A little bit of Summertime

A little bit of summer fun that spanned between the 4th of July and when we left for our trip to the coast....



We were outside spreading bark dust and this little one went inside and got her book and "garden doll" and sat down to read (shirtless, no less) while we worked. She doesn't usually run around unclothed, but there was just something about the innocence of this photo that I loved and so I grabbed my camera and took a couple shots of her.



Notice the drawing on her leg?  :)



Dan chipped away at our pile of mulch while Matthew made a "chair" out of it.  Despite the leisurely appearance of Matthew, he and Andrew really were great helpers (Andrew especially).  It felt good to get this chore done.  It was overdue and has made weeding this summer SO easy.



We moseyed down to the car show one evening in downtown Camas this summer.  This is exactly what I wanted summer to be.  Spontaneous fun.   

We took this photo in front of the bug because this was my first car.  A 1969 VW Bug that my Dad refurbished.  It was white with red interior.  I remember trying to talk him into painting pink polka dots on it, and that was a no go, so instead my parents put a "Pretty in Pink" license plate holder on it.  It was fun to show the kids, "This was Mama's first car!"

Side note:  Kaitlin's sash was a "Princess" sash that went with a costume at home.  She put it on herself for the car show.  She was a beautiful car show princess.



There was a lightening McQueen look alike there which was fun.  There were all kinds of cars from all decades dating back to the 1920s and I loved looking inside of the old ones and seeing what they looked like. I couldn't help but to think of my Dad and how much he would have loved it.



The dance studio that Kitti takes lessons from had a group perform.  The kids went up to the front to watch and I was too late in snapping this, but Andrew had gone with Kitti and had his arm draped around her as they watched.  It was so sweet.



During the school year I told Andrew we would do something special when he was done with therapy.  I let him choose and he said he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese with Aiden.  So I was finally able to make that happen and it felt good to see that commitment through.  Aiden is a very sweet boy and the two of them had a fantastic time.  Chuck E Cheese is not my favorite place, but I loved seeing how happy they were.



They sweetly pooled their tickets and shared them.

Our friend Kyle popped up one night to borrow something for his daughter's birthday party.  Dan understands the pain of being married to a crazy birthday party thrower and offered Kyle a drink.  He was happy to oblige.  I love this picture because while the guys enjoy a moment of peace the background of this photo and the upside down play area speaks the truth about our life.  Once again...spontaneous fun.



And here's the birthday party thrower, herself.  Sweet Katie and I on our Small group girl's night out.



And the rest of our group.  I adore all of these women.  Just looking at this photo makes me happy.  Cherished friends.



I have so much more summertime fun to share.  But I need rest for now, so that I'll have energy for more summer fun tomorrow.  The countdown is on and we're squeezing every last drop out of summer.  I have LOVED this summer.  I am very sad to see it draw to a close.  My goal is to do at least one post a night to try to get as caught up as I can on the blog before school starts.

Ballet Recital 2013

 

Kaitlin started ballet up again t in February in the nick of time to be able to participate in the recital.  We did gymnastics the first half of the year and ballet the second.  It worked out great.

The theme of the recital was "A Red Carpet Gala" with movie themed music and costumes.  It was really cute!  Kaitlin's ballet dance was to Cinderella's "Impossible, it's Possible"  (Never heard of it before and we're avid Cinderella fans, but okay) and her tap was to "Singin' In the Rain."  She wore a pink sparkly tutu, sure to be a hit with any 5 year old.

Dan had the opportunity to attend a Mariner game 9 rows off of first base and was going to turn it down because of Kitti's recital.  I told him to go ~ and was so glad.  He took Matthew, Mike and Isaiah with him and they had a fantastic time. It was Matthew's first MLB game and he really enjoyed it!



Matthew and Isaiah ended up on the "Big Screen" and they had a great time.  Kaitlin was thrilled to have Grammie at the recital, dance on stage, and receive flowers.  There were plenty of people in the audience to appease her, so it worked out for all.



