It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We have finally made it to the end of Thanksgiving break!!  Whoot Whoot!!  One more day before my boys are off to school and work.  The Christmas decorating is done and the house looks like a toy shop.  Bobby has carried his toys from his room to the kitchen and living room.  Can't wait to put them back where they belong tomorrow. 

Bobby loves the decorations.  When he gets up in the morning, he runs over and turns the Christmas tree on and before he goes to bed (or outside), it is his job to turn the tree off.  He enjoyed pulling decorations out of the storage containers and displaying them "Bobby style."

Beautiful, I know.  I especially like the Sesame Street Christmas board book set up at the end of the greenery line.

I took over for the rest of the decorating...

Just a few of our decorative highlights!!

One thing that doesn't feel like Christmas...the weather.

I love that it is 60 degrees, Bobby would prefer snow.  Soon enough Bobby, soon enough.

Bobby and Rosie

We went outside yesterday to put up the outdoor Christmas decorations since it was a perfect day, especially for late November.  I was decorating the front porch.  Bob was sitting on the steps encouraging me on and Bobby was laying in the front yard (which is a huge hill). 

Little did he know that he was about to get a visitor...

                                           Rosie, our neighbors dog, had come up for a visit.

Bobby was totally caught off-guard.

He wasn't happy.

Trying to get up and get out of there!!

"Leave me alone dog!!!"

Trying to run.  Little does he know that Rosie loves this!!

Finally, up to the porch and to the protection of Mom and Dad!!

Bob took Rosie over and put her in the fence to play with Zoi...

Rosie finally had someone who wanted to play with her.  Poor Zoi, Rosie isn't able to run laps and have the fun that Zoi likes. 

I finally got all of the outdoor decorations up!!  Bobby wasn't that interested in helping, but he did enjoy watching the decorating process.  He did find some beads in a storage container that he thought would add to the decor...

Now, to decorate the inside of the house, Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping, mailing, cooking....FA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!! 

Gingerbread House Fun and a Visit From Amie

On Wednedsay, our newlywed cousin Amie was coming for a visit.  I had bought a gingerbread house kit for an activity to do with Bobby on this week long break and thought that this might be a fun activity to do when Amie was visiting.  Bob, however, came home from work early and walked in the same time that Amie did, which caused Bobby to want to go "outside."  Bobby didn't settle down enough to try to decorate while Amie was here.  We had a great visit instead and decorated after she left.

I laid out the house kit...

Assembled the house....

Bobby went over, picked up one of the cookies to decorate, scraped off some icing, and put it in his mouth.  He never did actually eat the cookie, just made a mess.

Amie came over to say good-bye...

After Amie left, Bobby and I got to work.  Here Bobby put the candy into the bowls...

Some candy for the bowl, some candy for the mouth...

He didn't eat the candy, just chewed on it and spit it out.  Oh, the messs!!!  I had to end up decorating the house by myself, because way, way too much candy was going into Bobby's mouth.

I lost my desire to decorate any more of the house because the house was loosing candy almost as fast as I was putting it on...

Zoi is even trying to sneak a bite...

Oh, the poor violated gingerbread house...

There was so much chewed candy and icing on the floor, which was no problem because Zoi was closely behind Bobby cleaning up his mess, that I had to just throw the house away.  Too much candy for one afternoon.  Oh well, we all had fun, especially Zoi!!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  My mom, Aunt Mimi, and Aunt Dianna came over to help cook the dinner.  We had an early dinner since Grandma Carolyn had to leave by 3 to go to work.  It was a great day...

Today is supposed to be a sunny, semi-warm day.  That means, time to put up the outdoor decorations!!  Let the holidays begin!!!

We are Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  It's the day that forces you to think about what you are thankful for in your life. 

I am thankful that Bobby's "rough patch" that lasted for almost 6 months, beginning in late January, is over.  I have learned, the hard way, what the horrible side effects of psychotropic medications can be.  He is now adjusted to his new seizure medication and won't be taking any new medications any time soon (if ever!!).

Making funny faces into the "mirror" a.k.a. the blank computer screen.

I am thankful that I have truly never known what it is like to really have it bad.  I don't live in a shanty village in a third world country. I have always had food to eat.  I have always had medical care.  I have always had clean water.  I have always had a roof over my head.  I have always been surrounded by a loving family. 

Cracking himself up!!

I am thankful that I haven't suffered any loss within my family and friends this year.  I know that many of my friends have...

I am thankful that I have found new friends who understand the daily struggles of raising a child with autism.  I am thankful for the friends that I already had and for my family who try to understand.

I am thankful that I have an awesome husband.  He works hard for our family.  Provides us with a great home.  We are not without any needs that we have.  He is by my side supporting me through my stress and daily struggles.

I am thankful for the awesome educators and therapist who work with Bobby every day.  He is learning more all of the time.

Bobby's new favorite activity on the iPad.  Moving leaves, popping bubbles to find hidden objects.

I am thankful that I have no real health issues. 

I am thankful that I have a great life!!!!

Working hard!!

Happy Thanksgiving from The Smith Family!!!!

O Christmas Tree

Bobby loves our Christmas tree more than I ever could, and I happen to really love Christmas trees.  I (just like my Mom) have this true love of Christmas ornaments.  Not sure why, but the two of us can, and do, spend alot of time window shopping (yes, some buying too) for Christmas tree ornaments.  My favorite are traditional, country ornaments.  I also love the big glass bulbs that are hand painted.  Bobby also loves the glass bulbs and has broken many of mine.  In the past few years he has broken many of my favorite ornaments.  Because of this, last year I decided to leave the ornaments off until Christmas Eve when I put the ornaments on to "get ready for Santa,"  really just so the tree would look better for the Christmas morning pictures.

