Let the Christmas Season BEGIN!

We began our Christmas festivities last week! The elementary where Isabel and Mateo attend hosted their annual Winter Reading Night. It's a great evening filled with Christmas games, stories, and FUN! We started out at the book fair and after the kids picked out their favorites they played Jingo while I shopped! Jingo is a game similar to BINGO but with a Christmas twist. The cards have different pictures of Christmas items (reindeer, tree, cookies, Santa, etc). The game host calls out clues for the different pictures and you mark them out on your card. Each one of the kids won prizes- they had a blast! After Jingo and shopping we had our picture taken in the snowy forest! (haha- ok- it wasn't REALLY a snowy forest...) Finally we headed to story time where we sat in a Christmas light decorated room and listened to a very talented teacher read The Polar Express. On the way out each child received their very own bell...from Santa's sleigh of course!

Via Colori 2008

Yesterday we had the pleasure of experiencing Via Colori in downtown Houston. This is a street painting festival that benefits non-profits. It was amazing! Each artist is given a square (the sizes varied) to "paint" their design with chalk. There were no 3-D drawings like you see in those e-mail forwards but they were still beautiful!

The kids were hungry; so before we hit the festival we took a walk through downtown to look for a place to dine. Unfortunately the only thing we could find was a Burger King... so we ate there and enjoyed the scenery. We had lunch in a booth next to a homeless man who was apparently dining with a friend... though there was no one in the booth with him! Strangely enough he ordered two cheeseburgers and ate half of each- in exactly the same bite pattern- and then left them on the table. We decided maybe he left the other half of each burger for his invisible friend!
We watched some film makers work across the street. We aren't sure what they were filming but they sure took a LOT of takes! We also watched some street kids skateboard...until they were run off by the security guard. All in all it was an interesting lunch! I LOVE people watching!

Chris and Mateo started feeling ill at the festival so we cut the trip a little short and headed home. The kids were inspired by the art so we stopped by the art store and picked up some pastels so they could draw their own sidewalk masterpieces at home.
I forgot to charge my camera :( so here are a few shots that I took with my phone...

The Via Colori Art:


Via Barrera Art:

Election Night

Questions that my children have asked (well... mostly questions that Mateo has asked)

• What happens if the candidate votes for himself? (this was asked in shock- like it would be the worst thing in the world!)
  
• What happens if they tie?
• What is the difference between a Republican and a Democrat?
• How many do they need to win?

They were all very excited to vote at school today and Christopher has really enjoyed participating in political debates at school. He was given the chance to debate on both sides and took it very serious. The questions have been non-stop and they couldn't wait for the polls to close. They have spent the entire evening glued to the TV - watching the news! I tried to change it up for them and turned on the Cosby Show- but about every 5 seconds they wanted to turn it back to the news for an update! I gave up and we have stayed on ABC news for the long haul. Mateo has also been glued to the computer and LOVES the interactive map on abcnews.com. It's so funny to see him hover over each state to see how the numbers are changing. Keep in mind they are 12, 9, and 7 years old. This really is a different election!

Mateo using the interactive map
Please excuse Isabel's un-brushed hair

**Update- by the end of the night Mateo was calling them John and Barack. Apparently he feels very comfortable with them both.

**Morning update- Mateo woke up this morning and asked, "who won?" I told him Obama and he then asked, "what are the new rules?" LOL If only life was that fast and easy!

If you can't tell we are very non-partisan in our house. I'm teaching the kids to look at all the issues and decide where they stand. Then to look at each candidate, where they stand on the issues, and then match it up.

Halloween 2008

Here are some Halloween pictures... We spent the evening at the Pumpkin Patch festival at our church. The little kids had fun "Trunk" or treating and Chris went to his Friday night youth event. Isabel also danced in the KidStuf show. Chris dressed as a greaser (he just finished reading The Outsiders in school), Isabel dressed as a hippie, and Mateo was Iron Man. Notice the red clown make-up on his hands because we couldn't find red gloves! It still hasn't completely come clean!

