Shadow Box Bank

Darren usually needs a specific goal to work towards during the school year. We set expectations about his daily behavior at school and jobs around the house and we reward his efforts accordingly. Darren has been wanting an ipod for a while, but he knows he has to work hard to earn it. I came across a really neat blog that gave me the perfect solution to help Darren and keep him motivated.
It's a shadow box bank and if you want the instructions on how to make one go here. She has other great projects!
This is our version of the ipod bank. We are guessing that Darren will have enough money in about 10 weeks. Let the count down begin!

Serger: A new adventure

For the longest time I've been wanting to go back to the things I enjoy the most. Being creative. I love making crafts and I love sewing. My mom bought me my first sewing machine when I was 15 years old and I have loved it ever since. I got my bachelors degree in Fashion and Textile design back in Aguascalientes, Mexico  and worked at Vianney for a number of years.
I've seen the young women in my ward struggle finding clothes that are cute and modest so I think I will experiment with some of these things and see where it takes me to. I gotta admit, I feel intimidated, I haven't done stuff like that in years so I feel overwhelmed but I know that every time I put my mind into something I usually figure how to get it done.
One of the reasons why it's taking me forever to get started is because I didn't have a serger. But not anymore! My sister Cynthia, who is by the way, the best sister ever (well Monica is pretty awesome too!) generously purchased/donated a serger so that I can get to work and hopefully feel successful.
Cynthia, thanks for always having my back...

The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend. 

~Cali Rae Turner

Daniel, thanks for supporting me in every crazy adventure and playing with Darren every time I need to get stuff done.
If you try to call me or text me and I don't respond it's probably because I'm in the basement playing with my new toy :)

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It's a new day

After 4 years on the Young Women program of the church I was finally released last week as their president. I really had a AMAZING time and I learned a lot from the girls. It was an emotional Sunday for a lot of us but we made it through and now I look forward to serving in my next calling as a Sunday School teacher. Darren was so extremely worried I would have to go to the nursery because, according to him, those babies are full of germs YUCK haha.
I'm also glad I was able to complete my personal progress and earn my YW medallion and honor bee before I was released.
If you know me, you know that I love quotes and this is one that talks about changes:

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy;

for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves,

we must die to one life before we can enter another.”

This change in callings really came at the right time. We will be having Darren's  therapy sessions every Wednesday so we are super excited to get this going! I'll be able to focus more on him and Daniel. Change is hard, but also good.

Today is a good day. It's a new day :)

P.S.
I love all my sweet young women!!
Moroni 8:3

Reflections

After much begging, Darren accepted to enter the annual Reflections contest at school. The main idea behind this contest is for the children to express themselves artistically with a common theme which this year was "Diversity means..."  The kids can participate in different categories and Darren decided to do photography and literature. For the first one he took a picture of his giraffes and named it something like : "Diversity means... friends can be different" and for the second one he wrote a story about him going to a planet where only giraffes live and how they learn to accept the little human boy even though he's different. Of course the story is full of adventure and chasing and some things that only would happen in Darren's mind HA HA. Darren made it to the next level :)
Here's some pictures of Darren getting his awards from school and district levels. 
Good job Darren!

Rock Star

Last Sunday Daniel found the hideous 80's "shutter shade" sunglasses in Darren's room. He put them on and this is how the conversation went...
Me: Darren, does dada look silly?
Darren: *looking at Daniel* NO!... He looks JAZZY, like a Rock Star!
Bahaha

Carmen Skidmore: The Running Machine

Many of you probably realize that Carmen really likes running. I mean she really likes running. It is difficult to really express how much. This link will help a little bit though to understand the dedication and love she has for the sport.

The running is the perfect example of Carmen's approach to all she does. If she does something, she does it 100 %. What a great example to all of us.

Congratulations Carmen, we are so proud of you.

