Didn't get too many pictures of Moses because he was nervous of the sand and water and spent most of his time sitting on Ben's lap.

Here's Joseph with one of the many sand crabs he caught that afternoon.

trying to post again...

Ok, this blogging website is making me MAD. I can apparently post small messages like "testing" and "trying again," but when I try to paste in a longer letter from word, it will not work. Takes me to a "page not found" screen. It's been doing this for several days which is why I haven't posted here in several days. Never used to have this problem. I need to call I guess and see what is going on, as the "help" wasn't actually any help.
Maybe I'll try real quick to see is something this long can successfully publish.

trying again?

testing, testing...

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
There. Primal scream is done with.
I have spent way, way, WAY too many of the last 24 hours working on this ridiculous slide show. I'm trying to come up with a nice way to present proofs to clients and I thought a slideshow might be nice. I could find a beautiful song to play for the soundtrack and display all my photos in a nice cohesive way. And maybe get some emotions flowing which will hopefully lead to a larger order! But I have had a heck of a time actually MAKING this slideshow. I stupidly thought powerpoint would be the way to go, but powerpoint really is not geared towards photography slide shows. And you can't save a musical soundtrack as part of the file. Actually you can sort of link a piece of music to the slideshow, but it isn't saved as part of the actual presentation. And the version of ppt on my computer is faulty and doesn't even allow this feature. It works on Ben's computer, but I couldn't figure out how to burn a cd (I was doing this at 2 AM and didn't think he'd appreciate me waking him up to ask him about it) on his computer, or even if you can.
So I downloaded some trial versions of a couple of different slideshow programs and experienced much, much, MUCH frustration with those (computer freezing up, trial versions just generally being really annoying), and finally at 3:30 AM gave up and went to bed. This morning a note I had posted on my photography website had been responded to and I found out that you can make slideshows with Photoshop, so I messed with that for about 3 hours and figured it out, only to realize that you cannot save it as an exe file. Only as a pdf file (which won't play music), or a wmv file which requires the user have windows media player installed. And I really wanted a stand-alone slideshow, one in which you just insert the cd and it plays-- no having to open up various windows and have the slideshow play inside the window. Supposedly Photoshop allows you to burn it as a vcd, but when I did this my dvd player didn't recognize it and even when I tried to play it back on my computer, my computer said it didn't recognize the file!! Arghhh!! So finally I just gave in and ordered PicturesToExe which is the program most other photographers are using. It was only $30 so not too bad. The place I ordered it from said the download info would be sent to my email account. However, it has been 9 hours and still nothing in my email. This is very annoying because I just wanted to finish this tonight!!!!!! I told Monday's client I would bring by the proofs tomorrow morning, so I really needed to have this done. Oh well. Once I figure this out, all future slideshows will be a snap, but this has been pretty torturous, all in all. When I eventually figure out how to save it as an .exe file I'll post it on my website and you can all see it.
Anyway, due to my being up obscenely late last night, I had a pretty tired day. As a result my kitchen table is covered with honey (ok, not COVERED, but pretty messy still) from the boys making snacks, there is crayon all over part of my kitchen wall (artistic impulse courtesy of Mosey), and the boys ate pretty much only popsicles all day. Bad mommy. I will be much better tomorrow. I'm going to go to bed real soon here and I will pay attention to my kids tomorrow and take them somewhere fun in the afternoon.
I have a funny story from the other day at Sam's club. We went there after school on Tuesday to get new tires on our van, and so we had some time to kill wandering around Sam's while they worked on the car. I was just chatting and joking with the boys, talking about kites and stuff. We got a new kite since our old kite was irretrievably lost up in Palm Beach when it got caught first in a mangrove forest and then in a palm tree. Joseph and Brigham were speculating on how high the kite would go, if it could go all the way up in outer space and then to heaven. Joseph than said, "What if we could build something so tall that it went all the way to heaven?" I said something like, "Wow, that would be pretty tall!" But Brigham immediately replied, "I think Jesus would be pretty surprised to see us!" Ha ha ha!! Yeah, and then we probably would never be able to understand each other again, to boot.
Joseph and Brigham have, over the past several weeks, developed this really frustrating competition over who gets to open the van door. It is always this scrambling race to see who gets there first, and then lots of protests and tears on the part of the slower brother. So we came up with a compromise that has actually been working pretty well-- Brigham opens the van door from the inside and Joseph opens it from the outside. I'm amazed, but it is working! Before, we had gotten to the point that even before we reached the gate to our neighborhood, Brigham and Joseph were climbing out of their carseats and scrambling over the back of the seat in front of them to try and be "ready" to open the door the instant we pulled into the driveway. I knew that had to stop and so I had put the child lock on, so neither of them could open it from the inside. But that just made the competition for opening the door from the outside even more intense. Anyway, I'm glad to have found a resolution (for now) to this problem.
My friend Rena is pregnant (have I told you before?), she actually found out here at my house when she and Janette were over to help me paint the upstairs hall about a month ago. And 2 weeks ago she found out she is having twins! Isn't that amazing? Her two best friends here (me and Janette) both have twins, and now she's having twins! She has a 9 year old son and a 3 year old daughter and wasn't really planning on having any more-- in fact she wondered if she even could since it took more than 4 years to get pregnant with her daughter. But here she is, having 2 more! She gets really sick like I do and has had a very rough time so far. She's lost 10 pounds and she's only 8 weeks. So I've been trying to have Emma (her daughter) over, and bring her over food and movies and stuff. I think I'll have Emma come over tomorrow afternoon and entertain my boys for a couple of hours. :-) She is really a good girl and my boys like playing with her. I have to say, though, it is pretty cool to sort of be able to relive my twin pregnancy through Rena, but not actually have to be pregnant!! They live in a small 2 bedroom condo, though, and her husband has put in for a transfer to Dallas so they're not sure how long they'll be here. He works for the government so it could be a while. I hope it is at least long enough for her to have her babies and get through the first few weeks. I would love to go over there and be a night-time nanny for the babies once a week or so. And I keep thinking how fun it will be to photograph twins!
All right, that's it for tonight. Gotta get to bed and catch up on some zzzz's. Have a fabulous Fridy everyone.

