My Little Man

Joshua was diagnosed with Autism months ago. It is an understatement to say that we were hit extremely hard by this diagnosis. It was a hard time, but one that drove us into the arms of our Lord. We came to terms with Autism being a part of our family. We did a ton of research and changed our diets and lives dramatically. Then we put Autism on the top shelf and went on with our summer. We could not do much until our paperwork was moved through the system and the school year started again. We focused on working with his speech and coping techniques and lived our lives...our new normal. It became comfortable, we seemed to have moved on. And then it was time to face it all full on once again. In all honesty, he has made huge progress in his speech and communication skills. I was hoping that because of those improvements, the school district would kick us out of the program. Well, they did not. In fact, the evaluator, while she agreed that it is great to see such progress, still saw several reasons to move him on in the Special Needs program. So, he will be moved on to be more closely evaluated by the school's Physcologist, Occupational therapist, and Speech therapist to determine with us what will be the best course of treatment for him. There are many options available, ranging from therapists coming to our house, much like they did when he was younger. The next step is to take him in to the school for whatever therapy schedule we all agree on. The final step would be for Josh to enter the school's Preschool program for Special needs children. It was humbling to face the fact that Josh still holds this label. I was so sad that others will look at him and not see past the Autism. And then I realized that is exactly what I was doing. I am working hard on stopping this. Josh may be Autistic, but it does not stop there. He is also Joshua, the boy that no one who comes into contact with can help but love. The boy whose smile is capable of melting this mama right into a puddle on the floor. The boy who is every single day making progress. The one who now comes to me, holds my hand, and tells me that he loves me. The one who is trying his best to tell a knock knock joke. I am such a lucky mama. I really don't care that he is Autistic, he IS Joshua. I love my boy and I am willing to go down this road with him, to hear hard words for any mom to hear. It has taken a long time to put away the picture that I once saw when I heard the word Autism. However, now when I hear the word Autism, I see my Joshua and it becomes a lot easier to handle it.

school days, school days...

Usually when I disappear for days at a time it is because there is so much going on, I'm not sure where to even begin. This is just one of those weeks! Monday started our school year off. We started slow, and will be adding math next week. So far so good. We have a schedule that is working well logistically and still gives us a bit of freedom so that we don't feel like prisoners to school. We started a new program and it is so great. It is called Five in a Row. I read a children's book to them every day for the whole week. This week was The Story about Ping(it is about a duck in China running from a consequence and the adventure that almost leads him to a dinner table) . Then, using the book, there is a different subject that breaks off from what the book has introduced. I'll share this week's overview so you get the idea. Monday we had Geography/culture. We found China and the Yangtze River on our world map. Then we looked up several things on the web, watched some video clips about life in different areas of China, looked at some Chinese food menus with pictures, and ate Chinese food(okay, so rice is all it was with some mixed veggies stirred in...but it worked for them!). I was impressed how much better they accepted the tidbits of gathered information than reading pages from a textbook. Still today they remembered a majority and was able to teach Marvin. Then Tuesday, we learned about literary devices. Yes, they learned that word and can use it in a sentence!!! We figured out how to tell if our story was Fiction or non fiction. We also learned a literary device used in this book was literary repetition. And yes, my smarties use those big words and understand them. Then we made up fiction stories of our own. Wednesday was Science and we learned about buoyancy and how and why things float. That was a fun day for them with lots of water play. I also threw in water safety that day too! Then, on Thursday, we talked about relationships and families. Also right and wrong and consequences using the characters in the book. Today we had an art lesson. We learned the pictures in the book are called illustrations and that they are done with colored pencils in this book. They got to use colored penciled to draw pictures about the story. Let me tell you, they have had a blast!!! So have I! I learned things right along with them! I am also doing a program called Before Five in a Row with Josh and the girls. Basically the same idea with simple stories and just ideas for fun, easy learning each day. They loved it. Along with that, the boys are doing Handwriting(which will become spelling and literature in about 2 weeks), Phonics, Science, and will be starting math next week. This has been a great week and has left all of us excited to start again on Monday! Can't ask for anything more. We also found a martial arts studio run by a Christian man that incorporates Bible verses and lessons into each belt test. We found it yesterday and just dropped by unexpectedly to check it out and ended up staying over 30 minutes after our tour just talking to the owner about God. I love it when people's love for God is genuine! After soccer is done for the boys, we will be starting both of them at this studio. They are pumped! Marvin is jealous, I think he wants a ghee of his own!

School days and missing teeth!

Where have I been, you ask?! Well, I've been running about 50 mph trying to get the last minute things done for school. Well, it paid off! We started today. Our school year does not start here until the week after Labor day, but we started early this year. We are planning to spend 2 weeks visiting my dad when he comes home for leave in October and I did not want to haul our school work or get behind. This should put us back on target to be able to follow the regular school schedule for the rest of the year. I was a bit nervous to start this year. The girls are bigger, louder, and sleep a lot less this year. I was not sure how it would go over or how many times we'd have to stop to deal with them. The answer was, so far it has gone well. They were a bit loud, but I stocked up our educational toys and easy puzzles and games and they were quietly amused. I only brought out a few so that we can keep the newness alive and hopefully get more quiet time out of it. The hard stuff is kept for after the girls and Josh go down for naps. We got done so quick that we had time for a Costco run and a stop at McDonalds to play a bit before nap time! They were very excited about that! While we were there, Michael bit into his Chicken nugget and said, "man, that piece is hard". I didn't pay much attention, you know how chicken nuggets can be, every so often you bite into some grizzle and need to spit it out. Then he looked up and smiled at me and I saw it...or didn't! There was a whole where his loose tooth had been! My Michael lost his very first tooth and did not even know it! I asked him to show me the hard part he'd found and it was his tiny tooth! He was SO excited! He has been very worried about it hurting when it came out. To the point of avoiding anything with his front teeth. He would not even let me touch it. So, I am so glad that it was so easy and pain and drama free! My boy is growing up! He already has it waiting under his pillow for the tooth fairy! I'll let you know what she leaves!

