Boring . . .

Boring and busy here. Dustin is acting same ol' same ol'. Thank God we have not had any episodes of running out as of late. I suppose that is a combination of several things. It's freezing here for one. I don't let him wear shoes in the house, and he usually has pajama pants on. Those 3 things individually may not hinder him, but all three together is working for now. We also had a police officer come to the house a couple different times to talk to Dustin. He was firm and helpful. He has also put Dustin in a local program that is typically used for people with Alzheimer's that will help identify him if we have to make a call to the police, or if he "escapes" and we are unaware (like in the night).

His other behaviors have been pretty crappy. He is emotional and volatile. But I suppose it is par for the course during the holidays so we are keeping our heads above water. We did get some respite recently. (a whole 4 hours!) A friend of mine (a co-worker) is a youth pastor's wife. They do a babysitting thing for the holidays so parents can shop. She begged me to trust her and let the kids come. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, but I didn't trust Dustin's behavior. She paired him up with a teen to shadow him all night. Do you know what else she did? So he wouldn't feel badly, she paired everyone else with a teen. How cool is that? The kids had a great time, the church is still standing and we are still friends. Win Win Win.

The other two kids? Oy! They are definitely developing their own personalities and refining them. McCartney is still throwing tantrums, but we are working on it. Typically ignoring them will squelch them in 30 minutes now, where it used to take hours! Harrison is thriving in school and craves knowledge. He is singing a solo part in church this Sunday and he is thrilled. He has always sworn he is going to be a rock star! He has some anger issues, but he is working on them and finding some other ways to handle himself.

I did make one BIG mistake this weekend. I convinced Harrison to get a haircut. He is growing his hair out and I am okay with that. The problem is it has begun looking shaggy and I don't mean good, hip shaggy. If I didn't wash, blowdry and hot iron his hair daily it looked like poop. I don't spend that much time on my own hair so I am certainly not jeopardizing my sleep for his head! I decided if he had some nice texturizing that it would take the weight off and help. LORD HAVE MERCY was I wrong. He pretty much left with a mullet and I left stressing out. We are now starting over. I cut his hair tonight and we are starting the growing out again. Ugh! I cannot believe I made him get it cut and the kicker is he didn't want to do it and I bribed him. So not only did I pay for a bad cut, we ended up with a mullet, 2 days of stressing and it cost me a Bakugan!

I am starting on my Christmas baking. I hate teacher gifts because truly how many apples things does one teacher need? We are making Santa's nipples and putting them in cute jars. I will take pics. McCartney has also helped me make some really cool gifts for the office staff at work. I am super excited about them so I will do a post about that soon too. I have broken out the bread maker and am making all kinds of goodies. I am also making dipped pretzels, cookies, peppermint bark, fudge and who knows what else.

The best thing going on around here is that I think we may have found a church that we like. I had been attending a local church that I really liked and I became privy to some information that made it impossible to return there. I really stressed out about it. I had supported the church, given to the ministries and even helped to equip the nurseries. It made me sad to leave, but I could not bring myself to stay knowing what I know. I decided to try another local church and I really like it. We have been attending for about 6 weeks and the best part is that the kids LOVE it. That is so nice!