Project 365: May 25 - May 31

 Monday May 25 (day 145)J grillin' on Memorial Day

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Tuesday May 26 (day 146)Pink Lemonade Powerade - My favorite ♥

Wednesday May 27 (day 147) Cupcake Slippers ♥

Thursday May 28 (day 148) Noah's Most Improved Behavior Award

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Friday May 29 (day 149) Noah's wheelchair - ready for the last few days of school

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Saturday May 30 (day 150)

 Sweet Little Hands

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Sunday May 31 (day 160)Rose from our rose bush - Not the prettiest in the world. I do NOT have a green thumb!

Make your own Patriotic Flip Flops

Flip flops are a staple in my summer wardrobe. I love buying a cheap pair of flip flops and them decorating them to match a certain outfit or holiday - like the red and blue ones pictured - perfect to wear for Fourth of July festivities.


I've seen many cutes idea for decorating flip flops using balloons, ribbon, etc but my favorite decorating method for flops is using fabric strips. 
These are inexpensive and easy to make. They are great activity for a group of women or teen/tween girls.


Materials Needed:
Flip flops in your size and color of choice
Fabric in your prints and colors of choice
Pinking sheers (Using pinking sheers creates very minimal fraying. However if you are still worried about fraying you can use a little fray check.) 
Ruler  


Directions:  (I don't have pictures of me doing each step but it's pretty simple. If you have any questions though, just ask!) 


1. Cut the fabric into strips using the pinking sheers. How thick or long you wish for the strips to be is up to you. I cut mine about one inch wide and 5-6 inches in length to start with. It's ok if you can't get them perfectly straight - no one will notice once they are on your feet! I'd start with about 30 strips for each flip flop then add less or more depending on the amount of "fluffiness" you want! 


2. Before you begin tying the strips on your flip flops, determine whether or not you want a pattern like in the flip flops pictured above I alternated between red and blue strips. 


3. Begin tying on your strips. I double knot them to ensure that they are on tightly and less likely to slip off.  Again, add as many or as few as you like. The more you add the more full and fluffy the end result will be.  


4. Keep tying them on in your desired pattern not worrying about how long the strips are right now.   5. When you have done both flip flops, begin trimming. I like to keep mine pretty short but how short or long you want them is totally up to you.  


A Few Tips:   1. If doing this with a group of children or adults, it may be easier to go ahead and pre-cut a bunch of strips as that part seems to take the longest.   2. When trimming the strips, do it over a trashcan to cut down on the mess and clean up. 


And that’s it – cute, fun, and festive flip flops!

(Linking to the parties listed in my sidebar)

Wordless Wednesday: Spray Paint

I saw this sign when I went to buy spray paint the other day. It made me laugh. Good thing I'm over 18. ;)

Project 365: May 18 - 24

Monday May 18 (day 138)

Noah playing the computer at Granddad's

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Tuesday May 19 (day 139) Noah’s Miracle League Trophy

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Wednesday May 20 (day 140)

Noah’s New Communication Device

♥ Thursday May 21 (day 141)

He looks so mischievous in this picture!

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Friday May 22 (day 142)Visiting Mom in the hospital before she has her heart catherization

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Saturday May 23 (day 143)

“I love you” in ASL

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Sunday May 24 (day 144) This is Tootles. She was my Mom’s doll from when my Mom was a little girl and then she was mine. Now, she lives in my old room at my Mom’s house. 

Photographing Children with Special Needs: The Eyes

I’m not a professional photographer by any means, although one day I’d love to do that and may work towards that goal eventually but for the meantime I love shooting my family and friends, playing with my photos, trying new techniques, and challenging myself with Noah (of course!) being my favorite subject. 

Photographing a child with special needs can be challenging at times which is a big reason as to why I became so interested in photography. I was fed up with taking Noah to “professional” photographers who clearly didn’t have enough patience for him. I also thought that Noah might be more comfortable with taking photos at home so I made a little area to take his pictures using an old blanket and a lamp and started snapping. I was pleased with the results and have been doing Noah’s pictures myself at our home ever since. 

There’s a blog I read called 5 Minutes for Special Needs in which different mothers of special needs kiddos write and share bits about their life as the mother of child with special needs. They have different weekly features and recently added a new one that is all about photographing children with special needs.

I’ve been reading these posts and then trying to put those particular suggestions and tips in to use in a photo. Recently there was a post was about photographing your child’s eyes. 

I stopped and thought about it for a few minutes and realized that I don’t have that many photos of Noah where you can really see his eyes in all their beauty. He does sometimes avoid eye contact and there were some great suggestions for how to deal with that. I followed those suggestions and am pleased with my initial results…. 

I still love the classic look of black and white..... 

