Halloween

Halloween was a HUGE success and fun in our house. We had our church Fall Festival a few days before Halloween and we were worried that Tyler's costume would not be ready in time. I try really hard to make his costume exactly what he wants, so we look months ahead. Grayson got what he wanted as well. However, when the day of trick or treating came he had changed his mind and went as a Airplane.

But Ty won Best Costume at the Fall Festival:

 

Grayson was a Green John Deere Tractor: ( Of course it HAS to be Green.... Red tractors are not real tractors!)

We also did pumpkins. Tyler wanted Goofy and since he doesn't really carve them, his worker did his. Grayson just wanted a face and I did a bat. Dallas... well he wanted Cartman 

Happy Halloween

Halloween time in our house has been a well thought out event. Though I had no desire to get out the decorations ( and I didn't get them out) Th knew exactly what he wanted to be. No matter how much we tried we couldn't talk him out of it . So I ordered a Mickey Mouse costume. When we got it, it was kinda childish so I had to order another one.

Let me tell you Mickey Mouse doesn't come in a million sizes. So I ordered another one. We tried on both costumes right before Halloween. One didn't even let him bend over. He tried and said he was stuck!

So come Halloween day we loaded him up and took him to school and sent him on his way to a parade. He loved it. He wore his suit, waved at everyone and enjoyed himself. When he got home he was ready to be out of his suit. I didn't blame him.

By dinner time he was ready to go out but wanted to go to the Halloween party at Grandma's house. So off we went. He was so excited. But for some reason when we get to this Grandma's house he really turns into someone who is super quiet. Not sure why this grandma's is different. But he went out trick or treating, he ate ( OK he looked) at chicken nuggets and was DONE and ready to go home around 8. It was a good day.

Trick or treating is hard with Ty. By the end someone basically had to carry him up and down the stairs. It was a long night for all of us. But he had a wonderful time.

Oh and baby Grayson sported a Sock Monkey hat and Jammies... He is pretty dang cute to. To bad he came down with my horrible cold and I feel SOOOO sad for him .

Halloween 2010

Usually I am so on top of Halloween that we have Tyler's costume coming just after his birthday. This year, not so much. I can't believe how much the last year has taken a toll on me mentally and frankly I was exhausted from the drama of his birthday and some other issues to really want to deal with anything.

But a few weeks ago we went to the party store to check out costumes. We had been to the Spirit Halloween store but since I didn't want him to be a "mini pimp" ( seriously at the STORE they had a kid pimp costume!)I had to find something else. Thankfully, party land had costumes and Tyler and I went to figure out what he was gonna be for Halloween. I had a vampire or a pirate in mind but he chose what he wanted himself.

He decided that he wanted to be Thomas the train! I wanted to get him to try it on first before I spent the money so we walked around the party store in our costume looking for a Trick or Treat bag. He wore it, so we bought it.

This is where the "Special needs" come in. Because he has comes with sensory, understanding and the works "issues," we left his costume out where it was accessible from the time we bought it. We made a BIG deal out of his costume. We let him play with it when he wanted, put it on when he wanted and encouraged him to wear the hat. Then we did the buy Halloween movies, watch halloween movies and read LOTS of Halloween books. We knew he was getting some at school too.

We did the Pumpkin patch and really played up the Halloween, jack-o-lantern and pumpkin difference and Fall in general. He has LOVED all the leaf stuff at school and the preparation seemed to have worked.

Preschool morning he had a party ( on wednesday!) so he got his costume on before he went to school but decided he didn't want to wear it on the bus. ( Fine by me. I was worried he would trip!) I knew I would be coming to school so off he went!

The " Morning" of school!

I got to his class just after the party started and found him sitting waiting for the craft. Once I got there he pretty much was ready to just have mom. ( OH gee! Who knew!) He happily won musical chairs cause he is pretty much awesome like that! Then he was all done. Home we went!

( playing musical chairs)

Friday we spent the afternoon ( literally) at PCMC. It was their parade day and trick or treat party so candy was being handed out left and right. We did our obligatory FOREVER wait and as soon as we could departed!! ( A HUGE post coming up about the CRAP we got there) Ty didn't want to wear his costume so we left before we had to listen to one more scream or wash our hands any more.

