special olympics 2010
Wyatt was very lucky to participate in a pilot program that was introduce at one school in New Mexico this year. The Special Olympics decided to start/try a program called Young Ahtletes. It is designed to teach the fundamentals needed to start Special Olympics at age 8, but this program allows children age 2 to 7 participate.
i think wyatt is trying to figure out where we are......
The best and most interesting/surprising part of this program was their buddy class; they were teamed up with “typically” developing 4th graders as their peers. The 4th graders were teaching them the skills they needed to know.
walking up with his buddy partner to get his award
We loved Wyatt’s buddy, all the 4th grade buddies were the coolest kids ever. They absolutely loved it so much that even their parents started to come and watch the friday work out sessions.
getting his awward from one of his coaches
The 4th grade buddy class was also an important element when the coaches did an school assembly about why it is not good to use the “R” word. It was incredible, inspiring, and tear jerking!
hamming it up to the crowd!
Wyatt had such a great time! They learned many skills, and were invited to do 2 separate presentations at the Opening Ceremonies of the Special Olympics this May.
The crowd cheered and it was inspiring watching the kiddos run on the track to their buddy partners. I seriously had tears of joy in my eyes!
going with his buddy partner towards the other coach so he can get his award
The program was such a success that it will be available next school year in all elementary schools in New Mexico (kudos to whoever is flipping the bill for that – you’ve changed lives).
special olympics rocks!
We can’t wait until next year!!!!!
Despensa (Storage Room)
There was one area of El Rancho de las Golondrinas that I never seem to make it to for various reasons (usually my son, or the heat, or we were just to darn tired), and it’s not far by any means, but it is difficult to walk with some of our family members. Finding out that we could hitch a ride on the way back, we risked venturing there with my son and mom-in-law in tow.
Taller de Cuero (Leathering Working Shop 1 of 3)
Let me back-track a bit……. a few weeks back, I dreamed the idea that it would be wonderful to go to the Spring Festival and have a picnic lunch. Until now, our time limit on doing anything with our son was about 1 hour. Determined to try, I packed blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, brie cheese, crackers, and left over stir-fry for our picnic, invited my mom-in-law, and set off to the ranch.
Talleur de Cuero (Leatherworking Shop 2 of 3)
And fate would have it, everyone did wonderfully. The heat (it was threatening to be 100+) was tolerable, and we all got to wander around the main village. Wyatt made a tortilla! We had our picnic, Wyatt actually sat without taking off every minute, and ate! It was amazing.
wagon
We watched demos on arrow making, leather working, sheep shearing (the man was a pro – using hand held shears!), samples homemade biscochitos (New Mexico’s state cookie) and I snagged their recipe!
leather chaps
Everything went so great, we walked to the village section, quickly looked around, snapped some pictures, then headed back as the temperature was creeping up.
cooking vessel at the sierra village
Casa de la Abuelita (Grandmother's House) -This room was filled with the most amazing scent of freshly put up herbs to dry
El Molino Grande de Sapello
There were many things I did not take pictures of, but then, I am returning there in 2+ weeks for their Dances With Wool Festival. I know I sound like a broken record, but I love it there and I could go every weekend ( but my son would not like that )!
Oh, I found 2 posts about the ranch that I did last year, I know I did more in 2005/2006 but I am wondering if when I transferred from blogger to wordpress…. oh well. Click the links below if you so desire!
just lovely..........
During the Festival Days and certain weekends at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, one of the most enjoyable parts is being treated to dancing. The music is wonderful, and the dress/costumes are beautiful.
lovely smiles........
got to love the bloomers.............
Althou I did not get pictures this time, the little girls who dance are just precious too!
twirling skirts............
the stage and the dancers............
More to come!
making tortillas
We’ve been waiting for the first official festival at El Rancho de las Golondrinas. This weekend is their Children’s/Spring Festival (despite 100 degree weather looming) we packed up the car and headed north. Tomorrow and Monday I will post a few more pictures, but I had to post these pictures of Wyatt.
