Family

Family

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

First Beach Day








This past Saturday the little ones had their first experience at the beach here in California with actually playing in the water.While we were in Russia we took them to the beach near the Vlad Inn in Vladivostok but, it certainly was a different experience with the frozen sea there.The older boys wanted to go surfing and boogie boarding so we headed over to one of the surfer beaches pretty close to our home. What a joy it was to watch Brock and Milana experience another first. Brock was in beach heaven ! He loves the water and could not get enough of it. When the waves knocked him over he was still all smiles. Milana was a little more reserved but enjoyed the sand play. When she got wet she did not like getting dirty with the wet sand. I guess she is just all girl in that way.They both loved watching their brother Bryce and Papa surf.I am sure this will be only one of many beach days they will enjoy as they grow up as little Californians.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

blog to book






A friend of mine shared with me the site sharedbook.com which you can turn your blog into a book. You had a variety of choices from hard or soft cover, what cover design you like,and what posts you want to print. I was pleasantly surprised how nice it turned out. The paper and picture quality are really nice.It is definitely worth checking out if you have interest in doing a book to remember your experiences. It was really simple to do and much easier the scrap booking.(at least for me with seven kids)

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Autism Awareness


April is autism awareness month.When I had my first child almost 21 years ago I knew very little about autism.It was not until our son was almost 3 and diagnosed with autism that our lives changed forever.As a very young mother I did not expect this to be part of our world however, we became engrossed in learning all we could to help our son reach his full potential. Those who have autistic kids know the amount of patience, commitment, financial sacrifices, advocating,and stress it takes to help their children navigate through this world when the world does not understand theirs.

Strides are being made to help these kids and adults but, the reality is Autism does not go away when you get older. Autistic children grow up to be Autistic adults.Figures now show 1 out of 150 children have some form of autism.As a mother of an autistic son I would NEVER trade this experience of learning and personal growth. I can honestly say our son has taught us much more than we can ever teach him.That being said there is a great need for more awareness, education, research,support and most of all acceptance of those with differences. If you love someone autistic or challenged in some way you will know they are more like us then different.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011