What's One More Anyway?

For those of you who know me well, I know right now you are thinking what's one more.... child.  Unfortunately this post is not to announce that we are adopting another child (though if God drops a baby in my lap, well, that would be a different story; just don't tell David).  In this case, I'm saying, what's one more diagnosis.

Over the years I've noticed many things in Conner and Madi that lead me to believe they might be dyslexic.  I finally found a good place to get them tested, and it turns out my suspicions were correct.  Both kiddos were diagnosed with dyslexia.  They are both so smart and have done so well, despite their learning difficulties. Most people would never notice, but of course being their mom and teacher means I notice the "little" stuff.  

We had a meeting to go over the results of their psychoeducational testing and we got some great ideas to help us continue to teach them at home.  We will be starting some new curriculum and programs.  I'm excited to watch them blossom with the right tools.  I'm also going to be using many of the programs with Ramya, and I really believe it's going to help her as well.  

The meeting was a bit of a relief for me, and in fact I cried.  I always took their learning challenges personally, thinking their must be something wrong with the way I was teaching them.  Of course I know that's not true, but it was easy to feel.  I couldn't figure out how someone with their Master's Degree in elementary education AND a reading endorsement, not to mention a 1 to 4 ratio and an extreme amount of dedication, could fail to teach her kids reading, spelling, and writing.  Of course they are doing all of those things, but not always fluently or easily, and retaining information is hard for them.  I really know that they are thriving and excelling, despite their challenges, because they are allowed to learn at their own pace, based on their interests and learning styles.  I know it in my head, but my heart didn't always believe it.  

So now it's official, we have added another diagnoses for Madi, and Conner's first.  We haven't let any of the other diagnoses stop us yet, and we aren't about to let any stop us now.  I know it won't slow them down.  These kids will change the world one day, I just know it!

An Attempt to Catch Up

I've gotten so far behind on our blog that I'm not sure how to catch back up, ha!  Each time I sit down, the task seems a bit daunting because it's been so long.  In general, it's a good thing, though, because it means we've been so busy having fun and living our lives, that I haven't had much time to stop, sit, and reflect.  Though maybe in our busy schedule, sitting is what I need from time to time.

When I last left off, we had gone to Disneyland and California, then came home to enjoy Deena's new bike.  We worked on getting back in to a routine with homeschooling, appointments, therapy, and life.

We enjoyed some homeschooling fieldtrips, the girls and I went to see Shopkins Live, the kiddos had a blast on Halloween, and we enjoyed life being slow for a bit. Just about when we got settled, though, things got busy again.  

In November Madi turned 9.  I'm still in total shock that my baby is getting so big.  Madi had so much fun at her birthday party and loved celebrating.  We traveled to Phoenix and had a painting party with our friends, then also had a family party to celebrate.  She picked a Pokémon theme and got a cute little Pokémon dress to wear to the celebrations.

 We came home, recovered briefly, worked on some homeschool projects, and then Thanksgiving hit.  We traveled back to Phoenix to celebrate with our family, and had a really nice time.

(In Phoenix with family....)

(Proof that we REALLY do relax sometimes)

We re-settled once again, making sure to have some fun amid the busy Christmas season.  We went to the Desert Museum, decorated wheelchairs, prepped for Christmas, and even got to ride a party bike with my parents (who came to visit), my Aunt, and my second cousin to look at Christmas lights.  Oh, and Starwars.  I can't forget Starwars.  We saw it on opening night and all loved it, of course.

Oh goodness, and Santa.  I can't forget Santa.  We went to a really fun event with Hope Kids where we got to play games, ride rides, and spend time with Santa.  The kiddos even got gifts and had so much fun.  We also Santa at the Children's Clinic, where we go for therapy and some appointments, as well, and the kiddos got more gifts.  We had a special visit from my birth grandma, Donna, and her husband, Jim.  We enjoyed talking and catching up, and they gave the kiddos their Christmas gifts as well.  They were on cloud 9!

We celebrated our Christmas with the kids a little early, and then we traveled, once again, to Phoenix to spend time with family for Christmas.  Since both David's family and my family live in Phoenix, we travel often.  We really enjoyed our time there, and came home ready to rest a bit.  We also came home to a lot of appointments, but we made it through.  We celebrated David's birthday as well, which included cheesecake, so everyone was pretty happy about that.  David's parents sent David and Conner on a hot air balloon ride for their birthdays, and they had a wonderful time.  It's something they will never forget, that's for sure!

Over New Years my birth dad, Mark, and his wife, Michelle, came to visit and stay with us for a few days.  We had a really fun time with them.  The kids especially enjoyed taking them to the Children's Museum, which they love.

The New Years started off with a bang as we celebrated Conner's 11th birthday (I know, 11!  I can't believe it either!!), Deena's 10th birthday (Her second birthday home!!), and Deena's two-year adoption day (We celebrated with Indian food at her favorite café, at her request, which was perfect).  We had a friend party for Deena and Conner where we went to watch Paddington 2, then came home for pizza and donuts.  The kiddos loved their party, and it was so fun watching them be so excited.  They picked a cat theme and both wore cat-themed outfits, which was adorable.  

We had friends come visit for the day in January and we had a lot of fun with them.  We got to check out a pinball arcade we've been meaning to visit, and we are planning to go back for sure.

We found an amazing organization called Little Hooves Big Hearts, and have had the privilege of visiting and working with their miniature horses twice now.  Our second trip out was in January, and we are looking forward to our visit next month.  Every time we leave, the kids tell me they had "the best day ever".  They really love going and spending time there.  They let them groom the horses, do obstacle courses with them, and they just have a blast.  

It took me a month or so, but I finally got the Christmas decorations off the girl's chairs.  This time we went for a nice spring look, with ribbon and flowers.

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Ramya's 5 year adoption day.  She was really excited to celebrate, as we all were, and was beaming all day.  Ramya is a kiddo who doesn't often show much emotion, and it was good for the soul to see her so excited.  She chose to go to Smashburger to celebrate.  We also watched her adoption video together and shared stories of our time in India.

Last weekend we were back in Phoenix for a fun, whirlwind of a trip.  We had a family birthday party for Conner, Deena, and Ramya (Ramya's birthday isn't until March, but we have been lumping all the cousins together twice a year for big family parties.  It's a ton of fun, and also helps make us slightly less busy and crazy), and also had two baby showers to attend.  The kiddos party was, once again Pokémon themed.  We had it at a park that also has a small train.  It was such a fun time!  

We ended this week with a bang....

.... sorry, I couldn't resist, she's just too cute.  We cashed in some cash back bonus awards we had on our credit card for Dave and Busters giftcards, then took the kiddos there for dinner and games to celebrate Valentine's Day and how much we love them.  They, of course, had a blast, and came home with a few new fun trinkets, like this whoopee cushion.  

As you can see, we've been crazy busy, but in a good way!  I'm sure I left out a bunch of stuff, but you get the idea :).  Though life is busy, we really try to focus on having fun.  It would be far to easy to get wrapped up in all of the therapy, appointments, homeschool, and "medical" stuff in our lives.  We really try to be intentional about making sure we find joy amongst the busyness, and give our kids lots of opportunities to just be kids.  We may not ever sit down, but it's worth it!

I have some medical updates as well, but I think I will wait on those for now.  Overall, everyone is healthy and we are thankful for that!

If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to catch up on what we've been up to. We always appreciate your thoughts and prayers, and it means so much that you are walking this journey with us.