It's FINALLY Here!

It has been a super long and extremely cold winter. The only thing that gets us through is the knowledge that Spring will eventually be here.  I have great news......it is HERE!!!  The winter coats, boots, snow pants, gloves and hats are all stored away until winter arrives again.  No more snow days and 2 hour delays from school because of the snow or even just because of the negative 30 degree wind chill for now!!  Even better news, the fun activities that have been written on the calendar that seemed just so far away are happening!!!

First up, Bobby's first school field trip.  Every year an organization that Bobby does many activities with holds an Arts Festival for special needs students and adults from our region.  They have added some fun get up and move activities in the past couple of years so it seemed like the perfect year for Bobby and his peers from his autism classroom to go to the Arts Festival.  Just so happens that I have volunteered at this festival for the past 4 years.  When they asked what I wanted to do this year, I asked for the bouncy house.  I wanted Bobby to be able to go in and jump as much as he needed and this way I could see that this happened.  Even better, my friend Shelly took off a day of work and she volunteered with me.  We were the bouncy house gate keepers!!!  LOL!!!!

 The boys immediately made it to the bouncy house as soon as they walked into the building.

 Bobby's favorite thing to do....sit in the bouncy house while his friends jump and he gets tossed around!!  Prompted him to get up and jump and he complied and jumped with his classmates.

 The kids went off with their teachers or aides and did an art activity then came back to jump before going off to do another activity.  Shelly was wondering why this kid was running towards her, then she realized......it was Sonny!!! A little face paint turned him into the HULK!

 Sonny was off to do another art activity.

 Bobby only did two of the art activities, arts and crafts are just not his thing.  He is more of a bouncy house guy!!!  He and Jacob were "dancing" while they were waiting in line.

Our class was the last one in the lobby waiting for their bus to arrive to take them back to school.  It wasn't a big issue since the school bus garage is 100 yards away, but it gave me a few extra minutes to take some pictures.

 Sonny was cracking us up.....his scary Hulk face combined with his big, green, floppy crate paper hat was so fun!!  Bobby didn't know what to think!!

 Those who know me can guess what happened next......"alright, everyone come over so that I can get a group picture."

 Getting 7 children with autism to actually look at the camera all at one time is never gonna happen.  But I love the result!!  Bobby's school crew!!  Now time to get on the bus and get back to school.

The next day of school was Friday, which is his favorite day of the week.  He gets to ride a school bus with his peers to WVU to attend Sports Camp, hosted by phys. ed. students. Bobby swims, his favorite activity, because he doesn't participate too well in the group activities.  Lucky Bobby got to ride the bus away from the school two days in a row to do something fun!!!

This picture was taken a few weeks ago at sports camp after Bobby was finished swimming and waiting to get on the bus to go back to school.  Another mom sent this pic to me!!

What could make this Friday even more perfect than going swimming at school???  Well Tiny Tykes special needs tumbling began!!  After school Bobby got to go to the WV Gymnastics Training Center with his peers and JUMP JUMP JUMP.  WV student volunteers are paired with each "athlete" and parents get to sit back and relax.

Bobby was WORN OUT after tumbling and the fun of the last two days.  He sat back in his seat and didn't say a word on the way home....which is beyond rare.  He also ate his dinner in silence....again a rare occurrence.  He was asleep by 9 pm and didn't wake up until 7 am........YAY, we need this schedule every day!!!

Grandma Carolyn called and wanted to know if we would ride to the Flatwoods Outlet Mall with her because the Fiesta Outlet was having their annual tent sale.  We said YES. Bobby loves the ride and he loves to walk up and down the strip mall sidewalks.

First we went through the drive thru to get some lunch to make sure that Bobby would be a happy boy at the mall.

Grandma went into the big tent and I took Bobby for a walk.  These chairs were lined up on the sidewalk in front of one of the stores and Bobby sat in all of them.  They were the perfect size for him.  Funny thing, he refused to sit in the hot pink chair....he's such a boy!!

Yes, Grandma is shopping under that big white tent!!!!  Grandma scored with some great Fiesta items at super great prices.

Daddy was beyond shocked that I didn't buy anything!!  LOL!!!  When we got home Daddy had mowed the yard and cleaned up around the house.  He decided to cut up a pallet that was in the yard so we got out the fire pit and had our first fire of the season.

 Bobby was a little intrigued by the fire for a minute and then lost all interest and actually turned his chair around so he could watch the cars go by on the road below.

We even had fun plans for Sunday.....an autism birthday party!!  These are the most fun thing in Bobby's World.  This party was scheduled to have a bouncy house.  Score!!  Twice in one week!!

 The party was in one of the gyms in the Falcon Center at Fairmont State.  Only downfall....we had to pass a super sweet indoor pool to get to the gym.  Bobby did much better with this situation than he would have in the past.

 Bobby, as well as the birthday boy, we extremely intrigued by this open garage door and the belongings inside.  Again, they both did great with this opened door, especially compared to years past.

 There were quite a few Fairmont State alumni among the parents at the party, including my beloved husband.  We heard the statement "this place sure didn't look like this when I went here!" many times during the party and especially when we moved upstairs for the food/cake/presents part of the party.

 I even managed one posed picture on the walkway back to the parking garage.

