Christmas Cheer

Well, Christmas has come an gone.  Dad went to visit Grandma.  She's been sick this winter.  He's home now.  

Christmas was very exciting and I got lots of treats.  They did lock me up for about 9 hours while they went over to Nan0 and Papa's house, but I was tired anyway.  So was Mom.  The family got a Wii.  Boy is it fun.

The kids got all dressed up for Christmas Eve church.

They even got me into the act.

Awesome!

Joey use his Leapster to spell words while Mom watches. Joey spells a word, shouts it out, and then says "Awesome". Afterwards he imitates the noise the speller makes.

Aidan Practicing Soo Bahk Do

A short video of Aidan at Soo Bahk Do class.

Joey's in the Paper!

Joey is in the local paper with his teacher from school.  They went on a field trip to a nursing home yesterday and he helped decorat the tree.  You can see the picture here: http://daily-journal.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge_remote.asp?remoteimageid=948261

Joey at Lunch and the Christmas Play

Just a quick little video of Joey at lunch following his feeding clinic session and Aidan's Practice for the Christmas Play at church.  I'll do a more Christmas-sy post later.

Skating

Dad took Rhiannon and Aidan to Chicago yesterday.  They went skating at Millennium Park.

They rode the train into Chicago.

After they went to Macy's to look at the windows and to see the Great Tree.

Then they walked to Lake Michigan.  The weather was so nice there were people sailing on the lake.

 A wonderful day.

Thanks...

I am thankful today.  For my family, for a warm bed and for food (especially people food).

Dad is thankful that his mom is home from the hospital.

Mom is thankful that Joey ate pumpkin pie yesterday and for me (yay!)

Rhi is thankful for the Macy's Day parade.

Aidan is thankful for food (especially tacos).

Joey is thankful for disks to spin and graham crackers.

Aidan is in a Christmas musical at church.  Here is a snipet from the last practice.

Sunday Afternoon

Just a typical Sunday afternoon in our kitchen!

Cars and Angels

On Monday Joey had an appointment at a feeding clinic in Springfield.  Mom, Dad and Joey's teacher all made the trip down to Springfield.  About ten miles outside Springfield, the transmission died and the van coasted to a stop on Interstate 72.  Mom and Dad started working the cell phones and Dad arranged for a tow to a local dealer.  Just then, a pick-up truck pulled up behind the van.  A gentleman in an Illinois Department of Corrections uniform got out and asked if he could help them out.

Well, with the tow on the way, there didn't seem much to do, but the man asked why they were in town.  When he was told he said he'd give Mom and Joey a ride to the clinic.  That's too much trouble Larry piped in...  but he said it wasn't.  So Mom, Ms. Alvis and Joey climbed into the pick-up and waved good-bye to Dad.

Mom got more of the story from the man.  He was just off his shift and heading home.. He was a retired fireman and EMT.  He was meeting his wife for lunch after she had a doctor's appointment.  He was actually heading the other direction on the interstate and drove through the median to help.  

The pick-up was the only vehicle that stopped.  Dad says at least 500 cars went by after everyone was gone and no one stopped to offer help.  Joey made his appointment.

Was this guy really Joey's guardian angel?  All I know is that someone was watching out for Joey...  and the car will be okay.  It needs a new transmission and Dad will pick it up tomorrow.

Sorry no picks today, but Dad posted some new videos on YouTube.

PS - Mom and Dad are now on Facebook.  Do you want to be their friends?

Halloween Party and Joey's New Hat

Dad and Aidan went to a Soo Bahk Do banquet last night.  It was also a Halloween party. Aidan and Dad got new hats for the occasion. Here is Aidan modeling Dad's.  Dad dressed as Rocky when he wasn't fighting.  Aidan dressed as a woodsman.

Aidan's instructor dressed as 

"Big Al."

Everyone had a blast! 

During the day, there was testing for the Dan level candidates, and there was a clinic for everyone.

After Dad got home, he gave Joey his new hat.  Joey seems to like it.

Halloween (and My Birthday)

Well, Halloween came and went again.  Did I ever tell you that Halloween is my birthday!  Really and truly it is.  I have a certificate to prove it!

