Thursday, December 24, 2009

Are You Ready for Santa?

He doesn't care
If you're rich or poor
He loves you just the same




Santa knows
That we're God's children
That makes everything right






Fill your hearts
With Christmas cheer
'Cause Santa Claus
Comes tonight



Friday, December 18, 2009

Play dates

I'm excited! A classmate invited Rylie over her house to play after school today! This is the second friend who called for a play date with Rylie. It's funny because I had to ask the mom(and the last mom) if she knew Rylie has Down syndrome.(Yes, she knew) Ha Ha, but what if I showed up w/ Rylie and the mom was like HUH??? I'm thankful these parents encourage their kids to invite Rylie over. In fact it's awesome. If I never had Rylie , would I have invited a child with special needs to come over to play with Karlie? Probably not. Just being honest. Ok, I'll let you know how it goes. Rylie is so excited!!!!

Edited to add: The playdate went well! Soon as we got there they ran off to play. Rylie was so excited and of course when it was time to go she gave me a hard time. I had to bribe her w/ Dunkin Donuts coffee to get her to leave without a fight. She was invited back... so that's good:)

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Christmas card outtakes.

NOT SURE WHERE CESALIE LEARNED TO MAKE THIS SILLY FACE.

NOT SURE WHY WE THOUGHT PUTTING THE CAT IN THE PICTURE WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA.

CESALIE BEING SILLY AGAIN. SHE HAS SUCH A FUNNY PERSONALITLY....SHE'S NOT SHY ANYMORE!

HERE IS THE ONE GOOD SHOT WE USED FOR THE CARD!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

I Say Merry Christmas


It's Christmas time! We celebrate the birth of Jesus. So, say Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays and write CHRISTmas not X-mas. I saw this graphic on Sallie's blog and wanted to post it here too!
Post it on your blog if you say Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Rylie can read, write and add!

Today Rylie brought a little book home from school. Her aide attached a note to it saying that Rylie can read all the pages. So I handed the book to her and right away she started reading it. It had sentences such as WE SEE THE TRUCK GO.
I was impressed, but thought maybe she just memorized the book(which I know is still good)So I pulled out her homework paper and asked her to read the words on it. And she read them all, words like CAN, THE, WE, MY, IT, etc.

Yesterday her homework had 6+1= on it. When I asked her what six plus one equaled she told me SEVEN right away.

Last week she was doing her homework where she had to practice writing upper case and lower case I's. On the top of the homework page there was a picture of a pig. I walked away from the table for a minute and when I came back she had written the word PIG.

She is doing so good in kindergarten this year. She has made so much progress since last year. I'm glad we made the decision of sending her to kindergarten for a second year. Now I feel like she will be ready for first grade.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Reece's Rainbow

Over in Eastern Europe children born with Down syndrome are deemed worthless and immediately put in an orphanage after birth. In the orphanage they are taken good care of, but once these children reach the age of 4 or 5 years old they are sent to a mental institution and sadly many of them die there from lack of medical care. Actually in the mental institution they lack any kind of care. Thankfully there are many families in the United States such as The Garcia's who are currently in the process of Bringing Home Kellsey and The Zoromski's who are just starting the adoption process through Reece's Rainbow. Reece's Rainbow has many of families willing to save these children, but adoption is a huge expense! By donating to Reece's Rainbow you can help families with the cost of adoption. Please take some time and visit Reece's Rainbow and take a look at the waiting children. Also take some time to watch the video below.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Happy Down syndrome Awareness Month

I know I've been really slacking on the blog, but I did want to acknowledge that October is National Down syndrome Awareness month. Hope to be back to blogging more regularly soon. In the mean time I'll leave you with some pictures of my girl.



Thursday, September 10, 2009

Happy 11th Birthday Karlie!


She would just love it if you visited her blog to wish her a Happy Birthday

Thursday, July 30, 2009

What's New With Rylie?



We have been teaching Rylie how to drive this summer. She's doing a hell of a job, I tell ya!

OK, anyway......

Rylie finished her last day of ESY (extended school year) today. She's not going to be happy. Seriously, you won't ever find a kid who loves school as much as her! That's why I didn't feel bad sending her. So she'll have about five weeks off and then back to kindergarten. She'll have the same teacher as last year and hopefully the same one on one aide. She had a great bunch of classmates last year. They were so accepting of Rylie, and were such a big help to her. Even though they will all go ahead of her, I think it's great that she'll always have a group of kids in the next grade to "look after" her.

Other then that , there is not much to report. She's happy, healthy and she's just enjoying being a kid, and driving her sisters a little crazy. LOL!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Gifts 2


It's almost here! Gifts 2 is expected to be available this September. You can pre order your copy of Gifts 2 by clicking here.

I can't wait to read all of the stories that were submitted. I mentioned before that my mom wrote a story about Rylie that will be featured in the book. This is so exciting!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Cesalie's Minor Surgery

Cesalie had minor surgery today to have her Tongue Tie corrected. She did great! She was only in surgery for less then five minutes. She was back to herself right away. She doesn't seem to be in any pain at all now. We haven't had to give her any tylenol.

