Our Hero

Richland Fire Department

Fire Fighter of the Year

2009!

Congratulations Daddy! We are so proud of you!

Normalcy...

is BORING! And that is what our lives have become...lately! I have been wanting to make some posts to my blog, but I'm feeling kind of boring! Go figure. I'm going in 100 different directions, and have tons of things going on...but nothing that I feel is blog worthy. LOL. I'll work on that for ya. Ha ha. So, here is what we have coming up...that might make the blog...

1. Jake sees his cardiologist next week for his 6 month follow up from heart surgery (done in July...oops, a little behind...what can I say, we have been enjoying life w/o doctors).

2. I have our 2nd meeting for our (unnamed) benefit planned for next year! Yahhhh!!

Oh, and here are a few little things I have been working on for Gracie's b day party...in June. She is having a Garden Tea Party! So sweet!!

These "poms" are so cute...cheap...and easy!! Just tissue paper and curling ribbon. They are my test run for the ones I am planning on making for her party! I will probably jazz hers up with some bright colors, some fancy ribbon, and oh...I don't know, maybe some GLITTER! I do love glitter!!

This little espresso set tea party set will be perfect for the party!

But a little plain Jane...hmm...

Ah ha! Paint markers! Perfect! Here are a few that I have finished! LOVE THEM!!

And after lunch today, we will make our Mother's day gifts for Grandma!! Pictures, messy, messy, pictures to come!!

Just for fun...

I have nothing enlightening to post about today...just some random pics of my kiddies. We are going to have a action packed weekend, so I'm sure there will be MANY more to come. We have Gracie's two BFF's staying the weekend with us while their parents take a little trip!!

Good starting pic...right? LOL I love this pic! My little Bubba!

In deep thought about...playing with his shadow!

Shadows...BEST PLAYMATE EVER!!

Does it get any sweeter?

Gracie now LOVES to have her picture taken with "me & my Bubba".

She's very proud of being a big sister. She thinks she is teaching him to crawl!

"Keep going Bubbs...you can do it...you need to get big strong Bubba legs" LOL

"Hmm, not sure about this mom..."

"It's kind of fun..."

"What the heck...I'll eat it"

We like to embrace Jake's inner messy monster!

Oh, and notice the dog, planted right under Jake's chair...

That's always helpful too!!

Things that make ya go hmmm

What...it was a good 90's song...& it makes a good blog post title too! LOL

So a few weeks ago I went to a conference in Portland, Oregon called all born (in). It was a cross disability inclusion conference put on by the Northwest Down Syndrome Association. What an amazing conference. But 2 words come to mind:

1. Information
2. Overload

I spent the first 2 hours trying to figure out what the keynote speaker was talking about, and how was I going to explain to my group that I sat there like a zombie trying to figure out what language was being spoken. Because it certainly wasn't English! Not English that a 32 year old house wife momma with some college education was comprehending! But then the clouds parted and the sun came out...in the form of breakout classes! Classes spoken in everyday English, by everyday (sort of) moms of children with disabilities. So, there was one class that I really enjoyed & I wanted to write a little about it. It really struck home for me & here is why...

The speaker was Roberta Dunn. She is a parent of a 17 year old twin son with Down Syndrome. She also is very involved in FACT (Family And Community Together). She is an amazing speaker. She speaks right at your level, & started her class with her story or her family. I can't possibly regurgitate her entire class but the main point was, to me pretty profound, with a little bit of "dahh" at the end! It went a little like this...

She believes that when it comes to raising a child with special needs you can be one of two things.

1. A leaf

OR

2. A rock climber

The leaf starts off high up in a tree and eventually breaks away. It gets caught in a little breeze and eventually lands in a river, where it is carried away, but eventually lands in it's resting spot. That leaf only gets as far as it's environment is willing to take it.