Today I had my first photo shoot with a non-family, non-friend (referral from Shanda). She had a 3 week old and a 3 year old. I think it went well, it was definitely a learning experience. Meaning I learned I need a wide angle lens! Their house had very small rooms and I was squished way up against the walls just trying to get a wide enough in-camera crop. The little girl was a doll. Really cute and was very patient with getting pictures taken. The baby was a little fussy, too bad I didn't catch him in that 2 week window where they are sleepy and can be moved around easily. Each time we moved him the mom had to rock him and settle him down. I still got lots of great shots, but I had brought a bunch of different props (baskets and such) that I didn't use because the baby wouldn't have tolerated being moved around that much. I also wanted to get some of the baby and mother, but again, just when I was getting that set up, the baby got fussy and needed to eat. Oh well! I just have to remind me that it's ok if I don't get EVERY single shot I have in mind. As long as I have a bunch of good ones for the mom to choose from, that is a success. I've only proofed half of them (I ended up with about 45 that I'll present as proofs), but I'll post a couple of my favorites.
Mosey is turning into a talker and singer! Oh my gosh, he is talking NONSTOP. The twins didn't start this early! What am I in for? He now gives me a running commentary of everything he is doing, seeing, or thinking. And naturally I must acknowledge each and every comment. LOL! But his singing is just the best. He listens to his brothers singing and picks it up real fast. Last week we were at Target, and Joseph and Brigham were singing "Follow the Prophet." Pretty soon I hear a little voice from behind us (Mosey always likes to tag along behind us, I feel bad and try to get him to walk WITH us, but he prefers to dawdle behind) singing, "Fowow da paw-fit, fowow da paw-fit, fowow da paw-fit, he knows da WAAAAY!" It is almost too cute for words. I need to find out if I can somehow record sound clips via the computer and post them so you guys can all hear. He also can sing the Scooby Doo song along with his brothers, although for now it is limited to "Scooby dooby doo, weh ah you," repeated ad nauseum.
Brigham and Joseph are doing well, too. They have all been healthy for a couple of weeks now, thank goodness. Although that reminds me, I got sick again last week! Thursday night, just after my RS presentation, I started feeling not-so-good. I thought it was just from being up too late 2 nights in a row, but on the way home I REALLY started not feeling good. I ended up throwing up several times that night and the next day I was pretty much glued to my bed. I tried to get up a few times but I was just so sick and weak and tired, I pretty much had to let the boys have the run of the house for the day. During this time Brigham and Joseph learned first-hand the power of gas expanding. They decided they were hungry (poor boys, I can't remember if I even got them any lunch, I probably didn't), and got out a single-serving Chef Boyardee Lasagna. It has a metal lid you peel off, then put the plastic lid back on and microwave it. The boys have seen me do this before, but I guess they didn't realize I had taken the metal lid off first! So they put the whole thing in, pressed a bunch of buttons on the microwave until it started going, and it went and went until ka-BOOM! Exploded Chef Boyardee in the microwave.
The good thing about microwaves, though, is that at least it confines the mess to a pretty small area!
I did teach the boys what they are supposed to do next time they want to make a snack, and I gave them a little lesson on the physics of gas expansion. I think they sort of got it.
Ok, one more story. This is from a week ago or so, I don't *think* I've shared it, but if I have, sorry, ignore it. The boys and I were watching a show on the history channel about the Irish mob. The show was talking about the gang wars over drug turf and the boys started asking me about it. First they asked what drugs were, so I explained that drugs are pills or powders or other medicines that people take. People think that it makes them feel good for a few minutes, but then they get addicted and after you get addicted to drugs, you turn into a bad guy. Is this a good explanation? Really it is true, it is the addiction to drugs that is responsible in one way or another for a huge percentage of crime in this country I think. And the boys are pretty tuned into the concept of bad guys. So then we had a little talk about only taking medicines and other things that your doctor gives to you, or that your mom or dad give to you. Brigham asked me, "How will I know if it is a good drug or a bad drug?" I told him I would make sure to teach him, and if he was ever unsure, he should just ask me or dad. After our conversation, Brigham announced to Ben and me, "I decided not to sell drugs when I grow up because I'm going to be a batman movie maker instead." Oh, good boy! So do you think 4 years old is like some sort of record for the earliest ever just-say-no-to-drugs discussion?
All right, that is it for tonight. Rosalynde, I hope you and Mara are safely home and that she is doing well.

