Ten on Tuesday

1. I may or may not have become a hockey fan. Specifically, Blackhawks hockey. It’s this kid’s fault.

He got all caught up in the Stanley Cup finals. He begged me to watch every game, insisted on his own t-shirt which I had to wash so he could wear during every game. He wanted so badly for them to win. And last night, hits wish came true.

2. The humidity in the air has me feeling like my hair looks something like this:

3. There has been so much rain this summer that I lost count of how many makeup baseball/soccer games we have to do. We may be playing until Halloween.

4. Four days left of Christopher’s summer school. Then the fun begins. Poor kid is so ready to be done.

5. Our list of super awesome things to do this summer is largely untouched. We’ve done nothing except go to the zoo. Which we did before we made the list.

6. We are growing butterflies. They are in their chrysalides cocoons right now. I hope they make it.

7. I’m running my first official 5k in less than two weeks. Is one of those where they throw colored stuff at you. Which means there will probably be a lot of stopping to wipe my face and not as much running. Perfect!

8. So far, this summer, I’ve yet to finish a cup of coffee while its still hot. It’s on MY list of super awesome things to do.

9. There is still a pile of rotting, leftover school supplies sitting in a corner of my house. I’m thinking I’m gonna reuse some. But probably not. I’m just scared too lazy to go through them.

10. Go Blackhawks! When does hockey season start up again?

In the thick of things

Summer is here.

We have activities scheduled nearly every night. Yes, I said night. Baseball, soccer, music classes-all in the evening. Except for this week, when my boylie has his bike camp. We did bike camp last year, it was called “Lose the Training Wheels.” It’s a special, week-long camp for kids with special needs. It is designed to teach them how to ride a two-wheeler, using specially adapted bikes. You can see them in the photos. Last year he did great, although it was tough to keep up with after he finished, and we never really got him consistently riding. This year we’re going to follow up with some extra lessons and lots of practice at home. They’ve changed the name of the camp to iCan Bike, and the organization that runs the camps, all over the country, is called iCan Shine. These people are amazing. I can’t say enough about them. Even if he doesn’t learn to ride completely by the end of camp, the experiences of success and the positive feelings he gets from camp are invaluable.

On Tuesday they got each kid on a tandem bike, to get a feel for what it’s like to ride a two wheeled bike, it helps them feel the turns, feel the breeze on their face, and also let’s the volunteers feel how the kids are doing on the bike. It’s pretty awesome.

We have two days left of camp, today they are going to “launch” him on a two wheeler. Can’t wait to see who it goes.

Soooo, what’s up?

Yeah.

So, it’s been awhile. I decided to take a peek at the old blog to see when my last post was. I knew it was a long time ago. Nearly a year. Last June. I’m not even sure how it got to be so long. I think I got busy, and kept putting it off and then it got longerandlonger and I finally figured it was not. gonna. happen.

So, what brings me back? Not sure. Is not like things have gotten less busy. Most definitely it is the opposite. I haven’t miraculously gotten more organized. I think I missed the brain dumping that happens when I write stuff here, in this space. ‘Cause that’s really what happens here.

So, I’ve decided to give it another go.

So, see you soon.

Scenes from summer and Project Life update

Yeah, it’s busy ’round here.

Summer school is over. Christopher finished a week long bike camp and is so much more confident on his bike. We have baseball and music camp and firework watching and movies to see. It’s good. But I’m exhausted. We also finally got Christopher back into OT (insurance sucks, long story), and we also have him in a social group. Lots of taxi driving. AND we are in the market for a new van. Yikes. But all in all, still good. And we’re not even halfway through!

So, Project Life. I have not given up. I’m still managing to work on it semi-regularly, and am really only three weeks behind. It’s just too much to keep up with on the blog. So I’ve decided to not post them weekly (obviously). If I have a particular week that I love I may throw it up here, but there’s no way I can get all of the weeks up. Just. Too. Crazybusy. I love looking at everyone else’s, though, and I will still be checking everyone out.

So, off I go, back to the van. Someone has to go somewhere this afternoon, I’m sure of it.

In full swing

It’s official! Summer’s here! I know not technically, but school’s out and now begins the “how do I keep the kids off the couch” adventure. It’s tempting, yes, to let them sit and play minecraft all day, I’d get more done, but that wouldn’t exactly fit in with my goal of teaching my kids healthy habits, would it? Nope.

We have signed up for various activities, Madelyn has two camps coming up, a “Glee,” inspired singing camp, and a two week musical-theater camp in July. Sam has baseball, a brand-new thing for him. We’ve started already, and though I’m not sure he’s quite there as far as learning the love of the game, it sure is an opportunity for super-cute little boy photos.

