My Special Guests!!

Who is that pretty girl with Emmie? Why it's Miss Anna , from Banana Pants!!! Yes! I have finally met a bloggy friend! Lori and her family were in my neck of the woods and stopped by. We had a great afternoon together. Miss Anna is the most delightful dumpling ever!!! I'm even more in love! She is so gentle and sweet. And what a hugger!!! Unlike Miss Em who made a, how should I put it... not so great first impression. Seems the overwhelming urge to get her little hands into a brand new head of blond hair got the best of her today. Miss Em does have a thing for hair and Anna's locks were just too much for her. She went in with the two fisted grab at least four times. She made Anna CRY!!!! Not nice EMMIE!


But there were moments when Em behaved and they shared a book.

And Peter was so lucky. He scored the first hug from Anna. And a double cuddle.


A little walking with Sophia.

Bella and Paige, having lunch on the deck. Paige is a laugh a minute. What a little firecracker. An absolute delight.Charlie busied himself with Andrew's trains. So sweet.

Andrew was beside himself today. He was so excited to meet Anna.

Anna catching up on some reading.


The moms. Lori is even more beautiful in person.

All the kids!

Thanks for visiting us Lori! Hope you all had a good time. Our small home was bursting at the seams and it was wonderful. Peter commented later that hugs from Anna felt just like hugs from Em. I felt the same way, when Anna wrapped her arms around me.

Our visit wasn't complete. We were missing Kelly and Landon. Both were sick and had to cancel! That was such a huge disappointment. Kelly we really missed you and Landon. We will have to make up for it very soon!!! Feel better!!

Prayers Needed

There is a new Dumpling in Blogland. Her name is Verity, and I am totally smitten with her. She is getting her heart fixed tomorrow. She just couldn't wait any longer.

Please stop by and offer her beautiful family some support and prayers.

Wordless Wednesday

YUMMY!

I'm Thankful!!

It's not Sunday but I'm still Thankful! Our weather has been so great I couldn't pull myself away from my garden. Even now as I type this I am longing to run outside, but the indoor chores are on the list for today. Maybe if I hurry through them I can still go outside and play, (hehe)


This Friday and Saturday our friends Melinda and Rich (Em's Godparents) invited us down to their beach house. It's so beautiful there and all the kids just run wild! Miss Em loves the beach and sitting in the water. And of course all the attention she gets from everyone. I'm so thankful for their generosity.



Thankful for some special guests who are coming on Friday!!! I'm not saying who... you'll just have to wait!

Thankful our house didn't go up in smoke last Friday night! After we got home from the beach, we all went to sleep. Peter fell asleep watching TV. He said he awoke to some big, loud sound, followed by a really strange burning smell. He said he almost went back to sleep thinking he was dreaming, but the smell was too bad to ignore. Well he looked down at the front door and the outlet was all burned and smoking. We really have no idea what happened. Peter thought it might have been lightening but there is really no sign of that.

And I'm thankful that MOST of the troops pitched in on Sunday and helped with some much needed weeding and yard work. And all were rewarded with ice cream at night.

Enjoy the rest of the week!!!

21 Months!

Stretching like a sleepy bear cub.


Twenty- one months went by in the blink of an eye. May your life always be this peaceful...

Kristen's Our Rockstar

Kristen will always be a rockstar! And now she is a healthy, happy , laughing, rockstar in heaven. Singing with the angels.

Thank you Polly for letting us love your daughter so much.

Thank you for letting us share this journey with you.

Thank you for letting us laugh and cry with you.

Rock on K!!!!

Pow Wow

We went to a pow wow over the weekend. Peter and I are slightly obsessed with Native American culture. It's healthy obsession! haha. We just love the traditions and music, the unity, everything. I would love to go back in time when the Native Americans lived how they used to before we screwed it up.

Anyway, the kids, well two of them joined in the fun. The other two were happy with a steak and cheese sandwich! I tell ya!

Emmie was greeted by a lovely women, who said we would be blessed by Emmie and that she had a pure spirit. All I can say is, good people know good people!





Here Bella and Andrew joined in the Tiny Tots Dance! Too cute.




And here's how the pros do it!

Practicing for Mad River

We are going camping in August.

And although Miss Em is a seasoned camper, she wanted to get some practice time in.


Since we are camping on Mad River. I think she can sense my anxiety about that name. Why is it Mad? I feel another adventure in the works.

If anyone has ever heard of Mad River in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and knows why it's Mad, feel free to enlighten us! Or warn us!!

Thankful Sunday

Here we are again. I hate to think how fast summer is going by, and we haven't even been to the beach yet! Honestly I don't know what we've been doing. The days just fly by. But as they are flying by I must take the time to remember to be thankful for something. Even when there are weeks that I don't feel like it. This thankful post has become very important to me, because honestly , and we all can agree with this, some weeks are not filled with a lot to feel very thankful about. Some weeks it's hard to come up with something. But it's not impossible!

