I thought I'd do a post on Michael. He's getting to be quite creative and such a good big brother. :)
He's been cooking a lot! He's always been a good cook, but now I think he's better than I am! He makes pizza from scratch.
He loves Si, from Duck Dynasty :) But his all time favorite show is The Andy Griffith Show, we watch it EVERY DAY!
He takes good care of his little brothers and sisters....most of the time. ;)
He makes venison jerky totally on his own. I would have had no idea how to make this, but my 11 yr old can do it and it's SO good! :)
He loves the show 'Chopped' so we have 'Chopped' lunches around here sometimes :) He can put together a good soup in minutes.
Valentines Day :)
He loves to play bingo.
He especially likes to WIN at bingo :)
He took these plain squirt guns and 'Steampunked' them,
They turned out so cool!!
He plays so nicely outside with Toma, who is afraid of the snow.
He made these lemon drops one night, they were so good :)
And this hat...he took a plain purple felt hat...
Glued foam pieces to it....
Painted it... (he walked up to the hardware store in the snow to buy the paints to do this)
And Steampunked it! I loved the way it turned out.
More pizza, this time showing Alex how to do it too...
I don't know what this is, I found it on the camera ;)
Or this.
the leprechaun brought these cool glasses...
Flarp, his favorite :)
He made this entire turkey dinner by himself too...good thing I checked though, because he almost put it in the oven with the 'innards' bag and neck still in! Now that would have been an unpleasant surprise!!
Now if I can download it, I'll include a lego stop motion movie he made the other day, it's really neat!
Four years ago today we were in Ukraine meeting Artiom. 4 years!! I can hardly believe it.
These were taken last night, you can see how much he's grown and changed in the last 4 years. Although I think he will always be 'small'.
Now that's a big smile!
He normally isn't too fond of the camera, so it was nice that he actually wanted me to take these.
He's a handful alright....he's gentle natured, but I've learned in the last 4 years that raising a child with profound autism is not easy. I've learned to take it day by day.
I'm still trying to navigate around the blog/pictures since I haven't posted in so long I've forgotten how to! But here are a few pictures from the past year.
Christmas 2013
Sisters birthday fun :)
Very curious about his big sisters baby when they came to visit :)
His 9th birthday :)
And I'll end it with the only baby picture we have of him, along with his baptismal necklace that we were given at the orphanage.
Couldn't let the day go by without wishing my favorite North Carolinian a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Here she is here in Ukraine smooching my sweet Alexander :) And by the look on his face he didn't mind it too much.
If I would have been on the ball this year you'd be getting a live llama delivered to your door, you could just tie it to the shack behind your house and your boys could feed it just like on Napolean Dynamite ;)
There's always next year.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Today is Ollie's Golden Birthday...he was born 11 years ago today.
We will be celebrating his birthday by baking brownies and having a 'party' for him and releasing balloons in his honor.
I can't even tell you how many people miss this boy....but the ones that miss him most are really struggling...and need prayer. To see his family's blog and recent pics of Ollie's resting place...go to their blog at http://oliverpalmer.blogspot.com/
Please think of Ollie today...do something nice for someone in remembrance of him...pray for his loved ones that miss him so....
Happy Birthday Buddy!!! We love you!!!
Update on Toma :)
Things are going so much better! He's been home for 2 years...and I have to say, for much of those 2 years we didn't like each other too much ;)
But we are really seeing some changes in him lately...and I think a lot of it has to do with the supplements I'm giving him.
He's so much calmer, he doesn't stim AS much, he makes more eye contact, gets in less trouble..aka..hasn't flooded my kitchen, doesn't stick his head in the toilet and flush it 100 times a day...AND...for the biggest change...he's been GOING TO THE BATHROOM IN THE TOILET!!!!!! WHOO HOO!!!! This is HUGE!!!!!!!! He'll even come in from outside to go!!!
Oh, my life just got SO much easier.
Here is the list of what I put in his cereal once a day:
Fish Oil, Flax Oil, Ginkgo Biloba, Chlorophyll, Coconut Oil, Garlic, and Water Kefir. Sometimes I add some Vit.D and Iodine. I don't put the Kefir in it everyday either, but I should. I'm alway's 'tweaking' this concoction.
But I really think it's what's making the huge differences we're seeing in him. :) :)
Today is my baby's birthday...he's 5! So, ok...he's not a baby...but he's my youngest...so I guess he'll always be my baby :) He's such a sweet, gentle little soul. I'm so thankful for him.
AND.....2 years ago TODAY, we passed court in Ukraine...and Toma became a Lewandoski! YAY!!!
.JPG)
