Taking the Scenic Route

From the 24th

Zora helping make the cherry pie filling (before the stove got hot, btw). I hope to post a video of this later because it was really cute.

Gingerbread People and Gingerbread Houses for Santa, cooling off from the oven. (the cooling rack is over some of the freshly made fudge…I was running out of counter space for hot things)

Helping make the bread

Happy Anticipation as they get ready for bed, hang their stockings, and put out the cookies and milk.

Neither of them could get to sleep, they were too wound up. It was too short of a night for the parents. (Although I did have a glass of wine, and I determined that is a new Christmas tradition I might have to continue…so much less stress. lol)

From the 20th

The annual “Christmas Cookies with Grandma” was a success, as usual. Mom said it actually went smoother this year because Zora was much more able to participate. Everybody had fun. (including mom and dad who went out on a date while Grandma was here).

Grandma’s secret cookie recipe

Santa Came!

Discovering the stockings

In true Zane style (and Zora follows his lead on this), he explores each thing before moving on to the next thing. It is really nice that they savor each gift, but means there is no frenzied gift unwrapping, and it takes him a good hour to go through his stocking alone, longer if we didn’t encourage him to return to the stocking. The main gifts take about a half hour in between each gift most of the time.

Here is Zane enjoying the sparkly spinny thing at the top of his stocking. One of those toys that seems were made for autistic people.

The stockings disasembled

Grandma, Grandpa and Steve arrive and we pull out all of the snacks. Since it takes the kids so long to open things, we decide not to have the meal sitting around the table, but just enjoy the snacks until the Six Cheese Crabmeat Lasagna is ready and eat at our leisure while watching the merryment.

The gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Beautiful musical snow globes. The both loved them, and Zane put his up on the TV stand and stopped to look at it througout the afternoon. They both play “You are my Sunshine”, a song my mom always sang to me, and I sing to them. Perfect.

The gift that made Zora clap with happiness, a Mustang from Uncle Steve.

Of course, it takes a mechanical engineer and a set of tools to get it out of the box. (good thing we have both)

Zora got some “Fancy Nancy” books and dress up clothes. Instead of putting them on herself, she wanted to dress daddy in them. He was ok with the tiara, but drew the line at fairy wings.

Zane examines the Mario Bros. Monopoly game (he also got a Labryinth game that he studied for a long time)

A little food break here:
Six Cheese Crabmeat Lasagna (we used to make it as Manicotti, but Lasagna is much easier)

The snacks, including some Cheesy poof things from Hillbilly Housewife…they were the texture of pie crust, with a lot of cheesy goodness. I think if we would have frozen them first they would have been more ball shape, but they melted before they got a crust on them so they looked more like cookies. You can’t eat just one. We also had some bone-in ham (made last night), summer sausage, cheese, bread, crackers and the requisite candy and cookies. (not pictured, the green beans how my grandma made them, with bacon and flour schmutz.)

We also had a cherry pie. I was planning on sending cherry pies home with people, but for some reason, only one of my five pie plates were in the cabinet. (all of my guests seemed to remember that they were in their kitchens, after previous pies sent home), so I used a big pan that my mom sent with us one time to make the last “pie” with all the crust on the top. lol. She didn’t seem to mind taking her pan home “dirty” at all. We also made three batches of fudge and sent home a batch with each family.

Both kids got Morphibians, remote control cars that can, theoretically, handle water. Zane played with it later, once it was calmer, but Zora was ready to dig right in. If it didn’t listen to her, she would scold it and point which direction it was supposed to go, and then pick it up and move it. Grandpa and Uncle Steve helped her learn how to steer it.

Finally, we got to the big gift. I was taking video so there aren’t any picture of opening it, but it was a wii, some accessories, and a few games. Zane was VERY excited. Zora kept thinking every package was meant for Zane and would deliver the item to Zane with a “here ya go Zane”. We played Mario Kart and some of the Wii Sports game it came with. It was a BALL! We have played with it every day since. It was a hoot to watch people playing, and we spent the rest of the day taking turns on the wii.

