mi2boys

Another one of my hero's!!!

2009-09-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hmm now it let me

2009-09-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, well now it let me upload these pictures. Here is my handsome boy, I think it makes him look much older!!!! Man oh man, what happened to my baby??? First Dylon, now Adam they just grow up so fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a good day!!!

2009-09-22T20:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Adam got his upper braces, I was so proud of him while they were putting them on he did amazing!!!!! He had a pretty good day yesterday he ate Macdonald's chicken nuggets for lunch and had his favorite dinner meatloaf and mashed potatoes with very little complaining. He woke up this morning with swollen upper lip!! And crying to "take these braces off!!!" My sister told me I should have woke him up every 4 hours and given children's advil to help with the swelling and pain!! A little to late!! We did do advil/Tylenol ( switching back and forth) around the clock all day and tonight I will be waking him and giving him advil!! I've heard it takes 1 to 2 weeks for your inside mouth to get use to them!!! I hope we are the lucky 1 week people and I hope this week flies by!!!!! 95% of the day he looked like the top picture, with his hands covering his mouth!! He absolutly hates the wax, when I try to explain how it will help not hurt so bad, he tells me it "tickles his teeth" and he "HATES IT" ??????????? not sure what to think. My neighbor told me that her son was told that if he didn't use the wax it would "toughen his skin up faster" I hope this is true, because I'm not sure how often he is going to let me put the wax on. Tonight I finally talked him into it, but he was picking it off as quick as I would put it on!! He ate Mcdonald's hot cakes and sausage for brunch (I tried feeding him breakfast at home with no luck, he was so sad I suggested we try Mcdonald's pancakes because they seem softer than the ones I make and he liked this idea, hey it worked I might be going back tomorrow morning and stocking up) he also had a medium frosty at Wendy's (fast food is coming out pretty good with this brace thing) in the afternoon and refused to eat anything else, he also started coughing a lot today again. At first I thought it was just from being upset, but then tonight he had a fever again. A very very low grade it was only 99.5 but the fact that he has been on advil and Tylenol all day and still a low grade fever has me a little worried. So, off to the Doctors we will go tomorrow. He was really doing great all weekend no fever, very little coughing so, I thought it was fine to keep our ortho appt. now of course I am kicking myself!!! I tried to upload the picture of him yesterday when you could actually see his new look but it wouldn't let me I will try again. He picked purple and gold binders for the MN Vikings!!!! If anyone has some suggestions I'd love to hear them!!!!!

Silly boy

2009-09-20T19:53:00.001-07:00

Adam is doing much better!!! I took this picture last Thursday, when Adam was not feeling well I did not comb his hair for 2 days and it was a horrible knotty mess!!! Thursday morning I told Adam he was taking a bath so I could condition his hair so it wouldn't hurt so bad when combing it. He for some reason did not want to take a bath (typically he loves to take a bath but because it was MY idea he wasn't wanting anything to do with it) I reassured him he would feel much better after a good soak. After I cleaned up our breakfast mess I went to get him for a bath and this is what I found!!!! It just made me laugh out loud! He went and got an outfit on and look at all the accessories he added! All I could think of is how much he looked like one of the Olsen twins, I get them mixed up but it's either Mary Kate or Ashley that I thought he looked like. It was a really good try but, no it did not work Adam did go straight to the tub after I took a couple of pictures of course! But, I did think it was very smart of him to add the beanie to cover his oh so scary hair that was going on under it.

Really, we are still here!!!!!

2009-09-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Blogging slump!!?? I guess that is what you could call it. Whatever you want to call it, I am going to really try to get back into the swing of things. Summer 2009, was......hmmm I'm not exactly sure the best way to "word" this summer. Don't get me wrong we had some great times, the best part of summer 2009 was Dylon was able to come home for 10 glorious days!!! It was so great to have him home, Adam is still talking about it, and almost everyday asks about Dylon coming home for Christmas!!!! Mr. fun has been working lots of hours, and in this economy we are very thankful for that!! Many at Mr. fun's job got laid off so, like I said we are thankful!! Sadly we had to attend 2 very hard funerals this summer. Both affected me very strongly. The first was Dylon's friend who was killed in Afghanistan, and then a very special friend of mine died unexpectedly. Brianna was just 17 years old, I've known her since she was 5. Brianna had down syndrome, in 2006 she was diagnosed with leukemia she had actually been in remission for about a year and was doing great when she got the flu and I guess her tired body finally just couldn't take anymore. Her entire family is very special to our family, they are some of the nicest people you would ever meet. My heart is still hurting for their and this world's great loss. These are just a few of the reason's for my absense.
We started school Sept. 8 with the rest of our neighborhood. Yes, we are still homeschooling. Adam is now in 4th grade. Above picture is the first day of school pic. . We joined a homeschool co-op, it meets 2 days out of the month. We have science, gym, and art there and though we have only gone once I think it is going to be a really good fit!! I hope I'm right!
We also have a new member to our family, everyone please meet "Louie". He is a 5 year old shitzu. This new additon now makes us a 3 pet family!!! 2 dogs, and 1 cat, I have always had a 2 pet maxmium but I guess rules are made to be broken!! Louie is a total sweetheart and even Mr. fun who is not a "little dog" kinda guy thinks he is pretty cool!!

Yesterday we found out Adam has pneumonia, I guess it is really going around here!!! I know this has happened because with all the talk about the flu, I felt an obviously false sense of security with the thought that because we were homeschooling Adam would be "safer", guess germs are everywhere and if your going to get it your going to get it. I am happy to say Adam is doing really good, and I think we caught it before he got too sick!! He did have a fever of 102 Monday and Tues. and Wed. it was 101, today it has been 99.5 so, I am hoping the worst is over!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-22T05:57:00.000-07:00

Update..........

2009-07-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

This is an update I wish I did not have to write, but Dylon's friend Ben Kopp passed away yesterday at 21 years old. He died for us all, I believe every soldier who has died has died for us all. They do not have to enlist, but they do it, so we can continue to have our freedom. Even in Death Ben is helping, he was an organ donor. He is truly a hero. Please continue to pray for his family, I can not imagine how hard this is for them. He did/does have a carebridge site you just need to put, prayforben.

What a week...........

2009-07-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Some weeks go by like the movie "Groundhog day" where it feels like we are just doing the same old thing over and over, I don't mind these weeks there is something very comforting with repetition, though it can feel boring at times I love the "safe" feeling you get with these kinds of weeks. I kinda should have known this was not going to be that kind of week, when we started it with the police at our house Monday morning at 7:45am. I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day, Adam woke up and did his routine "can I call my Dad?" ( I had the false feeling that it was going to be a "Groundhog day" kinda week) I gave him permission and told him the phone was on the charger, I heard him call his Dad (Adam will only talk to people with the phone on speaker) I heard Dad say "sorry buddy Daddy can't talk now I'm really busy, I'll call you back" click.....Well, when Adam wants to talk on the phone you don't hang up on him!! He usually will call his Dad right back a few hundred times, sometimes leaving a not so nice message on his voice mail, until I come along and rip the phone away. So, when I heard him dialing again I didn't think much of it until, I hear him say out loud (Thank God, he talks to himself all the time so, I have a heads up on things)"I'll call the police" Adam has had issues with calling 911 ever since he was 5. We use to have to keep our phone hidden, but as he has gotten older he has gotten over this urge or so I thought. I ran to the bedroom and grabbed the phone, sure enough he called 911 I hung it up as fast as I could, I truly thought (hoped) it had not connected. Within a few minutes the phone rang (no such luck with it not connecting) and they had to send a patrol out. Back in the old days the police wouldn't even come out they would call and confirm that everything was okay, these days I guess if they get a call they have to come out. I was in a bath towel with a wet head, Adam looked a fright with the worse case of bed head you can imagine, and to top it all off he must have bite his lip in his sleep because he woke up with dried blood all around his mouth! We live on the same street as the police station, we could actually walk there if need be. I quick threw on clothes, and before I could get started on Adam, our doorbell rang! We know a lot of the police officers in our town because we live so close and mainly because of Adam, he loves a person in a uniform!!!! However I had never seen this officer, I wish I had a picture of his face when he was looking at Adam, mainly Adam's lip of course, I said "hi, sorry my son got the phone this use to be a issue with him but I thought he out grew it, so sorry" Police officer pretty much ignores me and continues to look at Adam and asks "Are you okay, son?" Adam decides at this moment to become shy and quietly in a scared voice manages to squeak out "yes" Thankfully the police officer believed us though I keep waiting for social services to come by! The day did get better when I received an email from Dylon saying it's not for complete sure, but there is a very good chance he will be coming home the end of August for a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have it on my calendar so, it better happen!! (prayers on this subject are totally welcomed and encouraged!!)

Then one of our neighbors passed away, he was a pretty elderly man, and we really don't know him or his wife all that well, but I loved watching him outside tend to his lawn, and cruise around in his scooter. Again, there was always something so comforting and safe seeing him year after year. Though I don't know him well, I really will miss him and my heart hurts for his dear sweet wife. They had many children which I have witnessed what a true blessing this is, there home has been filled with people the last few days. Next week I plan on stopping by with a card and meal, maybe I'll be blessed with getting to know her more. Please pray for this family, trust me I know when my Dad passed away at age 79, it did not make it any easier knowing he had lived a full life. Yes, that fact was comforting later, but I was not ready to say good bye, Wednesday the 15, marked the 6th year we lost my Dad. It still hurts a little.........

Then my sister called me with some questions, she had just read in the paper that a 33 year old man had drowned in a river in North Dakota with the same name as a foster child my parents had, my parents were foster parents even before I was born, this young man lived with us for 2 years with his 2 sisters. It is because of this exact family, I don't think I could ever foster parent though it is something I go back and forth with thinking about. My brother and his wife have become foster parents in the last year, I give them a lot of credit for doing this. I remember the day the social worker came to take these kids back to their mom, they cried they didn't want to leave, they felt safe at our home and it was probably the most "normal" 2 years of their lives. I was very angry at the social worker, though I know this was out of his hands. We never heard of them again, though I never forgot them. I have googled them before never really found anything, I just found out today my brother had googled them also, he actually knew where they had been living. This young man had lived his last 3 years in a mission home that helps the homeless, he struggled with alcohol, I do wonder what if......... what if they could have stayed with us......would his life maybe been different??? I called the mission where he had been living today, I also searched more in depth and finally found a phone number for one of his sisters, after over 25 years of seeing or talking I called, she said she still thought of us and just kept saying how she couldn't believe we still thought of them and called. It was sad, how she honestly didn't think we would remember them. It didn't sound like life had been easy for them but thankfully she moved far away and she seemed to really have her life pretty together, I am happy to say she wants to stay in contact and was really excited that I had asked if we could, we exchanged addresses and I look forward to catching up more. I wish this "meeting" could have taken place under different circumstances, I wish her brother was still alive and that I could have talked with him and told him how much my family and I loved him and remembered...........Prayers for this family are also requested.

Sorry, I wish I could say it ends there, but I also got news Thursday of one of Dylon's friend/teammate in Middle and High school is fighting for his life today. He joined the Army right out of high school, he in his very short life has already done 2 tours to Iraq and was just recently in Afghanistan when he got shot in the leg, unfortunately it hit an artery and because of the huge amount of blood loss he went into cardiac arrest, they had to cut open his chest to perform CPR, he now has swelling of his brain and is in a drug induced coma. It is a wait and see game, he needs a miracle, he is only 21 years old, he needs a miracle, his name is Ben Kopp, please pray for him!!!!!!!!! I share these stories because I believe with all my heart in the power of prayer, though our prayers may not always be answered the way we see best, prayer is still changing things and helping in ways we may not see or understand. I humbly ask anyone reading this, please pray.......................

Lookin' Good!!!

