Look at me! He's ONLY graduating from Mother's Day Out and I have to snap pictures as if this is one of the major milestones of his life! Oh, it's so fun! Walking down the aisle with his best buddy, Noah, and in the middle pic he was showing everyone how he learned to tie shoes and the intimidating clenched fist. I had taken a few pictures and he busted into that pose without warning.

Most all of us have parasites but Landis is loaded with them. I had him go through a screening at Orbit Health Food Store and it named the 6 worst parasites in his body. I brought the list home and Googled them. When I looked up the first, also the worst, it said that there have been only 27 reported cases in humans in the U.S. As I moved on down the list I read that there have only been 4 reported cases in humans in the U.S. of another one of these parasites. Another one of the parasites in him can cause wheezing and breathing troubles. Sounds like asthma to me - yes he has that. Also, one of the parasites he has is a "buski" (pr. boosh' - ky) which is a parasite that eventually "turns into", "instigates", I'm not sure - but it's connected with cancer. We don't want him in there. So I've been working and working with him for the past several weeks to rid his body of these varmints. He asked me how the worms got in his body. I wasn't sure but we found out the main ways he got them was through tap water and dogs and cats. I thought I was keeping my children healthy by giving them water to drink instead of juices and cokes but as it turns out, even though we have a simple filter on our tap it's not getting the bacteria out - just changing the taste. It all sounds pretty gross, I know. But the fact is, as I stated earlier, most of us have parasites to some degree. What's in YOUR body?!

Friday, May the 5th, Bobby came home early from work to cut the grass in time to attend Landis' Mother's Day Out graduation. I got a good shot of the "pulling of the wagon."

The Tuesday before I met with Grace's teacher and therapists for the annual IEP, Individualized Education Plan. We discuss the goals that have been met or not yet been met and the new goals for the coming school year. I am pleased with Watauga and feel very blessed to be in a school zone such as this one. The principle, Mrs. Lisa Cobb, still uses a paddle! I couldn't believe it when I heard that. I told everyone at the IEP that I would like to keep Grace home for the summer instead of sending her to summer school like I did last year. I want to work with her for a couple of hours every day and if, at the beginning of the next school year the therapists feel like she's regressed in any way, I'll send her to school next summer. I won't know which is the better way to do it until I've tried both ways. I KNOW that me working with her at home for a couple of hours a day is far better than sending her to summer school. But it's that actual "work" part that determines her welfare. If I can't seem to get to Grace because of other children and housework, then maybe summer school would be better. I'm going to give it my best shot. I worked on a schedule today - school is out in less than 2 weeks.

Kevin & Mary Calderhead drove the kids home in our van yesterday and Bobby and I took the Calderhead's car and went out for lunch for Mother's Day. I know, as Mary mentioned in her blog that I'm not Bobby's mother. However, neither of us have a mother nearby and it's whole lot of work for the whole family to go out for lunch, AND we look for opportunities to go out for a couple of hours. So, Bobby and I go to lunch every Mother's Day ALONE. Some day our children will go along for Mother's Day lunch and it will be great. I had lunch ready and the table set yesterday morning when we left the house at 6:40. Hopefully Mary and Kevin found everything fairly simple concerning getting everyone and everything in the house and getting everyone fed. Bobby and I had a nice leisure lunch and then took a Mother's Day card to Ms. Terrie Weeks at the nursing home in Hendersonville. We visited with her for about 10 minutes and then hurried home to relieve the Calderheads.

Nearly 2 weeks since my last post. Sometimes it seems that I can't get anything done but the most necessary and I still don't get enough sleep. I stopped for a moment to read Mary's blog and see the pics of our couin's son, Levi. Pretty boy. He looks a lot like our other cousin, Devon's son, Mason, who looks a little like Landis. Ha ha. Speaking of Landis...he and I were gone somewhere in Bobby's car several days ago now and as he reached down between his seat and the door I heard him say, "Ah, the breastplate of righteousness!" I looked to see what that looked like only to see him holding up one of my nursing pads. I can't write any more than that. I've gotta get some sleep. Mary is coming to keep Landis and Hope while I take Grace (and Faith) to Shriners in Lexington. NOT looking forward to this trip.