My husband e-mailed this to me and I couldn't resist passing it on to all of my blogging friends ENJOY!!! SAD NEWS Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in thebelly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebreties turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions. Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, two children, John Doughand Jane Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survivedby his elderly father Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes. If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads it.

Can you say CHUCK E. CHEESE? We went yesterday for my neighbor's 39th birthday. 4 moms and all of our kids -- it was crazy. This was Katie's favorite spot -- lying on the skee-ball game. Too crazy-- especially when a boy (probably 8 or 9) decided that he was going to throw skee-balls at her. When I told him that he should not throw balls at a child he said "Lady, she shouldn't be up there and I'll throw them at her if I want." I said, "No, you won't. She's a child, and sometimes child go places they shouldn't. It will not be a good thing if you hit her with a ball". He gave me a dirty look and kept righ on throwing the balls. He was there with a daycare group -- okay, seriously, why would you take a daycare group to Chuck E. Cheese? It was fun. The food was bad as usual, but the kids had a great time. The best part is that I don't have to worry about losing Katie because they put hand stamps on you and the stamps have to match in order to take the child out with you....I often joke that people wouldn't get too far trying to kidnap Katie anyway. She throws a fit when her own mother tries to make her leave -- I can't imagine what kind of meltdown she would have if a stranger tried to pick her up!!!!

6 days of work in a row and I am a tired girl....I have 2 days off now, so that will be good. I miss seeing the girls when I work so much...and Katie is at a stage where she bawls every time I leave for work -- she lies at the garage door and kicks and screams - it's horrible, and it makes me feel so guilty for going to work. Bill and I have talked about how part of it is her age and part of it is her autism. It's so hard on me. I am exhausted, so I'll write more tomorrow ---

We went to the beach this afternoon. This is what I love about Michigan....Bill and I have both been under a lot of stress and he had the afternoon off, so we decided to head to the beach...it was great. Katie really didn't want to leave --- (autistic kids often love sand and water) so she had a major melt-down...but other than that it was amazing!!! Thanks Bill for thinking of such a great way to spend a Friday night. It was so much fun that I didn't even miss my scrapbooking.

HAIR CUTS and AUTISM don't go together very well. My mom and I took Katie to get her hair cut short because we all liked Mary's so well. It was insane. Our poor hair-dresser was literally following Katie around the room trying to cut wherever and whenever she could. She got a good start to the cut but my mom basically finished it while Katie was in the bathtub at our house. That is about the only place we have success with hair-cuts with her. The before and after pictures are not as good as Mary's so I'm not posting them (mostly because I need to take an after picture from "now" as opposed to when we left the salon.

I'm starting to feel better....about the situation with Mary and the hot tub. I haven't let Mary play with the little girl since Friday when I heard about it through the grapevine. Mary keeps asking me why and I just tell her that until Mommy can talk to the other Mommy she isn't allowed to play over there. She's funny b/c she keeps saying, I already promised ___ (the other mommy) that I won't play in the pool anymore. I just have to tell her that I know, and that I appreciate how honest she was in coming forward about it, but that mommy needs to clear some things up before she can play with her friend again. What a pain in the butt. But on to bigger and better things.... We have pulled Mary from private school and have enrolled her in public school. This has been a very emotional decision for both Bill and I. We have been praying for a peace about it, and actually I was amazed at how easy it was to enroll her in public school. She will be in the same building as Katie -- we have two elementary schools in town - and she will go in the morning just like Katie. She is very excited .. and I am just relieved. I told her Private School teacher yesterday and she was just devastated. The school has been having a lot of problems - it is really sad. We are just at a point where we are doing what we have to do...I hate life changing decisions - they are hard work.

