Been awhile I know...

So it has been forever since I posted but I have been so busy and just kind of fell off the blogger trail. I am slowly coming back but dont' want to promise anything because I always make grand plans and then life takes me other routes lol. Here is a meme that I think is supposed to be done on Mondays but I am doing mine today to get started back into blogging. ;)

Outside My Window ...It is raining and grey ( I thought this was supposed to be June)
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I am thinking ... about making blueberry muffins and fruit for breakfast.
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I am thankful for ... my family and the Seaside getaway we had this last weekend (I will post about it later)
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From the kitchen ... some new gluten free recipes in the crockpot I found.
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I am wearing ... Jeans, a pastel pink hooded sweatshirt, and a pony tail.
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I am creating ... another journal...I have one for everything it seems like.
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I am going ... to go pick up a food dehyrdator today to make homemade fruit rollups.
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I am reading ... Louder than Words by Jenny McCarthy...what a great book whether or not your child is autistic (mine is not)it is more a story about a mothers incredible love for her child. (boy is her son lucky)
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I am hoping ... for some sun, or at least for it to dry up enough today for Honey Nuts bridging ceremony tonight to be held at the park.
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I am hearing ... the pitter patter of rain, the daycare kids laughing at wow wow wubbzy, and the sweet sound of my daughter coming downstairs just now and saying "hi mommy"
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Around the house ... I am trying to finish up the school year, researching how to get my son into a great program I found to help him with his sensory issues and how to afford it, and I am doing laundry catchup.
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One of my favorite things ... is reading and taking notes from what I learned in books, and planning for a new school year.
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A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: ... last brownie meeting of the year for Honey nut, searching for a cubscout troop for the boys, searching for swimming lessons as well, try and get my house in order, and doing some cooking and baking ahead (since the weather is yucky anyway) to freeze for hoepfully a warm summer ahead. lol
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Here is a picture thought I am sharing ...
My heart :)


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I hope you all have a wonderful day!

finally updated...

Honey nut with her American Girl Doll...Julie Albright

Ok so I was going to blog several times this week because I had a bunch of topics in mind, but then lots wound up happening this week and well...it is now Friday and I am doing an "update" post lol.

First I must say last weekend was GORGEOUS here! It was close to 80 on Saturday which is very warm for our neck of the woods this time of year, and to ring that comment true, the weather forecastesr are predicting SNOW tomorrow, also unusual for this time of year. Weird. In any case, while Cheerio Dad worked out in the yard getting it ready for the summer, I spring cleaned the whole upstairs of the house because Friday I did downstairs. I smelled a lot of bbq's that afternoon...weanies...my husband bbq's year round here. lol I have seen that man out there in snow buttoned up in a jacket where you could only see his eyeballs grilling a steak. Once from Texas always from Texas I guess.

So I had plans to blog Monday but got busy wtih some appts. Then Tuesday I had a grand plan to do a post entirely dedicated to my daughter Honey Nut since she turned 9! However Cheerio Dad came home with the flu (the cold flu that is)shaking and with a fever. Our plans to go out to the birthday dinner was switched to chinese takeout instead. Hubs felt so bad his tradition is to take the kids out and let them pick out their special bday present, although this year Honey Nut really wanted an American Girl Doll so we ordered it online since we do not live near an American Girl Store. Bless her heart...she is NINE wow! She is my first baby and my only girl and what a girly girl she is! She is still in love with horses...I am just sure in a prior life she was a horse. She is going to have a tea party for her birthday this year and that is ok with me because it means she is still very much my "little girl" even though she wants desperately to be a teenager. For some reason she has it stuck in her pretty little head that being a teenager entitles her to have all adult priveldges...not sure where that idea came from. Poor misguided little thang. ha. But nevertheless she is our baby girl and always will be. I remember bringing her home from the hospital and the length of her head down to her foot entirely fit in my forearm. Now she is dangerously close to my height although she has a few more inches to go but not long! Happy birthday baby girl!

Wednesday Cheerio Dad was still sick and so he was home from work all day. We did a bunch of schoolwork. and Trix had speech therapy.

