. That these open enrollment schools are available. So at the district they tell me the deadline to apply was the 1st. Ok, how was I suppose to know that. What can I do? She tells me I can go to the school and apply for an administrative transfer. So off to Meadow Park we go. This school has been spoken very highly about from many parents that I have talked to. So that was our hope. I go into the office and turn in my applications. The gal at the school said that I was there just in time. That thursday was the deadline for open enrollment. Oh ok... District office told me different and I am starting to feel like I am getting the run around. Anyway, she ended up being very nice. I felt like she was very upfront with me about how the process was going to work. We may run into an issue with Jake's IEP. Lucas may get in but Jake not. Then we would use the Admin transfer as our plan B for Jake. So with spring break coming up, we probably wouldn't hear before the first of April. But in the mail yesterday I got the applications with the note at the bottom that both boys were approved for open enrollment application. Ok, so what does that mean now??? No letter of explanation of the next step... So guess I will call monday and see what we do next. But I think that is good news. I think we got both the boys into Meadow Park for the remaining of middle school. With Open enrollment, we won't have to apply each year and busing may even be available. But think this is good news.

Friday was a day of errands and then got Tom and Jake off for their camping trip. Lucas and I made some really yummy pizza for dinner but we passed on the ice cream run. It was a long crazy day and I was in my pjs before 8!

Friday, I also got the MRI scheduled for Lucas. Apparently there was a mix up with the referral being faxed. They sent it to the wrong office and that office didn't bother to tell anyone that they got it by mistake. anyway, finally got it scheduled for Tuesday afternoon and then friday afternoon we will meet with the neurosurgeon. I am really hoping we can finally figure out what is going on with this kid. It might possibly be a tethered cord. It could be connected with all his issues. But we will see what they find.

Yesterday, I worked some in the am and baked a cake for my dad's 70th birthday dinner. Lucas and I went to my parents house for dinner and then she never served my cake. So brought it home... Guess we will have dessert for tonight!

Brings us to today... Lucas has a speech to finish and I have some projects to work on for work. Then we are going to work on the clean sweep of the boys' bedroom. Time to get rid of more toys in there and clothes that are too small. From our family meeting, Jake is feeling like I made him get rid of all his toys (when we cleaned out the game room) and not any of Lucas'. Jake and I went through the toys together and he decided what was to be given away, but mom takes the fall again... So need to give away some of Lucas' stuff now to balance everything out in the world... But since it is now after 11:30, I should probably get some breakfast going. Lucas wants french toast and sausage. Then we will get to things.

So have a good day today! I think even a nap may be on my agenda today...
Laura