Fiesta

Well, I did it. I set a date for our Celebration. It is going to be on October 4th from 4-7pm. Please come and join us if you would like.

So much has happened over the past year and our family continues to grow and change. We have left one segment and are starting another. The kids are thriving and I am keeping up with the housework and laundry. Life is at a steady pace and will shortly be thrown into chaos again when Connor makes his appearance.

Our Fiesta on the 4th is to say thank you to all of you who have invested in us, prayed for us and encouraged us over the past few years. The journey has not been easy, but I would not trade the lessons I have learned for an easier road. I am trying to get invitations out to all of you, but please forgive my baby brain if I forget someone. Please come anyway. It will be at our house and we would love to thank all of you.

So consider all of yourselves invited. It will be a fun time and I am looking forward to hosting. It has been a long time.

New Companions on our Journey

It has been a very interesting week. It started our by doing an ATEC score sheet for Taylor. This is the sheet that we do to see how he is progressing with the treatment that we are doing. He did not move on the scale, but for the first time I saw improvement when the ATEC did not. Taylor has settled down. He is concentrating better and playing better with other children.

I was a bit discouraged by the ATEC score because I had seen improvement, but after last night I am not relying on the score so much anymore. We still need to use it because it does give us some guidelines to see how the treatment is working.

Last night Darrin and I got to talk one on one with our new companions on this journey. Spencer's teacher Mrs. Barber and Taylor's Teachers Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Spence. They are all very wonderful. The reports that we got about both boys were fabulous! Spencer is thriving in Kindergarten. He is socializing with the other children and is keeping up with them academically. He still has some problems in the cognitive area, but Mrs. Barber told us that with a bit of prodding he does ok.

We met with Mrs. Kennedy next. She is Taylor's Life Skills teacher. (special ed) She told us that Taylor was a little charmer and she enjoys him very much. She is teaching him how to read and they are doing math. They are also doing a special program to help his cognitive abilities. I am very impressed with the progress that I am seeing. He goes over to Mrs. Spence's class (mainstream kindergarten) with an aid for about 1/2 an hour a day. They will work him into more time as he improves.

One thing that is super cool is that the way that Mrs. Barber and Mrs. Spence' classes are set up is there is no wall between them. After Taylor has done his centers his reward is to see Spencer.

All in all I sit here today once again in awe at the care that the Lord has bestowed upon our family. He has brought the perfect people along to help us along the next leg of this journey. I wanted the kids up at Fishback, but this is the perfect place for the boys for this year. They have teachers that care about them and are willing to work with us in order to help the boys reach their greatest potential.

"LIFE ISN'T ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO END; IT'S ABOUT LEARNING TO DANCE IN THE RAIN."

I found this quote on one of the Autism blogs that I read. Well, our storm is calming down. We had a good week last week. The boys started school and have been doing a great job. Addi has quit screaming and our house has more peace than it does chaos.

I have hit my 3rd trimester. As of Friday I have 10 weeks to go. (12 if we are being truly realistic). Darrin and I have succeeded in getting the entertainment center cleared out and most of the DVDs and CDs locked up so that the mess is minimal. The book shelves are next.

I can not believe that it is mid August. Time is flying and there is still so much to do. We did take the kids to the State Fair last Friday night. A good time was had by all. I was totally exhausted when we got home. We also took the kids to the church outing on Saturday. This was the first time that we were able to sit like real parents and watch our kids from afar. It was a wonderful evening. We stayed till the end. This is the first time that we have ever done this.

I am still planning on having a celebration for all that has been given to us over the past year. The boys and Addi's recovery has gone much faster than anticipated and we want to thank all of our friends for the encouragement and support as we took this journey.

I am hoping to do this in the next few weeks. It should be a great time of celebration. I will post the details here in addition to sending or handing out invitations.

Hope all of you can make it.

A Blessed Day

Today the boys turn 6. I can not believe that it has been 6 years. BTW, Happy Anniversary to Kevin and Amy Koons on Sunday. It will be 6 years for them also. (they were married 2 days after the boys were born)
We are going to have a slow day today. Family is coming over tonight. I am making them a cake today that is not on their diet. It is their birthday after all and an almond cake did not appeal to me. I got a glutton free chocolate cake mix at Meijer. It is the only thing that will have any type of refined sugar in it. Oh well, we will double up on their meds. :)

My computer is up and running again. I have been using Darrin's computer for the past 10 months. Darrin was able to recover all of my files except 3. He did an amazing job! Thanks Sweetie!!!!

So this is my first post on my wonderful computer. I am so happy to have it back!
I am going a bit off of the boys diet today. Not too far off the beaten path, I have already started them on corn.

For breakfast they had:
Fried Corn Mush
Fruit juice sweetened Strawberry Yogurt
Bacon

For lunch I am trying my hand at
Macaroni and cheese with smoked sausage.
I am going to use a corn /quenoa pasta
for the cheese sauce I am going to use cream cheese as my base and add a bit of milk, Jack and Colby cheeses. I will let you know how it comes out.