Thursday Cheerio dad was STILL sick and getting whinier by the minute. I had closed down the daycare for the day as I had a dentist appt to get a cavity filled which turned into a root canal...lucky me. Then I came back let the babysitter go home, and then went fed the kids lunch, and went to the school to have a meeting with a team of specialist who were trying to determine if Trix really needed the full evaluation done on him again as it has only been 2 years. They fully intended to talk me out of it I think but I got them to do all of it. He does have two really good therapists. It is just that because he is homeschooled and oh I am only his mom does the school decide they need a meeting with me to decide IF he needs testing. grrr. what do I know? Then I came home and discovered that when Lucky Charms had hurt his foot earlier in the day it was still swelling so I got to take him and the other two kids to urgent care for xray's again ...lucky me. And truly if you know Lucky Charms you would know that it is only by the grace of God almighty himself that the boy is not in a full body cast yet. This is a kid with NO fear at all. Luckily it is a combo of a bruised bone in his foot and also a sprain, so while he is hopping around the house on one foot, he did not break it so no cast...this time.

I was so tired after all that stuff yesterday that I did not blog, and frankly I was so tired I couldn't sleep so I finally got to sleep around a quarter to 12. For mommies that is like staying up all night. Then at 3am today I was woken to a loud beeping sound it startled me. You see I have been camping out on the couch downstairs because unlike hubs I don't have the luxury of being able to lay around for 4 days with the flu, so I am trying to avoid it like the plague, he is of course being a big baby about it. "you don't love me..I am dying...I see the light" I suppose it was not nice that after finding out the beeping was him beeping the radio on my cell phone to get me to come up to bring him medicine and listen to him whine, I simply said "fine go towards the light I can use the insurance". remember it was THREE in the morning ...whatever don't judge me.

As for today hubs is STILL sick and is running a high fever. I really do feel bad for the poor guy. He has not been to work since Tuesday and he NEVER misses work. I am doing laundry to try and give him some fresh clean sheets to hopefully make his comfort level better. No he is not sick like that at least it is not a stomach bug, but he does have a pounding headache and high fever and body aches. And frankly I did feel a little guilty for being so short with him this morning at dark thirty but nevertheless I have been checking on him with cold washcloths, and water, and anything he wants to eat. AT least he is eating. All that said, my weekend should be fun. lol But at least now you know why I have not blogged this week, hopefully next week will be better.

till next time,
The Cheerio Queen

Because i cannot think of anything better to blog about...

I am going to steal the same idea that my blogging friend "I should be doing laundry" had today and blog about the "New Kids on the Block" Ok so I used to own one of their pillows...whatever don't judge me. I still think their music was good and they were cute. I used to call myself their "biggest fan" until the first season of Dancing with the stars came up and Joey McIntyre was on it and I realized I had forgotten all about them. I had a huge crush on Joey when I was younger. The fact that they are all men now I think all of them or most all of them are married and have kids does make me feel old. You see a lot of the youngsters out there think that the Backstreet Boys and N'sync were the beginning of the boy bands. Not so. The New Kids on the Block paved the way (ok so there was a few others before their time too but I don't want to age myself too much) Either way...will I be going to one of their concerts? Probably not, but you can bet I will be listening to their new CD. I still think they are cute! Although, Jordan I thought was a little sleazy on the Surreal Life (hey I had the flu the day they had a surreal life marathon and there was nothing on so I watched) but I digress...They at the time were a fun concert.I must admit with all the hype in the news lately I have had the songs Step by Step and Hangin Tough running in my head all day. Maybe if I download those and workout to those my daughter won't go into the witness protection program like she attempted to do when I worked out to "sexyback" by Justin Timberlake. In any case if you look at the above pictures you will see why so many of us original NKOTB fans feel so old. Just look at the difference! At least they all still look like boys..I'm just sayin.
Have a great weekend!

