Sunday Morning Update

We were able to pick up Mary's glasses yesterday (thankfully) and when she put them on, all she could say was "Woah!!". (Which tells me that her previous prescription was completely wrong!) We are so happy that she can see :) She also scored two goals at her soccer game...and Katie had a pretty good day, too. It was nice to have a "good" day... it felt like we had been on a bad day stretch there for awhile. Well, it's a new week, and I'm praying for a great one. Hope it is for you, too.

Busy Saturday

I shouldn't be posting...too much to do this morning. But sometimes I think it is almost therapeutic for me to write about the crazy-ness in my life :) We have basketball and soccer this morning....and Katie would prefer to be outside already. 70 degrees at 8 am - pretty good for Michigan in the Spring! Katie's week continued to be frustrating, so I'm not really sure where we are at with that...praying for a better week next week, but as the weather improves her desire to be in school continues to diminish. Thankfully she has a great teacher who works with her daily to help her maintain her focus.

Speaking of maintaining focus, if you remember back to October, Mary had to get glasses. Here she is back then, proud of her new specs :


In our county the kids get an eye exam in the Spring of 3rd grade. Well, only 5 months after getting her glasses, she failed the eye exam. Seriously? I was floored. We took her back to the eye doctor and her prescription has changed 3 full prescriptions in 6 months. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? No wonder she is having so much trouble with her handwriting, she can't see what she is writing. I about flipped out. We don't know if they messed up the original exam, or what happened, but after some persuasive conversation, they agreed to give her new lenses (and the re-check exam) at no-cost. The downside is that she is completely without her glasses for a few days while they swap out the lenses, but hopefully with the warm weather, she'll be outside a lot and won't miss them too much :)

Happy Saturday....(I hope!)

Kind of a Blur...

Yep, my life, a bit of a blur right now. It's been a crazy few days. Katie has been having some trouble in school because of her stimming activity. It is very common in autistic children, but right now it is interfering with her ability to function in school. She stimms to the point that she is not willing to participate in classroom activities. She doesn't want to be directed. She isn't sleeping (she woke up at 3 am today and 4 am yesterday) and basically - I'm spent. She came home from school early yesterday because they weren't able to get her to "engage" with the class - she just wanted to stim. But then she comes home and she is "fine". She only wants to be outside (and that will increase as the temperature rises into the 80's over the next few days) and while she is outside all she wants to do is stim. She picks grass and watches it fall to the ground over and over again...when you call her name she screams, as if we are "interfering" with her agenda. Not sure where we are going to go from here. We may be able to change some of her meds...she has a neurology appointment in May - but that's not a guaranteed fix, either. So until then, maybe I can learn to nap in between work and the girls getting home from school......

Too Long...

It's been a week since I've posted -not intentionally, but more due to the craziness that is April. Back to school, back to work, back to soccer, basketball, Girl Scouts, Girl Scout cookies, and the list goes on and on. Today was my first day off since Easter - and I needed it! Katie was off, too...but she's enjoying the warm weather out in the sandbox and on the swingset. So ready for Spring, yes we are!

I promised a little blurb about Chinese food for Easter. Let me begin by saying that I have also had Chinese dinner for Mothers' Day, my birthday, Father's Day, possibly Thanksgiving,(but that is a bit blurry....) My parent's love Chinese food and they have instilled this love in their grandchildren (not Katie). I like Chinese food, but LOVE would be too strong a word for it. Bill LOVES chinese food and orders something different everytime we go. It seems that for holidays when you would often have a family dinner at home, we end up going out. Mainly this is due to the fact that my parents are extremely busy. My dad has a "normal" full-time job in addition to being a full-time minister - and as a result, the prep for cooking and having people over is often a lot for my mom to manage in addition to all of their church responsibilities. The result is that we end up going out...and almost always for Chinese food. The waitresses know my parents by name there. That makes me laugh. Mary loves to read the menu and figure out the animal that represents the year each of us were born. My mom and dad always say that the chinese calendar explains why my brother and I have never really gotten along all that way... I know he's kidding, but it does make for good conversation. So....there it is a nutshell....and check back with me...Mother's Day is on the horizon and we could very well be heading to First Wok.....

Sunny Saturday

Hard to believe that Spring Break is already drawing to a close. It's been quite the week. I wasn't able to post yesterday due to all of the craziness that was happening here -- and then I had to work last night...but today is a different story. The sun is shining, Mary has soccer practice this morning and then the rest of the day is going to be just about hanging out together. I'm looking forward to a little relaxation. I also think I'm going to make a "pre-Easter" or "Easter-Eve" as I like to call it, Dinner tonight. A little ham, some potatoes....we're going out for dinner with my parents tomorrow - so the pre-Easter Ham will be a good thing! (We're actually going out for Chinese food for Easter - but that is a whole different story - a blog post in and of itself :)

I've also moved on to my 3rd book in the Twilight Series -- I've read over 1000 pages already this Spring Break - that might be a record read for a week for me.....but I'm loving it - I'm just a little tired!

Happy End to Spring Break - and if I don't blog again before then, Happy Easter.

Rom 5:8 But God demonstrated His own love for US, in that while WE were yet Sinners, Christ DIED FOR US.

Spring Break Day 4 - Is it Friday yet?

Can I just say ..... I AM TIRED! This Spring BREAK has not really been a break. I'm beat! Between hanging with the girls, doing eggs, watching movies, going Bowling (I haven't told you about that) and stay up 'til wee hours of the morning reading my books (I have almost read 1000 pages during Spring Break alone)...and getting up at 4 am for work today - I am done! Tired, Spent, Kaput! Finished! I took pictures at the bowling alley - and no, Katie didn't bowl. If I am still awake after supper I will upload them for your viewing pleasure :). I may need to take a nap so that I can finish another book tonight! And by the way, the weather was actually beautiful today. What a treat for Michigan during Spring Break!

Spring Break, Day 3. Same Song, Different Verse

Is this starting to look familiar?
Katie's up!




And Mary's not! It's only 9:30...but it's starting to make me laugh!

Spring Break, Day 2

Well, it Tuesday. Spring Break Day 2. No sleeping in today. At 8 am Mary asked me why I wasn't boiling the eggs yet? Go figure, I thought sleep was a bit more of a priority! Anyway, by lunchtime, the eggs were boiled and colored and the girls were fully into the Easter mode! Even Katie got into the fun!

No snow today, so that's a bonus. But it's really cold out. Not quite the warm sunny Spring Break we had hoped for, but for now it will have to do. We did go see this yesterday. It was okay. The kids seemed to like it more than the adults. I have no desire to see it again...but it was a fun outing and a good start to Spring Break. No other big plans for today. I WILL finish this today. I cant wait to start reading this. Happy Tuesday...see you tomorrow!

Spring Break?

It's the first "official" morning of Spring Break. 9:45 am...and here is what I see...

In Mary's room....

and out my bedroom window...

Katie's been awake since 6:30. Happy Spring Break!

Fabulous Friday

Less than 2 hours until Spring Break. I'm actually excited even though we aren't really going anywhere. I won't have to work very much, and it will be nice to just hang out around the house and read (yes, my new favorite free-time activity.) I'm reading this and this. The latter for book club and the first for personal enjoyment. I just wish I had more time to read! I also have several "autism" books scattered around, but I have a feeling that Spring Break will be all about reading for pleasure -- and those books tend to be more for education - to help me better deal with Katie's autism, if that makes sense.

Wishing everyone a happy Spring Break!

As an added note....the reading is going really well...and I actually was able to take a nap this afternoon! Gotta love Spring Break!