Natural Accident

Yesterday while helping Two practice the piano, I heard something slam into our front window.  I checked outside to see if the kids were playing ball, although I knew they were inside doing jobs.  I guess I was hoping that they had snuck outside because if it wasn't them accidentally hitting the window, then I knew it was a bird:(

Sadly, a woodpecker had flown into our window.  I rushed outside in time to see it take its last breath.  It was awful.  The kids came running out after me.  If you've never seen a woodpecker, they are quite beautiful.  (I did take a pic and will post when I find/get a USB cord)  Just in case the poor thing was just way knocked out, we let it lie there for a couple hours.  I guess I didn't want to tell the kids that it was, in fact, dead.  

Eventually I had to tell them the bad news and they made preparations for its funeral.  After naming it Beatrice (?!), we secured a place in the back yard for its final resting place.  I had to take a phone call and while I was busy, the kids went ahead without me, burying the bird and having a funeral-complete with an opening and closing prayer, two talks, two songs and fond memories (?!  we never even knew the bird, how can we have fond memories?!).  Anyhow, I was quite surprised when I got off the phone that they had been able to get all of that finished, but good for them (I thought we would just dig a hole and call it good, but whatever).  They also made a headstone that reads:

Here lies our beloved bird

Beatrice

Who died from a natural accident

June 20, 2012

Evidently they forgot the word 'tragic' and could only come up with natural.  haha

This morning, I found out why they finished the funeral and burial so quickly.  I had to take One to a class downtown, an hour round trip.  When I got back home and came inside the house was quiet.  

I found the kids all outside and they had dug. up. the. bird.

To show a friend that missed yesterday's service.  The grave was about six inches deep.  Way too shallow.  We're lucky that the cat or one of the local wild animals didn't find it first.  After my initial freak out about germs, and the washing and disinfecting of hands that had held the deceased bird, we talked about how it is disrespectful to unbury anything and that we could have shown the friend pictures instead.  We only visit graves, not dig them up.  Ew.

So this morning I have already been in the car for an hour and dug a (new, much deeper) grave for a bird named Beatrice.

Fun Weekend

...and Monday.  It was a fun day, too.

I have some GREAT pictures, but I either don't have or can't find a USB cord for my camera.  It's on the never ending list of things to do.  But I promise, as soon as I find it, I'll put them up.  

Saturday was fabulous.  We started the day by cleaning the house and then cleaning the church.  BoyOne threw a tantrum there because he had made plans to 'play' with one of his friends and was quite upset that he wouldn't be able to do that.  This is actually something that we are having a hard time with lately.  He will often make plans or invite people over without asking and it really, really bugs.  Generally we are pretty easy going and already have a houseful, so what's a few more, but he is way too comfortable assuming things.  Even though that was an annoyance early in the day, he shaped up pretty quick (probably because he had a crazed mother chasing him down the hall telling him he had better drop his crappy attitude), apologized and the rest of the day really was great.  Huz and the kids have found a rope swing at the lake and we think we're just about the only ones who know about it.  We had some of our friends come up Saturday afternoon and we took them to our little spot.  The kids and dads had a great time flying off the swing and into the cold lake.  The moms had a great time watching this craziness and documenting it with the camera.  

These are friends who we know through hosting and adoption.  I actually was able to be in Ukraine with the mom and she basically saved my life (my heart) by letting me tag along with her as she took her boys to Kyiv and had their medicals and visas done.  I even got to stay with them, train with them and go to the airport with them.  We were on different flights, but she got me there.  This was all after I had found out BoyTwo had a second birth certificate and we weren't going to be able to adopt him.  Still can't believe all that happened.  Go back to July 2011 for that fun.  Anyhow, love their family.

Sunday was Father's Day and we had a nice day.  BoyOne had a little bit of a tantrum and was a total turd to Huz, which really ticked me off.  Huz is probably the least confrontational person I know and he hardly ever gets mad or makes any of the kids do anything (anybody else married to a Disney parent?:)), so I felt that BoyOne was absolutely, positively, completely out of line.  It was over the stupidest thing, too.  Anyhow, aside from that, the day ended well and we had dinner with Huz's family at his parents' home.

