Two weekends ago, I flew my two middle kids (MJ & Rob) back to Pennsylvania to visit with my sister - the awesome Aunt Cheryl. They are having a fabulous time swimming, playing, and being thoroughly spoiled. (Woe is me when they get home!)
The night before we left for PA, we had some fun with Anna . . .
While they've been gone, I've been absolutely amazed at how clean my house has stayed . . . by the absence of fighting, yelling, and sounds of feet clomping up and down stairs . . . and by how different my two other kids have been acting. It's been a revelation of sorts. But still, I can't wait for them to get home. Anna, in particular, is really missing Rob. She's been having a hard time going to sleep at night without her cohort to talk and sing songs with until finally conking out for the night.
While the kids have been gone, I've been working on my Teaching Special Spirits project. The deadline is coming up quickly! Whew! I've also been editing some manuscripts and reading for blog tours. Quite enough to keep me busy - thank goodness I've had less cleaning to do!
The really fun part about Aunt Cheryl vacation time, is the extra time my hubby and I get to spend with Isaac. Since we have fewer kids, we get to do more fun stuff Isaac loves to do. We've been biking every day. Our new favorite route is the Indian Creek Trail. We've been there several times now, each time biking a four-mile route. We hook up a trailer on the back of either my or John's bike for Anna. She totally loves it and sings songs the whole time. Isaac really likes this trail. Big News: Isaac finally got his training wheels off! Hip-hip-horray for Isaac!
Monday and Wednesday, Isaac got to go on some really fun outings with the Olathe Special Populations Summer Camp. Tuesday was scouts. John and Isaac went to Den meeting together and learned about the American flag and the Kansas State flag. Wednesday and Thursday, Isaac's reading tutor came over. His tutor also happens to be his former third-grade teacher, Mrs. Fiscus. She is totally awesome and Isaac adores her. Apparently Anna thinks she's pretty great, too. She never lets other people hold her!After reading tutoring, Isaac's autism specialist, Miss Jill, called me. We've had her family over for dinner a few times. She called to see if we'd like to go to the Deanna Rose Farm together. Isaac thought that sounded like fun, so off we went! Here are some fun pictures of our adventure together.
John took the day off work on Friday, so we could spend one whole day doing anything Isaac wanted. That morning, we went on a four-mile bike ride on the Indian Creek Trail. Then we went to McDonald's for lunch. After lunch, we attended an early showing of Kung Fu Panda. This was Isaac's second time seeing Kung Fu Panda, and he still busted up laughing through most of the movie. John and I enjoyed it. Even little Anna laughed during several scenes. It was totally fun. Afterwards, we stopped by Payless Shoes and got new sneakers for Isaac.
Ironically, I think Rob's sneakers are exactly the same, only smaller in size. I'll have to check when he gets back from Pennsylvania. Anna got new shoes too. Aren't they totally cute?
After shoe shopping, we ran to Papa Murphy's to pick up some pizza. Yum, yum. Then we watched Harry Potter 4 & 5. Yes, both of them. This week, we finally watched all the Harry Potter movies 1 through 5. It was quite addicting once we started the marathon.
Let's see, that brings us to Saturday. Thank goodness, Saturday was a bit more laid back. We did some cleaning, some laundry, a few errands, and attended a church picnic. Isaac participated in a kids bike parade. It was really fun.
Isaac all ready to lead the bike parade.
Doesn't John look totally handsome in his Cub Master shirt?
The Webelos made a banner for the parade. John and Kason held the banner to start the kids off.
Are you dizzy from our crazy week yet? I know I am. And I'm just giving you the highlights!
Sunday, we got to relax and recover. Then today, Monday, Anna had her 17 month check up. She's still a teeny tiny little thing, weighing in at only 17 lbs 15 oz. But she's 30 inches long and her head still measures in the 50th percentile. So that's all good. She scored really high on her gross motor skills, fine motor skills, speech, and socialization tests. She tested between 20-22 month age level. It's always fun to hear she's doing well - even though she could really stand to gain some weight.
This now brings us up to date. Aren't you totally thrilled you got to hear what we've been up to? Probably not. You're probably ready for either a nap or some chocolate. I vote for chocolate. I wonder if we have any Peanut M&M's left???
