What would you do with a million dollars?

Recently I got to thinking more and more about Oprah's show where she gives away a million dollars. I thought about what I would do if I had a million to give away.

The 1st thing that came to mind was to pay off the debts of each family member, including brothers, sisters, parents, spouse...and so on. Wouldn't that be amazing? Can you imagine how you would feel being 100% debt free, but to also give that gift to your family?

I think I'd set up some kind of fund with the church where we could feed the homeless. Our church currently has a wonderful program where we do feed the homeless once a month, but I'd like to do this daily and provide Bible study, counselors, basic need items, and so on. I'd call it "Feeding the Spirit".

I would like clean water systems to be available and given to villages in such places as Africa. A mission to feed their souls in Bible study while giving them clean water and call it "The Spring of Life."

I'd like to know my son's college was taken care of and that the future needs of his Aspergers health care were covered.

I'd like to write and illustrate a children's book about autism and donate to Aspergers/Autism foundations.

We'd like a house with a yard for a dog to run in and a place for flowers. There would be a big ole tree house for my son to play in with an adopted brother or sister. I'd like an art studio to paint and work on my photography. There would be a library/den just for my husband.

There are so many areas a person could give and give to. I guess these were just a few that ran across my mind.

What would you do with a million dollars?

Easter

I haven't placed any photos on the blog yet from Easter. Time escaped me too easily.

The Easter Bunny visited us at the Grandparent's home up north. The Easter Bunny brought a Webkinz dog that looked just like Buddy the dog, a dog that we used to walk. He also brought a magnet of Elvis, toy cars from the movie "Cars", candy, a giant chocolate bunny, bubble gum, a puzzle, and some other little toys. I can still remember my mom giving fun baskets and egg hunts with clues to the prizes. She always bought me the loveliest Easter dresses.

This was the 1st year our son had figured out who the Easter Bunny was. He was a great sport and still loved his Easter basket.

Today is April Fools Day. We all played jokes on each other and had a few good laughs. My son told my husband, "Oh No! Dad, I forgot to do my homework!" My husband fell for it. Hope you had a few laughs today!

Batman

I ran across an old photo of my son as A.K.A. Batman.
He was playing with his Buzz and Woody toys from Toy Story.
I love this photo! Good memories...

Day Five

Belly Laughing!

Day Five:
Today my son slept in and savored his last day of Spring Break. He wanted to relax today so we took it easy over all.

There is a restaurant that has the best bread ever, so we ran by and grabbed a bag. I think my son is still grinning, he loves that bread!

Next we went to the library. That is always fun. We could stay there for hours and it would feel like minutes.

My son has wanted to have time to just play video games. Today was the day. He played his PS2, his DS, and then later on we watched the Golden Collection of Looney Tunes (thank you library).

Tonight we read as a family again. The 1st book in a series we are reading is Wright & Wong Mystery, The Case of the Prank that Stank by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz. We have laughed so much with this book. My son gets the uniqueness of one of the main characters B. Orville Wright because he has Aspergers syndrome. We have only read the 1st book but are looking forward to reading more. We have loved hearing our son belly laugh!

Hope you've enjoyed reading about our Spring Break.
Our family was blessed to have this time together.

Day Four

Day Four:

As boys grow older their desire to sleep in increases ten fold! A few extra minutes of sleep is a nice reward on a day off.

We began our adventures today by meeting with dad for lunch. The Red Robin restaurant was yummy!

We decided to adventure to another home we hadn't toured before. We enjoyed the home and grounds of Edsel and Eleanor Ford. (They do not allow photos inside the home so the 1st beautiful picture you see above is courtesy of Balthazar Korab and Dirk Bakker).

The house pictured above was given to the daughter of the estate for her 7th birthday. It is a miniature home where she learned social graces and played. If this mini home were built in today's times it would of cost around $300,000 thousand.

Today it began snowing again. We had no idea it was coming in the quantity it arrived. They say we may get another 2 or 3 inches. I love the 4 seasons we have here but I am officially ready for Spring to show up and stay a while.

Tonight we took time to stretch out, relax, and then my son and I drew. My son loves drawing ships. Some how they always end up having a great battle. From the time he 1st picked up a pencil he has drawn pirate ships and pirates. I can't seem to toss any of them. They are drawn on napkins, place mats, on the back of church attendance cards, and so on. Some day I think I'll frame a series of them.

We are going to watch a movie as a family now so enjoy your evening!

Day Two and Three

Day two we spent at doctor appointments and the movies. My son loved the doctors appointments because he brought along his DS and got caught up on Pokemon. We saw Horton Hears a Who in the afternoon. It was fun and we enjoyed the movie. Every night we read to our son and it makes a great time for our whole family.

Day three we spent the morning at home. My son slept in while I cleaned the house. Then we watching the movie Cars. After that we headed to the zoo! In the spring, with the cool air, all the animals were more active and that made for fun pictures. Enjoy! I promised my son we'd get the Little Caesars pizza and bread sticks with a frozen coke for supper. We hadn't done that in a long time. I remember why now, heartburn! Tonight we are having a camp out in the family room.

Day One

This week is Spring Break from school! Just to think, one whole week to not think of school or work and time to celebrate each day. It sounds wonderful to say it. Unfortunately my husband doesn’t have a break from his work this week. We have shared our days with him so I know he is thrilled to see us happy, especially hearing the excitement from our son’s stories.

On Monday we went to a mansion. We visited a mansion which the Dodge Family built. It is the 4th largest touring home in the country. I wasn’t sure how my son would like the tour since it required a lot of walking but he loved it.

When we 1st walked in he said, “Wow! This makes me think of Hogwarts from Harry Potter.” I believe his favorite part was seeing the secret passage ways in the walls. They didn’t let us go in, but you could see a few they had roped off and the wall was opened up for viewing. You could look up and look down, just couldn’t walk on the stairs. He also loved the game room. It intrigued him that it was underground and still had windows to make you think it was night time.

I loved the sun room. There was one room that was all glass walls. It would be the perfect place to go with a cup of hot tea, and gaze longingly outside to a gorgeous view. I also loved seeing the sweet details they added to the children’s rooms. They had tiles of stories outlining the bathtub walls, fireplaces, and more.

They did not allow photos inside the mansion so I took this photo outside. A long time ago they allowed photos, so I’ll have to see if I can find them and share a few with you.

I bought him an old toy car replica a 1939 Lincoln Model K Convertible Sedan. He loved how the front hood folded open. I bought a Christmas ornament that looked just like the mansion to remember our special day.

There is nothing more precious to us than to watch our son light up and see him thrilled and full of excitement. Children have this beautiful way of reminding you of the joy found in every moment!