I caught Trevy rockin’ out with one of his fave Christmas gifts. Please pardon my messy Therapy/School Room. That’s what happens when it gets used.
:: smile ::
I love how he pats his chest when he sings “me”.
Also, how he turns his head away so he can keep chomping on the microphone. Cheeky. But smarty too.
I do think it’s super cool that Allison Cruz thinks he’s cute. She doesn’t just have a smashing voice…but super good taste too.
…danielle
**warning – content may be offensive to Tebow haters**
My men-folk love sports. Even Trevy. In fact, he’s been wearing his Special Olympics medal around the house lately. Maybe hinting that he’s ready for our Winter Season to get on with it already! Bristel’s the only hold out. In fact, she told me the other day that she’s going to marry for love. Because if he loves her…he won’t watch sports. lol I didn’t have the heart to tell her…if she loves him…she’ll learn to enjoy them.
Toby is an all around athlete. He’s not a super star at any one sport…but solid in all of them. He has played for more than one of our community’s All Star teams. I’m saving the shirts to make a quilt someday.
He’s actually sitting behind me right now playing something or other sporty on the x-box.
He’s a sports addict.
And a Tim Tebow fan extraordinaire.
And so am I. Because, really, what mommy doesn’t love a handsome wholesome super hero athlete for her boys? More than ever our boys need strong men of integrity to look up to. Sure he has his daddy. And a couple other dads we know. But let’s face it, guys. You’re just not as cool as Tebow. 
And I’ll just go ahead and admit that I’m a sucker for Tim Tebow too. If there’s a fan club…sign me up! I already “liked” him on FB. Hung his poster in Toby’s room. And am fully intending to buy a certain somebody’s Bronco’s jersey for a certain soon to be 11 year old’s birthday.
Yep. Tebow lovers live here. I should make a car decal or something.
Unless you’re Peace Corps-ing it in the middle of nowhere, you’ve probably heard about the whole “Tebowing” incident. I rolled my eyes. Not at the kids.
And totally loooooved this pinned picture with the caption: Tebowing?
Ever since I was a kid…I liked to go against the flow. So go on and hve fun with the Tebowing kids…
This principal gives it two thumbs up!
…danielle
A sneak peek at why I signed up to review We Choose Virtues…
Just in case you ever had crazy thoughts that somehow homeschooled kiddos aren’t little sinners buggers like the rest of em’. 
Also…I strongly advise against gifting your children iPods or any other camera equipped gadget in the future!
…danielle
12 years ago today, I woke up with butterflies in my tummy and stars in my eyes.
12 years ago today, I wore my veil with jeans everywhere!
12 years ago today, I said I wanted to spend the rest of my life loving and living beside my best friend.
12 years ago today...I had no idea what that would mean...or that our life together could be so amazingly crazy.
No. Seriously.
AH-mazing. And CAH-razy!
I ♥ you, honey!
Happy anniversary!
ps. you’re still my BFF and you still give me butterflies XO
A local mommy friend has some seriously cute little stocking stuffers available at her etsy store!
What kid doesn’t love playing with squishy stuff? And even better when they come in funky scents! No worries mom, everything is made from entirely natural, non toxic (read: let them lick the table clean afterwards!) and child friendly materials.
Two of my faves are Reindeer Boogers and Elf Guts!
…danielle
I rave about See The Light art curriculum often. That’s because I really really love it!
And when I really really love something, my Italian roots get the best of me and I gush about it often.
Because of my raving, the kids and I were given the opportunity to review The Gift of Love.
With 143 minutes of Christmas inspired lessons you’ll never run out of Christmas-y art projects!
Toby and Bristel loved working on the Away in a Manger scene together. When I say loved, I really mean they loved it after we were done. I’m not very artsy (which is why I this curriculum is so great – because it’s dvd based and a master artist is doing the teaching so we’re all learning together!) and because I’m not very artsy we haven’t had a lot of practice drawing. So there was some stress n’ tears along the way. Lots of pausing of the video for erasing and catching up. But there was also GOBS of pride after they were done!
How cute is that donkey?!
Our whole family (including daddy) enjoyed the beautiful retelling of the nativity story with the chalk drawing. It’s a great little addition to a Christmas Unit study!
Three art lessons, special bonus features, master artists teaching, easy peasy supply lists right online for me - what’s not to love! And think it’s a steal for just $14.99!
My very personal fave was the REJOICE! lesson with Heidi Shorts teaching creative lettering. Brought back jr. high memories of doodling in the margins. 
