Autism recovered

Fairies get a new swing outside

2012-02-29T14:41:00.000-05:00

Craftiness

2012-02-25T11:44:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard of Pinterest, you're not up on the times. :) It's the ultimate find-a-craft place on the internet. Actually it's for much more than that but I do love collecting the crafty things and then doing them. So last night DH and I went on a date and bought the supplies for this craft:

(Picture from Pinterest - unknown original source. If you know where this came from, let me know and I'll link it.)

See, fairy in a bottle! It's actually supposed to be a fairy in a bottle but when you follow the directions

1. Cut a glow stick (necklace) and shake the contents into a jar. Add diamond glitter
2. Seal the top with a lid.
3. Shake.

It doesn't come out all magical and adorable like that picture; it comes out looking like this:

It's all sticky and definitely not magical. lol However, it did glow and that's the important thing for little girls who love fairies. My girls love their jar of fairy dust but were perplexed about how the fairies got away and all I ended up with was dust. Alas, they like it anyway so it's worth it; I was just disappointed in the fact that it is not a free floating dust.

But today we did another craft I discovered on Pinterest. I was going to try to have this ready for my son at Christmas but with my father-in-law's illness & death, I could not focus on a craft for the months of Dec. & January. But today seemed like a good day to try it.

Here are some scary, yet oddly adorable monster bookmarks. Source is here! This was crazy easy to make and thanks to a friend, I already had the template so that made it even easier. Here is our final result:

Aren't they cute?!?! We are frequently stealing each others books and hiding them or changing bookmarked pages in each others books...these scary fellows may be able to curtail that habit. We shall see...

So there's what we're crafting today. I hope all my readers are having a wonderful Saturday!

Valentine's Day Hair

2012-02-15T11:39:00.001-05:00

We had co-op on Valentine's Day so I thought I would show you guys the way I did the girl's hair. Kate's hearts are super messy b/c I forgot to take pictures until AFTER school. But here they are! I got the instructions from here.

We woke up late so while the instructions say to use a ribbon, I didn't. They were lucky to get hearts! :)

School was pretty scary. Although all the teachers had been encouraged not to bring candy, but rather to hand out stickers, pencils or some other small non-food item; the children were not reminded of this. One sweet little girl handed Kate a gift she made her which contained a Hershey's kiss... MILK. It happened so fast I couldn't stop her from touching it, but we have addressed it since and fortunately, Kate did not have a reaction. Grace got wheezy in one classroom, she said there was a lot of chocolate around but since milk isn't airborne, I suspect there were nuts in some of that chocolate that caused the problem. Tony is always on high alert when he's in public so he encountered no problems.

The director has already said they will do better next time. I just have to remind them that a foody-holiday is coming up and they'll send out notices not to bring food. Such an easy task but it means the world to us. I love the support we get from the staff of their co-op. They are awesome!

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Life happened

2012-02-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's February already! I know some of you keep checking for updates so here goes. :)

Shortly before Christmas, my hubby's dad had a massive heart attack and stroke. The docs did some emergency stop-gap miracles and although he lost his vision, he got better very quickly. Hubs spent the week before Christmas in Kentucky with his family and came home on Christmas Eve. That part was fun b/c we didn't tell the kids he was coming. He was home when we got back from our Christmas Eve service and when he opened the door, you should have seen the stuff that went flying out of children's hands so they could tackle him with hugs and kisses. I wish I had a camera for that moment; it was absolutely precious.

My parents were here to celebrate the holiday and they went home shortly before New Year. Hubs dad finally went home and continued to make miraculous progress; so much so that his sister in law (who was there to help my mother in law) went home b/c she was no longer needed there.

The next day his father passed away from another heart attack. :( Getting that call at 2:30 in the morning was a blessing though b/c Hubs and I had hours to lay in bed, crying and talking. He needed that before the kids got up. I have never seen my man so heart broken. It was gut-wrenching to see but I am grateful I was with him when he got the call.

He spent that day on the phone with relatives and trying to coordinate getting to his mom to help her. His biggest concern was that she not be alone. I do love that man. My parents immediately headed back up to watch the kids (children with fatal allergies to skin contact with very common foods cannot be in the mix of these times) and a precious friend let us borrow a car, gave us gas money and off we went. We spent a week with family (20 of us in one house for a few days - with ONE bathroom!! We lived.) shuffling back and forth between various cities in Michigan. Hubs dad was a 30 year Marine with two tours in Vietnam. He wasn't in the military, he WAS military. His van is covered in Marine stickers and every visit he was wearing a different Marine shirt. :) The funeral was beautiful and a perfect tribute to a man who loved to give gifts to others and loved his country with all his heart.

Now my hubs family (mom, sister, bro-in-law & nieces) are moving near us. After his dad's heart attack in December, there had already been talk of all the family moving here; this just accelerated the plan. It will be wonderful to have family nearby. Everyone in my house seems to be dealing with their grief well. Staying busy has helped but I know once they live nearby, Hubs will feel his dad's absence more keenly.

And to leave you on a happy note, Hubs and I did enjoy the snow up north. It's easy to love it when you don't have to shovel it. HA! We took lots of silly pictures to send the kids (thank you picture phone!). Life has been sad recently and is about to get super hectic but I am grateful for the ability to find the fun moments, laugh and have fun.

Look how deep this crazy stuff is!

Sticking icicles up his nose...trying to get pictures of him as Sid the Sloth (if you're familiar with those movies)

I adore this picture of him...he usually makes silly faces so I rarely catch the real him...LOVE this.

Cherish your loved ones!

Nothing new

2011-12-14T14:30:00.000-05:00

I have seriously neglected my blog!! Time's fun when you're having flies, eh? :)

My husband still does not have a job. Military retirement pays but not much, so each month it is a choice between paying our mortgage and bills or eating. Until recently my husband was working at a friends farm, clearing land and helping out. He and Tony really enjoyed it and it paid well enough for us to survive (and for Tony to have some spending money for Christmas!). With that job over, we're struggling pretty badly now; but expect that God will supply our needs.

We're looking forward to Christmas with the grandparents! Yay!! We have completely rearranged our downstairs so they can stay down here except for shower-time. Now they only have to go up the stairs if they want to get clean. :) We're hoping they'll do that at least once or twice during their stay. I'll have to post pictures of our new set-up once I get it all prettied up... it's still in transition phase (read: disaster area). One good thing about Daddyman being home all day is that I can give him projects. Yesterday he switched the play room to the upstairs guest room; the downstairs playroom became the new guest bedroom, and the playroom became the school room.

Awesome. :)

Now it just has to be organized & decorated. When he has a job and our budget is less scary, we plan to put a 1/2 wall in our entry way so the eye will be directed away from the school room...because now the school room is the first thing you see when you walk in. But I think it will be easier to keep clean b/c it's out in the open where I can see the disaster and have them clean it; whereas before it was hidden in the den and I never even looked there unless I needed school supplies.

Anyway, there's a little update from our house. I hope all who read this have a wonderful Christmas celebrating with friends and family. And as we are certainly not the only ones struggling financially, I hope that if your family is struggling, that you are able to focus more on the people you love instead of the gifts you can't give.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-24T11:08:00.000-05:00

You know how I say "You are what you eat"? Well apparently we're veggie filled turkeys. :)

The kids just ate over 1/2 of this in less than 15 minutes. LOL

This is the one I made for our church Thanksgiving... I should have made MY kids the super big one. :)

Holidays here at our house are not about food... this is the first time I've made anything this awesome and it was b/c it's a veggie dish and ridiculously easy to make. :) Years ago, my husband told me to just cook easy and not cook anything that causes me stress. He has gladly given up so many "traditional" foods so I wouldn't have to spend days in the kitchen stressing over how to make our food look like everyone's holiday table.

Here, holidays are about family... yes we eat, but we celebrate each other, not food. I am so thankful for my family. I am one lucky girl. <3

New fairy stuff

2011-10-25T17:09:00.000-04:00

Grace told me the fence is there so the fairies can lean over the fence and chat with each other. I suspect it may also be a divider to keep her sister's dirt off her side. ;)

We decided to really spruce up the area and make it homey. These are pictures from old calendars I had before the girls were born. I kept them specifically for the pictures not realizing they would one day decorate Fairytopia.

Kate's new garden... it's for very young fairies who like to move their stuff around a lot and play in the dirt. The snake plants really were getting much too large for her original pot so this is perfect. Grace gave Kate her hanging name b/c it's actually cookies for the fairies to eat. It only LOOKS like a Christmas ornament to keep trolls and other non-fairy creatures from eating it.

Grace's new spruced up garden. See how neat she keeps it? This garden is for the more mature fairy who enjoys a pretty quiet spot to rest at the end of the day.

The girls collected that cup of red berries today while at our home school co-op.

Ooo one of the fairies left their toy on the bench! Grace put tons of pretty flowers on the side so the fairies will not get sad when it gets cold and all the flowers outside turn brown and die.

River rocks and water, complete with seashells of course.

This is actually an overhead view. Kate wanted the fairies to see how much she loves them even when they fly overhead. They can see this heart from their door.

And there you go... the newest fairy fabulousness. One thing I have come to understand in these years of fairy gardening is that fairies are not picky creatures. They accept nice and neat as well as dirty and messy. Gotta love it!!

Last week there was actually an article in the paper titled : Fairy gardens can spark creativity in kids, adults. My hubby cut it out and saved it to show me. :) Yep, I'd say fairy gardens have definitely sparked creativity for all of us here. Even Tony, who will not be caught dead playing in the fairy gardens, has made trinkets for the girls to give their fairies.

Fairy garden update

2011-10-25T00:22:00.000-04:00

Grace and Kate were sick this weekend and missed a birthday party because of it. So to make things happier, I let them redo their fairy gardens. Before we started I realized we never took pictures of the last redo! So here it is. I'll post later with pics of the new gardens.

The stuff in the seashell is medicine Grace made from leaves in case the fairies caught their cold. :)

Grace made this pillow for the fairies.

Just a close up of the door. That's a cinnamon stick to the right of the door. We heard long ago that if you smell cinnamon in the air, it's because fairies are nearby...when they moved in here they brought the cinnamon stick with them.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures... stay tuned for more soon!

Random pictures for October

2011-10-16T17:11:00.000-04:00

Well I couldn't very well post pictures about swings and not have a post of something for Grandparents... so here's something for you. :)

This little caterpillars were caught in my celery garden (which is now a twig patch, thanks to the varmit). It has been living in the butterfly garden for a few days and just yesterday we noticed it has attached to the top... forming a chrysalis. We can't wait to see if we end up with moth or butterfly. :D

Some random school pictures... this was the Zen garden we made as we studied the Manchu dynasty.
It lasted about 2 minutes before it was just sand and rocks all over the house. Not doing that again. ;)

Tony was making his face to go with his completely body study.

Grace practicing her typing. She can now type 3 words a minute without looking... not a bad start!

Oh look! My veggie garden!! Isn't it beautiful????

Cabbages

Collards

A soon to be pickle. ;)

Tiny little tomatoes!

So far I have bok choy, tat soi, collards, kale, cabbages, scallions and tomatoes growing. Oh and radishes are trying to grow but they're still wimpy right now. I love going out to get food from my backyard!!

How our swing is attached to the ceiling

2011-10-16T16:52:00.000-04:00

I know this is random but someone was wondering how to safely attach indoor swings. So here are pictures. It is attached to the main downstairs support beam. This is VERY sturdy. I have had teen boys jumping onto and off of the swing, flying trapeze moves were performed, and I also sit on it... it continues to hold steady.

The swing is an Ikea swing. :)

Hope this helps!!

EFMP goes mobile

2011-09-30T09:11:00.001-04:00

The Exceptional Family Member Program is a military program that is supposed to help those in the service with special needs children. In our 11 years of having special needs children in the military, they tried to help a few times but were way out of their league with our particular issues (extreme food allergies). The dietician never knew what to tell us although two of them tried REALLY hard. I don't blame them, they really don't have the right information to help someone with our challenges... they have a certain RX of thinking and that's it. They also refused to help us with autism recovery so overall our experience with them was negative. This has been an almost across the board response with autism in the military, whether the member is aiming at recovery or life skills. (I'm sure there are some exceptions to the norm) However, I have friends in the military who have had positive experiences with EFMP. They do not deal with autism and it has been a life saver for them in many ways.