They had a cute photo area set up and so we took some photos of the girls.  Kaitlin took ballet with Lila and Kennedy.  Lila is SO petite and Kaitlin is very tall, so it was funny to see them side by side. :)



Sweet ballerinas.




Me and my girl.



Kaitlin's ballet dance was her first performance.  I didn't get many great photos.  The lighting was low and my dinosaur of a camera just couldn't manage it.  I salvaged some through my photo editing software but they're still pretty bad.  I do love this one of Kaitlin and her dainty hands.  She is our most coordinated child and has been since infancy.  Her motor skills have developed much more quickly and easily than the boys'.



And always, always a curtsey. 



A quick removal of the underskirt and change of a hairpiece, add an umbrella and she was ready for tap!






It was such a sweet performance.  I smiled all the way through both dances, it was SO precious.  Just  one of those moments where your heart sort of melts in a puddle.  I loved every moment of it.

I ran back stage to give Kaitlin her flowers and bring her back to the audience so she could watch the rest of the performance with me.  (The small kids were allowed to do this).





We were in the front row and at intermission Kailtin sat on the stage for a photo.  Next thing I knew she was up dancing on the stage.



Her face kills me.

No doubt she was imagining that she was doing something pretty spectacular.

Kaitlin loves to perform.



I was really impressed with how talented the dancers were.  I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and the time just flew by.  This was an interesting "dance" and I couldn't help but wonder how their parents felt watching them do this!  No, thank you!



We were so happy Grammie could come up for the occasion. 



Though it was late when the recital ended, McDonald's was still open and the perfect stop for some celebratory ice cream!

First Day of Summer

Last year we celebrated the last day of school/last day of summer with our good friends, Katie, Kyle and their kiddos.  We decided to do it again this year.  We had planned on S'Mores outside and with rain in the forecast we postponed and had a first day of summer celebration instead.

The kids woke up that morning to some gifts on the table.  Just some fun things for summer....



Kitti loves the ribbon.  She'd be happy with just that.



But was delighted over new art supplies!  My kids LOVE to craft.  They were in need of new supplies, so I filled a box with some art supplies and wrapped up a ream of paper, which they get really excited about.

(I find anything with wrapping paper makes the kids happy and excited).



I also gave them some lawn darts, which I remember playing as a kid.  Except they were the real ones, not the safe version sold now.  However, with the rain outside, the blunt ends did allow us to play inside!



We had hoped to eat outside, alas the weather did not cooperate.  So we set everything inside instead.







Love these happy faces.



We attempted an adult table so we could enjoy our conversation.



We were happy to be able to go outside for S'Mores after dinner.  Which is always a fun, gooey mess.  Katie's kids thought I invented S'Mores after they had it with us last year.  Love that.  Summer kick off with S'mores has become a bit of a tradition which I probably wouldn't have started had I known about Katie's distaste for campfire smoke!  But the kids love it and have fun with it.



Katie was a good sport though and I gave her my jacket to try to keep the smell out of her clothes as she was heading into work later that night.



Our friendship with Kyle and Katie has been easy from the start and it's a bonus that we have kids the same age!   It's so nice when fast friendships form.  Katie and I have a lot in common (even being Chemistry majors!) and Kyle and Dan can commiserate on what it is like having to live with us and our antics.  :)  We always enjoy our time together with these dear friends.  It was great getting to kick off summer vacation with them!

April in a Nutshell

Thank you for the support after the last post on Andrew.  I appreciate having friends/family who care enough to read them.  It's always a hard decision thinking over what to share...what not to share.  But these posts help me keep track of some parts of this process and I do think it's important that those closest to Andrew understand him.  I won't always do these posts as Andrew gets older but for now, it feels okay to share and it's easiest for me to do it this way as people as after him regularly. We are plugging along...I had a meeting with the school today to review Andrew's testing which really helped to clarify things for me.  He's on his new medicine ~ he's not thrilled about taking 4 pills each day, but he's adjusting.  Jury is still out on the effectiveness.  We have 2 appointments with his psychiatrist in the next two weeks...so we're just in a period of transition.   I'll wait for things to settle down/filter out and do a little catch up in the future.