Click here: Carmen's 2011 Running Totals

How it's made: CD Player

A while ago our big tv broke and we had to get a new one. That's when Daniel had the great idea (and I say it with no sarcasm) to sit down with Darren and take it apart to see "how it's made". I really love how Daniel saw the opportunity in something that was just plain trash to me to spend some quality time with Darren doing "boy stuff". I guess you really never know how those little things can affect your child and the relationship you have with them and Darren taught me an important lesson on how the so called "little" things can spark curiousity and desire of a child to be with you. Now, we must have THE worst luck with electronics because we just had to replace our kitchen CD player [ugh] and as Daniel was about to throw it away Darren said: "I have a better idea! Let's take it apart and see how it's made!"
So here are the boys exploring inside the "mind" of a CD/ Radio player...oh and building their relationship....

Autism Journeys

Today we had a great visit to the "Autism Journeys" treatment center. We spent a couple of hours with the director talking about Darren's strengths and weaknesses. We loved the facility and the services they offer...gosh, I just wish they were a little closer. It really made me want to buy a house in Lehi! 

This place seems to have a very unique and comprehensive way to treat children on the spectrum. To be honest, we are mostly thrilled with the idea of a therapist(s) providing services in our own home and at Darren's school. The evil side of me wants to see the reaction of the school's staff when we bring a team of professionals to watch Darren in his own environment, evaluate what they see and write recommendations MWAHAHA...

We are hoping to look more into the packages they offer and get started with some of the therapies (after seeing the fees we would like to suggest lottery tickets in the future for our birthdays ha ha). Even though Darren has really improved A LOT since his Asperger's diagnosis 3 years ago, we feel like we are not doing much progress lately so we wanted to find something that will give us a new sense of direction and hope. It can get pretty stressful around here.  

Part of Darren's success will come through loving parents that are prepared and willing to make changes for him so a big portion of the training will be for us, parents. We want to embrace Darren's uniqueness and at the same time help him achieve his potential. He deserves it.


"Exceptional human beings must be given exceptional educational treatment, treatment which takes into account their special difficulties. Further, we can show that despite abnormality, human beings CAN fulfill their social role within the community, especially if they find understanding, love and guidance.”
-- Hans Asperger

Reyes Magos

Today, in honor of my mexican heritage,we're celebrating at home the "Dia de Reyes" which means "The day of the kings". In Mexico this is a special holiday that emorates the three wise men who traveled from afar, bearing gifts for the infant baby Jesus.
The children in particular look forward to this holiday as traditionally, it is the three wise men who are the bearers of gifts, who leave presents in or near the shoes of small children.

At home we mainly celebrate this day with the traditional "Rosca de Reyes" (King's Cake) and baked inside is a small plastic figurine representing the baby Jesus. The truth is we just love to eat sweet mexican bread and delay any attempts to diet.

"Buen Provecho"!

 

Falalalala....Christmas Highlights

Better late than never. Here's some photos from Christmas. Darren loved everything he got! I have never seen him so happy... Oh Santa, you are the best!

The Spirit of CHRISTmas

Every year we try to make Christmas a little more meaningful, centered on the Savior. The Friends magazine had a little story called "A different kind of Christmas tree" on the December issue (click here to go to the article) and we decided to do something similar. We made a Christmas tree out of construction paper and each one of us made 4 ornaments. Every morning, for twelve days (until Christmas day) we would take turns and find a scripture that talked about Jesus Christ ( baptism, atonement, love, etc. you get the idea), then we would write it on the ornament and tape it to our tree. This gave us the opportunity to think about what we had read throughout the day and apply those same principles. I loved how Darren really looked forward to do this every day and "decorate" our paper tree. This is something we will definitely do next Christmas.

A New Year

It's been 2 years since our blog was updated and I really wanted to be able to share some of the things we do and experience with our family and close friends. I really don't like the "New Year's resolutions" thing, the "resolutions" usually fade away before I even set the goals, but I've been really wanting to have a place (not Facebook) where I can write about our family and share with those that we really care about.

I gotta admit, I'm not the best writer in the family (that's Daniel's job) but who cares, right? Ha...Welcome back to the roller coaster of our lives! (cheeeesy!)



 "Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish."