I am still alive!

Mike's birthday in June.  Wow, I am really behind!

Last day of school!  Mrs. Fotheringham in the background.

Sean and his classmates with their teacher.

Noah made an amazing progress at his summer preschool!  So proud of him!

Sean went to his first sleep over at Parker's house.  He did well.

The boys - they both had a blue airplane PJ's, how cute!

I ran out of craft ideas so we started paintin rocks in our yard!

In case I still have visitors to my blog, yes I am still alive and have not murdered any of my children (or the husband).  It has been a while since I blogged and I cannot believe I missed the entire July!  That is the very first time since I started this blog four years ago.  It shows how miserable I was during July and I am finally starting to come out of the fog as we prepare to start the school year.  How ironic!

Not everything was bad, for example, Mike and Sean had an opportunity to visit Osaka and see Alyson and my parents.  They did a lot of things like take a trip to Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan and visit Universal Studio Japan.  Alyson was happy to have her Daddy and loud brother with her.  Sean spoke to her in English and she spoke to him in Japanese.  The interesting duo played together and enjoyed each other's company.   It was Sean's first time meeting his cousins (my cousins' children) and aunts and uncles.  He usually takes time to warm up to new people, however knowing they are his family, he let his guard down and were throwing rocks to the river together in no time.  It was nice to hear those stories at the end of the hard day over Facetime. 

So, the bad.  We definitely started our summer on the wrong side of the bed.   Grace had picked up fleas from somewhere in early July and by the end of the battle, I had gotten a total of seventy bites!  Just thinking about them makes my whole body itch.  It is quite horrible.  I became a neurotic compulsive cleaner and I vacuumed the entire house everyday much of July.  I cleaned the entire surface, behind and under the couch, washed everything washable at least three times, and became a white long socks only person.  That meant, I had no downtime until 1 am every night and no summer shorts or even capri although the rest of the world was wearing one with a cute pair of sandals .  With severe bite marks on my legs, looks like I won't be able to wear anything but long pants this year.  We are free of the pest now thanks to Ben, the sprayer, and my obsessive cleaning.  I toned down in frequency but decided the vacuuming and wiping surfaces are very calming to me.  So, I am using them as my stress reliever, as strange as it may sound!  Besides, my kids stay away from me while I have the noisy weapon of mass destruction is on!

The other challenge has been managing Sean's behavior.  He did well in the regular kindergarten class and Mike and I were thrilled.  His teacher was very accommodating to his learning style and we are very thankful for her big picture approach.  The Japan trip was an eye opener for him and he came back with tons of new knowledge and experiences.  Maybe he is still adjusting back to slower pace of things in Bellevue compared to bustling urban life in Osaka (he took n a subway almost every day, for example).   He has been throwing giant tantrums every day and has been extremely oppositional.  We try to be patient with him, but it's not easy.  He would do things like put his foot in the unflushed toilet with a big grin on his face or push Saya while looking at me smiling.  It is really strange and complex.  It's as if he cannot help doing naughty things even though he knows he should not.  The stressful summer is now officially survival summer for us.  I feel tired and out of tricks to keep the fun summer spirit. 

Oh and the power vac sessions I had in July, it caused me to have severe inflammation on my shoulders and I nearly dislocated one.  While the new Chiropractor fix me every other day now, I am trying to collect myself and start fresh again.  I need to take care of myself with regular exercise and more rest.  The summer is fun but stressful every year.  I need to keep myself top notch to care for the little demanding peppers.  I have one more week to go and so much to do.  I will try my best to make a positive memory, at least for the end.  It's not too late!!??

More to come from summer.  Thanks for reading~