I don't want to forget....

 We celebrated our boy's birthday on August 20th. It's hard to believe he's a 3rd grader this year. He's growing up into a young man. He was baptized on July 12th by Keith. It was a very sweet day for our family. I love watching him grow more into the image of Jesus. He is such a sweet brother and he's an excellent helper to me. This summer, he always knocked out his chores early in the morning and would ask what else he could do to help. He loves legos and Star Wars. He also loves riding his bike and scooter. He's playing baseball this fall with his friend Levi on the Pirates team.  Favorite person: my cousin Favorite color: green Favorite show: Marvel Favorite sport: baseball Favorite cereal: Cocoa Pebbles Who is your best friend? Jack What do you want to be when you grow up? a pastor What is your favorite book? Imagination Station series What are you really good at? legos Where do you wish you could go on vacation? India on a mission trip What is your best me...

 Aubrey turned 13 yesterday! It is hard to believe that we have two teenagers now. AC is in 7th grade this year. She was so small when I first started this blog. Life was simpler in some ways, but so much harder in other ways. I love that my kids are learning, growing and becoming more independent. AC is a lot of fun to be around. She's smart, witty and becoming a great baker. She's talented on the piano and loves little kids. In fact, she had her first "mother's helper" job last week for a sweet 18 month old. She's a good big sister and a kind friend.  I thought she was too old for an interview, but she asked if I would ask her the questions. I don't know how many more years she'll let me, so I jumped at the chance. :)  Favorite person: my parents Favorite color: teal Favorite show: Phineas and Ferb Favorite sport: volleyball Favorite cereal: cinnamon life Who is your best friend? Molly and Hannah Sue What do you want to be when you grow up? a pastry ...

Hey friends! We finished up 2nd and 6th grade here last week and now I'm needing to find things to occupy my kids all summer. I am sad that our summer looks a lot different than I had planned 3 months ago. We were supposed to leave this week to spend several days in Washington DC and then drive down to Wilmington, NC so Eliza could go to the beach. She was a baby when we went to San Diego and that was our most recent trip to a beach. Anyway, now we are hoping to take the trip next May. I've been searching the internet for "summer bucket list" ideas and summer chore charts. I want a little structure to our days so my kids aren't on their tablets or watching movies all day. I've already set the expectation that there are no electronics until after lunch. Their mornings will consist of reading their Bible, doing a little school work, reading for 30 minutes, doing 2-3 chores, spending some time outside before it gets too hot and picking up their room. Aubrey and ...

If you had told me 3 months ago what life would be like right now, I would not have believed you. It seems like a crazy dream that won't end. I miss our normal routine. I miss seeing friends each week at church. I am sad that Eliza missed out on the last 2 months of Pre-K and all the fun days that entails. I'm sad that EK doesn't get a proper good-bye to her teachers and classmates since she'll be at a new school next year and for the missed learning opportunities for her at that school. I know that girl is so bored at times (although she does get to eat pretty much all day if she wants). While I homeschooled AC and AK this year and that aspect of our lives didn't change too much, AC is at an age where she REALLY misses her friends. As a 6th grader, she is missing out on having a speaking part in our kid's choir musical, her last year of GA camp, her last year in children's Bible drill and other activities. I know in the grand scheme of things, it isn't ...

AK turned 8 on August 20th...it's hard to believe! Here's a snapshot of what he's like right now. What is your favorite color? green What is your favorite food? chicken spiedies What is your favorite treat? sour patch kids What is your favorite subject in school? math What is your favorite sport? football What is your favorite hobby? play with legos What is your favorite movie? Night at the Museum What is your favorite tv show? Looney Toons What is your favorite book? Magic Tree House books What is your favorite animal? rhino What is your favorite song? Ten Thousands Reasons What is your favorite restaurant? Rosa's  What is your favorite vegetable? carrots What is your favorite fruit? peaches What is your favorite place to visit? Mimi and Pop's house to swim Where do you WANT to visit some day? Washington DC Who is your best friend? Levi and Jack Who is your favorite cousin? Colson What’s your favorite thing to do with Eliza? watch movies What’...

I cannot believe summer is almost over. I have been organizing and purchasing curriculum over the past couple weeks. We start a new school year on Wednesday. EK will be a 7th grader. AC will be a 6th grader. AK will be a 2nd grader. EJ will begin her last year of preschool at church in a couple weeks. (She's ready to start right now and upset that she isn't starting before EK.) While we didn't go on a vacation this summer, here are few things we did: VBS: What a great week we had at the beginning of June. trips to the park with friends swimming at Mimi's with cousins weekly trips to the library 4th of July at farm with some of our family  Hawaiian Falls art camp for AC music camp for AK ballet camp for EJ EK had ESY (extended school year) 4 mornings a week for 4 weeks  cousin sleepovers with Mimi and Pops and Keith and I got away for 3 days to San Francisco the end of June. This summer has been great! EK is calming down the older she gets. I used t...

It's hard to believe this is our 10th Autism Awareness Day. Ironically, I also sat in EK's annual ARD this morning. To be honest, life is so busy right now that I haven't had time to think much about this day approaching. Maybe that's good. When I have too much time to think about how autism has changed our family's life, I sometimes get discouraged. When EK was first diagnosed in February 2009, we thought that if we got her in the right therapies, she'd start Kindergarten in a mainstream classroom. That was our goal and early on, it seemed doable. We changed her diet (which by the way, I don't regret at all. I truly believe it's helped her to be the happy child she is.), we did occupational therapy, speech therapy, ABA therapy, vitamins/supplements, school preschool program for kids with autism and many other things. Fast forward a few years  and we saw no real improvements. In fact, she stopped talking a few months before her 4th birthday. Those begin...