I’m so glad you stopped by and hope you will return soon. My name is Angi. I am married to Tim. We have two boys, Little T (7) and Drama King (6). When I first started blogging, I used it as a means to record our family’s milestones and share the ups and downs of Little T’s Apraxia with our family and friends. The beginning of this year, I decided to branch out and have been actively seeking out readers.

Before you head off, make sure you check out my current giveaway and get in your early entries for Blogmania. Also, make sure you come back on Sept 15-16 and check out Blogmania where we will be giving away at least 3 prize packages valued at $50 or more.

A while ago, ProBlogger set a challenge to look through our blog to create 7 posts that are important to the blog. Read my 7 posts here.

Here is how you can join!
1. Subscribe via email to the hostesses (slots 1-5) and leave them comment letting them know so they can return the favor).

2. Add your blog to the list below.

3. Grab the Subscriber Wednesday button and add it to your blog or to a post.

4. Subscribe to as many blogs as you want and if anyone subscribe to you, return the favor. (leave them a comment to let them know you subscribed)

Just add your link one time and it will show up on all 5 hosts sites.

You might also like:

• It’s Cool To Homeschool Blog Hop
• Celebrating The Little Things In Life
• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)
• Sunday Stealing

If you are joining us from the blog hop, WELCOME! My name is Angi. My husband, Tim, is a ghost writer on here, too. We have two terrific boys, Little T (7) and Drama King (6). Little T led us down the homeschooling path when public school was unable to met his unique needs. He has Apraxia (speech disorder) and unofficially diagnosed with ADHD. So he is a ball of energy that is understood only 25% of the time. His dream job would be a professional wrestler. Drama King, on the other hand, is neurotypical and very bright. He aspires to be a million things. Earlier this year, he wanted to be a architect. Just last week, he wanted to be actor. Today, he says he wants to be an animal doctor. It’s been an interesting journey with these two guys.

As for homeschooling, we do not follow a curriculum.  We are life learners, unschoolers, or whatever else you prefer to call it. Learning is all around us and we provide the tools for our boys to find learning in everything. Does that mean we don’t pick up curriculum from time to time? Of course not. We provide whatever method works for each child. Homeschooling has allowed us to provide stuff early for Drama King and hold stuff back until Little T is ready without the fear that Drama King becomes bored (as I did in school) or Little T learns to hate learning all together (as my brother did).

I hope you’ll stick around for a bit. I’ve got a lot going on behind the scenes because we just got back from our mini vacation. Some giveaways are coming. A handful of reviews including an educational site. Oh and make sure you bookmark or follow us so you don’t miss Blogmania, a two day giveaway extravaganza. We will have multiple prize packages each valued over $50 and you can hop around all the other Blogmania blogs and enter to win all of their prize packages. Blogmania prizes all combined is already over $30,000. Maybe you win one prize, maybe you win a couple prizes, but I can almost guarantee you will find a blog that you didn’t know existed but cannot stop reading.

I’m heading off to bed but will be hopping around the other blogs tomorrow.

You might also like:

• Organized The Boys’ Computer Nook
• Celebrating The Little Things In Life
• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)
• Sunday Stealing

These are the little things that a parent of a special needs child celebrate as a huge victory. A couple years ago, I wasn’t sure if Little T would celebrate this milestone before he turned 10. Then, Tim and I found out that our local parks and rec offered adaptive swim lessons. We immediately enrolled him in swim lessons and picked up brand new swim trunks for him. After his first two weeks, we decided to take a two week break because he was a little overwhelmed by the first two weeks. He is now entering his second two week session and he’s loving it.

Drama King has traded in his baby floaties for…Yep, you guessed it, Noodles! Why are those things so much fun in a pool? On Monday, Drama King and I joined up with our local unschooling group for a after dark pool party, although it didn’t get dark until after we left. We took one of Drama King’s favorite snacks – Frozen Gogurts – to share with our friends. I swam and helped him practice his swimming kicks. I borrowed a couple noodles from the kids and decided at the end of the evening that he MUST have his own set and maybe we could get some for Little T. I guess I’ll be watching those for clearance since stores are starting to thin out their summer stuff now.

In other baby news, Erica and Tony had their sonogram a few days ago and found out they are expecting a baby GIRL! They are thrilled because now they’ll have a boy and a girl to round out their family. Erica is planning on getting her tubes tied after the birth so no more unexpected surprises like this little girl was for them.

