poor baby boy is sick

Andre has spent his weekend being sick. poor kid was throwing up last night so bad it was coming out his nose and he was making no effort to even wipe it off. today he took a shower and got dressed and then crawled in bed and went to sleep, where he remains. Poor guy. this is not like him. this kid cant even watch tv because he cant sit still that long so napping is a general no no as far as he is concerned. so I know he is really sick.

BIG NEWS!!

REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG!!!!

Two of our kids struggle with school. To be honest they are bit or "slower learners" and we didnt really expect much. we do encourage them or rather TELL them they must work hard and do their work at school but we didnt think it was going to come quickly for them. Today Diana and Ben brought home flashcards of words they have been working on at school. Diana is very very bright and fast learner. I had no worries about her reading them. she read me dozens of them until I said Andre? can you read these words? I showed him a couple and HE COULD READ THEM!!!!!! WAHOO!!!! way to go little love!!!! Ben didnt say anything when he brought them home so I assumed he couldnt read them. After Andre read some of them I thought wow! what if Ben is hiding his abilities? I have to chide him every day just to write his name on his paper! he would rather let his aide do it. well I showed him the words and HE CAN READ TOO!!! BEN AND ANDRE CAN READ!!!! YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY! I couldnt be happier right now! we ask Ben all the time what sound does this letter make. he has no idea. he cant tell you that a T says tuh. but if you put the words in front of him he can sound them out and read them! wow this is a momentous day in the Enberg house!!!

I also got a note home from Andre's teacher. I had spoken with Andre about his attitude at school and he had really turned it around. She was writing to say that he had really turned it around. I had him post it on the fridge for all to see that Andre did well at school today. He is very happy today and is outside sledding with his sisters. Why didnt someone tell me all I had to do to get them outside was give them new sleds? My mom gave them sleds for Christmas and they are out there every single day before school sledding down our hill and the girls are out there after school about every day sledding. Andre hates to go outside. cries at the door the whole time. until the sleds. he has been out an hour almost! he will sleep tonight! I hope!

maia natasha diana and chrysta got their ears pierced on sunday. they are so excited. they are doing so good cleaning them. they have a little trouble turning them so I help with that. but they are so cute!!! love them girls! chrysta got a cartilage piercing the other girls just got their first lobe piercing. maia had hers done as an infant but she was such a wild thing she wouldnt wear the earrings and they closed. true to maia form within 24 hours of the piercing she had lost the back to one of her stuf earrings. the others didnt lose anything but maia is a jumpity hopity fidgety dancety twirly swirly happy go lucky in her own little world kind of girl.

Jaeger has been helping put out the dogs. thats a huge help. he likes to help. he helped make dinner the other night too and was really good at that.

Andre ate spaghetti last night. he actually ate it. without too much prompting. its funny when I say what should I make for dinner no one has any ideas then when I make spaghetti they all complain. but there was yummy schwan cheese garlic bread that made spaghetti tolerable.

Today I have IEP meeting for Andre. wonder what kind of bull they will have for me. I hope his teacher will be there as well she is pushing for help for him. she is totally on our side. he needs more than speech. he comes from a past of neglect and institutionalisation. he didnt exactly spend the last 7 years being primed in math and language. he just didnt get the exposure our kids get. it isnt his fault! yet they want to do nothing.

Sophie started with PT last week. its going well. Ben is starting to walk again. more and more. I bet with AFOs and shoes he will do great!

Oh I just remembered I have an article due tomorrow!better run get that done.

today has not been a good day.

