Last year, our group went to a local bounce house and my ds with autsim hated it. And I don't mean just a little, he was the only kid there who cried and would not touch anything.

This year he was compeletly different. He only went on one inflatable thing, but he would not come out of it.

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For 4 years now every July the 4th we go to our Science Musuem and then stop and buy fireworks on the way home.

This all started when my ds with autsim turned 3 and was so very sick on this birthday, when he felt better we took him to this science museum to celebrate his 3rd birthday and after 3 hours we had to drag him out kicking & screaming. He did not want to leave.

We were so happy by him showing that he liked something this in now our family tradition.  Here are some pictures of our trip.

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Oh my gosh, I did not expect June to turn out this way.

In June the first weekend we went to the autism symposium which was really good.

Then our non profit organization held a fundraiser and this was very hectic and hard on everyone involved. We were out daily asking for donations for our silent auction and donations. At this event we earned a little of 2100.00 and we are grateful.

My dd also had a ballet camp durning the middle of this and she had a lot of fun.

Then we had our organizations picnic and that was a lot of fun. June went by quick.

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We went to an autism symposium and this was the first one that we had ever attended. So we really did not know what to expect.

The way it is set up is that everyone meets in the autidorum for a general meeting. The first day it was Dr. Stephen Shore, he was worth the price of admission. He has autism and his parents were told to put him in an institution and today he is well adapted, married and has a sense of humor. He has written a couple of books, they are very good.

The second day of the general assembly we meet a leader with the TN Disability Coliation. She talked to us about the laws and how to build relationships with politians. Yes, I know that this is important, but this is one more thing that I have to make a prority. And I am just not sure I have the energy.

The rest of the symposium was set up so that you could take classes. Well, DH and I would seperate to cover more ground. The individual classes were okay, I wish the description of the classes were written better.

But, we learned a lot and made some changes when we got home. I will let you know what the changes were and if they made a difference in a few weeks.

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Every morning my ds with autism has to say "Good Morning, Mom" before he can get out of bed. And this is a skill that he has pretty well. Well, this morning he say's "Good Morning, Grandma" then he proceeds to laugh. And so he says the same thing like four more times just laughing and he finally said "Good Morning, Mom".

He has a wonderful personality...I use to call him "my best kept secert". But, hopefully everyone will know how funny he is in the next year or two.

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It's almost summer...that means for families of children with special needs they are planning upcoming trainings and seminars. WHEW! This summer I am excited because my dh is going with me to 2 trainings.... Did I say 2. I have 3 planned for the summer.

June we are going to an Austim Symposium for 2 days. This should be really good because we can split up and take more classes.

Then the next week I am going to Carol Kranowitz "The Out of Sync Child" I will have a full day on Sensory Intergration. This will be so cool.

In August, 3 local psychologist that specialize is Autism are hosting an all day training which should be a nice refresher and some new information here, too. And dh is going to this one, also.

Last year I got to go to the ABLL's seminar and learned a lot that help me develop a good IEP for my ds. So hopefully these trainings will help me do the same.

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I have been studing about how to teach right brain thinkers...and I believe that the information is really good. But it is a lot to process. We are on the right track with the full body learning, but I learned that with right brain thinkers they need flash cards with the answers the first few times... and some exercises that involve crossing the "midline". Which we also have incorporated doing the  full body learning. So, I am happy that I am on the right track and the only adjustment I really need to make is giving my ds with autism flash cards with answers.

I found this website http://www.diannecraft.com/ and I ordered some of her teaching...it is very good. She says that the first child is left brain and the second child is right brain... my question (what about the 3rd child). lol.

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Last night my dd had her 1st ballet recital. Everybody would turn to the left and my dd would turn to the right. They we so very cute everyone of them.

My ds with autism was okay for the first 2 hours and then the last 1/2 hour he was toast. I felt bad for everybody around me, I did not know how to calm him down. My dh wound up taking him out and he was better. I am going to be talking to the therapist because wow, it is heartbreaking when he melts down.

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Our support group tries to do set up informational booths every time we can. On Saturday Tennessee Voices for Children hosted and event call TVC's Annual Children's Mental Health Awareness. Well, it rained, not only did it rain, it poured. But we still had a good time.

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Tonight my df & I merged our classes together for peformance night. We presented the rainforest, her class was the tribe and my class was the animals. It was a lot of fun. I have to admit that I was a little worried because rehersal did not go so well. But the kids are K-2 so we figured it would at least be cute. And it was very cute.

I believe that all the kids enjoyed it, and a good time was had by all. My df is such a blessing to my life. I hope that she knows that when I see her beautiful face she make me smile.

One of the things that we do with our ds with autism is that we try to make him particiapate in things that normal children do. So my df's son stood behind him and read his part, for which I am very grateful.

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In 7 days we have had our daugther's kindergarten graduation which I served on the committee, then preformance night at coop, which I helped with a preformance of 19-22 children that are in K-2.

Throw in that we (our support group) has to organize our stuff because we have a display table to set up at the zoo Saturday, and a meeting coming up on Thursday to address situations that have come up with all the new members.

I am sad that on Saturday I have to go to the zoo, my dd was suppose to recieve her awards for Keepers at Home and now she is going to the zoo with me to work. We still have mother/daughter time it will be just a little different than expected.

