{Kind Heart}

"Mom, I wish it were tomorrow because I love school so much and want to be there!" I can't believe that just a couple of weeks ago I was so worried about my little ones. Regan LOVES her teacher and she is amazing!!! Seriously, one of those teachers that she will remember when she is old and think back on with the best of memories. Bubba's teacher is such a sweet and upbeat breath of fresh air. On Monday she called me as soon as she knew something was "off" with Bubba and I was able to get him home before he started having seizures. He LOVES her!!!! He had to miss school because of the seizures/ cold and he was SOOO ready to be back at school, as soon as we walked in he was all smiles! I love reading in her daily notes "Collin was super smiley today!!!" Silly me.... worried for nothing! wink! It is going to be an amazing year.

Regan was honored with the first Student of the week award from her class. They have a weekly assembly and a child from each class is recognized for one reason or another. The students hold a flag at the front of the assembly and then they receive their award. Regan's teacher said "Regan has such a kind heart, is helpful, and is a very hard worker." What struck me the most were the words Kind heart. No other child was described with this way and I have to say as a mother  I am glad that she is a hard worker BUT I am even prouder that she has a kind heart. :)

After school we went to see our good friend Jeri

 to wish her a very special happy birthday! 

We sang to her, brought her balloons, and fresh chocolate chip cookies.:) 

Jeri, we love you!!!

43 never looked so good!!! 

When we got home Regan's kind heart kicked in.

I looked over to see Regan building two big train tracks for Bubba. 

He was beyond thrilled!!! 

I LOVE that Regan's kind heart can always put a smile on Bubba's face! :) 

Sweet and Sour

My Sour: Bubba is still having a hard time. Today was HARD but last night was even HARDER.

My Sweet: Bubba let us lay him down tonight. That is a major improvment from last night. I held him all night long and got about 45 minutes sleep. So, it is a HUGE sweet that he is sleeping sweetly in his own bed right now.

My Sour: Being stressed about Regan and making sure she was taken care of.

My Sweet: Our sweet friend Rosemary taking Regan to school and Nana picking her up for me. Also a HUGE sweet is that Regan is the first child being honored in her class for student of the week!!!!

My Sour: LOTS of laundry to catch up on!!

My Sweet: Thinking of Bubba and Regan playing together on Sunday........

Regan wanted to play Mommy and Daddy shopping with Bubba.

I am not sure what Bubba thought they were playing

 but he just loved that Regan wanted to be with him.

 

He kept putting the remote in the

shopping cart and Regan would take it out. 

He thought he was FUNNY and kept putting that darn remote in the cart. :) 

Regan insisted that Bubba buy her all of these pillows.

So, I guess in the end it was spot on....

Daddy wanted the remote

and Mommy wanted pillows. :)

{grateful}

Grateful for our fun weekend.

Grateful for those wonderful memories that I clung to today.

Today was a hard one for our sweet Bubba.

Lots of seizures, cuddles, and wiping away tears.

Grateful for Great Grandma Jo that was happy to answer my frantic phone call....

"I need your help!!! bubba is seizing and I have to get Regan from school... I am on my way to your home, I will pick you up and have you get regan from her class while I stay in the car with Bubba and keep his airway open!!!"

Grateful for a wonderful Hubby that came home early from work to help.

Grateful for our sweet friend that knew that Bubba was having

a hard time and called tonight offering to take Regan to school tomorrow.

There is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS

 something to be grateful for, even on hard days.

golden ticket

Yesterday morning I woke up bright and early with Bubba, he has become and EARLY riser, Hubs had to work, the laundry needed to be washed, and there were dishes in the sink. This was all the makings for a not so fun day. I turned on the news to see that the weather was going to be a beautiful, cloudy, and cool, a perfect Bubba kind of day. I sat there on the sofa with Bubba going back and forth with myself..... well, the dishes will still be here when we get home.... oh, but there is so much to do........ now that the kids are in school I just don't get enough fun time....I need to be better at doing these things. After doing this for a bit I decided that the house work could wait and that we NEEDED to play. We have not been to Disney in FOREVER and I have been so excited to take the kids to see the fun fall decorations. Oh, I just LOVE Disney in the fall!!!! With in no time I had the kids dressed and ready to go, Bubba's bag packed, and we were off! We got there shortly after the park opened and I knew right away that I made the right decision.

