Happy Easter

Hope all of you had a beautiful Easter. 

Love,

The Armstrong Family

Lucky Copper Penny

Witt won Grand Champion at the Tournament a few weeks ago for his nunchuck routine. He was amazing!!! We are so proud of you, Cowboy!!

Lucky Copper Penny

I'm so glad for the moments when you shine

because I know sometimes you feel left in the shadows. 

I hope you always remember those shining moments

because they are your moments

and you deserve them.

I know you get frustrated.

I know it sometime stinks being the middle kid.

I know it's not easy being the "big" brother to your big brother sometimes.

I know it's hard to reason with him as you try getting him to see things your way.

But I'm so glad you keep trying.

I know playing with him is sometimes difficult,
when you call him outside to climb trees and play in the dirt, and wrestle on the trampoline.

I know it's confusing to you 

why some days he just can't handle those things.

But I'm so glad you keep trying.

I have seen the hurt in your eyes time and time again.

When I had to grab his hand in the parking lot and not yours

or you have to tag along sometimes while we take him to therapy 

or I have to drop you off somewhere so I can take him where he needs to go

or when I have to deal with his melt down before your hurt feelings.
...I am so sorry.

But I'm so glad we keep talking about it.

And I'm so glad you tell me.

And I pray that you always will.

I'm so grateful for our "date nights". 

When it's just you and me

for our talks and our jokes

for the way you try to understand the world around you

for how tough you are, but also sensitive too.

Your strength amazes me

you're my breath of fresh air.

I'm so glad you're a fighter
and stubborn too.
For your adventurous spirit.
You're my little Huck Finn.

I'm so glad you're his brother.

I'm SO blessed you're my son.

God hand picked you for the job.

You shine every day

my Lucky Copper Penny.

Written for the Cowboy, by his Mama

Piano with Mary

We drive all the way to Clarkdale every Friday to take piano from this wonderful lady. She and Race always have lots to talk about...

Mary is a retired world traveler: she spent time studying in Antarctica and Europe, she loves birds as much as Race, and always have yummy things coming out of her oven for us to sample. Plus... she is the perfect piano teacher for Race. They both look forward Fridays.

Thank you, Mary. For blessing our lives.

Race loves piano. He loves music. And we're finding it comes very natural to him.

Watching him practice makes me wish I would have stuck with it all those years ago.

Ladyhawke

I'm not a big bird fan, but meeting Uncle Michael's new friend in training almost convinced me I actually liked birds... but then I was reminded of the chickens back at home.

The boys loved Jake. Yep, that's this beautiful bird's name. Jake. And it was pretty amazing watching him swoop down from the trees to Uncle Michael's arm. 

I was having flashbacks of my favorite childhood movie. The theme music blasting in my mind as I watched Jake fly around. And I was right there again, pretending I was the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer putting up with Matthew Broderick's horrible English accent, dodging arrows in the sky. 

  

Oh yeah. I was Ladyhawke. :)

The Book Section

On Fridays when we have time to kill after therapies and before we pick Witt up, sometimes we run to Walmart to pick up odd and end things needed at the house. And sometimes while we're there, we just visit the books. Sometimes longer than other times. Depends on how much time we have to kill.

Love it.

Snow.

We've had a lot of snow this winter.

Even Spot liked how much snow we got. Right after Race and Spot came in from their morning walk, we had a coyote running through enjoying the snow as well...

This is the cowboy snowman named Slim. He had a zucchini for a nose. The boys are still in their PJ's and haven't even had breakfast yet. They saw the snow when they woke up and ran out to build Slim.

And we even got up the rim a few times to sled with friends the Wimers and the Bryants. These are the friends I told you about who have been my mentors through the whole home schooling experience. We are so grateful for each of them!

Race and Dathan:

Lane and Addy: Lane didn't much care for the snow... at all. He did a lot of crying on our outings.

Witt and Justin: After this winter, I have decided Witt will never own a dirt bike, motorcycle, or anything that goes too fast. :)

Race and his buddy Easton.

Lane and Porter:

Gunner and Witt (this is one of my favorite pictures):

We love snow.

We love our friends.

We love playing in the snow with our friends.

Thematic Therapy

When I was teaching my first year, I quickly discovered that our district adopted curriculum was anything but thematic. (thematic being that the learning crosses over from your language arts, to math, art, to science, social studies, etc...) This shocked me at first because thematic units were something covered extensively in my college teaching classes. Because through using thematic units, students become emerged in the learning. The learning is all connected in some way.

One great thing about homeschooling is you can make this happen. Even with the classes Race is taking from Connections Academy, we make this happen. Here are some pictures of one of our units we covered in January.

What a great little story by the way. It's about the memories, love and stories a quilt tells:

We got out some of our quilts and talked about where each came from, who made them, their unique designs, and why they are special to us. Race struggles with story retell. He is a good reader, and he has great comprehension and can answer questions about the story. But putting events in order, using those transition words (first, next, before, finally) is a challenge.

