How happy am I?

Just made my March calendar. Yeah, that's a good day.

But here's the real reason I'm happy. This hug was one of those moments where I wish I had the power to freeze time. I didn't ask (or beg, or plead, or anything like that) them to hug like that for a picture. I just happened to have my camera with me when they did. I just love them to pieces.

Climbing!

Despite the reappearance of snow over these last couple days, we managed to have a fantastic weekend. Satuday Kent was gone all day to watch wrestling (Congrats Lo-Ma on an amazing victory!). I was trying to think of something fun for me and the kids to do and my dad suggested we go to Climb Iowa for the day. We got an early start because the kids have been getting up insanely early lately. Add to my list of reasons why I can't wait for spring: the time change. Their 5:45 wake-up calls will be much easier for this mom to handle when they come at 6:45 instead.

Anyhow, so the kids, me, Ama (that's what the kids call my mom. Kael had a tough time saying "Grandma" when he was little, as most kids do. What he said sounded like Ama, which is the Spanish translation for "she loves". Cute, right? And so very fitting.) and Grandpa headed to Climb Iowa and got there before it even opened. So, we had to go kill a little time at the Target down the road and stumbled upon the cutest little storytime! There was a lady in Target wearing a Cat in the Hat-type hat reading Dr. Seuss books and handing out little treat bags to the kids. Love when stuff like that happens!

Back to Climb Iowa and I wasn't sure what Kael would think. But he suited up in his harness and was ready to go! At first, he had as much fun falling as he did climbing. But he quickly got the hang of it and I was impressed at how high he could climb! Especially because I'm a teensy bit scared of heights- he definitely didn't inherit that trait. At one point he did say, "I sure wish Rob or Chad were here to help me." Chad and Rob are some pretty tall guys- Kael was thinking that if they were there to give him a boost he'd be about halfway up the wall before he had to do any real work himself! Nice thinking Kael- work smarter, not harder! :)

And I'm free, free-fallin'.....

Here it looks like he has hit a bit of a "wall". (I know, I know....way too cheesy. Couldn't help myself.)

Kylee wanted to try the climbing wall but was too young. She seized the opportunity to show off some tumbling moves on the big mats.

Sure enough, Kael was so excited about climbing that he really wanted to go back today and show his skills to Kent. So after lunch we headed there and spent the afternoon climbing again. This time I let Kylee do a little bouldering (yeah, I know some climbing terms ;). and Kael got even higher up the wall today than he had yesterday! Kent got all the way to the top which was fun for the kids to see.

What a fun weekend! Trying new things can always be difficult for Kael but leave it to my dad to think of something Kael would love so much! Thanks Dad!

Organizing- Part II

In an attempt to organize our schedules and not just our stuff, here are a few things that I've done:

Even Kent has admitted he appreciates our family calendar. He and I are much less likely to forget things when they're posted on this big calendar in our kitchen. Naturally, it's color coordinated (Kent, Laura, Kael, Kylee) so it's easy to determine who has something going on that day. I secretly REALLY look forward to making our calendar each month.

The following is not a great picture because it's in our hallway (very difficult to photograph!), but this whole system never fails to keep us on track. The kids like taking turns being "Weather Watcher" and "Calendar Person". Kael has a thermometer in his room that he can check every morning and this is SUPER helpful because we went through a phase when summer changed to fall, then to winter and Kael was still hanging onto those favorite flip-flops. We almost didn't trick-or-treat last year because he was adamant about doing so in his flip-flops. We now have a system where I have listed out all possible temperatures and each temperature corresponds with either Cold, Cool, Warm, or Hot. There are rules about what can be worn for each temperature. For example, on a "Cold" day you must wear a winter coat, hat and mittens. On a "Warm" or "Hot" day you are allowed to wear flip flops. Things like that. ASD kids really benefit from very specific rules. The amiguity of "it's kind of cold today, wear a jacket Kael" is tricky. Outlining what is expected from him makes it much easier for him to follow the rules.

It seems like an extra step to have a "Days of the Week" sign when we also have a calendar. But the simple act of moving the "Today is" sticker helps Kael remember things like, "Oh, it's Tuesday- I need to wear P.E. shoes". He is making serious strides towards independently getting himself ready and his backpack packed for school.

