Support and then some

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Now there is a support group for us that are affected by autism spectrum, somehow, for, well, anyone! It's so hard to find a good support group that will listen, send hugs, and just be there for each other. It is really for anyone who is affected, friends, family, parents, siblings, just someplace that we can just chat. So if you know anyone who needs that bit of support, we are here for them and direct them right to that site! :D

I am so so so happy! And then some...

Paul comes home tonight! WOOHOO!! It has been a long LONG week. VERY long! But I go through it just fine and Paul comes home tonight! I am so estatic! WOOHOO! Boys are happy, I am happy, everyone is happy!

But, even with how happy I am, I am having a few friends of mine going through so so so many rough times right now. So, if you could send some good thoughts, prayers, etc, they would appreciate it so much. My heart is just breaking for them. :(

And yet, on another random note, here is some of the work I have been doing:

We are going home!

Well, my home that is. Just got word today that we have the 4 bedroom townhome in Maine,BBBBBBUUUUUTTTTTT it won't be available until at least the 20th of June. We fly out of Hawaii on the 7th of June. Leaving us with A LOT of time to fill in between. So I had to make a decision, without Paul as he is on a mini deployment right now, and I had to make it quick. I didn't want to lose this house just cause I am on a tight deadline here. So I took the 4 bedroom.

So what does this mean? I get to go to my hometown for 5 days! I am estatic, I mean, E S T A T I C! I can eat all of my favorite hometown foods AND see my Nanny (grandmother before anyone thinks I actually had a 'nanny'). The kids get to see their Granny Nanny, their favorite uncle (my brother Kelly), AND, this is going to be my huge leverage for them to be good, they get to go to Hershey Park, and if they are REALLY good, I will think about taking them to Seasme Place as well. Hershey is only 40 minutes from where I grew up, while Seasme is more like 2 hours, so we will see. All depends on how good they are going to be ;). And not only will I get to do all of this, but I get to see some of my high school friends that I haven't seen in years. One of them has had a daughter who is 1 and I have yet to meet her, the other one is going through a horrible time in her life right now, and I am hoping to catch up with my guy best friend as well. A lot to pack in in a short 5 day stay! But I am so looking forward to it. Really, nothing like going back to your hometown.

And, on another note, this little man could not STOP hamming it for me today. Here is Mr. Alex, being, well, Mr.Alex!

Total cheeser:


Licking his fingers after some chips:


Some gangsta booty:


And my angel:


Ya'll have a great one! :D

I miss this man and an agenda

Yep, that's my fun, crazy husband. Took this photo of him last week,on Mother's day. Having a blast in the ocean, playing with the kids, being the kind of dad that every dad should be. That I wish my dad had been. And he is gone till Friday. Believe me, he is SORELY missed. Every 10 minutes, Brendan must ask me where is daddy? Will he ba back soon? It kills me that he can't be with Paul right now. Alex doesn't really get it that Paul's gone for a little bit, but Brendan does. And he misses him. SOOOO much. And I miss him. I miss the cuddling at night, the help with the kids, the kisses, you know, I miss HIM. The essence of him. Never thought I would be one of THOSE wives. The wives who can't deal without their husbands for less then a day. But I guess I am. It's gonna be a long summer without him, that is for sure.

Speaking of summer, Sophia asked us what we our summer agenda is. Well mine is basically this:
Move to Maine
Unpack from the move to Maine
Send Paul off for 8 weeks for a deployment
Try to get the kids into all of their summer programs
Celebrate the boys' bday in July (15th and 16th respectively)
Hoping to have some of my friends stop by to keep my company and enjoy the coast of Maine
Having my family come up to spend some time with us
Hoping to at least go to Boston and NYC for a couple of days
Kids will be spending some time with their grandparents while Paul is gone,giving me a little bit of a break
Enjoying the coast of Maine
Going to the beach, hopefully almost daily!
AND maybe going to CHA Summer in Chicago.

I think that is about it, besides just normal stuff, ya know, being mom, doing errands, etc. ALl in all, a pretty packed summer!

Complete and utter gorgeousness *Very photo heavy!*

I have no clue if even gorgeousness is even a word, but it totally describes where we went to today, this is where we went to today, Hanauma Bay.

Just WOW! We saw SOOOO many fish, or as Alex calls them, Nemos, and even some sand crabs! We were hoping to see a couple of turtles, but we will go back next week and see if we can see them again. It was utterly gorgeous!

Here are just a few photos we took there (mind the fish photos, as we were NOT taking the digi slr down in the water, and didn't have a disposable water proof camera with us):














And here are a few of Brendan...he was totally hamming it up for the camera today!









So all in all, a great day!

Oh lordy....

In 2.5 weeks, I will be leaving the beautiful island of Oahu and moving back to the mainland. 2.5 weeks. Where has the time gone???? We have so much to get done, and not much time to do it. The house that we rent has to be completly cleaned, top to bottom. So many apts to make with Early Intervention, Brendan's school, make sure that the van is ready to make the trek overseas, etc. Literally, I think I may just go nuts.

