No School Schedule

A couple years ago we were doing respite foster care for three children for two weeks.  We woke up one morning to find that they had called a snow day and all of a sudden I was stuck in the house with five (this was pre-Laila) children.  I started to panic wondering how I was going to keep everyone, especially me, sane for the day and then I came up with a schedule of fun event for us to keep busy all day long.  This is something that Emma & Jackson have carried on and always want to do when we have a free day.  Today happen to be one of those fun days :)

I decided today would be a Halloween theme because I had found these super fun brownie haunted house kits at Aldi yesterday.

These are pictures of the scary Lego house that the kids built.  They don’t look as scary to look at them but they each had a story about trap doors and secret sling shots that made these house pretty scary!  I love their imaginations!

Jackson’s house

Emma’s house

  We have a huge stock of dress up clothes in this house so we decided to do a fashion show in honor of dressing up for Halloween.  Again, they came up with some very creative outfits while I was DJ and announcer on iTunes using Laila’s Hannah Montana microphone!

Cowboy Jackson

Flying TinkerBell Emma

Barbie Diva Laila

 

Jackson’s Haunted Brownie House

Having fun decorating together

Emma’s Brownie House

 

We packed up and ran a few errands and then met Jack for lunch.  Both kids had excellent report cards and their teachers had amazing things to say about the character, kindness and knowledge at our parent teacher conference this week, so we decided to take their book-it certificates for a little family lunch.  After lunch we stopped by the library for a few Halloween books and Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin DVD and then we headed back home.  While Laila napped, Jackson & Emma watched “The Good Witch” on Netflix and I baked cookies for our evening adventures.

Soon it was time to make our witches stew.  First we browned the cow’s brain (stew meat), then we added the mushed bug guts (homemade veggie soup stock), we added a little ground eyeballs (garlic salt) and finally toward the end maggots (rice).  We let that simmer for a few hours while we waited for our Peterson friends to come over so their mommy & daddy could have a date night.  We joked that since there are six of their children they were all we needed to turn an ordinary night into a fun Halloween party!

My little witches :)

Our yummy stew! (even a pot of gluten free for a few of our special Peterson friends!)

Table of craft supplies just begging to be used :)

Our cute little monsters.  Got this idea off a link on my friend Dawn’s blog.  Thanks Dawn!

After the craft we all had dinner.  Some of the kids really believed me that there was cow brains in the stew and it was funny to see the little pieces of meat leftover in their bowls!  Ha!  I also made green Koolaid and added a ton of Laila’s gel thickener to it to make it look like slime.  I told them there were ground up worms in it.  So funny!

Next we were on to cookie decorating.  I told Chanda I’m not sure it was a good idea to let them go crazy with all that sugar before I took them home to put them to bed but everyone did fine and had fun.  Noley & Ahna were especially happy that I made them “their kind” of cookies :)

 

This big kid had so much fun he even made his own icing colors to be unique!

 

He shared the blue with Laila and she was proud to show her blue tongue!

We finished the night off by eating our cookies and watching Charlie Brown.

I’m so thankful for these days that are set aside and we make sure we have some fun at not a lot of expense.  Days of laundry, cleaning, school, doctors appointments, and just plain LIFE can really just fly by and I wonder when was the last time we did something really fun.  I also of course love that my kids thrive on structure and NO I was not in the military!  But I’ve gotta tell ya when I hear them say at the end of the day “can we do that again tomorrow??  PLEASE!” it makes me feel like today we did something right and you never know if today is going to be all we’ve got.

Tricky Halloween

Halloween can get tricky when you're trying to decorate around a wheel chair.  Here's this year's creation.  Jack pinned the hat to her headrest since it wouldn't stay on when she put her head back.  Then he used ties to attach the broom and I stole Jackson's black sheet off his bed to cover the bottom of the chair and make it look like the black sky underneath her :)

 

Here's a reminder of last year's hot air balloon just for the sake of ideas for other parents (I'm pretty sure I posted a blog back then but can't remember!).  For this one we used a refrigerator box and I colored in the checkered pattern.  That took FOREVER!  Then we just attached helium balloons.  It was a big hit :)

CLC Benefit Video

I wanted to share this video that they played at the CLC benefit that we went to last week. So inspirational and hope filled.  I'm thankful to be a part of the CLC family and look forward to being able to go back.

Conductive Education Update

This week Laila, my mom and I were able to go back up to CLC in Michigan for an evening of celebration that they were having for the school.  This is an annual event that they hold to raise funds to support the school.  I had no idea that it would be as big of a deal as it actually was.  Everyone was all dressed up fancy (we had too for fun and I’m glad we did!) and there were hundreds of people that met at this country club for dinner and live & silent auctions.  I knew they meant business when the mayor of the city of Grand Rapids did the prayer before they served dinner. 

