The heat is here

and I hate it!!!! Never happy am I ;)

I'll tell ya, it's been busy, busy here. We just finished two weeks of a non-stop vacation. First on Aug 3, our friends from Ohio (waves hi to Bannon and family) were up for a week. Imagine, 4 adults and 4 kids in a 1250 sq/ft house with only one bathroom. Yes we are insane, but a fantastic time was had by all. We visited Riverside Park (twice), had Maddy's birthday party at Swiss Chalet, went to the Ontario Science Center, Halton County Radial Railway Museum, the Fergus Scottish Festival and a Toronto Blue Jay game, plus rode a Go Train & subway, saw a working railroad turntable (that was cool!) at the old roundhouse in downtown TO and the men bought Steam Whistle beer. That was the first week.

Second week we went camping. This was one of the first times I was ready to pack it in and head home early. The campground was mud, all mud. Since it has rained so much this summer, nothing has had a good chance to dry out so about 2/3 of our campsite was un-usable. And of course Kenny + mud/puddles = one hell of a mess. Didn't help that a thunderstorm went through after we got there, soaking everything, again. And the mosquitos were horrible. We went through 2 1/2 cans of OFF spray and they were still biting. But we stuck it out, the weather improved (no rain anyway) and we managed to go swimming two days in a row. Course packing up with the ever present mud was fun. Our blue tarp, was black. This stuff clung to everything. I do have to say that camping during the week is so much better than on the weekends. Quiet, no neighbours, no loud thumping music, it was so nice.

Came home on Friday cause we thought Booga had her last soccer game. Nope. Not Friday. So a disappointed little girl played without getting her medal to show off and brag about. But Saturday was Dudes last game. He played with his usual flair.


Yes, that is him laying down, covering the goal. That's my boy :)

So what do you give a group of 3-6 yr olds after playing their last game of soccer? Well Timbits of course........


And there is my son, with the chipmunk cheeks as he tries to get as many as possible. And finally what does getting a medal mean without showing it off and making older sister jealous.....


You can't see it, but the pout on her face was priceless! She was so ticked that she didn't get her medal first. She is certainly making life interesting.

Now, have I mentioned how well his OT is going? We are on a steady time (that will change when he starts school again) and he loves it. The 'play dr' (as Kenny calles her) has managed to get him to write some letters!!!!!!!!! Real letters!!!!!! From the alphabet!!!!!! We have never seen him write anything without us holding his hand and guiding the pencil and even then you could barely make out the letter he was attempting to write. And he will actually sit down and listen to her. Really. Honest. Yes he tantrums alot still, but she can talk him down and calm him quite quickly. We are very happy with her. She is a very remarkable lady.

Well that is all for now. We are waiting, not so patiently I might add, for the thunderstorms to start. I'm kinda hoping they don't as we still have the tent set up in the backyard to clean it. I just want it dry so it can be packed up and put away till next time. So to all, later gator!!

Oh wait, I forgot to mention we got his bloodwork back and his iron and white blood cell count was low. So at some point soon we have to get it redone. Sort of verify if they really are low or if that was just a temp thing. At least there was nothing more serious. Thank God for that.

Getting sick of the rain.

How bout you? It's hard to plan any outdoor activity with the threat of rain almost every day. But on the days that are sunny we do manage to get out and enjoy.



This was taken July 4 at Port Maitland, Lake Erie. It was a beautiful day, not to hot, not to cold. And the sunset was fantastic.



And remember keep your eyes open for fun!

Wow, July 1 st already

Where does the time go? And why is it going so fast?

So, a couple of updates on our little house of horrors. My wonderful oldest has moved, yet again. Although this is the first move in 2 yrs it doesn't seem like it has been that long. So she is now on the east side of town almost directly across the road from the old provincial jail. She finally asked for help on Monday, knowing she was moving Wed. Typical eh. I will give her some credit. She did have stuff packed and had a truck on reserve, but everything else was true to life for her.

I won't comment on the condition of the apt she moved out of. How she can live like that is well beyond me. But it is her life, not mine and I can't (won't) have that here. She wouldn't be willing to live with our rules anyway so that is a useless point anyway I guess.

I'm guessing she is settled into her new home. We haven't heard from her yet, so I'm guessing (no, hoping) that things are going well for her.

Now on to Duders. We think we have found a therapist to work with him for 1hr a week. Not much, but at $40/hr it's the best we can do right now. I'd heard some really great things about this lady from a few people around town. I got really interested when a lady at the local toy store started singing her praise. Well, low and behold, this same therapist was having an open house/bbq at her parents farm and we decided to meet her and see how Duders interacted with her. He seemed quite taken and she was so full of energy it was almost scary! We definitely liked what we saw, liked the range of autistic children/adults she works with and liked the way she got down to Duders level and let him lead the way. So we will see how that goes. He still needs a lot of help with fine motor and socializing. Eating is a disaster, writing is, well a few scribbled lines, if we are lucky and he still needs constant watch and reminders that he is not the only one and has to wait his turn without hurting others. Makes it so much fun in a crowd, let me tell ya! But I'm hopeful that this will start to change for the better.

