Whats going on with us

Hey guys! Been a week or so since I posted, so I thought I should go ahead and update ya'll on whats going on with us these days so here we go, oldest to youngest.

Me~Carolyn~Mom, Today I am starting to....gulp....exercise. Yup, I do not like what I see when I step on the scale, nope nope nope not happy at all. And since there are no more babies for us, there is really no need for all the extra fluff that wasnt worth losing when I was still in the baby making game....TMI, maybe, sorry :) So to further motivate me I will be posting weekly (maybe not so weekly, you know me, I am a slacker)weigh ins and pictures. If I cant see progress I will most likely quit and what better motivation then to announce to the world that I weigh......184, ouch, there I said it. And now I am going to work on making that number smaller. 30 Day shred here I come! Thanks for the work out video idea Tiffany!

Vernon~Dad, Is doing good. On Thursday he will be taking the 1st class test for the Navy. Wish him LUCK! He is still big into collecting C&R rifles and is always finding something new he just has to have. To bad we dont have an endless supply of money so he can collect all he wants :) He is hoping to go hunting this fall and hopefully we will be able to get enough saved for him to go.

Jaron, is going on a FIELD TRIP! The dont do a lot of field trips here, in fact it is like every other year you get to go on one. Ok thats a lie, they do get to go to the high school for the play every year. But thats kinda boring. So this one is a fun one, they are doing a farm day at the local fair grounds. He is also quickly coming up to his 9th birthday! Holy cow! we are half way to 18. How the heck did that happen?!?

Danica, is doing the patriotic program again this year. The first and second grade do it every year. and this year she got a major part. She is going to be the narrator over the whole program. HOLY COW! How cool is that! She is very excited. I on the other hand was hoping to skip the whole thing this year, its the night before spring break and I am hoping to get out of town this year and wanted to leave right after school. HAHAHA but this part is awesome for her so we will wait until the next day to head out. Good Job Nan. She is also looking forward to her birthday and insists on knowing how many days until her birthday at least once a week. Birthdays are a big deal around here I guess.

Kaden, is doing awesome with school. Just wish I could say the same about the bus schedule! I am still fighting with them because I find it unexceptable for him to be on the bus for 2 hours everyday after school. that makes for a 10 hour day for my 4 year old and it makes me sad.Sometimes it feels like all I do is fight for him to get what he deserves. Earlier this week we got a letter saying they were stopping his SSI check and while we can manage just fine without it, it is nice to be able to get extras for him and not feel so tight on the budget.UGGG, such a pain. But he is such a blessing in our home, I will fight till the very end for him! He comes home and is so much more relaxed on school days. We are seeing major improvements. Signing seems to be coming along, we work on the same signs here at home that they work on at school.

Dalton, is doing awesome! Poor guy caught pink eye from Danica earlier this week and had a pretty hard time getting over it. But everything is looking to be on the up and up now. I think he really enjoys being the only one home during the day. He loves to help me while I am cleaning, cooking, feeding and watering the dog. Doesnt seem to matter what I am doing he always wants to be helping. I wish I had known how to calm down and get JD and Danica involved like I do with Dalton. Things just seem to go easier with him. Oh well you live and learn right?

So thats the update for everyone this week. All in all it has been a pretty good week. Seems that every night as we head off to bed, there seems to be a peace about that house that has been missing for a while. Hope it sticks around! I will really try to get pictures up later today. But I wanted to at least get you all up to date while I had a few moments without Dalt needing to help type! Love you ALL!

The Elrods!

p.s. Amazingtogether.blogspot....can I get an invite to your blog? carelrod@gmail.com or can you at least tell me who you are? :) Thanks :)

Think I need to change it to "dirty laundry" Wednesday!

