Saturday, April 30, 2011

Pillars and Priming

We got a beautiful gift on Friday: Pillars!



Now the new house has 4 out of its 6 pillars in place. 2 of them got messed up during delivery, but it should only take another 1/2 a day or so to get them up once they arrive. But boy, that is Some Kind of pretty house.



I mean, really, look at that view up the pillar, So Nice!

Meanwhile, the drywallers got mostly finished this week, we thought Friday that they weren't done, so we weren't going to be able to Start Priming...there was still some spots that needed stuff. They called Saturday morning, and said, go ahead and Prime, it'll make any flaws more obvious for them to fix. So Eric did, he taped up the windows and doorways yesterday morning, and took a small dinner break with us, while we ran for a paint sprayer. Our Quality Time together lately only involves giant family trips to the hardware store.

Anyway, while I started this blog post about pillars last night, he started priming about 6 last night, and he worked straight through until 11:30 this morning.



This was what came home to wish me Happy Birthday at lunchtime.



On the up side, the only room not primed right now is the garage, the whole resst of the house is Done, but because of it's 12 food ceilings, and no scaffolding just hanging out in there, he's going to need to roller it, so he spent the rest of the day with us.



But yeah, look how GORGEOUS this primed house looks. So homey. This are the stairs and the hall through to mudroom and doorway to the garage. It looks so pretty.



This is the foyer, still with now railing from upstairs, which still gives me the willies. Um Zowie though!

April in Review

How in tarnation did that happen, how is April over? I must've been sucked into some black hole, because all I can remember of this month is stress, and me being a slacker and wanting to be a hermit.

1. Read the Bible. Yeah no, I'm not caught up at all, but at least I'm progressing forward, I finished Judges, Ruth, and I'm about 2/3 done with 1st Samuel....I should've started 1 Chronicles today. Doh.

2. Go back to Choir. Haven't done much of that either. I did sing with them one Sunday when I popped in and sight sang. Without the kids. But I was unprepared for any of the Holy Week songs...so I thought, turns out they did stuff I knew, but I was too stressed out fighting Chris in church Every Time we go. We went to the Fam's church one week, and he started playing in the hall so loud even sitting in the congregation I could hear him. One day I let him stay in the nursery, and he made me sorry when it was time to go. It's just such a hard fight to take him alone, I can't do it. Let alone leave him alone to go sit with the choir. So, a massive fail on this one.

3. Join a Gym - Well, I didn't make it to a single yoga class this month. Again, taking Chris and Sam out alone in the evenings has just not been worth the battle. Plus there have actually been a couple of Wednesdays that we've had Eric around at dinnertime. He may leave shortly thereafter, but it's worth giving up the exercise just to have a family dinner together. On the positive side, I did actually make it into the gym this month, and walked every so briskly on the treadmill. Realized later though that I did it in my crappy shoes that didn't realize until later that metal had been poking me in the back of the heel. Those shoes are in the trash now. But I've got my eyes on a pretty pair of MBTs as soon as we can afford it...whenever that is, we were downtown over Spring Break, and I tried them on, it was like literally walking on clouds.

4. Take a Photography Class. Well, I haven't made a whole lot of progress here either. I'm shooting a bit more in manual, but it's hard to do with the boys on the move. They don't let me sit still much to mess around with the camera. So unless they give me a head start, most of my manual photos are of inanimate objects.



Easter Eggs :) Gotta love that. The boys and I had a great time making these.



Or Flowers. I loved this one because it was after a rainstorm, one of many we'd been slammed with this month. And although the tulips were bobbing in the wind and rain, and had been closed, they were starting to open up, just there wasn't enough sunshine. I think we maybe had 3 happy tulip days this month.



I did take a little time one day to catch this shot, and experimented a smidgeon with editing in picasa. I need more practice. I should say, I need to take the time to practice.



Sometimes I get lucky, and I get a good pic of a boy or two. I've started another challenge, a weekly one, called 'Right Now', where Willette sends out a blog saying go take a picture of whatever you're doing right now. I didn't have much time the first time, but this picture of Chris and I trying to take a nap, turned out just right to me. And in manual, and me holding the camera at arm's length...and neither one of us thinking real naps were going to happen, but they did. :)



And then again, sometimes I can get really lucky, and get the boys moving, and have a good picture. I entered this one into The Pioneer Woman's Brothers contest, it was the only one I took during that week for that contest and didn't go digging around. I'd like to be able to take the assignment, and go do it.

