Right Now…

Can’t you hear that old song in the background….

We are in Washington at Pat’s house and there is a house full (8 kids, 6 adults).  You would think it would be very loud here, but really it is not because most of the kids are outside having fun.  I don’t have a cord to connect my camera, but here’s the rundown of activities at 10:56 AM…

Scott is sleeping in.  GOod thing since he was the first up yesterday and worked most of the day.

Pat is asleep on the couch.  He was over there reading earlier, but is definitely having a snooze now.

Andrew just came into the kitchen and is “stealing” a few cherries.  We picked these up yesterday and the kids have been taking them a little at a time.  THey are the best cherries I have ever had. 

Becca and Sam are on the swings and Jimmy is standing in front of them avoiding their feet.  It is some sort of dare thing.  Everyone is laughing and giggling.  Becca is still in her Jammies.  Jimmy is wearing the Grizzley shirt — on Wednesday, they started a badminton tournament and apparently Jimmy and Sam disappeared for a while, found 2 white t-shirts and decorated them with permanent marker. 

Aaron and Shannon are downstairs with Jack and Anna.  Hanging out.  I can hear Aaron teasing and playing with Anna.  Jack probably has his vroom-vrooms (cars/ trucks/ anything with wheels).  Anna is asking, “who wants some ice cream?”

Lizzi is upstairs.  I think she is writing.  She’s been doing a lot of that.  She just came downstairs, into the kitchen and stole some cherries. 

Diana is getting ready.  She went upstairs ab out 20 minutes ago to take a shower so I bet we will see her again here soon. 

It’s going to be a beautiful day – 80 degrees expected, we may decide to go down to the lake for swimming.  Maybe we will see who wants to learn how to row.  All in all, it should be a fabulous day.

Elvis has left the building

 

On Monday, Becca and Makenzie made banana cupcakes from the awesome cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I have made these once before, for the last day of school party. They were a hit, although I could not help wishing that I had foregone the vanilla buttercream in favor of the peanut butter frosting. 

Yes, that’s right — Banana Cupcakes with Peanut butter frosting.  AKA…. the Elvis.

Needless to say, when the girlies got started I heavily hinted that these would be a good choice.  And soon they were on their way.

They were divine, in case you were wondering.  And did not last long.

Mmmmmm….. I may have a new favorite.

Non-stop ’til Monday

In about 4 hours, my dear friend Danielle and her 3 boys will arrive on my doorstep.  They have never been to my house and will not be staying long, so I am thrilled to be expecting company tonight.  In the morning our 2 families (minus Scott) will head north to Six Flags Discovery Kingom for a day of coasters and animals and stuff. 

Danielle is organized, God love her.  She reserved this day months ago.  No, seriously.  She called before Easter, said they were planning this trip and would we like to join them.  I said yes, of course, but because I am me (not Dani) I did not write it on my calendar until about 3 weeks ago when it was really confirmed that the date had not and would not change.

A strange concept for me, but that is fine.

After a full day in the sunshine with Dani and her family (not just the boys, but her mom and step-father, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew) we will come home and they will head to a hotel near the airport as they have an early flight to Seattle on Saturday and THEN they are going on a cruise.  They will have a blast.

WE will be spending Saturday morning at the Fairgrounds for volunteer orientation, then going to the beach for the Dan Chitwood Memorial 4-H Beach Clean Up Day and Bonfire.  It should be hot and sandy and fun.  We can’t wait.

Sunday, as you all know, is Father’s Day.  Following a wonderful breakfast, we will head to church and then spend the afternoon doing whatever Scott wants to do.

Whew.  It will be Monday morning before we can relax again.  Monday night Lizzi has Camp Staff, but the rest of us can relax and hang out.

In preparation for the fun, the house is clean, there are clean sheets on the beds (except for mine — oops!) and the frige is stocked.

We are set for good times, baby.  Good times.

What are you doing this weekend??

Gratitude

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch reading Facebook updates and one friend posted a link to a blog that I often read but had not checked in a while.  The lovely and talented Tara Whitney participated in a gratitude challenge and posted the results here.

