I can't think of riding a camel without think of the painfully long and occasionally funny movie Ishtar. Really how often does one get to ride camels. Well today Dan & Sam each had the chance so we took it. I don't recall the camel riding from previous years and the boys both enjoyed. Our annual apple picking trek to Anderson & Girls turned out to be a lovely day. Perfect temperature. Fun ride into the orchard to pick apples. We finally got to see the pig races. They were so cute. My favorite was the slowest that had the goal in mind and ran as fast as they could but never made it to the prize as the others ate up before it got there. :( Then they raced pot belly pigs which was a hoot to watch them walk along like they were on parade. We of course came home with a lot of crispy apples, fresh cider and some doughnuts. We always enjoy this tradition with friends. Fun times!
Today was an exciting one for Sam.It was the much anticipated, long awaited, first day of cub scouts.Sam has wanted to have a shirt with patches, like his brothers, for years.Well the big day came.He loved it and his den leaders are pretty cool too.They used to be his primary teachers and Terrell plays Minecraft (that is very important to Sam and he tried to spend significant effort today trying to get me to play). You can see Sam doesn't have the full uniform and the shirt is pretty big. I'm determined he will not grow out of that so I don't have to do another shirt with patches until he turns 11.
Speaking of shirts with patches...Dan will head to his first boy scout 8 day encampment this weekend.I'm heading to the scout office tomorrow as I decided last minute that his shirt should be larger and I should get all his patches on. More on that in a future post. It will be very strange not having Dan around for an entire full week!
Sundays can be a real challenge for Sam.We attend church for 3 hrs. That is hard enough for adults let alone a kid who is on the autism spectrum and bothered by noise, crowds and who knows what depending on the moment.
The first meeting (sacrament & talks) is with everyone and is supposed to only last 1 hr 10 min.The remaining time he spends with the kids (primary) where half is spent in a class setting with kids his own age and the other half is spent with kids ages 3 - 8 learning songs and doing fun things as they learn more lessons about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I always ask what he would like to bring with him, that is quiet, to keep his hands busy for the first hour.Lately his response has been "I don't know, I will tell you when I get there".Sigh!Today on the way to church he found a roll of masking tape in my basket.It never left his hands. The end result was a solar system across the back of the bench in front of us.I had no clue that our 2nd grader knew the order of the planets, including asteroid belt, kuiper belt (and knows that Pluto is actually part of this) and then for this masking tape masterpiece he added stars at the furthest outer area.I helped hang some planets and he would correct me if I put it in the wrong spot.Some may think it was not the best thing to be doing during such a meeting.But hey, I was happy that he sat with us the entire time without having to "take a break".Thank goodness that cell phones have cameras now.Not the best pictures and they overlap some but I had to capture the impromptu project. Thanks Nick for taking the pics.
Some people have asked what the bright yellow sign on our front door is all about. (yes I know its crooked)
Last week on Wednesday it was a snow day.Before moving onto a new activity I wanted Sam to pick up some of his toys off my bed and his bedroom floor.At the time I was in the middle of working on something for the Mt Pleasant Discovery Museum. I knew just saying Sam clean up your toys would result in a meltdown because that task is not specific enough.Creativity can be important at this point.The first thought that came to my mind was “Sam I have this great idea, why don’t you take all of these creations you made with the kid connects and turn your bedroom into a museum!”Then I suggested that all of the pieces on his floor could be piled into like piles so that customers (probably a poor choice of words in hindsight) can easily locate the pieces they want to use to build new creations.He totally bought into it – IMMEDIATELY!I have never seen someone clean up so quickly.But he played for real.“Mom now we need signs – 2 of them, one for the front door (he placed this one and I don't want to ruin his careful placement) and one for my bedroom door”. Our front door now has a sign that reads “Sam’s Awesome Building Place of Fun”. I was the first “test” customer and later that night Dan’s friend became the first real customer.Sam decided though if Dan's friend had fun, his first visit was free (instead of 5 pennies).The next morning the first thing he said when he woke up was “did we have any customers?” I have also been told I need to work on coupons good for 4, 3, 2 or 1 penny off getting in.
I was in a seminar with his teacher the next day and I told her about Sam’s new venture.Two days later Sam had two more museum customers, his teacher Mrs Auker and her daughter.He was so excited to see them come to the house and I had fun observing.He is now considering a second exhibit with space in the basement…Hmmm what a creative kid.
I never thought I'd be working on two children's museums at the same time.
First day of school: I forgot to be sure that Sam had his glasses
Second day of school: Remembered the glasses and they were still on him, albeit quite dirty, when he got off the bus! But, still just so happy to see them!
Third day of school: Emptying backpack, realized he wasn’t wearing the glasses (or had his lunch box) when I saw the glasses in his outer pocket. OH are these his glasses they look different. Yup, no lenses (they were in the pocket too – just loose) and the frames, well they have seen better days…and worse. Although not sure both lenses have been popped out. It is hard to tell from the picture but the oval part of the frame is actually not true to its proper shape. Also if you look closely at the bridge one lense is pushed back further than the other.
Fourth day of school: Do I send the expensive pair of glasses on him or not…..?
