Keegan had conferences last night and his teacher is very impressed with him. She said he is very smart and getting all A's. He is also doing good with his behavior in school. She said she has put his name on the board a few times and as soon as that happens he straightens out. She said she is very lucky to have Keegan in her class and he is one of those students that make her want to keep doing what she is doing and one she will never forget. He is very smart and outgoing and funny and just a wonderful combination. Gregg and I were extremly happy, so as a reward we took him to dinner to Applebee's, one of Keegs favorites. He sure has come a long way since his troubles in 1st grade. What impresses me is that in the last 3 yrs. that he has been on meds we have increased his Risperdal once, for hyperactivity and that is it. Which means that he is learning how to handle his anger and impulses on his own. So if you all get the chance give him a call on his cell 616-902-0212 and tell him good job. He deserves it. The work is getting harder and he is doing just as good. I want to come up with a special surprise for him but not sure what, so if u have any ideas please share. Clay has his Halloween party at school today and was able to wear his costume to school. He was batman last year and he wanted to be it again...WoooHOOO, good for mom and Keeg wants to be a football player for like the 4th year in a row and he has all the gear so I am set there too. Grandma and Grandpa Wolthuis went to the party with him, I have no time left to take off work. My last days were when Keeg was sick, so cross your fingers I don't get sick or the kids. Clay was very excited this morning and wound right tight, I hope he was good at school and on the bus. No phone calls, so no news is good news. Tonight we are going downtown for a pre Halloween party. There is trick or treating and games for the kids. Well better go for now.

Well I would like to be able to start this new post saying that things have been uneventful, but I am sorry I cannot lie, it has been EVENTFUL ! Last Thurs., the 22nd Kirk went with Clay on a school fieldtrip to a Pumpkin Patch. April, This is the same pumpkin patch that you went to last year when Sally and Clay were in the same class and Clay was grabbing Sally's butt. I am sure you remember. Now Sally says that she is going to marry Clay, Oh Boy, poor Sally. Anyway, Clay did good on the bus cause dad was on their with him and they had a very good day and had alot of fun.!! Yeah!!!! Clay was good, just hyper as usual. Then on Friday the 23rd we all went to see Sissy Tiffany to have her B-Day dinner and to give her her present. She wanted the boys to stay with her for the weekend so we had them all packed up and after dinner went to her house. She has a very nice house and it is spotless, but she has a cat that does not act normal, seriously. So we stayed for a bit and gave lovings and went home. We got home about 11 or 11:30 pm. Went to bed and I woke up at 10, it was awesome, but then I walked out to the living room where Kirk was and he said I needed to call Tiff. I asked him which one got in trouble or what happened and he said just call her. So I call her and she tells me that they were playing the Wii and Clay wanted to play a different game and got mad so he proceeded to pull the cords out from the Wii and it shuts off and will not turn back on. I tell Tiff we will either get it fixed or replace it and Clay was in deep trouble. Tiff worked on the Wii off an on throughout the day, but still nothing. Tiff took the boys to the pool later and Clay was having a hard time listening. He was running around the pool and Tiff and the lifeguard told him to walk and he did not listen and of course fell. He was ok, but Tiff and the lifeguard started laughing cause they had just told him a dozen times to stop running or he would fall and he did not listen. So now cause they are laughing he is mad and yelling to Tiff and the lifeguard that he hates them and they are stupid and so on. The good part though is that with a life jacket on Clay swam the entire length of the pool. That blows my mind. That is very good. Sometime that night or next morning he got mad at Tiff for something, I do not remember what and grabbed her by the back of the hair and would not let go, once he did, time out. Tiff called Sunday morning and said she doesn't know what she did but the Wii was working, thank goodness. We met at a pumpkin patch that day that had a petting zoo and wagon rides and had alot of fun, I will send pics later. Then we parted ways, I was sad. The rest of Sunday was pretty good. Monday night the boys went to grandpa's while I was at work and Kirk hunted. Clay got in trouble there. He was sitting on gramps lap and something did not go his way so he spit in gramps face, unbelievable. He was sent to timeout for that too. So far so good on the bus this week, keep your fingers crossed. Keegan has been very good, but having a hard time dealing with Clay. Clay requires alot of attention. Keegan has conferences tonight and only I am going cause there is no way we can bring Clay so Kirk is staying home with him. We don't all go somewhere at the same time cause alot of the things Clay will never make it through. Oh and one more thing, I can't believe I almost forgot this. We were driving to daycare one morning (we get into some deep discussions at this time of the day) and Keegan wanted to know why his dad and I did not get married. I told him we were just not getting along. So he asks me, " Well if you and dad never got married then how can he be my dad" I just sat in silence for awhile and told Keegan to think about what he just said. He said he did and he don't get it. I told him that you do not have to be married to have a baby, but you should be. He started to say something then stopped and said ewwhhh gross, never mind I get it. Very nice at 7am......

