Happy Halloween 2016

Halloween has come & gone but the candy still remains!
(Just kidding, the candy is long gone too! Lol)

Even though Addy knew she wanted to be a ghost for some time, she still had fun trying on costumes at Target. 

She tried on her 2 favorite foods, pizza & french fries

and this fun tiger mask!

(Looks very similar to the mask I made in art in high school. Do you still have that mom???)

About a week before Halloween we were booed!

And of course we kept the fun going. Here's our Boo Crew in action!

A few days before Halloween, we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. 

Alex went with a minecraft face and Addy with an ant.

After wearing her ghost costume at her Girl Scout Halloween party, Addy realized that that costume was really hard to see out of. So she decided at the very last minute to go trick or treating as a cat instead.

And Alex dressed up as Ash Ketchum.

The boy who catches pokemons.

And his best friend Eren went as Pickachu. They looked perfect together!

I took the kids trick or treating

while Nick stayed home & passed out candy.

As you can see, they made out like bandits!

You all know that October 31st is Halloween. But what you may not know is that October 31st is also a super special day in our house. It's Bailey's birthday. And this year Bailey turned 20 years old! 

Since a cat turning 20 is a huge milestone, Addy wanted to do something special for Bay. So she took it upon herself to throw him a birthday party!

She made a banner

and a party game. And hung them both at Bailey's eye level.

She also made him a birthday card

and a party hat!

We all sang 'Happy Birthday' to Bailey & he ended his special night with some cat treats & milk!

Monthly Update

I know it's been awhile since I posted an update. My only excuse is that I've been slacking. But I'm back now & here is what we have been doing...

The weekend before Valentine's Day, we took the kids to Galveston. First we ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. (And just about every week since then Addy has been asking to go back. That place is so up her alley!)

And then we went to Moody Gardens. 

The plan was to go to a Special Needs Mardi Gras event that was at Moody Gardens. I thought it was going to be a fun arts & crafts type of event for kids but when we got there it was really more of a dance/prom type of event for older people with special needs. They had a live band playing & it was just way too loud for both Addy & Alex. So instead, we went in the Rainforest Pyramid. Of course, Addy loved seeing all the animals & we all had a great day on the island!

We celebrated Nick's 37th birthday! Boy that's a lot of candles, lol!

Addy had her Valentine's Day celebration at school. She had to decorate a bag for her cards & of course she chose to decorate it like a tiger.

(She had a little help from mom on this one.)

During her party the kids made ice cream sundaes 

(which of course Addy did not eat, but Alex did!)

and they played Pin the Cupid on the Heart. 

(I think Mrs. Perfectionist might have cheated a little bit, lol.)

Alex had a Valentine's party too with his playgroup. He even signed some of his cards. Look how great he wrote his name!

Addy of course has been playing with Bailey a lot. She just loves him so much! She reads to him

and makes him play dress up with her! (She made him a lion's mane, lol)

And Alex has been hogging the iPads, lol. Sometimes he even watches the same show on both iPads. He pauses them until he gets them at exactly the same spot. He's such a smart little boy!

Addy took her school pictures. Didn't they turn out great! 

(And how come she never sits & smiles for me when I'm the one taking the picture?)

Nick & I went to San Antonio for a weekend after our cruise was canceled & Addy started playing baseball in a new special needs league here in Sienna. I'll write a separate post on both of those.

Everything else we've been doing is just everyday life. School, work, speech, dance, girl scouts, playgroup, support group, cleaning, working out, & numerous trips to HEB! So I guess that's all for this post. But I'll be back. Soon. I promise.

Catch Up

I know all you readers have anxiously been awaiting my next post, checking the blog every day to see if it's been posted yet! (Lol, don't worry, I'm only kidding, I'm not delusional.)

The reason I haven't posted in a while is because I've been busy. I mean really busy! Let me tell you how our week goes... We have T ball practice & a game each week, sports skills class, speech, OT, & dance class. Addy has girl scouts every other week. I've been volunteeering at Addy's school & had to go to a couple girl scout trainings too. Not to mention I am the team captain for Addy's elementary school Walk Now for Autism Speaks team so I have been putting fundraisers together. So yes, like I said, I've been busy!

So let me just catch you up with what's been going on at our house...

Nick & I had our 11 year anniversary on September 15th! We ate dinner at RA Sushi & then went to The Chocolate Bar for dessert. We split this piece of rocky road chocolate cake & boy was it delicious!

Addy performed a few magic tricks for us. Here she is doing that trick where you put a ball under a cup, slide the cups around & then ask which cup the ball is under. Yep, I was able to find the ball. (It might have been a little harder for me if she had cups that were all the same. But shh, don't tell her that, lol.) She also made a few things disappear & pulled a rabbit out of her hat!

 

Alex has been playing with his stuffed animals a lot lately. Here he is snuggled up with some of them watching TV.

I bought some new fall candles. This one smells great!

With the beautiful weather, we've been having playdates at the park. This day, we spent 2 hours at the playground & only left so that we could eat lunch.

 

This guy has also been enjoying the beautiful weather!

 

Addy pretended that she was a princess & said she needed a castle. So I made her one! I took 3 boxes & taped them together & used gray construction paper as blocks. It even had a real working drawbridge.

I've made several door hangers these past couple of weeks. I'm selling them now & have had lots of orders from teachers at Addy's school.

 

Alex had his first t ball game. (And his second & missed his third.) I'll try to do a separate post on his games soon.

Addy & Daddy came & watched Alex play his game.

Addy cracked the screen on the iPad. So mommy got an iPad 3 & Addy now has her own iPad. (She already thought it was her's anyway, lol!)

I love how she fixed her cracked screen! A bandage makes everything better!

 

Look at this mess Alex made. He just wanted a 'little' cinnamon on his marshmallows! (And on the floor & on the stepstool & on the wall!)

Alex didn't want to participate at Sports Skills class again. Until the last about 20 minutes. And then of course, he didn't want to leave afterwards. The plan next week is to just drop him off & leave. Oh... we'll see how that goes, lol!

Addy has been doing great in her dance class! Getting more & more comfortable on the balance beam.

I've been working a lot on not only our team for the walk, but I'm also helping to set up a support group for parents of special needs kids in Sienna.

 There's been a lot of loving on a certain kitty going on in this house!

 

We've been playing outside

 

And playing dress up. (We play dress up a lot!)

Alex was Jake from Jake & the Neverland Pirates

 

and a fireman. Addy would go put Bailey on her dresser & yell for Fireman Alex to come save her kitty. It was so funny!

 

Addy & I had our first girl scout troop meeting.

 

And Nick & I ended these past couple of hectic weeks with a nice relaxing trip to Georgia to go visit some of our best friends.

 

And that's about it. I think you're all caught up with what's been going on in the Strickland household. I'll try not to wait 3 weeks before my next post. (But no guarantees, lol.)