I love my kids...

I was just the reading blogs of my cousins and siblings and of course they are all centered around their kids. They are so adorable and it's fun to see similarities between my kids and theirs. Not only physically, but developmentally and in their personalities. I love that family is so important to all of us. Life for me is a million percent more joyful because of my kids.

I was so proud of Jeremy yesterday. Our new 2nd counselor in the ward forgot to ask people to speak in sacrament so Jeremy and I got a call at 10am that we needed to have talks ready for church at 1pm. I was a little stressed but confident that I could do it and I never say no...especially since it was Rich who asked me. But Jeremy was asleep and I woke him up to get the call and he cheerfully and immediately said he would do it. What a good kid! He did a great job too, I was very impressed.

Gage had a stressful but good weekend. Saturday evening was the Honor Band performance. Honor Band is made up of the best of each school in the High Desert. Gage made it and was the only freshman from his school and in the drum section to make it. They practiced  for the first time Thursday, practiced again Friday & Saturday morning and performed Saturday night. They played 5 beautiful songs and they did an amazing job for only 3 days of rehearsals. Intermingled with all the practices Gage had a big project presentation at school he had to do Friday morning at 7:30am before leaving to get to Honor Band practice at 8:30am. He also had a few math assignments he had to get in to his teacher. He managed to get everything done and I'm sure he's breathing easier now.

Ally has been struggling with her reading at school. It's hard for her because all of her brothers make Honor Roll and she has yet to make it. We started reading with her at home and after about 5 minutes it becomes the most frustrating and impossible task! She has the desire but her mind is in a million other places. On a visit to my Dad last summer he did mention she was showing some ADD signs but said if it didn't seem to interfere with school then just observe and work with her. Well, after two weeks of trying to read with her at home and with her reading level remaining so low we took her to the doctor. No surprise to us she was diagnosed with ADHD...which I thought meant hyperactive and attention deficit but I guess they group everyone into ADHD and then specify from there. So she is ADHD , Attention Deficit. She's not hyperactive but she has such a hard time concentrating for very long. She really has the desire and tries so hard but she can't do it. We started her on a low dose of medication on Friday and we'll see in a few weeks how she'll do. I'm excited for her to finally see that she is just as smart as her brothers. I think that will help her behavior too. She tends to get mad and act out a little more when she feels frustrated and not smart.

As for new happenings with Jack and Julia we'll have to update at a later date. I think Julia might have some potty training news soon!! (Finally!)