Ok, well it has been awhile. Keegan was at his dads, so the house was a lil calmer. Clay and Keeg feed off one another so when we only have one, it's calmer, even though I miss Keeg when he is at his dads. Mom thinks that no one can take care of him but me. It's hard to let go. Keegan had a cold when he left and starting with a cough and guess what, cam home from Gregg's sick. Really sick, I knew Sunday night I would not begoing to work on monday. Monday arrived and he had a fever of 101.2 and went to the doctor at 10 am. He had the crud going around and was put on meds. Got a call from the school nurse that Keegan could not return till he was fever free for 24 hrs and he can not go to daycare either. Well Monday night at 8 pm he was still running a fever, so I was home on Tuesday. He went back to the doctor on Tues. for a checkup and was still sick but getting better and no fever. Because no fever he was able to get a flu shot and Clay got one too. Neither of them liked it, but Clay had a meltdown and I had to hold his legs down with mine and his arms and head so he could get the shot. So as we are walking back to the waiting room he is yelling that the shot was stupid and he hated it, oh and this is while he is hitting and kicking me cause it was my fault, I held him down and he said I was not being fair. Par for the course, he got over it. Oh and Monday night I made homemade chicken noodle soup for Keeg cause he was sick and he didn't eat it, he said it looked gross, and clay only had a few bites. Kirk and I thought it was good. This is part of the reason I don't cook, my kids do not like anything. So today back to work and Keeg back to school, aaaahhhhhh work...... But then I get a phone call from daycare that Clay's busdriver had a lil talk with her. See Clay has been getting in trouble on the bus, not staying in his seat and horsing around. This time though the busdriver said that the next time it happens he will get a bus conduct and not allowed to ride the bus for 2 weeks. Oh my this is Keeg all over again. You have got to be kidding me. So now tonight we have to have a lil talk with Clay which will be fun. He is so ADHD. We will be trying to talk to him about the bus and you look at him and he looks like he can't even hear you. He will look at ya for a sec and then start talking about whatever. I can just picture it. i will say to him, " Clay we need to talk about how you are acting on the bus " and he will say " mom guess what at school we read a book about bears and one had a read shirt and the other a blue" I will butt in and tell him to listen to me and he will say ok and i will start to talk and a few seconds into it he will say something like "Why do the leaves fall from the tree? or rememember last year I had a cavity, or remember yesterday we went to see Aunt Carole." He has no concept of time, but he will just talk and talk. Well I talked to Sissy Tiffany and her solution was to send him to school with a roll of duct tape, which I think is a great idea. Wrap him in the seat with it and put some over his mouth..Perfect.. As Keegan would say " if you go to college than you would know the answer" Tiff's in college and has the answer. I will keep ya posted