I'm glad for the weekend... Wow it's been a week. I went scrapbooking tonight, which I love, but amidst the conversation (there were several of my neighbors there) I found out some things about what Mary has been up to in the neighborhood that are a little disturbing to me. I know that she is mischeivious, but after some of the things that were said I find myself a little unsettled. I knew that earlier this week she and her "little" friend got into thier hot tub and were sitting on the edge of it with their hands and feet in it. Mary told me that the friend had asked her to open it because Mary is much bigger than the other girl and she was unable to open it herself. Mary admitted to me that she opened it. Apparently the parents felt it was Mary acting independently and they did not allow her to play with their daughter for a day because the father was very upset. The parents didn't see Mary do anything, they just went off of what their daughter said. The parents told my other neighbor that Mary was standing on top of the hot tub jumping up and down (okay, what would the point of that be) and then she opened it up (which she did) and they felt she is a bad example for their daughter. I think the reality here is that both girls are at fault and it bothers me that the parents haven't said anything to me directly. I know that they think I am a bad mother becuase I don't always hang out outside in the front yard with all of them. I HAVE AN AUTISTIC DAUGHTER WHO WILL RUN AWAY IF WE ARE IN THE FRONT YARD!!!! I am so tired of having to defend all of my actions all the time. I'm sorry that I can't be in an area that isn't fenced in because Katie will be in danger. I give Mary a lot of freedom out of necessity. I always know where she is and she is very good at asking permission to go and do things. I guess that I shouldn't be that upset, and that I just need to let it go..but I'm just upset that the neighborhood knows more about what my daughter did than I do. I'm glad that Mary told me what had happened before I heard about it at the scrapbook store. That was my Friday night. I'm off this weekend -- I need it!

Today Was Crazy

Well it was my day off, but it wasn't a true day off. Katie had her yearly appointment with the pediatric neurologist this morning. That went pretty well. She said that Katie looked great and that it seemed like, all things considered, Katie was doing really well. We talked about the new doctor we are seeing and how we are trying to modify her diet and see what happens. Like my pediatrician she also told me not to put too much hope in "alternative" medicines. She was concerned that I might have become "Anti-vacine" (which I am not). I told her that I am not opposed to vaccinating children, I just think that parents need to be better educated about what is in the shots and in how they are being administered.
Once we got past that it was a good visit. Katie is all set for another year unless we start to have more sleep issues or if any new issues develop. Then we came home and Mary went with Papa B to Coney Island for lunch and then to the lake for a swim. She learned how to "dive" off the diving board today....she is growing up so fast. Katie had speech therapy this afternoon. That went really well. She is making such good progress. By the time we got home from that it was 3 o'clock and the day was pretty much spent. Seems like today was my day to run 5 million errands - so I am tired. But all of this is why I am a few days behind on the blog...hope to do better...but I close the next two nights at work, so we'll see what happens. :)

These are the pictures ..before and after! What a big change. Mary looks so cute....Maybe Katie's hair is next!!!

I want to say that I am so excited because I am actually going scrapbooking tonight. I haven't been in months!!! I printed off a bunch of the pics that Mindy sent to me and I can't wait!!! Bill is actually leaving work early so that I can can get an early start. :) Mary got her hair cut really short today. I have a before and after pic. As soon as I upload them I will add them to the blog!!!

This is Katie on our vacation. Gotta love that harness! It is a life-saver with her :) Mindy sent me a cd with150+ pictures on it -- it will take me awhile to get through them all, but this one of Katie is so cute...she's such a treat! ..and after all, she is really what this blog is all about! My mom spent hours at the healthfood store today trying to find some foods that she can eat. It is going to be a challenge to get her diet re-vamped so that she isn't eating all of the foods that bother her. We had a little scare today...while the sitter was here, Katie managed to go into Mary's room and somehow flip over the toy kitchen (which is quite large - and she flips it over all the time) but today she somehow got it wedged between the wall and the door and there was no way for the sitter to get into the room. It ended up that Bill had to come home from work and use a crowbar to move the kitchen enough so that the door would open. What a mess. She was in there for about 45 minutes -- the sitter said that she was just happy as a clam, jumping on the bed and laughing !! She's a little stinker!! But we love her!!!!!