Batter UP!!!

There is an awesome program here called Buddy League where they pair a typical child (8 or older) with a special needs child to play in a league of baseball. G had his first game this last weekend and unfortunately baby R was sick so I had to miss it, sad huh??? However, dad was there sitting next to another family on G's team and together they cheered the loudest for G when it was his turn up to bat.

Every child gets to bat and run to home base so there isn't really a team that loses and one that wins...they all win! Fabulous concept, I'm glad G could be a part of this. He tells us that he wants to play "another ball" next time (he means he wants to play soccer and basketball next). I'm so glad he is enjoying being on a team that is there to help him and accept him!!! GO BRAVES!!!!!

Joyeux Anniversaire mon bébé!

It's official, my 2yo is now a 3yo (tears roll down). We took advantage of the morning with G being at school to focus only on little R and let her have mom and dad all to herself. R told me about 3 weeks ago she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for her b-day so of course I said, "sure". We used to take our kids to C.E.C in MN but it was the ghetto and sometimes we were quite scared for our lives but since being here in TX, the C.E.C by us is actually very clean! The restrooms were clean, the games were being sprayed down with disinfectant while we were there and the salad bar actually looked appetizing....quite shocking from the MN one. Here are a few pics from the eventful day...

Nothing better than getting to eat pizza full of gluten and casein!! (Notice how empty the joint is? Prime time to go is at 10:30am in the middle of the work week!)
Little R couldn't have been more happy to spend a morning alone with mom and dad...and Clifford!
And of course, Chuck E. Cheese himself!!! The place was so empty that R got to sit right up front to watch the show. Naturally, she would stuff her mouth just as dad clicked the photo.

Ahh, Dora. I personally can't stand Dora but my little ladybug is obsessed (must be the mexican in her). She is so proud of her new bike but has issues steering it.

Oh, and let's not forget the best part in little R's eyes...the PINATA!!! A few weeks ago when we started to discuss her birthday plans she apparently learned on a Dora episode that you have pinatas at parties. So, I hit the dollar section at Target and filled it for her to enjoy. We actually let her and G smack it with a baseball bat for the effect of things but in the end we had to show them both the pull strings.

It was a great day and I was glad daddy could stay home from work to make it a perfect day for little R. Happy Birthday Lady!!

Let's Review

So I watched an awesome movie this weekend and devoured an excellent book to the point of wanting to share...

First, I watched Slumdog Millionaire and give it two thumbs WAY up! It was definitely not what I was expecting and found myself being sucked in and engaged from beginning to end. I found out it is based on a novel titled, "Q & A" and must say the writing was fabulous. My tip is to NOT watch the deleted scenes, I'm glad they were taken out in the editing process cause they were dumb. And, watch it with the english subtitles on, the accents can sometimes be a little thick. Definitely a must see (again and again)!

Second, my hubby purchased me Jenny's new book, Healing and Preventing Autism . Anyone who has ever been concerned needs to read this book. It goes through everything regarding our toxic world! Obviously for medical reasons the doctor who co-wrote this with Jenny can't give TOO much info without losing his license but it gives an amazing overview and steps to take BEFORE you even get preggers to avoid Autism all together. It also covers issues such as ADD/ADHD, allergies, asthma and infections. If you ever had any questions at all regarding vaccines or what to do to recover your child from Autism, this is a MUST READ!!!

*Please note, there is no CURE for Autism, but RECOVERY is possible, there is a difference which this book points out nicely.

Poor Rody.

Rody the horse has lived with us and made my kids day since December of 2005. I believed my kids cherished Rody until I walked in to see this...


DEFACED! I guess the kids thought he looked better in flower wall stickers. I'll get you cleaned up Rody, I promise!!

Easter Fluff n'Stuff

Call me the, "Scrooge of Easter" but after a full weekend of nothing but Easter Fluff n'Stuff I had had enough and whipped out the good ol' Eureka (I think that's the brand of my vacuum, maybe I should go check...nah, too far to walk right now)last night to suck up all the Easter fun we had in the form of disgusting, colorful, plastic "grass" and then some. My darling kiddos definitely reminded me as a lad when I loved playing in all that obnoxious grass and dragging it all over the house for me mum to find strands weeks later under the couch, tucked in corners, coming out of the washer etc.. etc.. you know. When night time fell and it came time to tuck in the boy we realized he and his little sister Fluff n'Stuffed his bed full of the evil strands. I went to get ol' Eureka (could be Hoover, I don't know right now, well, I do know it's blue) and found her Fluff n'Stuffed with gobs of the plastic disasters from my vacuum fit earlier that still needed to be cleaned out first. We ended up taking off all his bedding to shake out the plastic, crinkle strings and re-making it. Didn't plan on that mess. All the while my kids saying, "no, Easter isn't over" and "I want my basket back!". I think next year I will not put myself through the fake plastic disaster and lay down tissue paper instead. Ok, I need to be realistic here because I know next year will come and once again I'll pick up those .29 bags of evil. The things we go through so our kids can have awesome memories right? Well, my darling kids did pose long enough before getting themselves too dirty for an "Easter Outfit" picture.

AND THE WINNER IS....(drum roll please)

Apparently when you mention the phrase, "there could be a mistake" in your giveaway people shy away from entering, LOL! That's ok because my two brave enterers (so not a word, but whatever, I don't care, it's my blog) are going to benefit because I decided that....

CHRISTY-needs a housewarming gift so, YOU WIN!!

and

LIZ-needs stuff for her walls I guess so, YOU WIN TOO!!

I'll email you both and get more detail of colors so your lovely name board will match your decor. Thanks for entering gals, this will be a fun project for me!

