Super Starting Summer

Here they are my gorgeous family all enjoying a hot summer day. Just looking at them makes me smile. I hope our summer is filled with lots of moments like this one, just enjoying eachothers company.

Walk-A-Thon

It's a great thing when we see our children get excited about something. It's even better when that thing happens to be a good cause. Sadie decided that she would make a difference for her school this year. Since I am the Co-President of her school's PTA she hears a lot about the needs and goals of her school. Lately we have been talking a lot about the playground because her school is in desperate need of some new equipment. They had to remove over half of the equipment when they put in a few new pieces because they couldn't get them insured. This means there isn't much for the little kids to play with, especially the pre-school age special needs kids. I hadn't talked about the Walk-a-thon plans much with Sadie, I didn't think she would be all that interested, but when she heard the details at the all school assembly she got excited. Of course the big prizes had something to do with it. She also wanted to see her sister and brother happy on the playground. She talked about seeing them out on the playground and noticing they didn't really play with anything because it was all too big for them. She set a goal to raise $500 and solicited the twins help. She had them draw pictures and she wrote a letter and asked me to mail it to everyone we know. She also made a few calls and some personal appearances, although that was a little nerve wrecking for her. To my amazement she met her goal, donating the last $12 from her own pocket. She had hoped she would be the top seller in the school and earn the chance to be principle for a day, but she was 2nd place and still got a pretty cool prize, a party at our sports plex with all her friends. I am so proud of her. To see her set a goal, and a high one at that, then take the steps needeed to meet that goal, stepping out of her comfort zone as needed, it really shows character. that girl will go places in this world.

Last Day of School

It's the last day of school for Sadie and I can't help but reflect on the year. She has learned so much and come so far. She has learned to problem solve and stay focused, both of which were big challenges for her last year. She has become an excellent reader and greatly improved her comprehension skills. She has mastered addition and subtraction and is starting to understand the concept of multiplication. She has studied many areas of science and has a growing thirst for knowledge in this area. She met lots of goals this year and won awards including being the top reader in her grade this year for the the read-a-thon, and being the second over all collector for the school walk-a-thon. On top of this she excelled in Awana and was persistent in her piano lessons. That is one motivated girl. She truly amazes me and I feel so blessed to be her mother.

Piano Recital

Grandma pins Sadie's corsage on her right before her piano recital. Sadie preformed beautifully at the recital. She was calm and confident. She didn't feel the least bit nervous, it was as if she was made to preform. The past few weeks she has been playing the piano non-stop in anticipation of the big event. It was hard to believe there was time during the winter that I had to make her practice and now I'm telling her to leave the piano to rest for minute. I hope her enthusiasm for piano lasts through the summer.

Goodbye Sweet Bunny

Sorrow and tears

There is one thing about being a mom that I just can't handle, the complete devasting and heart wrenching feeling of seeing your children in any kind of pain or loss. I'll be the first to admit I'm an emotional person, but I've learned how to deal with my own emotions and sadness. When it comes to my children it's a different story.
Recently I had to tell Sadie that her bunny passed away. She had been staying at her grandparents house for a few days so I was able to put it off awhile, but when she came home I had to break the news. She was devasted. At first she just looked at me in disbelief or shock, slowly processing my words. Then I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back and the reality sunk in while tears streamed down her face. he cried out, "But I don't want Stormy to be dead, I love my bunny, I love him, I love him."
This was her introduction to death, and it hit hard, for both of us.
We had only had the bunny for 9 months, but she really loved Stormy, and I have to admit that I did too. He had a great personality. He had rescued this rabbit on a windy and rainy night from the middle of a busy road. he was abandoned and was ill when we got him so we knew his time with us would be short, but it was still hard to say goodbye.

A Friend to Lean On

Carter had to go in for an out patient surgery this week. I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't stand the thought of my little boy having surgery. He was so brave I couldn't believe it. He has never been great with doctors or nurses, He has had to deal with them enough in his short life so far. But this time he was cool and calm, not bothered a bit by them, he even gave the doctor a bad time and bantered with him. He was nervous at first about each of the steps, like putting on his gown, so we had his monkey, Montey put one on first. Then Montey and Carter got ID bracelets and laid down in the wagon that would wheel them back to the OR. While they waited for the doctor they tested out the oxygen masks that would help them go to sleep. Before we knew it they were both waving goodbye to us as they were wheeled into the OR by the doctor and nurse. Several hours later the doctor came out and told us things went really well. He was in recovery and they would get us right back there because he was crying and upset. He settled down a little after he saw daddy and mommy. We showed him Montey and he wanted to hold him. He was quite upset about the iv needle in his hand and so the nurse was able to remove it after a short time. He was given a bright red popsicle that he ate about 1/4 of and an large assortment of bandaids for him and Montey to use as needed. After he woke up a little more he was excited to see that Montey had the same big bandage on his abdomen as Carter did. It was only a short while after that and we were allowed to go home. There Carter got nauseous and vomitted quite a bit. he settled by late evening though and slept snuggled in with his Mommy and Daddy while the other kids stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's. Grandma and Philip brought Carter a big whale balloon, a airplane fan/candy and some new crayon stix and paper to keep him entertained in a quiet activity while he recovered. Luckily his recovery was pretty quick and he is pretty much back to himself.

Imagine Museum

With a name like that is has to be a great place right? I can't believe how much fun we had at the Everett children's museum. It was a great way to wrap up our Spring break. Jose had the day off work and he decided we should go take the kids to do something fun. We had originally planned on the zoo but lucky for us it was a rainy day. We decided to explore somewhere new and after looking up local hot spots for kids online I thought the children's museum would be a great destination and it was! Rarely does a place live up to all you hope it will be for your kids, but this museum was more than we had imagined it would be. There was so much to do, and it was all hands on and engaging. The kids could learn and explore. They could build and play.
They each had their own favorite. Carter of course loved the water area. He could have played with the those boats and squirters for hours. He wanted to know how each instrument worked and find out what happened when you pushed each button or turned a knob. He also had his own out of the box ideas for the water area, wanting to see what would happen if you stuck a boat here or there, under paddles or nozzles, wanting to stack all the funnels together and pour water through them rather than play with them individually. His mind works in mysterious ways and I am fascinated watching him at work.

Addie seemed to enjoy the craft area because she got to cut. The girl has talent with scissors when she choses to use them appropriately. She really likes to use her hands, she loves anything crafty, and you can see her beam with prie when she knows she has made a masterpiece. She has a long atention span when she is doing artwork, and she is usually in a state of calm, as long as she is given room to create as she wishes without rules or restrictions.

Sadie liked the farm area. She used her excellent math skills to weigh and add up plastic fruits and vegetables. She pretendeed she was milking a cow, which she was an expert at since her class had recently taken a field trip to the Lynden Milk Makers fest. It is especially rewarding to see Sadie in a place like this because it gives great insight into her way of thinking. She has advanced into a level of play that includes using real life skills and acquiring new knowledge. She actually took time to read the signs and answer the questions they asked.

Philip's favorite area was undoubtably the construction zone. He loved putting the nuts and bolts together and getting to make something real, an actually ride on toy car/robot mobile. That boy is a natural with tools. Notice the tongue hanging out of his mouth? That means there is some serious concentration going on. I noticed as I watched him that he stuck his tongue out farther and farther the harder he worked. It would start just peaking out the corner of his mouth while he planned his contraption, then it would show itself a bit more as he began to put his plan to work, and here it is fully exposed as he tries to solve a difficult problem involving a stuck bolt.

They also enjoyed the racetrack area, where Jose jumped at the chance to pose as the 1st place winner. Another favorite was the near life size plane, with a cockpit including steering device, levers, buttons and switches to play with. Addie got a little upset in this section when she thought she was permently stuck in the seatbelt of one of the passenger chairs. They were impressed with the glowing black light/ shadow creation area. And Jose and the kids took a turn with the green screen pretending to be famous actors on tv. We really had an amazing time and can't wait to go back. I even caught Jose having fun and that is rare treat.

On the way home we stopped at McD's and let them get some of their running energy out chasing eachother throught he tubes. When they each got a chocolate dipped cone they thought that topped it off as the best day ever. It was a nice family fun day, and I hope to have a summer full of them this year.