Halloween

Last night was our church Trunk or Treat. The girls, of course, were incredibly excited. We weren't entirely sure if we wanted to go or not, but in the end we decided to as the girls were so ecstatic. They worked very hard to make decorations for our trunk:

 I forgot to take a picture of them in their costumes, but they are essentially the same as the ones they wore tonight.

 They each made a tombstone and bones. It was pretty cute.

Then, of course, tonight the girls went trick-or-treating. Ben took then, as is obligatory for the dads. They drove to a neighborhood just next to ours because there was a haunted house and such. They had a fantastic time. Ben even let them stay up way past their bed time, and they were gone for an hour and a half. It was really sweet. And now we have enough candy to last three lifetimes.

Trick or Treat Street

Tonight was Trick or Treat Street at the local high school. We got there early to avoid the lines.

It did not work! There was a super long line. It was a little frustrating, and I admit Ben and I had a little bit of a negative attitude- until we got inside. Then...WOW! It was much better organized than ever before. We go in one big, huge line through the halls. High school kids line the halls all dressed up in their various themes- Monsters, Inc, Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Fairy Land, etc, handing out candy. Then you go through the last room- Candy Land- and immediately outside. It was brilliant, and ran perfectly smoothly. Far better than in years past. There must have been over a thousand people there, but everybody went through with ease- after the initial line, there was no more waiting. It was incredible.

This is Camille doing her monster "Growl." It looks more
 like a smile, and it is as cute as it looks.

Pumpkin Carving

Our most dreaded activity of the year has now come and gone.

The girls were, of course, so excited.

See how happy Camille is?

And how positively not happy Ben is?

They turned out pretty cute, in my opinion!

Camille's IEP

Yesterday was Camille's IEP. It went pretty much as expected- she qualifies for free pre-school including 180 minutes of speech therapy a month.

I filled out all of her pre-school registration stuff. She got into our first choice, our neighborhood school that Audra went to. That's nice since we know the staff and a lot of kids that go there. Now we are just waiting for a phone call from the school, and then she will start- probably early next week sometime.

So far, I am very impressed with Child Find. They have been great to work with. I feel like, though, that we have gotten several lucky breaks. When I first called, I was told there were no evaluation appointments until November, but then there were cancellations for both audiology and the main evaluation and instead of waiting 6 weeks for our initial evals, we got in within two weeks of my first call for both. That's unheard of! Then, getting into our first choice of pre-school is also unheard of- the people at Child Find were thrilled and shocked that I was able to get our first choice.

It is nice when everything falls into place. It will be an adjustment to be on a different schedule, but we will figure it out and it will be great. Camille will love it, and it will be nice to have her at pre-school while I'm doing school with the other two.

Here's to yet another new adventure!

Geography Fair

Yesterday the girls participated in a Geography Fair with our co-op. They chose (with perhaps a bit of persuasion on my part) Germany. Each country gave a short presentation- and both my girls presented which was awesome-prepared a food from the country, and created stickers to hand out. We gave each kid a passport, and they went around from country and country learning about that country.

It was fantastic! Seriously, one of the best activities we have done. The girls got really into the fair. They loved learning about Germany and putting the poster together and everything. It really was awesome.

Hip, Hip Baby Team

For about a year now, the girls have had their own club. It's called "Hip, Hip, Baby Team!" They have their own cheer and motto. Anytime they need to work together on something or play a game, they round up the team, give the cheer, and they are ready to work together. Even Camille gets in on the action. It's pretty cute.

Here's where they wrote down their mission statement and put it on a bunch of Halloween pictures:

"We love, we hope, and we do. These are the things we do."

Funny Camille

The other day I was brushing Camille's hair and we had the following conversation:

Me: I love you, Camille. Do you love Mommy (yes, sometimes I fish for such things)

C (in exasperation): I love Daddy, and I love Mommy, too. OK?

Lesson learned!

Anderson Farms

Yesterday we took the girls to Anderson Farms. We thought going on a Friday would mean it wouldn't be busy. We were very, very wrong as it was very, very busy. But, we still had a fantastic and exhausting time. This is our second year going, so I guess now it is officially a tradition.

There's a million pictures, like always, but I probably should have just gotten one of them all asleep on the car ride home. We came home ready for a good night's sleep!

Can you see the excitement on her face? She was so happy when she found "her" pumpkin!

Journal Writing

I was asked to go in and speak to the Activity Day girls at church about journal writing. I am a pretty good expert on that, having written almost every day since I was 7.

I brought in my large stack of journals- 31 total (I think). Journaling for me has always been quite cathartic. Writing helps me process my thoughts and feelings- imagine how psycho I would be if I didn't use writing as an outlet for my emotions!

Because I had them out, I read through some of my past journals. Man, those teenage years were rough! I had a lot of issues going on, and I wish I had turned more to my mom and talked to her about those issues. I have always prided myself on being independent, but perhaps I should have relied on my mom more.

I am so grateful for amazing friends. I have always been blessed with incredible friends. Thank you for putting up with me! Especially those of you have known me in my crazy, obnoxious, emotional teenage years! Man, I have had a lot of growing up to do over the years.

It was fun, though a little depressing, going through my journals. But, it is heartening to know that despite my crazy past, my life has turned out pretty great. I feel very, very blessed.

Article

This is really boring unless you are us, but I wanted to preserve this article in our photo journals (which is the entire purpose of this blog), so here it is again:

Highlands Ranch family shows how small acts can make a big difference

A Highlands Ranch family shows how small acts can make a big difference

The Marriott family, from left, Claire, Ben, Audra and Camille, hosts the "Sweets for Syria" stand on the corner of Highlands Ranch Parkway and Deer Creek Street.

