August? Really?

What in the world is happening to me? The blogging keeps getting farther and farther
apart. My busy world is taking over any me time and that includes blogging. I must try to post more often because I can never remember anything. This is the one place that helps jog my memory.

Well a lot has happened since August...... Abby is in high school now and is taking Driver's Ed. Where does the time go? She will get her permit next month, Caroline is in 5th grade and is getting ready to finish up her ball season. She has guest played on some travel ball teams and really loves it! Mattie is in her 3 year old exceptional class and is making great strides! The girl is talking up a storm. Every day she is telling me something new. Today's word is "Conner". She says it so clearly. He is a little boy in her class and she is smitten with him. She also does not hesitate to inform me she wants french fries and chicken to eat each day I pick her up from daycare. Of course, she doesn't get them that often but she still will ask daily.

In September, we were hit by Irene. Fortunately, we only had large tree limbs and a mess around our home. Many neighbors were not so lucky and had large trees fall into their homes. It was a mess! No electricity for days and hardships throughout our town. We are glad that is over.

In October, we went to our annual Buddy Walk now known as Step it up for Down Syndrome. We had a great time and got to meet sweet Little Bennett from Our Unexpected Journey. He is a cutie!

So that is a quick highlight of our events. Now if I could just find the time to do this more often.

Carrot Pineapple Muffins

This morning we tried a new recipe. This will be a great one to use during the school year for those busy mornings. They would need to made in advance so the kids can grab n' go. They aren't very sweet but very moist. A much healthy alternative to pop tarts and mattie loves them!

Carrot-Pineapple Muffins

8 ounces crushed pineapple in juice -- undrained
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup carrot -- finely shredded
1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Drain pineapple, reserving juice for another use. Press pineapple between paper towels to remove excess moisture; set aside.

Combine flours and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

Combine milk and next 3 ingredients; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moist.

Stir in pineapple, carrot, and raisins. Divide batter evenly among muffing cups coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans immediately.

Yield: 18 muffins, serving size: 1 muffin

NI: Calories 113; Fat 2 gm; fiber 1.5 gm

2 points

Recipe By: WW The Secrets of Success

Beach Days

I just absolutely love this picture of Mattie and her daddy at the beach! If I'd only seen this vision in the early years after finding out the news of our sweet daughter's diagnosis of Down syndrome. I was scared and didn't know how this little baby would change our lives. I had this perception that we would have to let go of all the things we loved. One of them being the beach. I don't know why I thought that people with Down syndrome couldn't go to the beach or enjoy life as we did. Is life at the beach easy now? No. It is a lot of work.....not because my daughter has Down syndrome, but because my daughter is three. All the hard work of pulling the wagon with umbrellas, chairs, sunscreen, shovels, pails, towels, you name it......was well worth it to see that great big smile!

Running for the ocean!

Mattie and Abby

Mattie and Caroline

Future track runner?

Up until now, I would say that raising a child with Down syndrome has been relatively the same as my other children aside from a few extra check ups and therapies. Maybe you can say Mattie has hit her "terrible two's" but I'm not really sure I would call it that. Our dilemma has mostly been running. She will run away any chance she can get and will not stop no matter how many times you call her name. This has become very dangerous. If the front door doesn't latch, she helps herself out and runs toward our neighbor's house. She doesn't understand the danger and you can't reason with her. She simply has no concept. She just smiles and points to the house wanting to get to their dog. The hubby installed swinging latched gates this weekend and that has given me a little piece of mind. At least now if she gets out the front door, she is contained on our porch and I can get to her. Before, she would bolt. That girl is fast!! In public, we almost always have her in a stroller, in a cart, on a leash (never had to use that before), or holding our hand. She never complains about having to use any of these methods and that has been one positive. And as great as those methods come in handy, I would like for her to learn how to stand beside me without running. If all else, fails I guess she can always be a track runner!

One room down.......

