Welcome to 4th Grade!

Well, here we go again. It's the start of a new school year...They seem to go faster and faster as we approach Junior High. Does anyone know how to slow down time?
I love having Darren at home, he keeps me company and makes me smile (drives me crazy too sometimes) but I feel a lot of peace when he's around and I know he's safe.
We had a great Summer together (even though I was sick for a couple of weeks). We made it to the swimming pool, Lagoon, the Dinosaur Park, the Hogle Zoo, Boondocks, Toads, Park City, the Planetarium, the movies, walking Charlie, parades, LOTS of fun playdates with his good friend Ryker and LOTS of video games. Yes, we even had those days when he didn't change his pajamas until noon and we didn't care to make his bed :)

But now the time has come for a much needed routine and new adventures.

I'm really confident that this year will be a good one for him. We will miss Mrs. Chugg, she did a fantastic job with him but I trust that he was able to develop new skills that will make 4th grade a good one. He has a lot of familiar faces in his classroom and I'm thrilled about that.
My wish for Darren is that he remembers to believe in himself when things get tough. I want him to know that he doesn't need to be like the other kids... I don't want him to be like the others. He has a bright future ahead of him because he IS different and I will always love him because of that.

"A teacher

affects eternity;

He can never

tell where his

influence stops."

  -Henry Adams

Thank you Darren for being my GREATEST teacher. Have a great school year!
We love you :)

Slip & Sliding

Darren and Ryker have been good friends for a long time, they play very well together even though they have different interests. Ryker has helped Darren in many ways but especially with social skills. The best therapy for Darren has come from kids his own age. It's fun and free!!

We appreciate Ryker and his family (Lexy, if you read this we think the world of you too :D), they have been great to us...well not Ryan who has caused some bruises on Daniel when they play basketball in the mornings :P JK

This morning the kids were having fun together when I remembered that I had photos of them with the SAME slide a few years ago and I was dying to see how much they had grown. I probably need new water toys... bigger and more exciting...I can't believe how big they are now!!...time does indeed fly when you're "splashing" fun!

Baptism

Finally!!! After a long wait June 2 came and Darren was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You can go here to see the invitation I made about a month ago. Since I think this might be the only time I go through this I wanted to make sure we had a good, memorable experience. We started preparing Darren more seriously about a month ago and we included more baptism related stuff to our  family activities (like family home evening, etc). He was very excited and we were hoping we could jump over some "asperger- related hurldes" and make this a wonderful day for him.

Carmen, Daniel and Darren

My mom came to visit as well as Nedra and Dave. We had close friends join us on that day and it was just a wonderful bonding experience for us as a family.

Darren and my mom Carmen 

Darren with Nedra and Dave

Left-right: Dave, Ryan, Daniel, Max, David and Darren (front)

The week prior to his baptism, we encouraged Darren to pray every morning to receive a testimony of baptism and I think he did, he was happy, cheerful and very willing to make right choices, we tried to do a "baptism countdown" and have a little activity every day for 8 days prior to June 2... we started off pretty good but then it got hard as our routines got changed when our families arrived. Oh well, we had good intentions. I found the countdown at sugardoodle.com by Melanie Day and this is what we did:

Day One
A new birth: We told the story about the conversion of Alma the younger in the Book of Mormon.

Day Two
Have you prayed?: We talked about receiving a testimony of his decision to be baptized and we suggested he prayed every morning. We made "prayer pretzels" with Rhodes rolls that looked just like this ones from rhodesbread.com (of course I forgot to take a picture).

Day Three
You're on the right track!: We talked about road signs and how they help us when we go out on the road and we made the analogy to the "road signs" Heavenly Father has provided to guide us through our journey in life like the Holy Ghost, scriptures, parents, prophets, prayer, teachers.

Day Four
Squeaky clean: We changed it from the original one and instead of making cupcakes we had Darren wash his hands very well and then I squirted chocolate syrup on them and explained him how even when we make mistakes we can always repent and be clean again by washing the "chocolate spots" of our hands using "repentance soap"...he loved this but before he could wash them again he licked all the chocolate of his hands! Oh well, I think we made the point.