On a lighter note, in an attempt to do some speedy blog catch up, the rest of our April fun is going to be in one post.



Library and movie day!  And this is the problem with being behind on the blog.  I have no idea what movie we went to....but Jeannie, the basket you gave Kitti has become the 'library book basket."  We were heading out to do some returns and head to the movie with Easter candy for movie treats.  Oh, and a little something for me!

I often drink tea in the evenings and Matthew wanted to join me one evening as we were reading The Hobbit together.



We love our reading time.  We've finished The Hobbit and now Dan, Andrew, Matthew and I are all reading "The Lord of the Rings" together.



Matthew loooooves Origami.  At any given time there is a piece of folded paper close by.  There are 5 little ones on the ottoman as I type this.



He made a bunch of Star Wars finger puppets.  These were the beginning of around 6 that he made.





The beginning of Han Solo.  I didn't tell him I thought it was a referee.



Andrew attended Carter's birthday bash.  Which was an Oregon Duck party.  Katie was very brave hosting all of these little boys in her house and did a fantastic job putting together this amazing party for Carter.



The boys were (more than) a little crazy.  They most definitely had fun!



A pinata is always a hit!



It's rare that I bake for leisure these days.  I love to bake.  But this particular day I made maple scones.  Baking is such a comfort for me.  I will never be gluten free (the horror!) I will never give up refined sugar.  I will never give up white flour.  I know this is the "thing" to do right now for healthy eating (I realize some people have sensitivities that require dietary restrictions).  I have no idea how people do it.  I'll keep my treats in moderation thankyouverymuch.



We had sunshine one day when I brought the kids home from school one afternoon and we seized the moment and went on the bike ride.  It's foolish to let a sunny day pass by unused in these parts during spring.  The kitty helmet kills me.



I toured these four little ones which felt like 10 little ones around the World Forestry center for Andrew's first grade field trip.  I had a raging headache by the time I got home and was exhausted from coralling children and running around looking for one little girl's coat that she couldn't keep track of, which was currently missing at the time of this photo, and totally gave up on the educational form I was supposed to guide the kids through and just tried to make it out of the museum with all the kids I was looking after had a fun time.  (I really do love the sweet kids in Andrew's class.)



Woe to the person who tries to bake or clean a bathroom without this little one's "help."



We have been living at the ball park the last couple of months. I'm not going to lie.  I have not had a very good attitude about it.  Little League is a big commitment as far as sports go, and with the busyness at the end of the school year it just felt like a lot.  I did enjoy it once I got there, but there were just waaaaay too many games this season between the two boys (27 to be exact).  I'm sure everyone is glad that baseball is over simply because I'll stop complaining about it now.  I think it would have been different if my boys really loved it.  But they didn't.  Despite having great coaches, Andrew said he didn't want to play next year (too slow for him, I think).  And despite having to drag Matthew out for games, etc. he said he wants to play again.  I actually think I'd miss it if both boys decided not to play.  Just having Matthew involved next year will be much more manageable.

By the way, look at andrew's great stance.  Just looking so much more coordinated.  Yay!



Andrew spent a lot of time climbing this tree while Matthew played.



Kaitlin had a BALL during baseball playing with all her little friends.  That was the great thing about it.  Playmates on both teams!



And I have to say, this is pretty darn cute.



Love andrew's sock half way down in this one.  So Andrew.

The highlight for April was really Winnie's oldest sister Pat coming to town.  She is just such a neat person and we loved having her come and visit.  She lives in North Dakota and so we don't get to see her near enough.  She is just lovely.



I just love this next photo.



The flowers on the table were for Dan.  He lead Matthew's "K2 Live" Youth group this past year, every Wed.  It was a fantastic experience for Matthew and I was so happy that Dan did this with him.  I think it was special for the two of them and Dan has such a great personality for things like this.

Anyway, I loved this of Carl and Kaitlin.  The bug in her cheerleader outfit and the bonnet eating breakfast side by side.  Just so cute.  (And note the random origami on the table?  You can always tell where Matthew has been!) :)

And that wraps up April!