Monday we went back to the lake.  I'm pretty sure that my kids think that I am incapable of doing anything fun or remotely active, given the comments they make:

'Mom, you're coming with us?  Can you even hike?' (when leaving to go on a family hike)

'Mom, you know how to run?!' (when I had to chase BoyTwo, many times, down the street barefoot and robed as he tried to make some sort of escape)

'What?!  You can ride a bike?!'  (when I was showing the boys how to ride)

'Mom, I'll teach you how to ski.'  (obviously forgetting that I taught every one of them how to ski)

'Mom, is it safe for you to jump on the tramp?'  (seriously?!  This mama can still do a back flip with a twist.  Come on kids!)

'Mom, do you know how to swim?' (I don't like to get in the cold water.  Yes, I'm a wuss.  However, I can swim and I am always prepared to go in after someone if it becomes necessary which it usually does.  At least in the past years.  Saturday and Monday this was not the case.  It was nice to stay dry and warm)

'Mom, have fun making dinner and cleaning while we're _________.'  (fill in the blank with just about anything, as if I'm going to send them off to have fun and stay behind to play housekeeper/maid)

Anyhow, I decided to shock the crap out of the boys (and the girls) by interrupting their game of keep away by tackling BoyOne in the lake and getting the ball from him.  Unfortunately I am slowing down because although he was super shocked (as were his friends) that I could take down my son, swim, play ball, run and get in the cold water with my clothes on (had my suit on underneath but didn't have time to change because that would've been a dead give away), he quickly recovered and pulled me back down.  I surprised him again by grabbing him by his swimming trunks and swinging him around and back down into the water.  He thought it was hilarious and has recounted the story many times in the past 24 hours.

Other events worth mentioning are:

*BoyOne was laying down in the shallow water after losing the ball and his friend ran after Huz, who now had the ball.  Friend didn't see BoyOne and literally ran on top of him, face and all, pushing his face down into the murky sandy water.  As BoyOne says, 'and I my nose big sand!'  (filled his face with sand)  It was sooo funny to watch, glad he didn't get hurt.

*Saturday Four was on the swing to swing, not bail into the lake and at the last second did bail, only she was not over the water but the sand:(  She got hurt and was pretty sad but seems to be fine now.

*Monday Three lost her grip on the rope swing while swinging and fell onto the sand.  While originally we thought she may have twisted her ankle, she says it feels much better today.

*BoyTwo attended a tumbling class today.  Three and Two are already taking a class at this same time so I decided to see if we could target some of his energy/wear him out.  He did alright.  I only had to walk onto the floor once to reprimand him for sassing his coach, but after that the whole thing where you point to your eyes and then to them totally worked and he (mostly) behaved.  And he's in bed asleep now, so it worked, right?!  :)

*One, Two, and Three can all beat BoyTwo when arm wrestling and for some reason he keeps coming back for more.  I, drumroll please, can beat BoyOne (righthanded.  He wins lefty).  Thank you for your applause.

Trouble

Bet you can guess who this post is about:)

I must say that I am so happy that I am smiling and rolling my eyes about this.  I'm really glad that I've been able to... well, chill out.  

About half an hour after I finished telling my neighbor how great things are going this summer (overall), how great BoyTwo is doing, how he hasn't done anything super crazy lately, how he hasn't raged for awhile, etc, etc, I found out that today wasn't so great.  Maybe I jinxed it.  Who knows.  Actually, I do know.  

BoyTwo is incredibly impulsive.  This is just a part of who he is.  This is a life skill that I will desperately try to teach him so that he has a chance at being successful once he leaves home (thank heavens we have ten more years legally and eleven until he (hopefully) graduates).

It's quite a long story as to how I came to know all of these things, a tangled web, so I'll spare you the headache of a way too long post (which I seem to be a pro at) and wrap this up.

BoyTwo took an airsoft gun that BoyOne was borrowing from a friend.  (I thought airsoft guns were nerf guns, I was wrong.  This one actually looks like a rifle and shoots little plastic bbs which probably can't kill anyone, but they do hurt.  One had a huge bruise last year from being hit by one)  He snuck into the neighbors house, down into their basement and snooped around until he found their 'bullets'.  Then, he took them and loaded the gun and shot at their house.  In case all of that wasn't bad enough, one of the bullets went through an open door and hit their daughter.  The daughter of the neighbor I was just telling how well things were going.  He also broke the gun both functionally and the actual body of it.  siiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh.

