Preschool Update

This post has raised a lot of eyebrows, not to mention blood pressure, so I decided to give you all an update on the situation.  Hudson finished out last two weeks of the school year at the preschool where he escaped.  I can't say that it went great or even good, but it was ok.  It was a bit unsettling dropping him off each day and I would hold my breath and say a lot of prayers until I picked him up. Every time I would drive close to the school I would see another hazardous scenario that could have happened when he escaped.  I have some serious doubts about him going back to the same preschool in the fall.  Not only is the safety issue a big factor, but a couple of other issues have come up:

1. If he stays at this preschool it is not likely that he will be in the same class as his brother.  The teacher informed me that the principal has some very strong feelings against twins being in the same class and if they do allow Nick to go to that preschool they boys will be there on alternating days.  I have very strong feelings about keeping them together, as does the school psychologist.  At some point I am sure that they will need or want to be in separate classes, but I am not about to start them out that way as three year olds because the principal had a bad experience with a set of twins being in the same class 25 years ago.

2. I have discovered that the same type of preschool that neighbors the boundries of the preschool that Hudson has been going to has an average of seven students each day. Occasionally there are ten students in the class with one teacher and two aides, but most days they have six or seven students.  Much better than 27 students with one teacher and three aides.

With all factors involved I am going to be doing a little bit of homework over the summer involving the school district and/or the state or federal department of Special Education and hopefully getting things ironed out before school starts in August.

All of these pictures were taken on the same block as the school where my little boy 

was wandering around by himself and missing for 40 minutes before it was noticed that he was gone.

Construction Site-when he escaped it was just a foundation that went down approx. 15 feet.

Creek #1-running very high & fast

Creek #2

Creek #3

Highway-Not real busy when this was taken.  The speed limit is

 50mph and it is a main thoroughfair into the city.

The school is the building toward the back.

Creepy looking trailer park

Another stream in the trees

Abandoned house

Behind the school

Twin Friars Die on same Day at age 92

This May 2003 photo provided by St. Bonaventure University shows Adrian, left, and Julian Riester, identical twins and brothers in the Order of Friars Minor , outside the St. Bonaventure Friary in St. Bonaventure, N.Y. The twins, born just seconds apart in Buffalo on March 27, 1919, died just hours apart on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, at St. Anthony Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. Professed Franciscan friars for 65 years, they worked together at the St. Bonaventure Friary. 

(AP Photo/St. Bonaventure University, Beth Eberth)

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press – Fri Jun 3, 9:39 pm ET

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Identical twins Julian and Adrian Riester were born seconds apart 92 years ago. They died hours apart this week. The Buffalo-born brothers were also brothers in the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor. Professed friars for 65 years, they spent much of that time working together at St. Bonaventure University, doing carpentry work, gardening and driving visitors to and from the airport and around town.

"It was fun to see them, just quiet, gentle souls," Yvonne Peace, who worked at the St. Bonaventure Friary for nearly 21 years, said Friday.

They died Wednesday at St. Anthony Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., Brother Julian in the morning and Brother Adrian in the evening.

Both died of heart failure, said Father James Toal, guardian of St. Anthony Friary in St. Petersburg, where the inseparable twins lived since moving from western New York in 2008.

"It really is almost a poetic ending to the remarkable story of their lives," St. Bonaventure spokesman Tom Missel said. "Stunning when you hear it, but hardly surprising given that they did almost everything together."

Julian and Adrian Riester were born Jerome and Irving on March 27, 1919, to a couple who already had five daughters. They took the names of saints upon their ordination in the Catholic church.

"Dad was a doctor and he said a prayer for a boy," Adrian once said, according to St. Bonaventure. "The Lord fooled him and sent two."

After attending St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, the brothers were turned away by the military because of their eyesight, the university said. One had a bad left eye, the other a bad right eye.

Eventually they joined the friars of Holy Name Province in New York City. They received separate assignments before reuniting at the seminary at St. Bonaventure from 1951 to 1956. After serving parishes in Buffalo for 17 years, they returned to St. Bonaventure in 1973 and spent the next 35 years there.

They had separate rooms in the friary but one telephone extension that rang into both, Peace recalled. It was usually the more talkative Adrian who answered, though Julian possessed a quiet authority. They never said who was born first.

"Brother Julian was like the big brother. Brother Adrian would defer to him," Peace said. "They picked up one of our friars at the airport one time and the friar said, `Can I take you to dinner?'

"Brother Adrian looked at Brother Julian and said, `We aren't going to dinner?' `No, we'll go home,'" Peace said. "So that was it. No discussion, no contradicting. `No, we aren't going today.'"

Funeral services are scheduled for Monday at St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church in St. Petersburg. Afterward, the brothers' bodies will be flown to Buffalo and buried Wednesday at St. Bonaventure Cemetery, across the street from the university.

Remembering those we love and those who have served our country...

 We attempted to teach our kids about their ancestors and those who have selflessly served our country on Memorial Day.   It was a nice thought, but didn't turn out exactly the way I thought it would.  I think the girls learned and enjoyed it, but we have got a long way to go in terms of teaching respect.  Our little lovelies were stepping on the headstones, stealing flowers, scaling fences, and at one point Nicholas was wearing some rosary beads.  Fortunately my husband put them back where they belonged before I had a chance to snap a picture.  I also just pulled an entire handful of flowers out of a couple of pockets while sorting laundry.  I'm sure they were meant to be souvenirs.

Grave Robbers (Above & Below)

Sorry, mourners of Mr. & Mrs. Roach, but this is my worst nightmare.  I'm really fine with my children never coming to visit my grave, but I am not fine with them decorating it with plastic flowers, especially not the entire plastic flower department at Walmart.