My Ephiany

 On an October day I parked my car in front of the high school and as I waited for my son who would have conferences the next day I observed the following 

Approximately nine yellow school buses were parked in front and they were being loaded by high school juniors and seniors decked out in Halloween costumes some of these kids clearly had down syndrome some of these kids were in wheelchairs some of these kids were most likely blind because they had seeing devices and some of them were an unidentifiable disability to me as having disabilities. Clearly this was a gathering of specially abled children there were many adults near the children some of the adults or actually guiding the children and following them to the destination. Some children were more independent and could walk and talk and get on the bus all by themselves most of them were independent thinkers and independent doers I did not see a lot of interaction between peers as I have witnessed other high school students. But there was a lot of smiles and happiness and costume shares as I saw snow white Darth Vader superman Pinocchio peter pan a police officer a sheriff a princess a B and many other recognizable characters for Halloween

This is when I had my epiphany

Clearly each of the students had an IEP and we're under the guidance in care of special-education teachers just like my son Carson.

CAPS

ACTION FIGURES. Independent. Focused persistent. Alone  child-like

Other projects: collaborative. Mature. Adult concepts effective. Creative. Group effort. 

Am I the problem? 

Halloween "Themed" Costumes

Parents work diligently to build strong sibling relationships while their children are in the home with the hopes of those bonds continuing into adulthood. With only 5 years in which to create a "complete" family bond, we were vigilant (sometimes obsessed) in providing circumstances to connect. Thus, Halloween family "themed" costumes began in our youngest's 1st year. One of our favorite family movies---Napoleon Dynamite--started us off. 

Labor and Delivery: should it be a "family affair?"

"The Animals," referred to in my title, appear in this epic picture. March 3, 2005--the best thing about this day for the 3 "monkeys" was missing school and eating Wendy's hamburgers for lunch!


For their parents, it was welcoming their fourth child and ONLY daughter. For me, it was realizing that I would NEVER have to have this experience again!
Our family was complete on this day!


For readers, this picture might cause you to ask, "What were they thinking?"

Revising an old space

Several years ago, my oldest marked his homework spot and was NEVER convinced that he should choose a different spot!

T   H   E         D   I   N   I   N   G      R   O   O   M

Amongst all the paper, pencils, books, fancy dishes, and silverware, he managed to perform well enough in this spot to get into college.

Reynolds Aluminum Foil works wonders for home-made Halloween Costumes

What can you make with Reynolds Aluminum Foil, cardboard boxes, brown-paper lunch bags, paper grocery bags, and some colored spray paint?

Well, you can make two young boys very happy on Halloween! Robots, dragons and knights appear in this video--all costumes made out of household items. Amazingly, the durability of these outfits lasted for many years and captured the imaginations of many playmates of my boys.

Two and a half years separates these curious brothers and the interaction between them in this video shockingly defined their relationship, even into their adolescent years.

So if you want to get a glimpse into the future of your toddler, turn on the video camera and let it roll!




I am linking this post at Serenity Now!

Tweens making friends

12-year-old boys are in a precarious state during middle school. I had to learn this from my son the hard way--in his writings. Surprisingly, he was one of two children who read their paragraphs in front of the class--both were on difficulties making friends!

Halloween: a time for togetherness!

With only 4 Halloween's together as a complete family unit, we were compelled to make them memorable! 

(so we chose to "torture" the children)

Any guesses as to our method?

Reclaiming our families

"The most important of the Lord's work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of your own home."       Religious leader Harold B. Lee       Over the next two years, my husband and I will teach a 10-week Marriage and Family relations course to 6-8 married couples from our church congregation. (That equates to over 8 sessions and over 80 lessons.) The course is designed by our faith leaders and not only includes scriptures, but powerful stories and quotes from successful couples. Personal integration and discussion is a large part of the class.

One wonders if our 25-year-marriage qualifies us to instruct participants on this topic

.....or.....

Extreme Planking

plank·ing/ˈplaNGkiNG/Noun

          1. Planks collectively, esp. when used for flooring or as part of a boat.


2. The act or process of laying planks.


The art of planking is to lay horizontally across any object or the ground with their arms by their sides, aiming to occur in daring situations or a brotherly display of core-strength..

It all Began HERE:

with our cool Aunt Christina!

So we set out to have our own fun on the set of Extreme Home Make-over

---MidWest style---

They teach it at Stanford

A recent Stanford lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman,

whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

 Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."