Tony’s family has taken on the party planning for her baby shower. I’ve offered to help out as needed but planning a party for that many people would be a huge undertaking for me at this time. I am searching for ideas to pass on to them so comment and share your favorite baby shower party ideas.

You know you’re a mom when…

• You celebrate the first time your child blows bubbles in the swimming pool because you know it means he’ll be swimming soon.
• You celebrate the fact that someone else is joining the special division of parents with more than one child because you know their world is about to change forever!
• You sit down to write ‘You know you’re a mom’ and all you can think about is all the stuff you need to do for your children, like setting out swim attire because you have a doctors appointment and someone else (read: Grandma Cindy) is going to have to ready the child or ensuring the sleepy child is actually awake because he’s slept too long already.
• You’re brand new smart phone has a Winnie The Pooh background, Scooby soundboard, Mario tic-tac-toe, and many learning games just to keep your children entertained and learning in the event you ever run out of interesting stuff to do. Because you want to be prepared and you’d NEVER run out of interesting stuff and really HAVE to use the phone to entertain them, right? {insert evil laugh}

You might also like:

• Organized The Boys’ Computer Nook
• Wordless Wednesday – What’s Wrong?
• I Want…Language
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• Wordless Wednesday

I cannot count how many times Tim has asked me to go in there and find something that he cannot find. I decided I would label places and give everything a home. There was and still is a bucket on the floor that does not belong in the closet but it doesn’t belong anywhere else at the moment either.

Before

Everything was just thrown into the closet. You can tell that I made a vague attempt at organizing into bins or containers but just gave up at some point. Now that we’re using coupons to stock up on items when we find things at great prices, I really needed to have a place to keep those items and make them easily accessible to Tim and the boys.

After

I put the toilet paper and kids towels on the bottom shelf where the boys would be able to reach them. I put the face, hand towels, and our towels on the next shelf. Can you tell it’s towel laundry day since we only have two left? The next shelf working up has the hair care, flushable wipes, teeth products and body products. Working upwards, the next shelf has my foot massager, first aid products, bath products, and medicine. Each of those are in containers so they are easy to bring down to get something. The top shelf has soap and cleaning supplies. And yes, a stray mouthwash which Tim got down for me and put in the teeth supply area after the photo was taken. And I put away the rest of the toilet paper that was sitting in the hallway earlier.

Now, everything has a home and is easily found. Plus, Tim and I can easily glance into the closet and see if we are low on certain items.

You might also like:

• Organized The Boys’ Computer Nook
• Post It Note Tuesday
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)
• Sunday Stealing
• Saturday 9

The Questions
1.If you had 5000.00 to spend on plastic surgery what would you have done? Probably nothing. Although I’ve thought about having a breast reduction.
2. Do you watch Soap operas and if so what is your favorite and why? Never have watched those shows.
3. Favorite clothing brand? Whatever is on sale. I’m not much of a clothes girl.
4. An afternoon shopping spree at your favorite store or maid service for a year? Maid service.
5. Would you ever vajazzle? No way. Seems pointless.
6. Favorite Disney Princess? I probably couldn’t name that many so to choose would be odd. The only one I can think of is Ariel, is she even a princess? Can you tell I don’t have a daughter and am not much for the girly stuff.
7. Last movie that made you bawl your eyes out? It takes a lot for my to cry so it’s probably been years since a movie made me cry.
8. Have you ever broken any bones and if so what? Never broke a bone.

You might also like:

• Sunday Stealing
• Sunday Stealing: Speed Dating
• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Saturday 9
• Menu Plan Monday

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?
If the cart corral is nearby. In high school, I was one of those kids collecting carts so I know how annoying it is to collect them in this 100+ temperature.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener?
Listener. I love just listening to people. It’s amazing how much you can learn just by listening.

4. What was the last compliment that someone gave you?
Drama King tells me that “I’m the bestest mom that a kid could have” all the time.

5. Do you play the lottery?
Rarely. Once in a while, Tim and I pick up a few scratchers and we’ve picked up a couple lotto tickets on rare occasions.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, who would you want with you?
One of those guys that you see on surviving the wilderness shows. I doubt Tim and I have enough knowledge between the two of us to survive for very long so I’d have to pick someone much more knowledgeable than Tim.

7. Do you like to ride horses?
I had a pony when I was a kid and loved riding her. I never got into horse riding as I got older.

8. Did you ever go to camp as a kid?
I want to Girl Scout camp every summer, sometimes a few times a summer, when I was younger.

