We had a pretty good week, if a not a little bittersweet.  Summer school has come to an end.  We had a super fun week making foot print butterflies, taking turns being the "teacher" during singing, and ending with a big graduation celebration.  We got gold medals, super sweet sunglasses, ate cupcakes, played with balloons, bowled, golfed, and made awesome music on our huge piano mat.  It was the best day ever.  Safi had a bit of a rough time when it came to the cupcakes.  Last year the last day coincided with Kameron's birthday and we did a pirate treasure hunt for the cupcakes.  So, when mom said it was time for cupcakes Safi kept saying "We have to find the cupcakes."  Mom thought she lost her marbles because the cupcakes were right in front of her.  Luckily Logan and Zoey's mom, Emily, came in with the save reminding mom that we had hid the cupcakes last year.  Mom and Emily talked Safi through it and, while still bothering her ("I don't like this..this a little scary"), she came around and we had enjoyed her cupcake.  It was a great summer and we're bummed to see it end but we're getting geared up for the new school year.

Safi still doesn't know where she's going but I keep asking her if I can visit her school.  I know that I get to see Teacher Mari when I go back to big girl school so I'm pretty excited...and nervous.  Mom HAS to have the meeting with Safi's school program supervisor this week because the first day of school is August 9th and Safi has to start getting appropriately prepared.  Heather has been really sick so mom is nervous that she may not be able to help Safi get acclimated to her new class and mom doesn't really have a back up.  Mom doesn't want to go with her and cramp her style so, needless to say, mom is stressed to the max right now.

Unfortunately, with stress come illness and mom is sick.  She's trying to rest but we're not the easiest kids to rest around so its a challenge.  We still managed to have an ok weekend.  Saturday was a little rough.  Safi and I both had meltdown's at the park so we weren't allowed to go to Burger King which sent Safi over the edge.  She recovered with time and Sunday we went to the purple slide park and got to feed the ducks and geese.  We did a super awesome job so we got to go to Burger King..and it was great!  Just wished mom was feeling better and now it looks like dad be might be coming down with it.

We got our new upgraded tablets this week and the Nabi 2 ROCKS!  Its faster than the old one and has a ton of new features..Skype, anyone?!  Even more exciting is Nabi's new Inspire program focusing on Autism in particular and special needs in general.  The company is going to develop a whole app store just for kids with special needs, provide Nabi's to families of kids with special needs at a discounted price, and will focus on supporting education, treatments, and research related to autism through charitable donations.  To help them develop this program, Fuhu announced that they were looking for 20 Inspire Families.  Mom wrote them an email about us and our family and she was chosen!!!  So, we are proud to announce that we are a Nabi Inspire Family!  Mom will help them with the creation of the special needs app store and WE will be official app testers!!  Mom will also offer support to families of kids with special needs with regards to incorporating the Nabi and technology into their home's and their kid's daily routines.  So rad!  We're super proud of mom and super excited to start helping lots of kids with our feed back on the apps.  Changing the world, one step at a time, we are!!  

No time for people being sick, we have a busy week ahead!  We're supposed to go to Storyland/Playland on Wednesday and we were invited to our friend Gideon's birthday party on Saturday.  Fun time ahead so buck up mom and dad. we plan to squeeze every last bit of summer fun possible into the next week and a half!

So, let the good times roll and may we not catch whatever the heck mom has!

Peace
Nixi

Safi getting flappy because she's happy with her new tablet!


Safi and the hill...I prefer to run it rather than ride it!

So, the weather cooled off nicely and we had a few great days where it felt like it was fall!  As of this writing, however, we're back in the heat and its miserable!  None the less, a great week was had by all!

Nixi was reeling a little post grandpa, Weishi, and Cate visit but we all expected that so at least we weren't taken off guard!  She still did a great job at summer school and I'm proud of her for trying so hard to pull it together.  I had a blast in summer school and I'm starting to get a little bummed that its almost over.  This next week is our last week.  We have graduation on Thursday, which I can only imagine means cupcakes.  Takes a little of the sting out of "the end", if you know what I mean!

