Nutty Saturday Goodness

Yet again, I must thank MommyParties for selecting me to be a hostess for one of the fabulous events.
This time, the featured product was Nutella, a delicious hazelnut and cocoa spread. At first, I was skeptical. It's food, but it's an uncommon food. One that my kids love to eat and one that I just knew that other kids would love, too, if I could get some parents to give it a chance.

So I invited a bevvy of moms (and a couple of dads, because sometimes the dad is the dynamic for the shopping and meal planning... we have quite a few stay at home or work at home dads in our circle of friends), planned a small feast of a brunch, and let the fun commence! The brunch was held on March 19th, as Saturdays seem to work best for our schedules.








In my circle of friends and associates I have several vegetarians. The two in attendance were very receptive to the product. I also had one family of gluten free eaters join us - none of whom had ever tried Nutella. Mom went to Meijer after the brunch wrapped up, saw Nutella on sale 2/$7 and promptly used the coupon from her goodie bag.





Everyone seemed to enjoy the spread of the morning, and while a couple of people seemed a little reluctant, there were no complaints about the taste, two new confirmed households of consumers, and a lot of happy people and full tummies when it was over.





Thank you again, MommyParties and Nutella for allowing me to host. Best part for me: I have about half of the huge jar of Nutella left over. My kids are in seventh heaven!

Long Overdue Update

With the coming of Christmas, the days seem to slip away. That, and I tend to subconsciously assume that the whole world uses Facebook.

Now that the' holidaze' is over and life has resumed some sense of normalcy, it's onward and upward!

Where to begin....

Those moments where you want to knock on doors and say "I TOLD YOU SO!!!"..? Yeah. I had one of those a couple of weeks ago.
Braeden has been seeing a godsend of a psychiatrist. First person I've dealt with that actually agrees with me regarding a diagnosis for my son (probably why I think he's swell).
ADHD will soon be wiped from the books - or at least from my kid's cumulative files for school.

After spinning wheels for one kid, only to start the process for another in an entirely different way, it feels nice to be making some headway.
I am not pleased about an Autism diagnosis on yet another child, but after taking off the blinders and actually looking at my son and his quirks, it makes sense.

As I said, onward and upward.

Weddings, life changes and planning... oh my!

Much to share in the weeks to come... and lots of photos to accompany.

Motivation...

...anyone have any to spare?

I really should use this more often.

Product Review and Dragon Party Fun!

I'm not sure what happened to this post... hopefully it edits, posts and sticks this time!

That being said...




On November 13, I had a group of enthusiastic little boys over for a fun filled playdate, activities provided courtesy of MommyParties and Mega Blocks.

We were provided with Dragons Universe kits for the boys to play with, I provided snacks for everyone, moved the dining room table out of the way, and then the little fellas have at it.










Thank you again, Mega Blocks and MommyParties for allowing me to host the event.

Guilty Pleasures

In a week full of stress, chaos and sickness, I need to take a moment and pause to reflect on some of my guilty pleasures.

A couple of them might surprise most of the folks who know me.

1. I am a Gleek.
In high school, I wanted very badly to be part of the glee club. Sadly I can't carry a tune for squat, so I was resigned to being an avid appreciator and supporter.
From the first episode I was drawn in to the plot and had fallen in love with the music.
You will note that my Playlist has been altered to include some tracks from Glee - including one by Lady Gaga, who I loathe. (Apparently I just really dislike her voice, because her songs with someone else singing them, are really good!)

Because I just love this stuff... well, if you don't watch, maybe you'll decide to check it out after viewing these!






2. I LOVE So You Think You Can Dance!
I am positively addicted to that show much the way that some folks are fastened to the tv when American Idol comes on.
This season, my favorite is Alex. He's just wonderful... and to prove it I am subjecting you all to a video clip of last night's performance.
When looking at it you will see that the choreography is impressive, but as you are viewing, keep in mind that this kid is classically trained member of the Miami Ballet (as his narrative explains). His skills just blow my mind. (you can stop it after the routine ends if you are not a SYTYCD viewer... it's just lots of praise and love for the skillz)




3. Chick pop.
Orianthi. Kelly Clarkson. Katy Perry.... Lily Allen.... NOT Lady Gaga.
Catchy tunes, sung by girls. Sometimes it's a solo artist ( which is usually the case) and sometimes it's a band, but it's always entertaining to me.
I love it when I'm alone in the car and have an opportunity to turn the radio up very loudly and sing along in what is probably off key to anyone else who can hear it. A rather liberating feeling.


4. Chocolate and peanut butter.
Two great tastes that are PERFECT together.
Be it in a Reese's form, one of the multitude of mixable options at Coldstone, my all time favorite chocolate peanut butter frozen yogurt or just dunking a Hershey bar straight into the peanut butter jar, I am all about the fix. Probably more so than I should be, as my waist line and borderline diabetic blood sugar levels would indicate.


5. Martha, Martha, Martha!
It's no secret. I have something of a deranged crush on Martha Stewart. I'd love to hire her to make over my house and organize my life.. or just follow her around and absorb the endless bits of data and hope that some of her creativity rubs off onto me.
Some people think she's a drunk and a bitch. I say that genius often comes in unique packaging.


Now that I have bared my soul for all the world (all twenty or so who lurk here now and then) to see, I will leave you with the hope that I will actually upload some of the project photos soon.

It's been a while...

I almost forgot that I had this thing.

So much has happened, and yet nothing has changed.

I'd like to think that I'll get better about posting on here, and maybe I will. But probably I won't.

But I did do a makeover and a few updates and I will post some images of projects in the coming days. Incentive for me to make things and save the ideas for posterity.

And so it begins.

That sounds very ominous, but I assure you that it is meant with only a sigh of relief and a bit of nervous anticipation.

After weeks and weeks of phone calls, waiting, phone tag, a combined three hours and twelve minutes of sitting on hold, and a whole lot of beating my head into the desktop in frustration, we're FINALLY starting Iain's testing.

Met with the neuropsychologist on Friday. Really nice lady, and for the first time, I spoke with a professional who actually understood where Chris and I have been coming from.
Added bonus being that because so many kids are stuck in that same crack - too smart and capable to be classified as severely impaired in any facet, but nowhere near regular ed. classroom ready or developmentally caught up to speed - the program that we are working with has found some very creative and helpful ways of dodging some of the beauracracy and red tape b.s. that we've been tangled in thus far.

Round One begins on Friday, at 9:00 AM. *insert cheering here*

The last four days have been spent carefully filling out endless sheets of home analysis paperwork - filling in boxes, rating things from 0 to 6, and making lots and lots of notes.

But this time is different. I don't feel like I am doing it for nothing.
I know that it is solely because it is what they are paid to do, but the feeling of knowing that when it's over we will actually know what it is that makes Iain tick, and gain a foothold in the ways that we can best help him succeed... it's like Christmas in July, but ten times cooler.

The battle is nowhere near over, thanks to Michigan's insurance laws, but at least that part is being fought by an entire army of angry parents. Safety in numbers feels pretty darn good right now. Uphill as a group is much more productive than uphill alone.

The next few weeks will be filled with testing, coupled with paperwork for end of the year obligations at work, other responsibilities (the words 'taste of Grand Rapids' have started to turn my stomach sour, as they do every July), juggling events on my calendar, and trying to maintain a sliver of my sanity.

But it is worth it. So very worth it.

When things quiet down, and I'm back in project mode, I'll post some happy, crafty things. But for now, this is as good as it gets.