Every year I dread the clutter cleaning that comes with the summer. I try to pick several days during the summer to clean out each room of the house. I'm finding it more difficult as Mattie gets older and seems to destroy one room as fast as I'm working on another. Well today she is actually sitting still watching Elmo and the older girls are out of my hair. I decided to tackle my 14 year old's room. Yes, I know she is 14 and should clean her own room.......which she does.....kind of......for a 14 year old. But every year when she goes to camp, I go in and throw away all the junk she has collected. It's stuff she won't throw away but never misses once it's gone. And I did it in less than an hour! Now off to get ready to have lunch with the hubby this afternoon.

Just for you Mom!

It's been a long time and well my Mom has been on me about my blog. She misses it. So since I'm off for the summer, we are going to give it a try again. I've posted a few updated pictures and an update on the kids.

Mattie
Mattie a.k.a. our little destructor. Who can tell by these sweet pictures that she can cause destruction in 2.5 seconds. She is a sweetheart that loves to take everything out of drawers, off tables, out of pocketbooks.......you name it. She likes to run too......away from you. She also gives the best hugs and biggest smiles! Mattie is doing well. Her kidney reflux is gone. Her hearing, eyes, and all her yearly stuff has come back normal. We are working on potty training which isn't going great but we'll keep working on it. She adjusted well to her new school and is really talking a lot. She repeats a lot of words. Last night, she even said "no no touch" to our kitty cat. We are excited that she is starting to combine words.

Caroline

Caroline just finished up her ball season. She absolutely loves being a catcher. She has worked really hard and our plans are to work more over the summer. She got to play on a 12u travel ball team a couple of weekends ago. She really had a great time. In the picture above, we went to the Lady Pirates softball game. The kids got to go out on the field and stand at their positions with the players. She was beaming from ear to ear. She also had a great school year. She almost had perfect attendance if it wasn't for that dreaded flu that hit everyone in the family except Abby. She ended up having all A's and one B for the school year. She missed having all A's by one point! We are so proud of her!

Abby

Abby is growing up so fast before our eyes. She will be in high school next year! It's hard to believe my baby will be that old. She also did very well in school having all A's and B's. Abby just finished her ball season. She had a great time with school ball and rec. She is away at camp now and I'm sure enjoying her time away from her siblings. It's nice to get a break away from the little ones. The picture above is from her 8th grade dance. She was so pretty!

Frisco Skippito the Great Masked Sword Fighter

Our beloved Frisco passed this past Saturday (3-25-09 to 6-25-11). She was attacked by a neighborhood dog. We will greatly miss her! She was a one of a kind cat and there will never be another one like her. We feel so blessed that she got to be a part of our family. Coming soon.......the 10 best things about Frisco. This is a little something that Caroline and I are going to work on as a tribute to her.

The Next Chapter

Mattie's last day of daycare was yesterday. I wasn't quite sure how I would react. It's one chapter ending and another beginning. It doesn't even seem like it has been three years already. I will miss seeing her smiling face during the day, but I know she is going to learn so much at her new school.

It is amazing how things fall right into place! One of our dilemma's was what we would do with Mattie when she gets out of school and we are still at work. Well, I happened to see my neighbor out playing with her kids. Mattie wanted to go play with them. We really never go over there since we are always on the run. My neighbor is also a teacher and we started talking about school which led to talking about Mattie's new school. I was telling her how we didn't know what to do about after school care. She tells me that her daughter, who is also Mattie's age, goes to a daycare that just so happens to be down the road from Mattie's school. And only 20 minutes away from my work. She loves it there and highly recommended it so I decided to give her a call. I am so glad I did!

We went yesterday to visit and loved it! It is a small country daycare that is run by a retired teacher. I was so impressed with all the little details. She had an imaginative play area, a music area, an art area, a very extensive science area, story time area, indoor rec. area, quiet time area, snack area, and an outdoor area that was like a mini-amusement park. And after all that, she let us know that she would be glad to focus on Mattie's IEP goals as well. Wow! And.....no worries about that peer modeling since she will get that there too. So it looks like everything is falling into place just fine!