Movie Mania

Two of my favorite book series have news this week. I'm a Potter Head and a Twi Hard so this is long awaited news for me. Every one is a nerd in some way- this is mine. Feel free to have a chuckle at my expense. I don't mind.

Tonight is the Eclipse release and I'm going with some of my friends to see it. Can't wait! It's a true girls night out including dinner, a lot of waiting in line, listening to some younger girls screaming over the cute boys and remembering fondly "those were the days" and possibly ice cream afterwards from my favorite place- Oberweis. If you've not had it you are missing out!

Equally exciting is the first teaser trailer came out for Harry Potter 7 this week. Here's a link if you've not seen it!

Wednesday: Allergy free recipes- pumpkin muffins

This is a great easy fluffy muffin recipe that does not have eggs or nuts. Plus since you don't add the oil it is pretty good for you too. Enjoy!

1 package spice cake mix

1 can of pumpkin

Mix together and fill your muffin tins. I love using mini muffins for this recipe. I've sprinkled it with powdered sugar, spread on melted cream cheese frosting to make a drizzle, put a dollop of cool whip on them and served them plain and they are always a big hit!

Bake at 350 for about 15-18 minutes. Mini muffins need to be watched carefully to make sure they don't burn.

Side note- it's best with these since they are so moist not to use muffin cups. Just spray the bottom of your muffin tin and they will come out nicely.

Tuesday: Effective Advocating- IEP goal bank

For those who have children with IEP's (Individualized Education Plan) or are interested in learning more here is one of the most valuable assets I have- the IEP goal bank. It's a google document so everyone should be able to look at it. 177 pages of sample goals organized for easy searching. It's a great resource.

IEP goals are a team decision, but you can bet the educators are prepared with their ideas so you should be too. Go in to the meeting with your plan and an open mind to listen to the other ideas presented and you'll leave with the feeling that you did your best to provide for your child's education. If your child already has an IEP look to last years goals and you can use this tool to help you build on those goals.

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9EOfg1w7YqGYjUxOTAwMTYtNWMwYi00YzY3LWJmODQtOWY5YjBhNjVjZjM1&hl=en&pli=1

Monday is Picture Day! Guess who?

So many people commented to me about how much Tyler and Spencer look alike I thought I'd post a guessing game today called: WHO IS IT ANYWAY?

I'll post the answers next Monday! Good luck!

Sunday: Week of Fun!- Plague

Well, another week of summer has gone past. It's been so hot it's hard to get out to do anything, but we managed a few things. I guess it was a good week to be sick since it was too hot to get out much anyway.

Monday- Library day! Finally my book is in that I wanted to start reading. I hurried to finish "Lightning" so I could read "Gone". Now I need the library to hurry it up with "Hunger" and "Lies" by Michael Grant. Also, did a training for our new babysitter.

Tuesday- The plague hit our house.

Wednesday-plague.

Thursday- Still plaguey.

Friday- recovering from plague- did the shopping in the evening, but not much else.

Saturday- Went to Aqua Port with Darrin's family. We went to J'Bucks for dinner with Darrin, Lex, and Parker. Maybe I'll take Thomas there for his b-day if it's good. He was looking forward to it, but had to stay home because of the plague.

Sunday- Went to church and relaxed. Hope to get in a nap. It's been kind of a bummer week with sickness hitting everyone and me just barely making it through, but feeling like I'm fighting to not get it.

Watched a lot of movies this week, read a few books. I guess it was kind of relaxing.

Saturday: I'm a Weight Watcher! I'm a Weight Watcher!

This week was all about Gizmo. Needless to say if I didn't have a dog I wouldn't have walked. Also, if I had a dog who would go potty in my yard I wouldn't have walked either. Never thought I'd say this, but: Thanks Gizmo!

Exercise Log for the week: We had sickness all week so my big plans to exercise a bunch didn't happen, but I got a bit in. I joined Sparkpeople.com and I might only do weight watchers once a month or so since that is about how often I can make a meeting anyway. So far sparkpeople seems good- at least the 4 days I've been on it now. Might be a tad too early to tell.

Monday- Walk with Gizmo 20 minutes

Tuesday- None

Wednesday- Walk with Gizmo 30 minutes

Thursday- Walk with Gizmo 20 minutes

Friday- Walk with Gizmo 20 minutes

Saturday- Swimming/sliding at Aquaport :) This part is thanks to my brother and his family for coming into town.

Friday: What I like about YOU!