But you can see the color of his eyes better this way.....

And I love the lil' surprised look here 

“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million.”

In Memory of our Angel Baby

Darcy Quinn  Joined Heaven’s Nursery on June 21, 2005

Balloons from the memorial service

I had told myself I wouldn't post anything this year publicly but I've changed my mind...  She's been there 4 years today.......

The balloons floating up to heaven

Even though I never saw her face or held her in my arms, she was and always be a part of me. I think some people don’t get it and I’m not so sure that I would have before her, but I do now.  I’ll never forget her short life inside my belly. Sometimes my mind drifts there more often there others, especially on days like today. I’m glad it was Father’s Day though – I was busy and distracted and my mind didn’t drift there as much as it probably would have. My mind went there on the drive home from my parents' and it's still there now.  

  D and Q charms which stand for Darcy Quinn. We chose Darcy Quinn because we nicknamed her "Drama Queen" because of all the "drama" she caused with a million doctors' appointments.

  I’m constantly comforted by the fact that Darcy is in a better place. She’s in heaven with a Grandmother, Great Grandparents, and other relatives to love her. And the ultimate comfort is knowing that one day I will see her sweet face and hold her in my arms when it is my time to leave earth. 

A Precious Moments figurine given to us when Darcy died. It's called "Angel of Hope" and will always remain in our bedroom. 

I want to take a minute and say thank you to our dear friends and family who provided such a great source of comfort to us during that time. The cards, gifts, flowers, thoughts, phone calls, visits, and prayers will never be forgotten. 

A sampling of what we received from friends and family - and this is just the materialistic stuff and doesn't include the gestures, thoughts, and prayers!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there but especially to the two important Dad’s in my life!  The first of those being my own Dad……. As a child, I adored him. As a teenager, I loved him but thought he was un-cool and now that I’m a parent I respect him. As a parent, I now get it. I realize that his “un-coolness” when I was a teenager was love. (And he’s probably going to laugh and say “I told you so” when he reads this, but that’s ok.)

Unlike some of my peers, my Dad was always around. He was at every birthday party, dance recital, school function, etc. I realize I’m lucky that I had that as not all of my friends did. 

“Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad.” Anonymous

Me and My Daddy  - Dec 1978

“By the time a child realizes her Father was right, she usually has one of her own.” UnknownMe, My Dad, and Noah - Nov. 2001

“A girl’s father is the first man in her life and probably the most influential.” – David Jeremiah 

Me and My Dad - April 2003

Me and My Dad - Dec 2008

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Then there’s my J..... He may not be Noah’s biological Father but he is Noah’s Daddy in every since of the word. He loves Noah as his own and rarely thinks of himself as a “step He's just his Daddy, his best buddy, his role model, his coach, and so much more!  He loves being Noah’s Dad and Noah loves him – you can see their bond and love for one another when they spend time together. It’s pretty apparent that my little guy looks up to his Daddy.

"Blessed indeed is the man who hears a little voice call him Dad.” – Lydia Child J and Noah - April 2003 

“I’m lucky as can be because the World’s greatest Daddy belongs to me.” 

J and Noah - Nov 2008

“The Greatest gift I ever had came from God: I call him Dad.”  

J and Noah - Jan 2009

Happy Father's Day Dad and J! Love you both tons!

Father's Day Frosty Weekend

For the past few years The Dave Thomas Foundation (an organization created by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas) and Wendy’s have held “Father’s Day Frosty Weekend”. 50 cents from the sale of each frosty (or frosty product) sold during Father’s Day weekend (June 20th and 21st) will be donated to The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. 

And something new this year (or at least I wasn’t aware of it last year) - The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has created some Father’s Day e-cards and each time an e-card is sent 25 cents will be donated to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

The Dave Thomas Foundation is a national non profit organization dedicated to finding homes for the finding permanent, loving homes for 150,000 children waiting in Foster Care so stop by Wendy’s or send an e-card this weekend to support this worthy cause!

Noah's Eating Habits

Feeding Noah has always been a challenge. I’ve learned that it can be a challenge with many special needs kiddos for a variety of different reasons.  For Noah, chewing anything that was overly textured was hard so he didn’t like things like spaghetti or rice. It wasn’t that he just wouldn’t eat them, he really couldn’t. 

Over the years we’ve had times where Noah was eating pretty good and then times where he was not eating very well. He’s small for his age anyways so at one point years back I feared that the doctors might decide that he would need a feeding tube, but thankfully we were able to get past that without one. 

I always hoped that Noah might “outgrow” some of his feeding issues and be able to enjoy other foods and lately that seems to be happening! 

