Soccer Practice Action

Here is a short video of Leah at her practice yesterday. She is the little one in the middle with the blue jacket and black shorts (they call them shorts, but they are below her knees). It was too funny to watch these little guys! Watch the kid behind Leah at the very end of the video. I am not laughing at them........I am laughing with them.

Leah's Turn

Last night Leah had her first soccer practice. She seemed to enjoy it too. This morning Allison was excited that she has practice again tonight. I hope the enthusiasm holds out through the season. It is hard enough for me to drag myself out of the house every afternoon with them wanting to go, so if they start complaining about going I don't see us making it through the season.

Rachel is enjoying the trips to the park. There is a playground there and she loves to swing. On Tuesday she had to go to the potty after we got to the field, and after the potty we walked over to the playground. Yesterday, not long after we got to the field, she started asking to go to the playground. I told her, "not yet." She sat there quietly for a few minutes, then she signed "potty." I know she did not need to go to the potty, because she went right before we left the house just so we would not have to use the public potty! Well, when working on potty training, you cannot argue, so we went to the potty. Sure enough she did not need to go. Now, I am on to her. She is thinking......watch a little soccer practice, then go potty, then get to swing at the playground. I have set up a pattern in her little brain already!

Below are some pictures of Leah at her first soccer practice.

Field Trip

Wow!! What a busy day. Yesterday was Rachel's field trip to the zoo. I thought it would be a half-day trip, but it turned out to be most of the day. Everyone had a good time, but Rachel and I did not get home until 2:30pm, just in time for the big girls to come through the door. From there, it was snack and homework. Since I had not been home all day, I also had to start some laundry, start something for dinner, and pick up around the house. At about 4:30pm we had to head out of the house again. Yesterday was Allison first soccer practice, and in keeping with my habit of procrastination, we had to run by the sports store to pick up some equipment before we got to practice. I have no idea why I always put things off till the last minute! Practice lasted until almost 7:00pm, so we came dragging through the door at about 7:15pm. I sent the girls up to take a bath while I finished up dinner. Needless to say, after I got dinner pretty much done, I had to go upstairs and supervise the baths, which means bathing Rachel and prodding the big girls to hurry up and get out of the tub. I am not too sure that I am going to like this soccer schedule. Being out of the house three nights a week is not my idea of fun. I hope the girls enjoy it. Allison seemed to like her first practice. We will see what Leah thinks after her practice tonight. Below are some pictures fro Rachel's field trip to the zoo.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo..........

Listening to the zookeeper talk about the animals.

Petting the chinchilla.

Rachel feeds the giraffe.

A Little Silliness In An Otherwise Busy Week

This afternoon, Allison got the camra and started snapping some pictures. Below are a few of them. It is always fun to see the pictures they come up with.

We have a busy week this week. Today started out with volunteering for Allison's class. After that I ran home and did a few tings around the house and ate lunch. Then it was off to pick up Rachel from school. From there, we went to a nearby park and met up with Rachel's physical therapist for an hour long session (I was so happy I did not forget the session this time). Rachel cooperated pretty well today, thank goodness. We worked some on trying to get her to peddle her bike, and I think the therapist and I got much more of a workout than Rachel did.......oh, my glutes!! It is actually really hard to walk bent over and push little feet around on peddles. Tonight at 7:00pm I a supposed to go to a Town Meeting regarding the budget cuts the state is planning on making in the area of education. They are predicting that they will be laying off a couple of hundred of teachers!! If what they are saying in the paper is true, we could be having some very difficult years ahead of us in the school system. What a great time for Rachel to be headed of to kindergarten!! I can see the district employees laughing in my face when I request an aide for Rachel in a mainstream classroom.

