Glimpse into the future?????

So, I just had to post this because I think it is so funny (plus, makes me realize how much I can rely on Sam in the future)....
Greta's friend/boyfriend Beltran (another exchange student who is from Spain) was planning on coming over last night and they were going to play the Xbox with Ben and Maggie.  I don't know exactly what happened, but he ended up doing something with his host family.  Greta tried to get in touch with him, but he wasn't replying to her texts.  She spent the rest of the evening, pacing and texting on her phone/iPod (she carries both around with her and constantly texts on them at the same time). 
Later, she disappeared into her room and then came to the top of the stairs and yelled my name.
Greta:  Jane
Me: Yes?
Greta:  I'm going to go out with Paul (token American with transport) for a little bit.  Is it ok? (she's in her footie pjs at this point)
Me:  What are you going to do now?
Greta:  Maybe go to the park?  (oh, it's 27 degrees outside)
Silence
Greta:  Maybe go see a movie?
Sam:  Greta, it's 10 o'clock
Greta:  No, it's 9:44
Sam:  Greta, don't split hairs.....

Sam-the Dad from Hell (and my hero)!!!!!

Enjoying the Winter break.....

The Winter break has been great-lots of sleeping, lots of relaxing and spending time with friends.  We met friends at the Science Center last week.  We don't go there very often, the kids rarely want to go there, but every now and then, they enjoy it.  Our friends had a membership, so we met them there (actually, didn't even end up using any of the membership benefits!!)

Maggie found this astronaut helmet in the gift shop, it was hilarious!!!!

Greta and I went to Gintare's 16th birthday party in Troy, Illinois.  Gintare is another Lithuanian exchange student.  Greta was the only other exchange student at her party, so I am really glad that we went there.

When we came out from the party, it had snowed, the trees were beautiful.....

We had quite a bit of snow at home too, Maggie was very excited by it and she's been outside eating it ever since!!!!!

Yesterday, we met Megan and Anne at the City Museum.  Ben and Maggie had a great time with them, they had someone else to run around with them.  Boring old mum just sits and reads a book!!!!

How the mighty have fallen.....

We started with this beautiful tree 4 1/2 weeks ago. We cut it and had it in water within 6 hours and it looked great. I was so excited to get a short needle tree for a change.  It is much better for hanging the ornaments

Things went rapidly downhill.  It drank plenty of water for the first week or so and then slowed down.  After about a week, it started shedding needles.  By the end of two weeks, the side where we squeezed by to plug in the lights was completely bare.  By the time we took it down, we were sweeping up a pan full of needles every day!!!  After taking off the ornaments and lights, it looked like this!!!!!

This was the carpet of needles under the tree!!!  On the bright side, it did mean that there weren't many left to fall off as Sam carted it out of the door.  Goodbye tree, you were so full of promise but you didn't even make it through Boxing Day!!!!

p.s.  You barely made it through Christmas Day, it was almost a two-tree season!!!!

Christmas Day 2012

Christmas morning, up at 7 am!!!!  What could be better than finding a large tube of Skittles in your stocking?  Nothing, apparently.....
Greta got up with Ben and Maggie at 7 am, opened her presents and went back to bed.  We didn't see her again until after 1 pm!!!!!

Maggie's major present-a Furby.  She loves it and carries it everywhere

Got Ben an "Egyptian secrets" box

Another break from tradition-we didn't have turkey for dinner.  Ben has had stomach ache every time we have had turkey recently and I suspect he might be allergic to it.  He wanted to try having turkey again, but when I was in Sam's Club, I found beef tenderloins and decided to have this for dinner instead.  Sam grilled it, despite it being below freezing outside-he's such a star!!!!

It was absolutely delicious, Sam did a perfect job with it

Jan and Julie brought a mountain of presents of course!!!!

They bought Maggie a drum!!!!

I suspect that Ben does not believe in Santa any more, although he hasn't actually said it.  However, he has been really good about not saying anything to Maggie and has actively encouraged her to believe in Santa if she has been around our discussions.  We decided not to buy Ben and Maggie too many presents this year and we bought a family gift, a new TV!!!  It came with an Xbox which Sam has connected to the old TV which has now moved downstairs.  It was a great Christmas!!!!

Christmas Eve 2012

We had our yearly gathering with the Bosch family on Christmas Eve. Sam made chili this year, it was really good and so easy to organize. Molly brought some dips for appetizers and I made tiramisu and apple pie for dessert.  This is a great picture of everyone at the dinner table

Ben with his best buddy EVER!!!!

Ben and his women!!!!

Greta doing her "go around the table and hug everyone"

My two girls....

Anne, my CrossFit/paleo partner-we are hitting it BIG TIME in 2013

Present opening time.  You'd never know that Ben did not get along with Greta at one time.  Everyone seems to have gelled into a new status quo.  Maggie has several "I hate you, Greta"s in a week, but that's about it.  Ben will comment that Greta is "too happy" and I've told him it's a good thing because it's the quality that will get her through being away from her family for a year.  Wish Ben was more like that, he is definitely our surly child....