The Cheerio Queen

Miss Bimbo??....Man the internet is scary,

Ok I just have to post about it. I was reading the news today and came across a disturbing article regarding a new "virtual fashion game" called "Miss Bimbo" In this game girls are encouraged to become the "most famous or coolest bimbo they know" The site is aimed directly at girls ages 7-17! They can even give their virtual bimbo's breast implants and diet pills. GRRR Sorry this really ticks me off. Not surprising the creator is a 23 year old male who probably does not have kids. According to the statistics over 1 million girls between the ages of 7-17 access this site. How sad is that? The internet is such a scary place. It used to be cool. I mean I am somewhat of an internet nerd. Meaning I access it for schoolwork for the kids (k12.com) and I use it for email, I blog obviously, and I even have a myspace. (although I am considering deleting that too because there is so many sick people on there)
What scares me is the fact that my 8 year old could easily type in the word "barbie" in google to find a barbie doll game site to play, but it will pull up all sorts of trashy sites with pictures. It is way to easy for kids to accidentally access sites that they should not see, even with these so called "net nanny services". My daughter recently was playing a littlest petshop game and managed to wind up clicking on pop ups and came to toysrus and was "shopping" online by telling me everything she wanted. My husband and I are very careful about watching the kids on the computer and making sure we monitor what they are playing or looking at, but geez. she already knows about myspace and is begging us for her own myspace page. Hubs and I absolutely are not going to ever let that happen, too many scary people, perverts, not to mention the cyber bullying that is now going on those pages. For instance I saw a story yesterday of a boy who has been picked on so much that his family is suing one of the bullies for making up a fake myspace page titled everyone hates "childs name" .
I think I am going to go back to the dinosaur age and just put only games on that are on cd and only after hubs and I have previewed it of course. They wonder why we have so many insecure kids these days. How sad.

ok I am done with my rant for the day lol. I must go now and make the kids a hot breakfast, (I will explain in another post later how I am on a strike from buying cereal around here lol) It snowed last night! Gee I was wondering when it was going to snow I mean it is afterall MARCH. The kids are really looking forward to playing outside in it but I insisted they eat breakfast first lol. Later on in the day we are going to be delivering Meals on Wheels which the kids are looking forward to. :)
Hope you all have a good day!
The Cheerio Queen

Happy Easter!...

Have you ever seen a happier boy? Trix got to meet Daisy his new dog that I wrote about earlier. She spent a little time with us today visiting. She is going to have about another week of training and by next week she should be here to stay. While she is a little unsure becuase she has not been socialized with a bunch of kids yet she is very very sweet. Trix is quickly learning confidence, and is doing pretty well. I can tell this will be a task getting him to where he needs to be with her but they will find their way. :)
Hope you all are having a great Easter. This year our church held 2 services instead of one. We went to the early one so we would be home in time to have our visit with Daisy. However the kids had a blast at church today. The inflatables were up in Sunday school for the kids to play on, and also there was the annual easter egg hunt. The kids loved that.

Well that is all for now!
The Cheerio Queen

Ok trying again...

