Someone turns ten

Today is the tenth birthday of my little guy. For a while we convinced him he had outgrown presents, then we convinced him he had only one. I thought it was funny - he did not! 

He wanted wonder woman waffles for breakfast and so that's what he got,. Next on the agenda was swimming at the multiplex. He had a great day - and got to wear his new orange dirt biking gear! 

School is in session

School is back in session and we have moved the kids to a different school this year. It was one of the most difficult decisions to make, but I am glad we chose to. Max is doing so well, better than he has done before. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for my number two boy. He has never liked school and it was a HUGE struggle at the end of last year to get him to class every day. He was absolutely miserable. Well he is just as miserable, only older and acting out more. Thankfully this school is dealing with it phenomenally and his teacher and two of the school aides are away today and tomorrow in training specifically to deal with him. UNFORTUNATELY they have asked us to keep him home the next two days because the sub teacher simply cannot deal with him. I am at a complete loss. I have no idea what to do. I don’t know why he is acting out – and since I have no idea the origin of his loathing of school I feel helpless in finding a solution. All I know is that it is hard. Hard on him, hard on us, hard on the teacher and the aides in the classroom. I hope we find a solution soon or its going to be a LONG year.

12 of 12 : April

On the 12 of each month I try to take 12 photos throughout the day. For some reason today I didn't take twelve? I am not sure how that happened - but here are the ones I did take.

Max took some sidewalk chalk from Easter and drew some lovely pictures on the side of the house. A lovely greeting to visitors!

 

CJ found a mask. My superhero.

 

Momma Shel brought the kids hula hoops. CJ is a star! He can hula hoop like a wild thing and he loves it. He can even multi task and watch tv at the same time!

 

The baby has decided she likes the toddler bed.

Unfortunately, the one whom the bed was purchased for ( but has never slept in it one night in her life) has decided that now the baby likes it - she likes it also!

 

Foot comparison time. Me and minion 4.

 

Story time. One sacked out completely on her official pillow.

 

Puppy nap time.

Trying to keep these two off the couch is a joke!

 

Since I didn't take 12 photos on the 12th, here is one from the bus yesterday. I am REALLY happy that the sun is up now and that the snow is gone, but the mornings are still really cold. Bring on summer!

 

Prayer

My daughter has a problem with her balance. She falls over constantly, from simply standing still she can fall. She falls MOST often out of her chair at the dinner table. Last night was no exception.
She fell out of her chair just before we said our nightly family prayer - in which I speak and she copies what I say. This is how the prayer went immediately after her tumble.

Me: Creator
Daughter: Creator
Me: Thank-you for this day
Daughter: Thank-you for this day
Me: Please help me to stop falling out of chairs.
Daughter: Please help mama Ju to stop falling out of chairs.

Needless to say the prayer ended shortly thereafter since I got the giggles.

Note: I have never fallen out of my chair

Thursday Thirteen: Mycobacterium Avium Complex

You may wonder why I am writing about this – so here is an explanation. My beautiful, spunky, 3 year old niece has been diagnosed with MAC. I last saw her in November of 2013 when we were in California . One afternoon we took some time away from the events of the funeral which brought us together and we went to the beach. It was her first experience seeing the Ocean. She was SOOOOO excited. I held her hand as we walked down the stairs. With every step she squealed “let’s go!” We had a great day at the beach and she LOVED the water. She loves being outside and playing and so her getting sick has caused a huge shift in her world and in the world of my sister and brother in law. I went online to find out what I could about her diagnosis and today I am sharing what I have learned. (My sister has written on her blog all about the experience they are going through so if you are interested in hearing about all this in her words you can link to her blog HERE)

1.       MAC (Mycobacterium Avium Complex), is an atypical mycobacterial infection which can occur in the later stages of AIDS.

2.       MAC is related to the tuberculosis germ, but is not contagious. This would explain why my niece had a positive tuberculosis test.  I never quite understood why she had a positive tb test, but now I do!

3.       MAC organisms can be found virtually anywhere in the environment. They live in water, soil, foods, and a variety of animals. As a result, it is difficult to avoid coming into contact with MAC.

4.       MAC USUALLY this affects people with the later stages of AIDS or people who are old and have weakened immune systems. Try looking for information on MAC for children. It is insanely uncommon and finding out information on children with MAC is extremely difficult.

