forgotten update

Hmm I see I forgot to post that Ellie was only in the hospital a couple days this time. However, the plan is separate her g and j tubes next times. In order for this to happen she will under go another operation. The good news is with the Elecare Infant Formula mixed Mct oil she is finally growing and gaining weight even if if the growth is slow. She is growing and gaining.

Back in the Hospital with Ellie

It seems I have some down time to sit back and get some of the things completed I have been trying to accomplish while doing several other things at the same time.

Over the past few weeks we have been struggling with kinks in Ellie's J-Tube and fighting to keep it going long enough the DME would deliver the correct feeding tube brand that she needed. After fighting with them, calling our case manager, and the national representative that has been assigned as a liaison in her behalf, we finally have the right feeding tube.

This feeding tube has only been in our house maybe a week and now her current one is kinked up to the point of non-use. So here we sit at John Hopkins Children's Center once again waiting for an IR placement on the schedule. 

Knowing her tube was giving serious issues I had been trying to keep her extensions and button taped and secured in place preventing any movement. Ellie knew she was not supposed to remove the tape without letting mom or dad know first. However, in her excitement to play with her friends she had removed the tagaderm and duoderm without letting us know and ran out the door attached to her backpack and extensions.

The movement of playing, being a kitty, and other normal 7 yr old play, her j-tube became twisted and kinked. Yesterday her alarm began giving alarms at odd times and more frequent that normal. By 5pm her j-tube was twisted and kinked enough that even the syringe would not break the kink loose. About 5:30 her GI Dr. was emailed and we were on the road shortly after that. 

This time to Ellie's excitement she was told she was going to be spending time until she got her new button. That excitement quickly disappeared once she found out staying also meant getting an IV. 

Ellie did very well with her IV placement and while not happy, the nurses were able to get the IV in on the first try. She is doing much better with this aspect. Not long ago she was not able to be in the room when her brother got an IV, because she would have panic attacks just seeing the kits and seeing him get blood taken or IV's placed. 

For now she is still sleeping...

End of School

School has officially come to an end for the kids and they are so excited for summer break.

This year has been fun, very difficult, heart breaking, and full of total excitement for each child. They have each learned and grown in ways the Lord only knew they would.

Celidah had successful 10^th grade year and once again was an inspiration to many of her friends and others around her. She attended prom with a prom here in Maryland at another high school. She grew individually as she made her own prom dress that would match the standards set by the church for the young women. She wore this dress again during graduation as she helped hold one of the arches the graduating seniors would walk through.

Celidah participated in the fall musical Footloose and the spring play Up the Down Staircase. As the cast prepared to perform their hearts ached as they had discovered their favorite drama teacher would no longer be teaching drama. Classes had been swapped and she would be teaching something else.

However, at the end of the school Celidah was once again thrilled to discover one of her all time favorite teachers would be teaching her Creative Writing class.

Jade throughout the year has struggled in school as many kids in middle school do trying to discover exactly where her place really is. Personally she too has grown and received awards from school for the most improved student in the AVID program and an award from band as well. Her flute playing too has improved. Jade has gained self-confidence and poise throughout the year.

Her ability to communicate with others her needs and the needs of others is also continuing to improve each year. To think when she was a young toddler, and diagnosed with severe autism, that we were told she would never function in society. Yet, here she is in middle school with very good grades, and learning to help others, goes to show that children determine how high soar. Jade is my eagle and one day will truly do great and amazing things.

Corbyn started out strong then somewhere around the middle of the school year he started with funny thinking. He thought he could get lazy with his school work (like in elementary school) and still pass. Well, we fought with him, let the school give him referrals for missing homework, and then at one point I let his teachers know there was nothing more I could do at home. I had spent weeks fighting already, and had 5 other kids to help with homework. At this point his grades dropped off the scale and the next quarter he did not know how to handle the thought of failing school and being a 6^th grader again with his younger brother.

He had no idea that in middle school that one quarter of failing grades was enough to cause a child the threatening of being held back. The next shock for him was failing two playing tests in band and being told if he failed two more at any time during the rest of the year he likely would not be able to be in band the following year and if he ended the year with a failing grade he would not be in band at all.

