Ring of Fire!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful! Today, Lucas tried everything I prepared, except for the turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy. He ate dressing, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and a roll. He probably would have eaten the potatoes, but his daddy put gravy on them and he doesn't like gravy. Logan was even proud of his brother. He said, "Wow! That's the first step to not being a picky eater." Then he leaned over to me and whispered, "I should know". :-)

I am thankful! After we finished dinner, Lucas got a book and sat beside his daddy and actually listened to the whole story. Then, Logan went and got a book to read to his brother. :-)

I am thankful! My boys mean the world to me, and I am so happy to have them home with me. I love watching their light bulb moments. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, from my family to yours!

Pony Ride!

They had pony rides at the fall festival. Lucas loved it!

Soccer....

I have been intending to sign Logan up for soccer for a while now. He played t-ball one season and did NOT like it. According to him, there was too much standing around. Since then, I've been trying to get him into soccer, but I always thought about it too late and sign ups were over. This year, I managed to remember in time! In looking at the league, I discovered that they also have a team for special needs kids. So, I was able to sign both boys up. Score!

Yesterday, Logan's team had a make up game and it seems that a few of the kids forgot. At the start of the game, we only had 6 boys, so all of them had to play. Another boy showed up and so we could sub one player out at a time. Logan played the entire first half and was sooo tired at half time. The whole team was, really. Poor boys! The other team was subbing out pretty much their entire team at a time! Our boys were exhausted. They lost, but they really played a great game yesterday! Here are a few pictures of the season so far:


This picture of Lucas totally cracks me up. Part of the goal is making him look like he has ponytails! His team does scrimmage each other, but they don't really have games. It is taking him a little while to warm up, but he does love getting out there and kicking the balls! The fields were too wet on Saturday for them to meet, but last Saturday they did. They had "buddies" (teenagers) there to help the kids. Lucas warmed up to his buddies and then had to make his rounds kicking the ball to all the buddies and all the parents on the sidelines!

As I was saying....

not a cookie cutter. And I'm perfectly okay with that! :-) I love his sense of style. I think my boy is going to be a trendsetter.

Cookie cutter.....I think not!

We were at the thrift store last Monday with my friend Andria. She had to head home (30 minutes from here), so the boys and I went with her while she paid for her things, said our goodbyes, then kept looking around. I was looking at the books and had given Lucas a book to look at. He was asking me questions about the book (it was a book about different jobs and had a dog dressed up as different professions). I had already answered lots of questions and he was asking me questions I had already answered. I was browsing the books and he'd say, "And what is this one, Momma?". Well, without looking, I couldn't answer, so I'd look at a few books, then turn to look at his book and answer him. But, before I could answer, he'd ask a few times. Never did he yell, but would just get a little louder each time. A woman (probably 60 or so) came over and said something to him. I don't even remember what, but I think it was "excuse me". Lucas paid her no attention, so I said, "Lucas, someone is trying to talk to you." Lucas briefly acknowledged her, so she began talking to him. "How about I join you with your yelling. Do you think we'd make a good team?" Lucas answered, "Yes." She laughed a bit and said, "No, I don't think so. Are you in school?" I told her that he would be starting kindergarten. I didn't say I'd be homeschooling (or that he had already gone to a year and a half of pre-school through the public school system), so she proceeded, "You know what they are going to tell you at school? To use your inside voice." At this point I told her that he is Autistic. Now, I have had a couple of doctors tell me they think he is, but he has never been diagnosed with it. His current doctor actually says she doesn't believe it is Autism, but ADHD and that is the diagnosis she has given him. Regardless, he does have a lot of the characteristics and I wanted this woman to back off. I said, "Well, he is Autistic, so that is a hard one." "Oh. I know. I worked with kids for 20 years." I let it roll off my back pretty easily and she probably thought she was helping me out. Had her tone been a bit different, I might have responded differently, but it does bother me that just because my child looks "normal" people think it is okay to comment on his behavior. It just makes me wonder, if my child appeared handicapped and was being loud, would a person still think it was okay to try to quiet him??

