kirstencan

Summer?

Well, I've gotten out of the house at least a little the last few days.  Definitely on the mend, but not 100% yet.  Thanks for the well wishes.  Oh, hey, I've also put on makeup a few times (at least a little), so that's gotta mean I'm feeling better, right? ;)

The girl has started her summer dance workshop, the boys try out taekwondo later this week, we've received a couple boxes of school books I ordered, and I got a call about when I'm supposed to start coaching volleyball at church again (in a couple weeks - augh!).  Actually, AUGH  describes how I feel about all of this. 

I'm not ready for fall.  I feel like I missed summer!

So I have to make the most of these last few weeks, right? 

My poor kids have not gotten to do anything fun, so I was glad my parents let them splash around at their house last week.  And I snagged the girl's camera, because I realized we'll have NO fun summer pictures this year unless I start documenting everything.

BTW, Thomas spent about three and a half hours outside splashing and jumping like a maniac.  Not even promises of cookies could get him out of the pool until we were actually ready to go home!

While they were splashing (under supervision of their Super Aunt Kellie) I was inside planning out my castle peeps quilt - I'm excited to get started!

 

I'd like to request an extra 5 weeks of summer, due to sickness.  Whom do I address that to?

Seriously, kid?

Many of you probably know that having a hard time dealing with change is a pretty standard trait for kids with autism.

Many of you also know (especially if you've done any research) that everyone has many autistic traits.  And once you know what they are you see them everywhere.

But I was still a little surprised that it's our Monkey that's been having the hardest time with some changes lately.  Small changes.

Case in point:  This week Aaron put a new toilet seat on the upstairs toilet.

And Monkey FREAKED.

Seriously.

It was after his bedtime, but he'd gotten up to pee and discovered the switch.

Back in bed, he had a full-blown all out meltdown tantrum.

You know, the ones where they are crying/yelling so hard that only one syllable can come out at a time (with gasps in between)?

I-LIKED-THE-OLD-TOI-LET-SEAT-BET-TER!

IT-WAS-MORE-COM-FY!

THIS-IS-JUST-LIKE-THE-COM-FY-CHAIR! (That we got rid of, remember?  Still holding that against us, apparently.)

And my favorite line:

WE-STILL-HAD-STUFF-IN-THAT-CHAIR!

Ahem.  For the record, when we moved the chair outside, we found a little toy in the cushions.  Then we checked the rest of the cushions.  We didn't have STUFF in the chair, exaggerator.

Aaron was shocked at how upset he was: "I'm trying to comfort him here, but I can't help laughing."

I wasn't so shocked.  This is the kid who is still a little ticked that we switched the playroom flooring.  Apparently, the new red rug isn't as good as the old gross pink carpeting for itching your back.

And somehow he picked up on (Spidey Sense?) the fact that we're starting to think about ripping out all the upstairs carpet, too.  He will be so mad when we take out his (UGLY, dark green) wall-to-wall.

No, really, he ended up crying himself to sleep about the toilet seat!

You can never predict how children will act/react.

p.s. He woke up and never complained about the toilet seat again.  Odd duck.

Random Awesomeness

Here's a few things I've bookmarked lately - enjoy the random.

.......

I'm ordering some of the new Castle Peeps fabric line.  It's a no-brainer for me - reminds me of screenshots from Sleeping Beauty.  And we ARE studying medieval history this year, so I NEED a quilt for school this year right?  Right?

There's also a free Castle Peeps quilt pattern (PDF here).

This quilt is killing me.  So many things I love about it.

SYTYCD is now online - finally!

These Peek a boo toy sacks are awesome.

Martha's Spicy Vinaeigrette sounds delish.  Oh, and here's a cool cookie blog to check out.

Speaking of cookies:  I need these and these.

Looking up some school stuff I found these cool Daybooks I'd never stumbled across before.  I think we're going to order a few of them (including the Science one)  click on the cover to look inside - they look really interesting.

I think I might want this camera.  Not that I don't already have a ton of camera stuff on my 'list' already, but - fun!

I need new ideas for Thomas for math this year - he really has a hard time with it - I might try this computer program?  Hmm.

 

And some random awesomeness from our house - Clones everywhere.

Hits from the nebulizer

Hey.

Just checking in as I'm starting to get 'Are you alive?' emails and texts.

Yup.

Still not good, though.  This is taking forever to kick!  Apparently pneumonia + asthma = pure evil.

It took about two full weeks to even feel like I was improving at all.  There's been several doctor's appointments ("Seriously?" as in 'You again?' my doctor says) several scary days, and lots of money spent at the pharmacy.  So I'm feeling somewhat better (I can breathe!) but still not good.  Yuck.

And the air quality forecast is not so good the next couple of days, which I'm not looking forward to.

 

Lounging around in bed.

Trying to breathe.

Fun stuff.

And pretty bored when I'm feeling okay enough to notice.

Sometimes kiddos come play by me.

I have to make sure everything is right where I need it:

mail,

DS,

DS game case,

water,

lotion,

lip gloss,

inhaler,

moleskine notebook,

good pen (even if i could only find red),

and when I'm feeling okay, my collection of Jane Austen.

 

When I don't feel good I can't concentrate on anything.  When I do feel good I should still be taking it easy.  So I'm making lists.

Ridiculous lists.

I realized that the boys each have a friend party coming up for their next birthdays (November and April), so I have their party plans practically done.  And those parties will be super fun.

I usually am starting to think about Christmas about now to watch for sales/deals- but it seems like it just was Christmas and I hadn't thought about it at all.  I now have some ideas for that.  This year the girl will be the hard one to shop for.

What I should be planning is school.  I figure I'm pretty much missing this summer (boo!), I'd better be prepared for fall.  Darn it.  So I'm just getting started on those lists.*

I've filled about half of my notebook - that usually takes me a couple of months.

I'm super grateful for Aaron taking a week off of work to run the house. 

Not only is he good to look at, but Aaron has awesome kitchen skillz.

We eat well.

And the house is not a disaster.

And he had to climb up on the roof and fix our cooler.

Make multiple runs to the pharmacy, fix the back door, etc.

He's awesome.

Then my mom and sister came up every day the next week to help me.  And a couple of days this week.

My mom makes sure the boys do bike riding time, reading time, and make their beds.  She changes sheets and puts away my laundry.

She's awesome, too.

The kids have been SO good through this.  Playing together really well.

The girl has been doing laundry, watching the boys, and helping make dinner.  She's pretty good at eggs, grilled cheese, and tortillas.

Friends have called and asked the kids to come over for the afternoon - which is great since they've been stuck here a lot.

My visiting teachers call to check on me every other day or so, and one took the girl to the library for me and they brought me home a Jamba Juice.

The Young Women decorated our driveway with chalk last night:

So while this sick stuff is getting old and I'm very tired of being sick, I am grateful to feel like I'm hopefully on the mend now, and know that I am loved.

Thanks for checking on me.

*If anyone has any awesome recommends for earth science/medieval history, I'm all ears!

Still Resting + sparklers

Still here, still resting.  I kinda can't believe that last week I was whining about not going to a concert, not knowing I was about to get my butt kicked by this pneumonia thing.  Some days are better than others, but I'm definitely not 'better' yet.

Last night I did venture outside for fireworks with the neighbors.  My first time out in over a week besides doctor/hospital visits!

I had fun taking sparkler photos and the kids had fun running around with glo-bracelets/necklaces.  Really, they liked those more than the fireworks.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

 

Hopefully I'll be up to something besides coughing this week... or next.