New adventures

This darling kid. This strong willed, big hearted, adventurous son of mine, who sometimes makes me wonder if I can do this mom stuff or not. We all know that some parenting days can just knock you out. They come and go. The next day, you try to pick yourself up out of bed, get on your knees and pray, and look for the sun coming up that gives you strength to try again. You count your blessings that you’re alive to see the sun, and feel the cool, welcoming fall air, and have another day on this earth. You try to talk a little slower to your kiddos, hug them more, and slow down to question their motives of their strange antics before you jump to conclusions.

We recently had Ethan tested through the school district for any autism/aspergers syndrome, and other things they test for. Thankfully, he has no autism in him at all. They said he is one smart kid, and can do things that Autism kids cannot, and there’s nothing to worry about there. They did say he qualified for a special ed pre-kindergarten class, due to an emotional delay/behavior issue stuff.

Even though we are still homeschooling, we felt prompted to go ahead with this class for the rest of the school year.  I want to learn how I can help him at home, and I’m sure he will benefit from this class, too. I met his teacher this week, and she’s just an angel. So kind, patient, and offered some good advice to help at home. She saw Ethan on one of his hard days, and understands a little more.

One neat thing about his little class is that a bus comes to take him to and from home, with only the kids in his class. That’s very convenient for me, but the bummer is that pickup time is 6:30am. I laugh, because before this class, I wanted to get back into early rising again. Well, now I have to get up at 5:30, get breakfast ready, get him up at 6, somehow get him to eat enough to last till 10:30 (no food at class), get him dressed, teeth, hair, hugs and prayer, and get out the door at 6:30. It’s a little rough, but I have no room to talk. So many of my friends have to get up early, and get their kids ready for school. I have great respect for them.

I actually have liked the early rising again. The night before, I soak some oatmeal or flour to make pancakes or oatmeal in the morning. (Soaking helps to make him more full, absorb nutrients, and break down phytic acid which block your body from absorbing the nutrients from the grain, just incase anyone’s wondering:) I put my iphone in the dock, turn on the Mormon channel app, and listen quietly to some great show or music. It’s so peaceful, even though its so gosh darn early!

When Ethan is gone, I get to spend special time with Kevin. We do some school, cook in the kitchen, play with Brooke, put her down for a nap, and play in the garden. It’s been lovely.

Here’s us on the first day!

In the meantime, the garden has been doing splendid.

Massive grape tomato plant, Juliet!

One more thing; this sweet friend. I don’t know what I’ve done in this life to deserve such love and help, but she has literally taken me under my wing and helped me through the whole Ethan testing/special ed class. She continues to pack up her kids, come with me to anything school related for Ethan to support and help me, and has been such an angel. She’s his former sunday school teacher, and has such love for him. She runs her own prechool academy at home, and is simply a genius. Each time I go to her home, I take pictures of all her organization, books, school supplies for ideas at home. I’m such a nerd. I’m so thankful for her kindness she’s shown to me.

Ok, time to tackle the day. I’ve wanted to blog here for awhile, and I accomplished that goal, yea!

Our little, tiny, short but wonderful getaway

Time to get caught up on the blog again!

For about a year or two, I’ve wanted so badly to have a little getaway, a second honeymoon or something, with my sweetie Shaun. Just something with no kids, some special time, and a chance to nurture our marriage and help it grow. I think you definitely need those, and the daily routine of life can be wearing.

My biggest hurdle was who could stay with our kids. Who could handle being around our big dogs? Who didn’t have a family of their own to take care of? We don’t have any family close by, most of my babysitters are great youth from church, and my dear friends nearby have their own kids to take care of. At times, it just seemed hopeless and an impossible dream which would make me cry, having to shelve the idea and try not to see pics of other friends on their vacations and such. I tried my best to think good thoughts, and get through the constant daily routine of the same thing every day.

When Shaun is off, thankfully he works less than last year, we do try to go places with the kids in town, do some fun activity, or something to help break up the monotony. I have learned and seen that when you don’t go on a yearly vacation out of town, it can really work on you mentally, emotionally, physically, oh man. It’s hard, and I know I’m not the only mother out there who desperately sees the need for a family vacation, but I’m glad it has motivated me to think of a way to make a vacation happen for our entire family next year. Just gotta start saving some pennies in a wiser way.

Anyways, I saw an opportunity for our getaway, and I decided to work hard and make it happen. That’s what I'm learning over and over again, if you want something bad enough, you have to work really, really hard to get it. Really hard. Shaun has a great friend named Kyle who comes to stay with us for a visit here and there. He is not married, and is great around the kids and dogs. The kids love him. When I heard he was coming, I begged him to watch the kids for a night so Shaun and I could steal away at a nearby hotel. There really was no other person who could do this that I could think of. It wasn’t hard for him at all, and it worked out perfectly.

Everyone survived fine, as you can see:)

 

Here’s one picture I took of us at the pool

I can’t even begin to tell you how absolutely wonderful it was to getaway for only about the late afternoon till the morning. It was so short, but it helped greatly. I found a good deal online for a one night stay, was able to get it, amazingly kept it a secret from Shaun until I got him in the car to drive us there. He turned his head around to back up the car, and saw a suitcase in the back seat, and really started wondering what was going on. Go, me!

It felt so cool to go check in, get our little room with a super snazzy bathroom, and head down to the pool. I’m such a water girl. I need my pool time on any vacation. The best part at the pool was just floating around with Shaun, and being able to lay on a lounge chair for as long as I wanted, not needing to get up and take care of anyone. Oh, the little things!! So wonderful.

We enjoyed the big Jacuzzi, ate a nice dinner of mexican food, saved the lefotvers to eat in bed the next morning, and then it was time to go home. Even though we were so close to home, it did feel like a tiny, little vacation, and it was perfect. I’m so thankful that for the first time in 6 years, we finally pulled it off.

Ever since then, we’ve been trying to adjust back to reality. It’s been hard. Every time I get on the freeway, the hotel is right there, and I see the pool area where we frolicked. I just want so badly to do that again, and we will sometime soon, thanks to Kyle, but I know I need to focus on the kids, continue to help and understand Ethan, and snuggle with all of them. Brooke is finally crawling!! At one year, it’s about time, but I’m sure glad she’s doing it. She gets into the dog food and water bowl often. She’s too quick, the little stinker:)

PS: I rented the main food book I learned from again, and will work on writing those food posts I really want to do for your guys. Just got a little busy with mini sessions in the photo business. Grateful for work, but trying to balance everything, again!

So, that’s our story for the week. Nice, huh?