A Field of Angels

I found out that there is going to be a softball team for kids with disabilities right here in Pottsville. It's for all area kids with disabilities but all the games will be played right here. The kids range in age from 4 - 18. Plus each kid will be paired with a volunteer so parents can sit back and enjoy the game. Sahara volunteered to be a volunteer and I'm so glad she did because I was going to sign her up anyway. So far they have 17 kids signed up (I was on the phone with the guy setting it all up for 45 minutes the other night), plus I have been promoting the poop out of it. I hope with my help and from working with the kids in my district, I can get another 15 or so to sign up. I also listed it on several sites for local sports events so maybe that will bring in even more. Best of all it's FREE.

Breakfast anyone?

Apparently Canyon decided to make breakfast for Sahara and I before anyone was up this morning.

'Waffles', he said.




His ingredients:

pancake mix (that'll work)

2 eggs (not necessary, but OK)

and

Corky's BBQ sauce (YUMMY!!)

I'm just glad he didn't get out the waffle maker or turn on anything that gets hot.

Derby Days....The race is on....

We had the pack derby at the scout masters house tonight. 8 boys raced.

On your mark, get set, RACE!

With 8 boys, you get to race about every 4 times. That wait is not too hard to do.

Derby Days... And the winner is....

Canyon gets Best Of Show!!!

He got Best of Show last year so we did not expect it this year at all.

He got 1st Place too!

We certainly did not expect 1st place!!!
Go Canyon!!!

Doctor update

Canyon's thyroid test came back normal.

:)

A doctor disaster

Canyon had a physical today for the waiver program which lets him go with a worker a few days a week for a few hours. Gives him time and experience with someone else and keeps him from being bored all the time at home. Anyway, the doc saw him and except for Canyon refusing to let him look in his ears, all went well. Then the doc asked when was the last time his thyroid was tested? I honestly couldn't remember and think he was just a toddler when it last was. In fact, I think he was little enough that he could still have blood drawn from the bottem of his foot. Because of Down syndrome,, it needs to be tested every few years. So, off to the lab we went. He sat in the chair, got the big rubber band on his arm, saw the needle coming at him and as the nurse held his arm, he panicked. So, she called for back up. I told her it has taken as many as 6 nurses, a dr and myself to hold him down at the ear dr. She came back with 3 other nurses. I sat and had him on my lap with my legs around his waist. A nurse had his legs. One had his other arm. One had the arm to draw the blood. And I used my arms to hold around his chest. They were able to extract about 1/2 and inch of blood in the little tube and he was squeezing so hard he popped the needle out of his arm. Then he melted to the floor and refused to get up crying and crying. I got him to get up after much pleading and promises. They said they hoped they can make do with what they got. I over heard them talking about having hard to deal with kids before, but never had one soooo strong before.
He finally got over the ordeal after an hour.

OH and he is 52 1/2 inches tall and 71 pounds now. Gettin toooo big!

My My My...What do we have here?

Sascha started barking like crazy on the back patio and she usually never does that. Sahara turned on the back light and saw she was barking at the dog food container right next to the back door. This guy's tail must have been hanging out when Sascha came up because the end of it was bitten off and blood was drip-dropped in a puddle right next to the container. We managed to get the dog to come around to the front to get in the house, but Chloe the cat was just sitting by the food container waiting to be scooped some food. She would not come to the front. So, I had to open the back door and have her come in that way squeezing thru a space about 4 inches big because I was afraid 'mouth of teeth' there was going to either attack her or come running in after her. I stuck my hand and the camera out the door to snap these pictures. It was pretty scary tho. It's teeth were 1/2 an inch long.

midnight visitor

We found these hoof prints inches from our front door. Didn't have time to investigate before school. After school we found hundreds of hoof prints all around the house and back yard and a pile of horse poop by the shed. We lost the trail out by the ditch a ways down the road. The neighbors at the end of the road have our old Poncho and he is the only horse on the street. The other neighbors down there say he is in the pasture back there. Hmmmm, either he came 'home' for a visit in the middle of the night and then went back or we have a phantom horse stalking us now.

