Friday, July 31, 2009

she can read

Yes, you read that right! And yes, I am talking about my dyslexic child. She started reading a sentence this week, "tap a tan pan", it isn't easy for her but she is doing it. Madeline's therapist has been worth every single penny we pay her. 

Monday, July 27, 2009

Julian pics


I am 3 months old now! Rolling over and talking up a storm.




Who me? 



Hey! What are you looking at?


I will fall asleep anywhere!

Tonto and the tooth



A week ago the local railroad had special event. It was Lone Ranger Saves the Train or something like that. Tonto from the event turned up the other day at a park we were at. 





Madeline got to go for a ride. She loved it. It makes me really regret the horse riding lessons that I almost signed her up for this summer but decided not to at the last minute.  That might be a must for next year. Both Ryan and I had our own horses as children and were avid riders, while I'm not willing to own a horse again, riding lessons I can handle!



And another tooth bites the dust! She has two more loose ones, at this rate, I'm not sure how she is going to eat soon....



Monday, July 20, 2009

we found kids!

Neighborhood children that is. Finally. Ever since we have moved into this subdivision over 2 years ago, I have wanted local play mates for Madeline, it hasn't happened. Most of the houses on our street are owned by older couples, there are a few families sprinkled in, but they haven't been interested in getting together or the ages just aren't right. 


A little over a week ago I ended up with a 9 year old girl in my house that I had never met before. She was walking by, liked our toys, and asked to play. Getting her out of my house after several hours proved to be quite a feat! Last night she was ringing our doorbell at 8:30pm, this morning at 9:20am. I haven't minded, Madeline is thrilled to see her, and by association, another girl age 7 who lives two doors down is now playing over here as well. Her family has never been friendly to us, not even returning our waves when we walk by, so this was a welcome change.


I'm not an overprotective parent in my mind but I am not comfortable letting Madeline walk down the street and into someone's house who I have never met. One mom I never even talked to until today when I called to RSVP to a party, her daughter had brought the invite over. The other said nothing to me when she showed up on my doorstep this morning looking for her daughter, not even a "thanks for watching my kid while I left the house" which I didn't even know the mom wasn't home until all the girls walked down there to drop off the one girl. This might take some getting used to. 


The other girl in Madeline's class for school lives directly behind us through the open space in our subdivision so I'm imagining it won't be too long before those two are going back and forth between houses. Gabrielle is having a difficult time being excluded, all these children are the youngest in their family so they are not used to having younger sibs tagging along like all of Madeline's other friends are. Madeline is the youngest out of all these girls anyway, she has been keeping up well, I'm actually quite impressed. Maybe school won't be so hard after all. 

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

first call

to poison control that is. For Gabrielle. Either she is falling over a pretend pebble or finding other things to get into, every day brings at least one injury for her. Tonight while we were eating dinner, she decided she was not hungry and running around the house, a couple minutes later she comes screaming to me. She had found a bottle of nail polish in Madeline's room, opened it and painted all the way from her clitoris to her anus. Needless to say, it didn't feel so great on sensitive skin. 

I stuck her screaming in a bubble bath while Ryan called. Of course they had to consult about that one, they hadn't run across it before, just our luck. In the end they decided that what I was already doing was the right course of action, and just to keep her in there for an hour. We finally got it all off, and now she is in bed. That child. 

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

our 4th

We went up to my parent's house in the mountains for the 4th.  We haven't managed to make to up there recently, but love celebrating the 4th in that town so we made sure we made it. My parents build this house 2 years ago, for most of the year, they live up here Thursday-Sunday.





It looks tiny but the lot is on the side of the cliff so the house is actually 3 story, though it is narrow.




The girls love it up there. I barely saw Madeline the entire weekend. She was out the door and gone before I even woke up!




The old chairlift chair now used as a swing is always a hit.




The town is tiny, very few full time residents since they have to be quite hardy. Telluride is the closest town you can drive to, and at times the pass is closed in the winter.



The parade is always an adventure here, since law enforcement really doesn't exist here. Some years there is a certain local who puts kegs on his float and hands out cups of beer during the parade.


Back to the minimal law enforcement, same goes for fireworks. No restrictions. People set off their own fireworks before and during the town's firework display. My sister and her fiancee where busy setting off their box of them when a firetruck comes roaring up. Only the guy jumped out with a boot in his hand and a thumbs up. He was collecting donations for next years fireworks!

If you have never experienced fireworks in a mountain town, it is rather interesting. The sound echos off all the mountains. 

blissed out

I forgot to post this one!

Summer is flying by, though I am now hobbling around so some things have slowed.





Two children hanging on me+stumbling= ER visit for stitches