« July 2012 | Main | September 2012 »
In the bonus features on the Lorax DVD there's a segment called "Seuss It Up!" where a cartoonist walks you through how to draw a Lorax, a Barbaloot, and a Humming fish. The second time we watched the movie since it's come into our house, the boys set out to draw the Lorax.
But this is before they colored it, so here's the close ups.
Blue's Lorax:
And Then Toby, well Toby just sketched and sketched, not really sure what it was meant to be, but he looked cute doing it, so I snapped away.
Mostly.
Our church did a weekend VBS this past weekend - we had a Friday night event, Saturday morning event, and then our service was an extension of one of our VBS assemblies followed by a family service project and lunch.
Kevin and I were both involved as leaders so it was either use my mom as a sitter or ask her to accompany Toby who was technically old enough, at 3, to be part of "Puffin Preschool." And of course that's what I chose to do, because when I'm considering between A. Let him take it easy and be comfortable watching Jungle Book at Oma's or B. Push him to Try! Something! New! I'm pretty much always gonna go with B.
Even when B. comes after the first week of school with a whole new routine that included his new speech and occupational therapists.
My poor kid.
That would be my poor kid, in the orange, smack dab in the middle of things.
So Friday... Toby woke up at 4am and didn't fall back asleep till 9:30am en route to dropping Blue off at school. Great. I was able to transfer him to his bed where he slept till 12:30pm. I had no idea how this crazy, off-schedule morning would or wouldn't affect him. It wasn't changing the plan.
At the opening assembly I was on stage - it was my job to lead the first half hour segment and the music. Toby, wanting to be with me, kept storming the stage. It was frustrating for me because it was hard to remember what I was supposed to be doing/saying/leading with my kid running at me. So during one of the group discussion times when I could hop off the stage, I made it very clear to my Mom that Toby needed to be kept OFF THE STAGE. I still wanted him in the room because I knew he knew all the songs (We'd been listening to them in the car for weeks) and even some of the motions.
We got through it.
Then Puffin Preschool.
My mom seemed to think he was too wound up and wanted to take him home, but remember me? I'm Try! Something! New! girl. And my main task was over till I had to lead songs at the closing assembly. So Toby went to Puffin Preschool, and because he was so wound up, and boisterous, and chipper, his energy caught on with the other kids. And it wasn't too much. Most of the time. At one point he ran off to another room and I followed after him. I told him I wanted him to go back and "sit criss cross with his friends," and what does he do? Ignore me? Return but stay on the fringe? That joker goes back and weaves through the other kids until he gets right next to the teacher and practically sits in her lap.
Later we did a parachute activity where we popped up the puffin and my boy was In. Heaven.
Then we just let the kids take turns laying down in the parachute while the adults spun them in circles. That kid has never been happier.
But lest you think that it was all ponies and rainbows, at the closing assembly we had melt down and both my mom and I have bite bruises to prove it.
Day two: Not really sure how he did with opening assembly other than the one moment when he got away and almost made it to the stage but Kevin scooped him up just in time. My Tobes. He's fast. And he wanted his mama to be on stage.
Then we made lobster art:
Which was tricky because he just wanted to smudge the paint everywhere. And he did make his lobster a little smudgy, to be sure, but it still worked.
After lobster craft and a color sheet, we had a silly game where the kids were supposed to push a ball with their heads while crawling. Of course, Toby showed ZERO interest in this. But he does like pretending to be a kitty cat and when he does this he crawls and meows, so I convinced him to be a kitty cat and he and I crawled together with the ball.
I'm not sure why I'm proud of when he participates at some level, but I am. I guess I'm trying to send him the message that he is meant to be with the other kids, doing what they do. Modification is fine. Just not separation.
Then I'm not really sure what he was up to, because I left him with my mom and went on to hang out with D, a boy age 10, who also has FX (I'll tell that story in it's own post - I have to.) He and I colored together a good bit and then he was just interested in my camera, so I showed him what to do and he took this picture of me:
But after a little bit Toby saw me and was screaming for me so I left D with my camera and took Tobes outside to calm down. When I finally got my camera back I discovered D had taken about 7 more pictures - some of them really good!
And so went Saturday...
