Spring has arrived, almost Mexico time!

The weather has officially turned, and I feel like it happened really suddenly, too. Spring is undoubtedly here to stay! We got a new trampoline this past weekend and the kids are having lots of fun jumping on it - so much bigger and nicer than our old one! They also got a PlayStation 4 a few days ago (when it rains it pours, thanks tax return!) so lots of fun things for everyone to play with! 

There is a picture of Adam with headphones on, this was not the breakthrough that we hoped for but it was an interesting development! We had some friends over a few weekends ago, and he was incessantly repeating things (as usual). Our friend asked if he would wear headphones with rain sounds, and while we didn't think he would, we tried it. He wore them for quite a long time! We have asked him since from time to time if he wants to wear them and he usually refuses, so I'm not sure why he was willing to wear them that day, but maybe it's a sign that he is becoming more open to things that will help him! We will keep trying it to see if he starts to ask for it as a relief when he feels like he needs a break from all the pesky talking around him. 

Our trip to Mexico is coming up in a week and a half! I have been busy looking through everyone's summer wardrobes and buying lots of new summer clothes (Adam outgrew his size practically overnight, I had to get him an entire summer wardrobe in size 10!). It's been fun getting ready, even though I am pretty nervous about the trip as I always am. How will the flight go? How will go it with our family in one room for a week (it's a large room, but still one room nonetheless)? I am trying to be relaxed and just take it as it comes, it's a vacation and we will make the most of it! 

Brian is in Boston for a few days so it's just me and the kids for the rest of the week. I'm sure we will manage but it's always better when Brian is home! 10 more days until a week of (hopefully) relaxation!

Family wedding, another big birthday, and in-law visit!

A lot has happened the last few weeks! We went to Chilliwack for my niece Shelby's wedding the weekend after we went to Victoria, and had a nice time with my family. We stayed at the Super 8 in Abbotsford on the Friday night, and Becky and Gordie and my mom and dad stayed there also. Mary was also there with the kids that Friday night and Saturday morning for swimming. It was fun catching up with all of them! We drove out to Chilliwack around noon on Saturday and got checked into the wedding hotel. It was a great set up with our family having the whole hotel to ourselves, Adam was basically able to wander as he pleased since it looked sort of like a big old house with a lot of rooms! The wedding was a lot of fun, and Adam did really well, staying well into the dance portion of it. He really surpassed my expectations! The other kids had a great time, Nathan was just cutting up the dance floor with his moves, so funny! 

Speaking of Nathan, he had his 7th birthday that following Thursday! We didn't do much on his actual birthday, but on Saturday we went to Build a Bear and him and Lynsey got some teddy bears (well, dogs actually). Then he got a new Lego set with his birthday money from Lynsey (and some of our money as well!) and then we went to Chuck e Cheese. All the kids had a lot of fun! I was surprised at how much Adam liked it, he wanted to play quite a few games there! He really liked this bowling game, maybe we should take him back to the bowling alley one of these days! We went back home and had an Oilers birthday cake for Nathan - a great end to a fun celebration! He got a microscope for his birthday that he likes, although I think it wasn't as exciting to receive as say a Lego set would be. We figured he is such a curious guy he would like to be able to find things to put under his microscope, I think once he learns to adjust it on his own a bit better he will use it more! No one under 7 in this house anymore, wow. Definitely no more babies now!

Brian was busy getting the bathroom finished up for when his parents arrived this past Thursday, we got it all finished just under the wire on Wednesday! We're really happy with how it turned out! Brian's parents came out on Thursday and we had a great weekend hanging out with them. Mark helped Brian install the laundry room cabinets Saturday and a bit on Sunday evening (Brian's friend Andy helped out Saturday afternoon as well) and so we are now ready for the countertop to be installed. One step at a time! Always delays between steps, but hopefully not much - they will measure on Monday and hopefully they can install not too long afterwards. Tonight Brian and I are going to attempt to stack our washer and drier so fingers crossed that all works as it should or we may be running out to buy a new set:-/. Now that the cabinets are in, we are committed to the stacking set! Should be all fine:-). We took Brian's parents to Whidbey Island yesterday and enjoyed the lovely sunshine and relatively warm temperatures. Had lunch and some ice cream and hung out at Double Bluff beach for a while. All in all a great weekend! 

We had some good meetings about Adam in the last few weeks. A few Fridays back some higher ups on his ABA team came by and we talked about better ways to help him with his repetitive disorder. They suggested we get him back to his psychiatric Nurse Practitioner to see about adjusting his meds, so we have an appointment this Wednesday. We felt good after the meeting, like there are people that understand him and the challenges that he has, and the challenges that we his care givers are facing, too! His IEP meeting was this morning also. Because Brian's parents were here and able to get all the kids off to school, Brian and I were both able to come which was really great. Adam's new teacher seems to have a great handle on things with Adam, I like how she approaches his learning and his repetition. I think she will be good for him. He was a bit less repetitive this weekend, so here is hoping we are going on a downswing with the high anxiety! 

Spring is definitely coming now, I am anticipating no more snow (and will not accept any forecasts that say there might still be some coming). We had some again on Thursday morning and it wreaked havoc on school drop offs everywhere - we are all quite done with it! Looks like it will be 18 degrees Celsius next week, bring it! Lynsey had her first basketball game last week as well which was a lot of fun! She seems to be really enjoying it which I'm so glad about! She just quit piano a few weeks ago which I am a bit sad about, but it was time. Maybe she will pick it up again in the future, who knows!

 I just saw that there is a picture of the Civic being towed away, I took that because it died on Brian and he thought it might be done for. As it turned out, it was just a maintenance issue and we decided it was worth fixing so it lives to run another day! And hopefully many more!