I loved it SO much I’m having my Sunday School class use the techniques we learned to create a black light show using the names of Jesus for Christmas night service!
The Gift of Love is a wonderful tool for any homeschooling mom!
I give it two thumbs up!
…danielle
**disclosure – As an affiliate of See The Light, I was given one Gift of Love dvd in exchange for my honest and timely review. All thoughts expressed here are my honest own. **
Bristel holding a pair of Toby’s boxers in hand on our last laundry day with a disgusted look on her face says:
Whose X-boxers are these?
She didn’t know what she said wrong which just made Tobes and I laugh all the harder!
**********
Took the kids on a field trip last week to see The Spindle City Ballet’s Nutcracker. Bristel and I were over the moon. A perk of homeschooling is getting to pick the field trips! I’d never been to a ballet before! On the way home I asked the kids what their favorite part of the performance was. Toby without hesitation responded:
THE END!
*****
Another perk of homeschooling…
She can dress like a ballerina to the ballet if she wants to. 
**********
While we were sitting in the que (they herded put all the homeschoolers together 
) waiting to be seated for the Nutcracker…
A private school friend saw Toby and shouted hi to him.
I mentioned how nice it was that his friend recognized him and said hi. To which Toby responded:
Well, mom, I have a pretty obvious face.
**********
Bristel asked me why we don’t have any junk food in the house.
You know…
like oatmeal!
******
You know you’re a special needs mommy when…
The pharmacist leaves a Merry Christmas sticky note on your bag!
…danielle
Another blogger mom had a brilliant idea to upload a PDF teacher’s manual to her iPad. Save the trees!
I was in L-O-V-E with the idea.
Mostly because we’re all about saving the ink cartridge. But I like saving trees too. 
Just one teensie weensie problem.
I have (or had, rather) no idea how to upload a PDF to my Pad!
Thank goodness for geeky friends! Who can share wonderful tools like Dropbox.com with me! It’s free. It’s easy to use. It’s has a free app sidekick. And I’m in love!
Hope it helps another iPad mommy (or daddy) today!
…danielle
** Update – Sophie made it safely through the first surgery. She did lose a lot of blood and required several transfusions. I don’t know why…but knowing that my Trevy needed someone else’s blood to stay alive hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m sure Elaine’s heart is feeling it too. Sophie gave them quite a seizure show – this is the ONLY time families pray for seizures because the more data collected the more prepared the neurosurgeon can be. Sophie’s tummy has been VERY upset this time around. The second stage of her surgery will be today. I’m praying safety…wisdom for the surgical team…and peace over them all today. Thank you for praying alongside us… ***
I don’t typically share homeschool-y things on Trevy’s blog.
Likewise I don’t typically share Trevy seizure things on this blog. Because I need some space where I don’t have to think about seizures and surgeries and heavy things. Also, it tends to be a conversation killer. Because it’s awkward talking to the mom of the little boy with half a brain. I know that. Which is why I try to keep things more light-hearted here. Focused on the joy of homeschooling my children. Curriculum and field trips and such.
But sometimes the worlds collide.
Because I carry them both in my heart all the time.
A few minutes ago, one the sweetest moms I know kissed her even sweeter daughter goodbye. And the first step in Sophie’s second brain surgery began. Today the grids will be placed directly on her brain. Data will be collected for a day or so before the second stage of the surgery takes place.
I’m here. At the computer. Following the updates via FaceBook. My heart a basket case. I love little Sophie and her mommy. And I’m wondering how am I supposed to homeschool my children when I can’t see through the tears?
Maybe today’s primary lesson will be Compassion and Faith and Prayer…
If you’re a believer in prayer…
I’m hoping you’ll join us in lifting up Sophie and her family this week?
…danielle
A local fancy shancy private school opens their ice rink to homeschoolers every Tuesday during the winter.
Most co-op-y things don’t work with my (Trevy) schedule or they’re too far away. We live in the boon-docks of our region. But this one is in a perfect for us zone and I knew we had to do it.
So…last week I set about finding skates for the kiddos. And was SO thrilled that another homeschool mommy friend would be joining us too!
Little Miss. Independent is SO funny with her dainty ice walking!
Toby has been feeling so lonely lately. Which is why my heart swelled when another boy about the same age immediately befriended him. And even stayed with him during the wall clinging learning for awhile! Of course, he did leave to play tag for awhile too which helped encourage Tobes to get off that wall. I just know he’ll be tagging it up in no time!
