Eye-opening

 

It's been a while since I sat down at the computer, let alone, blogged. 

It is time. 

Clockwise: Mom W., Aunt Teri, Me, and my Mommy

Aka the Moms Cruise

One of the things that struck me after I returned from a vacation with my Mom and Mother in Law these past two weeks was that I don't document my thoughts anymore.  I share pictures, because I know there are members of my family that love it when I do.  I still hear more Thanks for Sharing Pictures, more than I hear I have no idea what is going on with you.  

But when times are hard, I don't feel like putting it all into writing.  But perhaps I should.  I'm afraid I won't remember when things were good.  Things were good on this trip. But they were also really hard.  I'm tired of having trouble breathing.  I don't know how much longer I am going to be able to travel.  Perhaps that's why I've been traveling as much as I could the last few years.  Maybe deep down I knew my traveling days were nearing an end.  One thing that happened over this trip, was that I had to realize, I am handicapped.  I was so relieved every time I saw a handicapped parking space, or a seat with the handicapped sticker on it.  It's me now.  I cannot get by on my own energy anymore.  It runs out too fast.  I needed helpers to get me through the airports, to get me on to the boat, to help move my luggage.  I thought it would be easier to not take my scooter to St. Croix, because it is so big and bulky.    I thought I could get by with a wheelchair at the airport and my cane for everything else.  It really opened my eyes to how much I have had to rely on others.  I've been so blessed to have Eric and the Boys around me to help me do  all the day to day things I can't do anymore.  I guess I hadn't realized just how broken I was.  I spent most of my time with people in their 70s and I was the most broken one.  My Mom dragged me to a grocery store on St. Croix.  She assured me I could handle it.  As it turned out, No, Not really.  A small pharmacy sized store, I could handle.  But a big grocery store, I could not handle.  I hadn't been shopping since before last year when all this crap with my lung had happened. I was near tears by the time we got back.  My back hated the bumpy roads.  I hated running out of air with little warning.  I hated getting so exhausted just walking the length of the ship on our cruise.  I suppose a trip like this acted like physical therapy.   But it was also very eye opening.

I wasn't ready to admit that I was this broken.  

This photo is my iris.

Taken by a special camera on board the Nieuw Statendam.

NYC, Day 1 - Scratch that Day 0

The day has finally come.  The Marching Band is finally on its way to New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and a wild adventure.  Let the games begin. 

Get Moving

4/366

It was time to put up the trains.  I don't mind leaving the trees up until Epiphany, but the trains have a lot of clutter.  And this weekend was time. 

But before we pack it all up, the boys wanted to watch their trains just "1 More Time!"

Jacob watches his train. 

Jacob's train looks good. 

We put them up before Christmas, on Christmas Eve, and they run them on Christmas morning, but they don't spend a lot of time wanting to watch them, until it's time to put them away. 

Sam wants to count his cars one last time. 

Sam's train is getting pretty long!  

Sam's favorite cars. 

This aquarium car doesn't get lit up very often, because it's noisy and bright, but it's very cool being Green and having fish swim.  These are a couple of my favorites. 

Christopher's car is so long, that this year he received extra stuff, he got a lamp and a tower. 

There's no more strength for his train engine to pull any more cars. 

As a Bonus for today, we got to Celebrate our nephew Cole's 6th Birthday. 

We went up to Fishers to a place called Bounce U.  It was actually really awesome.  

It's a chain of reasonably size rooms.  It doesn't get as noisy as a place like Jump and Play. 

The kids didn't have any chance to get bored. It was really fun. 

 All of our family is going up that ladder.  

Can I call it a ladder?  It's made of a jumpy steps. 

Anyway, Uncle Ryan brought up the rear as all the boys ran up. 

 All of them Kids at Heart. 

From that first room, we went into a dark room. 

Chris and I loved the black light. My shirt was doing very cool things. 

Unfortunately, the fans keeping the inflatables pumped up are very noisy.  

Chris needed to step out of there a couple times. 

Frankly, I was super proud of him for realizing he needed to Step Away. 

Black Light Basketball!

I love this flooring. 

It looked so cool in the black light, that I just captured a snap of it. 

I may have to use it for a scrapbook page at some point. 

The Birthday Boy gets a throne !

All the kids got a kid table. 

They brought out glow stick necklaces for everyone, doused the lights and we all got to sing to Cole. 

This looked really cool, and Cole was so happy. 

Cole opened up all his presents after the kids had cake. 

It got a little crazy with a gaggle of kindergartners crawling all over him, but I must say, my kids were all in the back row, and didn't go too crazy. 