Saturday we spent the day making treats and tying to think of a way to get them to all the Aunts/cousins and decided that we weren't going to this holiday. We were a little over the idea and decided to forgo and eat the yummy stuff our self and let the rest go to waste. ( long LONG rant that MIGHT follow but you want the details.. email me!! Or find me on Facebook!)

We Snacked on apples and finally got Tyler to try some Carmel dipping sauce. He wasn't to sure at first but liked the apples. When I got him to lick it he was OK with it. ( It was fat free, so stop judging...BUT the appointment on Friday.. they would have LIKED me to add FAT! boo)

After the best dinner EVER we got us all ready to trick or treat. Dallas got Ty dressed and I tried to snap pictures but he kept telling us he was going to the " Big Halloween party" and wanted to go. We have worked on saying Thank you and trick or treat. But instead he got a little worried and was SOO stinking cute instead.

After the street we live on we swung back by to "See" if Tyler was done and he was not! So he got some treats from Dad and off we went. We ended up going almost clear around the loop at our house. I was so thankful for Dallas who was able to make the "end" of the Halloween party easy. We told him that now everyone was coming to his house for the party and he was willing to come in and take a bath.

Then it was night for EVERYONE and he went to bed telling us it was the

"Best HALLOWEEN EVA!!"

* I am a very sarcastic person in real life. Please realize that I am not meaning anyone/thing/incident and have tried to put myself and my feelings into my own blog. Any issues I would love to hear from you at Nancy.brown05@gmail.com.*

Pumpkin Pants

My mom is a MASTER educator. She is such a good teacher. She makes me laugh. She is at school till 6 ever single night and can be found there as early as 7 am give or take an hour. EVEN when she calls me wondering why I am not answering at 7:3o am we forgive her diligence.

UEA rolled around and this year I was so proud of her for attending. She is such a good teacher and she always looks for ways to better herself and teach those kids in her class. The best part, she keeps us on our toes in ways we can to do better for those sweet kids she loves more than me! (aka grand kids)

Also with UEA comes a time that I am SURE will become traditions because we like it and it leaves something to be talked about for days and days. ( and DAYS!!!!!!)

My mom and dad got a hotel in Salt Lake that has a water park. YES! A water park. And POOR super sad baby who HATES the water. ( NOT!) He was ecstatic to play in it. It also gave him a chance to do something he has never ever ever done in my obsessed and paranoid and demented mind... Chuckie cheese.( EWWWW GROSS!!) Seriously, I could feel the infestation of ecoli and rotovirus and chlamydia ( OK, maybe not chlamydia... but something way, way worse) all over. I almost threw up. But I allowed my child to enjoy the games of throwing balls, getting tickets and turning them in for a cheap blow up hammer toy that he runs around screaming BAM BAM with! He did love it. He loved playing the games. The balls and basketballs were a great addition for him

( The down fall of chuckie cheese other than the germs... It is NOT a handicapped accessible place. Several children were in wheelchairs and they are very limited to games and the space between those games was, well, not wheelchair friendly. But giving our tickets to them made them excited.)

My dad enjoyed the games at chuckie cheese almost as much as the kids. He would be founds shooting hoops, throwing balls, playing games and there would be no such grandkid around him. Always a kid at heart!

He took turns getting his picture drawn by the chuckie cheese machine and he helped Tyler do all he wanted to do. Grandpa also rocked at the basketball game.

We sat down to eat pizza, played the rest of our tickets and coins and headed off to the above mentioned hotel with a pool. Ty was so excited.

When we got to the hotel we had a minor Poop incident ( NOT by Tyler) that we were glad to have been able to get in a chlorinated place quickly. ( We washed it off before but it was still stinky!) ( again NOT Tyler!)

Ty was in the water before anyone else was in there to keep him safe. He had such a great time. He swam, went on the slide, wanted to go in the water that was too deep and splash, splash splash.

He was the first one "done" in which he declared " Tywer Sweepy" and he sat on the chair trying to get warm. Then off we went home.

The next day was so, so, so much fun. D is sad he had to work and missed all the cool stuff.

