Thursday 13 - Week 10 Edition "J"

Hopefully I get my J post done in a timely fashion - today John had weightlifting, basketball camp and a baseball game tonight. Tommie had basketball camp today too and baseball practice tonight. Joey has PT and OT on Thursdays. If you throw in all the mischief the girls cause, it makes for a truly interesting day. John is getting ready for the game right now, Tommie is trying to keep Joey entertained while I am on the computer, the girls are for some reason being halfway behaved right now working on a princess puzzle and Shawn is at the grocery store. So I better get this ball rolling while I have the chance!

1. Jumping - I will clarify what the girls are doing. They have a foam princess floor puzzle that has large pieces to it. They have it put together in a line on the floor and are jumping on it. It's their own version of hopscotch I guess!

2. Joey - Our 5 year old son who was born with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome.

3. John - Our 15 year old son who will be 16 in 2 months and really, really, really thinks he needs a car for his birthday. Good luck with that one!

4. Jockey - With Joey's small stature and horseback riding experience the boys think he will have a shot at being a jockey someday. Maybe he has a future at the Kentucky Derby!

5. Jelly - Jelly filled donuts rock!

6. Jewelry - I don't wear much jewelry. My wedding ring and an occasional pair of earrings. Too many little hands around to pull on stuff!

7. Junk mail - We get a lot of it!

8. Joke - I will tell you one of my favorite jokes. The boys used to say it when they were little and now we have the girls saying it too. It is so silly it is funny!
Question: Why did the coach go to the bank?
Answer: To get his quarterback!

9. Journey - One of the great bands from the 80's!

10. Joy - "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

11. Jack-in-the-Box - Everybody's heard of a Jack-in-the-Box right? How about a Joey-in-the-Box?

That's him under there I swear!

12. Jasmine - One of the princesses the girls love! She was the one in Aladdin.

13. Jactitation - Our J word to increase our vocabulary. It means a tossing, twitching or jerking of the body; a false claim.


For more Thursday 13 fun, check out Alisha over at Izzy 'n Emmy. She is up to letter U this week! Come back next week and check out all the kindness around here! We will be exploring with the letter K!

A big step in the parenting department...

We took a big step in the parenting department this weekend. Not only did we decide to leave John overnight by himself for the first time, we also left him in charge of Joey. Crazy? Possibly. Between the 7 of us were we in 3 different towns Saturday night? Yes. At our wits end about what to do about our hectic weekend schedule? Definately. So we decided to split up. Tommie had a baseball tournament out of town all weekend, we had already planned to have a birthday party for Abbie on Sunday, and last Thursday we realized that John had a double header on Sunday. So Shawn had to stay with Tommie and I had already promised my mom the girls and I would spend the night at her house on Saturday cause we were having Abbie's birthday party there on Sunday. Have I lost you yet? Well, it would have been to hard for me to take the 3 little ones to my mom's for an overnighter by myself and John needed to stay in town for his baseball games. So the girls and I stayed at Grandma's, Shawn and Tommie stayed in Council Bluffs, and John and Joey stayed home. Shawn came home Sunday morning in time for John to get to his games which he and Joey were going to watch. Then we find out they were moved back to 4 & 6 p.m. because it had rained during the night. So Shawn, John & Joey are now at home, Tommie is still in Council Bluffs and the girls and I are still in Albion. Are you with me? Then we find later out that John's games got cancelled completely cause the fields were still to muddy. So Shawn missed Abbie's party and Tommie's games on Sunday to go to John's games which ended up being cancelled. The good news is John took good care of Joey during all the confusion. He was in one piece and the house was still standing when Shawn got home. My sister and my nephew came over and spent some time with them Saturday evening - of course not spying or anything and we in no way asked her to check on them - and they were doing fine. Next time we told him we will leave him in charge of all of them! lol - He declined that offer!

Let's throw our princesses off the deck!


Abbie found my glasses!

Abbie and her birthday cake...

Opening presents...



Emma had to help of course!



It's my party...

and I'll have 4 pony tails if I want to!

Is there any other way to swing?

Lunch in the park...

Joey liked to push the merry go round...

Tommie had 3 swings going at once!

John got hit in the back by a pitch in a game last Thursday...you can see the ball on the ground

John plays catcher...this kid struck out

Happy #3 Abbie!