Samantha Jane Atkins- aka Sammie!

Thomas- She's funny

Dereth- She is sweet and kind and sees the good in people.

Spencer- She is fun to play with.

Sammie- I love my name
Tyler- Sammie is nice to me and gave me a seashell.

Gizmo- she plays with me

Thursday's Organizing Challenge: 5 minutes

5 minutes.

What can you really do in 5 minutes? Well, I timed a few things-

- empty a dishwasher

- wipe down a bathroom- including sink, mirror, top of toilet, toilet, fix towels and maybe sweep if you don't have little hands helping you

- switch the laundry

- weed a few plants

- sweep the kitchen well

- see the top of my desk again

- pick up the front room

- straighten the basement

- make a bed

- put a basket of folded clothes away

- empty the fridge of ugly old leftovers

I'm sure there's more. Sometimes I find myself looking at a small project and thinking- oh, I don't have time for that right now when really it's a 5 minute or less job. So, my organizing challenge for myself today is not to get myself worked up and overwhelmed about how big a job is- set a timer and start! Maybe I'll surprise myself and it will go by faster than I thought.

Wednesday: Allergy free recipes- Patriotic Trifle

I've combined a few recipes to create this recipe for a Patriotic Trifle. I made a chocolate trifle for a baby shower last week and now I'm hooked. I was going to do my stand by chocolate cake I posted last week for the 4th of July/Burnett Birthday Celebration, but now I have a difficult decision to make. The Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream Classic or the Fun New Patriotic Trifle.

Here's the trifle:

1 recipe cake of your choice- angel food cake would be good or pound cake (I'm using this one since it's egg free and I'm substituting the cocoa with corn starch and fresh lemon juice and lemon zest- it'll go great with the berries!)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Two-Bowl-Cake/Detail.aspx

1 package cheesecake flavored pudding

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 pint heavy cream- whipped

1/2 cup water

1 container french vanilla cool whip

1 package of strawberries and blueberries- I'll buy fresh, but I guess frozen would work too

Mix the condensed milk, pudding, and 1/2 cup water.

Fold in whipped heavy cream

Layer cake cubes, pudding mixture, strawberries, french vanilla cool whip

Top with blueberries and strawberries.

I'm not putting blueberries throughout because Spencer doesn't like them and they cost so darn much, but I'll put them on top to make it more festive for the 4th.

Note- You should be able to layer it twice and have a little left over for the top, but if you have a bigger trifle bowl or use a punch bowl like I did for the baby shower go ahead and double the ingredients. I doubled everything but the condensed milk. It was sweet enough without that.

For a lighter version leave out the condensed milk and use cool whip instead of whipping cream, but man oh man is it good with that yummy stuff in it!

Tuesday: Effective Advocating: Stepping Back

Saturday was supposed to be a road trip for me and the kids. Turned out to be an emotional day for everyone, but not in the good- I just went to a super cool swimming party for my cousin's birthday- way. Here's the little thing that started it all:

Cheese It's. Seriously- the yummy little processed orange square.

Spencer has been obsessing about food lately. The fact that the other kids had cheese its- one of his favorite snacks- threw him over the edge. (he did have his own bag of cheese its as well- it's not like I was depriving him)

He screamed, he kicked, he unbuckled his seat belt and started hitting the other kids. I just turned around and went back home. We hadn't gotten far- only a few blocks.

Sometimes the best decision is to step back.

Yes, he would have loved the party.

Yes, I had an amazing plan to accommodate him at the party.

Yes, I should have chosen a different snack.

Yes, I should have planned things better so we had time to eat at home and get the fit over with here rather than in the car.

Yes, we could have forgotten the whole lunch in the car bit and stopped at McDonald's on the way.

You know what? I was done. I didn't have it in me. I had to step back and re group and cry a little when my dear brother called to talk about something else and made the mistake to ask about the kids.

It's OK not to do it all. It's OK to step back and spend some time thinking about how stinking hard life is sometimes and then pick yourself back up and keep moving.

Monday is Picture Day! Oldies but Goodies!

She's always been silly. I think that couch was 3 couches ago.

Classic backyard play for these two.

I love the look on each of our faces. I think this was a trip way after Halloween, but he carted around his soccer ball candy bucket for months.

Sleepy ballerina.
Cutie Pies.
Love that little face.
Guess who? Spencer or Tyler? Eyes are exactly the same. Hair is exactly the same. Tyler's dimple would be covered up by the glass. It's tough to know except by mom. Is it just me or do his feet look bigger than they should. Maybe those shoes were too big or the camera angle or something.