Suddenly he realized (almost to late) that class and homework are very important and must be done. Not only were they important but so was instrument practice. Without daily reminders he was practicing a couple times a week instead of only on Saturdays. His homework was still somewhat a battle but at least he was doing much better.

Jairon LOVED school especially playing the clarinet. Without ever being asked he always came home and practiced every day after school and often we would have to tell him it was time to stop and get chores dome. The band teacher loved how fast and far he was progressing and helping to push the other child playing the clarinet as well. With these two they pushed the other band kids and got to play harder music at the end of the year concert.

He did well in school as well and has lots of new friends here in Maryland now. Jairon is quite the reader (like the other kids) and getting books out of his hands is sometimes hard to do. One of Jairon’s favorite field trips during school was a three day camp called Harford Glenn. There all the 5^th graders learned about Maryland, conservation, and nature specific to this area. Jairon also participated in the National Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington DC as part of the elementary school choir.

Zachariah has been learning to play the recorder this and for band next year wants to be part of the percussion team. During the 4^th grade year in elementary band level, the kids learn to play the xylophone/bells first. When Celidah was in band in Colorado we found a used xylophone. Zachariah is excited because he will be able to practice on the xylophone this summer and next year once band starts.

This year in school Zachariah did very well. Zachariah began the school year with his reading level below 3^rd grade and he struggled to keep up with the rest of his class. He continued to work hard on his reading and practiced with mom and dad. As we read with him, asked questions, helped him increase his comprehension of what he read, he continued to improve. Suddenly, his effort and hard work paid off as his reading levels began increasing. By the end of the year Zach’s final reading scores reveal he is now reading at a 5^th grade level. Not only has his reading level increased but so has his love for reading.

Chantelle continues to struggle with her health issues. During this school year she has continued to miss excessive amounts of school due to illness, ER trips, and hospitalizations.

Despite all this, Ellie is a child found with a smile on her face especially around others. She does her best to make those around happy. She also strives to help others around her see the best in everyone. Currently, one of Ellie’s best friend’s is a little boy who moved here recently then joined her class. This little guy uses a wheelchair, and like Ellie, is a very happy little guy. She has discovered that reading is awesome and is trying her hardest to read the same books her biggest sisters are reading. Ellie looks up to both Celidah and Jade in nearly they do.

This year we have watched Ellie become much more independent as well. She has learned how to start, stop, prime, and fix flow errors with her pump. She has also learned how to flush her own G and J tube extensions and takes great pride with her newest skills. Ellie continues to work hard at being brave each time she is in the ER or readmitted and needing another procedure.

This year only four of the kids took dance classes and participated in the dance recital. Jade, Jairon, Zach, and Ellie dance while Celidah participated in drama and worked on her art and Corbyn participated in the Robotics Club. 

To Be- Or Not To Be...

Ten Reasons We Would Want To Choose the Best Education for Our Children

1. The government feels our children need to be raised by the community as a whole and that they have the right to teach the children what they feel is right
2. While we pay our taxes, we have a right to provide the education our children deserve.
3. As parents of a loving Father in Heaven, he has provided the freedom to choose the best education for our children.
4. Our children have been blessed to live in an ethnically diverse neighborhood which will help prepare them for life later on
5. Our children are learning to be future missionaries
6. If public school offers an “okay” education, is “okay” good enough
7. We are at a point in our lives where homeschooling is an option
8. Our children are our lives, their education is essential to their salvation
9. Teaching our children is what I love to do.
10. Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old and he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Shakespeare is very likely the world’s most well known author, even though very little is known about him. The best known theatre, movie, musical line I would venture is “To Be or Not To Be” from Hamlet. The question this line is referring deals with the decision between life or death. However, for this purpose the same question, the decision that has been weighing on my mind deals schooling my children next year.

While for Shakespeare, death is considered an undiscovered journey, homeschooling for us is far from an unventured journey. We have homeschooled successfully before and I know I could easily homeschool again.

