Help From My Friends

Hey, you guys! GREAT day for me. hehe. I took a sleeping pill last night, because I was sure that I wouldn't be able to sleep. Jake's ARD was stressing me out, but I was trying not to think about it :)

So, I woke up, got kids to the bus, and got myself and Jim ready. Oh yeah, check out this CUTE picture of Jake and Boxer. hehe.

And remember those flowers I got last weekend? Well, they're still BEAUTIFUL! Crazy, huh? especially since they were already 75% off because they were old... LOVE them, though :)

We headed up to the school at 8:40am, and were shown to the ARD room. And slowly, but surely, all the people who were supposed to be there came. And the 9am meeting didn't start until around 9:30am. Me, and Jake, and the teacher, and the VP, and the head of special ed, and the special ed teacher, and the military liaison, and the school social worker, and the district psycologist. I think that was everyone. Jim was kinda rowdy, but he was relatively good...

And it took them about 30 minutes before they FINALLY let me know that Jake qualified for an ISP because they thought he was Autistic. Thank goodness!

Most of the time, they rely heavily on the teacher evaluation. And Jake's teacher evaluation said he was a "normal" scoring kid. Mine? Yeah, definitely Autistic. BUT, because he's only been in school for 40 days, they took my evaluation with more weight. I've been his "teacher" the past 2 years, and should know more about what's going on.

Anyway, it was GREAT results for us. I was ecstatic. Funny, huh, that I'm SO excited about my kid being Autistic. Yeah, I know, it's not happy about the autism, it's about the help :) And we need help :)

We got the test results, which I don't know how to read... I'm gonna take them to the Autism Support Group on Thursday, and see if they can make heads or tails of it. They did show me this open ended questionnaire that Jake filled out. Some of the responses were cute and some were funny :)


We got done with the meeting at 10 after 11, and I packed up, and headed to take Jim to school. Good thing it's just RIGHT next door. hehe. I walked him into the school and into the lunch room, then headed back home. Amanda texted to see if I wanted to ride to Laurie's b-day lunch with her, and I had JUST enough time to use the restroom, then off we headed to the North East side :)

We had lunch at Great American Land and Cattle Co. Never eaten there before, but I'd heard good things about it from Laurie. It's her favorite.

Kari and I and Amanda and Terra and Laurie were there. It was a nice little lunch party :) Happy b-day, Laurie!!! SO glad that you're my friend!
Check out this lunch! It was SO good! Steak with some kind of cheese, onions and chilis on it, and veggies, and a roll.

Oh yeah, they SO know how to cook a steak :)

Amanda dropped me off at home, and I had about 30 minutes before I had to get Jim off the bus. I checked some emails, then headed out to the bus. I picked up Jim, and he and I headed to Big Lots. Joe's baseball team mom had called and asked me if I'd bring the snacks tonight, so I needed to go and pick something up.

We got granola bars and cheese crackers, and FINALLY found the tablet style DVD players! I was pretty excited. We got a couple, and some headphones, and some cases. and a few other things, then headed home.

But first, I NEEDED a DDP. And the 7-11 on the way home, while more expensive, has DDP. So I totally stopped for a fix, um, er, drink :)

We got back home, and I hurridly got all the kids ready for swimming. And had Tom get his things together for baseball. We brought the neighbor kid, Zach, to the pool too. We got there at 4pm, and swam for about an hour. Tom and Jake had one fight in the pool, but all the rest was good. Margot came, but the water was SO cold and her and her little girl didn't stay long. Captain America called when I first got there, and got to chat for about 20 minutes. I chatted with Kari for the rest of the time, then had Tom change into baseball clothes, and we were off.

We drove off post, and dropped Tom off at George Moore field. And headed back on post, and had Joe get ready for Baseball. Jake wanted to stay home, and I told him that once his room was cleaned, he could go to the neighbors house. And the rest of us headed back to Tom's game. But we dropped Joe off at Kari's house first. Josephine and Joe's teams were playing each other. So Kari volunteered to take him with her. We'd pick him up after Tom's game got over. Sweet :)

Back to Tom's game we went, and I texted and facebooked until my phone died. Then took some pictures of Tom at bat. The coaches said that if I bought Tom a cup, that they'd let him be catcher. sweet :)

Jim and his little friend, Jack Jack

Tom actually hit the ball this time! Did I tell you before that I thought that his strategy was to let the pitchers throw so many balls that he'd be walked? He got on base EVERY time he was up to bad, and never took a swing. hehe.

