Down syndrome

In order to save some green and be more green, this year I'm going to post our Christmas letter on our blog instead of sending via snail mail. This year has been a year of hardship in many ways but as always has had us pulling closer together and leaning

Last week Joe fixed the girls salmon patties and brussel sprouts for dinner.  I know! What WAS he thinking? Anyhow Emery told him, "I do NOT like Sprockle Brouts!"Just now she tried a mini cherry cheesecake and she quipped, "Emery hates it! It tastes

"Mom, I'm done. These beans taste... well, expired." And she was right. I might have to quit running up to Save A Lot. haha(note, NO that is not the said bean in the photograph, lol)

Joe treated me to a night at THE Castle for our 14th wedding anniversary! I love you honey!!! We are so very blessed!!

Marley proudly brought in a few little late tomatoes off of our plant this evening.  She confidently said, "There are a few more that are almost ready. They just need some sunshine, and a little water and they will just be terrific!". &nbsp

Today, March 21, marks the 7th anniversary of World Down Syndrome Day.   Click on the picture above to learn about this very important day, and to see some of the celebrations all over the world.   Today is a day to celebrate the stren

So with my last two posts, I entered into a sort of premonition/deja vu territory that I never felt the need to venture into.  I have waxed poetically that if I were indeed a Superhero, I would surely possess the power to make time stand still, to be

Protests my oldest daughter when she is told she has to clean her room, put dirty clothes in the hamper, take care of the clean ones...before she can have the car for the night. "Life's not fair,"  I answer back, not feeling particularly horrible for

If I could be a Superhero, I'd have a big tie-dyed cape, full of swirls of color and pattern - and I'd wear it over a bright pink leotard (hey, its a fantasy, I can imagine for a moment that a bright pink leotard on this body wouldn't send everyone scream

Yesterday, a mom in our T21 group lost her precious daughter.  Renee was 10 years old, and had Down syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis.  She was a beautiful little girl, and all of us in our "sisterhood" are reeling from the news - saddened in a deep,

My poor blog has fallen victim to evil Facebook! I so often feel like I have a post to make, and then get distracted, and don't make it. Its as if I'm overwhelmed by all the different things I want to post that I end up posting nothing!At any rate, Fall

I wish I could update with pictures but my USB cord to my camera died and I keep forgetting to get a new one when I am at the store. The kids and I spent a week in Moab Utah this summer with Dusty while he was working.. It was beautiful but OMG hot. 115

div id='video' style='width:300px'>Garth Brooks - Standing Outside The FireMusic Video Codes By Music Video Code

div id='video' style='width:300px'>Garth Brooks - Standing Outside The FireMusic Video Codes By Music Video Code

div id='video' style='width:300px'>Garth Brooks - Standing Outside The FireMusic Video Codes By Music Video Code

div id='video' style='width:300px'>Garth Brooks - Standing Outside The FireMusic Video Codes By Music Video Code

div id='video' style='width:300px'>Garth Brooks - Standing Outside The FireMusic Video Codes By Music Video Code

Walking to the fifth grade concert.

"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."Joe's class participated in mid-Michigan Special Olympics yesterday. Joe won ribbons in the long jump and the 50 meter dash. He is the kid with the blue Beatles shirt and the black cap.

Joe's teacher, Mrs. Olance, brought the class to C.H.U.M. for a riding session. Joe has been riding since he was 13 months (7 years!) and is scheduled to continue over the summer (as usual). Click here to see a slide show of Joe's class riding the hors

 Last night Steve and I took the kids to the movies.  Steve, Simon and Jude saw "Hop", and Chloe and I saw "Source Code".  Afterwards, when Steve was trying to exit the theater with Simon and Jude, he looked down and realized that Jude had

I am loving "The Kennedys" mini-series on the Reelz channel.  Greg Kinnear is great as JFK; Barry Pepper is great as RFK; Tom Wilkinson is doing a great job portraying the SOB patriarch Joseph Kennedy; Katie Holmes, well, she looks cute in those litt

On Being The Other One is the title of a book I read shortly after the twins were born. It was a collection of thoughts from a group of people who had grown up with a sibling with a disability.  Most of them were bitter about the experience. They tho

Well, I'm back.I have decided to resurrect the old blog.  Shortly after I decided to end this one, I was having withdrawal and started a new, "secret" blog at Wordpress.  I didn't stick with it.  I feel so much more tied to this one. 

I've been writing on this blog for a long time, since the boys were just babies, and now they are six.  I've spent a lot of time here.  There's been a good deal of nonsense, some purging and gut-spilling, painful retellings of the mundane detail

This year, Steve is working a 24 hour shift at the hospital on Christmas, so we celebrated a day early.  It worked out great. We told Jude and Simon and we sent Santa an email asking that he deliver their toys one night early, which he was happy to d

If you are a follower of my blog, you know that Opa builds Vincent the most amazing birthday gifts every year. For his first birthday it was this: The Viking Ship sandbox For his Second Birthday it was this: The swing set with a slide For his third birthd

Today is Vincent’s fifth birthday! As cliché as it sounds, the time really just flies by. So much has happened in the last 5 years, so many things I am very thankful to get to experience and to share with you! I am excited to see what this 6th year

The main reason we went to Sweden this time was to celebrate my Grandmother who turned 100 years old on April 27th. She is still going as strong as ever. She is amazing and very energetic. She hears pretty bad, she takes a few naps a day, but except for t

