The Clips

So, I was trolling around on PINTEREST and saw this neat idea for road trips. Easy Cheesy photo on a clothespin. If the kid causes trouble, the clip comes down and at the next stop only the clips that are on the visor get a treat.

We test drove (ha! pun intended) the idea and it works great! Now, our “treats” were when I handed back a can of pringles the kid whose clip was down got it last, etc. And I would also sometimes say the clip was down for 15 minutes (and keep adding time as the offender talked back) – it gave them some control to be good and have the clip reinstated and also improved time telling skills. (ha!)

Since all three kids sit side by side there was still my Sit on Your Hands punishment for poking prodding pinching touching. And each one has a fleece blanket and they can cover their heads making a cocoon of privacy for themselves. The autistic kiddo started it years and years ago (I told him it was a bubble and he cannot hear or see anything outside of the bubble) and the others followed. It is funny (but calm and quiet!) when each one does it and there are just three blanket covered kids in the backseat.

Even running errands we use these tricks. Got any in the car tricks??

Autistic or Artistic?

This is what the eldest drew in a workbook. Wow! I think he really thinks in cartoons and his head is often this kind of a cacophony. Or he is just a pretty cool artist for a 13 yr old.

May the Force Be with You

 

Not really sure what she was playing but I love the mix of pink, tink, magic wand and stormtrooper helmet.

Making Angry Bird Cupcakes

Saw these and showed them to the 13 yr old and he recreated them for the 8 yr old’s birthday!

Boxed cake mix cupcakes and this frosting. The frosting was amazing and made wayyyyy too much. It covered 2 boxes of cupcakes with loads extra! Turns out it is Martha’s 7 minute frosting. Gonna have to find a recipe that makes a smaller batch.

We went through our stash of cake decorating supplies and bought a few things at central market. The eggs are candy coated almonds. The eyes are mini choc chips jammed into mini marshmellows. The beaks are gummy orange slices snipped into thirds. The bag of large marshmellows for the bellies went missing so we improvised. And T came up with the black (from angry birds Rio) bird design all by himself.

We had a yummy dinner, opened gifts and then enjoyed these! And, yes, this is the best photo of all three kids. Do you know how hard it is to get all three to look at you and smile- and not imitate an angry bird or fake a smile?

Making Cow Shirts!

If you know me- you know how much I adore Chick Fil A. My fave store- they know me by name. (is that a bad thing??) They know I want a sweet tea with no ice and an ice water (I mix my own – that’s how I roll).

And Friday was Dress Like A Cow Day. The littlest one needed a shirt so we made it using the spin art machine. Squeezing the paint bottles is good fine motor skillin’ for her and just plain fun. We use the paintings like stamps to make spots on a shirt. We have done this loads of times before- word of warning: If the kids are making one for you try not to let them stamp two RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CHEST. Also, don’t do red or mostly red- looks bloody. We have done spider web prints for halloween party and we have also used the artwork as gift tags, fronts for thank you notes and cards. We love our spin art machines (I may have recently downsized from 4 machines to 2- what?? I cannot pass them up at yardsales!)

The CFA dress like a cow experience was great! The 8 yr old said he had to wear those shoes because they look like hooves (how smart!) and the littlest one is wearing shoes (clear glitter jellies) but looks barefoot in the photo. She stole my hat. And does anyone get the joke I made with my mask? No one but the Husband seemed to get it. The boys wanted tie on masks. I wanted mine on a stick so the littlest one did, too.

Which brings me to a strange new phenomenon! The littlest one freaked out when she saw the CFA cow person in a costume. I mean really, really scared- hiding under the table, so scared she was on the verge of crying - Wow. That was a new thing. I sent her to the car with T while I got the food and when I got to the car she hopefully asked “Did you kill it?!?” She said the cow wanted to get her. And then all she could talk about was the “cow with the big head” and how even though it was a person in a costume it wanted to get her. *sigh* But it was still a great time.

Spaghetti Dogs!

  Pretty self explanatory. Cut hot dogs into chunks. Jam spaghetti (I happened to have fettuccini on hand- it works fine) into hotdog chunks. I found breaking the spaghetti in half and the hotdogs into thirds or fourths made for a great size. Boil the spaghetti spiked chunks until the pasta is done. Serve. No sauce needed but can be used. Me- I prefer my hotdogs sliced open with cheese crammed inside, wrapped in bacon and grilled or broiled. But the kids get a kick out of “cooking” this themselves so that is good enough for me.

