I never knew how much I loved your father until I saw how much he loved you

Father's Day.
Well, of course I am not a huge fan of this day- just reminds me of what I am missing with my Dad..and picturing how things COULD have been.

I am adopted. That is no secret. ..but I can't even imagine anyone loving me more than my Dad. He wanted me more than anything and it showed in everything he did and in everything he said. I was spoiled. I was rotten. I was HIS. I had the cool Dad..and no, I don't mean the dad that sat around and drank beer with me..I mean the dad that everyone in my neighborhood WISHED they had. He actually spent every moment he could PLAYING with us. He would round up the neighborhood kiddos and we would all bike down to Friendly's for ice cream..or he would take us to Kent State and bike around campus....or take us all to Leisure Time DAY after DAY ...or he would take us ALL on skiing trips to New York...my list could go on and on. My Dad was the ONLY Dad I knew that did this stuff. Really, he was. he never said he had too much work to do..or couldn't make a game or recital because he was too busy. He ALWAYS was present and a part of it EVERY second of it.

This is the day I met my family. I was a few days old and left the hospital with my Mom , Dad, and brother.

I am eternally grateful that he chose to be my Dad. He showed me what a Dad really looks like..and guess what? I married a man who became that same kind of Dad. That was no coincidence.

My kids did get screwed in some aspects though- they could have had this awesome hands on Grandpa in their daily lives. I can only picture how life changing that would have been for all of us. But Nate and Neve really did hit the jackpot with their Daddy...and yes, so did I.

To My Husband,

Thanks for showing me everyday what a hands on amazing Dad looks like. You make it look easy and you have never ending patience with our demon spawn. You deserve more than a public thank you..and I would give it to you if I could..but instead I give you two pretty darn cute kids that look up to you and love you more than anything. Happy Father's Day.  Love, Wifey

Yahd Sale!

I hate friggin yard sales. If you know me, you know this. I hate GOING to them, or even consignment shops, and buying people's old shit. I can't explain why it is so awful to me, it just is. I hate the smells, the freaky people, and did I mention the smells?  My old roomie was a garage sale junkie and just LOVED them. Vintage was her bag..but oh no, not me my friends. Thankfully, I am not going to any this weekend BUT, the time has come to throw my own garage sale. My garage is actually overflowing and I can't even park my car in the 3rd bay comfortably. SO, Miss Neve is headed off to Grandma's for a couple nights, and I am entering the garage sale world in hopes of unloading some stuff. One day only..then it all gets donated. anyway, that's the exciting news around here lately. ha!

Nate survived his first week of summer school camp. he did fine..but it made Aaron and I nervous as hell. It's this tiny drop off area with 50 thousand special needs kids with ALL types of disabilities..they are mostly confused and there are wheelchairs flying around with kids breaking free..seriously, crazy stuff. I have been lovingly calling it the loony bin because of the madness that ensues every day at drop off and pickup. It's beyond accurate description. All I know is that Aaron or I drop off Nate into the HAND of the aide and watch him walk down until the door CLOSES to his room and I know he is safe..THEN we get back in the car and pray to Jebus that we don't hit any stray kids in the parking lot. It's so dang stressful!!!

Neve went back to school camp this week and had a blast. It was Fizz, Bang, Bubble Week and she made vinegar/baking soda volcanoes and all that cool stuff. BUT, we did find out some horrible news. Neve's recently rekindled "Summer Lovin'" with her boyfriend, Logan, is coming to an end. Logan is moving to Iowa. Kinda puts a damper on the relationship. Oh well. I am pretty sure he wasn't good enough for her anyway..I mean, he can't even tie his shoes. Ya know?

Besides that, the days have been filled with...

wrestling

and more wrestling

...and then Dad got involved

followed by the Portnoy standard: dual magnadoodles in front of the Wiggles. shoot me now.

8 more weeks to go....

A few days with Granny E

Neve's Granny E is here for a couple days and Neve is lovin every minute of it. Yesterday she got to spend some time at Granny E's hotel pool and she was thrilled. Well, I think they both were. :)

Arabesque in the water..very tricky. ;)

The week has been long, but we are surviving. Neve started preschool camp 2 days a week and is happy to be back with her peeps. The latest scuttlebutt is that Neve asked Logan to marry her, and he said yes. PHEW! I am not sure I could handle another preschool break-up. I suppose I will contact his dad to arrange dowery, etc.

Granny E and I took Nate to an inflatable bounce house place while Neve was at camp one day. Nate had a blast and played very well by himself, not bothering the other kids with inappropriate pressing, etc. Yay!

(crappy cell phone pics...but there they are :)  )

Anyway, one week of summer break down, 9 more to go. Ugh.

This Little Piggy...