When we got home all of the house work was just where I had left it, waiting for me.  I was able to get everything done that needed to be done and still managed to get out of the house to watch the RS broadcast. As I sat there listening to President Dieter F. Uchtdorf speak I couldn't help but feel pleased with my decision to play that morning. "there is something inspiring and sublime about the little forget-me-not flower. I hope it will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet. Please never forget that you must be patient and compassionate with yourselves, that some sacrifices are better than others, that you need not wait for a golden ticket to be happy. Please never forget that the “why” of the gospel of Jesus Christ will inspire and uplift you. And never forget that your Heavenly Father knows, loves, and cherishes you." I think at times we can be harder on ourselves than anyone else. For a moment in the morning I started to find myself feeling guilty about not having these things already done and wonder if this made me a bad house wife and mother. Oh, heavens "Suzy" would never let her home look like this. Yes, clean laundry is important... I don't want my kid to ever be the smelly one in class BUT at the end of the day it is not my "golden  ticket". My golden ticket is made up of the simple joyful moments like that morning, it is hearing my daughter pray and knowing that she knows her Heavenly Father, it is reading our scriptures as a family, it is laughing as Regan and I try to test out our spanish on each other, it is cuddling Bubba in my arms, it is seeing my children smile, it is having a wonderful husband and bestfriend. I can be so hard on myself as I read other people's blogs and wonder how they manage to do all that they do, while having a perfectly clean home in the back ground, and with out a single hair out of place. wink! I need to remind myself to listen to Elder Uchtdorf's counsel and be patient with myself. If you have a minute head over HERE and check out parts of his talk, it is awesome!!

{Tough Guy}

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the burden pleasure of heading up the book fair at Regan's school. I offered to HELP and it quickly turned into me taking charge of it all when the person that was going to do it backed out. I mean how hard could it be?? I have done it so many times at the other school. Luckily, I had some AMAZING people that came to my rescue. Seriously, going back to this school with Regan has been like coming home, so many wonderful old friends, teachers, and fellow parents. Regan told me one day "Mom I am tired of everyone saying.... Oh, I knew you when you were a little baby... you are so big!" I knew that taking on the book fair with Bubba at a different school would be hard BUT man it was crazy and there isn't any way that I could have done it with out Shay {seriously she deserves a super awesome A+ sticker for this one.} I would drop Regan off at school at 8am, hurry home and hook Bubba up for his morning feed, take Bubba to school at 9am, hurry back to Regan's school for book fair, Regan got out of school at 2pm and would hang out with me, and then we would hurry to pick up Bubba from school at 3pm. This week has been busy but wonderful at the same time! Last night was back to school night and again some wonderful women came to my aid with the book fair, Laura {Bubba's first aid}, Aunt Sue, and some other wonderful "retired" PTA moms came to help out. Seriously, I feel so blessed to have such amazing women in my life. We even had the In n Out truck come!! :) I was able to go into Regan's classroom and look up on the board to see Regan's name under the happy face side. Then I had the pleasure of hearing how wonderful she is doing. Wahoo for a wonderful start to an awesome school year!!! I am so happy with our decision to bring Regan back to this school.

This morning I dropped Stanley off at Nana's house to have a play date with Emma while I was at the book fair all day. She even took the two dogs to get groomed!!! They had a dog show at Uncle Bill's assisted living home today. Regan was so excited about it!!! When Nana came to school to pick Regan up she had both dogs with her. Emma had bows in her hair and Stanley, well Stanley had a mohawk. :) The kids at the school LOVED it!!! Regan and Nana had a blast at the Dog show. Regan and Stanley won the Spirit award!!!

When they got to Uncle Bill's they had toys and clothing for the dogs.

Regan picked out this awesome shirt for Stanley.

I think the shirt went perfect with his mohawk....

Tough guy! :) 

What did Stanley think abou all that fun???

Well, he was TIRED when he got home!!

Where have I been????

Well, since you asked....

Things have been CRAZY in the Presley casa.

I don't even know where to begin,

 all I know is that I am WAY behind.

There have been some not so great things going on, not going there

AND there have been so oh so fun things going on, so going there!

First, these two crack me up!!!

Bubba will take the computer and put it up to his "good" ear and lay down.

Stanley will come behind him and lay down.

{don't judge the yucy carpet.... it's coming up next week.} 

Regan made us dinner!!!

Home made pizza pie! 

We went and celebrated this sweet friend's 3rd birthday!!! 

We rode on a TRAIN!!! 

Regan talked Daddy into going on the spinning nest.

{I learned my lesson the last time and will NOT

 being going back on that thing EVER again.} 

Regan talked Daddy into a camel ride.

How can you say no to a camel ride??? 

Regan talked Mommy into a car ride...

boy does she have a LOT to learn. :) 

Bubba and Regan talked us into going and seeing our sweet ol' Uncle Bill.

We LOVE our visits with Uncle Bill!!!

We celebrated Great Grandma Jo's 81st birthday with her!! 

We got our groove on!!! 

Regan made this hot pad for Great Grandma Jo all by herself.

She was so excited to give it to her.

{Family, don't be surprised if you open a gift like this

 for Christmas. This has become her favorite hobby!}

On top of all of this fun I have also taken on the book fair at Regan's school.

Yes, I know I am crazy.

The kids are doing GREAT in their new schools and are LOVING them!!!! :)

I am still getting used to two different start and pick up

times for school but it is slowly getting easier.

for now I will worry...........

