The Monkeys Visit the Pumpkin Patch

Lucy's school had a Pumpkin Patch Day! Each group dressed up according to their group animal, and visited fun stations! Then they got to trick or treat throughout the church! It was really a treat to watch her having such a great time with all of her friends!

As a side note, Lucy is really coming along in her speech. She is currently attending 2 Speech Therapy sessions a week, and we think it is making a huge difference. To illustrate, while Trick or Treating today Lucy asked the nice lady for "more" candy!! Aaah candy...the great motivator.

This is Lucy & her buddy, Ryan. Ryan's Mom came up to us and introduced herself. She said that Ryan comes home & talks about Lucy everyday. They are not in the same class, but they play together on the playground. Ryan's Mom explained that Ryan is a sweet sensitive boy that sometimes gets too close to other kids. Lucy doesn't mind...up until a point. One day Ryan reported that Lucy pushed him away, and said, "Stop!" Ryan went home, and told his Mom, "Lucy pushed me, and broke my heart." Haha! I won't lie...her story almost made me cry.

Lucy does Laundry

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Cool Article

I recently came across an article wherein the author discussed his preconceived notions of what people with Down Syndrome are like. He then engages in a conversation with a person with DS, and it changes his whole point of view.
I really enjoyed the article, and I have to say that it really hit home. I have never had much contact with people with special needs. When you first have a baby with special needs you read everything out there: the books, the blogs, the outdated printed material. And I have to tell you the outlook didn't seem great. I have tried to keep an open mind about Lucy, but I must admit that there are times when I am shocked when she accomplishes a "typical" task. No one ever told me she wouldn't, but I guess I just assumed that she wouldn't be doing certain things. Don't get me wrong, I treat her just like all the other kids, but there are times when she surprises me. And I love that about her! She is reminding me everyday that Down Syndrome is a part of who she is, and that it doesn't define her.
Truthfully I love when she surpasses people's expectations of her in public, because there are people who definitely have some preconceived notions about what she is capable of doing. People have some crazy ideas about what people with DS are like (trust me some of them even like to share these ideas), but I know when they see Lucy they can't help but notice how "handi capable" she is.

I encourage you to take a sec, and read the article: http://open.salon.com/blog/rogerf1953/2011/02/18/today_i_may_have_actually_learned_something

Mother's Day Out

This post is a bit late (insert huge understatement), but better late than never.

 In September, Lucy started Mother's Day out at our parish Church.  The boys did not attend Pre-K, but I knew that Lucy would need to be with peers of her own age.  She is terrific at miming what others do, and trust me older brothers should not be her only role models (think forcing oneself to burp & laughing hysterically, of course I mean that Lu is doing this).  So in comes Pre-K.  I was really nervous about this leap, and a good friend of mine summed it up, "In our houses they do not have handicaps, but once we walk out the door their delays become noticeable."  I couldn't have said it better myself.  After meeting with her teachers, they assured me that typical children have problems with the same issues I was worried Lucy would have.  I really felt like we were leaving her in good hands.
On the first day, she could not have been more excited to get in there and play with the other kids.  She didn't even have the time of day for me, and I barely got a picture (thanks Kathryn!).  And when I came to pick her up, her teachers reported that she did great.  And every report since has been the same.  She is doing awesome, but you all knew that she would didn't you?

Check it out

There is a new blogger in town! Red is writing a blog! You can find his musings at http://redsblogginspot.blogspot.com/

Norman Rockwell has nothing on us....

Aaaah picture this, a suburban family of five having a nice dinner together.  During dinner they are listening to their NPR station to hear the older boy's name called out for making a donation.  When his named is announced they all cheer & clap, and then they finish up dinner.  Dad and the older son sit at the kitchen table and work on the science fair project.  Mom puts the baby in a bubble bath, and folds clothes while helping the middle child work on his blog (author's note:  the baby is in the mother's line of sight at all times, imagine a triangle with the Mom being at the apex and being able to see both children at once).  Everyone is happy & productive.
That is until Dad comes up, and goes to get the happy splashing baby out of the tub.  And what does he find????  POOP!  That's right, while Mom was thinking everything was hunky-dory, unbeknownst to her the baby had pooped in the tub.  Now the idyllic scene crashes and burns.  The happy splashing baby was actually splashing poop water all over the bathroom, and had even thrown some poop on the ground!  How could Mom have missed this you ask?  Well when Mom lets the clean laundry pile up for awhile, it takes a real act of will & concentration to fold all of those clothes!  She did not have time to take a closer look at what said happy baby was doing!  Needless to say, Dad scrubbed baby, tub, bathroom walls & floor until they all sparkled and smelled like bleach.
Let this be a lesson:  Things are not always as good as they seem; but hey, if you don't look too closely, things are pretty good.

