Truth Be Told #20

Truth Be Told #20

It's Been a Whirlwind Summer

(Mother Eloise wants you to know that the blur is actually the roller coaster at the Cherry Festival zooming in front of the Ferris Wheel--cool).

Sometimes I use my Mom's pictures for this blog and sometimes I take a few of my own.  Mother Eloise has been letting me touch her camera a little bit now.  I'm the only one allowed to touch it besides her.

She left me a note on Sunday to take her good camera to the peninsula for the half marathon.  I got to take her picture for once.  This is Mom and Tracy almost to the finish line.  Mother Eloise is a spaz.

 I got to take this one, too.

This guy finished ahead of Aunt Karen.  It was very inspirational.  

Sam kept a look for Mom.  He kept giving us updates while he drank chocolate milk and ate a doughnut.

He also brought all this junk with him.  That is his teddy bear, his Skylander, and his monkey he named Jason.

I graduated from 6th Grade.  I'll be going to the Junior High in the fall.

My softball teams did pretty well.  

I got a new bat after the season.  

I decided I didn't like losing that much.

I went to the Zac Brown Band concert.  They were great.  Jump Right In was my favorite song.  

We went to Darien Lake amusement park first.  Mother Eloise decided she was getting over HER fear of rides, so she made me go on the GIANT wheel, too.  

I wasn't quite so sure about that, but I went. 

Darien Lake did look really cool from up that high, though.

We have been to the cottage a lot.  I found lots of beach glass.

We go in the boat.  Sam isn't afraid this year.  Mom wouldn't let him be.

He was mostly mad about wearing the pink life jacket but he got over it.

I ran the Cherry Fest race with Aunt Jean.

I am just like Aunt Karen though because I puked in the chute at the end.

Tent City had a Mexican theme this year.

It was really fun.

My cousins Chris and Dan decided on the Mexican theme.

They are twins.

And as for Sam, he hasn't been toooooooooooo bad.

If anyone wants to invite him over to their house, I would really appreciate that.

Have a good summer. 

Enjoy the video below with more pictures of fun.

Click on the arrow in the middle of the box for the video to play.

The song is All Kinds of Kinds by Miranda Lambert.

It takes all kinds of people to make all kinds of fun.

Ellen Louise

Truth Be Told #19

Truth Be Told #19

He Got Out of School Before Me---Again!

This is my cousin Jack.  

His real name is John Andrew, but everybody calls him Jack,

.....except the nuns.  They call him John.

Jack graduated from Saint James School tonight.

This is the cross on top of the church.

Jack and his friends are very happy.

Jack's parents are happy, too!

 This is Adam.  He is Jack's friend and our friend, too.

Jack's friends can be a little crazy.

My mom took these pictures when we visited his school to see the Easter Bunny.

Jack's school mascot is the panther.  Mine is the Husky.

Here is Jack escorting the "Easter Bunny."

I knew who was inside the suit.

Jack and Adam came to one of my games this year.

Jack is in a lot of stuff, too.

He runs Cross country.

I hope next year's race isn't so rainy.

He likes to build robots.

He picked the number double zero.

Who picks that number?

Most of all Jack understands me the best.  

He gets our family.  Sometimes it's complicated.

Jack's brother Erik which is my cousin has autism, too.

We don't talk about autism that much, because Jack just knows what it's like.

When we do get together, like for my birthday, we have fun.

We try hard to avoid this person.   This is my little brother Sam.  He idolizes Jack and Adam.  

He even told on Jack the other night at the cottage.  Sam told Grandma that Jack was annoying him.

For the most part, Jack's a good sport.  

Emily and I made him play the One Direction game for my birthday.

The boys won!

That's because Jack is really smart.  He never got a B before.

It's cool because Jack is my cousin and also my friend.

And he taught me all I know about the photo bomb.

Too bad he taught Grandma, too!

Have a fun summer, Jack.  I can't wait.  2 more days for me and I'll be in your pool.

From,

Ellen Louise

Truth Be Told #18

Truth Be Told #18

All you need is a little patience

Patience.  That is what it takes when you have an autistic brother or sister.

This is my sister Natalie.  She has autism.  

I really don't think of Natalie as autistic though.  This is how I always knew her.

She is older than me and she's always been just my sister.

Natalie is almost fifteen and she likes things like most normal girls.

Right now she is into mascara.  She gets kind of obsessive with it as you can see.

 Even though she likes normal teenage things like music, make up, and nail polish, she also likes these things.

Wiggly things, baby rattles, and beanie babies.  We can never get rid of them or she would be upset.

This was her favorite toy Sponge Bob.  She played with him until his leg fell off and his eyes rubbed off.

We think he looks like he is having a seizure.  

Natalie loves to take a bath.  She gets cranky if she is not home to get one at 7:30 like she normally does.  She still plays with the same boat and tub toys that she did when she was a baby.  She lines them up on the tub the exact same way every time.

The weird thing is this behavior is seen in other autistic children too.  This is a picture of some random kid my mom found on the internet.  He likes little plastic tub toys too and lines them up just like Natalie does.

Natalie just doesn't love the tub.  She loves to swim too.  

Erik especially likes to swim.  We think he is part fish.  Erik is my cousin.  He has autism too.  He is the one on the right.  On the left is Jack. 

 Jack, Sam, and I all help take care of Erik and Natalie.  Sometimes that means helping them get their shoes on or zipping their coats or holding their hands when they cross the street.  

Natalie and Erik make life interesting in a good way.

Below is a link of a video I found online.  It is about Mattias and his older brother Christian who has autism.   Even though all autistic kids are different, this video shows that some things are the same.  Christian loves to swim and has a hard time at night.  Bad nights are the worst thing about having a sibling with autism.  There is lots of screaming and everyone in the house gets crabby because no one sleeps.  Natalie outgrew that stage recently and sleeps pretty well now if she gets her bath on time and stuff.  

Show your support by clicking on the short video link below.  Just click on the words and the link pops up.

Have a nice day and become aware.

Ellen Louise

For Autism Video click here