Special me :)

I got a treat Saturday morning. Canyon woke up pretty early and Sahara ended up getting him and bringing him to my bed. We all tried to go back to sleep but we all have colds and have a hard time breathing while laying down. So, I turned on cartoons really quietly for Canyon and I think I got a wink or 2. Then Sahara took Canyon out of the room and 15 minutes later he asked if I wanted coffee. "mommy?, coffee?" I said yes and a few minutes later I got a tray of chocolate chip pancakes and coffee in bed :)

We have a poltergeist problem

Saturday night we went to bed really late and when I was just about asleep, around 2:30 am, I heard either my bedroom door or my bathroom door squeak open or closed about 6 inches. That's what it sounded like anyway. It was definitely one of those 2 doors tho. 2 nights later at about the same time at night, but when I was asleep for quite a while, it sounded like someone backed into the gun cabinet next to my bed. I even felt the puff of cooler air hit me. On the way to work that day I kept feeling puffs of wind in my hair even tho all the windows in the truck were up. Today before the kids got home from school, I was sitting on the couch with a really bad headache and heard the squeaky door thing again coming from way down the hall (same 2 doors???) and at the same moment, so did the dog. When I told Sahara about the happening today, she reminded me that this past weekend wasn't the first time. About 2 weeks ago I was waiting for the kids to come home laying on the couch and heard someone say 'hello?' in my ear that was laying on the pillow. My first thought was that I had been talking on the phone and it slipped but that was just a zip of a thought that went thru my mind when I realized I hadn't been on the phone. Weird! Plus Sahara had that dream with the dark beings in my room just after Christmas.

GO CARDINALS

Win or lose, we have to support our home state!

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well....

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that was heartbreaking.

At least it wasn't a landslide. And the Steelers only won buy the tip of their toe.

Literally.

Hard at work

This weekend Canyon was hard at work putting decals on his pine wood derby car for Cub Scouts.

And look who showed up to help!

Weather Woes

The ice storm is out of the state here, but we had rain all day yesterday and the temp was at 34 so no snow. But the temp dropped to 12 last night so all the rain froze and we don't have school/work today.

Yesterday, Canyon's aide called me a t 1:15 to tell me the kids were getting out at 2. I figured the weather was getting worse. When I got home Sahara told me it was because of the Jr. High (her school) It was without electricity all day. They had a generator running the lights and the cafeteria, but no heaters and the generator conked out 4th period. Soooo, lunch was tossed (sloppy joes that weren't all cooked yet) and they gave them cold sandwiches and they sat there with only emergency lights for the next couple hours.

Well, at least we will get to enjoy today off :)

The cub scouts have been working on their pinewood derby cars every other Saturday this month. First Sat was sanding (which I didn't get pics of). Next Sat was painting. The boy next to him chose florescent orange too! But when they are finished they will look completely different.

Next Sat is decals and hopefully wheels and done. The whole thing could have been done in 1 weekend if we did it at home, but they wanted the boys to work together and make it more of a 'project'.

success........sort of

I managed to figure the VCR to get LOST to tape, but I set it for 2 hours (because it was a 2 hour show) and only got the 1st hour taped because the first hour on the tape was Jimmy Kimmel (sp). I guess the game went into overtime. But I watched the rest online (thanks Mel for that info).

FrUsTrAtIoN !!!

It was just announced that the season premier of LOST, because of a basketball game, will be aired at 12:35 tonight. Great! That means since I do not have TIVO or a digital recorder, I will have to find a tape and figure out how to get the VCR to tape it for me. I have a feeling I will just get to miss it :(

lesson learned...........I hope

Last night, the boy decided to shave. He now has razor burn under one arm and just about tore all the skin off his right knee cap. We managed to get the blood to stop and put band aids on, but this morning the band aids were all off. I don't think he will be doing much crawling around for a few days. And hopefully no more shaving either!!

Shopping Spree

Sahara and I used our gift cards from my sister.

Sahara's complete Aero outfit. (and can you believe she spent less than $30 for jeans, tee and bag?)

I got a long sleeve and a short sleeve tee. (spent less than $20)

Aero is our new store! We have to go back to spend the rest soon!

What is it with boys and mud?

After going out to dinner with a friend of mine who was in town for the holidays, we went for coffee and she bought Canyon a MudLife magazine. He loves it! Here he is enjoying the magazine for 1 1/2 hours after we came home from coffee and he has taken it to school all week as well.

Thanks Wendy!!

New Year's Resolution

Sahara asked me this morning what my New Year's resolution is going to be and without batting an eyelash I said 'I want to lose 40 pounds by my 40th b-day.' Then I thought that that would be totally doable. That comes out to 3.33 pounds a month. So, I thought if I made that a public announcement, I might have better luck than just trying to do it. Plus, I am only going to weigh myself once a month at the end of the month and post how I am doing here so everyone and anyone can keep track with me.

Good luck to me!!