The military has recently been asking questions of members regarding EFMP and has learned of the large gaping holes in the system, and are working to rectify the situation. Here is a link to the newest ways they are trying to make things more parent-friendly. So if you have a military friend with a special needs child, pass the link along so they can access their help a little easier. :)

The tides of "boxed thinking" are turning and even the military is beginning to think some alternative therapies are worth investigating. Yay for forward thinking!!

Curricula for 2011-2012 School year

2011-09-28T10:14:00.002-04:00

Whew! I am really bad at this whole blogging thing!! We've been in school for 2 months now and just realized I hadn't written this post yet. :D

So as promised, here are the goodies we're using this year. (Click on the links if you're interested in seeing what the books look like)

Tony:

Teaching Textbooks
Story of the World 3
Sequential Spelling
Fallacy Detective
God's Design for Life: Machines
LOF
typing
guitar
He's being taught IEW, Art and Grammar by other fabulous homeschooling mommies at a Learning Partnership

Grace:
MUS
SOTW3
Easy Grammar
Sequential Spelling
Fallacy Detective
typing
piano
She is taking IEW & Apologia from our Learning Partnership

Kate:
MUS
Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons
(Yes she did use that last year but was not quite ready to really learn... this year she's all over it!)
Sequential Spelling
SOTW3
Art appreciation at Learning Partnership

And of course tons of read alouds... not even going to attempt to list all of those.

Aha, someone called to my attention the fact that I do not have science.... must find a science program. :)

What happens with big brother joins the Littlest Pet Shop game

2011-09-25T19:25:00.000-04:00

He did teach Kate how to play chess though so it all evens out. :)

Can we call it shop class...

2011-09-14T17:34:00.001-04:00

...if all they're doing is tearing it apart? LOL I called is shop, DH said kids learn how to put things back together in shop. Regardless, I thought it was adorable that they didn't even take time to change out of their swimsuits before digging into the guts of these broken radios. :)

Scallions!

2011-09-05T15:04:00.001-04:00

I am so grateful for veggies that take care of themselves! It has been TOO HOT to work in the garden much this summer so it's been pretty neglected. I went out a week or so ago and prepped the soil, put in some fertilizer and chopped up the hard dirt. Grace and I went out today to plant seedlings and there were some beautiful scallions mixed in with the marigolds. :)

Silly girl. :D

As soon as I washed them off, the kids were squeaking to eat them so they now all have onion breath. No pictures of that. lol

We planted all the wonderful green leafy veggies that thrive in the fall. Kale, cabbage, lettuce, spinach...I cannot WAIT to see things growing again. :)

Random pictures from the month of August

2011-09-03T14:28:00.001-04:00

We started school, made a trip to visit family, had nerf gun wars and made monster pants. :) It's been busy!

First day of school is always more play than work. They get to fill out a paper listing their age, weight, height, favorite color, book, movie, song and what they want to be when they grow up. Then we take this picture in the same place so we can see the growth. ;)

nerf gun war destruction

Daddy helping Grace with school work

Tony showing the girls some cool stuff. (I hope our chiropractor doesn't see the way Grace is sitting!)

Tony's monster pants

Daddy getting some good smoochies

Tarzan(ette) or is that Jane?

Tony making faces at the camera

And there's that. I'll try to be better about posting this month. At least I need to get our curriculum posted! I need a clone. :D Anyone know where I can get one?

The Official Retirement

2011-08-26T17:45:00.000-04:00

Here he is, about to go in to China Buffet, where his work buddies had planned his last meal (lol) as an Air Force dude. He and I were both giddy by this point b/c this was THE last thing he had to do. We had spent the morning doing his final out processing stuff so this was the END. :)

This nice officer gave Daddyman his medals, coins and other assorted farewell goodies. I forgot to take pictures of everyone else but there were some really great people there.

