It's almost time but...

Boo's Wish Trip to Disney is in about 1 1/2 weeks! Excitement is running crazy here but during our visit to my sister's house on Sunday (birthday stuff for her & her son) all the kids managed to get the FLU! Yep, all the kids have the flu and we've been put on Tamiflu. I must sing a few praises for that stuff. None of us (I'm on it too) have gotten seriously ill. We definitely feel crummy-body aches, cough, runny noses, some fevers-but catching it this early is good. I only felt horrible for about 36 hours, DS seems to be really tired and has a mild cough but seems to be OK, DD still feels bad (but probably not quite as bad as she wants everyone to think). Her cough is awful but she's pretty active and chipper until you remind her to "go back to bed and rest-you have the flu" then she's "suddenly" oh so ill again. :)
The volunteers are bringing our travel documents on Sunday. Oh, and our lockdowns for the van and Boo's special needs stroller got approved! YEA!!! We were scheduled to have the lockdowns installed on Friday but I think I'm going to move it to when we get back since I want all of us to rest as much as possible this week and next week is just not possible. I have no idea when the stroller will be here so we're planning to take the wheelchair instead. My new Mei Tai carrier pattern is MIA so I either have to draft my own or not use one. (I plan to draft my own if I can't find it in the next few days.) My sister-in-law just found out she's expecting (very happily surprised!) so I can make her one later when it shows up.
I think that covers all the important stuff for now. I'll post pictures of our trip when we get back. I've decided to get the PhotoPass CD so we'll have lots of pics and I get to be in them too. :)
Have a great week everyone!

3 weeks!!!

It's only 3 more weeks until we leave! Exitement is really picking up here. I've got so much to do and so little time to finish all of it. Nikolas doesn't really understand "we're going to Mickey Mouse's house" but we tell him every day and he just smiles.

I made reservations for November 3 at Play-n-Dine so he can see JoJo and Goliath. They are still his favorites. :)

I've kinda planned which parks will be on what day...at least tentatively. Our wish volunteers are supposed to come to bring our documents a week or 2 before we leave.

Nikolas' CICOA case manager called today and our lockdowns for the van and his new special needs stroller have been approved so if we're really lucky we can take the stroller and rent a regular minivan instead of a lift van. A lift van would be nice to try but it's a lot more expensive. I know we aren't paying for this but there's no reason to be greedy. I wish I knew how much spending money they're giving us and what other things they've planned. I hear Give Kids the World do all kinds of special things too but I'm not sure what'll be going on when we're there. I think the surprises will be wonderful but I have a hard time not being the one doing the planning. It's the OCD in me. :) I'll be back when I know more!!

New return flight..

Well I opted for the earliest leaving flight and the later return flight. Guess what...the airline moved the flight time. It was for 6:43 pm (who comes up with these times?) now it's for 8:30ish pm. 2 extra hours to explore GKTW. YEA!! Now I need to figure out what needs packed, get the suitcases from the in-laws (they HAVE to be aired out...chain smokers!) and figure out what clothes I need to replace for the kids. Gracie has outgrown the pants we bought at the beginnng of August already. I'm glad we decided to go to Plato's Closet instead of paying full price. We're going to go thru the clothes she has and go back in the next week or 2. Well chores are still waiting...why can't they do themselves? Have a great weekend!

Wish Trip Dates came today!!

We got the dates for the trip today! We're going from November 2 thru November 8. We will be staying at Give Kids the World resort. You've really gotta see that place...it's a theme park in itself. :)
I'll be sure to post pictures when we get back. There are so many things for me to plan (and pack). Make-A-Wish and Give Kids The World take care of almost everything but there are lots of things I'm learning about that will make this trip extra special.
If you're even thinking about Disney World or Disneyland then you need to go to the DISBoards and sign up. Be prepared to read, read, read! There is soooo much information but boy is it helpful and the people are so wonderful & friendly. Off to read some more...oh, and here is a link to our thread...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2263732
Have a great evening!!

Make-A-Wish came to our house!

