Ten on Tuesday

1.  I am in denial and refuse to shop for school supplies!  I know I have to do it but I don't have to like it.  We don't go back until after labor day but it's still too close.  I also have to buy new uniforms. This year they have to have a shirt and tie.  Not for every day but for some days.  Last year I bought their uniforms in August.  They outgrew them by October.  I am hoping this doesn't happen again.

2.  I was just looking over the calender's for the next school year. Since Calleigh and the boys are in different schools it should be interesting.  They dont have the same days off for all the holidays.  I am sure I will forget something and hopefully not someone!

3.  I am loving having a camera that can go in the water and is also dust/sand proof!  I am rough on cameras and this one seems very tough.  I love not having to worry about it by the ocean, pool or sand.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the past week.

4.  Calleigh is done with Summer camp (extended school year) on Thursday.  She has had a great time.  She is not always thrilled to go to school but once she is there she loves it.

5.  I officially signed up for my first Triathlon.  I will have to swim 1/4 mile, bike 12 miles and finish with a 3 mile run.  I am very excited and scared at the same time.  While I know I can complete each part individually I am hoping I can complete all three one after the other.

6.  I am thrilled Michael Phelps has won a  medal. 

7.  We had company on Saturday.  One of our guests is a Vet.  Colin was in his glory since he wants to be a Vet.  She gave Duke a good exam and said he was handsome and healthy!  She also said Colin can come and spend the day with her at the animal hospital and he can be her assistant. I have been looking for something "special" to do with him and this could not be more perfect.

8.  Cormac and I will be speaking to a class at New York University on Monday.  I am supposed to talk about our journey.  Cormac is going to tell them about his implants.  I am hoping to get it on video.

9.  I am going to enroll Calleigh in dancing school.  I think it will be great for her in so many ways.  Not to mention her favorite thing to wear is a tutu. 

10.  African frogs are very boring pets.  Just saying.....

Pool Pictures

We went to my Mom's pool club to celebrate my stepfather and stepsister's birthdays on Friday evening. They share the same birthday. My kids don't get to spend too much time in a pool since they spend it all in the ocean.  They love getting some pool time.  It was a great night with family.  Richie had a great time with all his grandchildren (only one missing was Tyler). 

Ten on Tuesday

1.  Calleigh was singing in the car today and I realized she was trying to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".  By far the cutest thing I have ever heard.  We watch The Wizard of Oz often and I guess  she likes the song.

2.  Ciaran has made HUGE leaps in his reading in the last two weeks.  This has been a struggle for Ciaran but we have been very focused on making it lots of fun.  I am so proud of him.  He has been really doing so well.  My goal was to have him reading by the end of the Summer and I think we will make it!

3.  Ciaran has also had a huge growth spurt too.  He looks like such a grown boy.  He is so tall and has huge feet.  He is growing out of size 2 shoes already.  With all this growth it means one thing....new earmolds for his hearing aids.  They are mighty tight right now and starting to bother him.

4.  I was asked to speak to a class at New York Univsersity.  Not sure of all the details yet but it will be exciting. Cormac was asked to make an appearance as well. 

5.  Colin's hair is turning blonde.  Everyone who has seen him lately comments on it.  Ciaran's hair looks like he has red highlights in it!  Cormac's hair is white in places...The life of three beach boys.

6.  The boys were enrolled in Mad Science Camp but they had to cancel it due to low enrollment.  I am disappointed and they are too.  I might enroll them in surfing lessons since it was cancelled.

7.  Summer seems to by flying by.  I wish it would slow down. 

8.  Calleigh started her third week of  Summer Camp (school...they call it camp).  She has had some good days when I drop her off and she has had some bad days.  But every day she comes out happy as can be and her teachers say she loves it.  I saw one of her teachers outside of school and she told me Calleigh is one of the smartest kids she has ever met and once she starts getting the words out there will be no stopping her.  She said she cannot believe all the things she knows.  Go, Calleigh!

9.  This week we have lots of fun planned.  Going to my sister's house to swim tomorrow. A visit to the Aquarium on Wednesday and  visiting a friend in LBI on Thursday.  Then on Friday we will go to my Mom's pool club to celebrate my step father and step sister's birthdays. 