They bought Maggie a penguin balancing game, she absolutely loved it

and they all spent ages playing it

I can't believe Anne and Megan are getting so old.  They were younger than Ben and Maggie when we met them, now Megan is in Graduate School.  Anne & I have been going to CrossFit together for a few months now and we are trying to eat paleo when we can.  Pity we've done neither for the holidays!!!!

Skating at Steinberg

One of the parents at school had suggested ice skating yesterday and I thought it was a great idea to get the kids outside and for them to get some exercise. I don't know why I never think to take them to Steinberg, maybe because I don't ice skate.....
It was a perfect day, warm and sunny, and the ice was surprisingly icy (not like last year when they were aquaplaning!!).  They had great fun and stayed for 4 hours.

Ben has been pretty good at skating for quite a while..

Maggie got the hang of it at the end of last year and is now pretty good.  She doesn't just go around the edge any more, but she does spend quite a significant amount of time on the ground (where she takes the opportunity to eat the ice!!)

They ended up playing in the middle of the ice for ages while everyone else skated around them!!  Trust the Sylar kids to be different to everyone else!!!!

A selection of priceless quotes for the holiday season

This is the latest collection from Maggie:

Maggie and I were turning onto Brentwood from the Crossfit gym and she says:  well, there it is..... The Eiffel Tower!!!
Communication tower.....

They have built a new gas station on the corner of McKnight and Manchester and all the kids in the neighbourhood love the store.  This is Maggie's take on it:  I love U Gas. They have everything you need-candy, beer and a car wash!!!! 
She has a point.......

And Ben chimes in:

Ben and I were walking across the Target parking lot
Me: I'm so far behind  with Christmas this year, I haven't even got Dad anything at all
Ben: That's all right Mum, just get him some soap. Or deodorant......
Sam is such a lucky man!!!!!

I took Ben and Maggie skating.  While Maggie was getting something to drink, the girl at the next table stole her chair.
Ben:  Typical teenagers. Now she's on the naughty list. You know Santa saw that, right?
Then, for added effect (and obviously been listening to Greta too much)
Ben:  Typical Americans
Me:  Well you're American
Ben:  I'm European, you're European and apparently she's European (as he nodded towards Maggie)

And, finally, Ben's opinion on the U Gas station:  
Ben:  Rock Hill must have paid a fortune.
Me: Why?
Ben:  To make heaven

I remarked years ago that kids are just very expensive adult toys.  The entertainment value from these two is priceless

Just let it happen.....

Maggie has been sticking with gymnastics for two complete sessions now.  She has been doing OK with them, apart from the time her coach told Sam that they may have to ask her not to come back if she continues to disrupt the class.  We don't stay to watch her classes, we think it's better not to know and to let her do her thing on her own.  She is still accumulating stickers for her chart though, so she must be progressing.  Out of the blue, she just decided that she wanted a leotard for gymnastics, so I got her one last week when we were picking Ben up.  She liked this one because she says it looks like a zebra.  I was fully prepared for her to back out of wearing it before class, but she was all about wearing her new leotard.  I told her I had to take a picture before she went to class.  When Sam picked her up after class, she told him, "wow, I can really do gymnastics in this - and I have the cool zebra look!"

Music Night for 3rd grade

We went to Maggie's music night last week.  They have had a new music teacher at the school for about 2 years now.  I wasn't that keen on her at first (seemed like she was aiming for a Hudson version of Kids' Bop) but she has turned out to be amazing.  The kids all did really well and looked like they were having a lot of fun.  I got a few snippets of video, some of them are very shaky because I had to zoom in so far (the first one looks like the camera moves every time my heart beats!!). 

The videos really show how much Maggie fidgets with her clothes, she definitely has some sensory issues with her clothes.  I made her wear this sweater (the girliest thing she has) and she had a complete melt down about it before we left the house.  Then I felt really guilty because it obviously was bothering her so much.  I'm such a terrible mother!!!!  Still, she did really well with keeping focused and looks like she really enjoyed herself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew7BxSpAV1s&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGHtwKHbE4Q&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXpt3ZZD8sI&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7o8Ykui5BI&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=1

Maggie's IEP meeting

Another marathon 3rd grade IEP meeting has passed.  The school had agreed with us that Maggie was nowhere near where she should be for her grade level and they have done a full evaluation.  It had many similarities to Ben's, but also was very different.  As with Ben, Maggie's IQ tested in the normal range, 100.  Her performance scores were well below this in all categories.  To qualify for Special School District services, she has to be performing at least 22 points below her IQ score.    She qualifies in all areas and so now SSD will take over much of her remedial education.  She will get pulled out of the classroom for 2 hours every day to work on math, reading and comprehension.  She also qualifies for speech therapy, but her language is OK.