On Sunday I left Toby in the nursery. My mom didn't come and Kevin drove to Tampa for a fantasy football draft. Alone, I couldn't manage it. Heck, I could barely manage Blue. From the stage, it was all I could do to stay focused and not call out his bad behavior from the mic!
But Toby joined us for lunch and happily stuffed his face with Cheetos like the rest of the kids. Then he played in one of the kids' rooms while Blue, Kaden and I did the project.
Even after multiple hours of being enclosed in a cramped space with LOTS of people (this was meant to be an outdoor lunch event, but that's hard to do during tropical storm feeder bands!) he kept it together the whole time.
Another busy weekend, another new experience, now experienced.
(Oh look, he's shoeless and chewing on something? Yeah, that's about right.)
I still say he's better off for it. :-)
You were worse than I was expecting.
You showed up Sunday. And yes, it rained all day, but, at our house anyway, the ground sponged up the rains pretty well.
My two oldest boys hunted frogs and played in the backyard puddles for TWO HOURS.
Ready to hunt...
Meanwhile my youngest watched a movie and I read a book.
Nice rainy Sunday afternoon. I may have even been sipping a glass of red wine as I read.
And my husband, who had to drive back from Tampa Sunday evening, got home safe and sound.
As far as we were concerned you were a nice, peaceful tropical storm who was simply going to bring us a few rainy days.
But today you kicked it up a notch.
Why did you do that?
In the morning it alternated between light drizzles and no rain at all.
Then I had to bring Blue to school and the drop off line was longer than usual. We waited. And waited. And then ONE MINUTE before I opened by van door to send him on his way, the sky opened up. Or a feeder band slid over us. Whatever. This was the first of many, many rain bursts that would result in serious inches of rainfall. But I didn't know that then. Toby and I continued on to Target and waited out the heavyness until it returned to a drizzle. As I pulled Toby from his car seat, I laughed and said, "Toby this rain is called Isaac, isn't it funny when rain has a name?"
When I should have been buying groceries I was buying the hubs some Old Spice and some Swiffer refills. Not exactly storm essentials. We returned to the car and rather then push Toby and hit Publix, I decided I'd go home and visit a few more coupon sites to better plan my list - we could get to our groceries later in the day. Ha, ha, HA.
Or not.
At home I cleaned a little, laundered a little. Toby watched some Sesame Street. Then I got hungry and instead of the usual snacking I do, I decided to cook us a real lunch - quesadillas, refried beans, fresh salsa. Toby seemed to think the beans were more for squeezing and patting into the table, so then more cleaning...
Anyway, I didn't notice that you'd dropped so much rain our ditches had overflowed and the water was coming up our driving, taking away our front yard.
Lake front property is nice and all, but when I finally opened the garage door to look outside I was surprised to see I actually owned some.
Around 12:30pm. Um, where's the street?
It didn't take long before the water was up past that line in our driveway. And then a passing truck sent WAVES which toppled our basketball net.
Oh look the water is now inching towards the back of my van. How nice.
That's when I started arranging for Blue to be picked up early. Wasn't gonna wait for more water to build. I figured my van would probably be high enough - I'd seen vans pass in middle of the street and make it, but I still didn't want to risk a stall out with Toby in the car. Kevin left work early, got Blue, got food, parked around the corner at a neighbor's house and came home a little about 2pm. Whew.
Kaden was set because the people we carpool with drive a huge truck.
I still felt a whole lot better when 3:15pm rolled around and everyone was home.
It was STILL raining afterall.
But around 5pm, things started to clear and the boys just needed to get to those puddles.
So we let them.
Good times.
Except for when I waded out there to take pics and stepped on a worm. Ew. Also didn't particularly like seeing tadpoles swim past my toes.
And then, in spite of what I saw on the news about feeder bands continuing through the evening, night, and morning... we haven't had a drop since dinnertime, our drainage has caught up, and you can see our street again. Welcome back, street!
And we never lost power.
Ok, so maybe you weren't that bad afterall.
But excuse a gal for worrying. I've never seen so much water creep so close to my own property before. Nor have I ever had kiddos off at school where the roads could be cut off by flooding before I could get to them. That part just wasn't fun.
But, ultimately, we Floridians appreciate you going west and leaving us with puddles and a few good stories. I'm thinking the Lousianians aren't gonna want much more either, so uh, go easy. Ok? You've got nothing to prove. At the end of the day, you made my boys happy and they are happier still that school is canceled tomorrow (school district wasn't gonna make the same mistake twice!). How about keeping it at about that level for those other guys?
