Grandpa's Birthday-times 2

We have celebrated 2 big birthdays in the last few weeks..... Grandpa Big Ard turned 90!!!

Grandpa and Grandma

Our fam at the festivities

Adrie

Kyra

Grandpa and our family-Grandpa has lived a fun adventurous life and it was so fun to see some of the things he has done over the years. We love him!

Crazy cousins

Bree was obsessed with the new "If you're happy and you know it" game on dad's Iphone

We also celebrated Kris's other grandpa's 89!!

Grandpa is the sweetest man and we love him so much!

Grandpa and his great grandkids!

Other Happenings

Here are some of the other things we have been up to over the last month....

KYRA

Ky and I got to attend a mother daughter sleepover activity with the activity days girls...even though Ky doesn't turn 8 until June they invited us to this one! It was SO fun! We did nails, hair, had pizza, brownies and ice cream and spent some one on one time together!

ADRIE

Adrie goes to preschool run by high school kids so they do some fun things with them. The high school kids built them these cute cars and then they got to race them through the halls of the high school...They even got

to visit grandma Linda in their cars!

Adrie Jammin to Hannah Montana!

The girls have been very entertained lately by this roll of paper/dispenser from IKEA....They have spent hours creating masterpieces to decorate their room!

They even formed a "decorating club"

BREE

Bree got to have a Royal Feast at her preschool and I was able to catch a couple pictures when I picked her up.

Her new favorite trick is turning off the lights! She has discovered how to do it and thinks it is great to turn them off...especially in the kitchen when I am fixing meals!

Bree finally got to enjoy her late birthday present...her Dora desk/chair! It is really cute and she loves it!

The girls always look forward to friday night movie and popcorn night with dad....but during busy tax season it is even more enjoyed since they don't really see him the rest of the week! He really does have some special popcorn making skills because I use all the same things he does and mine never tastes as good!

My sister and sister in law came over one day for some craft time

we whipped up some flower clips and tried some new felt flower clips!

Cupcakes

Last week the kids had a day off school so we started out the day with a trip to IKEA for $1 meatball lunch and some fun in the playland. Then the kids made cupcakes with the mini cupcake sets

they had got for Christmas!

What cute little Chefs!

The finished product!

Happy World Down Syndrome Day!

To signify  the 3 copies of the 21 chromosome....World Down Syndrome day is today 3/21.

I have really LOVED getting to know so many people in this down syndrome world through blogs and facebook! I spend way too much time laughing and crying with these other families as I follow their similar journeys! I hope that through this community we can spread awareness of down syndrome and help people understand that people with down syndrome are more alike than different! They bring happiness, joy and above all, more LOVE than you could ever imagine...a pure and unconditional love!


When I was pregnant with Bree we did not know for sure that she had DS but there was a suspicion because of some white spots on her stomach and heart at her ultra sound. After meeting with a specialist she seemed to lead us to believe that it most likely was going to turn out to be nothing...so we kind of put it behind us and moved on through the pregnancy. People often ask if I would rather have known before Bree was born that she had DS, and for me I think I did better not knowing until she was born, because when she was born, I had her to LOVE me through all the emotions. Her smile, her fingers to grasp mine, her calm personality, all of them got me through the raw emotions of what was happening. Looking at her beautiful almond shape eyes and seeing her precious smile, I KNEW everything was going to be OK!

I LOVE this quote posted on Living Life with E's from another blog "Our Unexpected Journey" a comment from one of her readers just days before her son Bennett was born in response to the "What If's" surrounding DS... and I don't think I could put into words what today is about for me any better than this...





"What if you fall madly deeply hopelessly in love with your new baby?"


"What if he is the most amazing human being you will ever know?"



"What if he makes you a better person?"


"What if he makes your other children grow to be better people than they would have been without him in their lives?"



"What if you fall in love with your husband all over again for the way he fathers Bennett?"


"These are the things that make me say 'if I knew then what I know now'. I look back on my worries while I was pregnant and wish I hadn't put so much energy into them".(Julie from "10 Squares Three Squiggles" )

On this World Down Syndrome day I am grateful that the world has come along way in how they view people with DS. I am grateful for the many opportunities that are now out there to help my sweet Bree reach her full potential and I hope there continues to be more and more. I hope that more people can accept and love others who may be different from them! 

Because what's not to LOVE about these two?!
We are excited for Bree and her new cousin Lyla to show the world what they can do!