A Blonde Snow White

The girls don't have school tomorrow - so they celebrated Halloween today. (By the way, Halloween was the bonus spelling word in Mary's class this week :) Anyway, I hardly recognized my own child once we got the wig & make-up on...she was one interesting Snow White -- not exactly meek and mild - she's a little too outgoing for that. Katie did not "do" Halloween at school this year - after last year's disaster - when I determined that autism and Halloween don't mix very well - we decided to let her party with the kids in her room, but to not dress her up and not have her walk in the 30 minute parade around town. Yes, the whole school parades around town in their costumes -- it's a treat :)
More later - need to go nighty night. ..but as a quick note, Mary and I went to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year tonight. It was cheesy - but that's another post. I know Mary will be trying out the new dance moves soon....if you have young girls it is definitely a must see, but I'm prediciting "Beyond High School Musical : the Wedding" in about a year or so :)

Dancing with the ???

I saw this on a blog I enjoy reading when I visited this morning. Just thought it might make you smile as big as I did. Too funny...any thoughts?

Wow...lots to update...

Well, first I must apologize for my absence from blogging -- or only brief blogs - the past two weeks have flown by. I'm now sitting at the computer as Mary lies in our bed reading "Judy Moody Gets Famous" to me. I am amazed that I am old enough to have a child who lies in bed and reads to me. It's funny. When she's done I will read this to her. A chapter a night and we are making good progress. I am so thankful that we took her to get glasses. It has helped her in so many ways. She has always been a good reader, but with her glasses she can read longer without headaches and it provides a good opportunity for she and I to spend time together each night. :)


If you are a facebook friend of mine, you are probably aware that we have had some issues with Katie's health --let's just summarize by saying that autism and toileting don't always go very well together -- and if something doesn't change we may end up with a child in the hospital at some point. We are praying for some long term solutions to her ongoing issues in hope that we will somehow be able to teach her the importance of being able to go "#2" :) So if you are a praying person, please pray for her that somehow, someway we would find a long term fix for this.

Bill & I are both very busy at work -- October is always crazy for us. We are hoping to take Mary to Cedar Point for a Halloweekend visit soon -- we bought buy one day get one free tickets earlier in the season and haven't used the second day yet. We're hoping the weather co-operates.

Much more to tell, but I'll save it for another post...Narnia is calling. Goodnight :)

Gotta Love Fall

What a nice Fall we're having..and gas is 2.68 here...so that makes it even better.

Addicted to Craig's List

Well, here it is..my new "addiction" -- Craig's List I know it's not a "new" thing - but I have that same giddy-ness that I had when I first found e-bay. I still love e-bay...but e-bay costs money - and often takes a long time to sell things. On Craig's list I have had things sell within a few hours -- and usually the person lives close-by and you can just arrange to meet and swap or pick up the item. Much more convenient. Now that my ten-shift-in-a-row work marathon is over I was able to spend a little time on my favorite new website...and it was fun.

We have a busy weekend planned. Mary's last soccer game of the Fall is tomorrow morning - followed by traditional last-game-ice cream at the best local Ice Creamery (which is open until 10/31 --so we can get the yummy pumpkin flavored ice cream -- it is amazing!) Special Olympics swimming follows. That went "swimmingly" :) last week, so I am looking forward to seeing how tomorrow goes. Bill is able to come along tomorrow - so that should make things even a little easier on everyone.

I'll try to update more after tomorrow is in the record books - and I definitely need to get some new pics....so I'll do my best...Happy Fall!

Got Bacon? Katie Does.

Happy Birhtday Katie-Bug

Yes, today is Katie's 6th birthday -- hard to believe..... We're having a bacon & eggs party for dinner tonight. That's what she wants (well, we think that is what she wants). I'll post pictures later...but HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE -- WE LOVE YOU!

