Polymer clay

An art teacher at our church held a polymer clay class for us a couple of weeks ago. The girls had a blast making their sculptures, and now they are having even more fun playing with them at home! It's nice when we can learn things from other faithful people. Polymer clay is not something I would have ever ventured to do on my own for the first time - but now I'm completely comfortable with it.

Miss I Day

Having a sibling with special needs is tough. You have to be very patient, and sometimes you don't get as much attention as you would like. So we created Miss I. day! She got to choose the whole day! She chose to go to Underwater Adventures, and then out to eat at Red Lobster. She really loved it! The highlight was definitely Red Lobster! (We'd never been there before.) Her menu was: crab legs dipped in ketchup and orange juice. She loved it!

Fun in the leaves!

Overdue

Yes, I am aware that I'm WAY behind in posting! Here's my attempt to catch up! For starters, my life has become so much easier! Olivia has a new PCA who started with us about a month ago, and she is an angel! She is here 3 mornings a week - and she cleans the house! I can't begin to explain how helpful this is! When you spend 3 afternoons a week at various therapies, the time away from home really adds up. Then when we are at home, and actually not doing "school," I generally want to just play with my kids - and now I can! We are so blessed to have Margaret! Here are some pictures of the girls "helping" her - they have been into making their beds! :)

More orchard fun!

Miss I wanted to go on the pony ride ...

Miss O wanted to do the corn maze a second time.

Family photo after the first time at the corn maze.

More apple orchard pictures

Last year the girls only picked about three apples. This year they picked all but three of them!

Visit from Grandma Bogie

Grandma Bogie came for a visit this weekend! We took her for a fun-filled day at the Apple Orchard!

Here are ther girls getting their faces painted - a fun treat from grandma!

Our girls

Our beautiful girls at the Como Zoo! - They go through stages. For a few days they will be best of friends, as sweet as pie to each other. Then they can turn on a dime and for a few days do everything in their power to make each other miserable! :)

Fun at the park!

In my opinion, fall is the absolute best time of year to play at the park!

State Capital

On the steps of the State Capital

In the Rotunda

We took a tour of the state capital with a home school group on Thursday. It was a lot of fun! The tour guide did a really great job of making it interesting to preschoolers.

Amazing Changes

Over the summer, we have seen some amazing changes in Miss O. I would like to share some of those with you. We started her on a regimen of pro-biotics, a number of vitamins and minerals, and fish oils. The changes we have seen in her have been tremendous! Her ability to both keep her body calm when frustrated, and also to calm her body down when she gets agitated have multiplied 100 times! She has also developed better gross and fine motor skills, and has been able to concentrate on things that are not "interesting" - by her standards.

I was not completely convinced that the supplements had so much to do with this change, until recently. Since we came home from Boston, she has been having a very difficult time with everything I mentioned above. Then I remembered that the program we had her on suggests that once things have been corrected and you stop some of the probiotics, a number of things can reverse the gut into not working properly again. - Things like stress, schedule changes, and illness. I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out! I started her on the program again yesterday, and today we have a COMPLETELY different little girl! She is her sweet self again! I can tell that she feels so much better, and she has told me she feels better! Praise be to God!

Don't get me wrong - these changes in supplements by no means replace the need to discipline or parent effectively. But they do make it possible to discipline. Yesterday, and for the last few weeks, if she was given a time-out or other punishment, she would just scream, pull her hair, bang her head, tear her room apart - you get the picture. But now when she needs to have a punishment, she is able to understand that there are consequences to her actions, and she is able to "keep it together." No, she isn't necessarily happy with everything all of the time, but we don't feel as though we're walking on eggshells anymore.

The program we are using was developed by Diane Craft. Her website is: http://www.dianecraft.org/
She has really great strategies, and really knows what she is talking about! - As a disclaimer, I would recommend that before starting any type of supplement program, you talk with your doctor. :)

Miss O tubing

There was no fear at all for Miss O! She hung with the big kids and did great!

Miss I tubing

Remember that I posted at the end of the summer that the girls got to go tubing with some friends from church after VBS? Well, I finally got pictures from them! Here are the ones of Miss I. She didn't last too long - it wasn't her favorite thing in the world, but she was a trooper!

The Blessings of Birth Families

We had a great visit last weekend with Miss O's birth mom and birth sister! We just hung out at the house, played games and chatted. It was nice to catch up with them. We feel so blessed to have both our girls' birth families in our lives.

Plane #6

Our last plane ride was a hard one for the girls, and our pilot was so kind! We made it to Rochester, though! We got out to the van , and the battery was dead. A nice girl from the airport came to help us jump it, but it wasn't working. I called AAA, who came within 1/2 an hour. Their powerful battery started it up right away! Thankfully, during our 2 hour wait at the Rochester airport, there was basically no one else there except the really nice girl working. She set the girls and I up in the pilot's lounge - flat screen TV, leather recliners, computer, and cookies. She even kept the girls amused while I was on the phone trying to get help with the van! Thank you airport girl! You saved me! So, we arrived home at 9:15 PM - and are still recovering, almost a week later. But the trip was amazing! A BIG thank-you to Lifeline Pilots! Without the pilots who volunteered their planes and time, this trip would not have been possible.

Plane #5

This plane ride was a breeze! These two girls were really exhausted and slept through the entire flight from PA to Fort Wayne, IN. Sadly, I don't have a photo of the outside or the pilot. Someone at the airport took it for us, but it apparently didn't capture on my camera.

Going home - plane #4

Mike had to fly out Tuesday evening. So after our museum trip, the girls and Mike went back to the hotel for some quiet time, and I hopped down the street for a (desperately needed) haircut. Then we took daddy to the airport again and went back to the hotel for another swim. We got to swim with our friend Whitney, who was still there from the conference, too! We had to be at the airport by 8:00 am the next morning, so it was an early bedtime for all 3 of us.

Here they are inside and outside of plane #4! The excitement seemed to be dwindling, and they were just ready to get home! They still enjoyed flying, though they were a bit crabby and would not go to sleep. Our pilot even tried going to a higher altitude, which he said usually works to get people to sleep. I guess he hasn't met kids as strong-minded as mine. :) We were able to take some time at this airport in PA and have a nice lunch before we had to hop on the next plane.

Museum pictures

The USS Constitution museum had a great floor for kids to play and learn about the ship. Here are the girls laying in the "beds" of the sailors.