RIP Bruce Merrill

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 my good friend Bruce Merrill passed away. It was an unexpected death of a 33 year old that was a great friend to a lot of people. His cause of death is unknown. He was found unconcious at the shop he owned in Elkhart, and he never regained conciousness. He died in the emergency room of Elkhart General Hospital. His family has chosen not to have an autopsy performed and so we will never know what claimed the life of our friend. I have know Bruce since we were fifteen year old kids. He was the best man at my first wedding, and a good friend throughtout all the years and all the ups and downs. He will be sorely missed by so many, including his two sons. RIP Bruce, I will be praying that you have a great spot in heaven to look down on your boys and that they have fast things that you can do stupid things on. Love ya, and miss ya.

Lisa

Snowy Day

We have gotten a ton of snow the last couple of days. The weatherman was calling for some extremely cold temps. So, before it could get too cold, the kids and I ventured outside for some fun in the snow. Plus, I was hoping that it would help with the cabin fever =) It is hard to keep Brandon occupied in the house day after day. We had a lot of fun. James and I never got the trampoline taken down (oops). Which turned out to be a great thing on this day. Alyssa had a great time making snow castles, and the twins and I had a snow fight with all the snow that had accumulated on the trampoline. It was a great hour or so of fun, and it will have to last. At least until this artic blast is past us, welcome to Northern Indiana =)

Kinsey getting ready to go down the snow covered slide. Thank goodness for snow pants.












Kasey, attempting to knock icicles off the eaves.
























Alyssa, making snow castles. This is her second year for that hat, and it's still a little too big.




















Brandon, after coming inside. He likes to turn my electric blanket up to high and then crawl under.




















O.K. this is me after our outdoor fun, I am getting dinner ready. I only threw it in so I could say, Look Ma, I got glasses. I haven't had any for quite awhile. I am sure once the headaches pass, it will be great to have them again =)












That was our snowy day. Nothing too exciting, but I am trying to be better about blogging.

Lisa

Merry Christmas and a couple of other pictures thrown as well =)

So, it has been forever since I have blogged. November and December have flown by and taken Thanksgiving and Christmas with them. So, before New Years Eve has come and gone and I am facing 2009, I figured I would post a quick update and a whole bunch of pictures. To be honest the memory card is getting full on my camera, but that is a whole different issue =)

Everyone is doing well here. Except for a case of the flu that kept Brandon down for about a week, we have been blessed with good health. Brandon is making the transition to his new school better than any of us could have hoped for. He seems to be thriving in the multi-categorical classroom setting. The twins passed their Isteps with flying colors. Though I have to say I don't remember them being nearly such a big deal when I was a kid. Though I guess that has been a few years. Alyssa is as ornery as ever. She loved every minute of the Christmas holidays. It was truly a joy to watch her open her presents. She was so excited about every single present. From the stocking stuffers that my mother in law had so lovingly wrapped (every single one), or the pony that my sister in law gifted her with, even the clothes. She loved everything. So, that is the update part, now for pictures.


In November the twins had their very first slumber party. There were four girls that were invited. They all had such a good time, and it was not nearly the chaos that I had envisioned upon issuing the invitations =)









The first item on the agenda was dinner. Thanks to Pizza Hut, the girls were very well fed.
The twin's birthday had come and gone, but due to circumstances they were not at home for their birthday party. So all of their friends were very generous and brought them birthday presents.










Here the girls are working on the craft project part of the agenda. Each girl made a vase to take home with them. It was easy and fun.

























Here is one of the gal's that stayed all night. The girl's were glad that everyone they invited could come, but they were especially glad that Maddy could make it =)










That was the slumber party. We ate pizza, did a craft, watched movies, and everyone was asleep by 11:30. It was great fun, and the girls are already begging to do it again.

In November, we had a couple of days that were really warm. Go figure. Brandon, Alyssa and I had some fun on the trampoline, with the leaves that never got raked, oops =)
























Brandon making muscles.




























There was a trip to Grandma's house. Grandpa was nice enough to drive us down to visit. Even though it's only an 1 1/2 away, I really hate the drive.









Yet another trip to Indianapolis. We are happy to report that Brandon is recovering very well from his heart surgery.











A very old and dear friend of mine came for dinner with her husband and beautiful baby boy. Don't kill me Michelle, it's not that bad of a picture =)










And, finally Christmas. I have a ton of pictures but the picture portion of the blogger is not really cooperating with me. So I am just going to post three pictures for tonight and call it good.


Here are the 4 kids. Brandon is getting ready to go do Christmas with his Dad, thats the explanation for the coat and hat and such.











