In Memory

We took time out today to honor those men & women who have served or are serving in the military. Many have given their lives so that we can have the freedoms we enjoy.

This is a photo of my paternal Grandfather
Hewitt Abraham Whiting with my grandma, Eloise



This is my maternal grandfather (on the left)
Edward Max Miner

Today we took the opportunity to visit the grave of 1st Lt. Robert Collins, the soldier who was killed in April. He is the son of Sam's school's director. We added some flags, a pinwheel and some little patriotic blocks. We discussed with the kids what Memorial Day is all about and how we need to honor those who have served or are currently serving our country.

Many thanks to the soldiers, past and present, and their families for making such great sacrifices on my family's behalf.

I need a little....

I think I need to print out this poster and put it on my pantry door....and my fridge....and my cupboards....and my freezer....and anywhere else that may contain food that is not good for me.

Why can't I just say "NO"? That was Nancy Reagan's motto. So what if it had to do with drugs, we all have our own "drug" of choice.

Yesterday it was Junior Mints, Reece's Pieces and Swedish Fish. Last night I decided I better get on the elliptical and work off some of those calories. After running for 15 minutes, I think I burned off 2 Swedish Fish.

Crap.

Teacher Gifts

I try very hard to come up with something creative and useful when it comes to teacher gifts. It's a big challenge when you have 33 to buy for. I don't want to buy lotion or candles as I'm sure most of the teachers have a closet full of those items so this is what I came up with this year:

Photo stand w/picture of Abby-I used the website Picnik to put text on the photo. They were $.10/photo to develop and the photo stands were on sale at Pier One. Total cost: $1.70




For Sam & Abby's main teachers & parapros, I made these little cake/dessert plates and I think they are really cute & useful. I spent about $3.99/plate (or less depending on where I could find them) and about $2.00 for each candlestick holder. I scoured several antique stores & the Goodwill store.

For the support staff, I found these really cute carafes at Ross for $1.99. I ended up buying 21! I bought 2 stems worth of fake flowers and one package of raffia to dress them up a bit. Total cost was about $2.50/bottle.

There are about 7 male teachers between the two kids and I knew that they wouldn't appreciate a carafe or cake plate so I made some homemade chocolate milk mix for the men. You can find the recipe here.

Heavy cream: $1.59 (2 servings)
chocolate: $2.49 (2 servings)
bottles: $1.59 (for 2)

Total cost: $3.00/bottle

That's it for this year!
School's out!

A very FULL weekend

We had a very busy weekend! We had Special Olympics, Abby's Upward Soccer Awards (thanks to Kristina for taking Abby), Sam's last baseball game & cookout and to top it off, the Autism Walk. It was also one of the hottest weekends this year.

Sam being instructed for his first match.
Unified partner was Danielle Logan
Played against Daniel DeOliveiz



Sam trained & played short court this year but upon arriving, we found out that the courts were much shorter than he's been practicing on so it was a bit of a challenge to keep the ball in.

Sam's second match was with this kid. I'm guessing he's 17 or so. Sam held is own and did a great job.

Sam was awarded the silver medal!

Thanks to Aunt Annie & Baby J for supporting Sam!

Next up? Baseball
We had lunch with Annie then raced home for Sam to get changed into his baseball uniform then Todd took him to the game. For the last game, they had the "buddy team" play outfield the whole time so the kids could just bat and run the bases. They really enjoyed it.


Many thanks to the coaches who've started the Adaptive Team!
Coach Andy, Coach Freddy & Coach Lance

Sunday's activity was the Autism Walk. We joined the Clearwater Academy Team and enjoyed walking with the families from school, our friends the Checkwood's and cousins.


Thanks to Ava, Ellie & Sydney (and Uncle Larry & Aunt Lisa) for coming out!

It was a very full weekend!

I am NOT ready!!

Ok, so I am a dummy.

Parents of "typical" kids struggle when their kids start hitting puberty but there is a basis of understanding. The have "the talk" and explain what will be happening to their bodies as they grow up. Easy enough.

I remember sitting in the 5th grade "maturation" movie movie with my mom. Do they still show that on the projector?

{{shudder}}

I guess when Sam was born, this time in his life didn't even enter into my mind and now it's upon me and I just am not ready! He's been wearing deodorant for over a year now but other things are happening.

{{shudder}}

How do you explain to an 11 year old boy who still likes to watch Elmo and Thomas that he's going to start getting hair in his armpits and "down there"?

What happens when he starts to get facial hair? Is Todd going to help him shave every day?

Is he going to have a little mustache?

How are we going to explain the "birds and the bees" to him? What happens if he starts to masturbate (pardon my french)? What happens if he gets a girlfriend?

These are real and oh so serious concerns. I'm not sure I can cope. No one tells you how to handle these things.

Where is the book Puberty for Dummies Who Have Kids with Special Needs?

Consistency

Sam was very upset with me today. He lost is TV/iPod privileges & he doesn't handle it well. He decided to hit, yell at me, call me names, tell me he's moving out (to which I offered to pack his bags) and then he locked himself in the bathroom.

It would have been much easier to just give in and keep the peace.


Is this battle really worth it?

He rode all the way to school with no video or iPod.
It's a long ride.

Being consistent sucks.

What can you do in 10 minutes?

So what can be done in 10 minutes? That's pretty easy...lots of things:

run to the store for a gallon of milk
eat a quick breakfast
read a chapter in a book
pay a bill or two
write a thank you note
bake a batch of cookies


All sorts of things can be done in 10 minutes.



This is what I did in a matter of 10 minutes...






kill one of these

then proceed to kill one of these

I hate to think of what I could be capable of given 11 minutes.

