First Day of Preschool

Four weeks ago, we attempted to start Patrick in preschool. It didn't go well. at. all. The school just wasn't a good fit for him. And, he was going to have a 45 minute bus ride! Seriously. Anyway, long story short, after many emails and a meeting with the director of special services for the school district, Patrick got to start preschool today at the same elementary school our other three kids attend. (I can't believe all my kids are at the same school! Preschool through sixth grade even.) And, best of all, he did great! He even put on shoes AND walked in line with the rest of the class. YAY! YAY! YAY! Thank you teacher Scott and Teacher Pat!

Fix You

A lot has happened since June 27th . . . more than what would seem possible. Today was the culmination of the busiest, most stressful months of my life. Today was the culmination of one of the busiest, most stressful weeks of my life. I'm content to say it was all worth it. Today was the day Patrick was re-evaluated. Today was the day I was told his autism is in remission. In. Remission. We're not completely out of the woods, but we're definitely on the right track.

Today was also a sad day. Mostly, for me. We had to say goodbye to everyone at Holly Ridge Center where Patrick has been attending classes and therapy sessions for the past year. On Monday, Patrick starts preschool in the school district. Never in my life have I experienced a bigger outpouring of love and support from any organization than I did at Holly Ridge. I'm not sure that I will get to experience it again, either. It will forever be a part of my heart. I knew today was coming and I have been dreading this day. I knew that I would be emotional. I knew that I would have a hard time holding myself together. But, somehow, I managed to pull through. Then, we got in the car to drive home and no sooner did we get out onto the road then "Fix You" by Coldplay came on the radio. Well, that was the end of my composure for sure. The car ride home is long enough, though, that I was able to have a good cry and be done before we got home.

What a day. What a week. What a year. What a boy. I love you Patrick. I love you with all that is in me. Being your mom is a blessing and a privilege.

A Week in the Life of Us

Some of you may be wondering why I started this blog and then never post anything. Let me tell you about the week we had last week.

Monday was the last day of school.

Tuesday we put an offer on a house.

Wednesday we put a counter offer on a house. I did this while bathing my very dirty two-year-old boy. Yep, I can multi-task like that. Wednesday night my bff, Apryl, and her family arrived at our house.

Thursday we ceased negotiations on the house we want to buy because the seller's final, lowest offer was full price. I did that while on the ferry back from Seattle. We were there to pick up our race packets for the Rock n Roll Marathon on Saturday.

Friday we made a picnic lunch and took the kids to the park. It started raining as soon as we got in the car. Seriously? Then, we had Patrick's big appointment with the developmental specialist pediatrician that we've been waiting to see for four months. After about 20 minutes we got a diagnosis. Yes, it only took four months and 20 minutes for Patrick to be diagnosed with austism. People keep asking, "How did Patrick's appointment go?" How do you answer that? Good? Fine? Apryl gave me a good response that I will keep in my back pocket. From now on I will answer, "We got a lot of good information."

Saturday I got up at the crack of dawn and did a half marathon with Apryl. This is what we have to resort to in order to get a little time to ourselves. It was super fun. Then, Mike played softball ALL DAY LONG. He didn't get home until midnight. I do not recommend getting up super early, doing a half marathon, and then caring for children for the rest of the day.

The best thing that happened this week was Patrick learning to say, "Awesome!" Thank you Yo Gabba Gabba.

So that was our week. Rinse and repeat . . . that is our life. I may not post again for another six months.

Skateland

Analise has been begging for quite some time to go to Skateland with some friends. I finally gave in and since there's no school tomorrow for Veteran's Day, tonight was the night.

The good news was that Wednesdays are Dollar Night. (I didn't know this before we got there.)
The bad news was that Wednesdays are Dollar Night. (I think everyone in the greater Kitsap County area was there.) Here are some highlights. Well, maybe they were lowlights.


Things that I witnessed tonight:

-A 12 year old boy wearing WAY TOO MUCH Axe.

-An approximately 6-7 month pregnant 11 year old. (I am choosing to believe she is at least 14, but she didn't look any older than Analise to me.)

-A guy with his pants riding well below crack level. I guess I will be thankful his boxers were pulled up. Didn't that look go out a good ten years ago?

Things that made me throw up a little:

-Analise didn't wear socks tonight! EWWWW!!!!

-Genevieve touched the table in the snack bar and then licked her finger later. Ew, ew, ew . . .

-Some random guy came up behind me while I was skating with Genevieve and put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me for a little while.

What is it, exactly, about skating rinks that invites all that is irmy?
The decor at Skateland hasn't been updated since 1980 and I don't think it's been cleaned since then either. (Although, the bathroom was surprisingly clean. We used it to wash our hands before we left.)

Now that I'm home, I'm considering taking a bath in a tub full of hand sanitizer.

Halloweened Out

There's been a lot of Halloween going on this week. Here we are all in our costumes tonight at Gramma and Grampa's house. I'm still in my costume as I type. For those who are not well versed with Star Wars knowledge, here's the rundown starting with the bottom center and going clockwise:
James as Darth Vader, Genevieve as Princess Leia, Analise as Queen Amidala, Mike as a Storm Trooper, Patrick as Yoda, Lismarie as Padme, and Uncle Nate as a Jedi.

Here are some closer looks.


Yeah, it was pretty much awesome. Well, except for the part where UPS decided to hold Mike's Storm Trooper costume hostage an hour away for three days and not honor the guaranteed Friday delivery. Mike was sad, so I went hunting for an alternative yesterday and found a child's clone trooper costume at Toys R Us. So, we sprayed painted all the blue off of the mask and voila . . . Mike's storm trooper mask was born. Here's James as Storm Vader (his own creation).


