2015 goal update...FOCUS on...the blog

it's the first monday of the month so it's time for another goal update. generally i mostly set goals that i am pretty sure i can accomplish. not that anyone likes to fail. but i really really hate it. i'm not a risk taker in any aspect of my life so it makes sense that i don't set risky goals.

march goals, however, did not go as well as i hoped.

MARCH is FOCUS on the BLOG

1. set up sponsorship program to start april 1-total fail. i haven't done one single thing with this. i was hoping my new blog design would be live and i could start ads from there. it's still in the works, and i'm using that as an excuse. i gave away ad space in a giveaway recently so time is running out.

2. follow up with brands from build your blog-i FINALLY unpacked my swag bag and have a pile of people i need to follow up with. the follow up still needs to happen for most.

3. start planning slumber soiree-i still don't have a venue or date, but i do have one sponsor. thanks olive the things for helping me not completely fail this goal.

i obviously still have a lot of work to do in this area. the blog is definitely a work in progress, and i plan to continue with these goals.

APRIL is FOCUS on WORK

1. continue working on march goals for the blog

see above

2. revamp curriculum for class i teach

i have been meaning to work on revamping some class curriculum at work, and it needs to be done.

3. help with autism awareness by organizing blue polish swap

details coming to instagram this week

i have more goals for work, but i don't have a lot of time this month due to time off. i may come back to this goal later in the year, but i wanted to at least get a start. let's hope hope april goes better than march.

how are your goals going? what are your goals this month?

for the little tykes...grocery shopping

every once in a while i talk about my job. there's no good reason why i don't talk about it more. one of the biggest reasons is probably because it's hard to explain exactly what i do. i am a child development specialist in early intervention. what that means is i work with children from birth to age 3 with developmental delays and disabilities. that also means in order to work with kids who have delays in their development, i have to know a lot about typical development.  i decided to start a new series. introducing... FOR THE LITTLE TYKES once a month i will post something related to child development, disabilities, behavior, etc. if there's something you want to see, please let me know. grocery shopping isn't usually the most fun thing in the world. add kids to the task, and it usually gets worse. since we all have to eat, i bring you the first installment in the series... GROCERY SHOPPING WITH A TODDLER

when kids are bored, they act out. grocery shopping can be boring so kids often act out. one of the simplest ways to avoid the boredom meltdowns is give your toddler a job (shopping list)

yes, i realize this means extra work for you, but it will pay off in the end.

1. make a list of several foods (5-10) you buy almost every time you go to the store.

2. cut out those items from the ads or print from the computer.

3. glue, tape, etc to the child's shopping list

4. laminate (or use clear contact paper or packing tape) the shopping list

5. while at the store, have the child get the food off the shelf, put in the cart, and mark off their list with a dry erase marker or simple sticker.

now your child is actively involved in shopping and will have less time to meltdown. let me know if you try it.

how do you handle shopping with your little ones?

random rambling...work friends

i have been really lucky most all of my life to have really good friends. although i wish i lived closer to family, having good friends makes it a teeny tiny bit easier to be far away.

megan, erin, and jessica at swig
i know some people like to keep work separate from their social life, and i definitely think to each his own when it comes to that. the nature of my job (going into people's homes) automatically promotes friendship. i definitely maintain a professional relationship with my clients, but i also get to know them on a more personal level. it also makes it more natural to form relationships with my co-workers.

amanda and kimber at zupas
i love my work friends. over the years, some of my very best friends have been people i work with , and some of my very best memories at work have been with those people.

random rambling

a few weeks ago, bonnie, tayler, and brooke hosted a link up. they are all teachers and all having babies this summer. they posted about their decisions to teach or not next year. i initially thought...skip. doesn't apply to me. my second thought...i wish i had the choice to keep working or not. my final thought...i do have a choice. it's just a different choice than they have and if i'm being honest a different choice than i want to have.

i always talk about being a stay at home something. while i hope to someday have the choice to be a stay at home something, right now i do not. however, that doesn't mean i don't have a choice. i sometimes feel a little stuck in my current career. there is an unfortunate lack of upward mobility at my job. while i love the company and love my job, nothing is keeping me there. i have the choice to stay or look for something else. i can change my mind anytime, but for now i choose to stay. i choose to stay because i love what i do. i love making a difference in the lives of children and families every single day. besides making the choice to stay or go, i have the choice to have a good or bad attitude about it all. things have been pretty crazy around the work place the past several months. it doesn't seem like things are changing anytime soon. the environment is more stressful than ever. i can choose to be weighed down with the stress of it all, or i can choose to have an optimistic attitude. being positive is not always my strength, but i am really trying to make the choice to be happy. no matter whether it seems like it or now, we all have a choice.
are you a stay at home or do you work outside the home? what do you do when you feel like you don't have a choice?

life with autism

you're going to see a lot of talk about autism around here this month. one of the big parts of autism awareness month is to increase awareness so i'm using this little space to do that.