Here are my folks with the kids. We tried to get Uncle Aric to sit in on the picture but no luck. Maybe next Christmas =)











One of James and I with the kids.












Okay so that is my blog for the months of November and December =) I would promise that I will be blogging more in the new year, but the new expansion to World of Warcraft came out, and so I am making no promises.

Halloween

Our town had trick or treating tonight. We have a home football game tomorrow night at the High School, and nothing interferes with our hometown football. Not even Halloween. Alyssa was a ballerina this year, Brandon was Indiana Jones, Kasey was Sharpay from High School Musical and Kinsey was Gabriella also from High School Musical. We walked over to Grandma's house because we were planning on having dinner after we were done trick or treating. So we said hello to everyone, and got started. Alyssa did much better than I thought she would. She walked by herself and made it about 10 blocks before she was ready to call it quits. So James continued trick or treating with Brandon, Kasey, and Kinsey, while Alyssa and I headed back to Grandma's house. Grandma had a great dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread waiting. Alyssa and I ate and then James and the kids came back, it had started getting colder and they were ready to call it quits. After dinner, we spent a nice time catching up with James's mom and dad, as well as his brother and his wife Jen. For those of you that have noticed my profile pic, my sister in law Jen is the one I have to thank for how good my hair looks in the new picture. She flat ironed it for me, which I absolutely love. So it was a great family night, and I was thankful that it was not freezing cold and there was no rain for a change. Very Thankful.

Here are all of the kids getting ready to head over to Grandma's house.

Alyssa after trick or treating but before Grandma's spaghetti.

Of course we have to have a picture of the stomach ache inducing loot =)

It was a good time, and over way to fast. I can't believe Halloween is over and done with for another year, and now we can start looking ahead to Thanksgiving. Hopefully I will blog before then, but I am not making any promises.

Lisa

IEP Meeting

So the moment that we have all been waiting for, drumroll please...the IEP Meeting. We finally had our IEP meeting today. As many of you know that read this blog, Brandon has been on a 2 1/2 hour program at school this year, until we received some definitive diagnosis's. We have been fighting for the last 2 years to get Brandon services under an autism label, instead of a hearing impaired label. Something that Elkhart County Special Education Services (ECSES) has fought us tooth and nail on. We traveled to the Indiana School for the deaf this summer and had Brandon evaluated there, as well as at the Christine Sarkine Autism Center at Riley Children's hospital. Both reports concur that Brandon is an autistic child, with Sensory Processing disorder, that also happens to be hearing impaired. So, with reports in hand and an advocate from InSource, we set off to get Brandon the services that he needs. For the past 2 years Brandon has been in a mainstream classroom without any para support. With the new information from the evaluations, it was pretty obvious that even with a para, the mainstream classroom was probably not the best academic setting for Brandon to thrive in right now. However, neither one of the elementary schools where we live have a special education classroom. So sending Brandon to a special education classroom means busing him, something we have debated about. ECSES aside, our experience with Brandon's school has been wonderful. The teachers have been great with him, and I can not rave enough about the Principal, and the Guidance Counselor. They have gone above and beyond in their attempts to help Brandon and so it was with very heavy hearts that James and I started considering the special education program. I set up a time this morning, and I took my mother in law with me, and we went to check out the program. I was very thankful to have my mother in law with me, both for moral support, and as a second opinion. Plus the fact that she knows almost everyone in our small town comes in handy as well =) The program has 14 students, 1 full time teacher, 2 full time para's, and 1 part time para. With the addition of Brandon they will be adding an additional para for him in the mornings. The children range in ages from kindergarten to fifth grade. I was very pleased to talk to the teacher and hear her use a lot of "sensory" talk in her explanations of how the classroom is run, and also when explaining her lesson plans. They also use a lot of modeling from the older students to the younger students. I was also happy to learn that they are a self contained unit. Their PE class is separate, as well as lunch time, and recess as well. So, after the time spent looking at that program, James and I had pretty much decided that was the route that we wanted to go. So at 2:30 we all meet at Brandon's school for the showdown, I mean IEP meeting =) It was decided that Brandon will start attending the special education program on Monday. He will receive additional para support. He will retain his speech and hearing impaired services, and occupation therapy. We are looking at adding physical therapy, and so that is another evaluation the the school system has 50 days to complete. So all in all we got all of the things that we were looking for. I really was hoping that Brandon could remain at the school he is attending, but the staff there as well as his developmental pediatrician feel that this will be a better placement for him. Now I know I have rambled forever about all of this, and I don't have any pictures to go along with this topic, but I have not blogged in forever, so what follows are random pictures that I have taken and not got posted. Sorry =)
Brandon as Sandman at the lake. He is the bad guy from the third installment of Spiderman.