I decided to be a copy cat.  I do that lot, see something and think — WOW, I should totally do that.  Then I don’t, I forget and well… it never gets done.  Not this time, I tell you!  I got right up, grabbed my camera and took shots of 5 things I was grateful for.

HOWEVER – I am not a professional photographer and it was already dark outside when I took my photos so there was absolutely no natural light in my house.  It is all about the flash-shot, but I got it done.

This was a really good weekend with so much to be thankful for that I am just going to go with the crappy photos and focus on the memories they represent.

Number 1:

 

I am glad my Becca is happy and comfortable in her own skin.  I love her creativity, her self expression.  I love that she watches cooking shows with me and has an awesome attitude about trying new things.

Number 2:

I had just snapped the photo of Becca and Lizzi walked up to give me a hug.  She has been giving a lot of hugs lately and I cherish every one. I love that Lizzi is being goofy here. 

Number 3:

Scott.  Ok I took a photo of him that was so bad I can’t even post it.  He was at the end of the hall, it was dark and you can only barely make out that is was him at all.  I am so grateful that he was able to take his birthday off from work.  He is leaving on a business trip today and will be back on Thursday, but it was so wonderful to just get to spend the day together as a family.  See a movie, play Guitar Hero, cuddle on the couch watching Mythbusters…  I love that he is just so great at being a husband and a dad.

Number 4 and 5:

Number 4 is the flower.  It was a gift from the Fetterleys, brought Saturday evening to Scott’s birthday party.  I am so grateful to have friends that love last minute parties and love me even though I gave only 24 hours notice of the event.

Number 5 is the clean kitchen behind the flower.  Mitch and Debbie were her today.  I am so grateful to have them come every 2 weeks, that they love my dogs and find them charming, that my island sparkles when they leave.

So those are my 5 for the day.  What are yours?

So it begins

Its the first Sunday night of summer vacation and we are all relaxed after a busy-fun weekend.  This time of year is always busy since we have the end of school excitement coupled with our birthdays.

This year, our birthdays were really special.  On Thursday, my wonderful girlfriends took me out to dinner.  It means so much to me that they carved time out of this busy week to make my day. 

Saturday night I surprised Scott a little.  He knew people were invited to come over, but he didn’t realize how far I had sent the invitation.  When Mike came through the door, he was floored.  When Dennis and Scott R. arrived later, it was really a party for him.  A great night for him to spend with a few fun friends.

It’s funny with friends, you know.  There is that part of your brain that wishes everyone was happy and lovely to everyone all the time.  That part that wants everyone to just get along.  This weekend I was also reminded how delicate that balance of friendship can be – that we can love many different kinds of people, but they do not necessarily love each other.

And that is ok.  We don’t live in a perfect world and not everyone will embrace around the dinner table. 

I have to remember that it is ok.

It gave me a certain insight to Lizzi’s stress this school year where her friends are concerned.  For the first time in 3 years, Lizzi had friends at school.  People who looked for her at lunch time, invited her to sleepovers, texted her 20 times a day… Some joy that we were all wondering if she would ever get to experience. 

But then some friends decided to not be friends with each other.  One friend started ‘dating’ another’s boyfriend. Some friends teased another friend. One friend started acting crazy, another friend seemed to be drifting away.

For a kid with difficulty understanding social cues, these friend dynamics are intensely confusing and more than a little bit overwhelming.  She began to feel that her little world was falling apart.  And that it was somehow her job to keep everyone together.

That’s a lot of stress to carry around.  And it really took a toll on her emotionally stability.

Teachers often comment on how much kids grow over the summer, certain that it is the summer sunshine that makes them sprout.  Lizzi seems to have topped out in the growth department but I am hoping that this summer will help her to grow emotionally. 

The nice thing about summer vacation is that the number of people you have around on a daily basis is significantly smaller.  Only a few friends together at a time — rather than a few hundred looking for seats at lunchtime — and a little more adult supervision of interactions. 

Even as an adult, managing friend personalities can be a challenge but at some point you simply remember that we are all adults and everyone will act accordingly. 