Spencer on his way to his first day of school.

Pretty Girl.

All taken in 2004 and 2005. Every now and then I'll post some of these gems. They were something weren't they?

In case you were wondering- the boy pictures are all of Spencer. Shocking I know.

Sunday: Week of Fun! (with a little bump in the road)

Happy Father's day!

It was a pretty fun week. We did a variety of things including:

- making paper dolls (scary) and decorating a paper flag for flag day (fun)

- checking out 50 books from the library- didn't loose one thanks to the return bookcase! What amazes me is they have read almost all of them. Sammie reads about 5 books a week- big books too- she's really in to "Encyclopedia Brown" right now.

- went swimming with Nicole! Thanks Carol for sharing your pool!

- drove all over town looking for a Sonic to use their free slushy cards from the library after swimming. Turns out the silly things were only $1. I'm sure I wasted that much in gas. All well.

- I went to my first garden party- big hats and everything.

- Sally's 41st b-day surprise party!

- Behavior Therapy- trying to figure out Spencer's food issues and aggression

- Shopping trip with Sammie and Tyler to buy the groceries for Sammie's Bendaroo list. Very cool to see her so excited about learning how to shop for food and prep. meals. So far she's made homemade pizza and 7 layer dip and chips and they were both yummy! She's quite the sous chef.

- Went to a baby shower for a good friend who is having a little girl. I'm so happy for her.

- Ate an Amazing Chocolate Dessert that I will post at a later date even though it has eggs in the brownies... maybe I'll find a recipe for egg free brownies.

- Came home from the baby shower to a clean house and clean kids!

- Spent some quality shopping time with Sammie on Saturday.

- Spending Father's day at church and relaxing with the family after. Sammie's going to make Sloppy Joe for lunch (one of Thomas' favorites) and we have a little gift for him.

- The bump: Wanted to go to Conner's birthday party in Jacksonville on Saturday (our 4 year old nephew) but Spencer was having a difficult time and we decided to stay home. More about this on Tuesday in a post I'm going to call "Effective Advocating: Stepping back"

Saturday: I'm a Weight Watcher! I'm a Weight Watcher!

I skipped WW again this week... does that make me an actual member or am I just lurking? Anyway, hope to make it back next week.

Here's my exercise log for the week. Much more normal for me than what I've done the last few months.

Monday- treadmill 40 minutes

Tuesday- weight lifting class- 60 minutes- ow!

Wednesday- treadmill 45 minutes

Thursday- off

Friday- planned a walk with the kids and dog at the lake, but Man was it HOT! Skipped that one.

Saturday- walked the dog 30 minutes

Friday: What I like about YOU!

Spencer!

Daredevil
Beautiful child
Loves to slide!
Will sometimes put up with my pictures
Sometimes not.
Loves PJ's!
Loves to be outside
Is getting ready to tell me off for taking his picture

Sweet eyes
What a cute baby!

It was a big debate among my children who would get the first kid spot on this Friday post. To make it fair I decided to choose Spencer first since he is our first born, our guinea pig, our first shot at parenthood that didn't always go so well. I think that deserves the first spot.

What we like about YOU!

Mom- You are always ready and willing to go somewhere! Boy after my own heart.

Dad- He's fun to play with.

Spencer- This is a difficult concept for Spencer to get- I think he would say that he likes that he is good at the trampoline and other balance sports. He always seems very proud when he does something cool like run across the balance beam.

Sammie- He is (almost) always ready to have fun!

Tyler- He likes animals just like me!

Gizmo- You give me hugs!

Thursday's Organizing Challenge: Children and $

We don't do allowance in our family- mainly because I always forget to give it to them. Our kids work for what they want. (mainly Sammie, but Tyler has his eye on a shovel set at Walgreen's) Spencer is content with library items for now and the occasional box of crayons or a candy bar.

Our most recent example:

Sammie loves Bendaroo's. She's made me jewelry, Tyler a camera, head phones, MP3 player, (she has a REAL one, but sings for hours on end on her bendaroo one... figures.) flowers, animals, and many cool things for the walls downstairs. It just peels off so it's great temporary art.

She wanted a new set of 500 pieces and rather than just pick it up for her we encouraged her to come up with some ways to earn the money. We found a great deal on Amazon.com.

The only rule we have is that she doesn't get paid for her regular chores- feed/water dog, empty dishwasher, piano practice, and making her bed. Those she has to do because she lives here and eats here.