There were children’s activities about, but the only one Wyatt was interested in was the tortilla making.
rolling tortilla all by himself!
Wyatt is a tortilla maker at heart, helping me whenever we are at home. We rolled out the flour tortilla, and then placed it on fire (I didn’t get a good picture – actually Dave took these pictures!) and cooked it to perfection.
Then we slathered it in butter, and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and Wyatt inhaled it in about 1 minute.
wyatt still won't hold anything if it is too warm to touch, but that didn't stop him from eating it!
More pictures to come, it is absolutely in my top list of places to go.
the peanut at the international balloon museum, abq
finally started putting wyatt's room together - with one of his top 5 foods thanks to zaboomafoo
I have been busy taking a couple classes which finally enticed me to pick up my beading needle and work with leather. Here are a few pictures, more to come when I finish the class. Maybe you can take a guess at what these items are….
sneak peek two
a fellow classmate working on her project, i love how the sunlight falls on her hand and the project
Okay, I was never a big fan of Dancing With The Stars. But my son Wyatt is. Last year, while hanging out with Grandpa, Wyatt was memorized by the program. He even gets up and tries to imitate it once it awhile.
So this season, I actually decided to watch it. It was pretty clear from the very beginning who the winner will be, as she is in a singing group and has dance experience.
Monday night’s episode was the first one that blew me away. The woman (Nicole) and her partner did a Paso Doble that was out of this world! Their challenge was to make it a 1950’s style Paso Doble, which sounds totally weird, but they actually pulled it off.
Can’t believe I’m putting on my blog, it was really good!
FYI – Her aunt was in the audience last week (I think it was last week) and she also happens to have DS!
Have you been wondering where I’ve been? Sometimes I’ve been wondering that too! To say that it has been absolutely hectic (or should I say chaotic – or both) is an understatement.
My allergies kicked in severely starting in February. And everyone in my household was sick too. We all took turns, and it is a real bummer, because when one of us is down, the other has to pick up the slack. We were exhausted. I did go to Urgent Care, but as I thought, the doctor told me I had a virus. The fact that I went to Urgent Care shows you just how lousy I was feeling, I will do almost anything to wiggle out of going to see the doctor.
Poor Wyatt was in Urgent Care 3 times. Mostly, it is the complications associated with his asthma, and we actually finally used the oxygen machine that we have. The third visit we finally flat out asked for antibiotics. After 6 years, I know my son, and althou we have really been trying to let his cold/virus issues work themselves out, after 14 days of being ill, and 2 weeks of missed school, I don’t feel I’m pushing it by asking for antibiotics.
I think part of the reason Dave and I got so run down is staying up with Wyatt thru the night, taking turns sleeping in the recliner with him, with albuterol and oxygen, worrying about his breathing, and then his eating and fluid intake (who wants to eat while feeling lousy) all become major concerns. He was sneezing out so much junk we just switch to washcloths instead of kleenex.
On top of all this, we also care for my in-laws, who both have dementia. I have held back writing about this too, because I don’t want to invade their privacy, but at the same time, it has been excruciatingly difficult. Honestly, it is driving me crazy. It’s horrible. It’s worse than having all the stuff that comes with a child with disabilities. It makes us super cranky and tired, and it also makes my in-laws feel bad too – that is when they are having a good day. The repetitiveness of our day is just tiring. The arguing, the explaining, editing, tantrums, etc – are starting to take their toll.
So things started to improve just when our friends from Colorado arrived. We had a great time, and I wish they could have stayed longer. We got to play with Miss Molly, it was real nice having a dog around, Wyatt loved it.
Then we all got sick again, what we thought was allergies. Well, it starts off as allergies….
Then we bounced back just in time for my mom to visit. It was great having my mom around. We got a break from bathroom duties – Wyatt just loved doing potty time with Grandma. In fact, he asks for her still!
Mom and I got to do alot of things – we went to Gathering of Nations Powwow – something I seem to miss doing each year. This year they had it at the stadium because The Pit is under renovations.