5.       Here is some of the information I found online about MAC – which will illustrate how frustrating this process has been for my sister and brother in law : MAC pulmonary (lung) disease’ major susceptibility risk factors depend on which of the two types of disease are present. For nodular disease the risk factors are being Caucasian, female, average age between 60 and 70, and having bronchiectasis. The most important relationship in women is that of bronchiectasis. For patients with MAC upper lobe cavitary disease, the major risk factors are being male, average ages between 50-60, heavy smoking, and often-excessive alcohol consumption.

Obviously my niece is neither a female between 60 and 70, nor a male between 50 and 60. She is not a heavy smoker, and her alcohol consumption isn’t excessive. DUH. She doesn’t consume alcohol!

6.       Fever is the main symptom of MAC, along with night sweats, chills, weight loss, muscle wasting, abdominal pain, fatigue (often caused by anemia), and diarrhea.  These symptoms in a little girl obviously are debilitating. She obviously does not have much weight she can afford to lose, but she is in a lot of pain.

7.       MAC can also cause enlargement of the liver and spleen, as well as the lymph nodes. This is how it was diagnosed in my niece – who had one of her lymph nodes so completely destroyed by the bacteria that the surgeon didn’t even think it WAS a lymph node when he removed it from her body.

8. As the bacteria spread through the body and affect different organs there are obviously different symptoms. It usually doesn’t spread from one organ to another, but in my niece’s case it is spreading or was beginning to spread. My sister has to watch for things like vomiting, diarrhea (which she got) and a cough – which would mean it has spread to her lungs.

9.       It  is possible to prevent MAC from causing disease and symptoms in HIV-positive people using drugs (prophylaxis), a type of prevention that is almost always recommended for HIV-positive people with compromised immune systems (less than 50 CD4 cells). Again and unfortunately, my niece is not in this category of patients. It makes her treatment insanely difficult.

10.   If an HIV-positive person is diagnosed with MAC, he or she may be required to continue therapy for life. This is necessary to prevent MAC from returning. At this point we don’t have any idea how long the treatment will be required for my niece. She has started the treatment and she is reacting well after the first week.

11.   MAC must be treated with a combination of antibiotic drugs to maintain control over the infection.

12.   Side effects of the medication taken to kill the bacteria can include nausea, headaches, vomiting, and diarrhea. Blindness may also occur as a side effect to the medication. The side effects to the bacteria are almost as scary as the effects of the bacteria itself. Obviously we don’t want our little angel to go blind  - but nor do we want the bacteria to shut down all of her organs.

13. Here is a photo of MAC bacteria under electron microscope.

Transitions - FAS

One of the things I posted about in an earlier blog on FASD was “transitioning” – moving from one thing to another. Transitions happen all day, every day without us even being aware of it. We transition from sleep to wake, from bed to breakfast, from breakfast to the bathroom, then to work, then from task to task at work... you get my point.  Some people on the FAS spectrum have difficulty transitioning from one task to the next.

For example, I am a follower of time. So I would prepare the kids to go to bed by saying – it is bedtime in ten minutes, it is bedtime in five minutes, it is bedtime in one minute, it is time to start heading up the stairs to bed now.  While this “preparation” - letting everyone know that the transition was coming up – helped for some of our kids, we still had one that would start to cry, no matter what, every night. Did I mention EVERY NIGHT? Sometimes transitions cause tears, sometimes tantrums, sometimes complete nuclear meltdowns. It was frustrating for me because I like SMOOTH transitions and I was using a tool that I felt should work for everyone. My spouse – in all her infinite wisdom – one day pointed out to me that my transition process, though it seemed like it was natural to me, was unnatural to the child who was melting down because we had started a video (another part of the night time ritual) and the video had not come to a complete end. While I viewed the announcement of time intervals as being helpful, it still seemed unnatural to our one child because the show had not ended. I have had to adapt my preparation for transition to bed.

Another of our children has difficulty with transitioning from being on the school bus to being at home. It is a long ride, he is hungry and thirsty and tired, and the rules of the bus and the rules of home are different. On a daily basis he would fall apart before even making it to the house. One thing that we have made readily available is a snack for the kids IMMEDIATELY. They need to have their sugar levels raised ( kids on the FAS spectrum burn more sugar than other kids – which is a post for another day) but having that increase in blood sugar levels is CRITICAL to us at that time of day to assist with that transition.

Unfortunately, not every kid has difficulty with every transition and not every strategy works for every transition, and then to further complicate matters, not every strategy is successful every time – even if it has been successful in the past!

