Labor Day Weekend In The Kitchen

I had some pretty ambitious culinary plans for this three-day weekend which all started with my dropping about $50 with one of our favorite farmers.  I bought tomatoes, fifteen pounds of peaches, five pounds of plums, and some corn.  

When I came back home, the first thing I made was summer salsa, so it would have time to meld in the fridge until we were ready for snacking:

Next I made a plum cake, using my Oma's recipe.  No one makes it quite like she used to, but this was delicious and brought a smile to my face with so many childhood memories.  The cake didn't last 24 hours:

Then I went down to my garden and harvested lots of basil to make spicy pesto which we will keep in the fridge for the next few months.  Rex enjoyed a GFDF grilled cheese sandwich with pesto right away.  He's so got the opposite of a sweet tooth:

This morning I made a batch of peach jam:

And this afternoon a batch of peach-plum jamly.  I decided to call it that because it's kind of a mix between jam and jelly.  I didn't juice the fruits, but I did run them through the food processor to turn them into a puree before cooking:

Twelve jars of preserves for the winter along with two big bowls full of them in the fridge for immediate consumption:

Then I made 28 cubes of freezer peach sauce to enjoy with yogurt or icecream and last, a pot of Arborio rice cooked in coconut milk with fresh diced peaches.  I will divvy this up into portions and freeze it for Emilia who loves this rice and fruit concoction:

We still have plenty of peaches and some plums left to eat.  If we can't get through them quickly enough, I will make some kind of frozen peach treat for the kids to enjoy in the coming months.

And now I am spent.

So Busy

The next two weeks are going to be crazy busy.  Here's what's on tap for our family:

7 speech therapy sessions
2 medical appointments
1 swim class
1 art class
1 musical play class
1 picnic with the local Armenian community
1 birthday party with friends
1 family fun function sponsored by Craig's employer

We have also been invited to two special needs events in the community, but I think we will have to pass, simply for lack of time.

Once these two weeks are behind us, we will (fingers crossed) enter into a period of relative calm until Halloween.  Waiting to exhale on September 15...

Summer's Last Hurrah

Earlier this month our family treated itself to a week by the ocean in North Carolina.  We rented a rinky-dinky little house right on the beach and enjoyed this beautiful view every day:

Rex most definitely remembered the beach from last year as soon as he saw it and got incredibly excited.  His enjoyment of the sand and waves over and over again warmed our hearts:

And with all that hard playing, Rex took some mighty naps:

Emilia was far more cautious about the "wawa" this year than last year.  She steered clear of big waves and her favorite time to splash was when the tide was way out and the ocean was relatively calm and very warm:

The kids really couldn't have been happier the entire week:

If you look in the background,
you see our little beach house on the right.

"Are we in trouble for tipping over the umbrella?"

The weather was great all week.  We had lots of sunshine and only two short rain showers.  We really did nothing but swim, eat and sleep.  At night, the kids were blissfully tired from all the action, so Craig and I had the chance to watch a few movies (The Descendants, Django Unchained, Argo, and The Silver Linings Playbook).

A highlight of the trip was meeting my friend Amie who came to spend a night and a day with us.  We have known each other for over four years and finally had a chance to meet in person.  I so enjoyed our time together and hope we will see each other again soon.

I am truly thankful that we are able to share these special experiences as a family and make memories that will last a lifetime.

P.S. I forgot my camera, so all of these photos were taken with Craig's cell phone.

First Day Of School

Today is the official start of our new schedule and school year.

Rex will continue to attend full-day preschool at the small, wonderful program where he enrolled last year.  There are ten kids in the class right now and seven therapists on staff as well as the SLP and the OT.  Rex will have 10.5 hours of weekly 1:1 therapy along with daily circle time, daily arts & sensory stations, weekly swims and weekly gym time, etc.

Emilia also started her new schedule today.  She will have ten hours of therapy per month (four hours via her IEP and six hours of private Prompt) and attend three classes in the community: musical play (where the kids use different instruments and music from various cultures to experiment with movement) and creative arts (where the children can work with different mediums to make their own creations) and a toddler swim class with her daddy.  Emilia will also continue to work one on one for about 20 hours a month with our wonderful Ms. Rie.  I am hoping to have a little curriculum ready for them next week.