We still don't know where I'm going for kindergarten this school year...and school starts Aug. 9th!  We've started talking about school, because no matter what we need to get mentally prepared for it, but its hard because mom doesn't know who my teacher is,etc.  Nixi knows that she's going to get to see Teacher Mari, the speech therapist that she adores, so she's feeling pretty pumped for school.  I'm excited, but nervous.  Mom took us to pick out our back to school backpacks, and that was super rad.  I picked a T-Rex back pack and Nixi picked a Disney Fairies one.  They are so cool!!  Mom is working on setting up a meeting with the powers that be this next week when they're back from vacation.  More to report later...hopefully.

We had  the greatest playdate on Friday with the Olsen's at Riverway Sports Park.  Since its kind of far and we don't go there often its always a treat and to get to hang out with Arlo, Flyn, and Greer made it that much more amazing.  We played in water fountains, in the big kid playground, and topped it off with lunch and McDonald's.  Katie, the mom, is our mom's best friend...and I spent my first couple of years hanging out with Arlo and Flyn until Autism got in the way.  Nixi was in the Bright Start school with Greer and they got to be good buds.  So, it was kind of like a homecoming....the way things should have always been.  We all played, Nixi and Greer holding hands and sitting together at lunch, me giving Arlo a hug because he was always the big brother I wished I had, and Flyn monitoring it all!  It was just the most perfect day.  The next day I asked mom if we could hang out with them again.  Later that evening Katie sent mom a text saying that she overheard Flyn (my age, 5) trying to coax Greer (3) into asking her "Don't you want to see Sarah tomorrow/"..because she wanted to hang out again with us, too!  Mom and Katie are going to take us all to a matinee of Ice Age Continental Drift before school starts so that will be awesome.

We rounded out the week with some great dress up play Saturday morning and found a worm at the park on Sunday!

So there you have it, a great week with the promise of another great one to come.  Hope you're all wrapping up your summer with as much fun as us!  Check back in next week!

xoxo
Safi

Riverway fun.....


Hope has a visit with Dr. Safi....

Wow, one HOT and humid week here.  We still managed to pack in some outdoor fun despite the scorching temps!

Summer school was awesome!  We had a blast playing dress up, and went on a few amazing bug hunts...our buddy Logan found a mystery fly with red eyes and a long black body, Safi found a beetle, and I found a teeny butterfly.  It was super fun and we did the fountains all three days.  Safi had a bit of a rough time at the fountains on the last day.  She really wanted wanted to play with some girls about her age so she followed them and mirrored what they were doing.  As far as she was concerned, they were all playing together.  One of those "Theory of mind" (read about it here: http://people.howstuffworks.com/theory-of-mind.htm) problems....assuming that because she wanted to play with them, they wanted to and were playing with her.  So, they started loudly saying "why is she following us?" and the like and eventually they told her in a pretty mean tone "Stop following us."  The worst part...Safi still tried to follow them because she wasn't hearing them.  Rather, she was so consumed with making sure she did what they were doing just right, and so in her mind, that she didn't even seem to notice the girl had said anything.  Mom told the girl that she wasn't speaking very nicely and called Safi over.  Safi never knew the girls didn't want to play with her so she was fine.  Mom was bummed.  Tip of the iceberg for things to come in school.  By the way, Teacher Jenn, if you re reading this...CALL MOM!  Pretty please!  


On Friday we got to go to the pet store and buy some ghost shrimp!  Shrimpy, Impy, Dimpy, and pregnant Blimpy are so far doing really well.  We don't think that Rocky can fit them in his mouth.  Because they're transparent it can be a challenge to find them...and that's really kinda fun!  We've been getting a kick out of seeing if they're still there every morning and every time we don't see one Safi yells, "Oh, I think Rocky ate him!"  Terribly exciting stuff!


On Sunday we got a visit from grandpa Cummings, Weishi, and Cate!  It was awesome.  We played in the clubhouse, made Winny sing with flutes, ate at McDondals, and even watched some TV with them!  Safi was super gracious and let Cate wear her pink shoes and use her hammock while watching TV.  Cate was super gracious and, no matter what Safi's reply (or sometimes lack there of) she persisted and played with her for ever!  Up until the last minute her and Safi were giggling and squealing in the bedroom!  It was a super great visit and we're hoping we can hang out with them again really soon!


