5 weeks 'til school's out!

Woot!

I am constantly amazed at the quality of pictures I can get from my iPhone 4S.
... the one taken above was 5/10/12 :)
<3 LOVE MY BOYS <3

Wrestling has been over since March, the spring soccer season just ended (though we're already getting ready to sign up for fall soccer! lol) and other than wanting to run a race or two, Holden is done with sports for the spring! We're going to sign him up for British Challenger Soccer camp again (he had a blast last year), Ashton is doing 3 weeks of Camp Gonnawannagoagin and hopefully Holden will attend one of those weeks as well, as a peer volunteer (he's FINALLY old enough!). Then we also have a family camping trip planned for July. Combine all that with 20hours of 1:1 academic instruction for Ashton as part of his IEP, free bowling, zoo and aquarium memberships and $1 movie days, we're gonna have a blast this summer! Even considering a few trips to Busch Gardens this summer too!

Yay!

Holden is gearing up for SOLs at school, they start next week (reading and math this year, 4th grade). His grades have finally stabilized again after a medicine dosage increase. He's excited about SOLs, because that means no homework! lol Silly boy! I think he's glad to be done with the hustle and bustle of sports too. It means more time playing outside and more time for video games! He better enjoy the video games now, because come summer vacation time, he's going to have to earn that time. He gets sucked in and then doesn't want to stop playing, even when given time limits. We'll see how well that works. He's really maturing a lot though and reports from teacher and staff at his school is that he's a very polite, patient, kind and sweet boy. His class recently went on a SOL-geared field trip to Jamestown. He loved it and was very patient and kind with a few of the other more "talkative" students. ;)

Ashton is Ashton! ;) Seriously, he's doing great. Still doing his classwork and attending to his group lessons. We finalized his IEP and there are some great goals with some very good short-term objectives. He's already progressing along nicely with them and that really helps. We whittled away the accommodations and modifications and now have a great set of resources that should help him, rather than hinder him in the school environment. He also got approved for ESY services; 20 hours of 1:1 academic instruction. This should facilitate the familiarity with his teacher, the consistency of which she teaches, and help him continue to make up for lost time during his 6th grade year and the start of his 7th grade year. The other thing we did is make sure that he'll be considered a 7th grader in the fall again. He's a little on the young side anyways for a special ed 7th grader, plus, this means he'll have 2 more years at a wonderful school, with wonderful and caring administration and have the consistency with a wonderful, supportive and loving learning environment which at this stage in his development, he needs. This is seriously NOT a bad thing! This is an awesome thing for Ashton. :)

So, that's where we are at! 5 weeks 'til I will have a 5th grader (!!!) and a repeat 7th grader! Wow! Time sure is flying by! Have a great Mother's Day to all the mother's out there!