I took him over to the neighbor's house where I had him confess to them what he did, apologize and offer to work for them tomorrow to 'pay them back' for what he took from them.  

Lucky me I have super cool neighbors that totally get this little boy of ours (the dad actually has a degree in social work and for a long time worked with troubled teens).  Their daughter is okay and they have forgiven BoyTwo.  I loved that they took him up on his offer to work for them tomorrow.  He will report at 9 a.m.  Bless them.

Later I asked BoyTwo about what he had done.  He was fully aware that what he was doing was wrong, but said that he did it anyway because he wanted to.  :(

I forgot...

Here's a few random things I forgot to mention about this past week:

*One took it upon herself to ensure that the girls' AmericanGirl look alike dolls continued to 'look' like them and proceeded to cut their hair.  Yes, friends, she chopped the hair off of these $100 dolls.  I make my girls pay for their own AG dolls so really, this is not any concern of mine, except she cut off her sister's doll's hair, too.  That made me mad.  I'm still sorting out how she will rectify that situation.  Right now I'm trying to decide between her paying for a new doll for her sister, or giving her the same 'style' she gave the doll...

*BoyTwo evidently desires a career in the 'magic' industry and has been busy playing Houdini.  And by playing Houdini I mean locking all the bathroom doors in the house (multiple times a day) and proceeding to 'magic unlock a dees dooras' which isn't magical at all.  Especially when there are eight people in the house needing to use the bathroom and every single stinking door is locked and we don't have a key and he has his 'magic dis fingy' which is a stinking bobby pin and we have to wait forty-five minutes for him to 'magic open a doora'.  siiiiiiiiiiiigh.  (I did figure out pretty quick that I can use my credit card to slip the lock open so that has saved us many a time)  Every time I hear someone yell, 'AHHH  BOYTWO!!!' I know to grab my card and head for the nearest bathroom...

*Four slipped/tripped coming up the garage stairs and slammed her chin/teeth into the stairs.  She has a scab on her chin shaped like the number 10 (no kidding) and it knocked her top left front tooth back.  Not loose, just back.  We're hoping that it didn't knock it dead because at the rate these girls lose teeth around here, she'll have that thing in her mouth another four years...

Second Week of Summer and Food Issues

This week I surprised One and had her best friend come stay with us for a week.  These two have been buddies since they were four and have lived far apart from each other for the past five years.  It was so fun to watch them together and hear them giggle about everything.  Now One is off to spend the week with her friend in her neck of the woods.

We've been busy with dance.  We have had two dance recitals.  Monday was a competition group dress rehearsal.  Tuesday was a regular dress rehearsal.  Wednesday was a recital.  Thursday was tryouts.  I've had enough dance to last me all summer.  This past year I had my four daughters at three different dance studios.  We left One at her studio she has been with for the past five years because they do such a good job and she loves it there and we couldn't find anywhere else that we loved and felt good about changing to.  I put Two at a studio that I had heard great things about, hoping that we could move One to this studio if all went well.  Unfortunately, it was much less than we had hoped for all around.  The teacher wasn't great (at the end of the year I found out that she had a bunch of complaints from other parents because she was so mean and because the girls honestly didn't learn much.  I had thought this was just a problem we were having as Two is a bit sensitive and isn't as naturally gifted with dancing.  But instead, I found out that it wasn't just us and everyone was unhappy.  Other classes were awesome, and still some were not, so I still don't think I'll change my decision to leave the studio.  I guess it just wasn't for us...)  Three and Four were at a local studio with a teacher that is the nicest woman on the planet.  She loves to dance and does this out of the kindness of her heart.  Her fees are incredibly low and the girls always left dance happy.  One thing I noticed with this studio though was that the teacher is soooo nice that parents take advantage of her kind heart and drop their holy terrors off to (or even worse, sit and watch them) torment and disrupt the class making it difficult and annoying for others who are there trying to learn.  Four did just fine, but Three is a bit of a crowd follower and often got hyped up with a couple of the other girls and ended up being disruptive herself.  I had to sit during her class and pull her sometimes for not paying attention.  This was frustrating for her because she was the only one being pulled when there were lots of other girls behaving like this.  This was frustrating for me because the other moms would just smile and watch their little crazies like it was the cutest thing in the world to watch them sass the teacher and run around and refuse to dance.  I tell you, though, I was so impressed with the teacher for not once losing her cool.  She was always calm and kind and encouraging.    I love One's dance studio.  They gain a lot of from the instruction they receive and they come away happy and feeling self-confident.  Problem here is it is a 50 minute drive three times a week.  On the bright side, I convinced another mom that lives by me to have her daughter join the team. Now hopefully we can car pool it a little.

