We're All Ears! - Day 1

Our first summer vacation this year was a no-brainer....back to Disneyland!! I honestly can't think of a better vacation for our family right now. Our kids are BOTH happy from sun up 'til sun down...and that's not an easy task for our two kiddos.

Neve checking out the park map to plan our day. :) She is definitely her father's child and LOVES maps.

 

Portnoys.

 

Neve and Nate with Goofy.

 

 

taking a spin on the teacups.

 

Nate's favorite ride in the whole park is Dumbo...and sadly, Dumbo was closed this visit. I honestly felt like we should pay our respects and leave flowers by his gate or something..hahaha...but instead we got Nate this flying Dumbo pail and we put grapes in it for his snack. :)

 

Neve conquered the Matterhorn (the mountain coaster behind them in this pic) twice this trip. This is a big deal because the changed the bobsleds and you have to ride alone now. She rocked it. :)...and that is just too cute a picture of Neve and her Dad..I need a crop of that one . :)

Ok..much better. :)

 

 

 

Having a blast on the rockets.

 

I just love these two!!!! ...and look!! Nate's looking at the camera!! woo-hoo!!

This one deserves a frame. :)

 

 

Neve and Mom. Love this girl!

 

more Portnoys.

 

...and I suppose that about sums up day one! Our friends Steve and Jason met up with us in the afternoon. We just love love love them. I love that they totally embrace my insane children and meet up with us to play. :)

We caught the Mickey parade and then we headed back to the hotel for dinner and some sleep so we would be ready to go for Day Two. I think it's beyond amazing that we still keep our kids on a 6-7ish bedtime routine even while on vacation. :) Schedule is everything for us.

Stay tuned for Day Two's adventures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Muddah...Hello Faddah!

Here I am at...Camp Granada!

Ok, well maybe not Camp Granada, but Neve had her first taste of camp a few weekends ago. Girl Scout camp was in Prescott, AZ, which is a couple hours from here and thankfully a little bit cooler as well.

We went for Daisy Scout camp and Neve loved it. I think the only MAJOR gripe she had was when she realized I wasn't leaving her there by herself for a week. That is what she expected in her head. :)

She is just that kind of kid. We don't co-sleep, never have, and she is very independent about her sleeping and is so very comfortable at places without her parents. Always has been. I think I realized that when she started preschool at age two and literally never looked back. I kept waiting for her to want me to stay, but no. She is NOT a clingy kiddo. She's her own little person and quite happy to be in charge of herself. :)

 

We drove up with two of her fellow scouts and their mom so we could stay in a hotel the night before so we could be there bright and early the next morning.

 

 

The girls had a blast swimming and playing.

 

 

 

 

The next morning we headed to the Girl Scout campground!

 

 First up was ARTS AND CRAFTS!

 

 

 

Then it was on to s'mores and campfire songs. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Then a walk down by the creek to explore.

 

Then parachute games and an obstacle course. Neve rocked the hula hoop. :)

 

 

 

 

Then it was down to the barn to learn about safety around horses and how to brush them.

 

 

 

 

Then games with the camp counselor. 

 

Neve's troop!!

 

 

It was a great weekend and Neve is pumped to go back on her own. They start letting them come on their own when they are Brownies (2nd and 3rd grade). Lord..can you imagine? I would be in a tree with binoculars playing helicopter mom. Just a WEE bit out of MY comfort zone. :)

 

Aaron, Nate, and Glenn had a boys weekend here at home and there were no ER trips and the house is still standing so we will call that a success too.

 I guess I better go plan our next big outdoor adventure. Did I mention I am allergic to pine trees? no joke. Couldn't breathe the entire drive home. The things we do for our kids.

 

 

"It's not bragging if you can back it up." ~Muhammad Ali

Warning- shameless Mom bragging post. :)

I honestly don't care. I think my audience for this is comprised solely of family and friends...why else would you read this, right? ...and if you ARE reading this, I would assume you are cheering for Nate and Neve right along with me. :)

 

It's been awhile since I have updated here. We have just spent Spring living life. School. Therapy. Sports. Classes. Friends. Family. That about sums it up.

 

BUT.....a few great things have happened for the kiddos and we are so proud of their hard work.

 

NATEMAN:

Nate has had a pretty good school year, I must say. He really likes his teacher and Aaron and I are learning to deal with her over-emotional nature. :) At the end of the day though, I know she cares SO much about her students. Nate is safe and loved and I am content with that.

 

This is Nate with his teacher and his class. Nate has been in a self-contained Autism-only classroom comprised of grades 1-3. It is a fairly high functioning class, where Nate would be the lowest on the spectrum in his class.

This is Nate at recess playing with a couple boys in his class. He is just starting to occassionally engage the other kids in playground play. This is something he has previously always reserved ONLY for his sister, if at all. Awesome to see. GO NATE!!

