Homemade fruit rollups

I wanted to make homemade fruit rollups for a while. The store bought version are full of dyes and sugar. There is a fruit leather I like but they are expensive and tough to find. 

I was inspired to make it when I heard someone else talk about it. I looked up recipes and there are a couple versions. I don't own a dehydrator so I stuck to oven versions.  

Lane and I pulled out the frozen berries to thaw. We put the berries in the food processor with 3 tablespoons honey. We then spread the fruit on parchment paper on cookie sheets. The fruit has to be spread thin or it doesn't work well.  Lesson learned for next time. 

We cooked the fruit for 6-8 hours at 170 degrees. 

Gabriel and I thoroughly enjoyed the blackberry and raspberry strawberry fruit rollups. I will definitely make these again! 

Letter Mm

I continued teaching Lane about the letter M. We created a mouse out of a letter M, a pom pom, eyes, yarn, and paper. I saw the picture idea online and we made it happen.  Lane also stamped lower and upper case m's on her creation. 

Lane also learned about magnetism. I put a tray together with metal and nonmetal items. I also had a large magnet from the dollar store to show her magnetism in action. She understood the concept quickly. 

First day of 2013-14

Alex and Gabriel began their second grade year of school. After half days last year, we decided that a good solid year of second grade was needed.  We are referring to this as his do over year. 

The boys did well getting ready for school after being off their routine all summer. As we got closer to the school their nerves got the best of  them.  Gabriel started babbling about his hatred for Mario.  Alex stood straight ahead staring. 

We walked them to their classrooms. Alex started crying and clung to Andrew.  Gabriel panicked and ran out of the classroom to get me twice. I thought I would get a phone call and my heart sank whenever the phone rang.  

However, the school didn't call and much to my surprise, Gabriel had a great day.  He completed all of his work for the first time! Alex told me that he loves school and he can't wait to go back.  Wow! I'm so proud and a little hopeful for a good second day. 

Lane had her first day of homeschool preschool. We had a fun day working on the letter "m". We made a monkey puppet, wrote the letter Mm, colored a monkey by written color, made an M collage, circled M words, and worked on fine motor skills by tracing Miss Muffet's path.  

Lane went through her work much faster than I thought she would today. I thought what I prepared would last through the week and not one day. We will talk about magnetism and make a mouse with the letter M. I think I will have to find some more Mm ideas. 

Later in the day we started homemade fruit roll-ups. I wanted to make them for a while and finally took the time to make them. I'm crossing my fingers that the blackberry raspberry and strawberry concoctions turn out edible. 

Meet Howie

The boys used to dress up a lot when they were younger. We had dog, firefighter, Barney, tiger costumes and more. They spent afternoons changing outfits and playing creatively.  I thought they had outgrown the costume stage but I still have my fairy, princess, ladybug Lane who loves to wear costumes. 

The other afternoon the boys came down with a black angry bird mask, a hat, and Mickey Mouse hands.  I was introduced to Howie. Howie also wore green water shoes that are two sizes too small. 

Howie went upstairs and soon I had fairy princesses running around the house. 

I'm not entirely sure how they got the tutus and small Princess gowns on but they managed.  A funny note: the wings are hanging from their necks rather than their shoulders. 

Haircuts are painful sometimes...

letter to SmartStyle today:    

