Making a List, Checking it Twice

We’ve been making lots of lists lately…mostly mental.  It has been one crazy holiday season so far!!  It really doesn’t feel much like Christmas, as we don’t have a tree up, or a single decoration for that matter.  We’ve only had a couple of parties.  And we’ve been working like mad on our new house.  You know that song, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”…well, that just doesn’t apply to us this year!

I started – and almost finished – our Christmas shopping on Friday.  Honestly, I was surprised how un-crazy it was.  Until 5 p.m., that is.  I was able to get most everything, and we’ll make a few stops tomorrow to hopefully wrap it all up.

We’re going to set up a Christmas tree tomorrow.  Check that: the KIDS will be setting up the tree at our new house while Jared and I get the last few things done before the inspector drops by for the second time.  THIS TIME better be good enough for that dang occupancy permit!  We’re hoping to be able to do our annual drive to look at Christmas lights – with a stop for treats - in the evening.  Maybe we can redeem this Christmas yet!

As crazy as things have been this year because of our house, it has been kind of nice to be able to put some things on the back burner.  I have to say, in all honesty, it was such a relief to not have to think of something to get for the neighbors!!  Sorry friends and neighbors!  We love you all, and we’ll get you next year.  Promise!

And thankfully – knocking on wood and wondering if maybe I shouldn’t be saying this – we’ve been healthy, aside from feeling like worn out 80-year-olds from all the physically demanding work on our house and ridiculous hours we’ve been keeping.  So so so thankful for that!!

This is looking like a pretty exciting week for us.  Wish us luck!

Building a House: Busy Little Mice

We’ve been busy…super busy!  We’ve spent the past 10 days (maybe more?) painting.  And boy is there a lot to paint!  The basement is waiting for a second coat, the main level is about 50% primed, and the bonus room hasn’t even been touched.  We’re hoping to get the rest of the priming and the ceiling paint finished today.  Then the walls tomorrow.  And I’m guessing we’re going to have to run to the paint store for more paint before it’s all said and done.  I can’t wait until this part of the process is done!

The outside of the house is all complete and we’re pretty happy with how it looks!

And now for a question of utmost importance:  If this was YOUR house, what color would you paint the front door?  (I’m at a loss!)  Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Happy Thanksgiving

I am so thankful for so many things, and I am very glad to have a day to reflect and remember those things.

Things such as:

• The world’s greatest husband
• Five amazing children
• A roof over my head (sort of two roofs, actually)
• Plenty of food to eat,
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ
• Freedom
• Extended family and ancestors who have helped make me who I am (or who have at least tried desperately to make me into something!)
• A mostly healthy body that lets me do pretty much anything I care to do
• A vehicle that lets me make trip after trip to schools every day (plus all those other important places like the grocery store, the bank, and the home improvement stores!)

And today, on this beautiful Thanksgiving morning, I am so very thankful that I don’t have to life a paint brush, use a paint sprayer, or even look at a bucket of paint!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Better Late Than Never

Since Daniel only kept his R2D2 hat on for 3.27 seconds on Halloween, I wasn’t able to grab a picture.  So, camera in hand, I stuck the hat on him first thing the next morning.  It worked…and I even caught a smile from him!

Cutest kid ever!

Happy Halloween

 

The Mime…

 

The Ghost… (note for future years: the traditional sheet over the head with circles cut out for eyes does NOT work!)

 

Captain America (made mostly out of Duct tape!)

 

The Grim Reaper

 

Watching the crazies super-excited kids at the trunk-or-treat.

 

I made this hat for Daniel.  He wore it for a total of about 3 minutes.  Next year!!

 

This one is totally descriptive of our evening.  Caleb couldn’t hold still, Rachel had wardrobe malfunctions the whole night, Josh was the one who was too cool for everyone else, and Emily just wanted candy.  LOL!!

Hope you all had a great Halloween.  I, for one, am glad it’s over.  Bring on Thanksgiving!