Since I cant seem to remember to write on Tuesday. LOL. So my week is going pretty good, we have a cold going around the house and Kaden was home for 2 days, some would think that is a bad thing, but I really enjoyed the time with him and so did Dalton(he misses his Moe Moe all day long). Plus I love getting the extra snuggles from him. So now to decide on my complaint I am struggling with 2 things so hey today you get a double dose! Lucky you! :)
1. People who drop by my house. Most days its not a horrible horrible thing (ok, it really is!!!! I hate hate hate unexpected visitors!!!) but when I have had sick kiddos who just want to be snuggled and throw their snack all over and not sleep more then 2 to 3 hours at a time. It really makes for a worn out mommy who leaves cleaning for when the kids go to bed instead of trying to keep up with it all day like I should. So twice this week I have been embarrassed when people have just dropped by, guess its a sign to suck it up and clean all day and let the kiddos cry because I am not holding them.
2. Not ever having time alone with my husband, no kids, no interruptions. Just me and him bonding and building up our relationship. I know a lot of it is my fault, if you thought I was bad about trusting my kids with people before we found out Kaden had autism, you should see me now! But really it is taking its toll and I feel like I go weeks with out really connecting with him. It seems no matter how hard I try to get a bedtime routine, or sneak in a moment or two for just the two of us, it never works out. I need a live in grandparent! or to relax a little and find a babysitter. HAHAHA. Anyway, thats all for now folks!!!! Wordless Wednesday later today I hope!!!

Sleepy Sundays

I just love lazy Sunday afternoons!

Thankful Thursday

I think it is only fair that if I am doing a "dirty laundry" Tuesday, I should have a day where I remember all that I am blessed with. Today I am thankful for the . Yep, the Navy. And this guy no not the dog, ignore him, My hubby who serves in the Navy. (just wanted to show off the new Navy cammies and it was the best picture I had at the moment.

Now I know I was complaining about his watch in the last post. But I am so grateful for the Navy and a husband who is willing to serve our country. With all the talk about the recession it makes me realize how blessed I am to have a husband who has a stable job with a steady paycheck. While we will always have to be on a budget and sometimes that budget is a lot tighter then we would like. We have a paycheck, we have health and dental insurance. I am able to stay home and be a mom to our children. So today I am thankful for the Navy and My husband who serves. Thanks for supporting our family Vernon. We love you.

Wordless Wednesday

"Dirty Laundry" Tuesday

OK so I am a day late, but i decide to join you in your dirty laundry Tuesday, Tiffany. Especailly since Tuesday tell and isnt my cup of tea this week who really cares about V-day anyway. LOL...oh wait me but thats a bitter subject. LOL Anywho, this week I am having a hard time dealing with duty weekend. But its not just duty weekend, normal duty weekend Vern works Friday and will usually have a watch either fri, sat or sun. But this weekend is a special duty weekend, reservist weekend to be exact so he works all day Friday, all day Sat, and then because he is so lucky he gets to have a watch on Sunday! YAY! Awesome! Perfect! Just what I want to spend the entire weekend being a single mother to 4 kids with no car. I love weekends I love having help, I love getting to sleep in a bit cuz daddy got up with the kids. I love being able to catch up on house work because I have extra hands to help with the kids who distroy anything i get accomplished in a matter of minutes. So, there you have it, my disappointment for the week. Kudos to all you single moms out there I do not know how you do and I admire you. And to all of you with deployed husbands, I feel your pain and know in a year I will have to do it on my own for 6 to 8 months out of the year and I will hate it. So when I look at it that way, I know my complaining is stupid and petty. But for today I am disappointed.

Bet ya thought I would never blog again huh?

Well sorry to disappoint you but I am gonna try to get back into the grove of things. I can promise one thing though, this isnt always going to be pretty. There will be somedays you will wonder if I should be put in a padded room, there will probably be times that i make you lol, other times you might cry. But if i cant share the bad then i am depriving you a glimpse into our lives which is what i made this for. So know I am crazy, but i do pick myself back up eventually. so now time for a recap of what i have let you all miss.

We had an awesome start to our summer. Probably to awesome and after it I felt empty and depressed. While we were traveling and visiting, our family enjoyed each other, and I know what you are thinking...yes we do enjoy each other, but this was a new and different level of enjoyment. We the parents could relax, let the older two kids run and play and be free. Something they LOVED and the parents LOVED. We cant do that on base. Too many gossips, too many people looking down on you, too many busy bodies who have nothing better to do then try to ruin your life. You have your own house and backyard, but its never your own and you can never let your guard down. SO coming home was horrible. It threw me in a depression and I sure it did the same for the kids. Back to the up tight, must be on your guard at all time parents. Back to no fun, careless, free lifestyle for the kids. So here I have sat in this depression suffering for my children and what life on base is depriving them of. But I have come out of my depression and they have opened a cool new park not too far away that we are loving spending time at. The kids get to ride their new scooters down there and we have picnics and play for hours.

