About Andrew…

This post really should go on his own page.  Maybe I’ll move it later.  Can I do that?  Anyway;

Andrew got a new car.  He bought it with his own money.  It was a little bit of a debate – should we use that money for this car or save it for college, which was it’s purpose.  But we decided that since he will be going away to college and the Camaro isn’t long distance load ready, and he had the cash to pay for the car (no loan), and this car will last him through college at least, it was a good idea to do it.

Since we are car people and Allan is THE car guy, we always have specific requirements for a vehicle.  This car meets them all :).  (I won’t bore anyone with the list haha.)  And also important, this particular vehicle was on Andrew’s list as a car he would drive!

So here it is -

Pretty right?  1999 Dodge Avenger.  Andrew is very happy with it.  Like I said, this car was on his short list of “what I would drive if I could (realistically) pick anything”.  It was even first, I believe.  There’s a whole ‘nother “the sky is the limit” car list, of course.

It’s a little bit of an adjustment to stop driving the Camaro.  He is soooo my son.  I’d still be driving it too.  Love that car.  It wants to go!  Someday, it will have all it’s “issues” fixed and I WILL drive it again.  Anyway, there is this road.  It’s fairly new, very out-of-the-way, not much of anything on it, very untraveled.  So it’s almost a requirement to go very fast on it.  Very fast.  Even in the mini van, I can’t resist.  So even though my outside voice says to Andrew “don’t go too fast and get a ticket”, my inside my head voice says “how fast did you go today???”.  The new car has been broken in lol.

New Dishwasher!

This is my new dishwasher!!  After a year and a half of hand washing all our dishes, I bought a new one and Allan installed it, all in less than a week!  It's quiet. So quiet. I loooooove it!

I mentioned to my oldest son today that I was born when my mom was 26 and he was born when I was 26. So I am now the age my mom was when I was the age my son is now. Got that? Blew both our minds for about half a second, then I started thinking how different I am at this age compared to how my mom was. There are a lot of similarities too, but the differences are what come to mind first. I wear jeans; don't think she ever did. She hurt her back at a relatively young age and wasn't able to do much physically after that with us; I try to take walks and play at the pool. But I know she loved me just as much as I love my babies, and that is a helluva lot.

Dance Recital

Waaaaay back on June 1 (see I’m trying to catch up here) Jack and Dasha got to participate in a “Dance Concert”.  They had been active in a dance class since Aug., and this was their chance to SHINE (the theme of the recital).  I wasn’t sure how it was going to go but went to the rehearsal with high hopes.  I came home from the rehearsal with prayers on my lips and dread in my heart (that means it didn’t exactly go great).

That was Dasha’s expression pretty much the entire time she was on stage!  She just couldn’t stop looking surprised; it was really funny.  And Jack couldn’t stop looking at everyone else (maybe that’s because his genius mommy forgot to bring his glasses and he couldn’t see!).

 

(Post recital cuteness!)

The actual recital went great.  The kids did their dance (Dasha only tried to leap off the stage once!) and they received thunderous applause!  The class was made up of kids with specials needs and each child was assigned a “helper” to ensure no one wandered off  and remind the kids where they were in case they forgot :)  Jack’s helper was a special girl named Madelyn.  Yes, big sister Madelyn!  After the recital we took ourselves out to lunch to celebrate.  It felt like a special day!

Pity Party

Fun post coming up - we have a few good things to report, but today is one of "those" days and I want to get it out there; in hopes of course of finding some sympathy, support, understanding, whatever. I love my kids - all of them. Jack and Dasha have an extra portion of my being, maybe it's protectiveness, apprehension for their future, whatever, but it's different from how I feel about my big kids. I will always be so very grateful to have been given the blessing of Jackson. It still takes my breath away sometimes that my family was chosen to be the guardians of such a precious gift. I've learned so much, met so many awesome people, had so many opportunities to grow - all because of him. Even Dasha is here because he got here first. We knew he had Ds before his birth, courtesy of an amnio. I loved his baby toe gap and little almond shaped eyes from the second I saw them. We already had our adjustment period - his birth was pure celebration. He grew and met milestones later than typically developing kids but he entertained us, and was always so sweet and precious. But the other day it hit me - my "babies" aren't babies anymore. People don't gush over their cuteness as much anymore. They're 6 1/2 and 5. The delays are more obvious. I'm starting to get frustrated with things. Potty training might actually kill me. We've been working on it (really trying) for a year and a half. We've been telling Dasha for at least that long that she may not remove every DVD from the shelf every day. (She did it to books too but I actually turned the bookcase around so they can't even get to their books.) I'm frustrated with the complete lack of progress in things we've been doing for years. They ARE learning; but the things I have been telling them to do/not do on a daily basis, multiple times a day, is making me crazy. I'm out of patience, I'm frustrated, I'm tired of getting mad at my kids. I don't have friends to vent to (there are a few but none that I talk to on any kind of regular basis), my family doesn't get it, my husband is completely clueless, unsupportive, not the guy I married. He doesn't want to hear about it. He doesn't help. He doesn't try to do things in the different way we need to parent these little ones. My fb seems to be the place I feel most comfortable and even then I don't do a lot of sharing. It would be awesome to have a break, get away without the responsibility for a night. But that doesn't happen. Ever. 99% of the time I really am okay with that; I miss them sometimes when I'm gone for a few hours. But right now, this summer, I'm burned out. It's hitting me that this is reality - they need to be supervised constantly. I can't go to the bathroom, go check on laundry, or make a phone call without someone to watch them. It's hard to take them places. They run. I have to have a hand on them AT ALL TIMES. It makes something as simple as going in to buy a soda by myself with one nearly impossible; with both I don't even bother thinking about it. I may add some specific things that they do later as I think of them. I'm a bit overwhelmed wallowing in my pity party today.

Where to begin…

We had a snowstorm on Madelyn’s birthday.  Although it was a huge inconvenience, it was beautiful!

Less than a week later, Easter.

That was the best pic.  Sad.

Less than a month later, Madelyn went to prom!

Jackson’s art teacher picked one of his projects to include in the annual art show at an actual gallery :)

(His is the picture of the chicks.  They used little sponges.)

We had end-of-the school year stuff – last concerts, field trips, parties, and holy cow – Jackson had kindergarten graduation!  Cute, cute, cute!

The best teacher IN THE WORLD!!

On the very last day of school (making a very rare blog appearance) TYLER graduated 8th grade!

This means we now have a high school freshman in da house!!  Even though I don’t post much about this kid, I love him to pieces!

And coming up in it’s very own post, the Jack & Dasha dance concert!  The day after that we finally began our summer break.  Whew.

Pretty Day!

This may actually be our 3rd overall nice-for-playing-outside day! Clearly, the kids are so unhappy at being forced to be out in the sun! I guess it's time to think about shorts and sandals and *gasp* swimsuits!