Fun in Abilene

Abilene was a very cool town. The architecture of downtown was amazing, but sadly most businesses had relocated to the newer parts of town so it was mainly empty buildings. I hate that! Why not use those cool buildings for stores? Anyway we checked out the local Air Force Base BX (because that's what military people do), and then decided to visit the local zoo.
The Abilene Zoo was a really nice zoo, and it has one amazing feature that makes is stand out...the "Giraffe Bridge"! There is a bridge that spans the Giraffe enclosure, and it allows visitors to walk up and see the giraffes eye to eye. The zoo also sells Giraffe Cookies, and visitors are allowed to feed the giraffes! This was SUPER cool!! The giraffes have long black tongues that have amazing dexterity! The kids had a blast feeding them crackers, especially Lucy who thought that the giraffe tongues were hilarious!

There was one small breeze, and this ostrich was feeling it!

Next we visited a museum outside of Abilene, that was a collection of buildings from the early part of the century. All the buildings & artifacts had been collected from around Abilene and put in one location. The museum provided handsets that provides visitors with historical information. I have to mention that this museum was a little out of the way, and we were expecting something different...it kind of gave off a little bit of a creepy vibe. But we plunged ahead, and boy we were glad that we did. It was a really neat place to explore!

This old merry-go-round was definitely their favorite thing!

Enjoying some cold ones!

After that we meandered back into San Antonio. It was a great trip, and we all had fun! It was especially fun to share the trip with Oma. Maybe we will actually make it to Mt. Rushmore next year!! :)

Kelley & Deborah take the kids on a Grand Adventure, Part 1

In August, with summer vacation quickly waning, Mom & I decided to take a road trip. Originally we were going to take the kids to Mt. Rushmore, but with the escalation of gas prices we set our sights on sites in Texas (hehe, couldn't resist). Now the thing to know about me & Mom is that we travel well together, and we love road trips. We don't really care about the destination, because we can find something to do nearly anywhere, it is more the trip that we look forward to. So with this in mind, we decided to take the kids out West, West Texas that is. Our itinerary was roughly Monaghans, Midland, and then loop back around through Abilene, and then down the back way into San Antonio. Not the most exciting tour, but you would not believe the things we saw!
Firstly in Monaghans we saw sand. Yup, that sums up Monaghans. Oma bought the kids a sled (for our Northern friends, we Texans prefer to sled down sand), but alas the gift store no longer carried wax. This made getting down the dunes a bit difficult, but the kids gave it a good college try before giving up.

Next we headed to Midland. We used to live in Midland in the early 80's, and it was fun to visit our old haunts. It was a nice community, and we had a great dinner downtown! In the morning we took the kids to a park that my parents used to take me & mel when we were little, and it was just as fun as I remembered it being. Unfortunately the park attractions are made out of metal, so you have to get there early! We let the kids burn off some energy at the park before we headed to Odessa.


In Odessa, we visited the American Airpower Heritage Museum dedicated to WWII pilots. The museum housed original plane nose art, WWII artifacts, and lots of restored planes. We spent a lot of time at this museum, and it was well worth the stop.

Next we went on to visit some rather surprising attractions in Odessa. Did you know that there is a Stone Henge replica made out of limestone in Odessa? Or how about that Odessa is home to a replica of the Globe Theater? I didn't know either!!! But it was really neat to visit these spots out in the middle of nowhere. Just goes to show that there is nothing that oil money can't buy! Well now I can check that off of my "Things to See with the Kids", and I didn't even have to take them to England!
I don't want to give all the fun things away on one post, so stay tuned for "Fun in Abilene"!

Declaration of War

As a parent, hell as humans, you get stuck in a rut & you start to think of it as status quo. You forget that you don't have to put up with certain behaviors, and you have tools that can help break bad habits. Now these tools don't always work & all kids respond to different pressures, but at least they are a place to start. I am sure all of you without children have lots of great ideas on how to discipline children, and I would love to hear those ideas...when you have kids. As for us parents, you can identify the glossed over look of a parent that is just trying to make it to bedtime without hurting a little person (and all of you non parents can shake your head & wonder how any parent could do that to their own child).
All of this to say that Ms. Lucy has some bad habits that are about to come to an end. I am pulling up my big girl pants, and girding myself for battle. For bettet or worse, I am going to win. Now I just have to convince Lucy of that!

