Renae Today: March

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The month of March started out with four sick kiddos.  Two parents became sick shortly after.  Due to sickness combined with extremely cold temperatures and too much snow to make it possible to go anywhere, we didn't do much outside of the home.  Thankfully even with bad weather we were able to make the trip to see our developmental pediatrician towards the end of the month for appointments for Bulldozer and Sunshine.

We also started prepping for our trip to Disney World!

We made a countdown using some cardstock and part of the personalized book Disney sent us when we booked out trip.  The back of our countdown lists all of the important dates to remember:  when we can book meal reservations, when we can book fast passes, when our vacation is to be paid in full etc.  I laminated our countdown so it would be easy to change the count each day.  (This picture was taken towards the end of February.)  The magnets are those used in our hockey unit, just shaped to form Mickey ears.

We also started prepping for meal time on vacation.  It has been rare that we take our kiddos to restaurants due to food allergies, autism behaviors, RAD behaviors, etc.  In Disney World, we'll be eating lunch and dinner at restaurants every day.  Some are quick serve. Some are table meals.  But still, all of it will be new for the kiddos, unless we start practicing beforehand.

Jason and I decided to try Chili's with the kiddos for dinner one night.  They serve allergy friendly food for everyone.  All through the meal I kept reminding myself that this was the kiddos first experience at Chili's, and at a sit down restaurant in general, for quite some time.  Overall they did well.  Princess and Bulldozer LOVED the experience.  Sunshine did okay, although she was a little rough at some points.  Dinomite however did not do well at all.  He was so anxious and nervous that he could barely keep himself together. When they did bring his food, he burned himself on the plate and started sobbing.  Then he realized he didn't like the shape of the pizza slices they served.  Being burned combined with so many little new experiences and sensory stimuli were just too much for him.  Thankfully we had a fabulous waitress who was kind, patient, understanding, and so wonderful with all that was happening at our table.  In the end, we all survived the meal, but I can promise you it's going to be years before Dinomite steps foot inside a Chili's restaurant.  Lol.  In regards to our trip to Disney World, at least we had a starting point to work from and had plenty of time to practice.  Lol.

The last weekend in March, we celebrated Easter.  I wanted to separate General Conference weekend and the Easter holiday . Since the kiddos don't believe in the Easter Bunny, and it would mean they'd receive their Easter baskets and goodies a week sooner, they were all for the change in plans.

 I had so much fun putting together their Easter baskets this year!

Everyone was extremely pleased!  After going through contents of the Easter baskets the kiddos went in search for their Easter eggs. As always, Dinomite's were blue.  Bulldozer's eggs were green.  Princess' eggs were pink.  Sunshine's eggs were purple.  We've color coded eggs for as long as I can remember.  This year instead of little toys and figures, I put money a $1 bill in each of the kiddos' eggs.  When the hunt was over, they each found $20 to go and purchase a toy of their choice.  Since Sunshine was still a bit too little for this, I put allergy friendly chocolate, fruit snacks, and LEGO duplo pieces in her eggs.

Like in years past, each kiddo received a new church outfit. The girls each received dresses, sweaters, hair accessories, jewelry, and church socks.  The boys received new pants, ties, and socks.

After the morning business was over, I settled in to make our annual Easter brunch while the kiddos played.

The kiddos love their homemade cinnamon rolls.

Sunshine enjoyed her allergy friendly brunch also!

For more details about our Easter celebrations, feel free to read our Family Easter Traditions.

That's Renae today!