We played outside for much of the evening when we got home.  It is just amazing how happy we are now that the weather is warmer and we can get Bobby out to do things.  Happy Spring everyone!! May our summers be warm with perfect swimming weather on a daily basis!!!!!

Happy Easter 2015

I've never really put an emphasis on the Easter Bunny.  I haven't talked to Bobby about the Easter Bunny coming to our house and filling up his basket for many, many years.  I'm sure that I did for the first few years of his life, but haven't played this up for years.  I do always get Bobby an Easter basket filled with goodies, but I don't have it setting out when he gets out of bed and make a big deal out of it, instead I typically give it to him after we are up and have had breakfast or even after Grandma arrives for dinner.  Since Grandma has retired, Easter dinner has moved to her house and I honestly planned to take his basket to her house so that he could open it with our family around.  I take him to see the Easter Bunny every year at the mall, but only because they have a special autism event every year.  If not for this, I would totally skip seeing the bunny.  Don't get me wrong, I love Easter, but Bobby has not shown any interest in the decorations or any other aspect of the bunny part of the holiday other than playing with the grass that lines his Easter basket....his favorite tradition of Easter!!

This Easter Bobby has a horrible cold, which is made even worse at bedtime when he gets much more congested while laying down.  He woke himself up at 4 am on Easter morning because he just couldn't breathe.  I got up and gave him another dose of cold medicine, the wonderful night time version that helps with sleeping.  Well, it worked perfectly at bedtime, but at 4 am it was like giving him an upper.  He was AWAKE!!  Yippee, have I told you how much I love getting up at 4 am??!!! He ran around and played, I turned on an Elmo movie for him so that I could nap a little.

Finally around 8, I got up for the day and came into the kitchen to get some coffee, a drink that I only have on these types of days.  Bobby came up to me, looked me in the face and said something.  I replied, "what?" and he repeated it again....with PERFECT diction.  With my mouth open, I said "OK" and went upstairs to talk with Daddy, who was still laying in bed.

Me (to Daddy):  "Bobby just came up to me and said 'Easter Bunny.'"
Daddy:  "What?"
Me: "I know.  He said it twice, perfectly."
We just look at each other with confused looks on our faces.
Me:  "I think he knows it's Easter and he wonders where his basket is and did the Easter Bunny come and see him?"
Daddy (smiling):  "Awesome!  You did get him a basket, didn't you?"
Me:  "Of course!"

They may have discussed the Easter bunny at school last week, but we never once over the weekend (or anytime this season) talked about Easter or the bunny with Bobby.

So Daddy entertained Bobby upstairs for a couple of minutes and we got him dressed in some pj's....he's a little to old for underwear pictures!!  LOL!!  I went and got his basket out and we were ready for Easter Bunny fun to begin.

Bobby immediately sat down and began opening the basket, not even waiting for my prompts to stop so that I could get a picture before he began.....what a difference from years past!!!

 A new doggy and an Elmo video.

 Look at Mommy.....fine, don't look at me!!!  LOL!!!

 What else is in here????

 Whoo hoo, a sucker!!  Let's get this thing opened!

 Coolest ring pop!!!!  Look at me with your Bunny Face!

He loved his new dog more that I would have ever anticipated.  He named it "Zoi doggy."  Wonder where he got that name???  He held the dog all morning long.

 Of course, he had to show off his new born to the rest of the tribe, very Lion King-esk!!

 Zoi got a new doggy bed for her Easter gift.  Bobby took Zoi puppy over to the bed and they laid down to watch the Christmas episode of Blue's Clues....a very Eastery thing to do!

The original Zoi eventually got to use her new bed while we got ready to go to Grandma's house for Easter dinner.

 Zoi and Zoi puppy hanging out together.  Soooooo sweet!!

 I took the ham out of the oven, packed up our things and off to Grandma's house we went.

Grandma was ready for us!!

After we ate dinner, we headed outside for Bobby to play.  The sun was out and the temps made it into the 60s.  In was warm and wonderful in the sun, a little cool in the shade.

 I'm a lucky girl, just look at these two cuties!!

 Bobby has been dying to go up and run around in the top part of my Mom's yard, so we finally gave in and he happily ran around up there for a long while and did a great job of staying in the yard.

 YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

 Go Bobby Go, get out some of that energy.  Fun thing is, the longer he was outside, the less congested he became.  As soon as we went in, he was coughing and yucky again.

 Posing for an Easter picture with Grandma Carolyn.  It's hard to believe that they are almost the same height.

 Grandma decided to take him to met her neighbor, so she took Bobby for a little walk next door.

Loved these funky tulips when I saw them in the store, so we got them for an Easter gift for Grandma.

 Me with my wonderful boys for an Easter pic!!

 Grandma even had an autism awareness wreath on her door in honor of autism awareness month.

 These two crazy kids were hanging out in the yard together.  Perfect time for me to get a couple of more pictures of the two of them.

 They sure look like they are deep in conversation!

 Come on Grandma, do duck face.........

 My mom has a cement roof on a shed behind her house that is built into her back hill, which makes it look like Bobby is playing on her roof.....because I would definitely allow that type of play to happen!!!!!  LOL!!!

We had a perfect Easter at Grandma's house and even got to play outside for a while longer when we got home.  Another day off of school on Monday and then back to our normal schedule!!

Happy Easter!!!