It's football Friday again. I love these nights. Tonight however, I will be home listening to the game on the radio. Another thing I love about small towns, high school football on the radio. It's not that I don't want to go. This will be the only game I miss this year. The game is in a town over 3 hours away. I am not making that trip in one night. We would have to be back for Megans soccer game tomorrow morning.
Since it's been a week since my last post, I didn't tell you about last weeks games. Let's start with Megan, she scored a goal and they won the game 11 -1. I think, I stopped keeping track. I chatted with some friends and didn't take a lot of pictures. As I explained to my wonderful daughter, I have over 500 pics from summer and already a couple of hundred from this season so far. I have you covered.
I had been struggling a little bit with getting good, clear, action shots at night of the football games. I practiced at last Friday nights game and I think I fixed the issue. The really good shots won't be posted here. The best shots of the night where of Anthony running with his guy, Anthony reaching to tackle him and then sliding down and the guy making a touch down.
Other then that play, Anthony had a good night. However, they lost. In Anthonys words the score was, "a lot to a little." His coach was kicked out of the game in the first half and has to sit out this weekend. The boys could really use a win this weekend to get back on track. After tonight they have next weekend off, then on to league play.
The next few days here will be interesting. We are waiting for news of a strike. The rail road and union have been in contract negotiations for over two years. The strike vote ends this weekend, so in the next few days we will hear whats happening. It's been crazy here trying to help Steve get ready.
The last couple of days have brought back many memories of being a kid. I have memories of my Dad being on strike as a firefighter. I also remember walking to some store and seeing the picketers. My Dad stopped and talked to the guys and then we turned around and left. All he said was we don't cross the picket lines. My Mom would drive, what seemed like forever, to get to a grocery store that employees where not on strike.
Remember the song from the early 80's "Look for the Union Label?" I have been singing it for the last week. I had to go online to find the words because I could only remember the first line. I have also been quoting Norma Rae as well. Steve really really wishes I would just stop.
We have friends on both sides of this and I really hope all of this ends quickly and peacefully.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
This Weekends Game
It did not go well for the Tigers this weekend. However, it did go very well for #80, my son. It didn't get tiring hearing "runner brought down by #80 Anthony Baldwin." Or seeing #80 out there roughing up the the other teams receivers.
They lost the game 49 - 0. Again, this team is one from Idaho and not a league game. Every team in our league lost to this team by about the same point spread. So we are thinking that the league games should be really good.
For some reason I had some struggles with my camera. Need to figure that out this week before next weekends game.
Have a great Sunday.
They lost the game 49 - 0. Again, this team is one from Idaho and not a league game. Every team in our league lost to this team by about the same point spread. So we are thinking that the league games should be really good.
For some reason I had some struggles with my camera. Need to figure that out this week before next weekends game.
Have a great Sunday.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
High School Soccer
Megan's first soccer game as a Lady Tiger. These two make a great team. Gabby #14 scored 3 goals and Megan 1. They won their first game 4-1. This year Megan is playing both forward and keeper.
A missed goal gets a reaction from the side lines. Megan is #8 and she is wearing a ribbon in her hair. Oh my, she never does that. What has this world come to.
It worked. The first picture is a little blurry of her, but you get the idea.
This last picture is of Gabby congratulating Megan on her goal. Megan took 6 shoots before scoring this one. Her old coach came up to her and said, "I knew you wouldn't leave that field until you got your goal." No pictures of her scoring. As I explained to both her and Anthony, (I missed taking a picture of a killer tackle that Anthony made) I get so excited and start cheer that I forget about the pictures.
They too are not playing any league games yet. These teams they are playing right now are from towns a lot closer to us. However, these two teams are serious rival teams. They are both really good and make for very good games. The Lady Tigers won both the first on 4-1 and second 5-1. I can't wait to see these girls playing on the varsity team. Watch out!!!!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Football Season Is Here
There he is #80.
They started off with a bang. They won their first game 25-19. This made them #6 in the state. But last Friday not did not go as well. 49-7. I haven't look up the state stats this week.
The games they are playing right now are not league games. They actually don't start playing those until October. Right now they are playing teams from Idaho. Last weeks game and this Friday's game are played against teams that have won state titles in their divisions for the last couple of years.
The good news is that, the teams in Anthony's league have been losing. So it does look good for the Tigers and the playoffs this year. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Why this picture you ask??
I bet you think it's because of the lens. Well....... sort of. This is Anthony's orthopedic surgeon. I can't help but think Anthony had something to do with paying for this lens.