It's late and I'm tired. NASCAR is on in the background and I'm not happy because Dale Jr. crashed early...but that's typical as of late. Everyone (even the pets) is/are sleeping except me..but that is okay. I'm just wound up. I had to work tonight (that happens every now and then on a Saturday night) and I can 't just come hope and fall right asleep. My body doesn't work that way.

We did have a great day. The weather was beautiful (70 degrees) and Mary had a soccer game. Then we went to Katie's Special Olympics swimming for the first time. This is actually a new program that Special Olympics is working on where they partner a special child with a college graduate student who is working on a Masters Degree in some Special Education related area. The student partners with the child for 10 weeks. Katie was able to swim for an hour - with no cost to us - and Mary was also able to swim - so that was a big bonus. Bill & I can swim, too - but Bill wasn't there - and I took the "pass" option this week. Katie is a very good/strong swimmer for a soon to be 6 year old -- she really doesn't need someone "on" her - just someone to watch her. Her student partner was great with her. She is a gym teacher who is working on her Masters Degree. She was great with Katie -- and we got to talk a lot about autism - so that was great, too.

It's been a busy week and the next one looks to be just the same. I'm not sure what it is about October, but it always seems like such a crazy month. Monday is Katies' IEP (Individualized Education Plan) which is a legal requirement in the state of Michigan for all Special Education students. I am not anticipating any problems this year - which is new for us. We have always had issues - but the new teacher has made our life MUCH easier this year. We are thrilled. (Katie - with the help of a sentence strip - actually said "I - See - Bat" this week - on several occasions). In case you are wondering why she would say that she saw a bat - her teacher has a surprise box with halloween items in it - and the item Katie picked just happened to be a fuzzy little bat - which was actually kind of cute. Monday is also Bible Study Fellowship - which Mary and I both attend - and (of course) I have to work during the day - so that ought to be a nice full day.

Tuesday is Katie's 6th birthday -- words cannot express my feelings about that. I am hoping to get my brain together and do a special post for her birthday.

Wednesday is just another busy day with work, music makers and more miscellaneous activities .

Thursday - can I even think that far ahead. Soccer practice - work (both morning and night for me -- I don't want to talk about how I was "suckered" into doing that......)

Friday - my first day off after 9 days of work in around (or 10 shifts in a row if you count my double on Thursday) I should be in great shape by then ;)

I could go on, but I'll spare everyone the details! Have a great end to the weekend...

Facelift

Well, it's October and life is busy - and I thought that perhaps my blog needed a facelift - so I'm trying out a few new looks - don't be surprised if I change things up for awhile until I'm completely happy - but hopefully this "new look" will spur me on to more consistent blogging! Enjoy - and let me know if you see anything that you like -- input is always welcome. :)

Mary's Glasses

Yep, Mary now has glasses...so I told her I would post her beautiful face here. Katie was "jealous" so I am posting a pic of her in her "glasses" -- which are actually one of my great Dollar Store deals! Enjoy!

Brrrrr..

Well with the beginning of October, cold weather has descended upon Michigan. That makes life a little more complicated for us. No more outdoor swimming for Katie -- she was still "swimming" as of last week -- it was still in the high 70's here - even though our pool has been down for several weeks now. It also means that Katie has to wear socks -- which is on her list of "dislikes" - but she is becoming more tolerant of them as she gets older. They fly off of her feet the second she gets in the house after school! Cold weather also means that these are not a good option for her - even though they are her favorite.. She likes to wear them all winter -- but we often get weird looks for that! (and no, I don't buy the brand name ones, Family Dollar has great ones for 2.99 -- and sometimes Meijer has them for 4.00 - so that is usually my preference -- HELLO! we're on a budget people! Although I must say that now that gas has come down under 3.50 a gallon here - our budget is much improved !!!

Not too much else to report. The girls have a big walk at school tomorrow - it's the fundraiser for the parents club, of which I am the Sr. Co-chair, so I'll probably be spending a few hours at school tomorrow. I'll try to take some new pics -- it's been awhile -- and I need a new profile pic for my facebook page, too!