Everything

Best pin ever. (Click to see full-sized)

Tardy for the Party

Look who arrived at the Sasha house yesterday! Christopher Pop-In-Kins!

Yes, I know it was December 23. That's how I roll, very last-minute.

I have never been that excited about the Elf on the Shelf..... I think he's a little creepy.

But when I saw Christopher last week, I had to have him! How cute is he?

He comes with a great book, which we read when he arrived last night. I told the kids I had put in a request for an elf earlier in December, but they were backed up and ours had just arrived, and thank goodness he did, because he would have to head back to the North Pole sometime on the 24th.

And at 3 am I woke up and realized I hadn't moved him. Phew! So now he resides on top of the mantle. And hopefully sometime today I will remember to have him make the trip back to chat with Santa.

Hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Sashas!

Just wanted to wish you all Merry Christmas!

I'm joining in Angry Julie's Holiday Card Blog Hop! I absolutely love looking at holiday cards!

Soap Box Time

I get so emotional when I watch things about vision therapy, the program that P just competed 28 weeks of.

It is so frustrating that as parents we have to do our own research and find resources ourselves.

The fact that we can't trust opthamologists to make a treatment recommendation for us is unbelievable.

If we had "waited" as it was suggested to us by our opthamologist, where would our son be today? Father behind, that's where.

And I worry for those that can't afford vision therapy. We spent almost $4000 out of pocket, and it was so worth it, but what about families that don't have access to funds like that?

Such a shame that insurance companies don't recognize that vision therapy works.

To end on a positive note, though, P has made fantastic strides since we began vision therapy in May. Although I'm not sure that reading will ever be easy for him, his tracking and focusing have improved so much. He also has had the best attitude through this all- I am so proud of him for that. He understands that everything we are doing, and all the hard work he is having to do, is towards the goal of making reading and school easier for him.

As a supplement to vision therapy, he began Interactive Metronome therapy a few weeks ago with our OT and are already seeing progress there as well.

From www.interactivemetronome.com:

The IM program provides a structured, goal-oriented process that challenges the patient to synchronize a range of hand and foot exercises to a precise computer-generated reference tone heard through headphones. The patient attempts to match the rhythmic beat with repetitive motor actions. A patented auditory-visual guidance system provides immediate feedback measured in milliseconds, and a score is provided.

Over the course of the treatment, patients learn to:

• Focus and attend for longer periods of time


• Increase physical endurance and stamina


• Filter out internal and external distractions


• Improve ability to monitor mental and physical actions as they are occurring


• Progressively improve coordinated performance

Since we suspect P has a visual processing problem in the background, IM will hopefully help him in many areas. Our IEP meeting is on Monday, and I'm anxious to figure out what the school will be able to do to help support his education.

Tap tap tap

Guess what?

I am taking a tap class! So fun!

Last night we worked on relaxing our leg and doing some fast taps and, hell, I forgot what it was called, but here is Vera-Ellen doing it correctly, like I will never be able to do!

Start at 1:42 to see it- it's amazing!

Some Amazon Deals

There's still time to order from Amazon for Christmas presents if you have Prime shipping..... I'm stocking up my birthday gift closet as well! These are some great deals.

Cars 2 DVD is down to $15. I wasn't that impressed when we saw this one in the theatre, but it's grown on me now that we own it and have watched it a few more times.

Lego Pirate Code Game for $7.70. P loves these Lego games and I think they make great gifts for the 8 and above crowd.

Math Slam is down to $19- I paid $21 for it last week and I think P will love it. Speed for reading letter and numbers and processing them is a vision issue we are working on, and this will be perfect for that.

Yahtzee Hands Down Card Game is down to $3.50. I haven't played this, but it looks fun. We are trying to spend more time playing games and such rather than have the TV on.

Scrabble Slam Card Game is also down to $3.50. As I have said before, my brain is unable to play these types of games.... scrabble, words with friends.... I don't know why, but I just can't get them to work for me. A local radio show has a game called Tri-Bond, where they give three words and you have to come up with the other word they all have in common, and even if I spent all day thinking about it, I could NEVER come up with the answer. I had a roommate that could answer in about 3 seconds and I always felt like part of my brain was missing since I can never answer them. :-)

Here's another Lego game- Robo Champ for just $6. This one is recommended for 6 and up, rather than 8, so I got this one hoping that P and WC can both play this one on family game night.

Love Actually

Last night the Mr. and I watched one of my favorite Christmas movies, Love Actually. Such a great movie! And this morning I headed to iTunes (and Amazon as well) ready to download Billy Mack's "Christmas is All Around", and I can't seem to find it available as a single song! iTunes doesn't have it at all, and it's only available on the full album on Amazon. Any other ideas on where I can purchase the song? I pretend to be technologicaly savvy, but we all know I'm not.

Please Watch For

If you are local, please keep your eyes out for Diet Pomegranate 7up.... I have been dreaming about it all year and waiting patiently for it to be released for the holiday season. Haven't see it yet, but as soon as I do, I'll get all the 12 packs I can find!

Holler if you see it!

Cuteness Overload

I certainly didn't need a 10 inch Ty Pluffie Snoopy with pink ears, but really, how could I not order it? The cuteness overwhelms me.

And only $4! I couldn't resist.

Snoopy with blue ears

All pink? So cute!

Hello Kitty has a special place in my heart, but I did not order any of her because I don't think Mr. Sasha would like me lining them up on our bed every morning. One Snoopy, I can stick somewhere. Three Hello Kittys, no so much.

I am scared of Spongebob, but if you are more normal than me and have a thing for him (it?) he's just $4 too.

And Blue! Do kids still watch Blue? I love Blue! And Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper. Sigh.

GDA: Just Dance 3 $26

My kids loves the Just Dance games.... my daughter can actually beat me from time to time! The newest release in the series, Just Dance 3, is $26 right now at Amazon. GDA!

Planning a big-ticket purchase from Amazon?

Today you can get a Kindle Fire (which is not likely to go on sale at all) for only $189, no tax or shipping, versus the regular price of $199.

Not sure how long this deal will last, but Amazon is offering $10 off $100 on electronics & toys + additional $10 off $50 in future savings on electronics & toys when you enter coupon code ZKGYLEBT and use MasterCard as payment for your purchases.

Happy shopping!

A Few Amazon Deals

We love Lego games, but WC get frustrated with some of them since she's only 5. Robo Champ looks like a Lego version of Cootie, and she will love that!

Our church has done the Butterfly Garden at Easter, and it is so neat! You'd probably want to wait until spring to cash in the certificate for the butterflys.

Here's a Ladybug Land.

Scrabble Slam Cards sell for about $5 in stores, but Amazon has them for $3. Would make a good stocking stuffer. However, I am TERRIBLE at word games and avoid them at all cost myself.

If you already own the game ThinkFun Rush Hour

You can get both these add-on packs for just $5.85 shipped. P, who is 8, loves this game and will love more puzzles. And each set comes with another vehicle to add in.

ThinkFun Rush Hour 3

ThinkFun Rush Hour 4

Amazon will adjust off $5 once both items are in your cart.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon referral links.