The Mullet is alive and well in....

Quincy, IL! Oh my, I've never seen so many mullets or so many t-shirts with Rams and Cardinals. Yes, we're back. We had a great time. Thursday was just us, M&M, Mom and Dad. Then B&B and the boyz came out later. The kids had a ball. Friday we spent at Gma's and helped M&M put up lights. Then we went over to R&T's. THAT was a BLAST. My cheeks hurt still from laughing so hard. And Miss Elizabeth is a sweetie! I SO got my baby fix. She is SO good!!! She sat with me the entire night. T told us that it's my fault that he was class clown and that he started dancing at b-ball games. So now I'm responsible for this too??? I don't think so! It's so fun talking about "the old days". :-)

Saturday we met with Theresa. Then spent the rest of the day in town. Met up with M&M and kids around 3. Then to Cassanos (my FAVORITE) and then out to see the lights at the Park. They were so cool.

Feeling very good about my life - ran into Rod and Jeff (who I used to work for). Was I really once intimidated by them??? Oh my. T and I kind of talked about that too. How all the people we thought were so untouchable in HS are now really kind of idiots. :-) (so more so than we are) :-)

B has broken his toe and is off till next Tuesday. We gave him SUCH crap at home. But hey, he deserved it. Sunday we got home in time for choir and to see the Bears loose. :-( We MUST beat the Rams though. We must. And Miss Elizabeth is getting a Bears outfit for Christmas. :-)

Medical Problems

B went to BMC today. I'm just so worried about him. Will he ever work again? Will he be a deformed mess? I'm going to check in to Nursing Homes just in case. I've already lined up a wheel chair for him and Aunt J has called nursing staff to be on standby if we need over the weekend.

He broke his toe!!!!

He came home with it all bandaged and "medical shoe" and everything. Has to see his Dr in 3 days!!!! ARe you weeping yet? I've broken my toes SO many times! One time I broke my second toe when I turned a cartwheel into the kitchen table. I taped it to the big toe and cheered at a Basketball game that night. (I know, I'm a stud)!!!!

I'm just laughing my butt off about his toe. Oh, and he has pain meds too!!! See, this is what the "city living" does to you. You all take heed!!!

Goodbye and THANK YOU

Some very sad news:

____________

Autistic children and their parents said goodbye to their best
friend and greatest champion on Tuesday, November 21st when Dr.
Bernard Rimland, founder and director of the Autism Research
Institute, passed away at the age of 78.

Dr. Stephen M. Edelson, who is assuming the position of Director of
ARI, says, "Dr. Rimland will go down in history as the person who
ended the `dark ages' of autism and spearheaded the fight to bring
hope and help to autistic children.


He did us all a tremendous job. "We" owe him a LOT!!! No longer is autism thought of as the "ice-mother's desease". I'm very grateful to him. Believe me, it's NOT an easy life - but because of him there IS hope.

Goodbye dear friend, you will be missed. And thank you once again.

It's a plan, Stan.

Got the itenery for T-giving. Thursday is the eat day, of course. Friday we're visiting Gma and Gpa and leaving the oldest one with them overnight. Then we (and J) are going to T&R's for dinner and I get to hold the baby!!!! :-) Saturday is Theresa and then B&I are going to lunch - by OURSELVES then meet up with Aunt J and the kiddos for Bonkers and lights. Sunday we leave. I'm really looking forward to it.

So, we canceled swimming lessons. They couldn't find a teacher. I'm very dissappointed in JBSRA. We'll see how the Winter Camp goes and maybe I'll start to teach S to swim.

They Were Good

As most of you know I gave up teaching SS this year so I could be a student myself. But today I subbed for Mr J. The class was actually very good. What was really neat is that I got to see the kids I had last year read this year and the progress that they have made!!! THAT is SO neat. I envy teachers in that area - getting to see big progress like that. Just makes my little heart warm.

I have become more than the room mother at school. I'm actually very hands on - helping kids write and read. It's fun, but getting just a little old. I feel so guilty going when my house is such a disaster. The kids are so funny though. I really like hearing all about what's going on with them. Mrs C thinks I should be a teacher. I don't think I really have it in me. Sure I can do all that stuff with the kids - esp her kids - but I don't think I could hack all the admin/political stuff. I'm a team player till the team is run by an idiot (ie: the State of IL).

So we prepare for another week. Short one - we got to Aunt J's. S can't wait. Already planning out what she's taking and what she's wearing. I've decided we'll do our Christmas picture there. Maybe with a few 4 legged beasts in it. I can't believe it's already T-giving. Just where the heck does time go??? I mean - and I swear this is true. I just put a Halloween shirt into the dryer!!! Maybe that speaks more of my house keeping than about time. :-)

Where *was* she???

The nurse who did my test yesterday was fantastic and I wish *she* would have been the one to call or even do my first test. She said that newbies usually get called back because there is nothing to base their test on (compare). AND she told me that they thought they saw a limph node but they wanted to make sure. And yes, it turns out it was a limph node. All that worry for nothing. I'm telling you - I can't die for a long, long, long time. :-) You're all stuck with me.

I was done early and really came home and collapsed. I never knew how worried I was till it all went away. So I'm done for a year. Yay.

