Settling into routines??

Last week was our family's first week where everyone had a "real", full week of school.  Clubs, therapies, and other extracurricular activities were also up and running.  The afternoons and evenings are definitely fuller than what we have been used to in years past.  We are certainly entering the stage of life with plenty of extras and will do our best to embrace it for what it is, while still finding balance between all of the different aspects.

So far so good in terms of school adjustments.  Kate and Ethan were both a little low by the end of the week, using up most of their mental energy during the school days.  Thursday evening and Friday were tough ones for those two.  We rewarded ourselves with a Friday night campfire as a family :)

Anna has done well thus far with the transition to middle school, doing her best to find time to do the added homework.  We have less daily contact with her teaching team, so we will have to wait a little while longer to see how things are going from the teachers' perspective.

Anna also jumped back in to therapy this past week, after having plenty of time off since her Advance session.  Our impressions from home seemed to be verified by the different tests and checks her physical therapist did with Anna on Wednesday morning.  Anna's strength and balance have continued to improve since August, but her stamina isn't as good as it was during the last week of Advance.

Anna also has transitioned to a different speech/language/feeding therapist.  She has been without formula (but with g-tube purees) since the end of June, and all is well.  We're going to wait another couple of weeks, however, until we cut back any more on her g-tube nutrition.

Matt is resigning himself to the added evening family expectations (making lunches, monitoring homework, supervising showers, etc.).  Life has fewer restrictions in the summer, especially in the evenings, and it's a hard transition for the grown-ups, too.

Saturday morning Ethan, Kate, and I joined some of the other Cloverbud (4H) families for a morning at the apple orchard.  Given the amount of fruit that grows in our yard, we rarely visit apple orchards in the fall.  In fact, I don't think either Kate or Ethan remembered ever going to one (although I think Kate was once when she was little).

Those two had a wonderful time, mostly with collecting some grapes and then just enjoying being in nature on a beautiful fall morning.

Kate made friends with a slug.

One of the dads caught a garter snake and Ethan was brave enough to pet it.

This momma has continued to work hard harvesting the bountiful produce from our yard.  Apples, apples, and more apples have been dried, eaten, made into applesauce, and given to friends.

The crazy wet weather of August, followed by the awesome sunshine of September meant that we had LOADS of broccoli this fall.

I was able to pick and freeze some last week, in addition to having broccoli about every other day with our meals the last few weeks :)

The raspberries have also enjoyed the wet and warm weather.  We're going to end up with plenty of frozen fruit to go with our yogurt this winter.

Today I started digging our sweet potatoes, and I only managed the first row (of three) before I was too tired to continue.

By digging them a little earlier, we seem to be ahead of the mice that tend to nibble the tops off the tubers.  And the weather must have agreed with this crop, too, because the potatoes are HUGE; Matt verifies that this photo doesn't do them justice.

Here's hoping we are able to continue enjoying things for what they are in the weeks to come.

The rest of life

The rest of our family's life didn't exactly stop for Camp Timber-lee, but it kind of felt like it at times.  Or maybe it just felt like plenty was squeezed into the moments in between packing, preparing, participating, and recovering.

The biggest bummer of last week came on Monday after school when Ethan started running a fever.  The poor guy must have caught his first round of kindergarten germs :(  Monday night was a rough one for him and his fever continued to plague him all day on Tuesday even when he had a fever reducer in his system, with his temperature spiking again on Tuesday evening.  But Wednesday morning he woke up in good spirits and remained fever free (without Tylenol) all day.  We kept him home from school on both Tuesday and Wednesday; we still abide by the 24 hour fever free rule in our house.

After that little hiccup in Ethan's kindergarten experience, I think he's back into the swing of things and enjoying as much as he can at school.

Matt and I were already tired going into Ethan's illness since we stayed up to watch the (AWESOME) Packers game on Sunday night.  Then the whole family was able to watch the second half of this Sunday's game in the afternoon.  Both games were very exciting to watch :)

The ripening apples are the big story in terms of our yard's produce this week.  I've made and canned lots of applesauce and pie filling, dried plenty of apples in the food dehydrator, and of course we've been eating apples just about every day.

