Pumpkin Patch Parade

Yes ~ you are viewing the extent of our "pumpkin carving" this year! Meet our new friends Miss Kitty, Puppy Dawg, and Little Bear. In years past, we have always managed to find time to do some carving but this Halloween has found us with less time than ever and I'm not entirely sure why. So I found these cute pumpkin faces at Walmart last night and thought the kids would enjoy trying this for a change. It was definately less messy! It also gave Emma & Abbie a chance to show us what they could do with a hammer (the pieces were too hard for them to stick in the pumpkin by themselves) and I'm happy to say they did fairly well with no injuries to report! :o)
We are joining in a Pumpkin Patch Parade over at four green & speckled frogs. To see more great pictures in the parade or to get in on the fun yourself, click here. Show us what your pumpkins look like! Trick or Treat ~ hope everyone gets lots and lots of candy!

And the winner is....

The votes are in, the poll is closed. And the winner of name Joey costume is... A Lizard! Lizard won the contest with 56% of the votes, creaming dinosaur who only got 25%. Third was alligator with 12% followed by crocodile which got a tiny 6% of the votes. Thank you to all who participated! Now we will know how to answer people when we are out trick or treating Friday. We can say with confidence ~ Joey is a lizard! Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! Happy Haunting!

Special Exposure Wednesday...Halloween past

Since Halloween is coming up Friday, I decided to share a picture from Halloween last year. Yes, that is me in my old reliable orange Halloween sweatshirt. I am holding Joey who was Elmo but at the time of the picture refused to keep his Elmo head on. Tommie was some type of rapper/cool dude, Emma was a cow, and Abbie was a ladybug. Oh ~ and we can't forget our friend, Brandon the Big Cow. I had fun finding this picture to post ~ I had forgotten what everyone was dressed as last year. Are you sharing past Halloween memories this week?

To join in the fun of Special Exposure/Wordless Wednesday or to view the great pictures of other participants, click here and here.

Two cheerleaders and a lizard ~ I think!

If you are visiting us today, you are in for a treat! We are showing a sneak peek of the little one's Halloween costumes. On Saturday, our town had downtown trick or treat day so Shawn and I took the kids to that. The weather was gorgeous and they got a lot of great candy! The girls are cheerleaders, and I believe Joey is some type of lizard. I got his cute suit at a garage sale in the spring and at first I thought it was a dinosaur. Then an alligator. Then a crocodile. And now a lizard. So if you are reading this post, please leave a comment or cast your vote on the sidebar and let us know what you think Joey is in his costume. The most popular answer wins, and that's what he will be on Friday for Halloween. I look forward to hearing what you think! Thanks for helping us out!

Trick or Treat! Wanna buy a Christmas Wreath?

Thank you for stopping by today! As you can see, we are all ready for Halloween around here! It's been a hectic week as usual from us finally succumbing to the pressure of getting text messaging for the cell phones to a rescheduled freshman football game to me wearing my windbreaker pullover thingy backwards the other day when I picked up the little ones from school. Oh yea, that was a real hoot. It has been raining and cold here all week so on Wednesday when I went to pick up Joey and Emma from school I threw on a black jacket type thing that goes over my head. I get to the school and get out of the van to wait by the door for the kids like all the other parents do. As I'm walking towards the group of 10 or so parents, I went to put my hands in the pockets of my jacket. So I'm walking, getting closer to the group, still searching for my pockets that should be in the front of my jacket and not feeling them. I look down, and I am confused for a moment because the front of the jacket does not look like the front of the jacket should look. Then I realize that hey ~ I have my jacket on backwards! By this time I am standing by the parents and a few of them are looking at me kind of strangely. So I decide to make the best of it and say "Yeah, I know ~ I just realized I put my jacket on backwards!" This brings a few chuckles from the crowd and one of the moms, bless her heart, comes to stand by me with her umbrella and says "Don't worry ~ it happens to the best of us!" I smile and say thanks. There is no way I'm taking the jacket off now to turn it around because it is freezing and raining and I figured they already saw me this way so what the heck. They all know whose mom I am anyway and I don't think Joey and Emma were too embarrased by the spectacle I made of myself. Here is my reinactment:
How the jacket should be worn:

How I wore it:

