Looking for a few good...

Ideas! I am desperately trying to think of some fun, cool, exciting, different items for our Glitz & Glam silent auction! Any ideas? Help a girlfriend out...

26 hours in a day please...

We could all use a few more...right? I'll cut right to the chase...we have been crazy busy for the last few weeks. Ya know how life has those little ups and downs of being busy & being CRAZY busy...well I am at the peak of CRAZY busy right now. But I'm good with that. It's self inflicted busy that I am happy & excited to do! These days, my mind is not only going 100 miles an hour keeping up with the kids, but it's in full swing benefit mode. On May 14th DSAMC (Down Syndrome Association of the Mid Columbia) is having our 1st annual (if all goes right) Glitz & Glam benefit. It will be a incredible evening! It will be held at the Anthony's event center, so you know dinner is going to be amazing! We are starting off with appetizers and cocktails. Silent auction with AMAZING items to bid on! Dinner while listening to 3, not only amazing, but inspiring woman talk about their life with Down Syndrome. I'll tell you more about those 3 women a little later. Their stories deserve their own post! We will also do door prizes thru out the evening & will liven things up with a dessert auction! And at the very end of the presentation...a grand prize drawing...with a little extra surprise for the winner...who knows...a few hunky fire fighters might be there to walk her up to the stage! I do have connections in that department! And to end the evening...dancing with our girlfriends!! All ticket sales & donations raised from the silent auction & dessert auction will go to the new DSAMC Resource Center! How do you not get excited about that?! With all that said...I'm off to make some phone calls! I have begging to do! Wish me luck!!

Back to where I started...

I originally started this blog to be about our adventures with Jake. And wow, was that first 15+ months a adventure. We had our up's, down's, did that really just happen's...and so much more. Best of all, we got to be a family. In our home, all 4 of us, doing family things together. In 2010 we only had 2 hospital visits (one locally and only for a few days just for pro cautionary reasons), and the other was a planned surgery that went very well. It's hard to fathom that the years can be so different. But they were very different! At some point during the last year (I'm not sure when it happened), I was able to let go of that "waiting for the ball to drop" feeling, & just live. Accept the up's and down's for what they were worth & live. We have no medical issues on the horizon, just growth. Growth in more ways than just the physical. I have a lot of, for lack of better words, mental growth to do as well. I would like to think that I have fully accepted Jake as being different, but I'm not sure I have. I can honestly say, I would have him no other way. In that aspect, I have fully accepted. There are things that I still can not wrap my head around. His future. All aspects of his future. Will he be accepted, will he have a childhood BFF, will he play sports or be a musical master mind. Will he ever live on his own & will he ever fall in love. Will he ever stop destroying things...sorry, that was one of those thoughts that was in my head, that came out thru my fingers. I know these are things that we think about daily with our typical kids too, but it's on a whole new level with Jake. With Gracie, we know these things will happen if & when she chooses. We expect them to happen & we expect that she makes the most of her life with a little guidance from us. With Jake, it's hard to, again, wrap my head around what we should expect from him and what realistic hopes and dreams are for him. With all that said, I hope to make 2011 the year of mental growth...for myself.

It's only the 1st day of the new year & here is what we have in store...
*First off, my brother got married today...CONGRATULATIONS to Shawn & Nina!
*We are taking another family vacation (this time with the grandparents) to Florida to see my brother's retirements ceremony from the Navy. He will have served for 20 years!
*I am helping plan a benefit with our local Down Syndrome Group that will happen on May 14th! It is called Glitz & Glam, stepping up for Down Syndrome. It's going to be fabulous! I'm so excited to be a part of such an amazing organization!
*Gracie will start kindergarten & Jake will move from the Developmental Center to the school district.
*We have our normal little "mini vacations" thru out the year too.
So, here is to a busy, happy, healthy, & productive 2011!
Happy New Year!!