Hello again!

I suppose that once a month updates are actually pretty good. Everyone here is doing pretty well. The kids got their report cards in the middle of January. Christopher got all As and Bs! I am so proud of him. Now that we have his ADHD under control, he can more easily concentrate on school work. His behavior at school is very good, although at home we are still having some issues. Cassidy is still having some issues learning. Her school has finally agreed to get her tested for any kind of learning disorder. These include ADHD, dyslexia, etc. I go in next week and talk to everyone about what we need to do. Barry is doing well and still sweet. He has decided that he does not know how to do anything (at times.) His teacher and I are working on getting him to work to his potential.

We got our second major snow storm, but compared to the Mid-Atlantic states we got lucky. Of course my kids are out of school today, but this is only our third weather day this year. Last year we used five or six days. (The past two years we actually missed school for something other than snow. One for flooding fall 2008 and one for a tornado fall 2009.) Anyway the weather is supposed to get sunny, not warm, but sunny tomorrow. We will see how soon this snow melts. :)

Cassidy sold 150+ boxes of cookies this year, about 100 less than last year, but still very good. She was the top seller in her troop. Her troop also has a My Guy and Me dance that they are doing next week. Cassidy is going with her Uncle Nick. She is really quite excited about it. I am going as a parent sponsor. I get to check in the couples. :)

Chris and Barry had their Pine Wood Derby with Cub Scouts. Cassidy got to race a car also in the family division. They had a really good time. Christopher's car was an army tank, Barry had a police car and Cassidy had a teddy bear car. We are never one of the fastest cars, but we do well. The pack raised money for the food pantries in the area by selling hot dogs and chips for a dollar. This past Monday the pack packaged boxes to send to our troops in Afganistan and Iraq. That was controlled chaos, but fun.

In AWANA, Christopher competed in quizzing for the first time last Saturday. His team did a good job. He has already agreed to quiz again next year. They also completed in the AWANA Grand Prix. It is the same thing as the Pine Wood Derby. Again we did not have the fastest cars, but the kids all got awards for Hands-On. (Hands-On award is the award that goes to the kids who did the most work on their own car.) Again they all had a good time!

We are all finally well (at least for the moment.) I am still trying to find an ENT that is approved by our insurance. We saw one and he was, in a word, awful!! I have talked to other people about this doctor and no one has anything good to say about him. Some of the people were other doctors, some where other patients, and some where others in the medical field.

I have found out that Brad is out of jail again and yet I am not getting any child support. I have gone back to the child support office to get the ball rolling on getting him paying again. They have contacted him (back in December) but I have not heard anything since then. I will keep you posted. :)