Warp Speed

Where to start???  Maybe I should update the header to reflect the scorching temperatures we are seeing now rather than the blizzards we had in the winter?  Not tonight...

This spring flew by at warp speed.  Here are some highlights:

Julia made her First Holy Communion and we had a gathering of friends and family at our house afterwards to celebrate the big day.

Julia's softball season and Emma's baseball season ended on high notes.  Both girls loved playing with their team and enjoyed all the action associated with it.  They also enjoyed the snack bar at the field, as did nearly all the other children that attended games from what I could see!

Julia completed 2nd grade and is now officially a 3rd grader.  That time sure is going by fast!  So fast, in fact, that I didn't get an individual last day of school photo - gasp :-)  I did manage to capture a last day of school with one of her best buddies while they were all smiles.  Her buddy is moving to a different school next year and the day turned to tears since they will miss each other.  We assured the girls that we will continue to plan play dates and have had a couple including a sleepover already.  

Julia started making her "special desserts" after dinners.  One night she made strawberry shortcakes and it quickly turned into some fun with our food.  I love silly second - oops, third! - graders!

Emma graduated from Kindergarten.  She will start 1st grade at our {more} local school in a mainstream classroom and will have her language arts and math classes with the children in the learning specialist classrooms.  It covers the same curriculum as the classroom but goes at a slower pace which will allow more time for Emma to hear and process the information through her CIs and then respond at her slower pace due to her slower motor control.  We are praying that her 1:1 aide will be hired by the district to work with Emma again, but that is very much a prayer at this point in time.  Emma did a tour of the school and met the learning specialist teacher and told us that she is "excited" about her new school.  Emma is doing well with telling us her feelings on her talker - and that has me excited!

We found out that the tenants that were renting our old house bought a new one.  We decided to list the house for sale again in the hope that are hoping for a quick and uneventful road to a sale and settlement.  So far, it's not as quick as we hoped but we are still optimistic.

I ran a 5K!  Chris loves running and has been asking me for a couple of years to start running so he could cheer me on at the finish line.  This year I have been focusing on my physical health and decided to go ahead and put aside my hate of running and surprise him by running a 5K race as a Father's Day present.  I used the Ease into 5K program that is an app for my iPhone and only told him about it a week before the race.  He didn't believe me at first and was really excited when he realized it wasn't a joke.  After running for about a month I joined up with my neighbor and we try and run together since we run at a similar pace.  We entered and ran the race together and probably had the biggest cheering section as our families came out to cheer us on!  The girls joined in the fun by participating in the children's race that went off before the 5K.  It's was a lot of fun and I'll probably enter another race in the Fall when the weather is a bit cooler.

We had the opportunity to go to a Phillies game with our support group from the hospital.  We were able to spend some time on the field and meet a few players and talk with our host, Ryne Sandberg and his wife Margaret.  They were so nice and easy to talk to and it was an amazing opportunity and fun night out!  The Phillies won in extra innings - 5 extra innings to be exact.  Needless to say we didn't stay for the entire game but were happy to hear we won when we checked in the morning.

We have also been busy checking out a couple new exhibits at the local science museum, attending summer parties, a fundraising event for a local charity, a family wedding and a couple wedding showers, along with spending long nights outside listening to the neighborhood children play and giggle and ask if they can stay out just a little bit longer.

Yes, our life is full.  No wonder I haven't sat down and updated this blog!  We are hoping you are having a similarly fun summer!

Back to school and other musings

The end of summer flew by and we've been busy ever since.

These walls are so FUN to touch!!!!

I was happy to get in a few final field trips with the girls - it was our very last Field Trip Friday until next summer.  Our girls Field Trip Fridays started about 4 years ago and consisted of me and the girls exploring our community.  We visited places big and small - anything from visiting museums and parks to walking around our neighborhood looking for different types of leaves.  These days were the highlight of my week where I just had fun with the girls and let the housework and laundry pile up.  Emma had off on Fridays in pre-school so our tradition continued while Julia was in school, but this year Emma will be in school full-time Monday-Friday so our Field Trip Friday will take a hiatus for the school year.  