What I need to remind myself of is that it is not my fault that the kids are having meltdowns. It is not my fault that the kids are having trouble with transitions. It is not my fault, and it does not make me a bad parent. It isn’t about me! It is only my responsibility to not get upset and to continue to look for ways to assist in easing the transition.  I had to remind myself of this last night. Our kids had been at respite for a few days. Although the break is needed to recharge our batteries, the transition for the kids from being at a respite provider to coming back home is fraught with tears, and tantrums.  We sometimes skip the respite so we can avoid the transition!
I went to pick up the kids and I was VERY happy to see them. I missed them a lot. Some of them were thrilled to see me. One of them was not. He was mad, he stomped his feet, he yelled, he said unkind things. I reminded myself he was struggling with the transition and I spoke to him quietly. I told him I loved him no matter what and that I was sad he was not happy to see me (he said he wasn’t) and that I was always happy to see him and to have him come home. He even let me hold his hand as we drove home.

He was still mad, he still stomped his feet and said unkind things, BUT I was able to handle the transition better because I didn’t get upset that he was not happy to see me. I had to keep an internal dialogue goin, I won’t lie. I want the kids to be happy to see me, but I need to understand that it is not something they are in control of, and if I get upset about it the situation does not improve!  Sometimes I do better at this than others. Last night was a particularly good night for me because I was remembering these things and trying to put them into practise, but believe me we have had some UGLY homecomings where I felt like the kids were better off to stay in respite if they hated coming home so much.

This morning his transition from sleep to wake was a great one and he was happy to see me this morning. So all is good for now – until the next transition!

Letter to Max (7 years 6 months)

Dear Max,

Hey big guy. It's past time for me to be writing another letter to you. I thought I would attach a photo I took of you today. The sun FINALLY came out - the last week the temperatures were the coldest I have ever experienced with the wind chill factor.

Today the sun came out and the temperature is above zero.
You are outside on the big pile of snow Ben made for you in the yard sledding in your shorts and slippers! Funny Guy. Have I told you lately that I love your beautiful smile?





Earlier this week you were at horseback riding lessons and Mama Shel texted me and said you were wearing size 9 men's boots. I was shocked - because that's the size I wear. I decided to check it out when we were home together and I got this shot of our feet. YIKES! Your feet ARE as big as mine laddie - and you are SEVEN years old. Holy moly. ( I also love this photo because it shows how much the puppies love you. This is Flames at 3 months old)



You have done a couple of things recently I wanted to write down so I don't forget. I was in the grocery store with you and your brother. He and I were playing in the cart and you told me I was being embarrassing to you in public! I have a feeling that your brother and I will be a source of embarrassment to you a lot as you grow older unfortunately.

In the same grocery store visit in the check out line you were standing too close to the woman in front of us. I explained to you that you were in her bubble and needed to step back. You came and stood by me and put your hand right on my boob and asked if you were in my bubble now. I couldn't stop laughing, and yes, you were in my bubble!

One of the ways I know you are growing and maturing is the way you are playing with your brother. You used to get so frustrated with him using his imagination because your world is so black and white. This week he was dressed, as usual, in his Iron Man costume and you got dressed up as a dragon and played with him! I was listening to you talking to him and you make me laugh. You don't like it so much when I laugh, because you haven't figured out yet that I am not making fun of you (we will keep working on it) so I don't laugh out loud when I am with you, but Bud, you are a funny guy. You called out to Iron Man to come to you in the kitchen and he replied "Just a minute" to which you responded " You can't say just a minute when you are Iron Man, it could be an emergency!"

I just want to remind you that for as long as you live you are welcome to be in my bubble. I love you my son.

Rest your head, close to my heart, never to part, Baby of mine.

Love Mama Ju

Riding lessons

Recently in our small community an opportunity has presented itself for us to get riding lessons for the boys. They have ridden horses before with friends, but never taken any kind of formal lessons. In a small community options for recreation are limited (unless we participate in hockey - which we currently don't). We were thrilled with the chance and signed them up immediately. True to form, our eldest is not interested at all in getting onto the horse, but he was willing to go into the arena and LEAD the horse (or "drive it" as he says). Our thrill seeking younger son was excited to go and at the end of his first lesson his only complaint was that he didn't get to go faster! He has had two lessons, and we have signed up for more. My hope is that the eldest will decide at some point he wants to participate but in the meantime we will let him "drive", and that's ok!