10.  Colin might be the most talkative child...ever.  He talks and talks and talks.  He just cracks me up.  He loves to talk to anyone who will listen.  He always has a story to tell.  I just love listening to his stories.  He also opened his own bank account this weekend. He was determined to put his money in the bank.  He was so adorable at the bank.  Just too cute for words.

Flashback Friday...

This was one year ago today. This will always be one of my favorite pictures.

Summer Time fun

This summer has been action packed so far.  So much fun to be had.  The boys are seriously enjoying the ocean this year.  To say they are swimming is an understatment.  They are like fish.  It's totally amazing to watch.  Their boogie boarding skills are super.  Their body surfing skills are even better.  Colin has taken to skim boarding and he is determined to make himself great.  In just a few days he has nearly done it.  He rides the skim board and doesn't fall and rides up into the waves. 

Colin's hair is actually turning blonde in places.  Ciaran's freckles are really peaking out.  Cormac's blonde hair is practically white in places.  Calleigh is no slouch.  She has no fear of the ocean.  She will go in with us and we can put her totally under the water.  She squeals with delight.  Calleigh is also the social butterfly of the beach.  She walks up to everyone and says "Hi".  Today she went and sat next to a girl on her beach towel and had a whole conversation with her.  The girl was sweet and got a kick out of it.  She also walked up to a man who was sitting in a chair and offered him her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  He kindly took it from her and I ran over and got it.

The boys are attending Arts and Crafts camp on Monday and Tuesday from 10am -12pm.  They do cute little projects.  On Wednesdays they have an option of going on a trip.  Last week it was bowling.  They loved it.  This week they are going to Chuck E Cheese but we are skipping it.  Instead we will be heading to The Sandcastle Contest instead. 

The kids got to see their first fireworks up close this year.  Last year I let them stay up and watch the fireworks in Vermont but they were from far away.  We were in Vermont and could see them from the deck of my Aunt and Uncle's house.  This week we watched them with some friends on the beach.  They were thrilled.  The looks on their faces was priceless.  It was so awesome.  Colin was able to spend some time with his future wife, Kennedy.  He has their whole life planned out already.  Luckily, she agrees with this plan.  He even planned their wedding day. 


Here are their faces for the first firework.

Going to the beach is exhausting for all of us.  They boys are sleeping a lot later than their normal wake up times.  Calleigh is sleeping later too.  Her talking is so improved.  She is using more and more words and stringing them together.  Her new favorite?  "I hear Ice Cream truck"  She can hear it a mile away!  We never buy it but she still thinks she is getting it.  For some reason my kids think Summer = Dessert.  I tried to explain to them just because it's Summer we don't eat ice cream every night.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Summer as much as we are.  It is by far my favorite time of year....and it doesn't hurt living on the beach!

A fun but long day....

Yesterday morning the boys went to art camp from 10-12 and Calleigh was in school from 8:30 -11:30.  It was strange to be alone for 1 1/2 hours.  I relaxed and had a nice cup of tea in the peace and quiet.

I decided I didn't feel like going to the beach for some reason.  We are normally there every day and the day before the water was kind of rough and it makes for a very exhausting day when I am alone with four kids on the beach.  The boys are amazing in the ocean but they are still on six years old and I have to watch them like a hawk.  Basically, I stand on the water's edge with Calleigh and watch them.  If it's calmer water I go in with Calleigh since she loves it.  Anyway, I digress...

We were all home by noon and with no beach we had to come up with some stuff to do and I was determined not have them watch tv.  My kids don't watch that much TV but  I don't want them to start watching too much either.

For the next seven hours we did so many activities! We had a nice lunch and Calleigh went in for her nap.  First, we rode bikes, scooters and skateboards.  Cormac learned to ride his new big bike without training wheels thanks to Ciaran's encouragement.  He could ride his smaller bike with no training wheels but was intimidated by the new 20 inch bike.  Now, he can ride it.

The boys have been interested in cartooning so we made up our own cartoon characters and drew them and made up stories to go with them.  They were very interesting.  We read a ton of books.  We are doing the 100 book challenge and I know we will be a success!

