438 + 334

We made it back to Collers beach this weekend - it had been too long.  I think the kids could have stayed the whole afternoon.  They have a love of sea snails, and spent a very long time detaching them from the rocks and poking at them before attaching them again.  It was good to get back to the beach, it isn't often that we go this long.

On Monday the kids had an hour long joint horse riding lesson.  They were totally stoked, and did so well.  At one point Carmie accidentally jumped the logs on the outside of the arena and started cantering across the grass at us, it was too funny.  After horse riding, we went home and waited for Jeffrey to finish his half day at work, and we took the kids to the little water park at Kings Point.  They love it there.  The water is a bit cold for me, but they don't seem to feel it.  It was such a lovely family afternoon.

On Tuesday the kids had tennis in the heat, followed by Peak after school care, and then a sleepover at Lolo and Dida's.  This gave me a day of work on Wednesday, and then I picked the kids up and took them to Narrawallee park to meet up with their friends Willow and Finn.  We hadn't seen them for a while, and the kids got along great.  Today we had two park plays, the first in the morning with the kids' friend Ben, and then again this afternoon with Delphi, Jasper and Aska.  Needless to say, the kids are exhausted.

Arley has been pretty chill this week.  Carmie seems to be developing her sense of humour, and has been making us laugh quite a lot.  I really can't complain, things were good this week!

Horse riding videos from Monday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEIhVC5YfFk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSTg3SI11g

 Family day at King's Point

437 + 333 Weeks

What to say about this week?  Arley has had a few grumpy days, but nothing we can't handle.  It's because last week I was raving about how happy he is, I jinxed us.  It was just for a few days, but now he seems fairly happy again, unless we ask him to do something that causes a bit of anxiety.  We discovered last night that he doesn't know his alphabet!  The kid has a reading age of 12 years, knows all of his letters, but doesn't know what order they come in!  I don't know how this slipped me by.  Of course the easiest way to learn is to learn the song, but he is refusing, and blocks his ears every time we try to sing it to him.  What a pain in the butt!  Homeschool success story this is not!  Ha ha.

Carmie has been doing a little writing, which honestly is a miracle.  I have to bribe her every day, but at least she is bribable.  She is still reading up a storm - she has read two books since yesterday morning.  Her speech hasn't been great this week, as I haven't been on top of her speech therapy homework, as my insomnia is getting the better of me, and I have been sick since Tuesday.  Carmie and I go out most mornings and play handball with each other.  Arley begrudgingly joins us.  Carmie has been desperate to beat me, and she finally did this week, and she is so proud of herself.  When we started a few months back, she missed most balls that came her way, so it really goes to show what practice can do!

There's not much to say for this week.  I can't even remember what we did this past weekend, which means it obviously wasn't very memorable!  The kids are counting down the days until Christmas. We aren't booking any holiday classes or programs this year, as we plan on having a lot of down time.  I'm looking forward to it.  I have almost finished my painting series (I thought I had finished yesterday, and we even celebrated, but now I realise I have to make some changes in my last painting), and I am fairly desperate for a break at this point!

A quick video of Arley cantering (again!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBdRn6Dle3Y

At horse riding:

Getting his energy out

436 + 332 Weeks

Well, what an easy week it has been, despite my continuing insomnia.  I've had one good night of sleep, I think because my body totally crashed, and it's been pretty crap since then, until the next crash, I guess.

Arley has been super happy, so much so that other people are noticing.  When he was at after school care, one of the teachers was talking to all of the kids about his other job as a special needs teacher, and Arley piped up and told all the kids that he has autism, and then fielded questions from them.  I'm so proud that he doesn't feel the need to hide it, that he is so easily able to discuss it.  He has had one bad day this week, and I tell you what, it was like a normal day used to be, and only lasted for a morning.  It is just so great to have him happy.  Our whole family dynamic has changed.  And I'm so thankful for his sake, as he is consistently happy for the first time in his life.  It must have been dreadful to be so anxious and angry all of the time.

Carmie is sweet as pie, but still quite emotional.  We are still challenged to get her to do much in the way of school work, but she is learning all the same.  This week she told Lolo that "her eyes have the genetic attributes of all of her family members", because they range from blue to green to grey.  I don't know where she learnt that, but it sure does take the pressure off me having to sit down with her and force her to do worksheets!

Arley has been complaining about leaving the house lately, so on Saturday I told him to choose anything he wants to do and we'll do it.  He chose to have a family picnic in the neighbourhood park so we could play soccer and dodgeball and draw with chalk.  So, that's what we did on Saturday and it was really lovely.

I have been teaching Arley to ride a bike without training wheels, as a surprise for his dad.  It is slow-going, and at first he was petrified, but now he is not scared, he just can't seem to find his balance.  We will keep slogging away at it though.  At least it is good exercise for me!

The kids have been playing tons of games this week, with Jeffrey, with me, and even with each other.   Lots of chess and strategy games.  They have been getting along quite well.  Yesterday we made another trip up to Nowra to see the kids' doctor, and afterwards I took the kids to a park.  They got very caught up in a make-believe game, which is a first for Arley, and he absolutely loved it.  Carmie has been caught up in make-believe games for many years, so she is a good leader for him.  Because it was so late, I took the kids out to dinner to an Italian restaurant.  We never do things like that (I think we got a little gun-shy when they were younger), and they thought they were so grown up, and I tell you what, they had the best manners of anyone in the restaurant!  I guess we're doing something right, even though we don't see those manners at home!

Today we had a park play with our homeschool friends.  The kids just love it, they have a blast.  Us mums sit and chat, and the kids run around like little hooligans.  They are allowed to leave the park as a group and go to the shop for ice blocks, so they feel very mature with all of that freedom.

I have't taken many photos this week, but let it be known, there were lots of happy faces!

 Jeff said to let everyone know he kicked Arley's ass at chess.  :)

 Arley spontaneously did maths tonight :)

435 + 331 Weeks

We have had a fairly chill week, with lots of home days and still attending our regular activities. The kids kicked butt at horse riding, with Arley cantering two laps around the arena, which is a first.  We had an afternoon of science experiments, as well as 'kids cook night' on Saturday night.  On Friday night we did our weekly family movie night.  It was Jeff's and my turn to choose the movie, so we chose School of Rock, and it was so cute, before the end credits were even rolling, Arley was racing to the lounge room with all of our musical instruments so we could start a band.  He then wrote a song - my favourite line is 'Kit Kats and glory".  Carmie also wrote a song, and hers is actually quite good!  But then they made me sing them while they played instruments.  You can imagine how we sounded.  Jeffrey actually got it on video, but that is one I am NOT going to share!

Jeffrey and I had our 11th wedding anniversary on Wednesday.  To celebrate, we took an overnight trip to Kiama, while the kids stayed at Lolo and Dida's.  We love Kiama - it is so beautiful.  We had perfect weather, great food, no stress.  Despite this, I still had insomnia the night we were there, even though I had taken a prescription sleeping pill.  At 4am when I was still wide awake I took my second pill, then knocked out by around 5am.  It happens every time I spend a night away from home, without fail.  So, I was a bit of a zombie yesterday, and I'm not much better today, as one night always sets off a string of bad nights.  I'm at a complete loss at this point.  But Kiama was really lovely, and it was our best anniversary yet!

I don't have much more to add at this point.  Which is good news, I think!

Science experiments

 Kids cook night (that is a vegetarian sausage!)

 Arley drinking his smoothie that he made himself!

 Park play

 Kiama :)