My writings here are mostly a compilation of my studies, thoughts, examining what may or may not be best. Basically we are potentially jumping into the frying pan. As we started considering homeschooling for the older kids, we told them homeschooling would be their choice. What I am exploring right now is, is letting them choose for themselves truly best?

I need to decide whether or not all the children need to be homeschooled, or not. We already know our youngest will be homeschooled next year due to medical issues. She has simply missed too much school due to illnesses. While she is still doing ok academically, the school has recommended that she repeat the 1^st grade anyway. The school knows that we plan on homeschooling her already, yet, they want her to return and repeat the 1^st grade.

We know the best place for her is at home and hopefully she will have far fewer hospitalizations next year. This year she has been very sick and hospitalized multiple times. Will keeping her home reduce illnesses and reduce the number of her admits?

Children gain many skills throughout their educational journey. This is a known fact. Children will learn whether taught at home or in school. The key is consistent access to education they enjoy, thrive from, and are eager to keep learning from. The following covers the advantages of both home based and public education. This was necessary to organize my thoughts to help determine the needed educational route for my kids.

* Class Size

The size of the classroom can either be a help or a hindrance throughout the educational journey. For the child who is not easily distracted, thrives off the attention of others, and aims to please classmates and the teacher the public school classroom may offer the ideal educational location. However, for the child that is easily distracted, bored with the pace, topics, lack of preferred subject, or are more interested in socializing with friends; the classroom may become an impossible learning environment.

Keeping my children home I will have the opportunity to work with the 5 younger ones when they are awake, alert, and excited to learn. They will not leave the house excited but rushed in the mornings. Once school work is completed they will be done, and have the opportunity to complete chores and practice instruments still.

* Traditions

Families, schools, communities, and businesses all have traditions. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, traditions are customary patterns of thought whether inherited or established through actions, religious practice, or social custom norms. When traditions are passed down, each tradition comes with significance, meaning, and roots to the past.

How does this relate to education?  Decades ago, during the depression most families needed the children home to help harvest the crops. However, today there are few farming families harvesting during the summer. Far fewer are the families where the children harvest side by side with their parents from dusk to dawn.

After three months off in the summer and very few students reviewing classroom topics throughout the summer, the beginning weeks of school are spent reviewing forgotten lessons.

Additionally, with each state having entrance dates varying between September through October, some children are ready for school, while others are not. Delayed maturity can wreck havoc for a classroom.

* Authoritarian Rules

A few years ago in a local library there was a plaque sitting on a desk that read, “We spend the first twelve months of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve years telling them to sit down and shut up.” The librarian there said she did not believe that all children needed to simply be seen and not heard. She was one that loved to hear the little voices in the library. Hearing their voices as she said meant they were reading, asking questions, discovering, and most important, they were learning.

If children are forced to learn the same way as everyone in the classroom there will be problems. Not all children learn the same way. Some need to see and hear what is going on, others need to see and use their hands to understand, while others need to see, hear, and use their hands to comprehend the lesson.

Using the homeschool methods when a child or children become restless and need to burn energy, they will have the opportunity to take the dog on a leash and run around the block a couple times. Once they are back with their energy burned they will be able to focus better. If the children need movement activities to memorize spelling or math facts they will have the freedom to move while learning.

* Priorities

Priorities are a driving factor to determining the best education for any child. Does the child desire band, orchestra, sports, dance, scouts, debate, theatre, robotics, or any other extracurricular activity? What are the state rules for public education combined with homeschooling? What priority level does the school place on academics and extracurricular activities?  As a family, with homeschooling how will homeschooling, extracurricular activities, and other normal activities be handled?

Other advantages include help teaching the children rules. Whether in the classroom or through the homeschooled environment there are others around to help enforce rules. In the public school classroom, the teachers assign homework and the parents help (sometimes fight) ensure the homework is done. When homeschooling once the school work is completed or during outside activities to reinforce the lesson, the children see similar rules are posted and must be obeyed in public places.