Cormac's cartoon was "The Puppy Squad"  They were Super Hero puppies who protected those who couldn't protect themselves.  The girl is their owner.

Colin's was about an Army man (go figure) whose name was Jack.  He was taking target practice and teaching another man to shoot. 

Ciaran's picture was too light to take a picture since he drew it all in pencil.  He made a story about a Cowboy who had a horse named Ciaran along with another horse named Dante.  The Cowboy had special powers.

I plan on letting them add pages and make them into a book for them when they are done.  It was fun and the kids loved the idea of creating their own book.



We played with Playdoh. The boys were very creative.  Cormac made a Cobra that was really good.  Ciaran and Colin made all sorts of funny things. 

 We played dominoes. I love this game.  I don't think I ever played it in my life until the past year.  The boys love it too.  It's so great for counting and matching. 

We played the Super Why board game which I thought would be babyish but turns out is awesome for reading skills.  I really liked this game.  Some of it was a little young for them but other parts were not.  Since they are all at different levels of reading it worked.  Only problem is Calleigh loves Super Why and she kept stealing all the pieces and running away. 

We read some more books and more books!  We have a set of "Now I'm Reading! for beginners".   I love these books.  At the end of each book there are questions to ask about the book.  There are words they have to use in a sentence and a scrambled sentence they need to unscramble.  The boys all like them.

But what did we do most?  We talked.  We talked about everything we did.  We learned new words and practiced old words.  We listened to each other.  We laughed together.  We cuddled while we read books.  We used our minds and our imaginations.  And at the end of the day we were all tired and ready for bed but it was an awesome day!  All the kids slept for over 12 hours last night.

First day was a BIG SUCCESS!

This is Calleigh last night after getting her back pack.  She was already to go to school the next day.

 Here she is on the front steps of school!  All the kids were gathered in the library to be introduced to their teacher.  Each teacher stood up and called out their children's names.  When Calleigh's was called she walked up to the teacher took her hand and walked down the hall.  She never glanced back at me.  Not even once.  I forgot to give her teacher her back pack and the teacher asked me where it was.  I walked over and handed it to her and Calleigh still didn't stop to see me.  I was very happy she was happy.  I guess we will see tomorrow if she goes in now that she knows what the deal is!

When I picked her up at the end of the day she came running out of the building and literally wrapped her arms around my neck and lifted her feet off the ground and said "Hi, Mommy".  She just kept hugging me.

Here is the note in her back pack.....

 After a three hours of school she needed a little R & R...

I am very proud of my little smooch.  She looked so small walking down the hall.  Considering she is in the integrated class with kids quite a bit older than her she seemed even smaller.  But trust me, she can hold her own with anyone :)

Preschool?? Say it ain't so....

Tomorrow Calleigh will start preschool.  She is attending an integrated Summer program in our district.  It is only four weeks and she will be off again and start the full year program in September.  I have very mixed emotions about her starting school.  While on a cognitive level I understand this is what is best for her my emotions are not on the same page.

I am sure she will love it. I am sure I will get used to her being away but she just seems so little to be starting school four mornings a week.  When the boys started preschool at age three they went two mornings a week starting in September.  I kind of eased into the being gone every day school.  This is just all at once. 

On a side note, Calleigh's language has exploded since her surgery.  She is talking more and more each day.  She is repeating everything we say and her speech is getting clearer.  We still have a to wait for her repeat hearing test but I feel very confident the surgery has made a huge difference in her hearing.  I guess having "sludge" removed from your ear can do that.

So, with her better hearing she will head off to Pre K 3 and flourish.  I will miss her but her progress will make it worth it.  She has a new back pack (Pinkalicious) and a lunch bag and is ready to go.  I have been telling her she is going to school.  I am not sure she understands what I am telling her.  She understands the boys go to school but I don't think she realizes I will be dropping her off tomorrow.

I will be sure to take lots of pictures.  The boys (Ciaran in particular) think it's really cool she is starting school.  Colin also finds it fascinating she is starting to talk.  He keeps saying "Mom, she is saying real  words now".  Since she likes repeating all the boys find it funny to have her repeat words.  Poopy, Pee Pee and Potty are top on the list :)