Children's Museum

Josiah had a doctor's appointment last week (just his yearly and some shots he needed for Kindergarten), and afterwards we went to the children's museum. They had several new exhibits and the boys really enjoyed it.

Asher was in heaven with this new crane exhibit.

Josiah loved this new vacuum exhibit. You put scarves or balls into tubes (like at the bank drive-thru) and they fly around and eventually pop out.

And of course the boats are a favorite.

Our little Graduate

When Josiah was around 6 months old we signed him up for a reading program through the local library called "1000 books before Kindergarten." I was supposed to be writing down each book we read to him, but when he became so challenging, this program was the last thing on our mind. It was always in the back of my mind, but I rarely wrote anything down. We knew he was reading plenty of books as he reads himself, but it was still something I felt I had failed on.

We were invited to the graduation for that program so I spent a lot of time writing down all the books that we had in the house and got to 520 when I ran out of space. I decided to just go and hoped they didn't check his book.

When we were walking in I was making conversation with another mother and she was commenting on how on top of things I must be as I had our book with us. HAHAHA! So I just went along with it and said, "I brought it, but we ran out of pages." Then she said, "yeah, we had to get several book." OUCH!!!

They had a cute little program for the kids. The librarian read a couple of books and then they picked out t-shirts and mortar board caps. They played some music and had them walk down the aisle. Then they handed them little diplomas and a stack of books (to which Josiah said loudly, "I have that book at home!")

I'm determined to get Asher's book in line within the next year!!

Summer Hair

How cute is this little kid? He sweats pretty badly in this humid weather so I was thinking a buzz would feel better for him. It was a struggle to get it done as he hates the clippers. It turned out so cute!

Mommy meltdown

Moms are aloud to have a meltdown every once in a while right??

Well, this was my week.

After 2 weeks of fighting with Josiah about his acts of violence towards me (and Asher) I was done. I picked him up from VBS on Wednesday and he came at me and pushed me hard in the stomach and then started screaming. I got him home and put him in a time out and each time he'd get out he'd do something aggressive and go right back in. This went on until lunchtime when I'd about had it.

Len came back and we weren't on the same page and I couldn't stand to be in the house anymore. We had full coverage so off I went...

31 hours later (after I'd shopped, read, reflected, journaled, and soul searched) I returned home in a much more optimistic mood. I came home last night after the kids had gone down to bed. Len and I had a campfire and a long talk. We came up with some goals and tools to help me cope and I'm feeling better about things.

The boys seemed to thrive without me. They were much happier and laid back when I picked them up from the last day of VBS this morning. Asher was affectionate and happy and Josiah was social and in pretty good sensory form.

Things are looking up for the moment.

Cabin Update

Here's what the kitchen at the cabin looks like right now. Len has removed the floor down to the joists and I helped with some of the lath on the walls. This weekend he put in electrical where he'd need it on the floor and removed the large vent pipe. Next time he plans on working on the plumbing we'll need under the flooring. After that he'll have jack up the floor and put in new support beams, insulate and then put the new flooring. Then we'll have a level floor in the kitchen!! I'm sure that will feel weird as the current floor has about 4.5 inches sloped down to the west.

Ceiling:

Floor: those circular spots seen in the last picture are where he

poured concrete to support the new footings.

Syttende Mai Parade

We took the boys to the parade in town last weekend. This was the first year that Josiah was interested in retrieving the candy as well as eating it. Last year he was so focused on getting more and more candy in his mouth that he couldn't concentrate on anything else. Both boys seemed to enjoy themselves and Asher loved the tractors of course.

The horns were too loud for both kids, but they did well covering their ears. After the parade was done we walked to the park where they had some activities set up for the kids. They had a big bouncy thing with a slide that is a lot like what they have at the House of Bounce. They really wanted a turn, so I bought tickets. Then we stood in line. Not only was the line long, but it was SLOW. They couldn't only let one kid in at a time so it forever to get to the front. Meanwhile, the kids were still eating candy and were starting to get really impatient and whiny.

We finally got up to the front and Josiah was first to go through. Once he went in, we could't see him anymore. It was quiet for a while and then we heard him yelling for Emily. The ride operator waited what seemed like forever, and then finally went in after him. He was excited to go down the slide. Asher needed help as well, so maybe in hindsight the ride wasn't the best idea. By the time they were done they were so whiny and grumpy that we just went right home.

Last day of Preschool

After 3 years, Josiah is finally done with preschool. It truly feels like the end of an era and time to get serious about things now that Kindergarten is next. He started Special Ed preschool the summer he turned 3 and I remember how I felt like we had so far to go before "real" school.

Here is a picture of him on his first day of preschool that day in summer.

These are pictures with Betty (the teacher) and Lisa (his aid) the last day this year. I gave the teachers petunia pots as a thank you. We couldn't have asked for a better staff. Everyone treated Josiah was the right of amount of compassion and sternness. We were really happy with how they never made a big deal out of his differences, especially in front of the other kids. They were really great and we will always remember this great preschool experience for him.