9. What is your favorite party game?
I don’t think I have one.

10. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was married, would you go for it?
No way.

11. When was the last time that you lied?
I can’t remember but it was probably when the boys wanted something and I didn’t want them to have it. Sometimes it’s just easier to lie when it’s 3am, your exhausted and Little T wants something to eat.

12. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you?
As long as they were fine with me having different beliefs and didn’t try to push their beliefs on me.

13. If you have a S/O, who pursued who? If not, do you like to pursue or be pursued?
Tim and I were friends for years before we dated then subsequently got married.

14. Use six words to describe yourself.
Tomboy, Wife, Mom, Homebody, Quiet, Talkative once I get to know you.

15. Name a song that could make you cry?
Not many songs make me cry so I can’t think of one right now.

16. Are you pleased with your education?
I’d love to finish my degree but I’m finding that knowledge and real life experience is just as important as a piece of paper.

17. How do you feel about gun control?
I’m fine with some gun control. I don’t think everyone should be running around with assault rifles. I do think that gun owners should create safe environments for people in their homes. And I think all parents (gun owners or not) should talk to their kids about gun safety.

18. If your house was on fire, what thing would be the first thing you grabbed?
Once I figured out that it couldn’t be put out with a fire extinguisher, I’d get the boys while Tim grabbed the portable hard drives.

19. How often do you have a romantic weekend?
If by romantic you mean having kids running around the house while we do laundry and other chores then we do that every weekend.

20. Do you think more about the past, present or future?
Present and future probably equally just some days more present and other days more future.

21. What was the last adult magazine that you have read?
Maxim

22. What are you told about your eyes?
Usually it’s a question about wearing color contacts because my eyes can be any shade of green or blue.

23. How tall is just right?
I don’t think there is a “just right”.

24. Where is your dream house located?
Where ever my family is living.

25. Do you have a secret fetish?
Nope.

26. Have you tried bourbon? If yes, what type?
No. I don’t drink alcohol very often so I skip hard stuff.

27. Have you ever seen a male or female stripper?
No.

28. When was the last time you were at TGI Fridays?
A long time ago because they took away baked potatoes and I’m not much of a mashed potato kind of person.

29. When was the last time you were at Church?
When I was a teenager.

30. Where was the furthest place you traveled today?
My mom’s house because our washer stopped working so we did our laundry over there.

31. What was your favorite job?
Being a mommy is by far my favorite “job”.

32. What condiments do you like at your BBQ?
Depends on what we’re barbequeing. Steak sauce, BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, and mayo are common BBQ food condiments.

33. Bud is hosting Thursday Thunks this week. Will you play?
Maybe.

34. Do you look like your mom or dad?
My mom which is a burden sometimes. I get stopped by random people all the time who say “Are you Deb’s daughter? You look so much like her.”

35. Who was the last person that you showered with (it’s okay to leave out the name)?
Probably Drama King when he was a baby.

This was a Sunday Stealing post!

You might also like:

• Sunday Stealing: Speed Dating
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)
• It’s Cool To Homeschool Blog Hop
• Celebrating The Little Things In Life
• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet

1. When was your last train ride?

I’ve never been on a train.

2. How many foreign countries have you visited? Tell us about one.

I’ve been to Mexico. Once as a kid to buy my favorite Mexican candies. Once as a preteen for 4 days during a stundent exchange. And once after the boys were born with Tim but we (just us – the kids stayed with Grandma Deb) bought a couple items and walked across the border and back. Each time I go, I swear I’ll never go back.

3. What do you always take with you on vacation?

A camera to capture all of our fun outings.

4. Tell us about something you’ve lost recently.

Besides my mind? I have no idea.

5. Do you prefer action packed vacations or relaxing ones?

A little of both. I like to have stuff to do but a stress-free vacation.

6. How long will you wait in a check out line before abandoning your purchases?

Depends on what I’m buying. If I have to have it, I’ll wait. If it’s not something important, I abandon after 5-15 minutes.

7. How old do you wish you were?

Again, it depends. Somedays I wish I was a kid again so I could be carefree. But most of the time, I’m fine with my own age.

8. Do you consider yourself kind?

Yes.

9. Tell us about your tattoos. Or if you had to get a tattoo, where and what would it be?

I have no tattoos. When I was a preteen, I wanted a small dolphin on my ankle but once I found out they used needles to poke the design into your skin, I nixed it. I’m way too terrified of needles to even think about getting a tattoo.