We went to Santa Fe for Mom to do some sight seeing, and by chance in Albuquerque we happened onto and Earth Day Festival. We got to sample alot of local foods and goods, and in many ways it reminded of the town I grew up in. Earth Day has changed in so many ways. It used to be a sort of a hippies only thing, but now with the Green movement, it has FINALLY become an everyone thing. It’s about time!
While at the Earth Day Fest, I met a really cool woman named Morning Star from Australia. Long story short, I ended up taking a class with her. She is an incredible leather worker, and makes beautiful ceremonial items. I have now learned some things that I can utilize after years of toting around my leather hides!
Mom unfortunately returned to Florida, and well, you guessed it, I got really, really sick with a cold and allergies. I don’t think I every really got well. The allergies this year in ABQ have been horrendous, and after 2 more weeks of barely able to function, I made my last visit to Dr. for antibiotics. Can I tell you I feel a 100% better?! I think I should have paid more attention to myself earlier on, and suffering for three months.
So, remember when I said I had a goal of making 12 pairs or so of socks this year? I must have been hallucinating when I came up with that number. I have finished 3 pairs. Now with Spring, Summer, and Fall, there are way too many outdoor activities that we want to go to, I think I can realistically make 3 more pair of socks by year’s end.
The past 3 months I have barely done any crafts (which also makes me cranky). I closed out most of my facebook page and barely blogged ( losing my advertising privileges w/ BlogHer – which was fine, my choice, I could have just blogged about any ole thing, but I couldn’t hold my head up long enough to concentrate on a computer screen).
We also had a few bumps at school, mostly communication stuff, and thankfully it all got straightened out. I do plan on possibly blogging about strategies on how to ask effective questions that are not emotionally based (we as parents have a had time separating that – well, I do) and that are fact based. This has helped me tremendously.
Oh, and yup, Wyatt has now what we think is Alopecia Totalis. And most likely, his hair will not grow back. I held it in until I got out to the parking lot, but once I was in the car, I bawled all the way home. There is no specific reason for why, but I’ve just got to let it go, or I will cry some more.
the "i swear i didn't know i was doing anything wrong" look
We are now happily looking ahead! Today Wyatt has an assembly with Special Olympics where they will be presenting to the school what they have learned. Opening Ceremonies are 2 weeks away, and I have been selected to give a short speech to the committee about how the Young Athletes Pilot Program has affected our lives! We have a zoo field trip at the end of the week, and the first week in June El Rancho De Las Golondrinas is finally open! We will be going for their Children’s/Spring Festival.
Hopefully, I will be back to blogging now!
unpen-jiru
For the ninth Washoku Warrior challenge, there were three choices. I decided to make the Unpen-Jiru (Temple Garden Chowder – Spring Version) and the Horenso No Ohitashi (Spinach Steeped In Broth).
horeno no ohitashi
Again, I was very excited to make these 2 new recipes (for me). For the Horeno No Ohitashi (Spinach Steeped In Broth) I used a variety of organic spinach that had large, thick leaves. The challenging and exciting part was rolling the spinach in a sudaré (bamboo mat), then cutting the log, and garnishing with sesame seed, and some with katsuo-bushi (bonito flake).
horeno no ohitashi with katsuo-bushi
horeno no ohitashi with sesame seeds
End result: Delicious!
I had no idea about how the Unpen-Jiru (Temple Garden Chowder) would turn out. In the cookbook, there are seasonal options and I chose the Spring time option using burdock root, asparagus, daikon, snow peas, and carrot.
Our local store was out of daikon, but had organic watermelon daikon (which I was told was a tad bit sweeter). I opted to use it, and was pleasantly surprised when I cut into it, the outer rim had a green tinge, and the inner portion was white with red streaks – beautiful.
I am in love with the flavors of the chowder – this dish is incredibly healthy and tasty. My husband said, “Wow, this is really good!”
I rounded out my meal with rice and Tsudkuda Ni Kombu (Kelp/Kombu and Mushroom relish) to go on top!
yummy lunch!