When it comes to the animals, the chickens are doing their best to stay cool on our hot Wisconsin September days.  They prefer the days when I'm around and let them roam free for much of the day, but are happy enough in their enclosure, too.  We're pretty sure we have a second chicken starting to lay eggs, and I might have gotten an egg from a different hen today, too.  They are definitely tasty eggs :)

Anna and I were understandably tired upon our return from Timber-Lee on Friday, so it wasn't until after Kate got home from school that we noticed our monarch had emerged from its chrysalis!

Since Matt came home a little early that day, we were all able to release it in the back yard together.  What a fun experience!

This last weekend was full of soccer, swimming, and the annual McFarland parade.  During Ethan's soccer game on Saturday afternoon, he scored the first goal he's "ever scored in his life"!  It sounds like a good time was had by all.

With the hot, sunny days we've had lately (after all of that rain in August) the pool warmed up enough again for some additional swimming days.  Hooray!

We will cherish these smiles and moments of summer for as long as we can.

I think the game one afternoon involved pushing people into the water when they least expected it ...

We all played out there together on Friday and Saturday, while Kate and Ethan had a wonderful time together in the pool again on Sunday afternoon.

The two of them came up with a choreographed show that they wanted to share with the rest of us before dinner.  It was very well executed :)

Anna had opted not to join the younger two in the pool on Sunday afternoon because she chose to walk in the parade with the 4H group this year.  That girl was wiped out after keeping pace with the parade walkers the whole way!

Camp Timber-Lee!

Last week the sixth grade students in McFarland had the opportunity to experience "school in the woods" (a.k.a. camp life) as a group for a few days.  The scheduled trip began on Wednesday at the start of the school day and ended when the kids arrived back at school around lunch time on Friday.  The events of this particular trip have decades of tradition here in McFarland and is one of the highlights of the sixth grade experience at Indian Mound Middle School, although we have heard that the year as a whole includes many memorable opportunities.

We began conversations back in April about what might work well for Anna to participate to the best of her ability at Camp Timber-Lee.  More accurately, I think others at school may have begun those conversations with us.  After much thought and discussions with school staff, clinic therapists, parents of older kids, and even a few high schoolers themselves, we came up with our best "plan", knowing that we would need to be flexible when the time came.  With Anna's input, we decided that the main priorities would be for Anna's social and learning opportunities first, then her independence, and finally her mobility.  (translation: We were willing to use whatever help we could get for Anna to move from place to place, instead of expecting her to walk everywhere.)

The plan was for Matt to follow the buses to camp with Anna in our van on the first day and stay as long as she could handle before coming back home for the night to sleep.  Then Anna and I would return to camp on Thursday morning with the hopes of staying overnight (probably in a separate room from others) and pushing through for the final morning.

In short, the Camp Timber-Lee experience was probably the best it could have possibly been for Anna at this point in her life.  Not only did she exceed our expectations regarding what she could handle with her stamina and energy, but she had a chance to grow in other unexpected areas as well.

I cannot possibly record all of the events of the time at Timber-Lee, but below are a few key words and phrases that will help me remember some of the specifics.  I failed to take pictures because I was having too much fun myself ... helping to teach a bunch of sixth graders about the natural world around them is right up my alley.  I must still be a middle school teacher at heart :)

+ the l-o-n-g walk to crush rocks for the geology class

+ arriving on Thursday just in time to go canoeing with Anna and her case manager (that was my first opportunity to continue to develop a positive relationship with Anna's case manager)

+ helping some girls dig through the muck in their nets during the pond encounter class, after seeing a blue heron sail across the quiet waters

+ catching four fish while at the fishing class, and then sitting in the shade with another girl because it was HOT and we weren't too enthused with the whole process of fishing

+ all of the awesome moments during the animal encounter class, with Anna, other students with special needs, and the ones hesitant to hold turtles


+ teaching a couple of boys how to identify trees by their leaves and bark

+ attending the arts and crafts class twice; it was a good one

+ eating meals in the dining hall with all of the sixth graders; not only was it l-o-u-d, but I got to know a few more of the kids

+ skipping the archery class, orienteering class, and square dancing class (these were the least accessible/appropriate for Anna and her abilities and provided her with some much needed breaks)

+ riding from class to class in the camp's golf cart ... what a blessing! which also gave me the opportunity to continue to build on the positive relationship I already had with Anna's aide


+ owl pellet dissection ... again, an activity that was already in my repertoire that I thoroughly enjoyed sharing with Anna and her classmates

+ campfire night complete with skits from all of the sixth grade groups AND the teachers; it was a late night, but very memorable

+ Anna choosing to sleep in the cabin room with a bunch of other sixth grade girls and considering the experience a positive one!

