PUMPKIN PATCH PARADE

Welcome to the Pumpkin Patch Parade. Add your name and link your pumpkin / Halloween post at Mr. Linky, and don't forget to leave comments!



Now show me what you've got!

Special Exposure / WW Wednesday - Pumpkin Project

Our home school art project for today - contact paper pumpkin face with glitter.



Frog enjoyed dumping and tasting the rice/paper/glitter mix the most.



And we are back to the fountain!

DON'T FORGET TO LINK YOUR HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN (DECORATION, KIDS IN COSTUME, ETC.) PICTURES HERE AT 4-FROG'S PUMPKIN PATCH PARADE TOMORROW NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY


For more Special Exposure Wednesday or Wordless Wednesday posts go Here and Here!

New Award

Maddy at Whitterer on Autism has honored me with this nifty award! Now I feel bad - I didn't even get a Try This Tuesday post together - Maybe this is her way of giving me a gentle nudge to get back with the program :0) Thank you Maddy, it means a lot to me!

I absolutely have to pass this one on to CC at If I Only Had Superpowers who always has links to wonderful resources,
Christine at Adventures in Home Schooling Who's Oliver is so much like my Frog that it is easy to share ideas, and
Melody at Slurping Life for fabulous photography advices and inspiration.

And I reserve the right to pass it on to a few more when I have some time!

Six things you might not know about me - meme

I've been Tagged by Krist at My Life For The World To See for the six things you might not know or want to know about me, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. meme.


OK, what don't you already know?

Well, I've been to China. In high school I traveled with our local community symphony orchestra on a two week tour of China. It was an amazing experience. I only wish I'd been a little older so I would have appreciated it more at the time.

I live two hours from Seattle WA, but I don't drink Coffee - I made it through 5 years of college and 3 years of law school without developing a taste for it.

I love to cook. I started baking when I was 9 and haven't stopped yet. I used to collect cookbooks but have settled on my favorite 20 or so and do most of my cooking and baking out of my head.

I'm an old Rainbow Girl (International Order of the Rainbow for Girls - not the cult). I am Past Grand Page to the Supreme Inspector for Washington and Idaho, Grand Cross of Color member, and the first to win the state ritual competition for Charity's Lecture. If you know what all that means, I don't have to show you the secret handshake :0)

I'm a night owl more than a morning person - although as I get older I have a hard time getting things done at 2am like I used to.

I like to be in charge - I'm known for taking over everything I get involved with. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it is not! I have control issues :-)




So Kim, CC, Jenny, Kimberly, Alicia, and Susie, tell me six things I might not know about you!

Market Research

Frog's Mom as a new Law School Grad 1996

Frog's Mom as a spunky new attorney 1997

If Frog's mom knew then what she knows now, she would have been an Occupational Therapist!



With the downturn in the real estate market, I'm having to break free of the family business and look for other means of paying the mortgage and student loan bills. The law degree is the obvious choice - the thing should start to pay for itself after all these years. So I am in the process of easing back into my legal career.

I know I can take clients with real estate issues, I've done family law cases (but I was paid in house cleaning - don't think that will pay the bills), and I have prosecutorial experience (but the local governments are in a hiring freeze). What I feel most strongly about is special education law. I have both personal experience and a lot of continuing education hours put into the subject.

Here is my question to you - As a parent of a special needs child, when would you be most likely to seek the knowledge and assistance of a special education law attorney? Click Here to take my survey And thank you very much for your help :0)



And don't forget to link your Pumpkin Patch Parade picture posts here at 4-Frogs on October 30th!!! CC asked about the rules - just the standard ones:

1. Pictures of Halloween pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, decorations, and kids are welcome to link up.