Went to football practice last night, the last one for the season. The final game is on Sat. at 10 am. I hate to see the season end, I love watching Keeg play. Keeg got hurt again last night, but once again bounced right back. He went to catch the football and lost his footing and fell flat on his back, hard. He got the wind knocked out of him, but after a few minutes he was back to playing. He is a pretty tough lil guy. I will post a pic, but Clay made a mask at school one day this week, wait till ya see it, very ummmmmm cute !!?? The boys have been a bit hyper this week, not sure why, but it scares me to think how it will be when football is over and we are home at night, every night. Keegan did not want to sign up for a winter sport, which he usually doesn't so my kids will be crawling the walls. Oh, I might too, I will make sure to get a pic if I can make it on the wall. That would be too funny. Not much else to report, other than I could use a break and don't be surprised if a UPS or FED EX package arrives at your doorstep. Could u imagine, if it was only that easy. Well I will go for now and make sure u take a look at the pics...

love ya all, Tanya

The weekend was pretty uneventful. Friday night in the pouring rain I took Keegan and his friend to the Varisty football game. Ionia did not do so hot the score was 62 to 0. Ouch!! We are not having a good football season. Sat. Keegan had a game and lost 12 to 0, they are now 0 and 5, his final game is this coming Sat. They are having problems with the defensive line. Listen to me, you would think I knew what I was talking about, but Keegan is still doing great and having alot of fun. He recovered fine from his tackle from last week. He woke up the next morning and was back to normal. Then after the game Keeg wanted his friend Connor to come over and wanted Connor's brother, Austin, to come too. Austin though was suppouse to watch their 6 yr. old sis, Tori, while mom and dad went to dinner. Austin was upset he couldn't stay so I told their mom that Austin , Connor, and Tori could come over and spend the night. It all went well. Keeg, Connor, and Austin played good together and Tori played with Clay so it helped me out. It was a lil loud with 5 kids, 2 adults and 2 dogs in my small house but the kids were playing good. Nothing real crazy happened, just the usual with Keeg and Clay climbing the walls and hyper like no tom., but that is everyday.

Off to another day. Keegan had football practice last night and got hurt. He was running the ball while they scrimaged the other team and he got sacked hard. Like thrown up in the air and landed on his back hard. He was down a few seconds, but did get up. He said his head hurt really bad and he was sore. Luckliy there was only 15 mins. of practice cause he was done for the night. This is the first time he has been hit hard, so I think on top of the pain he was shocked and got angry. So me, being the Cleaver mom that I am ( well kinda or kinda not, anyway..) I got his bath ready and put Epson salt in it and rolled up a towel for him to rest his head on so he could soak. He told me I was acting like Aunt Carole. I asked him if he wanted me to stop and he said no it's a good thing, so thanks Aunt Carole for setting the bar so high. LOL .. So Keegan went to bed and I kept checking on him and he was ok and fine this morning. Okay well then we have Clayton, oh wait he needs a whole paragragh to himself.


OK, so anyway, Clayton. He had a note in his backpack that today Thursday was wear red day, well out of all the clothes he has and out of the red ones I picked out, he hated them all. Did I mention that 2 of the shirts that are red that I laid out for him to choose from are brand new, tags attached and he don't like them. So princess, I mean prince Clayton went through his closet and his dresser and the only shirt he wanted to wear was.....are you ready for this.......??????????
a purple tie dye shirt. Now the reason he has a purple tie dye shirt is when him and lindsey were doing their shirts we had purple for lindsey and blue for Clay. He wanted to use purple and i told him no, use blue. So while I was not looking he put his whole shirt in the purple bucket, hence now he has a purple shirt. So I only let him where it to bed or the weekends that we are not going anywear. Now, don't think he was just having a bad morning because this is always a struggle. There only a few shirts he likes and he refuses to wear anything else. We are working on this, but it is not going well. So I tell him no purple shirt and he needs to choose from the red shirts on his bed, well of course he still does not like any of them so he gets this red shirt out of his dresser that he decides to wear. And you are probably thinkin, " why didn't you set that out for a choice" Well let me tell you, cause that is the same damn shirt I fought with him to wear the day before and he refused, but today I guess it was better than the other choices. This whole ordeal went on for about 20 mins. I was not happy, but Clay was all excited cause he had a red shirt to wear.....uuuugggghhhh!!!!!!!

please check out some new pics