Our beautiful baby Abbie turns 3 years old today. She is kind and loving and gives out the sweetest kisses you will ever have. Happy Birthday Sweet Bug - we love you!

Thursday 13 - Week 9 Letter "I"

Welcome to another fun filled week of Thursday 13! This week we are up to the letter "I". What ingenious ideas did I come up with? Well, let's check it out!

1. Idol - Congrats to the newly crowned American Idol Kris Allen! I was rooting for him but figured Adam would have won the title. I would be interested to know how many votes separated the two of them. I am challenging myself to see if I can name the previous 7 winners. Let's see...Kelly Clarkson, Rueben Studdard, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia, Jordan Sparks, David Cook and....jeez! Who is the other one? Don't worry - it will come to me.

2. Internet - Where would we all be if not for the internet? 20 some years ago we never would have dreamed of all the things we could do and the people we could connect with.

3. Imagine- Imagine if you will...
A 3 year old girl having a HUGE temper tantrum because her mom won't let her flood the bathroom with water.
A 4 year old girl also having a temper tantrum for the same reason. But she gives up and decides to make a bed for the cats in Joey's crib using every single blanket and pillow in the house.
A 5 year old boy standing up to the kitchen counter, reaching a big glass of Mountain Dew with ice and throwing it on the floor. He proceeds to splash and slurp until someone discovers what he has done.
A 13 year old boy who can't find a pair of clean socks in the whole house and finds it necessary to complain about this. He also wants a ride to a friends house. And complaining because it was his Mountain Dew a certain 5 year old is now taking a bath in.
A 15 year old boy who decides to be oblivious to all the activity by watching videos on YouTube. He decides to get in on all the action to ask where his baseball pants are. Complains they are still wet in the washer and what's he supposed to wear. Also needs a ride to practice.
Imagine it? I lived it! And that was just during the first hour of summer break yesterday!

4. IEP - Stands for Individualized Education Plan. We have 2 meetings a year unless there is reason for more. It is made up of us (parents), Joey's teachers, and other people on his team are his therapists from the school system. It sounds intimidating but really it's not. So far we have had good meetings.

5. Ice - I am a chronic ice chewer. I hardly ever go anywhere without a glass of ice water or a pop with ice.

6. Irritate - I know the above mentioned habit irritates a lot of people. I don't do it in public as a common courtesy to others. Aren't I super nice?

7. Insanity - The word that pretty much sums up the activity in our daily lives.

8. Information - You can get so much information about Cornelia de Lange Syndrome by clicking here.

9. Image - I wanted to share an image I took of the gift bags we made for Joey and Emma's teachers. Their end of the year thank you gifts were filled with candy, a card and a small gift certificate to a convenience store that is close to the school.



10. Impossible - Our daily schedules sometimes seem impossible to figure out. But we manage day by day!

11. Illinois - The site of last year's CdLS Conference. We can't hardly wait for Dallas in 2010!

12. Innings - Something we will see a lot of this summer.
Taylor Hicks! I just thought of his name! Yay for me!

13. Ionosphere - This is our random I word for the week. It is defined as: The part of the earth's atmosphere beginning at an altitude of about 50 kilometers (31 miles) and extending outward 500 kilometers (310 miles) or more.



We hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend! Our forecast calls for rain so that is a great kick off to the first official weekend of summer! Tommie has a 3 day baseball tourney in Council Bluffs, John has a double header for his legion team on Sunday and just for the heck of it Abbie turns 3 this weekend too. Will we get it all in? I sure hope so! Come back next week for some joyous joviality with the letter J!

Toys? I don't need no stinkin' toys!!

For more WW fun, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs and 5 Minutes for Mom.

Rachelle makes a fashion statement!

Have you ever spent 8 straight hours at a baseball field on a Sunday? How about with the wind blowing about 25-30 mph? Getting dirt in your hair and mouth? Or ending up with sunburned lips? Let me tell you I sure have! But is was all worth it because the club baseball team Tommie plays for won the championship game today in a big tournament that is held in our town every year. Congrats to the Mariner 13's! The tourney started Friday and they battled their way through the bracket to a gold medal. All the kids did a great job! The parents all take turns helping out in different areas during the tournament. Shawn helped out on the field crew and I got to put in some time as a site director. I looked pretty official in my orange vest! John helped out with some babysitting so the little ones didn't have to spend as much time at the ball field as there was the potential for. Thanks John - your paycheck is in the mail!

