A Kid Free Afternoon...

Oh, it was a great afternoon! I was actually able to spend a large part of the day with my Mom without any kids! We really didn't do anything exciting -- our original plans fell through. We ended up going to a few yard sales and running some errands, and going out for lunch. Even though it was what many people think of as thrilling -- it was GREAT!! You know as a mom when you have given all you can give and you just need to refill yourself? Well I had hit that point and spending the day with my Mom filled me back up!

Mid-Year Resolution

So I am not very good with the whole "New Years Resolution" stuff, so I didn't make any this year. But I have decided to make a Mid-Year Resolution instead. You see, I have a physical scheduled for Monday morning with a new doctor and I am not really looking forward to it! So I figure if I prepare myself and start my mid-year resolution to get healthier, than maybe I will feel better about my appointment. I know it sounds crazy; but I was also thinking that if I am put in a clinical setting where I have to talk to patients about being healthy and having a healthy weight, I think it would be uncomfortable since I am not at my ideal weight either. So we will see how this adventure plays out!!

Holy Savings Batman!!

I have to share about my grocery shopping trip tonight....

So Jesse came home from Domino's with $52.00 in tips -- that money had to go to groceries and gas, so after we talked about it we decided to cash in our loose coin to help out this week. So I went to Shaw's and cashed in the coin to the tune of $65.00.

As I was walking away from the coin machine, I said a little prayer in my head that everything would be OK and that we would have enough money for both groceries and gas and off I went shopping. I usually keep track of the total as I go so that I don't go over my budget, but tonight I didn't. So I went through Shaw's and got everything I needed and I made sure that I used as many coupons as I could.

When I got to the checkout I wasn't really paying attention, until the cashier looked at me and told me that the total was $139.00!!! I was panicked and then I remembered that I hadn't given the cashier my Shaw's card and she hadn't done any of my coupons yet.... phew!! So after my card was swiped and my coupons scanned my total went to $66.91!!!! Can you believe it! I got all of the groceries that I needed and still had money to get the gas I needed!

I always marvel at the Lord's hand in my life! It is amazing to me how if we are open to Him, He will provide and make sure that we are all taken care of!! The only thing I can think of is the primary song "Count Your Blessings", and it was definitely a day to count my blessings!!

Boston

I had the opportunity to go to Boston yesterday with the Presidential Student Ambassador Program that I am involved in at school. First of all it was a gorgeous day! There was a nice sea breeze and it didn't rain which was great!
We took the train in from Haverhill and then headed over to Copley square and had lunch a Boco on Newbury street. They are this little burrito place that has all sorts of wraps and smoothies and they have an incredible homemade guacamole! It was yummy!
Then we walked over to the Boston Public Library and walked through the Choosing to Participate exhibit. The hole exhibit was about people who chose to participate and stand up against the wrongs in there life from genocide in Cambodia to the Little Rock 6, to the Racist activities in Billings Montana in the early 90's. The part of the exhibit that hit me the most was there was a wall with pictures of immigrants from their teens to early twenties who were telling their immigration stories. There were three that were particularly moving to me... The first was a girl from Chechnya. Her family had to move a few times when their homes kept being bombed by the Russian government, at one point the soldiers came after her father who was in hiding and they kidnapped her and the rest of her family and held them captive until her father surrendered. After the surrender her family escaped the captures and had to be smuggled out of the country in a cardboard box in the back of a shipping truck. When I first read this I thought to myself this couldn't have been recently -- but it all occurred in the late 90's!! Another story was a boy and his family that immigrated from China. His father brought the family here for a better life and so that his family could have more than one child. His father had a PhD in his country and the only job he could find in the U.S. to support his family was cleaning the local high school. The last story was of a girl from Israel who was a senior in high school. Her goal was to graduate from high school here in the States and then go back to Israel to join the army. She just felt that the persecution and the limited resources for immigrants in this country was too difficult to overcome.
The whole exhibit was eye opening for me. I think I take the fact that I am an American citizen for granted! I don't feel like I have had to deal with any of the same issues that many of these immigrants do, and for that I am very grateful! I am very blessed and this exhibit made me realize how blessed I really am!
After the exhibit at the library we walked over to Boston City Hall and walked through the Holocaust monument. For those who haven't seen it, all I can say is that you need to!! One the glass spires are inscribed with the identification numbers of the six million people killed by the Nazi's as well as quotes from some of the survivors. The quote that hit me the most was by a women who was in a concentration camp with a friend and her friend found one raspberry as she was working one day -- and this is what the women says about the situation -- "What if your only possession in the whole world is one lone raspberry, and you give that raspberry to a friend." This quote was truly profound to me, because how many of us would be willing to give up everything for someone else -- even when we ourselves are in a dire situation. It just made me think.
We ended our day with dinner at Pizzeria Regina in the North End, which was fabulous! And you can't go to the North End without getting pastries, so we had Chocolate Mousse Cannoli's and Lobster Tails from Mike's Pastries and both were amazing!
All in all it was a fabulous day and I am grateful that I had the chance to go!!