I busted the kids this week for swimming in the pond that is on the golf course.  Niiiice.  How trashy is that?!  They even took over their towels and swim goggles which happened to be what tipped me off to the idea that they might be up to something.  They generally spend a lot of time in the creek behind our house and sometimes will take goggles with them to look for balls that have been lost in the creek, but the whole herd of them traipsing through the woods, towels in hand, sunscreened, and goggle clad was a bit fishy.  Hopefully nobody else saw this before I caught up with them and had them come home.

One benefit we get from going to dance during the week is the opportunity we have to get snow cones.  This is not a treat that we have up here in the valley (we live in the mountains but it is called 'the valley' and after living here for two years I am starting to cave and refer to it as the valley also, although the name makes no sense to me.  I do realize that we are in a little valley in the mountains and that this is where the nickname comes from, but truly it sounds so ridiculous to me...) and we love to stop and get one to eat on our way home.  We did this twice this past week.

Another day, I went into our local market to get ice cream for the kids (this is a steal of a deal.  A huge cone for 50 cents.  Can't beat that!).  I left them sitting in the car which is okay to do here (before you begin to judge, please bear in mind that there were two almost twelve year olds in the car with everyone).  As I came back to the car with my hands and arms full of ice cream, the kids all stared at me through the window as I said, 'Open the door please,' several times, only to have them all continue to stare at me.  Luckily, a very tattooed man with a shaved head was sitting on the hood of his car having a smoke and offered to open the door for me, which I was very grateful for.  Except when he opened the door the kids all screamed bloody freaking murder and a couple of them yelled something like, 'help!' or 'robber!'  So, so, so very embarrassing.  Obviously this experience opened my eyes to the fact that we as a family have a few things to discuss about appearances and not judging others.

Today Huz took Three, Two, and BoyTwo to the lake.  It is quite windy and only 65 degrees.  I think they are crazy.  But, I have a little less noise here, so I'm not complaining at all:)

Yesterday we had coupons for the amusement park that is near our old house, so we packed up the troops and headed down.  One's BFF's family met us there and we had such a good time.  It makes me sad that we only see them once or twice a year.  All of our kids play so well together and the adults are all friends.  It was a great day and we were sad that it was over.

******************

I'm wondering if any of you have anything to offer regarding food issues.  BoyTwo has, I believe, some food issues, which I know can be fairly typical of post-institutionalized kids.  Here's the deal.  BoyTwo is scrappy.  He is a tiny little thing.  At eight years old he is the height of most 6-7 year olds and really skinny.  He is growing (in height and weight) since coming here and has even gone up a clothing size.  All that to say I am not worried about his health, nor is the physician.  

In the beginning we did not limit or restrict food in any way, shape or form for obvious reasons.  It quickly became clear that we would need to provide boundaries for him though.  For example, more than one time he ate an entire half of a lasagna that was in an 11 x 15 pan.  The rest of the family, all seven of us, ate the other half and even had seconds, just to give you an idea of how much food that is.  He wanted more food.  He then got sick because he had eaten so much.  In one day he ate six apples and nine bananas.  For breakfast he will eat an entire box of cereal.  Everyone would tell me, 'Oh you're just not used to boys' (which was super annoying because actually, girls can and do eat a lot too and I'm fairly confident that I'm not so stupid that I can't recognize when a kid is hungry and when he is gorging himself because of his past), and 'he's growing!' or 'he's making up for lost time.'  After it became clear that he was not feeling/recognizing that he was full, we began a 'family rule' that you could only have two helpings at dinner.  Don't think that we are starving the kid, Huz and BoyOne can't even eat the amount of food this provides, yet BoyTwo will literally inhale it.  As in not chewing.  In the beginning several months there would be food everywhere, his hair, his eyes, his ears, his clothing.  Really, everywhere.  Now that the boys have been home for nine months, things have improved, but he still has some problems.  He still wants to shovel and he must be reminded to chew.  I'm not too concerned about this, it will come.