Building a House: Headaches

This week has been one gigantic headache, all because of the people who are in charge of doing the insulation.

Yesterday, the 18-year-old kid driving the big insulation truck backed right into our brand new mailbox.  I was dumbfounded.  He had two guys with him, and neither of them stuck around to watch his blind spots.  The truck lifted the corner of the mailbox – including the cement pad – six inches off the ground.  It bounced right back into place and looks fine, but it broke completely off the rebar, so it’s going to have to be redone.  The kid got out of the truck and gave me a sheepish, “Sorry.”  I’d say I was pretty generous with my, “Thanks, but sorry isn’t gonna cut it!!”  We are sooooo not happy.

This all occurred around 11:30 a.m. – when they got there to get started.  11:30??  Are you kidding me?  The day’s half gone!  When I went back around 3:00, they were gone already.  Had been for an hour!  We got a whopping 2 hours of work out of them, and they didn’t even get a complete wall done.  I told Jared to fire them, and he was ready to.  But he got an assurance from the salesman that they would be there bright and early in the morning to get the job done.

Guess what?  They didn’t even show up today!  And the job was supposed to be done today because the drywall is scheduled for tomorrow.  I am so far past unimpressed – I don’t even have words for it!!

They’re still on the job, only because we’re between a rock and a hard place.  I suspect the screaming will be heard ‘round the world if anything goes wrong tomorrow.

21 Tidbits About Daniel

1. He is 18 months old.

2. His favorite food is anything that anyone else is eating, especially treats.

3. His most-used word is MORE.

4. His favorite activities are reading books, getting into drawers and boxes, and putting things in his mouth.

5. His favorite toy is his FisherPrice music-maker thingy that has a mirror.

6. He hates water on his head, face and near his ears.

7. He loves Nutella.

8. He is a champion sleeper.

9. He loves music.

10. His newest (spoken) word is TOUCH.

11. He cries every time I walk out of his sight.

12. He smacks his lips and tongue when he eats.

13. His newest sign is CRACKER.

14. He has reflux, and his medicine is working wonderfully (well, it was until today).

15. He is super flirty.

16. He always pulls off his right shoe when he is wearing his black dress shoes.

17. He likes to tease.

18. He has a fake laugh that makes everyone else break into hysterics.

19. He crawls about as fast as a spider, and cruises around furniture almost as fast.

20. He weighs 21 pounds, 10 ounces.

21. He has us all wrapped around his pinky finger – in a major way!

Never a Dull Moment

Last night I spent an hour in the E.R. with Caleb.  Yeah, of course it was Caleb.  That just kind of goes without saying.

He found a box cutter between the couch cushions.  No, I don’t want to discuss what it was doing there or how it got there.  But he found it!  And managed to put a nice slice in his index finger.  Nice enough that it was bleeding pretty bad and definitely more than just a superficial cut.

So we went to the E.R.  Amazingly enough, we were in and out in around 70 minutes.  We decided against glue because he would probably pick at it.  Didn’t want to do stitches because of the trauma.  So steri-strips it was.  So far they’ve stayed on and he only forgot to keep it out of the water a few times today.  Not too shabby.

I’m just hoping he’s got it all out of his system now, and next year will be nice and quiet.

And then I woke up!

12 Years Old!

Oh my gosh!  I cannot believe I have a 12-year-old.  Every time my kids have a birthday, I wonder where the time went.  But sheesh, this one has blown me away!  I really don’t know where the last 12 years went!

But enough about me.  Emily is the one we’re here to talk about!  Look at this little cutie as a 1-year-old!

Emily has always been full of spunk.  I think it’s the red hair!  From the day she was born, she wanted to do things her way.  She ate when SHE was ready, and no amount of wiggling, tickling or wet rags to the feet would get her to eat any sooner.

She has always been a curious and creative person.  She blesses us with stories, pictures and even musical creations often.  She loves to figure things out, and she often sees things differently than the rest of us.

