Summer fun!

I am not ready for the summer to end! The summer months can be exhausting because we are so busy. It's worth it though! We play lots and have a bunch of family fun.

Here's some of our summer highlights:

Caeden caught his very first fish down in Mt. Pleasant camping with his Papa!

We had kittens in our house for the very first time, we found nice families to adopt all of them, but it was sad because we were attatched to the little buggers. Caeden named them Blackie, Stripey, Silver, and Sally....although we found out later poor Sally was actually a boy kitty.

We got to go out on Uncle Wayne's boat a couple of times and Tanner was the only kid brave enough to go out on the tube......that child has NO fear!

We visited Wheeler Farm with my sister Cherie and nieces, Lexie, and Kaylin, as well as our good friends the Bowers.

Of course we have to include our unexpected visitor to our home who added a little adventure to our lives. He only stayed for a few days, but he was fun to watch!

The annual West Jordan 4th of July Parade.

and fireworks

We celebrated Tanner's Birthday at Discovery Gateway.....and he got his requested Snake Cake.

Weston was blessed by his daddy when he was 3 months old. His Grandma Bond made a beautiful quilt for his special day.

Weston also went on his very first hike to Donut Falls

Papa had his 60th birthday celebration at Golden Corral. A lot of family came and we all had a great time seeing each other and catching up.

I entered my fantastic Mother-in-law, Patsy, into a family photo give-away that was hosted by a sweet friend. A generous and wonderful photographer chose her story and Mike's family had a professional picture taken for the first time. These are pics we shot with our camera while we were all there.

Camping with our good friends the Lindsays up in Woodland. The boys got to paint model cars.

And of course you can't have any summer fun without a little swimming!

Visiting the temple

Family Reunion up at Echo Lake

And then there were the occasions I forgot to bring my camera. Mike's B-day, the boys jumping on the tramp with their daddy, family dinners....so many good memories. I love and cherish our summer family time!

First Day of School

My baby is growing up too fast! I can't believe that Caeden is in 1st grade this year. I just dropped him off for his first day of school this morning. Will he remember that he's supposed to buy school lunch today? Will he give his teacher his money for school supplies before he loses it? Will he know where to find me after school? I know he's grown up enough to handle all of these things, but I can't help but be a worrying mommy all the same.

When he went off to kindergarten it didn't bother me....he had already been in preschool since the age of three for Speech Therapy. Sending him off for a couple hours during the middle of the day just wasn't a big deal. First grade though....yikes! It seems like the official transition from Little Kid to Big Kid. He's ready for it, I'm not.

He's grown so much the last couple of years. When he was younger he had some things that were difficult for him.... DDI worked with him as an infant because he was very delayed with walking and crawling. His struggles continued and he entered a Special Needs Preschool right after his 3rd birthday. While he was there he recieved Speech Therapy and Fine Motor Therapy. Everything was so hard for him, as a mother it broke my heart to see him struggle so much. Over those two years he made excellent progress and we could really see him catching up with his peers. When it came time to enroll him in Kindergarten his preschool teacher and I started to butt heads. She wanted me to enroll him in Diagnostic Kindergarten and from there into a cluster group of Special Needs students. I thought about it, but it just didn't feel like the right thing to do. His test scores were ridiculously low and I didn't trust them. Even his teachers kept saying how suprised they were by how low his scores were. If everyone of us was shocked by the scores then why were we not doubting their validity? Why should one lousy test determine his future? I didn't trust my own instincts. I honestly felt like he could succeed in a regular kindergarten class, but what if it was just my pride dictating those feelings? I prayed and prayed about what I should do, nothing felt right. I thought about enrolling him in a nearby elementary school that wasn't his local school because they seemed to have higher test scores, but they weren't willing to take him because of his IEP. A friend in my ward told me about a local charter school that her kids went to. She had nothing but good things to say about their hands-on learning programs. Right away I thought "that would be perfect for Caeden!". I felt so good about it! Kindergarten students enrolled through a lottery system. In Feb I signed him up, I was told that we would know by April if his name had been picked. April came and went.

I went ahead and signed him up for the local school. I was still torn about it. Should I do diagnostic kindergarten or not? I didn't want to set him up for failure if he couldn't keep up with his other peers in a regular classroom, but I also didn't want him to be "labeled" and stuck in a Special Needs group if he didn't need to be there. By this time I was also starting to feel frustrated because I had been literally praying for months about what kind of schooling would be best for my child and I still wasn't receiving an answer.

Suprise! I got a phone call in June from E. Acadamey. Caeden had made the lottery and would enter their kindergarten in the fall. This school has been the absolute best thing for him. He has made leaps and bounds under the tutelage of his AMAZING Kindergarten teacher! She says his information processing takes a little longer than some of the other students, but he understands the work and is able to keep up with the rest of the class. Sometimes he needs a little more time to do his assignments, but she just finds little snippets during the day where he can sit down for a few minutes and catch up. He is no longer on an IEP of any kind. He's succeeding!