Look at me!!

A brief rest

Since it was our last Field Trip Friday we made it a super cool field trip and visited the Magic Gardens where everything is covered in mosaics.  It isn't fully wheelchair accessible but we were able to make it work for us since Emma is still so little.  She loved touching the walls and the mosaics and the artist even stopped over to say hello to her and thank her for visiting.  I had no idea he was the artist at the time, though, so I didn't get a photo but I'll try and get one next time if he is there.  Afterwards we visited Chris at work and Julia took a peek at her 2nd grade classroom and got really excited for the start of the school year.  It was a perfect Field Trip Friday!

Julia is such a good photographer

We finalized Emma's initial IEP and placement.  Our district has half-day Kindergarten and we decided to send her for a full day instead of only the 1/2 day that she would normally attend. She will be in a Multiple Disabilities classroom (MDS) - I want to go on record that I HATE THAT NAME!!!! - for the morning and will receive all her therapies during that time and will attend the mainstream afternoon Kindergarten class with her one-on-one aide.  She gets many therapies - PT, OT, Speech, Hearing, and Vision and fitting all them in during the regular 2.5 hour Kinder class would be too much interruption in my opinion.  Emma doesn't like to get pulled out or work with therapists when her friends are around!  So we decided to give this set-up a try for her first year at elementary school and see how it goes.  

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY Kindergartner

The feedback so far is that she is doing really well and LOVES the mainstream Kindergarten class!  She appears to be keeping up with her classmates and is fitting in just fine.  The pace of the class seems to hold her attention better and she is less distracted than in the MDS classroom.  Wow!  That is a pleasant surprise!  I went in to talk to the class for 10 min. one day about all things Emma and to answer any questions they had and I was told "I think Emma is so cool!" and "Emma is my best friend!"  sprinkled among the many questions they had so I think she is fitting in just fine with the children!  And, the other day I picked her up from school (she typically takes the bus to/from school) and when her class walked by for dismissal I heard so many of them say "Hi, Mrs. White."  It really caught me off guard because I still forget that I'm Mrs. White {most of the girl's friends call me Ms. Kristina} and I'm not used to Emma's classmates actually talking.  It was such an eye-opening and wonderful experience for me.  So many things about Emma in the mainstream classroom have shown me the positive impact inclusion in our schools makes to our community.  The last few weeks have made it crystal clear to me that we made the right choice for Emma's kindergarten year and all the work we are putting into the mainstream setting is completely worth it!

You're new.  Let me check you out.  Ok, we're friends.  Did you know the bus ride is my favorite part of the day??!!

I'm ready to go.  Don't worry about me, Mommy.  I'm not a bit afraid and don't need to give you a second glance :-)

Julia started back to school and is now a 2nd grader.  How these girls are growing so quickly is beyond me!  I love to watch her grow and mature and I love hanging out with her.  She is just so amazing!  I love the way she is connecting her world together and the conversations we have at bedtime.  The time when the girls arrive home from school is my favorite part of the day with bedtime cuddles and chats with Julia a close second.

A friend I met through this blog - LOVE how this blog has introduced us to so many wonderful families! - told us about some local swim classes for children and siblings.  It's held in a heated pool at a semi-local facility/house for adults with cerebral palsy and it's something our children can do together and they really love it when they can take classes together.  This summer Emma made huge gains in swimming with a float ring (the $1 floats you can get at the drug store) around her body and she loves to swim "laps" in the pool.  So we figured it is a good time to start lessons again.  Julia is a strong swimmer and has been for a while but she loves swim lessons so we enrolled her to work on her technique a bit.  Both girls love the lessons but I think they enjoy the last 5 min. in the hot tub more :-)  Who wouldn't want to end a swim lesson with a soak in the hot tub?  I just might sign myself up for the next session...just kidding.

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Here is a photo I just have to include.  I took it on Back to School night.  Emma's artwork is circled in yellow here.  I just LOVED seeing her art alongside her classmate's work.  Such a proud moment for me!

Emma's artwork hanging outside her classroom.  She said "I hope that I learn to read" when asked what she wanted to learn in kindergarten.  

