I believe . . . .

I believe in miracles.

My boy has been the recipient of so many.
This month we have had an abundance.
My heart is absolutely bursting.


Miracle #1

Christopher was missing going to preschool and was having a hard time getting over the big change of his old teacher moving away.
We couldn't find any open preschools and we were just accepting the fact that he would be done with preschool for the rest of the year.
My sweet neighbor decided to start a preschool this fall and wanted to do a "trial run" for a few months.
She called and asked if Christopher would be interested.
YES!
He is there with 3 adorable little girls and he is having a blast.


It's small, close, fun, and he has a teacher who understands his needs.
We are blessed.



Miracle #2

We have been trying to get into an AMAZING therapy center catering to autistic children here in town called Camp Hippo.
This place has so much for the kids to learn and do.
Horses, climbing walls, crafts, you name it - they've got it.


I've been on the waiting list for months and we weren't moving up the list any time soon.
Living in a small town there are VERY limited resources and this camp is FULL.
Well, guess who came into my husband's firm looking for someone to handle their books!?
The owners of this camp.
Davin's wonderful bosses handed this job over to him and now he gets to meet with them on a regular basis.
Davin told them about our Christopher and they told him "He's in."
HE IS IN.
We are blessed.



Miracle #3

We have been worried about what to do with Christopher for school.
We are worried that he may get lost in the public schools and that it may be too overwhelming.
We even considered home schooling.
Yikes (scared me to death)
I found out about a wonderful charter school in town.



Small classrooms, lots of technology (christopher's love), lots of one on one attention = What we need!
They choose the students by lottery. Basically, Christopher's name had to be randomly chosen from a sea of hundreds of names. Oh, and the brother's and sisters of children already attending get picked first. Annnnnd, even after all that his name ended up on a huge list of "maybe we can fit one more??" and they selected him.
The school told us that basically it was a miracle he got in.
We are blessed.

Miracles.
This little boy has things to do in this big world.
We are grateful for everything the Lord has provided for us in our journey.

Did you know?

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day.

I used to wonder what it meant to be "aware of autism."
Does it mean give money?
Does it mean to take a moment and think "Wow, glad that's not me!"
(that's seriously what I thought :) )
I found a new meaning of being aware and I hope you will share it with me.
Autism Awareness means being aware of what autism is.
Believe me, I am still on this path of learning.
It means taking a moment in the store when you see that screaming child and not judge.
It means taking a moment to realize that the spectrum is HUGE and you NEVER know who suffers from it, or who does not know that their loved one is on the spectrum.
My son has been blessed to be on the high functioning end of the spectrum. He has the ability to tell me that he loves me and I am incredibly thankful for that. So many parents would give anything to hear those words.
Autism Awareness means thinking of everyone in a new light even if they do not suffer from autism.
EVERYONE is on a journey.
Let's all take a moment to be aware of the ones around us and offer our patience and love.

Almost there . . . . . .

Waving bye bye.
(notice the hat and jammie ensemble. . . at 7:30 in the morning. BOYS.)

Daddy is off to work.

Only one more month of tax season!!!
(okay maybe a liiiittle more than a month, but we are getting close here people!!)

Things We Love Lately . . .

Wow, I feel like I've been gone a long time!

It's only been about two weeks since my last post but it feels like forever.
It's been a rough couple of weeks and every time I tried to sit down and write something happy and fun it came out grumpy and boring.
I feel a little better today.
We are working on a new treatment with Christopher and I think it is helping with his anxiety and overall attitude.
It's an interesting treatment and maybe someday (when we are very sure about its results) I will share it with you.

Anyways, sometimes it is hard for me to look through all the gray yuckiness to the good things in my life.
I have a lot of things to love . . . . . . .

I love brown, ugly grass.
Really, I do.
Spring was here the other day.
Of course, Idaho did not let her stay, but it was such a breath of fresh (still a little chilly) air. The kids had a great time out there enjoying some sun while still being able to find the few patches of snow that are left to track into the house :)

The kids love their color changing cars.
My kids want to play with EVERYTHING in the bathtub.


They loooove the bathtub.


So, Grandma got them these color changing cars for their bath time and they are in heaven.

I love AND Christopher loves Moon Dough.



Have you seen this stuff?
Wow. I love it.
It is allergy free, NEVER dries out, and it is the most interesting (oddly soothing) stuff to play with.
Their Aunt JJ was here a couple days ago playing with it and went out and bought her own grownup self some.
Seriously, this stuff is fascinating.

I loved this book.


When I saw the cheesy, pink cover I immediately thought - Uh uh. Not for me. But, I decided to give it a chance when I saw who wrote it. It was a great book. Highly recommended.

I love this show.


This is my dream life.