I am extremely disappointed in my boys. 3 of them anyways. one did what he always does and just played and couldnt have been happier and one is old enough to know better and is little trouble. however 3 others really haven given me a run for my money today. so the day started with my demanding that they ALL HELP clean up the living room and dining room. together. with me. 10 kids plus me you would think wouldnt equal too much work. but it started out with everyone trying to get out of it. My mom and dad were coming and I wanted the house to not look like a trash pile when they got here. I got mad and yelled at them. they finally got in gear. until Jaeger did something I dont know what and Andre bit him. 5 kids told me Andre bit him. even though andre swore he didnt. I put him in his room and he went BALLISTIC. tantrum of mammoth proportions. after we got past that we finished cleaning. they were playing then on the top bunk and Andre punched Jaegers lights out. just popped him a good one right in the face. not sure why. Jaeger picks on him plenty so I was thinking Jaeger probly deserved it. but I scolded Andre anyways for hitting. Just not as severely as I might have if Jaeger and Ethan didnt find every chance they can get to pick on the smaller boys. Andre and Ben are only a year younger than Ethan and Jaeger but they are VERY SMALL physically and very delayed as well. so more like 2 4 year olds in a body that has been around 7 years. got through that. My parents came and the excitement of toys and visitors and Andre hit Ethan and he went crazy. so I calmy suggested that Andre PLAY in his room. not punishment but he could play away from the others since it seems he has done a lot of hurting others today. he went apeshit. I put him in his bed and stood there and kept laying him back down saying NO! when he tried to get out.(which would be jumping off the top bunk because they broke the ladder) so he pounded the wall with his feet. I moved the bed. he kicked he thrashed he wailed he screamed. he sounded like a 4 year old who needs a nap. NOW Maia was in there and the door was locked and Maia kept yelling STOP STOP STOP! STOP IT! STOP IT! they opened the door and Maia was cornered and crying and they had been taking turns kicking her. and trying to put their feet in her mouth. they are absolutely out of control. so they are staying in their room. all three of them. Andre is standing at the door crying wailing Im sorry mommy Im sorry mommy. I wont do it any any more. (where have I heard THAT before?)I think I will cook dinner. Eric is sound asleep on our bed. so I guess he wont be much company. I cant really wake him though as he is on call and it is quite possible he wont get any sleep tonight so better let him nap when he can.

I dont know what happened

but something clicked and Ethan and Jaeger are best buds. sadly though they team up against Ben and Andre. but I am happy to see some brotherly love. In fact at breakfast we had to seperate them because they were so busy messing around they werent eating. usually we have to seperate them because they are fighting!

update on the fam

for once ethan and jaeger are getting along. they call each other martin and chris(the kratt brothers) but whatever just be nice to each other!

andre told us this morning he wanted to stay in ukraine becuase then he wouldnt have to get up for school in the morning. Guess he didnt know his play days were numbered in Ukraine as well. school was looming at some point and it would have been a lot less nice than school here where you come home to mama and papa. we just kind of let it roll off. he was trying to get a rise and it didnt work.

the girls are the girls. the three muskateers. Papa took maia and natasha XC skiing and they loved it. they did 7 miles. Maia especially was very proud of that. I have given up on the school advancing Maia and Diana. it doesnt seem to be going anywhere. I call and ask and call and ask and call and ask. Eric and I decided that we will homeschool those two first grade over the summer so that in the fall they can go to second with the others. The girls are really lovely most of the time. but they pick on Chrysta sometimes.

Chrysta is into her ice skating. its her favorite winter activity. she is doing really well with piano but is taking a break on her flute as she doesnt care for the new band teacher.

Ben and Sophie are in short casts now. ben is trying to stand. sophie isnt. only a few more weeks until afos! Looking back at photos you can clearly see her feet are clubbed in the pics of ukraine.

Cody sure is growing up. boy can he eat. he is a good helper. a general all around good kid.

Lunch forgotten

well Im surprised this is the first time this has happened. somehow in the morning chaos(that started at 4am with boys messing around and continued with dog messing her crate and husband was not at home so I was on my own) anyways somehow in the morning chaos I sent everyone to school with a lunchbox. however not all of the lunchboxes had a lunch! MOST of them had a lunch. but somehow Maia went to school with an empty lunchbox. so she had hot lunch. she loves hot lunch so its ok but gees what a crazy thing to have happen! they must think I am crazy at school.

meanwhile I was in duluth looking at houses. we were supposed to look at some land too but that didnt happen. seems our realtor didnt get the memo on that one. the two houses were eh. both have potential but neither made us drop our bags and get out our pens for a contract. one we love the privacy. you could do anything out there and no one would know. no one would care if you have chickens(or how many) you cant even hear road noise its so far back in the woods. no one would care if your kids were loud or your dogs run loose.

we will keep looking. surely there is SOMETHING out there for us! we were a bit disappointed in what you get for the amount of money we are looking to spend. the one house, the private one, has a lot A LOT of work needed. its a fixer upper. it isnt listed as one but it sure is. and they want nearly 300K for it! it needs a new septic which will run at least 15-20K. so anyways we will continue searching and I dont think these houses are going anywhere any time soon. if they do? then they werent meant for us and we wont be heartbroken.