Well, this game, he got 2 hits! See, Tom, you CAN do it!






At 7pm, when Tom's game was over, we packed up quickly, and headed over to Logan fields where Joe was. Jim played on the playground with Josephine, and Kari and I hung out. Joe was doing SO well! He hit a run that got him to 3rd, and got to play 1st base, too. He did REALLY well. Good job, Joe!

I tried to get a picture of Joe batting, but by the time the camera went off, he was in mid run. But you know what? I think this is the COOLEST photo ever! A happy accident, right?



At 7:30pm, Joe's game was over, and we all loaded up, and started to head home. And I decided to swing by Little Cesears and grab a few pizzas. But then realized that Big 5 sports was RIGHT down the street from there. I could look for the cup for Tom! And a left handed person's catchers mitt!

Yeah, we ended up getting a TON of baseball gear. Tom paid me 1/2 of his babysitting money for the month to help out with it. And I had some kids school/activities funds to pay for it too. We ended up getting Tom a glove, both Tom and Joe batting gloves, baseball bags for all their gear, new pants and a belt for Tom. They were SO happy with it.

After paying for the gear, I decided to forgo the Little Cesears pizzas. WE could just have sandwiches. hehe. We headed home, and I accidentally took the long way. Sigh. It was gonna be a late night...

We got home around 9pm. I put the little ones to bed, and had Jake do his living room chore. Because it was SO messy. Somehow, the other rooms weren't that bad. Maybe because no one was home all day long. hehe.

I sat down to watch a few episodes of In Plain Sight and blog, and kept getting distracted by Facebook. Funny how that happens. Then, after my friends stop Facebooking with me, I got distracted by In Plain Sight. That show is growing on me. It was good filler background activity before, but I'm really liking it now. I spend more time watching the show than I do blogging. hehe. Not a good thing.


So, it's now 11:46pm. And I'm sleepy. I really didn't get much of a rest at all today. It was run run run go go go all day long. Tomorrow, I'm meeting with the retreat girls on the West side for lunch. And had library. And I think those are my only 2 appointments. Wednesday is a luncheon at Terra's house, and a ballgame for Tom, and Kari and I are going to a El Paso Diablos game after Tom's game. Thursday, I have the Austim Support group meeting in the morning, an ACS class about behaviors in the afternoon, 2 ball games in the evening. Dang, the week is ALL ready filled, huh?


Oh yeah, I found out that Jake has been playing violent, rated M games at the Youth Center. Um, what? I didn't know that. I just figured, since it was a youth center, and that rated M games are for grown ups, that such things wouldn't be allowed. I need to go and pay a visit to the youth center tomorrow and get things straightened out. The districts psychologist today said that while most regular kids can differentiate between video games and reality, Autistic kids seem to get lost in it all, and have a hard time separating what's real and what's not. He said to definitely limit the time spent playing games, and no overly violent games.

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

OK, NOW it's working... sorry about all the confusion :) I should blog while under the influence of OTC drugs...

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Sharon, my dear, this is one of my MOST favorite layouts of yours yet!!!

School is Almost Over

Oh yeah, baby, that was the BEST vacation ever :) Well, besides the fact that I didn't have my hubby there :) Couldn't have asked for a better bunch of women, and the resort was DIVINE! Thanks so much, army. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

I woke up at 7:45am, and started getting kids ready for breakfast. And we headed up to the lodge. Check out this photo that Margot took. Cool, huh?
We went to breakfast, which was french toast, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, eggs, oatmeal, and fruit. We ate, and headed back to the cabin. I started to pack things up, then Captain America called on Skype, and we got to Video Chat for quite a while. SO nice :) The kids also got a chance to talk with him. AWESOME day :)

At 11am, Joe and Jim and I headed up to the main lodge to check out. We turned in our keys, and paid our overage charge. $1.63. hehe. And swung by the gift shop. I wanted to get something for Terra for taking care of Boxer. She did such a great job :)

I found some CUTE little shirts for her twins. And some SUPER tasty fudge for us to share. And a necklace for myself. And the lady at the gift shop gave us a SUPER huge discount, so it all came out to only $20. Thank you, gift shop lady!!! You rock!





I had her cut the fudge (4 flavors - mint chocolate, snickers, german chocolate, and pecan) into 6 slices, one for each of us. Still, that pound of fudge didn't stand a chance against us Hartys. hehe. My kids were SO sweet. They shared with our new friends.

