Our hard drive on the laptop crashed a couple days ago, so I can't load any pics. But as it so happens, we have no pics of Christmas. Jacob came down with (another!) stomach bug mid-morning on Sunday. The bug was worse than the one he had a week or two ago. WHEN WILL THIS END! We normally use only vinegar to clean in the kitchen and bathrooms, but I pulled out the bleach on Sunday. We have had kids throwing up for a couple weeks now. A couple hours after Jacob got sick, Rachael started having problems at the other end (kwim?). So our Christmas wasn't too jolly, but we survived, and tried to keep perspective. Deren and I kept asking each other "what are you thankful for?" throughout the day. We each had a couple hissy fits in the midsts of vomit and other stuff which I will not name, but we got through it.

Good news is Joshua is doing better. His nose is still running quite a bit, but his appetite is much, much better. He's been happy at mealtimes these past 2 days - yay! Rachael and Jacob, however, have really fickle tummies right now, and are not wanting to eat much. Their congestion has also picked up, so maybe this is the course of the bug (at least the current one).

I ended up going to Christmas Eve service at 4pm with Rachael and Abby. I helped Rachael hang an angel ornament on the tree during the service. I'll post pictures of the girls in their dresses when the laptop is fixed (hopefully next week).

Monday Deren's parents arrived from Canada, where they were visiting his brother, his wife and 2 sons. The weather has been beautiful (and quite a bit different from Canada!) here - in the 80's 2 days, in the upper 60's and 70's otherwise. Joshua is in heaven playing in the backyard. We are trying to potty train Rachael - no successes yet, and a lot of accidents. We put her in regular underwear - she will pee away in pull ups - so did the boys. How do you train kids in disposable pull-ups anyway? Wish Rachael success! She returns to mother's day out at church next Friday. Don't think they will appreciate Rachael having accidents left and right.

So it looks like church is out for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Rachael was fussing all night, and threw up her dinner from last night this a.m. at breakfast (eww!). WTH!! She was just throwing up last Friday!! We are going to fall back on our standing Christmas tradition - kids throwing up and/or oozing snot and/or hooked up to the nebulizer for breathing treatments. Abby, Joshua, and Jacob still have a pretty bad cold. Deren stayed home from work. Neither of us feel that great, but after cleaning up roast beef that's been in a toddlers stomach for over 12 hrs, who would??

I'm so bummed. When I prayed this morning I asked for forgiveness for being so self-centered. We are celebrating Jesus' birthday, and look at the sacrifice he made for us. Much, much bigger than a temporary bug. Does it matter if we go to church? (sniff, sniff) We will be thankful at home this year.

We were in the house going stir-crazy this afternoon, so I put the kids by the tree and started snapping shots. The one with all four has Jacob biting himself - Abby was attacking him with a Christmas ornament.

Otherwise, today was a day when you love to live in Texas - sunny and in the 60's. Deren is still working, so we played out in the yard quite a bit. I also opened the windows and let in some fresh air. What a beautiful day!

I am knitting a poncho for Rachael. It is going slow. I am hoping to have it done in the next week, and I'll post pictures. I don't think I picked that pretty of a yarn for the poncho. Definitely not too trendy. I turn into a vegetable at the yarn store - I can't visualize how the yarns will look finished. And then the lady started talking about changing the pattern for the different weights and gauges of the yarn - huh?

We splurged and got a Creative MP3 player at Walmart over the weekend. We got a really good deal - they price matched with a one day only sale Staples was having. I've been knitting in Kenny Chesney land each night - pretty nice.

Merry Christmas!

I'm SO excited! This day started off pretty lousy. Joshua is on another Christmas hunger strike - won't eat anything but a couple chips and a couple pieces of dry cereal here and there. Everything else is a pitch battle - he throws up, screams, smacks. If I force feed him something (this a.m. it was a bite of scrambled egg, for lunch a bite of chicken nugget) he pockets it in his cheek, like a squirrel with a nut. He can keep the food in his cheek indefinitely - or usually until I turn my back for a moment and then he spits it out. At lunch I dug through the trash for another chicken nugget and sat there until he swallowed it. Then I hugged him, gave him some skittles, and a movie. Jacob goes nuts while Joshua is carrying on - he IS rather loud. Rachael usually ignores Joshua when he is doing this, but will eventually break down and cry. Abby was trying to shriek as loud as Joshua. Mostly the other kids were ignored today while I fought with Joshua. And when he doesn't eat he walks around crying because he is so hungry. But he does not have the cognitive ability to put two and two together and realize he's starving himself, and if he would eat he would feel better. It's so frustrating. I called his speech therapist, Christina, and cried and whined to her for a bit. This is exactly what we dealt with last Christmas - ugh! She suggested giving him several mini-meals throughout the day - if he has to eat a bite or two of unpreferred foods (which is about everything at the moment!) at regular intervals he may not act up as much than if he eats larger meals only 3x/day. Make sense? Sounded good to me - except the bit about me doing all the feedings! I just want to crawl into my closet with my oreos at mealtimes now!

