Daily Routine

Nightly family scripture reading.

Lately

• Since meeting with the principal and teacher last week we haven't had any other problems with the bullying issue. Thank goodness. I pray every day that it stays this way.
  

Storey reading to Monkey-January 2012

• Storey and I finished reading Charlotte's Web together. I was surprised at her desire to have me read a chapter book aloud, but she loved it and now we are moving on to her next selection, How to Eat Fried Worms. Although she chose it, she keeps telling me how gross it's going to be. This should be interesting.
  

Playing with Grandma and Grandpa Criddle-December 2011

• Speaking of Storey and books, she was the line leader at preschool last week which means the teacher also asks Storey some questions and posts her answers on the wall. Sort of a "star of the week" deal. While dropping her off, I noticed the poster and stopped to look. One of the lines read, "Storey went to the library and checked out a 'self help' book." I stood there trying to decipher the meaning until I realized that her terrible lisp was misinterpreted. She actually got a "shell" book but the teacher couldn't understand her, so it was translated into "self" which turned into "self-help". I did wonder....

The kids with Aunt Leanna.

• Jakson and I have been watching the rides at Disneyland on YouTube. I am never more grateful for tourists who video tape random rides (why do people do this???) then the month before our Disneyland trip. And pin trading. Grateful for those videos too. It was the only way I was able to get Jakson anywhere near the pins. A strange thing to be afraid of---your guess is as good as mine on that one. Last year one of our big mistakes was not watching every.single.ride before our trip. We only watched MOST of the rides. This year we're making up for it by watching all of them. Multiple times. I may be sick of Disney before we even go. But I am determined to ride Peter Pan this year without a meltdown.

• Zak and I have been making our way through a couple of Top 100 Movies of All Time lists, skipping the R rated and those we've already seen. It's been great fun. There are so many fabulous movies I would have never watched otherwise. I think our favorite new discovery so far has been All About Eve.

• Jakson has figured out that a kid from his kindergarten class lives a few houses down from us. While this sounds fun, it's actually a terrible headache. The little boy doesn't seem to want to play with Jak but social cues are definitely not something Jak excels at interpreting. And because he becomes fixated on things quite easily, he is constantly asking to go outside to see if the little boy is in his front yard. If he's not, Jak stands in front of his house yelling his name over and over again. It's quite awful. A couple of days ago the little boy finally came out while we were riding bikes out front, but only long enough to capture his dog that had escaped from the backyard. Jakson was sure that his moment to play had come and was so excited. But despite his best efforts, the little boy completely ignored him and retreated back into his house without even acknowledging Jak. Jakson lost it. Full meltdown in the front yard. If you haven't had the privilege of dragging your five year old kicking, crying, and screaming across your front lawn and into the house, then you haven't lived. I told Zak that night that I want to move again. Arg.
  

Project 32-One Week, 32 Acts of Kindness

I have to be honest. It's kind of difficult to do 32 random acts of kindness in one week. Mainly because I didn't want to count things like "smile at a stranger." I wanted these to be BIG. Noticeable. Out of the ordinary.

Well, I failed. Most of them are not. I doubt any of these things made a large difference in anyone's life. Besides mine that is. It's amazing how much self-reflection occurs when serving others. I hope to make some permanent, good changes.

A complete list of all of the random acts of kindness for Project 32.

1. At the beginning of the month, I set up the Love Project to take nominations of local families that deserve a free photo session. I'd like to do this three or four times this year. So far I have received nominations for some very inspiring families. If you know a local family (or couple) that you feel deserves a free photo session, please nominate them. You can fill out the (short) form here.
   




2. A friend of mine is going through a difficult time. When I prayed, I felt strongly that I needed to do something for her. I left flowers and a note anonymously at her door. I hope it cheered her a bit.
   


3. Our women's group at church was collecting shoes to donate. The kids and I went through our shoes and selected a few nice ones that had been outgrown (or not really worn) and donated them.


4. A few years ago, one of my friends happened to mention to Zak that she made her husband breakfast every morning. And I say, "Good for her. Sorry buddy." Though I still refused to wake up at 5 to make him breakfast, I did make a nice omelet on his day off. Hope it made up for the last seven years.


5. Made mini loaves for Storey's teachers.




6. Took Storey through the drive through for a Happy Meal and paid for the car behind me.


7. Gave away 32 patterns from my Etsy shop.


8. Wrote my mother a much deserved thank you note.


9. Hid money along the toy aisle at the Dollar Tree for other children to find.




10. Gave away a used infant car seat that I had sitting in my garage.


11. Donated to charity: water (if you donate, please read Samantha's story first. It is amazing.


12. Let the kids each pick a hideous Disney sweatshirt at the thrift store for our trip next month. Believe me, this is a definite act of kindness.




13. Gathered a bunch of scraps of flannel and gave them away.


14. Went out to dinner for my birthday and left a hefty tip.


15. As we were driving home from dinner Saturday night, we turned into our neighborhood only to find a young man crouched over a small dog that had been hit by a car, screaming. It was one of the saddest things I think I have ever seen. And I don't even like dogs. We stopped the car and asked if he needed anything. We waited until a few minutes later when an older woman (I'm assuming his mother) found them, scooped the poor animal up, and started walking home. I'm not sure if there was more we could have done. Hopefully showing concern helped a little. Unfortunately, we cannot fix everything.
    