You'll also notice I adopted the magnet system from Kael's kindergarten teacher. (Again, sorry for the picture- it's really difficult to see. It's there on the far right starting with red on the bottom and purple on the top. Kael and Kylee each have a name sticker; they start their day on green and can move up or down depending on their behavior.) We used it a lot at the beginning of the school year but haven't needed to use it as much lately. A simple, "What choice should you make if you want your magnet to stay on purple?" usually leads the kids in the right direction. Once summer rolls around and there is lots of free time I anticipate we'll need to start using it again.

Organizing

We spent yesterday afternoon organizing the kids's rooms. Basically we moved some furniture around, put some old toys away and brought out some new ones. At Christmastime Kael and Kylee are blessed with so many toys, books, and games that I always stash some away and the kids inevitably forget about them. Tell me you do this too? It never fails that about this time of year the newness (is that a real word?) factor of their Christmas toys has worn off and it's too cold to spend much time outside. So, I pull out some "new" toys and they have a blast! Today I got out a new doll and doll clothes for Kylee and a Neft dart gun game for Kael. Fun!

Here's Kylee's room:

Kael was really excited about his "new" room, which surprised me. By definition of his diagnosis he can have a very hard time with change. I wasn't sure how he would take it that everything in his room was moved around. We let him make some of the decisions about where we would put things and I think he felt like a pretty big deal. After he woke up this morning he said, "Actually I just want to go back and relax in my new bed in my new room". As far as I'm concerned, that's the perfect way to spend the day off of school.

Plenty of room and equipment for rocking out:

Cozy, right?

I bet you didn't know....

....I eat Wheat Thins with Laughing Cow chesse at about 10:00 every day. Every. Single. Day. I am literally crushed if I find out we have run out of either one of these two things and can totally justify a trip to the store just for that item.

...I don't typically shower every day. Unless I go running (in which case, I do shower but please refer to my previous post of having only run about 5 times this year), I don't really get dirty. My kids are growing up- I'm not getting spit up on or anything, or changing icky diapers. I'm sure I used to shower every day. Maybe after studying in Spain (we were not allowed to shower more often that every other day) I started showering less frequently. Plus it's really better for my hair if I don't wash it every day. Don't be grossed out! The showering, the shaving, washing and detangling of the long hair...it's just a lot of work! (T, I know you're with me on this one!)

....I LOVE to peel oranges but almost never eat them. It makes my day when the kids choose those little clementines for lunch because then I get to peel like 4 of those suckers! There's something totally therapeutic about getting every last bit of that white stuff off!

....I don't want anything in my coffee. No creamer, no sugar, no flavored syrups...just black, brewed (not instant), fully caffeinated coffee thankyouverymuch.

There ya go. A little bit more about me. :)

Speaking of Spring...

...I spent the day driving around town with the windows down and the seat heaters on. Come on, tell me you're doing it too, right???


...I was outside shoveling water and started to get hot. I took off my jacket off (tank top underneath) but kept the stocking cap on. Shoveling water in and of itself is weird (we get HUGE puddles on our sidewalks- the the kids try to ride their bike through them and they get allll muddy) but doing it in a tank top and a stocking cap must have had my neighbors thinking I was crazy.



....it's time to lighten up. Kent and I went out for a nice dinner last night and after I had finished all of my fettuccine alfredo and asked the waitress to refill the bread basket a couple times she finally said to me, "Wow, I'm impressed!" as in, "Wow, I'm impressed that you can eat so very much food!" Oops. That was slightly embarassing. So I guess it's time to start switching pot roasts, chili and heavy stews out for some grilled chicken and steamed veggies.

Spring Fever

Last night I enjoyed Margarita Night at Dos Rios with some friends. Kent had a great night at home with the kids but reported that they both missed me at bedtime. I'm sad that they were sad, but it is nice to be missed. :) In fact, one time when I was tucking Kael in I was talking to him about how I wouldn't be around the next night and that Grandma or Grandpa would be tucking him in. Without missing a beat, he replied, "But Mom, I like you the best". Talk about an ego boost!

This warmer weather has totally gotten me in the mood to start cleaning out closets, do some spring shopping, organizing, etc. Kent, always the rational one in this relationship, reminded me that it is, in fact, February in Iowa and there is a pretty good chance there's still at least one good snow storm left this season. (He, of course, is right- we ALWAYS get one more big storm around Girls State Basketball tournament time). What if I pull all of Kylee's sweaters and things and store them away for the winter then what will she wear to school when these 65 degree temps don't last? Darn. Guess I'll have to wait a few more weeks to organize and undoubtedly by then I will have lost the motivation to do it!

