Girls weekend part deux

Good morning, all! It is -5 degrees here right now! But, there was a beautiful sunrise that I praised God for on the way to school.

This weekend I went north to the "Lakehouse" to spend some time with my Grandma Clarke. We got together for a "girls' weekend" in the fall and both enjoyed it so much, I thought we should do it again...to break up this long winter. My parents' house was "closed up" while they are in Florida for 6 weeks, so I had to "turn it back on" so to speak, but it was worth it. It was so fun and peaceful. It was cold but sunny. We watched a movie, ate pizza, drank wine, talked....talked ...talked......played cribbage, which she beat me, both games!!! (that may have been the wine) No, she won fair and square. We played ping pong and read our books. It was very nice.

Not a lot new here....oh yeah, Craig's hours have been cut at work, so we are looking for ways to suppliment that pay. Please be praying that we will be wise and trusting in God. We aren't worried, just patiently seeking God's will. (always a new challenge for us to rise to) God will bless us and has carried us thus far. Thank you all for your consistent prayers for us. We need them! Til next time!

Kids are funny...

Good morning friends and family. I have aquestion to send out to the cosmos...at what age to children stop enjoying being naked? My younger son loves it. Of course it fits his personality...he's a little wood nymph for sure...magical, whimsical, LOVES TO BE NAKED! Here's proof.....

...he thinks nothing of climbing onto Craig's shoulder in all his glory. As you can see from Craig's face, he can hardly believe it either.

Anyway, enough of that. Heath has a pajama party today at school. He's soooo excited about it. When he found out Monday, he wanted to wear his pjs until Wed., so he wouldn't forget...to get ready.....he's cute. Jack has been fighting a cold/ear infection for 4 months, that we are hoping he is finally coming out of. Ugh. He went to the orthodontist yeaterday and we are still waiting to do any work on his mouth to correct his lower jaw, which is growing faster than his top (think Jay Leno). He goes back in in July. We are starting to read "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"; I'm hoping he'll enjoy it.

Hope you're all staying warm. Spring will be here soon. Love you all!

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Greetings from snowy Grandville, Michigan. We are in the single digits here and have lots of snow! I believe God provides the snow to cover up the ugliness of winter. Let's get to the topic at hand....today is my brother, Scott's birthday!

He'll probably role his eyes when you wish him a happy birthday today...but I know deep inside he's happy you remembered ; )! Scott is loyal. Fiercely loyal. He is sensitive, much like my dad. He is the funniest person I know. I usually pee my pants at least once when we get together. (especially since the babies were born) He loves the outdoors. He loves music and movies, like me. He is a veracious reader and most people don't know this, but was accepted to an ivy league school when he applied for colleges his senior year of high school. He's wicked smart. (I always wished I was more like him in that way) He's a man's man....and he's great at business. (to quote"Tommy Boy", which I think we should all be in practice of doing, "he could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman wearing white gloves")! It's true. He's gotten me to do a lot of things...just by pure suggestion..."come on! you're better at vacuuming than I am...!" Scott has a lot of friends. For a person who doesn't enjoy crowds, he's very social...and good with people. Everybody respects Scott. Including me. I love you, big brother. Happy birthday!

Back in the swing of things....

Hello friends and family....time to take a walk with the Tamlyn boys (through the eyes of their mom).

We got the report back from Jack's psychologist and the news is good. I'll try to keep it simple for the report is several pages long. Basically, Jack is keeping his autism spectrum diorder diagnosis...although he falls on the "Atypical autism" (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) pdd-nos catagory. He fell on the "likely range" for Asperger's and "unlikely range" for autism. That's confusing, I know, since his diagnosis didn't change. The reason for that is, his doctor thinks he will likely continue to remediate and make progress and that neither diagnosis is neccesarily appropriate. The problem with autism (besides the obvious) is that it has many faces and many symptoms....

In a nut shell, he thought Jack was at a 4 1/2-5 1/2 year old level socially. Which we agreed with, and are pleased with, considering his original diagnosis 4 years ago. Obviously Jack is at an 8-10 year old level in other areas (although those areas are not nearly as important to us). So, with that said, we are having him evaluated again by the school district to see what services he qualifies for. He won't qualify for AI (autism impairment) services, thankfully, but he still has obstacles that have to do with OCD, GAR (general anxiety disorder) and ADHD... his doctor felt he certainly has the first two, but thought as he matures those may fade away....and if not, we are to have him tested for ADHD. He is already on meds for anxiety.

By the end of Feb. Jack will be re-evaluated through the school district and given an IQ test to see how we progress from here. Our goal is to do what's best for Jack and make education as enjoyable and productive as possible. Also, we have tried veering off the extremely strict diet Jack is on, but we are afraid it isn't agreeing with him very well. That is still a work in progress.......he will be seeing a specialist in Grand Rapids, Dr. Denboer, Feb. 3rd, who is another holistic medicine doctor. We would like to get a fresh set of eyes on him and discuss treatments, including diet and possibly chiropractor manipulation. I'll keep you posted on all that.

Here some photos and video. I know you've missed seeing Heath (the one man band) so here he is

And here are a couple pix of my parents visiting yesterday....on their way to Pennsylvania to visit their friends the Allens. Thanks for taking down our Christmas lights, Dad. See you guys in Fla. in 4 weeks!

Til we meet again, thanks for logging on and checking in with my family.