Guess what!?! We're going to Disney World!!!!! Nikolas got a wish granted from the Make-A-Wish Foundation and that is what we decided to do. It's going to be Boo, Gracie, Me and my dad and mom. DH is staying home this round. We just had our volunteer visit and gave them all our information including when we would prefer to go. We had to give them preferred times and they will see what they can do. I picked the first 2 weeks of November, then late October, and last in January. I'll take whatever they have with no complaints though. :)
It will be nice to go and have Boo be able to do what everyone else is doing. That just doesn't happen very often any more. The volunteers that came were so very sweet, Boo got a "Cars" book and Gracie got a gift card to buy a new book (which she did and already finished-that girl loves to read!). Boo colored in his star while he was sleeping. Unfortunately they came while his chicken pox vaccine was doing it's thing so he was tired and a bit grumpy but all in all it went well. The star they decorate is for the volunteers to return along with a picture of the child so everyone can see who they are helping. This is a wonderful organization. If you ever decide you want to donate to a charity-donate to them. They go all out to make things wonderful for the Wish Child and the rest of the family. It's really nice that they do so much for the siblings too. I think that they tend to get lost in the chaos most of the time.
I don't know when we are going yet but I've been looking around on DisBoard and found out a bit about how some of this works. Mom needs lots of info (that I don't have) since we have to pay for her to go too. MAW pays for 2 adults and all kids in the household so my dad is filling in for DH and mom's stuff we pay for.
This is the general stuff you get to do. They give you 3 Disney World, 2 Universal and 1 Sea World pass. These are donated by the parks. You wear buttons that say Make A Wish and they treat you like royalty. I guess a limo picks you up and takes you to the airport and there are volunteers who meet you at the gates when you land to welcome you. We are hopefully staying at Give Kids The World. You've gotta check out their website...that place looks AWESOME! It's like a hotel and theme park all in one. There are so many other things they do for the kids...just go to DisBoards.com, register and read some of the trip reports from the wish families. This board is a great way to plan your trip whether it's just a family vacation or a wish trip. There are so many great ideas and people who can tell you how to find all these cool things that lots of people don't know to look for. Plus there are cast members (cm's-employees) that work at the parks who are on the board too. They also talk about all the other theme parks in Orlando so there is info to really plan a cool vacation. My user name is 2specialkids so when you sign up look for me! Oh and read Boo's pre-trip report...come help us plan a wonderful time for the kids!

Chicken Spots

We have a new song around our house. It goes something like this....."You can't go to school with chick-en spots, chick-en spots, chick-en spots. You can't go to school with chicken spots all over you!" Yep, the stupid school system required me to get the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine before he could go to kindergarden and guess what...he actually got the chicken pox. I wanted to wait until the summer between 5th and 6th grade if he didn't get them before then but not per the school. So Mr. Boo had to stay home all week to wait for them to go away.
He went back today. He loves his class and his favorite times are....LUNCH & RECESS! Just like mommy! Actually they are the favorites because there are tons of kids around and his class is pretty small since he's in the lifeskill class all day except for specials, lunch and recess. He seems to do alright for all day but we're still in the trial phase of "all day kindergarden". It's kinda nice to have a few hours to myself. I'm even going to join Curves so I can get out and get healthy.
Have a great weekend!

Feeling better...

Our (Boo's) surgery was a success! Boo's feeling better. He's still not 100% but definitely better. He's actually going to therapy tomorrow-PT, OT and speech. We're working on getting him a new stander and a therapy ball. His PT and I decided to give him the winter off from them and start back after spring break. Hopefully since he's had this shunt replaced and will be seeing the ENT, he will start making progress again.
School starts on the 12th and I will be sending Boo for a few hours before we have to go to the doctor. We enrolled him in all day kindergarten but that's really a trial. If he gets too tired then he'll switch to 1/2 day. Either way he'll stay in Angie's class for the next 6 years and that makes me much more at ease. She's a wonderful teacher and perfect for the lifeskills kids (and she's fine with cloth diapers-used 'em on her kids!).
Gracie's nerves are getting to her...a new school year will do that. She got a small new wardrobe to get started and is excited. Oh, and her grade school counselor has moved to the middle school so now she's got someone she trusts (who knows about her family history) that she can talk to if she's having issues during the school day. She also has a new schedule...they put her in Biology last week. Hmmmmm....Mr. D "didn't think she was smart enough" then Ms. M & the counselors changed the schedule and decided "yes she is". Ummm an IQ of 137+ and a college reading & comprehension level should be ok for biology & algebra. :P
Time to get back to sewing Boo's school wardrobe...nothing from the stores fits well any more.