The girls getting ready for the Apple Festival Parade. These are the buckets they made that the held the candy that they tossed to the crowd as they marched in the parade.










A visit to see my mom. Grandma Marilyn.













Alyssa with an adorable little guy that belongs to a very old and dear friend of mine. We were so happy to have him, and his mom and dad over for dinner.










The twins with same totally adorable little guy.














Brandon on the other end of the couch having nothing to do with totally adorable little guy =)











O.K. So they are completely random pictures, but they are recent =) Hopefully with things calming down around here, I will be able to blog a little more regularly. It's a goal anyway =)

Lisa

Build a Bear

For all three of the girls' birthdays James and I took them to Build-a-Bear. They had a great time picking out a animal, stuffing it, and then finding an accessory for it.










Here the girls are picking out the hearts to go inside their animals.












Here they are rubbing the hearts on their foreheads to make their animals smart.












Here they are making the hearts strong.













Making the hearts smile.













Kasey;s monkey getting stuffed.













Kinsey with her panda.













Alyssa with her cat, Strawberry.













The girls had a great time. Alyssa got a little impatient with the computer registration part, hence no pictures. It was a great birthday trip though.

Lisa

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

We have been busy celebrating birthdays. Brandon's was July 28th, Alyssa's was the 3rd of August and the twin's celebrated double digits on the 7th. Everyone survived to be another year older and got a ton of great presents in the process =)

The first birthday we had was Brandon's. This one was with his dad, and we just celebrated on his his birthday with James, Alyssa, Darren, and I. The twins were unable to be home, so it was just a real informal thing...with cake.
Brandon waiting anxiously to open presents.













Brandon with all of his loot.













Brandon with his Dad.













Brandon with mom.













A very happy Brandon with his birthday cake.













The next party, was again for Brandon. This one was with James, Alyssa, and I plus James's parents and Grandma Mary.
He got A line tanks from Grandma. Brandon loves his "wifebeaters". It is mostly all he wears in the summer, and in the winter he has to wear them under all his shirts, just like James =)










Grandma also gifted Brandon with "birthday dollars". Which Brandon used to purchase a Transformer action figure.











The perfect backpack from Grandma Mary. We had seen it at the store after Grandma had purchased it and he wanted to use some of his other "birthday dollars" to purchase it. Luckily, we were able to talk him out of it.









Brandon had Batman brownies for this birthday party.












Next up was Alyssa's birthday. This one was at Grandma's house. The twin's were actually able to be home for this very happy very brief birthday celebration.
Here is the birthday girl with her birthday cake. I cheated and got an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.











The whole gang singing happy birthday to Alyssa.













The birthday girl eating cake.













James enjoying cake.













Opening presents.













The next party was a surprise birthday party for the girls. The girls grandparents, Grandma Mary, aunt, uncle and cousin had come over while I ran to pick the girls up. Kurt and Jen had walked over with Caden, and Kim and Kendall had hidden their Durango. The girls didn't suspect anything. When they walked in their was a whole house full of people here for their birthday.
Here is Kasey with her present from Grandma. That is my sister in law Jen you see in the background =)











Kinsey with her present from Grandma. She also gifted them with "birthday dollars". Which they used to get their ears pierced. The handsome boy in the picture is my nephew Caden.










The kids got a whole slew of presents. But I was a little remiss in taken pictures =) Needless to say all of the kids were shamelessly spoiled for their birthdays.
Here is Grandma applying some of the make-up that Alyssa got as a present from Aunt Jen.












Here very own cheerleading outfit. Just what every little girl needs. Thanks Jen =)












All of the presents are opened, it's cake time. I love Dairy Queen.












After cake, it was time to jump on the big birthday present, the trampoline. The trampoline was a combination gift from James and I and my dad. Thanks so much Grandpa Chuck, we love it =)









Brandon and Caden making muscles on the trampoline.












More jumping.













My mother in law getting into the act.













All of us together.













Whew, it has been a busy time for us. Actually it has been a busy summer for us. We have been blessed though that everything has gone well. As you can see from the pictures, Brandon is recovering beautifully from his surgery. It was 30 days yesterday since said surgery and he is now cleared for swimming. Tomorrow we will be taking a trip to the lake to celebrate that milestone. School starts next week, and I know one mom that will be very thankful to see that yellow school bus.

Lisa