I'm looking for ideas on how to help BoyTwo.  I think he is scared that he will not ever eat again or have enough food.  Sometimes he will admit to this.  Most of the time he says that he knows he will eat again, so maybe it's just habitual?  I don't know.  I know that this fear of not having enough to eat or not being given the opportunity to eat will possibly haunt him the rest of his life, but I want to do everything we can to help him know that he will not starve.  This is what we do:  we consistently have three meals a day, at the same times, and I give a snack two times a day-once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  At any time of day he can have an apple, banana or orange, but only one of each per day (because the first week of summer he ate four bananas, three apples and two oranges before I cut him off at noon the first day).  He is always wanting more food.  He will often come ask for food in between meals and snacks (I don't think he is hungry because I truly believe he is getting more than enough food).  Maybe I'm way off, but after eggs and pancakes for breakfast, two sandwiches and carrots for lunch, crackers in the morning, a banana, apple and orange, popsicle, popcorn and nuts all before 5 o'clock, I have a hard time believing he is hungry.  This is where the problem lies.  I don't want to withhold food, but I also don't want him being sick any more because he's eating too much.  I think that he thinks he will not get enough food ever again.  I don't know if he used to see the hoards of food the orphanage fixed each day for the 300 kids that lived there and because he was still always hungry he thinks that he has to eat everything that is in his sight or what.  I know that the boys never had enough food.  Not ever.  Not pre-orphanage or at the orphanage.  At lunch at school (here) he would eat (grab and eat) the other kids' food.  This is why I had to eat lunch with him every day for the first half of the school year.  He got better about this, but it was because the other kids had been instructed to not allow him to take their food.  He still tried, but there was intervention.  Does that make sense?  He also steals food from other kids if they have food.  This was bad at school and it caused a lot of problems.  He is better about this at home.  Usually.  As for gorging himself, he either doesn't know or can't tell that he is full.  He still makes himself sick sometimes (and those of us who are watching him:))

What are some things that you all have done to help your post-institutionalized kids with food issues?  Does it just take time?  Right now my goal is to help him learn to be appropriate at mealtimes.  Meaning using utensils, chewing food, using one hand to feed oneself, using a napkin, engage in conversation.  He has improved, but I still see panic in his eyes sometimes.  I just want him to not be stressed anymore about food.  I want him to be able to relax a little and come out of survival mode.  Let me know if you have any tips I can try:)

Keeping the Dentist in Business

Friday we went to the dentist.  All six kids and myself.  Our appointments started at 9:20 and we didn't leave until 12:40.  I brought the kids' homework along so that those who weren't being worked on could be productive (or at least that's what I was hoping for...).

BoyOne heard me scheduling these appointments a few weeks ago and ran upstairs crying.  He cried off and on on the way to the dentist and we had to give him nitrous oxide to calm him when we got there.  He finally told me why he is so scared of the dentist.  In Ukraine he had a cavity.  The dentist gave him something to drink that made him 'be silly' (what do you think this was??) and then proceeded to yank his tooth out.  Except he couldn't get it out, so he sent BoyOne home with a tooth sort of out, root exposed, to wait for the tooth to die and fall out the rest of the way on it's own.  He thinks he was about seven or eight.  Obviously, this caused him a lot of pain both during the appointment and after for a long time resulting in his fear of dentists.  

All the kids were due for their six month check up and cleaning, I had a crown that I needed started (back from when I got home from Ukraine with the boys nine months ago.  Guess I've been a little busy!), Four had a cavity that needed filled, and BoyOne had three.  During BoyOne's fillings, the dentist found another (I've honestly lost count of how many fillings this kid has had since coming home.  I think this is eleven.  No kidding.), totaling four for him.  During Four's cleaning, they found another little cavity in her very back molar, so they filled it along with her other cavity which happened to be in the very exact same place.  Two for her.  I'm pretty embarrassed to tell the rest, but here goes.  One has two cavities.  Two has, gulp, seven.  Three has one, Four is good now, BoyOne is good now and BoyTwo, bless him, doesn't have any cavities.  I 100% attribute this to the fact that we have to brush his teeth for him at least once a day.  Sometimes he will brush his own, but he does such a crappy job that we do it for him or at the very least, help him do it.  Prior to coming here, I'm quite certain that he had never really learned the proper way to brush his teeth and I'm also pretty sure that they didn't make sure he ever brushed his teeth! So this is a whole new experience for him.  My goal is that by the time he is nine he can brush his teeth by himself with supervision (read: someone standing there to make sure he really does it.  We have to do this with his 14 year old brother, so I'm just counting on having to do this for years...).