I guess another reason I have been avoiding this is I knew that I would have to deal with some tough issues and questions I didnt want to answer. Until a week ago Kaden had not been in preschool. I know I was supposed to do it, last year when we did the iep, then I was going to do it when school started back up, and I went to do it and he needed a tb test and we were always going to do it tomorrow and tomorrow turned into next week, then a month and so on. I dont see a reason in making excuses. I wasnt ready for him to go to school, I am still not ready. Its not fair, he shouldnt be at school, I should be able to have him home with me until he is 5 like the other kids. I hate that his school is so far away and he is gone so long. I hate missing out on his life. It hurts me so much to have him gone. I spend all day worrying and missing him. BUT on the bright side, he is doing AWESOME and is picking things up so quickly. It really makes me wish I had done it sooner. But I cant change it all I can do is keep moving forward and I can see the changes in him already and it makes my heart soar. Now if I could just get his bus situation figure out so Vernon didnt beat him home life would be great. AND WE WILL GET IT FIXED. Vernon has been an amazing help through this, he has gone out of his comfort zone and helped make phone calls. Dealt with all of my calls and crying and stood by me through it all. He truly is my rock, my support, my best friend and I dont tell him enough how amazing he is.

Now to catch you up month by month, sorry if none of the above made sense, lol I am all over the place and slightly crazy. Sorry about that :) and sorry for not having many pictures. I will work on that, maybe I will go buy myself the camera I have been drooling over for over a year, to make me want to photograph every second of our lives, ok maybe not that much, but at least enough to keep you up to dat on the kiddos growth and changes and important moments in their lives.

July- We had a bbq for the 4th and sat across the street and enjoyed the fire works. We are really lucky and can see 3 sets of fireworks from across the street with out all the noise. Danica also turned 7. I can not believe how fast she is growing up. She is an amazing big sister, such a little mama. She is always the first one to jump up, step in and help out with anything I need. I am truly blessed to have her in my life.

Aug- was hot hot hot, so we spent a lot of time inside inside inside! We did spend a bit of time with our friends from across the street. They were nice and would invite us over when they would pull out their slip and slide or pool. We miss you Groff family!

Sept- The big kids started school again. JD is in the 3rd grade and doing awesome. He cursive is amazing. I always worried about his hand writing, seems to take after me, and has horrible hand writing, but his cursive is amazing. Now if we could get him to do his homework consistantly and in a timely manner all would be right in the world. :) Danica is in second grade and is continually suprising me with her knowledge and wits. She loves homework, so much she begs me to allow her to do JD's for him. I have never met a kid with such a thirst for knowledge.

October- Kaden turned 4!!!! Words cant begin to discribe the love I have for this child. Our bond is so deep. I am always told I am so lucky I can hug, kiss, and love on this child, I guess its not the norm for kids with autism. We are truly blessed to have him in our family. EVERYONE watches out for our moe moe. (named by Dalton) This year Halloween brought a suprise for me, my kids were satisfied with going around the block and being done. I could not believe it.

November- Came and went, for some reason its not sticking out in my mind as anything to important. Thanksgiving was good, we enjoyed the day together. why oh why havent I been better at keeping up with this darn thing, my memory isnt what it used to be!!!

December- Once again we were spoiled, far more then we deserve I am sure. Vernon also had his 28th birthday. To celebrate he decided to re enlist in the Navy for another 4 years! Way go to honey we are so proud of you and all that you do for our country.



January- We had a special visit from Grandpa Ed and Grandma Melanie, I know I have the pictures around here and will try to get them added when I am on the other computer. We also had a special visit from Grandma Amy. Kaden got put into school and is doing AWESOME. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the education part of it. But I hate the bus schedule and will get getting it fixed it is not ok for my child to be on a bus for 2 hours everyday after school. But we have contacted the right people and they are working on fixing it. Hopefully by next wed/thurs they will have it all fixed. they are having a special meeting to try and figure it out. It not I will keep calling and going higher until it is fixed. We also had another special birthday, Dalton turned 2!!!! He is such a sweet little guy, when I am upset he will come over and ask me whats wrong and kiss me until I smile. He is so smart and amazed the people in Kadens IEP. He speaks in full sentences and for the most part is understandable. He is full of spunk and keeps me on my toes. If he hears a new work he has to try it out. Again I am truly blessed. I can not imagine my life without my four amazing beautiful children! Life is good. For better or worse we have each other and I wouldnt want it any other way.




So like I said I am going to really try to do better with this, through the laughter and tears. From happiness to sadness I need to store and share it all. Until next time.
Carolyn