I should add. I don't let Lucas just yell and carry on. I do try to quiet him and if it becomes too much, one of us will usually leave with him. I have to admit that I've learned to tune a lot of it out (as his doctor's have told me to ignore the bad if it isn't too bad and give lots of praises for the good). So, I'm not constantly reprimanding him for being noisy. I try to quiet him if we are in public, but usually my efforts are useless. I've really gotten to the point that I don't care if people don't get it. It isn't fair to me or my boys to try to shield them, so we go and carry on just like anyone else, we just happen to be a bit noisier about it. It just really makes me wonder when everyone is going to realize that we don't all fit into a cookie cutter mold.

Words!

When Lucas is upset, he bites his fingers and yells. His poor, poor fingers are so calloused. They are actually starting to look better because we've been working really hard to stop him as soon as we see them in his mouth and encouraging him to use his words when something upsets him.

This morning he and Logan were down stairs in the living room and I was upstairs. Logan was supposed to put Epic Mickey on for them to play. Well, Lucas came upstairs and said, "Momma, why'd Logan not put Epic Mickey on?". I asked him what game was on and he didn't know the name, but he knew enough to tell me about a character on it so I would know which game Logan was playing. I called Logan up and asked him what game he had in. His eyes got big and he said, "The one that Daddy was playing". I told him that he better start doing what I tell him to because his brother can use his words now and tell me if they aren't playing the game they are supposed to be. Lucas let out this little laugh, "Ha ha!". Oh, my sweet boy, how I laughed! Yes, at 5.5 years old Lucas has finally figured out how to tattle on his brother and as strange as it may seem, I am one proud momma!

So excited!!

No. I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, but I have been busy! We went on a vacation to Yellowstone (and I took over 800 pictures!!) and since we've returned, we've been trying to come to some decisions regarding schooling for our youngest son. He is special needs, as I've talked about before. Obviously I would love to homeschool (as I already do my oldest son), but ultimately I want to do what is best for my boys. I've been searching and searching to find a place to take Lucas to therapy that would be covered by my insurance. I finally hit the jackpot!

We haven't been yet (our first appointment is on Tuesday), but I'm really crossing my fingers that they can offer us the help we've been looking for. School also starts on Tuesday, but neither of my boys will be getting up and heading out the door. We've decided that I will give homeschooling both of them a try and see how it goes. My feelings are that Lucas being gone approximately 8 hours a day for kindergarten and then us driving about 45 minutes one way for therapy, have a session, then drive home would just be too much. Of course, I could take him during school hours, but I don't think the school system would like him missing school so often. Obviously I have no clue how often he will have therapy yet, but considering his developmental pediatrician has recommended occupational and speech therapy, I'm assuming it would be at least once a week.

So, I've been busy, busy trying to prep for our new normal. I was trying to get the homeschool room done already, but the decision to have both boys home made me move a little faster. I know that I need to be as organized as possible so that I can use our time each day wisely. I'm so, so excited to be mostly done with the school room!! I still need to hang our calendar and do a few final things with filing and such, but I'm pleased with the results!

I took some pictures, but it was after 10 PM and dark, and they just didn't turn out so great. They are a little blurry, but after spending about 7 hours down there today, I was too tired to go attempt taking them again. :-)

Let me give you a tour!!

This is looking down the hall into the schoolroom from the playroom. I just hung our world map in the hall because it was so big and I don't have a whole lot of open wall space in the schoolroom.
Here is my new homeschool cabinet. We bought this from a military family that bought it in Germany. It comes apart into two large pieces, which made it nice for transporting! It only had two shelves on the inside, so my husband added more.
We decided to go with a system that will allow me to move the shelves around if I want to and I love it!! I'm really excited about having it more organized than I have in years past!
Above the bookshelf, I'm planning on hanging a clothesline of sorts to hang the boys artwork.
Close up of the bookshelf. I haven't filled this yet, but I (or my husband, really) did move all the books down from the over-flowing bookshelf in Logan's room. I'm going to love having all these educational books in the same room as us (the chapter books are all still in Logan's room). Before when were doing school at the dining room table and wanted something, we'd have to go up a flight of stairs to get it. It got tiring and annoying!!
We got the corner desk on Craigslist and I love it!! Also got the filing cabinet on Craigslist. I have some plans for it, but that will have to wait a bit.
I'm going to hang our calendar on the wall above the little white bookshelf. Since we have to change things out on it often and I can't really laminate it, I'm going to try something new with it this year. I had been using that sticky putty stuff to hang it, but it didn't work very well and would fall. I'm afraid if I just use push pins that it may rip. So, Costco has a large dry erase board that is magnetic and I'm hoping that I can put that on the wall and then use magnets to hang our calendar up. I'll have to measure it and find out.
So, that's it. What do you think? I'm so excited that it's hard not to go wake the boys to try out our new room. :-)

Time for some more funnies.....