My Little Escape Artist

I know that Aidan is a little escape artist -- there were many a times of me running out in the snow after him.... he learned how to open a door at 10 months and how to unlock the door by 1 year. So it was an exciting time when he is at school and I can actually attempt to get things accomplished with out worrying about Aidan getting outside and running down the street.... that was of coarse until today!

You see, Aidan went to school and I put Haylee down for her nap, and Cora was engrossed in Sesame Street -- so I though it was safe to get dressed ( I had a meeting at school otherwise I probably would have stayed in my jammies ) -- I was WRONG!!

So there I am half dressed in my bedroom when I hear Cora's giggle outside my bedroom window. Now I think to myself, "That's funny, it sounds like Cora, but it can't be she is downstairs watching T.V." So I quickly finish getting dressed and head downstairs to find the front door open and the screen door unlatched!

I begin to panic and run outside to see Cora running up and down the driveway -- giggling all the while as if nothing was wrong!! Needless to say, she was NOT allowed to stay outside!

Apparently I can't even get two minutes to get dressed anymore! Grrrrr! They don't stay little trouble makers forever do they?

Week in Review...

It has been an interesting week...but when isn't it an interesting week in my house!?!?!?

Let's see Jesse and I returned from our big weekend away on Sunday evening, exhausted, and by Monday morning I was sick! I think it was just allergies but I completely lost my voice. Do you know how hard it is to get 3 toddlers to listen to you when you can't talk or when you can get your voice to work you sound like a smurf on helium? I must have looked like a lunatic as I tried to come up with ways to get their attention so that they would listen... you know the clapping, jumping around, waving the arms....not one of my prouder moments... but at least by Friday I was feeling better.

Let's see what else happened....um....oh, Aidan has learned to put on his socks!!! YEAH!! I know for most people this isn't a big deal, but for me it is huge since we have been learning how to do this fr about a year now... this means that he is completely capable of dressing himself, with a little prompting of course...

Also I finished my semester at School on Thursday night. I am pretty sure that I earned a 4.0 this semester which is great! I an just looking forward to a few weeks off from school, my summer classes don't start till June 16. I love school, but it will be nice to have a little break!

Cora attended her first Gymnastics class on Saturday and she LOVED it. She was laughing and running it was great! She made up until the last 5 minutes of the class without having a meltdown! That must be a record! She was scared of a lot of the activities, but I modified them so that she would do them and she had fun. It was also a big day for Aidan because he was in the same class but he has taken this class before. The last time we were enrolled in this class a few weeks ago, Aidan did really well except he couldn't make it all the way through warm ups without running away at least once and he usually didn't make it through all of the station rotations without running away at least once....but on Saturday he made it through the warm ups and all of the rotations without running off and without many promptings from Jesse to return to task!! The only thing he really had to prompt about was for Aidan to wait his turn and to not cut in front of the other children. It was such a nice morning!

Then of coarse yesterday was Mother's Day and Aidan greeted me in the morning with a very loud "Happy Mofers Day, Momma" which made me smile! It was also great because I made my Mom a great gift this year. I took a picture of Rick, Dan, and I and I super imposed a Poem that I wrote over the picture and gave it to her, it made her cry....it was great! If any of you get over to my Mom's house you should ask her to see it -- I'm proud of it.

And then of coarse because it was Mother's Day we got to talk to Rick on the phone! It was so great to talk to him. Though talking to him makes me realize how much I miss him! I know he only has 5 months left on his mission, and that that time will go by really fast, but I miss my little brother and I want him home know and I want him to live in the area and not go back out west!! OK, that was my little selfish rant -- but he sounds really good on the phone, and I know he is doing the Lord's work and he will be home in no time!

Not Ready for Reality

This is where Jesse and I spent this past weekend (I didn't take this picture, it came from their website)...
We stayed at The Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH. It was amazing!! I wish I had brought my camera -- it was so beautiful. There is this gorgeous wrap around veranda that looks right at Mt. Washington. It was spectacular!
The Family Support Conference that we attended while there was great also. We took home some great techniques to try with the kids to help them stay calm as well at tips on how to try and make it easier for them to learn. It was also great to meat other parents and families dealing with disabilities. We also were able to meet a women named Karla who works for the state and was sympathetic to our story and our long wait on the respite waiting list -- so she gave us the phone number to a gentleman who may be able to bump us to the top of the list which is great!!
But back to the hotel... we had a great room, with a very comfortable pillow top bed -- I think it was the best sleep that either of us have gotten since Aidan was born!! And the hotel is full of history and romance -- they even still have to old elevator working with an elevator man! The whole weekend I felt like I was in a different time.
Neither Jesse nor I wanted to come back to "the real world" so we took our time coming home, meandering through the mountains.
It was a bit of a rude awakening to come home though. Back to the screaming, back to the sink full of dishes, back to the piles of laundry, back to cleaning the house, back to worrying how to pay the bills this month, back to cooking dinner and making snacks, but most of all -- back to the life I wouldn't change for anything!!