We are still enjoying Sweden and the things that involves (snow in May, lots of coffee breaks aka fika, and fresh ice-cold winds). Edgar is staying true to habit and we also paid the hospital a quick visit. The bump on the head was fine. No concussion no

Edgarsson Eds and I

We had a wonderful day today. One of the boys on Kit's soccer team invited his teammates and their families to his Nonno's farm. We all went - and had a blast...The kids were imrpessed when the first thing they saw upon arrival was this piece of play equi

Well Mothers Day is done for another year. This year Phil had a cold - he still troopered on to make buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and chicken noodle soup for dinner. I know that Mothers Day is not the most important day of the year - a load of commer

The only thing better than fish and chips by the sea was the gelato we had at the end of the day...Calamari KitSandy playSandy boatOn the FerryThings are a bit stressful at the moment - not hopelessly so but I am very disappointed in the contrast between

Years ago a common prayer used at just about every high school retreat I went on as a student was about being special. That prayer took on a whole new meaning when my daughter was born with Down Sydnrome and its meaning changes yet again now that I am doi

Then the kids had parties - three to attend in 2 days... talk about the life of Reilly!! They had a blastMy girlfriend had a bit of a royal soiree which was just lovely...

A mum posted a great bit on a DS forum about her son being 'trapped' - that is not being able to do what he wanted to with his 'typical' peers. It was lovely and it made me cry - but it is not mine to share...My reply is however all my own - here it is -

Mayson got to take part of a fun photo shoot for the HADSA Down Syndrome calendar.  It was fun watching the other little ones get their pictures taken.  We met up at Tiffanie Lloyds studio.  The atmosophere was so relaxed and fun!  Tif

We headed off to Kirkwood farms for a little preschool field trip with Maysons class.  It was a cold, windy and cloudy day but all the kids loved it.... not to mention seeing all the animals.  Oh, and the animals...  one particular one was

Today was VIP day at Mayson's preschool.  We chose Denise to come and be Mayson's VIP.  Denise is our respite worker.   But she is not just any respite worker.  She is like another grama to Mayson and the older two kids and like a

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of our little Easter egg hunt for Mayson and cousin Aida! Mayson loved picking them up and putting them in her bucket. Wow, I found and egg!!!!and another....and another one!!ooh help! I cant reach it!Aida o

My three Easter Blessings!  Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

This year I bought this easter egg dye at target.... When we opened it up it only had 3 color tablets.. thats it!!  are you kidding me????? So, we had to mix colors to get something other than blue, red and yellow.   Not to mention, our egg

Raising children is the most challenging job we are given in this life – navigating the early, sleep

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - Doctors didn’t hold out much hope for Patricia Wipple’s daughter.

Yes…. on Easter Evening this happened for the first time: at 14 months and 4 days Grady posted

There’s nothin’ wrong with lovin’ who you are she said, ‘Cause He made you p

{Without My Savior Jesus, I am Broken. Jesus saved my family a few years ago. He Saved us from ourse

Backlash continues to have an effect, as more companies pull ads from Wonkette.

A resolution calling for the establishment of a national day to recognize the parents of children with special needs is expected to be considered as early as Tuesday in the House of Representatives.If passed, the resolution would not alter any laws, but w

How much longer are we willing to see our country go down the tubes?When are we willing to dump the teachers union and hold teachers and schools accountable?When are we going to quit trying to get our self out of trouble by relying on Wall Street instead

Oh how I can hardly wait. New teacher, new class room, new experience in 4th grade. Our top heavy school corporation is now in a feud with the teachers and teachers union. So we get 32 to 33 kids in a class room this year. I new special education teac

I told Jan the other day I feel like my Grandfather of late. My grandfather was a smart man in the way's of the economy. He ran the main production area of US Steel Gary Works and could judge how things were going based on steel orders and production.I

I woke up this morning from a dream. I smelled the salt air in my dream and I knew I was on the island. My favorite place in the world. It's a place where life slows all the way down. No one is in a hurry and no one really cared how long of a wait there i

Go out there and make your own way. Don't go to work for someone else. Go start a business of anykind when you are young. Go make it happen and create your own world. Peace Dude.

I'm sad to share that Tom's dad died on Thursday. We met John over 15 years ago when Annette and Tom first started dating. He and Tom's mom Theresa have always been very welcoming and hospitable whenever we saw them. We have enjoyed many dinners over the

April 18 is a special day in our family... the day that Kurtis Thomas came into our lives to bless us all. It's hard to believe how quickly time passes and yet again, that spring day seems quite some time ago. Kurtis is growing into a wonderful young pre-

About a year ago, I posted a link to a birth story of a beautiful little girl who happened to have an extra 21st chromosome (Trisomy 21 otherwise known as Down Syndrome). Her mother wrote such a beautiful tribute about how welcoming her daughter into thei

Three years. Today marks 3 years since we've seen Annette's sweet face.Words cannot describe how much we miss her.Inspiration has left me this late in the evening and writer's block has crept in. However, this day will never be forgotten by us. The journe

Forty four years ago you were born and the world was a better place for it. We only got to enjoy forty one years but know we will celebrate again someday.I miss you, xoxo

This is the view from my front window for the last 13 days.... is there anything lovelier?We are enjoying the north, the sun, the sand, friends and family....