Anyway, on to the exciting part.. Rachael and Abby both had a check-up with the eye specialist this afternoon. Rachael to monitor her crossing, and Abby as a follow-up to having her tear ducts irrigated a month ago. On the way to the office I heard a commercial on the radio with a lady talking about needing energy to raise her son w/special needs. I perked up and listened. The lady speaking turns out to be a friend of mine, Liz Scillian! It was a commercial for Citracal. It was the best commercial ever! And check out the Citracal website: http://www.standstrong.com

the first picture (in b&w) is Liz. I was in tears! I called her and was saying "oh my gosh oh my gosh!" How NEAT!!

BTW - good news on both girls. Rachael's eyes are not crossing so long as she is wearing her glasses. We may have to start putting a patch over her left eye for an hour or two a day. The doctor wants to see her again in Feb before making the determination. Abby is doing great after her procedure.

..off to the food wars now.

Calm before the Storm (Rachael & Abby last week)

In keeping with tradition, we have a house full of sick kiddos. The kids and I first passed around a stomach bug over the weekend. Now we've moved on to a cold. The boys missed their last 2 days at school this week, and missed their last sessions with Nikki, our ABA therapist who works with the kids in the home. Nikki has worked with Joshua since he was 1 yrs old. She graduated last week with a masters in speech pathology. We wish Nikki the best, but we will miss her very, very much. We are now out of therapists. Christina also got her masters in speech path last May. Maria had a baby boy this past August. I guess I need to start trolling the local colleges to find a student to train, but the idea does not sound right at this time. I will need to make a schedule so I can start working with the boys. Their ABA sessions are one on one, so maybe I can find a high school student to come and sit with the girls while I work with the boys. Sounds like a plan..

We are hoping that we will all be healthy by this Saturday - Christmas Eve. Deren has been healthy so far - say a prayer! Our church is having special services for families at 4 and 5. We haven't been since Jacob's first Christmas. The kids have been sick every Christmas since then (the makings of our tradition LOL!). There will be one Christmas service on Sunday. I am hoping the boys will be okay with this. They usually go to a classroom for special needs' kids staffed with trained volunteers each week.

I have been reading from the Bible with Rachael each day. She likes to sing Away in the Manger and the "Baby Jesus" song (from church). She points to Mary and the Wise Men and says "Baby Jesus."

Abby update: she is sitting up, eating rice chex cereal and meat babyfood dinners 3 times/day. She is saying "mama" "dada" and "bah bah." She is scooting herself from a crawling position (no signs of wanting to crawl yet)

Jacob update: there is no place safe for Christmas presents in the house! I hid some presents inside a grocery bag and put them on top of a shelf high in my closet. Mr. Jacob found them yesterday and had them opened.

Joshua: is Joshua. He escapes outside at every opportunity and plays with the leaves on the ground.

Rachael: loves all things Christmas this year - outside decor, trees, presents, songs, and candy. She'll say "Oh, this is good!"

Abby is sitting up!

Abby is waving and saying "bye bye" to Daddy! It is so cute! She says "bye bye" in a high-pitched voice that would do Joshua proud (for those of you who have experience Joshua's ear-piercing shrieks).

The kids are passing around a cold - AGAIN. Jacob, then Joshua, now Rachael and Abigail. The boys each missed a day of school. They are back today. This is the last full day of school before Christmas. I will be doing a LOT of praying for patience, kindness, and gentleness over the next couple weeks! May I not get bogged down in the moment but keep my eyes and thoughts on the Lord.

Knitting.
Haven't posted in a week. I took a beginner's knitting class at JoAnn Fabrics last Saturday, and I've been knitting (well, sort of) away. I am trying to figure out how I cast on 20 stitches, and then a couple rows later I have 30 stitches. I have heard of losing stitches (which I was doing plenty of last night LOL), but not adding them. My project for Saturday is a scarf. I am almost through 2 skeins of yarn, and nowhere near scarf length. With the width of it I should try for a poncho at this point!

