First Day of Kindergarten

Rori started school on August 26, 2013.  I drove her to school that morning and she was super excited.  I had a chance to briefly meet her teacher and then she jumped in line and was off with her DHH class.  After two years of going to the same school with the same teacher and core group of friends I was a little nervous for her to start at a new school, but fortunately she seemed fine.  That afternoon she rode home in the van for the first time.  She's really been looking forward to the van and I think we lucked out because her drive seems fantastic.  She was super nice and called several times before school even started to give us all the information.  We had a rough time with transportation in Las Vegas so this was a welcome relief.  Rori seemed to have had a good day and talked about some of the kids in her class and what they did when she got back.     

Rori went to school for 2 days with her DHH classmates and then on the 3rd day the other typical hearing kindergartners began school.  Here she is that morning:

So far so good!

First Day of Second Grade

 

On August 21, 2013 Kai started second grade at his Dad's old school.  I wondered if he might be nervous about being at a new school and making new friends, but he seemed just fine.  Grandpa and the girls and I walked him to the school and as soon as he saw his teacher he was off.  He came home that day and happily told me all about it.  Thursday and Friday seemed to go just as well.  His comments so far has been that they do a lot more math than at his old school which he likes, that the lunchroom has the best view and more food options, that they have more recess, that his old school was better at Four Square and had a good no running on the blacktop rule, and that the kids at his table seem really nice.  He is LOVING that he can walk to school and I am loving that the crossing guards already greet him by name each morning.  So far so good!

 

Our First Week

We all made it through our first week!  The drive up to Utah went smooth and we spent the rest of the weekend getting settled, running errands, and going to Church.  A big priority on our list was getting the kids their new birthday bikes.  The kids had been very patient waiting to get them until we got to Utah.  It was sad to see Lance go on Sunday but we pushed through and kept busy the rest of the week.

 

On Monday our first stop was to get Kai registered at his new school.  We walked in the school for the first time and headed to the office.  I told them we were there to register and said our last name.  The response was "Oh, Kai.  We've been waiting for you".  It was pretty awesome.  While we were filling out the paperwork the principal came out and spoke with us for awhile also and was very nice.  She told us she had placed Kai in a class based on his past academic record with a teacher that has a GATE certification so we were also happy about that.  As we were finishing the paperwork Kai's teacher also happened to walk through the office and stopped and talked with us for a bit.  She has been teaching for 30+ years and was very friendly and seemed very on the ball.  I was immediately very impressed.  She was on her way to a meeting but directed us to walk down the hall and peak in the classroom.  On the way there we walked past the lunchroom that has the most beautiful view of the whole Salt Lake Valley and a huge stage.  Kai loved it!  Outside his classroom there was a bulletin board up that already had his name on it so we thought that was neat too since we had only just officially registered him.  It was definitely a very different experience than in Vegas where there are so many kids.

Monday night also happened to be a Back to School Night at Kai's school.  Grandpa bravely agreed to watch the girls so Kai and I could just go which was really nice.  The principal spoke to everyone and Kai was on the edge of his seat hearing about all the fun school activities planned for the year.  Then she excused up and we got to go in his classroom and hear a short bit from his teacher about the upcoming year.  When we found his seat we realized that at his table was a little girl from our old neighborhood here.  I'm friends with her Mom and have spoken with her a few times over the last few weeks when we figured out that their kids now went to the school Kai would be going to.  Kai and the little girl had known each other when they were little and I knew she was bright and sweet so I was thrilled to see that.  We also quickly saw that another little girl at the table was from our new Church here.  Her Mom is actually in the Primary Presidency and I had met her briefly the day before so that was also great.  Even though we were starting something new and unknown it was really nice to have some familiar faces around.  There are only 3 second grades and there aren't even buses because all the kids live so close in the neighborhood.  We will be living 1 street away from the school so Kai will be able to walk which is dreamy.  I feel a little like I've stepped back in time in the coolest way.  Kai also loves the fact that he will be going to his Dad's elementary school.  It is pretty cool!

