Order your Christmas Cards now!

To place an order email Susie at robesofmajesty@gmail.com

***Editing to say if you place an order please tell Susie you found her designs through me. I don't get paid anything I just wanted her to know how you found her, thank you!***


So far, the only one I can say is a direct copy (with some modifications) is the holiday birth announcement. I made it with different wording, and also adjusted it for the holidays. Any of my cards can be altered to incorporate one photo or a small collage. People can send me their photos and I can create entire new layouts if they want and even try to give them 2 or 3 to pick from, if they want to give me leeway. My pricing is as follows:

50 photo greeting cards printed on high quality Kodak photo paper - $30
Each additional set of 50 will be $15. If someone wants a large bulk quantity (more than 200), they can ask me for a quote.
They will come with foil lined envelopes (silver, I believe-my vendor doesn't give me a choice, but one year it was gold)
I can also create sheets of coordinating return address labels for $2 a sheet, with 30 on a sheet. If they would like, I can purchase stamps and pre-label and stamp the envelopes, but on top of the stamp pricing, I will charge an extra $5 for labor.

Payment is due via check at the time they email/mail me the photos to work with. If they are local, I am willing to wait until delivery of the cards before picking up payment.


Again, any layout they see is adjustable endlessly at no charge. I will continue to edit until they are happy. Once I get a final OK form the customer, I will ask 2 business days for production, before I mail them out. I have not gone to the post office to see how much they will cost to ship, so let me work out those logistics today. Can't be more than 5 bucks, I imagine.


I will continue to create and make these as long as people want me to, but if they MUST have these in people's homes before Christmas, I would not wait any later than Friday December 11th to email me pictures and send a check in the mail at the same time (if they are not local). I can then have the weekend to work on the cards, a few extra days to fix the cards how they want so I can ship NO later than the 15th, for them to receive by the 18th, and then they just need to be addressed and stuffed. If someone DOES need to wait this long to send me photos, I would highly suggest having me pre-stamp and label the envelopes so all they have to do is address them.















To place an order email Susie at robesofmajesty@gmail.com.

Pictures from vacation

Posting pics from vacation. More pictures are going on my website. http://joannafrancisphotography.lifepics.com/net/Pro/Default.aspx

Me on my horse



The girls when we went to Cherokee, this picture was taken towards the top of a mountain in the Smokey Mountains.



A picture from the water park.

Last few days of vacation

We spent them at an indoor water park and shopping in Cherokee I think it's called. Then our last day we shopped in the small town of Gaitlinburg, it's main street gets insanely crowded and I guess is a must see for everyone and their mother. I have a million pics to show so when I get them loaded on my computer I will post a few then put the rest on my photography website if you want to see them all.

We got home last night at around 8 and had a dinner and watched some tv shows we missed last week. Then this morning I got my kids up early for school and the bus never showed up so I called the office and they said there is no school all week. I missed this since we were on vacation so this info never got to my attention so I could sleep in. I get to hang out with my kiddos all week only this time I don't have a huge water park and a horseback ride on the side of a mountain to keep them busy.

By the way, we didn't have this much time off of school when I was a kid!

First full day of vacation

We made it to Seviervill Tennessee on Sunday evening. The drive down was hard on all of us, it took 10-12 hours. We checked in, had dinner then we went to Walmart for grocery shopping. We are in a resort that has a two bedroom, full kitchen, small washer and dryer and 2 full bathrooms.

Yesterday we went horseback ridding. Monkey was in Heaven! They gave all the girls compliant horses. Monkey's horse was tethered to the guy who guided us. Pumpkin followed her, then Lil Angel. Someone was behind her then was me. All the girls did good. Lil Angel had some problems because when we stopped the horses wanted to turn to a side of the trail and eat. Lil Angel panicked one time and she couldn't get her's to stop eating and walk but other that that no issues.

My horse on the other hand. When they put us on the horse they took us to a side where the horse could drink before we went on the trail. I should have known mine would be a problem because she stood next to the horse that walked behind me. They gave us brief direction and told us to keep our horses 10 feet apart. The guide stopped us just as we got going to make sure we all was together. I couldn't get my horse to stop, she walked right up to the horse in front of us. The horse got MAD and nipped at mines neck, the girl on the horse screamed. I screamed because I realized this horses mouth was right next to my leg and I didn't want to get bit. I must have pulled to my left because my horse jerked to the left which was at the edge of the mountain, she then went up tot eh horse behind me and cuddled her. I saw the look on the face of the lady behind me and I panicked! I started calling for help. The guide pulled my horse back I saw he moved Lil Angel in front of me.

Off we went and a few times my horse stopped to eat. Each time I had some trouble but I was able to get my horse going. The last time she went off the trail to eat, yelled for help because it looked like I was going off the side of the mountain. The guide came galloping towards me on his house, my house was too busy eating she never saw him and it scared her. She turned her back and then I was able to get her going again. I swear I thought I was going over the edge about5 times. This may sound funny but I am going to take more pictures so you can see the mountains out here. My husband took some pictures but he didn't go so you can't see much of our mountain ride.

In the evening we looked around at see all of them at home. a huge Christmas store then went up into Smokey Mountain National Park, we got out of our car and looked at the sky. It's amazing, there are so many stars in the sky! We can't see so many at home.

I will post more tomorrow.

Some exciting news!

First, on Saturday evening I will be taking pictures for Autism Delaware's fall fundraiser event. Click the link to learn more about the event. I am really excited because I enjoy helping them out and it's always fun for me. I think this is my fourth event taking pictures for them.

