Isabelle’s teacher (Melanie) spends her mornings with this cute little guy at another school in our area.  He is blind.  What a character this little guy is!  He loves Izzy and calls her the “girl.”  We spent the afternoon at his school today because Cat in the Hat aka the principal flew in on a helicopter to surprise the students, read them a story, and give them each a book.  Here is N pushing Izzy outside to watch for the helicopter.

The helicopter is landing.  They are listening (it was so loud) and looking at the helicopter.

There is the Cat/principal… (her hub was the helicopter pilot).  They landed just beside the school.

We all came into the gym for a book read by the CAT.

Izzy liked the Cat and enjoyed the story. They gave her an extra special book and she really looked at the pictures!  They gave N a brail book and he was so proud of it.  His para said the first thing he does when he gets a book now is rub the cover to see if it is in brail. 

It was a nice warm day here… I finished the tier 2 stuff finally at 1 a.m. this morning.  I woke up about six with a headache, but thank goodness I feel fine and got a lot done today including this fun field trip! 

Some things about the day to remember … the little first graders in N’s class filed in one by one introducing themselves to Isabelle.  They each commented about something they liked… like her bow or bracelet.  Their teacher had shown them her video riding the bike so many told her they liked her bike.  Then they took turns telling knock-knock jokes!  So cute!  … I was able to sit and have a sandwich with mom and dad before I went to the school.  Today is their actual fiftieth anniversary! Now all I have to do is finish some posts like this for keyman insurance.

I got a call from Izzy’s teacher, Melanie, right before arriving at school today.  She told me my presence was requested in the hall to watch Izzy ride the bike!  By the time I got there she was pooped, but she still pedaled!  The video is of her bike ride, towards the end she starts pedaling by herself again.

I put Izzy in the kid walk.  Emelia tried enticing her to move her feet by offering a lick of her mint if she did.  I walked in the other room for something and came back to find emelia letting izzy lick her mint (a fresh one).  She said iz had moved her feet.  I did see some moving feet with my own eyes a little later.  She seemed to tolerate it better today.  She did great with her therapy program at home tonight with mom too.

The roads are crazy!  I ran some errands this afternoon and passed car after car stuck on the road.  I was thankful for 4WD today.  What a mess.  It is supposed to melt some tomorrow.  For now school is not in session again tomorrow.  We will have another day at home.

So sweet Judi did my bloggy design.  When she loaded it up comments wouldn’t work. We couldn’t figure out what the problem was!  Tonight she emailed telling me that I hadn’t upgraded my wp files.  So I did.  I loaded the new version onto my ftp.  This is almost all greek to me (like that magazine you sent me Irene from Greece).  Anyway, I could not access my admin panel so I was locked out of my blog.  I looked on google and forums for ways to resolve and was hitting dead end after dead end.  So… I saw on one forum that you could login to your cpanel and with one click upgrade on a fantastico icon.  I did that and got a worse error and my blog was gone.  Yikes!  There was an error about a plug in and line 321 or something so I went back to the ftp and just deleted that plug in.  Voila!!!!   My blog is back and I’m in admin typing this post and I am so relieved.  Seriously! 

I was browsing the taste of home mag that mom has sent me and saw an advertisement page for stove top stuffing and a recipe with chicken.  I knew I had most of the items listed and decided to try it only to find out I had no cream of “” soup.   I decided to improvise.  Here’s what I did…

Amanda mixed up the stove top dressing mix.  (it was supposed to be chicken but mine was turkey)

I sauteed some boneless skinless chicken breasts in a little evoo.

I removed them to chop them into bite sized pieces and put in frozen corn, green beans and baby carrots.

I put the chicken back in and let it all cook covered.

In a new pan I melted butter and added flour… then milk to create a white sauce to replace the soup and sour cream.

Added salt, pepper, garlic salt & onion powder to chicken and veggies and salt & pepper to taste to sauce.

I poured the sauce over the chicken and veggies and then put it in the 9X13 pan.

Spread out the dressing over the top and baked at 375 for about an hour. 

It was delicious.  Really really good! 

I used the leftover mashed potatoes from last night and stirred in a little sour cream and parm cheese and baked them.  Yummy!  We even had hot rolls from last night that mom made.  It was a feast. 

Did you watch “biggest loser?”  I was sad to see *him* (not to spoil it for fellow dvr-ers) go home!  I really liked him.  Oh well.  I hope he continues to do well losing weight.

Here are a few pics of Iz in the kid walk today…

The first one is kinda funny because she was working to get her head out. 

It was a crazy busy day! I stayed at school with Izzy while we tried out the kid walk and then went to lunch with mom and my neices for my neice Candace’s birthday.  It was fun chatting with them!  If I keep having so many lunch outings I’ll have to check into diet pills! My good friend Mendy was in town for the afternoon and she dropped by the tea room and rode with me to run an errand.  Later tonight I’ll unload the kid walk and let izzy show off for everyone.

 I mentioned I challenged my teen girls to read their bibles daily following a “read the entire bible in one year” schedule.  I printed one week on thick paper and cut out bookmarks for them.  I was showing the site to matt and realized I could simply click on the day and it would display all the reading for that day.  Then I saw there was a mobile version.  I entered the url on my blackberry and voila!  I had the entire text for the day right on my phone.  I’m pretty excited about this.  Bailey was happy to see he could also follow along on his ipod touch.   

I finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  It was such a good book.  A big thanks to Camilla for the recommendation.  If you know Karen (praying Karen) who used to blog … now I catch up with her on FB.  She was born and raised in Guernsey.  Pretty neat!  Next on my nightstand is a book Gail recommended “Uncharted.”  I am going to start it tonight.  Next will be a book my friend Laura got me for Christmas by Letter to my Daughter by Maya Angelou.

