Are You Ready for a Good Time?

I was going to post this tomorrow but I'm so excited that I'm posting it now!!!

No, I'm ready for a GREAT time!!

Why?

You see, this weekend is THE 2ND ANNUAL FLORIDA KEYS SOUTHERNMOST SURFERS FOR AUTISM BEACH FESTIVAL!!!!

This is the first time that I am participating in a Surfers for Autism event and I cannot wait.

Instead of participating as the parent of a participant, I am going to volunteer. Hopefully next time I can do it with my kids!

What can you expect from a Surfers for Autism event?

"At a SFA event, our surfers are provided a safe environment where two to four highly skilled and trained surf instructors carefully guide them into waves. Our surfers and their families are treated like rock stars and enjoy a day filled with a range of activities including stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, live music, face-painting, games, bounce houses, fire engine tours and much more. A catered lunch is also provided, all at no cost. This is a very special day where children with ASD interact with typical peers and wow families with their capabilities. These events are examples of inclusion at the highest level." - Source: surfersforautism.org

This is amazing!!!

The smiles are going to be brighter than the stars in the sky.

The laughter is going to ring louder than the sounds at the Sydney Opera House.

The love is going to grow.

Friendships are going to be made.

And most of all, miracles are going to appear before our eyes.

Check these videos out, make sure you have some tissues first.




 If you are ever considering a charity to support, this is the one!!

Find them online at
http://surfersforautism.org/

Find them on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/surfersforautism

I promise to share my fun with you next week!

Dancing with reckless abandonment

What is this crazy woman talking about now? She's up, she's down, now she's dancing?!?

Well, on Facebook I saw a link to BigVision Business and this this is what came up.

How many times have we done that as kids/teenagers?

I remember singing into my brush and jamming out to Debbie Gibson in my younger days and Greenday in Middle School and Ricky Martin in High School. I threw some Mambo No. 5 into the mix every once in a while too.

I remember seeing Princess jamming out like this on the bed while playing Guitar Hero to Tom Petty's Running Down a Dream.

Sometimes we need these little bits of energy and action in our lives to shake away the negatives and just remember that we are alive and need to lighten up.

Imagine doing this with all your kids?

Now that would be fun!! How about getting your kids to do it to?!?

Hmmm...sounds like a challenge....

We'll see.

What was your dancing with reckless abandonment song when you were younger? Do you still do it?

Positive Note: Yesterday I received an email from Bug's teacher which said 

"Good morning! Just an update: Bug is doing GREAT!!! He won 2nd place in our class

for Elocution yesterday.  He received a ribbon and we are very proud of him.

Also, interims are going home tomorrow and he has all A's and B's." 

This is one proud mommy right here!!!! This is a FULL MAINSTREAM class!!! His last report card he made honor roll but that was a mix with his ESE and Mainstream class...this quarter is all based on his mainstream class and he looks like he is headed in the same direction. I'm so proud!!!  See look I'm dancing with reckless abandonment over here!!

Resources Put To No Use

I know not everyone who reads this will understand but I'm putting it out there in case you do.

There is a wealth of resources out there! Its amazing how much information one can learn about autism and how our children think, see the world. It's just overwhelming sometimes.

I continuously read and research and find new ways that turn on the light-bulb in my head and go "That sounds like him!" or "That is so her!" or the most common "Wow! I never thought of it that way."

I wish I could take all this information that I find and use it.

The problem is that I can't.

I see my children for such small amounts of time that I am rushing around just trying to feed them, spend enough time with each of them, cleaning up after them, cleaning them, changing their clothes that by the time I look at the clock, its time to take them back to their dad and its a struggle to get them in to the car because the little ones don't want to go and the older ones are indifferent.

I hate this feeling.

I am a mom.

Their mom.

I have so many ways to help them but I can't.

I am not let into their lives except to have visitation with them.

Every time I ask a question or state an opinion, it is not considered because that is not part of the plan.

I hate that plan.

I hate everything about it.

It makes me feel like an outsider.

I feel like there is so much that my children are capable of and they have the world at their finger tips but I can't give them the access to it.

I'm a fighter. An advocate for their futures.

But I feel like a failure.

I can't make the changes that I need to because it will cost me about the same as a divorce.

I don't have that kind of money. I didn't even have it during the divorce.

That has been taken advantage of.

I'm kept in the dark.

My children are kept in the dark.

There is so much that they need and I know it but my hands are tied.

I can help them. I know I can. But I just can't.

Until the time comes, I will continue to research. Continue to learn.

Continue to fight.

Hopefully it won't be too late.