The rock climbers has a goal. It's goal may be HUGE, but it's his/her goal. The climber starts at the bottom of the rock with that goal way up high. The climber doesn't just start climbing with no plan, no precautions. The climber makes a plan or a path. The climber puts on safety belts and ropes and checks everything twice. Then the climber starts his/her journey. They WILL run into unexpected obstacles, but the climber re evaluates the situation and makes a new plan or path to get to the top of that rock. Eventually, the climber gets to the top of that rock because of the well thought out strategies. The climber chose where he/she wanted to end up and made it happen. It was NOT left up to chance.

Pretty cool ha? And so simple. Obviously you want to be the rock climber and make the well thought out, planned decision as to where we want/expect our child to be. Not that we can always plan for those kinds of things, but it's always good to have goals! And it could apply to anyone/anything in life. Another thing that Roberta & her husband did, when her son was born was they made a family mission statement. Hers was long...very long. But it was personal to them. It was their road map to raising their family. Not just their son, but their family. It was cool. Very cool. And something that Zach and I will do. And I decided that I want to take it 1 step further. When we do get our "statement", I am going to use it as some kind of decoration in our house. It will proudly be displayed for not only our family, but for everyone who enters our home. I think it's important for the people in our lives (family & friends) to know what our "road map" looks like. So one of these days, I'll be posting not only our family mission statement, but my craftiness to go along with it! Something to think about...you might want to try it! If you do, share it with me...I'm excited to hear!

Oh ya, and a few posts ago I made a comment about Jake's new rock star summer hair cut (thank you Auntie Patty), and why he got it...well here it is...

Jake was doing his goofy little kick stand scoot super fast around the island in the kitchen trying to catch Gracie. They were playing toddler/kid tag. Not a real fair game, but fun for them! Anyway, the reason Jake got this super sweet hair cut...he and Gracie are going to be in a calender this fall!! Our local Down Syndrome Group is making a calender of our local kids and their siblings to sell at the Buddy Walk this year!! Yahh!! I can't wait to see it! Jake & Gracie are going to be in September (Jake's b day month). The theme was back to school, so the had on white shirts, jeans & Gracie had on a backpack. There is another family that will also be in the pic, but thanks to technology, the picture was taken against a green screen. All the kids and the background will be photo cropped together later!! So it will be a surprise for me too!!

34 is the new 25

I'm not sure how that math works out but...What Momma Garcia wants, Momma Garcia gets!

Happy 34th 25th Birthday Girlfriend!!

All a girl needs...

Is a little bit of sidewalk chalk and a rock!

Hop Scotch anyone?Remember when something so easy was so much fun...No cares in the world, just get that rock with out putting your other foot down... And don't step outside the boxes...

Being so proud that your almost to 10...

Oh to be 4 again!

Days like this remind me to not sweat the small stuff, have fun where ever you are, with whatever you have. Good job baby girl for bringing mommy back down!

Sorry, sorry, sorry...

I have been neglecting my blog, but I'll be back soon with lots of pics & stuff to talk about!! I'm playing single mom this week while Zach is out of town for work, so the parent to child ratio is 1 to 2 right now!! LOL! Here are a few things that I will be posting about in the next day or two...

1. Tid bits about the all born (in) conference I went to in Portland last weekend
2. Sibling love/play
3. Fab pics of my beautiful babies playing
4. One of my bff's (are we too old to use that term?) b day is Thursday & the treats I've made her
5. Jake's rock star summer hair cut & why he got it!!

See...I've been busy!!

10 minutes later...

Ok, I couldn't stand it...I have to show off (sort of) my super cute treats that I did a practice run on last night! They are SO stinking cute...but taste...well, not so good! I'm going to try again today but switch it up a little. If round 2 doesn't go so well...Carrie, you are getting a DQ ice cream cake tomorrow night!! Here they are!!

They are Cupcake pops by Bakerella! Here is the site http://www.bakerella.com/category/pops-bites/cupcake-pops/
Thanks Denise! So many cute ideas, so little time.