For the love of god. Not again.

O. but YES.

Today is day one. I flailed, jumped and crunched. Fear did not leave my body, it’s here and ready for tomorrow morning when I try to move.

I am going on a “mini-vacation” in a few weeks and wouldn’t you know, the thought of getting dressed up and going to dinner ALONE with my sweetie was enough for me to locate my MOTIVATION, it was RIGHT THERE the whole time.

I just had to move the jellybeans to locate it.

For the love of.. DOGS?

I am digging deep for my 30 posts in 30 days.

I WAS going to write about how I cried like a baby when Robert, a CERTIFIED SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST, took the time to write such a lovely comment on my Aiden’s Graduation from speech therapy post. But, I’m still weepy about it, so I will save it for later. (DAY 20? )

Today on the eighth day of April in the year of 2010 this post goes to the dogs..

First up, the canine that lives with me, the one who would not have made it thru her second year if not for the invention of the wireless fence. Her name is Sadie Muffin. I’m not sure who exactly gave her that last name, but it stuck. She was supposed to be 17 –23ish pounds according to the cracker jack staff @ the shelter, and yet here she is weighing in at around 45-50 pounds.  She is cute, we will keep her, bonus! she hasn’t bitten any of my children (and drawn blood) and she loves to fetch.

Next up, Riley. He is my “dog-nephew”? and lives 4 miles away. My youngest children have a problem pronouncing his name. Riley has been morphed into: LI-Ree, Rwaly, an RiLIE. Whatever, he does not care. He came from a Rottweiler rescue and is part Rottie & part Shar-pei. He was a little HIGH-STRUNG, but has managed to calm the hell down and enjoy the ride at Spa Chesley. Recently he was diagnosed with the worst case of Hip dysplasia our local vet had ever seen. He is fortunate that he wrapped himself into the hearts of my sister and brother-in-law, for they embarked on the first of two surgeries to replace his hips. ($4,000. OMIGOD DOLLARS?, yes, DOLLARS).  He is so not going to dog college.

Saving the oldest for last, my other dog nephew is TUCKER.  He joined the family when I was pregnant with Emily and sometimes I get sappy when I look at pictures of him as a puppy and I’m all “with child”. I was HUGE. He was LITTLE.  I like to think we have reversed those titles. He is 7 years old and takes his role of “Grumpy OLD Man” very seriously. When Sadie or Riley try to play he growls and let’s them know that CRAZY will not be tolerated. He will snarl and show his teeth so none of those damn puppies do any of that unbalanced “fun”.  He would be so bored with out them.

And so ends this branch of the Family Tree: Dog Edition.

Maybe tomorrow: the FAMILY CATS!

I love my computer.

My 4 year old desktop died in January.

It was a horrible and gut wrenching moment to realize that it wasn’t going to start up ever again. I have an external hard drive so I didn’t lose any pictures THANK GOD. But it had been my best friend for 4 years and I felt NAKED without it.

We had talked as a family about the logistics of having only one computer and 5 people who usually want to use it at the same time.  We had decided to look into purchasing two. We settled pretty quickly on an Emachine Desktop for about 400 dollars. This computer is used for mostly internet surfing and word processing for homework by the 15 and under crowd. It was a price I felt comfortable paying knowing that at anytime my click-happy son could download a virus and fry the hard drive.

For the past 7 years I had a desktop in my room. It allowed me to shut the door and work and when I had insomnia, I’d have easy access to it at any hour with out waking the family. For the last year I have felt that I was missing out by always being in my room without the rest of the family.

So. I really wanted a laptop. But I had LOVED my desktop. But I wanted mobility. I waffled but just KNEW I’d love it and would get used to it. Mobility won. THANK GOD.

This is my new baby & I love it.

I’m able to make movies, edit pictures using PHOTOSHOP (which is a HUGE program) and work at the SAME TIME. 4 years is a long time in computer land and I was working with such outdated hardware it would always freeze and crash

One of the main reasons loved my computer is this:

  

Baseball season has started and usually I’d be in my room and my DARLING HUSBAND would be in the living room. BUT NO MORE! I am currently sitting on the couch listening to the game, typing and getting a nice foot massage.

On the never ending “will Michelle stay on her diet and stop stuffing her face with Jelly beans” topic:

I’m going to test out Jillian’s Extreme Yoga, just to mix it up. 

I’m holding steady at 133 pounds, but I was 130 a few weeks ago and ice cream weather is HERE so I need to be careful.

Look INTO MY EYES..

I love eyes. Especially the eyes of my children. 

They all have beautiful eyes.

I search for the best lighting to bring out the color when taking a picture.

Pioneer Women put out a Light Action for Photoshop Elements that adds light and makes eye color pop.

It’s my favorite.

Nicole has greenish blue.

Emily’s are bright pale blue..

Aiden’s are light and seem to change color depending on his shirt.

Manic Monday

Good Day.

Happy Day.

Got a lot done day.