We had Family Square JES night last night - it was fun. J and S were their usual social self. Wonder where they get that. :-) I go to school today and then to group, usual Thursday. I miss work. :-)

Testing Testing 1 2 3

Big test today. I *wasn't* that nervous - but then the nurse called to make sure I knew what was going on and it was her tone and her "good luck on your test" (twice) that now makes me feel like they know something. Something they're not telling me. But then there's that feeling that says there's no way you can have this - you've got WAY too much to do. :-)

S had a horrible, horrible swim lesson on Monday. And it wasn't about her - it was her teacher and the admin. there. Sooooo her Mommy called and raised some hell. I've got a promise for a new teacher and phone call before Monday. We'll see. I was SO ticked off. They treated her so NOT like a person - but a thing. Dang. So my lioness definitely came out. :-)

Well, wish me luck. I'll let you all know how it turns out. :-)

Nutcracker, nutcracker, crack me a nut.....

Yes, it's that time. This year we took the childrens. J= FANTASTIC - sat awestruck through it all. His buddy J= same thing (there was never a doubt with that one). S= not so good. CONSTANT talking. At one point I pulled her ear to get her to stop talking out loud. She said (in her out loud voice) "You pull my ear? That's not nice." It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. So next year we need even less tickets. :-)

Talk about totally exhausted from the weekend. It's such a struggle lately. And then I come across the following excerpt from a book I'm reading by Marty murphy - an auti from McLean Co right here in IL:

"When you sit back and prop your feet up and survey the damage that was once your living room (isn't it like this every night?), you have to think "Today I was a lot of things, and wore a lot of hats, but in the end, I'm a jeweler. Little Susie or Bobby may never be the brightest diamond, the best cut, or the one with the most carats, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that tomorrow morning, when you wake up and start breadfast and the kids get out of bed, you look at them and think, there is a little more shine and a little more sparkle than there was yesterday. And tomorrow they will shine even more.
So the next time someone asks you what your job is, you don't have to reply "stay at home mom/dad" or mother/father to my kids," tell them you are a jeweler, because you are, and you work with gems more precious than diamonds, your autistic children."

After reading that I don't feel so exhausted. :-) I think I may have to post that on the fridge. :-)

Oh, they had a good weekend. Gma and Gpa came up on Friday, J got to show off his Superbowl Shuffle song and they got to see him sing in choir. S read to Gma and they all played crazy 8s.

J came out to the kitchen on Sunday morn and reported that he "was not impressed" with his Dad. It was all I could do not to bust out laughing. We catiously made fun of that - not wanting him to think he could talk to adults like that - but dang it was funny.

S ate her weight in livers and me in gizards. :-) Love it when Gpa comes to town.

So now we get back to our regular scheduled programing. ;-) Swimming tonight, school dinner on Wed and Game Night at school on Thurs. It should be a busy week - not to mention that I'm behind in laudry (aren't I always?)

Gush, Gush, gush

For those of you who have been loyal readers you know how much I LOVE my school. For the newbies - well, I have to gush. We had parent/teacher conferences today. Yes, J is doing very well, as expected. He's starting to read and add and things like that.

Again - the worst time trying to break a paragraph. Ugghhh

Why is this such a problem???

Anyway - back to S - she's doing very well. I just LOVE her teacher, aides, SE leader. Everyone that has a hand in her education is just fantastic. I can't tell you how great it is to see her actually be part of the class. This school has ALWAYS treated her as they would any other student. I'm just so pleased in her progress. I really wish the school year could be year around. :-)

Voting Day

Perfect way to start it - with the worst stomach ache!!! Uggh - and I have several things to do today. 2 parent/teacher coferences, swimming lessons. Dr appt for the girl and the normal get ready to do it all over again tomorrow. Ugghh. I want so bad to crawl back into bed and sleep for about 3 years. So I'm drinking 7up and Pepto. Makes a very nice cocktail. ;-)

I have the worst time trying to make paragraphs in this...

Ok, I seem to have corrected the problem. So, now on to who to vote for. What a mess. I've never felt so let down in all the candidates. I feel like Moses when God told him to find one good man. (was that Moses?)

So, on to the business of the day....

I'm so confused

Please explain to me how a child sleeps in on school days and is up before 7 on weekends?

It was a weekend this time. S was SO out of control. I don't know what to do with her sometimes. We got her hair cut on Friday night - it is so cute. I'd like to see it a little more "wedged" in the back but otherwise it really suits her. She was very pleased with it.

Gma and Gpa come this weekend. We're supposed to go to see the Nutcracker - but I don't think S is going to make it. Nothing is working lately to calm her down.

On the other hand her conversations are more and more grown up everyday. Not to mention that she's trying to read everything. Having two doing it is kind of nerve racking. ;-)

I'm so glad Halloween comes just once a year

Ugghh. I feel like I've run a race! As soon as we got home last night - we carved pumpkins, got our costumes on and then when Dad appeared they were off. S actually wore her dress, crown and boots - yes, she was a *vision*. J of course was like shot out of a gun. Only he wore out early and came home and poured out his stuff on the floor and sorted. S wanted to do more and more. Dad had to coax her in. :-)

The rule at our house is that you can eat as much candy as you want - any of it and when we get ready for bed you put all the candy in the great big bowl and place it out on the front porch. As you sleep the Great Goblin comes, takes your candy and leaves toys in their place. This year he left bath crayons and paint. J was heard to say "dang, that Great Goblin guy sure does a good job". S on the other hand wasn't too keen about loosing her candy.

I always buy some stuff like small bags of peanut butter crackers and trail mix (to be put out at the end - when we run out) and we still have that. But this "tradition" eliminates the fighting all the next week/month about "why can't I have some candy". I know it won't work forever - but hey - don't fix what's not broken. :-)

So now we set our eyes towards Thanksgiving/Christmas - which I write together because let's face it - when you get to Thanksgiving - you blink - and it's Christmas. :-) We will truckster to Aunt J's and hopefully not return 5-10 pounds thicker. :-)