BUT on the flip side, the housing office in Maine has told us that they have approved our application for a 4 bedroom house. Which is AWESOME! We have lived without a therapy room for 6 months now and it is driving us crazy! So we asked if we could try to get a 4 bedroom in Maine, so that way the kids could have their own rooms and have a therapy room as well. And today, we found out, woohoo, that we got it! Now to see if they actually have a 4 bedroom place in housing, well, that's another story that I hope to have finished with a good ending next week!

It's crazy. I know you all are going to think that this is crazy, but moving to Maine is going to be a blessing. For some ODD reason, when we lived there before, over 5 years ago, everything went right for Paul and I. Money was good, things were good. We moved to NY, upstate NY at that, and things went completly sour. Our marriage hit some VERY rocky points, we couldn't keep things straight money wise (of course, this did have something to do with the fact that the admin where we were located LOVED to mess with our pay ALL the time, and I believe, FINALLY, the lady was terminated from her position!!!), and life just wasn't easy for us. To many bad memories. We moved to Hawaii, and things slowly started to get easier for us again. Not so much with the kids, as it took forever to get them services, but everything else was just a little bit easier. And now we are moving back to Maine. The place where Paul and I eloped to, where we gave birth to Brendan, where life itself, was just easier, more fun, and a heck of a lot less stressful. And we are just praying that this good flow that we have kinda going on here, in Hawaii, will follow us to Maine. I am so looking forward to the next year, being there, kinda close to family, but not to close, enjoying the seasons again, being near the beach (granted I am near the beach here too), etc. I just love Maine, and hopefully, this time, again, it will love us back!!!

So that was a little off the beaten track, but that's me! ROFL! I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend! We are planning on going to the beach tomorrow as long as it is not raining! So be prepared for more beach photos!

I know I know, it's been a little while...

And there is really no excuse except for life itself! We are still getting ready for this move, slowly, but surely. The kids are doing great, we try to keep the move talk away from them, as we don't want them to regress.

We do have good news, though! We are pretty sure that we have a house, which is awesome news, and we are starting the paperwork for all of the Early Intervention and School programs for both boys. That is a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders!

Speaking of my boys, here are two photos of them!


First one is of Alex in his very funny swimsuit! ROFL! He loves it though and it gets him in the pool!



Here is the second one.Brendan can be such a serious little boy. Sometimes a bit to serious. To get him to smile in front of the camera is an almost impossible feat, so I just take all the serious photos as well. Not everything is about smiles, giggles, laughter and fun. This is Brendan, my Brendan, totally serious, almost all the time. It sometimes seems as though he wears the weight of the world on his little shoulders.




I hope you all have a wonderful day!

POTD and an altered plate! Who would have thunk!

So here he is! My little May Day boy! I am so proud of him today!!! He had his first ever concert today!!!! He did so well!!! And Alex's teacher, Miss Carol, brought him his first lei, as May day is also Lei Day here too! He loved it!!!!

And here is my attempt at an altered plate!



I think I may like it, but ehhh...ROFL! We all tend to feel like that with all of our own work, I guess!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Friday!

POTD 5.10.06

Here is my photo for today. Mr. Alex has a juice obsession. BIG TIME. He must have a juice 24/7 it seems. And he NEVER finishes them the whole way through, always leaving just half left. Leaving us with a ton of juice left over (which always go back into a sippy cup, leaving him with sometimes, a very different concoction of a drink).

Awesome mail day and more!

Yep, awesome mail day for me! I got my package of goodies from Scrappingham Palace, www.scrappinghampalace.com, a brand new company. I can't wait for the kids to settle down so I can get to some serious scrapping!!!! I am loving their lines, so perfect for the seasons!!!

Kept Brendan home from school today. He had an awful night full of night terrors, poor kiddo. He didn't end up catching any sleep till 6am, and slept only till 10 am then. I felt for him!

I got the house clean, too. Felt so productive, only to have the kids uproot everything right after I was done, go figure! So after my shower tonight, I will be cleaning again!!! UGH!

As for scrapping, I finished up the Mother's Day gifts for my MIL and my Nanny (grandmother, who, since my Ma's death, has been just like a mother figure to me) and I also finished up another layout as well. I don't know why I have been so productive lately, but I will take it!

Here they be!




That is the frame I made for my MIL.I hope she likes it...





That is the frame I made for my Nanny.




And the layout I got done today. I think I may like it, but I am still iffy. What I do know is that I love Crate paper!

Saw this on another blog and just had to post it here

This is one of the funniest things i have seen in a long time!

Cleaning, organizing, will it never stop?????

