VBS Sure is Fun!!

As promised, here are the VBS pictures. Mary was song drill champion for the week and brought home this colorful caterpillar as the prize.

She had a great week..and spent 5 nights in a row at Grandma & Pa Pa's which is a record for her (and me, too.) I missed her.

Weekend Update..Gas Jumped to 4.19

Yep, you read it. Gas is 4.19. Hello, I live in rural Michigan....how does gas cost 4.19? I can't wait to see how much it goes up this week as we head towards the 4th of July.... Yikes.

It was so hot here today...muggy. Katie lived in the pool as usual. Mary finished up VBS and actually was the song drill champion for the week. Her prize is a 6 foot stuffed caterpillar...(which hasn't yet made it to our house...she forgot it in Pa Pa's trunk.) When it finally makes its way here I will take a picture of her with it. The awards ceremony for VBS is Sunday morning, so I'll get some pics then too.

That's all for tonight. I am so tired. It's sad when you want a cup of coffee at 11 o'clock at night. :)

How Time Flies

Mary is at my parents and Katie is fast asleep. I have to work at 6 tomorrow morning (which is a rare occurrence with my summer work schedule) and I can't settle down to sleep, so I'm on the computer. Mary has been gone 3 nights now. She was getting really homesick so my parents dropped her off for the afternoon. I took a good look at her and thought, "wow, she's growing up so fast." It was just the way she looked...so "old" ...so not the "baby" that I often think of her as. Sometimes I think I get so distracted by Katie's autism that I forget life is moving forward..that Mary is growing up. I love this picture of her..it was taken just a few days ago. She is perfecting the art of "self-portraits" (something her father and I both love to do). She is also wearing her Dollar Store sunglasses (which happen to be identical to mine..she had to have the same ones as Mommy. ;)....

We had a great afternoon together. She has learned the Books of the New Testament in order and was so proud to be able to say them over and over to me. She also wanted to tell me that Grand-moo had measured her height the night before and she is 4'7" (yes, she's only 7 years old.) She was quick to tell me that means she is only 7 inches shorter than her Mommy...but almost 2 feet shorter than her Daddy. She is very excited because she is now tall enough to ride any ride she wants to at Cedar Point this summer (54" is the required height for several rides). Not many 7 year olds can say that :)

How time has flown my precious Mary! I love you! Great job with the self-portrait!

A Little Bit of "Peace"

Good Morning. I've already had 3 cups of coffee with that awesome coffeemate that I love. I'm home alone. I know, shocker. Last week I started using respite care for Katie. Unfortunately the county we live in doesn't have any money available to help pay for the respite, but, we're making it work. A wonderful woman named Dorie who is also an aide at Katie's school and works with autistic children is now Katie's respite care provider. She also lives really close to our home, so that's an added bonus :) Respite care is intended to provide the primary caregiver (me) with a break. Time for myself, time to get things done --errands that are difficult to do when Katie is with me (groceries, the bank - Katie hates the bank, even the drive-thru), and time just to not have to watch her 24-7. I had planned on 4 hours today, and when I dropped her off at 9, Dorie said, do you want to pick her up at 5? I was like, "seriously????" how awesome. Don't get me wrong, for those of you who know me personally, you know that my girls are my life, and I love Katie more than words could ever express. But, I am human, and getting older , and she wears me out! I need a few hours to myself each week to help me be a better mom to her...and Mary..and a better wife, too. One of my friends who is a single parent to two boys with autism told me that I needed to set up respite, especially for the summer, to help me keep my sanity. I tend to get very emotionally crazed when I don't have a break from 24-7 "motherhood". I also am not working very much this summer, so I don't get that time away either...so this is going to be good.

As for Mary, she is at VBS this week. My parent's church is having their VBS program all week, so she is loving that. She is also spending several nights sleeping over at PaPa and Grand-moo's so that is fun for her, too! :)

Okay, sorry for the "rambling" nature of this post, but I think I'm going to get back to my list of "to-do's". Have a great Monday.

