Just wanted to let everyone know about a wonderful resource here in the Sandhills:  Colors and Clay!   My daughter and I have found it to be almost a "home away from home" because Miss Amy (owner Amy Albert) has created such an awesome place to come and create painted pottery.  She has a multitude of activities...something for everyone.....

Most recently we went to a Tea Party there at Amy's store (next to the Little Toy Shop in Southern Pines).  We feasted on little sandwiches and fruit and cupcakes, Miss Amy read a cute story to our daughters and then the moms painted coffee cups and the girls painted little espresso cups and saucers.  It was such a sweet and relaxing experience and I know everyone enjoyed themselves.  I hope she does this every year!

Amy has a multitude of activities planned for the summer and throughout the year.  She does Diva Nights for a chance for moms to get away for a little creative time and I treated myself to a Diva morning.   You choose your pottery and then paint away!  I'm not very artistic, but I have loved the results on the different pieces I have made and my daughter is pleased with the projects she has created. 

My Brownie troop used some of their cookie money and came in each created an animal (kind of like the Build of Bear experience, but better, and without the drive and expense) that they dressed in a Brownie uniform.  

Today I was thinking that the pieces that I have made and the pieces that my daughter has made may become family heirlooms....And the creative process is sweet, uninterrupted quality time that is a blessing in itself!  

If you haven't been to Colors and Clay yet....Please give it a try.  Amy and her staff are so supportive and work extremely well with children.   I feel so blessed to have found this resource and want to pass it on to everyone! 

So to continue with my Easter Story.

Side note: My husband was just standing over me while I was typing this. "What are you doing" He says. He does not get why we blog.

Anyway...

After the rocky start to our trip, you will be surprised to hear that the rest of it went very well. We stopped only once for lunch and potty.

We stopped, somewhere on 64 close to the VA/NC border, at a McDonalds. This must have been the only McDonalds in town because everyone was there at that moment. After circleing twice, we found a parking spot and squeezed in with my big Suburban.

When I open up the back door, toys and trash come spilling out. Of course no one had shoes on. Since both Scott and Laura are potty training at the same time, I did put them both Pullups before we left. The 3 year old was doing the Pee-Pee dance, as was I. Scott does not hold his as well as Laura.

So we make it into the McDonald's restroom. I try and get the 3 of us into the big stall, so that I can keep an eye on them. My oldest waits for us. Scott does not go potty. Instead he flushes. He has a flushing feddish. I am not sure what sensory input he gets from it but he sure does love it. He can waste a lot of water if we let him.

Laura refuses to go. She is afraid of the big noisy toilet. Since neither one of them would go potty-I couldn't go either. So here we are, 2 hours away from home, 3 hours to go-all with full bladders. Thank goodness the 2 little ones have on pullups. I wish there was one for me!

We are all hungry. Of course we will have McDonalds since we are there. But I refuse to wait at the counter. I have had to stand in line with my kids before, I vowed never to do it again. So we get back in the car. Remember I said everyone in town was at this burger joint. We waited 15 minutes to place our order.

Now with food, we get back on the freeway. We make it all the way to my mom's house without incident.

I was so shocked that they were all so good. I was afraid to jinks it, knowing we had to go back the way we came.

The week in Virginia turned out to be a great time. We were very busy going from house to house. My mother has made it very easy for us to visit.

When Scott was first diagnosed 3 years ago, he was going through his distruction phase. He broke, ripped, chewed everything in his reach. We ended having to lock up everything in his room. After one of our visits with my mom during this time frame-she also leared how distructive he could be.

So she did the same. He has his very own room. Where she has placed a lock on everything and moved the bed away from the ceiling fan chain. Another feddish he as-fans! She really came through for us. I big change for her to.

During our visit we were able to coordinate a trip to Kings Dominion. I could not believe it. It was like a family reunion. Everyone was there. Remember how many cousins I said there were. All in all there were about 30 of us all together. We had such a good time.

Scott did very well. I had lots of extra eyes to help me keep track of him. Laura being the typical child-has a fear of strangers. So I did not worry about her wandering off as much. Scott on the other hand not the same.

Scott does not understand fears or many other things that require him to use the part of the brain that tell him cars can hit you if you run in the street, fire burns and you can get lost in crowds.

Scott is very stealth like when he moves. My husband and I often refer to him as the butler. If you have seen the movie Mr. Deeds, you know what I am talking about. Here now. turn around and he is gone.

Luckily there were only two incidences at Kings Dominion that made my heart skip a beat. My family knows that when I say "where's Scott" they quickly scatter in search of him.  