The homeschooling journey is filled with many of the same teaching moments as are found throughout the public education journey. The children face insecurities, discover they can achieve, learn they lead, work through the steps of following (when another is learning to lead), and adapt to their new and changing expectations.

* Standardized Testing

Standardized testing if used properly could be a wonderful for the public school system. Especially for families that move often. These families need to know that regardless the school their children attend these children will get a good education.

While the children will not like math, spelling, essays, or book reports, these are essential evaluations to determine how much the children are learning and retaining.

* Common Core Curriculum

The current education system is floundering and struggling to find a way to meet the needs of all the students. Children are struggling in school leaving their parents baffled. These same children start the year with good grades then somehow in the middle or near the end of the year they lose focus, logical reasoning, organizational skills, the ability to finish work, or even simply turn their work in. When asked they look blankly and have no idea what has happened… Where did the work go, why is there no explanation for the missing work, did they complete it? If they did where is it? These are all issues the education system is “hoping” to help correct. However, is creating a new common core going to be enough to reengage these students who have lost touch with their educational journey and desire to learn?

According to the new Common Core Standards, the goal is to provide a high quality education to all students. Additionally, the standards of success “should” be clear to all students, teachers, and parents, in all schools.

With this “new and improved” curriculum plan will the schools remove the cookie cutter style teaching and allow the children to learn logical reasoning and critical thinking? Logical reason teaches the child to think and develop arguments that have solid reasons behind the thought process.

Logical reasoning is essential for developing strong thought processes for budding scientists and engineers. Critical thinking requires one to sit and ponder before making a decision. Reflecting on a decision allows for one to move to a higher level of thought and decision making. Complex math problems require critical thinking.  Through the development of logical reasoning and critical thinking, the motivation returns to participate and learn. This motivation and excitement also build confidence.

If we homeschool the older 5 children they will also be held accountable to the math common core standards as of this year, and as more common standards come available those standards too will need to followed to ensure the children are prepared for their college entrance, ACT, and SAT exams.

* Inconsistencies

Like any job, there will be inconsistencies throughout a child’s educational journey. One year the student may love school, love the teachers, subjects, and do very well. Likewise, the teacher may also have a wonderful with many wonderful to outweigh the other students.

Then later in the educational journey this same child has a teacher that he or she has unfortunately does not get along with. By the end of year the child has endured not only the other children at the school, but at least one teacher he or she feels is a horrible teacher.

Even with homeschooling there will still be some inconsistencies, but the goal is to close the gap and eventually phase them out.

* Educational Quality

The quality of education required to graduate varies by state. One major frustration is that many schools feel sports are more important academics. What really is more important? The distance of the free throw, football toss, cheerleader skills, volleyball pass, lacrosse skills, swim laps, or track and field skills; or the math, science, foreign language, and overall GPA?

Helping the students be prepared for college, learn a trade or apprenticeship should be more important for our children, then setting a lower academic expectation.

* Social Advantages

Throughout a child’s educational journey, he or she has an amazing opportunity to learn about cultural diversity.  Some children grow up in very culturally diverse neighborhoods, while others need the experience of the classroom setting to better understand how cultural diversity relates to real world and eventual working environment.

Regardless of the educational background, children meet and socialize with many amazing people.

* Expenses

Education comes with a cost. Our tax dollars cover public education. Homeschooling is a valid option for educating our children. Public education still is covered through our taxes. These tax funds allow for other children to receive an education. Additional public school expenses covered through taxes include transportation, special education services, gifted programs, and other programs as funded through federal, state, private, foundation grants, or individual school PTA, PTSA, or PTO organizations. 

Prom (Celidah's Post)

Good Morning! After a rude awakening from my siblings I’m up. I feel like I want more sleep, but dad says that if you sleep past 9 you sleep the day away. I started this at about 9, computer died so I restarted at 10. And here is the story of prom night with Jason Smittenaar…

First, I’ll start at the very beginning. I woke up and didn’t really want to go to school so I asked my dad to pick me up early. Normally I would stay for the whole day, but they were going to pick me up before my favorite class which was at the end of the day, German, so I thought it wasn’t worth it. Instead of10:30 like they were originally planning, I asked to be picked up at 8 so I could get out of Geometry and completely miss gym. They were going to pick me up before biology so I didn’t really care about that. I wasn’t able to be picked up till after geometry where we were supposed to be doing a review that we weren’t able to because seniors needed to go take their senior exams. So I ended up taking the period to finish a present for one of my freshman friends. Dad picked me up around 9 and we went home to work on the review at home. I think I got more out of it at home.