Letter to Max 6yrs 7 months

Dear Max,

 

Gosh it has been so long since I wrote you a letter, I have fallen down on the job.

After this weekend I knew I needed to sit down and write to you. You are growing so fast it is ridiculous! We sat down this week and compared the size of our feet. Mom's friend suggested that maybe mom has small feet but I don't! Your feet are HUGE! We have to buy you ANOTHER pair of indoor shoes for school already. I'm pretty sure you will be the tallest person in our family, and I think it will happen soon.

 

You are so kind, and so gentle, and so thoughtful it makes me proud to be your mom. You came into the room this morning and the first thing you said to me was "Happy Easter Mom." Mama Shel and I lay in bed listening to you play with the little ones. You are such a good big brother. I know we tell you this all the time but it is true! You always include the little ones when you play and you make games that everyone can join in on.

 

You love to cook and clean and work on projects and you have set up your own little office in the room upstairs with all your things.

 

Since the weather has FINALLY improved you have been outside riding your bike almost every day this past week. You already have a five speed bike! You love to ride and you have even gone outside ALONE to ride. This is so amazing to me because for so long you would not do anything without having either Mama Shel or I in your sight. I think you were four years old before you ever went around the house out of our sight even when we were outside with you!

 

I can't say enough how much your mom and I are proud of you.

 

Did you know that there were people in this world who tried to tell me and Mama Shel all the things you could never do? They told us you may never ride a bike. They told us you may never learn to read or to write. Even this year at the beginning of grade one they told us that you would only learn "living" skills - like dressing yourself - and not things like spelling or math. Boy, have you shown them! You are a funny kid though, you brought home a spelling test this week and didn't even show it to me or Mama Shel. You are still the same quiet, shy boy you have always been and don't like any attention drawn to yourself, even if it is hugs and kisses for doing so well on your spelling!

 

 

 

When I came to the school the other day I saw this letter you wrote about the Leprechauns and took a photo of it. I think it is a perfect example of how generous you are and how you think of others.

My baby boy, My Miracle Max. It is hard for me to see you grow so fast. I want to keep you small and protect you from all the hard things that are out there in the world. I want you to have a wonderful life full of success and it is hard for me to let you go, even in the small ways I have had to do already.

I love you my son, more than words will ever express. You will keep doing amazing things, you will keep showing the people who say "you can't" how wrong they are - no matter if it takes longer for you to get to your destination. Your mom and I will always be here, we will always love you. One day you may even decide you want to sleep in your own room and not on the floor in our room. I will be happy for you on that day. I will be happy for me and mama Shel because we will be able to get up in the night and not have to walk over you to get to the bathroom. I also know that on that day I will be a little sad that you have grown up even more, and I won't hear your breathing as you sleep so deeply. I love the sound of your breathing, it makes me happy to know you are close.

Rest your head, close to my heart, never to part, Baby of mine.

Mama Ju

365/17 Aunty Brenda

Try this: make a list of 365 people whose names you remember and who were interesting to you. And then, if you can, write down a few words about each of them before they're gone from your memory. If you can't do this, it might be wise to spend the next 365 days meeting more people in person who are interesting to you. Learn their names.


My Aunt.

Here is the thing about Aunts that makes them extra special. They aren't mom's. Now don't take that the wrong way, but mom's have this role in life of you know, PARENTING you, so they have to do things as you grow up that you don't like. For your own benefit of course. Aunts don't have to. They stand apart in this other zone where they can love you but the love is special because they can always see the very best in you. They have a barrier to the negative and the conflicts that arise between kids and parents. They have a special place.

I was born and raised in Zimbabwe. When I was born the country was known as Rhodesia and there was a civil war going on. My dad was in the army, my parents were newlyweds, and my mom worked. What this translated to for me as a young child was spending a lot of time with my Aunt and my cousins.

My mom tells stories of how I was so attached to my aunt that on weekends when I was with my mom if we happened to run into my aunt in town at the grocery store I would scream and cry and want to go with her. As a result of my very poor behaviour (shame on me), my mom and aunt would make sure they scheduled visits to market to avoid one another and the scene I would inevitably cause.

I have a very close bond with my aunt. I love her deeply and she loves me. When we moved to Canada she wrote letters and on every birthday she would send a red ribbon with my age. I loved these ribbons. When she and her family moved to England we would stay with them in our cross-Atlantic trips. She made Christmas tree decorations with me. She taught me how to cross stitch.
When she moved to California and our family was finally settled in Canada I would spend summers with her in Azusa at the "Rainbow Angling Club" which she managed.