One of his co-workers giving him the ole' caulk. This is a replica of the caulks that go under the jet wheels. Tradition dictates that when they are "read into" the maintenance squadron, the new person has to wrestle the caulk from the other; and the same happens when they are "read out". This guy was too nice and just gave Daddyman the caulk. lol

Well we didn't realize we had to go back to the base so there could be a flag near him when he was read out by the officer. It was quick and painless though. It took the wind out of our sails for a bit to hear the words read. The really exciting part was I got a few certificates myself, all pretty in the official AF folders and everything. Daddyman said he requested they give me those. They made me stand up front while they read them to everyone in the room; that part was embarrassing. Basically they thanked me for supporting Daddyman in his career. That was pretty awesome of him to so publicly recognize our families sacrifice.

Goodbye Air Force!

Retirement!

2011-08-24T22:44:00.001-04:00

Not from the workforce, just from the Air Force. :D

Daddyman did not want a big work party but they sorta did one anyway. I'll put those pictures in another post. We planned his family and friends party for the day after the official last day, so my parents were here to keep the kids so I could go with Daddyman to all his retirement stuff. It was fun and games (mostly lol) until an officer "read him out". That part was sobering. It was only a few short sentences but in those moments, I was struck again at the enormity of his service and sacrifice. Twenty-four years given to the service in defense of freedom. What a man I am privileged to be married to!

There were a lot of people there but I cannot post pictures from most of the event b/c I do not have permission from anyone to put their pictures online. Since I want to keep all my friends, I am respecting their privacy here; so just IMAGINE a lot of people in the room. ;)

So without further ado, here are some pictures from his goodbyes to the Air Force (which by the way, do not do justice to the occasion at all!):

Who is this little kid????

One of MANY medals... this was for meritorious service. The 9 year old camera girl was not instructed to keep Daddy's name out of the pictures so this is the only one you get. :)

This was a very important prop for the skit the kids did. It's a C17 (with a flip-top lid) in case you can't tell. ;)

Water balloons we felt were a necessary part of a hot July party

One of our favorite people in the world. THIS lady here is the one who told me autism didn't have to be permanent. The moment she spoke those words are forever etched in my soul... as is the amazing amount of help she and her husband have given us over the years. This particular picture is him holding the hammer she gave him, to go with the "Honey do" list she gave me. :D

The kids and I put together a little silly something for entertainment. Tony and I read aloud the "Top 10 cool things about being in the USAir Force" by David Letterman, while the girls acted them out. Google (youtube) it and guess which number this is!

Tony & I reading the Top 10 things list

Can you tell which number this is?

Somehow this is the only picture that was taken of the skit! But hey, it was cute and you'll just have to take my word for it. The kids came up with almost the entire thing themselves!

Eating watermelons before the guests arrived... someone had to make sure they tasted ok!

Oh look, another taste tester!

Aaaaaaand another.

Close up of the NOT first piece the two of these were sneaking out of the kitchen.

Kate is somewhere in there... I think behind Grace. Aren't they adorable?!

The grub

Listening to our friend affirm and encourage Daddyman

My Dad protecting the food. :D

Ok now for my speech. :D I had the worst time coming up with a short and sweet one; after all how can you possibly condense 24 years into a few minutes? I read my speech off my cards b/c I knew if I didn't, I'd yammer on and on and people would perish from starvation, children would riot, etc. So here is my short speech.

One of the Air Force motto's is Integrity first & service before self. His office motto the last few years was "order to chaos". Those mottos all sound great but they are not easy to live out. Many people don't even bother trying. However Daddyman is the very picture of these. There have been numerous opportunities, both professionally and personally, where it would have just been easier to throw in the towel than to keep moving forward. But instead, he consistently and with patience worked toward a solution. These characteristic have been mirrored in our marriage. Through sickness & health, richness and NOT richness, better and worse, Daddyman has remained strong and steady. It has been my privelege to walk the military life with him and I am very excited to see where we will go from here. (Insert mushy ending)

Life is hard. Neither of us is perfect. But I couldn't have asked for a better partner in life. He is the exact opposite of me; I'm fiery, he's level headed; I'm hyper, he's calm; I speak before I think, he thinks before he speaks; I am chaotic, he brings order. He is exactly what I need.