Please?
All Best,
A Port St Lucie Mom who still loves the sound of the rain - just not all the bleepin' frogs that comes with it.
Monday Kaden began life as a 3rd Grader and Blue began life as a kindergartener.
It was Blue's first, first day of school! Yes, he'd done pre-school but this is, ya know, real school.
As Kevin explained at breakfast, you can repeat grades so you can have a first day of third grade again and even a first day of kindergarten again, but you can only START school once.
So Blue got a Zuckertute.
Also known as a schultute.
That clears it up doesn't it?
In Germany (And remember, peeps, on my mom's side we're German. I represent the first generation of American-borns for the Klonz/Rosmej clan.) they do schultute's on the first day of first grade, their first day of real school. It's their special way of making the kids' first day of school EVER a little sweeter. A schultute is a school cone - a cone filled with goodies to ease the transition - sweets, school supplies, little gifts. Zuckertute, which translates "sugar bag," is the term more commonly used in the eastern parts of Germany. My family lives in the Spreewald region near Cottbus. Never heard of Cottbus?! Trust me, it's east. As in, people in Cottbus go to Poland for cheaper gas, that's how far east.
Have you met Blue?
I'm not really down with giving him more sugar. And his school supplies had already been delivered to his class when we went to Open House. So pretty much he just got a bunch of crap fun little toys. Oh and the new Lorax DVD. It was a good excuse to buy it. :-)
Blue got his cone in the morning along with a copy of The Kissing Hand which we read before school, but we didn't dismantle the cone till he got home.
First he had to get through his first day of kindergarten!
And since I didn't get any panicked calls from his teacher requesting I take him back, we're gonna assume it was a successful day. All I really know is that they played on the shady playground, not the sunny playground, that he didn't get a good job dollar at lunch because he was messing with something he wasn't supposed to be messing with, and that he met someone who's dog name is Idiot (not sure if I believe this).
That night he got his zuckertute!
Which included a Thor helmet (no hammer, I'm not crazy) and silly glasses for the dress up box.
Hmmmm. Maybe the empty cone can also go in the dress up box.
Today, his first ever SECOND day of school, is going well I guess (no panicked calls!) snd tonight we get to have a Lorax movie night.
Pretty good start to the week.
Backpacks packed? Check.
Forms filled out? Check.
New clothes and shoes laid out? Check.
Homework done? Check.*
Lunches packed? That's next.
Final beach trip of summer vacation enjoyed? Check.**
Discussion had about shining God's light at their schools? Check.
Prayed for teachers and classmates? Check.
*So about that homework... Blue had to do an All About Me page. We picked it up at Open House on Friday and it's due tomorrow. Homework before school starts! For a kindergartner! We also had to decorate a fish and of course Blue chose to use sequins, so he and I had a very sticky, gluey time with that Saturday afternoon. First kindergarten assignment completed? Check!
**As for the beach trip... A little before 4pm we told the boys to get their swim suits on. We hit up Subway, and then we parked ourselves on Jensen Beach to enjoy a picnic dinner and squeeze out every last potential fun minute of summer vacation.
Boys wore out, in bed, and ready for a good night's sleep before school? Check!
"If you ain't a Gator, you must be Gator bait!"
Poor Blue, he's a Gator (that's a requirement in this household) but he still ended up as Gator bait.
Way back when we went to the Fort Fisher Aquarium when we were in Wilmington Kaden posed for this silly picture:
After I took this pic, I was walking away but Blue went up to do it, and then the next thing I know Blue's crying because he bumped his head. I didn't think much off it until later when I took this picture:
I noticed that bump by Blue's eye and that it was bleeding. I asked him if he'd scratched open a moquito bite, but no, he told me that's where he hit the gator.
It took me awhile before I stopped laughing.
Bit by a stuffed gator.
Only Blue.
That sounds like the title of a fashion spread doesn't it? One featuring bright, whimsical dresses. I'm picturing something yellow with large white polka dots, fitted at the waste, full, knee-length skirt.
This post has nothing to do with that.
Think flare as in, bursting into an intense flame, to intensify suddenly.
