Snow Day 2013

We had our first snow day of this school year on Friday! It was great to have a 3 day weekend. We have enjoyed a lot of family time and watching Christmas movies. The kids enjoyed playing in the 5-6 inches of snow we received yesterday.

8 Years

It's official! I have been blogging for 8 years! How is it possible?! My blog has seen ups and downs of our family. When I first began to blog, I would have to upload pics from my digital camera and now I can blog and post pics from my iPhone. Times are a changin'!

My babies have grown up on this blog. They were infants and toddlers who couldn't walk and now they are almost finished with elementary school!

I do not blog as often as I did in the past. I guess my life is too busy now. I have debated on not writing anymore. Should I stop? Should I continue blogging? Please let me know what you think.

My Lil Cheerleader

Miss Cinderella started Cheerleading at the beginning of November and absolutely loves it! She wowed her coaches by doing perfect front rolls on the first practice. They were getting ready for two competitions so they worked with her individually until this past week. Now she has a position and they have her as a flyer and a mount position where she holds hands with another girl while being held up 5 feet in the air. She is the smallest and youngest weighing in at 52 lbs so I had a feeling they would put her in the air. She LOVES it! They are working with her on cartwheels and after practice she says, "Mom, I almost have it!" I can't wait to see her first competition in late January! She and her cousin cheer for Midwest and both will compete. We are thrilled that she enjoys cheer as much as baseball! I think she is the cutest cheerleader ever!!

Halloween 2013

Halloween was another soggy one with 60 miles per hour winds. Needless to say, we didn't go. We went to my sister's church trick or treat. The kids have been to a total of 3 church events and have more candy than they would have gotten from walking two hours. My feet are also very grateful!

Matt and I attended a costume party and it was the first I wore a costume since I was 12 years old.....25 years! Wow! It was fun because no one knew who I was and isn't that fun?!!!

We all had fun and now we are gearing ourselves up for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Kings Island

October Fun

I just noticed I haven't updated since September! Wow! We have enjoyed our Fall weekends immensely! We have visited EnterTrainment Junction and Kings Island for Fall festivals and events. This week, we are looking forward to a corn maze and Halloween party (adults).

Mr. C's doctor appointment went well and he was diagnosed with mild Autism. He also has Pervasive Developmental Disorder. These labels are just words and just doesn't change our sweet and amazing our little guy is. However, it will help provide services for him and for this we are thankful. His academic and behavior is progressing well at school. Both kiddos had good parent/teacher conferences.

We are busily preparing for a big change. We can't wait to share our news when it happens! We are also waiting impatiently for family addition of the four legged kind! I think it will benefit every member in the family.

Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming up quickly and we are looking forward to enjoying it with family.

Let Fall begin!

We are looking forward to Fall! Today is the first official day and I enjoyed wearing a hoodie and jeans! The kids are enjoying all the fall decorating we are doing. Now, we are making final decisions for Halloween costumes. I have been racking my brain this year.....however, I am giving in and letting Cinderella pick her costume. Mr. C has some strange ideas so we probably will pick something different for him. Stay tuned....

Cinderella

Cinderella has had a rough time at school lately. Her behavior has been challenging and then she broke down in tears this past Friday saying that no one plays with her at recess. That broke my Mommy heart to pieces. 

I talked to her about introducing herself to other girls or finding girls from our church to play with. This seems so odd to me because she had no problems making friends at the beach or parks this summer.

Hopefully the teacher can shed some insight on this situation. So Saturday, we had pedis done and did a little of girl shopping. She loved it!

A note worth a million

Today, Mr. C comes home with a handwritten note about his progress. She writes that he is doing so well academically and has come a long way behaviorally. 

When you get a positive note after getting so many negative notes, it really gives you strength and endurance to continue this challenging road of special needs parenting.

Miss L, you made our day!!!

Weekend Roadtrip

Last weekend, we went to southern KY for a family reunion. It has been several years since I have been there and my whole family journeyed there for the first time after an awful ordeal we witnessed about 4 years ago. Can't believe it has been that long ago, but it has!