And I am more proud of him than I can ever say.

Vacation Bible School

2011-08-03T21:50:00.001-04:00

So I told you last week that I would report on our VBS experience and here it is.

When we were told about VBS for this year, it was in a group session with a bunch of parents. The pastor had told me to come and just listen. He mentioned food and told me we could just avoid it. I think he forgot we can't touch or smell it either so I just decided it was no biggie and we would skip. The kids didn't know I was even considering it so they had already put it out of their minds knowing it would be a food-laden occasion.

BUT a few weeks later, it was brought up again and this time I was asked point blank if we were coming; so I mentioned that the food situation would be dangerous and thank you but no. Well next thing I know, I'm getting calls from people who want to discuss the menu and some posts on FB telling me they really want us to come and they'll work it out.

AWESOME!!

I will be honest here and tell you I didn't really have a lot of hope. Not that people can't do what's necessary but really, it's a heap of children and when you have to feed a heap of children, cheap food is necessary and cheap food contains dairy and nuts. It's just the way it is and we get that. But one lovely lady in the church was put in charge of the food and she WANTED my kids to come. She called a few times and discussed way to keep the kids safe. We decided that since meals were first, they would eat and we would just come after. They also ate outside when possible. I mentioned that we would just skip the pb&j night b/c of the likelihood of Grace being able to smell the peanuts. Next thing I know almond butter had replaced the peanut butter! The person who did the food never talked to me face to face about it; we communicated via FB and phone so she couldn't see my face. I wish she could have. :) Every change she made just floored me. Not b/c she made them but b/c she cared enough about my kids to say (by her action) "Your kids are more important than peanut butter".

This is one thing I think only those with extreme allergies can understand - when others change a food item or avoid wearing perfume or do something out of the norm for them just for you - it is life shaking b/c it really and truly means WE are more important to them than whatever item they just changed for our safety.

So Daddyman and I decided we would absolutely do VBS... they were making garganutan efforts, we would put aside our fear and do the same. They agreed to have every child wipe their hands after eating (we provided safe hand wipes) and even explained why it was important. That was really key as a child who thinks they are supposed to "wipe up" after a meal will miss almost all the food on their hands, but a child who knows that wiping those crumbs off their hands is a life and death issue for another child, will do a good job. :)

We got together our battle plan... our babysitter extraordinaire volunteered to teach in Kate's class so she could watch her for reactions. She also knows how to administer an epipen. Kate wore her epi's on her belt loop so they were easy to find if needed. Daddyman and I split up between the big kids; each of us carrying a set of epipens everywhere so the kids had freedom of movement while we watched for reactions.

One night, lessons included a pizza. The smell of pizza was supposed to be in the building. When the food coordinator told me this, I mentioned that b/c Kate can't smell pizza without having breathing problems, it would be a "skip it" night, she immediately called the teacher and they made other arrangements so the pizza would be in the room, out of reach of the children, and cooked away from the building so the smell wouldn't be in there. THEN when the lesson was over, Grace was concerned b/c the teacher had actually touched the pizza, so she asked Daddyman to give the teacher a wipe. Not only did the teacher gladly wipe up but when given the wipe said "Well, give me TWO!" with a gracious smile. What a precious heart to make it so crystal clear to my nervous child that he would make her safe. :)

Another night they started tossing out candy to the children who memorized their verses. After reading the candy label I immediately started collecting my bag and children and told DH it was time to go (copious dairy and nuts in the candy). The pastor immediately told me to stop and he would take the candy from the child who had already received it. I told him "you can't take candy from a kid!" but he insisted. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was nearly in tears, first because I was upset that the kids had to leave over candy and then b/c of the graciousness of the pastor in removing the candy from the room. He decided to give the candy on the last night at the end so we could participate in the entire thing.

It was absolutely fabulous. :) The kids enjoyed their time there so much; I cannot even describe it adequately. They learned about being salt and light to the world, they learned about hungering and thirsting after Jesus, and most importantly they saw the love of Christ in action. Actions speak louder than words and that week, they were shouting.

Thank you to my wonderful church and the staff who worked so hard to make VBS possible for us!!!