Spring Break is Winding Down/Happy Easter

Finally, finally, finally...we can go outside and play.  The snow and sickness are history and Bobby's spring break favorite, playing OUTSIDE can commence!!

For some reason, Bobby wants his hood on at all times.  He must have been getting a little warm because he decided to take it off (without unzipping just a little).  Of course I had my camera with me...what else do I have to do while sitting outside watching Bobby play for hours.

This whole process cracked me up a little too much!!  It was slow, slow process.

He was stuck like this for a few seconds, couldn't get it up or down.  Yes, I'm still giggling.  I know, I need a hobby!!

Success!!!!

Time to play in the dry leaves.  Wait a minute....is it time for the hood to go back on already???

What a hard worker.  If only you had witnessed this hood struggle first hand!!

 He got the nose in....

Yay!!  The hood is back on.

Oh the drama!!

 Yes!!  The leaves aren't getting down my back anymore!!

Silly boy...Woof!

The sun actually came out and the jacket came off...

 Bobby found a new dirt pile. 
This boy is a dirt magnet....

Time to go in a have a snack.  Bobby decided to have some yogurt.  He is still having spoon issues, but figured out that it is just easier to use if you turn it upside down...

The Easter bunny came....The Easter bunny came!!!!   Yay!!

First Bobby sat down and had his breakfast, then he ventured over to see what was in the basket.

 What do I see??  Lay's potato chips?????  What else is in here...

 Corn chips too???!!!!

 Wow, the Easter bunny knows the way to my heart!

 Bobby's favorite fidget.  Thanks Mom for taking the bow off, now I can see everything!

Oh my goodness...a pinwheel, this is awesome!!!

Now time to unwrap my present...

Something for Daddy to put together...

Back to the basket, more fun stuff to see...

Sorry Bobby, but bubbles are for outside.

The Easter bunny didn't forget Zoi.  Her favorite treat!

Bobby got right to work putting together his puzzle while Zoi was apparently uninterested.   Mommy got to work fixing Easter dinner so that we could eat before Grandma Carolyn had to go to work.

Grandma Carolyn arrived with some candy and a new hat for Bobby.  The table is set, but where's the food???

Bobby can't wait any longer.  He only cares that his french fries are ready...

I'm gonna sit down and eat, the others will eventually join me...

 And they did...eventually join him.   Aunt Dianna, Mimi, Grandma Carolyn, Bob, Bobby and I finally all sat down and had a wonderful Easter dinner.

Ahhhhhh....spring break is ALMOST over!!  9 days down and only 1 to go!!!!!!!

Day 2 of Spring Break-The Easter Tree

This was the scene at the Smith house on Sunday morning....

Bobby hanging out in his underwear watching Elmo and Zoi, well I'm not sure what got into her.  She knows that she isn't allowed on the couch, but this morning, she did NOT care!!  I can tell by her white hair on the dark brown couch that she doesn't lay there while we are gone.  After all, she loves, and typically lays, on her temper-pedic bed.  She just looked at me, like what are you gonna do???  "I'm laying here...get over it!!!!  Woof"

Yes, Bobby is still watching Elmo.  

We all finally got up, bathed and got ready to get out of the house and "blow the stink off of us," which is one of Bob's favorite sayings.  Apparently we stink badly because we have to get out and blow this stink off!!  

We decided to go to Walmart and get Daddy some new work pants, which he needed for Monday.  Bobby doesn't like Walmart so we typically don't go when he is with us, or I go in by myself and the boys sit in the car.  He hadn't been exposed to Walmart in a while, so we needed to see if he could tolerate it any better.  While I was digging through the work pants trying to find the correct style and size, Bob took Bobby for a walk through the store...which did NOT go well.  Bobby wanted out the back door in the tire department to the parking lot to escape from the store.  Poor Bob had to try to get Bobby back into the store and get Mommy all while he is having a fit.  Parental nightmare!!  They finally succeeded, found me, paid for the pants and left Walmart.  Too many sounds, smells, light, etc for Bobby.

Then we took Bobby to McDonald's so that he could calm down.  A couple of bites of his coveted McDonald's french fries and all was right again in Bobby's world.

