walk for wishes ...

this is Coco, an amazing little girl who battled and BEAT cancer!!!

she was able to be the recipient of a very special wish and now she wants to give back!!!

we're in, are you??? 

ZoeyGrace has joined Coco's Crew for a Twilight Walk for Wishes in Sacramento

and we are thrilled to be a part of this!  if you can't join us in person, please consider donating ...

we have set a goal of $100 - can you help us reach that?  

visit this page to donate:

Zoey Grace's donation page!

here's some information from the page:

Join me as in support Make-A-Wish Northeastern California and Northern Nevada as we "Walk for Wishes"! What a better way to spend a Saturday evening than to walk with friends, family and co-workers to benefit some very courageous children in our community.

This event benefits the local chapter of Make-A-Wish to help grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions in the 37 counties the Foundation serves. Your participation will bring Hope, Strength and Joy to children enduring the burdens that a life-threatening medical condition brings.

A wish brings joy, laughter and a reason to keep fighting a very grown up battle.

happy Memorial Day ...

today we reflect on the many men and women who have given everything for our right to freedom.

thank you.

we are so blessed to have the freedoms we do.

proud to be an American!

shining her light ...

 friday afternoon made me smile.

well, it wasn't friday afternoon that made me smile ... it was Zoey on friday afternoon.

I promised (over on instagram) to share the whole story, so here it is ...

Zoey had an appointment friday afternoon to have an ultrasound of a bump on her back.

no real biggie, she seems to have a lot of appointments for one thing or another,

and we're in an appointment heavy "season" right now!

so we got there quite early and had time to just sit and wait ...

but, that's not really Zoey's style - unless I bring the stroller along, which I didn't

because I'm trying to work on her independence from the stroller.

anyways (this might get really long) ...

she had her Anna doll and was pretty content to play with that and dance around with her 

doll and "lie down" (as she says) on a bench that she insisted was a bed.

there was a young woman there who seemed quite entertained by Zoey's playing and

dancing and I thought that was pretty sweet!

after a while, a mom with two little girls came in.

Zoey was in the middle of the waiting room just spinning around with Anna ...

it was clear right away that this mom was probably having a rough day.

these two little girls were just sort of standing there,

and that's when it happened ...

Zoey reached out and took  the little girl's hand.

she then put Anna's (the doll) hand into the little girls hand and formed a circle with

the three of them: Zoey, the doll, and the little girl.

round and round they went, "dancing" with Anna ... it was so sweet.

soon the other little girl joined in.

as the mom sat down, she looked at me across the room and smiled.

I mean, a whole hearted smile.

my heart skipped a beat.

my little girl was shining her light and bringing smiles to the faces of adults

who a few minutes before looked annoyed, upset, and just plain bored!

this playing went on for a good fifteen minutes,

until the lady was called back and the little girls left.

it was precious, watching my sweet Zoey interact with these two little girls ...

it was surprising and funny, watching my fiesty daughter be quite bossy - and even more surprising

to watch the little girls just follow her lead and do everything she said!  haha!!!
before it was our turn to go back, the young woman said to me "she just made my day" -
finding Zoey quite adorable!!
we had our appointment and Zoey did great!

we ended up leaving at the same time as the mom & girls - and all the little girls

were saying goodbye to each other.

and that was it.

but that wasn't it.

you see, I've been having some inner struggles lately.

I've been feeling down because I don't understand why my daughter can't 

be accepted the way I feel she should be.  

I feel frustrated reading about how other children with down syndrome

are in "gen ed" classrooms and have "full inclusion" ...

but the district we're in wants to put Zoey off in a "special day class" where she'll

spend nearly all of her time only with other children who have "special needs".

why?

why don't they see what I see?

my daughter ...

knows shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, heart, oval, star, diamond, octagon ...

knows colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, gray, black, brown, white, silver, gold ...

knows her name: she can recognize it, she can tell you how to spell it, and she can write it ...

she can also identify a few other random letters and numbers ...

her speech has improved leaps & bounds over the past year ...

she has made amazing progress with potty training ...

she has made progress with several gross motor skills ...

she has made progress with several fine motor skills ...

she loves to draw and color ...

she loves to learn and seems to pick up on things quickly ...

she loves to play with other children ...

I know she's not where a "typical" five year old going into kindergarten would be ...

but that leaves me questioning - does that mean those other children are?

is she behind, even within the realm of her "special needs"?

the past two weeks have kinda blown me away.

I mentioned in my previous post that some of our favorite instagram-ers (that's a word, I say so)
live right here in our area - and, yes, for whatever reason that is awesome to me!!

I went and saw "Where Hope Grows" and was amongst a room of mamas and families

that all love someone with down syndrome - that was amazing!

and afterward I got to finally meet some of these ladies I have only known online ...

and after chatting with the lady that introduced me to this group,

combined with reading I've done and observations I've made,
and then this day and what I witnessed - which truly touched my heart as a mama ...

I've come to the conclusion that no, Zoey is not any sort of exception.

our kids are no different than other kids.

they're each going along at their own pace.

they're each finding their wings ...

they ALL deserve to fly.

they were ALL meant to fly. 

