Vanessa puts another season of soccer under her belt

Vanessa wrapped up the fall soccer season this month. The Firealls played up to U11 so gone were the days of being undefeated. They worked hard and the girls grew quite a bit. Vanessa is one of the youngest on the team, so she strugged a bit, but had some great moments on the field.

It was a transition year for her, a lot of ups and downs, but we are proud of her for working really hard. We're not sure what's in store for her for the spring season, but she wants to continue playing, so stay tuned!

BTW: Mike and I now play on an indoor soccer league with the parents of Vanessa's team mates. It's a lot of fun, but, man, there's not a week that goes by that we don't realize that we are now in our mid-30's. We'll keep playing as long as our bodies allow us!

Jack's 7th Birthday

Jack turned 7 on November 10th, since his birthday fell on a Monday, we celebrated on Saturday, November 8th. We had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme--Jack's current "obession". The usual showed up: Grandmom & Pop, Aunt Bern & Uncle Shawn, Aunt Eileen & Declan. This year we added our friends, the Girolami's to mix it up a bit. It was great to have them!

Aunt Bern, Josie & Jack having some tickle time

Colette gravitating towards the balloons

Uncle Shawn all festive

The Vincer & Sophia in the background

Mike and the chocolate fountain

Leo and Declan

Happy Birthday to Jack!

Gone are the store-bought cakes in our organic household. But Jack doesn't seem to mind.

Jack loves cake, period. He could care less if it was organic or not.

If he could just put his face in it, he would.

Finally. Cake.

Colette's boyfriend, Mario

Aren't they the cutest?

Colette making music with Mario

Presents!

Jack's gifts seemed to all center around planets, space and science this year. He really likes his gifts!

Jack examining the directions to his new computer game

Thanks everyone for coming and for the gifts!

Here's Jack on his real birthday. Yes, more cake.

Obligatory photo time:

Jack and Josie

Daddy and Jack

Vanessa and Sassy

Mommy and Jack

Jack and Sassy

Jack-man, you've come so far. We are so proud of you! Keep up the good work and keep reaching for the stars! We love you to the moon and back, bubby. Happy Birthday!

Back in the nick of Time: Trick or Treating!

So you've all seen the Halloween pictures of us. No big surprise that those pictures were taken 2 weeks prior to Halloween! So here are pictures from the actual night of Halloween. I made it back from my trip to San Diego just in the nick of time!

We spent Halloween with friends who live in the neighborhood to the North of us. We met them because Vanessa's best friend is their daughter, Gabriella, whom she met in 1st grade! They have 4 kids, too, and we all get along just great. We love them! They were nice enough to let us trick or treat in their neighborhood and then we hung out in their hot tub after earning our candy trick or treating.

(If you are wondering, I bought a whole bunch of organic candy and chocolate at Whole Foods and switched it out after we went trick or treating. Mike to the "bad" candy to work. The kids didn't care at all and LOVED the organic candy!)

Here we are just before heading out. Jack was somewhere saving the world...

Colette, Mike & Vince

Kids gearing up to go

Cathy & Cheri

(BTW: Cheri is wearing her actual high school uniform.)

Jo & Daddy trick or treating



Sassy as a hot dog

Colette enjoying the stroll


Kids enjoying the hot tub

Trip to San Diego

Just outside the San Diego Airport Baggage claim

This is not news for most of you, but I went to San Diego to attend a Defeat Autism Now (DAN) Conference for parents and practitioners. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about the alternative, biomedical treatment of autism for Jack. Not only that, I was able to do it on the cheap! I had left over frequent flyer miles that paid for my plane fare, I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law, Kris & Mike, I got a parent scholarship called "angel money" and only had to pay 1/2 the cost of the conference. The other half was paid for by a sponsor! I rented a car for $75 bucks for the entire weekend. The whole trip cost less than $250!

Kristin and Mike were kind enough to buy dinner for me 2 times! What a treat! We went out to dinner one night and ate in the next. I even got to babysit for my nephew and Godson, Alex! What a treat and rare one-on-one time for Alex and me.



I learned so much information about biomedical treatment of autism. We have been on the biomedical "track" since April and have seen significant improvement in Jack--so it was nice to know that there are even more options for treatment and also to learn about the science behind it all!

One of the highlights of my trip was getting to meet Jenny McCarthy 2 times! She signed shirts for Mike and I and was so very nice.

The worst part of the trip was being away from Mike and the kids, but it was nice to have a little "me" time even though it was while sitting in a conference all day!

I did bring back a shirt for Jack. Here he is modeling it for me. He wears it proudly. That's our boy!

Mike and I hope to attend a DAN Conference together in the near future and bring the fam. One year it was in Seattle. Perhaps the next time they have it in Seattle, we will be able to swing it. I know they are lobbying for it to be in Portland soon :).

If you have a child with autism, I cannot stress enough about considering the biomedical track for treating autism. I have one major regret, I wish I would have done it sooner. So if you have any doubts, STOP! Go to www.autism.com and find a DAN doctor near you!

Colette's 1 Year Portraits

Alrighty then, I have some catching up to on the blog. Bear with me as I catch up because I am about to embark on 2 months of "Kodak moments" so I must get the blogs, Shutterfly, My Shutterfly site and my photo folders in order. Come along for the ride as I marathon blog...

Here's our sweet little Colette's formal 1 year portraits. I think they turned out really well. I am learning so much about lighting and I think that my lighting skills improve with every photoshoot.

Colette was a perfect subject, already getting the hang of being the daughter of an amature photographer. The dresses are gifts from Lolo and Lola that she received for her birthday. Thanks Lolo & Lola!