A group of four girls in their late teens came in and sat down behind us.  I could see them get out of their cars in the parking lot and watched them walk in so I knew that they were going to the Luke Bryan concert later in the day because their cars were decorated for the event.  They sat directly behind me so I could hear their conversation.  At one point, I laughed out loud.  Bob looked at me and I said that I would tell him later.  As we walked to the car, I recounted their conversation to Bob in which they discussed how they were all going to be Luke Bryan's "Sister Wives" and that he would have a blond, brunette and a redhead all at his convenience.   Ahhh, once upon a time I was a teenager too and didn't really have anything of much importance to occupy my brain.  How wonderful it would be to let my brain have that kind of relief for just a little while everyday.  However, they too will grow up...hopefully...and have the stresses of jobs, children and family.  Who knows, they may already have major stressors in their lives, but it did bring me back to a point in my life, where all I had to worry about was grades.

Finally, we went to Michael's Arts and Crafts store before heading home.  Bob and Bobby went ahead and sat in the car while I ran in and got my items.    I got some wooden eggs for Bobby (as well as Grandma Carolyn and me) to dye later in the week.  I also got some things to decorate the pencil tree that I use on my back porch at Christmas time to make an Easter tree for Bobby.  If you recall, Bobby loves our Christmas tree and I thought that this would be a fun activity that we could do together to occupy a little time from our spring break.

I went downstairs and got the pencil tree out of storage.  I also had to get into some storage containers of Christmas decorations and find some white lights.  Bobby decided that he would "help" put the lights onto the tree.

Yes, that's it...they should all go right here!!!

Perfect, just clump them all in the front so that they are very visible!!

OH NO, I think he made the tree a little front heavy and over it went.  Pretty sure this scared him and he ran off for a little while.

 Yay, Mommy got the lights on, time to decorate!!!

I bought him a couple of "treats" while I was at Michael's...this chain that he has had in his hands since I gave it to him (and he is carrying them around this morning as I write this blog).  Wish that I would have picked up a couple of more sets!!  I also found this pompom chain that he tried to use to help decorate the tree...

Then he took it off so that he could have it for play.

I finally sat the camera down, which by the way is hard for me, and we got the tree decorated!!!

 Poor Bobby can't decide which way to look...the tree or the falling snow!

Our finished Easter tree.  A little later I walked to the kitchen and saw Bobby and knew that the Easter tree was a success....

He was just laying on the floor looking at the tree.  Yes, I know....ahhhhhh how sweet!!!

Two days of spring break down, 8 to go!!  Since we woke up to 4 1/2 inches of snow on the ground, day three will probably consist of some snow play!!

The Autism Way To Spend St. Patrick's Day

When Bobby was a baby and toddler, we always heard (and said) that "he marches to the beat of a different drummer" and other sayings of this nature. The older that kids with autism get, you realize that they follow their own rules.  So, what should we do to celebrate St. Patrick's Day....go see the Easter Bunny, definitely not a typical way to spend the day!!

This morning Morgantown Mall hosted a Sensitive Bunny event, which was just like Sensitive Santa but with the Easter Bunny.  So after we got up and had breakfast we got ready and headed off to the mall.  Just like with the Sensitive Santa event, Bobby was number 2 (and I'm pretty sure the same girl was number 1).  He ran right up to the Easter Bunny even though it was not his turn.  I took him over to one of the tables that a WVU sorority had set up with activities for the kids while they waited and we worked on waiting...

He did an AWESOME job of waiting.  He did get up once and jump around but came right back to his seat with a verbal prompt.  He didn't even have an interest in the activities, he was busy watching what was going on at the Easter Bunny area.

They finally put up the number 2 to indicate that it was Bobby's turn.  We took him over and I stood him in place, put my hand up with the wait indicator that he is learning and he stood there perfectly.  I went and stood behind the camera and prompted him "look at Mommy" and he did.

 We got a great picture of Bobby standing nicely by the Easter Bunny with his hands folded looking at the camera.  What more could a Mommy ask for????!!!!!

 He stood and looked at the Easter Bunny for a while.  Would love to know what was going through his head at that point.

We then got an extra special bonus....the mall has a train and the kids got to ride...

 I got in with him to take a ride around the mall.

 Alright Bobby, hands and head in the ride at all times!!!

We saw some familiar faces along the train route...

 Greg, Noelle and Natalie

 Daddy

The staff of PlayWorks

After the train ride we were going to let Bobby take a walk.  He stopped at the play area and since it was empty we let him play...

He's a happy boy!!

Look closely, his feet are off of the ground.

Now that our Easter Bunny fun is over, it's time to go home and celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Humm, what shall we do to celebrate??  Cabbage and green beer?  Probably not.  Maybe we will do that on the 4th of July!!