We spent the next few days collecting school supplies, getting school shoes, Costco gathering for lunchbox items etc.  The kids also played a ton outside in the backyard which was heaven after all this time of them not really being able to do that in our old house. 



 Kai started school on Wednesday.  On Thursday we had a meeting at Rori's school to see her classroom and do some evaluations.  There will be 2 Deaf and Hard Hearing Kindergarten teachers at Rori's school.  That day we ended up not meeting with the teacher that will be Rori's teacher because she was in Los Angeles finishing a summer masters degree teacher program at the John Tracy Clinic.  We are so excited about this that we were happy to meet with the other teacher.  In addition to that teacher we also met the classroom aid, and the AVT Speech Therapist.  Everyone was super nice and we ended up being there about 1 1/ hours which was great.  It was so great to talk with them and I might have even teared up at one point in relief  and gratitude in being surrounded by new resources for Rori.  I left feeling very good and excited about this year for Rori.

And then we had made it to Friday and were in countdown to Lance's flight getting in.  Kai and Rori have early dismissal on Friday's so that is another new change for us.  We popped some popcorn and watched a movie that afternoon to celebrate and help pass the afternoon.  It was so great to have Lance back with us after we picked him up.  Knowing we can be with him on the weekends really does make all the difference. 

We had a fun weekend with Lance.  Friday night after we got him from the airport we grabbed some dinner and then headed to the Skyline Football game.  It had sprinkled a little that afternoon so we figured we should probably put everyone in pants and bring some sweatshirts just in case.  It was pretty funny to gather things as we haven't worn pants or sweatshirts since last Spring.  The T. Sorenson cousins were at the game so all the kids were thrilled.  Kai was especially thrilled as he was way in to watching Skyline play.  Saturday morning we drove up in to the mountains and went on a hike.  It was beautiful and so nice to be out in nature with the kids.  Zuri got a free ride in the backpack but all the kids did great and it was an encouraging first Fall hike in UT for our family. 

 

Saturday afternoon brought in a good hard rain storm which we love.  Sunday we went to Church and Kai and Lance and I got to meet with the Bishop for Kai's pre-baptism interview.  Kai was so cute and so super excited.  That afternoon we went down to Temple square and did a little photo shoot of Kai.  The flowers there were amazing as usual and it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  After some dinner it was time to pack Lance up again and get him to the airport.  After the great experiences at the kids new schools this week I've been feeling really good about our new adventure, but saying goodbye to Lance is still really not fun.  Thank goodness for next weekend- and it is even a long weekend!!!     

ChAnGeS......

 

Our little family is in the midst of some pretty major changes right now.  Lance and I like to think of ourselves as pretty even keel people, but every now and again we do some crazy things and it seems that usually when we do we like to do it big.  Well, I guess it is time again for a change and this one is pretty huge. 

Two weeks ago we moved out of our Las Vegas house that we have lived in the whole time we've been here.  It had a floor plan we loved with most everything we would dream of inside a house.  The only big negative we had with the house was it had absolutely nowhere for the kids to play outside in the front or the back.  Fortunately the inside was spacious and on super hot Vegas days you can't really be outside anyway, but we so crave a place for the kids to be outside and play.  We loved the house though and have lots of great memories in it from the last 3 years so saying goodbye to it was a bit sad.   

The real reason for the move however is that the kids and I will be moving back to SLC this Fall.  We feel very strongly that we want to put Rori in a program through the Utah School for the Blind and Deaf this coming school year.  We've done a ton or researching and we feel like we need to give her this opportunity.  Lance is mid stream in his PHD program at UNLV and has a great job that allows him to balance both so we have decided that he needs to remain in Vegas.  In addition to his full time job this semester he will be taking comprehensive exams for his PHD and he's been given an opportunity to teach a few classes which is somewhat unheard of at this point in the program.  It is a great opportunity that we feel he needs to take advantage of and should keep him quite busy. 

