Halloween

Today we went off to school ready to play, bake, use our imaginations, be spooked a little and to indulge in some sweet treats !

( Ms. Janveau's 1/2 class)

Things are smelling good.....

......at Cheslakees.  Ms. Janveau's 1/2 class & I had our first morning in the kitchen.  We whipped up enough Pumpkin spice muffins to fill the school with the lovely comforting aroma of Fall.

Things are.....

 .....improving day by day...met with our new ped. psychiatrist yesterday.  Prior to meeting her I had only received glowing recommendations....which I can now see why.  At the end of our 2 hours session, she informed me that she feels that I have a very impressive handle on all the ins & out of whats going on with my kids and that she feels no need to make any big recommendation with the exception of a small med tweeking for Ana.  She went on to applaud my plans to transition into our being a home school family. ( Which means that the kids entire medical team is backing my decision)  It's always nice to receive positive feedback from people in the know !!!

The cold that has been making it's way through the house seem to be finishing up.

I've am happy to report that the fire & I are now on friendly terms.....a huge improvement from last Fall !

I'm back in my school kitchen with all the kids at Cheslakeese.  The Kindie and I made applesauce yesterday.  Their so sweet and eager.  I just love it !

My Ana & I had a peaceful non-confrontational 40 minutes this morning making double chocolate chip cookies...actually our whole day was really peaceful !

So it appears that things are on an upswing finally...well until next week when Ana has her dental surgery...here's hoping everything goes smoothly and she's not to traumatized ....

Child's work.....

This morning we joined up with several other Sunset Elem. School families to start the big project of repairing the primary playground.  Anthony was a little worried that he wouldn't be allowed to help.  Fortunate for him....anyone that wanted to pitch in was encouraged to do so !

After our 2 1/2hr's we headed into town to our local library......39 items later !

 We picked up enough different things to hopefully entertain everyone...me include until next week !  Now off to have a late lunch.....Autumn Soup...Mmmmmm

Garden goodness

Last night I happened to walk by the garden and noticed these lovelies !!!  The garden has been so hoe hum this year that I had stopped checking it lately.  To my pleasant surprise the scarlet runner beans had decided to finally be productive.....

I see you......

I see you learning.....

I see you happy....

I see you trusting....

I see you letting her see you.....

I see you making friends......

I see your true brilliance....

Liam,  I see you !!!

Cross Country / Sointula B.C.

Run baby run !!!!!!

Where to start?

   I'm not sure where to start.  Let just start be saying that the last several weeks have been long & emotionally draining to say the least!  I'm not sure how to fully explain with all the identity editing that would be required.....let's give it a try!

-  The "bigs" start to school was slow & caotic.  Here we are 5 weeks into school, several conversations & meetings later and they are just now having their IEP's set into motion !  When my Anthony's asking not to go to school you know there's a problem !!

-  For sensory reasons school has been becoming increasingly difficult for my Ana.  Academically she has no issues, she's exceeding her grade level.  She & I were so hopeful that this year would go smoother than last because she was going to have the same teacher, classroom, desk etc.....not so much ! ( this is the part that requires a tonne of editing !!!).  Let's just say that I feel all the finger pointing should be directed at someone else !!

-  So if Ana's day to day school issues weren't enough.....We then were sent into an emotional tail spin following an abusive verbal meltdown by a veteran teacher who was subbing in her class.  Three days of solid raging like we've never been though before.  Which resulting into her feeling so worthless that she went for the knife in an attempt to end it herself......

-  Not everything is a mess !  Liam is having a GREAT start to grade 1 & full time school.  However, there is a underlying sadness.  He has announced to several of us that " Last year I was stupid !  Ms. Janveau is such a good teacher now I'm learnin stuff !!" - ( the truth is that he only 6yrs old, has mastered his phonics and is on the verge of reading any day now, He's got a brain like a sponge...animals, dino's, bugs, you should see him build stuff, What 6 year old do you know who understands the importance of rebar ?...he's anything but STUPID !!)  More editing of my opinions.......I'm pleased to see that his current teacher Ms. Janveau truly sees my boy & likes him !!!

So where am I in all of this?  Well, I'm doing my best to hold us all together.  I've been seriously fighting the urge not to just tell everyone off !  My head still hurts from all the crying & being angry ! In the end I know the flaws of the systems in place and know that freaking out won't help any of us.  I've been working closely with our mental health team.  Having meetings with doctors, therapist, teachers, playing by the rules and being as upfront & honest as always.  However, my urge to hide out is ever increasing.  My tired emotional self has been eating way to many cookies and the weather has made it easy to not get out and walk.

Since I can't just "fix" my kids or the system and despite all my efforts I can't erase all the trauma...do you think maybe, just maybe people can just follow the law, ethic & procedures that they agreed too when they chose their careers & signed their contracts?  Apparently that's too much to ask !!!

I'm seeing some major changes soon......let's just say my loyalty to the public school system is vanishing quickly !!!  If I was granted a magic wand I'd form my own little education squad made up of the few excellent professional that have rallied around my precious little clan.  I wonder what the unions would think of that?  I'd promise to always be respectful & be a good member of the team and if that's not enough I'll feed them REALLY well !!!!

Hiding.....

Sometime the world is an unfriendly place to be.......sometimes we " Shepley's" just need to hole up at home and ignore the outside world......