Ugh. I have been cleaning and organizing for what seems forever! BUT I do believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I thought it was impossible to organize when I had all of my supplies, but now that I am down to just some, and have almost NO organizational supplies to help me out, I have had to resort to different...ummmm...things to use in my area. And after my explosion of layouts this weekend, the whole area (as now my room is just gone, gosh darn moving things a month ahead of time)looked like it was under a scrapbooking seige. But I have waded through, thought about putting up my white flag, but withdrew and have since conquered! Now to only scrapbook! ;)

Speaking of that, I have gotten two more pages done!!! Here they be!




This kid just cracks me up! Between his everlasting knock knock jokes and his ton of funny faces, he just always has me on my toes!



See what I mean??? The child is just hilarious! I love him to death!!! :D

So besides all of that, just still preparing for this move. We have most of the upstairs completly cleaned, now just to sanction off those rooms so the kids can't get to them. Gonna start working on the first floor next, working myself up to the second floor. It may just all be done before we get out of here!

And before we leave, we are going to throw the boys' their bday party. Granted it will be a month and a half ahead of time, but Paul will be underway on their bday so he really wants to throw one before he goes out to sea. I think that is just really sweet! So we are trying to see what we can put together, see how many people will be coming over, etc. It should be a great time, granted 2 days before we have to leave our house, but still, fun (right?). You all have a great day (enough rambling from me! :D).

Monday Monday....

Which it isn't exactly over here, still Sunday night (gotta love Hawaii! :D), but just thinking of this week, and the next 4 weeks, I think I am starting to get anxiety! EEEKKKK!!!

So, anyway, on my agenda for this fine Monday. Clean up where I have all of my scrapping stuff. That is of major importance since it is all out in the open for everyone to see. Vacuum, must must must vacuum! Tons of laundry. Call the electric company to set up the day we will have the electric turned off, etc etc etc. Oh the fun, the enjoyment! :D

Besides all of that, Brendan will have school, Alex will have his teacher, and life will go on its merry way. I am hoping to get to take some photos of Alex playing outside too, as I need some new photos to work with (not that I don't have plenty of old photos, though ;)).

Also, I am getting an awesome package in the mail. The owners of are sending me some of their papers to work with! So I can not wait to dig into that!

Hope you all have a great one and watch later on for a RAK this week! :D

Totally forgot to share another freestyle layout

This layout sat and sat around for days! I finally finished it up two days ago.














Yeah, so that's another attempt at the freestyle for me!

Happy NSD day after!

So I got 9 layouts done yesterday!!! WOOHOO!!! And got to spend the time with a good friend of mine, Becki, whose gallery you can see here. We had a blast!!! I just love getting together with her, as we just chat for hours and hours!

So, my 9 layouts....rofl! I have 8 of them scanned, the 9th one will be done very soon!

Here is my first one, Coloring Eggs, which was based off of Jaime Water's article in the May CK:




Here is my second layout based off a Becky Fleck sketch:

Daddy TIme:


Here is my third layout, again based off on one of Jaime Water's article in the May ck:

Duh!



Here is my Fourth Layout, based off another one of Jaime Water's layouts from the may CK article:



Here is my Fifth layout, again based off another one of Jaime Water's awesome layouts from the May CK article:

Seriously Kid:



Here is my 6th layout using the new Heidi Grace papers! I love them!
Silly Funny Little Boy



Here is my 7th layout,based off a sketch I made for NSD for SDD:



And here is my 8th layout, again based off of a Jaime Water's idea from the May CK:





Some I am happy with, some I am ehhhhh about. But hey, it works! :D I hope you all had a wonderful NSD!!!!

Moving, etc...ugh

So today the movers came. They were 3 hours late and still took an hour and a half lunch break. They are finished packing about 1/2 of the house, so tomorrow should be interesting to say the least.
Felt very unnecessary in the home today. We are not suppose to help out with the movers, so it's kinda like, oh, hmmm, gotcha, ok. So much fun ;).
Besides that, Alex had his teacher today. They did well, went into the pool for his outdoor therapy today. He is learning to not be afraid of the water, which is wonderful for him!
We have Brendan's emergency IEP meeting. Ever since he started school here, he has regressed so much. BUT the days I keep him home from school (due to being sick one day and for observation another day), his aggression, while not going away completly, does subside some. Only one more month, and we won't have to deal with it, just praying that we will still be able to mainstream him into kindergarten like we had planned for the past 3.5 years. So if you are the praying type, please say a prayer for us tomorrow, so we can get Brendan the help he so desperatly needs in this school.
On a side not, over at http://www.scrappersdailydose.com, we had our May 1st reveal! Here is the layout that I did for our theme of the month, Mothers:


















and the layout I did for our Designer of the Month, Anita. I scraplifted her The Boys layout, which you can see right here:




















And here was my take on her's:

















Now I am off to put the boys down for bed and hopefully get some scrapping time in, cause you know that I made sure to NOT pack any of that ;)! Ya'll have a great one!
M