Rachel and I got home from the park this afternoon just in time to take off our shoes, pour the sand out of them all over the couch, and vacuum the couch before the big girls got home. Everyone snacked and completed their homework, and the girls are now vegging out in front of the TVs....yes, plural. Allison and Leah are upstairs watching something and Rachel is downstairs watching one of her movies. I hate to say it, but it sure is nice to have them occupied for a little bit. I should be washing clothes, but I have not had any time to get started on that today, and I don't want to start it now and be up late trying to get everything dried. I am not going to have time to do it tomorrow either, but will have to start late anyway, because the dirty clothes are really starting to pile up.

Tomorrow, I am supposed to be in two places at once. Rachel has a field trip to the zoo, and it is my day to volunteer in Leah's room. I am still not quite sure how I am going to work that one out. I am going to have to talk with the teachers in the morning and see what works best. Nothing like waiting til the last minute. I have known for a while that these two things conflicted, but never got around to remembering to do anything about it. Speaking of procrastinating.....I have to go tomorrow and buy the girls some soccer equipment. Their soccer season starts......you guessed it, tomorrow! We are supposed to be at the field at 5:15pm, I think. I have been given three different schedules at this point. 5:15pm was the last time given, but who knows if that time has not been changed AGAIN. Allison will practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Leah will practice on Wednesdays. Fortunately, the field is not too far away, and the season only last for about two months. This is just a recreational league, so there will not be games on Saturdays, THANK GOODNESS!

Birthday Parties Are So Cool These Days

Below are some pictures of the girls at a birthday party they attended over the weekend. it was at a gymnastics facility. The girls used to take classes there, but it has been a while. They still enjoy going and playing on the equipment. Rachel has never taken classes, but she really had a good time getting out there with the big girls. She did not get to stay long, because she had to go to her horseback riding class-she was not disappointed to leave when she found out that she was going to ride the horse.

School Projects

Another week has started. The girls were out of school yesterday for the President's Day holiday. Allison and Leah stayed in their jammies all day! Rachel had an appointment with the endocrinologist, so she and I did not have that luxury. The doctor visit was just a check up. Rachel goes every six months to keep track of her thyroid function, since children with Down Syndrome are prone to hypothyroidism. So far so good, though. All her numbers look good, she looks good, her growth rate looks good...... so we just hang out until August when we check everything again.

The girls had put off homework 'til the last minute, so yesterday they both had projects to get done for today. Leah had to build a log cabin, and Allison had to write a paper on Anne Frank. Needless to say, I was quite busy with the school projects too. The log cabin was difficult to assemble, because it was made from pretzels, yes, pretzels.....the teacher's idea, not mine! I am not quite sure what Leah was supposed to learn from building a pretzel house, but she got very little out of it as I did most of the assembly. Allison's paper was supposed to be a book report from a biography that the kids had read, but the directions said that they should use several references to write their report. Sounds like a research paper to me, and fourth grade seems awfully early to start writing research papers! After completing the log cabin, Allison and I sat down together and worked on her paper. Fun, fun, fun!

Today, Allison is home sick. This means that we stayed up late last night working on the paper for nothing, since she did not go to school today to give her report. Poor thing, she must really feel bad, because she has not gotten out of bed all day. She is complaining of feeling tired and having a headache. She is stuffy and has a low grade fever. I hope it is not the flu!

Below is a picture of our log cabin. It is a little lopsided, but it was the best we could do. I was actually surprised that we were able to put one together! Check out the smoke we have coming out of the chimney.

Cousins Rock!

We had a good weekend. The girls got to see their cousins, which is the "mostest funnest" thing in the whole world!! Saturday was Amelia's 6th birthday. Jane and the girls came over Saturday afternoon and spent Saturday night. We just hung out around the house, went swimming (yes, swimming), ate pizza, sang Happy Birthday, ate cake and ice cream, and watched a movie. They all ran around and acted super silly, which is all they can seem to do when they are together.

Father Daughter Dance

Tonight is the Father Daughter Dance at the girls' school. Below are some pictures of the girls and Daddy before they left for the dance. Leah was soooo excited. She could not wait to go. She was driving Mike crazy before they left. She was following him around everywhere-including the bathroom. I wanted to say, "welcome to my world", but I think it would have just annoyed him more.