We went to Wheeler farm for their pumpkin and corn maze and fall festival. The tickets included a pumpkin, access to the maze, a hay ride and if you wanted to spend a little extra a horse ride.

When we left D that morning we told him that we were going to go to a pumpkin patch. Tyler couldn't say patch so he kept telling D we were going to the pumpkin pants. Then we were off.

Wheeler farm has a lot of things for kids to do. We went one time when Ty was little and he was afraid of everything. So we were hopeful that he would have a good time. When I told him that we could feed the ducks he was on a one track mind.

Ty was fine without putting his hand in the fence but his cousin, Lexi, wanted to try but would get nervous as the duck came forward so I tried it out a little bit. Ty really liked them.

Next we walked towards the cows. There was a few stops we needed and wanted to make before then but Tyler and Koy weren't really into walking around a house that you can't touch anything and run and jump so we played outside for a minute.

Then it was off to the real fun stuff. The boys wanted to see and ride the horses so we headed toward the horses. Tyler was not sure at first if he wanted to ride one so as Koy and Lexi got on, we ( me and Kayden and Tyler) walked down to were we could feed the horses. He loved it. He was fine with me putting my whole hand in the horses mouth and he got close enough to pet them .

As we were walking back my dad asked Tyler if he wanted to ride the horse and he said yes. Plain as day. So my dad was nice and paid the 3 bucks for him to ride. I was so worried that he would pay the money and Ty gets put on the horse and a freak out would start that he would have paid the money for nothing.

But to EVERY ONES surprise he LOVED IT!!

My dad told him to put his his hands "Right here" ( on the horn) and he did. It was so sweet. I love that kid! Everything is SOOO literal sometimes.

Tyler did ride side saddle. Those cute, darn legs wouldn't separate enough to fully "ride" the horse but Grandpa, who is a farmer at heart, was more than willing to walk next to Tyler. I am not sure who was more excited, Grandpa or Tyler!

We headed back toward the hay ride and Tyler went to see the cows. He loves the animals. He for SURE didn't use to. He stood and watched them for a while. Then it was time for a hayride. But first he had to drive the Tractor!

Kayden asked if we could go ride on the red one. I kindly told him we don't ride red tractors in this family so he would have to stick to green. ( Sorry Aunt Chantel, fact of life. We bleed green!)

Lexi was so helpful with Tyler. She was trying to "teach" him how to drive. He was OK with her helping but he really really wanted to do it himself.

We finally got to the part where he could go to the pumpkin "pants" he was so happy.

Grandpa helped him threw the corn maze ( what a TROOPER) and into pick himself a pumpkin.

(The last photo and the light was way off.. so you have to get a different color one. Sorry!!)

After the LONG day Tyler was exhausted but he went with Grandma and grandpa so that mom and dad could go attend a temple session. ( Which by the way was amazing!!) He finished the night off with his cousins swimming and then he crashed while waiting to get picked up. He had the best time. He came home, ate oatmeal and we all went to bed.

It was wonderful to see him enjoy so many new things. We learned have learned a lot the last year and are thankful we are willing to have a possible meltdown in order to see Tyler like new things. One thing I did decide. We are getting way to desperate for a new stroller for Tyler. ( Not to mention my sisters kids who would prefer to ride!! )

Mummy Family

I decided that I wanted to keep adding some of the crafts I have been doing on this blog. I do the crafts as my way to get out some stress energy. Lets face it.. Our life is sort of stressful by itself. Then if you add anything else. Well, I need an outlet. Usually I have some added stress and doing and fixing something nice for my house is a good way to get the anger and stress out.

A few weeks ago I went in search of another craft and ran across a mummy made out of a larger piece of wood. A 5x12 ply wood type plaque. I thought " I could do that with some of my left over wood." I had some 2x4 pieces of wood for another craft and I didn't like it and went in a different direction. It was painted purple and I had another "craft gone bad" and it was green.

I decided to do a little family. A mom, dad and "baby" mummy. I bought some super SUPER cheap gauze at the dollar store so I didn't waste my Super Band-aid brand gauze. In order to get the 2x4's white I did have to use a primer on some of them. Most just had some MAJOR coats of white paint.