Around 12 o’clock, my parents took me out to the DMV office to test for my permit. It was closed. It won’t be open till tomorrow. Since that plan fell through, they asked what I wanted to do out here. There was a PetSmart close by. And in this PetSmart there are cats. So we went to PetSmart and THEY HAD ITTY BITTY KITTENS!!! *clears throat* Anyways, we visited the cats, I cried since I missed Spiritheart, we signed Ava up for classes, and we headed home listening to the same thing we had listened to driving up: The Chronicles of Narnia; The Magicians Nephew Audio Book. 
We got home around 2 though I didn’t start getting ready for prom till closer to2:45. I thought it was going to be a quick thing, maybe 30 minutes. NO!!! I got out of the shower and waited for Claire to come over because she wanted to help me with my makeup. She finally came around 3:20, I had a long shower, and the chaos began. It started off simple as Claire and Jade put my foundation on. Then mom came in and started doing my hair. Then I mentioned I thought it might be nice if I had my nails painted so Jade began to prepare them. Claire in the meantime was trying and failing at putting on my eyeliner. We ended up scrubbing it off and reapplying the foundation where needed and let mom do the eye liner. By this point Dad had come in and was screwing little twist in pins into my hair. Now Jade and Claire were happily finding eye shadow while mom was putting lip liner, balm, lipstick, then two glosses on my lips. I had not quite gotten a chance to brush my teeth yet… so once I was done (and uncomfortably had an audience) the lipstick was reapplied. I was finally able to go get my glove, heels, and remaining jewelry on. Dad had slipped my earning on while finishing touches were being done to my face. As I was stuffing my purse with a few things, mom sprayed me with perfume. At least her perfume smells nice. Then it was to the front porch where I had about 15 pictures taken.

After figuring out how to get into the car carefully, we were off. We arrived in Towson 45 minutes before our 6 o’clock dinner reservations. Dad decided to take me out to a park and take pictures. I found two problems with this… 1. It was COLD and WINDY 2. The ground was wet and I was in HEELS. After a few pictures on the path, he led me up a grassy hill and told me to spin. I nearly fell because my heels kept sinking… I so much prefer tennis shoes… After about 10 pictures were taken, we went to Café Troia where our dinner reservations were. There we popped in disk three and listened to chapter nine. 5:55 finally came so we paused the CD at track two, aka chapter 10, and walked in just as Jason was making a call to let the restaurant know that they would be about 30 minutes late. We were taken to our reservation seats and we waited. I don’t know what was more nerve wrecking… waiting for him to show up or him finally showing up!

He came around 6:30 and I went over to our table holding my glass of water. I had been seated at the four parents table while waiting. And that was when the first act of chivalry happened that night from Jason… He pulled out my chair for me to sit in. We were so nervous and awkward at first. Neither knew what to do so I tried to start some conversation. If you know me, you know I love to talk and that’s just what I did. We ordered the same thing out of curiosity; Vitella Saltinbocca which was veal or deer, same thing. It was a little strange to taste but I liked it quickly. We talked some more over the meal and it became less awkward. By desert we were a lot more comfortable around each other. Comfortable enough we shared a chocolaty dessert. I still stand on not a fan of chocolate, but he enjoyed it. I enjoyed my half of the strawberry more than the chocolate cake thing.