Endless summer fun

It's unheard of that we would get a 3 week stretch of temperatures in the the 80s in August but it is happening!  So, while we have it we're taking full advantage by hitting a lot of fun outdoor events.  It feels strange to be able to do so many outdoor activities in August.  Emma doesn't tolerate the heat too well so we usually wind up finding indoor fun options in July and August.

We continued our field trip fun week with a tour of the Herr's potato chip factory.  This place is actually farther away from my house than I expected.  And we hit more construction delays and traffic than I expected.  So I wasn't surprised when we showed up at 10:10 for our 9:50 appointment and didn't see any of our friends there.

When we went to the registration desk after much discussion and flipping through papers I found out that my girlfriend had, indeed, changed the tour from Tues. to Wed. due to the crazy rain we had but I somehow missed the message that our tour time was changed as well.  I thought we were too late to enjoy the tour when, in fact, we were about 1.5 hours too early!  What to do, what to do?  I haven't really ever had this problem before as we tend to run on the late side of things.  The factory is in the middle of what appears to me to be nowhere although I'm sure the people that live there would be able to set me straight.  I was banking on that when I asked the girl behind the counter if there is anything to do while we wait.  The one girl was clearly too young so she just laughed at me - I immediately disliked her.  The other girl - God bless her - suggested we check out a park down the road and off we went with a stash of potato chips bought at the factory store.  We found the park easily and were really excited to see that it was actually a HUGE, fantastic park and a great place to visit in and of itself let alone as a time-killer before an appointment.  The girls played and snacked and I snapped a few photos before we headed back for the tour that included a short video, a walk through the pretzel and potato chip operation, and snacks.  We even were able to try hot potato chips right off the production line, which was big hit with all the children.

The park would have been better with our jogging stroller instead of the wheelchair.

I sure would have loved exploring the trails a bit more, but the wheels weren't suitable for it.  Emma didn't mind!

A few of the crew that toured.  The rest headed to the great park before heading home so I missed snapping a complete group photo.

We ended our field trip fun week with a trip to a local garden estate for some Friday fun.  We became members in June and are hoping that the wide paths will be a great place for Emma to practice driving her power wheelchair.  We are ever hopeful even though we are still in appeals on the denial.  Still, it's a great place to explore and since lots of our friends have memberships it's a good meet-up destination.

We have 2 more full weeks of summer vacation.  I wonder what we'll do next???  We have a few more fun adventures planned so stay tuned...

Local summer adventures

This summer we had a list of things we wanted to do.  There is still about 3 weeks left to our summer and we are working on completing most of them.  I posted closer to the beginning of summer that showed we started it off with a bang and have done some dribs and drabs posts since then.

Now that our summer camps are over, we reclaimed the month of August for family fun!  Horray - that's my favorite kind of fun!  I seriously can't get enough of hanging out with my little ones and I feel like they are growing so quickly.

Last week we went to the science museum.  I am a scientist by training and I really miss playing with things in the lab.  Hanging out there made me realize just how much I miss it and I wonder if there is a chance I might be able to find some part-time work that is only during the school year (lots of us stay at home Mom's dream about this perfect schedule) that includes getting my hands dirty in a science lab.  Doubtful, but I'll look into it.  I might just have to rely on our yearly membership to the museum to fulfill my science side :-)

GLOW was the special exhibit geared to hands on exploration.  There was a section with costumes and you could dress up as fireflies and jellyfish.  We decided to forgo the costumes and stand in the firefly capture jar to check out the view - this made the girls all giggly!

Butterfly room is always a favorite stop for me.  Julia finds it a bit warm but was up for it and Emma is happy to check it out as long as there are other people in the room she can watch.

Digging for dinosaur bones

Fossil Prep lab had a learning session.  They told us about a dinosaur they are currently working on that was found in MT.  How did we never see the fossil prep lab before on all our visits?

Panning for shark teeth.  Cut out for a wheelchair is quite nice, but it falls short in being truly accessible unless you have super long arms.  

Starring in their own dinosaur movie.  

