We Light It Up Blue for Addy!

April 2nd was World Autism Awareness Day.
We all wore blue to celebrate the day!
The kids wore their team shirts from last year's autism walk.

 & I wore my Autism Speaks shirt

& got my nails painted with the Light It Up Blue logo!

And look, the kids made the school newsletter! How awesome is that!

Not only is April 2nd World Autism Awareness Day, but the whole month of April is Autism Awareness Month.

So for the month of April, we have had our door hanger up & 

our signs in our yard

& have been lighting our porch up blue!

 And Nick & I ran (and dominated, but that's a different story...) a 5K that supports the Shorkey Center in Beaumont, which is a therapy & education center for children with special needs.

I'll end this post with some signs of autism...

1. May avoid eye contact

2. May echo words or phrases (echolalia)

3. May prefer to be alone

4. May spin objects or self

5. May have an insistence on sameness

6. May exhibit inappropriate laughing or giggling

7. May have difficulty in expressing needs

8. May have a delay in speech

9. May have no real fear of danger

9. May have a high pain threshold

10. May not want to be touched

Notice that these all start with "May." The reason for that is that every child with autism is different. Not every person with autism will have every one of these signs. But, if your child has more than a few of these signs, I urge you to talk to your doctor. Early intervention is the KEY! 

Easter 2014

Last Sunday was Easter.

The kids were out of school for Good Friday, so we spent the weekend at Nick's parents house. And even though the kids weren't at home, somehow the Easter Bunny still knew where to find them on Sunday morning!

The kids spent Easter morning dying eggs,

and playing with the Legos

and the kites that the Easter Bunny brought them.

And the afternoon eating

and hunting eggs with their cousins!

Look at these beautiful Strickland kids! 

(I think that Jules & Addy look more like sisters than cousins!)

My parents were out of town for the weekend, so we did not spend Easter with them. But we did get to see all three of my sisters & their kiddos on Good Friday at an Easter party at Brooke's in laws' house. 

While there, the kids hunted

and dyed Easter eggs. 

Addy was so excited to see her baby cousin Emery. She wanted to hold her & give her a bottle.

And on the Wednesday before Easter, Alex had a class party & parade at school.


 All the kids were supposed to make a hat to wear in their Easter parade.
Here's what Alex & I came up with!

I hope everyone had as great an Easter as we did!

Alex's 5th Birthday Party

On March 23rd, we celebrated Alex's 5th birthday. We have always had his parties in Lumberton, but this year we had it here in Sienna at the Brushy Lakes Pavilion.

The kids played on the playground

and blew bubbles

while the adults

sat around

and socialized.

Then we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to Alex,

he blew out the candles

& everyone had cookie cake!

It was a simple yet fun party with a great turnout including lots of family & friends from both his school & his playgroup. He told me it was his 'BEST PARTY EVER!'

Hawaii... Same Same But Different

Here are a few pictures of some of the interesting things that we saw while on our Hawaii 2014 trip!

This is the Wiki Wiki shuttle bus at the Honolulu airport. We hopped aboard at the main terminal & it brought us to the inter island terminal to catch our flight to the Big Island. I just love its name, the Wiki Wiki!

The license plate of our rental car... ZAM!

This was a little store that we drove by on the way to Akaka Falls. It was closed so we didn't get to go there but we all just absolutely loved the name. Same Same But Different! That ended up being our motto for the rest of the trip, everything was the same same but different!

 We saw this car parked at the King's Shops. It had a million bumper stickers on it & I just had to take a picture since it has the best bumper sticker ever, I Love Giraffes!

We saw lots of cool vegetation on the island such as...
these beautiful plumeria flowers that were growing everywhere!

palm tree roots, which apparently grow above the ground instead of below

more above ground roots, but on a different kind of palm tree

And this bush at A Bay that has names & dates & messages etched into the leaves.

We also saw lots of fun signs. 

Like this one... Beware of falling coconuts!

And this one... If in doubt, don't go out! 

This was at Lapakahi State Park where the water was ROUGH! And while we were there, a man & woman walked down to the water, put on their snorkeling gear & went out. I was a little scared for them, but apparently, they had no doubt because they went out!

This one was at the Lava Lava Beach Club

And so were all these fun beach signs.

This was a handicap parking sign that someone decorated with an interesting sticker!

And this was one of several signs regarding the feral cats that roam the island!

This little area by the Lava Lava Beach Club not only had a sign, but it also had little hut houses for the cats. If you look closely, you can just barely make out a cat laying under it.

We saw several of the feral cats around the island & they all seemed to be clean & well taken care of so the Advocats must be doing their job!

And here are some things I saw while shopping...

An ABC Stores shirt

A really cool shell ring

My name in Hawaiian!

And Addy's name too!

Hi Chew candy, YUM!

Shrimp Chips... Eww, that just sound disgusting!

These awesome lighters! Anyone know who the dog on the orange lighter is supposed to be?

Glass ball Christmas ornaments that are hand painted on the inside. Now that's talent!

And last but not least, spam flavored macadamia nuts! And again, ewww!