Regular Days

I find it amusing that I only post stuff when things are not going well.  I think of a million things to post during "regular days" as well but never find the time to squeeze it in.

But I must admit, it's because I truly ADORE and love those "regular days" and I want to be fully present in them.

So here are just a few things around our house lately that are in the "regular" category.

School is out and I'm enjoying having the kids home.  Every Monday we are working on some schoolwork  though anyway.  We have 2 kids that find writing boring so they are not as neat as they need to be (i.e. you can't read it).  One kid is learning cursive.  One child is disgraphic so we're working on teaching typing.  One child is just learning letters.  So writing is a huge deal around here.  And math.  We have 2 kids who are math whizzes and they LOVE to learn math.  The faster I can teach them, the better.  Two kids struggle with math ... just the basic concepts ... so all the reinforcement they can get is important.

We're also trying to do fun things like Chuck E. Cheese, the playground, swim, bowling, parks, etc.

Towards the end of the school year, I was feeling over-run by clothes that were getting too small, toys running amuck and school papers multiplying.  I put things in laundry baskets and put them in a closet.  Once a week, we're doing "organization day" where we pull out several laundry baskets and empty them.  Like last week it was the toys.  We had each kid sit around the pile, one kid would hold an item up.  If it was broken or missing pieces, it went to the trash.  If it was all there but no one wanted it, it went to the give away bin.  All the rest were claimed by someone and had to be put away.  By the end, I had several free laundry baskets, kids happy with their toys, etc.

We're also doing mundane things like haircuts (seems hair grows faster in the summer time).  We've found some time to do card games and board games.  Last week we laughed so hard we had tears streaming down our faces.  (Love that.)

"before" ... hair that defies gravity!

"after" ... isn't she beautiful?

I've tried to keep the doctor appointments at a minimum ... afterall, it would mean dragging 6 kids to the doctor.  Now I don't mind doing that, the kids don't mind going.  We actually have fun together.  But you should see the look on the staff's faces when we show up.  The other day I had to take Zoe to a post-op appointment and there was not one empty seat in the waiting room.  And there were 7 of us.  So ... we stood on the front porch area.  It was hot and humid and no one had left the office in 10 minutes so I went back inside and said that we'd be in our car, gave my cell and we headed.  I had a DVD player, some snacks and drinks (always keep an emergency supply) and we spent the next hour having a blast in the van!  When it was our turn, they called and we walked straight into the back room (past the still full waiting room) and the doc came in about 3 minutes later.  I LOVE being a Mom who thinks outside the box!

Luke's asthma attack ... sitting at doctors with another breathing treatment

I'm busily getting the stuff ready for a family reunion too.  It takes a long time and a lot of energy to move an army such as mine so I plan ahead.  (I also keep a "master list" of things to pack and just add the things unique to that trip.)

So see?  "Regular stuff".

And I can't begin to tell you how cool it is that days are mostly "regular".  Sure we have adapted to a lot of things that are quite unique to other people that we consider mundane (such as a wheelchair, tube feeding, venting, respiratory support machines, special diets, repositioning a child all night long, etc.) but we've learned to thrive in this life.  Daily activities just take a bit of adaptation and modification and then we're good to go.

So if you don't hear from me for a while, picture us LIVING LIFE!