hide-n-(sensory)-seeking

My son blows me away practically every day. I witness neurotypical individuals habitually fail to show both empathy and courtesy to other people. But my son habitually displays both. It hasn't been without many conversations about why these things are so important. And it isn't at every opportunity that he feels these things naturally. But there are many moments when he does that make my heart swell so huge! And today is one of those days. His best friend broke a bone in his foot this weekend. Today Zak made him a get well card. In case the print is too small, he wrote:  I hope the joke I'm making doesn't "break" our friendship. :) -Get it? (No offence) I've never broken anything so I don't know how you feel, all I know is it hurts and I HATE IT when I get hurt :( So I want to cheer you up. On the next page is a comic I made to cheer you up :) The comic is about a boy who thinks bomber planes are coming. Another boy te...

So when I was in the craft section I found a package of textured craft foam. And it is awesome!  So I cut some rectangles, add some paper and crayons, and done! Busy Bag fun! This is one I could chill out with for a long time, very therapeutic.

So we needed lunch, and it needed to be easy. But everyone was sick of pb&j, we were out of tuna, and we were mac-n-cheesed out. I looked around the kitchen and spied the can of enchilada sauce that Zak had left on the counter the other day asking what it was. And the lightbulb lit up! I knew what we were having! So I gathered the rest of my ingredients: 2 lbs of frozen shrimp 1 lbs frozen mixed veggies 1 small can red enchilada sauce 1/2 cup sour cream Cheddar cheese (optional) First, thaw the shrimp, and drain the excess water. This is quick and easy with a collander and cool water. After that, cook shrimp in a large skillet over med-high heat, until uniformly pink, approximately 8-10 min. Add enchilada sauce and frozen veggies. Stir to mix well. Bring to a simmer, and cook on med-low for another 10-15 minutes, or until veggies are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream until evenly mixed. Allow mixture to cool and thicken for...

So, late Friday afternoon, Zak strolls into the kitchen, gets down a plate, pours a little water in it and sets it down on the table. "Can I show you something? It just takes a couple seconds." "Sure, just a second." I finish the seam I was sewing and then scoot over to get a better view.  Zak goes into performance mode. "I have in my hand plain ordinary folded paper." (He holds it out to show Grace and I, and turns it over to show the underside.)  "We all know that all living things need water to grow. Right?" We nod. "But what about plain ordinary paper? Water can't make paper grow...or can it?" He sets the folded paper in the water, and his surprise blossoms before our eyes!  "See, water can make even paper grow!" We cheer and marvel. And then I make him do it again so I can take pictures. We marvel again. Zak runs off to go back to his YouTube viewing. But Grac...

My friends, I am so excited to be a part of my first Book Blast!  I am pleased to introduce: About the Book Title: Lobo Goes to the Galapagos (The Adventures of Lovable Lobo) | Author: C.L. Murphy | Publication Date: August 27, 2014 | Publisher: Peanut Butter Prose | Pages: 32 | Recommended Ages: 3 to 7 Summary: Lobo returns in this adventure, sweeter and a bit salty this time. This lil' wolf pup finds that there's nothing like a little sea air to bring out the best in him and his unlikely tag-alongs. Take a trip to the Galapagos with Lobo and his right-hand raven, Roxy, as they help an injured, new feathered friend return home. Lobo faces some fears and witnesses the joy that comes from helping others in this "birds of a different feather DO flock together" tale.   Book Preview   Purchase Amazon | iTunes   The Buzz "Who knew geography and learning about animals could be this much fun? Lobo Goes to the Galapagos...

Welcome to hide-n-sensory-seeking's great new look! I hope you like it. I've been wanting to update a few things for a while, and to begin to expand a bit as well. My blog has expanded and changed quite a bit since I first started out, much like our lives have. I write about many more topics than when I first started out. I feel much more comfortable out here in the bloggosphere. And I feel I have found my feet, and my voice, in major part by being able to put my thoughts into words here and connect with others who are or have been in similar seasons of life. Most features on the blog are the same, even if they are a different color now. I will be adding a few things here and there and I will share them as we go along. One thing you might have noticed, my Username is slightly different. A little more grown up, and a little easier for networking. (But don't worry, I still don't take myself too seriously.) Also, I am on Twitter now! Look me up: @JudithLlo...