For dinner:
Corn Spaghetti pasta with homemade sauce
Salad
Green beans
Cake for dessert

It has been fun to cook things other than bacon, meat and veggies. We will see how the kids do with this food. I may incorporate more corn pasta into their everyday meals.

Here are the boys in the outfits sent by Aunt Mary for their birthday



They will be getting scooters tonight. We may regret it, we shall see. I will post some more pictures tomorrow. I am learning how to use my camera, so I will keep on trying to get some good pictures esp for Mary since we are missing her today.

Dejunking

I did not get as much done last Friday as I had hoped, but I sacrificed that in order to get a longer massage. It was worth it. Darrin helped me accomplish the rest on Saturday.
What did get accomplished.
Got a stroller for the new baby.
Got my massage!!!
Got a new recliner (I love Kittle's outlet!!)
Did not find the lounge pants at Old Navy. I will have to order them online.
Did not make it to the gym for a workout...oh well.
Kids went to parents night out.
Darrin and I got supplies for organizing the kids toys.

Saturday....
Got the toy closet cleaned out and organized.
Got the boys room cleaned out and organized.
Got the rest of the Salvation Army stuff taken to Salvation Army (about 2 van loads)
Got the linen closets stripped clean of linens not in use. Looks great!
Did grocery shopping and got the house back in order.

Sunday.
Family came over.

Monday...
My Motherboard came, and then I found out that my hard drive is corrupt...brother.
(Darrin is working on getting most of the info off of it to put on my new hard drive)
Shredded bills and receipt that were sitting in a basket for years.
Threw a lot of paper away.

Tuesday.
Shredded a year and a half of old bills and receipts.
Emptied and refilled the pool (it was pretty bad!)
Filed a box of stuff that has been waiting for years.
Finished organizing the office

Wednesday.
Cleaned up the kitchen (took 2 and a half dishwasher loads)
Attended a closing
My mom did laundry for me (thank you Mom!!!!)
Cleaned up the paper mess (filed and shredded) that was on the end of the island.

Thursday.
Taking a breath and getting ready for the boys 6th birthday tomorrow.
I also need to do Darrin's and my laundry.
Fix the leak the kids put in their pool yesterday.

Friday.
Spend time with the kids outside in their pool.
Happy Birthday Boys!!!

For next week:
Clean out Edy's room.
Prepare for the start of school.
Clean out the front coat closet.
Clean out our room.
Get a Fly Lady schedule put together.
Go through the books.
Dejunk the kitchen.

If you can not tell I am in a "get rid of it" mood. I am tired of having to clean up everyone's junk. We kept what was the "favorite" and got rid of the rest. With the new baby coming here in about 3 months something needed to change in order for our lives to stay in order when he arrived. Part of that process is learning to live with less. It was so easy to keep things up in Florida. We did not have much. So we are taking that concept and using it at home.

I will let you all know what kind of progress is made in the next week.

A Day Off

Tomorrow I get a day off. I originally had a closing tomorrow morning and thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to take the rest of the day. I got a babysitter and started planning my day. I got a call yesterday afternoon that the closing was moved to next Tuesday. I then had a decision to make. Do I go ahead and take the day or do I postpone to Tuesday.

After a day of screaming and some over the top behavior due to wheat intake, I decided to take the day.

I need to clear my head and get recharged to finish this last stage of the kids treatment.

So tomorrow I am going to :
Get a stroller for the new baby.
Get a massage with the remaining amount on my gift card.
Drop a van load of junk off at Salvation Army.
Go grocery shopping - We are out of food
Eat a late lunch with Darrin (I am hoping that he can take a short day tomorrow and we can spend some uninterrupted time together.)
Go to Kittle's Outlet Store and look for a recliner.
Get home, get the kids take Esther home and get to the gym.
Leave the kids at the gym for Parents night out. (Pike YMCA. Free for members, $5 per family for non-members. Goes from 6-8 pm)
Go home during Parents Night Out and sort through toys w/o prying eyes and make another run to Salvation Army.
I also plan to throw some shopping in between. I want to get some lounge pants for the hospital and a cute shirt.

The kids start school in a few weeks and I will have some quiet time in the morning with just Edy. We will be starting her second grade year so that we can get into a pattern before the baby gets here.

I also have a fiesta to plan and host before school starts. I am looking forward to this and will do some of that planning tomorrow also.

I hope to post some pictures soon of the kids on the beach. The only problem is that I am in most of them and do not want my beautiful round figure posted. Maybe I can photoshop.

Encouragement

Last night after a wonderful evening with friends, which lifted my spirits, I came home to watch America's Got Talent with Darrin. The very last act was this boy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1miUyac6RM&feature=related

This was the perfect end to a wonderful evening. I see so much of Taylor in this little boy and it gives me such hope for his future!
As I watched the mom watch her little boy sing, my heart rejoiced for her. I wait for a moment like this for my Boys.