As you can see, there is a different look to each side. Now if this had happened when I was picking the older ones up from school or wherever, it would have been an entirely different story. Either they would have rolled their eyes and shook their heads at me or completely walked by and pretended not to know me.
All in all, we had a pretty good week. For those of you who missed my post on Tuesday, Joey appeared on the front page of our local paper this week as part of a story about The Littlest Heroes Project. It was awesome! To read this post and check out the online version of the story, click here. John was to have his last Freshman football game in Hastings on Tuesday, but it was postponed until Thursday because of the weather. We won 14-6. Yeah! And yes, we did get text messaging for all the cell phones. The boys really wanted it so we finally gave in. The problem is I'm starting to like it too! It really is kind of fun although I am still getting used to it. The girls are angels as usual (yea - right!!) and Joey has had a good week too. Yesterday at therapy he came really, really close to standing by himself without holding onto or leaning on anything. Yeah Joey!! Way to go! He is getting closer and closer to walking on his own every day. No hurry though ~ one thing Joey has taught us is patience. Tomorrow there is downtown trick or treating that we will go to. This is when the kids dress up in their costumes and go to the businesses downtown and get candy. It will be fun ~ now if I could only convince my husband of this. Oh yeah ~ we also have to sell $600 worth of Christmas wreaths by Friday for Tommie's club baseball team. How's this sound ~ "Trick or Treat! Wanna buy a Christmas Wreath?" I'll have the little ones practice.

Special Exposure/Wordless Wednesday

I had to share this picture of Joey and his new friend Charli. The looks they have on their faces are like "Okay, what is going on here?" Joey and Charli were featured on the front page of our local paper yesterday in an article done about the Littlest Heroes Project they are involved in. If you are interested in reading this story, click here. Happy WW!

To join in the fun of Special Exposure Wednesday or to view other participants, click here.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!!

In September, Joey got the honor of participating in a wonderful organization called the Littlest Heroes Project. I did a post about it on September 22. If you would like to read this post or see Joey on their website and find out more about the Littlest Heroes Project, click here. Last week the photographer, Angie Feehan of New World Designs here in Columbus, got our local paper to do a story about her contributions to the project. Currently, she has done only two projects but hopes to reach more families so they can share their stories about their children struggling with a physical or mental disability or illness. A little girl named Charli, who battled a rare form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma, and Joey are the two little hero stories Angie has worked on. Last Friday evening, we all met with a reporter from our local newspaper for interviews and pictures. It went really well and gave Joey and Charli a chance to meet for the first time. So today, I had to let everyone know that the story of Joey, Charli, Angie and how they all came to know each other is featured on the front page of the Columbus Telegram. I am so excited! This is a great opportunity for Angie to let people know about the Littlest Heroes Project, for Charli's family to help raise awareness about childhood cancer, and for us to be able to spread awareness about Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. Everybody wins! To read this fantastic story and see the photographs
click here. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to Angie Feehan and The Littlest Heroes Project for enabling us to share Joey's story and raise awareness about CdLS. We also want to thank Brenda, Charli's mom, for suggesting us to this awesome program. Enjoy the story!

Tagged ~ 7 fun facts about me

I have been tagged by Lori over at Myah's Page to play this fun meme. The challenge is to list 7 fun facts about myself in an effort for all of us to get to know each other a little better. Here are my 7 fun facts:

1. I took piano lessons for 8 years when I was a kid. I started when I was 6 years
old. I played for the swing choir when I was in jr. high and high school. I still like to play, although I haven't had the time the last few years so I'm probably getting a little rusty.
2. I played the drums in my jr. high and high school band. Yes ~ I really played the drums! :o)
3. I love to dip plain Ruffles potato chips in macaroni and cheese and eat it.
4. My favorite color is orange.
5. I have 2 nieces and 3 nephews ~ all ages 2 and under. :o)
6. I am addicted to ranch flavored sunflower seeds.
7. I really hate to do laundry. The dirty pile is always 10 times bigger than the clean pile. I don't mind putting a load in the washer, but detest taking it out of the dryer, folding it and putting it away. This may explain why my kitchen table is covered with clean clothes waiting to be folded. I also hate unloading the dishwasher but don't mind loading it. Maybe I should get evaluated by Dr. Phil. ;o]


Hope you enjoyed these 7 fun facts about me. Now I tag Brenda, Cris, Delanie, Trisha, Natalie, Rhonda and Justine. Have fun ladies!

CdLS Sunday Blog Challenge ~ What's on my Ipod?