I have been trying to post for a few days. Grrr I have spent time taking pictures to show you of my latest toy...ooops I mean kitchen gadget. I finally got a new Chef's knife last week along with a new whisk, and new tongs so I can quit burning myself trying to flip tortillas in hot oil in order to make tostadas. I am one happy girl. I know I am a nerd...it takes so little to make this Momma happy. My husband considers himself so lucky that I actually LIKE to get stuff for my kitchen or new household appliances and gadgets. On our first anniversary he got me a rice cooker. I thought I had married a prince. My mom thought I was nuts. She said if my dad ever got her an appliance he would be wearing it permanently fixed on his head. :) Anyway aside from some new kitchen gadgets that is about all that is exciting here. I know we are such partiers.One cute story I thought you Momma's would appreciate was last week when I took the kids on a trail walk and my youngest son was looking in awe at a tree and I asked what he was looking at, just as a jogger passed he said loudly I see a "nosepicker" momma! Once I looked i realized he actually saw a WOODPECKER. I think somewhere I still here the jogger laughing. Oh I had to tell you about the outfit my daughter chose to wear to the store yesterday. I am trying to be one of those cool Mom's who lets them have some freedom of choice in what they wear. I do however have to be a bit "uncool" and insist that she wear clean clothes, and no belly showing. sorry but I am still old fashioned enough to believe that no 8 year old should be showing off their "goodies" by wearing belly tees, low cut halter tops, daisy duke show your bunnies shorts etc. I guess the ultra cool mom award will have to go to Lynne Spears. 'nuff said. :) Anyway I digress. Honey nut chose to pair a pink and yellow and white horizontal striped shirt, paired wisely with a burgandy and plaid skirt,a pastel pink cardigan, white tights, and for the best accessory she chose pink rainboots with purple hearts on them. Stand Back Boys she is my daughter. She of course waited until we went into the store and were waiting in line to check out to ask me rather loudly..."So Mom what do you think of my outfit? I have been asking you since we left the house and you never answered?" Of course all the people in line who looked at her with a humerous grin up until now...switched to giving me death ray looks..as if I was a horrible mom for not answering the important question. Even the mom with the 10 year old son with his finger shoved up his nose, and had so many piercings I was thinking of asking if I could use him to drain my spaghetti. Anyway I finally answered Honey Nut. "Honey your outfit is very colorful and there is no way I could lose you in a store and that is very important to me..wise choice in clothes" I looked back at the lady with the son and she had actually given me a funny grin as if to say "so that is what you should say when you have a kid like mine?" I just got of smiled and gave her a look that said Don't judge me. We Mommas can be so cynical sometimes.



So I got this bulletin on myspace yesterday from a friend of mine and honestly girls this is the funniest thing I have seen in years! I copied and pasted it here for you to read. Oh and please do me a favor and don't have any food or drink in your mouth when you read it. It is Friday and frankly I am too tired to wipe your food off my screen. :) Have a great weekend and Happy Easter!!!!


THE WORKOUT ROUTINE

This is dedicated to everyone who ever attempted to get into a regular
workout routine.



Dear Diary,
For my birthday this year, my daughter (the dear) purchased a week of
personal training at the local health club for me.


Although I am still in great shape since being a high school football
cheerleader 43 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and
give it a try.



I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named
Belinda, who identified herself as a 26-year-old aerobics ins tructor and
model for athletic clothing and swim wear.



My daughter seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The club
encouraged me to keep a diary to chart my progress.



MONDAY:
Started my day at 6:00 a.m.. Tough to get out of bed, but found it was well
worth it when I arrived at the health club to find Belinda waiting for me.


She is something of a Greek goddess -- with blonde hair, dancing eyes and a
dazzling white smile.

Woo Hoo!! Belinda gave me a tour and showed me the
machines.

I enjoyed watching the skillful way in which she conducted her
aerobics class after my workout today.

Very inspiring! Belinda was
encouraging as I did my sit-ups, although my gut was already aching from
holding it in the whole time she was around.

This is going to be a FANTASTIC
week!

TUESDAY:
I drank a whole pot of coffee, but I finally made it out the door.



Belinda made me lie on my back and push a heavy iron bar into the air t h en
she put weights on it! My legs were a little wobbly on the treadmill, but I
made the full mile. Belinda's rewarding smile made it all worthwhile.

I feel
GREAT! It's a whole new life for me.



WEDNESDAY:
The only way I can brush my teeth is by laying the toothbrush on the counter
and moving my mouth back and forth over it.

I believe I have a hernia in
both pectorals. Driving was OK as long as I didn't try to steer or stop.

I
parked on top of a GEO in the club parking lot.



Belinda was impatient with me, insisting that my screams bothered other club
members.

Her voice is a little too perky for early in the morning and when
she scolds, she gets this nasally whine that is VERY annoying My chest hurt
when I got on the treadmill, so Belinda put me on the stair monster.

Why the
Hell would anyone invent a machine to simulate an activity rendered obsolete
by elevators? Belinda told me it would help me get in shape and enjoy life.


She s aid some other crap too.



THURSDAY:
Belinda was waiting for me with her vampire-like teeth exposed as her thin,
cruel lips were pulled back in a full snarl.

I couldn't help being a half an
hour late, it took me that long to tie my shoes.



