Dallon Turns FOUR!!

I can't believe that Dallon just turned 4! We invited our neighbors (and their 2 boys--ages 6 and 2) and my friend Ann-Marie and her kids (2 boys--ages 5 and 3, and 1 girl age 2). I was thinking that only making 2 contacts for invitations meant it would be a relatively small affair, but I suddenly realized that 7 children between the ages of 1 and 6 was a big party!

We had decorate your own cupcakes.
Dallon had to be coaxed to open his presents, but he got most of it done himself.
Then we took the party outside for a pinata. Dallon took a few good swings....
And Jace took a whack or 10 at it....
and when it was all over we had more candy than we knew what to do with! So we sent a bunch of kids high on chocolate and cake home with their parents and then laid down to take naps ourselves! We had the party done by 2:30 so Jace could nap, and Chris had to leave for work at 5. It was a fun party, and I'm glad I decided to do it--even last minute.

Christmas 2007

We opened a present on Christmas Eve, which is traditionally new pajamas so we look good on Christmas morning. Dallon and Jace weren't really in the mood to hold still for pictures.

Christmas morning was great. The boys loved their gifts from Santa. Dallon got a VSmile Pocket, and Jace got a "Bucket" of Dinosaurs. Dallon got lots more CARS toys and Jace got some Little Einsteins in their stockings. They both enjoyed opening all of their presents until we got to the last few when we had to take over just to get the job done.


We had our big dinner on Christmas Eve because Chris had to go to work at 5pm on Christmas Day. So we had a lazy afternoon and leftovers before Chris left.

Family Pictures from Thanksgiving

We had some family pictures taken over Thanksgiving. It was a little hard to get all the kids and adults to look good all at one time.
Me and my sister Kaylee.
My siblings and parents.

Last Minute Christmas Stuff

Jace is obsessed with the tree. He won't leave it alone and loves to crawl around it and hide.
Mr. Incredible (aka Dallon) helping Daddy with the star.

It looks like we are not going to be sending out Christmas cards this year. Sorry everyone, but I just ran out of time. Maybe we'll send out a year end letter after New Years--but no guarantees.

We are in the home stretch before Christmas, and I've only got a couple more things to get for the big morning. I'm excited to be spending Christmas at home with our own tree and beds. I never sleep well away from home, so it makes the day a little better when I can actually sleep.

Just a little side note--and don't be alarmed--our garage door was tagged with gang graffiti on Saturday night. It was black paint on our dark brown door, so it wasn't a typical tagging because it was hard to see it from the street. We filed a police report and it is somewhat typical for that to happen around here, except that there was a cop car parked a few houses down, all of our outdoor lights were on, and nothing else on the street was tagged. We'll post something if anything comes of our police report.

Well, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that other holiday stuff. Love you all and hopefully we'll be seeing you all again soon.

Christmas Tree Hunt

We filled our Christmas tree tag this year--Chris was pretty pumped that he filled one of his hunting tags in only the first couple of hours. We went with our neighbors next door and their family. (The boys looked like the kid on A Christmas Story--ticks about ready to pop.)

Jace mostly tried to avoid getting too much snow on himself because he didn't like getting wet. But after a while he was dipping his gloves in the snow and licking it off.
The boys had a great time playing in the perfect powder that had just fallen on the mountains. Dallon made some snow angels.
I pulled the boys most of the way on a sled and kept warm doing so. Going uphill with a 60 pound, wiggley load that likes to drag their hands and feet as you go is a lot of work!
We found a beautiful tree and we're planning to put it up and decorate it tonight. We'll be doing dried orange slices and spices again, I'll post pictures of them later!

e Merry Christmas e

Ward Christmas Party

So we went to our ward Christmas party on Friday and the boys got to meet Santa. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the amazing decorations!

Santa had a very familiar voice (for those of you who know him it was Todd Davies--I grew up across the street from the Davies in Pocatello until they moved with the railroad in 1997).
Dallon really dug the Santa thing, especially getting candy from him.
Jace was not too sure and was giving some great funny looks at this weird guy with a beard.
More pretty decorations.

You Tube Video of Service Dogs

This link with take you to a video of some families that have gotten service dogs and what their dogs do for their children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xev6Tv0KBiU

Service Dog

I have been looking into getting a service dog for Dallon. There is a place in Lake Oswego, OR that raises and trains dogs specifically for children with autism. The dog is mostly for safety as far as I can tell. Since children with autism have speech and social delays, they are unlikely to be able to tell a stranger their name if they get lost, or respond to a strange voice calling their name. So if a child with autism gets lost, it can be very difficult to find them whether it be in the neighborhood, in a public place, a theme park, or out in the woods somewhere.

The dogs can go anywhere and are encouraged to go everywhere with their child. Children with these dogs tend to improve their social interaction skills because it is easier for them to have a conversation about the dog than themselves. They can bond with the dog which helps their social skills since they tend to not be able to bond with people as easily.

The dog is a big investment, though most of the cost is covered by fundraising. The program we're looking at in Oregon costs $13,500 for a dog, and it takes approximately a year to get a dog. They won't place a dog with a child under 5, so we can apply now and get a dog as soon as he is old enough.

The program has a web site:

http://www.autismservicedogsofamerica.com/

If this works out, we should have a great addition to our family that will have the potential to really help Dallon to develop in a lot of different ways.

Weird Weather

So I went out this morning at 8:30 to take Dallon to school, and it was 62 degrees! I couldn't believe it. Just a day ago we were freezing, and then this morning its like September again...I don't think I'll ever get use to the weather here.

Over the weekend we were planning to get our Christmas tree, but it was snowing really badly on the mountains and we decided to postpone our trip to next weekend. I was very sad, I was really looking forward to it. Hopefully this warmer weather will keep through the week making the roads better and the air a little warmer for the kids when we go.