+ all of the heart moments of the team building session ... during the final session of the last morning ... when it was 85 degrees and humid ... and we were in the sun

(It wasn't all happy, clappy time for Anna, to be sure, but the rougher times were relatively mild for her.  In spite of all the help we could provide her, she did fall a couple of times, but managed to get back up and rejoin her group both times.)

Everyone ... EVERYONE ... was exhausted at the end.  For our kid and our family, things went wonderfully well.  I believe that all of the communication and preparation made a big difference in how the trip went for Anna, but certain things also just fell into place to make it go well.

And, holy cow, these sixth grade teachers are awesome.  I'm excited to see how the rest of the year goes for this class and I can't wait to for Kate to go to Camp Timber-Lee.  She's going to just love it :)

Preparing for Camp Timber-lee

As we approach the sixth grade experience at Camp Timber-lee, we wanted to take this opportunity to provide parents and students at IMMS with a brief introduction to and update about our daughter, Anna Mischnick.  Anna asked me this year, specifically, to provide this information to anyone interested prior to Camp Timber-lee.

This year Anna is in Ms. Sanders' A.R.R.E. time class as well as Ms. Sanders' homeroom.  For those of you who are new to the district, are unfamiliar with Anna, or are curious about how she is doing, please continue reading to learn a little more about Anna, her challenges, and her progress.  During the last several years, we have learned that it is easier to be open about Anna's situation than to have others wonder, but be afraid to ask.

Prior to 2014, Anna was a happy, healthy, typically developing 6-year-old.  In early February of Anna’s 1^st grade year, she was diagnosed with high-risk metastatic medulloblastoma, one of the more common forms of childhood brain cancer.  The tumor was located in her cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls and regulates muscle coordination.  The cancer had spread throughout her brain and the length of her spinal cord.

Anna's treatment included brain surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, 6 weeks of high-dose radiation therapy, and an additional 6 months of chemotherapy.  Through the nine months of Anna's treatment, she experienced several complications, both common and uncommon.  Anna completed her treatments in November of 2014.  Her cancer is officially considered in remission and in February of 2019 we hope to celebrate the milestone of Anna being labeled a cancer survivor.

The most noticeable effects of Anna's cancer and its treatments are related to her neuromuscular system.  Anna was finally discharged from her initial 3-month hospital stay in early May of 2014, her muscle strength and coordination, as well as her sense of balance, was similar to that of a newborn's.  All of her muscles were affected: gross motor (large muscles used for walking and running), fine motor (smaller muscles in hands), visual motor (looking where you want to look), and oral motor (used for both eating and talking).  Her personality and intelligence was not affected in even remotely the same way as her physical skills were; those of you who know Anna can attest to this fact.

Starting in the beginning of 2015, Anna has worked hard to progressively regain many of the physical skills that she lost.  She has been able to relearn how to chew and swallow food, although she still requires the use of a g-tube for part of her daily nutrition.  She has worked on writing and typing, although both are still slow when compared to a typically developing 11 year old.

Most visible, however, is the progress with her gross motor skills.  Anna has transitioned from solely using her wheelchair in 3rd grade, to using her wheelchair for about 90% of the time in 4th grade, to using her walker 90% of the time in 5th grade.  Anna's personal goal has been to use her crutches almost exclusively in 6th grade.  We are hopeful that she can meet this goal at some point during the 6th grade school year.

Anna’s physical abilities are often the most noticeable results of her experience with cancer.  However, like many children who are treated for cancer, she experienced damage to other "unseen" but previously healthy parts of her body.  Cancer treatments can be pretty brutal on a child's developing brain and body.