I am so happy about these unseasonably warm temperatures that I have been back to running outside. I'm not sure how often you have to run to classify yourself as "a runner" because I've officially run 5 times in 2011. But I do enjoy doing it. I ran almost every day last fall through December but have taken a break for January and most of February. For some reason I just can't bring myself to go to a gym. I just don't do gyms. I should. I should run, and lift weights, and maybe yoga, or Zumba, or something....but that's not for me. There are tons of great jogging paths around my house and the kids are getting old enough and fast enough on their bikes to go along with me when I go running. A little sidenote on running- I think I run a little bit faster and a little bit farther in my favorite running clothes. I have this purple Fila thing (that I love, love, love) with the cute and very practical thumb holes and a little spot for your iPod cord to run through (which would be lovely if I did listen to music when I run, but I don't). The whole point of this story is that one day I was wearing my high-tech gear and feeling quite confident when I dropped Kael off at school because I was planning on running shortly thereafter. One of the boys in his class stared me up and down, clearly unimpressed, and said loudly, "What are you wearing that for?" Oh kindergarteners. Gotta love their honesty. That sure won't stop me from wearing it, but it will stop me from wearing it when I drop Kael off at school.

A couple nights ago we went to State wrestling. Kylee had never been there before and was in awe of all of the people. The kids didn't watch much wrestling but did enjoy the largest bag of popcorn I had ever seen. You'll notice Kylee looks really happy in this picture- like she's really having a good time. Shortly after this picture she scoots up onto my lap and whispers dramatically in my ear, "Mommy I really hate it here." Oh I laughed so hard. I responded by saying, "Me too Kylee, but let's not tell Daddy because he really loves it here and he would be sad if he thought we weren't having fun." She smiled knowingly, like girls do when they have secrets. And she never did tell Kent.

As we were leaving wrestling, Kylee perked up again as she noted, "Mom there are people walking around with little umbrellas in their drinks!" I told her that if she wants to come back next year I will absolutely buy her a drink with an umbrella in it. And you better believe the next morning when she woke up I had some orange juice with a little umbrella and a pink straw waiting for her.

Kael landed on purple yesterday which essentially means he was good at school all day. The kindergarten teachers have a brilliant magnet system where all the kids start on green every day and they can move up or down depending on their choices and actions throughout the day. Purple is the best and if you land on purple you get to choose an item from the treasure box. These heart shaped sunglasses might have topped Kael's list of Best Treasure Box Prize Ever.

Right now

What I'm eating: a Twix from Kael's Valentine candy stash. The chocolate candies aren't his favorites. Lucky for me. :)

What I'm listening to: a little something called "Mosty Spanish and Nadas" that my sister burned for me approximately seven years ago. It is amazing. A little bit of Enrique in "No Apagues La Luz" followed immediately by "Dancing Lucinda". As far as I'm concerned it doesn't get much better than that. Memories of college, studying abroad, and fun times with my sister are flooding back.

Where I'm going: meeting up with my favorite little man for a lunch date today. As far as Kael is concerned, it doesn't get much better than chicken noodle soup day at school. Can't wait to join him.

Valentine's Day

I had so much fun with Valentine's Day this year. We made some fun crafts for the kids' teachers. Thanks to the dollar bin at Target we made gifts for four teachers for less than five bucks! I volunteered at Kael's Valentine's Party yesterday which I am so glad to be able to do. A room full of kindergarten kids all sugared up is never a dull place to be!



The highlights of the party for Kael were this cupcake topped with mountains of frosting, and being the first one to get a Bingo. :)

Here's Kylee making heart-shaped Goober jelly (for those of you not familiar- because I wasn't until very recently- that's the stuff where peanut butter and jelly come all swirled together in a jar). What's not to love about that?

Another reason Valentine's Day was extra fun this year was because it's one of my babysitting kids birthday's. I always like to do something fun for birthdays but this year got a little hectic. I ran to Hy-Vee hoping for something cute and I was SO pleased to find a lady standing right in the front of the store next to a huge sign that said, "Have me personalize your Valentine cake!" so I asked her if she had a little heart shaped cookie cake and had her write Happy Birthday on it. Sure enough she pulls out a freshly baked cookie, write on it with some frosting and in five minutes and about five bucks later I walked out with an adorable cake for the birthday girl. Did I mention I LOVE a good deal?!