 Whew… I was typing this post and my IE just died.  Out of nowhere.  Not like I had typed a ton but it’s still frustrating.  Luckily it was saved. 

Did you watch Patrick Swazye?  Sad. 

Izzy’s day at school went well today.  She is having more “episodes” this week.  We always tell her that it is her brain making connections… and tell her teachers and therapists not to be upset or worried.  She is truly God’s little girl and I know that she will be fine.  She is taking her toys from Christmas to school.  One a day.  Yesterday she took her Poingo reading system from Nini.  Today she took the wooden magnetic “paper dolls” from Gram.  The therapists all are using her toys in her therapy.  She went to the library today and checked a new book out.  We were supposed to get the kid walk today but the equipment co. made a mistake and ordered the wrong size… we’ve only been waiting since June 08.  I guess a week or two more won’t hurt.  They have ordered the correct size with expedited shipping.  Things always work out for a reason and I have to believe that it will work out well. 

I’m so excited that Judi (doodlebug designs) is starting to work on my blog again!  I heart her.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like!  You should check her out.  She does such good work and is a sweetheart too.

Today was the last day of school before Christmas break.  Izzy had her Christmas party in kindergarten class.  Have I mentioned that she has the best group of people in the world working with her?  She does.  She ate lots of health food at the party… icing and cookies!  Had a book gift exchange… and then her teacher Melanie and para Michelle let her open the gifts from them.  Such cuteness!  A duck that dances and quacks the tune of a Christmas song, a little puppy that moves in a purse and a light up singing card from Melanie… and two adorable bright colored animals from Michelle!  She came home with antlors and a red nose…

Izzy wore her Christmas outfit today complete with green shoes…

…. and Christmas tree barrettes.

I spent the afternoon shopping for glass with my daddy.  He’s making me a stained glass window.  I chose the pattern and now he has lots to keep him busy for the next week!  I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Tomorrow I’m going to the mall with mom.  Girl’s day out.  I only have one or two little things to pick up for next week… and need to help Santa get stocking stuffers gathered up. 

Sunday Emelia is singing a solo at church.  I hope to record it.

Monday I am heading to Edmond to have lunch with Melody and run to TJMaxx…

So many things going on!  So much to do!  Love it, don’t you?

OH! One last pic of Iz… the new doggie “princess” has been keeping her company and it’s so sweet. 

I took izzy to the orthotist today to pick up her S.W.A.S.H. and A.F.O.’s.   The A.F.O.’s were not quite ready, they are adding springs.  Here’s Izzy being fitted in the swash…

We had to wait while things were shortened and lengthened and tightened …

All done!  We go back next Monday to get the AFO’s.  Here’s a pic of Izzy with the orthotist.

For Camilla… link to Taco Chicken Quiche recipe… click here!

Izzy rode the bike today at school after spending time outside swinging.  It is a beautiful windy sunny day.  It’s about 72 degrees.  Here are a few pics of the bike riding!

Melanie (Izzy’s teacher and vision therapist) is pictured with Izzy.

**thank you Barbara for taking them and emailing them to me!

Gram aka Paula aka Matt’s mom saw my previous post and had just received a hanna andersson catalog… so she ordered these two outfits!  Aren’t they adorable?

(the black and white one on the left)

(the middle one, but in pink)

Aren’t they cute?  Thanks Gram!

Thought I would share the note for Izzy’s first week of school from her teacher.

August 13th, first day of school.

This week Izzy went to Mrs. Grissom’s classroom and visited friends Aden, Anna, and Emily. Izzy knew these three because they were in her class last year. They were happy to see her. Mrs. Grissom read a story and talked about the days of the week. By Thursday Izzy’s friends were beginning to ask a lot of questions about Izzy and her chair. I told them there were some very important things that Izzy and her mom would like for them to know. We talked about accidents and what that word means. That it is no ones fault, etc. Then I told them she had an accident in the water and that accident left her body not working in the same way theirs does. We discussed the importance of always staying away from water unless they are with their parents. We talked about what it means to be safe around water.

Next I explained all the ways Izzy is just like they are. I talked about how smart she is, how she likes hugs, toys, laughing, eating, friends, animals, going swimming, taking trips… we talked about how her heart is just like theirs and how she loves her family and friends. I explained that just because part of her body works differently than theirs that her eyes and ears are just fine and she can hear the kind of things they say and can see the things they want to show her. It went very well.

The first week of school we learned about the letter L. Last week we learned about the letter O and this week we are learning letter G. Next week it will be letter H. We talk about the letter, practice making it hand over hand. Listen to the sound it makes and try to make that sound and talk about upper case and lower case letters.

She seems to be more comfortable in her pink chair but we are using her purple chair for our academics when in our little room. It fits under the table we have for her and gives her great positioning to see what we are doing.

Izzy is doing her vision therapy with me and really seems to like looking at objects on the light box. We practiced counting, singing the alphabet and talk about the calendar. My goal is for Izzy to make choices in order to communicate her preferences for answers. Izzy shows me daily that she is paying attention and understands what I am asking her. She tries to look at what I request and will attempt to reach for what I present.

Wednesday is media day. We will be checking out books for her to bring home.

This week I will be introducing Izzy to our new talking Dora crayons! It should make art time fun!

Izzy is a sweet girl and I am very excited to have the opportunity to spend more time with her working and playing!

Melanie C…. 8/25/08

Izzy’s teacher Melanie, her para Michelle, her therapists Camilla and Margaret… they are all priceless…