Sunshine and Flip Flops

Crusin'

These last few days have been perfect weather to be outside!  Cool enough to not break a sweat standing still and warm enough to not need sleeves and to be flip floppin' around the driveway with some (new!) sidewalk chalk.  Flip flops are just another of the many things we typical people take for granted.  It gets warm.  You paint the toes.  And you break out the flip flops.  That is if you have perfect coordination and balance to walk in them!  Emily has been begging for flip flops this past week. She keeps saying she wants to be like Casey and we can usually find her trying to walk around the house in either mine or Casey's flip flops.   I was pretty sure she would not be able to walk in them, but, once again, I put myself in check with what I am determining abilities to be and went to Meijer and bought her a pair with sparkles.   Because, really, we are all about the sparkle here in our house.   Because I haven't fully introduced Emily onto my blog yet, I will interject briefly the challenge that flip flops present for her.  Emily walked for the first time when she was 26 months and and has since been balancing a very tall, lean body along with low muscle tone and this results in an unstable Emily.   Trust me, we can live with unstable, un-flip flopped Emily!  After she was born, doctors told us it would be unlikely she would ever walk.   So if sister wants to try flip flops, let it be! And with sparkles!!   It really is a funny sight to see.   After taking 10 minutes to finally position the thong thing between her toes, she begins to shuffle around, knees locked.   And the rest of us just laugh and encourage her persistence.   I don't really care if she ever wears another pair again, but I'm pretty sure she'll master it one day like all the 'other kids' and we will, again, be grateful for all that she is accomplishing.   It will be low on our Richter scale of achievements in her life, but I'm sure this will be worthy enough to indulge in some pedicures to show off those sweet little toes.   And it will probably be nail polish with sparkles...

Homework outside

Flying on the cozy coupe

I think the sunshine is affecting Casey like some kind of drug that has taken her from category 2 Hurricane Casey to more like a category 4 Hurricane Casey. While I was getting Emily settled with a bowl of cereal yesterday morning, Casey came running full throttle through the kitchen shouting "woo-hoo!". It was 7:35.....a.m.  And it happened again at 7:36 and 7:37 respectively.   Tom asked me what in the world was up with her.   And my only guess was the combination of all this sunshine and the end of the school year approaching has her just bursting with excitement.   Either that, or she has a secret stash of caffeine and chocolate somewhere in the house.   But I kind of doubt it because, like, I would KNOW if there was chocolate in my house.  We just need to get through these last 2 weeks of school and then I am certain all this energy at the end of the days will be gone as the girls will be exhausted from swimming at the pool each day.   But it is I who will be the exhausted one tomorrow as I am helping Casey's class with their First Grade Field Day all day long.   I will report back with some fun times, I'm sure :)


And I am working up to writing a blog entry on Emily's story.   I wrote it down a year or two ago in a to-be book but it's been a long while since I've written in it.   The idea of a book is so overwhelming. That's why I like the blog- I can start and stop whenever I want and I don't feel pressured to put it in chronological order.   I can usually only write about Emily's story a little at a time before I become taken over by emotion.   Maybe this time it will be easier.   Maybe I will just copy what I've already written.   I haven't decided yet.   Either way, I feel it is important to put down on paper - they are strong memories that are important to our family's journey and I do not want them to be forgotten in the depths of my mind.   And, conversely, I don't want them to take up precious space in my head and heart any longer.   I want to be able to make room for water fun, flying on cars, sidewalk chalk, sunshine and flip flops.