Harry Potter Party

Saturday afternoon we had a birthday extravaganza for Hannah.  A few months ago we had decided on a swim party at our gym with a Harry Potter theme.  Hannah invited 19 of her closest friends.  5 of them were even boys.  Day of we had about 16 who could make it.  Three of the boys were unable to come.  Everyone immediately dove into the water.  Most had to take a swim test but only a few couldn't swim.  A few friends had a little trouble feeling lonely.  Its a bit tough to only know one person at a large party when you are only 9.  The kids had a blast swimming for an hour going back and forth between the big pool, the little pool, and the hot tub.  

After swimming we herded all the kids off to get into dry clothes then it was off to Hogwarts.  I had started planning the party part of the party months ago.  Thanks to Pinterest for all the ideas.  First off we had the cake screen printed by our local bakery and then I made the cupcakes to go around.  Hannah loved the Hogwarts shield representing all the houses.  I made each of the kids their own wands.  Each of the tables was decorated for the 4 houses and each had it's own theme.  Their was the chocolate frogs table, the potions table, the edible wands table and the dragon eggs filled with jelly beans table.   

Once we got all the kids lined up Hannah used a sorting hat and sorted all the kids into their houses.  Some of the kids hadn't read HP and so we had to explain the basic premise of it.  After sorting the kids gorged on pizza, cake, cupcakes, licorice, frogs and jelly beans.  They had a blast checking out all the tables, then just being goofy together.  

Group shot!  The kids are all sugared up and being really goofy.  They are a really great group of kids though that Hannah just loves.  Hannah got some really great and thoughtful gifts from her friends.  A few even found Harry Potter themed gifts that we hadn't ever seen.  It was such a fun day and I had such a blast planning it.  Hannah doesn't get a party except on odd years and she hadn't had a big party in years.  She certainly has had to deal with a lot in the past couple of years especially with all of Max's needs.  I was so happy to be able to give her the celebration she deserved .

Hannah J- 9 Years Old!

Our Hannah J. turned 9 today.  She has been so excited for her birthday.  Last year in single digits we told her next year she is just old.  Being an odd birthday Hannah gets party this year.  Woohoo!  We are having a blowout Harry Potter extravaganza swim party next Saturday.  She can't wait.  But for today it was all about our girl. 

Hannah as Professor McGonagall for book character day at schoo

 Last week Nana visited and took Hannah out to the American Girl Store.  They had lunch and did some shopping for new doll accessories.  Hannah loved it.  The whole restaurant even sang to her.  

 This morning when Hannah got up I had decorated her door as I do every year and laid a very large doggy pillow pet and a new t-shirt outside her room.  Downstairs Hannah got to enjoy cinnamon roll french toast on her new special plate(an idea I stole straight from Colleen(thanks Colleen!))  Last night I had given Hannah her new feather collection so she was already sporting two bright blue feathers in her very blond hair.  After getting her hair done she was off to school in her new t-shirt armed with ice cream sandwiches to share with the class.  Turns out one of her friends in class has the same birthday but he very nicely agreed to let Hannah celebrate first and will save his birthday treat for Wednesday.  What a nice boy.  Hannah got all sorts of weather for her birthday cold, rain, snow, and sun.  After school we went to PF Chang's for dinner.  Hannah wore her new white summer Shabbat dress even though it was cold.  She also got some new books, shorts, softball stuff, earrings and other gifts from family and us.  She had such a great day.

Hannah is a really special girl.  She is nine and has all the normal ups and downs of being an emotional girl.  Some days are hard and there are tears, but for the most part Hannah is awesome.  She is a hard worker, smart, helpful, happy, friendly and so much more.  She is the best big sister.  She lets the boys sneak in her room and play with her toys, she reads them stories and plays with them.  She has her moments when she doesn't want them in her space or touching her stuff but I can I understand that.  It's her stuff and her space and she needs that with two little brothers.  

Hannah works really hard at things she loves.  Piano, swimming, art, science, math and soon softball is starting for the season.  She has gotten so strong and improved so much this year.  Hannah gets great grades in school, is known to be a good friend, and even recently got a class award for always being ready for anything. Her teacher is tough this year but Hannah takes it all in stride and is doing awesome in school.  Hannah is our resident book worm.  I constantly have to tell her to stop reading and do what she is supposed to do such as brush her teeth and get ready for bed or school.  She reads all day long.  I love that she is such a bookworm and it seems to be rubbing off on her brothers.  

 Hannah can be sweet, spicy, sassy, stubborn, defiant and more but under it all she is so loving and she is so special to our family.  Her brothers just adore her and miss her so much when she is gone.  We are so blessed to have this awesome young lady as our daughter.  So sweet and mature she is ready to take on the world and the world can't help but fall in love with her.  She is counting the days til summer vacation: which means, the Conlins, Grandma, Grandpa, and two weeks at Camp Kalsman.  Its going to be an amazing summer.

