JAK CHAT

And how YOU can help! Read more... Dear Just Add Kids friends, I would like to tell you about a special opportunity that Beatrice, a 4 year old from Racine, has along with 599 other children with special needs. An organization called Friendship Circle is running a campaign called the Great Bike Giveaway  where they hope to give away 600 adaptive bikes to children with special needs from around the United States. I am sure you remember the day you received your first bike. The joy you experienced and the freedom you felt when riding a bike for the first time. For a child with special needs bike riding offers far more than a recreational experience. Bike riding provides a source of much needed exercise, gives therapeutic value and contributes to an inclusive environment where a child with special needs can ride a bike like everyone else. Due to balance and mobility challenges many children and teens with special needs require the use of an adaptive bikes. Sadly, many cannot afford the hi...

Green by Just Add Kids Founder, Paula Herrmann Don't envy me! I have a date with a sparkly green iPhone that keeps getting delayed. But before I get to that hovering subject matter, I must wish #2 a happy 17th birthday! 'Tis the season for Herrmann family celebrations: uncle birthday, nephew birthday, Thanksgiving, #4 birthday, #2 birthday, Christmas, and all the holiday seasonings sprinkled in between, including The 37th Annual High Renaissance Feast. Note the festive garb!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> And speaking of green, we've got more Alexander Hamilton's and Andrew Jackson's flying out the window than coming in the door. You? Read more.... So today, instead of tackling this "high priority" project of sifting thru #3's cell phone (now see #3, I Remember  AND i Caved. i Regret. ) I am writing about yet another child and her milestone....tomorrow's 17th birthday. It's only right. ...

  #4. Huh? Say What? [caption id="attachment_2171" align="alignright" width="270"] #4 hits double digits[/caption] by Just Add Kids Founder, Paula Herrmann I must be losing it. Actually, I know I've lost it. My mojo. My groove. It happens. Just not this early in the winter. I think I know the culprit. It's my family's  Read more... new school year schedule. Um, Paula, it's been 3 months now.  I know. I know.  For the last two years it had been 2 kids at one school and the other 2 at another. Just two schools. Starting times 2 hours apart. The flow was quite perfect. This year, not so much. Four kids. Four different schools with four different start times and end times. I just can't seem to get the flow going. [caption id="attachment_2173" align="alignleft" width="225"] Texting after 10pm BANNED. Even if it's a stupid app![/caption] Okay, so how does this equate to making up another excuse for not gett...

Taking Flight by Just Add Kids Founder, Paula Herrmann Several weeks back I introduced you to the trio of Cindy, Rusty, and Gavin Schultz: a mom, a dog, and a teen with autism. (see JAK Chat: "You Had Me At...Hello!") Since our introduction at a special needs resource fair back in April, I've hung out with them at Gavin's R.P.M.(Rapid Prompting Method) Therapy, gone to his horse therapy; worked side by side with Cindy to bring the Kid's Carnival to life in late July; and followed along with their comings and goings (Brewer games, summer camp, hospital, Auditory Integration Therapy, to the pool, bowling alley, Gentle Worship, and the list goes on) mostly via Facebook. This trio has an amazing social life, of which admittedly, I am a bit jealous! Cindy exhausts me! Her hard work with A.S.P. and tending to Gavin's needs inspires me. However, her latest posts/texts/conversations about Gavin concern me. Please READ MORE... Gavin is non verbal. He can certainly com...

Springing Forward by Just Add Kids Founder, Paula Herrmann Allow me to be the messenger of this annual reminder.  This daylight savings time has really crept up on me. You? Once again, we need to set our clocks ahead one hour before we go to bed this Saturday night, March 9th. As a mom, trust me, losing an hour of life, sleep, in bed, does not bring me great joy.  I am sure you can relate! At the same time, READ MORE... the extension of daylight into the evening is welcomed. It's amazing the impact that one hour can have on our bodies. Yet instead of being discouraged with the change, think more about a time FOR change, new beginnings: start fresh.  Isn't that always the beautiful thing with life? You can always start afresh with a new day or a new season.  Now if the weather would continue to cooperate (it's amazing what one day of sunshine and melting snow can do). I found myself the past couple of weeks just absolutely in a funk, so I made a change. This one was suggeste...

Well Bred? By Just Add Kids Founder, Paula Herrmann Ha! That's what I thought! Made some interesting observations as of late. Maybe my conclusions have been consistent with other musings I've had and have verbalized here or there (likely, Facebook). When the thought occurred to me to chat about the ungratefulness and entitled generation we're raising, never did I think I'd have to include me own kiddos in the conversation. Read More... Yet, I shake my head in disbelief. I'm not going to share the long drawn out story here, as I have verbalized my version of the series of unfortunate events that unfolded in my home within the last 24-36 hours (and further back, I fear) to 4 people today (one of my best friends, my nail tech, my chiropractor, and my husband). Each successive version gets longer (well, 'cept my chiropractor, as my appointment didn't allow, lucky her!) and I try to limit my word count here.  So in a nutshell, here goes... My kids (and sadly, mos...

Taken Back on 9/11 I was ironing this morning, watching video footage on TV of the events of 9.11.01, and listening to my 10 year old daughter sing in the bathroom as she brushed her teeth. A flood of emotion. I remember that day so vividly 11 years ago. I choked back the memory of how scared, uneasy, intimidated I felt as I had just found out I was pregnant with her. How could I bring into this world, this new world, another child? READ MORE... I am so blessed as a mother, that I got to see my child be born, then grow into the beautiful young lady that she is (to see all of my kids grow and that they have a dad here, too). I grieve for all of those who lost their loved one, children who never got to meet their father or lost their mother, grandparent, aunt, uncle, neighbor. I remember how united we became and am saddened how divided we've become. I have to watch and remember the events of that day, weeks, months that followed. Now only annually does the impact overwhelm my thought...

(Fund)Raising Active Kids    by JAK's guest mom blogger from Pleasant Prairie, Bonnie Hahn You know how before you had kids everyone would tell you how expensive they are?  I just couldn't wrap my head around it.  I mean, how expensive could they possibly be?  Oh, believe me when I say I've figured it out, but just for kicks let's all get a good laugh at my expense at how clueless I was. Using just my first (child) as the example, I had myself convinced that kids are no big deal in the financial department.  Here's a bit about how I fooled myself: Making babies the traditional way is free.  Hallelujah.  Might have been down a bit for a bottle of wine and a nice dinner, but whatevs.  Insurance paid for most of the doctor visits, hospital stay, etc.  We were out a couple hundred bucks. Cutie maternity clothes...I spent a bit.  Had to be a fashionable preggie, right? Baby shower.  Everything you could possibly need to feed, clothe, and care for a baby, except the...