Hey friends – wishing you a very happy June weekend! Hope you’re having a fantastic summer so far and enjoying all the good things: family, friends, homemade ice cream, veggie/flower gardens, ocean walks, outdoor concerts, picnics, watermelon, spell-binding beach reads, etc.

June irises and purple allium in Ogunquit, Maine

And all in that order LOL. You’ve been on my mind – I know!!!! It’s a crazy time of year. It’s been busy at our house too, with the school year winding down and summer schedule winding UP! And we’ve already hosted a few big extended family parties here in the last few weeks, celebrating my mom’s birthday and also Jon’s mom’s #80. Wahoo! Good times.

We’re especially looking forward to doing some things this summer that we haven’t been able to in a while. Some of you know our Hudson (8) has Down syndrome and autism. It’s been a beautiful journey in many ways but has also kept us closer to home with multiple medical, sensory and behavioral issues.

We’ve been working hard all winter long, applying for grants and getting extra helps in place for Hudson in the form of ABA therapy (autism therapy) and in-home respite care to free up our family for occasional breaks from care giving.

The excellent news is that many pieces that have been in limbo for nearly a year are finally coming together and Hudson is making great strides in his therapy programs.

Hudson meeting Sunny for the first time. While he was petrified of the lobby cat, he had NO FEAR approaching Sunny. Go figure.

Yass!!! The brush is upside down.

He’s looking forward to a wonderful summer filled with music classes, equine therapy and even attending a special needs local day camp for a week for children w/disabilities. It’s going to be a great summer!

Don’t know if I mentioned previously that Hudson has regressed significantly with his speech in the last couple years. We used to sing many songs like the scene above, with Hudson filling in partial words like this sweet little guy Bo with Downs.

We’re not sure if Hudson’s speech device has caused the regression or something else, but we’re just now starting to see Hudson picking up where he left off and attempting to communicate verbally more. If you haven’t yet seen the clip above, it’s one of the sweetest you’ll ever see. The talented strummer is Bo’s big sister Lydia and together they sing You Are My Sunshine. (Grab your tissues.)

Some interesting things to share with summer in mind. A few beach read recommendations, all WW II novels. I’ve read each one and highly recommend:

• Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

And here’s one I haven’t read yet, but taking it on vacation in a couple weeks: We Were the Lucky Ones  by Georgia Hunter.

New topic. If your feet are rough and calloused like mine were – consider an at home foot peel. I’d never heard of it before, but was pretty desperate and now I’m sold. I researched and took the plunge (literally!) a few weeks ago. I wore plastic “medicated” booties on my feet for an hour at home, then soaked my feet in warm water for 15 minutes a day for two weeks.

For the first few days, nothing happened at all and I thought maybe I’d been scammed. (It wouldn’t be the first time!) But on the fourth day, my feet started peeling. And then the soles peeled off entirely, revealing baby soft skin underneath! I’m thrilled – and it was a small investment – under twenty dollars for two complete treatments. Be careful to time this well and don’t do it before a special event. The dead skin comes off in shards, and it’s U-G-L-Y. (Trust me on that.) So give it the full two weeks to peel off.

And who doesn’t like candy? I recently became acquainted with a great company Lovely that sells many organic and gluten-free candy options. They sent a few samples to our house – good stuff. Hard candies, chewy candies, salted caramels, gummy bears and various kinds of caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel balls. The pretzel balls went first. Delish! Find retailers near you here.

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And last but not least – we recently watched this beautiful movie, Breathe. (On Amazon Prime.) While controversial at times, it’s a captivating true love story – Jon and I were mesmerized. No spoiler alert here, but an interesting thing to know is that the movie was directed by the real life son of the two main characters portrayed.

Would love to hear what you’re up to and if you’ve got a book or movie recommendation, do tell ! I’m always scrounging for ideas.

Have a super summer weekend enjoying the little things, and Happy Father’s day to all the great, sacrificial dads out there. We love you!

XOXO,

allie

The post You Are My Sunshine – Favorite Things #7 appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Hey friends – hope you’re doing well as the summer’s winding down. Did I just say that? Waaahhh. I’m trying not to think about that sad fact. But happy weekend anyway!

School has already started in some parts of the country and it’s been a busy time around here too as we’re getting ready for school to start next week for our younger kids. And in just a few days we head south dropping our oldest son off at college for the first time. (Sniff.) This is new territory for us.

It’s going to be a long ride to Birmingham (and likely an even longer one home), so I’m collecting some good reads for the trip. Which reminds me that I meant to post a summer reading suggestion list here like I did last year, just didn’t get a roundtuit.

If you missed these two book recommendations from this past fall and spring, check out The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. It was amazing. Also Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius. Wanting a contemplative beach/weekend read? Consider Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

I’ve got two new suggestions to share from my reading list this summer. Both are fascinating reads and take place during the the WWI/WWII era.

First: Born Survivors, a poignant memoir by Wendy Holden published in 2015.

From the inside book cover:

“Three women pregnant by their husbands.

Three couples praying for a brighter future.

Three babies, born within weeks of each other in unimaginable circumstances.

By the time they arrived, each weighing less than three pounds, their fathers had been murdered by the Nazis and their mothers were ‘walking skeletons’, living moment to moment in the same concentration camp.

Somehow, all three women managed to survive.

Against all odds, their babies did too.

Seventy years on, these siblings of the heart have come together for the first time to tell the remarkable stories of the mothers who defied death to give them life.

All of them, born survivors.”

This book had me teary and in awe of these three incredibly courageous women who defied all odds to protect the precious babies they carried.

And second: All the Light We Cannot See, a novel by Anthony Doerr published in 2014.

From the book flap:

“Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home.

When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, on a special assignment to track the resistance.

More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie Laure’s converge.”

These books are deep, poignant and tear jerkers both. You’ll think. At least I did. (I don’t recommend these books for children.) I’m always on the lookout for a great read, and look forward to hearing your recommendations too.

You may also like: Gift from the Sea

The post THLG Summer Book List 2016 appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.