But kids are kids. And middle school is probably the hardest time in childhood. 

We have a good foundation.  That is what the last 13 years have been about.  The therapy appointments, the diet, the meetings with teachers to figure out what classroom support was required to make her a successful student. 

So now that she is doing well in the classroom, we need to focus on how to make her successful when the bell rings.  We didn’t make it this far alone and so we have started considering what kind of professionals we will need to turn to for this next stage of development. 

Now that the frantic pace of year end activities are over, it is nice to think about tackling the next challenge.  Time to make some lists, make some calls and move forward.

Summer break in T-minus…

With only a couple of days left before Summer Break officially begins, I have been making plans for how to spend the next 60-ish days.  With the girls, I have been making a list of big and small things to do with our lazy days of summer.  So far they include:

• SF Zoo
• Beach
• Great America
• Sleepover with Cathy (Becca’s friend)
• Sleepover with Cam (another friend)
• visit my dad
• hike

There’s more, but that is what I could remember off the top of my head. 

Then the other day I was surfing around Scrapbooking sites and saw a brief reference to an activity that I can totally get behind.  Daily Journaling this summer.

I have done this around Christmas time.  In fact I paid for a class by Shimelle a couple of years ago and now I get the emails every year.  She provides prompts to write from and artistic inspiration.  It makes for a fun journal even though I have never actually finished.

So this summer I think I will try to write down what we do with our day.  Some days will be fun and exciting, others peaceful and relaxing, others filled with chores.  But I think it might be fun to look back on this summer since it might be the only one when I don’t have a job. 

I will keep you informed about the progress, who knows, I might even use this little blog to journal. 

What are you planning to do this summer?

So… how is it going?

Yesterday was an elliptical day.  I reminded Lizzi to spend 30 minutes sweating and, in typical teenage fashion, she tried to come up with other (less exertive) alternatives. 

I needed to work on the Fair poster so I had no patience with her alternatives.  I shot them down and insisted she just get on the cursed machine.  On she went, but I suspect she did an easy program.  That’s OK, for right now. I just want her to do it.

How about me?  Well I finished the poster then went straight to the meeting, then came home too late to do it.  I was sure Lizzi noticed.  When I tucked her in to bed that night I brought it up.  I told her I was really proud of her for doing it, even though she didn’t want to.  I pointed out that I did not get mine done.   Then I promised to do my 30 minutes BEFORE having coffee.

You heard me.  Before coffee.

Unfortunately, I overslept so I had to make lunches and drive Lizzi to school before exercising. 

And before coffee.

I feel pretty good, I have always felt smarter when I have regular exercise in my life.  Again — why is it so hard for me to get up and do it? 

I won’t worry about that too much .  I have my motivation now.

Motivation Found

When I first became a mother, I learned that I could exist on less than 3 hours of sleep.  Even if those three hours were not in a row.  I learned that I could make dinner with one hand while soothing a collicky baby in the other.  I learned that even with diligent scrubbing, there is no such thing as a Stain-Free carpet.

A few weeks ago I mentioned here that I needed some work out motivation.  I own a very nice elliptical machine that sits quietly in my home office.  In fact, I could reach out and touch it from my chair right now.  But for months and months it has sat unused. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know that exercise is important.  I know that eating healthy is not enough. I know that I was not born with a fast metabolism and if I hope to have any level of health in the future, I need to create a healthy habit for myself.

All of that knowledge has not pushed me into regular exercise.  I thought Harry Potter would help, but, alas, even the promise of re-reading of the series has not been enough.

Then something happened that pushed me off my lazy butt and into athletic wear.  I huffed and I puffed and I did it. I am confident it will continue this time, too, because I am not doing it for me.  I am doing it for my daughter.

We have all read about the psychological health benefits of exercise, that cardio will release endorphins which reduces stress and improves mood. Lizzi needs that.  She has a tendency to perseverate on negative feelings and I am worried about where that will lead. 