Such a good Easter Week.

We made it back home to NC just as good as we went. Rain all the way, but they were very good.

I know in my first blog I said that I would try and do a weekly post. HA! That was now a month ago. Seriously, I want to post often, because believe me my weeks are always full with something interesting to say! 

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After my first post Easter was here. Since the kids were going to be out of school that following week, I decided that I would travel to Virginia to visit my side of the family - 5 Hours -  no husband - alone - with 3 kids. Was I nuts? Yes absolutely!

Well I knew I did not want to be home with them for the entire week, alone. At least this way they could hang out with all of their cousins to. Yes there are lots. My husband says we breed like rabbits! I tend to agree. There are 15 in all. Ranging in ages from 5 months to 21 years. For each of my 3 there is a cousin of the same age. LOTS!!

I know that some parents reading this may think that staying home alone with their children would be a blessing. Your children must be absolute angels. I envy you.

I love my kids. But even the weekends are hard enough. After the first full day with ADD, Autism and a 3 year old, I am counting the time for when Monday comes.

So off we go. We left the house at 815am. I had to run in to town for a few errands. By the time I was done and ready to get going it was now 9:00am. So on our way I stopped by Burger King for breakfast. I knew this would keep them happy for at least 5 minutes. Shortly after leaving the drive-thru my 3 year old tells me "I gonna be sick." Oh no! Not 3 minutes later, up comes her breakfast. All over the laptop-we use it for movies. All over the bags, her blankie, her seat and herself. What a mess.

So we go back home. This throws Scott into a fit. If have never seen an Autistic child throw a temper tantrum you are lucky. Imagine the worst tantrum you have seen. Now add in psychotic body slamming and you have what I call, Scott. See, he was told that he is going to see G-ma. When you tell a child with autism that you are going to do something you have to tell them if it is not going to happen. Otherwise you get a, Scott.

Anyway, we get back home and I get her all cleaned up. I decided to wait a while to see if her tummy is better before I try it again. I call my husband at work to let him know that we are home again. I called my mom to let her know that I was home, again.

After about an hour Laura said that she was better. So we loaded up, again. Now it was 11am. Had I kept driving I would have been on the other side of Raleigh by then.

Whenever Scott has to get in the car he has this ritual of running around the car. I do not know why, but he does. If he is not able to run then we have another Scott episode. Since he was running around the car, Laura decided that she would to. After a couple of minutes I said it was time to go. I am telling you it was like hurding cats! One going in one direction, one in another.

Ok, time to go! Just as I get them in the car, my 10 year old with ADD decided that she needed to go to the bathroom. FINE! Because of her ADD it can take take her 10 minutes to complete a simple task, such as peeing. And it looked like that is what was happening. So I start honking the horn. She comes out, forgetting to shut the door behind her so then the puppy follows. Now we have to chase Tony Stewart around. Of course he thinks it is a game. By now I am about to loose it. We have not even left the driveway yet.

Finally! She catches him, he is licking her face. She climbs in the car. Everyone is ok. So we are off. AGAIN!

.... to be continued

I just want to introduce myself to the Sandhills bloggers! My name is Christine Garton and I have written lots of different things before; letters, flyers, proposals and even newspaper notices, but nothing as personal as a blog.

I chose to do this because I think that hearing from a mom of a child with a disability would be a good addition to the blogging world. You will also find that I actually have quite a bit in common with many families in the Sandhills area!

 We are a military family (Army) . We have been married for  eleven years and have lived in 4 states: Virginia, Washington, California, Colorado and now North Carolina. I am a Virginian and my husband is a Californian. We met while I was in the Army and we were both stationed at Bragg.

We also have three children; 11, 7 and 3.Two of those have a special need.

My ten year old was diagnosed with ADD just 6 months ago. We have had many challenges with her over the years, but when she was diagnosed, it all made scense.

Our most challenging child is our seven year old son. He was diagnosed with Autism three years ago. This was the reason why I decided to blog. I wanted to give the perspective of parenting children with challenges.

I am also the program coordinator for Family Support Network of the Sandhills, www.fsnsandhills.org and I am always open to questions, support and advocacy. I hope to add a weekly Sunday blog. But as time is valuable, I may not be able to. So keep a look out. If you are a parent of a child with a special need I hope that a look into our house might help you.

My favorite event in Moore County is the Southern Pines SpringFest.  There is so much going on, so much to see and so much food to eat!   We have been going for 5 years and have a routine.  We break up the day into 3 parts:  Kids area, Bike race and mommy shopping time. 