5. Get the Boys Healthy. Ay, there's the rub isn't it. I think I've spent a good half this month worrying about the health of the boys, or taking them to some appointment or other. Sam is generally the easier to report upon first. But he's been a bit more stressing this month. He's teething, I'm fairly certain his 2 year molars are coming in, which has led him to getting Sassy this month, like learning to tell me "Hush Up", or hitting me, and when I put him in Time Out he tells me "I no in Time Out", or my favorite was the other day he locked me out of the car. On the up side, we inadvertantly learned he is no longer allergic to tomatoes, and that he loves peanut butter, and doesn't seem to have problems with it, still quite allergic to strawberries though. He had a swallow study last week, which he didn't really pass. He deeply penetrated consistently on nectar thick liquids, and fairly deep on honey thick, no change there really, which isn't bad, but it's not good either. At least we're following up, or there are plans to follow up with the feeding team.
Chris on the other hand, he has been going to Therapy weekly, with either Mr. Doug at the Autism clinic at Riley, or Miss Lisa his Play Therapist. I'm beginning to really value both of them, and though the only improvement I have seen is that Chris is less obnoxious in the car (well, he wasn't today, but he has been in general for the month of April) I think most of it is that I haven't done all the suggestions that Doug gave me. If I do maybe I won't have any more awful days like today. Chris was picking fights, he hits first and gets mad when the other kids hit back. It's become a frequent problem in Soccer. But today, he started a fight in soccer so we left early and he turned around and pushed Sam when we got home. And he lost it, and when he does that repeatedly, he doesn't listen, and I have to scream and scream to get his attention, and it makes me lose it. Neither one of us has been our best lately. He was observed by the School autism specialist this past week, who said he's really smart, but a sensory mess with his hands in his mouth all the time. I've thought he could be diagnosed as a Hot Mess some days, right along with me, a pair of pretty nothins. They saw him on a good day, so they didn't see him lose it entirely, even so we're setting up a meeting with his principle for next month. He's had a sinus infection, that we fought for the first two weeks of April with penecillin, but after a week off the green boogies came back, so we started him on Omnicef this week. And we met with his surgeon this month, he looks good, and the surgery for his MACE is set for May 23rd. So things are beginning to move forward, and just in time. It seems that God and the kids know exactly how much Mommy can take, and they stop just short of too much.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Right Now



OK, here's the challenge, what are you doing Right Now? Get the camera and take a picture. We are having Naptime. Chris even talked me into letting him nap with me. I'm a sucker who can't say No, even when I seriously doubt he's going to let me sleep.



*He did let me sleep. And he slept also. ;)

Happy Birthday Baby Sister!

Happy Birthday Lisa!



Hope your wishes come true!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wordless Wednesday




2011



2007

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Hoppy Easter

Happy Easter everybody!

The boys have had a great morning, and before we head out to the familial celebrations of the day, I thought I put up a few pictures of the boys enjoying our abundant gifts too.



Chris was so excited to see the presents left by the Easter Bunny. At our house, he leaves some chocolate, and jelly beans in their baskets, and hides all the eggs that we've dyed.



Chris was great at hunting for the eggs, Sam just kept picking the same eggs up. He was more interested in his presents...and the chocolate. :_



They were less than festive with getting all dressed up, mostly because they would've been content to sit around and eat chocolate all day.



True, we love to sit and eat to celebrate, but today is a day for Worship. Easter is not as popular a holiday as Christmas, but really it should be much moreso. We celebrate all kinds of people's birthdays for the wise things they said and did, and it's nice to celebrate them, Martin Luther King, Lincoln, that sort of thing. But Jesus. Jesus did so much more than just be born. We should celebrate his death, and Rising even more than Christmas. And so gladly and grateully we put on new clothes, and went to church to Praise the Lord, to celebrate the Miracle that He Lives.



O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your Victory?
O church, come stand in the light,
Our God is not dead, He's Alive, HE'S ALIVE!

So much to celebrate, our wonderful Lord Jesus has conquered death, and rose again, and he Lives. And reigns. Forever and Ever. We are so Blessed. We all hope you have a wonderfully Blessed Easter too.