I took my son to the SmartStyle salon in the St. Cloud, FL, location today. He sat down for his haircut and had a meltdown. He is 8 years old and has autism. He was anxious about his haircut and needed a few minutes to calm down. In the process, he grabbed the scissors to give himself a haircut but the scissors were removed from his hands without incident. The stylist was calm and willing to give him time to calm down. He finally sat quietly and said that he was ready for his haircut. It was at the moment that the stylist told me that she was willing to cut his hair but her boss, Virginia Lebron, would not allow her to finish his haircut. I explained that my son has autism and Ms. Labron looked at me and just shrugged while continuing to work on another client's hair. I mentioned that she was refusing service to someone with a disability.
Autism is a neurological disorder. Here is a web site for more information about what our family deals with on a daily basis. http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism
Professionally, the least Ms. Lebron could have done was speak to me about why she was denying my son service at the salon. As an ethical person, she could have done more than shrug her shoulders.
My son was diagnosed with autism over three years ago and I have not cried so hard in public in a long time. I was embarrassed and hurt for my son who thought that he was naughty. If I thought he wasn't capable of handling the haircut after he calmed down, I would have walked out with him. He cried in the front entrance of the salon and begged for the stylist to cut his hair while his brother finished his haircut with another stylist. He has been disturbed by this incident the rest of the day.
Our family is still recovering from this experience. We are considering what do next. We want you to be aware of this incident so you can correct any policies and/or train employees so this doesn't occur in the future with other children, particularly those with disabilities.

Pontoon in Naples

We went to Naples to spend time with my aunt, uncle, cousins last weekend.  It's an easy four hour drive to their home and we had such a nice time. It was the first time my uncle met my children so that was really neat to transform from married adult to mother of three since the last time I saw him. 

There's something about being around the extended family you grew up with - I was instantly comfortable around them and felt surrounded by love even when my children were having complete meltdowns. My children shared the good and the bad with everyone but we were invited back so maybe it wasn't quite as bad as it felt as the parent. 

We went on a pontoon boat. We saw Eminem's home complete with a huge water slide. Amazing.  We went to an island where boaters line up and hang out for the day.  We floated on noodles, ate yummy treats, fished, and more. It was a wonderful day.  One of the boys even caught a little hammerhead shark.  

Gabriel and Alex had their moments.  Alex had a tough time transitioning when we arrived at the boat. He screamed and cried about not wanting to wear the life jacket.  Later he didn't even notice it was on.  Luckily Andrew was able to take him for a walk and he was able to pull himself together.  

Gabriel had a moment when he thought he stepped on blue. We still don't know what he meant but that but floating with a noodle seemed to calm him down. 

The boys were allowed to play captain on the way home.  They need some practice because we were all over the place. 

Lane took a five minute nap on the way back. I was surprised she didn't nap longer after her big adventure. 

We had so much fun.  We were invited back and hope they mean it because we will be knocking on their door again as soon as possible. 

We Need Gay Friends

On the way to the airport, Lane, age 4, said, "Mommy, boys and girls get married." To which I automatically replied, "In some states, girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys too."

She was silent a few minutes.
Then she asked, "why would girl marry girls and boys marry boys?" I said people marry who they love. She was perplexed and said, "but then they can't make a baby." I explained that is true but couples can adopt and there are other ways to have babies what we'll talk about that when she's older.
That's when I realized we are surrounded by mom/dad/kid families. There are step children and adopted children but we don't have any gay friends who we hang out with regularly. I guess we really are in a "bubble".
Our experiences in Iowa held much more diversity and culture than we have now, except when we go to Disney. It is rather surprising to think that we lived in the middle of the United States, in corn field country and we attended Black History events and multi-cutlural events at the boys school. In reality, we were a minority in the school. When I attended the PTO meeting, they usually had in Spanish and had to translate for me as I sat there.
We might need to seek out families different than us. I don't want the kids to grow up thinking that our family is the only "right" family. I doubt that will happen given the way we parent but if they aren't exposed to things, it can seem wrong to children. Even if we attend gay days or a gay pride parade, they can be exposed to different family structures.
Any gay couples want to hang out with us?

Flat Lane

Lane decided the two of us should make a project together. We traced her hands, her feet, her arms, her legs, her belly, and even her face. The face is a narrow oval due to the way we traced her little face. 

We cut out the pieces and turned the paper into a doll.  We added eyes and a mouth but she didn't want a nose. 

When we got in the van, Lane insisted that the paper doll be strapped in the van.  My aunt called Lane's creation, "Flat Lane" but Lane didn't like that name. 