ALEX DEWIND

Posted Friday, October 2, 2015 12:45 pm

Kids love lemonade stands — the thrill of making the sugary drinks, drawing the signs and seeing how many quarters they can collect.

But on a recent Saturday, a group of Highlands Ranch kids went above and beyond as they scattered around neighborhoods, set up stands filled with treats galore and signs that read “Sweets for Syria.”

“We want to help out because we know that the Syrians are going through a hard time,” said 8-year-old Audra Marriott.

Eight families in Highlands Ranch hosted six “Sweets for Syria” stands on Sept. 26 to raise money for the International Red Cross for Syrian refugees. Christina Marriott, mother of three and mastermind behind the fundraiser, was amazed at the day's success.

“We'd have people come up and just put in a $20 bill,” said Marriott. "It was very impressive to see the generosity of Highlands Ranch.”

Marriott hosted the fundraiser to teach her kids about charity and the importance of doing things for people in need. Together, the families raised $1,060 for Syrian refugees.

Syria is in the midst of a civil war and day-to-day life is filled with violence and conflict. Thousands of refugees are displaced and fleeing to other countries for safety. The U.S. has been supplying emergency supplies and is working with other nations to find ways to bring peace back into Syria.

“Sweets for Syria” shows fundraising in a community doesn't have to be overwhelming to make a difference, Marriott said.

Marriott and her daughters, Audra, Claire, 6, and Camille, 3, plan to continue doing fundraisers for world issues.

“I didn't want to come home from the bake sale,” Claire. said. “It feels good to help other people.”

Speaking Of Camille

Last week I took Camille in to be evaluated by Child Find. One great thing about Colorado is that we have a lot of funding and support for early childhood intervention, and Child Find has been great to work with. At first I was told their first appointments for evaluations (she needed both an audiology test and standard speech/behavioral/gross and fine motor skills testing) were not available until November. I expected this. But, then we got lucky in that both the audiology and speech testing had a cancellation and we were able to take those spots and get her in within days instead of months!

Camille passed the audiology appointment with flying colors. It was only disappointing in that at least that would have explained her speech problems, but no such luck (would that really be lucky?).

Then I took her in the next week for her all-encompassing evaluation of basically everything else. She was pretty much the cutest thing on the planet- she aced that without problems. She also aced everything but speech- which is what I had expected.

They asked her to draw a picture of herself. This is what she drew:

She drew a picture of herself on the right. Then she said, "I have to draw my daddy." She drew Daddy on the left, and then said, "But Daddy doesn't have any hair, so I don't have to draw him hair." We got a good laugh at that. Then she wrote her name up top.

Anyway, they confirmed that her speech needs work. We set up an IEP Meeting for next Friday. Again, none of this was too surprising. But, I was surprised when she said, "I am not legally allowed to tell you if she qualifies for special services until the IEP Meeting. But, here is a pre-school packet, and if you have it all filled out when you come in and she does qualify, she can start pre-school the next week. What schools would you prefer?"

That was a bit surprising- this is all of a sudden happening very quickly!

At first I was super excited for her- she will love going to pre-school. But, then I got to thinking some more: Pre-school is 4 days a week for two hours and forty-five minutes. That is a really long time for a three year old! Plus, the thought of her being forced to sit in a chair and do various skills makes me a little ill. This has also made me realize how much I LOVE the flexibility of homeschooling! I LOVE being on our own schedule and not having to worry about school schedules and such. That is all about to change. I don't like that.

But, then there was another blessing: At dance class the next day, I met somebody who was a pre-school teacher in the district. She told me that the pre-schools are very much play based (thank goodness!), and that if four days a week is too much, they will drop it down to three or even two- that they really do try to do what is best for the kids. That made me feel a lot better.

To be clear: We will absolutely, 100% get Camille whatever help that she needs. That is not the issue. It's just going to be an adjustment going back to somebody else's schedule. But, I also realize that if we want to go on a trip or something, it's OK to pull her out for a day or two. It doesn't have to completely alter our plans. And, it will be nice to have a few hours a day to focus on the other two, knowing that Camille is getting some great attention and play at the same time. I am hopeful that she will only need pre-school for a few months, and she will be out of it by kindergarten at the latest. I would be bummed if we needed to sign her up for kindie, but again- we would do it if that is what she needed. But, oh how I hope she doesn't need it!

And, oh how I love homeschool!

Best Birthday Gift Ever!

So the girls have spent the past two weeks locking themselves in Ben's man cave working on my Birthday gift. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But, they made me a Birthday banner, and they wrote me a song! It is the sweetest thing on the planet. Claire made pictures to go along with it, and they had Ben record it for me.

I'm pretty sure  no other present on the planet can top this!

They made the banner a Halloween banner and they seriously spent hours upon hours on it. It is super cool- they rock!

Audra Meets Audra!

So THIS finally happened:

My Audra was so incredibly excited that "Big Audra" was in town- and so was I! She came into town because her husband had a conference. We were able to meet together at Belleview Park, and the kids totally hit it off- it was so awesome.

Audra and Kaiser in particular really hit it off. In fact, Lynn came over and said, " Audra and Kaiser are in LOVE!" That, of course, made Big Audra and me very happy. It did not, however, make my Audra very happy. I told Ben this story, and Audra then spent 10 minutes telling us how they are just friends, not in love.

 Since a trip to Denver doesn't happen every day, we decided to head to Casa Bonita. The kids LOVED it! It was a blast, even if we got home super late and paid for it the next day.

Such a wonderful treat to have Audra in town and meet her family! I have always been blessed with amazing friends. I think everybody who knows Big Audra agrees that she is about the purest, most decent person around- and I am proud to have named our little one after her. And, in exchange, Audra is pregnant with Baby Girl #4, so I told her she had my approval to name her baby after me.