By the way, here's a picture of Rachael showcasing the ornaments on the tree. Notice the glob of ornaments near the bottom - the whole tree is like this :-)

"It's a Star!"

So the cold weather holiday from school is old already. Deren left for work after lunch - guess he decided braving the ice is better than braving bored kiddos at home! Joshua broke into the closet, took the shrink wrap off a new role of Blues Clues Christmas themed gift wrap, and torn the whole roll into shreds - little scrooge!

Scrooge!

"All CFBISD classes, activities and district offices have been canceled for Thursday (12/8) due to inclement weather" (per district website). The area is one big sheet of ice. My only regret is I didn't buy all the ingredients for a new recipe I got off the LOK website for these totally illegal caramel choclate cookie bars. I'll have to figure out some other kind of cookie to bake - preferably something Deren can concoct, since he is the resident baking pro.

Cold! It was in the 20's here today, with sleet and freezing rain. And, of course, I was out on the road. I was going to go yesterday, but then the Target Incident occurred. I spent the rest of the day licking my wounds (well, actually, licking chocolate LOL!). Rachael's Mom's Day Out (MDO) at church is on Wed from 9-2, and I had a Mom to Mom's meeting at the church today that I was signed up to bring juice to. I also needed to drop off the Angel Tree gifts we had bought before the deadline tomorrow. So I bundled the girls up and went to Whole Foods at 7:30 this morning. Got all our grocery shopping done. Bought Rachael an organic fruit leather (version of a fruit roll-up) and that kept her happy. Abby slept most the time. By the time we made it to the church at 9am it was sleeting. I went to my meeting, nursed and fed Abby some baby food, then dropped her off in the churh nursery. I tell you what, sometimes she is "too good" of a baby. They put her in a baby swing in a corner and she just sits there and babbles and entertains herself the whole time while they are taking care of the higher maintenance babies. Of course, by the time we get home she's thinking "enough of that stuff - I want Attention!"

After the meeting I took Abby to a Christian bookstore a couple blocks from the church. People must have been thinking "why is that woman out in the sleet with a little baby!" I picked up a couple neat books for myself, some Thomas the Train and Veggie Tales puzzles for the boys, and a Veggie Tales Christmas cd for Rachael. Then I caved and went back to the church to pick up Rachael an hour early. We were home for about an hour before Deren joined us. They had sent everyone home at his work because of the worsening weather. The boys got home on the bus around 4. Jacob had had a major tantrum when they were trying to get him on the bus to go home. I bet the teachers and aides LOVED struggling with him in the sleet! When he asked for a movie we told him "No - you need to behave on the bus if you want movies" and kept him away from the tv for the next 1/2 hour. Then Joshua got to choose the movie. That rocked poor Jacob's little world.

It is looking like Deren and the kids will all be home tomorrow. We are getting sleet off and on tonight.

The Target Incident.
The Target store here in Carrollton sponsors an event for special needs kids in Carrollton schools each December. Last year the boys were both sick and didn't go. This year I signed up to meet them there. It was a cute setup. The girls got their picture taken with Santa right before the boys showed up. Later I found that the polaroid of the girls didn't turn out - but the one of each of the boys looking doped out did. There were aides from the school there to help, but I said I would take the boys with me so they could each pick out a (as in one, uno) movie. Okay, can someone tell me WHAT WAS I THINKING taking 2 kids w/autism and a toddler firmly in the terrible two stage down the dvd aisle of Target??!! So you can only imagine the scene - each kid grabbing as many movies as they could, Joshua ripping open the plastic wrap with his teeth and throwing the discs down the aisle, Jacob kicking, hitting, on-the-floor screaming as I try to wrestle Nemo out of his hands. And those were the GOOD moments. Rachael did not want to be outdone by her brothers. She would make eye contact with me, take off her glasses and send them flying, and that was the cutest thing she did. It was ugly, ugly, ugly. Two of the aides ended up helping me drag the kids to the door, offering a trail of skittles to entice the little wretches away from the movie section... I'm getting weepy just thinking about it! And the worst part is it was my doing!! I should have foreseen this all. Having the kids pick out just one movie a piece - yeah right, lady!! I need to call the store still. I paid for some items that did not make it home. The checkout girl had to chase me down to give me back my credit card. She could have rung up a fish bait kit on my card for all I was paying attention. And Abby, dear Abby, through all of this did not make a peep. She just smiled at anyone who stopped to say hi to her. What a sweet peanut she is!