I stretched out the gauze and I added the eyes at the end. I tried painting them on and it didn't really work out like I liked. So I used pumpkin stem stickers from Ty's foam pumpkin sets that I got at Hobby Lobby.

I will add a few more "how to do it" pictures when I have better light. But there you have it. A mummy mom and baby with a naked Dad.

Random Crafts in our house

Last year I did a Halloween craft that I thought was amazing. Yikes! Well I have learned a few things through the year and it really wasn't that great. So I pulled it out of the box and try a few things that I learned through the year.

This was the last year version. I just painted it gray and added black and a few streaks of white to make it look "scary." It wasn't that great and I wanted something fun.

This year I wanted something new and I got it! I took the letters and left them the same color and added some nice Halloween touches. I think it looks TEN times better and I love them a lot more.

The total cost of the craft runs about 10 bucks. The letters are about 3 dollars a piece and the paper ran SUPER cheap during hobby lobby's 50 percent off sale. I had the mod podge at home. I did buy. some Krylon gloss for another project so I had that as well. I like the look of that over the top instead of mod podge. But the end result was way better than last year.

Halloween Day!

Halloween started off a little early for my taste. Ty was up at 5 AM! Yeah not kidding. I got up and took him down stairs. Dallas and I both had a long night and neither of us slept well but soon Dallas came down and we traded. He hasn't been feeling well and came back up a hour or so later.

We decided to carve the last pumpkin with Tyler and finish up the cookies we made. We finished up and headed off to G & G Browns. We wanted to make sure we saw them since this was our first year back.

G and G did a backwards trick or treat so Ty could be the first trick or treater. They were excited to have him back and so were we!

We left and just waited and waited for other people to start trick or treating so we could see if he would like it. He wasn't so sure but he went. He went to 2 houses and was done. We sat outside because we had a ton of trick or treaters and Ty threw rocks, played with glow sticks ( thanks G & G Labrum he LOVED LOVED LOVED them and would throw them like rocks and fetch them!)

He watched the kids come up and get candy so he wanted to try it again. He went to a few more houses and came back and we got his walker out and he RAN up that street. He was so free.

Dallas then took him to a house as it got dark ( the picture wasn't the best but I LOVED him taking him)

We came in as the people slowed down and we were almost out of our candy. We had a few keep coming but once inside Tyler wouldn't put down his basket and he danced and danced happily.

We filled his belly FULL and sent him to take a bath and go to bed. Preparing for an early wake up with the time change

"Halloween 2009"

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The Preschool way to Party

One downfall of attending a special needs preschool is the lack of fun field trips and little shows they put on. This year though he did have a really cute teacher who put on a FUN little party for the class. I was kinda excited to go and see him and take pictures. My one "not excited" is that once mom gets there he is "all done." He won't let me put him down or not hold his hand long enough to get some GREAT photos. The few I got that were pretty good, he didn't see me come in the room. ( A HOORAY for being blind *HA HA*)

I woke up at six wondering in my head if my baby was even still breathing since he hadn't made his way into our room yet. ( A hooray for some full tummies at bed time.. more on that later) and promptly at 7 he showed up. ( OK not really. I went in to check if he was breathing and he was climbing out of bed)

Mornings are rough. He won't eat for about 30 minutes. He is picky in what he eats and today was no exception. He ate next to nothing. BUT we got his costume on and he was nice enough to let me snap some photos.

Next up was hitting up the COOL school and try really hard to get at least one photo of the hat and the fishing pole. ( Don't you love his waders)

He doesn't notice I am there in the class with him. He is off showing his teacher his fish. He can't see from where he was standing and I was standing in order to really SEE me. It was the sound of the flash that got him to look up. And it took a few seconds to get what was going on.

AND he caught me! He totally ran and ripped off the hat :) and headed to where I was standing. I was in Tyler prison. He would take me around his class and we would sit and sing. And then we were off.

While they paraded around the school they made a few stops. Once Ty walked in to the library he quickly reminded me that it was "SHH" And he went on his way.

Next stop was the principals office where he was sitting with his Mac and Ty signs computer :) and smiles really big for a picture that I couldn't take because he wouldn't let go of my hands. But we got him to hold still with his Aide named Pooh.