They started off with a bang. They won their first game 25-19. This made them #6 in the state. But last Friday not did not go as well. 49-7. I haven't look up the state stats this week.
The games they are playing right now are not league games. They actually don't start playing those until October. Right now they are playing teams from Idaho. Last weeks game and this Friday's game are played against teams that have won state titles in their divisions for the last couple of years.
The good news is that, the teams in Anthony's league have been losing. So it does look good for the Tigers and the playoffs this year. Keeping our fingers crossed.
Why this picture you ask??
I bet you think it's because of the lens. Well....... sort of. This is Anthony's orthopedic surgeon. I can't help but think Anthony had something to do with paying for this lens.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
First Day of School
Here are a couple from the fist day of school. Megan is happy and ready to start. She could hardly wait to get there. Plus, it was her birthday.
This one below, not so happy. He is happy that it's his last year of High School, but not about summer being over.
Here I get a smile out of him. Actually, it's Megan yelling in the background "HURRY UP, I'M GOING TO BE LATE," that is making him laugh. We have never heard her want to go to school.
Jason's first day happened a week later. I have yet to take any pictures of him. I really need to get that done.
This one below, not so happy. He is happy that it's his last year of High School, but not about summer being over.
Here I get a smile out of him. Actually, it's Megan yelling in the background "HURRY UP, I'M GOING TO BE LATE," that is making him laugh. We have never heard her want to go to school.
Jason's first day happened a week later. I have yet to take any pictures of him. I really need to get that done.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Happy Birthday Megan....A Little Late
Her birthday was in August and I am just now getting around to posting about it.
My middle baby turned 14. She is also a freshmen in high school this year, on the JV soccer team and having her first serious crush on some guy. Steve is currently doing the necessary background check on him.
I posted about cutting apron strings with Anthony. This child has been cutting apron strings the minute she could talk. She is independent, witty, smart, athletic, creative and funny. She has matured so much over the summer. This kid can drive us absolutely crazy at times, but we wouldn't have her any other way.
I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said nothing. "It really doesn't matter anyway." The little creep. So we decided to contact one of her friends and told her, lets do a surprise sleep over. I worked on food and entertainment, and her friend got all the girls together.
Here they are. Megan was surprised and she apploigzed for being a total creep to me. They had a good time.
My middle baby turned 14. She is also a freshmen in high school this year, on the JV soccer team and having her first serious crush on some guy. Steve is currently doing the necessary background check on him.
I posted about cutting apron strings with Anthony. This child has been cutting apron strings the minute she could talk. She is independent, witty, smart, athletic, creative and funny. She has matured so much over the summer. This kid can drive us absolutely crazy at times, but we wouldn't have her any other way.
I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said nothing. "It really doesn't matter anyway." The little creep. So we decided to contact one of her friends and told her, lets do a surprise sleep over. I worked on food and entertainment, and her friend got all the girls together.
Here they are. Megan was surprised and she apploigzed for being a total creep to me. They had a good time.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Gift of Dyslexia
What a goofball. I forgot to post the name of the book I posted about yesterday.
I highly recommend it. I did a little research yesterday to see if anyone had anything negative to say about the book. I found only one person and he clearly doesn't understand dyslexia. His problem with the book was that it charged money. And his advice to parents who are dealing with dyslexia was: help them with their homework and buy them a computer. My question to him was: and test taking, how about the new state test Anthony has to take to get his diploma. Very frustrating when your son knows how to do all the math problems but keeps bombing the test. Hello......he can't read it.
Update on Anthony: He was so happy to report how much he read in class yesterday.
Jason: I don't think he is quite ready for the Orientation part of the book. Again, hard to explain but he kept giving himself a headache yesterday. I think we are going to start with symbol mystery and see how that goes first.
This book is a life changer for us.
Update on Anthony: He was so happy to report how much he read in class yesterday.
Jason: I don't think he is quite ready for the Orientation part of the book. Again, hard to explain but he kept giving himself a headache yesterday. I think we are going to start with symbol mystery and see how that goes first.
This book is a life changer for us.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Breakthrough
So long ago Steve and I noticed a problem with Anthony's reading. We were told by his 2nd grade teacher that he had ADHD. I took him for the testing. I was greeted by a doctor who introduced herself to me then handed me a pamphlet on ADHD medication. This was before she even had him tested.
We did decide to give the medicine a try, but it was a horrible experience for both us and him. The kid he became on medication was not our son. I remembered his kindergarten teacher mentioning dyslexia to us but wasn't concerned about it.
So, I started doing major research on dyslexia. I started to find out that so many of the same signs of ADHD are the same signs of dyslexia. I found a book at the book store, but I just really wasn't sure about it. I never did get it finished and instead started working with the school.