I was pretty impressed with how well the boys did. Sam couldn't eat the cake, so we went for a walk, I had some junk in the car, but one of the employees pulled us aside, and dug in their stash of candy to find Sam something to eat that didn't have Red 40.  It was very classy of them. 

Sam appreciated the sour green candy very much! 

And for a last hurrah, the kids were in such a good mood, we decided to go test drive a Honda Civic, to see if 3 kids could fit across the back.  They could!  Then we popped next door and tried a Nissan Leaf.  Eric needs a new car, and it's time.  

They fit across the back of the Civic, and the Leaf is an electric car of roughly the same size, so we didn't put the kids in the back of that one.  

It looks like there may be a new car in our future! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Princess...

and the rest of us! 

Each boy gets a new train car for his train from Santa every year.  

So the boys couldn't wait to investigate their new train cars.  

Santa brought a bunch of new characters for the Disney Infinity game.  

Stocking time! 

Santa really stuffed their stockings full. 

There's no waiting! 

They can't wait to open their goodies. 

Christmas is one of those times where I can consider Autism a Blessing. 

Chris is so set on routine, that as the oldest, he insists on keeping our regular routines, dressing in matching jammies, opening their stuff together.  He leads.  And as he's aging, he gets the other ones going in the same directions. This Christmas involved less insanity and more enjoyment of each other. 

I Need my Space. 

It's hard to see this shirt, but it's so perfectly Jacob. 

Jacob wants to be an astronaut, and his favorite color is yellow.  

He also gets easily overstimulated. So Perfect. 

I totally picked this one out for Sam. 

You Matter.  Unless you multiply yourself by the Speed of Light. Then You Energy.

Sam is totally destined to be my Science Geek. 

More Yellow things!  

He has been begging for a yellow sled.  

Too bad there wasn't any snow for him to go out and test it out on the little hill in the backyard. 

Sam in a Slytherin Scarf. 

He knew this one was coming. He asked for it.  

And it was HUGE.  I hope he grows into it. ;) 

Christmas Day mornings are Lazy. 

We watch movies, or read books, sometimes at the same time.  

I'm pretty happy about my little history geek. 

Mommy Got a Starbucks Mug!  

And of course had to test it. 

When we were on our Fall Break trip, and drove through 

Mommy's Musicians. 

 Before I'd let them have any screen time, I made them practice. 

It wasn't their best work, but their Away in a Manger is making progress every day. 

Maybe it'll be Awesome by January? 

Breakfast #1.  

Christmas Bacon. 

Eric's aunt Betty makes this amazing bacon during the holidays. Eric has got it all figured out now.  It's brown sugar and a pinch of cayenne, and a few other secret ingredients.  I don't know.  I just know that if he doesn't set it on fire, it's AWESOME!   

It's a happy breakfast.  

Also pictured with honey flakey biscuits.  Chris, in his Spectral Glory, decided that we need to have this breakfast for every holiday, not just Christmas.  He is a boy of routine. 

The Kids at the Kiddie Table. 

Merry Christmas.  

My Dad and Stepmom always put on such an amazing spread. And I love that the kids are old enough and responsible enough that we can let them be together.  No meltdowns. Just Joy. 

Chris sloves the idea of special treats. But he is such a boy of routine, he has to have his standard chocolate cake for dessert when he's at Oma and Opa's.  

The Carnage. 

How the boys get spoiled by their Oma and Opa.  

I love it.  It's just a part of the insanity of the day. I tried to get other pics, but never failed that people were moving.  I thought about posting a vision all the blurriness. 

I wasn't doing much as I'm still recovering from my Walking Pneumonia. I got a nap before we went to Daddy's so that helped give me some energy to get through the wild and crazy day. 

But I'll take it all to see them so happy and full of Joy. 

Charlie got a Sparkle shirt.  Sequins and Unicorns are what is in this year, so Aunt Cathy had to oblige!

Annie is also Sensitive like Chris, so although Sequins were the theme, I went a little more low key with hers and grabbed the sequined mittens.  

Why don't they make these fun goodies for grownups?! 

Lisa loved her presents.  

I got her some Greek Thyme honey from Greece and some Oils. 

She studied abroad back in the day, and fell in love with it while she was there.  But she couldn't get any here. She happened to mention it in passing a few months back, and so she got a very padded package of it. She was very happy about every gift and touched that we remember. 

Oma made me slippers.  My Stepmom used the same pattern that Grandma used to make, and made slippers for everyone.  Mine are beautiful varigated shades of aqua, teal and turquoise. My favorite color is everything between green and blue.  

So after all the crazy of the day, I'm ending my evening watching Christmas movies in my new jammies that Eric got me and slippers by treelight.  And fabulously enough they match! 

Merry Christmas to All and To All a Good Night.