16. Sent a friend battling breast cancer a ribbon banner. I tried to think of the happiest thing I could sew, and that was it.
    
    
    
    
17. Gave away Chick-Fil-A free stuff coupons on the Screamin' Deals Facebook page.


18. Mailed a friend having a baby girl a handmade package of girliness.


19. Left a loaf of bread for a friend who needed a pick me up.


20. Bountiful Baskets-normally I wouldn't count this since I do it every other week, but last Saturday was insane. The truck was 40 minutes late dropping off our produce and then we found out that only half of the food needed for our 89 baskets had been ordered. I had to deal with that mess and then ask half of the contributors to come back that afternoon for round two. Like I said, it was crazy. I am so very grateful for all of the other wonderful volunteers that come each week.


21. I'm in charge of little teacher appreciation days each month at Jak's school. This week I arranged to get Panera bagels donated and set them up at the school for their weekly staff meeting.


22. My friend's little boys are collecting magnets from all over the world to display at their county's fair. I purchased them a Houston magnet 4 or 5 months ago. I finally mailed it this week. Oops.


23. Gave away a $20 credit to Shutterfly on Facebook.


24. My mother's assignment (calling) at church is to be in charge of the women's activities in our area. She sets up service projects, speakers, classes, etc. This past weekend was her large annual conference. I helped her out with the set up and taking photos during the activity. It was a big success (my dad and brother volunteered too-photo proof of their hard work).




25. On Monday I had so much editing that needed to be done. But Storey really wanted me to play a board game with her. After ignoring her requests a couple of times, I put the computer down and played with her for about an hour instead. I should do that more often than I do.
    


26. My friend Sabrina is taking nominations for families who deserve a free photo shoot as well. After seeing a post of a family (a friend of a friend) whose young son is battling cancer, I got all of their contact information and set them up with her. A very small act of kindness on my part-large on Sabrina's. If you know someone who deserves a shoot with an amazing photographer in DFW, please nominate them here.
    


27. Mailed all of my expired coupons to military families (they can use the coupons for up to three months after the expiration). You can do it too.




28. Sent bread and a thank you note to Jakson's teacher (there was a lot of bread going around this week).


29. Tried to be more aware of the people around me. Remembered to compliment on new haircuts, things I admire, and just pay attention. This is something I'm hoping will continue-working hard to make it a habit.


30. Picked a past photo client to give a $20 Shutterfly credit.


31. Allowed myself to use an afternoon naptime to read. A rare occurence. (Hey, sometimes you have to do something nice for yourself, right??) I read this, (just in case you were curious). Very, very good.
    


32. Went through my closet and donated tons of clothing items. As part of my mid life crisis (can that happen at 32?) I've decided to get rid of anything that doesn't fit my preferred "uniform". Why did it take me 32 years to get to this point???

While I was trying to figure out nice things I could be doing for others, I started realizing how much is done for me. Often without acknowledgement. My mom watches Storey every week while I take Jakson to therapy even though she's ridiculously busy, Zak cleaned the entire house while I was gone Saturday and did ALL of the laundry (a chore I hate), a good friend took me to lunch even though it's my turn to treat, my brother was able to retrieve all of the photos off of a hard drive that I thought were lost forever (and didn't charge me a dime), my parents babysat so that we could go out to dinner Saturday night despite the fact that they had spent the entire day running a conference for 300 women, and that's just a small sampling of the kind words and deeds that I am blessed with on a weekly basis.

I am so grateful for the amazing examples of service I have in my life and for the opportunity to do this again to celebrate my 32nd birthday. I definitely plan on continuing the tradition next year.

"Man’s greatest happiness comes from losing himself for the good of others." -David O McKay

If you want to read about last year (Project 31), you can see the post about it here.

Project 32-Trip to the dollar store

I'm not writing a separate post for each of the 32 acts of kindness this week (though I will post the entire list on Sunday or Monday), but the dollar store trip deserves a little write-up because it's definitely one of the best activities of the week. It's fun because it really involves Jak and Storey and they get excited to serve other kids (well, once Jakson gets over his initial "I'm freaking out because I don't understand what's going on").

The kids would not look at me once we stepped into the toy aisle. They were busy checking out the loot and looking for good hiding places for the dollars. Next year I'll remember to take the photo outside of the store, not surrounded by toys. BTW-Each kid left three dollars either hiding in or taped to a toy for other children to find.



I hope that this week of service is making somewhat of an impact on them.

DIY Disney Pin Lanyard

We're doing something at Disneyland this year that we've never done before----pin trading. The kids are so excited. I was able to get a great deal on the pins on Ebay, but when I went looking for lanyards, I discovered that they are kind of pricey. And not available in the Disney Store online, so we'd have to wait until arriving at the parks to purchase them, attach all of our pins, arrange them according to which ones should be traded and which ones should be kept, and so forth. Not something I want to mess with.