i don't really know why, but i don't talk about my job a lot. maybe it's because my job is hard to explain and even harder to understand. i'm a child development specialist in early intervention. that means i work with kids from birth-age 3 with developmental delays and disabilities. autism is one of those. 
another day i will talk about autism and the classic characteristics and the fact that it's a spectrum disorder meaning there's a huge range. today i want to give a little glimpse into life with autism.
autism doesn't sleep (often literally. children with autism often have disordered sleep=frequent and lengthy night wakings) autism is frustrating (kids and parents are both frustrated with lack of communication) autism is literal and logical autism is avoidance (of people, of food, of places, etc.) autism is progress autism is hope autism is patience autism is love
people often tell me my job must be challenging but very rewarding. autism is challenging but so very rewarding. my heart breaks and melts all at the same time. i love my job! i love the children with autism i get to work with. i love their families. they are such a shining example of strength. so for these and so many reasons, i am wearing blue all month, hosting a blue nail polish swap (sign up on instagram), and lighting it up blue.
if you have any questions about autism, feel free to ask.

spring 30x30...30 pieces reveal except not really

modern camelot is hosting another round of 30x30. before i did my first 30x30 challenge, i thought the idea sounded pretty impossible. take 30 pieces of clothing (including shoes if you want) and wear only those 30 pieces for 30 days without repeating an outfit. sounds kind of hard right? wrong! it is so much easier than it sounds. it makes getting dressed and packing for trips so much easier. i find myself sticking with those 30 pieces even after the month is over. #spring30x30 starts today, but it's not too late to jump in. email, tweet, FB, or whatever and let me know you want in. i'll get you all the info. as much as i love traditional 30x30, i am changing things up a little this time around. april is autism awareness month. for the past couple of years i decided to wear blue every day all month in support and to spread awareness of autism. so instead of 30x30, i'm really doing bluex30.  a few of my blue outfits from last year
maybe you're wondering why blue and why autism.  autism speaks uses the month of april to increase awareness about autism with the campaign to light it up blue. visit their website for more info.
autism has been a part of my life for as long as i can remember. i have a cousin with autism. because of him i started doing private in home therapy for children with autism in college. that therapy led me to my current job as a child development specialist. i work with many children on the autism spectrum. autism is part of my life nearly every single day. the rate of incidence (currently 1/68 as released last week) continues to rise dramatically. although no one ever wants to hear that their child is showing signs of autism, there is so much hope. there are so many treatment options. although they are very expensive and often funded out of pocket, there are things that can be done. i see that hope, and that is why i'll be wearing blue all month. i would love it if you would join me for at least one day this month. make sure to let me know if you're wearing blue, and i'll give you a shout out on social media. along with wearing blue all month, i have a few other things planned to light it up blue. back in october, alacia hosted a pink polish swap for breast cancer awareness. i loved the idea so much i decided to do the same for autism awareness month this month. it's mostly on instagram so head on over for details.

all of my 30x30 friends are revealing their 30 pieces today. i can't wait to see their picks.

An InLinkz Link-up

unintentional day off+a surprise

i'm over at serenity now today. come see what i have to say. my job is really flexible. i do my own scheduling so i have a lot of control over when i work. somehow i ended up with no appointments yesterday. my plan was to work from home for about half the day, and do other things (blog catch up, emails, crafts, clean, etc) the other half.  i made an appointment with brooklyn at her school for a deep condition. best idea over. i not only was pampered, but we spent a couple of hours hanging out and talking mostly about blog stuff. it was fab, and i will definitely be back in there soon. 

everyone thought i got my hair colored today. i guess i should prob wash it more often. thanks brooklyn for the fun relaxing morning.

i was supposed to come home from my hair appointment, and read a text book and watch some autism videos for work, instead i painted some pots, made a fruit bouquet, cleaned the house, and did other things i would do if i was a stay at home. conclusion..i'm no good at working from home. this is completely unrelated, but what would you do is coming up soon. this month we are talking about WHAT WOULD YOU DO... with a Target (or any other store) cardigan. take some pictures and come link up with us. just for fun, i'm teaming up with a few other bloggers to offer a bare minerals gift card. enter below. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Halloween

Halloween was a little more low key this year than some. 

We had dinner group the week of Halloween this time. Without deciding ahead of time we all made halloweeny food-skeleton and pumpkin vegetable trays, pumpkin/squash muffins, dinner in a pumpkin, and candy corn cookies and pumpkin filled pastries. 

I didn't go to any parties this year so I didn't spend much time on a costume. Since Halloween was on a day I teach playgroup classes, the teachers dresses up as the 3 little pigs. We kept the costumes pretty simple, and I was pretty happy we made them without spending any money. My co-workers are good to go along with my silly ideas. 

co-worker Michelle dressed up as a mouse

Seeing the kids in their costumes was definitely my favorite part. 

girls night with the co-workers

my current and former co-workers always have so much fun together. we have been planning to go to dinner and see the witches at garner village. it must have been witches night out or something because the place was a complete zoo. we walked around a little before giving in and going to dinner at pei wei                                  

me, jessica, aly, anne, kimber, charity

 GNO trainee. i'm so sad we didn;t take pictures of her darling outift

 i love this witch!

