What Happened

I don't know what happened, but I just realized today that I haven't posted anything since May of last year. I must do better than that. I will make it one of my new goals to post at least once a week. After all, this is for Zander to read when he is older and I have skipped many months. So, be patient as I try to catch up.

Easter Eggs

We ended up at CiCi's house on the weekend before Easter and CiCi had a surprise for Zander. She had boiled eggs and asked him to help her dye them. They turned out really cute. The funny thing was what Zander said. Children with Asperger's are quite blunt and often blurt out things without thinking about it first. I overheard Zander say, "CiCi, I quite enjoyed dyeing eggs with you. I would like to do it again next year if you are not dead." I tried to explain AGAIN, that while that was a true statement, it was not very nice. Thank goodness CiCi understands and was not offended.
On Easter Sunday, I decided to pass down a tradition. When I was growing up, on Easter Sunday Granny always had Easter eggs for lunch. My uncles thought it was alot of fun to hit me in the head with the egg to crack it. It really hurt sometimes, but it happened every year. I told Zander about this and PaPa was the first to crack his egg on Zander's head. Zander thought this was hysterical of course and needless to say, he cracked several of the eggs on PaPa's head. Thinking of you Uncle Steve!

Spring Fling

Get the cookie into your mouth without touching it

Put the noodles on the spaghetti noodle without using your hands

Toss the ball into the basket

Zander's school has a fundraiser each year called Spring Fling. The children buy tickets to play the games in each room and get a prize. Alot of the games this year were the "Minute to win it" variety. It was so much fun to watch Zander try to figure out how to accomplish this. He finished all of the games and a great time was had by all.

Kid's Fest

The students at our local college put together a special event each year for children with special needs and their familes. It is called Kids's Fest. They have games, refreshments, a petting zoo and bouncing houses. This was the first time that we were able to attend. However, the weather forecast was bleak at best. It was overcast and looked like the bottom was going to drop out at any minute. Zander never asks to go anywhere, so when he showed interest, we decided to take him.
When we arrived, there was no where even close to park. We found a spot and headed to the event. We signed in Zander headed straight for the bounce house. Once he gets into one of these, it is almost impossible to get him out. After about 10 minutes I realized that it was going to start storming so I convinced him to get out and pet the animals because that really is his favorite thing to do. Ever since he saw his first little goat, he has always wanted one. Just look at that face. Now, the thunder starts and I have one very upset little boy. To top it off, he is not a fan of lightening or thunder, so we make the mad dash back to the car and make the 30 minutes drive home in the storm. Maybe next year we can stay for the whole event. Kudos to the students for an excellent event that means so much to the children.

Hair cut

Many of you know that Zander likes Justin Beiber. He enjoys his music and for his last haircut, he wanted the Beiber cut. It really grew on me and I was beginning to like the longer hair. It was time for a trim and when I asked Zander how he wanted his hair cut this time, he said that the kids at school were calling him Justin Beiber and he didn't want his hair anymore. He said that he would like a mohawk. I explained to him that was not a choice, so he opted for the short cut. Mrs. Stephanie was nice enough to let him leave with a mohawk.

 By the way, he announced to everyone that Mrs. Stephanie and Mrs. Misty were the only ones that he trusted to cut his hair. The ladies at Great Clips tried to cut his hair but they really stink at it. All of the ladies were laughing and thought he was so adorable.

Leaping Leprechaun's

I had to work last night, so I didn't get home until 9:00.  When I walked through the dining room, this is part of what I saw. The strings went all the way over an end table, his art desk and to the wall. What is it you might ask? I asked the same thing. Zander came out of the bedroom and informed me that this was his leprechaun trap. He informed me that he was going to catch a leprechaun. 

 When we got home today, this is what we found at the trap. A note, bags of gold chocolate candy and a pair of green sunglasses. The note said, " Your trap snared 3 of my leprechauns. I took them back to Ireland, but I left you some gold."
The King Leprechaun

These are the tiny leprechaun footprints that lead from the window to the trap. 

He was so excited and can't wait to show his note to everyone at school. 

March (Tarheel) Madness

Zander and Woody D. He signed his Hansbrough jersey and hat.

