starting the week

I have been meaning to get on here and post about how Friday went, but the weekend passed on by and here we are on Monday again! Cathy did watch Allie for me Friday, and John was able to leave work about 1 pm and met me at the Elementary School. I was so glad! I knew Asher would feel extra special with having both of his parents there to read. And sure enough, the class was excited and so was he. I had thought we were supposed to read the books Mrs Hughes had included in the Star of the Week bag, but she asked us if we had brought any! I hadn't. I wish I had brought a few of Asher's favorites to share. But, of course she rounded up a book for John and one for me (not the ones in the bag!). We read for about 20 minutes, then talked with the class for a few minutes about their favorite books and who reads to them. Then, it was time for the class to head to "activity" which on Fridays is Music. John and I went on to our 2:10 pm meeting with Mrs Hughes, the Speech teacher Mrs White, and the vice-principal Mrs Kimble. It was a good meeting. We went over tons of paperwork and had to sign off on the evaluation. Basically Mrs Hughes "referred" him to Mrs White after observing Ash in the classroom for a few weeks, noting what sounds he was having a hard time with, and, not seeing improvement with them, it then warranted attention to Speech. So now Mrs White (John did anesthesia on her youngest child the week before for tubes/adenoids, lol) will evaluate Asher one day this week for about 20 minutes. She will go through a list of pictures and have him tell her what they are and she will make note of how he says them. The only issue is articulation, thank goodness. So once she does that, she will call another meeting if therapy is necessary (and it will be, this is all the government legal stuff) and I (or John) have to sign that we agree to the therapy. Asher will go twice a week, most likely Tue/Thur during the first 30 minutes of Math, which is from 10:30-11 am. There are a couple of other kids in his class that get therapy that time as well. Mrs White is very personable and energetic, and I think Asher is going to do great with her! I am so glad we are moving forward with this and hopefully he will make quick progress. We told her that we already have seen improvement since it was pointed out to us at Kindergarten Registration (during his evaluation) that he needed to be further evaluated for Speech issues back in April - we had thought it was mostly age appropriate and then once we realized it wasn't, we started paying more attention and helping correct him, he started to think more about it and self-correct, etc. Asher got to ride home with me which was a real treat! Cathy stayed and Jeff and Adam came over and we ate the beef/veggie stew that I had thrown together (and Cathy stirred) while I was gone. We played Wii Fit for awhile after getting Allie into bed. I love that game! After they headed home, I ran the dishwasher and it made this crazy clanking broken sound, but kept running and nothing seemed amiss other than it wasn't squeaking like it has been for months. We went to sleep thinking, either it fixed it's squeak or we are getting a new dishwasher this weekend. Well, it was the latter! The dishwasher didn't drain and there was a film on the dishes. Eww! So Saturday morning we loaded up and headed to Lowe's so see what was in stock as I wanted it done that day (of course. lol). We found a good one, much better than the cheapie that came with the house, and brought it home. John then spent the better part of 4 hours installing it. Everything that was supposedly "universal" wasn't, and he had to make 2 more trips back to Lowe's! Ugh! He had never installed one before, but did a great job and by that evening I was getting caught up on dishes. He amazes me with his willingness to tackle projects, it seems like nothing intimidates him! :) Sunday we did more home improvement stuff. While we were at Lowe's on Saturday, he half-jokingly asked if there was anything else I needed while we were there. Umm, yeah! New fixtures, closet organizers, etc, etc. So he heads to the closet organizer aisle (to my SHOCK! as he has been putting this off since we moved in 17 months ago) and loads the cart up with everything we need to re-do our closet. YAY!!! Our master closet was so pitifully done! There was only one shelf that went around a corner but they didn't do it right, basically it was two straight pieces jutted together, completely crazy. There wasn't enough room for all of our clothes. Not to mention all of the wasted space. So we worked on that for about 3 or 4 hours and got it all done and it looks FABULOUS!!! I am so happy that I finally have an organized closet!! You all know I am such an organizational freak and it drove me nuts to have that be such a mess. Of course there is still a long list of projects, but that is one major one down. I have a wonderful husband! :) I have also started some Christmas decorating, mainly because I brought stuff home from Mississippi, but I am not 100% into it yet. Still a little early although I am getting (mentally) ready! Larry and Judy bought me my first Dickens' Village piece while we were there visiting, and it arrived Friday evening. It is a retired piece, the Whittlesbourne Church, and it is beautiful! Here is a pic from the internet of it. I don't have any accessories yet, but don't worry! I'll be getting some, and more pieces! Hehehe. Tomorrow I'm hosting Playgroup starting at 10 am. We will stay in, as it is supposed to be cold and rainy for the next several days. Last night it got down to 27 I think. Yikes! Why can't Fall last just a little longer??