This is our CdLS Sunday Blog Challenge. This is just for fun and it's an easy one!
Here we go:

If you are an iTunes fan, you are probably familiar with their "Celebrity Play Lists" where celebrities tell us what is on their iPods.

Since we are all "celebrities" here on this list, this week's blog challenge is to blog about what is on YOUR playlist. To keep things simple, just list your top 10 favorite songs or most played songs at this moment in time that are on you iPod/mp3 player/cd player. You can just list them, or you can also elaborate on what appeals to you about that particular song.

Extra credit--music seems to be something most of our kids with CdLS enjoy. What songs, artists or kinds of music does your child with CdLS enjoy most? What role does music play in his or her life?

Well, unfortunately, I don't have my own Mp3 player and can't ever find the time to listen to the music I like. The older boys have these Zune contraptions and are constantly downloading music or "cranking tunes" whenever we go somewhere on the road. I do love music and wanted to share some of my favorites for this challenge. First off, I was a teenager in the good old 80's, so of course, anything from the
80's rocks. Heart, Poison, Def Leopard, Bon Jovi, Journey, Night Ranger, REO, etc. ~ anything by these artists is totally on my list. My husband is fully aware that when Jon Bon Jovi finally comes calling for me, I won't let the door hit me in the behind on my way out. In the early 90's, I liked country music and we actually had a lot of country played at our wedding dance. I still like country now, but I will usually choose something that is from my time if I have the choice. I love the flashback to the 80's radio shows and usually have the radio tuned to a station that plays my "oldies but goodies" which is one or two stations around these parts. I can tolerate music from the 90's (which is also old stuff now too!) and some of the music the boys listen to I can also handle. I do not like anything that pertains to rap music ~ I will stick with my 80's hair bands, thank you very much. :o) I will also admit that I am an American Idol fan ~ thank goodness for DVR! Shawn & I try not to miss and episode when it's on. I do like Cris Daughtry and David Cook ~ I like their style of music. As for my top 10 playlist ~ hmmmm...let's see....#1 ~ #10 80's rules!! Do they still have that show on VH1 ~ I love the 80's where they tell different things about each year? I loved that show! Okay, okay, enough about me...

As for Joey, music is a huge part of his life. He absolutely loves it. Whether it's listening to some on his CD player or playing with one of his keyboards or musical toys, there is usually something around here with some type of tune going. Right now he has got some demo playing on one of his pianos. I was so excited ~ yesterday I got 2 children's Cd's at a garage sale for a quarter and they actually work! He has a small CD player in his room that we play for him at night when he goes to bed. He has 2 or 3 small keyboards that he loves ~ he is either playing a tune of his own or has the built in songs going. When he is playing these, he is usually on his stomach on the floor and will move his body back and forth, swinging his legs ~ I know this is his dancing. It is very cute! :o) He mostly listens to kids songs ~ these seem to be his favorite vs. anything that's country, rock, pop, etc. He has a little radio type toy that plays different tunes and when he brings it to me, we sit, he pushes the buttons, and I make up some silly words to go with the music. This is also one of his favorite activities ~ he doesn't mind that I am no Celine Dion or Whitney Houston. One of his therapists told me a while ago that she could pretty much get him to do anything if she sang "The Ants Go Marching" and that he would also march along to the tune. And for some reason, this song is by far his favorite ~ I'm not sure why. If he is agitated or fussy, or tired of riding in the car, we will sing The Ants Go Marching and he will be fine. Go figure. To see the lyrics to The Ants Go Marching or hear the tune, click here. Have a great week!

Thank you, Frog's Mom!

Walk with the Riedmiller Family has received an award from Frog's Mom over at 4 green & speckled frogs. Thank you so much! It is such a nice surprise and a huge honor to be given this award. Please take a moment to visit their blog as they share their story about their journey with autism. While you are there, check out The Many Adventures of Flat Stanley and Flat Silvia and follow them as they visit different homes across the country and share their stories.
Here is our Award Proximidade!



All I need to do is leave the following message on my post when I pass the award on to my chosen eight blogger buddies.

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

Here are my eight chosen recipients:
1. Misty @ A day in My Life
2. Heidi @ God's Grace in Practice
3. Joel & Maureen @ Journey of Hope
4. Sandi @ Life with Jessica
5. Rhonda @ Me & The Boys
6. Lori @ Myah's Page
7. Christy @ Our Adventures with Baylee
8. Justine @ Justine's Froggy Bloggy
Congratulations to my blogger friends! When you get a chance, check out their blogs and you will find unique and heartwarming stories, informative posts, funny antecdotes ~ just a little bit of everything! Have fun exploring!