While BoyTwo doesn't have any cavities, he has a entirely different set of teeth problems.  Remember how he pulled his tooth out when it wasn't even loose?  Remember when we hosted the boys he had all of his baby teeth but when we went to Ukraine seven months later he had 'lost' eight or nine of them?  Yeah, well, evidently he has a habit of yanking his teeth out before they are ready to be lost.  This has caused kind of a big problem in his mouth.  Because he is pulling them out before they are ready, his other teeth have been shifting around and filling in the holes.  Then, the new permanent teeth that finally descend  grow into the wrong spot.  His teeth are so jacked up.  One look into his mouth and it is clear, but I was really thinking he just was missing teeth, not that they were growing into the wrong spots and that we needed to get him into an orthodontist ASAP!  Good thing it's summer!

First Week of Summer

I really love summer.  I love having my kids home and having the chance to spend extra time with them doing fun things and helping them with things that they are needing help with.  I love the warm weather (it doesn't get hot here, which for me is a downside to living here.  I think our high last year was 85 which is about fifteen degrees too cool, in my opinion, but it works.) and I love to work in my yard.

This year I found out that our little community pool would not be opening due to some financial difficulties.  Suddenly I was way less excited for summer and more nervous wondering what I would do with the kids in all of our spare time.  But, summer is here and the first week came and went and we all survived.  

I was looking forward to a slower pace, but this week was pretty full.  We had something (some type of commitment or appointment, not just something to do) every. single. day.  Hopefully it doesn't keep up like that!

Memorial Day we went fishing.  It was fun even though we didn't catch any fish.  Better luck next time.  Probably would help if we had weights and sinkers so that the bait didn't just float on the top of the water....

Tuesday was the first real day of summer and by 10 o'clock I was beginning to count the days down for when school would start.  The boys don't know how to do summer.  They are used to being shipped off with a couple hundred other kids to 'camp.'  While conditions and care are less than desirable, at least BoyOne could sneak off the premises every day for most of the day and be with his friends doing who knows what by the Sea of Azov.  I have no idea what BoyTwo ever did other than drive everyone crazy:)  So, on this first day of summer when BoyOne couldn't get ahold of any friends (because they had plans, were out of town, couldn't hang out, or were already somewhere else), he had a bit of a meltdown.  Like four different times.  He also asked at least twenty times what he could do because he is so boring.  (love those language mistakes:))  That's pretty much when I started thinking that summer was going to be a disaster.  As the week wore on, he got a little more used to the flow of things and I began assigning jobs when he asked me what to do.  Magically, the whining has stopped!  We all realized we would survive (some days more easily than others) and now it's all good.

One thing I have to be really good about is being very structured.  Structure is good for most kids, but for a few of my kids, it is vital.  Some days I wish I could just say, yeah whatever, just do whatever you want, etc.  But they can't handle that kind of limitless freedom.  They come unglued.  So, structure it is.  I have set up a very complex (or at least needing more attention from me than being self-sustaining) daily schedule where the kids can earn points (individually) throughout the day.  As soon as x amount of points have accumulated they can select from the grab bag.  Accumulating enough points to get the grab bag takes approximately 6 days, weekends are not included.  The three bigs have to do a little bit more than the littles and earn a few more points to get the grab bag, I take away points for excessive whining and fighting and tattle-telling.  Extra points can be earned and specific ways to earn them have been set.  The grab bag contains a variety of things from the dollar store, along with things like 'get an ice cream cone' or 'get a slushy' or '$5'.  They have to draw from a jar to see what they get (it's written on a piece of paper), or they can decide not to take their chances and instead opt for $2 cash.  We pay well.  haha.  So far it's off to a good start.

My hope is to not only provide structure, but to get the kids in some good habits (brushing your teeth not only daily, but twice daily!  A certain boy of ours still doesn't do this unless forced to, exercise-a younger certain boy has no physical stamina unless it's when he is raging and beating someone up, journal and letter writing, etc).  I am also doing a lot of school catch up this summer, helping kids with things that they struggle with or for whatever reason did not grasp or learn. 

That's where we're at!  Hope you all are off to a fabulous start of summer!