 

Another huge milestone for Nate is that he has joined his first organized sports team! Woo-hoo! Extracurricular activities in general have always been difficult for us to find for him. Special Olympics is, in general, too high functioning for him at this point. He is beyond "Mommy and Me" classes but he really still needs that one on one assistance for most skills.

We found a non-denominational Christian organization that created a special needs team on the weekend with full parent support. The coach does not even have a child on the team, he is just a complete volunteer that wanted to help organize the kids and play. How awesome is that??!? It has been a really great fit for Nate and it is so evident that something like this has been "missing" for us. For all of us. Nate knows it's HIS soccer day and likes his Mighty Pals shirt. We are so proud of him out there doing his best and Neve is over the moon trying to help. Neve stands at the goal and yells, "Go Nate! Kick it to Sister!!". Love it.

Nate with his coach and team Mighty Pals!

 

 

 

 

NEVE:

Not to be outdone, this little one has been thriving this year as well. She just finished soccer again this season, and she is in gymnastics, swimming, and Daisy Scouts too. She loves loves loves it all and gives 100%. She is showing to be very athletic, especially in soccer(she plays an age group up), which we are so proud to see.

 

 

School has also been an extreme area of growth this year. We struggled with the decision to start her early in Kindergarten (at age 4), but decided to throw her the challenge and see how she handles it all. Well I guess it's true what they say about giving someone a challenge and watching them rise to the occasion. Neve not only met the challenge but blew it out of the park. She is (by her teacher's account) the top of her class and is finishing Kindergarten reading at a 3rd grade level. Wow. Of course we are always amazed at how bright she is but it's so awesome to have teachers and school professionals be on board too.

Neve was tested with the first grade CogAT which is Gilbert's Cognitive Abilities Test to determine where she falls in three areas- verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal. This is their way, along with school/parent input, of identifying "Gifted and Talented" children for special programming. Neve passed with flying colors for first grade. We were thrilled and proud. But it got even better when a certain school professional (to remain nameless-ha!) let us know that she not only passed but received the highest score in the entire district. Go Big or Go Home, right?! Ha! Seriously though, that is quite the feat for our little five year old and we are all beaming, including Neve. Aaron and I were both over achievers in school and we love to see that pride come naturally to her as well.

Neve won the school Read-a-thon for K-1 as well. She received some prizes including a Barnes and Noble gift card. She was so excited to spend it this weekend and bought the Junie B Jones series. She loves that she can read to herself and just laughs away. Reminds me of when I would race home from school to catch up on my Babysitter's Club books!!

 

 

Anyway, that's the quick wrap up here! Yesterday was our first 100 degree day here in Arizona so we are all about to get really grouchy. Tis the season. :)

 

19 days of school left!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where the wild things are

ZOO TRIP! Nate's class was headed to the Phoenix Zoo for a field trip again this year and I was able to chaperone. It was about 15 kids with Autism from Nate's school. This was just a trip for them, not the mainstream kiddos. I love love love that I can be so present in my kids' activities. The only bummer was that it was 36 DEGREES outside that day!!! Not the norm for Arizona!

 

The kids started in an education room to learn about animals, reptiles, and insects through puzzles and hands-on learning.

 

 

 

 

 

This was Nate by a huge snake skin.

 

They brought around a few different types of creatures for the kids to touch. Nate couldn't touch most because they had fur (allergies-blah), but he was able to touch a turtle and a hissing cockroach! (sorry my pictures are bad...I couldn't bring the big camera AND wrangle Nate/other special needs children at the same time. Had to settle for the small camera.)

 

As always, Nateman loved the carousel.

 

 

Then we took the safari train ride around the park. This really picked up the wind and it was freezing!! Nate looked right at me and said, "Chin!", and then grabbed my scarf to put on himself. :) It's all yours, buddy! I guess I didn't prepare for the cold too well! We're not in Ohio anymore, I suppose..My blood has thinned.

 

 

 

The kids got to go touch and feed the sting rays next. Nateman didn't want to take off his gloves to do it, and I can't say I blamed him! So we just watched. Afterwards I decided to sign Nate out from his class so we could go do some of the things at the zoo that Nate wanted to do....like ride the carousel again and play on this wooden tree house. He has trouble focusing on animals out in a field (he is nearsighted) and doesn't seem to enjoy it much. So I figured we would just have a little Mom/Nate time until we were frozen and needed to go home.

 Nate's class this year is fairly high functioning, so that helps. They are almost all verbal, where Nate is severely limited. Nate is on the lower end of the class in regards to communication, but I really like him being around higher functioning autistic kids. I think it really curbs his behavior issues as he is not feeding off issues of those around him.

 

Overall, we had a great trip! Maybe next field trip will be a touch warmer. :)