GIVEAWAY!! (don't get your hopes up)

Ok, so I am doing a giveaway out of practice NOT to promote a business venture. I started making these name boards but I only have so many kids so I need someone else to let me practice on some more. If you would like a lovely name board and are open to knowing there could be a mistake (cause again, this is for my own practice) leave a comment with these 4 items:

1: Do you want a first name or last name?

2: Colors of choice

3: Do you want it whimsical, classy, traditional, french country etc... (style or theme)

4: Do you want it to hang from a ribbon or left to sit in a stand?

Please also note, I only have white and chocolate brown vinyl left (for now).

Enter only once by Friday April 10th 12:00noon.

I will allow my lovely 3yo assistant to randomly select who wins.

GOOD LUCK!!

Don't Judge Me.

For the last week I've been thinking about this girl I have been getting to know at the church I attend. She's a nice girl, very spiritual and LOVES the fact that she is a blissful Susie Homemaker. However, whenever we talk about everyday situations that go wrong in some way her phrase of choice is always, "I'd be SO offended" or "don't you find that so offensive?!". I started paying more attention to when she says this and I started to realize, no matter how spiritual she believes she is and follows what the church teaches her, she's judging people in majority of situations and I don't think she even realizes it. For example, here is a brief part of a conversation we had just a few weeks ago... (she was out to eat with her fam at a sit down restaurant)

girl: "the waitress didn't even smile at us"
me: "maybe she was having a bad night"
girl: "doesn't matter, a smile is so small and it brings big tips, she should know that"
me: "yeah, but she could have had a lot on her mind and it just wasn't her day"
girl: "still doesn't matter, it's her job and it totally offended me"

This girl was judging this poor waitress without even knowing WHY she was not all smiles. I think before we go spattin' our mouths off about all the things in life that offend us, we need to check ourselves first. We need to ask ourselves, "am I really offended or am I judging them?". We have no right to judge others when we are all in this world together trying to get through it the best we know how at the present time. Life will always have ups and downs and ebbs and flows but just because someone didn't say a "thank you" or notice your art work on the wall doesn't give you the right to be offended until you check yourself first.

To what do I owe this honor?

OHHHH, I left a comment on another lovely persons blog! I've never been "tagged" before so I figured I'd play along cause it looked like fun, and it's Friday Fun Day (or if you watch Nick jr. it's Friday Friend Day!).

WHICH DO YOU PREFER:

1: hot dog or corn dog? Corn dog
2: ketchup or mustard? Mustard
3: veggie tray or fruit tray? Veggie tray
4: mountain resort or beach resort? Well, if I was still living in the tundra part of the U.S. I'd say beach, but now it's definitely mountain.
5: Disney World or Sea World? Hmm, I enjoy both.
6: penny pinching or penny loafers? I enjoy shopping so it's penny loafers on this one.
7: sleeping under stars or sleeping in 5 stars? not much for camping, so it's the 5 star resort for me.
8: dog or cat? dog
9: football or futball? football
10: moving across country or moving across seas? Seas, I enjoy where life takes me.
11: alien life or Alf? Alf, don't be conjuring up real aliens!
12: strawberry shortcake or strawberry cheesecake? Cheesecake for sure!
13: muscle man or muscle car? Can I have both as long as I'm in the driver seat?
14: Ernie or Bert? Ernie
15: E-mail or snail mail? snail mail, I love getting "old fashioned" hand written letters.
16: bath or shower? shower
17: build a dog house, be in the dog house? be in the dog house, silence can be golden.
18: Atari or Wii? Man, I date myself cause I still have fond memories of the Atari, but I love my Wii for the fitness aspect.
19: black tie or black shorts? black tie
20: This list is lame or you're lame for playing along? Either way, I enjoyed a little time to myself to do something non-productive.


Rules say to tag the last 3 people who left a comment on your blog so in that case I guess it would have to be, Christy, Alicia and Erin.....tag your it! (I won't make you play along, only if you want to:))

AUTISM AWARENESS DAY

Today is Autism Awareness Day. Please take the time to educate yourself more on this confusing disorder so you'll understand more about the lives of families living with it. When one person in a family suffers from it, the ENTIRE family suffers too. Please take a moment to thank your higher power for blessing you with typical children who know what it means to give and receive hugs. For those of us who have Autism living among us daily, we don't get those same hugs, it's viewed upon as something torturous by these individuals. Our kids don't understand emotions and don't know how to read social cues to have those normal bonding moments with others. Please take the time to recognize the signs so when you do see a parent struggling with an "out of control" child at the store, you'll be more inclined to offer up help vs saying, "that child needs a good beating". Autism is extremely confusing, it's not curable and extremely expensive to do what the mainstream medical professionals consider "quackery medicine" which is paying out of my own pocket to go to a DAN! doctor. When you get that amazing eye contact from your child when they look up and smile at you, know that those of us with Autism kids don't get that. Please teach your older children the signs and what they can do to help an Autistic child in their classroom. These kids do want friends, they just don't know how to socially be involved.

If you want to know what you can do today to show support, here are a few suggestions....

Hug an "Auti" parent today.

Get down on the level of an Autistic kid, point to your nose to demand eye contact and say a simple, "hello".

Donate to an Autism Charity.

Wear a puzzle piece on your lapel.

Donate your status on Facebook to say, "“Today I'm donating my status to WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY — help spread the word!”

Also, become a fan of "ASA" on Facebook.

If you want more info on Autism or different Charities as well as controversial methods of treating Autism, I LOVE getting on my soapbox and educating the world. I would rather people ask me about this disorder vs. ignoring my child altogether.

Remember, AUTISM SPEAKS AND THE WORLD NEEDS TO START LISTENING!