Cooking With Connor

Connor is taking Home Ec this year.  He had to plan and prepare a dinner with limited help, just supervision. He made Artichoke Chicken with Capers, baked potatoes, apple pumpkin muffins, jello, and fresh cantaloupe.  He did it on a Sunday afternoon and it was delicious.

This is Cayden with his Occupational Therapist, Matt.  We try and see him once a week but it is hard because it is in St. George.  Matt helps with buttons and zippers, and shoe laces, which are some of the fine motor skills that Cayden struggles with.  He also has Cayden climb a climbing wall, climb up a jungle gym, slide down a small ramp on a rolling board and swing on a big swing that goes around in all directions.  Those things are to help him with the sensory processing problems that he has.  You can hear Cayden screaming/laughing all the way down the hall when he is on the swing.  He loves/hates it!  Matt is really good with him and very patient.  Thank goodness the insurance pays 80% of this because they bill in 15 minute increments of $65 each.  OUCH!  We are seeing some small improvements so it is worth it.

Remind Me To Remember

---September 20, 2010
 Don said to the kids "I have to go to Kansas City this week."
Cayden said " Will you bring me an autograph?"
Don said "From who?"
Cayden said "From Dorothy and the Wizard."
Don said "I'll check on that for you."

Sometime in October after Cayden came home from school.  He sits on the couch and says
"Dad, can we go for a drive?"
Don said "Where do you want to go for a drive to?"
Cayden said "To Vegas"
Don said "Why?"
Cayden said "So I can nap."

Cayden informed me after church a few weeks ago that there would not be a primary program this year.  I asked him why and he said just because.  I told him that I knew that there would be a program.  He asked me how I knew and I told him that there is always a primary program.  He again said how do you know.  I told him that Sister Keller (she is the Primary President) was my friend and that I knew there was a primary program.  He said "well I will just sit with my family or lead the music."  Nice try buddy.

Connor had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting on September 27.  He asked his dad how many people would be at church.  Don told him about 200.  Connor said "That's no big deal.  Now if it were a thousand....."

Baskets of Bounty

We have been participating in the Bountiful Baskets co-op the last few months.  Every other week I order a basket online and then I go up to the elementary school on Saturday morning and pick it up.  It is a co-op where everyone pays the same amount, $15, and gets the same amount of fruits and vegetables.  We usually end up getting $40-$50 dollars worth of produce.  The participants are asked to come and volunteer atleast once a month.  Volunteering means helping unload the trucks and distributing the produce to the baskets.  I have been volunteering quite a bit and now I am in charge of the distribution once a month.  I get a free basket out of it so what the heck.  We have been eating so many more fruits and vegetables than we really ever have.  I never know what we are going to get but once we have the produce I try and make menus and figure out ways to use it all.  We always get bananas and grapes and usually lettuce.  We have had broccoli, spinach, potatoes, yams, and even parsnips.  For fruits we have had different kinds of pears and apples, oranges, nectarines, pineapple and one time the most awesome mangoes I have ever had. This time we are getting persimmons.  Hmm that is interesting.  As long as you order a basket you can order what they call add-ons.  One of the add-ons is the most awesome 9 grain bread.  We love it toasted with peanut butter and my homemade peach-nectarine-mango freezer jam.  I also made raspberry freezer jam, raspberry peach freezer jam, bottled tomatoes and apple pie filling.  I end up making banana bread as often as once a week and I make a mean fresh tomato pasta sauce. 

Peppi Lapew Is Not My Friend

Our dog Bailey got skunked twice in a month.  The first time Don was out of town and the smell permeated the house and woke me up at 4am.  The neighborhood stunk for 3 days.  We just left the dog outside in the hope that the smell would just dissipate over time.  The second time it happened it was a few weeks later and Don was home. It woke both of us up that time.  We thought we were going to have sleep upstairs, our room stunk so bad.  It must have happened right out of our window.  The next day Don called the dog groomer and she said not to use water at all but to get Dawn dishsoap, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda and make a soup out of it and scrub the dog down a few times and let him sit in it for a bit.  Don covered  himself in his rain boots, and rain suit and big yellow rubber gloves.  The grass turned a lovely shade of bronze the next day after the peroxide bleached it.  The dog smelled slightly better but he was still banished to the garage.  Don took him to the groomer a few days later and she shaved him and lathered him up again in the de-skunking mix.  He smelled much better after that and was allowed to come back into the house.  We have lived here almost 6 years and the dog has been outside most of those 6 years.  This is the first time he has gotten skunked ever and then again in the same month.  Peeeeyew!

Rainy Days

We got alot of rain at the beginning of October.  The kids ran through the puddles, rode their bikes through the puddles and generally made a huge muddy mess of themselves.  They had a great time.  I on the other hand washed multiple loads of muddy laundry and tried to keep the muddy footprints in the house to a minimum. 

Wake Me When September's Over-oh wait it is!

September recap

--Don and I, Caleb and Cayden sent to Utah for 3 days for Uncle Wayne's funeral.  Stayed at the Gessel Inn.  Ate Cafe Rio and Burger Supreme and Chic-Fil-A.  Connor and Cody stayed home.  Connor did not want to miss school and Cody did not want to miss rehearsal.  Caleb was rethinking his 3 day absence from school when he got all that homework.

--Cody has been working his fanny off with the play.  He would rehearse for atleast 2 hours a day then 2 days a week he would come home and go to work.  It is so nice that he finally driving himself around although that means that he is driving many others around as well.  He took October off for work because they were rehearsing for hours and hours a day.

--I met with the Special Ed team for Connor's annual IEP.  He is doing sooooooooo great this year.  After the first week of high anxiety he has been doing much better.  One of the kids that he has constant problems with has been moved around out of some of Connor's classes so he does not have to run into him all day.  He has a great Special Ed teacher this year who does more than just talk.  He "TEACHES" and then gently corrects and then takes Connor out to soccer games and assemblies to help him deal with real world situations and not just always talking about it.  He has been such a blessing this year and we have had minimal negative calls about issues that Connor is having at school.  Connor is excited to go to school and his grades are as good as they have ever been.

--Connor got to meet Sharron Angle at a meet and greet here in Logandale.  He was probably more excited than some of the adults.  He was quite the supporter by driving around on his bike asking people if they wanted Sharron Angle signs for their yards. 

--Our dog got skunked in the middle of the night and it was soooooooo bad it woke me up.  Poor dog was banished for weeks.  Then it happened again in October.  You can  see the pics in the next post because now I am to tired to keep going tonight.