Conference day part two...

Today was the second day of the Wrightslaw Conference (see previous post). I made it AND passed the exam with flying colors. There were about 110 people attending and only 7 of us received a perfect score on the final exam. One of them was me and I actually won a book as well. I was pretty excited, after all, it's been a while since I've had to remember anything in a school type setting. It was a great conference and I learned a whole ton of things I had no clue about. If anyone has or knows someone with a special needs child or a child that has any type of learning disability, this is the conference to attend to learn about what to expect from your local school(s) and the laws regarding special education. You can get more info at www.wrightslaw.com

A quick note

Busy busy busy... yep, that describes my day today and for the next few days! I attended an all day Special Education Law and Advocacy Conference today to learn about laws for special ed students and what I can expect from the public school(s) when Kaylee starts. It was VERY informative. My brain is basically mush right now from all the info. Tomorrow is the second conference day after which there is an exam so we can get a certificate. Tonight was also "Chick-Fil-A" night for Jennah's school. The school sends out a form that we fill out and take with us and whatever we spend at Chick-Fil-A on the specified night, a portion of that money goes back to the school. It's a night out for the kids as they usually have crafts for them and games, etc. Then, we stopped by Circuit City to see what was happening with prices since they are going out of business. Oh, and on the way home, I was reminded that we are having company tomorrow so I had to run out and grab a ham for tomorrow's dinner which Mike is going to have to cook since I'll be at the conference all day! So, with all that said, I'm going to head to a quiet place now (is there one in our house?) to study what I learned today so I can maybe pass my test tomorrow.

A Jennah conversation...

Jennah had soccer practice tonight. On the way home, she said "Mom, I want to talk to you about something." For some reason, this phrase ALWAYS catches my attention never mind making my heart race and my grip on the steering wheel tighten! She wanted to talk to me about COWS. Ahhhh, the grip on the wheel loosens and the heart rate goes back down! Her question was... get this... "Why do we eat cows when cows don't eat us?" Cute right? She was so serious though. So we had the discussion about why animals eat what they eat and the whole survival of the fittest type talk. I thought it was over when she says to me... "Well, since cows don't eat us, we shouldn't eat them but maybe since we drink their milk, they can drink ours - like some babys do to their mommys." Yes, I merely wrecked the van!

Ele-fun

Today at therapy, we played with a toy called Elefun. It's an elephant in a sitting up position that has a long, thin plastic trunk. Basically, you fill it with the included paper-like butterflies. When you hit the on button, a fan inside the elephant blows the elephants trunk straight up and out come the butterflies. Kaylee LOVES this toy. She laughed, hopped, and screeched, yelled "catch it mommy" and kept saying "again" once the butterflies were all blown out. We played with this for about 20 minutes to her delight. Of course, we used it to help her learn the difference between off/on, in/out, top/bottom. Not to mention that we made her say the color of the butterflies that she was putting back into the elephant. I did have my camera with me but, I failed to put the memory card back in it after I downloaded some pics last night, so I was unable to save the photo. Oh well, I'll get one next time!

A simple meal

Ok, since my other friends are posting some delicious recipes, I thought I'd share a simple crock pot recipe tonight:

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup buffalo wing sauce

3/4 cup ranch dressing

1 package (8 or 10 count) flour tortillas (burrito size)

3 cups shredded lettuce (of course, I bought the pre-shredded bag lettuce)

In at least a 1 1/2 qt slow cooker, place chicken and sprinkle with salt (I didn't use the salt)

Cover; cook on LOW heat setting 6 to 7 hours. (I stirred it around once or twice during cooking)

With slotted spoon, remove chicken from slow cooker, place in bowl.

Discard liquid from slow cooker.

In slow cooker, mix buffalo wing sauce and 1/4 cup ranch dressing.

With two forks, shred chicken. (mine was so tender, it fell apart so I didn't even have to do this step)

Return chicken to slow cooker; stir gently to mix with sauce.

To serve, spread each tortilla (FYI, I microwave the tortillas so they are warmed) with 1 tbsp ranch dressing; top each with 1/2 cup chicken mixture and about 1/3 cup lettuce (ok, so I didn't measure this part out either!)

Roll up tortillas and enjoy!

EASY and delicious. You can also add diced tomato to the tortillas before rolling but we like them plain. If you aren't a big fan of buffalo wing sauce, try barbecue. I bet it would be good!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

From the local weather desk...
Hernando County residents could see three straight nights of temperatures in the 20s starting Wednesday night, followed by 32 degrees Saturday night, the weather service says.


http://weather.tbo.com/wx.php?config=&user=TBO&pands=34601

The "Kaylee" report...

Today we got the results of Kaylee's Occupational Therapy evaluation. She had the eval done just after Christmas. We'll just say she didn't do so well. I feel awful. There were so many things the therapist pointed out that she should be doing for her age that we don't even notice. Not because we aren't paying attention, I just think that we're so proud of the things that she IS doing. Well, now we wait for the state program to see if they'll add OT to her therapy schedule. The only thing is, the All Children's Hospital in Lecanto (which is closer to us) doesn't have any openings so if she can get in, I'll have to take her to the All Children's Hospital in Tampa; That is if they have openings. Of course, I'd drive her to New York and back if I had to but just the thought of driving... ugh!

PS. I couldn't resist the pic of our little chocolate cream pie face !