They had some amazing auction items and while we couldn’t afford any of them it was very fun to be able to read about them.  Two of my favorite items were the Harley Davidson motorcycle that had been donated be the dealership in GR and the package to have a song written for you by a famous recording artist that included airfare and hotel to got to Nashville or LA to watch the song be recorded!  The school brought in $260,000 that evening!  WOW!!

This is a picture that I took of Laila before we left.  She’s sitting up so big in a bumbo seat!

As I look at this picture and the difference I see in her I would like to update as to how things are going now that we’ve been home for a few weeks.  As you can see in this picture her trunk support has improved greatly from being at CLC and since we’ve been home and implementing some things from there.  She doesn’t always sit up this great but I’m very impressed with the change that we have seen.  It was also fun to be back home and get her back to her normal PT and have her be amazed and be able to see such a difference in her.  Sometimes you miss how big of a change it is when you are a part of the gradual so her saying that was such an encouragement.

If you have been reading with me from the beginning you know I was not at all interested in potty training with Laila and was just going along with it because the school was doing it.  You also see through my crazy roller coaster emotions throughout our time at CLC I really started to see what they were saying and was so thankful to be able to have opinions from the other parents.  That being said, potty training is going really well here at home.  While Laila still goes in her diaper and doesn’t always tell us when she needs to go, we did just a few days ago have a breakthrough I think.  We always go on the potty first thing in the morning before her bath.  Sometimes she would go and sometimes she wouldn’t but I don’t think she really knew when she did go.    Well this time as soon as I sat her on the potty she went and then looked up at me and said “all done momma!”  I really think that she’s starting to understand and make a connection between the feeling of going and that it means potty like I’ve been saying all this time!  Yay!!  I honestly never had a thought in my mind of her ever being potty trained.  I just thought that since the doctors said she’d never walk that that meant potty was out of the question too.  Silly, silly Angie.  Thank you CLC!!

Her weight bearing on her legs has also been improving more and more.  Now that we make her be responsible for her own body and take steps to her wheelchair and also stand up to get out of it, we see her endurance growing all the time.  She also stands (with help) in front of the mirror every morning to check out her outfit and hair to make sure she likes it.  We usually get that little Laila “awwww!” from her :)  Last weekend Jack was getting her ready in the morning and when she was done looking in the mirror she decided it was time to walk and she walked (again, with help) out of her room, all the way down the hall and to her chair in the living room. WOW! 

Her speech is incredible!  She can now say pretty much anything we ask her and says tons on her own and in the right context.  She is still doing her babble and some of the things she says we can understand but others can’t but most of it is very clear.  Examples:  “My TAIR!! (chair)” she’s very possessive of her new power chair.  “Hop birdday! (Happy birthday)” “Off paaee pees (off potty please)” “dair is (there it is)” “lud oooo momma (love you momma)”  “I stand up”  “all done bites.”  It’s really hard to think of all of them because she basically says anything and everything!  She can also sing certain parts to songs which is really fun too!

Basically I’d like to end by saying the someone had told me that CLC was a miracle; I would have to disagree.  I feel like going into it with that mindset might set you up for expectations of thinking you’re going to walk in the door and do no work and walk out a few weeks later with a changed child.  I’d rephrase that and say the CLC partnered with determined parenting can bring miraculous results.  I finally came to the realization that anything that comes without sacrifice and hard work doesn’t last.  Look at weight loss, you can take a pill or do some crash diet and you may see miraculous results……. for a little while.  When you put work, consistency and dedication into really making changes, that’s when you have something that sticks.  CLC is very clear from the start that none of this is going to go anywhere if the parent isn’t willing to back them up.  Little by little I’m trying to implement things into Laila’s life that she learned there and I can honestly say I’m seeing the miracles in her.  And I’m so thankful that they are miracles that will stick :)

I’ve been writing this all week so I’m just going to get this posted and get it over with!  The fun part is that since I took so long, I have now received her report from CLC showing all of her progress.  You might not be able to see them great but here are some pictures they sent me of her in the classroom.  I hope you’re as excited about them as I am :)

Emma – add on :)

Well, for some reason the other post from Emma’s birthday is crazy and won’t let me edit it.  I just wanted to share these two pictures.  We got Emma tickets to Steven Curtis Chapman for her birthday and she had an amazing time at the concert.  It’s so fun to be able to share things like this with her as she gets older :)

 

Dinner before the concert

Sporting our new “Show Hope” t-shirts supporting orphans

Third Grade School picture

Emma Kay Age 9

Today my beautiful, amazing, remarkable daughter turns nine years old.  I really have no idea why God has blessed me with such an amazing girl.  The only thing I can say is thank you to Him for answering the many prayers and sleepless nights that have already come when it comes to Emma.

