Family Updates

I've been very sporadic about blogging lately. I decided with the few minutes I have this morning, I'd just give a few updates on the kids:

Brittney competed in floor in the Varsity gymnastics meet yesterday. She scored an 8.5 and felt like it was one of her best routines. She has practice every night after school until 6pm and competitions most weekends and sometimes on weekdays. Her next gymnastics meet is in Madison on Friday evening.
Brittney's also on the senior team for Wildfire Cheerleading. She loves it but sometimes feels alone as the only 8th grader on the team. Her first competition for cheer is in Sioux Falls on the 22nd.
Brittney's new sport is hockey. No, she isn't playing - just watching. She purchased a hockey season pass this year and has definitely gotten her money's worth. There just might be a special someone that she goes to watch but I'm not allowed to say :)
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Riley has been playing basketball on Mondays and Tuesdays, going to piano lessons on Mondays and just signed up for Little League Baseball again in the spring. We're debating signing him up for wrestling or hockey. Brittney took him to open iceskate at the rink the other day for the first time and he was skating like a pro. The older kids there asked if he played hockey. I'm just not sure if our family could handle the financial and time committments of hockey, so we'll see.
Riley's done amazing this year in school and loves to help in the nursery at church. He's so good with the little ones and they love him!
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Taylor is also participating in basketball and piano. She and Riley play on the same days but at different times, so it's sometimes a challenge to get everyone to their spot on time. She loves to read books, listen to music and help in the nursery at church and hang out with me, but her all-time favorite activity is still socializing with her friends.
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Zeke will be starting Special Olympics basketball on Monday. In addition to his therapy at school, I take him to the hospital twice a week for physical therapy. He and I will go back to St Paul on Thurs 12th for a check-up. He seems to be doing amazingly well after surgery. We no longer use the wheelchair and he only uses the walker for long distances and at school when he might be easily distracted and fall down. I still do exercises with him every morning and some nights (I should be doing them every night, but sometimes life gets in the way) We try to keep him as active as possible to speed the recovery process along. He continues to wear his leg/foot braces when he walks.
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Anthony is doing excellent at school academically. He's smart and most subjects seem to come easily to him. The other day, Taylor asked me how to spell a long word and before I could respond, Anthony spelled it for her. He still struggles with authority and getting along with others. Ironically, all the kids in his class really seem to like Anthony, and thankfully, he doesn't seem to have any really violent tendencies. Which is good because he is a very angry little boy right now. In fact, if you ask him why we take him to Sioux Falls every week to see his therapist, Christine, he'll matter-of-factly tell you it's "because I have anger issues."
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The Little One is doing well but of course I can't say much about her. Here's what I can tell you. We just got to celebrate her second birthday. She's still with us and still in foster care. The next court date is in a month. She isn't able to be adopted at this point in time.
Isn't that just a ton of information?
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Steve is loving his job with 1st Bank & Trust. He works Mon-Fri from 7:45am to 4:45pm, with an hour for lunch. He's recently started working out over his lunch hour since the bank will pay for the membership. He's also been putting in quite a few hours at the Swiftel Center. Friday, he went right from the bank at 5pm and worked at Swiftel until 1am, then turned around and went back to Swiftel at 10am. So yesterday and today, he'll be at Swiftel from 10am until 10pm. He's saving the extra money to find a different vehicle for himself.
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ME.......I don't know what I'm doing. I told the physical therapists at the hospital that I was taking off my Super Mom cape and throwing it away. That was after missing two of Zeke's physical therapy appointments in a row. This whole Christmas vacation I was scrambling, trying to cover everything with all the kids. Obviously, I didn't do a very good job.
After a two week Christmas break, I'm back working at Headstart with kids who have special needs, although I seem to work with all the kids in the classroom at one time or another. Even if they're not on IEP's, a majority of the kids enrolled in the program have some sort of special need. I'm blessed to work with some wonderful teachers and I continue to learn new techniques from them every day. I'm there Mon - Thurs from 8:15am - 3:45pm, and occasional Fridays. This past Friday we had class and this Friday we have an in-service in Madison.
It's been a bit of a struggle (ok, a big struggle) for me lately because I'm trying to work through a lot of emotions concerning our little one. When something consumes my thoughts, all I want to do is curl up in my bed and read a good book, hoping that will keep my mind off all the things my mind wants to dwell on. Which would probably work well if I didn't have 6 kids :)
So a big thank you to all the friends and family that have chipped in and help deliver kids where they need to go and those who have had to listen to me vent about life. I couldn't do it without you!
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PS: My amazing husband willingly spent Thursday evening with 9 kids, including feeding them supper, so I could go out to eat with my friends!
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