Fishing Overload!

 Time to catch up on what my husband has decided is his new time filler--since he is no longer in school!

David has always enjoyed fishing, and we used to fish a lot when we lived in Baker.

But since we moved here and got so busy with teenagers and sports and such we just never really had time.

But when there is time, I am sure there are fish!

 Back when I was in California with Danielle, David took my Dad, Loren (in the back) and my Uncle Larry (in the red) up fishing.

To bad it happened to be the coldest day they have had fishing yet.

Specially since Uncle Larry lives in Southern California, hence the crazy outfit scoured from the depths of my dad's closet!

 They had a good time, though I believe Larry never got a chance to catch any totally on his own this day.

They got a nice stringer and lots of good eating out of this one.

 Now a couple of days later---yes, I was still in California and David was either bored or taking advantage of his freedom.

But really, look at this face!

He does know how to love life!

 Notice the snow on the mountains now!

The fishing has been great at Diamond Lake this year.

You would have to ask David if he would share his spots and the secret tackle he has been using......

 Caleb is loving all the time with the guys.

So fun, since we are also seeing such an improvement in so many areas of his life right now, what a special way to bless him for his amazing work on improving his character---let him spend time with men of integrity in the beauty of God's creation!

 This is our special friend, Buzz!  

He and his wife, Julie, have been such an encouragement to our family.  

David was blessed to spend a day on the lake with him.

 Caleb's favorite spot on the boat.

 Beautiful Mount Theilson with her first dusting of snow for the winter.

 The day's catch!

 And the final day of fishing....so far that is, was Saturday.

They were joined by Ron and Stan Green.

We attend church with Ron, and were pleased to meet his father, Stan.

 This was the day of the big guys.

The fish must have settled into the changing weather, and the big ones were biting!

 Caleb and David with some of the big guys of the day.

I already posted the video of David and his big catch, but if you missed it or need a good smile you can catch it again HERE

I found it very interesting that though Caleb has never video taped before he knew that the thing to film was not the actual catching of the fish, but his father's face!

Now for those of you who do not know my husband, this is really him.

He loves life to its fullest and lives it that way!

It is exhausting to live with him much of the time, but very joyous!

 Thanks Ron for enjoying the day with my  men, and for the wonderful video that we will always cherish!

 I guess you would call that one happy kid!

 The Green's catch of the day---12 beauties!

 The Jordan's catch of the day---14 beautiful trout!

The largest being 3 lbs. 9 oz.

Oh, and again for those of you who do know my husband, especially my oldest children.....notice that he is wearing matching clothes!  An unusual occurrence for his outings.

What a blessing upon blessing for these two.  

Thank you Lord the amazing memories that have been made.

A Slightly Embarassing Video of My Husband Catching a Fish

Talk Fusion Studio UTC

The eyes don't have it!

Notice anything odd about this picture.

Here we see just one example of Caleb's schooling challenges.

His eyes do not converge.

It is actually very odd to watch.

He really thinks both eyes are looking at this, then we cover the right one and he is trying to figure out where it went!

Interestingly I think in most cases you would at some point see two if your eyes were doing this, he says he never sees two.

I am not a specialist or anything, just a mom trying to figure things out, but the way I understand this, is that if his eyes are struggling to converge he will have trouble focusing on words on the page because both eyes are not looking at the same place.

Hence he starts reading OK and struggles more and more as his eyes get tired.  

He also struggles keeping place on the page.

He says the words jump off the page towards him.

So we have started some basic eye training with him at home with the cute pencil and lots of one eye at a time.

We are also using the Brain Integration Therapy by Dianne Craft, we have not been doing it long enough to tell whether it is working.

We will also be starting to integrate some of the exercises from Eye Can Learn in the next week.

I am thankful that I am a veteran at the homeschooling thing, or I would have decided a long time ago that I was not cut out for this.

An example with Caleb it that due to his

1)  Auditory Processing Disorder he does not learn well by hearing

2)  Visual Processing differences (not formally diagnosed) he does not learn well by seeing

3)  Attention differences (also not formally diagnosed) he does not learn well by doing

4) PTSD (also not formally diagnosed) he does not do well with getting things incorrect or being corrected, which is all part of school and learning.

I am so thankful for the support of my husband, family, friends and therapist that keep us going on this long road.  

He does seem to be doing better overall with the changes we have made this year.  I will post more on the full curriculum later, but for now, it is off to school and he will be commandeering my computer for the next 4 hours!

Train trips, paint and puppies!

 Last weekend Hannah and I had the blessing to be able to travel to Santa Barbara by train to help Danielle and Ryan do some work on their first home!

It was an experience for both of us, as I had never been on a train that I can recall either.

We boarded in Klamath Falls, Oregon after a 1 1/2 hour drive over the pass in the first snow of the year, at 10 pm on Wednesday, my birthday!  We arrived the next day for dinner.  20 hours on what would take 12ish to drive.

 Hannah loved the room to play and read and do school.  We even went to the lounge car so she could spread out her dolls on the table.

 What a way to get woke up each morning.  No matter how we tried to let Hannah sleep in a little after our long days, Justice knew she was up there and was bound and determined to find a way over the gate---as you can see he usually did.

 Ryan and I sporting our painting duds.  We painted the entire downstairs and all the kitchen cabinets in two and 1/2 days.  Pretty good if I do say so myself.

 Danielle and Ryan loving that the cabinets are almost done.  I should have gotten pictures of Danielle toward the end, as every time she second guessed something, he would paint her!  Anyone who knows Danielle, knows that it was a lot of paint!

 Before we left Hannah was telling everyone she was going down to 'puppy-sit'!  Well she was not far off.  If she had not been there to entertain Justice and take him for multiple 'walks' every day, we would never have accomplished what we did.

Though as you can see, he did get away from her once or twice.

 Sorry for the x-rated puppy picture, but we did catch this one before he came inside.

Another time we were not so lucky and got white puppy paws all over the brown couch.

Another time it was puppy tail brush marks all over the floor!

 So we caged them in the not currently being painted areas.

Here they are locked in by couches and the entertainment center.

Yes, Hannah thought he was more like her doll and covered him up and they went to sleep just like this!

 Justice likes sleeping on things, and anything will do when your stuff is constantly being moved around.

Hence the computer case, dog bed!

 Hannah took about 50 pictures one day with my camera---dirty laundry, floors, cabinets, shoes, and this cute one with her reflection in the new washing machine door.  You can even see the washing machine in the mirror in the reflection.  It is actually a very interesting picture.

 Ever get enough pictures of puppies and babies.  Due to the lack of babies, you get puppies!

 So nice on our last night there in clean clothes watching "Blind Side".

 Some 'done for now' pictures.  Painted cabinets with no doors yet.  New to them stove with all the proper fittings and properly functioning.

 Painted front room with all the paint off the floor and furniture replaced.

And sadly saying goodbye a the station. We left at noon on my anniversary, to arrive home the next day, totally missing my anniversary and then seeing David for about 20 minutes before he left for meetings in Salem overnight!

We were joking that it won't be long before the 'little' sister, becomes the 'big' sister!

What's Up?

Hannah and I will be leaving this evening to head by train to visit Danielle and Ryan and of course, Puppy Justice!

They just moved into their first home and we will get to help with cleaning, painting and organizing.

Though Hannah has informed me that puppy-sitting is what she plans on doing!

We are so thankful for the opportunity to go and are looking forward to our long train trip together.

David will be holding down the fort here and making sure Caleb gets to all his football stuff.

I will hopefully get on top of things and get a big football post on soon.

Have a great week!