Multiple blocks of down-town Southern Pine are blocked off for the event.  One street is filled with kids stuff.  There are rides, games and other goodies that kids like.  We always spend a couple of hours there.  Without fail we run into many friends and spend time talking and having fun.

The bike race is sponsored by the Southern Pines Parks and Recreation.  It is for kids of all ages.  The kids can ride tricycles or bikes as long as they are wearing a helmet.  They group the kids by age and have only about 5-8 kids at a time racing.  EVERY child gets a ribbon (and a t-shirt).  The younger kids have a shorter distance to ride then the older kids.  My son really looks forward to this race every year.  This year will be even better since he learned to ride a 2-wheeler!

After the race we have lunch.  There are a TON of food vendors to choose from.  My personal preference, though, is to go to the Ice Cream Parlor.  It’s great to sit at the window in the cool air conditioning and watch the crowds.  People watching is one of my favorite things to do.

Finally, its mommy time!  My husband takes my son home and I get to take my time roaming around looking at all the wonderful things for sale.  Of course, I always come home with something.  But really, just the chance to walk around and browse without a child saying “can we go now?” is such a joy that it doesn’t matter if I buy anything or not.

The one thing I don’t know anything about is the Tour de Moore which is a big part of SpringFest.  The Tour de Moore is a bike race and that is about all I know!  Maybe someone else will write a blog about that.

If you are new to the area or just have not been to SpringFest yet, be sure to go this year.  SpringFest will be on Saturday, April 28^th from 9am – 4pm.  The Southern Pines Business Association, which sponsors SpringFest, will have information on their website:  www.southernpines.biz

My oldest daughter started talking early and by the time she had reached her first birthday she could form small sentences. As she grew older, her vocabulary exploded and she became a sponge for words. Over the course of those first years, she asked about the name of everything she saw including her body parts.

Unlike many moms who have cute names for everything from bottles to going the bathroom, I never did (one exception - the pacifier aka the "binkie"). I believed that Hallie should learn the proper name for each and every item she came across. This philosophy served me well until the day she saw a little boy going to the bathroom.

Hallie was amazed that the little boy could stand up while peeing from his "squirter" (this was the name she assigned to it) and asked me why she didn't have a "squirter" too. All of the sudden, I found myself faced with having to explain to a two year old the intricacies of human genital. As I stood there looking at this tiny person asking me the difference between sitting on the toilet vs. standing, I found myself debating the pros and cons of teaching my daughter the words penis and vagina. She was barely two and spoke as clearly as most four year olds. And although I believed in using the correct terminology for body parts, all I could envision was my two year old screaming in Wal-Mart that her Vagina hurt because she had to go potty. At that moment, I tossed out the "proper name" rule and opted for the "good enough for now" rule and informed my daughter that there were two types of body parts - boy parts and girl parts. And she had girl parts which meant you had to sit on the toilet. She took the news in stride, expressed her disappointment in not being able to pee standing up and took off to play with her new friend that had the "squirter".

Now that she is older, it is about time she learn the right word for her parts and the correct time to use the word Vagina. I just have to figure out the appropriate time to have that conversation. I wonder if that is something your supposed to do over ice cream?

I would also like to thank the women of Moore County who had the vision and courage to bring the "Vagina Monologues" to our neck of the woods. Not only did I enjoy the production, but it reminded me of the value in being a woman and inspired me to continue to support programs that provide assistance to both woman and children. Congrats to all the volunteers and actors for a job well done - I can't wait until next year's performance.

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Incase you are wondering what to do if you are at a park and the bathrooms are locked and your 4yo says "I gotta poop!", just ask mine and he will be more than glad to share :)  While at the park one day this situation arose, knowing I would never make it to a store (nowhere close bytheway) before my 4yo went in his pants, I decided to show him how you "go" when you're hiking. 

We quickly scouted out the surrounding woods and found a small tree with a low hanging branch, told him to pull down his pants, hang on the branch and poop in the small hole I dug with a stick.  Boom...he's done, he's proud, he's cool, poop buried!  20 minutes later a maintenance person shows up...guess what we have to share!!!  You got it "Hey, I just pooped over there in the woods!"  Red faces on Mommy and Grandma (who was with us during this adventure) and laughs like "boy you are too cute, where do you come up with this stuff".  Mr. Maintenance Person seems none the wiser and we go about our business.

