Easter Decor I Should've Made

Let me just start off  by saying that I had very good intentions of decorating for Easter.  I really did.  You see, I am not a good multi-tasker.  There I said it.  I am more of start one thing, finish it, start another thing kind of girl.  Because of this, I was focused on vacation and Spring Break.  Since Spring Break, I have been dealing with stuff at school, working at school, getting ready for Benchmark tests, IEP meetings at school, field trips, etc.  I haven't had any spare time to get ANY Easter decor going. 

I thought having all the kids in school would free up so much time to be crafty, blog more, have some "me" time, etc.  Well, it seems the opposite thing happened.  I work several days a week and spend the rest of my time desperately trying to play catch up.  That leaves very little time to be crafty, work out (hence the size of my rear end), or blog.  I hate that.  There just aren't enough hours in the day.

So, because I didn't get much cute Easter stuff done, I decided to make a list, with photos, of the stuff I would have done had I had the time.  I would like to start out with the ONE Easter crafty something from last year that I put back out this year. 

My Hanging Burlap Carrots

Yep, that's pretty much all of my Easter decor.  So, this is what I wish I would have made:

Isn't that cute?  I found it on Pinterest, but it wouldn't take me to a link and I couldn't make out the link on the bottom.  If it's yours, let me know.  I'd love to give you credit.

CUTE!  Also found this on Pinterest, but the link took me to some weight loss website.  RUDE!  Think someone is trying to tell me something? 

Aren't these decopauged eggs cute???  Love them.  These were made by Brown Paper Packages.  You can find the how-to post here.

My friend Debbie at Words on Wheels gave the decopauge eggs a try.  Hers are super cute. 

See her blog post here.

I probably would've ended up tossing them across the room in frustration though.  I don't have much patience when stuff is sticking to my fingers.  ugh! 

One more thing that I just love is this He Is Risen cross.  It was made by Lauren at Crafty Couture and it is just PRECIOUS!  Polka dots, burlap and the words "He is Risen".  It just doesn't get any better than that!

Isn't that the cutest???  You can find Lauren's blog here.

Well, I guess that's about it for the shoulda, coulda, woulda Easter blog post.  I hate I didn't get much done in the way of decor, but at least I finished E's Easter dress.  It's made out of this:

Have a great Easter weekend!

Samantha Brick Controversy

So, this morning on the Today show, there was a story of a woman who complained about how hard her life is because she is "so beautiful". Have you heard this story? Her name is Samantha Brick and is a columnist in Great Britain, I believe. This is a link to her article entitled 'There are downsides to looking this pretty': Why women hate me for being beautiful". Let's take a break while you go read it. Seriously...you will NOT believe the things she wrote. This is how the article starts.

Wanna hear what else she says?

"Take last week, out walking the dogs a neighbour passed by in her car. I waved — she blatantly blanked me. Yet this is someone whose sons have stayed at my house, and who has been welcomed into my home on countless occasions.  I approached a mutual friend and discreetly enquired if I’d made a faux pas. It seems the only crime I’ve committed is not leaving the house with a bag over my head.She doesn’t like me, I discovered, because she views me as a threat. The friend pointed out she is shorter, heavier and older than me."

Wow!  Really? So, are you curious to see what this self-proclaimed beauty looks like?

Google Images

So, while I do think she is somewhat attractive, I wouldn't say she's above average in the beauty department.  Here she is a video from ABC this morning.





She states in the video that the firestorm proves that her beauty is a problem.  While I do know that women can be very judgemental and just plain mean to women they preceive as a threat, I do think that the reason she probably is not liked by women is that she is unbelievably conceited.  I am sure that rubs most women the wrong way.  It does me.  Again, while I do think she is attractive, I do not feel that she is so stunningly beautiful that women would hate her because of it. 

So, what do you think?  Do you think women would hate her for her beauty or do you think it is her attitude? 

AUTISM SIGNS

 

April is Autism Awareness Month and April 2nd is World Autism Day. (I know this may sound boring, but PLEASE read on anyway). This month organizations around the world will be organizing events to spread the word about autism. Currently, 1 out of every 91 children will be diagnosed with autism. I, as a mother of an autistic child, urge you to read this post and pass it along to anybody you think may need this information.