June... sweet happy June. Yes, Kaden had a camp the very first week and Toby had swim lessons the very next... but we were home and we were doing things at and near home. Those were simpler times. Our biggest dilemma was deciding which local beach to go to or what day should we try the new, local water park...
Then, on July 4th we left for our first road trip. Our Lousiana, Texas, Alabama roadtrip. After this road trip we got to leave Kaden and Blue in Tampa for Camp Gran and Papa, so you'd think with only one kid we'd have a chance to recover, but no. That week, all week, Toby decided to sleep poorly and have diarrhea and overall, it didn't end up being a relaxing week.
By, July 25th, when the International Fragile X Conference rolled around we were SO READY just to leave and be in a hotel without kids. Ready enough that, although we attended the mixer the first night, we went straight to bed as soon as it was over. I think that was at 9:00pm.
And the conference. I'm still hoping to sit down and go over my notes and get on-line to print up graphics and handouts from the workshops I liked best. And process. And digest. And blog. And employ the visual strategies I learned about that I'm convinced will make our lives easier.
Sigh. One of these days.
After the conference we were home for all of ONE DAY before heading off on our SECOND TWO WEEK ROAD TRIP of the summer.
Yup, we're crazy.
We spent four days at a lake house getting in two hikes and waterfall swims. It was the only true vacation part of our summer and was kinda sorta relaxing. If only the boys hadn't insisted on starting every day at 6am.
Then a wedding in Chattanooga...
My brother walking my niece down the aisle.
Immediately following the reception we took off for Wilmington, NC.
We rolled in around 2:30am.
The drive was fine. The kids all crashed around 10pm and stayed alseep. Until we arrived. And then Kaden and Blue went back to sleep, but Toby, not so much.
Toby proceeded to scream and rage and pull my hair and scratch me on and off until almost 6am.
It's one thing to go a night without sleep. It's another to spend that night with a raging toddler.
Thank goodness our hosts live in a large house and claim not to have heard him. (Or else they were just very gracious which is possible too.)
I was spent.
We were in Wilmington for part of Kevin's deputation and he was speaking in church on Sunday (Needless to say, after the night I'd had, he went alone.) and again to a group on Monday evening. Sunday Toby woke up essentially as pissed as he was before going to sleep, so I told Kevin that there was a good chance we were going home Tuesday morning and all his other appointments would be cancelled. He could drive up to his South Carolina speaking engagement the following Sunday without us. And because I was saying this while sobbing, with scratches on my arms, he knew to agree and agree quickly.
But by Sunday evening Toby was ok and Monday we had fun at the local aquarium.
And Monday afternoon I got to chill at my Wilmington BFF's house and even though this was a new house, around a new person (he'd been before but at 2 months and 11 months, so nothing he'd remember) Toby was happy and played and followed instructions and I thought who is this child?
So we stayed.
And the guestroom where Toby and I slept? It had its own balcony and this was the view:
And I got to go to my favorite beach at a time when three dolphins were gracious enough to splash by. And I got to be downtown and walk around when Jennifer Aniston was gracious enought to be shooting a scene for We're the Millers so me and my gal friends hung around for about an hour and watched the filming.
Toby had some more rough nights and I have a nice scratch next to my right eye thanks to one of them, but overall it was a great week in one of my favoritest places to be, where some of my favoritest people in the world live.
So glad we could stay.
Saturday we packed up yet again, this time for South Carolina. Our friend, Ryan, is now senior pastor of his church, so Kevin was able to speak in their services Sunday morning. We like Ryan and his wife, Courtney enough that, that's who spent our Montana/10th Anniversary trip with last summer. And the boys love their daughter.
Even though it was just for a weekend, we were grateful to reconnect with them before heading home.
And head home, we finally, finally did on Monday, August 13th - exactly one week before the boys start school.
Whew. Last week of summer.
Have we lounged and relaxed and had pajama wearing, movie watching days during this last week?
Summer flare, people. Not summer wind-down. Not summer wrap-up. FLARE.
We get in Monday, dinner time, before bed on Monday I'd been to the grocery store and done two loads of laundry.
Tuesday morning we brought Kaden to baseball camp.
Yup, another camp. Three days with our local minor league baseball team. They get to play games on their field and be announced by the real announcer. It's way cool.
