Who I Am

The IDSC (International Down Syndrome Coalition for Life) is running a campaign in honor of World Down syndrome Day called “Who I Am”.  It’s all about individuals with Down syndrome, and how they are indeed, individuals.

Since there are 2 little cuties with Down syndrome in our house, they tend to be lumped together a lot.  I’ll try to separate them a bit for the next few days at least.  It’s been a fun thing, in blog land, to make a list of the top 21 things about your person with Ds in October (Down syndrome Awareness month) or on March 21 (World Down syndrome Day).  Since Oct. is the month of Jack’s birth, I usually do his list then.  And Dasha’s birthday just happens to be on Mar.21 so I’ll post her tomorrow, along with a link for Jack’s last one.  And I’ll be looking for cute pics to post too!

Snow Day – part deux

Madelyn set up our redneck snow slide (complete with tree truck sections to prop it up!).

 

Andrew decided to try a snow angel and got a little “help” from the littles!

My little snow princess :)

 

They buried Andrew (at his request).

Jack loved that!

 

Then he decided to bury himself in the snow!

 

Queen of the snow pile (yes, that’s M) and Ty checking out the snow slide from the deck.

They lasted longer than I thought they would out there, and after all the playing, Andrew & M shoveled the walkway and the driveway!  Then we all enjoyed hot chocolate and movies.  I love snow days.

Snow day!

When we went to bed we already knew school was cancelled. When we got up, nothing. It was cold but not super cold, and there was nothing on the ground. Honestly, I was fine with that. A day to sleep in and chill and do whatever? Okay! Now, things are much more snowy out there (pics later) but things are awesome in here! Look at my cuddling girls, so sweet.

My girl

Really, I get to call this beautiful person my very own daughter? She's on her way to a basketball game and I made her stop for a moment so I could take this pic. It's going too fast, this growing up of my babies. Wasn't I just celebrating that she had enough hair for a ponytail? Or reminding her to sit still so I could finish applying nail polish to her tiny little toes? It's awesome watching her grow into an amazing young woman, but I admit to missing the little bitty girl sometimes too. Good thing someday she'll be my friend, as well as my daughter.

Christmas

Some of the highlights:

Jack and Dasha had class parties.  They both had lots of fun, despite the expression on this face:

My dad came to spend Christmas with us and arrived noon-ish on Christmas Eve.  So we all got to go to Christmas Eve church service which has always been my favorite part of Christmas.  I got the little kids dressed up in cute outfits (bought mostly on ebay).  Again, Jack was pretty happy even though you can’t tell from this face:

The next morning was present time!  Although there were promises to the contrary, no one was ready to open before 10.  I had the camera ready and we made sure Santa ate his cookies before we dove in.  I don’t have a pic of it but my favorite present was a Gru scarf!  Just like the one from the movie “Despicable Me”!  Allan’s was a nice warm work coat:

Andrew got the next in a series of books that he’s been reading, and Tyler leaped into the 21st century and got a cell phone! ($10 a month for the line, free phone, no data plan – yay!)

This was Madelyn’s big year.  I found her need for a computer now to be bigger than my need to make her wait for graduation so she got a laptop.  So, Happy Graduation now Madelyn!  I’ll be reminding her in a year and 1/2 :).  And her other present was a new winter coat – a letter jacket since she’s getting more “letters” to put on it than she thought she would.  So that takes care of her birthday too.

(Don’t worry, the boys got a few other things as well, they were happy.)

And the little kids, they both opened all their own gifts and had fun.  They both got Signing Time movies and a door plaque to decorate and photo viewers for kids.  There were a few other things, but I think their favorites were these:

Lots to post about, not lots of time.....

Jack's birthday was awhile ago. I'll post about that soon. Before that was Dasha's sleep study. That was fun. My beautiful daughter decided to try out for her school's dance and drill team and made it. And of course Thanksgiving and Tyler's birthday were next so they will need posts. But first I have some random thoughts that have to come out of my head before I explode. I miss my mom. My lack of desire to have Christmas this year is, conversely, making me more efficient. Lots of my shopping is done. I've been cleaning and sorting and organizing. 99% of the decorating is done. I'm working on the planning for teacher gifts. Those people that I can count as true friends are few and far between. I miss you guys too. And I realized the other day that the people that I know I can count on I met 20 or more years ago. Weird. One person that I did truly count on let me so far down I only recently began to recover and it's been over 2 1/2 years. I want a bigger house. I love this house. It is our home. We've been here 20+ years. All of our children have come home to this house. We've celebrated holidays, birthdays, baptisms, confirmations, and so far, one graduation here. But we have outgrown it. We have 2 children who may potentially live with us for many many more years. We have (possibly) 5 children who might have spouses &/or children and will visit here. This house won't work for that. So someday, I hope to find another home, that will work. Everyday I am thankful for my kids. We don't always agree and someday we all may live apart. But I am confident that they will always be in my life. And that is important. I am tired. And everyday is a big fat act to appear "okay". When I am alone and have no distractions, things are not okay. I cry a lot. This includes driving, doing the dishes, and cleaning. I think I could sleep for a week at a time. Not sure what to do about any of that. Ho. Ho. Ho.

Halloween!

Our 2 littlest kiddos really enjoyed Halloween this year.  I think they both “got it” – wear a weird outfit and people will give you candy – woo hoo!!

Since every year we try to have a “Jack” theme, this year we did this:

(Jack looks thrilled, right?!)

I think the costumes turned out really cute.  I decided on the card theme but was hasn’t sure about how to do it.  Dasha’s teacher gave everyone in her class a paper grocery bag to decorate to wear in class and voila!  It was the perfect shape and size, and cheap too!  I bought spray paint for the bags, sparkly paper for D’s crown, a foam sheet for Jack’s hat, and a paint pen.  Andrew helped me print out the card fronts and backs and we called it done!  Here’s the backs:

Dasha had a fun party in her class:

And a few days later Jack had his class party.  Since D was out of school Jack’s teacher said she was welcome to come to his party:

Then last night we went trick-or-treating:

Enjoy guys, in a couple of days the pumpkins will be empty!