Instead... Meet Paper Lane! She is Lane's sister and I had to feed her when we went to lunch at a restaurant. 

Little Man Turns 7

I think I missed a couple years because it doesn't seem possible that Alexander was born seven years ago. How can that be possible? It was seven years ago today that the doctor came in the hospital room and told me that he was going to take me out of my misery. It was time for a Csection 

I knew our baby would be fine at 36 weeks but he was still considered premature.  I was concerned that he would be rushed to the NICU and the staff was prepared for that scenario. He surprised everyone with few complications and my doctor declared him the healthiest preemie ever.  The dr also told me that my pregnancy was one for the ages and I would never experience that again. He was only slightly correct on that one - the following pregnancy was worse. 

Here we are seven years later and he is an incredible child. He excels at math and loves games, especially chess. Alex loves jokes and to make people laugh.  He loves to dance, ride his scooter, and play at the park.  He is full of energy and life.  He is also stubborn and capable of arguing that water can't freeze. 

Lane made a special gift for Alex. I didn't give any suggestions, she pulled out everything on her own.  She put a drawing in an envelope and sealed it with a sticker.  Then she pulled out the foil because she didn't have wrapping paper.   She wrapped the envelope and asked me to tie ribbon around it. 

Later Lane asked where she could hide her gift.  Today she walked to my closer and proudly gave her creation to Alex.  She also had "toys she doesn't play with"  and candy from the closet in a box for him. I thought I was going to melt with pride when I saw her generosity. 

I quickly explained to Alex that he needed to be kind to his sister because she worked so hard for him. He quietly asked "but what do I do if I don't like it."   "Fake it" I replied. 

I was just as proud of Alex.  He made a huge ordeal out of his surprise from Lane and made her feel very special. It was a heartwarming moment between two if my children. 

I don't like how quickly my children are growing but I enjoy these interactions between my kids.  These moments could only come from their growth and development. 

Watch out world - there's a lot more coming for you.  Here he is - the seven year old version of Alexander! 

Clean Smiles!

I have been a bad mommy when it comes to dental appointments. I haven't taken the kids to the dentist since we moved two years ago.  I'm ashamed to admit that I let the appointments go so long and I will admit that it was the anxiety of finding a decent pediatric dentist along with my children's reactions that made it easy for me to overlook these dental visits.  If you knew me a couple years ago, you might be surprised I missed an appointment let alone three.  

I looked up a pediatric dentist who was covered by our insurance and found a place in Melbourne, just over 30 minutes from our house. The photo of the building looked cheerful and the person on the phone was pleasant. I was even able to get all three kids in at the same time and on the same day! I did not want to take them alone but Andrew has to work so off I went...

Lane was nervous about the appointment and Gabriel wasn't speaking clearly and hasn't since his EEG appointment.  His anxiety has thrown him for a monster loop.  Alex, well, he was engrossed in his chess game. 

We arrived and everyone was friendly and welcoming. Their waiting area had games and that impressed Alex.  They called our names minutes after we arrived and gave us a little tour. 

The boys picked out a toothbrush and a toothpaste flavor. They laid down and put on head phones while watching the cartoon of their choice.  I was in awe.  Gabriel calmed down and actually had a conversation, which is much better than his constant questions that come with his anxiety in new situations. 

Lane got to brush Nemo and Nemo's moms teeth.  

She took her job very seriously. 

Alex did great at his exam. He didn't like the flavored toothpaste at all though and needed it changed to something bland 

Gabriel was a trooper.  I was so proud of him! 

Lane did fine for her first dental visit. I forgot about her sensory issues and how easily she gags   Poor little girl had a tough time and started crying because she was gagging from the dental tools. She made it through, mostly because the staff and dentist were so patient and kind. They counted her princess teeth to make sure she is a princess. The dentist gave her two princess stickers and Lane was over the moon happy because "she never got two stickers from a doctor before."  

Appointments are set for February.   The best news? No cavities! 

