Tourette Syndrome

This is one of many websites I have visited the last year learning about Tourette Syndrome (TS).  Why?  About a year ago Zayvn was diagnosed with TS.  So began our journey and understanding of why he makes the little noises he makes and why, when he gets upset or angry, he uses words that we don't normally use.  It's been a year of teaching the teachers and the students at his school that he doesn't make those noises to bother people and he doesn't roll his eyes because he's being rude.  Those are part of TS.  Some have it worse than him, some have it less severe.  It's been a teaching lesson for me as well.  I've learned to recognize his tics and when he uses them most and when they are seldom.
Activities he's involved in will find them seldom.  New surroundings, excitedness or nervousness brings them up the most.  I've learned how to gently tell someone that he's not doing the noises on purposes but is something he can not help.  
TS, unless you are familiar with it, is not something easily to understand.  If your interested to learn more follow the link below and it will help you learn about TS.  I wish I could tell everyone that comes into contact with us to read this before they decide that my Zay is just being rude to them when he's talking and little noises come out.  
http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/brain_nervous/tourette.html#

Meatloaf kind of day

As I was cleaning tables today I noticed one of the 1st graders hadn't eaten any of his main meal. So I asked him what was wrong. He said "it tastes too much like meat". As he walked off and I walked back to the kitchen I couldn't help but laugh.....our lunch today? Meatloaf!! Gotta love those little ones!

Winter Jam

Taken from Kevin's facebook page:

Ok, you hear people say when their kids are out of their house that they would have made more of the time with them when they were young. Renn and I had one of those “more times” last night and it was awesome.


Just the 2 of us went to Winter Jam and we stood in line for 2 ½ hours in the sky walk but once we were in it could have not gone better. We had amazing seats on the first level of the bleac...hers about 25 yards from the stage. We could have got floor level but was afraid we could not see as well.

Once we claimed our seats unbeknown to me they called all the pastors back stage to pray so Renn and I was upfront and personal (5ft away) with a number of the artists, Toby Mac was his favorite. We did not talked directly to them they just shared their hearts with us.

Then just as the night was coming to a close Toby Mac came into the audience and Renn ran up to him and Toby looked over and gave him a high five. You would have thought he died and gone to heaven

$8 Date Night

Kev and I are trying to have a date night once a month.  We tried this last year but found it hard to do for many reasons.  One being childcare.  We are pretty particular in who we leave our kids with and we don't have relatives near by that we can just leave them with.   Renn will be 12 in a few months and we have recently left him by himself for an hour to two hours.  He does pretty good and we leave one of the phones with him in case he needs to reach us.  So, Friday night we left Renn at home and Zayvn was at a friends birthday party.  I won tickets to the Iowa Home and Garden Show so we went right when they opened.  Nice because there with hardly any people there and we didn't have to fight the crowds.  Left there and headed to Jethro's BBQ http://www.jethrosdesmoines.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=81 for a bite to eat with a gift card we received for Christmas.  Not a fan of BBQ but it was just nice to have a dinner without interruptions!!  Dinner done so we picked up Zay from the party and headed home.  Not a bad night when we only paid $8 out of our pocket!!  Oh, and Renn?  He was fine.  "I'm an Umphress!  I was fine Mom!!"

Post Christmas Trip

We decided to surprise the boys with a trip to Branson, MO and Silver Dollar City.  We went several years ago during the summer but had never gone during Christmas time.  Silver Dollar City is decorated with 100,000 lights.  We left on Tuesday morning and returned on Friday.  It was a short trip but a wonderful time to get away with the boys.  We spent all day in Silver Dollar City on Wednesday and then Thursday just hung at the condo playing games and watching movies.  Such a fun thing to do and the memories are worth it all.