First Day of School

I am SO SO very TIRED of coughing. It messed up our Labor Day weekend. Even though I stayed home and sent the family to various barbecues without me. I'm STILL not over it. Moms can't afford to be sick. It's a real drag. Still I did play a couple rounds of badminton with the family. We couldn't do THAT in our old yard!

Ainsley is slowly getting over her dislike of grass and had a blast crawling around. It's not easy to play badminton with a child underfoot and she wouldn't stay put, so I brought out my bag of tricks.

She loved it and it kind of worked and kept her from getting trampled. Evie and Adrian decided she needed some stuff in her house to make it more real. Like a vacuum. LOL!

Steve is making progress on the swing set area. The landscape fabric is down we just need to bring in the new wood chips. I can't wait for Ainsley to be able to finally use the tire swing we bought for her last year.

Back to school means....haircuts. This boy's hair is thick and grows like crazy. He HATES getting his hair cut. So fun.

Steve is my alarm clock and he woke me up late. The kids were lucky to get lunch, I barely had time to snap pictures and had to go to the bus stop with no makeup. Of course all the other moms looked fabulous for the first day of school. Thanks honey!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that the bus stop is right on the corner. The kids were sad because they thought we would drive them for their first day like we used to (because we had to). It was different sending them the first day on the bus. I do miss being part of the experience of the first day back to school but I'll get over it. They both had a great day and like their teachers.

Preschool starts Monday for Ainsley and we are working out arrangements for a nurse to go with her the other 2 days that our nurse doesn't work. My fingers are crossed that it's somebody good. She's going to go on the lift bus so she has her wheelchair at school. I still haven't heard from the driver. We never got our AAC, but I hear it arrived and the SLP is getting training on it as we speak. Ainsley loves school and I'm excited for her. We are ready to get back in the routine even if it does mean getting up earlier. I am not, and have never been, a morning person!

This weekend the kids have their first soccer games. Yesterday I spent over an hour in the car driving Evie to and from soccer practice.  I've never enrolled the kids in team sports until this year. I thought it would be "too much" on top of having a special needs child with medical issues. I thought we were ready but I hope I wasn't wrong.

This is Evie after her first day of school and soccer practice. I felt about the same. I guess I should be happy that the mini Pillow-Pet comes in handy for something. Luckily she perked up after eating. I went to bed early.

I think Ainsley is hoping to play soccer too when she "grows up".  She's been fighting with the kids over the soccer balls. I need to buy her a ball of her own. Earlier this week she "said" she wanted to dance like Evie. Cutie! Hopefully her desire to be like the big kids will motivate her. I secretly hoped she might be walking by the time school starts, but it looks like that isn't going to happen, and probably not by her 5th birthday either which is just around the corner on October 18th. But I have hope that she will by the time she starts Kindergarten next year. I think this is going to be a great year for Ainsley.

Final Days of Summer

Last weekend we had visitors. Our dear neighbors from Seattle. I was really happy the kids got to spend time with them before the summer was over.

They always play so creatively together. Evie had it all planned out and luckily our overnight guest agreed on her choice of play.

They would put on another Pokemon show. This time it would not be a contest so thankfully, no tears for the losers. They came up with the whole idea, costumes, props and choreography.

 Ainsley especially enjoyed the show. 

During the day while they prepared for the show Ainsley benefited from their scheming by playing with bubbles.

   

    

It was so much fun to sit on the grass and photograph her having such a blast. By the end she was covered in soap!

Steve is still working on fixing the swingset area.

He put in a drain to deal with the standing water in the area. We'll be working on it again this weekend. Covering the area with landscape fabric and bringing in new woodchips next week (I hope.). We are rotating the swing set so we can use the end to mount the tire swing. It will be great for her to be able to swing with her brother and sister. It's good vestibular stimulation. Did you know that? Swinging counts as therapy.

I always thought it was just fun.

Little missy has been asserting her will in unexpected ways.... 

..and communicating more complex ideas and desires. For example the day this week she got mad that I took the pulse-ox off and she asked me to put it back on so she could take it off by herself. She wants to communicate more. It's very cool to see these changes. I pulled out her communication device and she is definitely better able to navigate the menus. I'll be excited to finally get her new communication device when she gets back to school.

I've had a nasty cough, that I picked up from the kids. So Thursday when our nurse was here I took part of the day to just relax on the patio. It didn't help the coughing but it was good for the spirit. I so seldom take time to just sit. Evie was happy to have my undivided attention to watch her dance. 

Adrian ran the sound and played with the "Darth Vader" effect on the tape player.

She loves to make up dances. I did the same thing when I was a girl.

To be fair, then I watched Adrian work on his soccer skills.

It is great to slow down. This boy has some killer eyelashes.

I spent a lot of time torturing my children with my camera. Worth it, I think.

I gave Evie and Adrian boxes of Artist Trading Cards. They loved them and spent a whole day drawing pictures on their cards. I'm impressed with their artistic abilities and it sure beats playing Wii or PlayStation for the umpteenth day.

Ainsley had a blast "painting." All you do is brush the picture with water to reveal the paint. This is a fantastic activity for special needs kids. She can work on brushing without making a giant mess. Spilling water doesn't count, right?