Chicken Bone!

Haagen-Dazs and Chicken bones. First, let me say it is COLD today. Saturday the temp was around 90 here in N Texas, today it was in the 40's. I bundled the girls up in the stroller, put the plastic wind cover on it, and we went for a walk. Both fell asleep. Rachael has had a cold since last Thursday, and has had a hard time at night. Her appetite has not been good because of her cold. I bribed her and Joshua (our champion picky eater) with Haagen-Dazs raspberry sorbet at dinner. At the same time I worked with Jacob on the "sss" sound, by having him ask for "i - ssss" cream." Abigail had her dinner for peas and apples, followed by a chicken bone from a chicken I cooked in the crock pot today. This was her first true chicken bone, and she liked it!

Tried a new chili recipe today, sans beans. It is a version of my mom's recipe, which is still an oldie but goodie. Here it is:
1 lb ground beef
1 onion
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 1 1/2 C diced celery
2 zucchinis, thinly sliced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 14 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 T chili powder

Cook vegetables and beef in dutch oven until beef browned. Drain fat. Add next ingredients. Break apart whole tomatoes. Bring to boil. Simmer for 30 mins.

I started to put the lights on the Christmas tree yesterday and discovered most the white light strands were not working. I bought colored lights today. I figured we needed a change. Rachael helped me put up the lights tonight (she ordered me around!). Then Jacob and Rachael helped me hang ornaments. They really liked it. So picture a crooked tree with most the ornaments hung on the bottom branches. I love it! I wouldn't change a thing - well, except for the ornaments maybe. Most the ornaments went with our former 'look' - white lights, pretty color-coordinated ornaments. Our crooked tree is just begging for the type of ornaments I grew up with - velveteen Christmas characters, beaded icicles. I talked with my mom tonight and told her I would trade my stylish stuff for the velveteen - I miss Santa and the elves. Oh - and a star on top with fuzzy garland and multi-colored lights! Need it! (well, actually, don't need it, want it!). After the Christmas tree was done I put 2 packages that my parents had left for us under the tree. Jacob began asking to "open". I told him to open the packages. He was not too crazy about the pie plate, but was really intrigued with the hair clipper kit. Wait until we use it on him - his attitude will change then!

Rachael then morphed into a Christmas version of Vanna White. She would go to each ornament, name it ("star", "ball", "heart"). When she got to the bells she would launch into a "Jingle Bells." She was pretty angry when daddy rained on her parade and told her it was bedtime.

Abigail had her tear duct in her left eye rotor-rootered this past Wednesday. It was an in-office procedure. They took her into another room. I heard her screaming. It must have really hurt, because the next day she looked like she had a black eye. Poor peanut :-(

Recipes:

Cristy's Salsa
1 can stewed tomatoes - mexican flavor
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
8-10 dried small red chiles (I use 4-6)
1/2 onion (opt)
Take stems off chiles. Put in blender and blend with other ingredients. Add finely diced onion after (I make it without the onion).

Cristy's Salsa II
1 can stewed tomatoes - mexican flavor
1/2 tsp salt
jalapenos

Put jalapenos on the grill or in toaster oven on broil. Cook until the skins are bubbly, popping, and pretty much blackened. Put hot peppers on plate and cover with warm paper towels for several minutes. Carefully peel and seed peppers (I wear gloves). Put in blender with remaining ingredients.

Crockpot peanut chicken (taken off the LotsofKids.com site)

4 boneless chicken breasts (can use more, there will plenty of sauce)
1 cup salsa
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp finely grated ginger (I usually use ground ginger if I don't have fresh)
1/4 c chopped peanuts
Mix salsa, pb, lemon juice, soy sauce and ginger in crockpot. Add chicken breasts and spoon mixture over chicken breasts. Cook low 8-9 hours. Put onto plates (or bowls) and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Serve with brown rice and/or stir fry veggies. (SBD followers.this is a Ph. 2 recipe)This is an extremely flavorful crockpot recipe. Fyi, if you use a medium salsa, it will have a bit more zing. Also, I usually throw in a can of mushrooms during the last hour. Enjoy