 With March madness upon us, it reminded me of Zander's excitement when I took him to watch the Tarheels practice and when we waited in line in the freezing temperatures for hours to get tickets in 2007. He was only 2 yrs old and loved the Tarheels. I enjoyed reading the old posts. Hope you do to. Here are the links.
http://friendsmiling.blogspot.com/2007/03/march-madness.html
http://friendsmiling.blogspot.com/2007/03/madness-continues.html
http://friendsmiling.blogspot.com/2007/03/unc-vs-michigan-state.html

Star Wars Night

This weekend was Star Wars night at the children's museum. Zander was so excited. I have never seen so many little Jedi's. When we arrived, he had pizza and then went to the art room to make a mask and a light saber. He chose yoda.

Next we went down stairs for Jedi training I know this picture is blurry but, if you look closely you can see that his eyes are closed and he is using the force to catch a ball that the Jedi threw to him. Then we were off to the Jedi training obstacle course.

He tackled all kinds of obstacles in space and then had to raise this ball up and down this wall using only the force. You can see he is really concentrating. After that he defeated the Death Star and received his Master Jedi medallion. Over all it was a fun night and the force was with us.

SLeeping

Zander does not like his room. In fact he is terrified at the thought of sleeping there. Every once in a while he will play in there during the daytime. So, that means he sleeps with us. Even though we have a king size bed, there is not enough room. Zander does not stop moving during his sleep. He also needs to feel pressure so he is constantly trying to bury at least his arms under me. That means that he is pulling my hair, hitting and kicking me all night. I realized a couple of weeks ago how tired I was and that I couldn't remember the last time that I slept through the night and Summers was spending alot of nights on the couch. I didn't want to traumatize him by putting him in his room, so I put his mattress and some of his animals in the corner beside of our bed. He was still scared to death. We are on week 2 and as long as I am close by he is doing a little better.
How cute is that picture? A boy and his dog.

Cousin Christmas Visit

The cousins have arrived and we are having so much fun. On Monday we took a hayride with PaPa and went on a treasure hunt with his metal detector. We found some tin foil, a shoe heel and a few other things just as valuable. Yesterday we went to the movies to see Tangled. Everyone enjoyed the movie. Then all of the kids came home with me. We took jacuzzi baths and played spa. The boys of course didn't tear themselves away from the video games until it was time for bed. Everyone had a great time. Aunt Sherri is tired.

Breakfast with Santa

When Zander was first diagnosed with Autism, we were lost. Even though I had been doing research for a couple of years, I didn't know where to start in our community. I was able to find an organization called The Family Support Network. They have been a lifesaver for us. They have a lending library and once a month we go to a support group to talk with other parents of children with special needs. They sponsor this group and always bring in a speaker for education and to answer questions. They provide supper and playtime for the children. Zander always looks forward to it. They also help with preparation for IEP meetings etc. Today the FSN sponsored Breakfast With Santa. It is open to any family in our county that has a child with any kind of special need.
We weren't sure quite what to expect, but we were very pleasantly surprised. When we arrived we were given name tags and an appointment with Santa. Then we got in line for the delicious buffet breakfast. Our friends Ms. Jane and her family were there also so that was comforting to Zander. After we ate we went to see Santa. He sat on his lap and "Placed his order". That is funny but that is really what he thinks he is doing.
After that they had many stations set up for the children to make ornaments, play games for prizes and a jump house. They even had a big stocking with goodies for each child. There were a lot of volunteers and I was very happy to see that most of them were teenagers. When we were leaving he said that was the best festival ever. So, I think it was a success.
Oh yeah, one of the stations was for writing a letter to Santa. I found that funny since he was sitting right beside of the table but the children didn't seem to question it. Zander wrote a letter because he forgot something on his order. Here is his letter.

Sorry, it won't let me turn the picture but it says, "Santa, I forgot to tell you, I want....."

"An electric guitar, Zander"

Christmas lights

Last Saturday was time to put up all of the Christmas decorations. Zander was Daddy's helper. He was able to get on the ladder with Daddy's help and put the lights on the hooks. He thought he was something! That's my big boy!

