Life As We Know It... April/May Edition

Here's what we've been doing lately...

We celebrated Autism Awareness month by lighting our house up blue for the month of April!

And by wearing our Autism Awareness shirts on WAAD.

And we celebrated Memorial Day with swimming & bbq!

We played with ducks.

and snowballs

and 'swatters.'

And I ordered baby Hatchimals for Addy and she shared them with the boys!

Alex bridged from a Wolf Scout

to Bear Scouts

and we went to Typhoon Texas for our end of the year Girl Scout party.

And the kids closed out the 2016-2017 school year with...

Alex's GT showcase

Addy's 4th grade musical

the SOE school carnival

Tug of War

and Field Day

4th grade Mini Society where Addy had to make something to sell to the other 4th graders for fake money. She ended up going with pokeball keychains made out of Sculpty clay. They were a BIG HIT with the 4th graders!!

And their end of the year awards ceremonies.

In Addy's class, they did a poetry cafe & Addy read one of her poems she had written. She got an award for being a Super Speller & her classmates voted her best artist!

Alex also read a poem during his awards & got all A honor roll, academic excellence in Reading, Science & Social Studies & was also voted best artist by his classmates! (I have 2 artistic children!!)

After 2 years, Alex had to say goodbye to his amazing teacher Mrs. Martin!! 

She has been such a blessing to him these past 2 years & he will really miss having her as his teacher!

And since next year Addy will be moving to a brand new elementary school in Sienna, she had to say goodbye to these 3 amazing ladies who have been her sped teachers for the past 5 years!

And of course, the last day of school!

The end of the school year is always a busy time. Thank god for summer, sleeping late & no schedules! We need it after these last couple of months!

Fourth Grade Field Trip to the Fort Bend Museum

On March 11th, Addy went on her 4th grade field trip. It was at the Fort Bend Museum in Richmond, which is a historic Texas home that was built in 1883.

The day consisted of rotating between 4 different areas of the home with lunch between sessions 2 & 3.

Addy's class started off in the textile room where they learned how clothing was made in the 1800s. Each student was given a piece of raw cotton & asked to pick the seeds out of it. Then they were given 2 small brushes which looked like dog brushes. They used these brushes to 'card' the cotton or brush it out & make it soft. And ended up with a super soft ball of cotton which is called a rolag. It was pretty cool process! 

Next up was the one room schoolhouse. 

During this session, they learned what school was like back in the 1800s, practiced writing the alphabet on a slate board

and wrote their names with a calligraphy pen.

During Addy's third session, they played Victorian games.

Which included rolling a big hoop with a stick, trying to catch a small hoop on a stick & walking on stilts. (Which I'm a pro at & all the kids were impressed with my mad stilt walking skills! lol)

And then their last rotation was Chore Time.

During this session, the kids got to an opportunity to churn butter

and wash clothes on a washboard.

I've gone on all of Addy's & Alex's field trips with them & sadly, this was my least favorite one ever. (But then again, I've always found American colonial history to be super boring!!) 

But Addy enjoyed herself & that's what matters, right ;)

Life As We Know It... February & March Edition

Here's what we've been doing during February & March...

Alex has been busy with his cub scout troop.
He sold coupon books outside of Kroger to help raise money for his pack.
His goal was to sell 15 books & he accomplished that :)

He also went on a field trip to the Armand Bayou Nature Center. While he & his den were busy earning their Paws on the Path adventure loop, Addy, Nick & I explored the nature center. 

We went to Urban Air

and bookclub

and celebrated Nick's birthday

Brooke's birthday

and St. Patrick's Day.

The kids took their school pictures

Rocked their Socks for Down Syndrome Awareness Day

And Addy tried her hand at skating during PE.

She wasn't the best at it but luckily she has some sweet friends who held her hands & helped her out while skating!

And I started bootcamp. 

And I love it!!