My boys always have me laughing!

Lucas was in my bedroom opening the drawers on the table on my side of the bed. He kept saying, "Where is Daddy's recipe?" I had no idea what he was talking about. Finally he said, "Can I play Daddy's recipe?" Ding, ding, ding. PSP. He meant PSP (Playstation Portable). I said, "Oh, you mean Daddy's PSP?" "Yes. Where is Daddy's PSP? Was it stolen?" (For the record, it was stolen.) It did give me a good laugh, though.


A few days earlier, we were in his room and he was frantically searching through his dress up clothes. "My antenna. Where is my antenna?" I had no clue what he was talking about. When I looked and saw he was getting his pirate stuff out, I realized. "Bandana. It is a bandana!" :-)


Yesterday while driving to pick Lucas up from school, Logan told me that he wished his grandma lived in North California. I said, "She does. She lives in northern CA." Logan: (sounding hopeful) "You mean she lives in the state right beside us?!?" Me: "Oh. You mean North Carolina!" Haha! :-)

Also yesterday, Lucas found a piece of a cardboard box....a very small piece. He was laying on the floor holding it up to his mouth insisting that it was his mustache. When he couldn't make it stay and was getting frustrated, I added a piece of tape to it.

He was still wearing his mustache when his daddy got home. His daddy decided to have a snack of salt water taffy and turned his purple huckleberry flavored taffy into a mustache. Lucas thought it was awesome and had to make it his own!

Last weekend, we rented the Tangled Wii game (Lucas loves Tangled aka Rapunzel). Guess who is playing the game?? Logan and Shaine! Too funny hearing Shaine tell Logan to let his hair down. "Logan, cross the bridge. Now go over to that stump and let your hair down."

After Shaine put a movie on for the boys, Lucas came up to me and said, "Momma, is it Cloudy with a Chance of Heatballs?" Ummm. No!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day. Thought I would share a picture of me with the two boys that make me a mother. I love them both more than words can say!

Menu Plan Monday....

We are watching our cholesterol intake around here, so I've been on the search for some tasty food for us. I've not been doing so great on menu planning and I'm trying to get back on track. It isn't just menu planning, but household schedules in general. At one point, I was so great about having a cleaning schedule and menu planning and I long to get that back. My household really did run so much smoother then. It isn't that my house is a pig pen because I haven't been great about a schedule, though. The thing was that I had things that I did each day and now I just do it all at once. Breaking it into smaller sections was so much easier, though.

Anyhow, on with the plan for this week! :-)

Monday-- pasta with "alfredo" sauce, salad

Tuesday--veggie burgers and fries

Wednesday--veggie stir fry with Chinese noodles

Thursday--artichoke tomato pasta, veggie meatballs, green beans

Friday--baked tilapia, coconut lime rice, steamed veggies with basting oil

My recent visitors!!

We live in a very diverse neighborhood. It's true....just check out who has been visiting the last few days! :-)

A construction worker....

Spider man...Amazing!!

And a cowboy! What cracks me up is he is wearing a bandana (with skulls and crossbones that is intended to be worn on the head as a pirate) around his neck to be a cowboy! :-)

Menu Plan Monday...

It's been a long, long time, but I'm trying to get back into menu planning. My bank account will thank me for it. :-)

Monday-- Not sure yet....I need to grocery shop tomorrow, so may just grab something easy
Tuesday--Chicken pasta, steamed veggies
Wednesday--Philly cheesesteak and fries
Thursday--chicken fried rice, stir fry veggies
Friday--baked tilapia, coconut lime rice, steamed veggies with basting oil

Also going to make some pasta salad to have on hand for lunches and some granola bars for snacks. I'm also going to make these granola bars. I'm searching for a good recipe to do homemade ones because Lucas loves them so much.

