My Brother

My daughter wrote a blog post for Melissa at Autism Mommy Avenger on what it has been like for her having a younger brother with Autism. It was wonderful for me to hear it in her own words. I have often thought I “knew” what life was like for her but reading her words made…

Just a Taste of Europe

My daughter has just ended her first week in Europe. If her pictures, texts and a phone calls are any indication she will be heading back at her next opportunity. We are encouraging her to try to take advantage of all that she can while she is there from sights to food. Here are a…

About Us: My Son’s View of His Autism

This is one of my favorite pictures of my son at Walt Disney World one week after he was diagnosed as Autistic. This was during his Peter Pan phase. Sunday is my day to talk about my family. Who we are, why we do the things we do or anything that is important in our…

Letting Go, Bit by Bit

This was my living room on Monday evening. Normally I would NEVER take a photo like this let alone post it on the internet.  But, this is a significant piece in our life right now. Our goals in raising our children have always been that by the time they left our house they would be…

The Upper Peninsula – Vacation Day 4 (or the end)

Back on the road back to home. This time crossing the bridge was much easier as we could drive on the paved part not just the inside grated lane. That was awful. It made the car shake and it was rusted which really gave me no confidence in its sturdiness. I know in my head…

Pantry Storage

How do you store your extra pantry staples? Do you shop only sales circulars? The above is one of my three shelving units that I have in my basement to store my extra supplies. I try to keep 3 months of staples so that I am not running to the store every time I make…

The Upper Peninsula – Michigan Vacation Day 1

While the kids were away at camp this year we had planned to go to Walt Disney World for a parents only vacation. About two weeks ago I realized that it is 90-100 degrees in Florida. What was I thinking? I hate heat AND I hate crowds. We are used to vacationing in Florida between…

Why We Choose Not to Have a Video Game System in Our House

Photo from Dropshipstrategy.com On Sundays I talk a little about my family so that you can get to know us better. Our choice to not have any gaming systems and limit electronics in our house makes us a bit unique. I think we are one of the few families I know of that don’t have…

Storing Fruits and Vegetables to Last Longer

Picture from joesmithfarms.com Fruits and vegetables are not cheap. Every time I find the limp celery that I planned on using the last stalks of for soup or the moldy peaches stuck in the back of my fruit and vegetable drawers I see dollar signs floating away. How do I store them AND use them…

CSA Share Dinner

The kids and I went yesterday to pick up our first Community Supported Agriculture box (CSA) from a local organic farm. It was like Christmas. The kids wanted everything for dinner but we settle on a few select things to try with our meal. Included in our box were: Kale – several varieties – Lacinato,…

Salad Bar – Lunches for the Summer

It’s summer vacation in our house. I am still trying to get the kids to eat more fruits and vegetables during the day so I came up with an idea yesterday to make a salad bar every day for the kids. I can prep the vegetables ahead of time and just mix the items up…

Finding Dory – “Just Keep Swimming”

Yesterday was Mama’s Day in our house. The Mama wanted to see Finding Dory so we all headed to the movies last night. I have to tell you I love the theater we go to. The tickets are $5.50 (opening weekend and it was after noon. Tickets before that are $2.75!) For us to get a…