Yikes!  I just realized I haven't been on here in 5 days so I am sorry if this is one of those long rambling posts. 

Christian's birthday was on Wednesday so we took the day off of school.  We got him a new trampoline for his birthday and he is really loving it.

He doesn't like sweets so we didn't have a cake but we did get chicken strips and french fries from Bojangles for dinner because that is his favorite.  He enjoyed that very much.  He had a relaxed birthday which is just the way he likes it.

On Friday we had school.  Tyler is learning about Revelation in Bible and so we did a neat project.  He was learning about the opening of the seven seals in Revelation 6.  We made a large scroll and I wrote down the references for the verses that describe the opening of each seal.

Tyler wrote down a description of what will occur at the opening of each seal.  We then place velcro to represent each seal so that as the scroll is opened you stop at each reference.

He had a lot of fun making this and it was a great way to remember our lesson.

Friday night was Mom's night for my homeschool group and we met at Booksamillion for coffee and conversation.  It was a wonderful time as it always is.  It is definitely something I look forward to each month.  It is nice to have the time out with friends that homeschool special needs children.  I think my boys also enjoy the time together.   They like to order pizza and act silly with dad.



Saturday we carved pumpkins and enjoyed the beautiful fall leaves in the backyard.  Christian is feeling a bit under the weather so unfortunately he didn't get to play outside.  He is stuffy and just has a cold I think but it is making him super cranky so he has mostly been inside.

Tyler and Lucy had a great time playing in the leaves together.  Our trampoline is filled with them!

Tyler carved his pumpkin on Saturday too.

He worked really hard and even saved every last pumpkin seed so we could roast them.

Today we mostly hung out at home and watched football.  It was a good weekend.  I didn't accomplish everything I had hoped to because Christian needed a little extra care because of his cold but that is okay. 



Tomorrow is my mom's birthday.  So... Happy Birthday Mom!  It is also my Aunt Debbie's birthday because they are twins.  So Happy Birthday Aunt Debbie too!

This is my mom and my aunt when they were 3.  Aren't they adorable?  



I'm off to fill workboxes now.  Hope everyone has a great week!  

Fall Tree Painting

Today we sponge painted fall trees.  I have been wanting to do this with them for awhile now but it keeps getting pushed off.  Today I was determined to finally paint with them.  It was lots of fun.

We used the kind of sponges you would use in the shower with body wash and red and yellow paint to make the leaves.  It was interesting to see the sensory differences in my two boys.  I am not sure if you will be able to tell from the pictures but I will try to explain.

This was Christian's painting and even with me guiding his hands he barely pressed down.   He is very tactile defensive and doesn't like to press hard.  He is a lot better about touching things then he once was but you can still see a lot of defensiveness when we do things like this.

This is Tyler's painting.  He is a child who can't process any information about what he feels unless he presses hard or grabs with all his might.  He has to feel everything.  When he colors he pushes the crayon through the paper so when he paints he also lays it on heavy.  I had to put his out in the sun to dry.

I am often fascinated by these differences.  I marvel at two kids with similar diagnosis and significant sensory issues that approach things in such different ways.



I did enjoy the fact that Tyler added a leaf pile at the bottom of his painting and that he wanted to add kids and a dog playing in the leaves.  He also added a squirrel in the tree just for our dog Lucy.  LOL I really loved that!

Now the paintings are hanging in our private collection (aka the living room).

Kid art is my favorite kind of art!

Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

Today we went to Mike's Farm.  I am not sure if the Great Pumpkin would think this is the most sincere pumpkin patch out there but it is definitely one of the busiest.  We haven't been there in awhile but we know that it is usually very busy this time of year.  Little did we know!  I took pictures because I knew no one would believe it otherwise.  I know I wouldn't. 

This is where we parked.  It is just one of several parking areas and we could just slightly see the actual farm buildings.  When we saw this parking lot we should have left but we are a persistent little family.  So we journeyed on and then we saw them!!! 

There were sooo many people!

 The wait in line just to get a ticket to get on the hayride was about a half hour.  Then you had to wait in another line just to get on the hayride for about 30 to 60 minutes.  Then when you got off the hayride you got to stand in another line to have your pumpkin weighed so you could pay for it.  This was not going to work out for us.   We did enjoy walking around though and visiting with the animals.

