And a new year has begun

January was mostly quiet, except in the mornings, when Beckett was getting ready for school, which were not quiet due to the protests about going to school. At least I didn't have to literally drag him out of the house. On the other hand, he has gotten smart enough to know that drawing out getting dressed keeps him from going to school a little bit longer. Smart little monkey.

On a positive note about Beckett and school, he has such a good class. I found out that Beckett's teacher has talked with his class so they understand that he has challenges and he needs their help and support to deal with his challenges. Mrs. Struthers said that the class is very willing to help him, sometimes too willing. She has also asked a girl in the class to be Beckett's mentor (I guess that would be the right word). He always stands by her in line and she helps him when there is a substitute. She is also the biggest kid in the class, so she totally looks like his body guard, which is good for Beckett because he is the smallest in the class. The nicest thing about this is she seems to like to look out for him. It seems like she genuinely wants to help Beckett. There have been a couple of times when she has told him to come stand by her in line, and the way she says it makes me want go up and give her a big hug. She sounds like she really wants him to be by her. I don't know her name though. Beckett is horrible with names and can't tell me what her name is. Maybe he just doesn't know who I am talking about. Communication is definitely one of his biggest challenges, and I am having a hard time thinking outside the box to come up with different ways to explain stuff to him. (If you can't read between the lines, this is a source of frustration right now.) 

Anyways, back to this class. I have a question to pose to the readers of this blog. Do you have any ideas of what I could do to thank his class for being so wonderful to him? I have thought about taking doughnuts or asking the teacher if we could have a special movie party one afternoon. I don't know. I want the kids to know how much we appreciate them being so good to Beckett and helping him with his challenges. I kind of want it to stand out in their mind so that they will hopefully remember how important it is to accept and help everybody all throughout their lives. That might be asking a little much though, so I am okay with just thanking them. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Beckett's class went on another field trip during January. We went to the Ogden Nature Center. Our family has never been before, so I was excited to see what was there. It was super cool. The kids got to go snowshoeing and look for animal autographs. They had so much fun walking around in the snowshoes, and it was fun to watch. Many, if not all, tripped at least once. They also got to pretend to walk like animals, to show the different gates that animals have. They got to touch stuff like snake skin, teeth, skulls, fur, etc. There were stuffed animals all over the place for them to look at. And they had a few animals in cages too. The snake in one of the cages was very active and it really freaked Beckett out. I'm glad that was at the end because he kind of became unglued at that point and was done with the field trip and wanted to go back to school. For the most part, I think he really liked the field trip. But it just wasn't part of his routine and the snake and this one little boy kept annoying him, so by the end of it, he was spent. His teacher said he had to spend the last little bit of the day in the Special Ed room because he kept falling to pieces. This Aspergers thing can really ruin fun days sometimes.

Other days, it makes things so funny and cute.

I love that kid.

On to Anabelle. She is still Little Miss Spunky Pants. I think she wants to add cheerleading to her list of things she conquer someday.

She has also become quite the dancer. She has been a dancer for quite a while, but she has really started to dance a lot lately and she is getting very good at it too. I think we need to look into dance classes.

She is still a budding fashion designer. Her best outfit of January consisted of the dress in the video above, with lime green leggings and a jean mini-skirt underneath the dress. On top of the dress she wore the blue and white striped shirt in the last video with a pink T-shirt on top of that. On her feet, she had these purple slippers that matched the skirt in that same video, with her black Sunday shoes on top of them. I hope you have a good image of her, because I couldn't get her to change before we went to pick up Beckett from school, so I had to take her all dressed up like that. As we were walking to the door that we meet Beckett at, there were people walking behind us. So I said, "Next time we come to get brother from school, we can't wear dress-ups. Okay?" She is a hoot and keeps me on my toes.

Speaking of keeping me on my toes. I have already had to come up with ages for when she can have sleepovers and wearing make-up. That's right, MAKE-UP. I didn't know I would have to come up those numbers already!. Have you guys already decided on them? This girl is going to give us a run for our money before she is even 5! Despite wanting to be an adult at 4, she really is a joy to have. She loves help me clean and tries to be a mother to Beckett whenever she can get away with it. She still loves school and has taken to primary like a duck to water. I can't believe she is in Primary already. Her teacher told me on the second or third Sunday of Sunbeams that she was spelling Anabelle's name on her paper, and Anabelle said she was spelling it wrong and then told her how to spell it correctly. She is just too much. I love my little Bananabelle.

Here are some cute pictures of the kids that I want to share, just because they are cute.

He found my old swim cap and thought it was hilarious.

Vogue!

My 31st birthday was also in January. My sisters and I went to Brian Regan for all of our birthdays this year. It was so much fun. He is so funny. I was dying when he was talking about dancing. It was such a good routine. I haven't laughed that hard in a while and I loved it! Also, Matt and I went to dinner with my parents to Zupas, which is one of the best places to eat. Their chocolate fondue is the best I have ever had. (Even better than the Melting Pot's, except for their smores fondue. That wins them all.) Their soups are heavenly and they have amazing sandwiches and salads, all for pretty decent prices. Go there if you have never been. I promise it is worth it. 

Matt has started his last semester of School. We are so excited for him to be done. There is light at the end of the tunnel. He is taking a Spanish class this semester and it is kicking his butt. Other than that, he likes his classes. His job is still awesome. So life is good for now. I hope I didn't just jinx us.