Reassessment

We decided to have Max re-evaluated by the same doctor at the University of Washington Autism Center that did his eval last year.  We didn't really expect a change in diagnosis we just wanted to measure his progress and see if there were any changes that needed to be made to his therapies.  We did the same 4 visit format as last year.  First Dave and I met with the doc and went over everything we had been through in the past year.  All the therapy, glasses, tubes, sickness, everything.  Then the doc met with Max twice for two hours.  Dave or I were allowed to be in the room but had to stay silent unless she spoke to us.  It was tough since Max kept trying to interact with us.  The doc even got to see Max and Jakob interact which was really cool.  She said Jakob looks great even though she wasn't evaluating him.  Last Friday Dave and I went in and spoke with the doc again to get her new assessment.

Needless to say Max blew her away.  She was just so happy with everything we had done with him in the past year, how hard he has worked, and how much he has changed.  She went so far as to tell us that if you just look at Max on paper through standardized testing that he is no longer on the spectrum.  Where he comes to be on the spectrum is when you interact with him socially.  Max is so smart and academically he is more then ready for preschool.  Max works very hard, takes his therapy very serious, and he learns really fast.

 Where Max has trouble is he gets quite and doesn't know how to interact with his peers.  We are extremely lucky that Max doesn't act out or have any of the usual body tics or behaviors that can sometimes be part of having ASD.  Max tends to just get quiet and be by himself when he is in large groups.  He love interacting with his siblings and with us and all his therapists.  He watches other kids but doesn't know how to have a conversation or play with peers he doesn't know.  So we have a new plan of action called Socializing Max.  We aren't going to cut any of his current therapy as it is all still really important.  What we need to do is tweak it to make it more naturalistic and less academic.  We are already working with his therapists on this.  We told the doc that Max is registered for a neuro-typical preschool for next year.  She agrees this is right step.  She would like Max to have an aide in class to help him to not get lost socially.  Because he doesn't have behavior issues she is afraid the teachers won't see him as a problem and just leave him alone.  The Doc went so far as to suggest we start him in school now instead of September.  Unfortunately that can be tough to do mid year and Max still need to potty train which will come soon.  The other suggestion is that we have an ABA therapist come into our house to work on natural sibling play between Max, and Jakob and Hannah, and also between friends.  We already thinking about multiple options for everything.  We have his therapists rethinking some of the ways they teach and approach Max's learning and interactions and we will meet with his ABA team next week to talk options for home and school.

What we learned wasn't really much new information but a reinforcement of everything we already knew and were feeling in our hearts.  Max is an incredible little boy.  He constantly amazes us and all his therapists.  We are so proud of how hard he works and how much he has overcome already.  He has shown us an incredible potential for his life and now we are all racing to keep up with him.

Dave and I are so proud of our little guy.  We love him so much and are so thankful for the journey he has taken us on and all he has taught us so far.

Max we love you!  Congrats on your amazing year!

3rd Grade Concert!

Tonight was the 3/4 concert at Hannah's school.  Every year there is a theme.  This year was about making friends in a new place.  There was also this weird thread about a cat up the tree.  Anyway...Hannah was originally disappointed that she didn't get a solo but she was very excited to get a small acting roll with a good friend of hers at the beginning.  We were stuck in her school cafeteria this year so it was really crowded.  Dave and I had perfect seats to see her sing but not for the acting part and not great for the camera.  I took a couple of pictures and filmed the last song so that the grandparents could see their girl.  She loves to perform so much I am really not sure why she doesn't go into theater.  Hannah always wants to dress up and she even asked me to curl her hair and she put sparkles all over her face.  Looking at her so mature up there we are wondering when did our little girl get to be so grown up.  

Dessert at Starbucks after the concert!  

I love my Valentines!!

I had fun getting ready for Valentine's day this year.  It gave me an opportunity to use some of the fun ideas I have been saving on pinterest these past few months.  First up I made superhero valentines for the boys to give out.  For Hannah and her class I made capes with the kids first initials on them.  Hannah thought the girls would hate the superhero valentines so this was the compromise.  They turned out really cute.  I also made a fun heart garland to hang in the downstairs.  For this morning I got each of the kids a superhero t-shirt(Batgirl for Hannah, Batman for Max, and Green Lantern for Jakob), A new doggies, and a balloon.  On the back door I put up hearts each with someone's name and something I love about them.  I made Dave this fun deck of cards of 52 things I love about him.  It was a lot of fun to make.  When I got in my car this morning he had made me a fun CD to listen to.   We spent the day giving out valentines and the really yummy peanut butter, chocolate chip, raspberry surprise cookies I made.  They were so yummy.  We make a point to say I love each and everyday in this house but it's nice to have a special day to say and show it a few extra times.   

Batman was not in the mood for pictures this morning

Jakie and his new Woof Woof

Sassy Batgirl!

Love!

Green Lantern.  Also not in the mood for pictures.