Not for the Squeamish

Katie, our resident artist, created another masterpiece d’ rock.

A mouse

 

 And the underbelly

When we play Harry Potter Clue

I realized today why it takes us so long to play a board game….This is our family, playing Harry Potter Clue. Today,  I was Ron, Katie was Ginny, Mary was Neville, Patrick was Harry, and Buddy was Hermione.  Luna Lovegood was taken prisoner by the Death Eaters. 

 

Patrick balancing his pencil which reads, Barium Colbalt Einstein Koolaid.

Our task was to find out who took Luna ( was it Draco, Peter Pettigrew, Belitrix, etc),
where they did it (Potions room, or the Great Hall, or the Room of Requirement….etc,) and with what (Vanishing Cabinet, Impedimenta, Mandrake…etc,) 

How are we doing?

Buddy’s first suspicion was the Butler (aka Peter Pettigrew), in the Bird House (Owlery)with the broken Shoe Phone (the Portkey).  Right about here, I think, Buddy asked about Autism and how I think he and Katie got it.    (he has started to ask questions about it)  Looking back, Buddy is inoculation induced, becoming more so evident as time went on, with the 5-year shots taking him over the edge completely.   Katie was born with it. The older Buddy gets, the more social, and “normal” he becomes.  I am considering this from the perspective of the more he ages beyond his shots,  the more “normal” he becomes.  I talked about a revelation I received about the two of them and their DIFFabilities.

Oh, here we are actually playing the game and….

…Waiting for the cat to finish her turn….

Patrick considered Lucius Malfoy in the Great Hall with the Mandrake. 

How we ended up here, I will never know….I think it was my turn on the board.

Oh, good heavens!

 

Katie spent most of the time laughing her head off.

We spent most of the time laughing, telling jokes, talking about the future, Autism, missions, and played a little of the game.  We lost. Luna was toast.

Katie Rocks on, again

Katie’s latest creation

The garden as of today, May…something, something

 

The garden is just growing and growing.  Here is just a sampling of what is going on.

Here’s a sampler of the samplings

Sugar Snap Peas, just before Patrick ate them

 

The first Poona Keera cucumber

 

Tomatoes of some kind. 

 

Crawl dad holes <ick>

There will be beans!  <and bean bugs>

<yawn>  Regular cucumbers, but LOADS of them!!

The first of the White Dragon’s Egg  cucumbers developing

 

The first of the Golden Zucchini

  16 rows of corn

The back quarter

When I think I’m failing miserably…

Sometimes I feel like I’m failing miserably at this widowhood parenting, but then I am shown how my kids are turning out.

All 4 of my kids were with me in the temple for Stake Family Temple day last August. Someone told that that was an amazing thing. I just took it for granted, but I guess it’s not that way for everyone.

Mary is busy being a live in care taker for an elderly couple in my Branch.  She’s done this before, as she helped me with her father when he was an invalid.

 

And here is Katie, weeding in the garden without complaining.

Here are Buddy and Patrick, cutting the grass, without  a fuss or complaining. 

And here are my…. my boys…um…Patrick is ramming a shovel through Buddy’s head….. Um…

Actually, I broke it this morning digging a hole.  For a tomato plant, okay?

What do you do with a broken Pink Shovel?  This one was the first of the Pink garden tools.

Buddy shows us what you do…

Buddy Writes a Song

Just when I am wondering if things are going well for Buddy, 20, (my Aspie son who is still homeschooling), and what he’s doing with his time, I discover amazing things about him.  He’s still in the secretive phase of youth, though he has nothing to hide, really.  He just doesn’t like mom seeing what he’s doing. If he’s listening to music on the computer, watching the pretty patterns on the screen, he leaves when I enter the room.  If he’s looking for food in the kitchen and I enter the room, he leaves.  Now, I’ve never given anybody any grief for listening to music that we’ve uploaded on the computers or for eating. It’s just the way he is.  Anyway….

I have discovered today that he is writing a Theme song for a book he’s writing.  The book, which I knew about, is titled,   The Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The song I didn’t know about.  He is also composing the music.

The song is kind of silly, but full of his testimony and made his momma cry.  I decided I worry too much. 

 

Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Theme Song

When Evil forces threatened to destroy the church of God,
And it looked as thought the Saints were facing unbelievable odds,
They humbly prayed for deliverance and asked God to send it.
So God called five faithful and worthy youth to defend it.

chorus 1

As Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
They’ll magnify their calling, they’ll do the best they can
To please the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
They’ll stand up for what they know is true
As Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verse 2

Knowing of God’s love for us, the youth chose to accept this task
For they knew that there was nothing they couldn’t handle that God wouldn’t ask.
The Church was in a great, big, enormous pickle,
So the youth just boldly and proudly thrust in their sickle.

Chorus 2

As Power Ranger of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
They’ll magnify their calling, they’ll do the best they can
To please the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
They’ll stand up for what they know is true
As Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They'll do what they must until the threat bites the dust
and the Church, and it’s people, and its facilities
are free once again, thanks to the willingness of
The Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[Bridge]

They’ll fight for what’s right
day and night.
And they won’t stop until
they accomplish the mission God has for them
and His church is once again safe from harm.
They’ll stop the evil forces or buy the farm,
for they know that God is with them, that He has called them to be…

Chorus 3

Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They’ll magnify their calling,
They’ll do the best they can to please
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

They’ll stand up for what they know is true,
as Power Ranger of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They’ll do what they must, until the threat bites the dust,
and the church, it’s people and it’s facilities are free once again,
thanks to the willingness of the Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Power Rangers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Weird Willie bird has arrived!!

I am hearing the Weird Willie Bird!!  It’s true name is “Chuck Will’s Widow,” but with the strong accents around here in Toad Suck, even the birds are affected.  It says, “Huh! Weird Willie! Huh!  Weird Willie! Huh!  Weird Willie!” instead.  I listen and wait for the arrival of this bird (along with the Baltimore Oriole) 

The Weird Willie bird is a nocturnal, ground nesting bird which loves to sit under my bedroom window at 2 am and sing his Weird Willie song.  Their song can last up to 45 minutes.  ~~great…  but it makes me laugh.

I’ve also been seeing lightning bugs…yippie!!