She is an amazing friend.  She has the ability to be friendly and kind to everyone.  She is thoughtful and sweet.  She has a real desire to do what is right.  She is so incredibly smart.  She is funny and silly and so innocent still (thankfully).

She is an amazing violinist, pianist, and singer.  Watch for her in the future – she’s going to do some amazing things for sure!

We love you so very much Miss Emily!  You are a wonderful blessing to our family and we are so glad to have you.  We are excited to see what the coming year brings to you.

Budding Photographer

Jared handed Caleb the camera at the Pinewood Derby this week.  He had a great time snapping shots, and it kept him busy and out of trouble for a good chunk of time. 

I couldn’t resist getting a picture of this:

Cute cute boys.  Maybe some day Caleb can take over the role of family photographer!

Building a House: Another Step Complete

The bricklayers wrapped up their work yesterday, and I am so pleased with how it all turned out! 

Look at that arch!

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical about the arch.  This was Jared’s idea, and I had a really hard time visualizing the finished project.  I am sure glad he has more vision than me!

Here is one of the pillars on the back patio.  (Great picture, eh?!?)

And this part is well on its way to being my favorite: the fireplace!

We’re going to have a lovely mantel around the brick, that will hopefully look something like this (but stained wood that matches our cabinets rather than the painted wood):

And now, a look at the entire front, with all the brick in place.

I *think* the electrical work is all done.  The insulation has started today, and will be in progress for a few days.  The sheetrock has been ordered, and that will start as soon as the insulation is in.  And now we wait.  Some more.

A Derby and a Concert

Tonight was one of those double scheduled nights.  Pinewood Derby for Josh and orchestra concert for Emily.  We decided to divide and conquer.  Jared took Caleb and Josh to the derby and I took Rachel, Daniel and Emily to the concert.  But since Emily’s concert didn’t start until 45 minutes after the derby, we dropped her off and planned to leave the derby in enough time to see her part of the concert.

Josh’s derby car was one of those last-minute “holy cow, it’s in two days?!?!” creations.  He and Jared got it all done, and it looked pretty slick.

His car toasted the first two competitors and couldn’t quite pull it out against the next two.  He had a lot of fun, though, AND he earned the “Most Aerodynamic” award!

(Somewhere along the line, this kid decided that smiling is about the most toxic thing he could possibly do.  I think he really is worried it will kill him!)

As soon as they presented him with his award, I grabbed my cargo (Rachel and Daniel) and ran over to Emily’s concert.  I was surprised that her group was already playing.  In fact, we had missed the first number completely!  Sniffle, sniffle.  I felt bad, but at least we got to hear three out of the four songs.

(I think she was looking around, wondering where in the world we were.)

She got her violin put away so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to get a picture of her with it.  But here she is with her cute smile and beautiful curls.

It was a fun, crazy night.  So enjoyable to see them in their element and doing well in what they do!

Winter? Already?

We woke up to this today.

That’s 5+ inches of heavy, wet, slushy snow.  I nearly cried.

The kids (with the exception of Josh) were overjoyed.  Can you tell?

Congratulations are in Order

Jared passed the beastly 5-hour test for the Certified Valuation Analyst class he took in San Diego!  I’m so proud of him!  (And he’s going to be really embarrassed that I posted this, but it needs to be told.)  He even took one part of the test without being able to really study for it.  He found out that his flight was cancelled and they assigned him to a flight that was supposed to leave during the last hour of his test!  So the class people let him take part of the test early.  He came home seriously wondering if he had passed.

And of course he did!!

And now he has to pound out the worst part of the test: a big, complicated case study, which is due in 6 weeks.

Keeping our fingers crossed…

21 Things About Our Family – 2012 Edition

I did this last year for 31-for-21, but I wanted to do it again.  Hopefully there won’t be too many repeats!

