City Event

Our city had an event a few weeks ago and our family went and we also saw my friend Joelle and her family there. We were busy doing the fun activities so I didn't take very many pictures. They had free hot dogs and popcorn. We chose not to make bird houses like we did last year. We had fun doing other activities that we did not do last year and getting free stuff at the booths. We got a shower timer and I have appreciated limiting the Lambs showers to 5 minutes or less.

Such a perfect activity for boys!

The volunteer timed them with his phone. They each had 5 minutes.

Lamb 3 had to wait the longest, but was successful!

The only time homeschooled kids have to walk in a line is when we go to something like this with crowds!

Afterwards our family went out for pizza because hot dogs and popcorn were not enough for growing boys. We let the Lambs go in a nearby splash pad after pizza. They were so surprised that I said it was ok to go in without their swim trunks. It was a fun change for our family to do something together in the middle of the week.

Therapy Graduation #1

Look who graduated from speech therapy today!

Lamb 3's speech therapist said she had never had a patient that made such significant progress so quickly. He began with her last July. His original articulation score was 55.  100 is average. He obviously qualified for speech therapy last July. Today his score was 97. If he would be tested for the first time today he would not qualify for speech therapy. The few words that he mispronounced she wondered if he said them incorrectly out of habit instead of not being able to pronounce them. For example he said watches correctly but not chair. She was most impressed that he said basketball correctly. His biggest mistake was words with the letter R, but he got some of those correct too. His therapist said it was a combination of hearing Lamb 2 speak correctly and Lamb 3 turning 6 that helped his speech. After 4 years of speech therapy with Lamb 2, we are shocked that it only took one year of private speech therapy for Lamb 3.

He no longer needs to go to speech therapy, but we will encourage him to speak slowly and tell him the correct way to say words when we hear him mispronounce words. If he turns 8 and is still not pronouncing words with the letter R he will return to speech therapy for a few sessions.

It is very helpful for our schedule and financially that one graduated from one therapy. (Although we have met our deductible for this year so financially wasn't such a big deal now.) Lamb 2 is going to do several more weeks of speech therapy before we take a break. When he graduates from speech therapy we will truly have this hour free that we have taken one or both to speech therapy for the last 4 years. We are expecting Lamb 2 to be in vision therapy through this fall and perhaps OT through the end of this calendar year. We plan to take photos and celebrate each graduation from therapy for Lamb 2. We are proud of Lamb 3, but won't celebrate much until Lamb 2 also graduates from speech therapy so Lamb 2 doesn't resent still being in therapy.

Lamb 1 Update

Lamb 1 finished his math book so we are allowing him to take a break from book schoolwork this summer. I am hoping for less complaints about schoolwork next school year after a summer break.
Lamb 1 had a goal to read all the Boxcar Children series. He read probably 3/4 of the series and lost interest. For the past several months he has not read anything. We were too busy with Lamb 2's therapy to worry about this. This troubled the readers of our family, especially Grandma. Grandma offered a reward, probably pieces for his train set, if he did read several books this summer that were at or above his reading level-not just reading easy books. The offer of a reward has made him read several Beverly Cleary books already this summer. I was hoping for better literature, but I am just glad to see him reading again. Perhaps after a few more Beverly Cleary he'll read something more difficult.
Lamb 1 was starting to hate practicing piano and piano lessons after 2 years of practicing all the time, even before we asked him to practice. We decided to give him the summer off of piano lessons. He is still expected to practice a couple of times a week, but he gets to choose what he wants to practice. Sometimes he just plays hymns out of the hymnal for his practice time. I am expecting him to be eager to go back to piano lessons this fall. When Lamb 2 finishes his therapy then we will consider letting Lamb 1 add another instrument, he is talking about trumpet.
This was Lamb 1's first year at track and at the beginning the drills were difficult for him. He soon found out that he is good at long distance running and made that his goal. He did bring home 2 first place (3000m, 1500m) and 2 third place ribbons in his age group. He did not have quite as much competition as Lamb 2 did, but we are so proud of his first track season. He would like to run cross country this fall and I think he will be very good at that.
When Lamb 1 was 3 years old he got caps on his 4 front top teeth. Last year he had those teeth pulled to allow room for those teeth to grow in correctly. 2 teeth already grew in that space, the other 2 have not appeared. Our dentist first said give it six months to see what happens naturally. There was no change so recently we took him to an orthodontist. The orthodontist said give it 6 more months to see what happens. I did point out that Lamb 1 was very late getting his baby teeth and perhaps it will just take time. But if nothing happens in 6 months, then we are talking braces. It has been interesting to me the communications between the orthodontist, parents, and dentist. They took several pictures of Lamb 1 and e-mailed the pictures and notes from the orthodontist to us. Heredity has not been kind to Lamb 1's mouth structure even though neither Ram or Ewe ever had braces. His mouth is just not big enough for adult teeth, just like Grandpa's!
Lamb 1 still eats very little dairy with the exception of ice cream. He recently tried some dairy free cheese and didn't like that either. He would probably have the easiest time eating Paleo but he does like his sugar and desserts so he doesn't eat total Paleo.

