There is just no other way to say it. Parenting (in general) can be hard enough.  Parenting special needs children can present a whole new slew of challenges.  You have to be creative in a million different ways, develop and use more patience than you […]

It’s taken me a long while to write about this because of how sensitive the feelings of those involved are. Let’s first visit the day we found out that not only was Acroboy on the Autism spectrum, but that he has ADHD as well.  I […]

So one of the many preparations we took for our family vacation and reunion for my parent’s 50th anniversary was to make more family shirts.  The older boys are HUGE Percy Jackson fans–and two of them have ADHD, so they like to joke they are […]

Lawboy has applied to the performing arts high school Firstborn attends, AND BEEN ACCEPTED!  The competition was tough.  Several violinists auditioned and only four were accepted.  I am bursting at the seems with pride in his accomplishments.  I was hoping he would get in–my dad […]

I am proud of my boys.  We have a county wide youth orchestra once a year.  Everyone auditions with the same selected pieces and then they are placed in chairs. Firstborn auditioned and for the first time in several years, he is first chair! I […]

Hello! With six children, four of whom are on the autism spectrum and my toddler receiving services for speech and sensory issues, I need to be an organized mom.  Admittedly, some areas of my life are better organized than others.  Today I want to address […]

Warning–this post contains information of emergency urological kind.  If you are squeamish, stop reading and enjoy this picture of lovely flowers.  If you dare read on… Okay, we’ll continue… Acroboy came to me yesterday and complained of unusual pain in his groin.  He has a […]

Firstborn passed his Eagle Board of Review tonight!  I am so excited.  This has been such a long road for us.  It was actually his first (and very astute) Cub Scout Den Leader who noticed what a hard time Firstborn had in socializing with the […]

So we have some success, and a failure. Whirlwind did NOT get into the performing arts high school Firstborn attends. I’m actually kind of grateful. It’s like pulling teeth to get him to practice.  He spends most of his time fighting me on it, walking […]

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, I thought I would write a little about our journey to getting Firstborn’s diagnosis. Looking back on things now, the warning signs were all there, but I didn’t see them. To use a metaphor, I didn’t know all the […]