1. We are more than 3 months into the process of building our new home.  (It feels like it’s been 3 years!)

2. We have lived in this valley for 126 months of the 158 months we’ve been a family.

3. We like to make and eat homemade whole wheat bread.

4. We all got flu shots together at parent teacher conferences this year.  We went to dinner as a bribe reward when we were done.

5. Most of us like to sit down and play Legos together.

6. We are all musical.  Emily sings and plays the piano, guitar, ukulele and violin.  Josh can play the piano, guitar and a little bit of ukulele.  Rachel can play a bit of piano and loves to sing.  Caleb sings and can recite lyrics to a whole slew of songs.  I play the piano.  Jared plays the guitar.  And Daniel rocks to the beat and adds a “la la la” every once in a while!

7. No one has stayed overnight in a hospital this year!  (Knocking on wood…)

8. We have not had any pets this year.

9. We have killed more flies in the past six weeks than in the previous 673 weeks.

10. We eat dinner together (all 7 of us around the table) most nights.  Even much of the time during tax season.

11. We attend church together every week.  On rare occasions (like when there is a meteor shower or something), one or more children fall asleep and the parents actually get to pay attention!

12. Our girls are pretty much clones of each other, and our boys are clones of each other.  We have quite the mold.

13. We would like to go to Disneyland…some day.

14. Once we move to our new house, we will have moved seven times and lived in eight different houses/apartments.

15. Most of the music we listen to is Oldies.

16. We love to make homemade french fries (and fry sauce too, of course).

17. We like to take a drive to look at Christmas lights in December.

18. We love homemade donuts, but only make them every couple of years.

19. We like to get Slurpees after we clean up at our construction site.  We fill up the frequent slurper’s card pretty quick!

20. We have not yet camped overnight since Daniel came along.  Hopefully next year.

21. We are so thankful to know that we can be a family forever!

Building a House: Still Here

Quickie post tonight.  Jared has been at the house all. day. long.  What has he been doing, you ask?  Running CAT-5 (phone lines/ethernet) and Co-ax (TV/Cable) lines.  I helped him pull a few wires, and let me tell you, it was FUN!!  I hope you can sense my sarcasm.  No really, it was fun to help a little and know that I contributed – if only in the most tiny way – to the house that I’m going to live in for the rest of my life.  And we’re getting there.  Very S.L.O.W.L.Y.  But even building a house can’t take forever.  Can it?

A couple of pictures for your enjoyment.  The brick is *almost* done.  I think one more day of work will probably be all they need.

One of the last things will be to put an arch between those two pillars on the front porch.

I have no doubt it’ll look waaaay better than my drawing!  And look, 3 out of the 5 kids are in those two pictures!

The garage doors went in today!!  Sorry – no pictures of that yet.  The electrical part is taking longer than anticipated.  We were hoping it would be done today.  Perhaps by Wednesday.  After that, things are gonna fly.  Supposedly it will take a couple of days to insulate, a week (maybe two?) for sheetrocking, and then we’re going to have ourselves a painting party!  Woohoo!!  Now we’re getting to the fun part!

And I’m trying to not get my hopes up that things are really going to happen as quickly as that.

Pumpkin Walk

I felt brave ambitious and took the kids to the pumpkin walk this morning.  We had a good time walking around looking at the fun creations, and I even ran into my old boss.  The best part was the character cut-outs though.

Probably our favorite display.  The kids love Nacho LIbre.

This one was fun too.  It’s that little dude from Madagascar.  “I like to move it, move it!”

Rachel and Caleb loved Minnie and Mickey.

Super Mario Bros. was a big hit too.

Character cut-outs

Daniel was less than excited.

“Ah man, someone get me outta here!”

The only picture of Josh that I could get, and I only got it because he didn’t see me with the camera.

Invented Spelling

Rachel is our 5-year-old kindergartener.  She is one smart cookie!  She knows all her letters, the sounds they make, and can even read many words.  I love this explosion of knowledge in kids.  It is so much fun to see them learning such big-kid skills.