Christopher has three weeks of summer school, which is nice for keeping him busy. If he had his way he would prefer to sit and play computer or in his room with a book or iPod. Although he’s pretty social for a kid on the spectrum, he’s still more likely to watch others than join in. I’d love it if I could hook him up with another kid who understood him, just for a little one on one playtime. We do have him signed up for a week of bike lessons, geared specifically towards kids with special needs. Fingers crossed he likes it!

So I’m making a list, things we’d like to do this summer, and we’ll try to get them checked off. I’m also gonna try to squeeze in my gym time. Mama’s gotta stay off the couch, too. We’ve already been to the zoo, on a day which was not feeling so summerish. But there’s always the cute pictures.

Project Life-Weeks 14 and 15

Whew! Finally got a chance to sit and work on the photos that have been sitting on my table. It’s been a little bit of torture, seeing those pictures all trimmed and ready to go, and not being able to sit and play. So get ready for a long one, I have two weeks of pages to share.

First, week 14

BOTH PAGES

LEFT

RIGHT

Not much to say about these, pretty straightforward, pages. I didn’t have a ton of time for fanciness, which is why this project is so awesome. As simple as they are, I still love them.

Week 15

BOTH PAGES

LEFT

RIGHT

This was a busy week, with Easter, and my daughter’s play was this week as well. So I did an insert focusing on her show.

FRONT OF INSERT

BACK OF INSERT

So that’s it! It’s been crazy around here, so whole I’m still a few weeks behind, I’m glad I was able to get a couple done. I have two kids home sick this week, and the school talent show to direct on Thursday. When that’s over and everyone is back on their feet, maybe I can catch up. Or just take a nap.

I’m linking up with The Mom Creative again, so go on over and check out some more, more caught up layouts!

Due to technical difficulties….

I realize it’s been a while. I’ve had week 14 sitting on my table, nearly done, for two weeks now, and week 15 photos printed and trimmed. Sigh. Sometimes life gets in the way. Been busy with kid stuff, school stuff, medical issues (nothing serious, just annoying). My house is a disaster and I’m sick of looking at it.

I’m still taking photos and am not giving up. In the meantime, I’ll be enjoying all of everyone’s pages at The Mom Creative and One Happy Mama. There will be a whopper of a post coming soon…

Project Life-Week 13

Wowza! Thirteen weeks in and still going strong. This week I discovered that what I dislike the most about this project is trimming all of my photos. It is the least fun part of this whole deal. Another thing I thought, maybe I’m putting in too many photos! This week, again, I included an insert. It was Spring break, so I had some more to include. Here goes:

BOTH PAGES, WITH INSERT

RIGHT SIDE

LEFT SIDE

BOTH PAGES, WITHOUT INSERT

FRONT OF INSERT

BACK OF INSERT

So there it is! I do still enjoy this, very much. I love looking back at the completed weeks. I’ve linked up over at The Mom Creative and One Happy Mama. Come over and check out all of the fun pages! If you would like to share your pages, please link up in the comments!

Here’s to another great week!

Project Life-Week 12

Week 12! I can hardly believe it. I’m so glad I haven’t given up on this project. Every week when I slip my pages into my book, and see how much I’ve done so far, I feel happy. This week I added a Design G insert, because I took a bunch of pictures of my son’s trip to Build a Bear, and wanted to fit them all in.

BOTH PAGES, WITH INSERT

LEFT

FRONT OF INSERT

BACK OF INSERT

RIGHT

BOTH PAGES, no insert

So there it is, I’m pretty happy with the way these came out. Next weeks pages will cover Spring break, and then comes Easter! Lots of fun photos ahead.

I’m linking up over at The Mom Creative and also at One Happy Mama. There’s loads of inspiration over there, so come and see! If you have pages to share, please link up in the comments. Have a great week!

Project Life-Week 11

Well, I missed last week. So I’m a week behind in sharing. But I figure I will either catch up with two weeks or I’ll spend the year being one week behind. Either way, life happens, and being a little behind the pack isn’t going to make me give up or love this project any less. So, here goes…

BOTH SIDES

LEFT

RIGHT

It felt a little strange using the back of the Design F on the right side, but I did have alot of vertical photos on my phone to choose from. And while I’m not totally in love with this week’s layout, I know every week is not going to be perfect, and it’s more important for me that I keep documenting. I know that when I look back at it later, I won’t be whining about this week not being as pretty as the others.

I’m linking up over at The Mom Creative and at One Happy Mama. Come over and see all of the fun, inspirational pages. If you have pages to share, please link up in the comments so I can come see.

My kids are on Spring break this week, so who knows what’s gonna get done! Have a great week!