In years past, Anna's dad has accompanied Anna on the bigger school field trips (Cave of the Mounds, Old World Wisconsin, MacKenzie Environmental Center) so he could give her a lift or help her stand to make the learning experiences as accessible as possible for Anna.  This year for Camp Timber-lee, one of us will be with Anna's group in part to help teachers and staff make on-the-spot modifications and/or accommodations to help make the experience as positive as possible for Anna.  We will also have the role of part-time group leader for group I.

We, as an entire family, feel incredibly thankful to all of the teachers and staff who work in the McFarland School District.  Every year, we are amazed by how compassionate, knowledgeable, and experienced everyone is.  Each and every year, teachers and staff go above and beyond their assigned position to make our schools great places to be for all students.  Anna wouldn't be the person she is today without the guidance, support, and extra effort of those who have been a part of her school days.

In addition, we feel incredibly thankful to live in the supportive and caring community of McFarland.  To all of the parents who have helped shape the individuals in the sixth grade, thank you.  The example of your lives and the conversations you have with your children about people who are different has made an impact in Anna's life.

Now it's time to pack for Timber-lee!

The First Week

And so it begins.  Tuesday morning started bright and early with alarms going off in every bedroom and all members of the family shifting back into the routines of school mornings.  We will all adjust, but those first few mornings felt very, very early.

Anna began 6th grade this week, making the big transition to middle school here in McFarland.  She has come a long way in the last year, but has a long way to go before she could pass as a typically developing middle schooler.

 Kate was bummed about the school year beginning, again.

However, this kid has surprised us more than once in the past week with her positive attitude about school, her chattiness at the end of the day, and her increased confidence and independence.  Her goofiness does not surprise us, though :)

Ethan still had a couple of days before his school routines began, but he was cooperative with posing for pictures anyway.

And then Matt photobombed the silly picture.  Of course.

The girls have done remarkably well in terms of their energy levels and attitudes at the end of the day.  We had to make a few adjustments throughout the week in terms of who does what when, what route we take in the morning for dropping kids off at three schools, and what time things need to happen at the beginning and end of the day.  But, by the end of the week, we had found our rhythm ... for now :)

Ethan and I made the most of our Tuesday and Wednesday together before his school year began.  We managed a bike ride on Tuesday afternoon since more rain was predicted for Wednesday.  The lake levels around us have now reached the highest levels ever recorded.  The beaches have all been closed for several weeks due to the high water.

And our favorite local park is not available for playing.  These pictures were even taken before we got an additional 2-3 inches of rain on Wednesday.

Wednesday Ethan and I traveled across town for the last Bible Study that he will be dragged along to.  We stopped to get donuts on the way to celebrate the occasion.

And then on Thursday this boy started Kindergarten.

Ethan is probably the most ready and prepared for kindergarten of our three children at that milestone.  But he's also older than either of the girls were, and he has two older sisters who have taught him many, many things.

Ethan's first two days appear to have gone well and he has had something good to say about each day.

Then on Saturday, this boy had his first soccer game.  So far, he gives the soccer experience a thumbs up.

We all decided to attend his first game as a family.  Since this is our first kid to have any interest in participating in organized sports, it was a new experience for us, but we enjoyed ourselves.

After more than 11 years of having one or more children at home with me, the last two days of the week were certainly different.  Not only have I managed to can pears, tomatoes, and applesauce since school started, I also went to a dentist appointment by myself and had a lunch date with my dear husband ... just the two of us.  Whoa.  I suppose there were big milestones met by all members of the family this week :)

Except maybe the chickens.  Sunshine is still the only one of the girls who is laying, but we hope the others will join her soon.

Last week of summer :(

This summer has gone by too fast, or at least it has seemed that way for some of us.  Others of us are ready for the routines of the school year to begin.  We actually tend to fall into both categories depending on the day and our personal moods.

Regardless of how we feel and whether or not we are ready, school begins bright and early on Tuesday, September 4 for the girls and then on Thursday for Ethan.  After the preparations for Matt's party and the variable moods of August, we tried to make the best of it during our last week of "freedom".

Monday we were finally able to do a trip to the National Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa.  The kids and I have been interested in doing this day trip for a few years and we even had plans to do it a couple of times this summer, but it never quite worked until Monday.  While Matt was at work, we drove early enough in the morning to be able to spend a couple of hours checking things out before lunch, then we had another few hours before making the drive back home in the late afternoon.