Rachel is at the invented spelling stage right now.  She knows how to sound out words, and knows which letters make those sounds.  Because of all the weird spelling rules in English, some of her spelling is pretty creative.

This is an assignment she just finished for school.  They’re supposed to draw a picture of something that starts with a certain letter, label it, and then color.  The top left picture is PI (pie), then PIN.  The next row is POPCORN (she asked me how to spell that one), then PETSU (pizza).  The next row is PUNCEN (pumpkin) and PECL (pickle).  The bottom row is PANS (pants) and PANDU (panda).

Actually, I think most of her spelling makes more sense than much of the English language!

18 Months Old

This little man is 18 months old today!

Little MIster is up to all sorts of good stuff.  He is logging lots of cruising miles to ready himself for walking.  He loves being up – except when we try to get him to stand by himself.  He knows exactly what we’re doing and sits himself down with a “thud” and a refusal to stand after that.  Smart kid!  He gets into every drawer, every cupboard, every box, and yes, even every toilet.  We’re getting better about keeping doors closed these days.  He does a 4-point crawl almost exclusively now.  He loves to climb on everything he can get onto.  Which is usually totes and boxes.  If there is one by the couch, he can use it to climb onto the couch.  He can climb an entire flight of stairs and knows to turn around to go down them the right way.  (At least he could in our house with stairs.  Hopefully he won’t lose that skill while we’re in our rental that has no stairs.)

His communication skills are improving, slowly but surely.  He now signs MORE, ALL DONE and FISH, and he says “muh” for more (and when he wants to eat or drink, or do something new) and says “woo woo” for dog!!  It is so much fun to hear him using his voice.  He enjoys screaming – for fun and when he gets mad.  He waves hi/bye like a pro, and blows kisses to everyone.  He even makes the Indian noise.  You know, when you clap your hand over your mouth and then pull it off, all while you’re making a noise, and it makes you sound like an Indian headed into battle.  THAT noise!  He also makes a clicking noise with his tongue and can do pretty good fish lips (or maybe it’s puckering up for a kiss).

 

He LOVES books.  He brings book after book to us, saying “muh, muh, muh” as he does.  He loves to point at pictures (and even words) and makes noises with his tongue like he is reading.  Sort of a “sluh, sluh, sluh” sound.  That is a sound he only does for books.

He loves to eat and rarely refuses any food.  He has a hard time knowing when to stop, so we usually just have to stop feeding him.  Otherwise, he spends the next couple of hours spitting up (and grossing out the other kids).  He can drink from a standard sippy cup, a sippy cup with a straw, and from a regular cup if we are controlling it for him.

He is Mr. Social, once he warms up to the situation he’s in.  He spends a good chunk of Sacrament Meeting waving and smiling at whoever is sitting behind us.  OK, he’s flirting, plain and simple!  He does the same thing to people wherever we go.  He seems to be a people-magnet, drawing complete strangers to us when we’re in public.

I’ll post his height and weight stats when we get them at his appointment next week. 

Winner Winner!!

Tonight we went to the fundraising dinner for the Young Women in the Ward we just moved from.  It was a chili cook-off, and I brought a pot of chili to contribute.  I really didn’t care to be in the competition.  I just wanted to support the girls and their leaders.  I was asked what my chili was called, and my response was, “Uh…???  Chili?”  They wouldn’t accept that so I just threw out “Rip Snortin’ Good Chili.” 

Turns out my chili won the “People’s Choice” award!  And they gave me a great cookbook as a prize.

I think I had a lot of fans, mostly in the 12-to-17-year-old female category.  Such sweet girls.  So hard to say good-bye.

Hopes and Dreams

What do I want for Daniel more than anything?  People who genuinely love and value him.  People who will see his strengths and encourage him.  People who will include him.  I hope there will be many people in Daniel’s life as exceptional as the coach in this story.

Teen with Down syndrome finally laces up cleats on Senior Night
October 15, 2012

DEXTER, Mich. — For the first time in his life Thursday night, Greg Zenas laced up his cleats and ran onto a soccer field.