Kids with Asperger’s are prone to depression.  While, yes, there are medications that can help they all come with side effects and some with warnings.  We may need to go there, but maybe not.  Since she was first diagnosied we have tried to go with a natural therapeutic approach.  Between removing milk from her diet, OT, Speech, and a focused family effort to support her she has made tremendous strides.  She has accomplished so much more than anyone thought she would be capable of.

But being a teenager is tough for everyone.  For someone with AS it is significantly more difficult.  We have have reached a point where diet and love are not enough. 

We have added Karate since that tends to build self-confidence.  Let’s face it, getting to punch a bag and yell is a great stress reliever.  On non-karate days she needs to spend 30 minutes on the treadmill. 

Needless to say, I gave her full license to nag me about getting on there too.  She likes that part.

Scott and I have always tried to be good examples for the girls.  Treat each other with kindness, have fun, hold hands and approach life with an open mind and a good attitude.  But now she really needs us to see us with exercise in our lives.

So yeah, motivation has been found.

Lunch Deconstructed

One thing I look forward to in the summer is not having to prep the lunch boxes.  There is only so much creativity one can put into a box and by this time in the school year I am feeling seriously tapped out. 

Enter the DIY lunch. 

Pre-vegetarianism, the coolest treat I could get for Becca was a Lunchable.  She loved those things, and I did let her have a thema couple of times.  But I struggled with the contents, the salt and sugar in that package.  So I struck on the idea to make them myself. 

Cheese cut in squares, lunch meat sliced the same size, whole wheat crackers, fresh fruit and a no-sugar-added juice.  Ahhhhhh …. there was much happiness all around.

Since going meat free, we haven’t packed one of these.  But today I turned the idea into something her vegetarian heart would enjoy. 

The classic PBB deconstructed.

Peanut butter, whole bananna, graham crackers. And a knife — I would not generally recommend sending a knife to school with a child, but this one is small and round like a spoon.  I also packed a cute little donut peach and some pomegranite juice. 

She was pretty happy about it this morning and I have one less day of school lunch wo worry about.

Testing… testing

I bought some cookbooks a couple of weeks ago.  I love cookbooks, but I rarely use them in day-to-day cooking.  However, I am loving using Veganomicon.  It is a vegan cookbook and so far I have had success with 9 out of 10 recipies. 

My family is tough to feed.  Lizzi has the no milk thing, Becca is a vegetarian, Scott avoids flour and sugar. Add into that the usual weekday afternoon craziness of sports and meetings …  I have had to learn some serious creativity if we are all going to eat dinner together.

Enter vegan cooking.  I KNOW what you are thinking and I completely agree, many vegan dishes are none too appetizing and rarely warrant more than side dish status.  And don’t get me started on desserts — sometimes you just want a lemon bar or a killer cupcake, for heaven’s sake.

Speaking of lemon bars — that was one of the 9 that turned out awesome. 

The authors are a couple of NY chicks who like to cook and throw parties for their friends.  The recipes are very approachable and the icons that denote recipes that take les than than 45 minutes as well as those that that contain ingredients easily found at the local grocery store were a nice addition. (there is also a section in the index that just lists the supermarket-friendly dishes!)

Tonight I am trying a muffin recipe.  The recipe is called Lower Fat Bananna Bread and I made it as the muffin variation. 

NOW — I have a bananna bread recipe that has served me well for probably 9 years.  I have made it many times and like it fine, but I wanted to try something new.  I have to admire the fact that there is a whole teaspoon of cinnamon PLUS 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg for the 12 muffin batch.  I almost always add extra cinnamon to whimpier recipes because I REALLY like it. 

The oven timer went off a couple minutes ago and my house smells delish.  I can’t wait for the girls to try them in the morning. I’ll let you know what they think!

P.S. No, I am not usually one to prep Thursday breakfast the night before.  In fact, 6 days a week the girls fend for themselves for breakfast — usually bagels and cereal.  But I had brown banannas on the counter!  My choices were to finish folding laundry or make muffins while I wait for Scott to get home from the airport.  (His plane landed while writing this post and he should be arriving in about 45 minutes!  woo hoo for short trips!)