Truly Scrumptious

One of Livie's favorite songs is Truly Scrumptious, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She sings it so darling, that I had to share it.

I have to throw a couple of Dylan's comments in as well. While we were watching conference this weekend, he looked at our prophet and said: "I like Thomas S. Monson. He gets me."

This morning I woke up with a cold, so I haven't been as on the ball as I normally am. I saw Dylan getting himself some fruit snacks out of the pantry. I was fine with it until I saw him trying to sneak a second pack. I tried to take it from him, but he was running and I couldn't chase him. When he saw that I gave up, he said: "Mom, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I had to run away. But I just really need these fruit snacks." How can you argue with that logic?

Teasing Fish

The last two days have been so funny to me. My kids have just been on their game. Here are a few examples:

Dylan: Come outside Livie, it is WINTER!
(This being said at 7:30 in the morning, when it is about 74 degrees.)

Livie: Running out of the bathroom yelling, I POOPED, I POOPED, when we had the missionaries at her house, eating dinner.

Dylan: I don't want the missionaries to come to dinner, I want Jesus to come.

Last, but probably the worst, our little mishap this morning.

I woke up to Dylan sitting on my bed with that look on his face. The first words out of his mouth were, "I did something bad to the fish tank." I knew what was coming. The last couple of days he has been trying to catch the little bugger. This is how the rest of the conversation went:
Me: What did you do Dyl?
Dyl: I caught the fishy, and he was squishy, and I put him in the big hole in the sink.
Me: Why, oh why did you do that?
Dyl: Because he was teasing me.
Later when I was brushing his teeth, he told me he was sorry he threw the fish in the hole. We scooped it up out of the disposal and gave him a proper burial in the toilet. Dylan thought it was great that he could "swim" in there now. I think this may be our last fish for awhile.

Autism Videos

I usually don't try to sell things on my blog, but I am going to put this out there for anyone who is interested. We bought the Floor time Videos about a year ago. They teach parents the best way to get your autistic child to interact with you and with others. There are about twelve videos in all, and an instruction manual. Jon and I bought the videos for $250.00, but we are selling them for $50.00. If anyone is interested, or knows anyone who would be, please let me know. They taught Jon and I so much, and I think the methods they taught have really worked for Dyl. And yeah, I know they are old school VHS's, but the DVD's were about a hundred dollars more.

Fourth Picture in the Fourth Folder

I saw this on a couple of people's blogs, and it looked like fun, so here it goes!

Rules: Open your pictures file, go to the fourth folder, and then the fourth picture. Post the picture and write a little bit about what was going on!

I love this picture of Jon and Livie. She has always been such a daddy's girl. As soon as he gets home from work, she doesn't even notice me.

September Birthday Party

This last Tuesday, some of the girls in our ward went to BJ's, to celebrate some birthdays. The Birthday girls that were able to make it were Janet, Kelly, and Emilee. I hope everyone had a great time, and a happy birthday. We missed everyone who was unable to make it.

Find Joy

I read the most incredible book the other day called The Brothers by Chris Stewart. It takes place in the pre-mortal existence. I read so many inspiring quotes, but there was one that completely stood out to me, and I have been focusing on that ever since. In this place in the book, our Heavenly Father is talking to three of his children and giving them advice:

"I am sending you to earth at a very treacherous time. Once you are there, you will forget everything. And the things you will deal with will seem so important to you. Your everyday problems will seem incredibly large-your work and your school, your family and friends, what to wear, how you look. Are you fat? Are you strong? Are you pretty? Are you smart? Do you make enough money? Do other people like you? Why weren't you chosen for a game or group activity? Why isn't life always fair? Worries such as these may consume you and take all your time."
"You may obsess with disappointments; you may put all your focus on the pain. It will be easy to forget that life is always good-that whether you are here or on earth, you are meant to find joy."
"So on quiet nights in the summer, when you are still and peaceful, I want you to look up at the heavens, the moon and the stars, so your spirit can remember these things I have shown you today. And if you do, you will remember, somewhere deep in your soul, that you are part of a heavenly family, a heavenly plan, something eternal and wonderful and incredibly large. You will remember that your family is up here cheering for you, that family is the only thing that matters, the only thing of any significance. And though your human language won't have words for the feelings I will place in your hearts, your spirit will remember and you will long to be with me again."

This passage has made me think of my own life and has helped me so much. I hope by sharing it, it helps one of you.

Pump It Up

Dylan's class, and a few other autistic classes went to Pump it Up together on Friday. It was so cute. All of these kids running around, and none of them were playing with each other. One of the Pump It Up employees brought out a red car, and the kids went crazy. Dylan commandeered the car, and whenever I made him share with the others, he followed them around on the hippity-hop ball, examining the wheels. It still amazes me to see how far Dylan has come. Some of the kids that had just started the program were standing there covering their ears and not playing. It reminded me so much of Dylan last year. His improvement is fantastic. He rarely covers his ears anymore.