So our plan is to have Lance fly back and forth on the weekends.  We hate the idea of being separated during the week but feel like we need to try to make this work for a time.  Our goal is to give it a try this Fall and then evaluate from there.  Thus, when some of our friends from Church in Vegas were looking to rent out their place and it all came together so we could be saving a good chunk of money each month that we could in turn use on airfare we felt very fortunate.  So we have spent these last 2 weeks before we leave in the "new Vegas house".  We have actually been loving it as it is quite nice and it has a community pool that we are trying to use as much as possible. 

So the reason we are doing all of this is because Rori has an August birthday -  she is now of kindergarten age here in Las Vegas for this coming school year and can no longer attend the Deaf and Hard of Hearing preschool program she has been going to for the last 2 years.  We actually agree with this and feel like she has maxed out this preschool program and is ready for a change and new challenges.  However, after our experience with Kai being an older kid vs younger kid in his class it is a no brainer for us that we should have Rori (especially with her hearing issues) also be an older.  So, that leaves us in a situation of what to do with Rori this school year.  We also feel very strongly that this year needs to be a very strong building year and not a wasted one.  Our researching has told us that learning to read and write can be extra difficult for hearing impaired kids.  Imagine trying to sound out words when you can't even hear all the sounds.  We also know that although Rori has taken some great strides since getting her hearing aids just a little over 2 years ago she still has a ways to go in regards to catching up on some of her language comprehension and expression.

We had 2 options for Rori here in Vegas for this school year.  Our 1st option was to just send her to Kai's school which we would love, but we feel like it would be a sink or swim option and we really feel like she still needs some extra help and needs an opportunity this year in the right setting to get the therapy she needs.  The 2nd option was to put her in a school further from our home that has a program where there would be a few hearing impaired kids who would spend portions of the day in a typical K class and portions with a deaf ed teacher.  This option seemed better to us for this in between year, but we were a little concerned about the distance and location of the school and the added confusion that might come from getting pulled in and out of the classroom.  In the end we were just left wishing for a more intensive program to really maximize this year.       

At the new school in Utah Rori will spend 1/2 the day in a Deaf and Hard of Hearing class with 1 teacher and about 7 kids.  The other 1/2 the day will be spent in a typical 1/2 day kindergarten class.  We feel good about this because she will still be getting the more specialized attention, but we will also see how she does as just one of the kids in the typical K class.  What we are most excited about is that she will be receiving 1 on 1 Auditory Verbal Speech Therapy EVERY Day which means not only 1 on 1 speech but speech from someone trained to work with hearing impaired kids.  We have spent the last 2 years in Vegas battling the school district about speech as they will only let Rori have speech 1 time a week in a small group of kids with varying speech issues by someone that most likely does not have any official training for hearing impaired kids.  We would argue that teaching a kid to speak clearly and build vocabulary that has hearing issues is a lot different than teaching a kid that has a stuttering or whatever other issue.  The school in Utah also works closely with the John Tracy Clinic in LA (the place we have taken Rori to previously that finally helped us get things figured out) and many of the teachers have gone through an intensive masters degree program though there.  We think this is awesome! 

Our plan is to try it and see how it goes and then come December decide what happens next.  We know that the grass sometimes seems greener on the other side so we expect there to be issues and things that we don't love, but we feel like this is something we need to try.  We don't want to look back later and wonder if we gave her the best opportunity.  Our hope is that Rori can use this opportunity to get caught up and become well prepared with the fundamentals of reading and writing and then be on track to start Kindergarten the following year in our neighborhood school.  This experience should give us a really good picture on that which is nice.

Lance's Dad happens to live about 10 minutes away from the school which is amazing since some kids will be driving up to1 hour each way to get there.  So he has bravely agreed to let the kids and I take over his downstairs and live with him.  We know that it has to have been a very lonely long last year for him and he claims that he could use a little company.  We hope we can be a help to him and it will be nice for us to be close as it has been very hard to be away this last year.

It has been a whirlwind of activity and emotion over the last few weeks as we attempted to pack everything up and make these moves.  We pray that we are making the right decisions and can figure out how to make this all work until we can all be in the same place again.  School starts next week in Utah so we will be officially heading out this weekend.  Wish us luck!