SL Enchiladas
1 lb ground chuck
1 small onion, chopped
1 C cottage cheese, blended until creamy
1 can rotel
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 4.5 can chopped green chiles (opt)
10 (6") flour tortillas
2 C (8oz) shredded Mex blend cheese
Garnish: chopped fresh parsley
Cook beef & onion, drain. Stir in cottage cheese. Blend tomatoes and sauce until smooth. Stir in chopped chiles. Spoon 2-3 T beef mix down center of tortilla, top w/2 T tomato mix and 1 1/2 T shredded cheese. Roll up tortillas, and place seam side down in lightly greased 13x9 baking dish. Pour remaining tomato sauce over top and sprinkle w/remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 mins or until bubbly. Garnish.

"Hello Christmas." On the way home from taking the boys to speech & occupational therapy tonight, we drove around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. Every time Rachael saw some lights she would say "Hello Christmas!" We drove down a street that was mostly dark. She said "No Christmas, Goodbye Christmas" in a sad voice. She got in the house, looked at our still undecorated Christmas treet, and kept saying "No Christmas!"

Abigail's Baptism. Our camera overexposed all the pics, but they are still cute. Mamaw and Papaw stayed in town an extra day to attend the baptism. Abigail had the pastors all laughing - she kept smiling and sticking out her tongue - her recent favorite thing to do when she's entertaining people. Rachael enjoyed sitting on the steps in the sanctuary with Mamaw and Papaw after the service. Jacob and Joshua stayed in the "Special Angels" at the church and played during the church service.

Thanksgiving has come and gone - I'm still in shock! My parents drove down from IL. My brother David, his fiance Jo, and my nephew Brandon drove down from St. Louis MO. And I did not take a single, itty-bitty picture - argh! David took plenty of pictures, though, and I am hoping to beg for a cd. This was our first time meeting Jo. She is a REALLY nice girl (yes - she's a girl because she's younger than me! I'm going to be the old woman in the familly!). David and Jo did wonderfully with all the kids. They played a lot with Rachael, Joshua, and Abigail. Jacob pretty much stayed to himself. He did like to watch Brandon play computer games. Joshua's new obsession is a Bob the Builder book. He grabs your finger, and puts it on different letters and numbers, and wants you to label it. It is cute, until you've spent an hour or so with your hand in his vice grip! But everyone was really great with Joshua.

This was the first time that Rachael has said "Mamaw" and "Papaw." She has really enjoyed their company, and likes to yell "Where's Papaw?!" She cried each night when the company left. The first night everyone arrived she found some markers and colored everyone's hands with them (as well as the furniture and floor). Everyone was a good sport. Mom said that the sink in the hotel room was colored with all the marker from everyone's hands!

The day after Thanksgiving I went shopping with Mom, Jo, Rachael and Abigail. Jo took Rachael on a carousel ride at the mall twice - Rachael LOVED it. Jo bought David a Texas Longhorns hat. That night I nursed Abigail, put her to bed, and then Deren and I met David and Jo for Thai food. We had a great time. Our first date night in ages. Mom, Dad and Brandon stayed with the kiddos. Rachael and Joshua were asleep when we returned. Jacob was up watching Bob the Builder. David, Jo and Brandon left Saturday morning. We were bummed. But I am looking forward to hearing about their wedding in June. They are hoping to get married in the Bahamas. How fun!

Mom and Dad are still here. They are going to Abigail's baptism with us tomorrow. I will have to take pictures for sure, because David is not here to bail me out!

We're going bananas getting ready for the holidays. We had a big list of things to do today. I wanted to set up the Christmas tree and decorate for Christmas, get the totes in the garage stored in the attic, put mulch around the flowers in the front. NONE of this got done. We ran around like mice on a wheel all day, and got about as much accomplished! Rachael had the stomach bug last weekend, and threw up again today, after being fussy all week. I'm worried about her being sick so long

"Going Bananas!"

Rachael wore the hat Joshua helped to make at school and ran around the house yelling "I'm a Princess!" tonight.

"I'm a Princess!"

Stay away from the cranberries! We are celebrating the holidays as usual - Joshua is home sick with a cold, and I am watching and waiting for the others to fall as well. Went to the grocery store with Joshua this morning. They had a cute display of cranberries floating on water in a large metal bucket. Joshua poked at a cranberry, discovered there was water underneath, and the party was on! To think of all the germs floating in those cranberries now!