It's That Time Of The Year

The first Sandhill chicks of the neighborhood have hatched. Each year we watch the parents raise their chicks along the neighborhood roads, and sometims in the roads, as you can see. These guys are not afraid of people or cars, unfortunately. The chicks are adorable, but they grow fast, so I snapped some shots of them when I saw them for the first time today.

New Addition To The Family

Well, she did it! Allison finally earned her hamster. $100 for a hamster!!! Can you believe that? Well, with all the hamster stuff that goes along with it, i.e. cage, water bottle, food bowl, food......etc. It was Allison's money that she has been stashing away from birthdays past, so I shouldn't complain, I guess. I think it's name is Humphery (spelling per Allison). It is still too young to know if it is a boy or girl, so that could change if we find out it is a girl. It is sooooo tiny. Which is good because when it bites (yes I have already been bitten several times) it doesn't hurt too bad. I hope that with handling, it will stop the biting.

Jane, Allison says don't tell Hannah about the hamster, she wants to surprise her when she comes over on Saturday. We could not tell Hannah it bites too, and she could be really surprised!!! Just kidding!

Mommy's Little Helper

Rachel loves to help put laundry in the dryer. Her next favorite thing is turning the dryer on. Now if I can just get hr to sweep the floors!

Just For Fun

September 2008. Leah minus one tooth.

November 2008. Leah minus two teeth.

January 2009. Leah minus three teeth.

February 2009. Leah minus five teeth. She has almost caught up with Allison.

Iguanas, Hospitals, and Artwork...........

How do you know when it is too cold in Florida? Apparently, when it gets too cold, the iguanas fall out of the trees! Seriously.........there was story on the news last night in a town South of here where animal control was having to go around and pick up "comatose" iguanas that had gotten too cold and fallen out of trees in the area. One person said she had about a dozen in her backyard. It was pretty funny! Anyway, it is finally starting to get a little warmer here, I bet the iguanas are glad. I know I am.

Rachel made it through another week at school in her big girl underwear. I think she only had one accident at home this week. She is really doing great! Wearing panties makes it hard to keep pants on her though. The diapers were what actually kept her pants on, it turns out. She has a round little belly and no hips, so it is nearly impossible to get pants to stay up on her. I guess I could get her some suspenders. I am sure she would love wearing those!

I had to take Allison to the hospital Friday to get an xray of her hand. She fell last Saturday and hurt it and complained about it all week. I felt it and told her I thought it was okay, but she kept complaining. I was so sure that she was okay, but a little voice kept telling me that I would feel just terrible if we found out later down the line that she had broken something. Anyway, after a trip to the doctor and hospital, we found out that everything was just fine, thank goodness. We were so proud of Allison, this week. She was one of seventeen students picked out of over 800 to have a piece of artwork on display at the mall here in town. She does not often stand out in a crowd, so it is really nice when she gets picked out for something.

Leah managed to make it through the week without losing any more teeth, but Rachel fell off a bench in the foyer and put quite the shiner on her chin. This was the first time she ever told me where she hurt herself. When I picked her up out of the floor she was pointing to her chin and saying booboo. I looked in her mouth, and fortunately she did bite her tongue or hit here teeth. Now, had that been Leah...........

Ouch! Rachel shows off her booboo.

Resident artist. Allison shows off her art work.

Calgon, Take Me Away!

Oh boy! Allison and I just spent 1 1/2 hours working 17 math problems. I swear, she would try the patience of Job!! After many tears and complaints of not knowing how to do it, she will suddenly work it out without any problem and correct me when I give a wrong answer. Does she know how to do it all along and just wants to sit at the table and whine for an hour-just for fun!?!?!? If that is the case, we just had an 1 1/2 of f-u-n! I just didn't realize we were having fun.