Ok, here's one of Mosey, using the kit lens that came with the camera. Later on that day the 50 mm 1.8 lens that I ordered came, and I like that one much more for portraits because it is so sharp. But the kit lens still gives me results far better than what I'd get from my old camera. And it's good 'cuz it's a zoom lens and that's always helpful to have.

Here's one where I was practicing with the shallow depth-of-field capabilities of this camera. So cool!

Happy birthday Mara Gwen Welch!
I'm so excited to have a new little niece! So happy she arrived safely and healthy. And I'm so excited to go see her in 2 weeks! Yes, I bought plane tickets last night to go see the newly expanded Welch family April 7-10. I can't wait to see what she looks like and to hold a brand new infant again. Ben asked me today if I thought I'd come back from St. Louis wanting another baby. Well, I'm not sure about that, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall in love with Mara.
The other big news of the week, ok, maybe not quite so momentous as the birth of a baby, but pretty momentous for me anyway, is the arrival of my new camera!!!!!!
I'm not sure I told you guys of this thing I had going, because if it didn't end up working out I'd be pretty embarassed. But it did, so I'll tell the story now. A few months ago, as I was researching cameras and searching different internet sites to try and find the best price for the camera I wanted (a Canon EOS 20D digital SLR for anyone who cares), I came across a website with a button that said, "Click here to get this camera free!" So I clicked on it to see what it was, sure there was some kind of massive catch. Well, of course there was a massive catch, but it ended up being worth it to me. The camera was being offered by this internet company that is hired by all kinds of other companies to drive people to their websites. So anyway I had to fill out and complete 18 "offers" from this website, and after they were completed, they would send me this camera free. It took me 3 months to successfully complete all 18 offers, and it wasn't exactly free since some of the offers involved buying stuff. But all-in-all I think I spent around $250-$300 and I ended up with a $1400 camera and lens! And it was the exact camera I wanted.
Some of the offers were to apply for a credit card, and if accepted make a purchase and pay the first bill. I signed up for a Disney movie-of-the-month type thing. Ordered 30 day trials of 3 different herbal supplements. Signed up for a dental discount program (which is actually good since I don't think Ben's work offers Dental). Signed up for a whole bunch of internet stuff-- getting weekly emails about buying foreclosed houses, etc. I created a whole new email address for all of this so I wouldn't get flooded with junk email.
So the long story short is that I finished all of that, and got my camera! Now I'm ready to roll. I took a bunch of pictures this past weekend trying to get the hang of the camera, and I definitely still have a lot to learn but so far I love, love, love, love it!
I'm also building a little studio in our garage. I was thinking about trying to convert Brigham's bedroom into a studio, but actually he's been sleeping there a lot, and the garage will work just as well. I bought a humongous piece of MDF and I'm making a platform (just putting the MDF on double-stacked cinder blocks). I bought 2 boxes of laminate wood flooring and I'm going to make a faux-wood floor on the platform. I can then pull my backdrop down (I use a roll of white vinyl but I eventually will get various colors of seamless backdrop paper), clamp the bottom corners to a length of baseboard that I will attach to my platform, and voila! A beautiful wood floor and pretty wall to take pictures against. I've seen lots of pictures with this set up and you'd never guess it was all fake. I have my backdrop hanging from hooks I have inserted into the pegboard on the east wall of the garage. I got some gorgeous round chinese lanterns (one 32" diameter which is huge-- I'll use this as my key light, and another 12" diameter that I'll use either as fill or as a hair light). I am going to install this metal bracket thing on the garage ceiling and put in a bunch of S-hooks so I can adjust the positioning of the lanterns. I also have an old closet door that I have set up on one side where I can lean my reflectors (really just foam core board from Office Depot).
So, that is my studio-on-a-budget, or at least what it eventually will be. I'll take a picture of my set up when I'm done.
Oh my, this entire email has been completely about me. I'll have to tell some kid-stories tomorrow. For now I'll leave you with some pictures from my new camera.