 

Birthday Visitors

Grandpa, Grandma, and Whitney made a special trip to visit us for a birthday weekend.  Even though it was a quick trip we had lots of fun being with them and getting to give them a taste of our summer in Vegas.  

 

 

On Friday Grandpa got to go to basketball academy with Kai while Grandma and I got to do a little last minute Target birthday shopping.  Afterward we headed to Cafe Rio so they could get their fix- sadly there is no Cafe Rio in San Diego.  Saturday morning we got in some time at the pool which was a lot fun.  We also spent some time watching the Piano Guys DVD Kai got for his birthday which he was excited about.  For lunch we introduced Grandpa to Cappriotti's sandwiches.  After lunch we geared up for Kai's birthday party.  Lance was a trooper and took Kai and his friends to the movie Planes.  Afterwards he brought them back to the house where we had pizza, cake and ice cream waiting for them.  The boys had a great time and Kai was thrilled.  A pretty easy party as far as parties go which was perfect! 

While they were at the movie Grandma, Rori, Zuri and I headed to Build a Bear for a birthday treat for Rori.  Rori got it in her mind that going to Build a Bear was what she wanted for her birthday and when Rori decides on something she sticks with it.  The last time we had been to Build A Bear was to make Zuri a bear when she was born so it was like a brand new experience for Rori and she was thrilled.  Rori's favorite stuffed animals are her puppies so it was no surprise when she picked to make a puppy.  She named her Mac which is the name of the female lead character in her current favorite movie- Teen Beach Movie.  The majority of the visit was spent trying to pick out the perfect outfit for Mac the puppy.  Grandma and I would try to sway her one way or the other, but when she finally made her choice that was that and she wasn't to be influenced.  She is a great age for Build A Bear and ate up every bit of it which was super cute. 

We're so glad they made the trip to spend some time with us and make the kids birthdays extra special.  The kids loved all of their birthday surprises and just getting to spend some fun time with them.    

 

Rori's 5th Birthday

 

Rori turned 5 years old today.  I can't believe that it has been 5 years since we went to the hospital for her planned c-section.  Some old pictures came up on the computer screen saver last week of Rori and it was amazing to see how much she has grown and changed.  Most noticeable is that she has hair- that took forever!  :)  She has been counting down to her birthday for about the last 6 months so she was thrilled to have it finally be here today.  We were so touched by all the school and neighborhood friends that helped her celebrate her big day at her party today. 
       
At 5 years old Rori is at the sweetest age.  She is super loving and cuddly, curious about everything, and so easily pleased.  She loves playing with her siblings and friends and is the first one to run to their aid when needed.  Rori is super athletic and is currently very excited about soccer, gymnastics and swimming.  She loves to color and play with her stuffed animals.  Her favorite things are currently the Little Mermaid, Annie, Teen Beach Movie, puppies, and unicorns.  She has worked so hard this year and we are so proud of her. 

This Fall Rori will begin half day kindergarten, will keep up her sports, and will begin an extra intensive speech and language program.  Happy Birthday sweet Rori girl!  We love you so much!

Kai's 8th Birthday

 

How is it possible that our Kai is already 8 years old?  He has been really looking forward to turning 8 and was thrilled to finally have the celebration begin. 

At 8 years old Kai is a pretty incredible kid.  He is enthusiastic about everything he does and is a really great and nurturing big brother.  He can be the most mature kid at times and often is of his peers, but he also continues to have this wonderful innocence and still wants to cuddle at times which I love.  He's well liked and makes friends wherever we go.  He's also sensitive to others and thoughtful in nature.  Kai is a pleaser and he loves to learn about EVERYTHING.  He continues to be fascinated by Space, loves to read, enjoys music (he can't get enough of the Piano Guys), and enjoys using his imagination and being creative.  He is sweet and kind and really an all around great kid.  This Fall he is looking forward to second grade, starting Cub Scouts, keeping up his piano, and having fun with his various sports which he loves. 

We love Kai very much and are so proud of all the good choices he is making.  Happy Birthday buddy!