UPDATE: Took glasses to WalMart today. They took one look at where the lenses are supposed to fit. You can't tell in a picture but in person - its really not true at all. He said "um WHAT HAPPENED?!" I simply pointed to Sam and said - who knows, I have heard three stories. I have seen them in worse condition but the lenses were still in tact. He pulled off a new pair of frames to match and simply replaced them under warranty! On a saturday afternoon I was in and out with a new pair of glasses, free in less than 15 min! I give WalMart a bad rap for MANY reasons. But honestly I didn't pay for a warranty, this is just their standard service. Darn you WalMart, you are making me have to appreciate you - but thanks! Ahh, next week its back to Pearle to get his first pair refitted so they are backup. They were lots more expensive and so we don't use them as much. But the warranty I have on those were well worth it as well. I have lost track of how many times we have had both pairs repaired so far this year.
I decided to document a days worth of gems from Sam.He comes up with so many off the wall comments. Actually I know I missed some as the idea to keep track of them occurred part way through yesterday. I’m still laughing about the last one and will for a VERY long time.Although I must say, what an ingenious idea!I hope he figures out how to make it happen and then keeps it a family secret.
Mom, mom I'm going to tell you the number between 5 and 6.DERF!
Someday when I grow up I'm going to make a Cheerio sandwich.It will have salami and eggs too!
Hey, don’t you wish you could have a scoop of ice cream as big as this?He was pointing to the 9" white balloon he was playing with.
Mom, I made a new website today called nowork dot com slash robots, you gotta check it out.It will show you what types of robots can do all your work so you can get enough sleep!
Mom, mom do you ever wish you farted money?
OK this just in: Dad, some day when I grow up we are going to make chocolate cheese together, out of chocolate milk!
NOTE: This was actually written 5 days ago. It is taking me way to long to fit in some fun time for blogging or much Facebook but life is still good.
This morning was quite productive. I was focused, staying on tasks until completion rather than my regular routine of starting something only to noticed something else and then something else. . .until I finally make it back to the original task a few hours later. Well I should say I was focused until it came time to put away the dishes. I opened a cupboard that has been an eyesore for a while. As I started to pull out the bags that were shoved into various corners I was amazed at what I found. I found bags of leftover Halloween candy, Christmas candy and Valentines candy. Why was I considering purchasing some Easter candy with the coupons I clipped this morning? The existing bags of candy have obviously not been a draw for me and the kids have clearly forgotten about it, thank goodness. [ok so I forgot to move it off the kitchen table, from the photo shoot, before they got home so that is outdated - they were like "WHAT IS THIS!!!!!!!!]
I never remember having leftover candy as a kid other than the gross stuff and then you usually traded it with someone else. If I tossed it I’m sure I would have buried it and felt terribly guilty for being wasteful. So, I would LOVE to know what happens in other’s homes with holiday candy. Does it actually all get eaten up? Does it get thrown away? Donated to a class? I have tossed bags like this in previous years but I’m looking at this stash and thinking. . .I can’t toss this it’s wasteful. But I have no desire to have it around. ALL of us will be much better off not having it. There is TOO MUCH!!! What an absolute waste of money. If I had a dime for each piece of untouched candy I could pay for several individual Founding Memberships for the Mt Pleasant Discovery Museum.
So this is when candy becomes a problem, when it sits around for months untouched creating a waste. I need a candy recycler who will turn it into cash for me! Anyone?
My regular routine, if you can call it that, has been slightly altered the past few weeks.Nick and I became aware last fall of a children’s museum in the works here in Mt Pleasant.This was an extremely exciting thing because this is something that I spent the first year living here (2007) dreaming about, doing some research and finding out what it would take to start one.I determined that although a great idea and I knew this area would be a perfect location, it was WAY too much work for me to start on my own.I tucked the idea away and every time we passed an old building in need of help or vacant space I would say, now THAT would make a great place for a museum.
So last fall when I learned that a friend from church was involved with a group that was making progress on the same basic idea (only much more creative than I even envisioned) I indicated a willingness to help.They were in need of someone who could advise them on some technology and get a basic website going.Nick and I came as a package deal.What part I lack in Nick has the expertise.What little part he lacks I am there to fill in.
A community meeting was planned for February 25th creating an automatic deadline for much of what needed to be done.We mostly put the website together in the last 2 weeks before the meeting.OK so its not the fanciest site in the world but truly a miracle that it came together. I also became involved in helping with formatting some documents and getting some forms put together.The culmination of so many hours/months and almost a full year of work from the board and our additional help turned out to all be good.It has been very exciting to be a part of something like this.I guess the long hours of assisting the board made them decide to vote me on the board.I couldn’t resist saying yes to the idea since I have had some strong feelings about the need for something like this in the area.I feel so lucky to be a part of the group as the original four board members are each very talented and together they make a great team.
Other help that has come to pull things together so far is a great artist and instructor here at CMU (Jonathon Russell) who designed the logos to be used. The cool thing is the silhouettes used in the artwork are actually some of the children from three of the board members, so they all have names.We have an attorney on the board as legal advisor and is helping with all the paperwork, getting nonprofit status etc.There is also a CMU student on the board who is the grants coordinator.She is putting together the first wave of grants to try and obtain funding that way.
Our meeting on the Feb 25th generated some amazing support with volunteer services offered in so many helpful areas!If you are on Facebook you can see the list here.We all feel like this is really meant to be.It would be a huge boost to the community and be a bright spot for children to learn hands on in a fun environment with their family.
I could write so much about this but I invite you to check out the website:mpdiscoverymuseum.org.It’s not fancy but it serves the purpose for now.Someday I envision that our original website will go away and be replaced with something bigger, better and interactive (and done by someone with more expertise).So if anyone has noticed my lack of blogging, email or Facebook activity the last couple of weeks it is because I have fully jumped into this project, working hard to help make progress.
If you would like to see a slideshow of some pictures from our community meeting click here.