I know I'm biased but I really do think that Emma has something completely special about her.  As I had in my post last week, she has such a heart for service and I don't think that's super common among nine year olds.  She loves to please and loves God with all her heart.  By far the best thing about this past year was the fact that she decided to give her life to Christ and be baptized.  Please take the time to watch that amazing day below.

Here is a list of some of the great things about Emma this past year:

• She had a ton of fun taking multiple trips to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and it was so great to see her reading all of the exhibits and really taking in her surroundings while still having that little girl attitude and having tons of fun with her brother and sister.
• She LOVES water.  Not a new idea by any means, but the love definitely hasn't worn off but gotten stronger.  This summer in swim lessons she reached the highest level and was doing things like jumping into the pool holding a brick and would go down 12 feet and swim back up with the brick.
• This was her first year being a girl scout.  While it took her most of the year to feel comfortable and make friends since it's at a different school and she's the only one coming from DMC, she stuck it out and after a camping trip in March that she went to all on her own, she now loves it and has learned so much and been able to be a part of some really neat activities like spending the night with the dolphins at the Indy zoo and going to the Nutcracker ballet. 
• She has grown to loves mommy and daddy dates.  With our lives being so crazy these days, every so often one of us will take her out to do something special and she is so polite and grateful for that special time with us.
• She loves helping little kids.  She is the greatest big sister that Jackson & Laila could ever ask for and a great friend to many others.  She's so patient and kind and loves to teach.  She even comes up with therapy games to play with Laila to help her grow stronger.
• She's got quite a bit of silly in her.  You can almost always get some sort of crazy face or game out of her at any point.  She loves to sing and dance and doesn't care who's watching.  I love that about her and that is something she and I have prayed about for a very long time.  I want her to be Emma no matter who is around or what they think.  I know that is a big task for young girls these days but as long as we keep it in prayer together I believe God can answer us.
• She continues to be the girl who is friends with everyone, which sometimes means being left out of the big crowd.  She always wants to make sure everyone has someone to play with and that means even the kids that no one else wants to play with.  She's kind and considerate of every one's feelings and in the process will get hers hurt.  She's very tender hearted and is still so innocent and wonders why people have to act the way they do sometimes.  We talk a lot about how the bible says that if we're not fitting in we're actually exactly where we need to be.  She's understanding that standing up for what is right isn't always popular but that we should only care that we're pleasing God.
• She was able to be a part of the Love Notes choir at church again this past year and had lots of fun being a star in the Christmas program and playing Potiphar in the spring program.
• She and Jackson came up with a great idea to make a free lemonade stand in our neighborhood after we had severe damage in our neighborhood from a terrible storm.  They said they just felt like they needed to do something to help people.
• She is still very scared of storms.  We're four years and going strong.  We can usually talk her down but it is still something that she has a lot of anxiety about.
• She is a perfectionist.  I remember in her parent teacher conference last year trying to come up with a way to tell her not to try so hard because she was taking too long on her work.  She is definitely a people pleaser and sometimes to the point of giving herself headaches and stomachaches.  I fear some of that is my fault because she tends to be so grown up about some things that I forget how young she really is.
• She had her first overnight experience at church camp this summer.  She has a blast and can't wait to go back next year.
• She's not always the perfect child and that nine year old attitude has already showed it's face on certain days.  Like on the first day of school this year and she was too cool to let me take her picture outside like I do every year.  She let me do it the second day and now we'll always remember that as the day she was too cool for third grade.
• She has been a part of Omnibus again this year which is an extra class every Wednesday for kids who are little more advanced.  They do extra projects and reports and she loves the challenge.
• She loves Christian radio and listens to every word and analyzes the songs and asks questions about the meaning.  She's even written a few of her own praise and worship songs.
• She is a blessing.  Period.

So I sit and think about the fact that nine years old means that we are half way to being an adult.  God has given us this gift of a daughter to raise and we're half way to the year that she possibly moves out and becomes the woman God has chosen for her to be.  I hope and pray that we can make it through those teenage years with wisdom and strength for her.  She has told me that she's already praying about sticking close to God and being respectful of us when she's a teenager even though that's not what kids normally do.  I should video tape her saying that so I can show her later!!   Please enjoy this video of some of our favorite pictures of the last year.  The song in the background is her favorite:  Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman.