Zenas, who has been the team manager for the Dexter High School Deadnaughts for six years, has Down syndrome, and his team's coach said he has been scheming for the past couple of years to get Zenas on the field during the school's senior night this year.

"We told him that he had to wear the uniform to be part of the senior introductions before the game," Scott Forrester told Michigan Live. "When the ten minute warm-up time started, I called him over and handed him his turf shoes and shin guards, then told him that he was going to start the game with the other seniors. He looked puzzled for a few seconds, then a smile grew larger and larger on his face."

Zenas, wearing No. 17, played about half the game and had a few touches, according to AnnArbor.com.

The team was ahead early in the game and tried to set up Zenas for a score, but could not do so, the website reported. Regardless, Zenas was all smiles.

"He feels like he's one of them," his mom, Julie Zenas, said "He has for the last six years, but I think it's the sense of accomplishment, of being out there."

Zenas' parents said the hero of the night was Forrester, who made Zenas a student manager of the team when he was in seventh grade. Forrester was happy to be able to give Zenas the memory of a lifetime.

"I was asked if I would miss Greg after the season is done, and I replied, 'No, I plan on him getting a job in the area and continuing as my manager. If not, yes, I will miss him,'" Forrester told the Patch Network.

(Story courtesy of KSL)

No Words

I really don’t have much to say tonight.  (GASP!!) 

I have been thinking a lot lately about a family who lost their little girl after her body rejected her donor heart.  You can read their story here.  My heart aches for them.  Sometimes I wonder why we got so lucky that Daniel had such a “simple” heart defect, and why we were so lucky to have him make it through surgery with barely a hiccup.  I am so very grateful that we have been on the receiving end of so many blessings with him.  He has been so healthy, even when his heart wasn’t working properly.  He is growing and thriving and blessing our lives every day.  I get to wake up to his smile every morning.  And my heart is broken for this mom who has lost that blessing. I hope I can always remember and cherish the miracles we’ve been given in Daniel and each of our children.

She Has Her Mother’s Eyes

Jared is always teasing me about the way my eyes look in most pictures.  And he has good reason to tease.

After Caleb was born.  In my defense, I was under the influence of some pretty strong meds!

Unfortunately for me, this is just one of many pictures that look pretty much the same.  What is with my eyes?!?!

Miss Rachel seems to have been on the receiving end of the gene that carries this phenomenon.

Showing off her missing tooth a couple of months ago.  See the resemblance?!?

 

Poor girl.  She has her mother’s eyes.

Holding Daniel for the First Time

During my pregnancy with Daniel – after finding out about Down syndrome – I was pretty apprehensive about almost everything.  One of the things that was right up there on the top of my list was holding him for the first time.  I desperately wanted to hold him and get the pregnancy over with.  But I was worried that his birth would be a completely different experience from my other kids’ births.  I worried that I wouldn’t enjoy his birth – that Down syndrome would overshadow everything.  I worried about how I would feel the first time I saw him and the first time I held him.  I am ashamed to even admit to what I felt (especially now that I’m on this side of things), but I know what I was feeling was a normal part of processing everything that comes with an outcome different that what you were expecting.

Daniel’s birth was a different experience from my other kids’ births, but in a wonderfully positive and peaceful way.  I felt such a strong feeling of love and protection for him.  I was almost surprised at the depth and strength of the emotions I felt.  I was in “mama bear” mode without even being provoked.  There was never a moment of sadness, except for when he was away from me while they checked his heart.  I felt like I was coming apart at the seams when I had to let him out of my sight.  I could not put him down.  I couldn’t bear to.  He was such a beautiful, perfect, captivating little soul, and with his first breath I was completely hooked.