My son, "L", is autistic. As a toddler, he was healthy and sweet and meeting all of his developmental goals. I was about six months pregnant with our daughter "E" when I noticed "L" was not talking as much as he used to. He had been putting two words together (bye-bye-dada) but slowly those words disappeared. This didn't happen overnight. He was a happy, very loving little boy so I didn't worry too much about it. Our older son "J" didn't talk much at all until he was four (neither did my Hubby).


After our daughter "E" was born, I noticed he didn't seem to like her that much, or even notice her. He didn't seem curious about her, although he did like her toys. I would catch him with his face up to the TV looking out of the corner of his eyes. Weird. I noticed that he seemed to pace or wander around the house instead of being really involved in playing. He had once been a great eater, but I noticed he would only eat certain things now - not that unusual for a 2-3 year old. I noticed he looked at his hands a lot. He would hold them up and look at his palms and then flip it over and look at the top of his hand. He walked on his tip toes. He liked to sleep in the crack between his mattress and the wall. He would wake up in the middle of the night and fuss for an hour or so before FINALLY going back to sleep. He played with his toys, but didn't play with his brothers and sisters. He played "beside" them, not "with" them. He was a happy, giggling, VERY AFFECTIONATE little guy. He would sit and rock with me for as long as I could sit. I had several people ask me about his language delay (friends and relatives) and suggest that I should have him tested for autism, but that sounded ridiculous to me.


I based my opinion of autism on a movie I saw about autism in the 80's. There was a kid who would sit in the corner, spin plates, flap his hands, rock back and forth and never speak or give eye contact and he would not let anyone touch him. MY KID IS NOTHING LIKE THAT KID! Well, I was right about that. I thought autistic kids were all like that. I thought they all flapped their hands and didn't like to be touched and would shy away and stay locked in their own little worlds. My kid was constantly hugging me. He didn't flap his hands or spin the wheels on his cars, etc.


After some research I discovered that my information on autism was WRONG! Autistic kids have sensory processing issues. One of "L"'s issues is that he can't feel his body in space. It's like his nerves don't tell his brain where his arm is. Therefore, he needs that pressure (from a hug or tight space) on his body to be able to "feel" his body. He also has some sensory issues with his eyes (hence the TV watching against the screen and out of the corner of his eye). Tip toe walking is another big red flag that I was totally unaware of. He also has texture issues. He doesn't like to touch slimy stuff (finger paint, etc.). He doesn't like to eat mushy stuff (mashed potatoes). Sleeping issues are also very common in autistic children.


My fear is that someone out there may be holding off on testing their child because they don't know some of the signs or out of fear. The media is not always forthcoming with signs and symptoms for autism. They rarely mention anything about the sensory issues. I just want people to be aware that not all autistic kids flap their hands and don't like to be touched. If you have met one autistic child, you have met one autistic child. Each is VERY different according to his or her own sensory disorder and/or personality.

If your child is diagnosed with autism, there are many options for therapy, but the younger they are, the better. "L" was diagnosed at 3 years and 4 months old. I WISH I had listened to my friends and relatives that suggested I have him tested a full year earlier. He is now in Kindergarten and in a special class for kids with developmental problems. He has wonderful therapists and teachers, nutritionists, etc. and I am proud to say that he is making great progress. When "L" was first diagnosed with autism, we were told he would "never go to college, never say I love you, and possibly never speak, never get married and have a family", etc. This was completely devastating to me. He has been in therapy for 4 1/2 years and is making great progress. Nobody knows what your child can do. I now hear "I love you" twenty times a day. While he doesn't speak in a normal conversation, he does convey his wants and needs and has made amazing strides. We are very happy with his progress. Anything is possible.

"L" is the light of my life. He is loud and is annoying at times, but his little smile makes even the crappiest day better. He is smart and he gives the best hugs and kisses ever. He has a sweet little giggle and a sense of humor.

Please pass this on to anyone you think may need this info and feel free to contact me (not that I have all the answers, but I am always willing to share what I do know). Below are several websites for more information on autism spectrum disorders.

Autism Speaks

Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)

Also, if you have a newly diagnosed child with autism or know somebody who does, I HIGHLY suggest reading this book.

You can get it on Amazon for less than $10. It's a super easy read (I finished it in a couple of hours) and is very informative about sensory disorders. We bought one for everyone in our family.

