8 years later...I'll Never Forget!

On September 11, 2001, I was sitting in Accounting class with my brother when we heard the horrific news of the Twin Towers. I remember being glued to the T.V. for an entire week and crying right along with the families that still didn't know if their loved ones were alive or not. I also remember when my sister decided to join the military and was scared to death that would be the last time I would see her. I am so proud of our military. To you...I say Thank you!

A Milestone!

Well, I am celebrating here in South Carolina because for an entire week, Colin has been pretend playing!!!! This is huge in our world. He has built a castle and Mickey Mouse is now his imaginary friend and he even buckles him up in the car. I almost cried when I saw him doing this. It is amazing that Colin is figuring things out WITHOUT us prompting him! AWESOME JOB BUDDY!

Late nights and Early Mornings

I am pretty sure that somehow along the way, God looked down at me and said "What can I do to mess with her today?" Well, I have two extremely different children. And I mean Polar opposites. I have one very high strung and attention getter boy to a laid back let mom figure out why I am so quiet girl. Along with these they have amazingly different sleeping patterns too.

Morgan goes to bed around 8-9 pm every night. It is like clockwork with her. She starts to get a bit grumpy, you ask if she wants to go to bed, she says no, I lay her down, she cries all of 1 minute and is out like a light. Then in the morning she is up with the freaking birds. She is very polite about it usually too. She starts out very quietly yelling at me until she is screaming at me to pick her up. No tears, just trying to let me know she is awake. I look at the clock and it is always 1 hour before I really need to be up. She is usually in a great mood and ready to get her day going.

Colin stays up until way past my bed time. Last night he was up until after 12 p.m. and tonight he was up until around 10:45. I am lucky that he actually sleeps. With Autism it is very common for them not to sleep. A lot of them suffer from insomnia. So I count my blessings that I am not up all night. He will sleep until 10 or 11 in the morning if I would let him. Most days I dress him while he is still asleep. It is rather commical.

So I am wondering if it is at all possible, if someone would look down on me and just let me go to bed at 8 pm and sleep until 11 am??? Please? :-)

sleep walking and eggs

I was woke up this morning at God knows what time it was to a "crash, thunk, boom!" Figuring it was my sister's cats I just rolled over and decided to deal with the devastation tomorrow at a decent hour. I rolled over to an empty pillow. Colin was gone. That motherly extinct kicked into high gear and I managed to untangle myself, get out of bed, and grab my glasses in less than 5 seconds. I noticed our door was open and ran downstairs. I called out his name, but he didn't answer. Then I walked into the kitchen and found him crying on the ground next to an open refrigerator door. I realized the poor kid was sleep walking again. Now is you have ever seen Step Brothers the movie you know not to wake a sleep walker. This isn't just for laughs, but in real life you really don't do it. So I very quietly closed the fridge door, stepped over the broken eggs, closed the dishwasher door, turned off the sink faucet, picked up the pans on the ground, closed the pantry door, put the cat food away, and very gently coaxed Colin back to bed. He was mumbling something about eggs and dishes the whole way upstairs. He crawled right back into bed and covered up. I didn't hear a peep out of him for the rest of the night. This isn't the first time he has done this either. It isn't an every night kinda thing, but more like once a month. I guess I am going to have to bring this up to his pediatrician when we get back to Ohio. Lovely the things our kids do. The ironic thing is..he doesn't even like eggs!

South Carolina

I haven't been on here in awhile and I wanted to post about my stay here in very sunny South Carolina. It is hotter than one can describe. When I step out of the house in the morning I am always greeted with the humidity which I try very carefully not to choke on! It is very beautiful here and the weather is a wonder as well. One minute it is raining so hard you can't see in front of you and then next minute (And I mean literally a minute) the sun is shining and the only way you knew it had just rained is because the grass and leaves are shiny. Amazing.

The kiddos are enjoying it here. They love the fact they get to go outside. There little tans are a nice marker for this. They can't stay out long, because it is just too hot, but are bribed fairly easily with popsicles.

Here are a few pictures of the kids in South Carolina!

Bowling

Aunt Jessie and I took the kids bowling last night. Colin loves to bowl more than he loves eating. He scored a fifty unassisted and Morgan got over 60, but Jess and I helped her quite a bit. I think Morgan liked the nachos better than the bowling..but hey, we had cheese man! They did great and Colin was wonderful taking turns. Here are some and pictures of the kids.

I made it

Well, today is my last day of school. I have a written final and something they call "Walk of Fame". I guess all of our chef instructors line up and we walk down a path and they clap for us. Since I have been a blubbering mess for a week now, I am sure this will only spark the tears..yet again. I can't belive it is finally here. It is like graduating from high school all over again. You wait for it forever and then BAM it is right there in your face, reality. I am scared, excited, sad, anxious, and depressed all at the same time. My friend Amy calls it being a "hot mess". That is for sure!

So, anyways, Goodbye Minnesota and Goodbye to a great set of friends, whom I will never forget and hope to visit soon!

Toad, if you are reading this, I love you and I will miss you like crazy! :-) You are the best. Not many people would step aside and let someone they love live their dream. You are doing that and so much more. How lucky am I to have you?