I will never forget the first Parent Teacher Conference I attended about three months after he started kindergarten. Throughout the whole meeting the kindergarten teacher, principle, and the two therapists who worked with him at the time had nothing but wonderful things to say about my son. Afterwards I went out to my car and cried. At his preschool, Conferences had seemed like such a negative thing.....he wasn't able to do this, he wasn't succeeding at that, he didn't get along with this child, he wasn't making progress here.... I always left feeling like a failure as a parent. I can't describe my feelings after that first meeting at E. Academy. I was told that Caeden was doing great! He was a hard worker, he was social and making friends, he was bright and intelligent.......Bright and Intelligent! That was the first time I had ever had anyone tell me my son was smart. Do I think my son became a completely different child in those short 6 months between preschool graduation and that first PTC? No, I don't. I think it's all about where the focus is on the child....their failures? or their successess.

This school has been such a big blessing for Caeden. Shortly after I was informed that he had made the lottery I was talking to a friend who had also tried to enroll her daughter at E. Acadamey....she hadn't made the lottery and was #379 on the waiting list. For the first time I realized just how lucky we were that his name had been picked. I strongly feel that it was an answer to all the prayers on Caeden's behalf. The lesson I learned in all of this is that I need to have more faith and patience. Heavenly Father knew that things would work out for my son......I just needed to wait for the right time. I was feeling bitter and frustrated about not getting an answer on my schedule, but the truth of it was He had something much better planned for our family.

So it was with mixed feelings that I took him to his class today. Yes, it's hard to let go, but I also know how blessed we are that he gets the oppotunity to attend such a wonderful school!

My Garden!

I know I'm a complete dork to get so worked up about a garden, but this is the first year I've ever planted a full vegetable garden. Ta-Da!

I'm like a little kid. When I was planting all these itty bitty seeds in the Spring I just kept thinking "there's no way these will actually grow into plants!" There's nothing like planting a garden to help you appreciate the miracles of nature. I had forgotten how good home grown veggies taste!

We have: tomatoes (LOTS of tomatoes) early girl, big boy, and cherry; lettuce, green onions, carrots, zucchini, summer squash and beans. I'm already anticipating what I'm going to plant next year....I want to try potatoes, peas, buttnernut squash, spinach, sweet onions, maybe brussel sprouts.

It's been great for my kids too......they will eat "rabbit carrots" (carrots with the green tops on) all day long in lieu of other treats. I've been also trying my hand at canning this year. My sister-in-law taught me how to do fruit a couple of years ago. So far I've bottled: peaches, apricots, apricot-pinapple jam, peaches, peach jam, pears, and this year I've done plum jam, plum syrup, salsa, and tomatoes. I'm so glad that I've learned how to do it because I enjoy doing it and we love having homegrown fruits and veggies year round. I also like being able to serve up organic, preservative free foods.

Tanner

On August 3rd my Sweet Boy Tanner turned 4. He's growing up so fast! He is such a tornado of personality, he keeps things interesting here at the Jarvis house. Like the time he threw all of mommies underwear out on our front lawn.....or "lost" all his potato bug collection in the house....or threw a bug on me in the shower.....or flooded the basement by shoving papers, such as our car titles, birth certificates, bills etc. down the drain and turning on the water full blast......or ran down the street, got lost and told the lady who called the police that his name was Diego.....or peeing in the cat box.....or cutting up our new window screens, my graduation tassle, his daddy's shorts, pictures, bills, his clothes...... or running down the street naked while I was in the shower....or dumping water in my 50lb bucket of sugar, creating 50 lbs of "sugar cement".....or picking my still green tomatoes. There isn't a house child-proof enough to withstand his awesome powers of destruction and energy. He even looks the part of a rapscallion, his face is constantly dirty and his stubborn hair always sticks up! I loose my patience with him at times, but he always makes me feel so guilty because his big blue eyes fill up with the largest tears you've ever seen!

Despite all of his mischief he's such a gentle little soul. He is so loving. He never forgets to tell me he loves me everyday. I always get a hug and a kiss first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. He's also very generous and I'm always getting precious gifts of dandelion flowers, pretty leaves,his last little fruit snack, or his favorite toy car.

He's full of intelligence and curiosity. He always wants to explore the world around him and could be out-of-doors 24/7 year round. He ignores things like TV and reading story books....he'd much rather be out throwing balls, finding insects, or playing in the snow. His favorite times are when we're up camping and he can run, play, and discover to his hearts content. He loves to help out whether it's mommy in the kitchen baking, or taking his own little set of tools out to work with his daddy building things.

He rarely sits still, but he loves to cuddle. It was hard for him to have a baby brother at first, but he's since become so tender with Baby Weston. His special job is to brush the baby's hair after his bath. He always ends this little grooming session with a kiss on Weston's head. He knows how to melt hearts.... everyone who ever babysits him tells me he is such an "angel". He loves his Grandmas and instead of engaging in rough and tumble play with Caeden and Grandpa, he sits on his Grandmas lap for cuddle time instead.

He has the most infectious smile and the biggest bluest eyes framed by impossibly long lashes. He was the sweetest baby. My favorite pictures of him were taken on Easter morning when he was about 8 months old.

He's so full of contradictions. He has a passion for anything associated with pirates and weapons, but he also loves Strawberry Shortcake and Princess stories. It's feels impossible to pin him down, but next thing you know your lap is full of a snuggly, warm, sweet boy. He has such sensitive feelings, he goes from boiling anger, to heartbreaking crying, to complete innocence and charm all in a flash.

We love Tanner and couldn't imagine our household without his laughter, his sense of humour, his sweet spirit, and his big heart! Happy Birthday to my big boy!