In Social Studies we covered the different regions of the world where different types of blanket making are used, and for what purpose they are made.

In math, we hit our measurement chapters.

We went to Walmart to look at and feel all the fabrics. In the past Race has always wanted to hang out in the electronics right around the corner while I bought fabric. This time he went to compare and contrast the different materials.

Fine motor skills challenge Race. Handwriting, beading, and now making a scarf on a knitting loom, push Race to focus on those small muscles that don't always want to cooperate with him.

When Race gets going on the knitting loom, his focus goes to a whole other level; like he does when he's playing the Wii or the piano. Sometimes I wish I could go with him to that place. So I can see what it's like.

Pinewood Derby

As I've told you in the past, Race loves Cub Scouts. In January, we had the Pinewood Derby. Race and John worked hard getting the Bat-Mobile made.

And guess who won the derby?

Left to Right: Second place Keagan, Third place Kaiden, First place Race

Race and his two good buddies, Jason and Dathan after the derby. It was such a great night, it was neat to see him win. 

That night as he went to bed, he said to me, "This was the greatest night ever."

I think it's one he'll always remember.

180 Degrees

I look back at where I was a year and a half ago, with the ideas I had for Race's progress and success, and I look where I am now:

• A year and a half ago, I had myself convinced the best place for Race was in the public system where they would help him be social.

• Three years ago I had us faithfully emerged us in the DDD (Department of Developmental Disabilities) systems, because they were there to help us and help Race get the services he needed to be successful.

• Three years ago I was signing up for every autism conference close enough that I could afford to attend so I could be up on all the latest research.

Many of the experiences have been great ones. We've had some happy memories along the way.

But more of the experiences have been learning experiences as we trudge along this path, finding our way. We've learned many lessons. But the big one that's been on my mind the last few weeks is this:

Everyone has an opinion. And their opinions are influenced by their own personal experiences. And their personal experiences influence their perception.... and sometimes no opinions matter except the feeling in your gut.

So, if that makes any sense to you, because it might not, but if it does, you will kind of understand the direction I'm standing in now:

No one will love your kid as much as you do. And they won't take care of them the way you would. And they won't communicate with you the way you want them to. And why would they? They have so many other kids to be taking care of, plus all the other demands put on them by the district and state. In the big picture, one little autistic boy just doesn't matter.

The DDD system is sometimes more work than it's worth. We've had many great therapists, and we've had many bad. There is no consistency. How much is the system really helping us?

I'm limiting myself to two conferences a year now. I realized all they do is stress me out over all the things I'm NOT doing for my son. They do nothing for the self-inflicting guilt problem I already suffer from.

I sound burnt out don't I?

But I'm not.

I really feel we had to go down all those paths, explore them a bit, and find if we needed or didn't need what that road had to offer. And it only strengthened us.

Through this whole journey, even though there were times I felt very alone, at the end of the day, I always knew I wasn't. I referred to one scripture in particular often. Doctrine and Covenants 8:2 says, "Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by they Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart."  I know Heavenly Father puts people in our lives to support us. And a year and a half ago, Heavenly Father put some homeschooling moms in my path who I've become great  friends with. As you know from other posts, I had been leaning towards homeschooling for a while. But these moms, these friends, kind of gave me that last bit of confidence in myself that I needed to actually do it.

So on that day last spring when John brought Race home early from school because of yet another bad morning on the playground, I knew it was time. The time for wondering was over. It was time to do it.

I'm so grateful for that leap of faith.

Cry Now, Laugh Later...

My little redhead is testing my patience. So, this one is for the books, so HOPEFULLY we can someday look back on these events, and laugh.... kind of like my own mother is doing now. :)

Saturday, Witten decided to use Daddy's knife and cut through a live wire. I knew this day would someday come, despite all my hopes. Well, he fried the knife, and sliced down to his knuckle. There was blood everywhere... and sparks too. There were no tears, just, "Holy Cow! Those sparks are hot!"

Somebody help me...

Today my little redhead couldn't wait any longer for me to give him a haircut (I've been super busy and my boys have been sportin' some longer hair because of it). So, he decided to take matters into his own hands and "help me out".

He cut his own hair. Right up the middle. He practically scalped himself.

He's been having a few rough weeks with other things as well.

My poor little guy.

And poor little me.

We'll get through this Cowboy. Both of us. And someday, when you're WAY older, and have learned many more of life's lessons, we'll sit back and laugh about it all.

Together.

A Disney Christmas

I love Disneyland at Christmas. I know its way crowded... but Disneyland at Christmas time is so magical.

Every year we go seems to get more fun. I think it's because they boys are getting older and can do more.

Race's favorite rides: Splash Mountain and the Screamer
His least favorite: Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones (according to Race, these rides were absolutely ridiculous).

A lot of people have asked me how Race did at Disneyland... he loved it, and did great. We only had one meltdown the entire trip. He was so relaxed the whole time, I really feel like he was getting so much sensory input on all the rides, it was keeping him more calm and together. If only he could get that much sensory input every day, right?