Special Exposure/Wordless Wednesday

Getting some Big Brother Time...

Even in our busy household, we try to find time each day for reading books, doing puzzles, coloring and drawing. Last night, the "volunteer" for reading was big brother John. The kids thoroughly enjoy it when their big brothers participate in these activities with them. Mom and Dad take a backseat for awhile ~ until we spoil the fun by saying it's time to get ready for bed!

Abbie, Joey and Emma enjoying a story from John

Team CdLS exceeds goal

The 2008 Chicago marathon is over, and I am happy to report that all the members of team CdLS finished the race and exceeded their goal of raising $70,000. The official total is not in yet, but hopes are it will be closer to $80,000. A big thank you from our family goes out to all the participants ~ we appreciate all of your hard work! Beth Smisloff, whose son Will, age 17, has CdLS, was one of the participants. To read her marathon recap, click here. What these people have done is tremendous. Without the CdLS Foundation and all it does for our family and countless others, I don't know where we would be. The money that has been raised can help further the efforts of the foundation to reach out and help all families affected by Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. Great job every one ~ and thank you so much!

Memory Loss Meme

I have been tagged by Misty at A Day in My Life for this fun meme.
Here's what you have to do. You need to open your sixth photo folder, and open the sixth photo, and you need to post it. And you need to hope that you remember what it is!!!!


I do remember this photo! It is Emma when she was not quite 1 year old and my sister and I had been shopping at a Sam's Club in Grand Island, a town about an hour's drive west of Columbus. I thought she was so cute, just kicked back in the shopping cart relaxing without a care in the world so I snapped this picture. Oh my, why do my children have to grow up so fast? Thank you Misty for this great trip down memory lane!

Now, I get to tag 6 people for this fun meme and they are:
Lori
Justine
Natalie
Delanie
Sandi
Christy
Have fun ladies! I hope your memory serves its purpose! Thanks for playing!

Team CdLS

On Sunday, October 12, Team CdLS will be running the 26.2 mile Chicago marathon to benefit children and families affected by Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. Each one of these runners has a special reason as to why they have decided to dedicate themselves to running this marathon. To meet these exceptional people and read their unique stories, click here. They have hopes of raising $70,000 this year to go towards helping families with children diagnosed with CdLS. The CdLS Foundation is the sole organization in the country dedicated to serving families whose children have CdLS, a little known genetic disorder causing a range of physical, medical and developmental problems. An estimated 20,000 men, women and children have CdLS but remain without diagnosis or the services that the CdLS Foundation provides free of charge. Please consider donating to this very worthy cause by
clicking here. You will not only benefit Joey, but also Mason, Ben, Hope, Little Boy Blue, Jessica, Baylee, Gianna, Sean, David, Jayden, Maddy, Gracie, Bianca, Ella Grace and countless other children and families affected by Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. The CdLS Foundation and Team CdLS let us know that we are not alone in our daily struggles ~ that someone cares. So on Sunday, October 12, please keep these runners, their families, our family and all the other CdLS families in your thoughts and prayers. To the marathon runners ~ thank you. Bless you for fighting for our children.

Special Exposure/Wordless Wednesday

I am at a loss for new pictures this week since I just posted pictures from our trip to the zoo yesterday. So I decided to share a shot of Joey when he was almost 2 years old. He was feeling very silly that day ( and many days since then!) and we managed to capture one of his precious smiles. Happy WW!

Our trip to the zoo...

A stop at the gas station before we left Columbus: $65.00


Admission to the Henry Doorly Zoo: $40.25


5 small ice cream cones at the zoo: $13.75

The amount spent on other various food items, train ride and souvenirs: I plead the fifth on the grounds that my husband may find out :o)


The memories I made with my children: Priceless!


Yes, though many of you may find it hard to believe, I did survive taking all 5 kids to the zoo on Saturday. And I'm sure you'll be happy to know the children survived too. All in all, the day went great and I don't have any really terrible horror stories to tell like I thought maybe I would. I suppose I can't leave out the little tidbit that for a brief moment John and I thought we lost Emma. Just when I was about to get hysterical, we found her with Tommie just a few feet away from us. We spent about 6 hours at the zoo and we all had a great time. John and Tommie got camera happy as you can see from the slide show, Joey loved the aquarium, Emma loved the "big kitties" as did Abbie because she likes everything Emma likes. We all got a hoot from the monkeys ~ they are so funny. And I liked spending time with the kids so we all turned out winners. I wonder what our next adventure will be? Enjoy the slide show!

