Christmas tree

This weekend we finally got our tree up and the kids decorated it. I guess at this point it is kind of a family tradition now. The kids decorated the tree all on their own again. They use the step stool to reach the higher places, and the only thing that either Ben or I do is put the star on top of the tree. They love doing it, and I think they do a pretty good job.

Kira's hair

Kira has so much hair and I love it. At 1 year old Carissa didn't have as much hair as Kira at 3 1/2 months old. Well, Kira's hair finally got to where it was in her eyes so I gave her a little trim.
Before


After


Also, I love her curls.

Skiing

I finally got a chance to watch Carissa ski, and she is doing a great job. I guess Gabe kind of forgot how to ski over the summer, so he is going to take another ski lesson sometime this year. Gabe really wants to ski though. Carissa actually went down a black diamond on her second time out this year, so I guess she didn't forget how to ski over the summer.

Gabe's evaluation

So, we took Gabe in for an evaluation about 2 years ago when he was 3, because of the problems I was having with him. At that time he was diagnosed as "most likely ADHD." We did some counseling and a parenting class and it helped a lot. Then the last few months things have been getting worse at home and with him in kindergarten. So, we went for an evaluation the week before Thanksgiving, and got some questionnaires for Ben and I, and for Gabe's teacher. When I looked over the one that the teacher filled out it made me really sad, and Ben got kind of defensive. I guess things are worse at school than we thought. And I'm glad I've had some time to get to know Gabe's teacher before this or I might feel that she was "out to get him."

Then we had a meeting on Monday the week of Thanksgiving to go over the questionnaires. And, it seems pretty certain between both appointments that Gabe does have ADHD. We started going to a weekly peer interaction group to help Gabe interact with his peers. And, we will be finding out what the school has available to help him as well as soon as we can. So far, Gabe is really liking the peer interaction group and they have a group for the parents at the same time to help us with information and such.

Conferences/Report Cards

This week we had parent teacher conferences and got Carissa's and Gabe's report cards. They are both doing well and have improved from the beg. of the year. Carissa had almost all 4's and Gabe had mostly 3's and 4's, but he did have one 1. Gabe also had a couple of NI's (needs improvement).

Carissa's teacher said that she is doing really well and doesn't have any concerns. Carissa is above level on her reading and hand writing, and on level for her spelling and math. She does very high quality work, but she doesn't finish all of her work. So, a goal for Carissa is to work harder on finishing more of her work without losing the quality.

Gabe's teacher loves his enthusiasm for everything, and he "keeps her in stitches." Gabe is picking up on everything academically really quickly and she isn't worried about that at all. But, Gabe needs to work on using his words more when gets angry. He also gets distracted and kind of does things on his own terms. We told Gabe's teacher that we are thinking to call about getting Gabe evaluated again, and that when had it done we were told that he most likely had ADHD. She said that she wouldn't be surprised by it if he does, and she is willing to work with whatever we decide to do to help Gabe.

Pumpkins

Smiles


Silly faces

Red Ribbon Week

This week was red ribbon week at Carissa and Gabe's school so they had a wear red day, wear pajamas day, a crazy hair day, and a costume day. It was interesting listening to Gabe explain to me how his class doesn't do drugs at school, and talk to me about what they had been talking about at school. But, they also had fun getting dress differently this week. We have also as a family decided that we don't like colored hair spray, after sore throats and headaches for Ben and myself and the kids having it up their noses and in their ears. We were as well ventilated as we could be inside the house, but it wasn't good enough. Here are some pictures of the kids from this week.