Hey Everyone,
Happy St. Patricks Day! I hope everyone wore green and avoided getting pinched. The boys were pretty excited to wear green to school today, AND they got special snacks-- little cups of candy that they found "at the end of a rainbow." Their arts and crafts project involved painting a pot of gold, and their teacher wrote on each child's what he or she would do with a pot of gold. Joseph said he would "buy a light chaser" (I guess 3 aren't enough), and Brigham said he would "Go to Disneyworld and see Mickey Mouse." We'll definitely have to take the boys up there again sometime. Maybe for their birthday.
We had the missionaries over tonight, so I made a traditional Irish meal, thanks to allrecipes.com. I made Colcannon, a mashed potatoes/cabbage/leeks dish that I really liked-- much better than plain old mashed potatoes; Irish stew, which had carrots, parsnips, leeks, onions, potatoes, rosemary, and beef (supposed to be lamb but I couldn't find any lamb at the store); and Irish soda bread. It was all very good, except perhaps a bit too much rosemary in the stew. I think the rosemary would have gone very well with the lamb, but with the beef, a little less would have probably been better. For dessert we had mint-n-chip ice cream (you know, it's green). While the missionaries were here, I gave them a brief history of St. Patrick and of St. Patrick's Day. For any of you interested, here's what I learned:
St. Patrick was born in England in the late 4th or early 5th century A.D. At the age of 16 he was kidnapped by Irish marauders and taken to Ireland where he was a slave for 6 years. As a slave he worked mostly as a shepherd and it was during this time that he became deeply religious. After 6 years he escaped and fled back to England. After returning to England, he had a vision of sorts in which he was instructed to become a priest and go back to Ireland. 15 years later, after becoming a priest, he did return to Ireland as a missionary to minister to the small group of Christians in Ireland, and to convert many others. Ireland was a largely pagan country, with the people following a sort of nature-worshipping religion.
Patrick was a master at merging Christianity with the pre-existing Irish rituals and symbols familiar with the people of Ireland at the time. It was he who combined the sun (powerful Pagan symbol) with the Christian cross, to create the unique Celtic cross. He also encouraged the people to celebrate Easter with bonfires, a traditional ritual of spring in the old Pagan ways. He is said to have died on March 17, 460 A.D., which is why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day on March 17. He later became the patron saint of Ireland, and many myths have arisen surrounding St. Patrick. The most famous one is that he drove the serpents out of Ireland. However, this is certainly a myth as it appears there never have existed snakes on the island, at least not since the ice age.
St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated for centuries in Ireland, as a feast day in the midst of Lent. People would go to church services in the morning and then in the afternoon the celebrations would begin. St. Patrick's day became a holiday from Lent, with the people commonly eating meat and celebrating with a feast. Since St. Patrick spent his life as a missionary, St. Patrick's Day is traditionally a day of prayer for missionaries throughout the world (I thought this was really cool, especially since we had missionaries over for dinner!).
The first St. Patrick's Day Parade was actually held in New York City in 1780-something, when the Irishmen in the British Army marched in national solidarity. Since then, the St. Patrick's Day parade has become a global tradition, as has wearing green, the national color of Ireland.
So, now you know!
Ok, that's it for tonight. I'm really tired. I think I'm definitely experiencing MS fatigue because I just cannot seem to get enough sleep. I've been so exhausted and I've barely exercised at all this week, which is really bad because I start getting really depressed when I haven't worked out. I'm definitely going to workout tomorrow. I'm hoping it will help clear my brain, too, since I've also been feeling really fuzzy and just not totally right mentally. It's really bugging me. It is pretty subtle, though, so I can't tell for sure if it is just a combination of external factors getting to me, or if it is the M.S., or if it is all the drugs I'm taking, or what. But it is getting to me.
I was able to get a bunch of stuff taken care of today, though, including a persistent problem with our bank and our mortgage company. Our bank, Bank of America, keeps sending our mortgage payment to the wrong account number at Flagstar Bank. Luckily it is being sent to a non-existent account number, so the money is still there, but it shows up on our account as if we haven't submitted a payment, so I've been getting these nasty letters from the Loan counseling department at Flagstar, threatening all sorts of things if we don't pay up. So that has been a hassle trying to straighten out, and even more aggravating because this was supposedly all figured out 4 months ago and here we are again, the same exact problem cropping up. Right now I'm pretty mad at Bank of America, and pretty mad at Flagstar. Bank of America shouldn't be making a mistake like that, but Flagstar has been extremely rude to me on the phone whenever I've spoken with anyone. Even more maddening because it is NOT MY FAULT!! Grrrr...
I got a call from a girl in the Ft. Laud ward who wants me to photograph her 2 week old. But my camera is still in the shop! So I'm trying to find someone with a camera I an borrow, or a place that will rent me a camera for the day. Newborns have a very limited window of time where you can get really cute curled-up newborn poses, and that window closes right at about 2 weeks. If I can't find a camera soon I'm gonna miss that window! Hopefully I'll find something soon.
All right, that's it for tonight. Have a great weekend everyone.

