Cookie Baking

Yesterday was our 3rd annual cookie baking day with Krisitna and the kids. I may have gone a little over board on the pictures, but I figure there should be adequate proof of our 8 hours of festive fun. We mothers have gotten a lot better at organizing this event over the years, but a house full of 10 kids excited can be a little overwhelming even for the best of us. All in all, a very fun day. Each kid got their own time with Mommy to keep things a little less harried; we did pretty well.

Phase 1: Cutting out the cookies

The girls were more patient so they came next. It's so fun to watch how different they all are. When Maggie was done with her turn, she took a break to entertain George who to his dismay was not allowed in the dough.

While the cookies were baking and cooling, the kids were distracted with a movie while us mommies cleaned and prepared for the next phase- frosting. This year we decided we deserved a little treat and traded our red mugs in for wine glasses and our new favorite wine. Boy did we need it- very smooth going down. Here's to us good friend.

Kristina introduce me to the oreo truffles, so I let her take the lead on these this year. Gabriella was a curious onlooker hoping she would get a little taste.

Phase 2: Frosting

The kids were all very creative. You should have heard all the chatter around the table. We mothers were happy to hear all the good manners.

Gabriella really showed off her independence this year. Every time I would come near her she would say "fine- away" which meant she was doing just fine so please leave. I held back the tears.

Final Phase: We quit- Merry Christmas!

Christmas Fun

With cold winter comes cabin fever, aka lots of ENERGY! The swing and trampoline have been getting a pretty good workout. The girls thought they would try it out together today. The laughter coming from the hallway was sweet music to my ears. George caught wind and had to join the fun too.

George is making lots of new faces now, especially when there's a camera. Squinting is part of his thing now.

The snow was falling and falling today, but it did not keep us from going to a Christmas party at church. The kids had a blast. There was games, face painting, lots of general silliness and of course Santa.

Gabriella wanted absolutely nothing to do with Santa, and everyone in the place knew it.

Our Goddaughter Rose even sat for Santa; she hardly batted an eye.

Pauly helped me wrap homemade caramels that Paul made. He loved it and was good at it.

You might be a homschooling family on a budget if...

... watching popcorn pop in the new popper is a source of education and entertainment.

Update on Pauly

Paul and I met with a team from the school on Tuesday to go over the results of all the checklists, observations and testing that have been done over the last 2 months. There was a school social worker, psychologist, speech specialist, special education teacher, autism consultant, and occupational therapist present.

I'll keep the results short and to the point since it was a 2 hour meeting. Bottom line is that he definitely meets the criteria for the academic diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and qualifies for Special Education services. Since he has no official medical diagnosis, they looked strictly and academics and his social skills. He is very intelligent and capable of learning which would put him on the high functioning end of the spectrum. They feel pretty strongly that he has Apsergers which makes sense considering his difficulties and anxieties with transitions, social situations, communication, and his intense emotions and behaviors.

We will meet with the team again the beginning of January to come up with and IEP-Individual Education Plan. We will continue to home school him and keep him primarily home with us, but we will devise a plan that will include special ed. services that will equip Pauly and us to cope with his challenges. I have also scheduled him to be fully evaluated by a psychologist, so we can get a clearer understanding of what we are dealing with.

We appreciate all the prayers and support; they most definitely have gotten us through some tough moments, and there may be more to come. I am no longer fearful and overwhelmed, but I am full of hope and relieved to finally have so many people understand my son and be so willing to help. We've been going it alone for long enough. God is so good, and is timing is absolutely perfect. I needed the time going it alone, so that I could really feel God's hand and hear His voice. I'm a bit thick headed sometimes, but I'm glad He keeps trying.

Please feel free to talk about this with us; we need our family and friends to really understand what's going on so that Pauly can be the most successful and happy little boy that he can be.

Picture catch up- St. Nicholas

As with most of my holiday stuff, I am behind in updating the blog of our festivities. I am chalking it up to my refusal to fall into the trap of the overrated hustle and bustle that gets us off track. I am focusing on hope these days; hope in what is to come- hope that God will work all things out in His timing., and I am focusing our many blessings, namely the kids. I pray you are all enjoying the season, and just in case I don't get to the cards- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; May you all be blessed!

Our new tradition of celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas was a little different this year because Daddy was on retreat; we had more of a St. Nicholas weekend. Dec. 6th we went to a St. Nicholas party at church; I would like to say it went off without a hitch, but I was flying solo, and it was a little overwhelming for Pauly which of course led to it being a little overwhelming for me, but we stuck it out. There was lots of kids, lots of noise and of course a visit from good St. Nick himself. To my surprise, the waterworks turned of at his entrance and Pauly wanted to sit on his lap-he really wants transformers something bad I guess. That night when we got home, I put the kids to bed, poured myself a drink and hung the stockings for the kids to find in the morning.

















Someday I hope to have a real mantle again to hang our stockings on, but for now we make do.
George wasn't sure what to make of all the excitement.















We had planned to wait until Daddy got home in the afternoon, but it was hard to see the stockings hanging there full and not see what was inside. It was fun. They enjoyed themselves.

Once Daddy got home, it was time to put up the tree which for us includes carrying a huge and heavy box up from downstairs. The kids were eager to help, sometimes too eager.








While we fluffed branches and assembles the tree, Pauly was the designated light checker. I hate putting lights up only to find out they don't work. He enjoyed the task and took it very seriously. He gave me the all clear, and I began to string the lights only to find out 2/3 of the way through that several strings now didn't work. SOOO frustrating. I even took lights of my garland, and they stopped working. Paul attempted to put new fuzzes in, but to no avail we could not get the once cooperative lights to glow. So we ended the night with a 2/3rds lit tree and a glass of wine.

Lest you think we left it this way, which I have to admit I was tempted, we did buy more lights and finish the last 1/3. I figured it might be a good therapeutic exercise in not being perfectionist, but Paul didn't agree and the kids gave me a funny look. Thanks to a generous gift from our neighbor, we got a new beautiful 7 foot tree, and by beautiful I mean so beautiful I'm tempted to leave it as is. I'm embracing the minimalist approach to decorating this year. The old tree got moved to the basement; sorry, an adventure not caught on film. Stay tuned for more pictures- hopefully in a timely manner.