The Big Kick!

This kid makes me laugh.

He is always ready for fun.

So we try to find more things that he might find fun.

Soccer came up.

Why not right.

We practiced in the yard a few times and he did good.

But on the field it's a little different.

Scott likes structure and the field for a bunch of 4 year olds doesn't have a whole lot of structure.

He thought he had to wait in line so everyone could have a turn to kick the ball.

Once he realized that wasn't the case he didn't much care for it.

He got mad a few times because they weren't letting him have a try.

I tried to tell him it was like chase but instead of chasing a person everyone had to chase the ball.

He got a few kicks in and he would yell over to me or come over to me after wards saying, "I did it!!!" so proud of himself.

But eventually it turned to playing and running around on the side of the field with his friend Will.

We gave up after a few games.

I'm not going to rule soccer out completely.

Maybe we'll try again later when he's a bit older and the others a bit older.

When there can be a bit more structure.

Oh and when it's not so freezing cold out.

All that being said I still love how cute he is in his uniform.

#jayleyscottkenibesties

Look at these three.

Three pees in a pod.

The three amigos.

Three musketeers

Three little monsters.

But never three's a crowd.

These little rascals are the cutest.

We all got together again after Keni's latest MRI.

It all went well and we always have to celebrate.

I love that my selfish indulgence of getting together with my besties is also something that brings Scott the most happiness also.

I can't wait for Dean to grow up with his two girl friends too.

Date Night

A mother knows when her child is struggling.

Scott has been loving his brother so much but he has also been missing all of his moms attention.

This day Scott was having a particularly hard time.

He never blames Dean or is ever mean to him but he has just increasingly need to be around me all the time.

I sit down he sits right next to me, almost on my lap.

I get up to go to the bathroom he tries to follow me, when I tell him I just need to go potty and that I'll be out in a bit he waits at the door.

I change Dean's diaper, he wants to watch, I feed Dean, he wants to be right there with me.

It's not that I don't love my Scott but I need some space sometimes.

So one day he was stuck to me like glue it felt like and I knew he needed some extra loves.

So right when Mark got home I had just finished nursing Dean and I jumped up and grabbed Scott and we left.

He got to pick where we would go and what we would do.

We always pace the place with the bears and he decided he wanted to go see the bears.

We had never been but Oh, we will be back.

The Black Bear Diner was awesome and was the perfect place for our date together.

We got pancakes and he got a balloon T Rex and they even had an ice cream sunday tray for him to make his own.

We had the best time.

Scott and I both needed it and Mark needed some extra bonding time with Dean.

I'm so glad I took him out instead of got angry or tried to run away from him.

Every now and again I'm a good mom.

Tulips

One of my moms favorite things is flowers.

She got her green thumb from her mom but she hasn't given it to me.

But I do still love to walk in a garden and it is where I feel my grandma the most.

So with it being spring we went and walked through the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point.

It's beautiful all year round but especially during the Tulip Festival.

Scotty and his cousins love it too.

There we a lot of people there but it's so big that you don't ever feel crowded.

One of my favorite places is the statues of Christ.

The kids can walk right up to them and it's just the sweetest thing and makes for a great learning oppertunity about Christ's life.

So so beautiful.

Puppies are Best

We got the great privileged of dog sitting this cutie this week.

My good friend Erin and her family went to Hawaii and we got Rio.

He is the cutest little thing and to say Scott was excited is the biggest understatement of the year.

I love dogs as I'm pretty sure everyone knows and this doggy was no exception.

I think I want a tiny dog like this next time.

And yes Mark, there will be another dog, make no mistake.

This dog is the baby of the family tho so he did not like sharing attention with Dean.

All Scott wanted to do was play with the dog tho so it was nice for Scott to always have a friend around.

Autism Awareness

Since it's autism awareness month I thought I would share this with you. It's long but please read anyway. I have been struggling the past few weeks with some of Scott's friends. He wants so much to play with any and every child but it is becoming a little more obvious that he is a bit different. We work on his social skills hard but he gets so excited to be with friends that so much of what we teach goes out the window the moment his friends come around. But I woke up to this thought this morning and I wanted to share. Life is like a great dinner. We all came with our favorite dishes of food. When we sit down to eat we love to show and to share our favorite foods with others, especially Scott. He probably brought chocolate marshmallow maties, pb&j sandwiches and Dino chicken nuggets. Now out of all the things he could have brought, this probably sounds weird to you, maybe even gross. But that's what he likes, that's who he is. Now this is what I want you to tell your child, just because it looks weird or gross doesn't mean that you won't like it. Don't we teach that to our children about dinner anyway. Why are we good about teaching our children to eat a variety of foods and not good at teaching them to play with a variety of people? Because eating a variety of food is healthy, right?! Well so is accepting people, it's healthy, kind, and what true beauty is. Now just because Scott brought Dino nuggets to the table and that's weird doesn't mean that he's wrong and didn't understand what to bring. Cause he did, we are supposed to bring the 'food' that we value most to the table. He's not going to force feed you his meal, he'll try to share it with you, because he loves to share. Teach you're child that everyone's 'plate' is different. Remind them that people might look at your child's plate and think that what they brought is weird and/or gross too. The thing is though, I'm sick of teaching my child how to get along with other children who haven't been taught to get along with other children. I'm sick of parents who have 'normal' children and don't think they need to teach them how to play with others. Yes my child has autism which means that he doesn't know how to act in many social situations but if your child doesn't have autism it doesn't mean that they are perfect and it doesn't mean that you don't need to teach them 'table manners' i.e. how to get along with everyone. Ok, I'm off my soap box. ‪#‎autismawareness‬‪#‎scottosaurusrex‬

My Very Own Quilt

I don't get much sewing or crafting done these days.

I miss it but I love playing with my boys more.

Sewing is kinda the same story.

I don't sew much for myself, I enjoy sewing for my boys more.

But after starting and stopping this project over and over again for the past few years I finally got around to making a quilt for myself.

I always think about matching everything to the decor in my house which doesn't change much but it takes me so long to finish things that by the time I get close to finishing it I do want to change it.

This time I said I don't care.

I'm matching my quilt to me and nothing else.

It's all colors and patterns that I love together.

I picked super soft fabric for the back and gent it off to the quilter.

I got it back that same time I got Dean's quilt back but it got put on the back burner again.

Well I wanted it so I finished the binding (it's the easiest step but I hate doing it probably more then any other step, I don't know why).

And here it is.

I love it and as you can see Scott does too.

When I annoused that I finished he yelled in excitement, "YEAAAH! My quilt is done!"

Oh I corrected him real quick.

He is fine with it being mine so long as I share.

Mark also loves how soft the back is and tries to claim it for his own at times.

I love it and I love that my family loves my quilts.

Every time I look at it and snuggle with it I become proud of myself all over agian.

I made this, I finished this, I did something for me, and I did a good job.

Now that feeling is worth all the time.