Witt's favorite rides: ALL OF THEM!! (he's my new roller coaster buddy, I'm so excited!) Witt was barely 48 inches tall, but he sure stood up straight every time they measured him. He was so much fun on the Screamer. He likes going fast!

Lane's favorite rides: Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Pirates (and he went on these about ten times each...) Oh, and he also had to hug every character we ran into.

Daddy's favorites: Soaring over California and Splash Mountain.
His least favorite: Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (Lane and Daddy spent quite a bit of time in Bug's Land while Race, Witt and I were riding the Screamer... Heimlich's voice was starting to wear on John's nerves just a little. :)

My favorites: Star Tours, the Jungle Tour (because my sister and I practically pee our pants laughing so hard at the tour guides) and the Screamer. But then, there's also those special rides that bring back childhood memories... Pirates, Space Mountain, Small World, Peter Pan, Thunder Mountain Railway, Tom Sawyer's Island, the list goes on.

The Bill Bailey Family 2012:

We're all soaked from walking to breakfast in the rain.

Didn't Annell and Mom do a great job on the shirts?

I have been officially for about two years now, the shortest kid in the fam... for Bailey standards, I am quite short. But for the rest of society, 5'7" is pretty tall.

I love Disneyland. I love Christmas. I love my family. I love Disneyland at Christmas with my family.

Newport Beach

We went to California for Christmas. Our first stop was Newport Beach. We got there at 8:00 am, and found out the only other people at the beach that early in December are Asian fishermen and homeless people... and the Armstrong's. But, we didn't care. We stayed all morning, and into the afternoon. We love the beach.

It was this lil' pirate's first time seeing the ocean.  He loved it. He loved chasing the sea gulls best.

Witten is a treasure hunter. He spent most the morning searching for unbroken sea shells. He even found a sea urchin!

Race loved the waves; hours of sensory integration. He kept squinting to try and see Japan.

The Little Red Bird

Once there was a little boy who was asked to be in a Christmas play.

Of all the parts he could have had,

he chose the Little Red Bird.

So he could do what he does best and fly.

And speak as little as possible in front of the crowd.

So we all went to cheer for the Little Red Bird,

and watch him fly around the stage.

And he did his part so Wittenish,

And was very brave in front of the crowd,

a perfect Little Red Christmas Bird.

Witten with his teachers, Ms. Jyoti and Ms. Janet

Witten flies around the stage... do you like his wings? Guess who made them...

Our dear friends the Wimer's came to Witten's program with us. They're some of our favorites!!

Absence...

I've been absent from my blog for a while. Getting back into the groove of things after the new year, plus getting the family over the yuckies that swept through our house. And you know who got it the worst? Me. Actually, I haven't been this sick in years; it's taken too long to get over. I'm still coughing my head off, a week and a half later.

One thing about me and being sick... it is actually my best thinking time for my stories. I don't know why, but I capture my best ideas when I'm sick. Is it because the crazy, feverish thoughts between sleep and wake make more sense in my weakened state? Or is it because I slow down, and I'm paying close attention to the fine details in my own life, that the fine details in my writing come to life? Like today, John took the boys out to see how high the creek is, since we've been having all this rain, and as I watched them drive away, I was carried away in thought while watching the storm clouds roll past the mountains. They were moving so quickly, like they were in a hurry to get somewhere, and I could see them reaching northward, earnestly needing to get up the rim quickly. And so of course I thought about my crazy life and how I am so much like those storm clouds. How I hurry on to the next item in my day, going, going, never stopping... until I get sick.

It hit me last Saturday. I had been up all night Friday with Race who had been throwing up. Witten had it from Sunday till Wednesday, so I had a few days break. But Race settled into bed around 5 am on Saturday morning, his body allowing him to finally rest. And that's when it started for me. The worst part was, John was out of town for work. It was just me and the boys. And when Witten woke up and found me with my head down in the toilet, he asked if I needed a drink.

"Yes, Cowboy. Thank you."
So he brought me a cup of water. "Here you go, Mama."
"Thank you, Cowboy. I think I'm going to need your help today, OK?"
"I know. Daddy told me I'm the Daddy while he's gone."

I'm so grateful for Witten. Because, although the house was a wreck when I finally stepped out of the bathroom, later that afternoon, the milk was out and warm, the fridge was open, the toaster was sitting on the floor,plugged in and the bread bag had been open for how many hours I don't know. Witten had also decided to make he and Lane Top Ramen, and instant oatmeal, so there were  trails of both all over...but... Lane and Witten were building Lego's in their room. Happy. And fed. I'm so proud of my six year old boy.

He even made us pancakes Sunday evening. Check this kid out! Yes, I had to supervise him over the flame, because he likes fire a little too much... But he is a pro-pan-cake-flipper. No kidding!

I love you Cowboy!

So, being sick has its perks (if you have to look at things positively). It is definitely a time when I get to evaluate my life, and count my many blessings.