Kaden was recognized one of the days for being the best pitcher. Uh huh.
This week we also... Hit up My Gym. Hit up a splash pad. Kevin flew Wednesday and Thursday. We had a meeting at church one night. I had a book group. Plus the usual cooking, cleaning, kiddo entertaining.
And then came Friday.
Today.
This has been a long day.
We were out the door by 8:30 so we could spend our morning at the beach.
It was perfect. Flat water. No stinging anything. Toby kept taking my hand and pulling me into the water saying, "Swim, swim," because he liked it when I'd use the boogie board to kick us out way, far into the water.
We could have stayed all day.
Except we couldn't.
We were limited to about 2 1/2 hours.
Today was open house day at the schools. And I have three boys attending three different schools all holding their open house/meet the teacher events at the same times. Woo-hoo.
Luckily I'd roped my mom into helping me make that work, so she stayed with Toby while Blue, Kaden and I went out, first visiting Blue's school and kindergarten class and then going over to Kaden's school and third grade room. After that, I switched with my mom and took Toby by himself. By that time we were past the window of open house, but the speech therapist had told me she'd be there 45 minutes longer and I liked the idea of showing up after the crowds had dissipated. Yes, going AFTER the allotted time is definitely the way to go.
Wait, Toby? School? What? Isn't he just three?
Yes, but his speech and OT services are now through the school and this was my chance to introduce him to his room and meet his new speech therapist and pin down his schedule. Amazingly, all this was accomplished.
While I was running around, Kevin planned a movie night with another family, so I got home from the last open house and immediately started cleaning and dessert making. (Dinner was just pizza.)
Fun, social dinner time followed by kiddos and Kevin watching a movie, the other parents sneaking off to be kiddo free, and me holing up in our office.
One more weekend and then school will be in session and normal life resumes.
HA!
This weekend is my mom's birthday and our anniversary. Next weekend is a VBS event at church where I'm leading music and Kevin is leading the bible story segment. Weekend after that... Labor Day and guess what? We have plans.
This is a long lasting flare.
This may be the longest summer of my life.
Just gotta make it through Labor Day.... Just gotta make it through Labor Day... Just gotta...
A big happy birthday to my youngest niece, Stella, who turns ONE today!
This title is because I made a photo alphabet book for her present and this picture, taken July 4th, and "A is for Adorable" was on the first page.
We went up to Tennessee with extra days built in just to chill before we had to be anywhere for the wedding. I'd heard of Greeter Falls but we didn't have any other big hiking or outdoorsy aspirations so we didn't pack for them. (As in no appropriate footwear.) But then I noticed a pamphlet on an end table in the lake house listing days hikes in the area. Some were marked easy and some said they took you to a "swimming hole."
Who can resist a good swimming hole?
Our second morning there Kevin got on the phone with a ranger and picked out a hike for us, a 2 mile loop with a swimming hole. Woo-hoo!
Off we went trying to decipher the ranger's directions, Past the bend, count five trees, pass a lumber mill, go behind the elementary school and follow the road past two cows... (maybe not quite that bad but almost) and, because we are geniuses at deciphering southern directions speak, we found the Fiery Gizzard Trail in the South Cumberland Recreation Area.
But, because we're not that smart in so many other areas, we started the loop backwards, missed our watering hole, toughed rocky terrain (the first mile was labeled "moderate" I later learned) IN FLIP FLOPS all with an 8, 5, and special needs 3 year old who refused to wear ANY kind of shoe and also didn't want to be carried.
Awesome.
It's kind of a miracle our only injury was to one of Kaden's flip flops. (RIP strap of Kaden's right Sperry.)
Starting off:
Toby's ready to go! He likes to "walkinthewoods!" But he only liked to do it wearing shoes for the first .3 miles or so. (Sigh.)
When you start the Fiery Gizard Trail backwards one of the first things you come to is this big cave area.
Of course the boys had already found hiking sticks by this point. Or is that a spear, Blue? Ready to track down a bison?
Then off on the rocky trail we went. There were some bridges, some inclines, but mostly just lots and lots of rocks.
Once you're in a ways you're walking pretty high, looking down on a stream. A few times I looked down at larger openings in said stream and thought, that's a nice swimming hole, but how would we ever get down there?