We are still waiting for the blood results. Our new appt is July 20. After that I'm considering trying a gluten free diet for all of us. Boogabutt's allergies are getting so bad, the poor kid is constantly suffering now. Will that make a difference for her? Who knows, but I gotta try something. We have definitely noticed a huge difference in Dudes behaviour with no chemical additives or preservatives. He has calmed down so much. Impressive to say the least, and scary to think of what they are putting in kids food.

Now on to a funny note, I stopped a runaway horse today. There were three girls riding the local trail through one of the local conservation areas. They had stopped to get a drink and give the horses a bit of a rest when the youngest one jerked his head, yanking the reins out of the riders hands and took off toward the kids and I. Not at a full gallop but a fast trot with the rider chasing on foot and one other rider starting the chase on her horse.

I'm tellin ya it's quite something to see a large horse running towards you with no rider in the saddle. He did stop easily enough for me. So that made it easy to return him to his owner. The kids were in seventh heaven to be that close to a "real live biggie horsey" :) And then they got to pet two of the three horses. One was so big, Dude could run right underneath without ducking. And yes I know that was dangerous, but you try to catch him! All three riders were extremely apologetic and very grateful for the quick catch and return of the horse. One said that happened before with another horse and it took 3 hrs to catch it cause no one would stop to help, just spooked the horse more when they started to squeal. Poor thing. So that was my good deed for the day I guess.

Now for the rest of summer. Hopefully I can keep both young ones happy and entertained!

Getting along for once.

I think this picture speaks for itself.

The last day

Of school that is. Bittersweet. On one hand I will enjoy not having to rush my two slow-pokes out the door, but on the other, now I no longer have any kid-free time.

Kenny is not taking it well. A conversation from this morning...
K -"I go see Mrs Thomas's class today, right Mommy?"
Me- "Yep"
K - "Today is my last day" (said more like a statement than a question)
Me - "Yep Dude, it is".
K - "No"
Me - "Sorry buddy, it is"
K - (getting visibly upset now) "No, I said no, listen to my words!"
Me - "I'm sorry dude."
K - "NO" (screams this at the top of his lungs) and then breaks down in tears.

Not a good start to our summer vacation. When I went to pick him up, his helper (a special ed teacher with trained experience) said he hasn't let her out of his sight. No not just out of sight, but has been bugging her to carry him on her back all day. He would not let go of her. We were supposed to go to the park for an afternoon picnic but with sever thunderstorm watches and warnings out and rain on and off, they cancelled that and had the picnic in the classroom. Poor 'S' just couldn't catch a break from him.

When it was time to go outside, 'S' took Kenny for a walk, just the two of them. You could see how much she is going to miss Kenny over the summer.

Now I know our school system is not the best. It has many flaws, but one shining star in the county board is VT and the staff there. They are some of the bestest teachers and volunteers going, hands down. But still, it's going to be a long, long summer.

Sometimes...

my middle daughter really amazes me.

Yesterday was her last day at Sparks. She is moving up to Brownies in Sept and the Sparks troop had a graduation ceremony for the 5 girls that moved up. During the potluck her and another girl were arguing about the balloons and who gets to take them home, so I'm figuring on a hassle when it's time to leave.

After cake and some running around time, the balloons are handed out. Pink for the girls who are staying in Sparks for another yr, orange for the girls that are moving up to Brownies and some blue for any extra kids (ie siblings). No point to the colours btw.

Anyway, as we were getting M & K in the van one of the younger Sparks comes out crying. Dad explained that her balloon had popped and she was devastated. So we asked Kenny if he would give his blue balloon to the little girl. Nope, not happening and I'm not surprised. But then Maddy piped up and offered her orange balloon to the little girl. Shock!

To say that I'm very proud of her for that is an understatement. It's so nice to see her act in such an unselfish manner. Now that might change after an unscheduled meeting with her teacher tonight...........

A good day

With the way things are going right now, I'm going to take things one day at a time. Maybe even go to one hour at a time. But not today. It was great.

We went to Halton County Radial Museum on Guelph Line, just south of Rockwood. Rob says he was there yrs ago with his Dad, but no one else. Of course Kenny loved it. Looking at old streetcars, riding them, including a trolley that was built in 1892 and was orginially pulled by horses. NO. 327 is now enjoying a 20 minute trek back and forth at the museum. They have done a beautiful job in restoring it, along with a couple of other cars.

Anyway Kenny had a wonderful day. He was so excited to be there. It was hard to get him to sit longer than 20 seconds. Lots of hand flapping and spinning, not to mention echoing. But no big potty accidents. Which I didn't think there would be, why you ask? Cause I remembered to bring his knapsack with a couple of changes of clothes and pull-ups. So of course no accidents. You only do that when Mommy forgets to bring the knapsack.

Wonderful day. Thank Goodness for these.