Day Five
Take upon us his name:
Daniel and Darren talked about our individual names and how we belong to the same family through our last name. He also talked about taking the name of Jesus upon ourselves and acting the way he would.


Day Six:
Bear each other's burdens:
We didn't get to this one but we were supposed to have 3 backpacks filled with books and help each other carry the "burden" so that not only one of us had to carry the entire weight. I also gave him during the baptism a teddy bear that he named "Covenant Bear" to help him remember the promises he has made to: 1. Bear the name of Jesus Christ, 2. Bear each other's burdens, 3. Bear testimony of the gospel.

Day Seven:
Baptism by immersion: We kind of did this one before the countdown started by taking Darren to the swimming pool and practicing going under the water. We talked about the word immersion means and why we have to be submerged in the water when we are baptized.

Day Eight:
Baptism Book: We were supposed to have Darren record his feelings about his baptism and we are currently working on this since he was gifted a few journals and a cute memory book that Nedra bought for him.

I also made Darren a special towel that hopefully he'll keep forever.

I found this cute quote and I decided to include them as favors using fun size Kit Kats.

I had Harmon's made some white cupcakes and I made the toppers with the number 8 on them and
used these new baptism cupcake liners  that I found at Desert Book.

Nedra and my mom helped me put together fruit skewers (which the kids loved!) and some mini sandwiches. Nedra made her special shrimp dip too.

I guess the most important thing was that Darren made a choice to be baptized, Daniel is a worthy priesthood holder who is able to perform this ordinance and confirm him a member of the church. I was able to enjoy that warm feeling and feel the love of my family and friends. I'm proud of Darren and I love him and Daniel so much :)

 

Meg

Our days at home are, for the most part, calm and quiet. We have great days together, but they are even better when Meguire comes to visit. She's a wonderful little girl who's not only our backyard neighbor but Darren's best friend. There's something VERY special about her that makes our lives happier and better.
Meguire has been Darren's friend since he was 3 years old and she was 4. I will always love her not just because she's beautiful inside and out but because she brings so much joy to Darren's life, he adores her. She's always been so patient with him and has been able to handle Darren's "quirks" like nobody else. She plays with him and listens to him, she's helped him in ways that only a child like her could and she is probably not even aware of how IMPORTANT she is to us and especially to him. She can do more than any other friend, she can play with his special toys, drink from his cups and even wear his socks haha.
We have created many memories together. Kelly, her mom, has been kind enough to let her spend time with us and I'm so grateful for her and for trusting us with Meg... If I ever had a daughter (which will probably never happen) I wish she was like her.
I have loved making crafts with her and watching her grow. I have loved watching her smile and making both my boys smile. She's funny, nice and loves to hug and be hugged. She's easy going and VERY well behaved (great job Kelly and Lawson!), she can come over and stay home for hours at a time and we don't even feel it as a burden. She is always welcome and she will always be a part of our family.

Like star dust glistening on fairies' wings

Little girls dreams are of magical things.

                                            -- Sherry Larson

Carve that Pumpkin

Our pumpkin carving had two special guest this year, Grandpa and Meguire Burnett. Grandpa helped Meguire with hers design, the Cat by the window and Carmen did the Witch design and the customer design Bebe Giraffe for Darren. I did the Skull.

Darren and Meguire

The Team

The Corn Maze

We went out to Black Island Farms in Syracuse this year to get our pumpkins and go through the corn maze. Darren's friend and our neighbor, Meguire Burnnett, came along to make everything more fun. We were impressed at the set up that Black Island Farm had. In addition to the corn maze and the hay ride they also had a lot of fun slides.

The Oasis of the Hay Field

"I thought you were checking the map?"

We did the Ronald McDonald part on the right



Time for some sliding fun

Shouldn't of had those 5 donuts for breakfast.

Meguire- Action Shot

Darren takes his Pumpkin selection serious.