Happy Easter! Love, Us

Saturday, April 23, 2011

A Good Friday

Yesterday I took the boys to the local mall to meet the Easter Bunny.



Sam didn't really enjoy it, when my computer isn't broken, I'll show a comparison of how Chris was pretty much the same shade of pissed off purple the first time he met the Bunny. The older kids were thrilled. We borrowed our friend Emily, and took her with us.



The kids favorite part were definitely the hats and lollipops they were given afterwards.



Turned out to be a really Good Friday after all.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Almost Now

Today was a Riley hospital day for the boys. Sam had a swallow study and Chris had therapy and an exam prior to his surgery, which we scheduled for next month. The results of Sam's swallow study were the same as last time, so he's still on honey thick liquids. And Chris's surgery will be May 23. We had some time to kill between appointments so we opted to try to find a little fun at the hospital.

Sam wanted to watch the Elevators.



We found the library, which has Gorgeous stained glass windows.



Mommy's new favorite place from 9-5 next month is going to be the Riley library, they will let us check out 4 books or 4 dvds (they had a honking wall of them!)at a time. Sweet!

Sam enjoyed the library too.



We had a bit of time to kill, so we rode the monorail, a train that zips from Riley hospital to Methodist. The boys think this is great fun. They played their favorite game, Bumblebee car, which is basically I Spy for yellow vehicles. The monorail mostly for employees, but I know a boy or two who have been here before and enjoy taking a ride.



Especially on a sunny day!



**Addendum - Willette is doing a little blog linkup for Right Now. What's going on in your home, your life, etc.

So this is us Right Now, kind of huddling together trying to find Joy in sunny days even though a lot of crud is bearing down. We'd welcome Prayers for Chris's upcoming MACE procedure, and for our whole family as we keep plugging through trying times.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Egg Fest



I have friends that are moving away today. Not far away, but far enough that I won't see them 4-5 times a week. And it's beginning to set in, as they load up their truck.

We were lucky that we were able to have them join some other friends at our place for an egg decorating party yesterday. It was a good time, fast and furiously crazy.

On your marks, Get set, Go! Chris and Shaylee were ready to drop those eggs in.



Bryn is a cool customer, perfectly content to wait forever for her egg to achieve the perfect shade of pink.



Sam cracked me up. He looks the part, with the egg dipper, stirring and everything...but don't be fooled.



Every time I'd turn my back, a blue egg would mysteriously appear in his hand.



The bigger kids: Chris, Bryn, and Xander were having a great time getting artsy.



Chris especially took to these paint sticks that Jaime brought. So cool.



Sam had a favorite egg, that he smashed the shell to smithereens before he even got it, and dropped in blue dye anyway. Then he started getting all whiny when I took it away to try to dry. Amy was giving him the loves trying to comfort him. It worked for about three seconds. Turns out he was hungry. He ended up eating 7 chicken mcnuggets later.



I love this picture. Makes me sad at the same time as being happy.



Our final product. It was good to go out with a playdate bang. It's almost getting real now.

Thar be Mud

We got a bunch of rain dumped on us last night, so I popped over to the new house today, make sure everything was ok. And it was.

I bumped into this fella putting on a coat of mud in the mud room, he popped his head over the door, and I was worried I might knock into his ladder. But there ladder. Love his shoes..stilts...whatever they are. I need a pair.

Get it? Ha. Mud in the Mud Room.



They've finished the first coat of mud yesterday and were working a second coat. These guys are fast...and they walk on magic shoes. Our living room looks awesome.



But not as awesome as the foyer, which still gives me the willies that the loft has no barrier from going overboard. Multiple guys were still working upstairs when I visited, so I didn't go up to see what was cooking up there.



Kitchen looked mighty homey too.



And as much as I enjoy seeing mud on the walls, I'm almost as thrilled with seeing mud in the backyard too. We have about 2 dozen daffodils blooming out back, that I planted in a frantic fit back in November.



In case you didn't know, flowers make me happy.

Wordless Wednesday










Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Two for Tuesday



It's thundering, lightninging, raining dogs and cats outside. The weather is gross. Good thing I stepped outside for these bits of cheer yesterday.



I love Spring!