My extended Love Story and the Mothers' Day Videos have kept me from updating you on my family. (Well, mostly, I did a FEW updates...)
The school year is winding down, and Cameron is anxious to go to his new school. Even though his current school does go from Kindergarten to sixth grade, the DACC (Developmentally Accurate Curriculum Classroom, aka Special Ed) only goes from Kindergarten to third grade. Next year he'll be at a different school, still in the DACC, but one that goes from fourth grade to sixth. We have a transition meeting on Friday, and I am also feeling the nerves. I hope that his new teacher is as motivated as his current teacher. I have to admit, the thing I absolutely LOVE about DAC is that the teacher is the same the whole way through. Instead of switching teachers yearly, Cam has had (until this current school year) only 2 teachers: his Kindergarten teacher, and then the DAC teacher. This year, he got a new teacher because his old teacher took a position teaching pre-school. I have LOVED that Cam is more obedient to this teacher, that this teacher believes in Cameron, and that he's a MAN. Honestly, I used to think all guy teachers were boring and jerks. (Coming from my OWN experience in high school.) I never knew any male teachers who taught elementary, so I was shocked when Cam's pre-school teacher was a man. I had pre-conceived notions, and his teacher, Mr. Lange, showed me that a man can be a GREAT teacher for little kids. When I heard that Cam was going to have another male teacher, I wasn't as trepidatious as I had been with pre-school. He has THRIVED under his teacher's care. He responds better to him, and has had less bad (reported) behavior. It's been great. I've been trying to petition Mr. W to follow Cameron to the new school, but he assures me that he is needed at the current school, and that the new teacher is wonderful too. We will be anticipating meeting her on Friday.
Cameron has also had a mohawk for a while. The terms when I gave it to him were that he must be obedient, and show good behavior. This morning, the bad behavior ran amok. Cam woke up SEVERAL times in the middle of the night (once before Steve went to work at 4:00 am, when I woke up for my potty break at 5:30 am, and then again at 6:00 am....) and was a BEAR to wake up this morning. Once he finally DID get ready, he was still defiant (which, actually is a typical morning behavior for him, before his medication and all...) and got three warnings. After the third warning, I told him what was going to happen, and pulled out my hair clippers. The crying ensued, and I stuck to my guns, when he was warned he KNEW he could stop and would be able to keep his mohawk, but he continued being defiant and bratty. Good-bye mohawk. Happily though, he was much better behaved after the loss of his mohawk....yay! 
Jacob has become QUITE independent. I put a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, and in the last 10 minutes he's brought me two bananas. He can help himself to most things, which isn't always a good thing. He does dole out "I love you" often (even to someone at church yesterday....it was very cute!) And he blows kisses and makes the noisy *mwah* noise afterward. He talks a LOT, understands, A LOT, and has a great personality. He's lots of fun, most of the time.
He's also picked up a bad habit of screaming loudly in enclosed spaces and at a very high pitch. He thinks it's funny, and will do it, JUST for our reaction.
He's quite the entertainer, and even likes to show off for people he doesn't know very well. (Although he does play bashful first...) His favorite place to be is outside, and will often grab our hands and say, "Ousside!!! PWEEASE!!!!" When we agree that he can go out, he erupts with, "YAY!!" and then claps his hands.
I'm having a hard time believing that he'll be 2 next month.
Steve has finished his choir concert, which was very nice. He was even on the local news when they played part of the concert on the news. He noticed that he looks QUITE somber when he sings, I told him that he just needs to smile....we'll see. He is also getting ready to try-out for another musical. I know that I've mentioned that I HATE it when he is in plays, but I want him to participate with groups that are family-friendly, and this choir, has proved itself to be otherwise.