The kids have been having a lot of fun together these last days of summer. When they built a fort under the table I almost wanted to be a kid again.

Where Is That Balance?

I think one of the hardest part about life is balancing how you spend your time. Last week my uncle (on my birth father's side) passed away. He was a very blessed successful man with a lovely family. The type many people might be envious of. He was very kind, had a positive attitude, always. Which is why his death is somewhat of a surprise. He was extremely healthy before his surprising diagnosis of esophageal cancer. For awhile it looked like he might beat it, because if anyone could beat this nasty cancer it was Rich. Sadly things turned quickly at the end as things sometimes do. He will be sorely missed. Life deals the unexpected.

With Rich's passing and my friend Karin's recent passing I have given some thought to how I spend my time. Every moment is precious, and the reminders of this are everywhere if you pay attention. You don't have to have a friend or family member pass on to be reminded of this fact.

It is easy though to get caught up in activities that waste our time.  My children are growing up before my eyes, they are an ever present poignant reminder of the passage of time, and sometimes I feel I'm missing it.  Luckily I take a lot of photos. As I type this I am downloading another batch of 348. But even that sometimes feels like a waste of time, because I'm sure I take too many photos. But recording the moments of our life is important. Looking back, especially when sometimes you are too busy to enjoy the moments as fully as you'd like while they happen, is important. And it is also important for someday life will be different than it is today and then I know I will treasure the images of what today seems so ordinary.

And there is a lot of ordinary that has to happen to make those extraordinary moments possible. Every day cannot really be lived like it was our last, but yet we don't want to look back on our lives feeling like we wasted it. There is a delicate balance to doing it right.

While on "vacation" we loaded the thatched moss into garden bags. About 30 of them.

Dug out the soggy wood chips from under the kids' swing set. We found the problem. They'd lined the area with PLASTIC. Effectively creating a wood chip swimming pool. Why they didn't use landscape fabric I have no idea. You'd be surprised how many wheelbarrow loads this was. Backbreaking work this is.

Steve brought the soggy chips back into the "woods" on our lot. I spread it and raked it. It's 8" deep in places. I also pruned the dead branches from under the canopy so the kids don't get their eyes poked back there. I think it will make a nice woodland play space which they might need since clearly it's going to take 5 times longer to do this job than expected and I have no idea when we might be able to even start work on the playhouse. I'm afraid Evie will be too old by the time we get it done. After 3 full days of yard work we were beat, and the area isn't even prepped to bring in new chips. Where is that balance?

But despite working all the time over the last week we've had some "moments". These are the small things I record with a camera because I would otherwise forget them. Maybe this is what it's all about. Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.  

 Ainsley very pleased with herself for beading her fingers. I wish you could hear the giggles.

The kids reuniting after Harry Potter Camp. E&A had a GREAT time! Ainsley is so loved!

A visual reminder of why camp is so great for kids. She knows I'd kick her butt for writing on her arm like this but camp is a chance to spread your wings a bit and learn independence at a young age. 

The joy brought from sharing a friend's care package of Japanese foods. Isn't this chocolate filled Koala cute?! You'd think it was treasure. A small act of kindness and generosity from a new friend.  I was a lame parent and just sent a couple e-mails (camps do that now). Little did I know some other parents would write real letters and others send care packages with cool stuff like Harry Potter Legos, books, cookies, or a stuffed owl. 

  

The kids begged to go to our favorite restaurant,  Ruby's Diner, and we were shocked and saddened to find it is now closed (unless you live in California)! This was the special place we'd go after ballet recitals and last baseball games where the kids would watch the train go around the restaurant and play with their vintage paper cars. Instead we got home we lounged in the yard and had lunch on the patio. We conducted a mini science experiment with ants and fallen potato chips. If you really look close ants are fascinating to watch. Interestingly we discovered they liked the soggy potato chip that Ainsley slobbered on far more than the regular one and somehow managed to work together to drag it down into the hole in the crack of the patio. 

We also found ants can't be tricked very easily, even if you break up the chips to make them easier to carry they aren't eager to go into the plastic cup to get the pieces. They are smarter than you'd think. And brave too. Would you go out to gather food with creatures 1000 times bigger than you overhead? Watching ants sounds crazy but it was fun.

 

Evie taught Ainsley how to make the car go back and forth on the chain. I was pretty impressed. I couldn't help but think it was a good Occupational Therapy activity. What has happened to me?

Evie stopped to smell the gardenias. And I took some time to photograph it.

The fun of swimming with your dad in the pool.

The time a hot air balloon flew right over our house, close enough to see the passengers.

Amazing!

 How happy a bowl of delicious strawberries can make my kids.

The kids dressing up Ainsley as a fairy because I made them turn off the Wii and computer. (I too am trying to limit my computer time.) I say, as I type this blog post.

 Ainsley looks great with a feather boa.

Today I was on the computer after a week long break, just around the corner from the table where Ainsley was having breakfast, and I heard her plain as day from the other room say "all done".  I am thrilled and hopeful that more words will eventually come.

So these are the everyday "moments" I record so I won't forget someday. Actually without my camera I'd probably forget by tomorrow.  Now I'm going to go and try to create some balance by singing Wii Glee with my kids. Have a great week my friends!