He wasn't afraid, but she wasn't mom so "the scared to death pooped my pants look... its just Tyler"

We headed back to the class to make Spiders and decorate a cookie.

And as the Visually impaired Cookie Inspector he was all ready getting down to business.

And in his too cool for school way he was letting me know that "that" was the cookie, and not a cake!

But the spider craft had to go unnoticed in photo blogging because he was having none of it. BUT ME, the mom, finished a mighty nice one!

We moved on to Books and then made a convincing run at pin the nose on the pumpkin. The other kiddos were blind folded. BUT in all our blind glory we just got to go for it.. Thinking we were gonna be the BEST quickly was dampened as he reached to be the highest one above the pumpkin.

The morning ended with a bang as Tyler was all done. We said good bye and packed our stuff and took a trip to The BK! Ordered a burger and ate some food. Then went home to watch Halloween Barney.

Ty has now gotten the concept of saying the sound T and holding out his basket with the full intention of getting a treat. So if you see a black basket and a handsome little man you better be passing out good stuff.

We spent the day making cookies and we are gonna be taking some to our loved families. We hope they are yummy and that they bring a Halloween smile!

Can't wait to see more from you, trick or treaters!!!!

* The sarcasm about my blind baby is only partially sad. We aren't sad. We don't know the extent and sometimes it is more obvious than others. He is such a trooper going through life unable to see well. We love him and are happy to learn more about what he can and can't see. Feel free to ask any questions you can think of and we will FIND OUT more!*

Conference Weekend

I LOVE conference weekend. It has been a long time since I have had conference weekend off and actually had the ability to sit down and WATCH it. Conference weekend is such a lift for me. For those that don't know what Conference is here is a LINK that allows you to watch it yourself. The reason behind the conference is so that we can hear our church leaders talk to us. (It is so amazing. You can read it online in about a week!)

I was able to catch up on some house cleaning and even talked Dallas into letting me buy some crafts. I have been wanting to finish up some decorating in the sitting room we have. So I took off into Orem to this new craft store I saw an ad for. I am in LOVE.

They have so much fun stuff I can't wait to go back.

Here are the 2 crafts I did for the living room


I also bought a Halloween crafty

It has been VERY therapeutic to craft away tonight. I can't wait till my Halloween craft is done and I can dress it on up and put it out! FUN!

Happy Halloween ARRG!!!

Happy Halloween from Arizona! Did you know that it is still HOT here. Alright, not hot but not fall, cold and sweater weather.

So here is our Halloween Tale!

We are always on the lookout for costumes that will work with some of Ty's sensory issues. He won't wear a hat. That is the most crucial. He also won't wear anything that is loud. That makes for a long hard look. This year we settled for a pirate. Even though he wouldn't wear the hat, at least it was obvious that he was still a pirate.

We found the costume and we have put it out where he can see it for the last several weeks. It just so happens that BJ in one of the episodes of Barney is also dressed as a pirate. The last few days we have watched that episode.

Thursday we went to trunk or treat. I didn't get any photos because my camera battery died ( I know, great job huh!) and we had dinner and saw some of our friends. I had to rush off to work so Dallas took Tyler home and got him ready for bed.

His school had a fall party but they couldn't wear any costumes. The teacher asked for any volunteers to come and help out in the classroom and to bring treats if we wanted. When Tyler got on the bus, I headed to the store to get some juice for his class and some treats. I also got some playdoh and some light sticks to share.

Ty was so cute at school. He has to be moved away from his girlfriend at the end of the day because she is always touching him and being loud and he it gets Tyler close to a meltdown so he sits opposite of her. It is really kind of cute. He is pretty tired at the end of the day. He tends to be done just after snack. But he is still having a blast and loving school!

After that we just did the normal activities of the day.

This evening we got ready to go trick or treat a little so I could get some photos. Our street is kinda ba hum bug so we ended up just going to the park. He always has so much fun and we leave with a smile so it is all worth it.

When we got home we had pizza, talked to Aunt NiNi and Grandma L.

We only had 2 trick or treaters so Tyler was able to enjoy his whole bucket of candy.
Overall, I would call Halloween a success.

I Sure love this kid!