TV break!

Drew gets obsessive with watching movies.  First he wants The Black, then he wants The White.  (for an explanation on that, click here)  Anyway, it drives me crazy.  Eric is out running errands and Blake is taking a nap.  Drew asked me for the millionth time to change movies. That did it, I reached my limit.  I turned off the television and said, "Sorry, we're on a TV break."  "A TV break?"  he asked, having never heard of such a thing.  I said, you need to play with toys or something.  I assured him that he could watch TV later.  I decided to help him along by getting out the markers for him.  He played with them for awhile, then asked if he could play on Starfall.com.  I allowed it.  He played for ten minutes or so and came and talked to me awhile, asking for a "movie back on".  I realized sadly that he is not the best at entertaining himself, unless it involves watching television or flapping his hands at his bed.  I got a couple new Christmas toys out for him and told him to play with those.  He's actually playing with the space ship right now, but every couple minutes, he says, "Movie back on, please?"  but he doesn't seem too upset when I say, "Later."   We'll see how this works out.  It reminds me of when he was a toddler and I would put him on a blanket with some toys to play with.  Updates later!

One of Drew's Favorites

There's my boy.  See the television in the background?  It's playing one of his favorite movies--Pinocchio.  It's the one from the '90s with Johnathan Taylor Thomas.  Anyway, Santa brought the boys some marionettes for Christmas.  And Drew always needs a prop to play with while he watches his movies, so he really likes the marionettes.  Only they are constantly getting tangled up.  So I don't love them myself.  Here they are, after just being detangled for the millionth time:

I have to admit that it works better than when they had me rigging up Woody with strings and pencils to make him into a marionette.  Doesn't that cowboy puppet kind of remind you of Woody?

Christmas Day, Part 2

So, after lunch at my mom and dad's house, we headed to Eric's parents' house. 

Half that side of the family was in Texas because my niece recently had a baby and they were visiting them.  Eric's brother Chris lives in Las Vegas and they weren't there, either.  I can't remember the last time we saw them on Christmas, though.  Anyway, it was Eric's mom and dad, his brother Mark, niece Ashley and her husband Jeremy and us, of course.

We opened presents pretty soon after getting there. 

Blake had to wait a minute to open his present while everyone was getting organized.  He was pretty patient, amazingly!



Connect Four



Drew got a FAO Schwartz floor piano from the grandparents



Drew's Photography-Grandpa



Ashley and Jeremy opening their present





More of Drew's photography-Uncle Mark



Blake playing with Drew's rocket ship

And Drew sitting on Blake's new trampoline

We hung out there until evening.  It was very nice, and my mother in law Nancy made the best cheesecake I've ever eaten.  And I've had Cheesecake Facory.  Yum.  The sweetie sent a piece home with me, too.  :) 

Christmas Day, Part 1

We went to my mom and dad's house in the morning and we exchanged presents.  We always start out the day with a family picture.  This is how it went down.  lol.  Always a fiasco.

See that pink thing sticking out dfrom Drew's legs?  That is my hand!  Stuck.  I was trying to get him to sit on his butt and he clamped my hand in his legs.  I was pulling with all my strength and couldn't get it out.  We gave up. 

Uncle Tony tried to get a picture with Drew, but Drew wouldn't raise his head.  Uncle Tony said, "Ok, we'll just do it with our heads like this."  lol.

We moved onto the fun part.  Gifts!

Drew stayed on the couch where it was a little safer.  Except for when Grandpa gets him with.......

THE CLAW!!!! (which Drew actually loves and asks for)

     I think Danielle is looking so pretty and grown up in this picture!Grandma told her awhile back that she was going to give her a big box of smiles. Danielle is not very generous with her smiles, sometimes. So....

Grandma DID give her a big box of smiles.  There were hundreds in there. 

Danielle thought it was pretty funny. 

Kyle got a basketball from Mom and Dad.  Blake wanted one, too.  So, every gift he got after that, he'd say, "It's a ball?"  before opening it.  Mom told him that she had not gotten him a ball.  Guess what he got the next day?  Of course it was a basketball, and of course, he was thrilled.  After gifts, we ate lunch.  It was a really nice time.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, Eric and I went to church separately.  I went to the first mass and he went to the second.  While I was making supper, Eric's mom and dad and his brother Mark showed up.  Eric came home from church and we ate while they visited with us.  Then they took the boys for a ride to "see the Christmas lights".  We weren't sure what we were going to do to distract them while Santa came, so this worked out nicely. 

