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

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:)

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!

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!

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.

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.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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.