I know that after our support group meeting that things will slow down I hope.

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I won't tag anyone specific ... play along if you want. No pressure. I do think I'll have AJ fill this out as a get your brain working activity this morning though!

One word

YOU CAN ONLY TYPE ONE WORD!

Not as easy as you might think.

Now copy or forward, change the answers to suit you

and pass it on.

It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be

sure to send back to the person you received it

from!

1. Where is your cell phone                                counter

2. Your significant other?                                    work

3. Your hair?                                                          yuckie

4. Your mother?                                                    sweet

5. Your father?                                                      kind

6. Your favorite thing?                                         friend

7. Your dream last night?                                  nothing

8. Your favorite drink?                                        soda 

9. Your dream/goal?                                          Christlikenss

10. The room you're in?                                    homeschool

11. Your hobby?                                                 reading

12. Your fear?                                                     failure

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?     praying 

14. Where were you last night?                     home

15. What you're not?                                        maid

16. Muffins?                                                       banana

17. One of your wish list items?                   healing

18. Where you grew up?                          Tennessee                 

19. The last thing you did?                           drink              

20. What are you wearing?                          sweats                

21. Your TV?                                                   off                

22. Your pets?                                               outside                

23. Your computer?                                      link               

24. Your life?                                                 God's               

25. Your mood?                                           calm

26. Missing someone?                              yes                

27. Your car?                                               blessing            

28. Something you're not wearing?        shoes       

29. Favorite store?                                     McKays        

30. Your summer?                                     busy     

31. Like someone?                                   yes      

32. Your favorite color?                             green    

33. When is the last time you laughed?      today

34. Last time you cried?                           yesterday

35. Who will resend this?                        unknown

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If you always have a stocked pantry will you please share with me how you stock it. I have a meal plan every pay period, but it really seems that we run out of food 3 day's before my dh gets paid again. I always feel like a very bad planner when we are scrapping for change to by bread. Would you look over my meal plan and give me suggestions or a list of food that is always handy to keep around.

Here is the plan:

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For the last 3 years I have had a kindergarter. And tonight my baby graduated. It was a strange feeling, I have worked on the committee for the last 3 years and have really enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

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I have been really struggling with some issues lately. My ds with autism has been "wigging out" and hard to bring back around to do things that I know that he can do. My ds with autism is gifted with perfect pitch. What you sing, or he hears he can sing at the same pitch and the same beat.

When he was 2 the only way I could keep his attention was to play classical music and do sign language. Then and only then I would get great eye contact. So as you can imagine we would do this about 20 times or more a day. I use to put only classical music in and that is all that we would listen to. His favorite hands down is Handel.

I was almost just really to give up....I had emailed an autism group to ask if he needed drugs.....(or if I needed them, lol)....Then I got a phone call from a dear friend who introduced me to a website that teaches through singing. YEAH! Here is the link if you want to check it out http://www.songsforteaching.com/

With this new tool, I was ready to face the challenge of teaching him again.

Here is how we have structured our learning.

We do right/left brain exercises -- 1 foot in front of the other.

Then our teaching songs...what ever we are focusing on that session for example:catergoies

Then to our "area" and work with flash cards, build words with blocks and finally write words on the board.

Sometimes, I really feel like I am not doing enough. But, then I remember that God is in control and He will give my son (his son) what he needs. I know that one day my ds with autism will stand before crowds and talk of God's amazing grace.

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On Saturday, my dh suggested we go to the park and fly kites. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures.

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April and May for me are probably my busiest months. But, the things that are going on are fun and exciting for me.

My dd is preparing for her kindergarten graduation. My ds (oldest) recited Psalms 100, and ds with autism fell asleep (yeah!) and now my dd will be showing everyone 12 signs in american sign language. When I was a kid I got to have kindergarten graduation and it always stuck with me, so I was very glad to find out that our umbrella school gave the kids this experience, too.

Also our coop has performance night and I am excited that we (animal science) have teamed up with countries of the world. It will be so very cute the kids are K-2 and we are presenting the rainforest. I am really looking forward to this.

Our support group goes into family mode in the summers. We have a meeting to get ideas from parents on who they would like to come and speak and if we have any volunteers to serve on committees. May we have the zoo, June we have a picnic, July we have pump it up and hopefully in August we are going to do something very special for our mom's.

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On Friday we popped old fashion popcorn and we all watched "National Treasure". My dh and I had reviewed this movie about 5 times in order to make sure it was okay for the kids. Well, they took the Lord's name in vien more than once. I wondered how I could have missed this when they were not in the room. But, other than that it is a great movie. It is amazing to me what my dh & I will not pick up on until we have those precious little ears in front of us.

Saturday, I took our ds with autism to the store by myself and we worked on not running off, not yelling, and then we just had a good time. I know I am "home" when I cannot run to the store without seeing at least one person I know. That day we saw 3.

Sunday was a big day for us. We visited a new church--a huge church. But, it was a good experience and we have been praying for months about this. I know a lot of people in the church already through upward sports, vbs, and Bible studies. And that is very comforting. Then after the new church we went to a friends house for their son's birthday party. He is so cute, we had a great time. It is always nice to talk to friends and meet new people.

Usually we have real uneventful weekends...

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This picture I think says a lot about Christians in today's world. I hope that you get it. For the record, the fish represent Christians.

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