Growing up!

So today my baby girl turned 7 years old! I cannot believe my youngest is so big now. She is so sweet, loves to be the center of attention, outgoing, and very strong willed! She is turning into such an amazing little person! The new movie The Princess and the frog came out just in time for her birthday this year and she is so excited. The first thing she said when she say the previews for it was THAT PRINCESS IS BLACK LIKE ME!! FINALLY!! She is so cute!

Giveaway!

There is the prettiest fabric and pattern giveaway! I will post the link, you should check it out!!
http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/2009/12/time-for-another-giveaway.html

I finished something!

I finally have a completed project! I have started a lot of quilts, I have 11 tops pieced and a have a few more to go, but I decided I better do something on a small scale to make sure I could figure out how to machine quilt. So I used some scraps of some of the quilts and made a doll quilt for my cute little niece Hannah. I pieced it, made the sandwich, quilted it!!!, and binded it all today! Of course it is pretty small, but I figured it out and I am so excited about it! The rest of my projects don't seem nearly as daunting as they did a few hours ago! I will post pics soon!

LIFE!!!

I cannot find the charger for my camera so I cannot post the pics of the quilts yet but as soon as I find it, I will post pics! I went a little crazy and decided to make quilts for all the kids for Christmas this year. Not just my kids....my nieces and nephews as well! I really hope I get them all done! And I hope my sewing machine can handle it! It looks like I will need a new sewing machine before I take on anymore sewing projects.

My son Austin is really struggling right now and I feel so inadequate. Autism is such an unpredictable disorder. I am so blessed to have people in my life that support me, and can help me in my quest for answers. Austin's school is trying to find answers and accommodations while we work through all the red tape to get him into an autistic unit. For the first time thus far, I feel like everyone is working together with Austins best interests in mind. I do not know what I would have done without all the support from my family and friends and my Heavenly Father. And although there are no real answers, just having a plan in place, that we are all working towards, is such a phenomenal feeling! I have complete faith that things will work out, it wont be easy, and I know I will get frustrated and upset at times, but I know that as long as we are doing our part, Heavenly Father will help guide us.

So I am back again......

I can not believe how long it has been since I checked my blog! Haha, I really need to update this more often. I am going to try to post at least once a week but I guess we will see! Things have been crazy busy for our family but we are surviving! I love my job and school and I am finally starting to figure out how to manage both with a family! Woot woo for me!

Austin is really struggling right now, particularly at school. We have been trying to get him into an autistic classroom but because his academics are so high, we are having problems with that. For now his teacher and the principal are taking very careful notes to add to his file. On a good note, the teacher I work for was put on Austins file so she has been able to really help with ideas on how to help him function in a regular ed classroom.

Jesse's seizures are pretty under control for him! I don't think he has done this well in a very long time. He will need surgery this summer again but hopefully the recovery will be easier than last time. He is catching up in school as he has been able to be there the majority of the school year thus far!!

Everyone else is doing pretty great over all!! I find myself counting my blessings quite a bit lately. I have so much to be grateful for. Jay and I both have great jobs, we have our home, cars, and basic needs met! Our kids are good kids and love us, we have been married for 15 years and still hold hands and love to be around each other.....the list could go on and on. I love my life and the people in it!!

I have decided that I need to start doing my crafts again. Since I started working and going to school, I really have not done anything crafty and I miss it! One of the kids in my classes mom has inspired me to start quilting again! I can't wait until this weekend because I am going to get started!! Wish me luck! I will post pics when I finish something!

Basket Ball Games!

So this week we have had three basket ball games and one more to go. Jay's Harley team has lost both of their games this week but have had a lot of fun. Deynna's team won their game this week and Deynna scored 18 points! She is such a ball player, she also has a black eye from her game! She plays her heart out when she plays. Last week, Jesse played in his first game of the season and his team won by forfeit. They still played though for fun and Jesse was able to play for about 5 minutes of the game! It really is a blessing that Jay is the coach for the Young mens team so he can monitor how well Jess is doing and how much he can handle. We still have Jays ward game tonight and the kids are very upset that they have to miss it, it starts at 10:00pm so.....

In other news, Austin got into a fist fight at school yesterday and Jay had to go to the principals office to have a meeting about it. This is the first time Austin has fought at school and we came down hard on him. He was being taunted so he felt justified. For those of you who do not know, Austin was born with fetal alcohol effect and he is also PDD, ADD, and bipolar. He is in second grade and has really tried hard to hold it together at school up to this point. Jay and I have decided it is time to switch doctors to one that specializes in more complex disorders. I know there has to be an answer somewhere, and we will keep on searching until we find it. On a whole Austin has been doing so much better. We started using the charts again for chores and responsibilities, which has helped tremendously, as well as a huge white board calender so he knows exactly what is going on each day with the family. Again, this makes a huge difference at home. I am hoping his new doctor will help guide us with information on how to rewrite Austins 504 plan at school to better help him with his unique situation. I will keep you posted on what we find out.

To end on a happy note, I love my new job! It is so rewarding to work with children with disabilites. I have decided that when I start my Masters program, I will not just go into Special Education, I will go into Special Education with the emphasis on the severly disabled. I love that I am able to take the training I am recieving in class, and apply it at home with my own children. It has been an amazing blessing for our family.

Through great trials come great blessings and I have to continue to remind myself of this as I tackle this latest issue with my son. I know, through faith, anything is possible.

Three weeks today!!

I cannot believe it has already been three weeks! My garden starts are doing amazing and I have started some flowers as well. For family night this week my mother taught a lesson based around the children's song Little Purple Pansy. For the activity we all planted pansy seeds. The kids had so much fun and cannot wait for their flowers to grow. I am also going to start some different herbs this weekend. As you can see the corn is out of control. I do not think I will be able to keep it alive until it is time to plant outside, but I will try. Next year I will start it inside about three weeks before I want to plant it! I am learning so much by growing everything inside. My tomato plants are doing so good. They are about 3 inches high now and their stems are very thick. They have multiple leaves as well. I plan on letting the kids sell all the extra starts in the spring so they are very excited and helpful! They are all saving up for something so this will be great for them. I will have at least 200 starts for them to sell I think. HAHA, I have no idea where we are going to put everything as they get bigger but we will find a place. My kids are keeping a journal about the plants, and are writing down all the things that happen each week. This have turned into a wonderful experience for everyone.







I just started a job this week as a para educator II in an autistic unit at an elementary school. I love it! I am learning so much and it is only 2 hours and 40 minutes a day so I am home when the kids are! As Special education is what my degree will be in, this is a great stepping stone for me. One of the little boys in my class is deaf so I am learning sign language. My family wanted to learn as well so every night before scriptures and prayer, I teach them 3 or 4 new signs. It has been less than a week and we already know quite a few words!

Jesse has been having a hard week. His absent seizures are more frequent but he still has not had a convulsent seizure. So we are counting our blessings and taking it one day at a time. He has only missed half a day of school this week which is great!

Deynna and Jay have been playing basket ball on their teams for the last few weeks and are loving it. Jesse has his first game this weekend and is very excited about it. It seems like we are living on the basketball court! It is great seeing everyone having so much fun.

I have about an hour to take a shower and get ready for work so......