I love to crochet. Remember that pouf ottoman I showed you a while back? Well, she wasn't looking so good. I got some new, better stuffing for her and she looked a little better. However, with kids jumping on her and too big of stitches she was looking sad. Sooooo, I finally figured out that the directions had called for double crochet (bigger stitches) and I really needed to do a single crochet (smaller, tighter stitches) to make her look perfect. So, I undid ALLLLLLLL the stitches and started over.

I seriously have a ball of yarn as big as a basketball.

Amazing. She is looking fabulous. Much much better. I will show you when I'm done.
(Was that the most boring thing you have ever read on a blog???)

How is everyone out there???
What are you loving lately?

He came . . . .

I love Valentine's Day.

Love the colors, love the candy, love the little notes, love the memories, love the love.

Hope my kids feel the same way.

This Valentine's we made Valentine cards for all the grandparents


and we made some Valentine mail boxes.

Christopher asked me "Who brings us something for our mail boxes? Santa Claus?"

My reply : "Uhhhh . . . . ummm. . . well, The Valentine Mailman."

Ya. That's the best I could think up.
I could have said ME!

I could have said Cupid!
I could have said a huge, magical, red, glittering heart character who loves to spoil little children!
Nope. The Valentine Mailman (CREEEEEPY).


I've always had some strange mailmen and the thought of one sneaking into my house to deliver candy to my children . . . . not good.

Oh well. The kids seemed to be okay with him.

They had so much fun opening their mailboxes this morning.




The Valentine Mailman


brought them a spinning, glowy thingy (ha ha) from Grandma.


They looooooved these.

The Valentine Mailman


also brought them some bubbles from Mom and Dad.



NO SPILL bubbles!



The person who made the no spill bubble container deserves an award!


Mothers everywhere thank you!

And, of course, the Valentine Mailman



brought some candy.


Yummy.

I love these kids. I love my husband. I love all my wonderful family and dear friends.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!!

Here's to hoping that The Valentine Mailman makes a stop at your house ;)

I made my bed this morning . . . . .

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller

Sigh.

Take a seat . . . .

I am discouraged today.

Can I tell you about it??


My Christopher will have a week of feeling pretty together.
He is calm, friendly, happy.
I take him places and people wonder "what is her problem? this kid doesn't have that big of a problem."
Then, the "detox" happens (as I call it).
All the stresses and noises and chaos just becomes too much for him and he unloads.
This week has been his "detox" week and I HATE it.
I hate it!
He is frustrated and scared and anxious and angry and there isn't much I can do.
We stay home as much as possible and I work on helping him rid himself of all his anxiety.
I am also working on getting him ready for kindergarten.
This goal seems unreachable at times.
Yesterday was coloring.
Let me explain coloring time with Christopher to you.


He can't figure out how to hold a crayon.
The concept is agonizing to him.
His little fingers and little mind can't figure out how to work together.
Figuring out how to make something in his brain come out on paper tortures him.
We spent 3 hours THREE HOURS working on one picture.
While we struggled through the coloring, my Andy turned on his destruction mode and colored the chairs and himself, ripped papers, and threw marker lids around the room.



It was an absolute marathon of patience for me and I am sure for him.
We worked and worked on a picture of a road with trees, playground, cars, and signs.
There were screams and meltdowns and hugs and tears.
But, . . . . we did it.


He drew and colored a picture.
It may have taken us three hours, but we did it.
He was so so proud and I found him looking at it throughout the day.



Author Anna Quindlen says, "The great motherhood friendships are the ones in which two women can admit how difficult mothering is quietly to each other, over cups of tea at a table sticky with spilled apple juice and littered with markers without tops."

Thanks for listening friends, mothers, and readers at my "table littered with markers without tops" and probably a little apple juice too :)

Good ol' Summer Time . . .

I hate that I do this.

In the summer I want winter.
In the winter I want summer.
Make up your mind!!

I hate bundling up the children just to go get the mail.


Andy wants his hat on and will scream until it is in place.


Christopher refuses to wear his hat because he hates the feel of it on his ears.


I barely get any coat on before they are running out the garage and onto the slippery ice patches on my driveway.
Yesterday I fell on the ice and scraped my hand raw just trying to get over to my neighbors house.
We live in a townhouse.
They live literally 5 steps away.



Winter also makes me turn into an old lady.
I sit by the heater and crochet.
If I had a cat it would be in my lap purring.
I did crochet something pretty fun the other day though.
I decided to make a pouf ottoman.
Have you seen these things?!


I love them.
However, I don't love them enough to pay $600 for one.
Seriously, that's how much they cost.
Soooo, I made my own.


Not as pretty, not as perfect, but really fun.
I am also redecorating my family room, but that is a blog for another time.


Winter also produces a lot of these.


Ugh.
Why do I do it?
I don't need these.
Especially if I am going to sit around crocheting.

Summer we miss you.
(If I write a blog post in the summer about wishing for winter - just slap me)