2009-07-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

Adam is feelin' and lookin' great these days!!!! Tuesday Adam had a much better day but, he still looked pretty rough. Wednesday afternoon we saw Adam's Dr., the emergency room wanted us to follow up with him, just to make sure everything was healing nicely and no infection. I thought he looked pretty good Wednesday but his Dr. was concerned about the swelling and he thought the road rash on his chin looked a little questionable with infection(good thing he didn't see him earlier in the week or he would have really worried) and told us he knew he was probably being overly cautious but wrote out a prescription for Adam to go on an antibiotic. I love our pediatrician he is the nicest man, but I did not fill the prescription I held on to it, just in case but, I thought it was really healing nicely and I really saw no sign of infection. He said Adam could go back to swimming starting Saturday. Thursday he looked even better and by Friday he looked great, and I let him go swimming (bad mommy) a day early! The chlorine dried up the scabs on chin and outside lip and they fell off, leaving him to look even better!!!!!!!!!!!! I really didn't think it was going to heal this fast and without any marks!!! Lucky boy!! He has been riding his bike quite a bit and seems to be much more cautious, which is a good thing! Here's hoping that was are one and only exprenince with stitches!

Bitter sweet~

2009-07-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

On June 21 Dylon left for patrol, he will be out to sea for 2 months, this is hard because during this time we really don't get to talk, I never realized how much I have come to get peace at just hearing his voice. Today we got an e-mail from Dylon letting us know how he has been and telling us he saw and read about Adam's bike accident. I cried as soon as I saw his e-mail, it has been 7 long months since I have seen him and I miss him so much!!! I also felt a little guilty that I have really been negelcting my blog and this computer!!! I didn't realize that they would have internet access at times and I am going to try to be more diligent with this, if for no other reason than a way to send a piece of "home" to Dylon.

Adam had a rough day, he slept for almost 15 hours!!! He fell asleep by 7pm and woke up at 9:50am!!!!! Eating is still not that easy, and I think he is getting sick of ice cream (who knew that was possible) tonight he had mashed potatoes and gravy but wouldn't eat it until it was room temp. (ewww) . Lots of tears on and off, like mommy when I read him Dylon's email he cried, he misses his big brother!! They told us the mouth heals so fast, obviously we must be very impatient because it isn't healing fast enough for us!!!! Adam called his swim coach tonight to tell him what happened and his coach is going to stop over tomorrow, Adam is so excited to have his coach come to his house!!!!!!!! I think that will be great medicine for Adam!!! Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes!!!!

My poor little guy~

2009-07-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my little trooper today. He looks much worse than last night when we left the hospital at 11:40pm (the accident happened at 8:15pm). He has "road rash" on hands, legs, and even some on his chest. Though the lip is what bothers him the most, it is not easy eating with that swollen lip!! Though push-ups, ice cream, and Popsicles go down pretty good. Adam was not his full of energy old self today, we laid pretty low. Though he did go for a bike ride with Mr. fun (I was a nervous wreck!! but I do think it was a good idea and Adam totally wanted to go) so, thankfully he does not have a fear of ever riding his bike again. Sadly, Adam will not be able to swim for a few days but, thankfully he should be able to by Friday! Which is good because this weekend is our family reunion at my sister's house were accident happened!! We will not be bringing the bike!!

Fun, sun, hamburgers and stitches..........

2009-07-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Of course we had to bring Adam's new bike with us on the 4th of July, because there might not be enough fun for Adam at my Sister's, who lives on a beautiful private lake with a ski boat, sail boat, paddle boat, etc. Adam wanted to show his cousin's his new "wheels" and impress them.
Tubing just could not be enough, and he had big, big plans of trying to water ski this weekend. Last year he wanted to try, I being the not so fun one, said a big "NO" to that one. This year he is a much stronger swimmer and I was going to let him try. ............
But, after the BBQ and before the fireworks Adam decided to do a little bike riding. They have a very long gravel driveway and Adam did conquer it quite a few times, but then sadly he was going too fast and he had a bad crash!!!!! We spent the rest of the night at St. Paul's Children's hospital. When Adam went down he bit his lower lip the bottom teeth went deep into the inside of the lower lip and his upper teeth went deep into the outer lower lip.
Though my 3 sisters are nurses, I found out why I did not become one, here they have me holding the Q-tips with numbing gel in his wounds, the inside lip is cut so deep I thought I might get sick!!!! I'm sure they have parents do this because it is less frightening for the children but, I am still queasy when I think back to it. Though might I add what an amazing trooper Adam was through this all!!! He was so brave!!! And when ever anyone came in the room he was very charming and funny, though as soon as it was just Mr. fun and I with Adam, he would cry and say his lip hurt then when someone would come back in the room he'd stop and even was flirting with an intern that was following the doctor for the night.
Adam ended up getting 7 stitches, 4 on the outer lip and 3 in the inside lip. He also had to get a tetanus shot, since I believed his last time he got one was going into kindergarten.
He was so brave and laid so still the entire time, we kept telling him how impressed and proud his big brother would be!!! Neither Mr. fun or I can believe that somehow Dylon managed to grow up without ever getting stitches!! Adam thinks it's cool he is the first!!
Thankfully Adam always wears his bike helmet and he really loved his certificate he got and they also gave him a gift certificate for an ice cream cone to Dairy Queen for wearing his helmet!

We do truly feel blessed, I know things could have been much worse. We hope everyone had a safe, and fun 4th of July!!!!!!

A boy and his bike

2009-07-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

On Thursday July 2nd Adam got a new bike!!! We named it the "mean green machine"!! Adam felt very grown up with his new big boy bike. It has the silver bars coming out of the wheels (I have absolutely no idea what they are really called) for tricks, which I highly discouraged, though a few weeks ago when Mr. fun and I went on a bike ride with Adam, I watched him in front of me ride with "no hands". I was very close to having a heart attack, Mr. fun thought it was "great" and a "boy thing", I talked to Adam about safety and tried not to act to upset or it would be his new goal to ride everyday with "no hands", thankfully I never saw him try this new trick again, though he LOVES waving to people while riding his bike, one hand I can handle, I guess. The new bike is a 20" freestyle, old bike was a 16" that came complete with training wheels which we finally took off for good last August.

Joyful Noise, family fun fest 2009

2009-06-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

After we dropped off the chicks to the farm we went to the Joyful Noise, family fun fest and we had LOTS of fun!! We meet "Cousin" aka Emily there and it we could not have asked for a more beautiful day! Adam was thrilled to actually hear and meet someone from American Idol!!! Chris Sligh was on 3 years ago, I believe. Adam actually really liked him when he was on and we even voted for him a few times. And if I remember correctly Adam even shed a fear tears when he got kicked off.
He had Chris sign both fists!! I'm pretty sure Adam did "knuckles" aka "fist bumps" with everyone at family fun fest!
They had a ton of those huge inflatable jumping and sliding things. They had some, I had never seen before.
This is how my darling husband has earned the name, Mr. fun. I would never ever in a million years put one of those disgusting sweaty head gear things on my head, after being worn by hundreds of other people!!! And dear sweet cousin, though did not want to, said she "would do it for Adam" but lucky for her, Adam challenged his Dad!

We got to hear and meet one of Adam's (and mine and Emily's ) favorite bands "10th Ave North" they are an awesome Christian band and I have to say they are some of the nicest guys we have meet! They were super nice to Adam and really gave him their time and attention even though there was a very big line of fans also waiting to meet them.
Of course, Adam had to have them sign his arm. He loved the "look" of his arm. And could not wait to go home and ride his bike because he thought it looked like he had tattoos. And if you give a mouse a cookie, I mean if you give Adam a tattoo he needs ride his bike and pretend he is on a motorcycle and is a "biker dude".
It truly was a beautiful night, After 10th Ave North, we enjoyed Lincoln Brewster (which was Mr. fun's favorite) and then Mercy Me (which was my favorite of the night). This last picture is one of my favorite from yesterday!

Saying goodbye.....

2009-06-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

"Pick" and Adam

Well, we are officially over with our chicken project. Yes, completely over, last Tuesday after they shredded two of my hosta plants, and escaped into our other neighbors yard and their dog also seems to like chicken, I had enough. I called Mr. fun at work and told him I know I said we could keep two but, we can't and "please don't talk me out of this, and back me up on it" thankfully he agreed. Adam was a little sad and tried to talk us into even just letting him keep one, his beloved "Pick". Don't ask how it got the name pick, I'm still confused a bit by how Adam came up with the name. If you ask him he'll go on and on about how he "pecked" out of his shell, but then if you say "oh his name is "Peck" Adam will give you his "Adamtude" and roll his eyes and tell you "NOOO, it's "Pick" so, "Pick" it is. Of course, the chick my son falls in love with has a mo-hawk, this doesn't surprise me one bit. We started with 15, and ended with eleven, not to bad, but I wish we hadn't lost any. Though it is a little sad having them gone, It is GREAT to have my yard back and not worrying about where the chicks are. I'm sure they are very happy in their new home, at a real farm!!! We definatly highly recommend this project, we had a lot of fun, and we all learned a lot. And yes, we would totally do this again!! We actually already are planning next year, we are going to hatch ducklings!! I'm putting my foot down this time and will only let 5 eggs go in the incubator!! (Did you read that Mr. fun, I mean it only 5)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-10T20:38:00.001-07:00

Long over due.......

2009-06-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

Yep, this is a very long over due update on "us". I was not exaggerating when I said "when the weather gets nice, my computer time pretty much comes to an end!" This summer I really am going to try to post at least every other week, I have truly missed being on here and reading my favorite blogs!! In a nutshell this is a little of what we have been up to.

Memorial weekend we stayed home and got some much needed yard work done, garden planted, pool cleaned, and this list goes on, thankfully it wasn't all work we got to meet Beth and her daughter Hannah you might know them from their blog Hannah's Shenanigans. It was so much fun to actually meet someone whose blog I follow!! And to prove to Mr. fun that you people are NOT my imaginary friends, like he tries to tell me!!!! Beth and Hannah were as wonderful, as I had them pictured in my head. It was very kind of them to let Adam swim in their hotel's awesome pool, Adam is still talking about the water slide!!! I truly hope our paths will meet again. To end the long weekend we had a great time with friends having a BBQ and bonfire.

It seems like forever since I've posted anything about homeschooling, Adam continues to amaze me. This truly seems like a great fit for him. He has made more academic progress in the 5 months we have been doing this than we have ever seen. His reading has really taken off. He started reading at a very early age, though I realize at 3 years old it was "memorizing" (this is what his teachers kept telling us, even though he could read these words in different settings, not just on his flashcards) he has struggled with reaching a higher level than simple early reader books. He is now reading chapter books!! Yes, they are the easy chapter books, probably at a 2nd to early 3rd grade level, but hey, I'll take that!! And the best part of all is that he is really enjoying it, and reading everywhere we go, the other day at Cub, he was having a blast reading all the signs and boxes of food!! At Church he now loves to really follow along and sometimes is even reading ahead! And in spelling he has over a hundred words he can spell independently now. This is huge, to me. He always did great at school with spelling tests, but then if you'd ask him 2 weeks later how to spell the word, he could not do it. We have been using the same words over and over again rotating them. Once he can spell the word correctly after not seeing it for a couple of weeks we add new words. He loves to show off the words he can spell, especially the hard ones like, tomorrow, because, and his favorite Mississippi!! Okay, he will more than likely never need to use the word Mississippi, but that one is just fun to spell!! We plan to continue to home school through out the summer but, much shorter days and taking days off here and there for fun! We are very excited about joining a home school co-op for next school year. They meet 2 times a month for Science, art, and phy. ed. the best part is we are good friends with another family that also joined this group so, should be a lot of fun!

Adam is still on the Black line swim team, and it has been such a great experience for him!! In the beginning Adam really was not able to keep up with the kids. He was doing really good but he was swimming 3 laps to their 4, I'd say. Well, today he on most days is totally keeping up with them!!! Some days he still needs to sneak in an extra break, but really not often! He is listening and is not treated any different than any of the other kids!! Last week we went to our first swim meet with black line, Adam swam in 3 events, freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke. He did come in last place in each race but, he was only seconds from the other swimmers!! And these kids were his age 9 and 10 years old. But, the part I was most amazed with and proud of was, Adam handled this meet without any problems. We got their at 6:00pm and left at 8:15pm, I sat up in the bleachers with a very nervous tummy, while Adam was down by the pool with about 20-25 swimmers on our team and only 2 coaches. At Special Olympics Adam has always needed staging assistance (someone that stays by him until his race, so, he doesn't just take off) last year he actually took off and jumped into the pool after one of his races and swam to the middle and wouldn't get out. (yes, that's my baby!!) He sat on the bench with the other kids and waited for his races just like every other kid, I drove home with tears in my eyes!!! Adam told everyone he got first place, and in my book he did!!