When they got back, both boys discovered that Santa had come!  He left a bag of presents for them as well as some under the tree.  They did really well with the opening.  They would take a break for a few minutes and come back and open more presents.  They had a blast!

Merry Christmas!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6


Though there was no room for Him at the inn, I pray you will make room for Him in your heart this Christmas.  Have a blessed day!

The gift was a gift and the box was a gift

Mrs Theis, Blake's aide gave him a Discovery Channel Tent and tunnel for Christmas.  He loves it, but he also loves the box. 

No, he's not just holding that box......

He's wearing it!

Tangential thinking and dramatic play

If you know much about Fragile X, you are familiar with tangential thinking.  I admit that as a carrier, I definitely exhibit this Fragile X characteristic.  For those of you who are not familiar with this, it usually shows up when one talks with a person with Fragile X and their conversation goes off on a tangent.  One thought leads to another which leads to another. 

So, Blake got the big idea to put a ripped up poster around his arms and legs.  I have no idea where he got the idea, but apparently it made him think of a superhero because he started yelling, "Superhero, save day!" The line is from Oobi, who is a bare-hand puppet.

 Drew wanted in on the fun, so Blake helped him get rigged up with the ripped up poster.  I know, it's all too bizarre.  Anyway, after a couple minutes of playing with the poster-cuffs they made, they pretended that the cuffs were puppets (like Oobi) . Which made Drew ask me if I'd put strings on the Woody (like a  Pinocchio marionette)  I turned him down, but offered to make brown paper bag puppets.

I made one for Drew first, and he wanted me to attach his drumstick to the puppet's face to make a long nose (like Pinocchio).  He settled for a toothpick nose.  Then I made one for Blake.  He played with his a minute before wanting it to have feet.  I drew feet on the bottom, which of course, led him to want arms.  No prob.  Next he wanted it to have "undawear" (like him!) 

A typical display of tangential thinking coming from my kids.

Welcome to the world, Mikey

So I have this niece.  Her name is Jennifer.  She was ten years old when I met her.  She went and grew up and got married.  This week, she had a baby!  Now I am a great aunt.  My great nephew is Mikey.  And he is adorable.  I love his little cheeks.  I just want to kiss them up!  And I can't.  Sadly for me, they live a thousand miles away!  But it's only a sixteen hour drive, right?  They better watch it, I may just show up.

Congratulations Jennifer and Gil.  You made a beautiful baby. 

Tuesday Morning Randomness

I don't know why, but I feel full of stuff I want to get out this morning.

I just put the boys in the car with Mrs. Hoehne, their driver and Drew's aide.  Drew was not really excited about going to school today.  He wasn't too upset, though, so hopefully he has a good day.  

I can't say I am excited about going back to work today, either.  I do love my job though, so I can't really complain.  I have the perfect job for our family.  I am home when the kids are home, they leave for school before I do and I get home before they get home. 

Blake has been on a Fangface kick lately.  What is Fangface?  It's a cartoon from the seventies which is on Boomerang at five o'clock every day.  The nice thing about it is that he is transfixed and glued to the television when it is on.  And that is usually the time when I am fixing supper, so that's handy.  I looked into buying a Fangface DVD for him, but it is hard to find, and like thrity dollars for the thing.  Uh, not in my budget. 

We have been changing our diet around here to reduce Eric's cholesterol and triglycerides.  He is trying to get some regular exercise, too.  We have a lot more fresh produce in the house, less carbs and less fat than we were eating.  I want to keep him around for awhile yet, so we don't need him to have a heart attack.   I admit I did make some peanut butter fudge the other night, and I have been eating it mostly by myself.  I did share some with my nieces on Sunday, thankfully, or I'd eat the whole pan.

My bible study group is just finishing up our study on the book of Revelation.  It is so fascinating to me and has made me love God more than ever.  Even in His judgements on an unbelieving planet, He shows mercy and grace, wanting all to turn to Him in faith.

