Moving the blog

This blog has been moved. Please join me here.

I felt it was better to associate this blog with my original blog rather than the one for our failed adoption attempt.

Autism Care Walk

Please support me as I participate in The Autism CARE Walk at Heartspring on April 4, 2009.

How can you help? Just visit My CARE Walk page at
http://tinyurl.com/c3aape
and click the 'Sponsor Me' tab to make a donation on my behalf. You can also sign up for the 1.5 Mile walk, sign up as a virtual walker, or just make a general donation towards raising autism awareness.

Funds generated from this event will help benefit local children who are on the autism spectrum through workshops and programs offered by the Community of Autism Resources and Education (CARE) program at Heartspring.

Thank you!


**For those who do not know... Dima is very likely facing a diagnosis on the Autism spectrum. They are waiting until preschool is completed (in May) to re-evaluate him. From what we have been told though, the diagnosis is extremely likely.

this blog

This blog has not really become what I wanted it to be. Maybe someday. For now though I have to take a bit of a leave of absence from it.

We had to release Angie. Financially we had hit a hurdle that was to hard to overcome. For now we grieve the loss.

Lucky Me

I have had some good luck with contests I have entered lately. A few of the prizes I have one arrived the other day. I want to say thanks to the wonderful bloggers who held these contests.

I won a Nokia 5310 Xpress Music Cell phone from Being Frugal. You can find great tips and information on living a more frugal life at Being Frugal. The way the economy is now, this is something we should all be trying to do. Nikki and Reid are arguing over discussing who should get this phone. The good news for me is that my house will be really neat and tidy as they compete to see who deserves the phone. ;)

Bagladee was giving away some hand knitted mittens that her mom had made. My daughter loved the fingerless mittens, and we were fortunate enough to win them. They arrived at just the right time, since the weather here took a turn back towards winter. It actually snowed a bit on Thursday. Nikki has really been enjoying her adorable new mittens. Be sure to check out Bagladee's blog for lots of neat, crafty things.

I didn't win the Kajeet cell phone in Twofer The Price of One's contest. (it would have helped settle the debate over who should get the phone i did win) I did win a really cool Kajeet prize package though. It came with a t-shirt, stickers, tattoos, pins, magnets, pen, pencil, notepad and keychains. I gave this to Reid since Nikki got the mittens. He has had a lot of fun going through it all and trying to decide which of the little Kajeet characters is cooler. He was even nice enough to give Nikki some of the loot. Be sure to check out Twofer The Price of One for some great reviews or just for some cuteness in the form of her twins.

Photo Hunters: Four

This week's Photo Hunt theme is FOUR.

Here is a photo of Dima playing with his homemade playdough. He loves to hide things in the dough and he then dig them back out. (this is an activity that is good for his fine motor skills and sensory issues as well) In this photo he is is squishing four bouncy balls into the dough.



I thought I would include the recipe for this playdough. It is the best homemade playdough recipe I have found. It uses Kool-aid which gives it color as well as a really great scent. It is not just fun to play with but also provides plenty of sensory input.

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water
2 packages unsweetened Kool-Aid

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and water. Wearing gloves, knead for 10 minutes. Store in zip lock bag in refrigerator.
(the reason for wearing gloves while kneading the dough is because it is quite warm once you add the boiling water)

Signing in our home

We are working on teaching Dima some sign language. He has limited verbal skills. At three years old he has less (quite a bit less) than a 50 word vocabulary, which is the "average" for a child around age 2. The words he does say are usually not clear. (well, they are to me and my mommy ears, but the rest of the world seems to have trouble) To ease day to day activities and to decrease Dima's frustration over his inability to communicate his needs, we decided sign language was a good idea.

This is something we will be doing with Angie as well. One of her special needs is her inability to communicate verbally. It is actually one of the reasons we felt she would be a good fit in our family. Having two children with the same issue will allow us to work with them both together as well as give them someone they can really relate to. I believe that they will be closer growing up, sharing some of the same challenges, as well as having another sibling who entered the family through adoption, added to the fact that they are close in age. It seems a good fit all around.

Anyway... my point was that sign language is going to be a big part of our family. So I was very excited to see that My Organized Chaos is having a giveaway for a complete set of books and dvd's from My Baby Can Talk. I have heard great things about My Baby Can Talk. I have been thinking about getting this set for Dima, so I am thrilled to get the chance to win it!

Win a Custom Flag Quilt AND help give an orphaned child a family

A friend of mine is adopting a little girl from Russia. In order to help raise funds for the adoption a wonderful group of ladies put together a fundraising raffle. My friend is one of the founders of Two Hearts For Hope, an organization that helps orphans in Kazakhstan. Two Hearts For Hope received a Angels in Adoption Award last year, this award is given to those who have a commitment to improving the lives of others.

The raffle is for a Custom Flag Quilt. The raffle runs from March 1st-30th. The winner will be chosen on March 31st. Tickets are $5 each. The winner will be able to choose from the following countries:
Kazakhstan, China, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Russia & Guatemala.

I have seen the Kazakhstan quilt and it is amazing!

Go check out the raffle here.