Chicken update, we now have 14 chickens. If you remember we hatched 15, well, our neighbors dog I guess was craving chicken (I can totally relate). Adam is being left in the dark on this one, I usually like to be honest but he does not even realize that we are missing one and I don't want him to be mad at our neighbors dog. The darn chicken should not have wandered under our fence and into their yard in the first place. In a couple of weeks they will be going back to the farmers. I think my husband has talked me into letting Adam keep 2, I'm pretty sure this makes me totally crazy!!

Now I must go and catch up reading my favorite blogs!!! I hope not to be gone as long next time!

On this Memorial day

2009-05-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank all of the men and women who have and are serving our Country, so that we can enjoy our freedom and be safe. My thoughts are especially with those that have lost their lives serving for you and I and those that did come home but are now disabled. Sincerely thank you!!

It has been almost 5 months since we have last seen Dylon, though we talk all the time, I miss his presence, Adam misses his big brother too. We are all very proud of him, about 2 weeks ago he told us how he was selected as lead seamen!! There are about 15 newer none rank men in his group, some are newer than Dylon some have been there longer and Dylon was chosen as the leader in this group. Again, did I say how proud we are of him!!??! Dylon is one of my hero's for many many reasons.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

2009-05-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Mr.fun's bday, and Saturday morning he usually comes here and checks out what I have been up to on here. So, we thought we'd leave him a little surprise! Adam loved making this video for his Daddy!! And I love how at the end he tells his Dad he rocks, "somehow"!!! Like, wow your so, old but somehow you still rock!!! And it is totally true, somehow he does still ROCK!!!! ~Happy Birthday Mr.fun~ :)

Wordless Wednesday....Adam lovin' Adam

2009-05-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Just having some fun..

2009-05-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, once we hit spring, my time is very limited on this computer!! You see if Adam isn't doing school or at swimming, track, softball, karate, drum lessons, or sleeping, we are outside!!!! Adam LOVES the outdoors, doesn't matter what we are doing as long as he can be outside.

I actually made these video's last Thursday, since I don't really have much time to write I thought this would be fun and quick for me to post, well looks like it still took me 4 days to actually post it but, that's life. It was a very spur of the moment thing, and as you can tell I hadn't really planned out questions to ask him, guess I can give up my dream of ever being an interviewer (though don't think I've ever dreamed that one) I will say I have much more respect for people that do that for a job,:) I guess I don't think all that quick on my feet!!! I just about fell over when Adam quoted Simon, I can't remember right now exactly what he said but I believe it was something like "what the hell was that" or something, I guess I need to re-watch the video. Thankfully after I told him that we should really not say that word, (without making to big a deal out of it or that's all we would hear) we have not heard it again. Adam can not wait for tomorrow night!!!! It's our big American Idol night!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we go again...............

2009-05-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

On April 13, 2009 we put 18 eggs in an incubator, our guess at the due date was April 30th. Well, as you know 7 chicks hatched last Saturday, what did we do with the 11 other eggs, you ask?!? We left them in the incubator, guiltily yesterday I was seen doing a happy dance when no more eggs hatched. I know, that is horrible!!! But I kinda felt like 7 was a workable number, more might send me over the edge!! I might add, when darling Mr. fun asked "how many eggs should I get?" I responded with 5, hoping only 2 or 3 would be fertile. He came home with 18 eggs!!!! Today when we were just finishing our school day, I looked into the incubator........3 eggs had tiny holes pecked out!! Right now we have 4 newly hatched baby chicks, and 2 more starting!!! Yes, when I look at how sweet they are I feel a bit terrible for kinda hoping they wouldn't hatch, shame on me!!! I guess if you have 7, whats 6 more. Hopefully my downstairs does not start to smell like a barn!! So, far they don't smell, although I'm pretty anal about cleaning their home. Mr. fun is ecstatic, I think he is thinking we should become chicken breeders. And I'm starting to think I should change my blog name to "all my chicks" or something along those lines.

Dylon news, he is back from his second patrol, well not exactly sure if it would be called a patrol, they flew to Baltimore to pick up their Cutter and sailed (is it called sailed?? or drive??? hmm I have no idea) it back to Miami. They had an engine fire!!! So, had to stay a few days in Virginia. I'm happy to say he made it back safe and sound and I am now able to talk to him more than he prefers, I'm sure.

Adam news, on Tuesday he tried out for the Blackline swim team. They are a non-profit USA swim team. Today was his first practice, and he did great!!!! For a year now Adam has been swimming with an amazing man, Coach Keanne, he volunteers his time and knowledge 7 days a week, pretty much 365 days of the year for children with special needs. Adam swam on Thanksgiving, Christmas eve and on Easter after church before we had a house full of company. This has been a total blessing for us. It has helped Adams behavior and his impulsiveness, especially on those sooo exciting holidays!! It has also made him an amazing strong swimmer. Lucky for us Coach Keanne is also one of the Blackline coaches!! This is not a special needs team, which is mainly why we are giving it a try, you see Adam is very involved in Special Olympics and is in an adaptive Karate class, but the only activity with "typical children"( whatever that is) is his Wednesday religion class, which is ending for the school year next Wednesday. I think it is very important for him to be around peers that are just like himself but I think it is equally important that he is around "typical children". I am happy to say Adam was very warmly welcomed into this group and the kids and parents were are so kind to us. I really think this is going to be a good fit for Adam, I hope I'm right!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

The chicks.....

2009-04-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Meet 2 of our 7 fuzzy friends. The top picture is Adam and Lambert, bottom is Blondie. Adam loves watching them thankfully he is a little hesitant when it comes to holding them. He prefers us just setting them in his lap. Lambert is more mellow and passive than the others, really Blondie acts more like Adam Lambert, he sticks out, is bit more bold than the others and seems to be a leader. The last one hatched which happened Sunday at 11 am truly is the baby of the bunch. It peeps the loudest and acts like a big baby when you pick him up. It's just so funny to watch them and see the different personalities, who knew that chicks had personalities, not I. So, far the work has been pretty minimal, but they are already growing fast so, I see this changing soon. I'm sure by week 5 I'll be ready to bring them to the farmers!!! For now though, we are having fun!

I just have to add tonight on American Idol one of the judges said Adam Lambert was like the Olympics Michael Phelps, well let me tell you that totally made Adam's night!!!! His 2 current obsessions, Adam Lambert and Michael Phelps both mentioned in the same sentence, it was too funny!

Chick update

2009-04-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

We have had 6 baby chicks hatch and have been moved to the brooder. Another egg is starting to hatch this one is in the very early stages so, we might not actually get to see this one. We have told Adam he needs to wait until Tuesday to actually hold one. Thankfully he is not fighting us on this, and is just enjoying watching them. We have done absolutely nothing today but, watch these little cuties!!! One minute I think they are dying because they look so still and unlively and the next minute they are sitting up peeping and looking as healthy as can be! I forgot how much work it is to have newborns in the house!!! The first chick, Adam named Peep, we have one all black chick that Adam's friend Talia came up with the perfect name for "Lambert" as in Adam Lambert, Adam's favorite contestant on American Idol. The others have had a few differant names, we'll see which ones really stick with them.

NEWS ALERT!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

This is what we awoke to at 8:15am this morning!!!!!!! So, much for the April 30th due date. It actually worked out perfectly, Mr. fun was home from work today and we had no plans for the day. We got to watch currently all 5 chicks hatch!!!!!!! There is still one working on it!! We of course video taped it so.......... eventually it will get uploaded and put on here.

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I can not express how amazing it was to watch and we are so glad we got to share this with some of our friends and the chicks co-operated so nicely letting all who came see at least one hatch!!
Hopefully we will have the video on here by tomorrow!!!

Adam broke another record!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

During school in between subjects we like to do "brain games" this is Adam's favorite part of the school day, for obvious reasons. Although games, they are truly working on different learning areas. The video of the above game is one of Adam's favorites!!! I think it was one of Dylon's favorite games when he was little too!! And still to this day even after 20 some years of playing and watching kids play this game it still makes me just about jump out of my skin when it pops!! This is great for fine motor, eye hand coordination, and it is also good for working on fast reacting skills. When we first started playing this game, Adam was around 5, and he could only do 4-5 shapes in the 60 second time limit. Yesterday he broke his personal all time high record of 17 and got 19 shapes!!!

Back in December Adam could not count by 2's, he now can count to over 100 by 2's. But, what was really a challenge was then teaching him how to count by 2's and then have it be an odd amount. He couldn't do it, he didn't see it no matter the million ways we taught or showed him.......until one day it just clicked. And in the video when he is counting and he adds on one more making it 19 might not seem like that big of a deal, but to us it is HUGE!! Also the fact that he now without being asked has carried over the skill of counting by 2's into his every day life, he realizes it is faster to count this way. Weeks ago if Adam had 18 popsicle craft sticks (thats what we use for counting here) and I added one more he would say "20" because it was hard for him to go from counting by 2s to adding one more. Yesterday he did without missing a beat!! He gets it and can put it to use! And he thinks he's just having a little break playing a game!! Gotta love that!!

Adam Phelps

2009-04-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the big Special Olympic State swim meet!! It was a great time, and Michael Phelps, I mean Adam brought home 2 gold medals!!!! He did the 25 meter backstroke and the 25 meter butterfly. He had 2 other races (freestyle and relay) but sadly due to health concerns they had to close down the pool early on Saturday and all scheduled races were just scratched. Thankfully Adam had already done one race Saturday and only missed 2, there were some very sad athletes that did not get to do any races because of this. Picture above is the award ceremony for the backstroke, Adam raced against 6 boys,the boy that came in 2nd was in the lane right next to Adam and he was ahead for a little while but towards the end Adam pulled ahead and got first place!!!! I must say it was very close and really all the athletes did an amazing job and should be very proud!!! Adam broke his personal record for both events, his time for the 25 meter backstroke was 31.47 and 25 meter butterfly was 31.60!!! (I can't even do the butterfly!!) WAY TO GO ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are expecting........

2009-04-14T14:21:00.001-07:00

Baby chicks!!!! We have never done this before, so I hope it is successful or I am going to have one very sad little boy on my hands!!!! We get our eating eggs from a farmer that lives about 5 minutes away from our house. They are the nicest family, they always show Adam any of their new animals. Adam loves going there, they have a horse, cows, chickens, miniature horse, pig, dogs, turkeys, just about any animal that would live on a farm,they have had it at one time. It is a hobby farm when I typed pig, that wasn't an error, they really only had one pig. We told them when we started homeschooling Adam and they thought this might be a fun science project for us. We are using their incubator and they provided us with the fertilized eggs yesterday.

They believe the eggs were about 3 days old so, today they would be 5 days old. Which means our due date should be April 30!!! Did you know, that at day 5: The chick's head is now half as big as its body, and its eyes are very large. Its tail has begun to grow. Wings and legs are forming. I think Mr. fun and I might be more excited about this than Adam. Although he is very into it! He is a little disappointed that they have not hatched yet, and we just got them yesterday.

I think every couple days I will try to have Adam do a video about what is going on with them. He has also been journaling about it. He doesn't like to write much unless it is about something he is into. He was excited to write in his journal today!! And no we are not keeping the baby chicks, we will until they are old enough to live outside on their own. They will then go back to our farmer friend and Adam will get to visit them weekly!!