Where's Angie???

I just wanted to share a portrait of my calendar for you.  This is a crazy busy life and it's almost unbelievable and only by the grace of God (and my ipod calendar) that I keep all of this straight!


This was last week:

Monday
7:35 - drop Emma & Jackson to school
8:35 - drop Laila to school
9:00 - workout class
11:30 - pick Laila up
12:45 - Pick Emma & Jackson up from school early
2:00 - Dentist appointment for all three kids in LaPorte (1 hr away)
5:00 - Shop for jeans for Jack at the Lighthouse mall (one of the only places I can find giant man jeans!)
6:00 - pick up birthday presents for mom & April in Valpo
dinner, homework and regular life and have the kids in bed by 7:30 somehow

Tuesday -
normal pick up drop off routine for all three kids
9:00 workout class
3:00normal homework routine
6:00 - lead hymns at retirement home
6:30 - (yes I was late) birthday dinner for Mom & April

Wednesday -
Kids up at 5:30 because we needed to leave early.  Of course Laila had super extra projectile vomit and everything in her bed had to go in the washer when I was hoping this would be one morning for no vomit.  Her pump somehow stopped working in the middle of the night so she didn't get fed so I tried to give her a bolus to get some in her and it spilled all over her carpet and then more vomit on the carpet too. 
7:05 (supposed to be 6:30) dropped Jackson to my sister to take him to school and head to Riley Children's Hospital (2 hrs away)
9:30 - appt to set up and bring home power chair (took 2.5 hrs)
12:30 - ophthalmologist appts for both girls.  Emma = good.  Laila = needs surgery so extra time to get that all scheduled
4:45 (supposed to be 4:30) Run the final Market Day sale at the kid's school
home at 7:00 for normal daily homework, cleaning etc.

Thursday -
Normal routine of kids to school (except Laila)
9:30 appt in Crown Point (30 min away)  Decided Laila needs tubes in her ear.  The phone calls begin and last for the rest of the day finding an ENT at Riley that can fit us in ASAP so we can try to get eye and ear surgeries done together.
10:30-1:00 pick up Emma's girl scout book from their store, buy supplies for parent teachers conference committee meeting that evening, stop by verizon store to try to get my phone fixed, go to Aldi for much needs groceries from being gone for 4 weeks, stop by nursing home in Crown Point to visit my grandma
2:30 - pick kids up from school
3:00 - homework for them plus making the charts that I need for my PT conference committee meeting
normal activities like cleaning, making dinner, breaking up fights
6:30 - run the PT conference committee meeting and schedule all of the conferences for grades pk-5
9:00 - get home and collapse into a sleep coma

Friday -
Jack stays home to get the kids to school
6:20 - Laila and I leave once again to head to Riley (2 hrs away)
9:00 - Feeding Study to make sure she's not aspirating.  3 bites and 6 drinks later the verdict is......keep doing what you're doing everything is fine (yep, I knew that!!!).  Back in the car and on the road in 45 minutes.  I have a love/hate relationship with those short visits.
A few hours free - YAY!!
2:30 pick up E&J and do homework (yes we do homework every day, whether they have something assigned or not.  There's always bible memory, extra spelling practice or reading to do.)
5:00 - Annual Harvest Sale at the school.  Have one hour to eat and look through auction items before my shift starts
6:00-10:00 - entering all the winning bids in the computer as the live auction is going on then check customers out when it's time to leave.

Saturday
6:30 - doorbell rings and it's Jack's boss to pick up things for their annual fly-in.  Can't go back to sleep
8:00 - kids up (yep, they can tell time and HAVE TO stay in their beds until 8 on weekends!) everyone bathed and dressed and then we spend the whole day at the airport meeting Jack's customers and watching planes.
6:00 - bon fire with my sister and have so much fun cracking up with her :)

Sunday -
church
lunch with friends
dinner with my girl friends to celebrate a birthday
day of rest.  ahhhhh!

So there you go.  This is my life.  That week was a little more than normal but not much and I try to fit in bible study and shower once in a while too :)  I am on some forums with other special needs mom and this seems to be the concensus.  Our lives are crazy and that's just the way it is.  From being in MI for four weeks with not a lot to do I became very thankful for this busy life.  Keeps me on my toes and I now know that God has given me my very own little mission field here with my life, my church, my children and everything that goes along with it.  I've lost and gained friends throughout this past year and a half but that's OK I guess.  I'm a different person with a different life but just trying to follow God's lead along the way.

So if you're playing the where's Angie game like where's Waldo, you just never can tell :)