Monday of Spring Break 2012

The day didn't start off as I planned. The kids and I slept in until 8:40. This is a rarity for us! Most days I would be thrilled I got to sleep in so late but I wanted to leave by 9 to meet a friend and her family. I had to cancel on her which was disappointing. I got the kids dressed in their swim suits rather than regular clothing because they had swim lessons at 1. They adore their swim coach/teacher but for some reason decided they did not want to go swimming. They complained for over an hour about going to the pool. Alex didn't stop complaining when we got to the pool and Lane claimed that she was scared.

Two hours later, no one would know our morning was filled with complaints when they were splashing happily in the pool with their friends. Ah, I thought the day was salvaged and we could move on. In my mind, this is a precursor to our humid and hot summer days. I took the kids to get a snack and headed home. The complaining started again. I told them that it needed to stop or they could sit on their beds until bed time. Up the stairs we went so the kids could get changed out of their swim suits. Alex said that he was going to to the play room to play with blocks. Gabriel followed him. Great, I thought as I helped Lane with her duplos. Not so great was when I heard Gabriel call my name followed by Alex telling him "Don't tell Mom. She will stop us." This is what I found on the wall:

My 5 and 7 year olds painted on the white wall. Lane chanted: paint on paper, not on the wall! Thankfully it was kids paint. Unfortunately, it took over half an hour to clean the wall. Gabriel was very angry that I didn't keep his painting on the wall. I patiently explained that if he used any of the paper in the bin, we could keep that art work. Please, please, please let this NOT be a prelude to our long summer!

100 days of school - Alex and Gabriel

Alexander brought home an assignment to glue 100 things to a piece of paper. I love numbers so this was a fun challenge for me. I pulled out my former scrapbooking decorations and we counted and glued like crazy! If it was up to me, I would have sorted by color or type but Alex is our pokey puppy so I didn't even bring up that suggestion to him.
Knowing Alex had a 100 day celebration at school coming up, I prepared a card for him to make for his teacher. Gabriel didn't want to be left out so they both made cards for their teachers. They worked very hard on them and were so proud to take them to school.
Gabriel ended up making a fun hat for the 100th day of school and came home with a colorful accessory. He was disappointed he didn't get to make a 101 day hat too!

Holiday crafts part 3

There is a boy named Max who is in the hospital fighting leukemia. His holiday wish is to receive one million cards. The school is collecting cards from the students to mail to Max to make his holiday brighter. Lane, Alex, and Gabriel created cards to add to Max's collection. I hope he likes the cards because the kids worked hard on them and we talked a lot about Max while they made their cards. We all hope he isn't in the hospital very long

A Day in the Life - a Friday

We went to our first autism play group in Orlando today. It was at 9:30 am, half an hour away. The park was wonderful. It was shaded and had tons of newer equipment. The kids had a great time running around the park for which I was thankful.
It was a challenge to get everyone out of the house in time. We aren't in a routine of getting out the door early yet. Somehow we managed and we were only a few minutes late.
After the park play date, we went to Target. The boys were WILD. I'm not sure where their energy came from but they were playing "angry birds" by running into each other. Apparently Alex was the green pig and Gabriel was the angry red bird.
They finally realized that they could both fit under the cart. It was GREAT! The only thing that would have made it better would have been a strap (to keep them there)! They were delighted.
Some of the Target employers and customers were horrified. One woman told the boys that they should get out because it was dirty. I told her that I was fine with it because they weren't running into people. She didn't seemed pleased with my response. I hope the boys decide to lay there again next time! It's much easier for me!

The kids LOVE our new master bathroom. It has a deep bath tub and a shower with two shower heads. Lane plays with her doll in the tub while the boys take a shower together. They are busy for more than half an hour. Ahhhh - something that finally keeps them occupied.
We don't have cable yet. We have Netflix and the kids have been enjoying the kids and family movies we can get on it. I think we'll keep our Netflix subscription even after we get cable or dish started. It's far too convenient to click on a movie and it loads. Magic.