Did you know that Halloween has become a multi-day extravaganza? We started ours on Thursday night with the annual school Fall Festival. I was working the photo booth all night, so I didn't want to be encumbered by my Padme costume. I decided to go as myself circa 1989-1991.


Everything came from my wardrobe that I already own, even the zippered jeans. Impressive, right? One of the other mom's asked me where I got the Smiths t-shirt. When I said, "From my dresser," my friend quickly said to her, "I told you." I didn't even need Aqua Net to achieve the height in my bangs. I have been genetically blessed with a cow lick that begs to be in this hair style.

After we recovered from Thursday nights festivities, we geared up again on Saturday night for Trunk-or-Treat at the Church. I didn't take any pictures that night. Sorry. All I have to say about Trunk-or-Treat is GENIUS! Where was this when I was a kid. All of our kids had full buckets within 15 minutes! Real trick-or-treating is so much more work. After walking the hills in Gramma and Grampa's neighborhood tonight, the kids were all happy to be done and sit and sort their candy. And, to all the people who hand out Almond Joys every year, Mike thanks you. There are always people who give out Almond Joys for Halloween and kids always give them to their parents. Some things never change.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Summer Road Trip 2010

We ended our summer this year with a 10 day, 3000 mile road trip! And, although our children can't seem to handle the 15 minute drive to Gramma and Grampa's house without fighting and being threatened by us to pull over and make them walk home . . . a magical thing seems to happen when we road trip. They all get comfy with their favorite pillow and blanket and hunker down into road trip mode. (I'm not gonna lie, the portable dvd player and ds's don't hurt either.)

Day one: Our first stop on our trip was to stay with our long lost friends in Boise. The last time we saw them was four years ago. So much has changed since then (okay, mostly the kids have grown up), and yet it felt like we just picked up where we left off. It was so great to see them.







Day two was a big one. First, we drove to Salt Lake City to check out Temple Square. We realized recently that our kids have no familiarity with Utah. I know, blasphemous, right? I grew up road tripping to Utah every summer to visit my grandparents, so Utah was sort my home away from home. And, then there's the seven years Mike spent living in Utah between going to school at BYU and serving a church mission in Salt Lake City. The kids really liked Temple Square and we wished we had more time to spend there. James especially liked the Tabernacle. We went in and he just stared at the pipe organ and then found a spot to sit down. Then, lucky for us, there was someone there who started playing hymns on the organ. The sound was incredible and James was definitely a fan.



From Temple Square, we walked across the street to the Church History Museum to check out the "I Am a Child of God" exhibit. They had all kinds of interactive things the kids could do. Of course, James and Analise wanted to dress up and pretend to be part of the MoTab.


Good-bye Salt Lake . . . see you in another four years. Next stop, was Provo, home of our alma mater, BYU. We drove by our old place and up to campus. Mike and I met and got married while attending BYU. We're really into living up to Mormon stereotypes. We even graduated together one month before our first anniversary. Awww . . .


There's this very modern sculpture installation on campus close to where most of our classes were. It looks like a "Y" from one angle and an upside down "Y" from another. I always called it the Y sculpture. Mike quickly informed me that it is called "The Tree of Life." We were both wrong. It is actually called "The Tree of Knowledge." Whatever it is, the kids LOVED it. We let them run and play in it, on it, and around it for at least 20 minutes before we pried them away. Then, we did a quick stop off at the BYU Bookstore and checked out the art department where I used to work in matting and framing. After taxes, I only made $4 an hour! No wonder we were so poor in college. Oh well, at least we were young and having fun.

After our campus tour, we went to Gandolfo's for dinner. Gandolfo's is a New York style deli on Center Street in Provo and if you haven't been there and are planning to be anywhere near Provo, I highly suggest you go. It's a serious hole-in-the-wall kind of place in the basement of a building and as soon as we walked down the stairs we could smell that all too familiar aroma of Gandolfo loveliness. Everything was exactly the same inside, too. It was like being in a time warp. Except, instead of Mike and I being there for a cheap college dinner date, we were there with our four children on a break from our road trip. Some things never change and some things really change.

After dinner, we hunkered down again and drove to Mesquite, NV for a cheap hotel room (seriously, it was $29) at the Virgin River Hotel and Casino. We were pleasantly surprised by the size of the room, cleanliness, softness of the sheets and pillows, and the delicious coolness of the air conditioning. We got some really good and much needed sleep that night.















Day Three: We woke up refreshed and ready for more adventure. First and only stop for the day was San Diego to see Nate! We arrived in the afternoon on a Friday and were immediately showered with gifts that Nate had brought with him all the way from Brazil! Here he is with James and Patrick in their soccer jerseys.

We didn't sit around for too long, though. This was not a vacation for that. We were all about packing it in on this trip. So, off to the beach we went.



























After the beach, we went back to Uncle Paul and Aunt Lindsey's house for a three-night stay.



Day four: The next day was Saturday and our lovely Escondido friends put together a pool party and invited the whole Ellis clan and many friends of the Ellis'. On the way there, we stopped at Uncle Brian and Auntie Meredith's apartment and played a little with their awesome cat, Choid.





And, since they live so conveniently close to Petersen's Donut Corner, of course we had to stop
and get the best cake donut in existence.















Stay tuned . . . it's time for me to pick up the girls from school and then we're all going to get flu shots . . .