The start to this new school year has been rough. There have been several things that have just tugged at my heart strings. As a mother all I want to do is step in and make it better for Regan and for Bubba but I know that there are some things that they must do on their own. Regan’s struggle with a new school and not having very many friends has been difficult. On Friday she came home and told me “Mom, I just don’t fit in.” First off, I could not believe what she was saying “fit in”, where did she come up with that??... Secondly, I hate the thought of her not feeling like she belongs. This is something that is getting a little easier every day and we have our pep talks. “Regan just ask one person their name today and tell them your name, OK.” This has been hard but I fully expected this. What I did not expect was watching her class mates look at Bubba with disgust and ask Regan “Is that YOUR brother??” “What is wrong with him?” I watched as she became embarrassed and did not know how to respond to the questions. In her last school everyone knew Bubba and loved him. As soon as her friends would see him they would run up and say hi to him. It was never an issue; he was simply Regan’s Bubba.  I have introduced him to her classmates when they have asked but this is a very sensitive subject. I don’t want Regan to feel like it is wrong to feel embarrassed or unsure of how to respond, this is natural and I am sure will change with each passing day.  She is very proud of him and wants us BOTH to drop her off every morning. There will be a day and time when she will feel more comfortable explaining who her Bubba is and what is “wrong” with him.  I know that she loves him with all her heart, there is no doubt about that but it is heart wrenching for me as a mother to watch her have to struggle with this. {As a side note we have her signed up for a sibling support group starting this fall, where she will be able to vent with out being judged. A place where diapers, feeding tubes, and often having to wait while the sibling gets the attention is a normal thing. }

Oh, sweet Bubba! Well, he is THAT kid in the class. You know what I am talking about, the one that is demanding, challenging, and a constant well…. Stinker. I am sure that in time he will become less demanding. Oh heck what am I saying he is demanding!!! He is demanding at home, out in public, at church, so why would school be any different?? His teacher is such a sweet heart and is so upbeat and called me with reassuring messages that he was doing just fine. I just worry… it’s what I do, I am a worrier. I worry that he will escape, {which he has done in the past} I worry that he will drive everyone crazy; I worry if there is enough support staff to handle him. This morning I kissed him and went to walk away, I started talking to a friend that was dropping her child off when Bubba started to cry. He ripped his glasses off and the tears began to flow. I went to go to him and my friend grabbed my arm and said “NO, let them do it. They need to do it. He will be OK!!!” I am so grateful for her. She was right. I needed to walk away and let this amazing staff that I fought so hard to get do their job. I looked at her with tears in my eyes and said “Thank you, I needed that.”  It is hard but I know that it WILL get easier.

I have been weepy today and so worried about both of my babies. I know that each day will get easier and they will each find their routine and friends. God promises us that we won’t be given any trial too hard to bear, but we’ll still be asked to endure difficult things. This is a difficult time for both of my children but I know that their trials can become eaiser when we all rely on the Lord for help.

a new year.......

Yesterday I took Regan and Bubba to Regan's new school

{Bubba's old school} so that she could meet her new teacher.

This was a GREAT idea from my mother in law and I was

hoping it would help with her nerves.

Bubba went to this school for five years, everyone there knows Bubba.

Most everyone there remembers Regan as a baby

 and could not believe how BIG she is!

Luckily, Regan's teacher was in her classroom setting

up and was more than happy to meet Regan and was sooo sweet to her. :)

Last night the backpacks sat on the bench ready to go.

Their first day of school outfits were laid out, ready for them to jump into.

The brand new shoes, that Regan had been begging to wear,

were ready to go by the front door.

Regan went to sleep with out any tears and very little nerves.

I could not believe how "easy" things seemed.

Regan woke up excited and was ready in no time!!

I was so impressed with Regan and how

excited she was about starting a new school.

Bubba had a hard time waking up and was not a big

fan of getting ready and heading out the door.

First day of school must have pics in the front yard.

We got to Regan's school and I could tell that the nerves were starting to set in.

I think the reality of a brand new school started to kick in.

Luckily, Regan has two friends from church in her class!!!!

Seeing a friendly face seemed to help.

And then just like that..... my 2nd grader was gone.

No tears were shed by anyone!!! wahoo to that!

She has an AMAZING teacher and I am so excited.

Then it was time to take Bubba to his first day of Middle School.

This one was a little harder, ok... a LOT harder.

The school is HUGE, the kids are HUGE, and well it's a bit scary.

Bubba saying hi to his new teacher.

She is AMAZING and we fought to get her.

I know that he will be in heaven with her.

Bubba also had friends in his new class!!

Wahoo for friends. :)

I had to stick around and wait for the nurse so that I could

 go over his feeding plan, seizure plan, allergy info.... etc.

So, Jason and I ended up being at his school for over

 an hour making sure everything was ok.

{Did I mention that Jason had the day off and got to come with?}

Bubba did NOT want us to leave.... it was HARD.

While we walked away I grabbed Jason's hand and told him to hurry,

I could feel the tears coming.

I am hoping that every day will get a little easier for both of us.

When I picked Regan up she told me that she made

 one new friend and was very happy about that.

Bubba was sad on and off all day. :(

He got bored, I have two bags of toys to donate to the

class tomorrow in hopes of helping with this.

Here's to a new year!!!