This week we took advantage of the *slightly* cooler weather to visit a park we'd never been to before.  I had won tickets to the carousel and mini-golf at the silent auction fundraiser at Julia's school so Chris met us there the other day after work for some Monday evening fun.  It was a fun place to visit.

The park had the oldest remaining original fountain in the city was up and running, a small-ish playground with an accessible swing and monkey bars, a snack shack, a carousel and mini-golf.  The park is in the historic district so everything was USA themed.  The carousel even had a bald eagle instead of a horse in one slot and that is what Emma rode.  Julia rode a dolphin, although I'm not exactly sure how that made it's way onto the national themed carousel?  The mini-golf had obstacles made out of local historic landmarks and I just loved it!  I have a feeling we'll be back.

When did you get SOOOO BIG???!!!!  Emma is staring right though me to the campers running all over the place!

Sisters swinging next to each other.  Melts my heart they can swing next to each other and it's not something we take for granted!  Emma is also much stronger this summer because she was never able to sit in these swings before without added attachments.  Both girls are nosy as ever and watching the campers again!

Such a cutie pie!  This girl melts my heart.   

Is that a hole in one?????

Emma was interested in mini-golf for about 3 holes.  She reached out for the club and even helped swing and hit the ball.  Surprisingly, she did quite well!  Then she decided she had enough and wanted to people watch everyone on the course that did NOT include anyone in her family.  Her stroller was thus positioned for optimal non-family people watching and she was smiles the rest of the night.  Silly girl!

Girls Rule!

Boys....need we say more??!!!

Wildlife in the city.

We have about 3 weeks before the start of school.  The fun will continue.  How blessed and lucky our family is!!!!

Juggling summer camp

We are busier that ever this summer and it's been with mostly VERY fun activities.  Our whole family really settled into a new summer routine that includes late night bedtimes and more relaxed mornings.  This week, though, camp started for Julia and Emma started back to school for her summer session - both things the girls were looking forward to and love by the way!

Lazy morning earlier in the summer.  PJs on all morning and plenty of time to do science experiments!

I didn't realize how crazy adding in camp/school would make our schedule.  Since we aren't traveling as a pack like we were earlier in the summer it seems everyone has a different place to be and a lot of it is at the exact.same.time.

Here is how we kicked off our life with camp on Monday:

• Get girls up and fed and out the door by 8:15.  Drop Julia off at camp at 8:45 and head to another town for Emma's 10am PT appointment (more on that later).
• Drive Emma to yet another town to drop her off for school.  Try to feed her a bit of lunch in the parking lot but she is too busy looking around for her wonderful one-on-one aide, Erica.  She really missed her!  She told me so on her talker several times over the break.  When Erica arrives Emma decides it is time to immediately head into school and lunch can wait.  
• Leave Emma at school and head back to my town for a chiropractor appointment.
• After my treatment head to Julia's camp (if you guessed it's in another town you would be right!) to pick her up and head home in time for Emma's bus to drop her off at school.

We left the house at 8:15am.  I returned home with Julia ~3:20pm.  I drove just under 100 miles and went pretty much nowhere- ouch!  Luckily that was the busiest day of the week for me with it getting a bit better each day.  I'm happy to say I'm not contributing to global warming nearly as much now :-)

There are 3 days/week during camp that Julia and Emma need to be somewhere at 9am and they are in completely different towns or states.  One week it will be easy since there is a before care option that opens at 8am.  The other two weeks we've figured out a way to get everyone where they need to be on time.  

Who knew summer could be so crazy??!!  It sure will be nice in September when Emma goes to a school in our local school district.  Having her closer to home will be a very welcome change from the 35 minute drive to her current pre-school.