Second, on Sunday my husband and I are taking our kids on vacation. We are heading to Tennessee, I hear there is a big indoor water park there and it's near a large city so there is plenty of restaurants and shopping! We will be near Knoxville.

Finally, last night I started back at the YMCA gym to start working out. I stopped going because my husband and I would go in the evening because they didn't have childcare hours in the morning and early afternoon and my husband started his heavy traveling for his job in the summer. I couldn't take all 3 of my kids on my own, I tried when Monkey gets going it's a nightmare, she either runs away from me or throws on of her fits. So now that they have childcare from 8AM to 8PM and you can leave your kids there for an hour and a half, it used to be 1 hour, since Pumpkin is in afternoon Kindergarten I can either go in the AM or early afternoon. Childcare at the Y used to start at 4PM. I love it because I have options now, I can go the gym by myself or I can go in the evening with my husband and kids.

Autism Service Dogs

I want to start by making it clear that I am not endorsing any non profit company as I haven't talked to any of them I am sure there may be more but I am showing a few companies that I have found using a Google search of Autism Service Dogs. Also I want to note that not all of them work with young children.

I am posting the 1st 3 I found, I included links so you can look if you want more info about thees places. If you have any questions let me know.

Canine Companions for Independence
http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.4011039/k.7E22/Admission_FAQs.htm
This company says the dog is free but you have to travel there, pay for hotel and food. They have offices in Colorado and Chicago. I am guessing that is where you would have to travel to.


Dogs for the Deaf
http://www.dogsforthedeaf.org/autism_assist_dogs.php
With them there is no fee other than a $50.00 application fee and a $500.00 good faith deposit that they say you get back after 1 year. They are located in Oregon, I couldn't fin any other location. One thing I found interesting is that they say the dogs are not trained to go everywhere with the child such as the mall, park zoo etc. My question is what's the point of goign through the process if the dog has limitations. As a mom to a child with Autism the dog must be able to go everywhere with the child because the child needs the dog in various situations otherwise you might as well go with another company.

Autism Spectrum what does that mean?

The three different types of autism spectrum disorders are:

* Autistic disorder (also known as "classic" autism). This is the most common condition among the ASD's. It is marked by major delays in language, difficulties with social interactions, and unusual behaviors. Some people with autistic disorder also have impaired intellectual abilities.

* Asperger Syndrome. People with this syndrome display some of the milder symptoms of autistic disorder -- such as social challenges and unusual behaviors. They generally do not have any delays in language or impaired intellectual abilities.

* Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PPD-NOS, also referred to as "atypical autism"). Individuals may be diagnosed with PPD-NOS if they meet some of the criteria for either autistic disorder or Asperger syndrome but not all.

Some people call the first Autism and consider the other 2 forms not Autism but they are wrong. PDD-NOS by definition is a pervasive development disorder, as is Asperger Syndrome. I think the problem is that people in the Autism community use different terms to define an Autism Spectrum diagnosis so how can other people not be confused? I do see a movement to move away from Asperger syndrome and PDD-NOS and using the term Autism for all the forms since again diagnosing is all up to perception. I think the Autism community needs to come together to reduce the confusion.


My daughter has a diagnosis of PDD-NOS I know kids who are presenting much better than her and have a Autism diagnosis. It is very confusing and frustrating.

Autism information

If you would like to know why I have a blog dedicated to my experiences of raising a child with Autism this picture should explain why. I think the Autism community is great at showing you the word Autism but I don't think they do a good job at telling you what Autism is and what the signs can look like. My goal as a Mom to a child who has Autism is not to just tell you my daughter has Autism but to teach you what Autism is.

Do you want to know why I do this? Very few people understand Autism, in my case my daughter is a pretty little girl, I have been told many times she is so pretty so she can't possibly have Autism. I think most people see other special need people and can see by their appearance that they have a disability and in some cases what the disability is. In the case of people who have Autism some of them don't show their Autism unless they have a fit or they have some things such as flapping or finger flicking etc in public. Some people see my 7 year old having a fit and wonder why I can't control her, by the way her fit's can last up to 30 minutes and she isn't a tiny little child and isn't always easy to calm. People also may see some of the "quirky" things she does and think she is odd but rarely does Autism pop in their minds unless they know someone well who has Autism.

Sometimes parents of children who have Autism don't take their children out if they don't need to. For those of use who are brave enough to take our kids out on a regular basis this can be a nightmare. You may think that is an odd thing to say, but I want you to understand when people treat you bad by either they nasty looks on their faces, the comments under their breath we do hear by the way, or the comments who are made quite loudly some parents don't bother to take their child out unless they have to. I try to teach people about Autism so that when you see us struggling to calm our child, or see our loved ones acting strange I hope instead of you give us mean looks or say something rude you try to understand. I want you to ask us a question if our child isn't throwing a fit, I hope you reach out to your local Autism community to volunteer or to learn what you state is doing or not doing to educate our kids and what therapies they offer, and how your state deals with early intervention.

If you missed it I want to remind you of this, the prevalence of Autism is 1 in 91 babies will have some form of Autism. If you don't know someone who has Autism chances are good that you do and no one told you or you just don't understand Autism, or you will know someone who is on the Autism Spectrum VERY soon. Autism is not curable, therapies can go a great way to help though.

Tomorrow I will talk about the forms of Autism and what they can look like and what Autism Spectrum means.