Leaps and Bounds

This has been a great week for Mateo and [dare I say it] I feel like we are making progress! For those who don't know- here is a VERY brief (or at least I will try to make it brief) story of Mateo. Mateo has always been a little bit different- we just described him as Mateo- and it was fine. But around the time he turned four, things started to get worse. He was attending The Lamb School and for the most part he was very happy there. The problems started to show in various odd ways. For example- when he began The Lamb School at 3 years old (older three) he drew very detailed pictures of people... stick figures with heads, faces, arms, legs and even toes and fingers. Gradually though, instead of growing in detail over the next two years, they shrank. By the end of age four they no longer had hands/fingers, feet/toes, or even faces. At the end of age five he wouldn't draw people at all. Change became more and more difficult for him and his obsessions were more significant (he wouldn't remove his socks... EVER, he had to wear long pants and long sleeves, he wore one glove, etc) These obsessions were not your normal- kid throwing a tantrum- kind of thing... he physically/emotionally/mentally could not function if these things were out of place. He started kindergarten in 2007 and it became a horrible struggle to get him to school. He doesn't like loud noises or crowds- so the bus stopped being an option. He complained that he had no friends and that school was boring. In November of 2007 things came to a head when he was bawling that he hated his life and wanted to die. He was 6 years old. He said over and over that no one liked him and that he didn't like himself. It was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever experienced. We had already been seeing a child psychologist so I kept him home from school the next day and we went straight to the doctor. Many visits later the doctor diagnosed him with Asperger's Syndrome. We finished out the school year with no progress [don't get me started on the school's lack of response]. Mateo's teacher- who was NOT part of the problem... she's great- said the kids all loved him (and I witnessed this myself in the classroom and on the field trip) but Mateo couldn't see it. In his eyes they hated him. We spent the summer hanging out as a family and honestly ignoring the upcoming year. I was so dreading it that I pushed the thought from my mind. Little did I know (though I should have never doubted God's abilities) everything was working out. Mateo's Kinder teacher had put in a special request for Mateo to be clustered with a wonderful teacher. OH- one fabulous thing about Mateo (there are many!) is that he has incredible math skills. At the age of 6 he knew how to add and subtract negative numbers, could subtract double digits and could multiply certain numbers. No one taught him these skills- they are just in his brain. SO... school does not excite him very much. He found kindergarten boring and said that he already knew all of that stuff... which he did. Mateo's new teacher is also wonderful. She has been very accommodating with Mateo and is intrigued by his skills. After a massive breakdown the second or so week at school - Mateo didn't want to go to school so I left him with the counselor... he eventually went running out of the school trying to escape and hid twice in a crawl space in her office- I was scheduled for an emergency meeting with the Problem Solving Team. I had tried to get one of these meetings all last year! Here it was the second week of school and I had one scheduled! YAY! The school agreed not to pursue labeling him with Asperger's (at my request) and we agreed on a plan of action to help him not only make it through school but to excel academically (never been a problem) and SOCIALLY. His teacher helps him on the playground by initiating conversations between Mateo and his classmates. He is allowed to go and sit in the front office every morning when he arrives at school so that he doesn't have to endure the noisy crowded cafeteria. His teacher is putting together special math "tasks" to tap into those crazy skills that he has. Mateo has a new therapist and is really responding well to him. Just before IKE he did have another breakdown but since IKE things have been smooth! He has attended Sunday School and Kid's Worship 2 Sundays in a row (he hadn't gone to these in over a year) and on Saturday- HE WENT TO A FRIEND'S HOUSE TO PLAY! There have been HUGE barriers broken which have led to GREAT progress for Mateo. The fact that he calls someone his friend is HUGE. The icing on the cake was tonight. Mateo never really gets excited about anything- or at least he never admits it. He is very straight lined emotionally- except for the extreme sadness (rare) or the fits of anger. (Don't get me wrong though- he is often FULL of energy and VERY funny!) He often speaks in a very monotone voice and I'm overjoyed when he responds with "a little" when questioned if something was fun. He has not attended many birthday parties in the last 3 years because of the noise and people but his new friend invited him to a party next weekend- and Mateo said yes! Tonight he asked me if it was the weekend yet (even though he knew it wasn't) and I said no- why? He first said "I was just wondering..." but then he stopped and said, "I'm excited. I'm excited about the party." It was a great moment.

This really was a VERY short version of the last 4 years with Mateo... I promise!

One specific example of his math skills: We were watching E.T. on television and Christopher wanted to know how old the movie was. We looked on the information and saw that it was released in 1982. Christopher said- so how old is it? Chris is 11 and very intelligent so I wanted him to figure it out for himself. I said, "Well Chris, it came out in 1982. This is 2008. How old is it?" He didn't really try and just said- I don't know. My mom asked Mateo, "Mateo, how old is it?" Mateo promptly responded, "26 years." Hahaha He just turned 7.

Proud Mom...

Today was a good day. Mateo woke up in a decent mood and went to school with no problems (this is a big deal), Isabel was sweet as always, and Chris surprised me by unpacking the bags from the store and putting the items away- without being asked! It's the little things, you know?!? I was reminded of an e-mail I was recently copied on regarding Isabel... I thought I would share :)

(This was sent to Isabel's school principal, Holly, and her school counselor, Karen)

I wanted to let you both know how impressed I was with Miss Isabel Barrera this morning. She was walking with little brother Mateo into the front of the school, and it became quite apparent that Mateo didn't want to go any further than where he stopped...right by the front curb. She diligently tried to get him to come inside, never losing her temper, her calm, her patience - never grabbing at him or trying to force it. I watched her (aware of Mateo's Aspergers) and she stopped, and walked inside. I went over to Mateo, and he continued to turn away from me, in circles, each time I talked. As I walked inside to find help - lo and behold, Isabel had gone directly to Ms. Holly and brought her outside to help.

I think the world of Isabel anyway, as I am her Brownie troop leader. To see her in action with her little brother, knowing what she needed to do, and doing it, was amazing. She is one of the sweetest, kindest, most caring kids I know anyway - and I wanted to let Karen Lynn know and of course, recognize how she handled it to Holly.

Thanks for letting me go on about such a sweetheart of a kiddo -

tracy smith

The Summer

We had a great summer! The first half of our summer was spent planning for camp. I direct our district church camp so that kept us all pretty busy! I was very worried that we wouldn't meet our required minimum number of campers- but I don't know why I worry- God always makes it work! It was definitely nothing that I did- but in the end we had more than enough. I believe we had about 534 people total (min required was 500). It was a blast! Of course, I guess I am a bit biased... Mateo is still too young for camp so he stayed with my great friend Michelle. The rest of the summer we spent some much needed time hanging out with friends and visiting family. We had a blast in Quitman with my dad and family. The kids played and swam and we visited a fun water park. We also spent a little time with my Grammy in Crockett. We visited the library and shopped in town. Our final trip of the summer was to Austin to see my sister, Kim, graduate from Culinary School... We are so proud of her! We ate at her restaurant and it was SO GOOD! While in Austin we toured the state capital and took all kinds of fun (posed) pics! My mom says that my kids and I are a perfect fit because they love posing for all my crazy pictures! Basically we had a great time together! Here is a little taste of what we did... ENJOY!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our Story Coming Soon...

So- I have finally jumped on the bandwagon... maybe :) This will be our story place. I'm learning how this works and will post updates soon. I'll start with some past info- things we did this summer and Isabel and Mateo's b-days... then I will start updating regularly so that our friends and family can come along this crazy fun ride we call life!