We went on our annual Christmas Tree Hunt yesterday and found the perfect tree! I like to let our tree relax a bit in its new space before decorating it, the whole ordeal must be a little traumatizing for it. Sneak was not a fan so he took matters in his own hands.
He had to improvise a bit on the decorations since ours were still buried in the basement. He may be magic but there’s no way he was going to find anything down there! Some things still require Money to work a bit!
We don’t get much snow here, much to Caleb & Eric’s disappointment, so Sneak created a winter wonderland just for Caleb on his first night back!
I think it’s safe to say it was a hit!
He’s baaaack and I couldn’t be more excited. I missed my mischievous little sidekick!
It is the time of year for counting our blessings, for taking a look at our lives and giving thanks for all of the amazing things we have in this life both big and small. I’ve been looking hard at my everyday life for the awesomeness I might overlook on a day to day basis and I am loving what I see. A good number of my Facebook friends have been doing the same thing and I’ve enjoyed seeing what they have to share. It occurred to me that one of the things I am most thankful for…are all the people who have come into my life in the last two years.
Two years ago, Eric and I attended our first International Fragile X Conference. We went not expecting to get anything from it and we came back completely transformed. We met the most amazing, motivated, passionate, loving people…people who made us want to be more like them. And with the support of the National Fragile X Foundation, we’re getting there.
The foundation is just kicking off their Annual Fund fundraising project, this is the primary source of funds for all of the foundation’s activities, and it just happens to correspond with both Giving Tuesday (you can read about that here.) and the Firefox challenge on Crowdrise.
The Challenge begins at 8:00:00 AM Eastern on November 19, 2012, and ends at 11:59:59 PM Eastern on January 10, 2013.
The three (3) fundraisers that raise the greatest, next greatest and third greatest amounts of money on a CrowdRise fundraising page for their benefiting charity during the Challenge Period, and are in compliance with these Terms and Conditions and the CrowdRise T&C, will earn the Challenge Grants.
The First Place Challenge Grant is $50,000, the Second Place Challenge Grant is $30,000 and the Third Place Challenge Grant is $20,000.
There is no way I could win that challenge on my own…but I think we as a community can. After talking with the foundation, I set up Team Fragile X on Crowdrise and now I’m asking YOU to join that team. You can set up your own page and push it out to your friends and families and take an active roll in giving back.
Detailed instructions on how to join Team Fragile X: Team Fragile X
Or if you just want to donate, go right to the Team Fragile X page: Team Fragile X Crowdrise/Firefox Challenge Page.
Let’s go team!
I am thankful for the amazing little brain
that turns a marble run into “mini golf.”
I will never take pretend play for granted.
I am thankful for the random appearance of Caleb’s name on surfaces around the house.
He was here and everyone knows it.
Caleb has, for a very long time now, exhibited a love of “SCIENCE!” It started with a butterfly unit in preschool and has never really let up. This is one of those things I know would be exactly the same even without fragile X. This boy loves science, he loves the natural world, he fixates on animals and documentaries. Frozen Planet rocks his socks off, Walking with Dinosaurs stops him in his tracks and I cannot even describe the awesomeness of Myth Busters (BOOM!)
When we were writing the IEP that would take Caleb from Kindergarten to First Grade, we tried very, very, very hard to convince them that science would be a better idea for inclusion than math. The team didn’t buy into that and…well…Monkey proved us right.
The new team, awesome as they were, also didn’t buy into Science as a good time for inclusion. We instead ended up replacing math with Writing Workshop which was, in hindsight, an inspired choice. It was perfect for him.
I still thought he should be included during Science though. He loves it, he is calmed by it, he will focus on it. I understood the hesitation because they don’t get to see him choosing documentaries over movies, they don’t get to see him so enthralled with whatever amazing thing is unfolding in front of him that he forgets to eat. Like with many things, Monkey needed only a chance to be able to prove himself. That chance came last week.
Last week Caleb’s inclusion class did a hands on science activity about compost. And this is what happened…
Caleb’s teachers are now planning to include him with future hands on science activities. One of these days I think we might even convince them to let him study the solar system with the class too. Baby steps.
I am thankful to have discovered a passion,
even if it leaves me folding t-shirts endlessly.
I am thankful for pumpkin cheesecake.
Do I need an explanation for that??
I am thankful for my job,
not all of my co-workers have one this evening.
I am thankful for the amazing thoughtfulness and timing of my friends.
Thank you, Denise, I really needed this today!