Here are my guys in the covered bridge they have there.

Tyler "driving" one of the tractors they have for the kids to sit on.



The main building has a beautiful wraparound porch with a bunch of these rockers.  It is very pretty.

Here you can see the tractor and the big trailer they use to take people on hayrides out to the pumpkin patch.

They even have a stage in one of their barns!  Here are a couple of guys playing country music.  It fit nicely with a trip to the farm.  They also have a bunch of animals for the kids to feed and pet.

This chicken brought a big smile to Christian's face.  It is always interesting to see what captures his interest.

It really is a fun place!  They have a restaurant that is know for some of the best food in the area.  They have a bakery that makes some of the best fudge and other goodies.  And then there is the gift shop!  Oh how I love the gift shop!  They have tons of Christmas stuff but they also have so much more.  I had to snap a couple of pictures inside for you but this is only a small part of the whole shop.

I especially love all the candles!

If you are local or even close to local and have never been there I encourage you to go.  They also sell Christmas trees at Christmas and they have a hayride with a big display of Christmas lights. 

Lots of fun! 

Fall Candy Pizza

Tyler and I had a lot of fun today making this fall candy pizza!

It was fairly easy to make and turned our beautiful and very tasty!



Here are the directions if you would like to try it too.



1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Line a pizza pan with foil and grease with shortening.  I used a silicone baking mat on top of my pizza pan instead of the foil and shortening and it worked well too. 



2.   Cut a roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough into 1/4 inch slices and arrange them on your pizza pan.  Press the dough down with floured fingers to form a crust.



3.   Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.



4.  Let cool completely on pan for 30 minutes.



5.  Use foil or silicone mat (in my case) to lift crust from pan.  Remove foil or mat and place on tray or plate.



6.  Spread 3/4 cup peanut putter over crust.



7.  Sprinkle 3/4 cup of candy corn over top.



8.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of Toll House Swirled Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Morsels over top.



9.  In a microwavable bowl, microwave 1/4 cup of vanilla frosting for 10 to 15 seconds and spoon drizzle over pizza.



10.  After the frosting hardens some you can slice the pizza into triangle slices.



11.  Enjoy!

October already!

I can't believe it is already October.  This year is just flying right by.  The weather here is finally starting to feel a little more like fall.  It has also been a lot less humid so we have been trying to walk down to the park everyday while the public school kids are in school.  Christian enjoys it a lot more if he can run back and forth by himself.  We also took a nice family walk last night.  We used to walk together every night but have fallen out of the routine between moving and the summer heat.  I hope we can get back to it though as it is a nice way to wrap up the day together.  We were able to explore one of the new park areas here last night.  They are putting up  a bunch of them as they renovate base housing.  Anyways, Christian went up a big rock climbing wall which is something he has never done before.  He needed some help but he did very well.  Tyler still struggles with being with his feet off the ground and it is always kind of sad to watch him cling for dear life as goes on the taller playground equipment.  He works at it though and I think he still has fun.
Our week here has been going pretty well.  Christian is still irritated about not not being able to be in his room unsupervised but other than that he is fine.  Fall offers up so many sensory activities for me to try with him.  We have been exploring nuts and leaves this week.  Tomorrow we are going to sponge paint an autumn tree.  I know he will like that because he loves to paint.  The only problem is he doesn't like to stop.  Usually I have to have several sheets of paper handy.
Tyler has also had a good week.  We are praying for Nicaragua this week in our prayer center.  He is liking that a bunch so I have been using one of our boxes each day to focus on the country we are praying for.  This week I chose Nicaragua after watching Joni and Friends on television this weekend.  They were working with a beautiful little girl there in a wheel chair and I just really felt like this was the country we should pray for this week.  It has become like a little unit study for us.  I will share all the materials we have used on Friday after we have completed this week.  I still would like to find a recipe from there for us to make too.  Tyler also enjoyed our fall gourd game today.  He did very well at writing descriptive sentences.  They were all written in his unique perspective so they were fun to read.  My favorite one was "This gourd is orange, bald, chubby and looks like Jimmy(from Veggie Tales)."  Somehow I just knew we were going to have some Veggie Tale sentences in there.  He also had a lot of fun using the gourds to  make up Veggie stories with his dad tonight.  I love my silly guys!
I don't mean to cut this short but I am going to go to bed now because I just noticed Christian is actually asleep before midnight.
Have a blessed night!