Belinda took me to work out with dumbbells.

When she was not looking, I ran
and hid in the restroom.

She sent another skinny girl to find me

Then, as punishment, she put me on the rowing machine -- which I sank.



FRIDAY:
I hate that snot Belinda more than any human being has ever hated any other
human being in the history of the world.

Stupid, skinny, anemic, anorexic
little cheerleader.

If there was a part of my body I could move without
unbearable pain, I would beat her with it.



Belinda wanted me to work on my triceps.

I don't have any triceps! And if
you don't want dents in the floor, don't hand me the damned barbells or
anything that weighs more than a sandwich.

The treadmill flung me off and I
landed on a health and nutrition teacher.



Why couldn't it have been someone softer, like the drama coach or the choir
director?

SATURDAY:
Belinda left a message on my answering machine in her grating, shrilly voice
wondering why I did not show up today.

Just hearing her made me want to
smash the machine with my planner.

However, I lacked the strength to even
use the TV remote and ended up catching eleven straight hours of the Weather
Channel.



SUNDAY:
I'm having the Church van pick me up for services today so I can go and
thank GOD that this week is over.

I will also pray that next year my
daughter (the little brat) will choose a gift for me that is fun -- like a
root canal or a hysterectomy.


I still say if God had wanted me to bend over, he would have sprinkled the
floor with diamonds!!!

Meet the soon to be new addition to the Cheerio family!!!

This is Daisy! I say soon to be addition because right now she is currently being trained in all areas of obedience right now, and as you can see from the pics they are also working on her losing some weight. lol Daisy is a very special furry friend because she is going to be Trix's service dog! We started thinking of this idea a couple months ago. Anyone who has read my blog for awhile knows that Trix suffers from seizures, and unusually long ones at that. He is also sometimes semi concscious during them as well. The biggest worry for hubs and I is that on several occasions we have found Trix in the middle of the night suffering seizures where he was not making much noise but he was choking. Neither hubs nor I have gotten much sleep over the last few months. So we started thinking about what we could do. I had thought of a dog but was not sure a dog would do anything, until I started asking around and found out they have such a thing as "seizure response" dogs. These are dogs that are trained to stay with the person having the seizure, they can bark to alert hubs and I or even press a button. Here I thought service dogs were just for seeing eye dogs etc. As I started to research the idea I found out they now have dogs that help autistic kids, people with cerebal palsy, people with diabetes (there has actually been dogs that are trained to go get them juice or medicine) etc. The more I researched the more I became convinced that this was a good decision for us. The trouble was finding one. I checked with service dog organizations but none of them were in my state, and several turned us down, the one that accepted us wanted us to fundraise an obscene amount of money. So I did what I am prone to do when frustrated, I prayed. Luckily I found a lady through another lady etc. and she said she could absolutely help us! Dawna is wonderful! We are so lucky to have met her. She told us that while she could train a dog for us that it is not a cure all and we cannot one hundred percent rely on the dog that it would be an extra security measure. She came out with some of her dogs and taught my son a few commands and let him practice with her dogs to see how he would do. Hubs and I sat in literal disbelief and awe, Trix was amazing with her dog, he took control, and he totally calmed down. Those of you who know Trix personally would understand what I mean about him being so active and flapping his hands (part of his sensory processing disorder) he stopped jumping, and flapping his hands etc. Trix has always been afraid of dogs, he was not afraid of Dawna's probably because they are gentle and so well trained. Dawna was so wonderful she even picked out our dog! This story could go on forever but suffice it to say, Dawna has Daisy right now, and is completely obedience training her for us. She says that Daisy was already partially trained and is the sweetest dog she has seen in a long time. She said she knows after meeting Trix and our family that Daisy is the best fit for us. :) Daisy will be primarily Trix's responsibility, although she will privately train all of us how to command her etc. Trix will have a new awesome responsibility but she says he will be fine. she also said it will help a lot with his sensory issues. Again Daisy is not a cure all but she is sure to be a wonderful addition to our family,and a true best friend for Trix. :)

Till next time!
The Cheerio Queen