World Down Syndrome Awareness Month–{31 for 21}

 

It’s October!  And that means it’s World Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  For the past two years, I have blogged every single day during the month of October – sometimes about Down syndrome – in an effort to increase awareness and understanding about Down syndrome.  My hope is that someone out there will read what our life is like and realize that Down syndrome is not the horrible, scary, meaningless life that so many out there seem to think it is.  On the contrary, it has been one of the greatest blessings.  Daniel has brought so much joy to our family.  He truly loves life and loves those around him.

Daniel is two years old.  He’s somewhere between walking and a dead sprint, he laughs, he does some jabbering, he tries to be like his siblings, he throws tantrums…oh, and he gets into an awful lot of mischief.  Tonight he decided to celebrate the beginning of Down Syndrome Awareness Month by pulling a quart of buttermilk off the counter.

 

As soon as I got the mess mostly cleaned up – and believe me, that was one heck of a mess to clean up - he nearly did it again with another quart of buttermilk.  (I’m not smart enough to learn the first time around.)  And 30 seconds later, I barely thwarted his attempt at pulling a dozen eggs onto the floor.  All this was after a full day of keeping him from throwing everything away, keeping him out of the toilet, and attempting to get him to stay on the sidewalk for our walk.

I never knew I’d be so happy to be a part of all the mischief!

End of Summer Projects

Lots of little projects and tasks seem to have completely swallowed up the month of August, making us super ready to have the school year start and bring some “normalcy” back to life.

Swimming lessons: check.

 

Replacing the beloved Grand Cherokee that was totaled in a rear-ending as Jared came home from work: check.  We got a Dodge Ram to take its place.  It’s a big beast, but it’s nice to have a truck.

 

Disposing of a dead swallow on the front porch: check.  After seeing a flock of the crazy birds chasing each other around the pillars on our front porch, I’m pretty sure I know how the poor thing met its fate. 

 

Outfits for the triplets that were born to Jared’s sister and her husband: check.

 

Packing and sending Josh off on his first campout: check.  He loved it but came home with “at least 20 blisters.”  And it rained.  And they only had a tiny fire.  But it was still good.

 

An outfit for the baby born to my brother and his wife: check.

 

Getting everyone back to school: check.

Finding the schedule we lost somewhere during summer break: IN PROCESS!!!

First Day of School, Part 2

Caleb’s first day of KINDERGARTEN (!!) was awesome!  He loved it and was so excited to go back for more.  I hope he keeps his enthusiasm as the year drags on and the homework starts to stack up!  The busy-ness of school has managed to slow him down a tiny bit.  Thank goodness he wants to be a doctor, though, so someday he can take care of his own injuries!!

 

Daniel’s first day of school should happen by the end of the year.  Stay tuned!

First Day of School, part 1

Thursday was the dreaded/blessed first day of school for the first three of our five kiddos.  They were all pretty nervous Wednesday night!!  Thank goodness for Father’s Blessings to calm the nerves and make everything OK!

Emily survived her first day of 8th grade at a much larger school than what she’s been used to.  No one pushed her in her locker, she found all her classes, and she made it home on the bus!

 

Josh also made it through his first day, and even said, “It was AWESOME!!”  I think it’s safe to say he likes school!  He also escaped locker imprisonment, 8 teachers, and riding the bus!

 

Rachel practically RAN the entire way to first grade!  She loved having three recesses on the big playground, but she wasn’t a huge fan of school lunch.  “It was disgusting!”  She walked into her classroom a little timidly and came out as excited as can be and with a huge smile on her face.

 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this episode, featuring Caleb’s first day of Kindergarten!

Back to School

I have been seeing lots of Back to School pins on Pinterest lately.  I have been wanting to do a fun Back to School dinner for our family, so I was appreciating many of the pins I saw.  As I started looking for ideas, I found what I was (unknowingly) looking for.

Jared and I decided that we needed a family motto for the coming year.  So we had a fun family dinner…

 

…complete with lunch tray plates, Capri Suns and a few fun school things!

 

I used our family motto as part of the centerpiece on the table, and the kids really had no clue!  They were too involved in the excitement of something completely different.

 

We talked about our family motto at home evening, specifically about having courage to do what is right.  It was truly enlightening to hear their thoughts about courage and strength.  We watched a movie clip about Capt. Moroni.  He was so courageous, and obviously God was with him because of his righteousness.

I also made some keychains for each of them that have charms to remind them of courage.  There is an arrow, which represents Capt. Moroni, as well as staying on the straight and narrow.  A lion represents Daniel in the lions’ den, who was a man of great courage.  There is also a storybook charm, representing a fictional character who had great strength and courage.  (None of this was my original idea.  I copied from a blog I found, and I’m so glad I found it.)  The kids loved the keychains, and I hope they look at them every day and remember what we’re striving for this year.

Tomorrow is the big day for all the kids except Caleb, who has to wait a week to start, and Daniel.  It’s such a big year for everyone and I’m terribly anxious for them all.  I’m sure I’ll find myself reciting our motto all school year!!

Daniel’s Busy Day

Little Mister has turned into quite the busy boy.  We have definitely hit the 2-year-old phase: he’s into everything and let’s us know when he’s not happy!

Yesterday was the most mischief this kid has been into.  Ever.

It started when some children – who shall remain nameless – left a jar of jam on the kitchen table.  Seeing as how Daniel is an expert climber, it was a given that this would happen…

 

Apricot jam – less than 24 hours old – all over the place!

He found the spoon that was left behind and gave it a shot, but the paw in the jar seemed to work the best.

Mmmm…licking every last bit….

 

I’m not sure if he’s blaming Dad, or if he’s wishing Dad would rescue him…

 

Pretty hard to get upset when this is the mug smiling back at me!