Nate's latest magnadoodle creation. I just love it.

I really, really love it. :)

The fight for our little piggy continues. The school district came back to us suggesting we meet in August when school starts to discuss things. HA! No way, Jose. Meet with us now or it's mediation, which sucks for both parties involved. So...now we wait for another reply. Cross your fingers that our vacation fund doesn't go to legal fees. :(

When life hands you lemons....

MAKE LEMONADE!

The Great Escape

We survived.

Early Saturday we left to stay at the Arizona Grand Resort for 2 days. It's really a great place- totally family friendly- huge resort with multiple pools in addition to a big water park with lazy river, wavepool, slides, splash area, etc.. I was happy to try a new place for our mini-staycation. Aaron and I have been to the Phoenician, The Scottsdale Princess, JW Marriott, Westin Kierland, Squaw Peak Hilton, The Boulders, the Wigwam, and now we can add Arizona Grand to our list. I LOVE that AZ has such AWESOME resorts right here in town. They really are amazing and you feel completely like you are on vacation..PLUS you can stay at these 4/5 star resorts for next to nothing in the summer since it's off season.

We had two adjoining suites with living areas and Grandma Ding stayed next door.

Neve dove right in and claimed her bed. So funny.

We attempted to get a pic of them together, but this sums up what we got. hahha. Nateman was NOT diggin pics this weekend and neve was wound up with excitement.

We hit the wavepool- they both love that. Nate gets crazy stimulated by the wave action- Aaron was definitely playing safety defense!

Where's Waldo? Can you find Aaron and Nate?

Then it was lazy river time..

Nate and Dad checkin out the slides...Dad DID go down, but the pic is on a different camera. Sorry!

Then it was chill time.

Sharing a lemonade. :)

My favorite guys!

For dinner we headed to Rustler's Rooste- this steakhouse type place on the bluffs. There is a cow out front, a slide inside, a band, and dancing. How can you go wrong?

They were awesome and were able to accommodate ALL of our crazy food allergy requests with a smile. yay!

 

Then I attempted to get more brother/sister pictures..and again, wasn't gonna happen.

 

Most of them were of Nate looking sideways and Neve pulling a "Lindsay Lohan" crotch shot. Niiice.

After dinner and bathtime, we finally got the kids to sleep..it was about 8pm which is 1.5 hrs LATER than usual bedtime. Grandma Ding watched the sleeping munchkins so Aaron and I could sneak out. We had Pina Coladas and cocktails and watched the dive-in movie at the pool. All was good.......UNTIL...

4:15am. Nate pees himself and wakes up Neve. They are both upset and NEVER get back to sleep. Ugh. We were dragging and pretty cranky...BUT we enjoyed the rest of the next day at the water park again and then headed home. This was the view in my living room by early evening..

So..was it worth it? I don't know. Nateman, as predicted, loves everything about parks and activities, etc...crowds are ok with him and loud noise isn't that bad...BUT it's just being off the schedule in general. He was scripting nonsense and was clearly confused. We hate to see him that way. We feel so helpless as nothing provides him security or relief. I mean, I DO think this trip was worth it..but if we were at Disney or anywhere for multiple days I don't know how we would recover from that and then just plug away again for another day at Disney or wherever. You can't do that day after day with no sleep.

Anyway- I suppose as time goes by here we will make a decision and just go with it- one way or another! I DO know we are going to book up another resort in town. Staycations are always a good way to stay busy this summer. :)

 

Are You Game?

Neve completed another week of Little Gym camp and loves it more than ever. She has two little friends there now and it's quite hilarious to watch her. We call her Julie, the cruise ship social director. She takes her friends around and introduces them to everyone and tells them where she met them. It's so damn funny. Anyway, I am thrilled she loves it there so much. We will be headed back there for more camp in July. For June she will be doing preschool camp and she's pumped for that too. Next week is camping week, so she is ready with her flashlight and binoculars.

Nate, on the other hand, has been my challenge. As predicted, he is proving to be extremely hard to entertain during this break. This is where you can find him every minute of every day if you don't peel him away from it.

This is Nate's computer in the play room. He plays Blue's Clues, Thomas, Reader Rabbit, and Caillou. He is now officially obsessed so we have to limit his time on there. It's so hard when you finally find SOMETHING he likes. I guess he IS spelling out his sight words and such so I won't complain too much. :)

Tomorrow we are headed to a Phoenix resort for a mini getaway. We hope the next couple days will give us a trial run for our Disney trip. We shall see how it goes! All I ask is for the munchkins to sleep. All else we can work out. Grandma Ding got some wonderful health news yesterday so she is coming along to celebrate. She booked the suite next door and Neve is beside herself with excitement.

Wish us luck!