Boo Boo Piggy

I think this picture will speak for itself. Katie is holding the "Boo-Boo Piggy" in her mouth. (In case you are not familiar, the boo-boo piggy is a nice soft piggy that "lives" in the freezer and comes out to help boo-boo's feel better). Apparently Katie decided that following her surgery, the boo-boo piggy would be best suited to hang out in her mouth :) Actually, I think she was sucking on it because she had cut her lip in the waiting room at the hospital when she tried to eat crayons because she was so hungry. :(

Actually, everything went really well. They filled 6 teeth including the one that needed a root canal and crown. The dentist said that she has at least 4 loose teeth that could fall out within the next 6 months or so... (we're slightly afraid she will swallow them) and that he was able to "seal" her first permanent molar that has come in that actually doesn't have a cavity in it! Overall, it was a stressful, but very productive and worthwhile day. By 4 o'clock she was already ready to swim..and she's been eating like a little "boo-boo piggy" ... so I'm pretty sure she's feeling a lot better. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Quick Katie note...

Just wanted everyone to know that Katie is having dental surgery in the morning. One of the "joys" of autism is that Katie has never even had her teeth cleaned in the 5 years she has lived on this earth. It is just too difficult -- for her, for the dentist, for me the parent. So, because she now has a few visible cavities (including one in a molar that is quite large and will require a baby root canal and crown) we are going in for surgery tomorrow. She will be under anesthesia as to make the work a lot easier for the dentist. They are going to do x-rays, clean the teeth, do all the fillings, the root canal and the crown. YIKES! She has had two previous surgeries (tubes/adenoids) and does fairly well with anesthesia ... she just has a rough time coming out of it...she gets really disoriented and it's not always a pretty site. So, please...say a prayer for Katie, and for me, too. I worry about her a lot. Pray that we would both be strong and that God's peace would surround Katie as she will struggle with the unfamiliar surroundings. I'll try to give an update tomorrow afternoon/evening once we are home.

Do you ever?

Do you ever feel like God is trying to show you something? Well for me lately, this "something" has been that God wants me to spend more consistent time in His Word. This is important for all believers, but being a parent (and a parent of a special needs child at that) I often feel like I need and desire special guidance from God in how to be the best wife and mother that I can be.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Merri wrote this and I began thinking about how I needed to begin reading the Bible daily and that Proverbs might be a good place to start. I always try to be honest on my blog, so honestly, over the past couple of years I have struggled with my daily Bible reading and study. The craziness of life, autism, work, and all of those things that sometimes take over our lives had gotten in the way of my commitment to daily Bible reading. So, I started reading Proverbs.. and as a parent, this has been a great place to start and renew my commitment to Bible reading.

Then, on a blog that I enjoy reading daily, I saw this, this morning, and was "re-convicted" to make a commitment to daily Bible reading. God is really good and bringing reminders to me when I start to struggle with this new commitment. :)

What do you like to read in the Bible?

Daddy's Day

My girls are so blessed to have a wonderful daddy. Happy Father's Day, Bill! I love you!

BONUS!!!

Here is my bonus post for the day. This is what happens when a five year old swims for 4 hours...basically a little "bonus" time for mom!

Mary's Teacher

Mary had an amazing teacher for first grade this year. Mrs. Potter. She was awesome. I loved her ,too! I just had to put this picture on the blog because I think it's so cute! And I just wanted to say that I believe (after this year more than ever) that a great teacher can make a huge impact on a child's life. So to any of you out there (Fred) who have chosen teaching as a profession - my kudos to you! And thanks Mrs. Potter - for all you have done for Mary this year!

Schools Out...for the Summer

Well, it's officially over. I'm relieved. I'm anxious. I'm sad. I'm disappointed. I feel like I did when I graduated from college. So many emotions. How am I going to make it through the summer?

Yesterday was the Spring Fling. This is a picture of Katie climbing out of one of the inflatables. It was an awesome day. The top picture is of Mary on the climbing wall at Spring Fling. The girls both had a great time -- and Bill and I were both able to be there.