Steve’s gift to Zane was “Paper Mario” for Wii. When Zane opened it, he actually commented ” Awesome!” after opening it, the first time we had ever heard him say that. He was VERY excited about the game.

Not pictured directly (although probably in the background) are the gifts from Grammie Z: a Breyer’s stable/cafe (yeah, weird combination, but Zora loves it) for Zora, and the “Outbreak” game that Zane has been eyeing for several months.

An incredibly fun Christmas for all. One of the most relaxed Christmases in recent memory.

They had a party for the kids. Crafts, games, cookie decorating, Santa, and meeting up with friends, both other families we know and therapists that have become friends over the years. It was fun.

Zane was super excited to meet Santa and headed right to him as soon as we got there. He told us before he got there that he was going to ask Santa for “a box of play-doh and a wii”. He said it very quietly to Santa, so we are glad we asked him before what he wanted. lol.

Santa gave him a sticky ball and told him to throw it against a wall, so the first thing he did was go around searching for a wall to throw it against.

Eventually, Santa threw it up to the ceiling for him and he waited for it to come back down, giggling as it slowly slimed down the wall and then released.

Unlike Zane, Zora was a bit wary of Santa and wanted to do stuff first, but kept glancing over to Santa as the evening progressed.

She was still a little shy, but eventually wanted to talk to Santa.

Then we were goaded into a photo. *snort*

Zane found a ceiling he could get the ball onto and Zora was able to decorate a whole second cookie while we waited for it to come back down before we could leave.

The Christmas Pagent at Church was after the worship service this Sunday. My parents and brother all came up to go to the church service (we were having an orchestra and choral music “Moods of Christmas” thing…our church has a lot of professional musicians and it is just spectacular when they do stuff like this) and to watch the kids at their first ever Christmas Pagent.

Honestly, my kids were the most challenging; Zora because she was the youngest (and pretty spirited too), and Zane because it was chaotic and difficult for him. However, both of them made it through with no meltdowns and I am happy that they were able to participate. I was really impressed by the other kids who helped my kids out so much by taking their hands and helping direct them when they couldn’t figure out their cues very well. I really like this group of kids a lot and am continually impressed with their maturity and acceptance.

They were absolutely adorable in their costumes. Somehow the scrape on Zora’s chin just seemed to add to the ironic charm of her costume.

Gathering around for “Away in the Manger”. In rehearsal that morning Zora was quite upset when they took away baby Jesus to reset the scene and wanted to know “Where Baby Jesus?” over and over.

After this scene is when they are supposed to line back up, ready to sing “Joy to the World” and “Christmas Truth”, but this is where my pair went off script. Zora wouldn’t leave baby Jesus and was in the back, guarding the manger, and Zane’s headpiece came undone, and he tried to get it back on his head but couldn’t get the headband on it and it kept falling off his head (looked like a dinner napkin on his head at this point). This disoriented him and he started walking across the stage, up to the second microphone, and was just starting to talk into the microphone as I reached him, took his headpiece and told him to “go back to your x” in his ear (we had an “x” marked on the stage where he was supposed to stand). He did (thank goodness), and the play ended just fine (the leads were focused enough that they didn’t seem affected by Zane’s detour)…welll, except that Zora stood in between the lines (one of the older girls had gotten her away from the manger, but she wouldn’t go back up to where her “spot” was), but she was singing and doing the actions. If I would have had a camera, I could have gotten great pictures of her singing from side stage. lol.

edited to add: a link to mom’s account of the day: Littlest Angel

Open the box, put on the hats

She was delighted when she saw the “Christmas Costumes”

Tree top

He wanted this up high, so Zora couldn’t reach it. I am just glad he decided this wasn’t a good idea instead of trying to lean over to put it on the tree from the top of the desk. lol.

Angel with the Angel

The season has officially begun!

It was a great day.  Family and food and fun.  It was a day that the photos just don’t do it justice…it was so much better.  The kids were both happy and excited and couldn’t wait to open all the presents.  We let them open the Santa gift and the stockings, and eventually let them open Grandma & Grandpa Z’s gift because they were about to lose it waiting for Grandma & Grandpa S and Steve & Joy to arrive.  Those gifts helped entertain them until the group got here.