Going Nutty!

The other day I made some cute little squirrel cards with numbers on them and some little grids to do counting with.  My thought was that we could use whole nuts, the kind you use with a nut cracker,  with the cards and grids.  I am sure I saw them recently in the produce section at the store.  Tyler and I looked yesterday at Walmart and couldn't find any and today my husband looked at the commissary today and no nuts there either.  I would even be okay with acorns even though I would have to watch that Christian doesn't put them in his mouth but we don't seem to have those in our yard either.  So now my idea is on hold until we can locate some nuts.  Maybe tomorrow we will go for a nut hunting walk!

Here is a  picture of my cards with the counting grids attached.

 

I was thinking we could put one nut on each square of the grid.  Not too fancy but good for his one to one correspondence.  I thought it would be fun for fall.  I put the cards and grids on my Scribd account if you are interested.  I made them for the numbers 1-10.  All you need to do is cut out the grids and cards and then glue the grid to the back of the card. 

Squirrel Counting Grids Squirrel Counting 1-4 Squirrel Counting 5-8 Squirrel Counting 9-10

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Christie at Monkey School !

You have won the Fall Workbox Giveaway.  Thank you for your entry.  Thank you to all those who entered and I can't wait to try all your great ideas.

Fall Writing Prompt Poster Center

Okay, the fall bug has bit me bad!  I have sooo many ideas in my head.  I wanted to make a fun writing center for Tyler and I am not quite sure how it all came about but I like how it turned out so here goes....

The Pumpkin Patch of Writing Prompts

I took some green construction paper and cut them into vines.  I am not sure how successful I was there because they kind of look like seaweed to me.  But, anyways, I glued them on to a brown poster board to form little pockets.  I then used Microsoft Word to put a bunch of fall writing prompts unto pumpkin patterns.  I then printed them out onto orange card stock.

I then tucked the pumpkins into the pockets and printed out a title for the poster.  This is super easy!  My plan is to put this out with some fall themed writing paper and some fun pencils.

I finally figured out how to share PDF files on the internet so here are the patterns for the pumpkins if you are interested.  They are black and white so you will have to print them on orange paper.

Don't forget to keep adding your fall workbox ideas to my giveaway.  I love all the ideas you have shared so far.

Have a blessed night!

Pumpkin Prompts

Fall Workbox Giveaway

I love Fall!!!!  I love the colors, smells, recipes.....!  I know it is not fall yet and many of you are still enjoying summer.  It is in fact still in the 90's every day here.  I, however, am not a summer person so I am looking forward to the fall.  We have a lot of things we like to do at our house in the fall.  I love to hang paper colored leaves on the windows and my boys love to play in the leaves outside.  We also like to go pick out pumpkins and do lots of baking.  This will be our first fall with workboxes and so I began thinking about all the fun stuff we could do with them for fall.  One thing we do every year is make pumpkin pie playdough and play with it with pumpkin shape cookie cutters.  It smells awesome and my boys love it.  This would be easy to put in our workboxes.  I would love to know what everyone one else will be putting in their boxes this fall though so I decided it would be fun to have a giveaway and let everyone post their ideas on their blog and leave a link here with MckLinky.  

Since this is also a giveaway let me tell you what the winner will receive:

1.   Everything for Fall: An Early Childhood Curriculum Activity Book

2.  Focus on the Family Radio Theatre: The Legend of Squanto 2 CD set

3. Draw Write Now Book Two (Christopher Columbus, Autumn Harvest, and The Weather)

4. History Pockets Life in Plymouth Colony by Evan-Moor

This giveaway will run through August 31, 2009.  I will pick a random winner on September 1 and will notify you and give you 3 days to get back to me or I will pick a new winner. The winner must live within the United States.

To enter you must:

1.  Leave a post on your blog for your fall workbox idea

2.  Leave a link to your specific fall workbox blog post (not your whole blog) below with MckLinky

3.  Mention this giveaway on your blog

If you DO NOT have a blog leave a comment with your fall workbox idea and email address in the comment section of this post.

I am really looking forward to hearing all your great ideas!