I was a bed wetter late into my teens and I remember one summer when I was staying with her that I had an "accident" one night and she had the mattress out on the deck drying and my clothing in the washing machine. A vendor that she worked with in the housing complex arrived to meet with her and do some work. Her office was in her unit and the vendor came inside. As he walked into the unit there must have been an overpowering smell of urine and he took it upon himself to draw her attention to the "HUMAN URINE" smell that was assailing his senses. She insisted it was not "HUMAN URINE" but cat urine and that she was taking care of it. He tried and tried to convince her it was not feline in nature and repeated the phrase "HUMAN URINE", loudly, over and over and over. I was in the house and could hear this conversation. I was absolutely mortified that this man was going to charge into the house and sniff out the smell of urine on me and reveal my deepest secret and worst nightmare. She was having no part of it. Once he left and it became obvious to her that I was upset by the interaction she turned the situation on it's head and made the vendor the brunt of a joke with his extra sensory perception for sniffing out human waste. From that day to this we have ever referred to him as "Human Urine." Her dedication to me and to my protection, both physical and mental was made evident.

When I went to university in Utah I would take every opportunity to travel to California that I could, often leaving with people late on a Friday and returning on a Sunday JUST to spend time with her.
She has a love of animals and people that knows no bounds. She is a tireless worker and CONSTANTLY thinking of others and how she can help them. She looked after my grandparents in their last years, moving in with my grandmother and selling her own house to do so in order to provide the kids of support my grandmother needed in her last years.

She has made blankets for my kids which to this day are Maxi's "special" blankets. She is a seamstress extraordinaire. She wanted to send me some mumu's (which I love to wear) but couldn't find any when she shopped for them and so she told me she was going to make me some after Christmas.

A few weeks ago I called to talk to her to ask her if she could help me with the 100 days project for Maxi's class. She went out the very next day and sent a HUGE amount of stamps for him to use. She said in that phone call she was feeling under the weather and hadn't had a chance to make my mumu's but was planning on getting to it as soon as she felt a bit better.

She has cancer. Aggressive Cancer. We only just found out about it - in fact only after she mailed the stamps to me did we realize how sick she was.  Maxi's project was due on February 11th or 12th and she mailed the stamps a few weeks before then, so it has barely been a month - if that.

She is so weak she cannot stand. She has needed huge amounts of blood and the doctors are having a devil of a time to get her blood regulated so that the chemo will work. The mess up with her blood is leaving her weak and disoriented and she can't really talk on the phone. The cancer is in her lungs, lymph nodes and lungs.

I feel selfish for thinking of myself right now and probably look selfish for saying so, but I am not prepared in any way to face the loss of someone I love so much. She may recover. She may beat this thing. I hope and I pray that she does. I'm writing about her as one of the people in my 365 project - to write about someone you find interesting before they fade from memory. I know this much - she is more than interesting she is amazing AND though her body is failing her right now, SHE will never fade.

I love you Aunty Bren.

hotel room and city lights

 

A lady who was once our foster care support worker suggested that when we go to the city we stay at Coast Edmonton House. They have full kitchens completely stocked and with all of the eating quirks with our little ones it suite us to be able to cook if we need to.

 

Shel does not like to stay on any floor above the third but she was a trooper this time when they booked us onto the 31st floor. Up we went.

 

We LOVE staying here, but it is expensive. Here are the boys checking out the city lights at night. When they are on the balcony checking out the lights it is one thing, when they are throwing things over it is quite another. You'd think we were raising country bumpkins or something. 

 



 

Obviously the kids were super hungry. CJ and Jumping Bean had to use two spoons to eat their macaroni soon after we checked in.



 



 

Max and CJ SCORED with a king sized bed in a room of their own. They were super excited to get into bed but when I woke up both of them were in bed with me in the other room and the other king sized bed and Shel had this one to herself. They like the IDEA of things, but when it comes right down to it they want to be with us.



 

 

 

I never thought I would say this but having a television in every room is a dream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day in the hospital

We have been waiting a LONG time to get these MRI's on the kids. It feels like forever.

I would normally not even consider travelling to the city in the winter but we were able to get all three appointments scheduled for the same day and changing the appointment would mean waiting another six months or more so we just needed to suck it up and go.

