Come visit Becca's newest idea!!! Becca has Christmas on the brain 365 days a year, and has requested that I partner with her on her new blog Creative-Christmas Everyday we are posting great ideas for getting ready for Christmas and making it a stress free holiday. She has christened this week "Purse Week" and will be demonstrating a different purse making technique every day. At the end of the week she will host a give-away for your favorite purse. So visit her and leave her lots of comments for her drawing!

Love Lesli

Again, in honor of Father's Day, I will post some of my favorite photos of the Ultimate Dad.......... Isn't he just dreamy? Hey, stop checking out my husband. Look at your own.

I am participating in the Ultimate Recipe Swap at www.lifeasmom.com

Today's theme is ........drumroll please.............Summer Desserts

I'm going to capitalize on the fact that it is Father's Day Weekend, and since I'm married to the Ultimate Dad, I'm going to get all squishy and romantic by posting a recipe that a good friend made for our unbelievable luau wedding shower, complete with Polynesian dancers. (Brendan loves all things Hawaiian....if I ever get my own reality show, like Jon and Kate, and can jet him off to wherever I choose on someone else's dime, I'll take Brendan to Hawaii.) I remember being blown away by all the detail and effort they went into for this party. Too bad it was pre-digital days, and the photos are languishing in a cardboard box, or I'd post them. Maybe someday..........

So, without further comment, I present to you Shari Young's Fabulous Pina Colada Cake

Pina Colada Cake

Cake

1 package white layer cake mix

1 package vanilla instant pie pudding

3/4 cups water

1 cup flaked coconut

3 eggs

1/3 cup dark bacardi rum

1/4 cup Wesson oil

Put all ingredients except coconut in large mixer bowl. Beat 4 minutes. Stir in coconut. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 inch pans. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Do not underbake. Cool in pans 15 minutes, then cool on rack.

Frosting

1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple in juice

1 package vanilla pudding

1/3 cup dark rum

1 container (9 oz) Cool Whip, thawed

Combine all ingredients except Cool Whip in bowl. Beat until well blended. Fold in Cool Whip. Top with extra coconut.

Enjoy!

Oh dear. My poor neglected blog. My friend Dave has suggested that Facebook is killing our blogs....I'd have to agree. That and finishing school, major home projects, and the pool calling my name. I was also remaining silent because it was hard not to blog about our latest big event...we are expecting our fifth baby in November. We were waiting to get through the first trimester and visits from family to let the cat out of the bag. Now I am free to speak. This pregnancy is going very well, with only a few moments of nausea here and there. The baby looks healthy, and we go for our ultrasound in three weeks.

We have also been very busy with swim team for Rebecca. She has been swimming her heart out every day for the past six weeks, and every week she brings home ribbons from her meet showing that her hard work is paying off. I'm very proud of her, because swimming does not come easy for her, and because most things do, it is easy for her to get frustrated and quit the things that do not. After spending the first day in tears, she got to work and put her all into improving. I bear some responsibilty for her difficulties, as I have contributed the lack of physical coordination and general hatred of exercise to the gene pool. We are ultimately hoping to marry off all our children to extremely athletic people, to try to breed it out of them.

It seems almost surreal that it is almost July, which means that it is almost August, which is when school starts here in Georgia. Which means that I must get to the planning........care to join me?

First in order is a post mortem of last year....what worked? what didn't? who needs more work on certain skills, etc.... what character traits could use some honing in on?

Let's start with that today.

What worked? Our curriculum choices were great. We will be sticking with Tapestry of Grace again. We will be starting with Year 2, Units 3-4 in the fall, and moving to Year 3, Units 1-2 in the winter. This means that we will be starting with American History for the first part of the year. The boys are excited about studying "cowboys and Indians". This means we will be making even more weaponry to add to our medieval collection.

What didn't work? We need more structure in our school day. We also need some more dedicated space. We made the decision to use the big room in our basement for a school room. Brendan is hard at work creating the ultimate homeschool space, complete with lots of cabinets, window seats for reading, custom desks, and a whole wall of book shelves for the teacher, oh joy of joys! I have been reading Sue Patrick's Workboxes book, and we will be trying out her system, including having the kids clock in and out of school each day. More on this book in a future post..... I will be taking them all down there at 8:30 (okay, maybe 9:00) and expecting them to all get their work done promptly. Okay, maybe this is a dream, but go with it. I am not liking school getting stretched out to all hours of the evening, not to mention school supplies taking over the entire house. Everything will stay in it's basement home. This also means that certain little people won't be dragging dress up clothes through every room of the house during school time. I'm sure that there will be kinks to work out, but for now, this is my plan.

