I Love You Because...

Christmas Lists... 2011

 

Owen

Playmobile Dragons and Castles.... and Bears

 

Lorali

More American Girl Stuff.

Ethan

Star Wars Lego's Millennium Falcon and Marble Tracks.
A friend... or to move back to the old house.  

Ethan's Lego Tree

Just because he's addicted to YouTube Lego Video's, he thought it was time to have his own.... 

 

Bragging on my Builder- The Boy's Cave

I know since we've moved into the new house I've been oddly quiet around here.... not for lack of things to say more for lack of time to say it all. I have barely got the time to sit down by myself and type out my feelings and usually when I do have the precious me-time my prego body usually makes me do things horizontally with my feet up instead of vertical at a desk. Today I'm forcing myself to take a minute and give you a quick tour of one of the rooms in our new house. Hopefully if I do this more often, eventually you'll see everything. Today's peek is into Ethan's Room, probably because it's everyone's favorite room in the house. It's the had the most work put into it and is now the most complete. We all seem to end up there at the end of the day and any time we want to hang out as a family. We call it the Boy's Cave because really, it's just a mini version of a Man Cave and someday all three boys (ekk! Still weird to say that) will be in there. It's Red, Blue, White and Black and as much as I said I'd never do it again... it's themed. But, it's all for the boy in love with Star Wars so I guess in the end as long as he loves it, I love it. 

Ethan's Room.... 

Below - View From doorway... his couches/reading space. Still one of my favorite things in his room? The framed Star Wars pictures of the kids from a few years ago. (This next year, I might have to find a way to add the new baby intothem.) Ethan's favorite decoration? His Star Wars Lego Tree. (another post on that later.) 

He has two of these cute window boxes turned toy boxes under windows that let in light everytime of day... 

Next to the door... His desk, computer and Lego Shelves...

View from the other side.... The TV and drawers. Doug built those last month. We were just sitting in Ethan's room one day and I complained about LEgo's being everywhere and less than 2 weeks later Husbandface had completely custom designed and built them. (Yes, he's amazing) I'll probably do a completely seperate post about what is in those drawers and how it's organized but I will tell there are only 2 things filling up all of them. Game Systems in 2 of them and LEGOs in the remaining 7. 

Looking up... his closet is to the right and yes, there is a giant x-wing kite hanging from the ceiling. (he's 8... and loves it, don't judge.)

Oh yeah, and above the door.... Ethan's Bed. This project came to mind the same day Doug thought up brilliant built-in drawers. Then it was also completed within a month. Ethan accesses is through a ladder in his closet and in it sits a full-size twin mattress. He loves the cozy feeling of the enclosed in space and I love how amazingly talented my Husbandface is with a few power tools. 

There it is! We still have a few more projects/surprises we'd like to add into the room but this is how it is for now and I couldn't be happier with it. I'll post pictures of a few more rooms soon. Promise. 













 

Ethan's Thanksgiving Thoughts 2011

EIGHT

Dear Ethan

This year has taught me one one very important thing about YOU that will be a part of who you are for the rest of your life. You are so smart! You are hard working and stubborn when you put your mind to it and while those are traits that might make it harder on me to be your Mommy, they are traits that will serve you so well your entire life and it is something I am proud of. You have grown so much this year. This past year you've grown taller,  you have learned respect and you're more compassionate. You share your tender heart with everyone in your life more then you ever have. I love it! You are learning to read and are exceptionally good at math. You have a lot of friends at school and I love that you have found your niche. You started scouts this year and I have been very proud of not only all that you have accomplished in it (You got your Bobcat and Tiger badge already) but how you have reacted to situations that have been hard. I know it's been hard on you this year to be different but not only are you conquering your situation but you are teaching those around you very important lessons about love, respect, understanding and acceptance.

I love you, Sunshine. I can't wait to see you grow and learn even more over the years.

Love,
Mommy 

Seven 

Six

Five 

Four

Three

LEGO PARTY!

 We were SNOWED IN all last week.... in 5 inches of snow. Seriously this girl was going a little crazy with cabin fever BUT we did keep busy with this....

  

I am pretty confident in saying that HE LOVED EVERY PART OF IT! 

 

*Just in case you are ever interested in throwing a Lego party of your own...

1- As the boys were arriving we played Lego I Spy by putting up a lot of our sets the boys have gotten over the years and having the boys look for unique items (like a pig, a shower, etc.) This totally worked because Doug has SO FREAKING MANY LEGOS and the boys loved looking at all of it! You can download and adjust it to you with my template, available for instant download by clicking HERE. 

2- Complete instructions for the Lego Head Cake Pops can be found HERE (Lorali likes the Marshmallow Ones the best.) Ethan wanted mini Legos for his cake so I bought a bar pan and put in marshmallows to create the lego effect then I iced them with bright colored liquid icing to get the smooth/shiny plastic looking effect. 

3- I posted instructions for the Gum Blocks in the goodie bags HERE and for the Juice Blocks HERE. What else was in the goodie bags? their minifigures from their nameplates in there, their Lego badges, Some Lego Candy available HERE, a Lego wrist band found HERE and little Lego coloring books by downloading a bunch of images and printing them out to fit. 

4- The decorations for the bags and cups were stickers from THIS BOOK. I had lots left over that we put them in the goodie bags too. Ethan loved it so much while we were preparing that I had to buy a second one for him at home!

5- We gave each of the boys their own Official Lego Builder's Pass on a lanyard when they came in and during each event they had a chance to earn star stickers to put on the back. You can download my free template by clicking below. (They fit in 3x4 vertical lanyard holders that you can find at any office supply store.)

8- For activities we built and raced Lego cars (& the boys got to take home afterward) and we played Creationary. It was a blast and the boys all wish it would have lasted longer. 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!! 
(and thanks Sarah for being my photographer!)  

 

DOWNLOAD- 

Download Legobuilderpass

 

Seen around the house.

my teacup collection is slowly being pushed to the side. Ethan says that the curio cabinets should include his collections too.... 

Downtown Disney

Sensory overload + whiney sister + crowds of people + new place + thunder storms = bad day. 

Sensory overload + whiney sister + crowds of people + new place + thunder storms + LEGO world? = now THAT'S a GREAT day!

Guest; Husbandface

(stolen from Husbandface's blog... I'm posting it here because I want it in my blog book when I publish it at the end of the year.)

So we got a couple of Medicaid checks in the mail on yesterday, which we get because my son Ethan is autistic, and the state reimburses our health insurance premiums every month. We put it into a savings account that we use to pay for Ethan's non-covered therapies. I came in from getting the mail, and told Joanna that we had gotten two checks, one for November and one for December, and that we now had $600 to put into the account. Ethan was in the room and said "Who sent us the money?" to which Joanna replied, "It's because you're autistic." He cocked his head to one side and then, smiling ear to ear declared: "That's enough money to get the Lego Death Star! I'm going to get the Death Star!! It has the most men in it, you know!" He then proceeded to twirl around in delight singing "whoo hooo, the Death Star, whoo hoo, the Death Star!" We just looked at each other and burst into laughter. Ethan is awesome. He makes us so happy!