Cooking night

Last month we were able to attend cooking night at Zander's school. His school has been chosen as the only one in this area to participate in Michelle Obama's MOVE program to prevent childhood obesity. They already have their own garden that the children plant and take care of and they are composting school waste this year.
We had the pleasure of getting hands on cooking lessons with Chef Don McMillan. He was one of the chefs that went to consult with Mrs. Obama. He is quite famous in this area and opened The Stocked Pot. His son owns it now, but you can still go there and have cooking classes with him. Many of his recipes are on YouTube.
In the pictures above you can see Summers and Zander making vegetable flowers. We used carrots, radishes and zucchini. Then we made fruit and yogurt Popsicles.
In the next picture you can see Zander talking with Chef Don. I can only imagine what he was telling him.
The next picture was the most fun. He gave us these curvy sticks that had been soaked in cinnamon. They are called fruit sticklers. Next we had all sorts of fresh fruit. We cut it up and placed it on our sticks to eat. It is amazing how he will try new things in a situation like this . Our overall favorite dish was a bean dip and baked pita chips. It was delicious as well as healthy. I was very proud of him. He even tried Jicama although neither of us cared for it.
Our friends, Ms. Jane, Adam and JJ were also there and we able to cook with us. It was alot of fun and we hope to be able to participate next time.

Art

Zander's first grade class has been studying our city. They went downtown and got to go up to the top of one of the buildings and look out of the windows. He thought that was really cool. This is the picture that he drew of the skyline in art class.

Granny

Granny's 85th birthday

Granny's 88th birthday

I was just thinking today about how our family has made it through another year with all of family members. Most of the people that I know can not say that. For that we are blessed.
Zander and I drove by my great grandparents old home place today and I was telling him about when I used to visit there as a young girl. Now there are apartments there. We were talking about how "Granny" is his great grandmother and that he is very lucky to have her.
Most of my childhood memories revolve around my grandparents and things that we did with them and cousins growing up. We went to Granny's every Sunday for lunch and dinner. We stayed all afternoon and played and visited. We haven't been able to do that since Zander was 3. On some level he remembers eating there because he always asks her for those items when we go there, but I don't think he remembers anything else and that makes me sad. Now we go to Mom and Dad's on Sunday and it is alot of fun for me, but it is different because there isn't anyone for Zander to play with.
I just realized that things will never be the same. We all have our own families now and it is time to make our own traditions. I hope that Zander will look back and have fond memories of the things that we do now. At least he will have alot of pictures!

School Picture

It was recently time for Zander to have his first grade picture made. He asked to have his hair cut like Justin Beiber. I made the appointment with his normal stylist. She was not able to keep the appointment. She is the only person that I have found that Zander is comfortable with and that he will hold still for. Her boss said she would do it but her son had to have emergency surgery. School pictures were the next day and his hair was really long so I had to find someone. The only place I could find was Great Clips. We have never had a good experience with the sytlists at this place, but he needed a haircut. He told the lady what he wanted and she began to cut. When she was finished I didn't think it looked good but I thought maybe when I fixed it the next morning, it would look better. I got him up and put product in it and used a hair dryer to dry it toward his face and then sprayed it with hair spray. It looked good for all of 2 minutes and then looked like a 5 year old had cut his hair. It is horrible!
Then I put his clothes on him and he cried to wear a tie. The only ones that we have are a plaid and a white one. As you can see he chose the white one. He took a brush and combed his hair straight down. But, do you see the big smile on his face. He thought he was handsome and that was all that mattered. I think it is now my favorite picture.

Nieces

I usually get to spend time with my nieces and nephew over the course of a week at the beach and maybe one more week at Mom's. However this year they were only here for a week and came to my house for one night. So, needless to say what ever they wanted to do they pretty much did that night. We normally do jacuzzi bubble baths but since we were going swimming the next morning we skipped it this time. The boys wanted to play video games and the girls wanted to play spa. We set up a pedicure station complete with foot spa, nail station (Esirae) and I did hair. They had a ball. They read books and magazines while they had their foot spa, then moved to the hair styling station and nail painting station. We also put gems on their nails.
When the boys saw how much fun the girls were having they wanted pedicures too. I took pictures but promised them I wouldn't post them. As you can see, Wanda also participated. She chose red nail polish. When we finished, we ate pizza and junk food, played outside and had popcorn and a movie. Great fun was had by all, especially Aunt Sherri.

Outside fun

I am very behind in blogging as this was the cousin visit in early August. However, all of the kids came to our house one night and we had alot of fun. These are pictures from the outside adventures. The boys had light saber battles and the girls enjoyed the arctic cat. The battery on the car was almost dead, but that didn't stop them. They pushed it up the hill, all climbed on and giggled all the way down. It looks like they didn't mind.