  

there's a lot of changes occurring at our house in the upcoming months ...

one of those being that Zoey will be coming home for kindergarten next year!

I pray that I can give her everything that she needs.

I pray God gives me the strength and wisdom to seek out what is

best for her education and to do everything I possibly can to help her on that path!

I pray wisdom for the people at the charter school we go through

and that they also will provide everything they should for Zoey's education and needs!

I pray that God will provide us with friends to spend some time with!

(my best friend is about to move and so are our neighbors - leaving my boys without any close friends)

I pray that my children attending public school will be safe and will learn and thrive! 

I pray.

I pray that the limits that some people put on children like Zoey will one day vanish.

I pray that she will be accepted, just as she is.

I pray that everyone will see her and those like her for the amazing people they are!

I pray that.

and I thank God, every day, for blessing us with Zoey Grace!!!

 

chromosomally enhanced ...

do we have to talk about how I've totally failed this blog?  about how I keep promising it -and my kids reading this in the future- that I'll get back to it?  about how it really is our family "scrapbook" and I'm gonna have all these years of photos and stories missing?  about how instagram has taken over, and the find of chatbooks did not help the blog's case?  no?  oh good!!!

let's talk about Zoey Grace then, shall we?

the IG world started opening up for me about two months ago!  I realized that shops (for me, this means kids clothing & accessories) have IG pages to promote all their adorable stuff, I realized that there are shops out there that design absolutely amazing stuff for kids rocking their extra 21st chromosome, I realized I need a second income because I love buying all that cute stuff for Zoey Grace!  ha!  

anyways, here she is in one of our most favorite shirts!  it's from Littlest Warrior Apparel and we love it!!!

ya know what else I have been finding on IG?  this year has opened my eyes wider than ever to  the growing population of kids and adults with down syndrome on IG!!!  I have been amazed to find  out that I have been following some people that live right here in our area - that really blew my mind!  I also have found that many, many of the folks I follow on IG who have littles blessed with that extra chromosome have adopted those precious blessings - I love that!!! so here's to all the rockin kids, the rockin parents, and IG ... I mean the blog, haha! o

it's New Year's Eve ...

well here it is, 2014 is (literally) nearly over! 

the year is nearly over and yet I still have quite a few photos that haven't made it

onto the blog yet ... oh well, I don't think 46 posts (that's for the whole year, I might add that

in 2011 I had 317 posts, that year was my all time high as far as this blog goes)

merits me having a book printed this year ... so if I could schedule in time for me to blog

and manage to catch up in 2015 - I'd still have all my 2014 photos within one book!!!

what a year it has been.

another year of saying "see ya later" to my hubby ...

the past few months have been spent as temporary single mother status!

never easy, but having him away has given me the opportunity

to try to achieve some things that seem more a challenge when he's home.

(for example, the house is quite torn apart currently - as I go through boxes, bags, baskets, etc. in another attempt to get this place all organized ... my theory is the same as always, if everything had a place it wouldn't be such a disaster all the time ... we'll see how true that ends up being ... if, that is, I actually do make it through this slow process to the side of actual organization!  I've managed to that only once before in my married life - and that was three kids and far less stuff ago!  we shall see!)

it's also given me time.

time that I need to spend in prayer.

time that I need to study the word of God.

time to spend with my children.

time to learn more about myself.

I have this goal to really give a lot of effort toward working on, what I like to address as,

character issues.  whether within myself or within my children - there are

absolute things that I am trying to eliminate (ie: name calling, fighting, angry outbursts, etc.).

so far I don't feel I've made much head way ...

BUT

I believe the Lord can change me, first and foremost ...

and in turn, my hope is that I will be a positive role model for the children

and they will also incur some positive changes in behavior.

I know I can't do it. 

I also know that God can!!!

I believe.

I have faith.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also have this goal to get all of this years "good camera" pics up on this darn blog!

whether that means there is little to no editing or not, I am getting 

more and more determined to get back to blogging!

so, shall we begin -and end- with Christmas morning?

here it is ...

 this was Christmas Eve ... I love a good "Santa's been here" pic!!

 this year "I" decided to really scale back ...

I did the "three gifts" idea: a want, a need, and something to read!

in addition to that, each child got a "Santa" gift

(which actually I ended up just putting a $30 limit on Santa - this worked well so that

I could give Zoey the "big" gift for her and also the boys their "big" joint gift ...

 but it all still added up to right at $30 per child!)

in addition to those four gifts, I assigned each child a sibling to buy for ...

this way instead of a bunch of dollar store junk (which is how you have to do it when you

have four kids all buying for each other) each child got another nice gift!

it also was meant to help foster some attention and care for siblings who tend to squawk!

so, right there each child got five nice gifts - or more if it was a multiple

piece/item type of gift!

bring in the grandparents, aunt, uncle, & cousins - and my kids were beyond spoiled!!!

 opening her Santa gift!

 despite the face, he was quite excited about his Minecraft tee shirt!

 so many presents!!!

 he loves Christmas morning!!

 we forgot about the stockings, usually it's tradition to open those first!

so we did them sort of in the middle, but toward the end of the gift opening!