Port Aransas, Texas

My favorite beach picture

So, the last leg of our vacation was all about the beach.  My family went to Florida a lot when I was a kid and we've also been to Gulf Shores, Alabama a lot, but since we were already in Texas, we decided to hit the Texas beach.  We scoured the internet for which Texas beach was the best without too much distance.  We settled on Port Aransas.  It's just south of Corpus Christi, Texas.  I found a wonderful 3 bedroom condo at the Sandpiper.  Their website listed which units were available and had a virtual tour of every unit, which is important since you are actually renting from the condo owner.  We picked out particular unit because it had been remodeled in the fall. 

I didn't take many pictures, but here is one of the bathroom. 

and the master bedroom

view from the balcony

Now, on to the beach pictures:

walkway from the condo to the beach

cactus on the beach

Awww, sweet Hubby!

Mom and Dad on the beach

L loved the water

sand castle

My two mermaids

J feeding the seagulls

seagull

We also happened to be at the beach for J's birthday so here is a shot of his favorite present:

Mario, of course.

We had a wonderful time at the beach.  It was still a little chilly, but it was GREAT!  I'm so thankful that my family had this time together, especially with grandparents!

Okay, I'm all done with vacation photos.  Next week, I promise to move on to something else. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

San Antonio Riverwalk

Now for my favorite part of vacation, the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Have you been there?  After a long soaking day at Sea World, we ran back to the hotel and changed clothesc cleaned up and set off to the River Walk.  You see, the weather was supposed to get bad that night - severe thunderstorms - so we figured we would go eat at The Riverwalk just in case the weather was too bad the next day. 

We parked downtown.  I had seen so many pictures of The Riverwalk, and especially of the restaurants with the colorful umbrellas.  This is Casa Rio. 

Y'all know I love me some Mexican food, right?  This place was amazing!  Best Mexican food EVER!  We sat under the bridge you can see on the right side of the photo.  C fed the ducks the whole time we were eating, the river boats floated by, the kids were well behaved, it was wonderful!  Then, it started to rain just as we were finishing.  We paid and walked as fast as we could to the car, which luckily was only a block away.  By the time we drove the 8 miles back to the hotel, it was hailing.  We had crazy bad thunderstorms and were under a tornado watch for several hours.  Luckily the tornado that hit Bexar County that night, missed our hotel. 

The next morning, the weather had cleared and we went back to the River Walk.  I was so excited to be able to ride in the river boats and take the tour of the historic river.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

Casa Rio from the river boat

Did you know that San Antonio was settled by mostly Mexican and German?  Really?  German?  I had no idea.  That church in the background is German, I think. 

This is a stage on the river where they have concerts.  The audience sits on stone bleachers on the other side of the river.  Cool, huh? 

This is a tiny island in the river.  It's not much bigger than my van.  We were told that it's supposed to be good luck to get married here under that big old cypress tree.  They have around 350 weddings here a year.  WOW!  That's a lot of weddings!

Ben Milam cypress tree, the largest and oldest on the Riverwalk.  Texas soldier rallied troops to fight against the Mexican army and was shot by a sniper that was in this tree.  You can read more about it here. 

Isn't that pretty?  Know what I loved the most?  All the cute little restaurants all along the Riverwalk.  Saltgrass Steakhouse, Chili's, Rainforest Cafe, etc., all lined up along the river.  There was so much more character than the stand alone restaurants around here.  So, so pretty.  Hubby thought it was funny that I was so excited about the restaurants.  What can I say?  I love food and I've got the backside to prove it.

This is our River Guide, Alejandro.  He was awesome.

So, you wanna see the Alamo?  Yeah, me too.  I didn't realize that it was just smack dab in the middle of town and there wouldn't be much parking.  We had already loaded the car when we headed to the Alamo. 

So, we drove by.  I refused to pay another $10 for parking AGAIN.  So, we headed to the beach.  I'll show you those pictures tomorrow.  They are my favorite pictures from the trip. 

Happy Wednesday bloggy friends!

Vacation, Part 1 (Photo Heavy)

So, Spring Break is over, but I can honestly say that this is the best Spring Break I've had in a very long time!  I know my kiddos needed a break from school, but for the first time in twenty-something years, so did I! 