EEG

A new journey with Gabriel began last October. He was suspended from school three times.  His behavior warranted the suspensions if he wasn't an atypical child. Even the school staff told me that the suspensions weren't appropriate for him because he was only acting out due  to anxiety/autism.  

I didn't matter what they said though because he sat at home with me for several days. The problem is that unlike a typical child, Gabriel won't understand to stop the behavior simply based on a suspension at school. It wouldn't matter if he sat in his room all day or went to the circus.  He wouldn't change his behavior because he wasn't at school.  Instead, he lost out on vital learning time and his anxiety grew. He couldn't transition well and it is the schools responsibility to figure why he is acting out and how to fix it.  The school failed to follow through and we ended up with a half day school situation. 

I made medical appointments to rule out anything causing his outbursts.  It took months to get into the child development center.  It was at this point that we learned about medication to lessen his outbursts and Gabriel was diagnosed with ADHD. We were referred to ABA (that hasn't started yet) and we got a referral to have an EEG completed in order to rule out seizure activity 

I have called for the EEG since January. I finally heard from Nemours yesterday regarding a neurologist and EEG appointment.  The scheduling person apologized for all of the problems but she set up the appointment immediately. 

I decided to allow Nemours to win me over. It's a brand new children's hospital 32 minutes from our home. That's if you know where you are going, which I did not today so it took longer to get there. 

I arrived and found out that Gabriel wasn't scheduled for an EEG.  ~sigh~ 

Nemours won me over. The neurologist made sure we got the EEG done and the staff was wonderful and full of patience. 

If I could only say that the EEG was as easy would be nice. Instead, Gabriel screamed, cried, and hit me.  He made himself vomit several times. 

I was surprised that even the Despicable Movie didn't distract him.  Another staff person took Lane and Alex out of the room because the tech thought they looked scared. Alex was mostly upset that he didn't get to do the EEG. 

Gabriel thought the wires were needles that the tech was going to stick into his head. We showed him the probes.  We took our time. We even tried to show him the process of the probes on Alex. It didn't matter. 

Shortly after the EEG was complete, Gabriel met Shamu.  If only Shamu had arrived 40 minutes earlier, it would have been a great distraction. He hugged Shamu and told him that he loved him. He also stared down Shamu's mouth and declared that a person was in there. 

Christmas 2012

I failed to write about our Christmas.  Since I wrote about our Christmas in July ornaments, I thought it would be a good time to look back at our holiday. It won't be long before the holidays approach again and three children will be a year older. 

Lane still loves her babies. She has been known to carry around triplets because she can't chose just one baby. Here she is in her new Snow White costume with a baby who had to be strapped in with her.  She wanted the baby to be safe on the way to our meal in Cocoa Beach. 

The kids made cards for their teachers. They made trees with green thumbprints.  I added a gift card to the card and a little snowman ornament that said "best teacher".  We also added glitter to look like shiny lights. 

The kids helped make reindeer nose treats for their classmates. 

We also assembled snowman soup to hand out to teachers and staff. It consisted of hot cocoa, marshmallows, chocolate, and a candy cane. I found free printables online. 

Here is the stash ready to go to the two schools 

Alex had a pajama day at school. I love how happy he is about the change in clothing 

Then there was our tree. It isn't anything fancy but I liked it a lot. I also like that we continue to get an ornament for every year we are married and they are placed on our tree by our children. 

The weather is perfect here for the playground during winter break. It was even a little warm this year. We will see what the holidays bring us in a mere five months.  

Christmas in July

The kids went to a Christmas in July craft event in our community. Seriously great - they provide the materials for free and clean up afterward.  I wish Alex hadn't complained about going but he seemed to have fun once I got him in the door.  It helped that I didn't allow a game player 

Alex insisted on mixing tons of colors and ended up with a very colorful ornament. 

Lane wanted to add a glittery smiley face to her painted ornament.  She was very particular about adding a forehead and curly red hair. 

I wonder why they have been talking about Santa this week?!!