Sesame Street Live came to Detroit, so we left the suburbs to join Elmo downtown. Downtown Detroit has the steriotype of abandoned homes and burned out buildings, but it is also full of charm and of course is the home of several beautiful theaters where wonderful shows are hosted. The show was fun and full of energy and both kids enjoyed it for the whole first half. Surprisingly our older son enjoyed it more than the little one. He  even initiated a few funny games between me, him and hubby during the show. We bask in all games from our special needs little man. We all had a great time and enjoyed having a family day out.

This is what some of Detroit looks like

But then you drive by graffiti like this and you can’t believe the talent

 (I didn’t take this photo. Hubby couldn’t drive back this way on the way home but lucky for me I found the exact wall online )

And South of the infamous 8 mile there are some pretty amazing things.

Like this beautiful church

The Hockey Town Cafe

And of course, the amazing Fox Theater

Sesame, here we come!

The historical Fox Theater is so beautiful and has so many things to look at.

Beautiful

Awe

And then the show begins!

N Yelled out “Abbey Cadabby!”

Everytime Grover fell over N yelled “sit down. ” So cute and interactive!

This is what he looked like. Having so much fun!

Our boys thought they were super heroes alright!

Magical!

Happy Boy

During intermission, these came out.. ya know, the $10.00 balloons

A little boy saw the balloons. He reallly wanted one BUT he has been on a non stop toy binge all month so.. we said not today

He took the news… OK.

Overall we had a great day and everyone left smiling. Elmo gave us a great day in the “D”

Thanks Sesame Street!

Winters haven’t been quite as harsh lately or maybe I have just been too busy to notice but either way we can’t sit around and wait for a major snow dump. We don’t bother worrying if the snow sticks to the ground or even if it covers the grass and we wouldn’t dream of trying to build a snowman . I’m sure that soon the real snow will come but for now the novelty of it is still quite exciting so off we went yesterday into the backyard with no hill whatsoever. Who needs to sled down a hill though when mom and dad are here to pull you at full speed? It was really fun for all of us and even though we spent more time putting on the snow pants and boots than we did playing outside, it was worth it. We can’t wait for a great snow day with school cancellations and giant snowmen. Soon!

It’s winter and snowy.Can’t think of a better time to climb a wooden ladder. Boots, snow pants and gloves..great gross motor/physical therapy kiddo.

       Water slides with a hose have nothing on this slippery slide! Wet snow and shiny snow pants. Major speed! The little one flipped off at the end of his ride!

This is safe..

All the summer activities only in freezing wet weather!

Sledding on snowy grass feels the same as just snow. Fun!

Daddy got a workout!

Time to relax

Kids, look at this snow chunk er.. snow ball!

My little one was basically born in a waiting room. I was 8 months pregnant when I started the special needs journey with my older son and we didn’t take much time off of therapy appointments so as soon as I could drive after delivery, my youngest was being carted from waiting room to waiting room in his little carrier car seat.Now that he is older and in school a few mornings a week I have decided to try to make the time I do get to spend with him, a bit more quality. I admit that I do adore playing power rangers but as of now, we are working toward engaging in other fun activities.  Last week I took Little Brother to the Library aka Liberry.He has been asking to go back to the Hostipal since my sister delivered her baby 4 mos ago so I figured he was itching to get out. As usual he made friends within five minutes of our arrival and he had a blast with the exhibits they had set up. It was like a mini hands on museum and he loved trying everything out in between chasing kids whose names he couldn’t remember.He also thinks that checking out movies is the absolute coolest thing ever. Note to self. Get the little man out more often!

Jump Lights

Push the ball in the tube and…

Up it goes!!

He couldn’t get my 3 month old niece to crawl yet so he went into the baby area himself

He met a friend in there. This was the first time I have been in this section and not smelled someones stinky diaper.So happy

                                                Mom, we don’t get to keep dees?

