The time is now

Just in case you couldn't tell... above please see The United States of America. The artist's medium is cereal. Currently the artist is dabbling in marker and stamps. Stay tuned.

The summer has really taken me away from blogging. I'm busy trying to keep the kids entertained, figure out how to keep my daughter's 4 1/2 year old tongue in her head instead of pointing at me, seeing if there is a reason for my son's multiple quirks and/or behavior issues and trying to manage my own (can you say it is definitely time figure out how to stay calm and not engage in the kids' dramas)?

I have often thought I must be the world's worst parent (but of course I know sadly there are many far, far worse than I). On the other hand, I usually eventually realize that my kids are well... special. While all kids are special, it is easy to forget that our son has some special needs because he's always been ... well... frankly... borderline - normal.

And so in the process of all this frustration, there is an occasional discovery - a thought that maybe just maybe we can find some sort of explanation that will help us to provide him with what he needs and not feel so in the dark. This week has been such a week and so for now, we are exploring the concept of sensory integration. Hope to know more once we can get an assessment.

As for the artist's Mama, she is working hard to provide positive reinforcement -- to see stomping off in a huff as a first step towards personal anger restraint and to be a cheerleader for all my children do well. It isn't always easy to take a step back and remember to reinforce the good... and harder still to ignore some of the bad (to take the emphasis and reward away). However I feel strongly that finally ... the time is now.

I am working hard on my part... this week, I started with a brisk walk (alone) from our house to the top of Mt Tabor (local Portlanders will know what I'm talking about) which is more exercise than I've had since birthing my children I think. The next day we biked as a family to the local farmers market for fresh fruits, veggies and flowers. The day after that I limited my caffeine intake and did yoga. It's been 2 full days of no yelling (well at least not Mama) -- wish me luck... this ain't easy but I'm giving it my all.

As we inch closer to back-to-school, I hope to inch back to more photo taking, more thoughtfulness, less yelling and household chaos, more blogging and more peacefulness. Namaste!

O.K. it has been forever

since I posted. So much going on and yet so little. Went on vacation at the beach for a week with my mother and best friend and the family. Rained 5 days out of 7! Found fun things to do despite the frustrating weather. Kids acted up for Grandma. Back to work. Grandma back in the Midwest.

As you can imagine... with only 2 days of sunshine, I took WAY less photos. I think this is my favorite.


Did manage to find this cool fort on a walk by myself with cloudy skies but no rain.



Love the parking sign! Found 2 awesome shells the one beach sunny day and got to see a mother deer and her 2 babies next door (but unfortunately no photos). I've just caught up on bills, still need to do laundry and catch up in the kitchen -- figure out how to entertain the kids until school starts again in a little over a month.

Hope your Summer is going well and isn't filled with rain!

Think cool thoughts

If you are like us, and facing a triple digit temperature today, think cool thoughts, drink lots of water, wear sunscreen and hang in there! I'll be spending the next day or so figuring out ways to keep two young kids and their visiting grandma COOL! (We only have one small room with an air conditioner in it). What are you doing to stay cool (unless you are a lucky person in a cool Canadian province somewhere)?

Sweet peas

Happy 4th of July! I could go into a long-winded diatribe about how we need to rescue our country (and in many ways the people are doing that slowly through the Great Turning) from the very politicians who are supposed to protect us and our country, but I choose not to do that today.

I could spend some time talking about how it may be the heat or lack of school that has been causing a great deal of unrest and edginess around these parts. I could go on and on about my daughter (who I lately think of as 4x4 ... since she managed to have 4 tantrums by 4:00 p.m. yesterday) but again I choose not to go there for any length of time.

Instead, I'm going to talk about how amazed I was yesterday when my children actually ate fruit AND veggies (and lots of them)! Amazing stuff that!

FOR LUNCH & SNACK: They munched platefuls of baby carrots and dip.

FOR DINNER: I steamed half the fresh broccoli from the garden and left the other half raw which the kidlets proceeded to eat (again with dip) as half their dinner meal. And the picture above is the most phenomenal thing of all -- I can't keep or freeze any sweet peas, according to my finicky eater son, because he wants to eat them ALL -- each and every one he can -- straight from the garden, right out of the pod.

AND FOR DESSERT: We shared frozen grapes (who knew those were that good) during our rousing family game of Battleship. And today we downed probably a half pound of fresh cherries with lunch. For those of you whose children gladly eat their vegetables, good for you. For my children yesterday seems a breakthrough of major proportions, although I'm certain there will still be picky eating days.

Been too long

Well it must be Summer... 'cause I looked and its been almost a week since my last post. I've been meaning to write, had plenty of thoughts, taken some pics -- but then just got busy.

Summer is in full swing around here. We are pretty much sleeping in until we get up (which may need to change next week) and taking our time with getting dressed and having breakfast. This is an odd week where we don't have any camps or summer school, no swim lessons, nothing going on at the libraries even -- just entertaining ourselves as best we can and trying to get ready for Grandma's arrival early next week.

I'd been getting into a bit of a summer groove last week (see the homemade strawberry jam above), but then discovered I had a nasty sinus infection which is now being treated (discovery came after myriad painful headaches, throbbing temples and neck and shoulder pain). Now that the meds are beginning to kick in, I want to get back to my garden groove...

In the garden, I need to:

• Pick more lettuce, pull out spinach that's gone to seed, watch broccoli carefully to harvest before it goes yellow, plant some carrots, possibly corn,
• Get someone to water our garden a couple of times while we are away on vacation in a couple weeks.

In the kitchen, I want to:

• Make a spinach salad for dinner this week from all I harvested last week,
• Make a chicken caesar salad with all the lettuce I have and will harvest this week,
• Finally make a batch of fresh pesto (see the yummy basil waiting here),
• Figure out whether to cook, eat raw or store the broccoli that is coming.

Here's hoping your garden is growing tall and your summer is going well.