And so, after a three more pictures, it was off to prom 4 minutes late. Jason opened the doors for me and as we stood waiting for valet to pull up the car, Jason took off his coat and set it on my shoulders. I felt warm happy butterflies in my stomach as he did so! But I’m glad he did… it was cold… He opened the car door and I crawled in. It only felt like I crawled in because the car was much smaller than our GMC Yucon XL. I didn’t stay awake much longer after. I drifted in and out of consciousness for the ride. We pulled up at a house and Jason ran inside real quick and when he came out he was holding a pretty little corsage. It has two white daises on it with their middles dyed black and their leaves dyed black on a white bracelet. Then it was off to prom. We got there around 9:30 and honestly… I’m glad we did…
We pulled up and he opened the doors again. As we walked up to the check in, a few people took double takes of us. I’m not going to lie, I liked it. As we walked into the ballroom and looked around, it was awkward. There was a mass of people in the middle of the dance floor grinding and twerking (imagine a girl trying to hump a boy like a dog, but with her butt instead…). Half the dresses looked like stripper’s clothes or some item to catch ones sexual attention… I felt so covered up… and grateful for it. The songs weren’t even songs. It was a beat with random words… the first song repeated the word ‘nigger’ over and over and over and over… it was… discomforting. We found his friends and for the rest of the night we just kind of walked around. I liked it when he offered his arm. When I held it, it gave a sort of comfort I relished. Then the songs… they weren’t songs… they sucked. When a slow song came on finally, I noticed it seemed to be an excuse for most couples to kiss. They were just standing, taking up space and kissing. Jason and I ended up dancing on the carpet. After a few near spills, I took off those blasted heels. The carpet felt nice to my bare feet, his hand on my waist was nice, and as he held my gloved hand in his hand I smiled. I knew I could feel safe around him and be safe and modest.

There were three slow songs in a row so we had time to experiment around with dancing positions. We settled on this one where my hand was on his shoulder with my palm against his shoulder, his hand was just below my shoulder blade, and our arms were draped around each other. I made him laugh when I said “And we still have a Book of Mormon in between us.” We danced like that for the song and a half. He spun me around and around. I loved it. My favorite one was when he threw me out and extended me then twirled me into his arms. It made me feel safe and happy for that split second I was in his embrace. And so the night continued with us sitting and talking or him leading me around with my arm wrapped around his bicep. I loved it. I thought that letting him pull out my chair or open the door would make it feel like I was dependent. Instead it gave me a whole new feeling of freedom. And happy warm butterflies. We were one of two couples on the dance floor at the last song and the only one actually dancing. A group of adults were watching us with smiles, I liked it.

Okay, so one thing I noticed that changed was his dancing. The first time I met him he was kind of… stiff and jerked around a bit. When he spun me, it was a little too hard. Last night though, he seemed to flow across the floor and his turns and spins were gentler by far. They almost made me feel like I could float. One thing I will admit, I really like him. I love the way he smiles and his eyes light up with a warm intelligent light. I love how he is so kind, even in telling me I snored in the care… Jason turned my face red when he said it was kind of cute… and when I told him that my dad is jokingly trying to figure out how to turn me into a doll and he said that he claims it. (Dad want to keep me on the trophy shelf and Claire wants to give me a little doll house.) But I had my share of making him blush and laugh as well.

On the drive home, we sat in the car just talking and talking and talking… Then I took his hand… It felt right. We both blushed and through the conversation we messed around with different ways to hold hands. We settled on him holding my hand as it was curled up loosely. I know I drifted off to sleep mid-sentence at one point for who knows how long. I was happy, I felt safe, and I had fun.

We met up with my parents and I said goodbye with a hug. It was a little longer than normal but he was warm and I still love the feel of his arms around me. Though a corsage was not the only gift he gave me last night. How many of you know I love hats? Well I do. I have a small collection of them. Jason gave me his hat because he knew that I like hats so much. He gave me the fedora he was wearing when we first met. That made me happy once me. On the way home, mom and dad asked me about prom. I got home, showered again, and went to bed with a happy smile and warm fuzzy feeling. I’m glad I made Jason’s senior prom worth it.

Milk Jug with a Red Cap…

The other I took the girls with me to Wal-Mart, and then we were going to head over to Goodwill. However, due to a red cap on a milk jug our plans were very quickly changed as we were on our way home to drop Ellie and her little friend at the house.