Here's what she's decided to do. I think it's a great list.

Sammie's Bendaroo Work List:

Amazon Price- $14.00 with tax and shipping

Have- $4.00 saved

Need- $10.00

Tithing- $1.00

Total Savings Needed: $11.00

1. Pick up toys in the basement

2. Sweep laundry room

3. Help do laundry- switch washer to dryer and fold dryer stuff

4. Keep room clean for 3 weeks

5. Weed front garden

6. Mom's helper day- assignments to be decided upon

7. Dad's helper day- assignments to do be decided upon

8. Cook dinner for a week- includes meal planning, budgeting, grocery shopping with Mom, cooking, and cleaning up the kitchen.

I love #8 and #3 because they will teach her important skills. It may seem like a lot to do for $11, but she came up with these on her own. She wanted to earn $1 for each thing and counted the cooking/budgeting/grocery shopping/cleaning up kitchen as $4 since it was more work.

It's moments like these that it really hits me: this wonderful, creative, inspiring, girl is my daughter. I'm so glad I get to be her mom.

Wednesday: Allergy free recipes- Chocolate Cake!

Chocolate Oil Cake: Dairy, Egg, Nut free

This cake is great topped with dark chocolate frosting. If you like mint it's also good with some mint extract poured into the batter for a chocolate mint cake. It's super yummy. I use it a lot when I have to take a dessert somewhere and don't have a cake mix because I usually have these ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups water

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp distilled white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together sugar, flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt. Add water, vegetable oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

**** Extra note****

This is not your "develop diabetes by looking at it" cake or "better than you know what cake"

but it's light and fluffy and a great mild chocolate cake.

My trick to a light and fluffy cake every time? Beat the crud out of it. Beat this bugger for twice the normal time and it'll be so fluffy you won't know how to cut it.

Tuesday: Effective Advocating in the community

Advocating takes place in a number of different areas of Spencer's life. The most recent incident involved the summer reading program at the library. Spencer is 11 and technically qualified for the teen reading program, but with his reading level I signed him up for the up to 10 year old reading program. The prizes were much more at his level of interest and the overall program was better for him. O, the drama this has caused the poor librarians who have great eye for detail, but have a hard time thinking outside the "box".

Drama #1: When I signed all of the kids up a few weeks ago they gave me a hard time about Spencer's age and what program he should do. I was adamant that he get to participate in the same one as Sammie. After 10 minutes of trying to convince me the librarian sighed and reluctantly agreed to sign him up for the younger program. (all the while I'm trying to herd 3 kids who are ready to leave)

Drama #2: We went back this week to collect the level 1 prizes and again they tried to sign him up for the teen reading program. Again, I listened to a lecture about how the program was run and why they wanted him in the teen program. My favorite argument she gave me was that the glasses that were the first prize would be too small for his head. Oi. I listened to what she had to say, but was persistent again and didn't let them switch him. I believe I said "I understand that" about 10 times in our 5 minute conversation. The herding of the children/sheep was an issue as with Drama #1 although this time I did have Julianne with me to help.

Enough Drama! Twice was enough for me though. I asked another worker for the number of the branch manager. (I avoid conflict at all costs so there was NO way I was asking the first worker) I kindly and calmly explained the reasons I had for enrolling Spencer in the 10 and under program and asked for her approval for this accommodation for him.

**Accommodation is a strong word. Saying "Would you be willing to accommodate my son with a disability?" is one of those questions that everyone feels they have to answer with a "yes" :)

She did agree and apologized for the trouble I'd had. I gave her Spencer's name and asked her to give her employee's instructions that it was OK for him to be in the 10 and under program so we could avoid the scene of Drama #1 and Drama #2 again. She did one better and told me to call ahead and let her or her assistant know we were coming to claim prizes and they would make themselves available to give Spencer his prizes personally.

It was a very productive conversation. I was kind and considerate and didn't put her on the defensive. I ended the conversation by telling her how impressed we were with the library programs and how lucky we felt to live in St. Louis County so we can participate in the many activities the library has to offer.

She thanked me for being a patron and said to keep her name and number to call if any other accommodation was needed for Spencer in the future. You bet she will get a phone call from me at the beginning of the summer reading program next year.

Monday is Picture Day!

Little miss sunshine
Sammie in a violin concert at her school. For some reason I didn't get a decent picture out of the 20 or so I took.

Spencer trying to be happy in a picture.

Happy Tyler

My Cool Dudes.