Joey dressed up as Spongebob.  Aidan was Darth Vader and Rhiannon was Elphaba.  I only got a photo of Joey, because Rhi and Aidan went out.

Mom made me wear this shirt that says Trick or Treat.

I wasn't too thrilled with it, but I love Mom, so I put up with it for her.

Aidan and Joey got a ton of candy.  Of course, since Joey won't eat it, everyone else gets to share.  The weather was unbelievably nice.  It was something like 60 degrees when Dad took Joey out at 5.

Rhiannon worked at church where they have a family night called Candyland instead of going Trick or Treating.

At the end of the night we

were all exhausted.

It's Done (Almost)

Well the kitchen and bathrooms are just about done being renovated.  I've got some pictures here.  It's really nice.  Mom likes it.  There are just a few things left to take care of.  

I've got a new bed in the sun.

In case you haven't been keeping up with the videos, there are some new ones on YouTube.

Joey at Church

I couldn't resist putting this picture Dad took a church this morning up on the post. He looks so cute.
Joey where's the earmuffs to block sound, or maybe just because he likes the way they feel. If he doesn't have them on, he sticks his fingers in his ears. Since we don't want him to hurt his eardrums, we make sure he has the earmuffs on when he goes out.

Huey Comes to Visit

Huey is staying with us. Dad made a video below and you can see Huey get jealous of Joey.

The house is still a wreck. Another week or two and it'll be done.

What a Mess!

The house is being renovated. The kitchen is all tore up and so is the living room and dining room! They moved my cage downstairs. Joey and I can't handle this right now! Mom is at her wit's end. Dad just keeps trying to remind her how nice it'll be when it is finished, but I don't think she can believe that right now. I'm not posting any pictures, because Mom won't let us take any. When it is completed, I'll post something.

Joey is being evaluated at Little Friends, which is a school that specializes in autism. Dad took him for his OT evaluation yesterday.

Dad just put a couple of new Joey videos up on Youtube.

Feast of the Hunters' Moon

The family left me home and went away for the weekend. They went to Indiana to attend The Feast of the Hunters' Moon. It is a festival with food and costumes and all kinds of stuff from when there were settlers along the Wabash River near West Lafayette, Indiana. The area around here was settled by French from Canada and in the 1700s this was the farthest reaches of the French Empire. Pretty cool huh?It was a long day and everybody got pretty tuckered out. And me, well, I stayed with Nano and Papa and played with Lily all day. I got pretty tired too.

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this weekend. It was nice to see them. They came all the way from Virginia. They went to the lake with the rest of the family. Aunt Patty brought them down from Chicago.

Rhiannon and Aidan went to spend a couple of nights with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Patty up in Chicago this week. It is just as well because the guys came to rip up our bathroom. Mom has a plan to remodel everything in the house. It sure is a mess. We got ceiling fans put in today and Joey thinks their really cool.

Dad took a couple of videos that are posted on YouTube. As he posts more videos it may get harder to find the new ones. You can sort by date added and that should help you find them.

I'm adding one here.

We also found this weird eggplant.






Aidan added eyes to it.

Baseball and Bathrooms

Aidan went to his first professional baseball game on Thursday night. Dad took him to see the White Sox play the Kansas City Royals. The White Sox won. They had allot of fun. Aidan made a sign, but it didn't make it onto TV. Amazingly, both the Sox and the Cubs are leading their divisions. I'm sure that won't last. You can see a video of Aidan at the game on YouTube.

Mom finally found someone to finish the bathroom in the basement. It's been kind of a mess for a while. Mom is going to be so happy with it. We call is the boys' bathroom, because Dad and Aidan use it. Dad and Aidan painted it this weekend and on Monday it'll be finished. Aidan picked out the color. The color is called "Big Swamp" and Mom thinks that's the perfect name for the boy's bathroom. I'm not sure how they'll decorate it this time, but I'm voting for frogs and alligators. It was John Deere, but that's gone now. I'll put up a picture when it's done.

Vacations and Olympics

This is a beautiful sunset at Lake Barkley in Kentucky. The family went there last week.Lilly and I were dumped at a kennel for five nights. They said they had allot of fun. Lilly and I were okay, but I wish we had gone. Dad took a couple of videos of Joey that you can see on his YouTube site.

