It's been awhile

Wow it's been too long since I've posted anything. I can't believe that summer is over already and it is now fall here in Alaska. The leaves are turning and falling and the snow is almost halfway down the mountains now. It's been getting into the 30's in the mornings and I've been having to scrap my car windows in the morning before going to work. Not sure if I'm ready for winter yet.

This summer was pretty busy but we did manage to have some fun. Mason went to summer school this year and I think it really did him some good. His reading is so much better now. If he would of have 2 maybe 3 more weeks I think he would have been to were he needed to be when he finished the 1st grade. He started the 2nd grade and this year he had a really good teacher that seems to really be willing to work with him. Since he has ADHD the medication he's on only tapers his behavior it doesn't control it completely he still needs structure. This year his teacher is really trying to help him like his kindergarten teacher did. I think he's going to have a really good year.

Michael has been doing really well also. He didn't have to attend summer school again this year and he's really seeming to retain a lot of information. Therapy has been going well for him too and he's adjusting so well to change. He's had so many changes this year. First change his occupational and speech therapist moved to a new building. It didn't take him as long as it usually does for him to adjust to a new place. Second he got moved to a different classroom and has a different teacher this year in school. Originally he was suppose to stay in the class he's been in for the last 3 years but his teacher got an unexpected student and she had to move someone up. There was only Michael and another kid in his class that moved up to the 4th grade. Well it turns out that the other kid and another kid in the other class don't get along and they yell at each other all day long so they decided to move Michael instead to avoid the yelling. He was a little confused the first week of school but he seems to be adjusting well to his new classroom. I'm not sure if I really like his new teacher this year. The verdict is still out at the moment. There are some things that she does differently than his teacher that he had the last 3 years and I'm not sure if I really like the differences. Maybe I'm the one that is having a hard time adjusting. I really liked his old teacher. She was one of the best teachers Michael has ever had.

In July Michael celebrate one year post leg surgery. He seems to be doing really well and his legs are really getting strong. Mike and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in July. I can't believe that we have been married for 10 years. We've had our shares of ups and downs but I can't imagine my life with anyone else. Mike is the one and only for me. We really didn't do anything too special for our anniversary. We hadn't see Mike's sister is quite a while so we took the kids to Fairbanks the weekend of our anniversary to visit her. We had a wonderful trip there and back.

These are some pictures that I took on our way to Fairbanks. The fireweed was so beautiful and Mason was so cute standing in front of it.

We went to Chena Hot Springs while we were in Fairbanks and above is some of the pictures I took there. Michael didn't get in the water with us. He really wasn't into the whole thing so he sat in his wheelchair and played with his music. He seemed to really be enjoying himself as you can tell in the above picture. Mason had a blast. He was really fasinated with the fish pond they have there. It use to be the theraputic pool but the closed it down and turned it into a pond.

Well this entry is turning out to be pretty long so I will post more pictures of our trip and the rest of our summer in another post.

Summer days....Mama's little helper

Yesterday was a great day. The sun was out and it was really nice outside. Tuesday when I got off work Mike needed to go to Home Depot and he was in a very generous mood and got me some more flowers. I had two hanging baskets that I still needed to complete. Since we are already into June he let me pick out the remaining flowers I needed for the baskets plus I got another rose bush. I've been trying for a few years now to make a rose bush last and come back the next summer. About two years ago I thought I was finally going to succeed but Mason had other ideas. I babied my rose bush all summer long. It was full and beautiful. When fall came I mulched it really well and put it up on the deck so it would be out of the snow. It was looking like it was going to make it and I would have my beautiful rose bush come summer. One day I went outside to check on it and I found out that Mason while he was outside playing decided to trim it back for me and broke all the limbs off. Needless to say the rose bush didn't come back for the following summer. Last year I decided not to even bother, mainly because I couldn't find the type at the garden centers that would survive in a container up here. This year while we were at Home Depot I found the kind I had the year before and Mike told me to go ahead and get one. I haven't gotten a chance yet to plant it in the container I have for it. I was going to do that today but Mother Nature had other ideas. It's been raining on and off all day today. I did get my baskets done yesterday and I let Mason pick out a couple of flowers and I got those planted also. I bought another hosta for under out tree and I still need to get it planted too.

After I got done with all my gardening, I also weeded all of my beds too, it was time to get dinner started. I promised Mason I would make corn on the cob because he absolutely loves it so when I got started he came into the kichen and helped me. He helped me husk the corn. We also had mashed potatoes and I let him help me cut the potatoes up. Of course he almost gave me a heart attack because he came close to cutting his fingers a few times so I had to continue to show him how to do it. After that he finally lost interested and I finished dinner by myself but it was fun having him in the kitchen with me.

I'm missing my boys at the moment. Since Mike and I both have to work on Fridays and Mondays and school is out for the summer my parents are watching the kids for us until school starts so we have to drive the kids out to the valley Thursday evenings and they bring them back home on Monday. I have tomorrow off. It's going to be weird being home all day long with no kids and no husband around. I will have the house all to myself. A very rare occasion but one I will enjoy nevertheless.