I love a bargain!!!

I don't always shop wisely when I see something I think is a real deal. While shopping for groceries on Saturday I found these ice cream treats for 25 cents a box. That would be less than 5 cents per treat. I loaded up the deep freeze. I hope the name keeps me from eating too many!

What was your best bargain of the Holiday Season???

Visit with Santa

We saw Santa at Jen and Shawn's house! Pretty exciting.

(This was last weekend. My posts are out of order...)

Christmas Pageant

The kids at church put on a pageant on Christmas Eve. Alex was a "star." He had one line and overcame big-time stage fright to deliver it perfectly. Joseph wasn't in the show, but enjoyed wearing the costume after it was all over! All too cute. Sorry the photos are not great. I took them with my phone.

Random thoughts

My posts about my children always seem to have a bittersweet tinge. Somehow, I rarely seem to be able to have a completely positive experience. I guess, try as I may, I'm still trying to make them into something they are not. And what they ARE is great. The problem is mine, not theirs.

I make sing language "I Love You" hand cookies by using a regular handprint cookie cutter and folding down two fingers. All the teachers loved them. I forgot to take photos for the blog. I found this cookie cutter, and it is pretty cute, too. But I like my more three-dimensional approach.

I floated the idea of going to the store to buy toys to give away to needy kids with Alex. He REALLY doesn't want to do that. I guess I won't force him. Had a talk with his Psychologist who has been doing some research about adoption. The psychologist is treating at least one other adopted child (from Russia) who exhibits some of the same behaviors as Alex's. I think the "hoarding" instinct is common among adopted kids. I guess I won't push a boy that never seems to get enough toys for himself at Christmas to go buy toys to give away....

Alex's school party

I volunteered to help at Alex's school party on Friday. I read the story. It was fun, and interesting to see what goes on in the classroom. This photo shows one of the positive things from the party. The kids were paired at random. The pairs had to link arms, and use one right hand and one left hand to wrap a present. Everyone had fun. Alex's partner was good at telling him what to do, and cheated and used her right hand when he was too slow. They are trying to work a tape dispenser in the photo. They finished the task. Reading the story was fun, and Alex was happy that I was there.

The down side... The second game they played involved filling out a bingo sheet. You had to find someone in the room with glasses on, or with blond hair, or who had a cat, etc. etc. and have them sign your form. Once you had a bingo it was over. The room was chaos. All the kids running around a screaming at each other. Two kids didn't participate at all, and no one stepped forward to help them. The child with down syndrome, and you guessed it, Alex. The other kids just didn't notice them. No one came to ask Alex if he had a cat. No one asked if he had ever been to California... It was hard to watch. I'm sure this happens to every special needs child over and over again, in the best of schools. But it hurts Alex. Joseph doesn't care. Alex cares. We spend a lot of time and effort trying the teach Joseph social skills. Maybe he is better off not being very social. Craving social interaction gets Alex a world of hurt.

I'm helping with the sermon tomorrow

Seems pretty ironic to me. I don't ever think of myself as a leader at church. I attend, I participate, I struggle. I sent a copy of my post from Dec 2 (Grace) to our pastor. What was I thinking? I thought he would enjoy the story from the other side of the pew. Well, he immediately asked me to read this as part of a sermon, and tomorrow will be the day. I'll post his "frame" for my story--I have a draft, but not the final copy. I'll wait 'till tomorrow to get the final copy.

It is a bit scary, but also flattering. I'm still not sure I think others will be all that interested in the story, but I guess we will see. I've changed a few things, I guess I'll update the blog post with the new, improved version. And I'll let you know how it goes!

Well, maybe not that old

I used the "do it yourself" machine at the post office today.