1st Son Saturday

I'm going to share about my oldest son... For those who are new to my blog... My oldest is Engineer... He was diagnosed with Classic Autism (mild to moderate) and ADHD... He is large for his age... He's 11 but pretty much the size of a 14-15 year old... He doesn't understand his strength and hasn't been able to learn to control his aggressive behavior... It is hard to figure out what triggers his out bursts... He is currently living in a group home of 6 residents (he is one of 6)... The home is a regular single family home that has been divided into a duplex (single story) and has the added requirements of a residential facilities like sprinkler systems... Since it is a duplex he is in practical terms one of three... He has 24 hour staffing... We are still his legal guardians so they have to have us sign or give a verbal ok to changes (meds, register for activities, etc) in his life... We see him often because he is less then 2 miles from us... He is preparing to go to middle school (6th grade) in the fall... He has been in the public education system since March 2003... He is doing pretty well educationally... One of the subject he excels in is geography and he dislikes probably handwriting/penmanship about the most... He is currently in a Horseback Riding Therapy program... He enjoys that... His interests include geography, construction, and trains (real not toy or cartoon)... He is not a big camera person so it is hard to catch him on film... Here are a few photos from Christmas till now...ENJOY!

Engineer and Big Boy...

He wanted a chocolate cake this year with no frosting... In years past he refused to eat birthday cake at all... He doesn't like ice cream cake either... One year we put a candle in a bowl of ice cream scoops...

Opening presents... He's fast so don't blink...

A Menards Lionel Train!

Helping decorate the tree the week before Christmas... Not an activity he was interested in the past...

Opening Christmas Present... I had to snap the pictures FAST!

One of his many gifts... More Lincoln Logs...

All his presents packed up and ready to take to his house...

Final Photos Friday

This is the remaining photos from Easter weekend...

ENJOY!
Peanut outside in her Easter Attire...

She's wearing the sweater...

I love how the wind is blowing her skirt...

Here I am in my Easter outfit...

Peanut at the Cathedral near the Divine Mercy Side...

Tomb on the Mary side of the Cathedral...

Altar server was in a hurry to put out the candles and put everything back... Fr. C. is busy taking care of after Mass activity... It is currently set up for the Tridentine Mass... Hence the set up of the altar and kneelers for communion at the bottom of the photo...

Time for baskets - Thursday

Here are a few photos of the children and their Easter Baskets... Mr. Easter Bunny thought it would be fine to fill and leave the baskets on the table for the children to discover in the morning... Only one flaw in his thinking... That was Linebacker waking up first and raiding everyone's baskets... ::smirk::

ENJOY!

Will you look at that... Wednesday

I will share with you all about our food and other fun from Easter weekend... First the food... I made a smaller then meal then usual... Tried to keep it simple... So, I made Spiral Sliced Honey Glazed Ham, Stuffing, Red Garlic Mashed Potatoes (skins on), Gravy, Carrots, Broccoli, Green Bean Casserole, Applesauce, Cranberry Sauce and Biscuits... Here are a few PICS of the spread... My hubby likes to tease me because every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas... I insist on taking a PIC of just the food all lined up on the counter... He calls it my 'Martha Stewart' moment...Yummy...Just another angle... :-) See, I even look like Martha Stewart... I'm kidding... ::wink:: Hubby helping with the children... See he was here on Easter too... Just not as easy to catch on film as the children... ::grin::Linebacker patiently waiting for prayers and then it's time to eat! Story time after dinner with Mommy... We read 5 Little Bunnies by Linda Hayward... It is a First Little Golden Book; Copyright 1985... Children enjoying the weather... Playing late into the day (shadow showing outline of the house, this is looking East)... This was taken from the window as not to disturb their play...

Take Two - Tuesday

Easter Egg Hunt - Take Two (like in the movies)... First egg hunt didn't go so well... Mr. Easter Bunny didn't know the rules... So, once all but one egg was found... We had a 2nd egg hunt and it was all caught on film...

First Easter Egg Hunt RULES....

Rule #1 - Everyone is assigned a Color, no fun if you find all the eggs and I only find a few, everyone finds the same number... Each child had 2 eggs to find...

Rule #2 - Hide that color based on who it is assigned too... (ie, not up really high if it's a little one)

Rule #3 - If you SEE someone else's egg... You keep your mouth SHUT and walk AWAY... It is no fun if SOMEONE ELSE finds ALL your eggs and then POINTS them out to you...