We ended up staying for another 2 hours. Didn't leave the lodge until around 1pm. We chatted in the main room, and hung with friends, had some lunch, and watched TV, and packed the truck. Very nice and leisurely. Gotta love it :)

The girls and I made plans for lunch on the West Side on Tuesday at a chinese place. I'm excited! Me and Virginia and Margot and Liselle and Joslyn. Should be a good time. We're gonna text Theresa and see if she wants to come too.

While I was heading off the mountain, my check engine light came on. Crap. So, I stopped at Alamorgordo at the Howdys to turn the truck off. Because that usually makes the light turn off. And, I got a 64 oz Diet Coke while I was at it. And push pops for the kids. And Sunflower seeds for Tom and Jake. And a Ben & Jerry's ice cream for me. And we headed back to El Paso.

And really, it was the most enjoyable car ride with 5 kids that I've ever had. Ha! Everyone was good, and well behaved, and there was no fighting. Thank goodness!

We got back home, and Boxer was SO SO SO excited to see us. Jake gave him a bath, because he was messy. And snuggled on the couch with him for quite a while. It was SO sweet.

The kids watched a few episodes of Recess, and I took a short nap. We did a few chores, emptied the pool in the backyard, and Terra dropped by the house. She and I and Jim and Joe and her 3 girls went on a driving tour of our neighborhood. hehe. Her twins get frisky in the evenings, and driving around helps. So we drove through the neighborhoods, and chatted, then headed back to my house.

The kids and I watched an episode of Doctor Who, and had leftovers for Dinner, then I sent the kids to bed around 8pm. Jake and Tom and I watched an episode of Chuck, and it's now 8:30pm. And I'm gonna finish washing this show with them, then they'll go to bed, and I'm gonna design some freebies for next week, and then have the rest of the evening off.

Night, my friends. Pray for me for tomorrow :) We have the ARD meeting tomorrow to determine Jake's eligibility for an IEP. Think good thoughts!

So, in honor of School ALMOST being out, here's a WordArt for ya! Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Love it, Sharon! Great clustering!

Joyful Noise

Seriously, girls, I waited WAY too long to blog. I ended up chatting with the girls outside of my room for 2 hours... and it's now midnight. And you know how incoherent I blog after midnight. ha! At least I'm not designing right now, huh? Can you say TYPO? hehe.

Anyway, I was woken up at 7:30am with Jake yelling at the other kids to turn the TV off because he was trying to sleep. Sigh. So I had to referee that, then I went back to sleep. And Jim came in to snuggle, then Joe came in to snuggle. And I finally crawled out of bed at 8am.

I got dressed, fixed my hair and make up, got the kids dressed and ready, grabbed a soda, and we all headed to breakfast.

And DANG they had a nice spread! Sausage and eggs and bacon and oatmeal and cereal and fruit and potatoes and biscuits and gravy. My kids and I were in HEAVEN :)




We had about 30 minutes before the classes started, so I went and got my big kids, and told them that they HAD to come to the first 15 minutes of the "childrens" class. Jake didn't wanna go, but I told him it wasn't a choice. 15 minutes as ALL he had to stay. He agreed.

My new friend, who's name suddenly eludes me (again, it's after midnight), had an 11 year old girl, and she was spending the day with my older kids. She got along great with my boys and Eme. Anyway, at 9:30am, I dropped the 2 younger kids off at the daycare, and brought the 4 older kids to Sgt Nick, who was running the class. He took the older kids, and had a "pre-teen" class, and did some fun activities with them. They got to go upstairs to the tower, and see the sights, and see where Clark Gable and Judy Garland carved their names on the banister. Cool, huh?

And we had our class. Which was really 7 army wives sitting around a table chatting. And it was GREAT. We talked about communication, and deployments, and our hardships we were going through, and really all bonded. It was a great time :)

AND, we were told that because 7 people didn't show up, we were gonna get a $100 coupon to the SPA. Sa-weet! We got the brochure, and scanned it for what we wanted.
90 minute deep tissue massage, ALL the way! I'll pay $20 plus tip for an hour and a half massage. Heck ya!
Class was over at 11am, and we had 30 minutes before lunch. I gathered up all the kids, and we headed to lunch. Sandwiches and fruit. And KILLER brownies. So good :)

Do you think I could possible get a bigger sandwich???

