Summer Blues

It's nice to spend more time with my kids during summer, however I am not liking how we are spending it.  I wish I could take them out to the parks, the zoo, etc... but things changed and I cannot do those things with all my four children at the moment.

1) Saya does not like to sit in the stroller for long.
2) Noah also does not like to sit and stay put in the stroller.
3) If I let Saya walk, she won't follow me and run the opposite direction.
4) Noah is impulsive and will put himself to danger if I let him run around freely.
5) Alyson manages to get lost in a few seconds after I look away.
6) Sean goes off raider often and he panics when he cannot see me anymore.  He starts screaming and yells at people not to talk to him etc...

So, those are the main reasons why I don't take my kids out to public places anymore unless I have someone else to watch them with me.  I somehow managed it up until summer started, so I am not sure if I am feeling less confident since I am not getting much breaks from having all four kids with me.  It does take certain energy and confidence level to manage all four children even at the park.  I usually run around the play area making sure Saya's not throwing barks at other children or Noah wouldn't get hurt running near the swings.  I often sprint towards them to prevent injuries. 

Even just playing out front of our house can be dangerous for our kiddos...  The other day, I was letting the kids play in the front yard and thought I positioned myself well right near the end of the drive way by the road so that I can stop them if they run towards the street.  Noah was playing by the door and when I looked away for a few seconds, he was not by the door anymore.  I realized that he could elude me and escape going through behind the bushes to get to the other end of the front yard.  A couple driving by tipped me and said that they saw a little boy running down the street towards the busier street.  I panicked!!  He could get seriously hurt or get killed!!  I put Saya in my car in the garage, told Aly and Sean to stay where they were and ran as fast as I could down the street.  Noah was hanging around at the neighbor's front yard.  They have a statue of a dog and he was intrigued by that thankfully.  Incidents like this make me want to keep Noah home all day long, but that is not realistic.

So, that's my dilemma.  Summer's here, but cannot go out much.  Hmmm.... it's now how I imagined at all...

Sean's friend, Ruby, came over for a playdate today with her little sister, Margaret.

We played on the deck for a while and then went down to the playground.

Saya being silly with the flex trex.

Sean helped me bake a GFCF banana chocochip bread.  We baked two loaves, so will give one to Malawaina tomorrow.  Noah's therapist, Malawaina, was in a car accident and still recovering from her injuries...