P.S. If you are wondering if Shawn fulfilled his housecleaning duties, I am happy to report that yes he did. The house looked great when we got home ~ and all his hard work lasted about 5 minutes after the crew descended on it. Oh well ~ thanks anyway honey!

CdLS Sunday Blog Challenge

Here is the subject of our CdLS Blog Challenge for today:

"After having a child with special needs, sometimes those we thought we could
always rely on for support are no longer there for us...but sometimes support
comes from the most unexpected places. Tell us about support, help, or an act
of kindness you have received from an unexpected source."

I think when you have a child with special needs, it's not only Mom, Dad, brothers & sisters that have to make major adjustments, it is also Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, neighbors, co-workers, and friends ~ it affects everyone that is somehow related to you or involved in your life. Some people handle it better than other people ~ some people know just what to say, or what to do ~ and other people are unsure of themselves and feel uncomfortable and are not sure what they should do. I like to let these people know that they are not alone. In the beginning, when we first found out that Joey had CdLS, I was unsure of myself, uncomfortable and not clear on what I should say or do. Since then, I've tried to learn all I can about CdLS. The more open and honest I am about Joey's condition, the more comfortable people feel. I can say that I don't feel we have lost any support from any loved ones or friends since Joey was born. If anything, having Joey has brought
more love, kindness and emotional support to our lives than I ever could have imagined. I cannot fathom a life without any of the people we now know because of Joey. Our lives definately took a turn in a different direction than we anticipated the day Joey was born ~ but is was a good turn, the right turn ~ to have our lives be what they are today. I believe Joey learns a lot from his two older brothers and two younger sisters ~ and that it is this way for a reason. I believe God chose all of us for Joey and for that I will be eternally grateful. So although we are heading in a different direction and there are many twists and turns in the new path we now must follow, we are able to manuever these obstacles due to the love, support and kindness of all the other people in our lives. Thank you.

"The wolf will live with the lamb,
The leopard will lie down with the goat,
The calf and the lion and the yearling together;
And a little child will lead them."
Isaiah 11:6

Friday's Fencepost ~ with instructions :o)

I am really messing things up today ~ I just can't seem to figure out how to get things where I want them to be. So the instructions are to read the post below the video first, and then you can watch the video if you so desire. Thanks for hanging in there with me ~ if you refer to my post from Wednesday again, I guess I am sharing another idiotic moment with you.

It's Friday Fencepost Time!

It's Friday, it's Friday!
My second favorite day of the week!
It's Friday, it's Friday!
My second favorite day of the week!
Saturday's the first!
Monday's the worst!
It's Friday, it's Friday!
My second favorite day of the week!

For those of you that are wondering, no I have not jumped off the deep end. This is a little song I made up and used to sing to the older boys when they were younger. On Fridays, I would get them up for school by doing a little dance and singing our song (yes ~ I said doing a little dance!). Now at ages 12 and 15, they kind of just roll their eyes when I do it for them, but they still give me a little smile so that makes it all worth it. Good thing Joey, Emma, and Abbie are still young and appreciate my great talent ~ it won't go to waste yet!

For this week's fencepost, I have decided to share a video of Joey at speech therapy doing some work with PECS. PECS stands for Picture Exchange Communication System. This is a form of communication where the child uses a variety of pictures to express his or her needs or wants. I believe there is a total of six phases and Joey is currently on phase three ( Delanie ~ you'll have to correct me here if I'm wrong). I am learning along with Joey and by no means am I an expert. So far, it seems like it will be a wonderful way for Joey to communicate with teachers, peers, therapists, and other family members. Consistency is a big part of making the system work. Joey is catching onto it fairly well and we are very excited for him to have this opportunity. For more information about PECS, click here. Hope you like the video ~ I'll warn you it's about 15 minutes long so don't feel bad if you don't watch the whole thing. This just gives everyone a peek at all the hard work he has been doing. Thank you to Delanie and Natalie for all your hard work too! Enjoy the show!

