Menu Planning Monday

It's a new year and I'm refreshed!  I am going to try to blog again.

Sunday: We had French onion soup and the boys had chicken noodle soup

Monday: ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn

Tuesday: pizza (I have a free pizza thanks to Papa John's and their rewards system)

Wednesday: breakfast for supper; pancakes, ham/sausage

Thursday: pork chops, cheddar mashed potatoes, veggies

Friday: leftovers

I promised George a quiche and scalloped potatoes for lunches this week.

PYHO: The blog that pulled me out of "bloggy retirement"

I've not had much time for things lately hence not writing here.  I would rather focus my energy on my boys rather than here at times.  It is important to remember that I am "Mom:" first and "blogger" second.

There is a blogger in my home town; she write for other places which is why I "know" of her.  Anyways, I saw this blog post she had written basically saying that kids with autism shouldn't be included in mainstream.  You can read it here.  I had to respond and as of now I see my comment hasn't been approved.  I believe mine is a message that is important and needs to get out.  I will publish here what that comment was so others can see the response.

"There's this little law out there called IDEA that entitles my children to something called the Least Restrictive Environment. IDEA was authorized in 1972 if I remember correctly. So, for 40 years children with special needs have had thee rights to go to a public school and not be turned away.

I am quite thankful for this law. You see, as a resident of the same town in which you live in, I happen to have 3 kids who are on the spectrum. I take what you say very much to heart. You, as the mom of a typical kid, get to worry about things like "what outfit is he/she wearing today" or "what lunch am I packing for them today". I have to worry about people's perceptions of my children. My beautiful boys...my boys that people are afraid of simply for one word...autism. I have to worry about the kid on the bus calling my kid "diarrhea breathe", hitting him, stealing his hat, etc. I have to worry about my child not being able to read, reading programs, math programs, etc. I have to worry about my 5 year old not being able to communicate what he wants and crying for his "mama" in school. I have to worry about the alphabet soup called IEP, LRE, IDEA, 504, etc.

I have to worry about my 1st graders and people going into their classrooms, not knowing that my boys don't know they are "different" and someone pointing it out to them. We have talked in our house about autism and what it means. To us, autism is just a part of who my boys are just like their eye colors and hair colors.

I implore you to contact me. I know you have seen me; I have run for school board, am co-president of the HPAC in our town and work hard to help make the "stigma" of special needs go away. To us normal is a setting on our dryer, not a character trait. I would love to help you understand there's no need to attach a stigma to any special need."

Wordless Wednesday

Menu Monday

I'm hoping this will be a trend.  If I start blogging today perhaps I can continue for the rest of the week.  With summer vacation happening and George working 2nd shift we decided to do lunch as our bigger meal so we could sit and eat as a family.

Monday: lunch: turkey breast, potatoes, green beans
              supper: soup and sandwiches

Tuesday: lunch: butter milk marinated oven fried chicken, rice, and broccoli
              supper: leftovers

Wednesday: lunch: breakfast for lunch; pancakes and bacon
              supper: salad

Thursday: lunch: pizza
               supper: beef and broccoli

Friday: lunch: left overs
           supper: shrimp scampi

I didn't chose winners for the ipad app give away yet.  I will extend the give away to this Friday.  Please sign up so you have the chance to win an awesome app!

How to make this mama cry

Monday we had an appointment in NYC for the twins.  Chris' geneticist believes that the boys have something genetic as all 3 have PDD_NOS, apraxia, etc.  While we were there Chris left his beloved "Kitty".  He got "Kitty" last summer at the boardwalk when George's dad took the kids.  Chris started crying so George went around the block and parked in the loading area of the hospital to run in and get "Kitty".  The parking attendant asked me to drive around the block and move the car.  Yup, I cried!  I can drive in Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC but NOT NYC!  No way!  Not at all!  She took pitty on me and let me just move up a bit in the parking area.

I had to take this picture!

This was the restaurant we ate at.  It was YUMMY!

Don't forget to enter my give away.  There are no entries as of now and tomorrow is the last date to enter!

Who wants a free ipad app?

I've reviewed Shake-a-phrase and am starting to use it in my tutoring.  I work with a 14 year old boy who has Down Syndrome and he enjoys the game.  He enjoys playing this engaging game.  It has recently gone through a few changes and will offer a bit more for our kids.  I have the pleasure of being able to give 5 codes away for this app.  Shake-a-phrase will get your kids laughing, wanting to play along, and not realizing they are learning!

To enter this give away, you need to 

1.  Follow my blog and leave a message in the comments section that you did.

for additional entries you can

2.  Follow Artgig Apps on facebook.  They are the makers of this amazing app.  They also have made a few others that my boys enjoy as well.  Please leave a comment to let me know you did this.

3.  Follow Artgig Apps on twitter and leave me a comment to let me know you did.  

4.  Search my blog to see what other apps Artgig Studio has created and let me know what you have found by a comment.

I'll end this give away a week from today.  

Marble Math

My boys have been playing our ipad a lot lately.  We bought the pad to help with Chris' communication skills but added tons of educational apps on for them.  The boys love Alien Buddies by Artgig Apps so naturally I jumped at the chance to add Marble Math Junior for them.  Marble Math Junior is for grades K through 2 but I have to admit that my 4 year old was playing along with the level 1 with minimal support!

I played this with the boys and was able to use this for my tutoring as well.  Not only did MY boys love this game but the one kid I tutor in math loved it as well.  This game convinced his mother to buy him an ipad!

Marble Math Junior uses math concepts from identifying shapes, counting, to indentifying money, time, addition, and subtraction.  Chris was able to do the shapes and counting on his own.  Jon and Matthew have been able to do all of level 1 with no support!  With today being the first day of summer break for them, we will be using this game often to reinforce skills that they learned in kindergarten and maintain what they have.  

The boy I tutor was able to do the harder level on Marble Math Junior with ease.  Every time he had an  correct answer he would jump up and cheer!  

Marble Math Junior is able to make learning fun.  My kids didn't realize they were learning ; they simply thought they were having fun.  While playing the game, the boys were so eager to have their turn they were actually fighting over the game!  

For today only Marble Math Junior will be free as a kick off to summer.   Hop on over to Artgig Apps to get more details!