And can you believe my good luck kept on going as I walked out the door, the Starbucks gal was handing out free samples! As I lifted the cute little cup to my lips I said, "What kind is this?" and she said, "Peppermint Mocha". Oops. My good luck had run out. I really really can't stand anything minty. Since I had already started to take a drink I did was any logical girl would do. I said, "Yum, thanks!" then as I walked the rest of the way out I licked the chocolate drizzle and whipped cream off the top and dumped the rest in the trash (at the gas station! I didn't want to dump it in view of the Starbucks girl!).

Later Kael and Kylee opened some gifts from us. We don't really do big gifts but it's fun to have something for them to unwrap. Here's a few things we got Kylee. And yes, that is a heart shaped cutter for PB & J's. For Kael we got a Cars umbrella and a game.



Kylee, after reading a Fancy Nancy book about getting glasses, has been begging me to take her to the eye doctor as she is just certain she must need glasses too. I am hoping these funny glasses buy me some time until she realizes they're not the real deal.

Kent and I promised to not get each other gifts so naturally I got him these boxers that say "Caution: Contents are Hot". He's such a good sport. :)

It's Valentine's Day. Wine is mandatory. :) Kent and I enjoyed these chocolate covered strawberries and raspberries in front of the fireplace after we had tucked the kids in. Kent I am so happy you will be my Valentine for the rest of my life!

I hope that you all spent your Valentine's Day with those who make you feel the most loved.

Wrestle Mania

See how much Kael loves wrestling?! Kylee wasn't about to miss out either. Thanks Uncle Kyle for letting the kids wrestle you instead of me!

Weekend Wrap-Up

It's one of Kent's favorite times of the year- wrestling season! It's almost embarassing how little I know about wrestling considering Kent loves it so much. I do at least sit in the room while he watches it- that counts as being interested, right? At least Kael loves it. My not-so-little boy is trying to wrestle me all the time and now he's so much stronger than me that I don't have a fighting chance against him! Anyhow, Kent's busy watching Iowa right now and the kids are watching Despicable Me (a Valentine gift- thanks Grandma!).

We had a great weekend- I picked my parents up from the airport on Saturday night and was there in plenty of time. :) A couple years ago they were coming home from somewhere and the kids and I were going to surprise them at the airport. We were running a tiny bit late but were there by the time the plane was supposed to land. Evidently, the plane had landed early and I was waiting and waiting for them at the airport and they were already back in Ankeny! It's kind of funny now, but it was not very funny to me at the time. The kids had made cute little Welcome Home signs and they were all dressed up (this was quite a task- Kael was probably 3 and Kylee was pretty little)....I couldn't believe we had missed them. I still don't let Kent tease me about it.

We spent a lot of the weekend enjoying the weather. We tried a new place out for sledding and some kids before us had made a pretty cool ramp. Kael of course thought this was fantastic, but we were pleasantly surprised that Kylee wanted to try it too! She's starting to get so brave! They loved it. Then we built a family of snowmen (who am I kidding- Kent and Kael did all the grunt work of rolling the huge snowballs while Kylee and I cheered them on).
Here are a couple pictures of my cutie-pie Kylee's Tumble Tots class. Dance was fun last fall, but tumbling is definitely more her style. She's can do a pretty nice bridge for someone so little!

The other day I said I would post my weekly taxi schedule. I joke about it, but really I love being able to be the one who takes and picks up my kids from school. All the running around I do - I wouldn't trade those extra moments with the kids for anything in the world.
Monday
7:35- R arrives
7:45- take Kael to school
10:30- E arrives
11:45- take E to Prep
1:00- Kael has speech with Mrs. Grimm
2:30- pick E up
2:55- pick Kael up
3:05- A, K, B arrive

Tuesday
7:35- R arrives
7:45- take Kael to school
8:45- pick G up
9:00- take Kylee, R, G to Prep
11:15- pick Kylee and R up
2:55- pick Kael up
3:05- A, B arrive

Wednesday
7:45- A, B, R arrive
8:35- take A and B to Ashland Ridge
8:45- take Kael to school
9:00 Kael has speech with Mrs. Grimm
10:30- E arrives
11:45- take E to Prep
2:30- pick E up
2:55-pick Kael up
3:05- A, B, K arrive

Thursday
7:35- R arrives
7:45- take Kael to school
8:45- pick G up
9:00- take Kylee, R, G to Prep
11:15- pick Kylee and R up
2:55- pick Kael up
3:05- A, B arrive

Friday
7:35- R arrives
7:45- take Kael to school
9:45- Kylee and Ryan library storytime
10:30- E arrives
11:45- take E to Prep
2:30- pick E up
2:55- pick Kael up
3:05- A, B, K arrive

Thankful Thursday

This sunshine is awfully deceiving. As I look out the window on a beautiful, bright day I feel like my mood should match. It doesn't. Here's how my day started. (Actually let's rewind to last night....)