You might also like:

• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)
• Sunday Stealing
• Menu Plan Monday
• Friday Fill-In

Last week, we didn’t plan for meals and boy was it chaotic around meal times. We’re back to planning this week and we’ve done a great job planning. I think starting next week, I’ll start posting recipes of some of our family favorite meals so you can try them out, too. Some you may have seen already on here but I’ll be tagging them for easier access. This will also force me to gather up or write down some of the ones that Grandma Cindy makes that are family recipes but not really written down anywhere.

Monday
L: Sandwich with chips
D: French dip with fried zucchini

Tuesday
L: Chicken salad with garlic bread
D: Chili cheese dogs with chili cheese fries

Wednesday
L: Polish dogs with fries
D: Pizza (Family Favorite)

Thursday
L: Sandwich with dipping veggies
D: Chicken tacos with refried beans

Friday
L: Chicken with fries
D: Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and corn (Family Favorite)

Saturday
L: Figure It Out Meal (leftovers, grab a bite to eat out, take out, whatever is in the fridge meal)
D: Chicken Alfredo with garlic bread (Family Favorite)

Sunday
L: Figure It Out Meal (leftovers, grab a bite to eat out, take out, whatever is in the fridge meal)
D: Figure It Out Meal (leftovers, grab a bite to eat out, take out, whatever is in the fridge meal)

You might also like:

• Menu Plan Monday
• My First Menu Plan Monday
• Manic Monday
• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)

You might also like:

• Mommy Moments – Blue
• Mommy Moments – Red
• Mommy Moments – Yellow
• Mommy Moments – Shoes
• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day

Over the past month or so, we’ve been picking up little things to go on their desks and tucking them away. Scissor, tape dispenser, paper clips, pencil cups, and other various desk items are just a few of the items we’ve picked up. We bought everything in twos, typically one in red and one in blue. We, also, tucked away the two mailboxes that Grandma Deb picked up on clearance after Valentine’s Day. They boys love sending and receiving mail and I thought what a fantastic way to send little notes to the boys at their computers.

Midway through Day 1

Tim moved out the old desks for me early Monday morning. Grandma Deb came over to help out that afternoon. She watched the boys and helped them clear out the clutter that accumulated under their desks. I put together the bottom of the first desk but my back starting hurting so we called it a day.

End of Day 1

Day 2: Grandma Deb came over again to help out with the boys which made putting the desk hutch a snap. I, also, got some of Little T’s desk put together but after a while I called it a day.

End of Day 2

Day 3: Grandma Deb came over again to help out with the boys which made finishing up a breeze. Tim helped out this round since he was off work at this point. With his help, we were able to complete Little T’s desk and begin moving the desks into the computer nook. Of course, this instantly meant the boys wanted to start putting away their new stuff.

All Done

Tada! The boys new desks and freshly organized computer nook. Over the weekend, we put the computers and accessories on the desk. Now, the only thing left to figure out is where we’ll hang their calendars. I figured we’ll play it by ear until after we get all the accessories in place. Oh, and we’ll need to find a lighting strip that will fit under the shelf to light up where the monitor will be placed.

You might also like:

• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Emergency/Medical IDs
• Happy Valentine’s Day
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1. What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

I don’t think I have a favorite. I love reading them all because they are all fantastic.

2. If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?

We don’t watch many shows that are based around a home so this was a rough decision. Roseanne and Full House always seemed to have an interesting home life. And we connect with the struggles of the families on Parenthood.

3. What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep?

More than 24 hours. Probably close to 48 hours.

4. What’s your favorite Barry Manilow song?

No idea.

5. Who’s your favorite Muppet?

6. What’s the habit you’re proudest of breaking?

Can’t think of a one.

7. What’s your favorite website?

There’s so many great sites out there, I don’t think I could pick just one. I love Google and the variety of stuff they offer.

8. What’s your favorite school supply?

Paper, colored pencils, crayons, and markers. You know all that artsy stuff.

9. Who’s your favorite TV attorney?

Jerry Kellerman from Raising the Bar played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

10. What was your most recent trip of more than 50 miles?

Probably something in Phoenix.