(Author's note: Here is where I tried to insert the video, but was unsuccessful. When I added it here, it wouldn't let me publsh the post, so you have to go above the post to view the video. Confused yet? I really need someone to teach me all the tricks to this blogging thing).

On another note, I have decided to take the kids to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha tomorrow. Yes, I am attempting to do this by myself, and no, I will probably not learn my lesson. My darling husband has some work he needs to catch up on ~ i.e. cleaning, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, mowing, dishes, laundry, etc. and has promised me a spic and span house when we get home. I've made it public knowledge now honey, so you better pull through! I would hate to disappoint all these great readers of ours if you don't fulfill your end of the deal! :o) I'm sure we will have a great time and I won't be stressed out at all! (If I keep believing this, maybe it will come true!) Anyway, if nobody hears from me by Monday, send the looney bin truck for me. They'll know where to find me ~ I'll leave a trail of all my hair I will be pulling out. :o) Have a great weekend!

Just felt like blogging today...Oh ~ and our second award!

Happy Thursday! I have the urge to blog today so you will have to bear with me while I ramble on. There is really no specific topic I will be engaging you with ~ just catching you up on some happenings this week. For starters, our week so far has been pretty tame ~ if a houseful of 5 children can ever be tame. Monday, John didn't have school because of a teacher inservice so he was here with us. Tuesday, four of the five were at school and I think the day went pretty well. Although that was 2 days ago so most of the memories have escaped me. Joey has been doing awesome at therapy this week ~ for those of you that don't know, he attends Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays having PT, OT, and Speech each twice a week (ah-ha! Now I remember Tuesday ~ if you refer to to my post from Wednesday, it was my embarrassing adventure in photography!) Yesterday was Joey's last day riding Sparky for the season. He has been riding once a week since the middle of May ~ where has the time gone? Thank you Patty and Sparky for all you've done for Joey this year! We can hardly wait til next season! Here are some pictures Shawn snapped yesterday:





My husband would probably never forgive me if I didn't mention that he bowled a perfect 300 game at his bowling league last night. I believe it is number 6 or 7 for him over the last 20 years. If you talk to him, don't tell him I didn't remember the exact number. Congrats Shawn! Way to go! We are proud of you! (this should be sufficient praise ~ don't you think?)

In other news ~ I am so excited to announce that we received our second blog award!
Here it is:



We received this award from my new friend Justine over at Justine's Froggy Bloggy. Check out her blog when you get a chance ~ she has a wonderful sense of humor and a great blog. I met her because she has a sister with a child that also has CdLS. I am looking forward to getting to know her and her family. Thanks Justine!

And of course, with an award, there also comes some rules. Here they are:
1.You may choose five people/blogs to give the award to.
2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.
3. One has to be a new follower of your blog or live in another part of the world.

As luck would have it, we have exactly 4 followers of Walk with the Riedmiller Family so this makes my job fairly easy. And the award goes to:

Brenda @ The Preister's, Cris @ Busy but Blessed, Delanie @ The Hudcaps, and Natalie @ The Riecks. Congrats ladies! Please check out these great blogs as these women share their adventures in their households. Each one has a unique story to tell! Thank you all for liking our blog!
For the last rule, I don't really have any new followers to share this award with, so how about I make a little competition? If anyone new likes this blog and wants to sign up as a follower, you will get the newbie award. Just leave a comment and let me know you are interested. I look forward to making another new blogging friend!

Wordless Wednesday

For Wordless Wednesday this week, I thought it would be a cute idea to post a picture of Joey at speech therapy using PECS. What better "wordless" picture would there be than of him communicating with pictures ~ right? Of course ~ only the great picture I thought I was getting didn't quite turn out right.
I usually watch his speech therapy sessions through a window that looks into the room. And me, being the expert photographer that I am, figured I could get a great shot from my ringside seat. What I didn't realize is that all I would get was this:


Trust me, it is a perfect shot of Joey handing his speech therapist the strip with the pictures on it! Now all you get is a look at the purple striped shirt I was wearing and part of my lovely arm. I am making a new statement in photography this week I guess and letting it publicly be known that yes, sometimes I am an idiot. So to make up for it I am also adding this shot I took of Joey after school today:


What is it about kids and empty boxes? This has been his toy of choice the last couple days. He gets inside it, puts things in it, bangs on it, and throws it while smiling and laughing the whole time. Oh well, who am I to judge? :o) Happy WW!