There were two cooking mishaps…our Six cheese crabmeat lasagna and mom’s potatoes & carrots weren’t quite ready when everything else was, but we were all starving, so we just started.  We had roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn with cream cheese, green beans and bacon, and fresh rolls.  We decided to have dessert later because we were all full, so we laid out the two cheesecakes, the black walnut pie, the apricot pie, the homemade fudge, the cookies, and the candy on the table and snacked on that and the lasagna through the rest of the afternoon/early evening. 

After eating, the frenzy began.  It was a lot of fun.  Zach retreated to the kitchen for a while because it was a bit too much for him at times, but he popped in and watched as he cleaned in there.  The rest of us were right in the middle of the malay and everybody enjoyed the fun.

In addition to the main celebration, as my folks were leaving, Robert’s family came over for the kids to exchange gifts.  A few minutes after they left, Zach got to talk to each of his parents.  

 It was a wonderful and busy day.  In the evening it took a while for the kids to wind down as we played and enjoyed the leftovers.

I hope everyone had as wonderful of a Christmas as we had!

We went to the candlelight service at Church.  Zora made it through the first quarter of it, but I had to get Zach to come retrieve her during the children’s story because she would not leave the pointsettias alone.  When she started going for the advent wreath, Zach came and got her so I only had Zane up there.  I pulled him up off the floor (he was laying down *sigh*) and onto my lap and the rest of the children’s time was pleasant for us and I had time to realize that, despite the fact that I was originally the only parent up there to “help” my kids, there were now several more and the kids were causing more havoc than mine.  That made me feel less idiotic.  (because for about 2 veeeery long minutes I had one that was laying on the floor and the other that was like a little tornado in curls up there, and I felt like the worst parent in the world.) 

The other problem was continuing through the service.  Zane was having a problem sitting still (there was no children’s church service and the service was “advertised” as being kid friendly and kids of all ages were encouraged to participate) and at one point, while trying to arrange himself in his chair, he used the seat in front of him as leverage for a short bit and as he was pulling his legs back towards himself the lady in the chair turned around and grabbed his feet to shove them away faster and hissed “thank you” about three times in a row.  I was so shocked that I didn’t even respond.  I was watching him and he literally just barely touched the back of the seat and wasn’t kicking or anything, just touched it.  She spent the rest of the service shooting us daggers and mumbling.  lovely. (Ironically, she was louder and more distracting than he was, and she was the grownup) He really was doing pretty well IMO, just wiggly with the occasional very quiet comment.  (he almost never talks at the ‘normal’ talking volume, he is very quiet, although the excited comment of “fire!” when he saw the candles did make me giggle a little)  As I looked around the sanctuary there were several other kids in the same age range that were actually standing up and far more active and talkative, and we were actively working with him to help him remember that he needed to sit and be quiet.  Thankfully, most of the service was singing and that was better for Zane.  I was in too good of a mood to really let it bother me at the time.  In retrospect I was really annoyed at the lady though.  Not exactly the picture of Christian charity there.  (plus, I felt like “if they only knew how much worse it could be” and just wanted to kick her for being so intolerant.  Church is hard enough without commentary from the peanut gallery)

After the service we went by Heartsprings to see the “Lights on the Lake“.  After we went through it, Zane asked to go again, so we did.  He loved it!  He was talking about all the different lights as we went past and really doing an amazing job of commenting about them.  After that, we went home and I tried to get a few pictures of them in their church clothes (got ‘outtakes’, but no ‘postcard’ pictures) and then we baked some gingersnaps.  I put the dough in balls and each of them helped roll them in sugar.  Well, more accurately, Zane rolled, Zora squashed.  Zane’s turned into cookies, and Zora, although enthusiastic and having fun, ended up creating ‘playdough’.  lol.  It was fun.  Over the course of the evening we made fudge, a black walnut pie (like pecan pie), two cheesecakes, and an apricot pie.  I need a different crust recipe though because they end up being “patchwork style” crusts.  We also prepped the potatoes, made the crabmeat lasagna & a breakfast casserole so we just had to put them in the oven to bake in the morning.

