Drew – Page 2 – Asbery's Echoes

Under the Weather Hammy Escapade

I think the fire is a little big compaired to the tent but oh well – it was fun to make anyway!

Yesterday Drew and I were both under the weather. Thanks Joe – it all started with him over the weekend! Anyway, we spent most of the morning sitting together in our easy chair watching YouTube videos on hamster habitats and Drew decided it would be fun to change out Ollie’s cage to a camping theme. We just cleaned him out over the weekend so we won’t be doing a complete overhaul again for two or three weeks but as we were both feeling a little better in the afternoon I helped him drag out all our supplies and we got to work. I really get frustrated with YouTube and Drew wanting to spend his time watching pointless videos of other kids doing nothing but there’s also some really good videos and tutorials on there too. My one stipulation was we could only use what we had on hand as whatever we make is going to get crawled over, chewed on, pooed on, and basically destroyed, so we’re not going to spend extra money. In the end we came up with a tent, campfire (with a battery operated tealight) and a cute little sign. I also want to try making an adirondack chair out of popsicle sticks at some point too for little Ollie to enjoy!

Who knew a little tiny hamster would provide so much entertainment!

Later, while watching the Queen and Adam Lambert Story, Drew decided he’s watched enough videos on taming hamsters to try and get Ollie out and hold him. This has been his goal from day one when we first brought Snowball home. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself and we had to get him to calm down so as to keep the poor hamster calm too. But, this little guy took to being held right off and Drew and Ollie had a blast together. As least Drew had fun anyway! Ollie on the other hand, decided to crawl into the sofa and we had to find him and contain him before Pierre realized there was a free running rodent in the livingroom to try and play catch and release with! All in all, even with none of us feeling the greatest, we had a nice day. Drew learned a few new things on YouTube regarding his hamster and Ollie I think decided he liked having some human contact and love!

Wedding Weekend Fun

We attended the most beautiful wedding over the weekend. We have what I like to think of as our camping family and this weekend a young woman I would never have known if it hadn’t been for Joe’s work and camping got married. Joe and Steve have worked together for years and have become the best of friends and our families started camping together quite a few years ago. We don’t see each other a lot. We live three hours away from each other. But we camp together at least twice a year, over long weekends, and when you camp you get to know each other well. So, we’ve known Steve and Wendy’s daughter Whitney since she was a young girl and we have grown to love her. Then she started bringing Matthew along on our trips and we’ve grown to love him too! We felt so blessed when they asked Drew to be their ring bearer in their wedding. It amazes me how lives become so entwined and time and distance just don’t matter!

Ready To Slow Down

I am so ready for things to slow down around here. Working at the school for two weeks was both rewarding and draining. I enjoyed the young man I was with although he was also quite the challenge. The school has hired a young girl to be with him and I think that’s good – she might be better suited to keep up with him! I was scheduled to work on Tuesday and on Thursday this week. Tuesday was canceled and Thursday rescheduled which was fine with me. I can use a week at home!

I had volunteered to help out at the school during their annual Color Run fundraiser but ended up working instead. Which worked out great as I was there all day and even though I was working I got to also spend time with Drew.

The kids had a great time dancing. They bring in a local DJ and she plays all the songs the kids love. The weather was iffy all day but it cleared up just enough for everyone to have fun for a couple of hours!

Drew’s teacher saw these boys taking a selfie and she just had to photobomb them. She’s such an involved teacher. She’s very update and fun!

I did manage to tackle this daunting task over the last month. All my DMC was in baggies. Hard to find, numberous duplicates, just very frustrating to sort through. After soooo many years of stitching I have accumulated soooo many threads. So instead of stitching I organized. I still have threads in baggies but I also have every DMC color organized like this. It is so nice now to pull out the threads I need without having to spend time sorting through piles. I should have done this years ago!

Braxton has been playing preschool soccer and we got to go to one of his games. He was lots of fun to watch. I get a kick out of these little ones – they have so much fun just running around out on the field. Little Bayah cuddled with me throughout the whole game which was fun too!

We we out for lunch after the soccer game for Aaron’s birthday. He wanted to go to Applebee’s in Iowa City. Everyone made it except for Eric who had to work. Jeremy looks grumpy in this picture but he had actually just shown Braxton how to make spit balls and shoot them through a straw. Braxton had a blast shooting them at Uncle Aaron who was a good sport. Especially when Drew got into the action too! I’m sure Applebee’s was glad to see us leave!

He’s a Second Grader Now!

Tuesday was a tough day for Drew – and for me! He had his school open house that night and his anxiety kicked in. He spent the day crying, being demanding, whining, being obstinate. Nothing would make him happy. It was tough. And it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. I hadn’t seen this behavior for so long. Once I figured it out I felt better. It didn’t make the day go better but at least I knew why he was acting out. Then Joe called later in the day to tell me he wouldn’t be home after all due to work issues. I told him what was going on with Drew and he knew immediately what the problem was. He sometimes catches on sooner than me.

