Gearing Up for Autism Awareness Month in April

March is pretty much here (sorry 2/28), so it's high time I get the ball rolling and start raising Autism awareness. I started a Facebook group called "Noah's Wingmen - Autism Awareness" that I can put updates about Noah, raise awareness, and organize our walk team and fundraising efforts. I am putting a little up at a time as I have time; if you know of anyone that might want to join, share the page with them and then look out for updates coming soon!

"AUTISM is not a TRAGEDY, IGNORANCE is the TRAGEDY."

(from the Autism Puzzle Foundation)

It's been a little while....

Since it's been a while, here's an update on life in the Zoebelein household, in a David Letterman inspired top 10 list (although all are #1 to me)....

10. Visited Mike's Nana in OK in a mere 3 days and got back before Christmas Eve...even though it was a marathon trip, all 3 kids were awesome and we had a really great time catching up with Nana and she got to meet all of the kids for the first time!

9. We were able to all go to Christmas Eve Mass at our church, Prince of Peace, due to the wonderful support they have in place for special needs kids. Sam was a shepherd in the Christmas story during mass....it was so beautiful!

8. As always, we had a great time with my folks on Christmas Eve celebrating family and just having fun. The cousins got to make gingerbread houses and really enjoyed playing together.

7. We decided to get rid of cable and my super techy husband built an antenna out of scrap cooper pipe (he did not spend a dime) so we have 20+ OTA channels, we stream Netflix, and whenever Hulu Plus is set up for XBox Live, we'll get that. All in all, we cut $125 out of our budget by getting rid of cable and home phone (which we never used any way!) Also, I discovered the coupon game and there is quite a thrill attached to getting something for next to nothing!!!

6. Enjoyed several snow days in December and January - are we still in Alabama? Why yes we are because now we are wearing flip-flops here at the end of February!!! LOVE ALABAMA WEATHER!!

5. Had a great night out with Mike and 2 of the 3 college roomies at the Alabama Autism Society and Free the Hops "Tapped"! Tapped was an event where local restaurants paired some of their signature dishes with local brews for a taste test! I was able to discover several new beers that I would have never tried, all while raising money for my favorite cause!

4. Discovered a new show, "Parks and Recreation" so I finally might be able to chill on my obsession with The Office.

3. I have a student nurse working with me at work for the first time and it's so strange to be at that point in my nursing career. Wild!

2. Had a fun Valentine's weekend with the family... the cousins came over and we had a little party! That same weekend, we took the kids to Oar Park in Montevallo - it was a beautiful day for all! And on Valentine's day, Mike made me some awesome burgers and we just chilled out and snuggled!

1. Some neat things we have discovered about our 3 wonderful kids:

- Addi Rose likes backpacks and can say it (well kind of), is already a girly-girl

- Sam loves the song "Firework" by Katy Perry and he and I have to sing it at the top of our lungs every time it comes on the radio, he is wise beyond his years, and is now into chess and marbles (after getting some from his late great-grandfather on our trip to see Nana)

- Noah is REALLY into Science, basketball, and his reading continues to improve and amaze me daily!

And that is our top 10, but like I said before, they are all #1 to me!!!

=)