Ok, now that you know the rules... ::smirk:: Let's have some FUN!
Egg Hunters READY!
Linebacker (green) found his first egg on my chair... When ever I stand up he likes to 'steal' my seat...
Linebacker found his 2nd egg... In the toy vacuum... His current favorite toy when outside... Also, near my chair...
Here he is with both eggs... He is pointing and telling me his egg was in the vacuum... Too cute or what?!?!
Peanut finds her 1st egg (pink) in the Kitchen Sink...

Monkey finds his 1st egg (blue) in the oven...

Peanut finds her 2nd egg on her favorite swing on the swing set... She is very excited to have found all her eggs...

Monkey finds his last egg just inside his fort...

All eggs have been found! Hopefully the weather will be just as nice next year and we can hide more eggs... Plus Little Guy and Big Boy will have their hand at finding eggs... Stay tuned for more Easter Fun Tomorrow... FOOD and Story Time!

Memories Monday

This weekend we spent some time making memories... We dyed Easter Eggs, had an Easter Egg Hunt OUTSIDE! (usual to have such nice weather), went to Easter Mass and enjoyed Easter Dinner as a family... ENJOY the photos below that captured our memories of Easter Egg Dying...
The first step to a successful Easter Egg Dying Session is a good work surface...

Step 2 is to gather all your supplies...

This is what comes in your typical Easter Egg Dying Kit: Cups, Dye Tablets, Dipper and Crayon for 'decorating'...

Step 3- Have everything set up BEFORE you invite any children to come and participate...

Engineer dying his egg...

Monkey dying his egg...

Peanut dying her egg... Linebacker patiently awaiting his turn...

Linebacker's turn to work on his egg with some help from Mommy...

Little Guy having his turn dying his 1st Easter Egg ever!

Big Boy having his turn next to dye his 1st Easter Egg Ever!

Our Easter Egg Family - Daddy, Mommy, Engineer, Monkey, Peanut, Linebacker, Little Guy and Big Boy (left to right)...

Thank you for sharing in our memories of Easter Egg Dying 2011... If you didn't dye any eggs this year... Maybe this will inspire you to dye a few of your own next year...

Little Guy and Big Boy had their 9 month well check... Little Guy Officially is 15 lbs 3 oz and 26-1/4" and Big Boy Officially is 18 lbs 1 oz and 28-5/8"... They both are doing well and are scheduled for their next check up when they are 1 years old in July... Has it almost been a whole year? Seems like they were just coming home from the hospital to meet their siblings... The year sure has flown by... Until tomorrow... Sweet Dreams Ya'll...

Second Son Saturday

My 2nd son is Monkey... He is 8 years old and in the 2nd grade... He likes Transformers, CARS, Spiderman, Batman and Dinosaurs... He likes to play pretend, race his trucks around, run, play with dinosaurs, and draw/write his own story books... Monkey's favorite foods are ice cream, broccoli, ham, cereal, apples and bananas... He also likes watching DVDs, playing Wii Bowling, climbing outside, building his own creations with LEGOS and reading books... He is reading on Level 2 of the I Can Read! series... He works hard each night on his homework of writing spelling words, adding single digit facts memorization, single paragraph story comprehension/fluency, and learning to read books... He has really excelled this year since switching schools... He was 1 of 35 students and now is 1 of 18... He now spells, better handwriting, adds, tells time, counts money and reads simple books... He is working hard to become a more advanced reader, spell larger words, subtraction, fractions and simple multiplication/division plus simple math word problems... He also enjoys attending Mass, going to the library, hanging out with Daddy, helping Mommy cook and going to CCD... He had his 1st confession in February 2011... Here are some photos of him from Christmas to Now... ENJOY! Monkey with his Santa gift on Christmas morning....

Hanging out on the couch...

On top of the big snow pile in the backyard... Monkey pulling his sled...

Monkey showing off his sled...

Monkey opening a bucket of the little green toy soliders on Christmas... Little guy watching...

New t-shirt for his birthday...

Monkey with his LEGO creation - Optimus Prime (Transformer); Peanut being silly in the background...

Up close of the 'Optimus Prime' Monkey created all on his own...

Standing in line waitin for 1st confession...

All done with 1st confession... :-)