2. Post a link back to the 4-Frogs Pumpkin Patch Parade post on your post.

3. Add your name and URL to Mister Linky here at 4-Frogs any time between October 29th and October 31st.

4. Please leave comments as you visit each of the sites on the Pumpkin Parade :0)

For more Special Exposure Wednesday posts, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs

For more Wordless Wednesday visit Three Peas in a Pod

Halloween Approaches

Wordless Wednesday


We love Halloween at the pond. We don't go all out - really it is mostly about the costume and the pumpkins - but it is the kick-off of the holiday season. Diva used to know what she wanted to be for Halloween a year in advance. She got really creative this year - she wants to be a princess, not the Disney kind, the real kind. She picked out her fanciest party dress, a tiny rhinestone tiara and asked me to buy her some new shoes (real shoes, not dress-up). I call her the "Practical Princess" :0) Here are some of the cute costumes from our past:











Now for the Pumpkins! I have over a dozen of them at my house waiting to be carved, painted or otherwise decorated. Who would be willing join me and post their Halloween Pumpkin Pictures on October 30th? If it sounds like a popular idea, I'll put up Mr. Linky here at 4-frogs on the 29th - then I won't miss a single Jack-o-Lantern!!!!

For more Special Exposure Wednesday posts visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

For more Wordless-Wednesday visit Three Peas in a Pod

Tags and Awards

Trish at Another Piece of the Puzzle tagged me with The 6th of the 6th Meme. Post the 6th picture from your 6th album and tell us about it. I'm not very good at keeping albums so I'm going into my digital files - wait here, I'll be right back.

OK - I'm back. This is the first school bus ride for Little Frog in June of 2006. It was something we put off for a long time. Both Frog's Dad and I had awful school bus riding experiences when we were kids. The teacher and other parents kept insisting it was something he needed to learn how to do. Diva lives very close to her school and the bus they assigned her to would require her to ride for an hour each morning before getting there - we said no thanks, and take her ourselves.

Turned out that Frog loved riding the bus. It was one of the highlights of his day. But it soon became a logistical nightmare as they kept changing the pick-up site. And on too many occasions the bus arrived with no para, carrying kids I'd never seen, and a substitute bus driver who had no information about Frog (non-verbal, easily pushed into sensory overload especially by voices, a runner, will lash-out if he feels in danger, etc) except what school to take him to. As much as he loved the ride, it only lasted about a year. Then we decided it was safer and better for Frog if he and I parked at Grandma's and walked to school. And now the walk is even shorter - just to the dinning room table or great outdoors :0)



Now I get to tag 6 more people:

1. CC at If I Only Had Super Powers

2. Rainbowmummy at Organizing the Jelly Beans

3. Krystal at Mommy's Escape

4. Jenny at Special Considerations

5. Amazing Grace at Still Crazy After All These Years

6. Kim at Blessed With Girls





4-Frogs was also honored with an award by Everyday Adventures. Thank You!!!! And what a beautiful award it is too :0)




Here are my choices for the Award Proximidade -

1. Christine at Day Sixty-Seven

2. Julie at A Celebration of Our Journey

3. MT at Bon Bon Gazette

4. Krist at My Life for the World to See

5. Tiff at Three Peas in a Pod

6. Rachel at Walk With The Reidmiller Family

7. Lori at Myah's Page

8. Crackerjacks at Izzy N Emmy

All they need to do is leave the following message on their post when they pass the award on to their chosen eight blogger buddies.

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

Violin Practice

Diva has taken up the violin, following in her mother's footsteps. I started playing in the elementary school strings program as a 4th grader at the same school Diva attends. So far she is enjoying it. I must admit, she is more dedicated to her practice schedule than I was at that age :0)

Trying out a few tips from Melody's tutorial Photographing Your Children at 5 Minutes for special needs, I've put together some SOOC shots and set them to a little Playful Pizzicato from Benjamin Brittan's Simple Symphony - a little inspiration for Diva :0)

Enjoy -




For more SOOC posts visit Melody at Slurping Life.

Silvia's Adventures Continue Too

Silvia just got back from a trip to meet Emma in Lake Stevens, WA.



You can read about their visit on Silvia's Travelogue at Stanley and Silvia. A big thank you to Emma's Mom, Amy, from Fall Seven Times for help with the post!