It all started a few weeks ago when J was eating one of those little microwavable macaroni and cheese cups around the same time Noah got home from school. Well, Noah saw him eating it and asked for a bite. Noah’s always been interested in whatever J is eating and will often ask for a bite but then spit it out. This time, though, Noah ate the first bite of mac and cheese then asked for more until there was none left! Then he ate two of the little macaroni and cheese cups for dinner. 

A few days later we were at the grocery store and he sees the little containers of ravioli in cups and wants one so I buy one thinking he isn’t going to eat it. Wrong! He ate the entire thing! 

His favorite thing now is the ravioli which now that we know he likes it and will eat it we have started buying in the big cans as it is more economical than the little cups. He can eat a whole can in a sitting with cheese crackers (his all time favorite food and our “go to” food when he will eat nothing else) for “dessert.” 

He’s also ventured into icecream lately– it must have sprinkles!

Hopefully, he’ll remain tolerable to new foods and we can continue to try and introduce new things to him. It’s gotta be better than living on cheese crackers, cheese fries from Sonic, and chicken nuggets! 

(Note about the photo: I tried and tried and tried to get a good photo of Noah eating ravioli but he would NOT let me. Every time he saw me with the camera he’d either spit the food out or not take it so I have given up on that for now!) 

New Quote I Love

I came across the quote below while blurrfing last week and fell in love with it. It made it into my personal list of top ten fave quotes.....

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. Things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they're right. And sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together." ~ Marilyn Monroe

Monogram Craft Challenge

About a week ago, I discovered a monthly craft challenge hosted by Heidi at Blue Eyed Blessings. How it works is Heidi issues  a challenge at the beginning of her month on the blog and her readers have all month to work on it and then they post a link to their project on the first Thursday of the next month. (She postponed  this month until the second Thursday of the month.)

One month she did a RIBBON challenge. (If you know me well you know I LOVE and "collect" ribbon.) I wish I'd known about that one! But the craft challenge for May was monograms. I decided it would be fun to participate and a way to possibly get new readers and find new craft blogs (like I need to read more! LOL) to read so I threw together two small projects. They are super simple since I have had zero craft time lately! (Thank you to summer and my ulcer for the lack of craft time!)

"N" Frame

I thought this would be a cute and easy way to dress up one of those cheap plastic magnetic frames. I just glued orange ribbon around the edges - I purposely left the ribbon hanging off the ends just because I thought it gave the frame more "personality." I then attached a chipboard N. I used orange because it is my Noah's favorite color of course! 

Lil Notebook

I love these lil' notebooks as they are perfect to throw in your purse for writing down miscellaneous things that may pop into my head while I'm out and about. I have previously shared a tutorial on how to make these so just check it out. I followed those directions and just added an "S" chipboard sticker for my last name. Easy peasy and cute! 

So go check out all the "Monogram Maddness" on Blue Eyed Blessings! 

Project 365: May 11 - May 17

Monday May 11 (day 131)Noah reading the newspaper

♥ Tuesday May 12 (day 132)

Sick boy! Just an ear infection, but Noah stayed home from school today. In this picture he is snuggled up on my bed watching a movie. 

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Wednesday May 13 (day 133)

Self explanatory ;)

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Thursday May 14 (day 134) Grandaddy helping Noah bat

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Friday May 15 (day 135)

The first tea cup I ever bought 

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Saturday May 16 (day 136)

Favors I made for church tea

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Sunday May 17 (day 137) centerpiece for “The Gift” tea

Noah and Landon

Last night and most of the day today we babysat our nephew, Landon. His Dad brought him over last night around 8 and then picked him up this afternoon around 4.

Landon will be 3 in July and is quite a hand full but a lot of fun! Noah got along with him very well and he was very patient and tolerable. Landon hasn't quite learned how to share yet and once when Noah was playing with a toy, Landon just walked over and took it and started playing with it. I said something to Landon about it and Noah looked at me and signed "baby" and I said, "Yes, he's little and hasn't learned to share yet." And Noah just gave me a look that said, "I know, Mom." If there was a toy that Landon was trying to play with and he wasn't sure how it worked, Noah showed him. I was proud that he was sweet and loving with Landon and not territorial. 

However, by the time Landon's Dad got to our house, Noah was ready for Landon to leave! He said he was tired of sharing his Momma!

Project 365:May 4 - 10

Monday May 4 (day 124) I’m probably too old to color but I like to do it occasionally! It relieves stress. 

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Tuesday May 5 (day 125) Reading the AP article

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Wednesday May 6 (day 126)

Book worm

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Thursday May 7 (day 127) Socks

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Friday May 8 (day 128)

Candle I made my Mom for Mother's Day

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Saturday May 9 (day 129) Sending a balloon to heaven for J's Mom

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Sunday May 10 (day 130) A Mother's Day toast