We had a fun time seeing family and swimming. The kids were so well behaved and despite a few mishaps with traffic jams and weird, rude people, we had a fun weekend!

Now we are waiting for our 3 day weekend coming up soon!

First Day of School

Yesterday was the kids' first day of 4th and 3rd grade! They had a great day despite getting off the bus at the wrong place. I got it all worked out today and all is well! They are finally at the stage where they will pose for pics. And boy does Cinderella like to pose! I can't believe that sweet little thing is in third grade!!

Summer is ending...

As the summer is drawing to a close, I have been thinking about how I would rate this summer. Honestly, I would rate it in possibly in the top 3 with kiddos. A lot of children behaviors have changed and there have been many times where I have just enjoyed them immensely. Mr. C has had amazing behavioral changes on the meds.

I think the highlight of the summer was our amazing Clearwater Beach vacation! Florida was beautiful and the beach was breathtaking! All my stress and cares just melted into the Gulf of Mexico! The kids enjoyed swimming and splashing in the ocean and pool every day. Mr. C loved just letting the waves hitting him. It caused my mommy heart to swell just seeing how happy they were! Cinderella made friends with any child who arrived at the beach.

We have also enjoyed playing outside without too many intense heat days and also movie days were fun! The REDS game was awesome as well as watching Cinderella aka "the slugger" hit the ball on the ball field.

It was also awesome because last summer was just dreadful because I had major surgery and could not do a whole lot of fun things with the kids. Actually, the whole year was challenging with my three surgeries. Enough of that! I am beyond that and am much better!!

What a great summer! There are times that I am ready for the kids to go back, but I will miss the extra hugs and kisses I get with them. It's bittersweet! School starts in about 2 weeks and they are so very excited! Mr. C LOVES school buses so I am thinking his highlight of the school day will be the bus ride. He has a new intervention specialist as his old teacher retired. He has had her for 3 years and this will be his last year at elementary school so this will be quite a different school year for him. Cinderella will have the same intervention specialist she had last year so things should go rather smoothly for her. She has amazed me this summer with her maturity and her personality has started to shine. She will begin a new sport in the fall.....Cheerleading! I am looking forward to taking her to class and seeing her perform in competitions. I am hoping she will make some good little girlfriends.

I will teach second grade for my 14th year. Did I just type 14? Wow! I am looking forward to this new crop of students who are siblings that I have had in the past. I think it is going to be a great school year for everyone!

And, we are looking forward to what will happen next summer....hopefully a wonderful thing that we won't share until it happens!!!

Gotta brag!

We have seen a lot of cute movies this summer. The kids are finally to the point that their attention span can handle a regular length film.

My kiddos were quiet, attentive, and well behaved! I am so proud of them! The "typical" children were noisy, talkative, and distracting.

There is nothing more gratifying than seeing huge progress in behavioral areas! These trips out would seem like a dream only a few months ago! God has made wonders in my kiddos! I am so blessed!

Camp Out

I decided that the kids and I would have a last minute camp out in the backyard. I borrowed a tent. I set it up the best I could, but something was missing. I let the kids play in it but we didn't stay in the tent. We decided to have a slumber party in the family room instead. We had fun telling stories. Mr. C volunteered to share a couple of stories. One story went like this: "Once upon a time there was Charlie Brown and C---. Charlie Brown said hi and I said hi to him." It was so cute and sweet. The progress my boy has had is amazing! I just love that boy!

After a half hour trying to get them quiet, they fell asleep or I did. Then I proceeded to get off that hard floor. My almost 37 year old body can't take that anymore. I slept on the sofa for the remainder of the night. Then Cinderella decides to get up at 7am. Nice!! I am so sleep deprived!! However, I love making memories with my kiddos!

Our Weekend Recap

We have had beautiful weather with temps in the low 70s. Despite the rain on Saturday, we enjoyed Fruday outside by playing in our backyard and riding coasters at Kings Island on Sunday afternoon. I love having season passes because we can hang out there for a few hours and come back before dinner. We also have souvenir cups that we bring with us each time and can get filled with sift drinks for $0.99 and we have a popcorn/cotton candy tub that can get filled for $0.99 as well. Yesterday, we spent $0.99 in the park. Not bad for a snack! Cinderella wanted Dipping Dots so she bought it with her own money and Mr. C bought a small box of candy with his moolah.