Tomorrow is Aiden’s last appointment with the Special Education Dept.

At age 2 he was diagnosed with a significant speech delay & low muscle tone in lips and tongue. We had him tested by a Dev. Pediatrician, Speech Therapist and Pediatric Psychologist as a group. His level of delay was in the Medium range, while Emily had been considered Severe.  He was my only boy and as much as I hate to say it, boys are “different’.  His gross motor skills are off the chart and  he tested in the high intelligence range.  We had started teaching him sign language at about a year old.  We would sign the word and say it. He had voice inflection down pat, could mimic the cadence of speech, but speaking total gibberish.

His very first speech therapist was Jen. She had been Emily’s speech therapist and had known Aiden since he was a year old. He gave her a run for her money. Sessions were an hour long, he would spend the last 15 minutes messing with her.

Aiden met Jessica when we moved to our new house.  He was 2.5 and LOVED her. She was “Sessica” and she drove a white car, EVERY time she came to our house he would point to her car and repeat “Sessica’s CAAAA”. Her sessions were also an hour long and she focused on getting him to SLOW DOWN. To focus on WHAT he was saying. To say the WHOLE word and not just start the word and vomit out an ending. She put peanut butter on his upper lip and tried get him to lick it off. To do this lip and tongue muscles are engaged. Aiden was a drooler. A champion drooler.  Spit would leak out of his mouth and down his shirt, or on you. By the time he turned 3 he had MOSTLY stopped the drooling and was working on just the articulation of most words.

At age 3 he started Pre-school and had speech with Marybeth 2 days a week. “Maribef” was patient with him. His Teachers at Pre-school were great with his personality.

At some point in between age 3 and 4 he really seem to “get it” our focus shifted from speech to reigning him in. He lacks impulse control is LOUD and BUSY and has NO FEAR.

I worried for him when he was younger that he would not be able to be understood by his friends, that he would be made fun of or give up trying to communicate if he wasn’t understood. I worried and worried.

He is him. He is LOUD. He is TALKY. and as of tomorrow he is a SPED Graduate.

Easter PART II

Early morning pancakes made WITH LOVE from Uncle Randy.

Homemade maple syrup + forbidden coffee creamer + raiding Christopher’s Easter basket =

DIABEDIC COMA

I was not mature in any way with my candy consumption.

This is why there are 4 canker sores on my tongue.

They hurt like a bastard and will most likely involve me NOT EATING tomorrow.

FEAR NOT! I will not waste away to nothing, because I also ate a bucket of fruit and cheese BEFORE dinner. Then Dinner. Then Cake.  I KNOW.

It was so nice out. I was able to steal Casey’s camera and got some nice shots of all the kids.

Aiden: Strawberry boy

Christopher James the last Nephew Standing.

Nicole: my oldest BABY

 

Emily Princess FANCY

On the 3rd day of Easter…

K. So we kinda are pretending that today is Easter.

Yesterday Dan and I had a very loud conversation in front of our small children that we were so excited the Easter Bunny was coming tomorrow. Since Dan has to work on Sunday, the Easter Bunny is coming to our house EARLY.  Emily gave me a long hairy eyeball, but figured she had nothing to lose so she accepted it.

It’s been a crazy work week. I have a lot of hours to squeeze in before Fake Easter,Real Easter and my Dad’s birthday party. So ANYWAY, here are some pictures of Ghosts of Easter’s PAST.

Easter Mask: Happy Daddy & Easter Creepy Bunny

Uncle Randy shows her how to DO IT UP.

 

Cousin Kurtis had to go and GROW ALL UP and JOIN THE NAVY..

Ahh.. My BABIES. Such good chicklets..

2008 still, back when they were MIDDLE group. Now they are the BIG KIDS.

PS. Christopher James, I do solemnly swear I will NEVER ask you to awkwardly put your arm around your cousin for any more photo opportunities.

It’s FRIDAY Flashback: April 2003

 

I found these pictures when I sorted all by April and I knew this had to be my flashback.

I remember this storm, the snow only lasted a few days but April? 

Crazy Coco.

Her name is Coco and from far away, she is great!

She is a neighborhood dog. The dog everyone plays with and spoils with treats.  My children referred to her as KooKooo.

She goes to Casey’s house for play dates with Casey’s 2 dogs and she runs around the house and smashes into things (and people) it’s GREAT. She has no problems taking me out at the knees or jumping up and letting her claws rip down my leg. Again, from FAR AWAY she’s a great dog!

Casey took this picture and I played around in PHOTOSHOP with the color. Her eyes are downright creepy, but it’s that tongue that will give you nightmares.  

It’s April 1,2010. I am going to do my best to do 30 posts in 30 days.

It’s ALMOST springtime and I’m ready to get outside, take pictures and write about how much weight I’ve gained lost!

It’s day one and all I got is the dog who lives next door to my sister and promises that IT WILL GET BETTER.

Hopefully by DAY 15 it will be much more interesting!