In the middle of the baking/cooking, we gave the kid’s baths, then we sat down to read the Christmas Story and “The night before Christmas” and hung their stockings.  It was sweet.  Zora had trouble hanging hers, so Zane helped her.  Then we got some of the freshly baked cookies on a plate and put out some milk for Santa and put them to bed.

Right before bed we finished wrapping the presents (we had wrapped most of them the night before, but still had the books and a few random gifts), and then set the scene for the morning.  It was nice.  We were exhausted, but very happy and excited for the morning.

The “outtakes”

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

more later about a great Christmas day.

I am just so happy and excited this holiday season.  Not a smidge of depression.  Nada.  I am so grateful for all of our blessings and full of the spirit of the season.

Even a trip to Walmart today couldn’t dampen my mood.  I parked way out, as far as a person can park from the store, literally, because I was by myself and the lot was so crowded (the traffic was backed up to even get into the parking lot) and I knew that others needed to be closer.  It was a long walk, through slush and snow pack.  The store was insanely crowded.  I have never seen anything like it in my life.  Now I know why I have always avoided shopping on Christmas Eve Day.  Shopping for my list took me two hours…it wasn’t that long of a list either.  Originally I was going to go to another store for a few items, but decided to just make due with “regular” green beans and forgo the BOGO on potatoes.  Not worth it. 

The funny part came when I tried to get back to my car.  What was an obstacle course walking became impossible with a cart full of groceries.  Carts need snow tires.  I finally had to just walk my cart down the middle of the rows where the cars drove, and I wasn’t the only one.  It was car – car – cart – car – car – car – cart -… and traffic was so slow that I kept getting the cart stuck in the snow ridges because I couldn’t get momentum going.  All the ice water puddles I was able to avoid walking in to the store I had to go through trying to get back.  Ankle deep ice water in clogs.  brrrrrrrrrr.  squish.   And I was in such a good mood that I was laughing at the ludicrous scene I was inevitably making as I was dealing with a cart sliding around on the ice and through the snow and noticed that other people stuck in their cars watching me in the ridiculous situation laughing along.  Upon arriving home, I had to undress at the front door to keep from tracking in muddy pants and watered shoes.  It was a trip. 

Getting ready to prep the food for tomorrow, go to the candlelight services tonight and wait for bedtime so we can finish wrapping the gifts.  I can’t wait.  I think I might have problems sleeping tonight.

Play time!

His last day of the semester at the university speech therapy.  If I am able to I want to upload a video of this because you have to hear it to understand how crazy this picture actually is.  They are trying to get the kids to play “Go Fish” with no visual supports.  It is a study in echolalia with rather dizzying results.  (sort of a “Who’s on First” experience)  She is a bit older than Zane, but they are at a similar level.  She is very chatty though where Zane is pretty quiet.

Party Time!

At one of Zane’s friend’s birthday party last week.  It was at a place called “Pump it Up” and had these huge inflatable play structures.  Zora has no fear and was trying to climb the ladder to the really big slide by herself and didn’t want to wait to get settled to go down.  Zane took a bit longer to warm up to the big slide, but at the end, he didn’t want to stop.  lol.

Grandma Time!

This week Grandma came up with lots of goodies to play with:  paint, stickers, markers, giant pieces of paper and little notebooks.  (oh, and food…spaghetti, always a hit).  For the first time, Zora wasn’t the least bit hesitant for Mom and Dad to leave.  She was yelling bye-bye at us when we picked up the keys and seemed delighted that she was going to get some Grandma time.  Zane, as usual, was quite happy too. 

After they played with that, they decorated Christmas cookies with candy.  Zane ate most of them right after he decorated them, but at least he ate the whole cookie.  Zora kept licking the toppings off and leaving the cookie. 

The both sacked out shortly after Grandma left.  She wore them out.