2009-04-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

I did not think to take a picture of Adam with his basket until 7:30 pm, as you can tell in the picture he looks worn out!!! But he had so, much fun with his cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandma!!! It was a beautiful day!! Dylon woke us up, with a phone call!! He forgets that he is 2 hours ahead of us!!! But what a wonderful way to be awaken!! We so, wish he could have been with us, but I am thankful for the phone call, and was happy that he had a day off. Adam was thrilled that the Easter bunny brought him a new skateboard!!! Two years ago we got a little one at a garage sale, he loves to carry it up and down the sidewalk and look like a cool skateboarder! He never really tried it though, but he totally had the "too cool" attitude of a skater dude down. I was very surprised that he was actually really skating with his new skateboard. All that practice with his scooter really must of helped. He was even giving Grandma Cookie lessons!! Looks like one more thing I will have to worry about! I think it might be a very long summer! But, I'm not complaining. And yes, I did end up buying way more candy than I wanted. Mr. fun doesn't think you can have a Easter basket without it, next year we are going sugar free in the basket and I mean it!!!!!

Easter~

2009-04-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

Adam really got into coloring Easter eggs today. We are having my side of the family over tomorrow and I think I'm completely ready. We even planted some pansies. I got the egg planter idea in some magazine, I think they turned out really cute!! Adam was a huge helper today and I am happy to say there is no sarcasm in that, he really was. He LOVES to vacuum and this is the first time I did not need to re-do the job! The more jobs we give him, the better his behavior is, he like all of us just needs to feel needed. I was so proud of him, but even better he was so proud of himself!!! He is truly growing up!! Happy Easter everyone!!!

Good Friday.........

2009-04-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Jesus,

I am sorry. Thank you.

With Love,
Monica

Easter Bunny

2009-04-07T14:49:00.001-07:00

Well, we finally went and saw the Easter bunny today. Adam was the only one there so, that meant Adam got to give Mr. Easter bunny (is the Easter bunny a Mr.?) about 6 or 7 hugs, before I finally got him to leave the poor rabbit alone. We then went and got one of Adam's all time most favorite treat, a passion green tea smoothie from Caribou. If you have never tried one, don't . They are totally addicting and delicious and I believe there are like 360 calories (give or take a few) in a small!!! Personally that is just way to many calories for a drink, but mmm are they good. I'm still just a little mad at my niece Emily, who turned us onto this yummy addicting treat. I still have not bought one thing for Adam's Easter basket, I'm starting to feel a little panicky about this so, tomorrow I will be stopping at Target while Adam is at speech and o.t. and figuring out what we will be putting in that basket. Trying to lay low on the sugar so, this might be challenging and a bit tempting to just get candy. We'll see what I come up with.

2 cute stories.........

2009-04-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

Picture is Adam and Molly homecoming Oct.2008

Okay, this happened yesterday and just made me laugh so, thought I'd share it. We were talking to my niece Molly on the phone and Adam wanted to sing her a song with his guitar, luckily Molly was thrilled and Adam sang a song from High School Musical 3, "Can I have this dance". I was actually amazed at the fact that he knew almost the entire song. Molly loved it and asked Adam if he would come to her prom and dance with her??? Adam said without any hesitation "I would be honored" not only was it so funny how he said it but, I had no idea he knew that expression or how and when to say it. I asked him where he had heard that, he looked at me as though I was completely hopeless and said "Umm Chad said it to his girlfriend Taylor" well, who would have thought their child would learn such nice language skills from HSM!!

We had the phone on speaker (it's the only way Adam will talk to people) Molly started talking about her boyfriend, who is a foreign exchange student from Norway and asked what I thought about what she should do when he goes back home in July. He plans on coming back in 2010 to go to college here and he would like to try to stay in a long distance relationship. During this Adam was getting a little antsy and to make it so, that I could have a talk with my niece, I told Adam that Molly needed our help and what did he think she should do?? A) be in a long distance relationship and not get to see her boyfriend for a very long time. or B) go out with other people and see what happens when he comes back in 2010. Again, without hesitation Adam said "I think you should go out with other people" Then in an attempt to get the conversation focused back on him he said "Okay Molly, now I need your help with a problem........it's about my brother being far away should I A) keep loving him B) fight him or C) go see him... Being the funny Mom I am, I said or D) get a new brother and lets just say if looks could kill, I would not be here and he said "SHHHH no, no new brother. Molly gave him amazing advice, she told him she thought he should go with "keep loving him and go see him" I couldn't agree with her more!

Bike Ride

2009-04-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Friday we went on a 10 mile bike ride!! This was actually our 2nd bike ride of the year, a few weeks ago we had a rare 60 degree Sunday and we went to the same place for our first official bike ride of 2009. Adam was a little nervous the first time, he thought he had forgotten how. He just got rid of his training wheels last year, in August, I believe. And he didn't learn how to independently start off on his bike until September 2008. But, once he got the nerve up, the first few times I held his bike for him, he took off like a pro!! And quickly forgot that he was nervous!! I wish I could say it was another 60 degree day on Friday, but the high was only 48. It was a very brisk cool, but beautifully sunny day and we all have major spring fever!!! So, we loaded up the bikes and went to Cannon Falls bike trail which runs along the Cannon river. Though I wish it would have been a tad bit warmer, it was really nice to have the trail all to ourselves. We did encounter 3 other bikers that also had spring fever. Today we woke up to our front yard covered in snow! Normally fresh snow excites Adam, today he looked out at it and said "I'm not even going to go out and play in that!!" I tried to talk him into going out and making a snowbunny like we did last year, he said "NO, thanks" I hope we aren't starting a tradition with snow on Palm Sunday weekend. Last year it was a little fun, this year it just isn't fun!! We want warm weather,and green grass!

I forgot my camera on our first bike ride, but Friday we brought it along and made a couple videos!

April Fool's!!!!!!!

2009-04-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, Adam did not get a black eye!!! I am totally sorry!!!! But, we wanted to get Adam's big brother, who is the king of April fool's jokes!!!! We also got my sisters Adam's Auntie's ! (well, only one fell for it). I'm sorry to have gotten the rest of you though!! But, this is the first year we totally got Dylon!!! Adam loved doing this, he then made me sit and wanted me to have a "matching look", lucky me, I got the whole face done!!! Adam went to speech and O.T. therapy today with his fake black eye and fooled the entire office!! Looks like I might have a new career as a make-up artist!! I know this is terrible but Adam can't wait to go to religion class tonight and fool everyone. He also wants to stop in at Grandma Cookie's (my mom) house and fool her!! I know she will get a kick out of it, my Dad was very big into April fool's day. Which is probably were my boys and I got our horrible sense of humor! Again, sorry!!!!!!!!! but APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!

Adam's first black eye........

2009-04-01T07:47:00.001-07:00

And hopefully his last!! Adam was so excited to play softball with the neighbor kids last night (thank goodness it was not a baseball). Unfortunately it did not end well, but it could have been worse, it is only a black eye. And after some lovin' Adam is very proud of the "new look."

Kinda wordless Wednesday

2009-03-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Totally caught in the act of.........reading!!! Gotta LOVE it!!

Dylon update

2009-03-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted an update in a while, it is still hard for me to write about this. I keep waiting to wake up and Dylon will be home, and life will go back to how it was before. Really, I know this is so silly and stupid, and this is part of growing up, this is what I was preparing him for, but I guess I never thought he would be so far away. I miss him. But it helps to know that he is happy, he loves the adventure. We thought he was going to be able to come home for a visit this spring, he told me last week, things have changed and there is a chance he will not even be able to come home this summer. The rest of the conversation was a blur, I was trying not to cry, trying not to make him feel guilty or sad himself. He passed a test last week, not sure what it was for, I truthfully was concentrating on not crying. He has another test this week, if he passes it he will get to put his name on a waiting list to go to "A" school. If he gets into A school this summer he'll get to come home before he gets stationed somewhere else. So, this is the hope I hang on to. I did get to talk to him Monday and today, so I'm trying to be thankful, but tonight the crybaby in me is totally winning. Picture is from this past Christmas 2008 surprise visit

Happy belated World Down Syndrome Day!!!

2009-03-22T18:27:00.001-07:00

Happy belated World Down Syndrome Day!! When I told Adam it was World Down Syndrome day, he got a big smile and said "really!!, can we go???" I didn't say this but I was thinking, oh honey we are already there. I did tell him I didn't think there was anywhere to actually go for it, but it was a day to help educate the world about down syndrome. Thankfully he was fine with that answer. Then I told him about an awesome post I read, on one of my favorite blogs, scarehaircare and how her daughter the "Love Magnet" thought everyone should make chocolate birthday cake with sprinkles to celebrate(she also thought their should be candles, but I totally forgot that part!! next year we will add candles) first Adam giggled and said "Love Magnet is kinda a weird name for a little girl" I didn't even attempt to explain how it was her "blog name" because we already have issues with Adam having different names every hour, I just said "I think it's kinda cute" Adam smiled and said "yeah, it is", he then said how he thought that she had a GREAT IDEA!!! and we should celebrate that way also. I totally agreed, and we got busy!! Love Magnet, you are one smart cookie, and this is totally going to be a tradition for us!!!! We highly recommend it! But don't forget the candles, I'm kinda bummed I did, I know Adam would have loved that!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-18T20:08:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!

2009-03-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

2009-03-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

Adam and Brittany celebrating her 13th bday!!

Is it just me, or does he not look a little like Bob the builder here :)

My niece who also happens to be our godchild, came and stayed with us for a few days during her spring break. Adam was in ~heaven~!!! We went to the Children's museum, and celebrated her birthday at a Japanese steak house. Adam was not ready for her to go home, though if we waited until he was ready Brittany would be a very, very, old lady. People leaving has never been easy for Adam. When ever we have a play date or the neighbor kids are over, it always ends with Adam in a puddle of tears. It probably sounds like we don't do it enough, but we really really do. I don't get it. I wish I could help him. But everything we have tried, nothing seems to work. I think it's interesting that if we go to one of his Special Olympic activities where his friends also are at, he has no problem leaving them without crying. And if he is at a friends house and the play date is over he never cries when he has to go. It is only when friends/cousins leave our home. He wants everyone to live us!!!! And as you can tell from the above pictures he is still up to his same tricks with the peace sign. :)

2009-03-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

Cheryl over at Ruby's Life and Beverly at Adventures of Home Schooling Noah sweetly gave me this award. This is my first blog award, I humbly say thank you and it put a smile on my face. Though writing is not really my thing, I do love sharing my boys which are my pride and joy. And it is nice to know that others actually do come here. Again Thank you.

Now I am suppose to list 7 things I love and pass the award to 7 blogs I love, so here it goes:

1. My darling hubby aka Mr. Fun aka Brian

2. My beautiful boys Dylon and Adam

3. Family and Friends

4. curling up with a good book

5. flowers

6. long walks on nice days

7. reading blogs!!!!!!!

And the hard part picking just 7 blogs that I love to read: (Cheryl and Beverly I realize you already got this award but both of your blogs are in my top 7, totally understand if you pass on doing it again, though :) )

1. Ruby's Life

2. Adventure's of home schooling Noah

3. Class of 2008

4. Livin for the Love

5. Garden of Eagan

6. Monkey Musings

7. The Unknown Contributor

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

I pledged did you???

2009-03-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

Please make the pledge!!!! I don't think Adam knows the "r" word. My dream is that I will never have to explain it to him....... I will never have to wipe away his tears and tell him I don't know why anyone would use that word....... If we all make the pledge to wipe out this word, my dream and many others could come true.....

Games

2009-03-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

Even before home schooling I have always loved using games as learning tools!!! I love how kids think they are just playing and really they are getting so much more out of it than meets the eye! Adam LOVES games, I think we own every game Target sells and then some. I really should clean out our "game closet" because not all of the games are as great as they looked. When Adam was 4, I was so excited that he could play Uno. This was like a "big kid" game and to tell you the truth, though I loved Hi-Ho Cherry-O, I was a little burned out of it. Adam became obsessed with Uno!! We played it a hundred times a day (maybe a slight exaggeration). But we would have to buy a new deck every 6 months or so, because the cards would get so worn (I told you we played a lot!) Then he moved onto Trouble and I really loved how I saw him being able to move 2,or 4 more spaces without even counting it out, and figuring out in his head how many more spaces he needed to get Mom out! We also started noticing this kid is extremely lucky, we don't let him win, we don't let him cheat and 9 times out of 10 he wins!!! We are so taking him to Las Vegas when he turns 21!