Today, while eating lunch at Panera (before you think it...no we didn't bury poop there), again with Grandma, we had another incident.  The boys are doing great, we are all finished with lunch (which we enjoyed on the patio) and they are happily running from one end of the patio to the other while me and Grandma talk.  Everything gets quiet and you know something is missing in the picture.  Look around and spot 4yo at one end of patio and turn to other end (where the door enters the patio...surrounded by lots of inside seating mind you) and instead of seeing what I thought I would I see butt cheeks!!  Pause, sinking in, and oooooohhhhhhh...don't do that 3yo, you can't do that (running as fast as my terribly embarassed body can move).  To late, he's proud, I am yet again red, Grandma is red, all inside are laughing.  Mommy and Grandma hide identity as much as possible, one brother congratulates another and 3yo is very proud!

 Lesson here: I have no idea, the goal is clean and dry underwear right!  I guess that was accomplished!

If you know me or ever had the opportunity to talk to me, you know I have a gift for gab. I'm a talker. I enjoy meeting new people and love to chat. But lately, I've been doing more talking than usual. You see, I spend countless hours talking about SandhillsKids, the value of family and the importance of supporting parents. Ever since Monica and I became partners, SandhillsKids is all I think about and I have to say, next to raising my own children, it's probably the most rewarding thing I've done in a long time.

What many of our users don't realize is that SandhillsKids is more than just a website - it's a labor of love. Monica and I spend at least 250 - 300 hours each month updating the site, visiting local organizations and groups, promoting family activities and many late nights installing new components to keep SandhillsKids moving forward. And we do all this for free. Supporting families has become our passion.

Although SandhillsKids.com generates some revenue through sponsorship, most of that money gets reinvested into the site through software upgrades, maintenance costs and funding to support some of our future plans for SandhillsKids. Our goal is continue to grow and expand the services of the site while creating a financially stable company that provides flexible employment for parents.

Until that happens, we will continue to burn the midnight oil and ask for you support to keep our vision alive. All we ask in return is that you tell your friends and local business about us. Drop us a line and let us know what you like about SandhillsKids and what you think we should add to the site.

But most of all, become a member. Membership on SandhillsKids is about more than a bi-weekly newsletter or family discounts, it's about power in numbers. The larger we grow, the bigger the voice we have as parents. It's time for our community to realize that there is more to the Sandhills than Horses and Golf because Moore County is a wonderful place to raise a family.

Both of my boys are blanket lovers.  We have tons around the house not just one or two each like most kids.  My 3yo likes fuzzy blankets on one side and satin on the other.  My 4yo loves his old crib quilts and then quilts my grandma made me and my brother when we were his age.  My 4yo says he loves them because he can suck on them.  I'm not sure what he is talking about because I only see him sucking his thumb and holding his blanket close to his mouth but hey who am I to question it.

Anyway, it was time to wash my 4yo's most favorite 2 blankets today (1 at a time of course because we can't be without them for that long) so he gave me one and I got it all washed, dryed and returned.  He gave me the other one and said he was glad to have the other one back so he could suck on it.  When I asked "How do you do that?  I thought you sucked your thumb."  He replied "No mom, I suck the blanket...I can do that because I'm a kid!  One day I'll be grown up and then I can't suck my blanket but now it is ok to do that because I'm a kid...OK!"

There you go!! That's why kids suck their blankets...they're kids not grown ups :)

Anyone who has a boy knows that finding interesting (can't really say cute) boys clothes is really hard.  Girl clothes?  No problem.  Boys clothes are either boring and inexpensive or interesting and expensive.  A friend of mine suggested I check out Lil Branches.  She swore they had some nice boy clothes that were not too expensive. 

If you haven’t been in to Lil Branches yet (at the Belk plaza next to the Chinese restaurant), now is a good time to check it out.  They are having a sale.  (click on the Lil Branches Link from the home page).  I went in there a few weeks ago to check it out.  I assumed it would be like all the small, children’s clothing stores and have 99% girl stuff and a few expensive boys things.  I was wrong!  It does have more girl then boy stuff, but there is a very good selection of boys clothes.  AND they are not overly expensive.  Yes, they are more expensive then wal-mart – but not by much!  And they have some nice things that are different then what you would find at wal-mart. 

Another problem I have in this area is that stores never seem to have much, if anything, in Ryan's size.  And the specialty type stores seem to only have smaller sizes.  Not so here!  I don't know what size they go up to, but they definitely had Ryan's current size (7/8) and some things even bigger than that!  I didn't buy anything at the time because my son is in the middle of a growth spurt.  but I do plan to check out the sale! They also have some different things if you are looking for a baby gift.