Anna's Teacher Needs Help

Please vote for Anna's teacher! He's trying to win a grant for the 4th grade students. Go to http://www.weareteachers.com/web/512963/ise and look for Clinton Dulworth. Voting ends October 12. Thanks!!

Fundraiser time!

Okay, I'm going to be shameless and use this post to plug our fall fundraiser. As the PTO vice-president of fundraising, I do need to do my best to get sales in. This year, we are partnering with Sally Foster. They have a great reputation for the quality of their products and our teachers are so excited to be using them again. Galatas Elementary will get 50% back from purchases which is a great deal!

In addition to the traditional prizes kids get for selling items, we are rewarding the top seller, the top selling class and having a drawing for those that sell 5 items of more. The drawing winner and top seller will have the choice of a Nintendo DSi or $150 gift card to Toys R Us. The top class gets a pizza party and the teacher gets $100 school supply voucher. For parents that don't want want items, but want their children to participate, we are putting together a wish list from our teachers.

So, if you'd like to help, click the link below and have fun shopping. Items should be received in time for Christmas. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me. Thanks so much for every one's support!

Use the seller number below after clicking on the link. You may need to change the seller.
https://www.sallyfoster.com/sally/credit/sellerGroupCredit.cmd

Last name between A and L, use Anna: 429546

Last name between M and Z, use Sydney: 429547

Just another weekend

The kids have finished their 3rd week of school and I think we are all doing well adjusting so far. All 3 kids love their teachers. Anna is really doing well in Mr. D's class. He's very much into technology and uses it when ever possible in class. This works well with Anna. Sydney still needs a nurturer and Mrs. B is just that person. She loves each child as her own and wants to see them grow in her class. Hayden has 3 teachers at 2 schools. He's already figured out he goes to Mrs. K's class when he gets to ride the bus. Mrs. J and Mrs. S have done a good job so far in his regular preschool. I really hope the rest of the school year continues like these last few weeks.


Jason and I have been watching Sydney since she was 4. We believe she has some type of learning disability. Our school district doesn't do formal testing until 2nd grade to allow for normal development. Well, she's in 2nd grade and her teacher does see reading fluency isn't where she should be. I'm waiting for her to finish benchmark testing before Sydney can move forward. Last week she complained about seeing double while reading. So, off to the pediatrician we went. After failing the vision screening, we visited our optometrist yesterday and ordered Syd's first pair of glasses. They are really cute, even if they are Sponge Bob frames. Syd tests slightly farsighted with astigmatism. She also has some muscle weakness which could be contributing to her poor reading. Her lenses will have special prisms which are supposed to help. A couple of weeks after getting her glasses, she'll go back to see how things are going. I hope this helps. Sydney still has a love of school and a desire to read. If she has strain on her eyes and continues to struggle, we can lose all that.


Jason complained that I haven't posted any pictures in awhile. So, here is the only one I've taken in a couple of weeks. I need to get the camera out. We were in Dallas last weekend and the kids enjoyed dinner outside with friend Rowan. This is Rowan's little brother, AJ. Can you say happy baby?

Hayden's Activation Day!

Hayden was finally activated this afternoon. It's been 6 weeks since his cochlear implant surgery. After school, we had lunch and he had a little quiet time. Actually, his time wasn't quiet, but at least I tried. At 2:00, we made our way downtown for his activation appointment. Thankfully, Hayden fell asleep on the drive in. I wanted him to be rested so that he might be easier to work with. Recently, his visits with his audiologist has been hit or miss. Sometimes he will be good during mappings, others he screams and fights.

Going into the mapping room, Hayden was pretty good. He did try to lock and unlock all the doors around so he didn't want to sit. After getting caught up with our team, we began the process. When it came time to have Hayden wear his new implant, oh boy, he was not going to have it. He screamed and fought every time I tried to put it on. Luckily, we got just enough time to see that everything was looking good. Dr. Ross had to guess at a low setting and seemed to be happy with the small response that Hayden gave him. Our job this week is to get Hayden used to wearing the implant so that on Friday, Dr. Ross can do a better adjustment with a true response from Hayden.