You might also like:

• Sunday Stealing
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)
• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Saturday 9
• Menu Plan Monday

You might also like:

• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Organized The Boys’ Computer Nook
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)
• Sunday Stealing
• Saturday 9

Without further ado, here’s our menu:

Monday
L: Chicken salad with garlic bread
D: Chili cheese dogs with chili cheese fries

Tuesday
L: Chicken strips with ranch fries and corn
D: Lasagna with homemade sourdough bread

Wednesday
L: Chicken sandwich with chips
D: Indian tacos (chili meat on fry bread topped with cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream)

Thursday
L: Polish dogs with chips
D: Pizza on homemade pizza dough

Friday
L: Super nachos

And that’s where the planning died. I’d like to have our Hawaiian meal for Mother’s day but not sure if we’ll get a chance to grab some banana leaves before Sunday. Oh if you were keeping track, that’s one more meal planned this week compared to last week. Maybe, we’ll get a full week planned before the month is over. Maybe not. It is a big birthday month around here.

You might also like:

• Menu Plan Monday
• My First Menu Plan Monday
• Manic Monday
• Tackle It Tuesday – Bathroom Closet
• Getting To Know You (Mostly Girly)

This mommy moment is dedicated to Little T and his favorite color blue. Last week’s mommy moment was all about Drama King so make sure you check it out.

Little T was diagnosed with Apraxia (speech disorder) which in laymen terms means his brain knows what he wants to say but the muscles in his mouth don’t cooperate. We understand about 30% (and it’s growing every year) of what he says so we worked hard to get him an AAC device to assist with the 70% we don’t understand.

This is Little T’s device. Since his favorite color is blue; he naturally chose the berry blue color option. It is encased in a black carrying case to help protect it from the elements. The device gets used every day to talk about everything from how he’s feeling to what he wants to do or eat. He is still learning to use it and the icon tutor has been our friend because you can type in a word and it will tell you where to find it. I am so thrilled that we kept fighting to get him a communication device. It is a great help.

Little T is an avid wrestling fan and wants to be a wrestler when he grows up. For now, Little T has settled for collecting wrestling action figures. And he has amassed quite a collection. He has mini figures, small figures and standard size figures. He has a mini wrestling ring for the mini guys and a standard ring for the standard size figures. He loves watching wrestling and then reenacting the match although sometimes the match has a different outcome. Some of his figures came with accessories like championship belts, ladders, microphones, and knee or elbow pads. He also has quite a few doubles (to share with Drama King) and a few triples (for bath time). And if you give him the time, he will teach you more than you ever wanted to know about wrestling.

When Little T was 3, he received a Leapster L-Max for his Christmas. He loves to play the games but his favorite right now is Pet Pals. Thankfully, we got a backpack to carry the device and games with us. The front zipper pocket allows us to carry the rechargeable battery pack and extra batteries in case the rechargeable battery dies.

You might also like:

• Mommy Moments – Red
• Mommy Moments – Yellow
• Mommy Moments – Shoes
• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day
• Mommy Moments – Summer Days

The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of KC’s hair and the number 33.

1. Robins have red breasts. Why are their eggs blue?

I have no idea actually.

2. The doorbell buzzes at the same moment the phone rings. Who was on the phone?

Probably Grandma Deb. She’s the only one who might call around the time the doorbell would ring.

3. It seems that there are several very popular memes each day of the week. Which meme did you first become a regular of?

Wordless Wednesday but I quickly added a few others.

4. It is about time that Berleen and Kimber meet in person. Should we start a collection to fly one of them to the other, or just hope Thom’s bus and get from Hawaii to Kimber in Arizona and take her to Berleen in Minnesota?

Who???

5. Tell us about your pets. Do you have one that you wish would run away?

We have two cats and two dogs. Sometimes, I wish one of our cats would run away. She’s a finky cat who hates to share and will make her opinion known to all.

6. What was the last thing colored red that you wore?

Does blood count? I don’t wear red very often but I do occasionally get blood on me when a child falls down and gets a bloody boo boo.

7. I have a train that runs by where I live several times a day. I actually find it peaceful. What’s the longest journey that you have taken by train?

I’ve never been on a train.

8. If Kimber threw a five dollar bill off a building that was five stories high, and Berleen threw a twenty off a build that was six stories high, who do you think would find the money?

What???

9. If reincarnation really happens, whose life would you like to know that you have already led?

I don’t think I’d want to know.

10. What are your three favorite possessions?

Computer and all it’s accessories, TV and all it’s accessories, and my digital camera.

11. A lot of people still believe that Elvis is alive. Have you ever worn blue suede shoes?

Nope.

12. Do you have siblings? If yes, are you anything alike?

I have one brother, Rob. We are complete opposites.

13. Has anyone ever asked you to strip naked and cluck like a chicken?

No. And I hope no one ever does.

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