I can't believe that Christmas Eve is only ten days away!  I am not ready.  I still have gifts to buy, all of my wrapping to do, Christmas cards to mail out, and on it goes!  I did write out my cards last night.  I just need to get stamps.  And I placed my order with my mom for them today. 

My niece Jennifer is due to have her baby this week!  I am so excited for her.  Praying for an easy delivery.  Can't wait to meet the new addition! 

Well my lovely readers, I hope you have a wonderful day.

No School!

We started off on a two hour delay this morning.  I was prepping Drew by telling him that he was going to school, but it would be later than normal.  He said, "I not going to school."  I told him that he was going to school.

Well, lo and behold, we got a One Call Now message from the superintendent saying that school was canceled.

I said:  Drew, guess what?  School is closed!
Drew:  What?!  No school?!
Me:  Nope, it got canceled.
Drew:  Are you kidding me?
Me: No I am not kidding you.
Drew: Sweet!

Blake was listening to this whole exchange and said, "Drew, high five!"  (they did)
I guess they have had their first typical reaction to school being closed for weather.  Sweet, indeed.

Blake's Christmas Program

Monday was Blake's Christmas program.  His aide was sick, so his special ed. teacher volunteered to stay with him during the concert.  She brought a bag of activities to keep him entertained.  They went into a back room and she played games with him while the other grades performed. 

She brought him out one or two songs before he was supposed to sing.  He sat nicely with her on the bleachers and waited patiently. 

He filed in with the other first graders.  I went down on the gym floor with the other moms to take better pictures.  He put his hands in his pants right away.  I shook my head "no" at him, and when he spotted me, he removed them.  lol. 

This is what he did the whole time.  No singing or hand motions, just sucking his thumb and looking at the huge crowd of people. I am calling it a success! He wasn't disruptive and stood there with the rest of the kids.  This was in the high school gym, and both sides of the bleachers were packed with parents, grandparents and siblings.  Not to mention the school kids!  They were all sitting on the floor in front of the risers. 

Drew decided to stay home from the whole event, and we were okay with that, too.  :)

Drew's lunch success!

Due to his picky eating, Drew usually packs his lunch.  There is an occasional lunch he likes, though.  He usually throws his whole tray in the trash.  I am the one who takes dirty trays from the kids, so I am normally the one who goes out and takes it out of the trash can.  I talked to him this morning about it.  It was chicken nugget day and he was getting a tray lunch.  I said, "Drew, when you bring your tray up to me, it goes on the counter, not the trash, ok?" I repeated it a couple times  and made him fill in the blanks with the answers "counter" and "trash".  He did well.

At lunch time, I was pretty busy and not paying a whole lot of attention.  There was a mob of fifth graders bringing their trays up.  Suddenly, someone threw a tray down on the counter.  I looked up to see Drew scampering off!  He did it!  Woohoo!  I didn't even care that he didn't dump his leftovers in the trash.  It was especially hard for him since there were so many kids there at the time.  I have some sixth grade workers who I had told about it and they were happy with me for Drew's accomplishment. 

It's been awhile

But Woody has been subjected to being inprisoned in a pitcher again.  This is how I found him, reaching his good hand towards the top, trying to get out:

He has a long history of being placed in dangerous situations.  But still he has that big grin on his face, happy to be of service. 

Who's that baby in this pic?!  He's wearing Pull Ups!  Time flies. 

This is when Woody first entered our lives.  He was actually Drew's gift, but soon was taken over by Blake.

Christmas is coming....

Tuesday night, I had bible study.  When I got home, I was surprised to discover that Eric had put up the Christmas tree.  It wasn't decorated or anything, but it was up.  We usually wait a little longer, but he was feeling energetic, I guess.

Then last night, I went to bunko and he put the lights on it.  He said Drew was quite excited about it, and as soon as Eric had the lights on it, Drew said, "I go to bed now," as though he was waiting for it to be done.  Blake was just excited for the singing Santa to be back. 

Today, I started putting ornaments on the tree.  Of course, the boys wanted to help.  We have a lot more to put on tonight, but I thought we'd stop and do the rest after supper.  

Now I have to figure out what to make for supper.  Eric has extremely high triglycerides and shouldn't have any sugars or carbs!  We are carb addicts around here.

To my other brother in law!

Happy Birthday Chris!  Hope it's a great one!