This-n-That

I was going through my photos and realized there were some cute things that I didn't blog about. So, I'm gonna! After all, this is my journal of memories!

Taylee was student of the week! One of the exciting things about being student of the week is taking home Miss A's teddy bear for one night! She made her a cute little bed next to her so she was right by her at night!

School Spirit week - Crazy hair day! I was so proud of them. They are both so shy and have never done this in the past! They LOVED it!

The love from siblings - My room has become the movie watching room for some reason. I love peeking in and seeing all the coziness!

Don't we all lose our pants when we climb up the stairs?

Everyone needs a little Uncle Kyle in their lives! There were about 7 nieces/nephews missing. Imagine if they were all involved!

Summer... are you out there?!

So there is no school today (yahoo!), my oldest is in bed with a ruptured eardrum (poor thing), and it's a little dreary outside (ok.. a lot. Ugh). I am so ready for summer, and this is why...

i can get a pedicure and actually enjoy looking at it

i can walk the kids to school

i can take walks... period!

i can leave the house faster than I can in the winter

my wood floor stays clean

my carpet stays dry

i can buy a bunch of flip flops and only spend $20

my flowers bloom (well, sometimes)

we can go boating

my laundry load seems lighter

i actually see my neighbors after the winter hibernation

slurpee pit stops (we do that in winter too)

taking the kids to the park

opening my blinds and feeling the sun

watching the kids play outside

summer clothes are much cheaper than winter clothes

i can put the winter clothes away!

i can take a vacation anywhere and be happy (which I am doing soon!)

Anyone else ready for summer?!

Just because...

I love you!

I am so proud to be your mommy...

Yikes!

Do you know what this means?!

Yep... I drove one more mile and now my car is officially considered old. Worthless. Depreciated. A money pit. I'm begging you car... PLEASE, please don't become a money pit. I don't plan on turning you in, so I don't care that you've depreciated in value. I need you. I want you!

For all of our 13 years of marriage we have always had two cars, but only one car payment. Mine. I have been naughty and always trade my cars in after every few years. I want my car paid off! I will have this car paid off! I would love to have NO car payment! Hang in there for another 100000 miles! Won't it be cool when I can blog about the 200000 mile mark! (look, I can dream... can't I?! I'm driving this sucker into the ground.)

2009 memories...

First off... Happy 2010 to you all!

I did our year end review last year in a poem... I'm not feeling that creative this morning! So here is our 2009 year in review month by month!

(picture taken 01/09)

January

Well... a typical January I'd say. Cold, cold, cold. The start of 2009. Lots of playing with Christmas toys!
February
Justin finally had his PDA closure! We were very relieved to get it done! It was a great success!
March
No more oxygen for Justin! Took a family trip to To Bakersfield CA to visit Grandma and Papa. Also went to Monterey Bay!
April
Tyler and April turned one year older!
May
Justin turned the big ONE. Summer was in full force! Took another trip to California to see Kyle after serving a 2 year mission!
June
Taylee and Brynn turned one year older! I met some blog buddies for the first time! Justin began his army crawl, and 13 years of marriage!
July
The girls finished 1st and 4th grade! Yep... you know it! Another trip to California! I met two wonderful blog buddies there too!
August
The girls started 2nd and 5th grade! Yippee for super teachers! Summer was quickly coming to an end... Justin had his follow-up cardiology appointment - all is well!
September
Brynn started pre-school! She was nervous... but she LOVES it! We went to our first BUDDY WALK! It was fabulous! Justins picture was part of a slide show in Times Square on the MTV plasma for the New York City Buddy walk!
October
The one year mark of finding out that Justin had Down syndrome. We look forward to all the years ahead of us! I hosted my first Down syndrome get together at my house and can't wait for many more of those! Of course... Halloween fun with my cuties!
November
Hmmm.... lots of food and thankfuls! April started school choir!
December
I turned one year younger, Justin finished up OT, PT, and ST with a lot of success! Christmas with family was wonderful!

All in all... 2009 was a good year! I look forward to 2010 and hope everyone finds peace and happiness in this new year!

The Joys of Christmas!

There is nothing better than Christmas time! Every year we look forward to Grandma and Papa coming for a long visit! We fit in as much fun as we can! For example...

Sugar cookie decorating with cousins and Grandma

Christmas Eve celebration with my side of the family... and that's only half of us! The rest are in other parts of the house! (it's chaotic... but fun!)

The Real meaning of Christmas...

Fixing Santa his goodies!

Slipper time from Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve. It's our tradition! (p.j.'s from grandma and papa... that's a tradition too!)

Christmas morning... finally! We had four happy kiddos!

The mess is cleaned up and the kids are sporting their new Christmas clothes! On our way to the other side of the family for more celebrations!