Rebecca was not happy with my math and science teaching this year and told me "you are holding me back"......hey, this did not hurt my feelings. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't tell me this in third grade. She will be attending Heritage Academy this year (providing the woodworking jobs keep rolling in for Brendan) three days per week. This will free me up to work more on getting Luke closer to being an independent worker, and Samuel closer to sitting on a chair for more than three seconds. Oh, and I will have time to have time to give birth. That's important.

Skills we need to work on this year: Phonics, phonics, and more phonics. Sight words. Multiplication tables. Division facts. Teaching a very concrete thinker to write with imagination.

Skills I need to work on this year: (Moms! How often do we overlook this category! Do not overlook your ongoing education as a homeschool teacher, mother, wife, and follower of Christ!)

Consistancy. Patience. Not letting one child's education override another. Spending more time researching on teaching writing. Balance. Carefully nurturing my spiritual life so it trickles down onto little people.

Ladies...what is your plan for improving the year? Link to your blog in the comments section, and we can all learn from each other. Let's put some serious thought into where we will be putting our effort into this year!

Blessings, Lesli

One of the reasons that I haven't been blogging as much is that Taaryn clued me in to Google Reader, which truly rocks. Now I have about 50 blogs I look at for creative inspiration. I've decided to share a few of my favorites.....one of them is Jeanne Winter's blog at http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/ She is an amazing artist....I love her ability to spread the Word all over her home. Right now she is having an absolutely fabulously generous giveaway on her blog...just comment on her blog to have a chance to win one of these (I SOOOOOOOO want this. If you win, will you give it to me?) and four other great gifts.

Or you could remember that there are only 302 days until Christmas and get started making a batch of these.....I'm thinking of changing them for Easter, so don't be surprised if you get one. To see her great tutorial, click here: http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/2008/11/candle-inspirations.html

And while you are at it, you could remember that Easter is coming to, and make some of these for your Easter breakfast. If you would like to know how, click here: http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/2008/02/easter-placecard-idea.html

Or maybe you are not as talented as my good friend Rachel Pate at http://scripturepainting.com/ (I am the proud owner of the painting on her home page) and would like to add some scripture you your furniture. Grab some Modge Podge and add a verse to a piece of furniture. See how Jeanne did it at http://jeannewinters.blogspot.com/2009/02/scripture-cabinet-redo.html

I think I'll try to find some verse about the wrath of God falling on those who don't put their socks away for the boys bedroom. Think there is one in there about that? Probably not, because He is so full of grace for little boys, and me too. Maybe I'll find a verse about grace, and be done with it.

Or you could purchase her great book by clicking on the link to the left of my blog.

And one last final idea that I might tweak for Mother's Day is this great Valentine card...I'd love to make these for all the Grandma's....and maybe a big one on my wall.

Happy blog reading, and don't forget to enter her giveaway so you can win that big fish and give it to me....my birthday is coming up, you know.

Love, Lesli

Breaking the blogging fast for breaking news that occurred in the Richards household this week:

SNAKE IN THE COMPOSTER (or life in the South.)
oh my.
daughter: Mom, did you put a hose in the composter?
me: No.
daughter: Then there is a HUGE big black snake coiled right on top of the compost pile.
me: (frantically thinking how I can garden without ever going outside again) Well, it is a nice warm place for him to be, and he eats mice and rats, so let's leave him be. (Do not show fear. Do not show fear. Do not transfer irrational terrors to children. ) Hey Luke, there is a black snake in the composter. Do you want to see it?


Brave Son: Goes out to composter with camera.
Me: (Hiding behind locked doors and double paned windows)

Brave Son: (takes picture) Mom, it's just bananas.

Me: Whew. I can again dump compost. Or maybe not. It does seem like a logical place for a snake to sleep. Better play it safe. Brave Son has now inherited the job of feeding our new snake "Bob Dole".

