hello..........it's been a long time since I have blogged. I just haven't had anything worth blogging about. I have had a real bummer of a last week. I've been "lost". I have had so much on my mind lately that I just haven't had the physical or mental energy to sit down and share my thoughts until now.

I haven't kept it a secret that Mark struggles in school. I mean struggles! For the last two years I have begged and pleaded with the school to help him. We went out on our own and had some testing done. He was diagnosed TWO years ago with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. Everyone I knew who has CAPD has an IEP. For some reason, "a person" who should have been helping us let him "slip through the cracks", in my opinion. This person even told us AFTER we had the Audiologists report/diagnosis and a psychological evaluation that "just because he has a medical diagnosis, doesn't mean he qualifies for an IEP". He did have a 504 Plan. Again "this person" told us that the 504 Plan pretty much does the same thing as an IEP. Umm. No. Anyway, we had meeting after meeting. Finally, this year they got a new school psychologist who agreed to do an evaluation on him (the report was pretty much the same as the one we had done two years ago). Guess what? He finally got an IEP. This is after another teacher who I was paying to tutor him finally brought it to someone's attention that he really needs help. So, we had our IEP meeting and he is finally getting services. He has someone come and sit with him and keep him on task. His math grades have totally improved. He is still struggling with reading comprehension but he is finally going in the right direction. He can read anything. He was one of the first persons in his class to pick up on reading but for some reason, he just went in the wrong direction with the comprehension. Unfortunately, 3rd takes FCATs (Florida state testing). He didn't do too good. He also didn't have the IEP in place at the time the FCAT was administered. According to the state, you don't pass FCAT, you don't advance to the next grade. We don't know where we are going from here. They gave him some kind of other test last Friday to see how he did but we don't have the results back yet. I feel like everything is so up in the air. I feel just so lost and so sad for him. I even went through feeling like I failed him as a parent. Then the more I thought and cried over it, I came to the conclusion that the school system failed him. Not me. I really hold "this person" somewhat responsible. If they would have ran with the information when it was given to them TWO years ago, I have to question, would we be in this position today? He could have been getting this "help" for the last two years. Well, gotta change the subject..............I'm getting all teary eyed again.

Can you believe school is almost out? Greg will be a SENIOR!!!! Unfortunately, he hasn't had any luck in a job search. Neither has Liz. I hope and pray that these kids can find a job soon. I can't afford them and they really need the money.

I finally got to sit down and scrap a page. It felt so good. I really hope to do some more. Next weekend is my Stampin Up get together so I'm excited to have some "me" time. I really miss having Lisa down the street. I totally lost my stamping/scrapping buddy when she moved away.

It's finally raining here in the Sunshine State. As a matter of fact, it hasn't stopped. It's pretty much rained everyday for the last few weeks. They are the pop up showers and storms but it's so nice to see the ponds filling back up. Today, the city of Tampa lifted the watering ban today.

Did you all catch the Jon and Kate show? Wow is all I can say. I will definately put my thoughts on this show in my next blog entry. Also, I watched "The Little People" starring Bill and Jen. Oh my gosh, loved that show. Such a cute couple.

Well, I'm going to get off here and watch the movie "New in Town" that I picked up yesterday. I just saw the previews on ET for Sherlock Homes with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law--two of my favorites. Hopefully some fun movies to watch this summer.

Say it ain't so!

This is what's in the news right now! If it forms, her name will be Ana. I don't think it's supposed to become a hurricane, but it's supposed to bring us much needed rain. It's finally raining here and things are starting to somewhat green up. But we still have a long way to go. We are still going to be under water restrictions. Hopefully this much needed rain will be enough to save our lawn. Just the thought of replacing the yard with sod makes me crazy. Just another thing to add to the "home improvement" list. So, here's to a very rainy week. Maybe I will get some stuff done inside the house since I hate going out in the rain. But, I am in no way complaining.

{PROM 2009}

I survived another prom. Last year, was Liz's senior prom and this year Greg went to prom. He's only a junior but he went with a friend who is a senior. What a difference it is to get a girl ready for prom versus a boy. So easy. So much less to do. We had to leave at 5:15 and he rolled in from his friends house @ 4:30. Shaved, got dressed and was ready to go. It was so nice to not have to worry about hair and nails and all that goes along with a girl. Such a nice change....

So here are a couple of pictures. I'm not biased or anything, but I think he and Brandy were the best looking duo. So cute. He was so handsome. She was stunning.

Her dress was absolutely gorgeous. So different from the prom dresses we wore back in the day. A lot of bright colored prints. I loved this years style.


They ended up going in a hummer limo to the dance. Afterwards, the limo took them over to hang out at St. Pete beach. How cool was that? The beach! He said he had a lot of fun. I'm glad I get to (hopefully) do this again next year.

On a more serious note, we got word today that their high school will be closed this entire week. =( There is a "possible" case of a student having the swine flu. Keep in mind, they just had prom on Friday night. Saturday, the school hosted the SAT test. So a lot of other students from not only our school, but others were there taking the test. I'm trying not to panic. Mark goes to the elementary school. So, do I send him to school? We have another high school in our town and a lot of those students were at our prom and taking the SAT. I guess it is what it is. Only time will tell. We have a movie theatre here in town and I have to wonder if it will be busy tomorrow. The kids are already discussing what they are going to do this week. Are we supposed to keep them confined to the house? Hello, teenage kids here. Also, this week started their AP Exams. At least they will have some extra days to study!

Well, I'm going to turn in. It's been a very long day. I can't believe the weekend is over already. Happy Monday!