Here's Joe, playing around :)

So Joe has decided that Sgt Nick (the chaplins assistant) is the MOST cool person ever. And is his new friend. He wanted to play with him ALL day long. It was the CUTEST thing ever. Sgt Nick had this new shirt, that was washed and super shrank, so didn't fit him, and he asked if he could give it to Joe. Awe! Joe kept wanted him to play chess, it was was appropriate :)

Joe thought it was the coolest thing ever. We ended up chatting after lunch, and eventually all headed up to the lobby. One girl and I ended up on nice chairs, chatting, while the kids were in child care. And Captain America called, and we got to chat for about an hour.

I couldn't go back to my room, because there were 4 pre-teens there, so the lobby it was. It was good to chat and catch up. I miss the boy :( But it was great to chat :)

My friends all slipped out for an hour at a time to go get massages, and eventually, it was my turn! 2:30pm. I was SO stinkin' excited!

I got there, and the lady brought me back to the massage room, and said that I could undress to my level of comfort. Ok, sounds good. I undressed, and climbed under the SUPER warm blankets, and then she came back in for the massage.

And it was SUPER heavenly :)
It was the FASTEST 90 minutes ever. I'd told her that I have 5 kids, and that my hubby was deployed, so she decided to give me the $25 hot stone treatment for free. Awe, SUPER sweet :) And when the total came up, she'd applied a military discount on top of that. SO, while I was planing on paying the difference of around $20 plus tip, the whole total was only $101. Again, AWESOME! I left her a $20 for a tip, and headed back up to find my friends. And I was SO super relaxed :)

I stopped by the cabin first to check on the kids, and grab a DDP. I took Joe and Jim, and we headed up to the main lodge. All the girls were hanging on the back lawn, near the pool. And the kids were running around, playing in the grass. Sounded perfect.

We sat and chatted and had a GREAT time. My new friend, Margot, is MAJOR into astrology, and told everyone about their signs, and what was in store for them in the future. I learned that my sign, Sagittarius, is the most "mature" of all the signs. hehe. Isn't that funny! And that I'm fun to be around, and can adapt to most situations. Good to know :)

We played and chatted in the back until 5:00pm, and it was time for dinner. I went and got the big kids, and off to dinner we went.
Here's my friend with the 11 year old who's name STILL eludes me, holding a "flower" from her 5 year old. ROFL!
And dinner was SO good. They only had 3 tables instead of 5 this time, so we all had to squish. And there wasn't a table big enough for all my kids and me to sit at, so I told them to grab their plate, get their food, and join another table. Yeah, Joe TOTALLY sat RIGHT next to Sgt Nick. hehe. And all my boys followed suit. It was the funniest thing. My 4 boys sitting at the table with the chaplin, Sgt Nick (no kids), and the 2 ladies at the retreat who currently didn't have kids. ha!

Here's my food. It was SO yummy. I ended up sitting with Margot and my friend who's name STILL eludes me. I'm gonna think of it. I know I will :)




There was a TON of left overs, so we got take out boxes, and boxed up food for tonight and tomorrow. I'm so smart. LOL!
The kids had a GRAND time running around in the basement conference room and being loud and crazy. They played Twister for a while, and built a fort out of chairs and the twister mat later. hehe. We were there for about an hour and a half, at least.

And soon, we decided to go and get ready for the pool. 7pm, and we headed to the pool. Woohoo!













We got there about 15 minutes before our friends, and the kids had fun playing in the pool/hot tub. Then all the other kids/moms came, and we all had fun hanging out in the hot tub. We were in the pool area for about an hour and a half.

Then, we decided to move the "party" down to my cabin. See, there's a little "living room" type place outside of my cabin. A common room. With a pool table, a foose ball table, a BIG TV and DVD player, table and chairs, a fridge and stove and sink. BIG area for the kids to play. The perfect hang out place.

So we all changed, put on our jammies, and met down there. I worked on getting my pictures on my blog, and my freebie posted and hosted and such, then shut it off to chat. I'd blog later... Little did I know it would be SO much later.

We were on Facebook, and we all friended each other. And showed each other pictures of our spouses. Margot said that she'd seen Captain America before. Cool :) We all chatted and the kids watched Looney Tunes, and played games, and had a good time.

And around 9pm, the party started to break up. And I finally sent my kids to bed at 10pm. Then proceeded to stand outside of my door and chat with Joslyn and Liezele (my 2 friends with no kids as of yet). And we chatted for about 2 hours, before finally calling it a night.

And here we are, at 12:35am. And I'm SO sleepy. I need to turn this off and go to sleep. So that I can wake up in the morning, go to breakfast, come back to the cabin, pack, load the truck, and drive the 2 hours back to El Paso. Pfew!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Awe, love the dark colors, Sharon! Sing!!! hehe :)