We stayed home this holiday break and had two amazing weeks with the four of us. We have loved every minute of it. Lots of relaxing at home,just a tiny little bit of potty training regression and a whole lot of quality time. We had booked our ticket for the Christmas train a few weeks back and we were looking forward to our big day out. Yesterday was finally train day and we had a great trip. It’s an antique train about an hour from our house and it is set up in a Christmas village that has an old fashioned theme. It was like going on a little vacation for a couple hours and we all had a great time. The train is quite old so it doesn’t go super fast and the boys did ask a couple times if it was over and if we could go bye bye but that’s expected on a 40 minute ride. On either side of the train as you go along they have set up light displays that are all unique and beautiful. Santa even waives from one of the spots and there is a toy solider walking back and forth. Poor men must be freezing out there in the snow but they do their jobs well and act happy the entire time. I hope they are paid well! We got a bag of kettle corn that was made right in the little village, saw a little train display and went into a couple corner type gift stores. So nice to spend time out and have a great experience as a family.

The boys were bursting with excitement during our long 1 hr drive to the train….zzzzz

Checked in!

We saw the train as soon as we arrived and it was great! An antique train that would not be in running condition if this community hadn’t taken such great care to maintain it all these years.

They’re big enough to walk on their own of course but MUCH easier to contain in these little baby rollers. Cold but excited boys about to board the train. Time to park the strollers.

All aboard!

Ready for departure.

Excited for the whistle to blow!

Such a pretty train.

One of many light displays out our windows. They pumped “12 Days of Christmas” through the cars and the numbers are all in a row on either side of the car. So fun!

We had so much F U N!

After the train we walked around the cute Christmas village one more time to hit a few places we had missed. such a fun trip!

Today we swooped up our nephews and all 6 of us, me, hubby, our boys and the nephews, all went to Jungle Java for an energy releasing outing. The boys are loving the home time but we were starting to worry that they may never go back to school if we continue to let them be home bodies every minute, so off we went. It was a great time and hubby and I especially loved it because we didn’t have to climb up and go down the twisty slides because the nephews did all of the work for us! We got to stand by and watch the fun and snap a few photos.

At the top ready to come down

So proud

Next Group!

We have come a long way from the toddler area!

While we were waiting for our cookies and snacks to be ready, we stopped for a snuggle on the big chair.

These are the best nephews/cousins! We literally got to watch and relax. Hubby did have to make one trip down the slide but that’s no biggie right .

Overall we had a great morning out and everyone got to spend lots of holiday energy. Lots of family time in the days ahead and later next week is the Chrirstmas train. Holiday break is the best!

Now if we could just get back to going to sleep at a reasonable bed time!

My 3 year old son calls this a Pushy Kiss. He has absolutely no doubt in this world that this is the correct title and I will never, ever correct him.

Today was a big day. It was the birthday party of my 5 yr old (almost ) amazing, son. He works hard every day to overcome his developmental delays and he is just the all around coolest kid. He loved his gifts and seemed to enjoy the party, especially the cake. We took most of his gifts out of the package within an hour of opening them and had a fun day with family.

He listened to his new book on cd’s while he colored in his giant coloring book.

While my Gram, his great Gram, stayed to watch The Help on his laptop.

How cute is she? When the DVD started she said “no wonder he loves his laptop, it does all this?” Yep, it plays dvd’s and everything!

Overall it was a super fun day filled with pizza, cake, toys and fun. Now on to the holiday partys that start… tomorrow!

My boys have the most amazing teachers and therapists. We could not ask for a better group of people teaching and supporting our little dumplings everyday. This year I got each of them earrings but then I found these adorable little nail files so I put them inside the earring pouch and voila a little dolly dress wrapped up gift.

I had one of THOSE days last week and really wanted to change my name from Mom to.. anything that was a super secret. Then the day ended (hoo freakin ray) and I saw things like this

and this

And then I decided to keep my name. Mom.

I have been looking at recipes lately and decided to jump right in and try a couple yesterday. I was pretty impressed that I was actually able to follow along and that everything turned out just about how it was supposed to. My first attempt at recipes is always followed by a better second attempt but still, dinner was justttttt fine. I made spaghetti stuffed garlic bread and brownie cookie cups. I found the recipe for the bread on pinterest believe it or not so I don’t remember off hand who originated it but it’s for sure still up there if you want to try it. I got the brownie cups recipe on the back of the mint flavored hershey kisses which happen to be one of the many, many little sweeties that are making getting in shape just a bit more challenging. Here is what a day of cooking and baking looks like in our house.