My brain is racing...and the girls are all over the place...so I'll have to write more when I have time. If anyone has any good ideas for cheap entertainment of a 5 year old with autism and a 7 year old who is extremely social :)...let me know.

One of Those Days...

Yesterday was one of those days that I was glad to have be over. I was tired and feeling sorry for myself. As gas prices soared again I was depressed by Jim Cramer (host of Mad Money) who expects gas to be at 5.00/gallon by the 4th of July. I began to question how in the world people are supposed to afford it. What is happening to our world?

I tried to put myself together, went and grabbed an ice cream cone and came home to start cleaning. I almost immediately recieved a call from school that Katie had managed to "escape" the classroom and was unaccounted for for almost 10 minutes before she was found. This has happened before, so I'm never really shocked by the call, but am always anxious to make sure that she has been reclaimed in an unharmed state. 10 minutes is a long time for an autistic 5 year old to be unaccounted for at a school that is right on the river.

After the day I had been through, my mom and I started to talk about Katie and how that her life is so simple. She lives to play outside and play with water. She is unconcerned with the daily burdens of life such as gas prices, disease and illness, and the many ofther things that make my life at times miserable to bear. She doesn't worry how the bills are paid (nor would any 5 year old..but this will be Katie's life for the foreseeable future.) or that we have too much laundry to do. She is carefree. She is happy. She is Katie.

Fast forward to this morning. It was Mary's last soccer game of the season. She was so excited. Unfortunately with the sudden spurt of 90 degree days that we have had it was too busy at the marina for Bill to make it to her game. She was a little disappointed, but we worked through it. He will be able to come to her big carnival at school Monday. so that helped to ease her pain a little. We are hoping to get our pool up this weekend which will also put smiles on both of the girls faces :)

Happy weekend....

david cook at walmart shareholder's meeting

Have I told you that David Cook ROCKS!!! I thought it was about time he made it to my blog. However, I'm not really sure why he's singing at the WalMart shareholder's meeting. (I'm not a huge fan of WalMart..but I'll post on that another time.) Anyway...enjoy the music.

What gets me through the day...

The picture speaks for itself. Where would I be without coffee? (and a little Coffee-mate, too!)

Katie Update

I am so excited to share an update on Katie's speech progress after a great session with her speech therapist, Ruth, this morning. Katie is now imitating almost every sound that you can imagine. That is a huge step. The next thing she needs to do is start repeating a sequence of two sounds (like ooh-ahh == want) and then we can progress to words like "want" that have a blended vowel sound. It is much harder for her to repeat a sound twice, or to repeat two different sounds than it is to just repeat one, so this will be a little bit of a process. Ruth said to give it two weeks. I think she is incredibly optimistic...but she's been right before...so I'll try to rembmer to update you in two weeks :)

Post-Weekend Update - Gas is 4.10/gallon

Well, another week has passed. They are flying by at an astounding rate. Only 6 1/2 days of school after today. As I have previously said, I am ready for school to be over. Katie cried and cried again as we walked into school today. She is done, too. Mary seems to be enjoying the end-of-school festivities as most 7 year olds do. For that I am thankful.

If you see my new header picture above, it was taken this morning. That is Katie in Mary's soccer jersey from last year. Katie would not leave for school without wearing it. She pulled it out of the laundry basket (no, I am not caught up on laundry, and as usual have many baskets to put away!) and threw it at me..which in Katie speak is "Mom, I'm wearing this and I need you to help me put it on!"

Our weekend was fairly uneventful. Mary's soccer game (she only has one left,) Church, we finished planting the garden, put up the kiddie pool that my mom bought for the girls. We have a 1000 gallon pool that isn't up yet. My mom saw this pool (see pic) in a Land's end catalog and apparently thought it was a lot bigger than it was. Too funny, but the girls liked it anyway. We will try to get the big pool out this weekend. It is supposed to be hot here all week (86 on thursday, so yes, summer is coming), so I think it is finally time for the pool!

And as a final note, yes, gas is 4.10 here. Thought it would go down a bit after the holiday, but apparently not.