On another note - Frog and I did not get much done today. With the fans blowing in the bathroom, I could not close and lock the door. So my job was to watch Frog. Frog found the combination of the noise from the fans, the blowing air and the rain falling outside entrancing - he had a very hard time not stimming out. But when he did manage to pull himself away from the sensation, he found a new use for the big fans -



he pulled his sister's kite from the closet and let the wind from the fan plaster it against the wall. Who knew you could fly a kite indoors!

Stanley's Adventures Continue

Look where Stanley went this week! He just got back from Kansas City where he visited Elf and Emperor. You can check out his travelogue at Stanley and Silvia.




A big Thanks to Mrs. C at Homeschool and Etc. for her help with the post :0)

It's a Jungle in There

Help! I think Frog took his trip to the Zoo to heart. He created a tropical swamp in my bathroom - filled both sink basins with hot steamy water and let it cascade onto the floor. When I discovered the mess, there was a layer of water floating on top of the carpet and water was dripping through the floor into the furnace room below!

I sent Frog to his room with some stern and frantic words, then used every towel in the house to soak up what I could. I called the professionals who told me they could be here by 5 (it was 1:30 at the time). I washed, dried and reused all the towels to soak up more water. Then I washed and dried the towels again.

The professionals came and got the rest of the water out of the carpet (upstairs and down) and left us with industrial fans and dehumidifiers to dry everything out.





The fans make an awful racket, which - unfortunately - covers up a lot of other sounds in the house. When Dad thought I was watching Frog, and I thought Dad was watching Frog, the little stinker snuck back into the bathroom and DID IT AGAIN!


The towels have been washed and dried for a third time. I was able to get over to my parents house and borrow their carpet cleaner to remove most of the water. The fans are still blowing full blast.

If you can, please send warm, dry, thoughts and energy to my floorboards :0(

Zoo Day

The Frog Family headed to the city to see Frog's neurologist. We are getting ready to do a trial of a stimulant type medication (I'll post about this later). After the appointment, we went to the zoo. Diva brought along Flat Silvia so she would have something to show at school. Her Silvia post will be on the Stanley and Silvia site in a few days. Frog did really well. We walked the zoo grounds for over an hour and a half.


When we got to the zoo, we ate a picnic lunch. The squirrels were begging for an invitation. Frog obliged by dropping most of his lunch on the ground - just not the cookies!



Frog spent a lot of time up close and personal with the piranah.



He was also a fan of all the big snakes! Yikes!!









It took us awhile, but we finally found the elephants.


We also got to see a baby gorilla. When they finally moved on, closer to us, Frog got very excited to see the baby gorilla riding on its mother's back. He started to squeal in his very high pitched and loud way - got the attention of a lovely docent who "understood, but....." so we moved on. There was still a lot to see. Here is some video of another child with the gorilla.



For more Special Exposure Wednesday posts visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

Sunday Drive #6

Diva and I had a few errands to run downtown. We stopped to take a look at one of the many murals painted on the sides of various buildings - a Rotary project in conjunction with several other art projects sponsored by various groups.

The Kalakala Ferry



For more Sunday Drive posts visit Up North Mommy

Our Traveler - Flat Silvia recently returned from a visit with Alex and Belle of Bon Bon Gazette.



Check out her travelogue at The Many Adventures of Flat Stanley and Flat Silvia.

Pumpkin Shells

We had 4 pumpkin tops left over from a home school craft project. The pumpkins now look like this



With the weather turning, I decided to put the pumpkin tops into Frog's new bulb garden.



I thought we could check for creatures that might take sanctuary under them - sort of a lead into our hibernation lessons.



For more SOOC posts visit Slurping Life

Safety-Tat's for Halloween and School Field Trips

Safety-Tat's are temporary tattoos for kids that provide contact information should a kiddo get lost. They are featuring fun new Halloween motifs this month. Wouldn't they also be great for a class field trip? All the kids could have one with the teacher's cell-phone number on it.

Click on the Safety-Tat banner on my sidebar for more information :0)