 even though our original plan didn't really work, it was still a fun night. i love these girls so much and can't wait until the next one.

celebrating world autism day

world autism day happened while we were on spring break so we celebrated a week late at work. we had so much participation this year. the multipurpose room was covered in blue decoration. it was so cool to look at basically all of our staff and see so much blue.

much of the staff...so much blue

my team (team A) also known as team awesome

i really really love this kind of stuff and i'm so glad i work with such a great time that is willing to do it with me

autism is such a crazy, fast growing disorder. it made me a little emotional to see all our staff come together in celebration and support of autism awareness

world autism day

autism is everywhere these days. you can barely have a conversation with anyone that doesn't have some sort of connection to autism. even though i have a cousin with autism, it wasn't until i started working with kids with autism that i really started to learn more about it. since today is world autism day, i am dedicating my teeny tiny bit of the internet to autism.

when i started working with kids with autism in 2001 the rate of incidence was 1/188. in just 12 years that rate has increased to 1/88. it is crazy! autism is everywhere. it is such a huge part of my life. autism has challenged me personally and professionally. it has given me some of the best experiences and some of the worst. it has taught me more than i would have ever thought possible. because of autism, i have amazing relationships with some of the most wonderful moms i know. autism is without question impossibly hard, but it has blessed my life in so many ways.

so today, i encourage you to take a minute and learn a little more about autism. do you know about autism? if not, go here to learn more. Autism Speaks is one of my favorite places for all sorts of information. like i mentioned yesterday, i'll be wearing blue in support of/to raise awareness about autism. i would love to have some people join me for a day.

Celebrating Valentine's Day

i am the first to admit, valentine's day isn't my very favorite holiday. maybe it's because i am single, but really i think the whole idea of it is a little silly. i think you should express love all the time because you want to not just because you are obligated to, BUT i love holidays and any and all reasons to celebrate.

one of the parent child classes i teach at work happened to fall right on valentine's day. it is a group to teach parents about sensory processing, and the topic for the day was the tactile system. i was so happy. how perfect. we got right to work planning all kinds of fun valentinesy activities including

a sensory box filled with conversation hearts, pink rice, feathers, and heart shaped toys,

painting with karo syrup and food coloring on a heart (spread a scoop of karo all around, drop a few drops of food coloring and watch it spread, spread more with fingers if you want). we also made stepping stones of various fabric for the kids to walk out of class. such a fun day.

i made these treats for work. i am getting so terrible lately at giving credit, but i saw the tip online somewhere to cut a triangle in the top of a strawberry to make a heart and drizzled white chocolate on top.

i already blogged about the decorations i made and the awesome swap package i got in the mail. even though it's not my most favorite holiday, it really was a lot of fun planning and doing all these fun things with the little tykes and making festive treats.

Halloween2012

i like to dress up. i really do. BUT i basically only like to dress up with a group and spend very minimal money. i have participated in some good group costumes over the years (oompa loompa, flight attendant, costco sample lady, dance troop, squeeze it drink) so the pressure is always on. we had an itty bitty halloween party at work and somehow i convinced 7 of my co-workers to dress up as tetris with me. we designed the game board for 2 formations which might have been the hardest part of the whole thing (i really needed a computer nerd or something). everyone wore their color, and we played tetris music as we "played the game". it was pretty cute, way fun, and super easy and free. love!

as for the rest of halloween, i pretty much skipped it this year.

how about you? do you like halloween? did you dress up?

i'm linking up with megan and a several others. join the linky party.

after hours

there has been some after hours work fun this week. i totally failed on the picture taking.

co-worker michelle is getting married in one week. a few of us went to dinner on wednesday to celebrate. we've all been so busy lately so we haven't had as much time to chat. we had a ton of fun sitting around chatting. she got a couple fun gifts too.

former co-worker anne is in town from arizona. other former co-worker brianna and i met her at cheesecake factory for dessert. it's been a while since i've been there. it was delicious as ever. we talked and talked and talked. brianna is kind of my neighbor so i see her pretty regularly, but it made me realize how much i miss anne and how much i miss working with these two.

such a fun week of catch ups and celebration

my week at home

my ipad sleeve that i'm pretty much in love with

I had the week off this week and pretended to be a stay at home. I...

went to 7 peaks...a few times
went shopping with a stay at home mom
cleaned out my closet
caught up with a few friends
ran a lot of errands

ran sugarhouse park with running group
finally learned a little about PhotoShop
shopped for a new camera (canon vs nikon...thoughts?)
made a giant birthday cake

celebrated the 4th in p town
sewed an iPad sleeve

and a few other randoms

I love my job. I really do, but sometimes I really just want to be a stay at home something. I mean seriously...I would be good at it.

Staff Retreat

Since Kids on the Move depends on a lot of volunteers, they decided to give back to the community. The morning half of our staff retreat this year was spent with Habitat for Humanity. Our group spent the morning leveling a backyard and pulling out the hugest lilac bush for transplant. That bush was a beast and took all morning but we FINALLY got it out.

After all the manual labor, we all met at a park and had lunch and free time. Not such a bad way to spend a work day.