Special Exposure/Wordless Wednesday.....Me and My Dad

The Lucky Ones

I love this little girl more than words can even express! Just look at that cute face. She is such a happy go lucky girl. Loves life! Loves people!

Sometimes I think back to the day we found out the news and how dreadful I thought my life would be. I really don't even know why these thoughts even enter the mind. It wasn't like I thought she was dreadful but the situation. I felt so sorry for her. For all the things I didn't think she would be able to experience. The things that she would miss out on. The irony to it all is that we were the ones missing out. She is the one who has brought new experiences to our lives. We are more enriched and see the world in a whole different light.

Thank you God for sending me this little girl~

Mini-Vacation

Where have we been? We took a mini-vacation and met up with some of our friends at Camp Hatteras. It is not the primitive hard core camping by any means. The camp has a playground, mini putt putt, 2 pools, hot tub, pond, and beach access. We didn't get to go last year so I was a little worried how Mattie would do now that she is walking and into everything. I just imagined me running all over trying to catch her as she weaved between campers. So I invested in a play yard. Can we say wonderful?!! I love this thing. We use it everywhere. She isn't locked up in it all the time, although she was quite content. She kept herself busy.

She was waiting to catch the beach ball

Eating her cheese puffs all sprawled out.

Mattie loves books! This one is her favorite~she spent a good thirty minutes looking at it. I've got some other cute pics of her in various positions while reading.

sisters

We headed down to Kitty Hawk Kites on our way out. They had a really neat sand sculpture. And yes, this is all real sand. It was huge! I just posted a portion of it.

Caroline

It's only a couple hour drive so we are headed back for a whole week this time. Hoping to get on the beach. I really didn't feel like taking Mattie since it was so windy. They have beach accesses where you can drive your truck on to the beach so I'm sure we'll be doing that some days. Then we plan on visiting the lighthouses and other landmarks that our kids haven't been to yet.

Cake Balls

During the school year one of our parents made cake balls and sent them in with her child. They were so yummy, we had to make them for ourselves. I was very surprised to see how easy they were to make.

First, I found a few helpers.

Here are the ingredients you will need. One cake mix, frosting, and almond bark (or any chocolate coating). Also the things to make your cake.
Prepare your cake using the directions from the box. Bake in a 9 x 13. Once the cake is finished baking, cool slightly and then crumble up finely.
Try not to leave large chunks.

Add one regular size tub of icing and mix well.

This is the most time consuming part. Form the cake mixture into balls. I put mine in the freezer for a little while to make the dipping easier. I've heard people try it all different ways. Whatever works for you.

Melt your Almond Bark. I like using a double boiler but the instructions say you can microwave. Dip your balls into the chocolate. Cool on wax paper. They harden up pretty fast. I like to keep mine at room temperature. They literally melt in your mouth.

You can use any cake box combination. We used chocolate fudge and coconut pecan icing. I've also tried red velvet and cream cheese icing. I've also heard that spice cake with cream cheese is great too!

The Missing Puzzle Piece

Why is it that when you complete a puzzle there always seems to be one piece of the puzzle missing? The girls and I worked on this beautiful puzzle of Noah's Ark and sure enough....one piece missing. I'm sure there is some witty comment I could add to this and the correlation to life but honestly...I can't think of one right now. So we will just leave at that. One piece of the puzzle missing.



So finally I downloaded some Fourth of July Pictures. What is it the 9th? Okay so just a little behind. Our fourth was pretty uneventful. We went to church. Heard an awesome message. Went to friends for some dinner and then headed to one of the smaller towns down the road. We live between two towns both equally the same distance of about 7 miles I'm guessing. The larger main city and the smaller "Mayberry" town. We happen to like the feel of Mayberry~ We headed down with many of our friends in tow and enjoyed the show. Here are a few pictures.

Caroline posing for the picture.

Typical picture of Abby (in purple) with her friends.


Mattie sporting her cheese ball orange face.

"God Bless America"

Potty Update

Thanks to those that commented about the potty dilemma. There really isn't a right or wrong answer and its great to know everyone elses take on things. So I decided I would at least make an attempt to "try" and see how things go. So we started day one yesterday. Hooray! Mattie got acquainted with the potty. Sat on it, sang the "pee pee where are you?" song. Where are you is one of our speech sayings so why not throw that in too, huh? Then it was off to camp to pick up Abby. Then to the park and back home for a nap. Woke up and did the potty thing all over. Later, mommy and daddy went out for dinner so that pretty much sums up potty day one. No pee pee and not much practice. I can't say that mommy "tried" very hard. Day two....I just said forget trying today. We are going to a friend's for a picnic. I don't think we are off to a great start. We will "try" again on Monday, or Tues, or Wed..........

When to Potty Train?

This topic has been creeping into my mind. When do I start to potty train? I trained my two older girls around 2 years and 3 months and was successful. One weekend and really not many accidents that followed. I was pretty lucky. They say girls are easier. Well, something tells me that Mattie won't be that easy.

So I'm wondering whether I should try with her over the summer. She is 2 years and 4 months but let's face it, she doesn't have the communication skills that the older girls had at that age. I really don't know if she will "understand" the concept. I know what all the books say.....dry diapers at night, interest in the potty, yada, yada, yada......I don't think she is there yet. The summer is the best time since I have off to work with her....kind of....when I'm not dragging older kids all over the place. I really don't want this to be a pull my hair out kind of thing. Based on her "adjusted age" that's what I'm calling it....It may be really too soon. What are your thoughts?

Any advice or tips for those that have children with Down syndrome? When did you train or plan to train?