Lamb 2 Update

Lamb 2 has made a lot of progress in 2014. I'll update some of his progress here.

Lamb 2 did well at his piano recital. The other parents of piano students commented on his confidence and concentration as compared to the December recital. He is taking piano lessons once a month this summer. We are asking him to practice daily. He is currently working on Jingle Bells. His progress in piano since Christmas has been amazing. Note names for both treble and bass clef are finally sticking with him.

Lamb 2 had lots of competition in his age group at the track meet but he still brought home 1 3rd place (200m) and 1 4th place (400m) ribbon. We were proud of his first track season. Track was easy for him after his OT exercises. We think track was helpful for OT and speech therapy too.

Lamb 2 can pronounce all his words correctly now so if that was the only issue he would graduate from speech therapy now. He made so much progress in articulation in the last few months! Because he was speaking correctly that encouraged Lamb 3 to speak correctly. After 4 years of speech therapy I'm so glad he has mastered articulation!

Lamb 2's other issue is not stuttering, but taking too many breaths. He has worked on this since we moved to ID with a little but not much progress. His speech therapist is recommending a break from speech therapy for 6 months to a year. During that break we are to see some other doctors including an ENT to rule out that there is not a physical problem to this breathing problem. I'm starting to put together the pieces of the puzzle and really do wonder if there is large tonsils or something. We have met our deductible this year, so more doctor visits for Lamb 2 like last fall. He would love a break from speech therapy especially because Lamb 3 is going to graduate from speech therapy. We need to see if anything comes out of the doctor visits or if he self improves this breathing pattern during this speech therapy break. At that point we'll decide if he continues speech therapy. Currently he is not aware that he does it so it is difficult to work with him on this.

The way I understand vision therapy is they work on parts of Lamb 2's vision problems one at a time and then put all the parts together and work on everything together at the end. Lamb 2 is currently working on stamina which is the last part he needs to work on. When he masters this then they will put it all together. He began in January and we expected 9 months of therapy. We are still expecting him to graduate from vision therapy this fall. He goes at 7:30am in the summer so the other Lambs can sleep in while he has therapy. Lamb 2 did great at therapy at 7:30 but Ewe was exhausted the rest of the day after that.

Lamb 2 has had the most difficult time at swim lessons of any of the Lambs. I am curious if he does better this year after vision therapy. He enjoys going to our pool if he can wear a life jacket. I am hoping this improves after swim lessons this year-perhaps not needing a life jacket at our local pool?

Lamb 2 had a lot of interruptions in school work due to so much therapy this year. He completed grade 2. He began Saxon Math 3 but has not finished the first of two books. We found out last summer that he can not take an academic break. This summer he is doing phonics, math, and handwriting. We will take breaks for swim lessons and vacation, but he needs to continue academics most days both to get caught up and to not forget what he has learned.

Lamb 2's "homework" from therapy has decreased a lot compared to the beginning of this year. He has a little VT exercises and no speech therapy games or exercises. His only OT exercises are his VT exercises. I'm not quite sure what to do after 4 years of trying to fit in a speech game daily! On top of that we don't have to do speech games with Lamb 3 either. We're going to have to plan time to play board and card games since we aren't required to do this any more. We'll also use the time to do music flash cards until he really knows all his piano notes.

It is amazing when I think of Lamb 2 last summer compared to now. He is not only taller but much more confident in so many areas. Last summer he never played catch with a ball with his brothers or the neighbor kids, this summer he organizes the game. Last summer we had several tantrums each day, now we sometimes have tears but not tantrums. We are so thankful to God for helping us find out what was wrong and to all his therapists that helped him.

Lamb 3 Update

I thought I would update you on each of the Lambs. I will begin with Lamb 3.

Lamb 3 has always been a picky eater, he would prefer black bean dip or guacamole to most foods that kids traditionally like such as macaroni and cheese. If we have stir fry or other main dishes, he will pick the meat out and only eat the meat-not the potatoes or veggies or pasta. The only fruits and veggies he really likes are avocado, sweet potato, apple, and banana. (Isn't it interesting that his favorite foods are the first solids he had as a baby?) About a month ago when we went out to eat he tried chicken hearts. In the last couple of weeks he has decided to try more foods. He tried tomato, lettuce, strawberry. He only asked for more lettuce, but the others he at least tried.

So much focus was on Lamb 2 with his therapy this year. Also by the 3rd child I learned a little better what areas of math to spend more time on before going on. For both of those reasons Lamb 3 did not finish his math book. In kindergarten we do the first grade math book. So it is not a problem that he did not finish. I would like him to finish either this summer or early next school year so he can begin the next book. He is capable of it, it will just mean that we need to do school this summer. He has cooperated because he knew it was just math, not more school. We will take breaks from math during swim lessons and vacation, but I'm glad we're not taking a whole summer break.

