Pumpkin Patches

Justin's class went to the pumpkin patch last week. Justin actually has 2 classes, his orthapedic class and his kindergarten class. He was a little intimidated by his special class at first. There are several in wheel chairs, 5 out of the 9 are, and 4 are mobile. But as we have come to know these kids, they are wonderful and funny! His teacher, Terri, is amazing as are the 4 aids in the class. Justin goes to kindergarden for most of the day with an aid. I get to volunteer in the K class and I love to observe Justin and get to know the other kids. He's doing great.

To be honest, I was a little intimidated too by Terri's class. But last week I got to go to the pumpkin patch with them and I tell you, you spend a day with these kids and it can change your life. These kids have it rough and they are troopers and some of the most special people you could be around. And those teachers of these kids are heaven-sent also. Some of these kids make Justin's life look easy. These kids range from K-4th grade.

Jusin, Caleb, and Lidia. Big Al (is what they call him) with the black glasses and big grin, he's a hoot!

In the gigantic box of corn. They loved it. It was a therapist's dream for all these kids! Sensory input here we come!

Justin loves Caleb. He talks about him all the time. Apparently they are quite the pair in class, they crack each other up constantly and then it makes everyone else crack up too!

It was a wonderful day at the pumpkin patch with this class. Makes you really grateful.



Last weekend we went to a different pumpkin patch here in Clayton. Here the boys are in a hay maze.

Big bowl of some sort of seeds. I found seeds for the next few days all over my house, in the washing machine and even all in MY clothes. Just when you thought there couldn't be any more, there always was. We must have brought a pound of it home with us in our clothes.

Justin's favorite thing...putting seeds in his pants...

...and in Seth's shirt...

...and on Seth's head...

...and on Mom. Thank you Ryan. He threw me in!

And my favorite...the digger. He just learned how to self clean this summer.

First Day of School!

I know the first day of school was forever ago, but here it is! I haven't even wrapped up summer yet on my blog! Here are Trey and Justin on their first day of school. Trey is in 2nd grade and Justin started kindergarten. Justin was placed in a special class in a different school, called Monte Gardens, and I really didn't want them in different schools so I tried to get Trey into the same school. I didn't think he got in, but I called one last time the day before school started and found out he did! We were thrilled, well not Trey. But then he found out one of his good friends was going to be in his class and then he was okay. Here's Trey and his friend JT.

Even Grandpa was there for the big day!

I was so sad for summer to be over and school to begin, but now we're in the swing of things and it's all good. I was worried about Justin going 5 days a week and starting so early, but he's loving it. He wasn't at first. He didn't want to go or be dropped off. We started a carpool with our friends the Taylors, and it has been wonderful. Trey and JT are great friends and Justin LOVES Caroline, the 5th grader and she loves him too. So it works out great!

Sweetest boys

I know I'm their mama, but I have the sweetest boys. I mean it, I really do. They all have their moments when I want to run away and put myself in time-out, and then they have those other moments where I couldn't be prouder. Trey in particular has been so sweet these past few days. On Friday we went for a walk. Trey was on his bicycle, Justin on his tricycle, and I was pushing Seth in the stroller. Justin kept telling me that his trike was not working, but I was thinking he was just tired. Finally I noticed that one of his tires was flat. He was right! So Justin was going to have to walk all the way home and I had to push the trike and the stroller home. We were literally at the furthest point from home on our walk. But Trey quickly said, "Justin, let's play follow the leader! Just follow me!" And he did. Trey rode really slow and stayed on the side of the road or the sidewalk and made Justin very happy to be playing a game on the way home and it kept him safe because he followed right where Trey was going. Now that was a proud mama moment. He got him home safely and happily.

Yesterday, we had another sweet moment. I went outside and Trey and Justin were playing baseball. Trey is so clever and natural with Justin. Justin's motor skills are slow and wobbily, but Trey knows exactly how to help him. When Justin was up, Trey set up the t-ball and had Justin hit the ball and Trey would go get it and slowly chase Justin while he ran the bases and then fall so he couldn't catch him and Justin would get a homerun every time. Then, when Trey was up, he put a hoola hoop where Justin should stand (so he knows where to stand to pitch) and had Justin pitch to him. Trey told him to pitch to the tree so it would go to the right spot. Trey stood in front of the tree and to the side of it and it was a perfect way to have Justin pitch to the right spot. He's so clever! Then when he'd hit it, he'd run really slow and always let Justin get him out. Man, if that's not a sweet kid, then I don't know what is. He had no prodding or urging from his parents to play with Justin and let him win or anything. He just did it. He's a good kid and I am extremely proud of him. I am so lucky to be the mother of such incredible boys.

Mice, Mice, Mice!!!

Yuck! I do not like to see little feet scrambling around my house. A couple of weeks ago, Ryan and I were in the kitchen talking and he said, "Was that a mouse I just saw?" He thought he might have seen one run under the fridge. So we moved the fridge and sure enough out came a mouse! We didn't see it for several days and I thought that maybe it had left. But yea right! I started seeing mouse poop all over my house! And then the sightings started happening, I saw them all the time running from here to there. They are seriously fast! Sometimes I would see it out of the corner of my eye and think it was a fly. We tried a weird covered up mouse trap, hoping it would be safe with kids around, but they didn't fall for that. Then we tried the regular mouse traps and within 5 minutes, I heard a snap and walah...we had a mouse! I didn't know how many we had, so I set another one. And not 5 minutes later again, it went off again. And yes we had another mouse! It was that easy! I haven't seen one since, or any poop. Here's a picture of the poor guy.

I LOVE that Trey is a reader and can read books to the younger ones. It's soooo nice.

My little Seth is getting so big. He's growing like a weed. I got out the bins of old clothes the other day and found new/old clothes for him. (His brothers' old clothes, but new for Seth). Wow, that's pretty good, we're getting good use out of a lot of these clothes. Go BYU!

He was really mad here.

Justin was cracking me up tonight. He kept saying, "Nanci Schade, do you want to...?" "Nanci Schade, will you...?" "Nanci Schade, I'm going to..." He's one funny boy. He got this from Ryan, who is the king of nick names and is always calling all of us something or other.

And finally, I just finished my first triathalon! It was awesome! It was only a sprint triathalon, which are one of the shortest kinds. It was a 1/4 mile swim, then 11 mile bike ride, then 5K run. I was pooped by the end, but I finished in 1 hour and 25 minutes including transition times. I hope to improve that time by a lot next time. I signed up with a bunch of friends, we're a bunch of moms. Our name was "Moms Tri Hard." I can't wait to do it again.

And yes, if you click on the picture, my shirt does say, "Uplands Unicycle Club." That shirt is the best! I was on the unicycle club in 5th and 6th grade and the shirt still fits and I still wear it! And it says Nanci on the back, I love it. I should have done the bike portion of the triathalon on my unicycle, now that would have been sweet! :)