Today was another horse riding day for Cassidy. She absolutely loves it. She talks Allison's ear off and loves to watch the two dogs run around. Today she got to see Roany roll in the dirt after they took off the saddle. She thought that was pretty silly. Cassidy loves horses now and I think it is making a difference. Thanks to Andrea for finding it for us! And thanks to Shelly for watching Megan and Logan while we go.

Here comes summer

Hip Hip Horray!! School is out.

Kindergarten graduation

Cassidy and Mrs. Jensen

Cassidy with Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Jensen

I just have so much gratitude in my heart for Mrs. Adams Cassidy's teacher and Mrs. Jensen her aide. They are so amazing and have gone out of their way to give Cassidy the best experience possible in Kindergarten. She has learned so much. More than we thought possible. Sometimes I have wondered why we felt like we should have bought our fixer upper house here and been where we are. I know that we're supposed to be here so that Cassidy could go to school where the teachers would care about her and her quality of schooling. They have fought so hard for her rights for the best possible education.

This week has been quite emotional. We got all the paper work in to the district weeks ago to request an aide full time for next school year. The 504 committee won't make their decision until Aug. But this week was so frustrating! A physical therapist came in to the class to observe Cassidy. She said that Cassidy was just fine and that she was relying on Mrs. Jensen too much. Mrs. Jensen explained that Cassidy needs someone there to make sure she doesn't fall and that she does need help to keep up with the class accademically. Well the therapist was so rude and said that Cassidy didn't fall once while she was there. And as far as accademics go she said that maybe she should be in resource.

Resource takes her out of the classroom away from her peers plus she is too smart to qualify for that. We want her to stay main stream as much as possible. That is what she needs.

The therapist said that maybe she should use a walker and have a student help her in class and the lunch room. Like that is going to work.

We do not want her to use a walker but she brought one in anyway for Cassidy to try out. Mrs. Adams told her that Cassidy didn't need a walker, that her parents don't want her to use a walker. The therapist basically said that if the 504 commitee felt she should use one then we didn't have a choice. Excuse me. We have come too far and made so much progress with Cassidy why would we want to go backwards. We do not want her relying on a walker.

Cassidy's P.E. teacher also told the therapist that she wanted Cassidy to have an aide for next year and that a walker would just take away the progress that has been made. Apparently they want her to rely on a walker instead of having the individual help that she needs. I just wanted to cry when I saw Cassidy walking with the walker but we played the game and had Cassidy use the walker the past two days so we could log how stupid it was. Cassidy would lean forward while she walked with the walker and be back up on her toes. She wore herself out pulling it and going too fast etc. Mrs. Jensen has been so great to keep a log of everything that goes on with Cassidy each day. The therapist was supposed to come back on Thurs. to watch her use the walker. She never did.

We pray that they will approve an aide for next year. But apparently it will be a fight for Cassidy's right's every year. We will see what Aug. brings.

Megan and her award

Megan was so excited when she got home from school on Tuesday. She immediately pulled out this award for scoring in the top 10% nationally for Social Studies. The test was taken back in October. She was quite thrilled that it was nationally recognized. We are quite proud. She has always wanted to get an award at the school awards assembly and so she did.

Our big infant

The other day Logan insisted on getting in the high chair (which I need to just throw away). As you can see he has outgrown it considerably. Lorin teases me because I still like to call Logan my infant. Silly huh? Look how tall he is for a baby boy. :) He will always be my baby boy.

Our Garden

We got our vegetable garden planted last night. I am so excited. Last year we didn't plant one and I really missed it. It was nice of Lorin's brother Chris to help. Saved me from having to do it so it was very nice. I wasn't totally lazy though. I mowed and fertilized our so called lawn. Hopefully sometime soon we can get going on all the projects around our house that will make things look so much better.

All Boy

Logan has recently decided that he likes to play with bugs. The other day it was this worm. He played with it for a while. Some how it ended up in two pieces in the house. He was told to take it back to the dirt and so he did. He also enjoys finding roly poly bugs under rocks. As long as the bugs don't end up in the house it is cute.