Weekend Games

We had a busy weekend with Abby's first soccer game &
Sam's baseball game.

Here are a few highlights:


Abby starting out as goalie



Big kick!

Lots of running in soccer

Sam & Coach Andy

Sam running the bases but not quite touching them.

This is how we'll be spending our Saturdays.

Divine Recipe

You know when you try something that is so different and delicious and then you can't remember what was in it and you don't have a recipe? That was me. Todd & I went on an Alaskan cruise in the summer of 2007 and they served this amazing cold oatmeal stuff for breakfast. It was so good. Since then, I've never found a recipe that was similar to it so I've just been left wanting....until now.

My cute cousin Annie posted this recipe on her blog and it sounded oh so familiar so I gave it a try and it is truly divine. Thanks so much Annie! Hope you don't mind that I am sharing it.

Alpine Muesli




1 c. milk

1 c. orange juice

1 small carton yogurt

honey, just squish some in

Combine the ingredients

add 1 1/2 c. oats

like this

all stirred up

Next add fresh fruit. I used fresh strawberries,

blackberries,

and grated apple (you can dice it if you want to).
Annie suggests not to use banana
watermelon or grapes,
they are too soft but you can add them on top when
this is served.
.

Next, add some chopped nuts, maybe 1/2 c. I used pecans because that's
what I had. Annie used hazelnuts.

Put fruit & nuts into oatmeal mixture

mix it up and refrigerate overnight or for however long you can wait.

It looks like this the next morning. VERY thick!

Spoon some into a pretty glass bowl and ENJOY! It is divine!

Thank you Annie!

Service Sunday

It's already the second Sunday of the month, our family's Service Sunday. The kids decided to take treats to our local fire department so after church today, I made two batches of cookies. Abby made a little card (forgot to get a photo) and we drove to the fire department. We were knocking on the wrong door but luckily one fire fighter was outside. We went in and met everyone and told them we appreciated all they did for us. They were happy to see us. There is always someone who knows Sam wherever we go and today was no different. One of the paramedics is the wife of one of Sam's baseball coaches. Small world!

One of the fire fighters gave the kids a tour but it was brief because a call came in.
We were there just a short time but had fun.


Cookies.....mmmmm


Checking out the fire engine

Paramedics leaving on a call

Kids & a firefighter

Thanks to all the EMS professionals who keep us safe!

The kids have decided that next month's Service Sunday we will be going to Sweetwater Creek for a hike and to pick up garbage along the trail.

Happy Sunday!

Ice Castles...

...minus the fall & blindness


Abby went ice skating for the first time on Saturday. Todd spent many, many hours of his teenage years playing hockey so he has experience but I think it has faded...he's getting old!

Abby & cousin Elizabeth


Daddy & Abby

Uncle Larry & Elizabeth

On the ice!

Justice for one and all

(photo courtesy of Jack E. Clay)

My friend Jenna & I started the Ga. Therapy Moms support group about 4 years ago and we've had a very good experience. We currently have about 80 parents on our email list. We've moved from monthly meetings to quarterly meetings to meeting at Monkey Joe's for Sensory Night. We are more so an email group and share info, etc. We have a great group of parents and we've seen more opportunities come to Douglas County for our kids...Adaptive Baseball, Special Pops Tennis & Sensory Night at Monkey Joe's. Parents have become more involved in our community and I think we are making a difference in the lives of families who have children with special needs.

It came to our attention about a year ago that some of our kids were being asked to leave Boundary Waters, the only indoor pool in the county that was paid for by taxes and the SPLOST fund. For a year, Jenna has been arguing with the director of Boundary Waters about the issues that parents have been dealing with and nothing has become of it...no resolution whatsoever. Now we are not asking to be coddled and given everything we want because we have special needs kids, we just want the law to be followed and some understanding on the part of the workers at the pool.

When we didn't get any resolution with the director, we went to the Chairman of the Douglas County Commissioner's office. Jenna scheduled a meeting and we met with him today. What we didn't know was that the director of the parks & rec dept. Mr. D. & his boss, Mr. L. we going to be in attendance.

We shared our concerns, had emails to prove children had been asked to leave, and really never came to much of a resolution. We feel like what we had to say didn't matter and they are going to bandaid the situation. We were just some silly moms who have nothing better to do with their time than cause problems. We did come up with some things to put in place and we are going to keep a very careful eye on the situation.

I just don't think they know who they are messing with.

I often wonder why we have to fight so hard for every little thing. We fight our insurance companies to pay for therapies & other important medical needs. We fight our school system for a fair education. We fight with people in the parking lot who are parked in a handicapped space who don't have the license or tag. We fight SSI who claims they overpaid us when the mistake was their fault (I won that one). We fight to get Medicaid so that we are not drowning in medical debt. We fight with the neighbor kid who likes to taunt and tease.

I hope to look back and say, I fought a good fight.

Recent Recipes

I have been trying some recipes from Pioneer Woman Cooks blog & they are sooo good! I love her recipes, photos and stories. I guess it's time to buy the cookbook. Here are a few of my favs so far:

Italian Meatball Soup

We all just LoVe this soup! It's full of veggies & yummy goodness



and you have to have breadsticks to top it off!

Another favorite is her Oatmeal Crispies recipe. I can't tell you how many compliments I get from this recipe. They truly are THE best oatmeal cookie ever. I do make one change...her instructions are to roll the dough into a log and keep in fridge. I don't do that, they get too dry so I just use a scoop and bake them immediatetly and let me just say, the are DiVinE!

Go check out her site! She is awesome...just like me!