I was worried about getting Drew to the open house by myself but once it was time to head to town he was fine. He kept asking if he could be homeschooled but he didn’t put up a struggle when I said it was time to go. He has a wonderful teacher this year. Actually 2nd grade is just wonderful at our elementary. You can’t go wrong with either teacher – they are close friends and they love the kids and it shows in everything they do. They work together daily, sharing their classrooms with each other. We’ve had both of them in the past with the older kids and love them both. Drew walked in and his teacher’s face immediately lit up, she walked over with a huge smile on her face, gave Drew a fist bump and said “There’s my guy!” Drew picked out his desk, unpacked his backpack, found his locker and it was time to go. He asked if he could go back into the classroom so back we went. He wandered around the room, just taking it all in. Looking at the books and games and all the different areas that were set up. Then we left. We got home and he stated he wished school didn’t start on Thursday – he was ready to go the next day!

Instead of saying he wanted to be homeschooled he was ready to go back to school. He doesn’t do well with change and struggles with anxiety over the unknown and he was in his comfort zone all summer being at home with me. But just going in and being able to take his time and check it all out, knowing his teacher and having her acknowledge him like she did, being comfortable with knowing where he was going and what to expect, seeing all his friends again, he was able to put some of his fears to rest and he’s ready. Today he walked right into the school like it was no big deal. I know he’ll have a great year!

Toad Time

No Drew was not licking this little guy – he just wanted to stick his tongue out for some reason!

I’ve always loved toads. I remember having a pet toad when I was little when we still lived in town. It lived in our sandbox. My boys always wanted to scare me with all the creepy crawlies they would find but along with toads, I’m not too squeamish with anything creepy crawly. I looked at that as a positive but they were always disappointed that I didn’t scream and run away! Drew loves to catch frogs and toads and anything else he can get his hands on. Right now the crickets are out and he’s having a great time catching them. I’m thankful he’s finally outgrowing wanting to keep all his finds as pets and putting them in jars and trying to bring them inside but he still has to show me all of his finds. He’s getting more and more willing to catch and release – which is good for the house and for the little critters!

This little guy was the sweetest. He had a fat little tummy! And I see I need to trim Drew’s nails – dirty little boy fingernails – yuck!

Slowing Down

Slowing down – one thing we as older parents have learned to do. We have more patience. We definitely don’t sweat the small stuff. We are more willing to take the time to work with Drew more at a much younger age than we did with the older kids. Joe especially. Not because we didn’t want to with the other kids – we just didn’t have the time. Or we thought we didn’t anyway. Joe would have set a certain pace and worked hard to get a project done. The boys would have stayed out of his way. But Drew is different. For one, he’s always right in the middle of whatever we are doing. At all times. Raising him is in many ways like raising an only child. He demands attention! Aaron might have been watching, analyzing, learning in his own way but staying back. Eric would not have been anywhere around. He was usually with Abby and Jeremy. But Drew, he’s going to be right here, demanding to be a part of this, and Joe is so much more willing to slow down and work with him, show him, teach him and allow him to do this. And I love it. Do I now have deck boards with a few extra dents in them from a drill slipping off the screw? Definitely. Are some of the screws in a little deeper than they should be? Of course. But you know what – that’s okay. I don’t need perfection. Everytime I look down at these boards I’ll see my little boy on his knees, concentrating so hard, working his heart out and being so proud of himself because he helped build this deck. And I’ll see his daddy right there with him, taking the time to teach him this very valuable skill.

Weekend Randomness

We had no set plans for the weekend. Joe was gone all last week – gone for a couple nights then home one night then called out again the following day. He was exhausted. I’m glad we didn’t have anything planned so that he could relax a little after such a grueling week.

Dad brought over a bowl of wild black raspberries he had picked from the timber. I love them, nobody else here cares too much for them. So I made a cobbler. Drew ate one helping. I ate the rest. It was so good. I didn’t eat it all in one sitting – I did stretch it out over a couple, three days!

And for some I reason decided to make sun tea for Joe and Drew. Drew had asked me to buy a jug of Arnold Palmer tea for them and as I was filling a glass for him it dawned on me, I bet I could make this a lot cheaper if I made sun tea and put lemon in with it. So I got on Pinterest and guess what, I wasn’t the first to think of this! (I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be before getting on Pinterest – I was wanting to see how others made theirs) Drew thought it was a neat process and Joe enjoyed the tea although next time I’m not supposed to use quite as much lemon! I didn’t realize until I read up on sun tea that it is mostly a Midwest thing. I remember Mom making it a lot for Dad when I was growing up and we saw someone at the camp grounds awhile back making some. I’ll be making sun tea a lot I think the rest of the summer – it sure is cheaper than buying the jugs at the store and it’s so pretty to see sitting outside in the sun. I just wish I liked to drink it. I try but I just can’t get it down.

As you can see – way too many toys and stuff. We don’t have picture perfect bedrooms – we let the kids decorate their own rooms and really make them theirs.