At his last big performance, I took Jacob and Cameron, by myself, to hear him sing at a church I'd never been in. I felt uncomfortable, and should have just left, but I stayed to support my husband. This concert was late at night, after a long day at church, and Jake was very unhappy. He didn't want to sit still and be quiet any more. So he cried and screamed. I took him out of the sanctuary and tried to calm him down, but I knew I couldn't leave poor Cameron all by himself for too long, so I went back, but this made Jake upset, and I had to leave with him again. This cycle repeated itself about 4 times. I was so humiliated and frustrated by the end of it. When it was over, Steve was carrying Jake out, and a lady, who we KNOW well, and actually invited Steve to the choir, shook her head at Steve, giving Jake the stink-eye. Steve asked her what was wrong, and she said, "He shouldn't have been given a second chance to come back."
Are you KIDDING me!?
Then she didn't stop, she kept going, "There is a reason MOST concerts have an age limit. He shouldn't have come back because they were recording this concert...." blah blah blah.
I felt about an inch high, and was SO thoroughly embarrassed that I just grabbed both boys and left. When I got to the van, I was in TEARS. How DARE she act that way? Kids are kids, and it's not like I could just take Jake and leave Cameron sitting by himself. He has anxiety issues, you don't just abandon a kid with anxiety issues.
I kept trying to calm down by telling myself that she didn't know any better, and that I was a good mommy, and it was just her being an ornery old lady.
The next concert, the next night, Jake went again, and was MUCH better behaved. The guy in front of us at this concert commented on how well behaved he'd been, and that we should have heard the loud child from the night before. I was embarrassed, AGAIN, and vowed to not take him anymore. I didn't want to even go myself.
So this time, I went with JUST Cameron to the second performance, and we enjoyed it. But there were noisy kids at this concert. I let the noise go, because, heck, I'd just been reamed for having a noisy kid at the last concert, I wasn't going to be a brat. Once the concert was over, that lady, the one who'd chewed ME out for taking a noisy child, under 8....to a concert, hugged on these kids. THEY WERE HER GRANDKIDS! I was so mad! SO mad! I just ignored her and left.
I know that the organization that he's going to try-out for is child-oriented, and I feel better knowing that if I bring a noisy child to a performance with this group, I won't be shunned, humiliated, or made to feel bad.
And me? Oh, I'm just plugging along. I was spoiled with my Mother's Day stuff yesterday. I got two sprouts that Cam planted at school, a marigold from Jake and nursery, and two bamboo plants from Steve. I am LOVING the color in my life. 
I also got some cute cards, a book light, and TWO corsages. It was a very fun day. I even got to talk to my missionary brother in the Philippines. He'd called my mom VERY late at night to tell her to set up Skype. She was so loopy, and didn't know who he was (he didn't identify himself...) But she got my other brother working on it, and he set up my parents' big screen TV as our Skype. We talked with him for an hour, and got to see his SEVERE tan line, and his teeth. (LOL, apparently, in the Philippines instead of fixing teeth, dentists just PULL them out, so we asked him if he still had all of his teeth...) It was so much fun to SEE him, and talk with him. It was great. We now have a countdown date for his homecoming, and my boys got to talk to him a bit too. Jake kind of ate the microphone, and ran around, but Cameron LOVED talking to him. When it was over, he begged to do it again. We told Cam that he could talk to Braiden when he comes home in 3 months. He got very excited and did a little bit of a happy dance.
I also participated in Bountiful Baskets. A food co-op, where you pay $15 or more, if you want organic, and you get equal parts fruits and vegetables. This last week was my first time, and I quite enjoyed it. We ended up with TONS of yummy food. This last week's basket had lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, spinach, brocoflower (or as my brother prefers to call it, "cauliflocceri"), corn, watermelon, apples, bananas, mangoes, and tangelos. It was SO yummy. I still have a ton of stuff left. I may have to do this every once in a while...it's just too fun.
Saturday I also went to my cousin's wedding. It was lovely, and a big adventure. Things got a little mixed up when we went to the reception, but we figured things out. She was gorgeous, and I enjoyed talking with her parents. I don't see my aunts and uncles nearly as often as I used to.
Overall, things are going well. We're happy, healthy, and surviving. :)
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