Kael was all tucked in bed, just like normal, around 8:15 last night. By 9:30 he was awake. He was kind of crying so we thought he'd had a bad dream. We talked to him for a little bit, tucked him back in. Over the next hour he woke up three more times. We checked his temperature, asked him if he felt ok, and overall he seemed fine. I decided just to lay with him until he fell sound asleep. It wasn't until 2:00 that he actually did fall asleep.

I had full intentions of letting him sleep in this morning and taking him to school an hour or two late to make up for the lost sleep last night. But he woke up at 7:00 like he usually does so off to school he went on only about 5 good hours of sleep. Poor guy!

For those of you who aren't familiar, not sleeping well is highly characteristic of ASD kids like Kael. I might write more about this, or maybe not. It's just not something I talk a lot about as Kael is so very "borderline". Most people who know Kael, but don't know that he has an autism diagnosis are literally shocked to find out. His official diagnosis that we received in Iowa City in June of 2009 is Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Anyone who has questions or comments on this, please feel free to e-mail me as I would love to elaborate/clarify/discuss, etc.


Moving forward....I get up this mornig and the first thing Kent says to me is, "It looks like our water heater had a little bit of a fire this morning". In a sleepy daze, I mumble something really intelligent like, "Ok honey" and went about my morning routine of packing lunches, getting kids dressed, etc. It's only later when I go downstairs and smell the gas and see a bit of black smoke around the water heater that I understand the severity of the situation. I turn it off completely, call Kent and he assures me that he has already secured someone to come look at it later today. The guys we use for our plumbling/electric have been getting some pretty good business from us lately!

So next up is school and preschool drop-offs. (Someday I'm going to post my daily routine so you can all see how I am basically a taxi service!) We have such a fantastic routine- all the kids know which door they are to get in, which seat is "theirs" and how to buckle themselves in. Our routine is nearly flawless, thanks to the double sliding doors on my mini-van. (I'm a tiny bit embarassed at how much I love my mini-van. I don't think I would love it as much if I didn't babysit, but nonetheless, I do appreciate its functionality.) However, today the door on Kylee's side was stuck in the locked position. The automatic lock wouldn't unlock it, nor could I manually unlock it. GRR! It sounds so silly but it takes seemingly forrrrevvvverrrr (yes, I'm quoting The Sandlot here) to load four kids with only one working door!

Why is it that all these crazy things happen when I'm going on so little sleep?!

Here's the good news (and the reason for the title of this post):

Kylee is at her Valentine's Party at preschool right now so she will come home with a bag full of candy which will put her in a wonderful mood. That girl has such a sweet tooth.

There are rumors of 50 degree temperatures in the 7 day forcast. I might have to dig out the capris.

Thursdays happen to be my favorite day of the week. I love Thursdays. It's like the weekend is almost within reach. Kael wakes up on Thursday mornings and says, "After today, only one more day of work (school) before the weekend!"

I am so so very thankful that no one was hurt in the water heater situation this morning. And I'm particularly thankful for a husband who takes care of these types of things while my pre-coffee brain is still trying to even figure out what he's talking about.

Now that I've written all this, the sun is still shining and it is, after all, my beloved Thursday so my mood is beginning to change. Or maybe the coffee has finally kicked in. :)

What are you thankful for today?

Snow and Superbowl

We had such a fun weekend! Instead of writing, I'll just let the pictures show what a great time we had.

This Packer snowman is for you Grandpa Terry! (My dad is a Packers fan but he is in New Zealand right now so we even though we are typically Vikings fans, we were Packers fans yesterday!)

The top picture is of Kylee helping me make a fruit pizza for our Superbowl party. She loves to help me in the kitchen! Other than that I was too busy enjoying the company (oh, and the game I guess ;) to take many pictures. Good food and great friends make for a fantastic weekend!