I figured they would be easy enough to make myself, so sat down this afternoon and spent an hour sewing up a couple of kid sized lanyards out of Disney fabric already in my stash. FREE! And I kind of like them better than the real thing!

Such an easy project-and thought others could benefit from a little tutorial (though it is ridiculously simple).

One piece of fabric, 32" x 3" (if you are going to buy fabric, buy 1/8 of a yard-only because that's the smallest cut a shop will normally make).

Fold in half lengthwise (right sides together) and sew along the edge, using 1/2" seam making a long tube.

Attach a safety pin to one end and push it down the tube to easily turn the fabric right side out.

Remove safety pin and fold one raw edge back into tube about 1/2" (to hide the raw edge). Leave the other edge raw.

Iron folded end and tube flat.
Fit the end of the tube with the raw edge inside of the folded end creating a circle.

Sew the tube together where you fitted the two ends together.

I wanted more of a lanyard look, so I top stitched around the circle in 1/2" increments. Mine had five seams doing this. Definitely not a necessary step.

Locate the seam where the two ends were sewn together to create the circle and measure an inch above that. Sew the top and bottom layer of the circle together along that measured point creating a small loop at the bottom of your lanyard.

The loop can be kept for your keys, but we will be using it for the kids' emergency cards that we made last year.

You can see how we made the cards and what info we included here.

Project 32

UPDATE: All 32 patterns have been given away. But I will be writing about Project 32 all week, so if you want to read more, check back!

Today is the first day of this year's Project 32, where I commit to do 32 random acts of kindness the week of my birthday. Last year I did this and it was the most rewarding birthdays I've ever had. If you want, you can read about it here.

I've got a list of possible random acts, but I'll be praying and watching this week to find those who might need a little something to lift his/her spirits. And of course involving the kids as much as possible. Maybe one day they will want to do this instead of get birthday gifts (I can dream, can't I???).

To kick it off (and because this was so fun last year), I'm giving away patterns to 32 lucky people. There are four patterns to choose from:

• Reversible Pouch Sling-pattern works for all sizes (make great gifts!)
• Flip Flop Skirt-girl sizes 12 months-5T
• Cinch Skirt-girl sizes 6 months-8 years
• The Favorite Skirt-a women's skirt pattern, sizes XS-XL (all sizes are included in pattern)
  

You can see them here. All four of them are full of pictures and step by step instructions, so even if you haven't sewn much (or ever), these are great to start with.

To get your free pattern, just leave me a comment with your email address and choice of pattern. I'll be giving away patterns to the first 32 people who comment.

Spring Mini Sessions in Las Vegas and Phoenix

Worry

Jakson and Grandpa

Parenting a child with special needs is emotionally exhausting. First you worry about everything that MIGHT happen. And then when those worries become realities, you worry that they are happening.

I fully expected to be dealing with our current reality at some point, though I wish I was writing this post two or three years from now. I never foresaw Jakson dealing with bullying as young as kindergarten, yet it has begun.

Last week Jakson started telling me every morning that he was sick and couldn't go to school. He's not quite old enough to do the old "stick a thermometer on a light bulb to warm it up" trick, so his complaints of being hot were pretty obviously untrue. A couple of meltdowns later, the real reason for his desire to stay home was uncovered.

A 5 year old bully.

For Jakson to notice that someone is mocking or making fun of him is kind of a big deal. He's generally socially oblivious. Or maybe just generally oblivious. But whichever, unless it was repetitive and over the top, I don't think he would bother noticing.

These types of situations are made more difficult by Jakson's lack of verbal skills. He speaks, but is often difficult to understand and tends to use as few words as possible to get his point across. Which usually results in his point falling short of "across". I'm not sure if I have yet to learn the whole story, but the gist is that a boy at school is mocking and "repeating" Jakson. And according to Jak has"been mean" on repeated occasions.

Of course, I took this to the teacher. Mainly for the fact that it was hindering Jakson's desire to attend school. And I don't believe any bullying incident should go unreported. I wanted the issue addressed before it escalated.

Jak's teacher took the bullying seriously, addressed it with the child, spoke with Jakson about coming to her, and put preventative measures in place to ensure the two children weren't placed together in groups, etc. We went for a couple of days with Jakson going to school without meltdowns or fake sicknesses.

But teachers cannot be everywhere. Yesterday Jak told me on the way home that during lineup in PE, the same boy shoved Jak to the ground and then cut in front of him. Unfortunately he didn't tell any adults (and according to him, no teacher saw it), but saved it for me because (his words, not mine), I'm "the best". Well thanks, Jak but I don't have any power over consequences for this child.

This morning we were back to being "ill" and throwing fits about school.
Emotionally exhausting. For all parties involved.

I have written to his teacher, left a message for the principal, and reminded Jakson that he needs to tell an adult when these things happen. Having a child that does not feel safe at school is unacceptable. Especially in kindergarten. I'm not sure what else I can do at this point short of pulling him out completely and homeschooling. I am praying that the bullying can be resolved at the school and I will not have to take such drastic measures. When Jakson told me his story yesterday he asked, "Mom, why is he so mean? I'm a nice boy." My heart is breaking for my sweet little boy who is sadly learning that other kids can be cruel.