 

All of the appointments were scheduled for different times beginning at 7:45 so the kids were supposed to stop drinking fluids at different times starting at 5am. We decided it would be easier if no-one had anything to drink so we just packed up and went to the hospital first thing in the morning without food or drink for anyone.

 

The U of A hospital is something else to navigate. The parking levels are 1-5, the hospital levels start at zero. The pedestrian ramp from the parking lot into the hospital leaves the parking lot at level four but enters the hospital on level 2. There is an MR research center and an MRI center and the two are not the same thing and both are on different levels. I parked on level 2 in the parking lot and had to take an elevator to level four to walk across - note to myself for next time - park on level four!

 

I had dropped Shel and the two little kids at the door and had the two big boys with me. We got into the hospital and took the elevator to level 0. We walked around on level 0 for quite a while. We were in the DREGS of the hospital. We passed shipping and receiving with huge pallets, we were in VERY dim hallways with barely any light, we saw people prepping meals. The boys were interested in everything we passed so I pretended we were right where we were supposed to be! Eventually we found an elevator and went to a different level and came to the place we were supposed to be. The nurses were ready for us and started getting everything ready right away. They asked if I wanted to go into the MRI room with the kids and I said yes and had to fill out a form. Apparently because of my tattoos I am not permitted into the MRI room. Shel is not permitted because of her previous surgeries. This meant we could be with the kids in the recovery but not in the actual MRI.

The baby was given a mask for anesthesia, as was CJ. We told Max he would get a mask also but apparently because of his size they said he needed a needle. Poor kid was VERY distressed over this. I still don't quite understand because I could swear that as an adult I have had gas for anesthesia before so his size shouldn't matter?



 

 

There were no pajamas in Maxies size so he got to wear a gown. 

 



 

There were pajamas in CJ's size but he wanted absolutely NO part of them. He was upset from the minute the nurse put freezing gel on his hands and he did not want to be in the hospital at all. He has never read "The Boy in The Striped Pajamas", so I don't know why he didn't want them on!

 



 Once he was dressed he calmed down enough to make me a snow angel on the hospital floor.

 

The next part of the day was the most stressful. When they are stressed the boys want their moms. Which one they want depends on which on e they have - they usually want the other! We were trying to trade places to be with whomever wanted us at the moment but with three kids all getting anesthetized and then coming out of anesthesia it was quite difficult. Of course Max was upset at getting a needle and when he woke up he just cried and cried and cried. He also didn't feel well physically and was as white as a sheet the rest of the day. CJ woke up a lot easier than Max but he never did get over his frustration and was grumpy and stamping his feet. I don't know why but Shel deals better with the crying and I deal better with the foot stamping!

 

 Once all the kids were out and dressed we were able to leave. Even getting out of the hospital was a palava. CJ wanted to ride in the glass elevators and then play with the toys he could see through the windows. I was so hungry I could not take another step without getting something into me, we had not had anything to eat or drink all morning either. Jumping bean and baby didn't have boots on so they couldn't walk out into the parking lot to get the car. All in all it was a very stressful and emotional day that I am glad we will not be repeating :)

 

 

family photo

My mom was here with us for a week and we had an AMAZING time as we always do.

While she was here we had scheduled some family photographs. We don't have any family photos of the four of us and we have been saying forever that we need to get them done but for whatever reason it has not come together until now.

The whole thing was a fiasco.

We thought we scheduled a full session with a photographer, but she had us scheduled for a Christmas mini session. We thought we got a print as part of the package but we didn't. We asked for them to be taken inside but she said her inside studio was a mess and that she had a place set up outside where we could go that was sheltered from the weather (It was -26 degrees). The kids FROZE. Her house backs onto a main road and in the background of some of the photos are cars driving by. She thought she could use the photos in her online portfolio but because we have foster kids she cannot - and I think this is why we didn't get what we thought we were getting? We picked up the disk from her and when we opened it the first group of photos were COMPLETELY out of focus. The really good photos were in black and white and we wanted colour but she said we didn't specify colour and she edited them to look what she thought was the best.

I guess the moral of this story is - ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS PEOPLE! If you don't like something (like the location of the shoot) then I recommend cancelling!

At the end of the day there are one or two usable pictures and we now have a photo of the four of us.