Life's hard

We watched this video for Family Home Evening tonight. A good reminder that our attitude, in part, determines our happiness.

Justice?

May 13, 2010: My day in court.

I arrived a bit early, signed my paperwork and sat down amongst a cast of characters in the courtroom. I felt over dressed compared to these folks. So much for dressing up.

The proceedings got started and Judge H. Clay Collins came in. He didn't even wear the black robes that judges usually wear...maybe it was casual Thursday. He made his explanations, called the roll and we began.

I was nearly at the end but got to watch all the other people plead their cases to the judge. Some had DUIs, suspended licenses, failure to turn on headlights in the rain, speeding. There were people with no teeth, people who were obese, people in handcuffs....all sorts of people.

The judge finally called my name and I "swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Officer Smith read his report and I made my statement. I told the judge I had stopped at the stop sign. It's a little hard to have "proof" of stopping but what I did have was my claim to being an excellent driver. I told the judge that in the 21 years I have been legally driving, this was the first time I had been pulled over let alone cited for anything. At this point I handed him my driver's record from Utah. The judge then paused for a moment...he said, "Rarely, if ever, have I had anyone submit their record as evidence. I don't even look at the records...see, I have it face down." He then took a moment and read my record which consisted of absolutely nothing. He then said, "You are guilty and have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that you stopped. I hate to do this...I wish you had had a pre-trial meeting. I still find you guilty but I will waive the fee. You are free to go."

That was it. I'm still a bit melancholy about the whole thing...sure, I saved $140 but I am guilty of an offense, I will have 3 points on my license (you only get 2 points if you fail to restrain your child-2nd offense-craziness!) and my perfect record is tainted. Obviously I have never been through this before...how am I supposed to know you can request a pre-trial meeting with the officer? Where is the "How To" book on what to do when you get a ticket?

I will certainly make a more concerted effort at stopping at stop signs, not that I was running them willy-nilly! I am more aware now and I guess that's the lesson I've learned.

Newman

Todd grew up with many, many dogs. I grew up with one, Sunny. She was a Doberman and she was mean looking but the sweetest dog ever. Todd was having withdrawals from not having had a dog in a few years so once we got into our first home, in 1998, we decided to get a dog. Todd spent countless hours going to the Humane Society and County Shelter and after looking at lots of different dogs, we came upon this cutie pie! She and her brother were left at the pound and we decided she would be a great little dog. We had already come up with a name and we still gave it to her even though she was a girl:

Hello Newman Weinreb
(yes, we like Seinfeld)

Here is Newman as a puppy. Seriously, could she be any cuter?

Lounging away on the couch...in her pre-shedding days.

Hiking

This past May 1st (Abby's designated b-day for Newman) we celebrated Newman's 12th birthday. It's hard to believe she is 12. Now I know she has got a lot of gray hair on her face but she's still a pretty spry girl. We got her some yummy treats and some wet dog food (gag!). What else does a girl need?!

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Newman

A few things about Newman that I love:

*she loved to be held as a puppy
*she loves to sing when Abby plays the piano
*she loves pancakes
*she is great at helping clean up food messes
*she loves playing with the kids
*she loves belly scratches
*she chases after bunnies & squirrels
*she tolerated another puppy we had that would bite her legs until she bled
*defends our family from coyotes
*she snores & farts in her sleep-I don't love it but it's funny
*she wants to be near us at all times
*she protects us from the mean UPS & FedEx delivery men
*she lays down on the landing while the kids bathe and while they go to bed-she's their protector.

and finally
*she is the most self-sufficient dog. ever.

A quick story to illustrate this point: I was making pancakes and I gave her one thinking she would take it somewhere and slowly eat it. Instead, she nearly swallowed it whole. She looked at me with panic in her eyes because she was choking on the pancake. She knew what she had to do. Puke. However, instead of leaving a mess for me to clean up, she ran down the stairs, out her dog door and into the backyard where she did her puking then came back in. Seriously, what other dog does that?!

Happy Birthday Newman
We love you!

Playing Catch Up

We've had a busy week so I'll try & get caught up.

We celebrated Todd's 38th birthday on Saturday with Abby's soccer game, driving Abby to a b-day party, Sam's baseball game and eventually, dinner, presents, cake & homemade ice cream. I had bought him A LOT of gifts since he never likes anything & I just assumed he would return everything...we'll, I was wrong. He actually like every thing. I'm shocked, as is my checkbook! Oh well, you only turn 38 once.

I decided to also buy myself a gift-I never do that...NOT! I was at Sam's Club and saw this little number. I've wanted an ice cream maker for a while but when I saw this one, I knew it was for me. This Cuisinart ice cream maker does not require any ice or salt! Can you believe that!? Oh the convenience of it all. I tried the chocolate ice cream recipe for my first attempt.

Look at this! It only took 25 minutes for this goodness! It was yummy but fattening...got to find some low-cal recipes.

Sunday was Mother's Day & our Service Sunday so I decided we needed to go to the cemetery and take some flowers to Todd's sister's grave. Stacy died 6 1/2 years ago from breast cancer. We try to visit often and keep the area clean and planted with pretty flowers. Stacy was a wonderful mother, sister & friend. I often wonder how life would have been different if she was still with us. We miss her dearly. I am glad my kids are comfortable enough going to the cemetery and that they understand that we will see her again someday.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. I got to take a nap, Todd made dinner and I got a new desk chair...mainly because Todd was embarrassed by my old one that I took from the garbage at IHC Home Care when I was employed there about 10 years ago. Hey, what's wrong with being frugal?

Abby's Dance Recital

Check out Abby's Dance Recital Video here.