I didn't mention (I don't think) that I got a new haircut a couple of weeks ago. The pictures are below. What do you think? It takes a little effort to make it look cute, but I really like it a lot. This is the shortest I have ever had my hair in my life! Well, since being a baby I guess.
I started working on a project today, going through all the videotapes I have taken, and labeling them with their contents. The long-term plan is to have them copied to DVD, but first I have to know what is on what. So I pulled out the one from the twins' birth today and it was so wonderful to watch it. I had never actually watched it since it was taken, so it was all brand-new to me. Wow, it was amazing to see those two little tiny babies. Actually even more amazing to see my huge belly just before they were born! Almost unreal. The boys were completely fascinated, too. Joseph asked for the first time which of them was born first and when I said he was, he said, "I KNEW I was born first!" Like I said, everything is a contest with him!
Mama, you remember how you were worried you didn't operate the camera right and missed filming a lot of stuff? Well, you can breathe easy (after 4.5 years), it all got on tape just fine.
My friend Rena is newly pregnant and has terrible morning (all-day, all-night) sickness, like I did with the twins and Mosey, and all these memories of being pregnant are coming back to me. I'm not sure if I miss all of that or if I'm really glad I'm not there now!
Oh yeah, I also didn't mention that I finished up all my qualifications for my new camera, sent in the forms and everything, and now I'm just waiting. I am so excited! My other camera is still being repaired so I've had to use my old Kodak and I'm really suffering... Please excuse the quality of the self-portraits of my new haircut, I promise it is the camera!
Ok, I have to go to bed, I am just so tired I can't think anymore.