Here's to a great 2013-14 school year!

Reunion Of Families With Armenian Adoptees

About ten days ago, our family made the trek to beautiful Lancaster County, PA for the annual reunion of families with Armenian adoptees.  We had such a wonderful time there in the lovely setting among new and old friends, with scrumptious food, fun activities, and many memories made.

On Friday night, we experienced local culture by riding in buggies with some very sweet Amish women.  Emilia just about had the time of her life in that buggy and while she is newly afraid of pets, she loved the horse and had no qualms about standing right by it and touching it.  She was grinning from ear to ear when we sped along the road.

The young man in the photo is our nephew
who came along as a paid babysitter

For me the buggy right was a real dream come true,
something crossed off my bucket list

Friday night dinner was a delicious meal prepared by an Amish family.  Apparently the Amish barbecue chicken made my husband's heart go pitter-patter and he is not usually a chicken guy, unless it's fried and then preferably by his dad.  I, on the other hand, would have kept eating mashed potatoes if reason had not prevailed.

Saturday morning started with a seriously dangerous breakfast buffet that was included in the price of our room.  Let's just say that Rex had enough bacon to last him a month except that he ate more bacon on Sunday.

After breakfast we headed to Cherry Crest Farm for a fun-filled, if drizzly day of activities.  Both of my kids had a blast.

The giant bounce pillow was a big hit with our group

Rex in utter delight while bouncing

Catching raindrops during a short downpour

Giant slide

After Cherry Crest Farm I attended a small and wonderful discussion with other moms parenting special needs children while the rest of my gang took a dip in the hotel pool.  By the time dinner rolled around, we were all good and hungry.  Dinner was a yummy traditional Armenian meal.

(photo credit Beth Shepherd)
Emilia and I couldn't get enough of these kufteh,
made from lentils, bulghur and spices

On Sunday, we started our journey home with a planned stop at the Pittsburgh Children's Museum.  Rex and Emilia loved it there.

Rex's favorite thing in the whole museum

Every time we set it off,
we got this exuberant reaction

Emilia was a big fan of the bubble seesaw

And even happier when her brother decided to do it with her

In the water play area

Finally, after a total of 100 hours of travel and action, we made it home, exhausted, happy and thankful to be part of this group of families, all connected by the miracle of having children born in Armenia.

When Real Tears Fall

Rex is a tough kid.  He rarely cries for pain or attention.  The most frequent tears we see are associated with anger and frustration and usually accompanied by vicious screams, kicks, pinches, bites, and hits.  We know his triggers for these episodes, things like being told no or sensory overload, but we cannot always prevent them.

And then, there are other tears.  They are not a daily occurrence and maybe not even a weekly one.  They come unexpectedly in peaceful moments.  Medical and developmental experts are telling us that these spontaneous, seemingly random tears are merely a symptom of Rex's behavioral diagnoses, but I could not disagree more. 

When the real tears are about to flow, Rex gets quiet and pensive.  I could tell a few weeks ago from his face that he was nearing such a moment and grabbed my camera to document it:

As usual, Rex tried to hold it together.  I have quite a few pictures of Rex at his orphanage with his mouth crunched tightly like this and now I know what this look means:

It didn't take long for the tears to start flowing:

And flowing.  No one can tell me that this isn't an expression of true sadness, grief and loss:

And flowing while he sat calmly and almost noiselessly:

And flowing some more:

Do you want to know what stops the real tears every single time?  Words like these, repeated over and over and accompanied by rocking hugs, "Rex, Mama and Daddy love you.  You are safe here.  You will always be in our family.  We will never leave you.  You are our wonderful son and we love you forever."  He listens attentively and the tears slowly subside.

And when it's over, he finds a little spot to collect himself:

These tears are real and they are a part of my son and his story.  They break my heart, but I am so thankful that I can be by his side to offer comfort and love when they flow.

Mysterious Mind

Much of the time, Rex's mind is a mystery to us, but when I saw what he built the other day, it occurred to me that this might be a very rudimentary representation of how his brain works and how he thinks.

The fact that he is able to navigate our right-side-up world as well as he does amazes me.  I am in awe of him.