He started doing better, but then we moved here. I love this area, not crazy about the schools. One of the reasons we are homeschooling Jason. Jason is starting to go down the same path as Anthony. I really feel like the school here was just pushing Anthony through the system. It became very obvious to me that there was a serious problem when Anthony was filling out a job application. I new he struggled with reading but I just never realized how bad. Poor kid, because he is in no way stupid.
Having a conversation with a teacher I know, who is in another school district, recommended a book to me that they were using in their school. It was that book I had bought so long ago. I sat down and forced my way through it.
Anthony is not big on discussing his reading issues. So when I would ask him, do you do this or that, his answer was always no. I was really getting frustrated. I finally asked him, when you imagine things can you see yourself like you are outside your body? Ready for him to laugh at me because it sounded crazy. He said, "yeah, I do that all the time." Then he goes on to tell me stories about his imagination skills. All of these things are HUGE dyslexia symptoms. This ability to move your "minds eye" around makes someone a very creative person but a horrible reader.
Both of us were excited about this new development. I finished the book. The cure for this sounded crazy but both Anthony and I were willing to give it a try. The book claims that people have gone up 8 reading grade levels and a 97% success rate. The method is a little strange and really hard for me to describe to you. Watching him working with his "minds eye" and going through these steps was amazing.
20 minutes after we started this, I opened a book and asked him to read it. After stumbling a couple of times on "trigger words" he did it. I asked him how it felt and he smiled from ear to ear and said "I can't believe it work."
We still have work to do, but I have never seem him happier. I can't explain "minds eye" and "trigger words" here, but watching him access these was amazing. I never knew that he had this talent. And now that he is aware of it, he has been having fun with it. We have even made jokes about his "minds eye" and how it's hungry to.
I am going to start this same process with Jason and continue to work with Anthony. I will keep you posted on both boys progress. I was always happy I didn't have dyslexia, but know that I see the imagination skills that Anthony has, I am a little jealous.
We did decide to give the medicine a try, but it was a horrible experience for both us and him. The kid he became on medication was not our son. I remembered his kindergarten teacher mentioning dyslexia to us but wasn't concerned about it.
So, I started doing major research on dyslexia. I started to find out that so many of the same signs of ADHD are the same signs of dyslexia. I found a book at the book store, but I just really wasn't sure about it. I never did get it finished and instead started working with the school.
He started doing better, but then we moved here. I love this area, not crazy about the schools. One of the reasons we are homeschooling Jason. Jason is starting to go down the same path as Anthony. I really feel like the school here was just pushing Anthony through the system. It became very obvious to me that there was a serious problem when Anthony was filling out a job application. I new he struggled with reading but I just never realized how bad. Poor kid, because he is in no way stupid.
Having a conversation with a teacher I know, who is in another school district, recommended a book to me that they were using in their school. It was that book I had bought so long ago. I sat down and forced my way through it.
Anthony is not big on discussing his reading issues. So when I would ask him, do you do this or that, his answer was always no. I was really getting frustrated. I finally asked him, when you imagine things can you see yourself like you are outside your body? Ready for him to laugh at me because it sounded crazy. He said, "yeah, I do that all the time." Then he goes on to tell me stories about his imagination skills. All of these things are HUGE dyslexia symptoms. This ability to move your "minds eye" around makes someone a very creative person but a horrible reader.
Both of us were excited about this new development. I finished the book. The cure for this sounded crazy but both Anthony and I were willing to give it a try. The book claims that people have gone up 8 reading grade levels and a 97% success rate. The method is a little strange and really hard for me to describe to you. Watching him working with his "minds eye" and going through these steps was amazing.
20 minutes after we started this, I opened a book and asked him to read it. After stumbling a couple of times on "trigger words" he did it. I asked him how it felt and he smiled from ear to ear and said "I can't believe it work."
We still have work to do, but I have never seem him happier. I can't explain "minds eye" and "trigger words" here, but watching him access these was amazing. I never knew that he had this talent. And now that he is aware of it, he has been having fun with it. We have even made jokes about his "minds eye" and how it's hungry to.
I am going to start this same process with Jason and continue to work with Anthony. I will keep you posted on both boys progress. I was always happy I didn't have dyslexia, but know that I see the imagination skills that Anthony has, I am a little jealous.
Monday, September 05, 2011
Still Here
What can I say. Football, soccer, first week of school, two birthday parties for the same kid and so much more. I have pictures to upload and a school schedule to work out. Then, I promise, back to some blogging.
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