After we got home and had dinner, I tried to get Hayden to put on his ear. Initially, I tried bribery with a lollipop and then ice cream. He kept saying no, so into timeout he went. This worked last year with the first one, so I thought I'd try it again. Nope. He willingly walked himself to his timeout spot and sat down. After a few minutes, he got out. I was talking to the girls and turned around to see his implant was gone! I thought I lost it. I started to get really upset and angry, asking the girls to help me find it. Hayden realized I was getting angry and walked into the living room with a guilty smile on his face. He walks to one of his trains on the coffee table, then to another one on the floor by the couch. Inside of each is a part of the implant. The little stinker took his implant from behind my back, took it apart, then hid the 2 pieces in 2 different places. No one can tell me my child isn't smart.

Finally, I had to tell him if he wouldn't wear the implant it was time for bed and took his shoes off. This is what finally did it. He didn't want his shoes off or go to bed. So, I was able to get him to wear it. He spent the rest of the evening almost happily wearing his implant. He even asked me to put it back on when it fell off. Let's see if we have better luck tomorrow.

Trip Video

Here are some memories from our trip. I hope you enjoy it.

First Days

School started yesterday. We were prepared to go Monday morning. Backpacks were ready, lunches packed, clothes picked out, supplies at school. Everything was a go. The morning was fast, but smooth considering we haven't had to do this in 3 months. The girls were great going to their classes. No tears or anything, though I was waiting for it with Sydney. Nope, she's a big 2nd grader now. Anna has the school's new, only male teacher, Mr. Dulworth. We think he's great so far. He has high energy and loves to challenge the mind. Sydney is with Mrs. Bickley. She's a fabulous teacher and is a good match for our little Syd Syd. This will be a great year for our girls.

Then we were off to Hayden's school. He goes to another elementary school, Bush, which has the only deaf ed/auditory class in The Woodlands. His teacher, Mrs. Kehlenbeck, is wonderful. She is really going to help Hayden. I think there are 5 kids in his class and he will have so many opportunities to expand on his language skills. Hayden will go MWF for 3 hours.

The other 2 days, he goes to a regular preschool. I was very anxious about that today. I can't explain it, but I actually wondered if it was a good decision. Since he still isn't potty trained and has a few other issues we are still working on, I didn't know if he could handle being in the class. Today went well, so I just need to see how things go. Time will tell. His teachers are very nice so that will help.

This year is going to be an interesting year. Three kids, three schools, PTO obligations, household obligations, surgery and cancer treatment, a husband. Life is not dull in the Doornik family.

What a trip!

The kids and I rolled into our driveway last night at 10 pm. That ended our 22 day trip across the western half of the USA. I'm really amazed that 1) we made it, 2) I drove every single one of the 5947 miles, and 3) my kids had a great time. One of my favorite quotes from Anna was "Mom, why is America so beautiful?" We saw such a variety of countryside from the deserts of Arizona to the California Redwoods to the plains of Kansas and everything in between. The scenery was great to see in between the family visits.

We didn't make many stops along the way home. I think we all were ready to be home. Hayden was a little car sick on Monday afternoon. This is the one and only time on the trip that any of the kids was sick. Not to bad. We also had a little bit of traffic right before entering Texas. Two miles to the state line and we had to stop. It was torture to be so close and yet so far. Once in the state, it almost felt like we were home, even though we still had another 5 hours to drive. We do the Dallas/Houston drive enough that it's not travel.

This trip meant a lot to me. First, I missed my family a lot. I mean, a lot! It's been a long time since I've seen most of them. Second, most of the family hasn't met Hayden yet. I really needed him to have a chance to get those early memories of the people I love. Third, there were so many places I used to go as a kid that were special to me. I wanted the chance to share that with my children. I know they got different things out of this trip than what I got, but that's okay. That's the joy of trip like this. Finally, I wanted to end the past year on a bang. Last summer was terrible. With chemo, we were so limited on our family fun. This summer, I just wanted to do something that we could talk about for years to come and have a smile on our faces. I think we did that.

Thank you to everyone that hosted us. My grandparents and dad were amazing to put up with us. The Ryans, Stiblings, Hoys and Granholms fed us and kept us entertained. The cousins were an absolute hit with my 3. Seeing my brothers and sister-in-law not once, but twice was great. And having my Uncle Steve and Aunt Holly along the way was very special. I even considered adding to our family by adopting a kitty and a puppy. I rethought that though when I considered our drive home!

Next trip though, Jason will be there. That was the only thing that could have made this any better. The kids and I missed him so much. I really wished that he could have flown out for part of the time. I guess we will have to do it all again so he can come. ;)