Ducks in a row...

I have been blessed with four lovely children. I had hoped to have more, but God said, "No." Still, I look for the simple joys of my little family and I strive for ways to let them know they are loved and dear to me.

I know that we do not have as many children as some (and yet we do have more than others) but no matter how you look at it, when we are out at a store and walking down an isle, they tend to fannnnn out and take up a lot of room! I feel bad because we can take up a whole isle (wide) and then some! I started telling my children that we all need to get in a row... like ducks in a row and out for a waddle. "Come on guys, ducks in a row" is what I often say when we are trying to make our way through a busy store or crowd.

Apparently my term has become endearing to my children. My oldest daughter recently spotted a goose family while we were at the park. They were adorable! As we watched, the geese began to coral their goslings so they might proceed to another end of the pond. Ash pointed and commented, "Hey mom, like ducks in a row!", indicating that it was like us when we are at the store!

So, as silly as I might be, and even though these are geese (and not ducks) it is still sweet and makes me think of my little flock and how blessed I am :-)

A cake, by any other name, is just a cake!

I am hoping to inspire those who have not done this before...

Birthdays in our house are extra-special occasions. The lucky birthday person gets to pick their breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as request their favorite cake (and ice-cream). We have 3 birthday "children" in June in our house. I often refer to it as our second Christmas! However, it is imperative to me that they each have their own special day (even though B's is the 6th and Z's is the 8th!) Each his (or her) own cake and attention.

Here are the individual cakes (Z's is not pictured because he requested apple crisp and there isn't much to look at with pie!) I like to get creative and, while I will admit there is plenty of room for me to try improvement, I am getting better!


B, turned 9, still gets excited with monster trucks, though he spends most of his time playing Legos! His request.... obvious, right? Not my best but still fun. Yes, that is Yoda in the stands. A last minute add to the cake, I had Ash grab me all the Lego guys she could find so the rally could have proper spectators!




Ash, turned 11, LOVES horses. She requested horses running in the ocean! I felt the need for a beach front for them to be running off of... she loved it. I can say that I am not happy with the squishy-tube icing you can find in the baking isle at the store. Not the old regular tubes... but the new 'squishy' ones (sorry I can't be more technical than that!). The icing does not do what you want and, as seen here, my green grass, which is suppose to be rising from the 'sand' looks more like green goo running all over it! (yes, the cake was cooled when I frosted it.

This year we also had a joint party for the family to come over... it can be tiring to make the drive to our house THREE times in one month for the purpose of birthdays... and twice in one week! We don't' always have a party, because of the three in one month situation, but this year we went all out and had some fun!

The three youngest were getting much needed new bikes (even though Bk's birthday is in January, she got to partake in the birthday fun this year!) Using these gifts as a springboard I set up our theme: Mountain Biking! The downside is, after looking in every possible store in the valley (there aren't that many) and even searching the web I could NOT find bikes for the top of our cake. I did, however, find pine trees which the baker at our local grocery store was kind enough to give me for a steal!

The kids got excited as I began to describe my cake plans on birthday party morning and brought out all sorts of tid-bits to add to our cake. I only used the Lincoln logs and the bear (he is hiding in the bunch of trees on the lower right side of the cake). Afterwards I realized, a Twix bar would have made a GREAT log bridge! Ash had the idea for the river. The rocks are candy rocks (that look like real ones) I picked up at the candy store. The 'trail' is vanilla wafers that have been put through the food processor.

This is, by far, my favorite cake yet. Even better than B's bee he had on his first birthday and Bk's flower cake for her first! I told B that the "9" was on the other side of the foot bridge because it is on the single-digit side of the river! I explained that next year, he gets to cross the bridge and become a two-digit number!! He liked that idea :-)

The whole party was fun. I set up our tent in the back yard (yes we live on a 'hill'/mountain side so our yard is sloped). We used the tent for gifts/opening presents... which all the kids really enjoyed (even my 15 year old seemed to have fun!)

I also couldn't help myself where the table was concerned. When my daughter asked why I was putting all of the plates and utensils in a picnic basket the only reply I had was, "Why not?" Isn't it more fun to get your dinnerware out of a picnic basket than just straight off the table?!

All the birthdays were great and I hope I am up for the challenge again nest year!

Flying the ADHD K.I.T.E.

Behavior is a big challenge for parents of children with ADHD. How can we help them or guide them to better choices when they run, mostly, on impulse? I found the perfect solution in a book, The Survival Guide for Kids with ADD or ADHD by John F. Taylor, Ph.D.

In his book, Taylor suggests using the K.I.T.E. system to "Fly your decision-making!". It is simple. The acronym is:

-----

K - Know the situation you face.

I - Identify or figure out your choices. He suggests you make a few different plans and assess both the good and bad results of each.

T - Try the best plan

E - (later on) Evaluate your plan and figure out if it worked. If it didn't they he suggests you go back to "I" and if another plan seems better, try that instead.

-----

I checked this book out from the library almost 2 years ago. At that time I made a photocopy of the page he has in there for working problems out:

I didn't want to always have to use ink and photocopy this 'worksheet' when my daughter needed it so I set up my own system. I took a small 5x3 pad of lined paper. I wrote the K.I.T.E letters down one side leaving room for the answers:

When we first started using the K.I.T.E. system for problems solving, I met with further break-downs if I made her write it out so I decided to let her dictate and I would write. Before long we didn't need to write our strategies, we could instead discuss the steps and make clear choices that way.

The K.I.T.E. system is a great tool when dealing with most types of behavior problems. It is particularly helpful in concept when working with children who struggle with perfectionism, especially those with ADHD (visit my post, Perfectly ADHD, for more details). The "I" and "T" steps can be used to set and shoot for reasonable goals. I have used it in this way with my daughter as well and have found great success.

Remember, set-backs are expected but it helps to begin moving forward again when you have a base-line that you and your child can refer back to.