Finally Kevin broke out the trail map, announced we'd started off backwards, missed our swimming hole, but no worries there was another one coming up... Um, ok.
Then we arrived at what we decided must be the next swimming hole.
Complete with waterfall.
But how to get down?
Slowly.
The boys made it down.
And in.
But for some reason they wouldn't swim across to the waterfall without Daddy who couldn't join them till I scrambled down but then I did, and Toby and I hung out on a big rock while the others splashed in the falls.
They swam back and I got my turn.
Brrrrr! Cold, heavy water! Losing a contact! Brrrrr!
Then play time.
The boys and I did one more swim to the fall and then it was time to climb back up. Up, it turns out is harder than down, especially with wet feet in flip flops, so this we opted to do barefoot. I mean really, who needs gear?
By the time we were back up Toby would only be carried, but luckily our backwards method left us with the flattest least rocky part of the hike left to go, so even though Kaden's flip flop ripped and had to go barefoot and Kevin and I switched off with Toby going back, we made it.
It's good to know our crew is up for spontaneous, ill-equipped hiking excursions. Maybe next time, with better shoes, it will go even better.
At least we had drinking water.
We needed to be in Chattanooga for my nieces wedding and friends with a 2nd home in Tennessee offered us their place, so we went up early and made a little vacation out of it. Located in Coalmont, we were an hour out from Chatt, but it was worth it.
The Lake house...
We also loved the surroundings. The morning after we got in we headed to some local falls family in Nashville had told us about. Ten minutes of driving, 15 minutes of hiking (.5 miles but it was rocky and consider our crew!) and then this:
Gorgeous, true, but it was a little loud.
Which put Toby on edge.
And there wasn't really anywhere to walk because at the base it was rocky. A unique playground for Kaden and Blue but too difficult for Toby's climbing and scrambling abilities. See?
They had it all to themselves. Tennessee schools are already back in, and we didn't see another person until we were heading back out.
Kevin and the boys climbed their way to the falls and walked behind it. I took a few pictures but missed the part where they got in the water and swam back across because my picture taking perch was a little too far from where I'd set Toby and I didn't want him to tumble in and get carried away!
Big boys climbing:
Meanwhile Toby hung out here:
The water was chllly enough that he really didn't want anything to do with it.
Once the big boys came back we perched them on the biggest, flattest rock for snack time.
It's a rough life when you're hanging out by a secluded waterfall for snack time.
Then more climbing around.
It's all about having the right stick, isn't it?
I'd say Toby hiked (holding a hand for stability) .4 miles on the way in. After that it was all steep stairs and Daddy held him. On the way back, after being on edge (but never losing it!) for so long at the falls, only Mommy would do.
The WHOLE way back.
It's a good thing A. Mommy is in shape enough to walk .5 miles uphill carrying 30 pounds on her hip and B. Is no longer as prone to knee sprains as she was in her teens and early 20s considering the rocky footing and the fact that she was stupidly wearing flip flops.
On the way back we wanted to stop for lunch but uh, dining options between Altamont, TN and Coalmont, TN aren't plentiful. There's one restaurant and it was cash only (oh, country life) so that left us with the pizza/sandwich place in a gas station. Ok.... But Toby was NOT having it. Would NOT get out of the van and I thought... If I bring him in there against his will he's just going to keep screaming and if by some miracle I get him to stop and eat something, he's been so tense all morning there's no way he'll keep it down.
Toby and I stayed in the van.
Did I lament the fact that Toby's anxiety was preventing us from all eating together in the gas station diner?Um, no. No I did not.
And I thought about it as I sat and he climbed around the van. If an adult, upon pulling up at a place he'd never been, immedietly after hiking to a waterfall where he'd also never been, had said, "I've had enough new things for the day, I think I'll sit right here." It would be dismissed as odd but would probably also be acknowledged as good that he knew his limits and left at that.
Doesn't my kid deserve the same respect? Because when Toby screamed, "NO, NO, NO," upon pulling up at a new place, the day after he'd just spent the night in a new place, and right after he'd just experienced a whole new thing, isn't that what he was saying? We're all about pushing Toby but something about that moment reminded me to respect his limits as well.
We returned to the lake house where Toby and I napped and the big boys swam in the lake.
I know we're pushing Toby. I know the lack of routine is terrible for him.
But it's still my favoritest season.
