Celebrating WDSD!

Last night we went to Monkey Joe's (bouncy house place) to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day with our local Down syndrome support group.

We all had fun, and even took some pictures! :)

Miss Grace wasn't too sure about the loud, crazy, and brightly colored place at first, but our sensory seeker quickly figured out how much fun she could have.

Elijah remembered going last year and had no fear!

Yeah, she really was this red. Playing too hard! lol

Anna and Jonathan

I (Sarah) was looking at my blog the other day and realized that the only picture I have of Grace and myself was from the orphanage and she was bald. So we took a new one. :)

Our Monkey Man is doing pretty well recovering from his surgery (a week today!). He has been drinking well, and was doing really well pain wise till the scabs came off. The past few days have been a little rough, but we'll get there.

"You mean I allowed to dive over this thing and land on my head??"

This is how all pictures of Grace going down the slide turned out. She LOVED it, and would not stop laughing, but always turned to the side coming down. lol

Happy Easter!

Sarah here... as you can guess because this is a picture post. ;)

We're with family this weekend, and yesterday we had the egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's. Elijah and Jonathan quickly got the hang of it if they didn't remember from last year, but I don't think either of them realized that there was candy inside!

Jonathan

Elijah

Rachel

Rebekah

Isaac

Anna

And... this would be where my camera stopped working so no pictures of me. Not that I would have posted them anyways. :)

And some pictures from this morning (from grandma's camera)...

Best picture we got of Rachel in her dress... she wasn't in the picture taking mood. This beautiful Ukrainian sparkle dress was Little Miss Ruby's dress. She generously donated it to a blog auction to help her new big brother, Maxim, come home from Ukraine. Rachel loved wearing it today, even if she didn't want to pose for a picture.

Elijah was all dressed up too.

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Playdate & the faces of Rachel

Sarah here - Tonight we had a playdate/get together with our local Ds group...

Both Elijah (right) and Jonathan had fun climbing around, and I think everyone else did too!

Mr. Monkey got a bit bored at times, but when you aren't big enough to climb much of anything, wouldn't you too?? (Helping him through was kinda outta the question, he's a chunk! Besides when we tried to, he freaked going over the netting.)

Anna and Jonathan, with Isaac and Elijah in the back...

 Anna and I (Sarah) also spent some time playing with and helping an adorable little girl with Ds around the playset. It's been awhile since I got to play with any girls with Ds (love you and miss you Bug and Bean!!), and Anna and I are both in agreement we need a little girl with Ds in this family!!!

After, we had some shopping to do, so the littles and I hung out in the van for awhile.

Rachel imformed me that she and Jonathan were holding hands nicely and wanted me to take a picture. ;)

She was asking me about the cars that were parking or leaving in front of us and who those people were, and why that car has it's lights on, etc. I finally told her when she said "Sarah?" for the 100th time that the answer is going to be I don't know. She told me that she wanted me to know so I could tell her. Good gravy does she like to talk! ;)

 She also makes pretty amusing faces.

Happy face

Sad face

Silly face

Grumpy face

She's a hoot. But don't let how sweet and innocent she looks fool you!

Pied!!!

I know...shocking...TWO posts in one day!  I copied this from Sarah's blog What It Means to Love. I'm so proud of hers and Rachel's fundraising efforts...but this video...I double-dog dare you to watch it without laughing out loud! :-)

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Remember this post??

Well guess what! Lilly has been over the $500 mark for awhile, but today Owen made it! His AT total now is..

They are both now over $500, so Rachel and I were pied. My little brother Elijah wanted pie on his face too, so he grabbed a handful and smeared it all over. :)

But guess what!! There's more!! Guess who else hit their AT goal today??? LILLY! She MADE HER ANGEL TREE GOAL OF $1000 thanks to a challenge that was set up!!

Do you want to see Michelle, the RR donations coordinator get pied?? Help us get Owen to $1000!! We only need about $500 more! That is soo doable!

THANK YOU SOOO VERY MUCH TO EACH PERSON WHO DONATED TO LILLY AND OWEN FOR ANGEL TREE SOO FAR!! You rock!!!

Go here to visit Angel Tree!

Sunglasses!

Sarah here...

We have a couple pairs of sunglasses floating around, and the littles, esp the boys, like to put them on and wear them. Good times! ;)

I am noticing that a lot my posts with pictures or videos of the boys happen to be in their chairs. Hmm... Maybe that's because they are restrained somewhat so the pictures aren't blurry, and because we often have the camera or iPad handy (Grandma, it has the ability to take pictures, pretty neat what technology can do, huh? hehe).

Rachel says...

Sarah writing...

Rachel (while looking out the window) - "I found a big blue turtle under the hamper!!"

The garbage can lid under the camper :)

The other day, when Isaac was pretending to beat her up (he didn't actually touch her), she says - "Isaac, did you break me?"

And a couple weeks ago she asked me to butter her toothbrush with toothpaste.

Just now she was looking through a magazine and asked:
"Rebekah, what do you want for Christmas?"
"Dad to grow a beard!"
"What beard? I don't see any in here!"

Love this girl!

Taken Aug 2012... wish it was still warm enough to wear that!