Ethan was a huge fan of the model river, with working dams and locks.

The whole setup was very timely, considering how much rain we have gotten in Wisconsin during the last several weeks.  Flooding, dams, and locks are all words that are part of our almost-daily vocabulary right now.

After playing with the model for a long time, we visited the sting ray tank and were able to pet a few different animals.

Then Kate was enamored with the aquarium tanks.  "Mom!  There's an octopus in this one!  Mom!  Come look at the sea star!  Mom!  This one has a lion fish!"

During a break in the rain, we found a comfy bench for our lunch break.

After lunch, we walked through the ship yard before entering the second building.  This was Ethan's place to shine.  "Mom, what do you think that machine is for?  Mom, I bet those propellers are shaped like a fan to push the water."  Ethan has been talking to Matt ever since our return about when the two of them can go back to the museum together; Matt does a better job of explaining the mechanical aspects than I do ...

Anna used her crutches all morning and was visibly becoming fatigued in the afternoon.  She asked to use her walker, but spent plenty of time perched on the back of it watching the fish tanks.

However, everyone perked up towards the end when we had a few hands-on opportunities.  All three kids were able to meet a skink.

We ended our afternoon at the museum in the "touch and feel" room that had animal skins, fossils, crayfish, and all manner of other objects to explore.

Since we had relatively few of these excursions this summer, we stopped at Dairy Queen for a special treat before the long drive home.  Culver's or the local cafe are our preferred ice cream venues, so the kids were not used to soft serve cones or the novelty items at DQ.  It was a messier experience than we usually have with ice cream.

 

We were tired by the end of that day!

The rest of the week included haircuts, last minute errands for school supplies, a trip to the hospital for an appointment for Anna, Ethan's first soccer practice, and plenty of opportunities to meet teachers.

We met with Anna's team on Tuesday and then stopped by the middle school each day after that for more opportunities for Anna to get familiar with the building before it is packed with other kids.  Many members of Anna's therapy, medical, and educational teams recommended that she get as settled as possible with the surroundings before adding in the mental work of navigating the whole middle school experience.

With the kids in three different buildings this year, we had three rounds of school supply drop-offs and meet the teacher nights.  A few of our evenings included dinner in shifts before dividing and conquering the events separately.

Outside of the school preparations, we continued to harvest and preserve tomatoes throughout the week.  Sunday afternoon Matt and I canned about 20 quarts of salsa while I tackled stewed tomatoes and tomato juice later in the week.  We have also been able to eat fresh pears and apples, with the first round of applesauce being made on Saturday and plans to can pears sometime this week.

In related news, one of our chickens has begun laying eggs!

She's still inconsistent, skipping some days, but the eggs are gradually getting bigger and they taste delicious!

The other news from the yard involved some monarch caterpillars that we found on the milkweed in our perennial area.

 

Since we have never found the unique caterpillars there before and thus haven't been able to watch the whole metamorphasis process in our home, we decided to adopt one and care for it for as long as necessary.

Kate made sure that we all knew that the caterpillar would form a "J" shape before it formed its chrysalis.  Last night, it started hanging in the anticipated shape.

At one point this morning, we noticed that it had a different coloration on its head.  Within a couple of minutes, we were all able to actually watch the caterpillar form its chrysalis!  It was a pretty awesome experience to witness.

Now Kate informs us that we need to wait about 1-2 weeks for the butterfly to emerge, at which point we will release it back outdoors :)

The rest of the weekend included lots of rainy indoor times.  During one morning, Matt was able to modify Anna's school backpack so that it doesn't slip from side to side as much when she carries it down the hallway.

Using crutches to get from class to class means that you need an alternative way to carry your supplies since your hands are otherwise occupied.  But a backpack doesn't hang quite the same way when you're using crutches, thus the need for modification.  It's still a pretty awesome blessing to have a dad who has the knowledge, skills, and tools to fix these kinds of problems.

In closing, I think we are about as ready as we can be for the school year to begin.  Expect for having to wake up with an alarm five days a week again ... :(