Rain Rain go away!

We are trying to decide what color to paint the kitchen to lighten it up :)

The color on the left of the door is popcorn and the color on the right is cracked wheat

We all voted, 4 of us picked cracked wheat and 1 (Danny) picked popcorn. Not cause he liked the color but because he likes popcorn :) our kitchen is so dark and we need to lighten it up. The kids were fascinated that Dan would paint the walls and not get in trouble!! The paint color is also NOT kid friendly.

It finally stopped raining so the kids could play outside. This is how they came in :) :)

I bought some washable paint and they were so happy to paint!!

Their finished masterpieces!

So happy to paint the table cover!

We have had SO much rain and clouds the last couple of weeks :( When ever the rain stops and it is not too wet out we have the kids play outside. I have no doubt that the teachers are about to go crazy!!
I know it is better than snow, but this is FL darn it!

I did forget to mention that while in Shriners they were able to weigh and measure Gerri and she has grown 4 inches since coming home!!! unfortunately she has lost 2 pounds :( but I think it is because she is SO much more active!! Both Gerri and Danny are low on the scale so we are trying to get calories in them.
I told them they could have my fat and they both just laughed at me! How ironic that I have been on diets my whole adult life and 2 out of 3 of my kids have to GAIN weight!!
We have not told Gerri about the surgery in the future, since we don't know when it will be it makes no sense to worry her. She knows she is going back for 3 casts. She is happy that her siblings will alternate going with us.
The phone rang the other night and it was Dr vB's asst!! She is so nice. We talked about the schedule and when she thought we might have surgery and she just doesn't know. There are 50 kids on the surgery list and it totally depends on how long the surgery is. Gerri's surgery will be about 5-6 hours! And she will be in the hospital for 4-5 days :( She will be in full cast from chest to toes for 6 weeks! She may have to be home schooled the whole time too.
The current plan is for ms V and I to go and Dan stay home with Danny so he would not miss school. But the surgery might not be till the end of school. So it may be a family affair.
I have to check to see if they would allow ms v to visit at the hospital with me if it is just us. Does anyone know the rules at shriners?? She is 4.
I have Gerri's IEP meeting next week, this is just the meeting where we meet to approve her being tested by OT and PT, then we have to wait for the evaluations, then meet to write up her IEP. So I figure by the time we actually have this done school will be out!!! It is so frustrating that it takes the school system from August to February to get to this point, and she is still not getting any services!! The school was not going to do anything for her since they said she is not academically delayed (which she is!) but luckily the OT told them FL law has a provision for children with physical disabilities!!
I had Danny's RTI meeting last week. Everyone was in agreement that he has not moved up the learning curve for his class. He has actually been approved to go into ESE services. We are waiting on the school psychologist to write up a report and get it signed off by the asst principal. Then we have to have a meeting to write up his IEP.  So it will be quite a while before he gets ESE services. He still gets his 1/2 hour of reading coaching, but he is still not reading. :( It is really harder with a child that has a disability that is not visible. Even with medication he has a very hard time in the morning and last afternoon. His teacher does not notice much difference so we are debating him even taking it. Dan thinks Danny is more emotional now too. The medicine does give him definate highs and lows :( Here is a short video taken before school this past week.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I was trying to get him to read some sentences he wrote the night before. Some days are just harder for Danny. He does so well sometimes and not so well other times. We are coming up on 7 years home and we are still dealing with issues just about every day. He is so happy, sweet, lovable and caring. But he has a processing issue that just will not go away. It takes him a very long time to "get it". It took years to learn his colors, his letters and his numbers. It is kind of like someone that has very little short term memory. He forgets it every day, even if he does it every day. Until it goes from short term to long term memory he will not "get it". The good news is that it does eventually get there! But everyone is frustrated in the mean time. His teacher said he is the hardest worker in his class. Unfortunately so much of what they do in 2nd grade is based on reading, so it has made it a tough year. But he is doing great in math! We spend lots of time making sure his numbers and letters are correct and legible. He has already come so far since school started in August. It is so hard as a parent to not be able to fix things :( And so hard not to lose your patience!

Here is how they ended the night tonight!! Watching Tad :)

Gotta love 'em!!