Lamb 3 has gone to speech therapy for about a year at the same time and place as Lamb 2 has his speech therapy. Lamb 2 began talking better a couple of months ago. Because Lamb 3 heard Lamb 2 speak correctly, Lamb 3 began speaking better. Lamb 3's speech teacher is going to do some testing to be sure she isn't missing anything, but Lamb 3 has mastered every sound except for "R" which isn't expected for a 6 year old. We expect Lamb 3 to graduate for speech therapy in the next couple of weeks. If he does not master "R" in the next couple of years, we will take him back for a few more sessions. Lamb 3 has mixed feelings about graduating from speech therapy. He will miss doing crafts with his speech therapist but he will be glad to not have to go to speech for an hour each week. I'm going to have to plan some fun craft time at least once week to make up for this.

Lamb 3 has really enjoyed going to the pool the few times we have already gone this year. He is looking forward to swim lessons next week. I'm hoping this summer we can take the training wheels off his bike. I would like him to ride his bike more than the other  ride on toys that we own. We'll see if my ideas work with what he wants to do!

July 4th Memories

The first time I visited the Sun Valley area in ID was for our engagement party in 2001. We went to a party at the house of our best man's family and watched the fireworks on July 4. At that party I met a Presbyterian UPS driver and had a pretty long conversation with him as I got to know friends of Ram's family. 

After we moved to MN we tried to visit Ram's parents every other July. That was a good time to visit his parents especially for weather to drive there. July 4 is always fun in a "small" town. We weren't able to get there every year so we enjoyed the times we did go.

Time passed and Ram added that Presbyterian UPS driver's son to our prayer list in MN. Our church prayed for him every Sunday. Ram was often asked who that was on the prayer list.

Then we moved to ID and when Ram made sure he was on the prayer list at our new church, there was no explanation needed for the members. This was his home state and everyone knew who he was.

Many of the businesses in the Sun Valley area were decorated with signs like this for the past 5 years.

The first July 4 we were here we were thrilled to be just 3 hours from Ram's parents. I cried during the whole parade when I saw his dad silently walk the parade route. He was Grand Marshall even though he was absent.

July 4, 2012

That Christmas I read a Christmas card from his mom. It really put perspective on those prayers each Sunday at church to hear what his mom said after 3 years. My parents visited last July 4 and we all went to the parade with Ram's parents. It was different than the year before and this is the only photo I took where I saw that he was remembered. That made me sad for his parents.

July 4, 2013

On Saturday my mom e-mailed me to tell us that he was freed. It was so ironic that she e-mailed me before I saw it on the news here in ID. I was immediately thankful for his parents. My mom had e-mailed some other friends about it too. That evening my mom and I started receiving some e-mails from people that weren't so thankful about his release.

His poor hometown has been flooded with communications in how disappointed they are with the town for rejoicing that he is home. Some have canceled trips to Sun Valley due to the situation. Sun Valley has huge tourism so this is not good. Add to that last summer they lost business at the busiest time of the year due to a wildfire.

My brother-in-law is in the military along with other friends. I pray for their safety daily. I will never understand what it is like to be a military wife or daughter, I only see how difficult it is for my sister to be a military wife. I understand what the comments being made now are about. The comments may be true or may not be true. What is clear to me is that this whole situation is very complicated.

Beginning Saturday evening at least 75% of the local news is on this story. I really did want to hear the press conference with his parents on Sunday. But the rest of it is a bunch of media speculation. I keep telling myself (and talking to the TV!) these points:
1. Let's let the military deal with it according to military and United States laws.
2. Remember that he is innocent until proven guilty.  
3. One part that has to be easier for the military is they don't have to be careful in the area that they thought he was in now that he is released.
4. Let's just take this one step at a time. He's not even back in America yet.

We live in a fallen world. Our churches in MN and now ID have remembered him in our prayers each Sunday since he was captured. We plan to continue to keep him in our prayers as now it might be even more important to pray for him. We will also keep America in our prayers during this time. May God bless America!

*All photos in this post were taken by Ewe between Nov. 2011-July 2013.

Cherish the Ladies on PBS

Joanie Madden and Ewe

In Oct. 2012 Ram and I went to a Cherish the Ladies concert in Twin Falls, ID. At the concert they said they were working out details to have a concert on PBS hopefully in March of 2013.

We purchased an antenna so we could have TV after Christmas in 2012 for two reasons.
1. I wanted to watch Downton Abbey.
2. I wanted to watch Cherish the Ladies when it was broadcast on PBS.

As far as I could tell, it did not work out to be broadcast in March 2013 in ID. This Friday our PBS station is broadcasting Cherish the Ladies. I had planned to attend scrapbooking so I'm hoping all the ladies want to watch Cherish the Ladies with me while we scrapbook. It has been a long year to wait to watch this!

Check your local PBS station schedule to see if Cherish the Ladies will be broadcast in your area soon.