So I'll start by being thankful about a signing book and video we found for Em. For $2.99! It's not Signing Time but it works the same. She loves it and signs along with the video. Now if you ask her "where's you hat"? She will sign hat. YEAH!!!



here she is having a snack and watching her video.


I'm thankful for the break we have during summer. We may not do too much but it is a needed rest from the day to day craziness.

I'm thankful for a husband who ran back out to the store last night. We had just gotten home from the store and remembered that we forgot to buy what we went for! Typical! No water in the house, not giving the baby tap. So he did an about face and went to get water.

He did not, however, go back a third time when I realized that the cat was out of food. I guess Emmie trumps cat! hehe

I'm thankful for the weather we have been having. Yes it's sizzling but sunny.



Which brings me to my AC that I'm very thankful for!

See it's not impossible to be thankful for something. It doesn't have to be huge. Mine really never are. It's all those little things that I like to remember. It's so easy to overlook them and see nothing to be thankful for.

Keep cool and have a blessed Sunday!

A Real Tutu?

A real tutu?? Just for me?


It's so big, and white.


It looks like I'm on a cloud.


And look I'm saying "mine". I love it! Thanks Olivia!


Actually it is Olivia's tutu. She needed her own tutu for her Summer Intensive Classes. But of course she let Em try it out first.

The Blueberry Pickers

Why we always pick the days that are hot and humid to go blueberry picking is beyond me. This picker flat out refused to pull her weight.


But this one worked very hard.

This one worked very hard too, and stopped to give me a smile. Bella worked so hard she would not take a break for pictures.


Emmie finally started to work, but not at blueberry picking, but at digging.

Somehow I think she will still enjoy the bountiful harvest.

The funny part was we got there at 11:40 thinking they were opened until 1:00, but because of the heat they were closing at 12:00!!! Somehow we still managed to pick 14 pounds of blueberries! They did give us a few extra minutes, but we were picking fast!





Here Sophia is has double duty. Picking and feeding a blueberry loving Em.

The Eyes Have it

Yesterday's post got me thinking. This may sound extremely shallow, but I'm going to put it out here anyway. I created this blog to express the feelings I have and have had about Ds. I love Emmie's eyes. I love the color , I love the shape, and I really love her Brushfield spots.


But there was a time in the not so distant past that her eyes haunted me. It was the time between her diagnosis and her birth. A time that was frightening and uncertain.

When I first heard the words Ds, I was beyond devastated. My mind was spinning in a hundred different directions. All of which were out of control.

After the dust had settled, sort of... I began to think about life with a child who had Ds. And I admit, I painted a pretty grim picture.

One of the things that bothered me was that this child I was carrying wouldn't have pretty eyes. I warned you, here comes the shallow part. I was devastated that no one would ever compliment my baby on her beautiful eyes. All my other children would get remarks about their big beautiful eyes. But, alas, this one would not. I mean seriously would someone dare to compliment the one thing that (in my mind) screamed Ds?

In my mind everyone who I had ever seen with Ds all had "the eyes". The eyes that told the world they had Ds. The eyes that said they were different. The eyes that saw people staring at them. The eyes that I thought were not happy.

This really bothered me, but I never spoke of it to anyone... EVER! Until today.


Then Miss Em was born. And I looked into those eyes! I had to be the first to see them. Those eyes that would solidify our future, those eyes that would give us our final answer. Those eyes that would tell us under no uncertain circumstances if our daughter had Ds or not.

So I looked.

And

I WAS BLOWN AWAY

Because in that second that our eyes met, she cured me. I was blind when it came to understanding Ds. Everything was gray and dark.

But looking into those eyes, I saw colors that I've never seen before. Not only the blue of her eyes, but every color of the rainbow... and then some.

I saw the purest soul I will ever see, and I saw the goodness of God in those eyes.

I saw the blessing not the curse of Ds in those eyes.

I saw hope and not despair in those eyes.

And every day I look into those eyes, and I smile. My Daily Smile!

And since her birth, I have looked into many eyes. Many beautiful eyes that make me smile. Eyes of all colors that shine and sparkle like a prism.

The beautiful blue is just a perk from God, a kind gesture to a mom who always wanted a blond haired blue eyed baby, and had all but given up on that.

The beauty of her eyes comes from within, and radiates outward.

She lights the way...

Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Olivia

Thankful Sunday ...on Monday again

Some weeks it just doesn't come together, and something doesn't get done. This week it was my Thankful Sunday post. But there's always tomorrow. So here it is.

