Today I am just going to jump back in. 

No catching you all up...although there is much to be said...just jumping in where we are yesterday and today.

Middle Boy has been doing a fairly good job staying caught up in school.  His only missing assignment is a syllabus that I need to sign.  Pretty good for three weeks into the school year.  There are a lot of factors playing into it.  He has to pay for part of his insurance and it increases if he has missing assignments.  He may be finally starting to understand that your grades in high school matter.

Younger Boy...whole different story.  A MESS.  Lying about homework every day again.  Was re-writing all of his IEP holders notes in his assignment notebook.  She is on to him and he was busted by her earlier this week.  Today I got an email that he is sleeping in class...chorus to be exact.  I don't get it.  There is NO WAY he is that tired.  NO WAY.

I have traveled the majority of the last four or five weeks for work.  All of the trips to Texas.  Boarder did fairly well with the boys, but Younger Boy was NOT GOOD for him at all.

We discussed it in therapy.  Both of Younger Boy's therapists said that makes no sense.  He should be an "angel" when I am not present. 

They (and I) have pretty much deduced that he is no longer traumatized, but instead INCREDIBLY NAUGHTY.  I wish I had time to cite all of the examples of why we have concluded this. 

Is ther still trauma affecting him?  You bet, but his behavior...pure naughtiness.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Today we went to meet with Middle Boy's new probation officer.  If we have to have a probation officer I guess we have really lucked out with the two we have had.

Probation Officer started off by trying to be a tough guy.  I think it is mostly to emphasize he is the one in charge.

In the end during our personal interviews he was incredibly cordial and kind to me. 

Middle Boy ended up liking him as well.  He was put off in the beginning when Probation Officer told him that he was in charge and could remove him from our home if Middle Boy couldn't control himself and his anger here.

Middle Boy didn't think it could happen once he was adopted.  I think he thought he could behave however he wanted to and have no consequence.

We won't start meeting regularly with Probation Officer until Middle Boy is off of house arrest so it is going to be another month or so.

Today was the dreaded high school registration, fee payment, and schedule pick-up.

At Middle Boy's school you have an assigned time, but that doesn't stop you from having to wait in line for a couple of hours.

We got to the front of the line.

First we paid a fee for not turning in his tie for ROTC.  He swears he did.  Not much we can do about it.  Okay...$5.00.

Then we went to the health table.  Turned in our form.

Then the parking permit.  Yes, we would love to pay $20 to park a car in the school lot.

Then we skipped the yearbook table.  No interest there.

Off to the activity card table.  Good-bye $35.00.  Will he even go to that many events?  I doubt it.

Next, school pictures.  Not horrible, not great.  He doesn't want to buy them.

Pick up the activity card with the not so good school picture on it.

Last, but not least the schedule.

All I can say is, "Seriously".

He is enrolled in two things there are NO WAY that they were on his list of desired classes.  The first is ROTC 3.  He requested PE.  The second is CAD 3/4.  Since he failed CAD 2 I fail to see the logic in this.

Guidance counselors aren't back for a few days so until then I can't do much about it and he will be mad about it.

I love back to school!!

So many things I want to post about.  So little time to actually post about it.

Here's another "catch up" on us...with a vow from me to blog each day from here forward, because it helps me see the humor in the absurd and to let go of some of the stress.

Me

1. I've been traveling for work.  A LOT.  I was gone for approximately two straight weeks.  I'm now on a week-long stint at home before heading out again for the next couple of weeks.
2. I'm doing my best to maintain my sanity and get things done.  When you are gone that much there is A LOT to get done at home when you are there.  Especially since school is about to start.
3. I am still doing an "okay" job of taking car of myself.  The sleep machine has been a blessing, because now at times I actually feel almost rested.
4. I was asked to be a foster parent mentor through my agency.

Middle Boy

1. After two attempts he is a licensed driver.  The first attempt really wasn't an attempt though.  He drove us to the DMV and when we got to the parking lot he had a flashback/meltdown.  He was SCREAMING and CRYING about how he didn't deserve a driver's license, because he was just like his dad.  He talked about how he almost hit a kid on the way there.  (There was no kid.)  The second trip was smooth and he passed with flying colors.  The first trip was just a reminder that sometimes things which should be happy just aren't.
2. He is handling house arrest fairly well.  Probably better than I am.  We met with a probation officer yesterday and it is possible he will be off house arrest before school starts.  At the latest it will be September 16th which is the date of his next hearing.
3. We picked up his school schedule on Monday.  I don't get it.  We filled out this form of classes at the end of the school year last year.  It was as if they completely disregarded the form.  He is in two classes there is NO WAY we signed up for.  One is something we were avoiding and the other is a continuation of something he failed last year.  How does that even make sense?  So now I am trying to get a hold of his guidance counselor to figure out what on earth is going on.  Of course, this is not making him happy nor does he have patience to wait for the counselor to call back.
4. He is still "looking" for a job.  Our definitions of this do not match, but he is making positive steps forward.
5. He has been training Max and doing a good job.

Younger Boy

1. He is a handful.
2. He went to camp and did great EXCEPT for the day I went to help out.  That day he refused to go into the dining room at lunch and had a complete meltdown over a comb at shower time.
3. AHHH...shower time.  He still isn't.  For those of you thinking...just tell him to shower.  Gosh...that hasn't occurred to me.  He won't.  He went eleven days without showering.  I have come up with an incentive.  The new rule is that you cannot participate in any activity which may make you sweat if you are not going to shower.  It has been working for three days.  Of course I had to explain to him that the rule didn't only apply to Saturday and Sunday.
4. We have had more behavioral issues than I care to include.  He told his therapist that he can't learn to respect me, because there is no dad.  She told him he is full of it and that is an excuse.  Busted.
5. This week he told his therapist he thinks people understand your behaviors better than using your words.  Really?  That's what you WANT...that is not reality.
6. He is irritated with me because I contacted his school to reinforce that sleeping is not allowed under ANY circumstance.  We aren't going to start the year with his dissociative behaviors and get behind in everything again.

Boarder

1. He is going back to college instead of online classes.
2. He is going to continue to live with us....indefinitely.
3. He is such a HUGE blessing to our family.  God...thank you for showing us we needed him.

Sophie

1. She is still the alpha dog, but I am the pack leader.
2. She has some routines that make me smile.  Like sleeping in my bed with her head on the other pillow and her body under the covers.  Adorable.
3. She has some routines that drive me crazy.  Like whining while we are eating, because I might have spoiled her.

Max

1. He is a big lug.  No other way to describe him. 
2. At twenty weeks he weighs 45 pounds.  He believes he is a lap dog.
3. He is such a puppy and uncoordinated and all those funny things.
4. He is a slobberer.  Not my favorite.

Thanks for continuing to pray for us.