Here is one for your viewing pleasure. (with a car in the background!)

looking back at baby photos

Max has to do a collage for his class that is all about him. He has to include a photo of his family, his house, himself as a baby and some of the things he likes to do.
Shel and I have been looking through photos of him as a baby. It is hard to believe he has grown so much. DANG he is a cute kid!
Here are some of the photos we have come across of him that I just LOVE and have to share.

C is for cookie

The boys like nothing better than being creative. Sometimes this creativity involves a hammer and sometimes it involves markers and the walls of the house (unfortunately). Since Max is learning to speel we are finding evidence of his spelling mastery all over. He thinks I have supernatural powers that enable me to know where he has been and hwat he has been doing. I hate to disappoint him and tell him it is his own name in marker that leads me to my deductions.
This weekend they were all about making cookies.
I pulled out a recipe book and managed to find a recipe that we had all of the ingredients for and so we made cookies. It was a lot of fun and even Rescue puppy got involved.

After  I was all done with the dough Max took it and played "bakery" by himself. He set up the cook book and his own little kitchen. Surprisingly clean up was not so bad  - I had cookies to bribe him with!

Helium Shortage

Have you ever heard something completely bizarre and just accepted it at face value? My oldest turned six this month and I stopped in at the local "dollar store" (which actually sells absolutely NOTHING for a dollar - I looked) to pick him up some balloons. They boys love balloons and we always get a helium one for birthdays.
After I made my selection the girl who was assisting me told me that there was a worldwide shortage of helium and that as a result the cost of helium balloons in the store had increased to EIGHT dollars per balloon. HOLY FRIJOLES BATMAN. EIGHT dollars. This is MORE than double the cost.I decided to go ahead and get one helium balloon and four filled just with air so I was still taking some home.
It didn't make sense to me that the world would be short of an element - my understanding of high school chemistry taught me SOMEthing - but who am I to say if there is a shortage of helium or not? So I paid the price for the balloons.
As I walked out of the store the wind caught the balloon bouquet in my hand and blew them into the door. The helium balloon popped.
OF COURSE it popped. Well there was no way they were replacing it and no way I was paying another 8 dollars for a balloon, but I was slightly skeptical that simply touching a door was enough to pop a balloon that wasn't defective or overinflated - but whatever.
It was frustrating that I had just released a balloon full of precious helium into the air for no good reason - I didn't even get to suck any and make my voice sound like a chipmunk, but I still had balloons so it was good enough. As I got into the car and put the balloons into the car another one popped. Nice.
When I got home and took the balloons OUT of the car ANOTHER one popped. So I started out with five and before I even got to see Max I was down to two.
I took them inside and gave them to him and instantaneously another popped. These are balloons filled with AIR we are talking about here. I have honestly never known balloons to pop so quickly. I think the shortage in the world is of good latex balloons, not helium. In any case, the popping balloon scared Max and he didn't even want to hold the one remaining one long enough to get a photo taken of him with his balloon bouquet. CJ played with the last one for a minute or so and then it also popped. Shocker.
Needless to say I will stick to blowing up balloons myself . I consider myself and expert since I blew up a million balloons (by MOUTH) when I was a Carny at the Minnesota State Fair one summer.
AND I googled the great helium shortage to determine if it is in fact a true story or just a way for the "dollar store" to gouge me further.
HERE is some info if you happen to be interested at all.

Big Foot

This week a monster truck made a stop in our town. We took the boys in to check it out.

They were fascinated and we spent a good deal of time watching the man work on it, but the show was not until late in the afternoon. We were keeners and we got there RIGHT on time for what was advertised, but the advertisement was a little confusing about the times of the show.

I think the boys were thrilled with what they saw but I was disappointed because they didn't get t-shirts or see the truck in action.

There's power in advertising correctly people!

 

 

The truck was not the only big foot on location.

 



 

hot days

Other people, in other places on hot days do things like swim, play in sprinklers, drink iced tea or lemonade, or sit and swing in the shade.
When it is hot where we live, the boys decide it is a perfect time to paint their toy boxes (translation: paint one another).As the obliging parents we are, the toy boxes get dragged outside and the painting begins.
We start with Maxies because he chose the color green. This WAS meant to be the paint for his bedroom, but I have a feeling once we are done with the toy box there will not be enough paint left for the bedroom renovation. When I say "we" I mean the boys. Momma Shel and I are not invited to this painting party as anything other than observers.

 
 

Max doesn't know how he "accidentally" painted CJ's head. 

Oh, did I not mention we paint naked? It IS hot don't cha know?