 

After documenting the mischief, I put him in the tub and cleaned him up.  No joke, it was less than 20 minutes later when he pulled the cutting board, KNIFE (!!), and loaf of bread onto the kitchen floor, bonking himself on the head in the process.  He helped himself to fistfuls of my homemade bread before I could get to him.  Thankfully there were no injuries from the knife.

The rest of the day was filled with minor mischief.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Until it was time to start Family Home Evening.  One of our children – who shall remain nameless – left the cabinet lock off and he found the container of grease I use for frying.  I’m not sure if he ate any of it, but he sure had fun splashing and pouring it!  The kitchen rug, that is less than 2 months old, was completely saturated!  As sad as it is, I don’t think we’ll be able to salvage it.

Daniel, Daniel, Daniel.  I shouldn’t be amazed at what you’re capable of, but really, I am!!  You’re giving Caleb a run for his money.  We really don’t need 2 tornadoes crashing around this house.  (But, between you and me…way to go, little man!!)

Josh had a Birthday!

Oh my!  Josh is 11 years old now!  Look out world, ‘cause here he comes.

And this just happens to be the greatest miracle ever…

 

A SMILE!!  An authentic, natural, honest-to-goodness smile!

This is the kind of smile we normally get from this kid…

 

…and even those are rare.  Usually it’s just a look of sheer torture and misery.

I guess all it took was turning 11.  Such a magical age!

Poor Josh had to deal with a mostly regular day, complete with visiting teachers and hour-long phone calls dealing with medical issues.  He even had to go to swimming lessons (which I think he loved, but would never dare admit).  He did get his requested meals of blueberry muffins for breakfast and hamburgers and fries for dinner.  And don’t forget the apple pie for dessert.  He is definitely his father’s son!!

Here are 11 fun things about Josh:

1. He wants to be an engineer.
2. He says he’s going to go to MIT (we’re taking donations…)
3. He LOVES school.
4. He was one of only 6 fifth-graders in his school to receive the Hope of America award.
5. He loves to play baseball and basketball.
6. He loves geography.
7. He has only had one broken bone – his wrist, which happened at school just a couple weeks before Daniel was born.
8. When he was about 2 years old, he pulled a huge Costco-sized can of shortening onto his big toe.  His nail was purple for a very long time.  He cried a little and then was fine.
9. He has always had an amazing memory.
10. He recently earned his Webelos and Arrow of Light awards.
11. He is an awesome, funny, smart, and amazing kid, and we love him tons!

The End is Near

Yes, that’s right.  The end IS near.  Our summer break is almost complete.  Only 22 days until the alarms start ringing again.  Twenty-two days until the homework starts to pile up.  Three short weeks to soak in the last bits of less-structured freedom. 

Our summer has been full.  Baseball, softball and T-ball completely took over the month of June and spilled into July.  We’ve had trips to the splash pad, the Planetarium, and the Fun Park.  We enjoyed two family reunions.  We’ve spent time at several parks and played baseball at the school.  We’ve repaired and attempted repair on several bikes.  We’ve had recovery from surgery and a sprained ankle.  We watched fireworks and a Christmas tree burning. Still to come are swimming lessons, perhaps a trip to the zoo, hopefully another trip to the Planetarium, and some time at the pool.  We’ve been well “summered”.

(That’s the remnants of one of those giant marshmallows all over Daniel’s face.)

 

But I’m still not sure how I feel about our upcoming return to scheduled life.

Emily will start a new year at a new school.

Josh will also start a new year at a new school.

Rachel will start at new year at her same school, but she’ll be going all day.

And Caleb will start his “official” school career as a Kindergartener.

Help?  Someone??

I’m practicing my deep breathing in the hopes of getting through the next 9 months.  Nine long months of homework, fieldtrips, coordinating schedules, making lunches, searching for lost library books, and last-minute scurrying for shoes, gloves, coats and backpacks.

Nine months of structured chaos.

Bring it on.

(Just a fun tidbit in parting.  We went shoe shopping yesterday.  [Yes, I took 5 children to the shoe store.  Bonus points for me, right??!]  I’ve come to the conclusion that our life savings is going to be spent on the feeding and maintenance of one growing, nearly-11-year-old boy.  Josh now wears a size 8.5 shoes.  That’s men’s shoes.  On my 10-year-old kid.  What????  We’re now taking bets on how tall he’ll end up.)

Softball

Emily completed her third year of slow-pitch softball this week.  She has loved playing and learning new skills.  She was one of only 3 people on her team that had played before!

Meet the Sapphires!

 

Emily played catcher quite frequently her first two seasons.  Catcher is a position she hasn’t really enjoyed, mostly because of her glasses.  Too hard to get that mask on and off!  I can’t say as I blame her, though.  I hated playing catcher when I played softball too (but I think it was more because I was terrified of getting clobbered by a bat).  This year she got to play every position except catcher and pitcher.

The season was a short one – only 6 games.  And she missed two of those while at Girls’ Camp.  She got some great hits in the games she played, though,

 

I know she wishes the season was a little longer.  We had lots of fun watching and seeing the improvement she has made as a player.

Splash Pad Fun

We hit the splash pad one morning last week before it got too hot.  It was already 90 degrees when we got there just after 11 a.m.!!!  Just so you know, I think splash pads are the greatest summer-time invention.  Ever.  It’s like swimming, but I don’t have to swim, nor do I have to worry about someone drowning.  Perfect water fun!

My camera happened to be in the ‘Burb, so I got a few shots.

 

 

Monkey boy in all his glory.

 

Daniel is NOT a fan of the water.  But if I cheered and laughed when he got upset about getting wet, his crying turned to laughter and he headed back for more.

 

 

Crazy boys!

 

The Boss Man.