(notice in the background I have mugs out, ready for hot cocoa - and I had cinnamon rolls

in the oven ... after all the unwrapping and fun they were excited for a fun breakfast!)

 Zoey, trying out her tricycle from Nana!

we are going to really be working on learning to pedal!!

 can you believe it?

I didn't take 1.1 million pics of Christmas morning!

it was a little hectic, I'll be honest, with daddy on skype - I had to prop

up my phone when the battery got real low and I had to plug it in!

at one point I was holding my phone, trying to video tape, and trying to take photos!!!

I really just wanted to enjoy it.

to watch my children's faces light up with each gift ...

to see their surprise and delight ...

to look at their newest priced possession ...

so that's what I tried to do!

Happy New Year!

2015 holds much for us, I am sure of it!!!

Christmas littles ...

be still my heart (I know, I say that a lot - I can't think of a better way to describe

the feeling I get when viewing certain photographs of my sweet little ones) look at these two!

I wanted to title this post "Christmas babies" ... but given that the "baby"

is nearly five, I decided to go ahead and give them my second favorite title of "littles"!

did I mention Zoey Grace is nearly five?

did I mention how crazy that is?

did I mention that I miss having a baby?

sigh.

anyway, I caught a couple photos of these little ones of mine before church tonight ...

looking all cute and fancy (pretty nice dress Zoey has there, huh - $4.50 at Once Upon A Child)!!

and this one, this photo, when I saw it - awwwwwwww ...

the sweetness of little sister adoringly smiling at big brother, it is just too much!!!

and big brother, looking even more like his daddy now that he has

a big boy hair cut (we went and got that fixed this week at the barber shop, fyi) with

that grin - he is definitely daddy's little clone!!!

 haha!  

can't really tell Zoey to say "cheese" ...

or we get all sorts of variation of faces such as this!

and look at that impish grin on the boy - my my!

*after I typed that, I decided I really should look up the exact definition of impish

before posting: 

impish

adjective

inclined to do slightly naughty things for fun; mischievous.

 

yep, that about covers that sweet, baby faced, boy!!!

 

 

 

 

everyone with me now, awwwwwwwwwww!!!

 

 and because it's still sooo stinkin adorable, we'll revisit this one with a different photo effect!!

we are trying to make the most of these days ...

ok, I am trying to make the most of these days!

it's Christmas break now!

time to clean house and enjoy each others company, I say!

Merry Christmas season to all!!!

transformations ...

so last week, I took my shaggy haired boys in for haircuts!!!

I have a real love/hate relationships with hair cuts ...

I love how refreshing it is to see my beautiful sons' faces and eyes!

but I sort of end up missing their shaggy locks, too!

here's Jericho - before:

and Jericho - after:

I really like how it looks when it's styled, when it's just washed and dries-

and he doesn't want to stop long enough for me to style it - it's just ok!

what a smile, what a boy!!!

and here's Liam - before:

and Liam - after:

what a silly face - that boy is just like his daddy!!!

so, yes, I finally did it - finally had the courage to get him an actually "short"

haircut!  I thought it looked adorable all slicked to the side ...

however, the lady cut it so that it HAS to be like that - or it's all long

on one side and short on the other ... hmmm!

so I'm gonna have to have that all fixed!

he is perfectly happy with it, I'm sad a little bit about it - 

but I think only because daddy didn't like it,

so now I feel bad!

oh well, can't put it back now ... and he is nearly 7, after all ...

he needs to look like a little boy!!!

(but I do miss that long hair, it's always been his look, so 

I totally understand what daddy is saying)

he's so funny!!!

in other news, I think I finally finished up the Christmas shopping!

(aside from "teacher" gifts, it's weird that there's still so many -

even though I'm homeschooling two kids - but they have their enrichment

classes teachers and their ES, so that's five right there!  then Zoey

has her lead teacher and "helper" and speech therapist,

as well as two bus drivers!  I'm not even doing anything for

Annicka's teachers and I still have 10 "teacher" gifts - lol)

I'm not gonna lie - the last two days were a bit stressful with all my looking

online and figuring out just what to get!  it's super fun that the kids'

grandparents and aunt and uncle send me money to do some shopping ...

but they didn't have hardly anything on their wish lists,

so I had to really get creative in deciding on gifts!

in the end, though, I stuck to my plan and did the "three gifts" 

from us (mom & dad): a want, a need, and something to read!

then a "Santa" gift!

 (which was set by a per child budget - so for the boys it's an individual gift as well as a shared gift) 

and a sibling gift 

(this year I assigned each child a sibling to buy for, so everyone still has cool stuff and not just dollar store junk)

then all sorts of goodies from Grandma, Nana & Grandaddy, Auntie Layla,

Uncle Kris, and cousins Dominic, Katie, and Willow!

I may have decided to pull way back this year,

 but they are certainly still plenty spoiled by family!!!  :)

so, that's the update for us ...

I hope & pray everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season ...

making lots of memories and spending time with loved ones!!