So, in a nutshell, that was our week.  Hot, exciting, fun, and fabulous!


Peace
Nixi


Ghost shrimp...BOO!

Another super fun and exciting week!  Dad took the day before the 4th of July off and came to summer school!  It was awesome!!  He danced super well to all of the songs and he did a great job helping us all make paper towel roll binoculars...for watching fireworks, of course!  It was so much fun having him there and we think he had as much fun as the rest of us!  Starting this next week our summer school theme will be insects and we can't wait to use our binoculars to go on a group bug hunt!  We're really having a blast and can't believe that there's only 5 more week of summer.  Whew...is it flying by!

4th of July was absolutely awesome!  We got to pick our fireworks at the firework stand...I picked a "black widow" and Nixi picked a "crow's nest."  We stayed up late and our neighbor, Jeffery, came by and played with us in the pool.  When it started getting dark Jefferey and his dad brought over their fireworks and we had a massive firework show between their stash and ours.  We wore our headphones and we did great...total rock stars!  Nixi got bored half way through but I was in Heaven!!!  I just loved it, especially the crackling ones...oh, and the whistling ones.  Heck, I loved them ALL!!  It was just the best 4th of July ever!  We didn't go to bed until 9:30pm!!!  Just the best.  Of course, when something is that amazing, the other shoe just had to drop at some point.

July 5th....hell day.  Nixi woke up her usual crabby, mean self.  I took if for as long as I could, but on the heels of all of the excitement the night before my tolerance level wasn't what it usually is.  So, gradually it all started to add up and by mid day...the REAL fireworks erupted.  I totally lost it...bad.  I just couldn't take it anymore and I couldn't stop screaming.  So, I had to go in the bedroom....because those are the rules.  Well, I was unable to get it back together...I was way beyond the point of self control.  Mom had to take a break on the patio to just cry under the heavy weight that if I lose it like that even once as an adult (and only once would be akin to winning the lottery...10 times) I will likely be arrested and involuntarily hospitalized.  See, I'll grow up and get better coping skills, communication skills, and all that...but under the right, or wrong, circumstances meltdowns will always be a possibility.  Sometimes it just gets to be too much and I have to scratch the itch  and get it all out and there's just no way around that.  I managed to slowly come back and get it together and I even apologized to mom...totally unsolicited...for the second time in my life.  I could tell it meant a lot to her because she cried again...but this time she was smiling.  We managed to eek out a decent night and move on pretty well with the rest of the week.


The following day we had a palydate with our friends Sebastian, Gideon, and Penelope!!!  We've missed them a ton so we were super excited.  We had a blast.  Sebastian brought out his Bernstien Bears collection, Gideon showed us the pumpkin patch they planted and did this cool thing with cards in a basket, and Penelope played Dinosaur Train with me and "flipping burgers" with mom and Nix.  It was just so fun.  We can be ourselves and just hang out when we're there because they know us, love us, and are our friends.  It was great!


Mom and dad opted for a low key weekend.  We did a lot of hanging out and playing in our green pool.  Saturday evening dad even brought a TV out front so we could swim, eat, and watch Finding Nemo.  It was so cool!  All in all a relaxing weekend and great way to reboot before the coming week.


So, hoping this week will be super fun.  We're looking forward to a visit from Grandpa Cummings, Weishi, and Cate on Sunday and can't wait to start bug month at summer school!


Have a great week and stay cool!!!

xoxo
Safi

4th of July morning....pumped....



Bring it on!!!


Chore store...........

What a week!  Where to start?!