We had SO much fun that I’m tempted to buy skates for me! This is going on our weekly to-do list!
Best homeschool event ever!
…danielle
I feel like such a dork but I’m SO giddy about these trays! They’ve turned out super cute and they were super cheap to put together! Now I can’t wait for him to come home from school to try them out.
Also…I’m taking a MAJOR risk and moving Trevy’s Trays from the closet (where they were locked away safe n’ sound from Trev-dini’s curious fingers) and into our IKEA Trofast system right smack in the middle of our school/therapy room! Within reach of curious little fingers!
Yikes!
Am I totally nutso?
I am, right? I know you’re thinking it!
But back to the crazy cute trays… First up we have…
Gobs of Garland Sensory Tray
I was torn between using the realish evergreen-esque garland or this blingy alternative. But an awesome idea hit me while I was milling through the Family Dollar aisles. If I use the garland above…I can add (saftey) scissors to the bin and let them snip…snip…snip too! I love sneaking in OT!
Hidden in the garland are adorable Christmas erasers which came 12 per pack at the dollar store. Jingle Bells which Trevy will L-O-V-E. Safety scissors. And Christmas cookie cutters.
Gift Giving (transferring) Tray
Again…a twelve pack for just a buck at the dollar store. I’ve been saving up egg crates for just such a project. For transferring I put in a couple spoons and a little cup. If the work is too hard Trevy has a tendency to give up quickly. Spoons are hard work for him. I thought maybe pouring with a little cup might be easier.
Linky-doo (fine motor) Tray
I loooooooove these little linky doo thingies that I found at…
you guessed it! The Dollar Store! Miss. Outpatient OT will be proud. She put this on my homework list ages ago but we didn’t have any at home and I didn’t want to spend gobs of money. This was the perfect solution!
Cheerio Christmas Playbook (and yummy snack) Tray
Everybody has at least one Cheerio playbook, right?
Snowflake Races (this is gonna be SO fun) Tray
Straws and lightweight snowflakes at the Dollar Store (you’re seeing the theme, right?).
Trevy and his siblings will each take one snowflake and one straw. They will line their snowflakes up on our (we have hardwoods) floor. On my GO they’ll blow-race their snowflakes to the finish line.
This is totally one of my favorites! Bristel and I already sampled it! Well, actually, Bristel has sampled everything…but this was her fave. Trevy has Dysarthria (weak tongue muscles) and blowing is a wonderful exercise to strengthen them!
Mail from Santa (physical therapy) Tray
Sometimes my hoarding ways come in handy. Like keeping that little Santa mailbox! I just knew I’d use it one day!
And what could be better than opening it up and drawing cute little activity cards from Santa out? Trevy and Bristel (and even Toby when he’s not trying to be cool) LOVE this game! Each card has a different action like:
Sneak like and elf
Twirl like a snowflake
Laugh like Santa
And so on. Since I know you’re gonna want to print your own…I’m linking my source right here!
The Christmas Story Tray
A cute little Nativity book and some Nativity shaped cookie cutters.
Trim the Tree Tray
Confession. I’m not brave enough to keep the glue stick or the crayon in the tray. 
The idea is to color the Christmas tree and then hole punch “ornaments” to paste on the tree. If hole punching is too difficult for Trevy, I’ll get some tissue paper to tear ornaments from. I also have a length of beaded garland that I thought we could just string but not glue.
Spell Your Name in the Sand Tray
He has tons of fun with this tray so it’s a carry over from last month’s trays.
…danielle
We’re enjoying unusually warm weather lately. Typically by this time of year, I’m complaining that we live in the arctic.
The thing with warm-ish weather is that it tend to make it hard for the kiddos to concentrate on academics. Mommy too. 
So today we started with a fun crafty project (thanks to Amy over at Are We There Yet?) instead of the run of the mill Math First rule.
I was going to have Trevy help color…
…but since I procrastinated time got away from me and I need it done today I opted to just let the big kids at it.
Random but Cute: Bristel made that little wreath on the table out of garland scraps she salvaged before daddy could toss em’. 
I’ll cut the pieces out to be laminated while they work on their CORE subjects.
I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to use the pieces on a flannel graph background or with magnetic tape on the whiteboard or even painter’s tape (because I happen to have some handy and it’s awesome and doesn’t damage walls or other surfaces that I’m prone to sticking things on and that totally makes the Hubster happy).
But any way we do it…I know it’ll be fun! Hands on Projects are the best.
Click here for directions on how to print your own Advent Calendar
…danielle