Marvin, my resident Guinea Pig Wrangler!

This afternoon I had to clean the guinea pig cage, which gets done every Saturday. It was a nice day, so we decided to do it outside. The pigs love to chomp grass while I clean. Usually, I put the cage top over them in the grass so that they get the grass but can't escape. However, today the boys begged me to allow them to guard the pigs because they wanted to play. I told them yes, that would be fine, as long as they made sure the pigs did not go into the rocks by our retaining wall. I am not sure what lives in those empty spaces, but I really didn't want to get up close and personal with whatever it might be. They did really well staying on top of keeping them away from the rocks. My mistake was not clearly stating to keep the pigs away from the front porch. My other mistake was picking up Nelly(our lazy won't run for anything pig) first while leaving both boys to play(or chase as the case may have been) with Penny(the crazy fast pig). As I was putting Nellie away, I heard Sam say, "Oh NO! Mama, Penny is gone forever." Maybe not forever, but the next several minutes were rather exciting!

First I tried to entice her with apple slices.
They were even organic...apparently guinea pigs don't care!

Then we tried water in hopes she would run to dry safety...

instead we just made everything wet...including Penny

The rake was next...but for obvious reasons quickly abandoned.

Next was strawberry tops(Penny's weakness) and the hockey stick...
ya know, kinda like a shepherds staff. I think we now know why they don't have herds of guinea pigs!

The guinea pig cowboy was determined!

And it paid off!!!! Although Sam was on standby dressed in feety pajamas and lots of bug spray. He was ready to take one for the team!

making peace!

Awwwwww

That is exactly what I said when I went in to check on the girls and found Sarah fast asleep like this with her baby.

Those times totally make these times worth it!
These are in Josh's room (AKA our bedroom closet)

And I leave you with lots of love!

We are still alive!!!!!!

I cannot tell you exactly what we've been doing for the last 2 weeks, but I can tell you it has been busy. The sunshine went away and except for a couple minutes here and there, we have not seen it for a week! It finally did rain and that was good, we needed it badly. We have some green in our yard again. Hopefully now the sun can come back and we can enjoy the last bit of summer. The boys started soccer this week. At least Sam did.






Michael starts this coming week, but he has been practicing here at home. Marvin might co coach his team this year. We'll see. He has never played or even watched a soccer game to my knowledge. I guess we will see how it goes. Sam gets his uniform tomorrow and he is more than thrilled. We are also gearing up for school to start. Man, it seems like we just got done. The classroom is set up and the first 6 weeks are planned. I just need to make copies and we should be good to go. Josh and the girls are still TROUBLE! I don't remember the big boys doing even half of the things that these 3 do, it is crazy. I literally can't leave them alone for a minute without them destroying something or eating something or climbing something. It is like they are trying to outdo each other. Maybe a game of truth or dare that I just don't know about. They are getting cuter by the day however. As much trouble as they are, I think this is my favorite age. Although, I've said that about every age...and it is always true! We downgraded our tv and now there is no more Noggin. That is why we downgraded. I was convicted by how much I was using the tv to keep them out of trouble and quiet when we were at home. They now have an hour limit and have to agree on the shows they want to watch. To be honest, since this has happened there are days they don't even watch that hour. It has been really nice to enjoy each other again. I didn't realize how much the tv was getting in the way of our interaction as a family.

This has nothing to do with the post, but I had to share. Abby got the swimsuit out of her drawer and put it on all by herself. She forgot to take her onsie off though. She is so darn cute!

Camping...kinda

We started going to a new church about 2 months ago, just as summer was starting. We were bummed that our small group was breaking up for the summer so we missed getting involved for the time being. They had planned a camping trip for this weekend and invited us to come along. Well, we love to camp, but I'm not too excited about tents(which is what they were doing, very brave souls that they are!). So, we decided to just hang out for the afternoon/evening today. The kids made it their goal to bring home as much dirt as possible :). Let me tell you, they all succeeded! We had a great time meeting and getting to know new people. They were all very welcoming! I can't wait to get to know them better.

digging in the dirt

Abby girl

Sarah
she was afraid to come to me because she had to walk by the fire

The boys spent a lot of time going to the bottom of this ravine to get big rocks and then throw them back down

Marshmallow time!!!! I'm the official toaster in our family. Years of practice...but the boys are now in training!

Almost done!

Sarah thinks it is yummy!

Josh thinks it is pretty good too!

Abby says, "Want some?"

I scream, you scream...

We all scream for ice cream!!!!! We have had a ton of ice cream and popsicles this last week(dairy free, of course!). It was just crazy hot! It reached 106 degrees at our house at one point and was up near a hundred almost every day last week. CRAZY! Very few people have ac in this area, and we are NOT one of the lucky ones! Our basement kept us fairly cool, but it is not easy for 7 people to be piled in that big of an area for that many days and nights! We spent a lot of time during the day at the mall and other stores that are cool...with everyone else in our city!!! It was crazy busy, but it was cool! Thankfully we got a nice cool down yesterday and we are able to enjoy our summer again!!!