First of all, happy belated birthday Elena! I hope your birthday was really great. Your cousins Brigham and Joseph can hardly wait to be 5 just like you! And soon you will be getting your best birthday present, a new little sister. Rosalynde, I hope you are doing well during these last few days. I can't wait to get "the call" that baby Mara is here.
Well, we have had a great few days! Ben's parents came on Wednesday night and left early yesterday morning. We did lots of things including going to Fairchild Gardens (a really beautiful tropical botanical gardens), Coral Castle, a tour of Ft. Lauderdale by boat, the beach (twice), Palm Beach, and lots of places in between!
The boys really, really loved having their grandparents here. Since they left, in all of the prayers (blessings on food included), thanks were given that grandma and grandpa could come.
Ben was scheduled to have Thursday and Friday off, but an emergency came up at work and he ended up really only getting Friday afternoon off. But we still managed to do just about everything we wanted. I hope we didn't completely wear out Kent, though!
I don't think I updated last week much at all, even before the Turners came, however. Mosey ended up with a double ear infection, so I'm still force-feeding him amoxicillin (only 2 more days of that torture, thank GOODNESS!-- No wonder so many bugs are becoming resistant to amoxicillin, 10 days of twice a day dosing in an uncooperative 2-year old is nigh-on impossible), I got strep throat AGAIN (and yes, I DID take my antibiotics as directed) and so ended up on another antibiotic, I painted the kitchen backsplash (wanted to do tile, but no time or money and I just got plain sick of the lavender sponge paint), rented a carpet cleaner and thoroughly cleaned carpets upstairs and down, touched up the paint in my bedroom and bathroom, and got the house pretty much clean by last Wednesday night. Whew! I still had several projects I really wanted to finish before Kent and Jackee got here, but oh well. What wasn't done was: weeding in front yard planters and new flowers put in big tree planters by driveway, garage cleaned out and organized (although this did mostly get done after they got here), cornice boxes in living room recovered, downstairs closet door repainted (the boys went at it with a knife more than a year ago and I still haven't repainted it), and new pictures printed out and hung in my newly painted stairway and hall. Oh well.
The outings we went on really were fun. At the Fairchild gardens, there was a huge art exhibit by an artist named Chihuly (can't remember his first name), who is a world-renowned glass blower. There were these fantastic glass pieces incorporated throughout the gardens, hanging from trees, "growing" from the ground, floating in the lakes. Really, really neat. Jackee and I went into a building where some of his smaller pieces for sale were on display. The pieces in that room were going for between $4000 and $40,000. No kidding! I stood their and watched while one lady looked around and decided to buy a $6,000 piece in the shape of a lily. It was pretty, but wow! $6,000 for a piece of glass.
At the Coral Castle, where we've been before, we were given a guided tour by this guy who must be the proprietor of the place or something, because he knew EVERYTHING and told us lots of really cool details that were not part of the regular tour script. And we saw a scarlett kingsnake (I think that's what it was-- it was either that or a coral snake, and a coral snake is extremely venomous, so I hope it wasn't that!!) slithering between 2 section of walls. Ben tried to catch it but it was too slithery. Seeing that snake was Joseph's favorite part of the day. We also caught a tree frog which we took home and kept until Sunday when we let it go. The boys thought it was very cool, how it would grab onto them and then make these enormous leaps onto walls or whatever.