This was the scene at Grandma and Papa's house before the presents to the grand kids were torn open!

It was a wonderful year 2009.... On to 2010! Happy Holidays to all!

Merry Christmas!

I know with the holidays quickly approaching, I won't be on the computer as much. I didn't collect the addresses that I had hoped to so that I could send each one of you this card. To all of you out there, family and friends... I love you! I am incredibly thankful for each and every one of you! This time of year, I am eternally thankful for my Savior!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Go, go, go... stop!

Mom does a great job keeping me and Brynn busy during the day while the older girls are at school...

but when we get home... I sure keep Mom busy!

I go...

and go...

and go...

until I can't go anymore!

Holiday fun!

I'm a little behind posting this... but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

We always have a good time as a family putting up the tree and all of the decorations around the house! My girls never touched the tree when they were little... I was so worried that Justin would tear it apart the second it was up. But nope! Not interested in the least!

Now it really feels like Christmas! The girls have enjoyed watching a Christmas movie every night before bed! Fun times so far and many more ahead! Happy Holidays!

Little sucker!

Okay... this is so exciting to me! If you read my last post, you can see that J-man finally got the concept of holding his own cup and actually drinking from it! HUGE step! (which just happened Friday!) We went to Speech Therapy yesterday. She wanted to start teaching him how to drink from a straw. (among other fun things as well) She warned me that it would take time. Possibly several therapy sessions. Who knew that it would only take FOUR tries in a 5 minute period! YIPPEE for my little sucker! He really wasn't wanting a drink, but I HAD to get it on video! I am so very proud of my little man!

Best Birthday EVER!

As many of you know, I don't make a big deal out of my birthday. In fact, I usually "wish" the day away. For no good reason really, I guess I just don't like the attention. (But a HUGE thank you to all of you who wished me a Happy Birthday!) Yesterday was the best birthday ever! If you didn't read my previous post... stop NOW and read that first. As you read, we were working on the drinking motion (with toys) in therapy just two days ago. I so badly would love it if he would hold his own cup. Well, watch this!

HE DID IT!
We weren't even expecting it to happen! He grabbed his cup from the table and threw back his head! From that point, I pulled out the camera to capture the amazing moment on video!
And get this... FIREWORKS in December! We have no idea why they were going on, but it sure made me feel special on my birthday! We had a great view from our table at Cafe Rio.
Yippee for a fabulous day!

Happy Mommy!

J-man usually has 3 different therapies each week. Physical therapy, Speech therapy, and Occupational therapy. Yesterday it was time for OT. He was cranky that day, which in turn can make Mommy cranky. He has been hitting himself a lot lately because he can't express himself and most of the time we don't know what he wants. He's frustrated, so he hits. It has been hard to watch and makes me sad. I hope and pray that he can pick up on more signs and figure out that pointer finger so that we can help him. Anyway... It was one of those days. I was so close to canceling his therapy. Can I just tell you.... I am SO glad that I didn't!
The therapists are always loving up on him, which I LOVE. I warned her that he wasn't in the best of moods. Boy, she sure turned that around! He was all giggles in therapy. We have been working very hard to get him to hold and drink his own sippy cup. (We have been told he is very weak in his arms) She decided that would be our focus for the day. She put toys in a tupperware and taught him how to dump towards him and then put the tupperware on his head. (the cup to mouth motion, only more fun!) She seriously only showed him how to do it about 4 times.

Then... he dumped the toys...

and put it on his head!!!

He was getting so many "Yippee's" and "Good Job" from us. It made my day! I know we have many challenges ahead of us, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. I love my Justin!!

UDSF Christmas party!

I know what you're thinking! They look thrilled, don't they?! Actually, the picture would have been darling... but I happen to have a very outdated camera that snaps ten seconds too late! You get the idea anyway!
We spent the evening last night with a lot of cuties! It was our first time going to the Utah Down syndrome Christmas party. The kids had a fabulous time making picture magnets...

and doing the hokey pokey!

Justin was in on the fun too! He can shake it when he needs to!

There were some very talented dancers! I hope Justin can bust a move the way some of these kiddos did when he gets older! They were so fun to watch!
Justin scored a prize of his own when it was time for the Freeze dance! Luckily big sis helped him freeze when the music stopped!

It was good to see a few of my sweet friends that I've made through all of this. I'm hoping to have a get together soon so we can all hang out again!

Turkey and Football!

Thanksgiving was so fun this year! It's always great knowing that my parents will be in town and we will all be together!

The guys and kiddos had a great time playing football outside. The weather was perfect!

Of course Brynn was off in her own world. She found the only spot of snow left and made a mini snowman! Justin and I were watching the game from the sidelines!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!