Summer school was awesome.  We had a new friend and a couple of old friends come and it was super fun. I'll admit, I had a hard time with seeing old friends from last summer because we didn't know ahead of time that they were coming.  Unfortunately, my upset took Safi down, too.  We were able to get it back together and have a ton of fun, though!  Safi really liked our new friend, Evan.  They played together in the fountains and left holding hands.  I thought he was pretty cool, but I was more comfortable with Logan and Zoey so I tried to hang out with them.  All in all, it was another fun week.  This week say farewell to the ocean theme and hello to all things insect!  We'll meet on Tuesday and do a pre-4th of July activity then be off for the rest of the week to celebrate the holiday!

Dad had Friday off and he and mom planned a very special surprise for us.  We went to Storyland and Playland Adventure parks!  Check out their link: http://storylandplayland.com/  It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!  We started with Storyland and got to see some of our favorite characters from nursery rhymes...some of the houses had slides you could go down and it was super fun.  Then, we waited for the train to take us over to Playland...and waited...and waited...and waited.  We waited for nearly 30 minutes and just when things started to go totally south it arrived and we were off!  Once we got to Playland it was ON!  Safi had her sights on the roller coaster.  (Mom had showed us the interactive map of the park the night before and she found a bunch of Youtube videos of kids riding the Playland rides so we knew what to expect.)  We started by riding the race cars all by ourselves and it was so cool.  Then, Safi and dad went on the helicopters.  I opted out but had fun watching them with mom.  We went on the ladybug ride....and then....the roller coaster.  We had heard it running when we were on the ladybug ride so we knew it was LOUD, like REALLY LOUD!!!!  Safi sat with dad and I sat with mom.  Mom told the girl running the ride that we may need to cut it short so she said if we gave her a sign to stop, she's stop it.  Off we went...bone jarring shaking, and noise like a jet engine.  It was horrible.  Both Safi and I made it through one lap before we were done.  Mom and dad gave the cut sign but it was too late, we had to do a third lap.  By the time it stopped I was violently shaking from head to toe.  Safi was disoriented and crying about it being too loud and conversely crying because she wanted to go back on it.  Mom decided it was the perfect time for a lunch break so we could re-boot and recharge.  It was shaky, but we managed to recover and Safi went on the carousel with mom, the tilt-a-whirl with dad...then with mom...then with mom again, and then the zipper ferris wheel thing by herself...twice!  I was done, I kept asking if the each ride was loud then saying I didn't want to go.  I did try the ladybugs again with dad while mom and Safi were on the tilt-a-whirl, but its right next to the roller coaster so once it revved up I lost it and they had to stop the ride so I could get off.  Realistically, the only ride the roller coaster really killed for me was the carousel.  I wouldn't have done any of the other rides, just like I had chosen not to do the helicopters.  I did have super fun watching and talking about what I saw.  At the end of our stay we played in the small water fountain play area they have and it was really fun.  On the train ride back to Storyland we got to go through a tunnel and we had a female conductor so it was just the neatest.  Prior to going I told mom I only wanted to ride the train.  Once I got there I rode the train, the cars, the ladybugs, and even the roller coaster so I was really brave and mom and dad told me so!  Safi was super brave, too and I'm hoping that next time we go I can ride a pink helicopter with mom and do the zipper with Safi.  We were at the two parks for a whopping total of 3 hrs with no major meltdowns...the longest outing we've ever been on.  We didn't even meltdown in the car on the way home or later in the day. We were absolute rock stars...and we knew it!!

Took the rest of the weekend easy, hanging around the house playing in our pools and in our playhouse.  We went to the pet store on Sunday and dad let us get a Betta fish!!!  His name is Rocky (we let dad have the honors) and he's beautiful!  We love him.  Also, Safi has chosen a new name for our cat Kit.  For a month or so she's been calling him "Hope".  Yesterday mom asked her if that was his name and she said "yes"...so Hope it is.  He comes to the name and everything, so I suppose he was a Hope all long and nobody but Safi knew it!  Pretty cool name given that he was Safi's beloved cat Oliver's protege and intended to be a therapy cat.  Just a neat thing.

So, wishing you a happy and safe 4th of July!  Mom bought us noise cancelling headphones so we're going to try our own little firework show this year!  Heck, why not?!  We're feeling terribly brave around this house lately!!!

Peace
Nixi

The video montage....