I came across this really neat game (pictured above) "the Storybook game". It is only $4.99 at Target (at my Target it was on the end cap with the Uno cards :) ) so, you can't beat the price and it can really be a great tool for speech. In a nutshell the object of the game is you have a deck of cards with different pictures of objects and characters and the word for it underneath (good for reading too) Players take turns making up a story using the cards. The player who is able to remember the most cards, in order, as used in a story wins. Adam loves making up stories, and they can get pretty silly. But, I've also noticed he is getting better with his stories, he is getting more descriptive and having a lot of fun doing it! Also a good memory tool, though Adam's memory is amazing, mine however, not so great so, it is also good for me!!!

Another game that has just recently become Adam's new obsession is Yahtzee. While reading "Teaching Math to People with Down Syndrome and other Hands-On Learners" (totally recommend this book) they suggested this game. When Adam was 7 my Mom gave him this game for his birthday. I remembered playing that game as a child and how much fun it was, and how grown up I felt when I finally got to play it. I remembered playing it with Dylon and how much he liked it, sadly I thought Adam will probably never be able to "get" this game, much to complicated. I smiled and said "thank you, Adam you'll love this game" and after everyone left I put it in the "game closet" and never opened it. I don't really think Adam would have been ready yet, but I should have tried. Shame on me for thinking Adam couldn't play Yahtzee!! I am embarrassed for admitting thinking this, because I'm always telling people you can't put limitations... people with down syndrome can doing anything if given a chance...you can't put them in a box...yadda yadda!!!! And I did the exact thing I can't stand. Thankfully, after reading how this game is a great tool once you've gotten some math skills, I got his never opened before game out and you know what, we are so going to Las Vegas when he is 21 (okay, I have never even been there, we are not gamblers but hmmmm we might start)!!!!!!!! Adam totally gets it!! It is a great math game. And my son has gotten triple Yahtzee not once but 2 times!!! In my entire life I have only ever gotten double Yahtzee. So, note to self: practice what you preach, there are no limits!!!

Tell me your kids favorite games, especially learning ones!!! (although I guess they are all probably learning ones)

New glasses

2009-03-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday we went to a routine eye Dr. appointment. Adam's prescription changed a little so, we needed to get new glasses. While I was scheduling our next appointment, Adam went over to look at the glasses. By the time I got over there he had picked out the glasses he wanted. From the girl section...... I told Adam and he said "no these are rock star glasses" I tried showing him some other glasses that were "rock star" glasses, but he refused. And since they don't have any pink or hearts or flowers on them and after he put them on I actually thought they looked really cute on him. Okay maybe I shouldn't use the word cute, I thought they looked really good on him. The lady working there agreed and she said she thought really they were "unisex" so I let Adam for the first time ever pick out his own glasses. Mr. Fun was a little worried about what they were going to look like after he heard the story last Tuesday. Yesterday they called, they were ready to be picked up. Mr. Fun and Adam went to pick them up and he said when he saw them on the counter he was not happy with what I let Adam pick out, but once he put them on, he also thought they looked good on him. Thankfully everyone is happy and hopefully Adam will wear these glasses more than his last pair.

2009-03-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

I had some things I needed to mail to Dylon today, so Adam decided to write a letter to throw into the package. This is the letter he wrote. He did such a nice job, I had to take a picture of it!! He came up with the entire letter himself, and he only needed help with spelling the words: write, back, and else. His handwriting has improved so much since we started home schooling. I don't think it is because we are doing anything better, I think it is just simply less distractions. I have a feeling Adam will be checking the mailbox now every day until he gets his letter from brother!!

Our new student....meow

2009-03-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

We made a "school room" in our downstairs spare bedroom. I really like the concept of unschooling and not really having a schedule and teaching just any and everywhere but, when you have a child that really has a hard time focusing and does best with a schedule it just wouldn't be the most productive way to teach Adam. Every once in a while Adam asks if Sam our 9 year old golden retriever can come to school with him, since Sam is the mellowest dog I've ever known we always say yes to this. Our cat we usually don't let in. She also is old, 16 to be exact, but mellow she is not. She wants to be in the middle of whatever is going on purring loudly, knocking things over, etc. Today the door did not get closed all the way and our cat decided just because you can't teach an old dog anything doesn't mean you can't teach an old cat. She was a very good student.( for about 2 minutes)

"Cousin"

2009-03-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

Adam has many cousins, he knows who his cousins are, he loves his cousins, but only one gets called "Cousin" as their name. That would be his beloved Emily. Emily was Adam's pca last summer and stayed with us, during this time Adam became very attached to her. Adam would be sad when she would go home for the weekends, and would wake up early on Monday mornings anticipating her return. We had many tears when summer ended and Emily went off to college again (notice I said we, I loved having her with us as much if not more than Adam did). Cousin was in town this weekend with some of her college for a kinda like field trip I guess you'd call it to the Mall of America. You know I must really love this girl if I go to the Mall of America (ugggg) on a Saturday (double ugggg) with Adam!!!!!!! We had a nice visit Adam snuck that kiss right when I clicked the button, no, no one told him to kiss her, he just snuck it really quick and I captured it. Much better than the peace sign I think. We can't wait for this summer, Emily will be coming and staying with us again!!!!

American Idol

2009-02-26T16:22:00.001-08:00

We are HUGE American Idol fans here. Adam is probably the biggest fan I know though, he actually watches American Idol year round. We tivo the shows and so for us American Idol is never actually over.(hey, it's better than barney!) So far, Adam L-O-V-E-S the young man named Adam ;). In my Adam's words "he totally rocks!!" I also am a fan, but I really love Danny.... We'll see it's a little early to tell. The red headed girl last night that sang heart "alone" was also one of my favorites. Adam does not and has never liked any of the girls.... I'm sure this will all change in a few years!!

If you are an American Idol fan and you have a wii you have to get the American Idol game. We have 1&2. It is actually a karokee game but after you sing Randy, Paula, and Simon judge you. You can play in a mode were someone actually gets kicked off. It is a very fun game. You also get to change their outfits, hairstyle, etc. (Adam loves this part) and it is also a learning tool, Adam is reading along as he sings. He is sometimes ahead of the singer in the background so we know he is actually reading along. I'm just sayin this game is fun, fun, fun!!!

Dylon update

2009-02-26T16:14:00.000-08:00

Dylon has completed his first patrol. He is very happy to be on "ground", and so am I!!!! Yeaa, he got a phone today so, now I will be able to call him. (remember his phone got stolen in Puerto Rico) When we talked to him Adam was a little confused because Dylon used the wording that he "was home" and to say Adam was excited was an understatement, when we explained that he was still in Miami we had many tears.... Adam misses his brother so much, as do we all. Ugg, no one ever told me how hard it is to let your children grow up. I actually think my parents were thrilled to see me move out hmmmm I'll have to talk to my mom about that one. Dylon will be going out again towards the end of March for about a month and then he is hoping to come to his real "home" end of April/May, this hope is what will keep me going.

My busy guy~

2009-02-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Adam participated in a "mock" swim meet, with another Special Olympics team. It was a great idea to give them a feel for what the up and coming Area swim meet will be like. Adam's swimming has come so far, since last year. Last year he needed a life jacket to swim the length of the pool, this year he swims it without a life jacket, and he swims it strongly. He has also learned how to swim the backstroke, the butterfly, and breaststroke. Last year he only knew the freestyle. This is all thanks to his amazing coach, Coach Keanne. I can't praise him enough, he volunteers his time and knowledge 7 days a week all year long. Adam usually swims 4 days a week. Sometimes more sometimes less. We have seen this help in many areas in his life both behavioral and physical. We truly feel blessed to have found this amazing man (Thank you Leah, and Angela for hooking us up).

Today for the 3rd Sunday now, we went skiing. Adam is improving every time! We saw the most improvement today. We had Adam take a private lesson, since Mr. fun and I both know when we are not the best teachers for the job. They did teach him how to snow plow!!! Something we have been working on with him but not mastering. Adam has now mastered it! Sadly we wont be able to go next Sunday so, we hope this skill is not lost, and he picks right back up were we left the next Sunday. If I can ever figure out how to post videos I will get his swimming and skiing ones up.

I hope this doesn't sound like bragging. Though I realize it is just that.(I'm a proud momma, what can I say) My main reason to start this blog was in hopes that someone who just found out their child had down syndrome would see how typical their life could and would still be. So, it is for that reason I share~

Another New Hero

2009-02-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to say he's from Minnesota, although I wish he was in my town. I love these kind of stories. Grab a tissue and enjoy............

Making Valentines

2009-02-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

Adam has been very busy making Valentines, not sure how this teacher didn't notice he kept dropping one of the "n"s in Valentines but obviously this is what happens when I do not get my 2 full cups of tea and settle for only one. I still think they turned out pretty darn cute!!! We traced his hand and then cut it out and had fun saying "I love you" in sign language and of course his favorite peace!!! Luckily he was in an agreeable mood so I could talk him into having the peace sign upright and not sideways!!! Are you ready for Valentines???

Oh what a week

2009-02-10T20:13:00.001-08:00

Last week was crazy busy for us. First Monday I got my long awaited phone call from Dylon!!! It was so great to hear him, he was in Puerto Rico for a few days. They didn't get the break to watch the super bowl as planned because they were very busy protecting our homeland :). This is Dylon's first patrol out at sea, the first day they left North Carolina the weather was pretty bad and they had swells 24 ft high (or so Dylon says) and he was the only new one on board and one of the only ones not to get sea sick!!!! They were part of a rescuing of 242 migrants from Haiti, on a very small unsea worthy sailboat. He told me "Mom if we hadn't gotten them noway would they have lived!!" Sadly there was even a baby, small children, and a very pregnant woman crammed on this boat. It makes me sad to think just how bad it is there that you would risk your children's and your life. Monday evening in Puerto Rico Dylon got pick pocketed they stole his camera (huge bummer he said he had some amazing pictures and also just the fact that it was his first patrol) and his cell phone. Luckily not his wallet! But then on Tuesday he used his cash card at an ATM and got his cash and walked away without his card!!! Luckily he remembered this went back and of course it was not there but he canceled his card asap. Looks like he still needs his momma:).

Tuesday was also my mom's 79th birthday, we had a small birthday dinner at my house for her and I was happy that Dylon was able to call and talk to Grandma. Adam gave his grandma a gift certificate to see the movie "hotel for dogs" and out to lunch. We went Friday and had a great time, the movie was actually better than I thought it would be so, that was a bonus for me!

Friday night we went to Jeremy Camp concert!!! He is an amazing christian singer!!! Adam was so excited, we had an amazing time. And if you ever have the chance to go see him I highly recommend it!!!

Sunday for the first time Adam went skiing with Special Olympics at Afton Alps. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we had so much fun. Adam did better than we thought he would. We did try skiing when Adam was 4, but really he was like a rag doll and we gave up very quickly, so I wouldn't call that time skiing. And ever since Adam has wanted nothing to do with it. Sunday we didn't ask we just said "wow, were going skiing it's going to be so much fun" and to my surprise he just went with it. He seemed pretty comfortable with the skis and so we had him ride up the bunny hill on the "magic carpet" without any problems although he kept asking to go on the chair lifts!! We told him he needed to practice on the little hill first. He went down around 5-6 times and then we let him ride up the chair lift with Mr. fun of course, to the higher point of the bunny hill and he went down with his Dad. Looks like we might have a skier!! I will post video's of our adventure soon. We also have been going ice skating now that the weather isn't 40 below!!!!!! Hopefully this nicer weather is here to stay, cause I just can't handle any more days with temperatures lower than 30.

A very Special day.........