We are attempting an adventure tonight! Check back tomorrow for pics!!

We love summer!!!!

Flood

Yesterday, we had two very rain-filled storms that caused a lot of flooding in our area! Our carport was completely flooded and that has never happened! Half of our porch was flooded and the kids enjoyed jumping in that big puddle! The backyard looked like a pond once again. This has been a wet summer most definitely!

Reds Game

Last Thursday, we were blessed with 4 tickets (very close to the field) and were in a predicament because if we go, Cinderella would have to miss her second tournament game. However, we never get 4 free tickets and the kids are old enough to handle sitting and watching the game. Cinderella went 2 weeks ago with her dad and Papaw and loved it!

Despite the rain delay in the middle if the first inning, everyone had fun and the rain cooled off the stadium. The Reds won and Mr. C loved the fireworks. He did great and although the noise sent his sensory issues into temporary tailspins, everyone enjoyed the game!

State Baseball Tournaments

We had a great Challenger Baseball Tournament here locally! It was our league's turn to host the event and despite the intense heat, all the players had a lot of fun! The baseball season is over for another year, but Princess had a lot of fun and improved immensely!

We love summer!

We are enjoying our summer immensely! So far, we have went to the beach, visited Kings Island at least a dozen times, had fun at the waterpark, seen several movies, visited Children's too many times, played with sprinklers, watched fireworks, played with new neighborhood kids, made crafts, went shopping, and played with our bunny.

We still have another month to enjoy so I am planning some last minute activities that will make this summer better than last year!

This weekend, Cinderella has state baseball tournaments. She plays two games on Saturday and plays one game on Sunday. She will then receive her trophy for playing in the tournaments and for playing ball all year. We are hoping we don't melt in the heat and/or dodge a storm or two!

Mr. Houdini and the Great Escape

Our rabbit who is named Sprinkles is quite a naughty bunny. He has gotten out of his cage 3-4 times prior to the Grand Escape. 

This morning, I received a call from my niece saying that our new neighbor who lives across the street had seen our rascal hopping in the middle of the road and then he proceeded to hop to our neigh it's garage and try their delicious grass.

Luckily I had raised rabbits and with a bit of cat and mouse, I finally caught the escape bunny. This time, I put the rascally rabbit in the outdoor hutch. After placing him back behind bars, he gave me the evil eye. There will be no more escapes for this bunny!

Vacation Recap

We left bright and early last Saturday for a long road trip to Clearwater, Florida. We stopped in Lake City, FL for our first night and made it to our destination after 1pm on Father's Day. We had a great Father's Day walking on the beach and swimming in the hotel swimming pool.

We are thankful to Jen's parents for deciding last minute to go with us due to our van not making the trip without expensive repercussions. Luckily, Jen's parents got the last room at our hotel.

On Monday, we stayed at the beach and swam in the hotel swimming pool. On Tuesday, we rode Mega Bite which is a boat shaped like a shark. It took us on a tour of famous people's homes and up close and personal with dolphins.

On Wednesday, we went to the aquarium where we met Winter, the star of the movie "Dolphin Tale" and we saw a bird that was also in the movie. We took a trolley to the downtown part of the aquarium that had all the props and memorabilia from the movie. We also walking through The Hurricane Experience and all I can say is that I am glad we do not live in Hurricane zones! Cinderella was badly frightened but I thought it felt refreshing due to the 90 degree weather in FL!

On Thursday, we spent a lot of time on the beach and in the pool. Friday, we left dark and early and arrived home at 9:00pm which was like a world record for a Florida to Ohio road trip!! We had travel lag yesterday, but we are good as new today. It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation. However, the next time we go to Florida, we are taking the friendly skies and visit the main mouse again in 1.5 years from now!!

Clearwater Beach - Family Vacation 2013

Dolphin Boat Ride