I wanted to post Brendan's comments to my autism post....he tempers my frustration on my rough days so well. He reminded me this article a good friend gave us when Luke was first diagnosed.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND By Emily Perl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And for some, the pain of that will never go away... because the loss of that dream is a significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Here are Brendan's comments:
Let me put it another way.Let's say you were planning a trip to Italy. What would you do? You would get a map of the county and read about the history and chart a course for the interesting things to see and do. You may pick up few Italian words or phrases to help yourself get around. You would find the best (safest) way to change US$ to the local currency. You would spend every day looking forward to your trip, excited to see new things and meet new people and enjoy new experiences.Finally, the day has come. You get on the plane fully expecting to arrive in Italy. Only, you didn't. You landed in Amsterdam. What do you know about Amsterdam...nothing. Where do you go next? You don't know because you can't read the street signs and you don't know the language. You have no idea what the local currency rate is, nor where the nearest bank is. You're scared. You wonder "How am I going to get back home?".You immediately jump into survival mode. Find a place to stay and get some food (find the best place in the country to get services for your child and the resources/therapy he needs). Next, mostly through trial and error, you try a few things and venture farther away from your hotel, while being reasonbly safe. (You let your child go to a friend's house for a play date) If that goes well, maybe you let him do it again. If not, then you know you can't go down that street until you know more about it. Then there is the restaurant next to the hotel. The food is delicious, but makes you sick. However, the more and more you eat there, the more and more you want to keep eating there. It's not gluttany though. Turns out, there is something in the food that acts like an opiate on the brain. This is not a simple food allergy. (Try to eliminate all foods with any trace of wheat and/or dairy on a single income. A loaf of rice bread is about $6, which is 1/2 the size of a normal loaf. Soy milk is effectivly over $5 per gallon).However, every once in a while, God reveals to me how beautiful and unique Amsterdam really is. It's not that it's only beautiful once in a while, it's beautiful all the time, I just don't see it cause I'm too focused on the fact it's not Italy.Our son Luke is a beautiful child who is fearfully and wonderfly made. He's bright, funny, a major schedule junkie (needs to know the next two or three events that are going to happen next). He is incredibly sensitive. He's our Amsterdam. We learn more and more about him everyday. Sometimes we're missing several peices to the puzzle, sometimes the picture is real clear.Sorry (again) about the apparent rant. Lesli does a phenomenal job. I can only imagine that she gets her energy from the One who created it all! I pray that the Lord would continue to encourage and uplift her and give her the strength to press on.

Thanks for all the kind notes and comments from all who are lifting us up on this journey.

And here is a goodie for those of you who endured my latest rant.....

A free lapbook to go with the Kit Kittredge movie that just came out on video. Rebecca and I purposely didn't see it in the movie theater so that we could keep our tradition of watching the latest American Girl movie the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Just click here:
http://www.lapbooklessons.com/KitKittredgeLapbook.html

This morning I was amazed to see this headline on FOX news.

Study: Autism Puts Unprecedented Financial Strain on Families

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459644,00.html

You can read the story here. My first reaction was to slap my forehead in mock surprise and let out a resounding "NO KIDDING?" It's taken them all these years to figure that out? When insurance companies deny therapy costs or set ridiculously low limits on therapy, like our measly 20 visits per year (try more like 20 per month if our son was getting what he really and truly needed to reach his full potential) what are parents to do? We made the difficult decision to pour every cent we had into Luke's care, without thought of the future financial impact. We felt that if we could do this until he was at least 5, he'd have a shot at independent living as an adult. I'm glad we did it, although it stinks to feel like you will never crawl out of the debt hole autism creates, especially when all the recent economic news bodes for an even tighter budget. I constantly feel guilty that I am not able to afford RDI therapy for him right now, which is what he really needs. I have bought the therapists manual and am trying to teach it to myself, so I can at least do some things at home. Now if I can just make my other kids understand why there isn't money for the things they would like to do, like sports and music lessons. They are pretty understanding about it, but I worry about how not having these extra things under their belts will effect their college admissions.

Why am I blogging about this? I feel like I am whining. I hate whiners. I try not to complain about the autism thing too much.....our son is so much more high functioning than any medical professionals predicted....we definitely were blessed with healing that many families would be happy to have. But the trouble is, the better he gets, I always want more. I always up the ante. Especially during difficult periods. Someone made a comment to me the other day "The older he gets, the more obvious his disability is." Not really what I wanted to hear, especially since Luke was obviously having a rough times with all the changes in the schedule holidays bring. Anyone who ever bothered to "google" autism and read a page or two would understand why. Anyone who had seen the movie "Rainman" would understand why (which is where most peoples knowledge of autism starts and stops). I don't know how they wanted me to respond. I fought the urge to roll off a snarky Hanna Montana style "Ya think?" I just said calmly and simply, "Yes, it is." The very same day someone else made the comment that his social scripting and lack of flexibility was just "to get attention". Newsflash: 13 of the top neurologists and developmental pediatricians in the country disagree with you. Please. Pick up a stinking book and educate yourself about autism if you really love my kid. Advocate for us to your local politicians. Fight for safe vaccines and schedules. We are too busy caring for the daily needs of our kids, we don't have time to do it ourselves. Pray for us because you have no idea how much stress and pressure autism puts on marriages, siblings, family relationships, finances....the list goes on and on. But the very bottom line, and the one sure thing is that God is sovereign over autism, and one way or another, will someday lift the burden, either here, or the other side of heaven. Of that, I am quite confident, so I move steady on. Just remind me now and then, in case I forget. And allow me an angry post now and then. Sometimes it helps to vent. But more than anything, I want to express that I know God has the best in mind for our family, and for whatever reason this includes autism. He gives and takes away, yet still my heart will say "Blessed be the name of the Lord". Just typing that now made my heart unclench a bit, so I will hit the "publish" button, in hopes that someone out there may read those words and feel their heart unclench a little.