2009-02-01T17:28:00.000-08:00

"For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to Him." l Samuel1:27

Another milestone, to remind me my baby is growing up!!! Adam had his first Holy Communion today. We have been talking and getting ready for this for a while now, we felt Adam was ready and had a very good understanding of the meaning of this day. For a while now when we would go up for communion and Adam for a blessing, he would ask the pastors if he could have communion so, even though really kids have their first communion at our church in 5th grade, Adam is only in 3rd (but I held him back so he actually should be in 4th) we went ahead and let Adam have his wish. I think the first time Adam asked he was 5 and our pastor really wanted to do it then he told us "you know he probably is more ready than any of us" I thought that was so nice of him. Maybe he was ready but I wanted to make sure he really had more of an understanding of the importance and specialness of the event. Now at 10 I believe he really "got it" and yes, probably more than most of us do. We wish Dylon could have been with us, Adam did wear one of Dylon's cross necklace that he got in Africa, so we felt like his presence was with us. Last night Adam asked if Dylon was in Heaven, I think because it has been so long since we have been able to talk to him on the phone even. He is still out on a patrol we were hoping for a phone call today, but maybe tomorrow. We know though that big brother is very proud of his little brother and we are too! Congratulations Adam!

Adam's first book

2009-01-27T20:47:00.000-08:00

Five years ago I brought Adam to a photo shoot for a children's book. We had a lot of fun and then I never heard anything..........Last summer we got a call and they asked if we would come back the book was in it's final stages and they needed more pictures. We went had more fun!! And never heard anything.......until......today!!!! I got an email saying the book will be out in May actually 2 books, an ABC and color book and that it is in the woodbine house catalog and web. So of course I went to their site http://www.woodbinehouse.com/ and Adam made the cover of the ABC book!!!!!! He is the little cutie eating an ice cream cone!!! He is so little in that picture, seems like a life time ago. Guess I just had to brag :) plus it looks like a cute book, umm okay I might be a little bias. Adam is of course not the least bit impressed, when we showed him, he was like "oh yeah" he is such a diva! :) Okay, I have to go make my order. I can't wait to see if he made any more pages, especially any of the pictures they took last summer.

Peace...out

2009-01-24T14:16:00.000-08:00

This picture I took the other day, I think it goes great with the shirt. :)

Purple belt

2009-01-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

Adam had his belt promotion at karate this morning. He earned his purple belt, in 2 1/2 years he should be up to his black belt! Guess we'll really have to watch out then. :) After the ceremony we took some group shots, I'd love to post mine, but since I don't have permission to post everyone in his class I really probably shouldn't. But lets just say Adam was showing his "Adamtude" and in all the group shots he has the sideways peace sign. He is the smallest child in the class so of course he is in the front row. :) I didn't even realize he did this until we got home and I was checking out the pictures on the computer. Although it really didn't surprise me.

One of my hero's Pablo Pineda

2009-01-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

Interview: "Down Syndrome is not a Disease, but Another Personal Characteristic" An interview by Digital Solidarity (Solidaridad Digital) with Pablo Pineda, Spain Pablo Pineda is the first person with Down Syndrome to obtain a major degree from a regular university on Spain. Not quite satisfied with such an achievement, he is currently studying educational psychology, while working at the municipality of Málaga, Spain. His success has been accompanied by constant struggle against prejudice, particularly that surrounding Down syndrome, not a rose garden. Pablo Pineda told us that this type of disability is not a disease, but: "another personal characteristic." During a recent "Documentos TV", a program of Spanish Television (Televisión Española), Pablo Pineda demonstrated how his disability did not limit him from conducting a regular life. Following are highlights from the interview. Was it very hard for you being in the university? Yes, it has been very hard to confront the existing prejudice regarding Down Syndrome and at the same time to deal with the academic demands of higher education. Yet these challenges have also been gratifying. What prejudices exist around Down syndrome? First I do not consider that Down Syndrome is a disease. For me it is a personal characteristic. I am fine and healthy. We must not be treated as sick. There are other prejudices and you could write a book about them. There are reactions like pity, the misconception that we are not intelligent, and a long list of social and moral incorrect misinterpretations. Fortunately, we are overcoming some misconceptions. I am just doing my part and demonstrating that I am as competent as anyone. Do you know if the situation of persons with Down syndrome is better in other countries? Italy is the only European country I know of where things are better for persons with Down syndrome. This has to do with the democratic tradition of that country. The disability issues have been considered there for a long time. As for Spain, with a recent democratic history, disability issues are now being addressed, and in general, things are not bad. We can say that Spain and Italy are the leading countries in this field. That is good, yet there is a lot to be done. How do you get along with your classmates and teachers? There was a surprise that was overcome: nobody expects to have a person with Down syndrome as a classmate, and after that my communication with the rest of the students was fine, and soon I made friends in all the classes. I found old companions in the education psychology classes and that was good. As for the teachers I am just one more, since I do not need anything special. They teach the lessons and I take notes. What do you like most about the university? Without doubt the best things are sharing with my classmates and participating in all the activities. I enjoy independence. Anyone attending a university campus knows that you do what you want, no one is controlling you. Being at the Institute emphasizes this sense of liberty. What would you like to do in the future? I want to work. Where... we will see. As everybody else I want to work in my field, in the area of education. What message would you like to send to society? I would like to become an example. I want to demonstrate that if one puts into work whatever one is able, you can do what you want. But beside what I was able to achieve, I also expect society to do its part. I do not want this to be a one way effort. This is a start of success and shows people that we are as competent as the rest. If you are the one who is setting up the barriers, you are then destroying possibilities for others. And, on the other hand it is essential for society to understand all of these things.

Adam home school

2009-01-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

Home schooling continues to be going good at our home. And the doubts that I had (yes, I questioned if we were doing the right thing for him, for me, for us) disappear more and more each day. Adam is a happier boy, not to say he was unhappy before but school did stress him and you could see it and the relief of Fridays,and the sadness of Sundays when he knew he had to go the next morning are now over. He actually had a huge smile on his face tonight when we said you have school tomorrow. Another positive is the great feeling we get when he learns something new and we are part of it. When he was little we had a LOT of those moments, but once he started school full time we kinda laid off the teaching some what. He would come home exhausted and we wanted him to have "down time". We would still work on spelling words (the years he had them) and reading at night but that's really about it. And I forgot how great it is to be a part of that "ahaaa moment" and the feeling of accomplishment, and yes, this is what I'm here for, this is exactly what God wants me to be doing. We had one of those moments this week. Let me share it with you.

Adam learned how to "skip count" by 5's and 10's by the end of first grade. He never "got" counting by 2's, just for some reason didn't "get it". This school year sadly he lost counting by 5's and 10's you know the saying if you don't use it you lose it, well, totally true in this case. Luckily though it came back easily. We started to tackle skip counting by 2's. Adam would say "this is to HARD!!!" "I can't do it" "Ugggg I hate counting by 2's" I started to think he just might not ever be able to count by 2's and that's okay. But, I didn't stop because I also knew he was a little smarty :) and you know what, it clicked this week. You actually could see it just "click" and my boy is skip counting by 2's pro!!! Loves getting the craft sticks out (aka Popsicle sticks) and can count by 2's like he's been doing it for years :) I got to see this, I got to be a part of this, I got to be the one to hug him tight and tell him how proud I was of him. Of course, I had to remind him of all his "It's to hard for me, I can't, I don't want to blah blah blah". He smiled when I was reminding him of this and just said "yea, I can do it". I told him to not forget that! Yes, things will be hard, but don't give up, because you can do it!!!!! I'm just sayin' this is so worth it!!!

Dylon US CG post

2009-01-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Dylon will be shipping out (okay, so I totally do not know the write wording for this. I'm sure this will make Dylon's eyeballs roll :) ) for a 35 day patrol on a cutter. This is his first patrol, not sure if he is nervous but I can say that mom is. Before Christmas Dylon called and told me he had passed a test to become a "rescue swimmer" I could hear the pride in his voice, but I had visions of the movie "The Guardian" dancing in my head and really didn't hear much more of the conversation. I was able to get out "did they make you do this?" and he tells me "no, of course not, he wanted to." Doesn't surprise me. Yes, I'm proud I guess...... but this is my little boy we are talking about. So, I will be praying a few extra prayers that everything will be fine and he wont have to use any "rescue swimming".

Today is National Sanctity of Human Life day~

2009-01-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
White House News En Español
All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique, and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world. We also underscore our dedication to heeding this message of conscience by speaking up for the weak and voiceless among us.
The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My Administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing Federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence, and funding crisis pregnancy programs. In 2002, I was honored to sign into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which extends legal protection to children who survive an abortion attempt. I signed legislation in 2003 to ban the cruel practice of partial-birth abortion, and that law represents our commitment to building a culture of life in America. Also, I was proud to sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, which allows authorities to charge a person who causes death or injury to a child in the womb with a separate offense in addition to any charges relating to the mother.
America is a caring Nation, and our values should guide us as we harness the gifts of science. In our zeal for new treatments and cures, we must never abandon our fundamental morals. We can achieve the great breakthroughs we all seek with reverence for the gift of life.
The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women. On this day and throughout the year, we aspire to build a society in which every child is welcome in life and protected in law. We also encourage more of our fellow Americans to join our just and noble cause. History tells us that with a cause rooted in our deepest principles and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens, we will prevail.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 18, 2009, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
GEORGE W. BUSH

I have a problem......

2009-01-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, so if I'm gonna have a problem, I guess this is the kind of problem I can live with. The other night I was going through pictures, and noticed this problem. And trust me this is just a very small sampling of my "sideways peace sign monster". Not sure when and why this started, but all I know is that he is very fast!!! I think I have a great shot and as soon as I'm clicking he throws up his peace sign!!! Adam thinks it's very funny! I realize this truly isn't a "problem" but when your trying to get ready to go scrap booking (yes, Lisa I'm really working on it) it is kinda a problem. One I can live with, and one I promise not to complain or whine about. But never the less a problem.

Picture in hospital gown the other day and top picture, are from our "heart dr" appt. we had the first week in December. We had an awesome check up!!! (Adam had complete a.v. canal surgery at 2 months old and still has a leaky mitral valve)

Adamtude

2009-01-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

Happy 21st Birthday Dylon!!!!!!

2009-01-03T17:56:00.000-08:00

I can't believe one of my babies is 21!!!!!!!! Doesn't matter how old you get Dylon, you'll always be my baby!! Happy Birthday Sunshine, wish I could give you a birthday hug right now, but I'm very thankful I got to celebrate your 21st birthday with you when you were here!!!! We're so proud of you, and we love you so much!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wishing you all a Happy and Blessed 2009

2009-01-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

Well, let me just say, I had the best most amazing surprise Christmas Eve evening.... my son Dylon totally SURPRISED me with coming home!!!! He knew for 2 weeks and kept it a complete secret from all. It was a great surprise, but, mmmm do you know the amount of tears he could have saved me from??? (It's okay I forgive you :) Dylon. I loved you coming home). Truly words can't express how blessed I felt to have him home, if only for 3 1/2 days. We got to celebrate his birthday while he was here, he will be 21 tomorrow!!! Though it was much to short of a visit it was wonderful!!!!!

Home schooling has been on Christmas break, we are following for the most part our local district calendar. School will start back up on Monday. It is a lot of work, I wont lie, but we are already seeing great benefits from this. After the first week I asked my husband if it was my imagination or did Adam seem calmer and less defiant to him also, he said he also saw this and he added he thought he played independently better. Adam usually has a hard time just playing by himself if we don't have friends over he wants Mom or Dad entertaining him 24/7. Also, his writing is better than we have ever seen it. I think this is in part to less distractions we can offer at home. He has not once refused to do work and actually really seems to enjoy "school time" even when we are doing writing and math his 2 least favorite subjects. I do realize we are probably still in the honeymoon phase but at least it is starting out positive. Our last day before Christmas break we did have a Christmas party at our home with another family that home schools, they have 3 kids and it was a lot of fun. We've also went on our first field trip with this family. The break has been nice but I'm looking forward to getting back to the routine we came up with. I plan to blog more about our progress or lack of .......

2008 has been full of many changes for our family, it is surly a year I will forever remember, Here's hoping for a Happy Healthy and Blessed 2009!!!