Making my fashion statement...

Shawn hard at work on the field...

The girls had about 30 ring pops...

Just kidding! Only about 25!

Joey loved the dirt as you can see...if only he didn't want to eat some of it!

He found a baseball in the grass...

Needless to say they all got baths when we got home!

I tried to get a good pic of Tommie - he hit a double off this at bat!

Waiting for a victory!

Tommie sporting his medal...

Some celebrating!

Here's a couple team pics...Great job fellas!

Thursday 13 - Week 8 Edition "H"

After a brief hiatus last week to share a post about CdLS Awareness, Thursday 13 is getting back on track. 2 weeks ago we finished off our journey into the world of the letter G. This week, we will explore H and all of it's happenings. Jeez, listen to me...I sound like I am teaching a world history class or something! lol That's okay because this week there will be a pop quiz at the end of the post. (just kidding!) But I am planning a vocabulary test about our words of the week at the end of our 26 weeks together so you better start cramming! lol

1. Heart ~ I can't have an H post without mentioning one of my favorite bands from the 80's, Heart. Yes, I am an 80's music lover. Is there any other kind? Nobody can wail like Ann Wilson!


2. Hyvee ~ My favorite place to get groceries. We have one about 4 blocks from our house so it is very convenient too.

3. Hairspray ~ For this one I am totally going to blame the kids. Earlier this week, I was in the bathroom fixing my hair. In my bathroom there is a can of White Rain Hairspray and a can of Febreeze air freshener. They were right next to each other on the counter. Emma and Abbie started fighting about something and in my haste to finish my hair and find out what was going on, I sprayed Febreeze on my hair instead of hairspray. I am not kidding. All day I smelled like a meadow kissed with fresh morning rain.



4. Home ~ Joey's favorite place to be is home. He loves to go to school and therapy and he is also a champion shopper and ball game watcher. But boy does he get excited when he gets home!

5. Hectic ~ A good word that describes our daily life!

6. Horse ~ Joey started his 3rd season of horseback riding therapy yesterday. He seemed to remember a lot of things but was a little fussy during the ride. It was kind of windy though and he hates the wind. After 1 or 2 more sessions he should be back in the groove! These were taken yesterday:




7. Hot ~ What the weather will be here soon. I asked my husband for a good H word and this is what he came up with. Clever, isn't he??

8. Humor ~ I feel a good sense of humor is a great characteristic for a person to have. I always try to look at the lighter side of things. This comes in handy when the girls have flooded the bathroom. Or when Joey has pulled every single canned good out of the cupboard. Or John & Tommie are needing a ride somewhere for the 10th time in one day. Turn that frown upside down ~ right?!?

9. Hands ~ One of the characteristics of CdLS is small hands. They are some of the cutest hands I've ever seen!

10. Heights ~ I am afraid of heights. I will climb a ladder about half way then forget it.

11. Hannah Montana ~ The last movie I saw. I went with the girls so that makes it okay.

12. Horatio ~ Shawn's favorite character on the TV show CSI:Miami. Horatio is played by David Caruso. Shawn has followed him since his NYPD Blue days. He thinks he's cool.



13. Halogeton ~ Our H word. It is a coarse annual herb introduced into North America from Siberia; dangerous to sheep and cattle on western rangelands because of its high oxalate content.

Come back next week for instant fun with the infamous letter I!

Sharing a SMILE...

Meet our little cowboy Joey. Ain't he cute?



I made these cards for Joey's birthday this year. For the second year in a row in lieu of a party and presents we asked family and friends to make a donation to SMILE in honor of Joey's 5th Birthday. SMILE is the name of the wonderful program where Joey participates in horseback riding therapy. The inside of the cards look like this:



Because of the generosity of our family and close friends, we were able to raise almost $250 to donate to SMILE this year. Thank you everybody ~ that is awesome! You can be very proud of yourselves! On Wednesday, Joey begins his 3rd season of equine therapy. We are so excited! He has really come to enjoy his sessions and it helps him gain strength and balance. Every week from now til October, we are off to ride Sparky! I encourage everyone to find out if you have an equine therapy program in your area. It will do wonders for your child and he or she will have fun at the same time!

Here are some pictures I threw in from his final session last October...