Homerun

Max playing first base at last night's game vs. the Phillie's

In the 4th inning Max hit his first home run in Majors!
He was pretty excited.

Dream

Markus' Informance was today at school

He sang, danced and played instruments

All the children painted their own costumes

The theme of this year's Informance was Africa

Dream

Create

Imagine

What He Needs



 I found this photo a few days ago of Morgen and I outside our condo in Holladay and one thing stood out. Morgen's smile. I love it.

I think I am simply a mom that loves her son. I'll keep fighting for him. I know that I will fight for all three of mine. I don’t remember when my child’s needs became exceptional, as in, an exception to the obligation the school system has to meet his educational needs. I don’t remember the first time other parents showed glaring annoyance at my child’s needs, as if by having his needs met I was asking for their kids’ needs to be ignored, or suggested I was asking too much of the school system. Or that maybe I was just asking too much of my child.

Challenger school was a good thing for my son. Switching over to the public school (Challenger was pre-K) presented challenges, but I met with the school and did all I could do to be sure he was placed where he needed to be. Fortunately, the principal and the teachers wanted him in the right place, too. I’m grateful that I was able to give him the right school option for the foundation of his schooling, and I feel that all children should have the same opportunity. It can be done. We just have to keep trying.

Every parent’s job is to advocate for their child. Gifted, learning disabled, middle of the road, where ever they fall. Period. If that makes me pushy, then make me a name tag and I will wear it with pride. The Lord gave children parents for a reason, and if we don’t advocate for our kids, who will?

I’m in the camp of those who take issue with the label “gifted” for children. All children are gifted in one way or another and all parents (hopefully) find things exceptional about their children. I don’t think we need gifted programs in elementary school. I do think that teachers and parents need to collaborate to design the appropriate curriculum for each student, no matter where they fall on the spectrum and allow each child to be appropriately challenged. This usually takes a large dose of creativity and a TON of time. Teachers and schools cannot do this alone. They simply don’t have the resources alone. Our school offers amazing services that are traditionally absent or cut due to spending cuts because of aggressive fundraising and volunteerism from the parents and community. For those parents who feel like they have children lost on the fringes, I suggest advocating to the other parents and community to make changes, because there are probably major holes for most students. I’m just objecting to the term gifted for these students. As a parent and an educator, it just doesn’t sit right.

According to Max

Hockey is intense, amazing, sweating, shooting, scoring, fans cheering and screaming. Champions.

At least according to Max.

Mother's

My sister Marilee (and her boyfriend Tony)

Marilee planned Mother's Day dinner at the restaurant she works at in Park City tonight.



Cole, Casey and Morgen enjoyed sitting by each other so they could play games on their iPods.




Morgen, Max, Mom, and Markus




Candie and the person she loves most in the whole world, my mom




Sheri was busy keeping Connor fed and entertained. He is one busy little boy!




Dessert Sampler




Even though Ashley moved from my sister Sheri's house, she still came to celebrate with Josslyn (who misses her so much she cries)




Monet bought a flat screen T.V. for my mom and dad as a combined Mother's/Father's Day gift that Marilee, Lara, Sheri and I went in on. My mom was very surprised and excited.



There are all different kinds of Mother's, happy day to all of them.

What do you call a double-double header?

A lot of baseball!!!

That is what I call it anyways. Markus had a double header with his accelerated baseball team out at the Copper Hills field today.

Snacks between games

Max also had a double header with his accelerated team today

And as it was scheduled, he played at Copper Hills as well.

They won both of their games by ten points.

Markus' team lost both of theirs by about the same margin.

They both had a fun day of baseball.

After the second game was called on the ten point rule, all the boys wanted to stay and play some more!

That is when you know that they love playing, after playing all day, they are asking for more.

The team:
l to r: (back row) Coach Jeff, Dusty, Camden, Easton, Pierce, D.J. Dakota, Coach Rob
(front row) Jake, Kaden, Max, Taylor and Alex

As if that wasn't enough, after coming home and doing all their chores, guess where Max and Markus wanted to go? The batting cages! They each batted five tokens worth of balls at Mulligan's to top off the day of baseball! Gotta love it.

Fun Run

Ready, Set, Run!

Markus was excited to run in the fun run today!

He ran at the front of the pack for the whole 1/2 mile run.

He came in eighth right after his friend Cache

Max took fifth for the boys and his friend Olivia took fifth for the girls!

Top five Sixth grade boys

Max and pals

Max S. has won the fun run every single year since kindergarten! His dad was the leader for each group of runners this year and ended up running close to 11 miles today. He is a professional runner for Adidas.

Perfect day for the fun run this year!

signs of spring

I could hear the birds singing when I planted some flowers today

 my magnolia is finally blooming

hanging baskets

tulips

What do you love about Spring?

Enough?

Guess what the boys do when they don't have baseball games or practices? You guessed it, they play baseball in the front yard. They just can't get enough of a good thing.

Happy Arbor Day

For Arbor day, Markus went on a field trip at school to Red Butte Gardens and each child in his class brought home a tree to plant. He planted his today in the front yard.

Bases Loaded

Some photos from Markus' baseball game

Caught the ball right in flight (left)

He hit a double... D.O.U.B.L.E!

He rotated between catcher and pitcher as well as first base in this game.

Markus and his Red Wing's coach, Jeremy.

So far this season, Markus' baseball team is undefeated. But the coach pitch ended today and the kid pitch begins - so that is a whole different ball game. Markus did great pitching in his first game this season and only hit one batter, his friend Sam from hockey. Oops.

May Day

9/11 Flag recovered from the World Trade Center

Where were you when you heard the news of Osama's death? I was downstairs when Max came running in from playing outside to tell me that he heard the news from his friends. After turning on the news to find out more information, it was hard to believe. It was almost ten years ago, 9/11 and now the news was saying justice had been served. I agree that this historic moment will bring some closure to families of the victims of September 11th. However, I was reading about it online and found this perspective: A teacher at Holy Cross High School in New York City was Father Francis Grogan. Father Frank, as he was called, was also a chaplain for the New York Fire Department. I guess you can figure out for yourself what's coming next. Father Frank was tending his flock on Sept. 11, 2001 when he died along with many members of his congregation at the World Trade Center. Father Frank was a man of peace, so I doubt that he would celebrate the death of his murderer. But I bet he would pray for the souls of the people that died that day and their families. He might also pray for bin Laden's soul and hope that it would find redemption. But I'm sure he would hope that bin Laden's death would lead to an era of peace between all the worlds brothers and sisters.