This post, as with the other summer posts, probably proves that.
First off, one of our close friends hosted a Birthday party. But not just any party: she always goes all out for First Birthday parties! I offered to help out with taking pictures that night, so I have billions, but I have to share a few because it was just awesome.
She went with a circus theme for the evening. Isn't that cake awesome?
There were almost a dozen carnival games around the backyard for the kids to play (once they got tired of the bounce house). My kids loved those!
Of course, the prize tent to redeem the tickets was even better.
And Kaitlyn loved getting her hair colored.
Jasmine mostly loved splashing in the water for the yellow duck pond game, and stealing food. In fact, that was the first time we heard her say "no"! She tried to take a little girl's Cheetos, and when the girl took them back Jasmine looked at her very seriously and said "Nnnnn- o!" Daddy and I would have been better at reprimanding her if it wasn't the funniest thing I have ever seen.
As a side note, I gave her that haircut just hours before the party. The baby mullet was ready to go.
Anyway, there was so much fun to do that by the end of the night, even the birthday boy was tuckered out. "Hmm? Oh, cake? Um, sure, if you say so."
Kaitlyn and the other little girls loved the photo booth with all of the props.
And even Jasmine struck a pose for me. I don't know if she was saying "shoooes" or trying to kiss me, but she was in silly mode for sure.
A few days later, however, she caught a fever and was down for the count.
Poor thing. She barely left my bed for about two days, and the rest of the week was still a bit slow. Thankfully she perked up by the weekend so we could make it to the swim parties and cabin trip with friends we had planned. Not only did our ward have a swim party, but a local Autism school had a party at a nearby water park we hadn't tried before, and that was really fun. And then Christopher's work had their swim party as well.
Luau!
A group came with this cute set up, some dress ups for pictures, and a dance routine to show us.
Of course, Kaitlyn's favorite part was going up and learning a dance with them.
And Daddy's favorite part was the FlowRider.
And Jasmine and Tyler loved the shaved ice.
One of my favorite "not pictured" events from this month was that I spent the rest of that weekend up in Salt Lake. My sister-in-law is a psychologist, and she let me know about an Autism conference up there so we could attend together. It was really great to spend time with her and learn more about the way other people see life! Oddly, the more I learn about Autism, the more I see that is truly isn't the perfect diagnosis for Tyler. One of the big things that was said over and over again that weekend was that "with any disability, there will always be uneven skills". And everyone seemed to agree with that - most Autistic children have an ability or at least a strong interest somewhere, along with areas they just can't comprehend. But Tyler doesn't. Tyler has a lot of similarities with these kiddos, and he truly thrives on the type of instruction developed for them. But we've recognized that Tyler is gaining ground evenly . . . at a much slower pace than most kiddos. It is as though other kids like Kaitlyn are running a race at a nice jog and Tyler is wandering behind at a slow saunter. He's moving forward, but it takes a few extra hundred repetitions for everything to sink in, and the gap between where he is and where he "should" be just widens every year. And while it is frustrating to see more and more Autistic children from his class catching up and "mainstreaming" every year with him getting further and further behind, the main problem I have with this analogy is that the system isn't designed to handle it. Our school system places people by age, whereas he would probably be at a Kindergarten level next year, and take 3 years to grasp that content, etc. I have a feeling we'll be shifting to a private school soon because of that. We'll see.
Anyway, the Autism conference was great. And just as I got home, my parents pulled into town!
We always have lots of fun when they drive out. We got to go to a car show, which is something my parents love to do. In fact, I was a bit amazed at how much my parents knew about all the cars. My dad would tell me something about every car without even looking at the sheets first - this one is really rare, or they made this for only a couple of years, this one was originally a different color, down to knowing what engine they swapped out into the vehicle. I was really impressed, and it made it a lot more interesting than what I would have done on my own (which would have been looking at cool paint jobs).
We have our list of usual places to visit while they are in town by now, like the bulk isle at Winco, a meal at Chubby's, and a trip or two to the cabin. This time I decided to show them what Ikea is like, and we randomly picked a Tuesday. That is a mistake I will never make again. The line was about an hour or two long so every mom in two valleys could come for free kid's meal Tuesday. Don't get me wrong, I like saving money too, but seriously? That was a room piled full of distressed and hungry kiddos who don't like standing in lines. I'd rather pay $3 and have a nice, quiet and calm meal another day. Or better yet, feed them at home for less and not drag kids through all of that just for a meal (we saw them all parading in straight to the restaurant without shopping).
But I digress. Again. Sheesh. I guess I just have PTSD from dragging my own angry baby through that store. Teething stinks sometimes, as does trying to make a baby skip her nap.
She liked craft day though.
Well, Kaitlyn liked painting her salt dough creations. Jasmine liked eating the paint brush (don't worry, I only gave her water) and trying to drink from the bowl (really glad I only gave her water).
The highlight of the week was our weekend at the cabin where my mom's sisters came to spend the day with us. Everyone had a busy Saturday, but we were really glad that they made time to come.
We love going for walks up there.
I just can't believe the colors were out already!
And my mom enjoyed opening up boxes of old pictures to sort through from their parent's home.
Jasmine, as usual, loved to climb in the Argo.
As a funny side story, earlier that week we got my mom and dad took the Argo for a spin.
And they came right back. My mom did not care for that thing at all! She said it was too bumpy and jerky, and she was done.
Just like when my Aunt Betty tried to hold Jasmine. Miss Baby was done with that pretty quickly. In Betty's defense, Jasmine does the same thing to us.
"I like you, but not hugs."
Their trip was a great end to our summer!
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