Saturday was Sophia's birthday party. Her outdoor pool party! The weather reports were for rain. You know when the icon on the computer shows only raindrops with no chance of sun. No partly cloudy, just rain. Well God heard this mama's prayers and it was a clear day for Sophia. There was just a brief moment when it looked like it was all over and the skies opened up but it was very brief. For this I am very Thankful!!



I'm thankful Olivia starts her Summer Intensive Ballet today. She will be dancing from 9:00 to 5:30 Monday through Friday for the next four weeks. She cannot wait!! This is her life and she loves every second of it.

I'm also thankful for the scholarship she was awarded from her ballet school to attend this SI . It would be impossible to send her otherwise.

I'm thankful we reserved a campsite for August. Again we were last minute but somehow we got what hopefully will be a great site. It's right on a river in White Mountains area of New Hampshire. Of course the river is called the Mad River. Already makes me wonder what adventures lay ahead for us. I'm also a little curious as to WHY this campsite still had sites available on the water this late in the season??? I searched and searched and this place looked great. Maybe we just got lucky??

I'm thankful for great friends that we spent the day with yesterday. It was so much fun to watch the kids on this enormous slip n slide they so graciously had rented for the kids.



here are Miss Em's Princes, Danny and Andrew, performing a daring stunt on the slip n slid.








"No, No this is not a dog, mom!! I don't care how many times you snap your fingers and slap your leg!!! What's the sign for Polar bear!" Actually his name is Rhody and he is a gentle giant! When Em fell asleep he stayed a couple of feet from her. I do believe to watch over her, as there were a lot of kids running around.

These two are masterminding some fantastic attack on some poor unsuspecting soul! This is Bis and Rich, two more from my extended family. They are brother and sister to the handsome Princes.



After all that excitement Em needed a break.

Andrew was just standing here next to me as I was uploading this pic and he said to me, "She's just like Sleeping Beauty". I love you Andrew.

Dear Melinda...

Auntie Melinda and Miss Em


...just a note to you on your birthday.

(Melinda is Emmie's Godmother and one of my nearest and dearest friends.)

I don't even know if I can possibly sum up what you mean to me in one post. When we first came to St. Peters I "heard" about you and your family. Your very large family. My immediate thought was that you sounded like someone I would like to be friends with. Well, how many years later??? Here we are, not only friends but family.

Friends now family!! Emilia's Baptism. They are missing two of their children in this photo and we are missing Aniela. Almost all of us.



Your support to me through the years has been constant and unwavering. When we were hit with the news about Em, both you and Rich(hubby) were right there for us. The whole family was there for us!!!

I don't know if you remember this, but one day in the school yard , as I was having meltdown number 863, you looked at me and said, "Steph, it is what it is". Of course there were more words before that, encouraging me and telling me I could do this... But it was those words that stuck with me until Em was born.

I stand in complete awe of what you do every single day just to keep the house running and all the kids accounted for! You do it with a grace and beauty no one can compare to. Your days are endless and demanding but you make it all seem effortless. I often wonder how you do it all.

What's your secret? Then I remember. The name shared by you and Em... FAITH!

It carries you through, and it shines out all around you.

I thank God for placing you in my life... how He knew I would need you.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Along with your faith, it is your sense of humor and your ability to stay calm that amaze me.
You make me laugh until I cry with the intricate details and colorful way you describe a situation, usually something one of the kids have done. Your stories belong in a book.

Your generosity is known by all. You go above and beyond everyday. You always make time to help out or do something special for someone. And never, ever do you expect any recognition for anything. You are one of the most beautiful examples of someone leading a Christian life, that I have ever seen.

I'm a better person because of you. Thank you. Thank you for everything.

Happy Happy Birthday to you my friend.


PS. Sorry I didn't make it yesterday, my day was falling apart at a rapid pace. I really wanted to be there.

Lovin' The Lo Mein

We had Sophia's choice for dinner on her birthday. Yeah, she picked Chinese. Emmie was thrilled. She loved the Lo Mein.


Look closely and you will see where she tried to hide the broccoli that she wasn't so thrilled with. Maybe she thought we wouldn't notice.

I can't believe she just plopped it right on top of her head like that and it stayed!





This is the birthday cake that Sophia made all by herself.

Blowing out her birthday candle.



And Miss Emmie in cake shock! HELLLOOO is anyone in there there?? EMMIE?????

Dishwasher For Hire

Very cute well behaved child looking for part- time work. Must have three breaks a day and nap time. Works well with other people and totally gets into her job!



Check climbing into dishwasher as another accomplishment. Although I almost closed her in it. I had just emptied it and turned my back to put something away. She climbed in so fast!! Look at her face! She knows she's not supposed to be in there.

I just hit my 300th post!!

Wordless Wednesday

A Princess and her Princes...

My very handsome "nephews"