When she was an infant, Dr. ENT thought her tongue tie was mild, but now at two years old it didn't seem so mild. She's a very picky eater and she is always spitting her food out of her mouth. We were wondering if maybe the tongue tie had something to do with it and the doctor said possibly. It didn't seem to be effecting her speech, but it's hard to tell if a two year old is talking funny. YKWIM???? Anyway we decided to get the surgery and it worked out good.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy 2nd Birthday Cesalie


My Dear Cessie.

Wow, it has been two wonderful and EXHAUSTING years. You make me laugh and cry everyday! I laugh because your so darn cute. Your vocabulary has exploded this past year and you say the funniest things. When I sing to you, you cover your ears and tell me to STOP IT! I laugh when you you sing RAIN RAIN, GO AWAY(because it's been raining for 2 weeks now). By the way, I'm sorry your birthday party was cancelled, because of the rain, but we will have it next week. I laugh when you yell at your sisters and think your the boss. I laugh when you sing the whole theme song to Phineus and Ferb. I think it's so funny how you are not interested in shows like Barney or Sesame Street, but your favorite shows are Sponge Bob and Phineas and Ferb. Your favorite movie is Cars, which is why you are have a Cars themed birthday party!

Sometimes you make me cry when you won't sleep at night and you whine all day. I cry when I'm constantly picking up the food you throw all over the place and when I am constantly scrubbing the walls because you are obsessed with coloring on them along with the furniture. Ok, I don't really cry because of these things, but you definitely make me want to pull my hair out sometimes:) But you do melt my heart when I pick you up and you wrap your arms around me and squeeze me extra tight. When you tell me that you LOVE me, I get alittle bit emotional.


You are very shy and you still have stranger anxiety. Whenever you are babysat by someone you cry the entire time. You just love mommy and daddy so much that you don't want us to ever go anywhere without you. And that's OK...I'm glad we are on your good side.LOL!

I'm excited about what this year has in store for you. You are loved more then you'll ever know! I hope you have a great birthday and enjoy your presents. We got you a Princess Patio set that you can color on. Seriously....

Love,

Mommy

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Cesalie's Almost Two

I decided to take some pictures of Cesalie outside in the yard today. I feel a little bit guilty that I never get her picture professionally taken. But to be honest I don't have the time or the patience anymore. I used to get Karlie and Rylie taken almost every month, and you know what? I don't even know where half of those pictures are anymore. Seems like I wasted a lot of money. So here's Cesalie. They came out better then I hoped. She will be two years old in a couple weeks. She doesn't have that baby look anymore. She's my little girl




Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Our New Kitten

Yep, we got a new kitten and the girls are loving her! I thought she would kinda get on my nerves, but she's very good. Her name is Liberty(Libby for short).



Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Field Day 2009

Last week Rylie had her first field day. This is a day where all the grades at school compete in different games out on the field. Rylie did great. She had no problem keeping up with all the kids.




Sunday, May 3, 2009

A lot of Catching Up

I've been crazy busy! My kids sure keep me on my toes. I haven't been blogging lately, because I can't think straight. Every time I sit down to blog, I hear crying or whining! I keep trying to remind myself that there is no selfishness in motherhood, but the kids are really pulling me in a million different directions. But, as the song goes..It Wont Be Like This For Long...and I need to cherish my children, after all these are the good old days, the days I will look back on and miss one day. The days I don't have to worry about what my teenager is up to, or how I'm going to come up with college tuition, or drivers licenses ,boyfriends etc.

Anyway...We had Rylie's IEP this week. EASY PEASY...It went so well! She will be doing kindergarten again next year. I'm very happy with the decision.

Cesalie will be two years old next month! She still has a lot of stranger anxiety. Actually it's not just strangers, it's anyone. She does good when she's around kids, but as for adults, she only wants to be around Vince or me. She still doesn't sleep great. She takes naps, but it takes forever for her to settle down at night and she still gets up in the middle of the night. She's tough!

Karlie is doing well. She did well in school this year, and she's glad the year is almost over. She is happiest when she is just playing with her friends. Besides cheerleading and violin, which she does during school hours, she hasn't done any sports or anything. I'm glad I don't have to drive her to practices or go to games and stuff. I just don't know how I would have the time. I don't know how some parents do it.

So, I just wanted to catch up a little. Hopefully I'll start blogging more soon and visiting more blogs. I'm on Facebook, if anyone wants to be friends. Look me up-Valerie Szarek-Volz.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Monday, April 6, 2009

OMG!!! Rylie has Down syndrome!

You know that saying in the Down syndrome community, "One day you will see just your child , not the Down syndrome"? Well it's true...I felt that way pretty early on with Rylie. I don't usually dwell on the what ifs? I don't worry about her IQ or what her adult life will be like(usually). But every once in a while, out of nowhere it hits me...OMG I have a child with Down syndrome! And I get a little panicky. I can't really explain it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

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