Here are a couple of photos from vacation.





Here are Joe and Joe hanging in the pool.







Here is Aidan acting too cool.










And Rhiannon and Luke after dinner.

We've been watching the Olympics. We saw Melanie Roach, a female weightlifter, this morning who is 33 and has three kids. One is autistic like Joey. You can read more about her and her son Drew at her website.

Birthday and Ducks

It was Nano's birthday a week or so ago. we went out to dinner with Nano and Papa (well Mm, Dad and Joey did... I stayed home and Rhi and Aidan were at camp). Joey took a picture of Aunt Val and cousin Luke during dinner.














Then yesterday everyone went to the beach and swam and fed ducks.

Da Bears Visit Bourbonnais

The Chicago Bears are having training camp for the next couple of weeks in our town. It is pretty exciting. It happens every year at the end of July.

Aidan and Dad rode their bikes over today. The Bears Camp is very family friendly. Aidan had lots of fund at "Junior Training Camp".




Dad took some photos of the Bears too. In this one you can see the water tower.
Last week Rhiannon and Aidan went to church camp. It is the first year Aidan went for a whole week. They had allot of fun (and it was nice and quiet here).

Who Let the Dogs Out

Aidan made this cool video of me. What do you think?

Fourth of July and a Day at the Beach

Yesterday was the Fourth of July. The family left me at home for like 6 hours while they went out to the college and listened the local symphony orchestra and watched fireworks. Mom says I would have been scared to death of the fireworks.

Today Dad took the kids to the beach. Rhiannon took a video of Joey and Dad playing.

Joey Rides His Bike

Here's a video Dad took of Joey riding his new bike. He's getting good at pedaling and keeping it on the sidewalk.



You can see more videos on Joey's YouTube Channel. Go to: www.youtube.com/lstringe to see more.

Friendship Festival

The Friendship Festival came to Bourbonnais again this week. Dad helped me make a video of Joey enjoying himself there. Joey does his special "Joey Dance" several times in the video. I hope you enjoy it.

Bunnies in Our Yard!

The picture isn't really great, but it was the best one I had. Yesterday, as Dad was mowing the grass, this little critter ran out from under the mower. I thought it was a mouse as first. Then it just stopped in the grass and looked lost. Dad went over and picked it up. It was a little baby bunny. It can't be very old, because it was so small.

Dad carefully put it back in its hole and showed it to the neighborhood kids. Mom said she was wandering who was eating her flowers.

Later in the evening Aidan came inside. He told me there were eight bunnies. Dad asked how he knew, did he pull them out of the hole? Aidan, and all of us were warned to leave them alone.

The family went to the lake again yesterday. They really have allot of fun there. Aidan passed the swim test and he was able to go out in the deep water... all the way to the diving board! Can you see how far that is in this picture? Dad wasn't even able to touch the bottom out that far! Rhiannon is swimming really well this year. Mom wants her to join the swim team. Rhiannon is such a big help with Joey.

Aidan tested for his next level in Soo Bakh Do. He is really moving up there.

Joey Gets a New Bike

Mom got Joey a new bike. It is really a trike, but Mom says we are supposed to call it a bike.It's pretty cool. It's got big wide tires.

The lake opened up. We went there with Aunt Patty yesterday. The water was really cold. Then we had a cook-out. It was nice seeing Aunt Patty again. Here's a picture of Patty that Joey took.

No Mistake

I made this video of some pictures of Joey based on a song called No Mistake by Koo Chung.

Joey has autism, but, as these pictures show, he is no mistake.

Spring Arrives

Spring arrived a few weeks ago, but it didn't really feel like it until this week. With Spring we've also got a new addition to the extended family. Aunt Amy and Uncle Joe adopted a new Beagle. Her name is Lucy. She's got allot of energy and is fun to play with. Maggie passed away right after I published the last post.




Rhiannon bought a camera with her Christmas money and she's been taking allot of pictures. The first two in this post are her photos.

Joey likes her camera and is becoming quite the photographer too. Below are three shots he took. Some of his pictures are pretty good. Some are a little abstract.