I was thinking of making some of these from scratch, but I stumbled upon these in the Back to School aisle, they were a great bargain, and much cuter than I would have made by hand, plus saved me the time! These are fantastic for on the go! In the car, waiting rooms, or in the grocery cart...they are quiet, not to many parts to keep track of, and fun to look at! And if you tie a lace through a hole in each of the cards, that makes it even easier to keep track of. Kit can't really lace a whole card yet, but she likes pulling the string back and forth and poking it through the holes. That's okay by me!

It may seem odd to choose that word to describe this past week, but it has several meanings for me. The fact that I have been piecing together eight of the ten blankets that I am behind in making for new (and some not so new, more like 1 1/2 already) babies is obviously the literal application of the word for this week. But those blankets and the thread that binds them together also hold illustrative value for me this week. The reason I am so far behind in making them is because the tapestry of our life ran into some huge snags and snarls around the time several of these new babies were greeting the world. All my energies, all my attention, all my everything was being poured into surviving the last two plus years. So pulling out the sewing machine was not even on the checklist. Autism has a not-so-funny way of doing that. Of pushing to the fore, even when things are going smoothly. It's like being left-handed, in that one always is. A lefty  can learn to do just about an...

This week was tough. And those feelings were fairly evenly distributed throughout the many veins of activity that contribute our family pulse. The kids were draggy about schoolwork, even the fun stuff. An unusual excess of energy was never quite burned off, despite bouncing and crawling around on the floor like puppies. So the noise level and bickering that often ensued was very painful and exceedingly annoying to this mommy this week! Much grumbling occurred in regard to chores and who might be neglecting them, including me. I spent a rather embarrassing amount of time doing nothing but drinking coffee and watching my kids play with the chickens. An unprecedented amount of spillage happened, with relatively few witnesses,  but many fingers pointed at the cat. But the things he spilled could easily have been set in places he has little or no access to by said finger pointers. Because of the above, I have basically been washing towels ove...

The last two weeks have been very busy, very...um...full of small challenges and a few not so small ones. Thankfully, we have our local library as well as a home library full of places to escape to.  Sometimes we escape together, sometimes we fly solo, but either way we've had some very good reads! So here is the short list (no sarcasm intended, despite the length of this post. this really is the condensed version!) I will dispense with writing out each title and author, they can (mostly) clearly be seen in the pictures, just for the sake of expediency. With Kitty Bitty: We didn't utilize this audio-book as much as I had wanted to, only using it in the car a couple times. But going into this next week, I now know where both a portable cd player and a larger slightly less portable boombox are that I can either hook up ear phones to, or move to a place where her book won't disturb the big kids. So we are going to keep giving audio books a try. ...

So all of the previous bags that I made were strictly from materials I had laying around already. But I've had many ideas buzzing around that I have been compiling into a list, and finally went shopping for a few materials that I didn't have. Among these items is felt pieces. Felt squares are very cheap, about 15 cents each for the plain ones. So I picked out several each of various colors. And voila! We have pizza! Our Pizza Busy Bag consists of one light brown triangle pizza crust, three circles of red pepperoni, two orange mushrooms, two green bell peppers, and a handful of cheese! And I think we are going to add some olives, onions, and sausage as well! Grace, 8, LOVES this! She wants to play with it several times a week, and she expands the game by getting out the play dishes and playing restaurant. She takes our orders, (I prefer Vegetarian, Zak likes Pepperoni). She likes it so much I might have to make another one, just so she can feed two people at o...

For the last couple of months, Kit's attire of choice is usually a fluffy "princess dress", and we have several that rotate through the laundry cycles. And a few tutu skirts that are acceptable princess garb as well. Many nights we are only able to peel them off of her by promising that she can wear them again the next day. (We have even let her sleep in them, but we figured out that they were not contributing to her sleeping well throughout the night, so we try to get her to wear well fitted pjs whenever possible. Everyone has a better night this way.) So unless there is major spillage, she will often wear the same one a couple times a week.  I'm ecstatic for this development and the fact that it has lasted as long as it has. A year ago, nothing with tulle could even come close to her skin! And while she still is sensitive to rough edges, softer tulle, especially between layers of satin or cotton is no longer an issue for her! In fact, where she used to sim...