We haven't had a family vacation in eight years, which was two kids ago.  I have friends that travel constantly, but we just never seem to have the money to travel.  This year I told Hubby it was my top priority to take the kids on vacation.  I have such fond memories of family vacations and it broke my heart that my kids didn't have those memories.  So, we decided it would be more budget friendly to go on Spring Break instead of going during the summer months, not to mention less crowded and cooler. 

Because J loves sharks, dolphins and marine life in general, we decided Sea World in San Antonio would be the ideal place to take him.  L, loves to play in the sand and loves to be in the water so we decided the second leg of our trip had to be the beach.  Because L is autistic and therefore, very unpredictable, my awesome parents volunteered to go with us just in case he freaked out or had a major meltdown. 

The kiddos in the van, all packed up and ready to go. 

We were in the car about eleven hours the first day.  We hit traffic in Waco and moved at a snail's pace for an hour and a half.  UGH!  We finally arrived in San Antonio about 7:30, five minutes behind my parents.  What a relief!

After a good night's sleep, we got up and headed for Sea World.  I hadn't been to Sea World since I was about ten years old so I was just as excited as the kids.  When we arrived it was very cloudy and there was a chance of rain.  Guess what I didn't bring on vacation?  Jackets.  So, were a little chilly.  First things first, the shows. 

Sea Lion Show

Shamu Killer Whale Show

Beluga Whale and Dolphin Show

The Beluga Whale and Dolphin Show had technical difficulties so the cancelled the show after a few minutes.  Hubby was very disappointed.  The rest of us were ready to get to the rides.  E insisted on riding the kids rides first. 

Let's take a closer look at that, shall we?

Yep, that's C, holding on for dear life......on the kiddee ride. 

J was so excited to have his picture taken. 

After a quick lunch, we were off to our favorite ride, Atlantis.  E was especially excited.  Everybody loved it, except for the boys.  They didn't want to ride so they waited at the bottom.

 

They were soaked, but absolutely loved it!  After this we had twenty minutes to take J to see the sharks.  He had been begging and pleading and bugging the crap out of us waiting patiently all day to see them. 

Cool, huh?  Unfortunately they had already closed the building and they opened it up just for us to run through, and I do mean run.  My mom and E had stopped to buy a giant lollipop so they missed the sharks completely. 

So, that was Sea World.  Later in the week I'll share my favorite part of our trip. 

Do y'all kind of feel like you've been invited over to your neighbors to look at their boring vacation pictures or slide show?  Sorry about that.  It won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to look. 

Later bloggy friends!

Spring Randomness

Man, it's been a crazy last few weeks.  This is the first week in six weeks that I haven't had at least one person sick.  We have passed around strep and a virus and E contributed an ear infection to the mix.  L thought he would be different and throw in a little Hand, Foot, Mouth Coxsackie virus.  UGH!  I am SICK of being SICK!  I am tried of trips to the doctor and strips to the pharmacy.  I am ready for a break!  Luckily Spring Break is next week.  WOO HOO!  So excited to have a break for those sweet germy kids at school! 

I did manage to get an outfit made for a friend of mine for her little girl's birthday party.  She sent me this picture of a party table she found on Pinterest. 

Isn't that pretty?  Love it!  You can find the original picture here at Kara's Party Ideas.  Anyway, the colors for the party are aqua and pink (LOVE!).  I sent her some fabric ideas and this is what we came up with.

Oh, how I love the dots!  This fabric line is adorable.  It's Children at Play by Michael Miller.  So stinkin' cute! 

So, in other news, my oldest artsy crafsy child was entered in a Youth Art Show by her art teacher.  Unfortunately, she didn't win, but I still couldn't be more proud. 

See all of those little dots?  She used a whole punch to punch out the dots and glued them all on.  It took her FOREVER!

What else is going on?  It seems winter just pretty much skipped us altogether.  It was 80 degrees here yesterday.  WOW!  I cannot even imagine how bad the mosquitos are going to be this year.  And in other crappy spring news, I'm still fat.  Gosh, I hate that!  I've been too busy to even make it to the gym the past few weeks.  I have been watching what I eat.  Unfortunately, I've been watching myself eat pizza and cheese dip and tacos.  So not good for my backside.  I've got to get back on Livestrong.....right after Spring Break.  I deserve an award for The Best Procrastinator.  I think I need some fashion inspiration.  I'm sure that would help.

Happy Thursday, bloggy friends!!!