Birthday Party

Andrew will be turning 11 in 3 days. Time goes too fast. We are having his Birthday party today and invited some boys over. We were going to do outside games; like water balloon toss, three legged race, etc, but it is going to rain this afternoon. So, due to mother nature, we need to come up with a plan B. Normally, I'd have a plan B already in the works, but the indexing has pulled me away from all of that, including our daily routine.
I've had to let the boys do their own thing this week in order to complete to 2,000 images. It has been a little chaotic and Mom has not been very patient. We did go to the public library on Thursday to a special childrens program about the moose on Isle Royale. The Ranger even read a few story books, it was a treat. And yesterday we took a walk to Andrew's speech therapy and back (40 minutes of walking total).
On Sunday, Andrew will be spending the week with Missy and Gordon. He is looking forward to it; a little reprieve from his stressed out Mom and clingly little brother. Plus, he'll be going to a day art camp, which he will enjoy. I'll miss him; well, we will all miss him, but know that he will have a good time. And since he will be gone during his Birthday, I just want to say....

Happy 11th Birthday, Andrew!

Clip Art Crazy

A former employer contacted Mies the other day to help out with an indexing project. She sent us 1000 images to index on an excel spreadsheet. We must index each image under an established Category and Subcategory then come up with a "Friendly Name" aka a title, then 4-15 keywords for each image. Sounds easy, but trust me, it is NOT. Especially when the images are abstract or the same stock image shot from different angles. Plus, we had a bunch of religious icons, statues, books, etc. It is interesting that is for sure.

Summer Vacay...

I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to being home with the boys this summer; I was afraid I couldn't keep them busy, so to speak, and give them some structure to keep up on their studies. Mostly I was nervous, because they are almost 5 years apart and have different interest, but here we are, and it is not as bad I had anticipated. So far, we are having fun. I try to organize one main daily event; a walk, playing soccer in the backyard, lunch-time picnics with Dad, going to the library, etc. I am only one week in, but so far so good(ish). There have been meltdowns and moodiness abound, but with some gently guidance, they push through it. I'm trying to instill in them a sense of perseverance. They seem to give up too easily and that saddens me (and Mies). We are working on it.
For the most part, despite their age difference, the boys get along. There are times when Andrew gets overwhelmed or over stimulated and he needs some down time from everything which is hard for Aidan to fully understand. Aidan feels rejected. I try to explain that sometimes people need some quiet place to retreat to, but Aidan may not be old enough to fully comprehend this. He is learning and I've been helping Aidan by taking Andrew's times for quiet as time that Aidan and I can have together. Time when we can work on writing letters and numbers, reading story books and laughing. Aidan has a belly laugh that is indeed infectious. Please don't misunderstand, I do have time alone with Andrew, too. We share many funny stories, too. And don't get me started on his laughter... :)
So, I have to say, that for all my trepidation, things are going well. And I'm looking forward to see what tomorrow brings.