Best Sellers

Here are a few of our favorite books at the moment.

• Vintage Rose Red and Snow White
• Machines
• The Aristocats
• Snow Bear
• The Three Little Kittens – what do you call that kind of pictures?
• Kitty’s Outdoor Day (the page where she gets wet from the sprinkler send the kids into gales of laughs – no kidding.
• Giggle Giggle Quack
• Counting on Calico – love the illustrations! Had to buy another copy we wore it out so good!
• Babies and Baby Animals- I admit it is more for the Gyo Fujikawa artwork (*love*)
• I love you with all my heart
• Bear snores on
• Meet my cats (again *love* the drawings!)

Potty training ponderings

 

So, how do you convince your willful potty trainees to wear a pull up when out running errands? I am trying to convince her that wearing panties over a pull up is a good thing. Not sure she is buying it but, man, I just hate dealing with public bathrooms with her. ugh!

Teacher Appreciation

Someone is finally over his fear of the sun exploding. Discovery documentary about planets + Autistic brain = obsessive fears that can only be overcome by an awesome teacher!

Squeeze in OT whenever you can

Kiddo #2 has dysgraphia (his brain and hands do not communicate all that good)- so he has awful handwriting. And by awful I mean wayyyy below grade level. But at his school they do not have a therapist to help. So, mom to the rescue. Partly because we did so much therapy with the Autistic one and partly because I am a homeschool mom, I am finding sneaky ways to get kiddo #2 to manipulate and work with his hands. This was a birthday card he made for his cousin. He made two at the same time – one for an uncle and this one. He hated finding the letters and cutting them out but he did it and the cards were graciously accepted.

Kidlet #3 does not know how to write yet but she can stick stickers on and so :

I drew the waterline and did the writing and she colored and put on the stickers. Pinching, removing, placing stickers- awesome fine motoring!

I am so durn sneaky!

(and I have no idea why my photos have that silly white border. cannot figure out how to remove it so oh, well)

Sign Language

This sign cracks me up every time I see it.

Portrait of a Cat

3yrold held the cat in a headlock while 7yrold drew the portrait.

He nailed the facial expression!

Photogoraphy Skillz

13yrold saw a flickr photostream of a stormtrooper lego person. I cannot recall which one. There are loads (http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=lego+stormtrooper+love&m=text) but it inspired him to take some photos. Love them!!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

He sure gets mad when she teases. See his frown?

Case Closed

Easy craft and the 13yrold whipped out a handfull in no time flat.

I have some stiff felt on hand. Folded it in half and roughly cut the shape, sharpie dots on the inside, Big Bite to punch the holes,  use large giant needle and yarn to stitch on the outside. Easy cheesey. Had to play with the size but also good for eyeglass case, cell phone case etc – gift for the grandparents!!

Sign of the Times

I like how he drew her hair perfectly.

Signs

A sign (translation: no naked little sisters) I found that the 13 yr old had made.

The vehemence of the NO part of the sign cracks me up.

What would you buy with 100 bucks??

Well, the 7yr old would get a bunch of electronics apparently. I just wonder what the other kids in class wrote.

What my son thinks is interesting

The 11 year old had to write an essay about what is someplace he has been that is interesting.

This is what he wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naturally, he got a 100.

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We’ve been baking!

 

For Mantha’s birthday I wanted to make these cute Hello Kitty cupcakes. I’d ganked the picture off the web and was determined to recreate it. I think we did a pretty good job. The boys *loved* making them.

Here is what I found:

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                         Here’s what we made.

The generic pink wafer cookies were cheaper so we ran with those. I had tic tacs and m&ms. The whiskers are a Japanese cookie stick called Pocky. They sell it at HEB and it even comes in strawberry and an almond rocha style. The chocolate ones are really yummy! Crunchy light cookie sticks dipped in a good quality chocolate. They are about 2.50 a small box, by the way.

   Want some??

 

 

 

 

 

The other neat thing we made were Nicolas’ birthday cupcakes. He and his ‘Uelita made them and I set out the frosting and a baggie of plastic decorations. I walked off to do something and the next thing we knew Nicolas had “iced” all the cupcakes.

*sigh* I had taken out these plastic flies to make “amber necklaces” (like Trey made in science summer school) but Nicolas took a liking to them. He smeared a dab of frosting and plastic fly on each cupcake.

Trey refused to eat any of the cupcakes. We wondered if that was Nicolas’ strategy all along. Smart little buggar!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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