Looking at the clock I knew I had 20 minutes to get to the house, unload the groceries, unload the boosters, and leave with just Celidah and Jade with enough time to leave through the 22 gate.

With maybe 5 minutes left until arriving at home, suddenly Ellie started screaming that milk was flying everywhere. With this comment, I was completely confused because normally when Ellie screams like this something has gone wrong with her feeding pump or her bag with her formula. However, this time she was holding her bag over her head screaming louder and more frantic.

The next thing I saw through my rear view mirror, was Jade jumping over the seat. This is when everything went crazy. Yes crazy… as if the back seat was not already crazy enough.

Ellie was still screaming about the milk flying all over. Now Jade was frantically screaming about the milk and telling me, “STOP NOW! PULL OVER RIGHT NOW!” Letting her know I could not, once again in a frantic scream, “MOM! PULL OVER RIGHT NOW! BUT MOM THE MILK IS GOING EVERYWHERE!!”

(sigh) Once again I let the kids know that I can’t stop where there is no place to. Once I had a place where I could pull over, the truck was stopped and we got the dog out of the back of the truck. Next, Celidah, Jade, and I surveyed the situation in the back the truck.

(ggrrr) Yes Ava had found the red lid on a milk jug and chewed it off. (red is one of her favorite colors) We are not sure if when I took a corner and hit some bumps, or if Ava chewing the lid, had knocked the milk jug over. However, by the time Jade intervened, and I had stopped the truck, the milk was nearly empty. We also had a very happy dog lapping up the milk as fast as her tongue could let her.

Due to the extra stop, once we got home we now had 10 minutes to unload the groceries, kids, and leave again for Goodwill.

The Goodwill trip did not happen. Once we got the kids, boosters, groceries, and everything else out of the truck the 22 gate was now closed.  Also realizing just how much milk was spilled, Ava was stripped of her milk soaked work vest, placed in her crate (jail to her), and we cleaned the truck.

Our first task was to attack the soaked car with our wet-vac. While this helped some we knew a detailing was seriously needed. The time was now 7:30pm all local detail shops were closed and any that would still be opened would be closed by the time we drove to them. Thank goodness a neighbor had a steam cleaner that we could borrow.

The next task, clean the truck before the looming storm arrived. Cleaning the car took just over an hour with Celidah, Jade, Frank, and I cleaning, and a bit of help from Corbyn. However, the car was clean for the following day when Celidah had her prom date, and Frank and I were hanging out in the general area for our anniversary date.

What a busy day I have and I will be so glad when the night is over and I can get some sleep.

To start off our crazy busy day we remembered that Jairon had a script at the pharmacy waiting to be picked at and dropped off at the school for this Harford Glenn camping trip next week (school nature/science camp experience). We left to get the script and dropped it off at the school.

We were about to head over to Wal-Mart to get the final items needed for the scout camp tonight but realized we forgot something at home, so back home we went. While we waited for Corbyn to get home from school, Frank finished packing and the truck was loaded. Once Corbyn, was packed for camp and his stuff in the truck we then left to get the final items needed for the scout camp.

By this time it was now 4:50 and Celidah had been finished with her drama practice and waiting for her ride. We dropped by the high school grabbed dinner (on the go) then headed off to pick up another scout leader needing a ride. Once we picked the scout leader up it was then 5:30, knowing I did not have the time to drop scouts (and leaders) off for the camp, we turned back and waited for Jairon to arrive at the elementary school from the Cherry Blossom Parade rehearsal for tomorrows parade.

With Jairon now in the truck, we had a full load by this point, we turned around again heading back to get all those needing to get to the camp. By the time we arrived, unloaded the truck, loaded those needing to get back home, and back on the road it was now almost 7:40. The two needing to get home were now thrilled to be heading back home.

Almost home we made one more super annoying stop (to the kids) because I knew we needed milk, cereal, dinner, and a few other items.

Now I sit here waiting for Open Rec to get over so I get the kids from there and home, then go to bed and be ready to have Jairon up and ready to be at the school by 5:15 tomorrow morning.