At the second beach we went to, up in Palm Beach County (can't remember the name of that beach), we found so MANY shells! Also 2 beached jellyfish and a sea urchin. I thought the sea urchin was dead (it was washed up WAY up on the beach), so I took it home. I forgot to take it out of the car, though, and 2 days later it became horribly apparent that the poor thing had NOT been dead, but now obviously was. Yuck. Rotting sea creatures really smell horrible.
Kent and Jackee enjoyed being serenaded by the boys for nearly 2 hours on the way home from Palm Beach. Their song for the evening was the Scooby Doo theme song, which Ben had taught them. I doubt Kent or Jackee will be able to get that song out of their head for quite a while! Kent tried, to get them to start singing another song, but Scooby Doo prevailed.
Anyway, now we are trying to get back into the normal rhythm of life. Joseph is having a little bit of a hard time, mostly because when Grandma and Grandpa were here, he got to stay up late every night. Last night I tried to get him down at a decent hour, but he was still up till 10:00 PM pounding on my door crying to be let in. He finally fell asleep on the floor in the hall, poor guy. I'm trying very hard to get them out of the habit of sleeping in my bed. Anyway, today at school he was not at his best, and after school Miss Trudy wanted to talk to both of us. He has been rushing through some of his work, "scribble scrabbling," and she wanted to talk to him about doing his best. Joseph was embarassed and grumpy and did NOT behave well at all, at one point even trying to kick Miss Trudy! Oh no!! It wasn't really a real kick, I was holding him on my lap, and when Miss Trudy came and knelt in front of him, he sort of kicked out with his foot, I guess trying to push her away. But whatever, a kick is a kick. He got in big trouble and I made him stand in a corner until he apologized. He didn't ever apologize, but ended up instead accidentally bumping his head quite hard on a doorknob and was then crying really hard. I wasn't sure what to do and so I just picked him up and told him he would need to apologize tomorrow. I was pretty embarassed. Anyway, this evening Joseph made a very nice apology card for Miss Trudy and we had a good talk about taking his time and doing his best and never, ever, EVER kicking a teacher again. I think he got the picture.
The problem with him is that right now EVERYTHING is a race for him. A race to see who can get dressed first, who can open the car door first, who can get buckled first, who can finish eating first, etc., etc. I suppose this comes from always having a twin brother there to compete with. He told me today he was scribble scrabbling on his work because Eric was trying to beat him and he wanted to finish first. So I talked to him about how schoolwork is not a race, and it is better to do a good job than to be fast. We practiced what he would do if someone tried to race him (tell them it was not a race, and/or move to a different table). So I hope things will improve. I worked with him on his coloring today, something he has always lagged behind on compared to Brigham. Brigham loves coloring and is very good with his hands, and so I've never had to really "teach" him how to color, etc. But I think Joseph just needed some explanation as to how to color, and what it means to do a good job coloring (staying in the lines and filling in all the white spaces). I guess I never thought coloring had to be "taught!"
Ok, this has gone on way too long. At least now I feel like I am kind of up to date on my daily updates! I promise tomorrow's won't be nearly as long or boring.
I'm going to post a bunch of pictures on my blog, but they probably won't be up until tomorrow.

Ugh. I have strep throat. I was hoping not, but by this afternoon there really wasn't much of a question and a throat swab confirmed it. Actually, it's ok since at least the ab's should knock it right out!
Anyway, I'm drugged up on some hydrocodone and I'm going to try to sleep. I hope when I wake up I'll feel like a new person.