A new chapter begins.........

2008-12-03T20:33:00.001-08:00

Yes, we are starting a new chapter in this thing we call life. Most of my chapters are sleepers, same old, same old but this is the chapter were people are saying "wow, I didn't see that coming". Today was the last day of public school for Adam. Yep, you read it right, we had an IEP meeting on Monday and announced to our team that we had decided to take Adam out of school and begin home schooling. The first reaction was of shock and horror and I'm pretty sure I got some glares that looked pretty hateful. But, I am happy and thankful to say by the end of the meeting every single person on Adam's team was fully supporting us and understood our reasoning.

First off let me say we are not anti-school and truly our goal is to someday have Adam back in the public school system. If I could give you the best case scenario it would be for us to home school Adam for the next 2 and a half years and by middle school have Adam back in. Who knows maybe I'll change my mind. Maybe it will work out so great we'll never go back or maybe he'll be back next year. I'm not putting anything in black in white (well, besides this) and we will just see what happens.

Now the big question....WHY???? This year has been quite frankly the school year from hell!!! With that said might I add for every negative story I have that has happened this year I have 3 positive stories that have happened at this school over the years. Adam has gone to this school since kindergarten, he is now in 3rd grade. He was in a "center based" program were he had a special ed. classroom and a "mainstream" classroom. For the last 3 years (kindy-2nd grade) he had the same amazing special ed. teacher, who plain and simple just "got" my son. She saw how smart he was and challenged him and had high expectations of him. She was loving and kind without being a wimp. The kids respected her and knew she meant business even though she was fun. Adam loved work time, he loved to show off for her and make her proud!! He never once had any problems during work time. He did have his moments of "testing" this occurred during lunch, recess, phy ed. and free play times, not everyday but if there was a problem those were the times they'd happen. This year we got a new special ed. teacher, I was very excited to find out it would be a man teacher. Adam LOVES guys, I thought this would be great for him. This was a new teacher to our school. I don't even know were to start at every thing that happened lets just say it started out terrible, he was clueless, he physically restrained my son the 3rd day of school. My son who never ever had ever had the need to be restrained, and to make it even better he did not notify my husband and I about this, (we have a communication notebook that is sent back and forth everyday) luckily my son is very verbal and he told me about it. Adam does tell stories and he is a pretty good liar, but he is not that good, I can always ask enough questions to tell if it is the truth or not. I knew he was telling the truth, and to make matters worse there were no other adults in the room when this happened. I pulled Adam out of school because of this, there were many more smaller things that were also happening I don't want to bore you with the crazy details, but trust me I had quite the list in only the first 2 weeks of school. This teacher did admit to restraining my son, and that is the only reason I agreed to "continue to work" with him. I was glad that he wasn't a liar, and the special ed. director said he was "working" with them and that he was really trying. Adam lasted in the class for 3 days and I pulled him out again. This time at 11:34 am this teacher called me and left a message on our voicemail he was very excited saying "yes, this is Adam's teacher calling to tell you Adam just called one of my para's the "f" word, he actually called her a F***er! If you'd like to talk to me about this please call" Umm yes, I wanted to talk about this, Adam had never ever ever swore at school ever!!! I knew without a doubt that Adam had never heard that word before that day, Iwas freaking!! Because I knew that once Adam knew that word, we would hear it when ever he needed to get our attention. Adam's swear word up to that point were "stupid" and "So" (he says sooo really snotty and it drives me nuts!) So, I call and tell this teacher Adam had to have just heard that word today, do any of the students use this word? No, he tells me and continues to say how Adam said it loud enough for another para to have heard it also and he obviously had heard the word before. Because you see he knows my son, better than I, I guess. He even asks me "well, what kind of music do you listen to " after I had just got done telling him how we monitor his t.v. his movies, his play dates, everything. I did tell him I was offended he would even have to ask me that!

When Adam got home I asked him what happened, he said "my teacher called you" I said oh yes, he did and I heard you said a very naughty word what was it? he says "stupid" I say no, no that's not what you said he says "sooo" (I told you these are his swear words) I said no, but I could also tell that he really couldn't remember so I took out his communication notebook and it said Adam got angry at para and said "leave me alone f***er" so I say to Adam, "you got really mad and said leave me alone" and then Adam said "father" but how Adam says father sounds more like fader which could sound like f***er. Let's just say "thank God" was coming out of my mouth. You see if Adam had said f***er he would have loved to share that with me. He's funny like that. He has always loved to tell on himself :) and when Adam is mad at Mr. fun aka Dad, he always says "Leave me alone FADER" also Adam is a good story teller but, he is not that cunning to come up with a word that would sound like f***er. It gets better, Adam has a behavior chart that they had started and he was to carry it to each subject and get a sticker if he was doing well. At the end of the day it was sent home and we would look it over and I then could see when and where he had a problem. If he got all stickers at school he would get a little treat. Well, not only did this teacher write out the actual word in his communication notebook but he also wrote the word out on Adam's chart, the chart that he carries around and looks at!! Umm, Adam is smart he can sound many words out, I just about threw up when I saw it!! Luckily Adam hadn't paid any attention to it, I was wondering how many other kids saw this word.

So, I bring Adam to school, tell this teacher what I had figured out and have Adam say what he had told me, I ask the teacher, "so, what did you just hear" he very cockily says "well, right now I heard father" but my para was 100 % sure what she heard" then the para that had "overheard " came in classroom and he very excitedly call her over and asks her exactly what she heard yesterday she says "well, I thought I heard father, but Jane doe was sure she heard a k in there" I wish I had a picture of his face, his jaw just about hit the floor!! This lady didn't hear that Adam calls his Dad, father when he is mad, she hadn't heard anything she just walked in. This teacher continued to say that "he still stood by his para" Umm really well maybe when a child that has never swore before and has speech issues maybe just maybe you should always question it!!!! Uggg I'm getting mad all over again!!!

Long story, longer Adam did get put into a new classroom, but sadly Adam had found out in that short of time that it was an option for him to refuse to do his work. You see he never knew that could be an option and he always enjoyed working and showing off. But, hey who would want to work if you didn't have to. This new teacher I must say was very kind, and did come up with some great ideas for his behavior. She really tried in this area I believe 110% but, at conferences it came out that Adam didn't have math anymore, because when her class has math Adam goes into 3rd grade for units and "really at his age the socialization is more important than academics" Umm really huh, wish they would of asked me what I thought was more important. Adam is smart, people with down syndrome have gotten 2 year associate degrees, Adam is smart, but without being taught math and letting him refuse to do school work he will not reach his fullest potential!!! Maybe Adam wont want to go to college, that's totally fine with me, but what if he does want to go.... I need to give him the tools he will need to be able to do what ever he wants. Without these basic tools he wont have many choices. And this is why we decided to home school. We did a lot of research, a lot of prayer, a lot of going back and forth... But, in my heart I knew this is what we were suppose to do. Mr. fun at first thought I was crazy, I think but even he started to feel strongly about home schooling. It's hard to do when you know amazing people before us fought so hard to get our kids the right to go to school. But, that is what is so great about the U.S. we have a choice to do public school or to home school. I don't think this if for everyone, but, I do think this is what our son needs right now. If anyone would have told me we would be doing this a few years ago, I would have laughed and said "never"!! guess that's why you never should say never!!!

I should have titled this "A new novel" sorry this got so long!!!

Thankful............

2008-11-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!! I haven't blogged lately, I've been in a funk about the holidays. This is the first time not having all my "boys" with me. And I have been very busy at my own pity parties. But, I have kinda awoken, and I do see how much I have to be thankful for. All of my family is very healthy, Dylon is doing "his dream" in the Coast Guard, I have amazing family and friends, a great community in which I live, and though Dylon is not home, we talk on the phone (not as much as I'd like :) hint, hint Dylon :0) ) and we will see each other hopefully sooner then later. My heart goes out to those who have recently lost a loved one, especially those who have lost a child, I can't imagine that loss.............. Though the economy might be bad, truly the majority of us in the US don't really know "bad" and for that I am also thankful. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and if your blessed with all your kids today, give them an extra tight hug~

Almost wordless Wednesday on Friday

2008-11-14T09:47:00.001-08:00

You can give him a respectable haircut but............he's still got "Adamtude"!!!!

INTRODUCING......................

2008-11-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

Can you say "MISCOMMUNICATION"???? We went to get Adam's hair cut today, Adam found a hair style he wanted, so we brought the picture of Troy Bolten (aka Zac Efron) in so there would be no miscommunication... but obviously I should have made sure she saw what I saw.... Luckily, Adam is ADORABLE :) it just makes me a little frustrated when you bring a picture of a hair style that is over the ears and a bit longer in the back and they totally cut a different look!! I didn't say anything because I wanted Adam to like it..........But, really this looks NOTHING like the picture we brought in!! Looks like no one will be mistaking Adam for a girl these days :) To Bad big brother isn't here, he'd be so happy and proud!!! I'm still in a bit of shock. I know it's only hair, I just wasn't prepared for this.

HAPPY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

You have always been perfect, but now you are a perfect 10!!!! I can not believe you are 10 years old!!!! Tis' true time flys when your having fun!! And my darling baby doll face, angel eyes you have given us tons of fun!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Who would've thought??

2008-11-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought that I needed to bring tissues to High School Musical 3, but, I should have!!! Okay, so I'm thinking it kinda has to do with the "change" that is going on in my home, but my friend that was with me said she got teary also (possibly she was being kind :) ) Yes, Tues. Oct. 4 2008 changed things big time here and I haven't even been able to write about it. Dylon left......... (after he voted) for Miami Florida. He drove so he'd be able to have his car with him. Dylon will probably never live at home again. Yes, he will visit (he better) yes, his room has a LOT of his things still in it, but I know he is now no longer a resident in: insert my address. He won't be here for Thanksgiving and not sure about Christmas (please, pray that he will be able to come home for Christmas!!) not really sure when we will get to see him!!! I would be doing much better if I had a date!! I know, I know, kids grow up they move out, this is natural and part of life. I mean even in Disney, High School Musical the kids have to grow up and move on. Adam is missing his big brother big time and if he totally understood there will not be a High School Musical 4 with the same people in the High School, he would have needed tissues too!!! He instead practically danced all the way to our car, and has insisted on us calling him Troy, for the rest of the evening :0)!! Truly if you haven't seen it, you should we give it 2 thumbs up!!

Wordless Wednesday on Friday

2008-11-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

What to write, what to say????

2008-11-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure how to write/word a blog about our new President......Until.....I went to http://mommylife.net I have been following this blog for a little over a month now. Barbara is one smart cookie, and I seem to share many of her views, I can't say enough about what a talented writer she is!!!! She is also a very very classy lady, please check her blog out, and the one she wrote today titled "As we welcome President Obama" is truly the blog I wish I would have came up with........ So I'm not writing one, I'm just saying, if ya wanna know what I wish I would have wrote go check it out ;)

Halloween is offically over

2008-11-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that Halloween is now over for us. This year it felt like it would never end!!! Last weekend we went to the haunted trail, Adam's school had their annual parade, wax museum,and party, trick or treating, and finally our neighbors annual Halloween party was this evening. Adam was a clown for all the events except today he decided he was tired of being a clown (and EVERYONE calling him a girl uggg) and wanted to be last years costume "biker dude" (in which no ONE mistaken him for a girl :0) ). Every year except for 2 other years, I have made Adam's costumes. This year I just wasn't able to, and I did miss the fun of "creating" but I did make Sam (our dog) his costume. I think Adam's favorite costume was last years biker costume (above pictures are from tonight) mine would have to be the Elvis costume I made. I will have to dig up pictures, I am quite proud of it, and Adam totally has the butt shaking part down that made it even more adorable!! And when he'd get treats we taught him to say "Thank you, thank you very much" in an Elvis impersonation. Last night everyone who didn't know us made a comment on how cute our little girl was, Mr. Fun said maybe we should get his hair cut......... I said "no way, he has so little choices in his life, if he wants his hair long (and truly I don't think it is that long, lots of boys have the longer hair now ) and he doesn't mind taking care of it, he gets to choose this one." And tomorrow if he said he wanted his head shaved to look like his big brother, I'd take him to the barber. Sometimes I truly feel sorry for Adam, all day people are making choices for him and he constantly has an adult following him (I understand he needs this for his safety) and telling him what to do!!! I might be in big trouble and it might be harder to stick to my guns when he asks for a purple mohawk :) but for now we will let him be long haired Adam.