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Creaky Knees

I come from a long line of "bad knees" people. My knee first dislocated in 7th grade. I didn't understand what had happened, so I told the teacher I had sprung my ankle. Which was a weird enough conclusion to come up with, I mean my knee cap's unusual location should have been a clue. Thankfully it popped back on it's own! From then on out I had to be extra careful of table corners, twisting too fast, and wiping out on the slope.
But the most annoying side effect of having bad knees is when they creak & pop. Now this might not seem problematic to most, but when you have spent 30 minutes or more (ethan!) getting a baby to sleep, creaky knees are killer!! Nothing like ONE knee pop to alert the child that they were dangerously close to sleep, and that their MOM, of all people, was abandoning them. Insert REALLY big sigh.
I was reminded of how annoying these knees could be as I kept trying to sneak out of Lu's room last night. With each betrayal of my knees, she popped up, and with her little hand waved me back to the place by her bed (I have of course given up sitting at this point, whats the use?) By my third escape attempt I was backing out of there as stiff legged as Frankenstein!! I had done it! A feeling of relief overcame me (the rest of the night was mine!) as I slowly released her door knob...Only to have the dog bark start barking at the invisible person at our front door. Drat! Some nights you can't win!

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Happy Birthday Jacob!!!

WE LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH! You are a GREAT Dad, and an awesome husband!! Can't believe how old we are getting, but that is better than the alternative!! Here is to making each year count! Love you my friend!

Pissed

My anger & disgust with our government is at a record high. I read an article today about a 10 year old boy who lost his Dad in the Chinook crash ( he was the pilot). It really drove home the point that average American families are working hard & making sacrifices (sometimes the ultimate sacrifice), and our elected officials (ALL of them) are too caught up in pissing contests to care about our welfare. They have lost sight of why they are there, and who they are working for. More importantly they have forgotten that even though we have two parties we expect them to compromise and do what is best for Americans & not their own party agenda. I guess it is easy to forget these things when you have enough food to eat, you get to go home to your family every night, and the American people provide you with a pretty good retirement plan.

Yum! Gelato!!!

105 deserves a frosty treat!!

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Summer Awesomeness

Thats right, eating lunch in front of the tv!!!

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ER Fun!

Lets face it, "child safe" lids on medicines are a joke. Lucy drove this point home on Monday, when I found her playing with the blue horse pills, otherwise known as my generic tylenol pm. Yeah! That phone call to poison control is always the hardest. No matter how you phrase it, you, the parent, always ends up sounding like an incompetent boob! It is a walk of shame. Nevertheless, I made the call and was told to hightail it to the ER. Long story short one chocolate milk/charcoal concoction, a 4 four respite in a nice ER room with a comfy bed, and one bloodtest later we were cleared to leave. She was fine, but I am glad that we erred on the safe side. Now all thats left is to do some serious Lucy proofing!!

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New Orleans

We spent the night in New Orleans. We grabbed a late dinner at a place called Mother's, and stuffed ourselves on po' boys, red beans & rice, and jambalaya! It was excellent! Next morning, we got out early & checked out the French Quarter. It was beautiful! It was so neat to see all the old European buildings, and I wish we had had more time to meander & explore all those little streets. Jackson Square was gorgeous, and St. Louis Cathedral was magnificent. We grabbed beignets & cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde, and it was such a fun treat!! We hopped back into the car, and drove through the Garden District before getting back onto the road. Those homes were jaw dropping. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live there!
I had never been to New Orleans before this quick stop, and I am so glad that we were able to spend a few hours checking NO out. I hope to go back, so I can really take my time!!

Battleship Memorial Park

Driving home from Florida we managed to do some sight seeing!
First stop, Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Ala. The U.S.S. Alabama is parked here, and so is the USS Drum (a submarine). We had a great time exploring all the nooks & crannies of the Alabama. Some quick facts: the USS ALABAMA measures 680 feet from stem to stern, half as long as the Empire State Building is tall. Armed with nine, 16-inch guns in three turrets and 20, 5-inch, .38-caliber guns in 10 twin mounts, her main batteries could fire shells as heavy as a small car accurately for a distance of more than 20 miles. She saw 37 months of active duty during WWII & earned 9 Battle Stars. The ship is an amazing feat of human engineering. It was sad to see it so eerily empty, and I really wished I could have been a fly on the wall & seen her in action with her sailors. Really spectacular.


They also had a variety of planes parked in a hanger. Jake was super excited that they had a Black Bird!

Summer Reading!

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