This year I couldn't bear to have an undecorated tree for a month.  I also couldn't stand to be chasing Bobby around for said month because he took ornaments off of the tree and was carrying them around.  I was at Sam's Club when the solution came to me.  They had a big 'ol container of "shatterproof" bulbs for not too much money.  My wonderful husband said, "get it if you want it."  Love those words!!  I bought some matching ribbon to use as a topper and a matching set of "picks." 

I have never had a matchy, trendy tree before.  I definitely don't love it as much as my traditional ornaments, which are all safely nestled downstairs in their storage container.  Bobby's handprint and picture ornament treasures will remain undisturbed until Bobby is older.  So for this year, and probably the next few more, we have a sparkly, glittery tree.

Vat of bulk ornaments.

The ornaments say shatterproof and are indeed shatterproof.  The nonglittered balls feel just like ball pit balls.  Bobby carried a couple around bounced them off of the ground.  I tried it too, and they are fine.  The glittery ones must have been dipped in glitter paint because the glitter doesn't get everywhere like you would expect it to.

Ribbon and picks make our tree topper.

A couple of my favorite ornaments.

Bobby didn't try to help decorate the tree.  After the lights were on, he was finished.  He is too busy looking to help. 

One of Bobby's favorite places...behind the tree.

We have to keep the tree far away from the wall so that Bobby can safely get to the back.

Our tree. 

Next year I hope to try this look with white lights.  I bet Bobby will disagree!!  Now...wish someone would come over and drag the rest of the storage containers upstairs that hold the outdoor decorations, the household decorations.........

Thanksgiving Break

Rain, cold, fog...just a dreary, dreary beginning to Thanksgiving break.  Bobby was bored.  He wanted to go "outside" all day.  I kept trying to find new activities to keep him entertained. I got out the marble maze and he enjoyed playing with this for a while...

He then gathered up a bunch of items to make a "Bobby Masterpiece"...

The cups are plastic solo cups (just in case you were wondering!!).



We went up to his room to play.  I set up some of his wooden train track and got out the train cars.  He put them on the track and we took turns pulling the train around the track.  I pulled it around my side of the track, stopped, and he pulled it to the other side, stopped, and I took over.  We played like this, taking turns, for almost 5 minutes (which is unheard of in Bobby's world!!).  I was beyond excited that he played trains with me.

The only, only thing that was going to make him happy today...

ride in car!!!!!

When we got home, it was only 4:30.  Daddy was working afternoon shift, so Bobby and I had hours to go before bedtime.  What to do, what to do!! 

We had a big mess to clean up in the basement on Sunday, thanks to our beloved Bobby, who went downstairs to watch a movie on the big screen.  When he went to the bathroom downstairs, he decided to play in the sink and for some reason put toilet paper in the sink, which in turn stopped up the sink.  Bobby didn't turn the water off, he let it run and by the time I went down stairs to check on him he was happily splashing around in an inch of water on the floor.  Long story short, the water ran into our storage area.  We cleaned it up with the shop vac, towels, mop...  But the tile floor downstairs still needs steamed.  I was going to go do that and started thinking that I should pull out the Christmas storage containers first and get the Christmas tree stuff instead of cleaning twice in a few days. 

Why, oh why, is putting up the Christmas tree such hard work.  To make matters worse, I had to take apart Bobby's trampoline in order to have space for the tree.  I had every intention of doing all of this work next week while Bobby was in school so that it would be a lot easier.  I went over to the trampoline and pulled on it to see if I was even going to be able to take it apart.  No big deal, a half hour later it was apart and put into 2 large contractor size garbage bags.  Whew, task one completed!!

I brought three storage containers upstairs, 2 containing the tree, 1 with lights.  Bobby immediately lined them up so that he could organize....

I just had to stand back and watch with amazement (while of couse taking pictures) what happened next...

He found the power strip in the storage container,

plugged it in,

got the lights out (yes, it took me a long time to untangle his mess),

plugged them in (I wanted to go get the white lights that were in another storage container downstairs, but Boby wasn't "having" it, so colored lights it is),

he put a couple of branches on the tree,

and tried to string some lights on his tree. 

He hasn't watched me put up the Christmas tree in a couple of years since I have put it up while he was in school.  Obviously he enjoys being a part of the tree assembling process.  I finally put down the camera and started working on the tree.  Bobby was happy Mommy finally got to work...

He must have been worn out, because he perched himself on the back of the couch while I put the first row of branches on the tree.  I put on the first row of branches, then the lights, next row of branches, lights...until the tree is complete. 

Bobby inspecting my work!!!

Zoi had to be in on the action too!!



When I was about half way finished, it was evident that we were going to have to go get more lights since multiple strings were fading in and out.  The last thing that I wanted to do was take Bobby out on a dark, foggy, rainy night to get lights.  But he was not going to wait until the next day to finish.  So off to Lowe's we went.

When we got home (7:30 pm), I realized that we hadn't eaten dinner.  I heated something in the microwave, but Bobby would not let me eat.  He brought branches over to me and pulled me to the tree.  "Mommy, you have work to do!!!"

"Mom, I am way to excited to stand here for you to take my picture in front of the Christmas tree." 

Now, to decorated the tree...

Stay tuned :)