Soccer

We went to "meet the coaches" the other night with the children, as their new soccer season was in full effect.  They've only been waiting a whole year for this time to come.  I went with Shiloh, and Mike went with Hosea, as they were to be in different leagues this year.  Shiloh missed the age cutoff by one month to be in the 4-6 year league, so she was moved up.  As a result we were a little reluctant to move forward with the whole soccer thing, as we already feel our schedule/responsibilities busting at the seems.  At "meet the coaches" Shiloh and I were walking back from our field to meet up with the boys, I see Mike carrying a bag of balls.  Hosea's team didn't have a coach, and guess who's coaching now?  If you said Mr. Schloss, you are correct.  He made a deal with the gentleman in charge of the league.  If Shiloh could be on Hosea's team, he would coach.  And he agreed, after all it was only one month, more like 20 days.  This will save us from having 2 practice schedules and 2 game schedules.  In the end, it is saving us time.  Though I'm not convinced it will actually save time in the end b/c Mike has brought to this, like everything, his type A personality, organized, do it right mentality.  He has studied how to teach little people soccer, fun drills, and has even come up with a sticker reward system to motivate his team at practices and games.  This was our first week.  Here they are doing their thing.

He seems to have it all under control so far.  And the kids are really enjoying it too.

Splash Pad

There is a splash pad just across the Alabama border, about 40 min. North of our home. (Never thought I'd be saying Alabama and North in the same sentence.)  Anyway....... it is open March-November so even though some of our favorite water activities are close for the year, this is still a fun option.

 Aggie enjoying what appeared to be a clogged sprinkler, it was sputtering just the right amount for her.

A good look at all the fun to be had.  It is at a city park, so just outside the fence there is play equipment as well.  The best part is that it is free.

New Friends

There is a new family at church that we've had the pleasure of befriending.  The military brings them here also.  Shiloh requested to do this weeks school presentation on them, so I took this picture of the kiddos together so she could show her co-op class.  We had a fun-filled evening with our new friends on Monday so their mommy and daddy could celebrate their anniversary.

Sooo..... what is a squinkie anyway?

This is a questions I was asking about a year ago.  My nieces have a collection of them, and so does one of our friends. It is as it looks, a small rubbery toy, in a plastic bubble.  I couldn't figure out what all the rave was.  Then after a visit to see my brother and his family and some play time at our friends home, it suddenly became something on Shiloh's wish list.  My parents, always looking for ways to bless the children were happy to oblige, and so our own personal squinkie collection was born.  We  got a little bubble gum ball machine for the squinkies to be housed in, then we got more sqinkies in disney princess themes, cars theme, superhero, ect.....  As you can see these little pieces of rubber, are pretty tiny, and well....... Aggie crawls around all day exploring her world orally.  This Saturday was no different than any other day, and it just so happened she stumble upon on of these little treasures, or so we think.  The report given to the mother upon her arrival home.....The father came upon the scene, noticed the empty bubble, and thought he might have seen something in the babes mouth.  He approached for retrieval of the anonymous object, upon inspection there was nothing to be found.  Did she or didn't she swallow something? That is the question that plagued us through the weekend.  She was after all acting a little different at times, and we weren't certain due to her tummy surgery last Fall that if something the size of a squinkie could pass.  I'm a wait and see kind of person, so that's what we did.  We were still uncertain this morning, so I called her Dr. now that they were open, and they thought it would be best to see her. So we did.  The Dr. decided, "he didn't think anything was obstructed, but anything can happen",  no foul play suspected, he ordered an x-ray, and in the event that her symptoms worsen, he wants us to go get it, "though he doesn't think a plastic toy will show up on it".  So I guess we will continue to wait and see.  She doesn't seem exactly normal to me yet, but I am praying that all will be well soon, whatever the problem might be.  The joys of parenting.

Simplifying

As we are in the throws of the new school year I have become very aware of my inability to duplicate myself.  As a result I have had to examine our weekly schedule and see what cuts to make.  We have decided to sign the children up for soccer this Fall, they have been asking about it since last year, and we want them to have a fun activity, and we enjoy watching as well.  The season is relatively short and the cost is fair, so we decided to proceed with this, but as it goes, saying "yes" to one thing means saying "no" to something else. I have been thinking for some time now that Aggie's speech and OT sessions are not necessarily a needed weekly event.  They are great resources, and can give me good ideas to help Aggie, but at this point I have more "good ideas" then time to execute. Additionally Aggie isn't developing at such a rate that we need new ideas every week.  Also she has a home visitor that comes weekly, which is basically a play session for her. So I've decided to cut the 2 therapies to every other week or monthly, and the home visits to monthly.  We will keep PT to weekly as she is really interested in and making strides in this area right now.  This little cut back will save me 10-16 hours a month, that's huge!  My trust is in Christ for Aggie's healing and development, not programs and systems. Though these things can and will be helpful, I ought to keep balance in my home no matter how "good" an activity can be or how rational the time spent can seem.

Email

My hotmail account has locked me out of my email.  They think someone else is using my account and need to confirm I am me. It takes 5-7 days for this to happen.  This has been a bit frustrating as I rely heavily on email for communication, and have some information stored in folders that make my life a bit more simple. If I am allowed back in the account, I will likely get my information and close the account. My new email address is schlossclan@gmail.com.

Tropical Storm Issac

So were are all ready for this storm, we think. Water, non-perishable, flash-lights, etc.... We'll see what happens. We were going evacuate when the eye was headed for p-cola, but now that it's moved west a bit, we decided to stick around and have a stay-cation.