On Saturday Joe mowed, I weeded and put down some more mulch and then we headed to Ottumwa and bought Drew a bunkbed. It’s a long story but he hasn’t had a bed for the last few months and had been begging for a bunk bed. We had shopped around earlier in the month so we knew what we wanted and where to get it. We brought it home and spent the rest of the evening putting it together and lo and behold – Drew slept in it! And he slept in it last night. He has not been one to sleep by himself for a very long time so this was huge – for all of us! If I had known a bunk bed would have been all it took, we would have done this a long, long time ago. I don’t know why but with Abby and Aaron we had no trouble with them sleeping in their own beds. Eric and Drew not so much.

Hopefully some day soon this will be deck instead of an eyesore!

Sunday we decided to finally start working on extending the deck. And of course we discovered that while we thought we had some of the boards we needed up in Joe’s woodpile, we actually did not. So after starting in on the project, we had to make a Menards run for more supplies. This was absolutely not in the budget which means we’ll be putting the pergola project on hold until next year. Which is fine. I can wait. But that also means less work for Joe this summer which is not a bad thing. We didn’t get as much done on the deck as we had hoped and it looks like there’s a lot of rain in the forcast for this week so we might not get much done but we’ll work on it as we can and eventually it will get finished.

And slowly but surely, this will be a useful and pretty space too.

While Joe was working on the deck doing things I couldn’t really help him with, I transplanted some hosta and day lillies that were going to be covered up by the new deck. Since we won’t be working on the pergola this year, I went ahead and planted the daylillies by it. Joe wasn’t wanting me to plant anything more around it until he got the sides put up but I didn’t have anyplace else to put the plants. Plus, we have the mulch to put around it and I don’t want it to set too much longer in the bags for fear it will mildew so this week I plan to put the mulch down too. We’ll just have to work around things the best we can next year and I won’t put anymore plants in until we’re done. We put the pergola up a few years ago thinking we would use it a lot but we just don’t so our plan is to use the old, rusty, corrugated tin we have to put a roof on and put sides about halfway up all the way around with more of the tin and we also plan to put a floor in instead of the loose rock that’s there now. Then it will be shaded, free from rain and somewhat secluded. Hopefully we will use it more this way.

That was our weekend. Nothing too exciting but we did get a few things accomplished. Now onto the week ahead. I’m thankful Joe doesn’t have any scheudled days to be gone overnight this week or for the the next few weeks. Unless some emergency crops up again. I don’t mind a day or two here and there but being gone the majority of the week just isn’t fun.

Playing In The Rain

We went from 100 degree weather with humidity you could cut with a knife to rain, lots and lots of rain the past two days. And yesterday we had tornado warnings. At one point Drew and I went to the basement just to be safe. After the warning was past it cooled down and rained, again. (Not that I’m complaining – I’m so very thankful for the rain!) And Drew decided to play in the rain. I love to watch kids play with abandon and until he caught me watching, that is exactly what he did. He was out there enjoying himself with not a care in the world. I wish I could just let go like that and play in the rain!

Now I Remember

Drew found this puzzle the other day when we stopped at Orscheln Farm & Home to get chicken feed. He just knew he had to have it. Grandpa has a train puzzle hanging up in his train room and Drew wanted to have one for his bedroom. It was only $2.00 so we bought it and brought it home. I used to do puzzles a lot, I loved doing them but that was back before kids! And now I remember why I stopped doing puzzles after the kids started coming – once I started this darn thing I couldn’t stop! We started it on Saturday and finished it today. Drew wanted to help and he gave it a good try but it was just too hard for him. Now I need to get some puzzle glue and figure out how we’re going to frame it and Drew will be the happy owner of a train puzzle picture – just like Grandpa has! And I won’t be buying another puzzle anytime soon. That’s one thing I can’t just slowly work on and enjoy the process. There’s something in me that says once you start a puzzle – you have to finish it or else!

Rainy Thursday

We got rain yesterday- 1 1/2″ to be exact. And we needed it. Things were really starting to get dry in our area again. Others in the area got up to 3″. We are very thankful for every drop of it! It was dark most of the day and there was lots of thunder and lightening. It was raining when I got up at 5:00 this morning and it was still raining at noon. We hadn’t had a rainy day like that in months. It was a perfect day for burning candles.

It was also the perfect day for making a pie, Freezer Peanut Butter Pie. I’m not a peanut butter fan but Joe and Drew love it so I thought this would be perfect for the hot weather that’s supposed to be moving in for the weekend.

It was also a perfect day for running outside between the raindrops and gathering Hollyhock blooms so Drew and I could make dolls out of them. Mom never grew Hollyhocks but I have always loved them and have planted a few over the years and yet I had never made dolls out of them. So I got on Pinterest to find out how and Drew and I had fun making them. I think they look a little like sweet southern belles! I think everyone should slow down and make a Hollyhock doll once a while. It’s amazing how much joy you can get out of something so simple. I’m not sure what Drew had more fun with though, making the dolls or playing in the rain while I picked the blooms!