A Number of Things

Life has been hectic the last couple of weeks. It has been hard to keep up with it all!

Bryce and Ty completed 4 merit badges (2 Citizenship in the Nation, 1 Communications and 1 Environmental Science) and they are working on several others.

Bryce turned 14 and was ordained a teacher.

Lisa made 90 invitations (with some help) for the annual Teacher Appreciation Dinner at our church.

The kids had 8 teachers attend the dinner.

The kids went on 4 field trips: Paige to Moody Gardens in Galveston, Bryce and Ty to the Houston Natural History Museum and Brett to the Baton Rouge Zoo.

Brett spent 2 days at home sick after the field trip.

Dave and Lisa celebrated our 19th anniversary.

Bryce and Ty left on a 3 day band trip to San Antonio.

Bryce's random fact of the day

Three mile island is 2 1/2 miles long.

Brett quote of the day

"I made up a joke, but I can't think of an answer for it."
"What is the joke."
"Why can't chalk walk?"

Any suggestions for a good punchline to Brett's joke?

Brett quote of the day

"Sometimes, when I am in a white room, I forget where I am."
"What do you mean?" Paige asked.
"Like sometimes at school when I read, I put my book and my head under my desk and then when I sit up I think, hey, I forgot I was at school."

So brave and so misunderstood

I recently read a book (because my sister mentioned it) about a young girl who doesn't talk. The back of the book and a couple of times in the book they say that she has selective mutism. She does not. The girl in the book stopped talking because of a traumatic event and did not talk to anyone...ever, until of course at the end of the book where she began talking again. Selective Mutism is a genetic anxiety disorder. Those who have this disorder speak normally in some situations like at home and cannot speak in others like at school. When Paige is in a situation where she is expected to talk she feels great anxiety. Maybe, it could be compared to someone with a great fear of heights looking over the edge of a skyscrapper. Paige does not let this keep her from doing the things she wants to do. She participates in everything. She knew that if she went to the region science fair there would be judges interviewing the partipants, but she still wanted to go.

Arrangements were made and Bryce sat with her. When the judge came to her she whispered her answers to Bryce and he told them to the judge. She received an honorable mention at the fair. This year Paige has participated in student of the year, spelling bees, science fair, beta club, and more. When she wants to do something...she finds a way. If her anxiety was a fear of heights she would be skydiving!

Brett quote of the day

A discussion in the backseat:
Ty, "I used to think that pay-per-view was paper view"
Paige, "Yeah, I did too."
Brett, "I thought that's what it was until 5 seconds ago."

Life

This is one of those times when there is nothing to blog about, but life keeps happening. The kids enjoyed spring break. Bryce, Ty and Dave went on a 2 night backpack trip and Paige and Brett had sleepovers. The kids are gearing up for testing week at school and we are all looking forward to a week with no homework. Bryce and Ty are are in a boy scout mode and have been trying to finish up some merit badges. Brett has been reading like crazy and is hoping to be at a 4.0 (4th grade level) by the end of the school year. It was so nice to have Easter and Conference weekend together. We really enjoyed spending the time together.

Everyone got coloring books for Easter, so there was coloring of all kinds going on over the weekend.