You might ask:  Emma starts school at 11:50am so why does she have to be somewhere at 9am?  Well, we decided to have her change PT places for about 6 weeks so she can use the Biodex Unweighting System that is housed at a different location.  What we do is suspend Emma with a harness over a treadmill and work on her walking.  The tone in her legs is just so very high that it makes it very difficult for her to walk in a gait trainer and she wants to walk so badly.  We thought we could try and train her muscles if we unweight her a bit to help her learn the movement without as much effort.  It's a pretty interesting concept and we're not sure if it will work but wanted to give it a shot.  She has a lot of tone to overcome so we're going to try and go 2x/week for 6 weeks and then evaluate the effect.  What we are seeing so far is that she starts out really tight and it's hard for the PT to help her bend and move her legs but that she gets better during the session.  And it's clear to everyone that she LOVES getting in the harness and walking on the treadmill.  She is one giggly girl!  

Here is a video of her using the Biodex unweighting system for the first time:

In about 3 weeks our schedule will settle down and we'll be back to summer without camp.  We will travel as a group and enjoy lots of fun activities together again.  Until then, I'll keep up the juggling act!

Quiet

At this moment my house is relatively quiet.  I'm listening to one of my favorite CDs while the dishwasher runs in the background.  The doors and windows are open but not much of a breeze is coming through since we are in the middle of a heat wave.  The window unit air conditioner is off and the girls are off having lots of fun at camp.  I have 3.5 hours all alone today.  It's quiet.  This is my first bit of alone time since Julia's school let out 5 1/2 weeks ago and we were busy doing so many fun things during those weeks.  Oh, the fun of summer!!!!!!

So, I have a bit of time on my hands to spend as I please.  I've used a bit of that time to send out thank you notes, a letter to a young man we don't know but who has CP and is in the hospital for a lengthy stay and wants some cards to hang up, send a couple belated Birthday cards, made a few phone calls, cooked taco meat.  It's amazing how quickly I completed it all.  I still have a long list of things I would like to do.  Clean the bathrooms, run to the grocery store for the tortillas for tonight's taco dinner, pay bills, tend the garden, write, etc.  The to do list is never ending and I find comfort in that.  No matter how much or little I accomplish there will still be more on the list so I don't need to rush to complete most of them.  I guess getting tortilla has to be done before dinner but other than that it can all wait.......because I've decided to set aside the list and head to the gym.

The gym.  It's good for my body and good for my soul.  I never used to enjoy going to the gym at all.  Lately, though, I'm finding that I look forward to my workouts.  I have aches and pains where there weren't any a few years ago.  Carrying around an almost 5 year old is very different than carrying around an infant and I need to keep up a workout routine to avoid injury and keep my muscles in shape.  My body always feels better after a workout - less aches and pains and my mind is clear.  It's been too long since I've worked out during the day since only one of the girls looks forward to going in the gym's child minding play center.  I can't enjoy working out knowing one of my children is crying and unhappy in another section of the building.  So we opt for exercising together instead and go on bike rides, walks, swimming and have lots of fun.

But since I have a bit of time to myself now I'm heading to the gym.  The to-do list can wait.  Remember that if you come over and notice the house looks very lived in :-)

Strawberry Picking

Julia finished up school for the summer on the 8th - a week earlier than Emma - so we took advantage of the extra time and went on a few day dates together.  Julia is a lover of strawberries!  That is, she really LOVES strawberries.  She can eat an entire container all by herself in one sitting so it was only natural for us to head out strawberry picking on one of our Mommy/Daughter day dates.

We dropped Emma off at school one day and headed to the orchard.  We were the first arrivals for strawberry picking and were treated to our own private hayride to the strawberry fields.  We each had a container to fill and it took us a while to find only the **best** strawberries to take home.  Of course we had to do our fair share of sampling to determine exactly which ones were the best...and as others joined us in the field it seemed like they all needed to taste-test the strawberries, too!

Julia sure does have an eye for the juiciest of strawberries and she made sure we took some from each row.  When we caught the hayride back to the cashier there were lots of people heading out to pick strawberries.  Getting there so early and having the fields to our self made the date feel more special and I'm so glad we had that time together.

We plan to head out to the orchard again for some blueberry picking with Emma now that she is done school.  Blueberries are a favorite fruit of Emma's and they are grown on taller bushes so she will be able to pick them easier than she would strawberries.  We might even pick some peaches, too, since they are in season now.

I'm looking forward to having many more special moments with my girls this summer.  Bring on the fun!