Five!!

Five years ago, I worked all day to finish up the little details to have a clean house and a stocked pantry. I picked my dad up from the airport and we went to Costco. That night, my back was super sore and I realized....I was in labor!!! I was supposed to be induced the next morning, but my sweet Lucas wanted to come early. I'm so glad to have him in my life!! :-)

As a side note, our home was robbed and my camera and laptop are gone, so I currently don't have any pictures to post of my sweet boy. This has made me treasure this blog even more.....I have so many pictures and memories here and they can't steal that!

This is fun.....

I can't believe it, but my baby will turn 5 at the end of February! It simply does NOT seem possible!

And since he will be 5, I figured it was probably time that I take down the baby gate in the hall (it was up to keep him out of the kitchen, bathroom, and from the stairs going up to the bedrooms)! :-) I mean, he CAN open it now and all! So, today while cleaning house, I took the gate down and did a little bit of re-arranging of things.

Lucas loves routine and structure, so he wasn't so sure about the changes. I moved the bookshelf from the living room into the hallway and moved the entry table back into the living room from the hallway! Funny how just those few things can make such a difference. As my husband said "taking that gate down made the hall look a lot less claustrophobic". I must say that I agree. :-)

And just for fun, here is a video of the boys playing. Just another normal day in our household.....

Snow!!

Lucas LOVES watching the snow....oh, and "Icspicable Me"! :-)

Date night!!

Tonight, Logan and my husband went to see Harry Potter and Lucas and I stayed home. We had lots of fun! We watched Beauty and the Beast. Lucas started the movie in one of his favorite spots to sit (the coffee table)....
and ended the movie in his other favorite seat (my lap!). :-)Lucas tried on all of his Christmas hats. The boy loves hats and his momma loves a good deal. I found them on clearance for 25 cents!! He is wearing two Christmas tree hats and one Santa stuck in the chimney hat!And, we listened to a song (and watched the video on Youtube) that I've been singing to Lucas and he loves, but he had never heard the whole song before:

Money talks!

My husband was upstairs trying to get Lucas to come up so he could get him ready for bed. I was ushering Lucas that way and he spotted his train puzzle all apart on the floor. We had just finished putting it together and Lucas was looking for something else to delay him when his daddy said, "Lucas, I've got some change to put in your piggy bank." Lucas has never gone up the stairs so fast...LOL! :-)

New Year, New Funnies!

So, I've kind of fallen off of the blogging wagon. Sorry about that. There have been a few funny things said/done that I want to make sure to get down so I don't forget!

You need a bit of background for this to be funny. A friend gave me a holder for my scissors similar to this one. For Christmas, Lucas got a Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Santa. The other day Logan brought Woody to me and said, "Look, Momma. Woody has a scissor holder on his belt." Oh how I laughed!

We were at a friend's house on New Year's Eve. She recently got new furniture and Logan was admiring it. "Look! It even has butt holders!"

My husband is great about helping me clean house. Typically I keep things pretty straightened up during the week and on cleaning day, I dust and vacuum and wipe down the kitchen and he cleans the bathrooms and keeps the boys occupied. Well, Logan has been making a mess in the bathroom and we decided that he needed to start cleaning it up. I try really hard not to try to make my husband clean the way I do. I try to just let him do it and if I see something I want done, I'll just do it once he is finished. The way I have tried to start looking at it (took me a few years to get to this point) is that him cleaning it and me wanting to do a little more is still better than me doing all of it! Well, the other day my husband was showing Logan how to clean the bathroom and was telling him that when he makes a mess, now he'll have to clean the bathroom in the same manner that he was being shown. Logan was all excited about it and as his daddy was cleaning up, Logan kept pointing out more things to clean. Yep, Logan takes after his Momma in that department! :-) I also find it funny that at 8, cleaning the bathroom is fun. Of course, this morning he was cleaning the other bathroom and complaining about having to touch the toilet where the pee was. My husband told him that is why he will be cleaning the toilet. It is his pee and we don't want to touch it either! YUCK!