She also has a lot of behaviour problems both at home and school.  Her teacher reported that she is very hyperactive and aggressive in the classroom.  SSD will also work on her social interaction skills with her.  I asked her teacher if she thought Maggie needed some kind of medication to help her concentrate.  Her teacher (who also had Ben) said that Ben was more distracted by others in the classroom that were disruptive, but Maggie was the disruptive leader in the classroom.  I guess medication is something we can consider in the future, but we are hoping that if they can improve her understanding of the material, then she may do better.

Essentially, Maggie is performing at the beginning of 1st grade level.  This means that she really doesn't understand the majority of what they are being taught right now.  It's not surprising that she gets bored and starts trouble.  Maggie's strength is visual concepts (exactly the same as Daniel).  They are going to work much more on visual clues for her, I think this will help a lot.  Many of the data they obtained would explain a lot.  I'm really not sure exactly what she thinks when she talks to people on the phone.  She can talk to Jan & Julie or Milly and then doesn't really seem able to associate the phone call with the person.  When she sees them, it's almost like she is learning who they are all over again at the beginning.  She has certain things she latches on to-fishing with Milly, the dog with Jan and Julie, but everything else is very vague.  More than anything, Maggie is really drawn to animals, I'll have to get her a job in Comparative Medicine!!!!
Overall, I was very happy with the meeting.  The results were exactly what we have seen over time.  I think this is really going to help Maggie in the future in all kinds of ways

Maggie's letter to Santa

Maggie wrote a letter to Santa to let him know what she wants for Christmas.  It reads :Dear Santa.  Can I have a Kindle Fire and a squat team.  If you don't get to these things then it is OK with me.  Have a happy Christmas.  To Santa from Maggie who likes you Santa.

Maggie will not be dissuaded from asking for a "Squat Team".  I asked the CrossFit guys if they would give us some of their clients to use as a squat team, but I suspect she wants a SWAT team.  No idea what one is or what she wants it for.  I asked Ben and he thought she might want action figures.

We could both be off on our perceptions, the letter says a "skrottem" and that does NOT sound good!!!!!

Hallowe'en 5K run

Go! St. Louis just posted a video from the Halloween run.  Its a fun video and captures the excitement of the event.  Also, check out Maggie & me at the 29 second mark!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3vjAa11E8Q&feature=plcp

Ben's band concert

Not bad for 3 months work....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEExpqZKjPM&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i_HkugTgEg&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1fCm_tuxAk&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=3

Gardenland Express

We went to the Gardenland Express exhibit with Arline. It's something that we do every year, part of our Christmas season traditions. 

This year, they used some of the pieces from the Chinese lantern festival.

They also had a bunch of these little arrangements.  We particularly liked this one because it was a hobbit's hole.  Can't wait for the movie to come out!!!!

MUG meet December 2012

Ben had his first gymnastics meet last Saturday.  He's now on a level 6 and so his routines are getting much harder.  He came first overall and first in 3 individual events.  I'm not sure exactly how many boys were competing in his age group and level, but it may only have been SLGC as they were the only ones that got any medals.

Amazingly, he did everything after falling very badly during practice.  His coach didn't spot him on his dismount from the high bar when he was supposed to and Ben landed on the floor on his shoulder.  Sam took him to the orthopedic doctor a couple of times this past week and they think he had bruised his bone but no major damage.  Guess that's his first major gymnastics injury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lHFfFDINKI&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=1&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnL-hGeGcgY&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=2&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9o6CVa7gtw&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=3&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0A-WFpDZ6w&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=4&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmRzi4PEAh4&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=6&feature=plcp

Greta's birthday

Goodness, I can't believe that it was Greta's birthday on December 1 and I've only just now got around to writing about it!!  She was so excited to get presents.  Apparently, they don't have gift bags in Lithuania and so the first thing she did was take pictures of the bags!!!

Arline bought her this unicorn hat for her birthday

We went out to First Watch for breakfast and then we bought a cake at Whole Foods. 

She had some friends over at night for a get-together.  We had some of her cake before they came over.  She had 16 candles and we sang happy birthday to her.

Earlier in the day, she lit a candle that she brought with her and her family sang happy birthday to her on Sype.  Ben & Maggie had to get into the middle of it too.

Judge's Cup November 2011

I completely forgot that I had uploaded Ben's gymnastics videos from the Judge's Cup in November.  This was the first meet of the season and pretty much just so the boys could get a feel for the routine.  They were all pretty shaky, but the advantage is I could get up close and get some good videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmRzi4PEAh4&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=6&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBH96h6gckg&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz6bIaNWMTM&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q1zoHsP8Eg&list=UUAOWX-wOARFYsMlXtYv82vA&index=9&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AkJhXvTT1c&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzts7YMu6AA&list=UL