Adam and Sam

2008-10-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from Adam

2008-10-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Howl a ween from Sam

2008-10-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

2008-10-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that Dylon has now been home for a week and one day!!! There is a wonderful peace that I feel when we are all safe and sound in our beds all under the same roof. I know this next week is going to fly by and I am so not ready to go on the emotional rollar coaster ride that lays ahead....... But, I can't worry about tomorrow today is a gift, that's why it's called the present (I read way to many self help books :) ) so, I will try to focus on the here and now. Our trip was great!!! Adam turned out to be a wonderful flier!!! (I of course HATED it) Somehow Adam wormed his way into the cockpit on the trip going and coming home!!! Everyone was so kind and helpful through out our little get away. Cape May was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, I do love the ocean. We got to see 20 to 30 dolphins swimming and jumping only 50 ft from shore (sometimes even closer). I guess they were migrating, but truly what an amazing sight!!! Thought we would let Dylon pick dinner Friday after graduation, I was thinking "nice" maybe a little fancy, but we did say it was his choice, he wanted to go to "Pat's Philly steak stand" in Philly (Friday we were staying in Philadelphia because of our flight Sat. am). So much for a little fancy, this wasn't even an inside sit down restaurant, but it was an adventure and a lot of fun. Mr. fun and Dylon loved their philly steak sandwiches and I must admit they had really good cheesy fries!! GO PHILLY'S!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, in our short stay Adam and I became fans :) The graduation was wonderful, words can not describe how we were all feeling and getting to see my Dylon for the first time....ugg I'm getting teary eyed just remembering it. And oh how Adam is loving having his big brother home!!! It did take a couple days before they started doing their brotherly "picking" on each other and even that sounds like music to me. I do know we are going to have one very sad little boy when Dylon has to leave Nov. 5 and an even sadder Momma bear.

Wordless Wednesday on Friday :)

2008-10-24T05:26:00.000-07:00

Dylon's USCG Drill Team

2008-10-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

only 3 more days!!!!

2008-10-14T18:51:00.000-07:00

Only 3 more days for Adam to see his brother!!!! Sam will have to wait a little longer, but he can't wait to see him!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 more days!!!!!!

2008-10-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

4 more days I get to see my brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only 5 more days!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

Only five more days, till we get to see Dylon!!!! I got to talk to him 2 times yesterday! The first call was very brief, just letting me know that he will be on our same flight coming home Saturday. And then later in the day he called and was able to talk more. I got GREAT news, he will be home for a little over 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!! He will be doing some recruiting work for 2 weeks, but it is not a very demanding schedule and he should be home for dinner every evening :) I can not tell you how happy this news is to me!!! He also told us that he was chosen for the drill team for the graduation. There are 108 recruits in his company (which is a pretty big company, I guess) and only 8 get picked to be in the drill team. We are so proud of Dylon, but truly it doesn't surprise me, he always gives 110%. Just 5 more days............

Can we add him to the McCain/Palin ticket ???

2008-10-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

The Count Down begins

2008-10-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Dylon did call me the day after I wrote the last blog, there are no words to describe what it was like to finally get to hear his voice. And yesterday I got another call, this one was totally a surprise!!!!! Yesterday he had a 6 hour "break" he just pigged out on candy (first sugar high since Aug.26, that's my boy :0) ) and they were going to go to the movies and go out to eat. He sounded happy and said it has gotten a LOT easier. In Dylon's first call we found out he will be stationed after boot camp in Miami Florida but his Commander said his home will really be the Bahama's. Because he will be on a 210 ft cutter the Valiant for approximately 3 months. We have our plane tickets for Dylon's graduation, this will be Adam's first time on an airplane. Adam is excited to see Dylon and go on an airplane "only if it doesn't go in the sky". Hmm not sure how we are going to make that one happen but, I am not going to worry about that yet. The above picture was taken Aug. 25 the day before Dylon left for boot camp. Oh, how I miss him, but only 12 more days until we get to see him!!!!!!!!

Waiting..........

2008-09-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

A phone never rings when you are watching it!!!! It is week 5 for Dylon in boot camp, during week 5 Dylon might get to call home. I love, the key word "might" ugggg truly in the last month I think I have grown more grey hairs then I can pull out (they will all be gone though tomorrow :0) ) and possibly an ulcer. Hotels are booked for his graduation, but I can't buy airline tickets till I know for sure his graduation date, and the price keeps going up!!! What to do, what to do???!!?? Guess I'll just keep waiting............

Adam written all over it!!!!!

2008-09-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I think the shirt says it all. And so true!!!!!!!!!!!!

Threw away the training wheels

2008-09-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is official Adam can ride a 2 wheel bike. He can start off all be himself, stop, go down hills, up hills, and just today he went off his first jump!!! Okay so, he wasn't trying to go off a jump, he actually flew off the side walk, but he landed it and he looked a little freaked out until I said, "wow, you just landed your first jump!" he then thought it was very cool and had to tell everyone we saw today. We have been working on this for 2 years!!! And truly, there was a part of me that really didn't think he ever would be able to do this.......... I can't tell you how proud we are of him, and how proud he is of himself. This is huge, or in "biker/skater" language I'd say this is EPIC!!!! This means a new level of independence that Adam will have the rest of his life. To be able to get places on "wheels". I'm also a bit frightened by this, the bike will have to always be closed in garage now, unless he has permission to ride it. But, really the snow will be flying soon so then I guess I can relax..........but, next summer will be very interesting I'm sure!!!

First day of school

2008-09-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

Awwww, he cleans up so well!!!!! Good news, he likes 3rd grade and plans on going back tomorrow. Which is a good thing, especially since he didn't come home with his new watch that he was showing off in above picture.

My little boy.........

2008-09-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

This was last Tuesday August 26, Dylon's swearing in. I must say I was so proud of him, and yet I so bad wanted to take him and run. The night before I had to drive Dylon to the hotel and I told him, it really would be okay with me if he lived in our basement forever!!! Yeah, I'm sure my feelings on that one would change!!!! They told us no news was good news and that we would not hear anything if things were fine. 1-2 weeks we would get a letter giving us his company name, so we could start sending letters to him. Today we got our letter!!!! Lets just say, Mama bear is happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm still here!!!

2008-09-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

I guess I kind of decided to take the summer off!!! Not just on my own blog, but pretty much away from the computer completely. Okay, so I missed a few things and realized I had to at least from time to time check my email, but really I can count on both hands probably how many times I got on the computer this summer. And then probably because of none use, computer died (for real)!! We got a new computer yesterday and with it being the end of labor day weekend I thought it was time to come out from hiding. I must say the summer of 2008 will forever be etched in my memory. It was a beautiful summer, I enjoyed my boys to the fullest!!! My niece was our nanny, and it was so fun having another girl live in our house. Adam affectionately re-named Emily to "cousin", vowels continue to be hard for him to get out, which is why I believe he continues to tell people his name is "Tom" and Emily's name was changed to "cousin", very smart of him I think... We went to track, Adam's softball games, Dylon's baseball games, swimming, water parks, etc. and then truly the day I had been dreading came last Tues. August 26 Dylon left for US Coast Guard boot camp. My feelings are so mixed about this. I am so proud and happy for him that he is doing what he really really wanted to do, but...this is the longest I have ever been away from him. He will be gone for 8 weeks boot camp and then he will come home for 5 short days and he will be off to were ever he is assigned to. For 4 years.... Reality my little boy Dylon will never probably be living at home with us again. I realize this is what we are raising our children to do, go off and be independent God fearing good humans, but, letting go is not easy for me. And tomorrow I will send Adam off to his first day of 3rd grade!!! Man, can somebody please slow down the clocks!!! Cause life is going way to fast for me these days. Tomorrow I am going to try to post a picture album of our summer :) ~Life IS change, Growth is optional, Choose wisely~ I saw this on a billboard this summer, I'm pretty sure it was meant just for me :)

Adam's green belt promotion

2008-05-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

This morning Adam was an orange belt, this afternoon he became a green belt. Adam started as a little dragon when he was just 4 years old he went for a year and we decided he needed a break (he was starting to really act up in class and I didn't want to get kicked out :0) ) When Adam turned 7 we went back to the same place Northwest Karate and signed him up for the adapted class. Truly Adam could have signed up for the regular classes but, this is also a social thing for Adam and his buddies. For 2 years now we go every Saturday morning for an hour. Adam loves his karate instructor Dave!!! I can not say enough good things about him. He is a very caring, kind, and very special guy!!! I also love going to karate, one of the Dad's calls it, his "support group". There are about 12 kids in the class, all with different disabilities, ranging in age from 9 to 20. Today five of the kids earned their black belts!!!!! I am very thankful for Northwest Karate!!

Would you believe snow on May 31st ??????

2008-05-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so thank God it is not snow, just hail. Adam was swimming in our pool at 6:45pm we made him get out because we heard rumbling thunder and we knew a storm was on its way. By 7pm it was hailing so hard, thankfully it was only the size of marbles. I'm hoping my garden isn't ruined!!!!! But, even if it is I know that, that is nothing compared to the terrible tornado that went through Hugo, Mn last Sunday.

I heart Brett

2008-05-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day

2008-05-27T16:35:00.001-07:00

I am a day late with this, I know my Dad would so understand. Especially since I got the can't find my keys, purse, cell phone and Always running late gene from him!!! But, seriously I just wanted to post who I was remembering yesterday and everyday since he passed away July 15, 2003. My Dad served in WWII and the Korean war, though he rarely talked about it. It was not until he was in the hospital that I realized how much the war effected him, the pain meds they gave him made him have nightmares of the war. At 79, it still haunted him.......this thought makes me so sad, but I have peace knowing he is with our Savior. I miss you Dad but, I know we will be together again.

Belly dancing night :)

2008-05-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

This happened a while ago(May 17) but, finding it difficult to find time to blog now that winter is over! For Mr. Fun's bday we wanted to take him out to eat somewhere not only with good food but, fun. Last year we surprised him and took him to a Japanese steak house the knife and fire show was amazing and so was the food!!! But, I wanted a new surprise, so my girlfriend told me about her in-laws favorite Greek restaurant that have belly dancers Thur.-Sat. nights. Perfect....shish kabobs mmmm and a belly dancer :) could it get any better for Mr. fun!?!

Here is the( hmm not sure what word to explain it, amazing, weird, happens all the time, God moment, all these words come to mind) beautifully strange evening. The four of us go out to the Mediterranean Cafe, my husband loves our pick, we order Lamb, shis kabobs, Gyro's and Adam the adventurous eater he is, goes for the chicken strips and fries. The food is amazing!!! And then the belly dancer comes out Adam is mesmerized and when she comes over to our table and asks Adam if he'd like to dance on the stage with her we are all surprised that Mr. rock star is totally being shy(I know, Adam shy??? I'm totally not making this up) and can't even say no, he just shakes his head. Okay, here is the interesting part, she gets back on the stage and the next thing you know this young man about 20 something gets up on the stage and starts dancing, my older son says, "hey I think he has down syndrome" I look and yep, he sure does and he is a young man I have recently met at the self advocate conference last month. I'm thinking what are the chances of this, then Mr. rock star (aka Adam ) decides he is no longer shy and would like to show her his dance moves. He gets up and dances, Mr. fun jumps at the chance to video tape (anything to get close to the stage ;0) ) Adam comes back to our table without his Dad and I see him talking to a man I've never seen before, when he comes back I ask if he knows him from work and he tells us, the man was telling him how they were just wondering if his daughter who is 15 and yep, has down syndrome would get up and dance. Okay, maybe just me, but the entire night was very magical and special.