I am so thankful for the way things played out throughout my pregnancy.  Finding out about Down syndrome – without really finding out – at my 20-week ultrasound was, in retrospect, the most wonderful tender mercy my Heavenly Father could have given me.  I had time to get my ducks in a row and work out my emotions without having a diagnosis.  I got to come to terms with everything on my time.  And by the time Daniel arrived, I had no regrets.  I surely couldn’t have orchestrated anything as wonderful as that.

Building a House: Progress is Exciting!

The bricks are going up at a good pace.  Finally SOMETHING isn’t taking much longer than we anticipated!  Seeing how it looks gets me more and more excited to be done with this whole process!

This picture was at the end of the day yesterday.  They are waiting for the angle irons to come before they put the brick above the windows.  Today they are working on the side wall (the left end of this picture) of the garage.  I like the look of the brick more every time I see it!

Take not of the front door as well.  I was surprised to see it (and the sliding door in the back) when we drove to school before 9 a.m.

The bricklayers have brought their dogs with them every day they’ve been here.  Which means Caleb begs me to go to the house pretty much all day long.  Today the main dude in charge told me that Caleb needs a dog.  Yeah, that’s JUST what I want!  Come to think of it, maybe he’s sick of the dog and was trying to pawn it off.  Daniel loves the dogs as well.  In fact, their presence (and need to sniff his feet) has coaxed a “woof woof” out of his lips!  First word, maybe?!?

I apologize for the abundance of house posts.  When we eat, sleep, and breathe house stuff, that’s pretty much all I have to post about.  Unless you want to read about the normal (aka: mundane) stuff like dentist appointments and parent-teacher conferences and what’s for dinner.  I’ll spare you…for now, anyway.

Peek-a-Boo

Daniel’s version of peek-a-boo: covering his ears with his hands.

And peeking over the arm of the couch.

Can you see the giant smile on his face?

Building a House: Bricks

The bricklayers got to work today.  I have been so excited to see this day come!  The pallets of bricks have been sitting in the backyard for months and we have been anxious to see what they’re really going to look like.

Here is a shot of the progress from today:

Not too shabby for a single day of work.  You can hardly see the mortar right now because it is pretty dark when it is wet.  As it dries, and then they “wash” it, it will lighten up considerably.  I’m told it will be a bit lighter than the color of the cement.

If you have never watched someone laying brick before, I would highly recommend it.  It is like watching an artist paint a masterpiece.  I was totally fascinated watching them put the mortar on with their trowels in just the right place.  I can only imagine what a slop job it would look like if I tried my hand at it!

Other progress: the electrical work is well under way, but will likely take longer than we anticipated.  Some of the exterior doors (from the garage into the house) were installed today.  I think the plumbing is done for now.  The cabinets are decided (and I can’t wait to see them finished), and we’re pretty close to having flooring decided as well.  Whew!!  There is a lot going on right now!

If only I could wave my magic wand and have it all finished!

10,000 Hits

I can’t believe it!  Our little ol’ blog has surpassed 10,000 hits!

Here is the most popular post (and one of my all-time favorites): One Year Later

I’m pretty sure you’re not here for my writing.  And I’m betting you’re not here because the story of our lives is so completely fascinating.  Though, I think some of our days could be the basis for a reality show!

I’m guessing most of you are here because of him:

Which is fine by me!  These {almost} 18 months with Daniel have been the most amazing and enjoyable of my life.  He has brought something new to my heart.  More peace, more love, more joy.  His presence in our family has brought a sense of calm.  He has helped us to slow down, live in the moment and celebrate the little things in life.  He is a ray of sunshine in my soul!

I hope our little blog has been an inspiration to someone out there.  That maybe one person has come away with a greater appreciation for people with Down syndrome, or any disability.

Thanks for coming along on this journey with us!

Mr. Mouth(y)

If there is something within reach of Daniel, there is only one place it will go: right into his mouth.

Puzzle pieces.

Cell phones.

And, of course, fingers.  ‘Cause he’s working on 4 teeth.

Not to mention toys, paper, DEAD SPIDERS (!), food, garbage, pens, and even my clothing.