last day of kindergarten

 Lucas, Andrew & Ben

The Three Amigos

I can hardly believe that today was Andrew's last day of kindergarten and the Kindergarten picnic.  I signed up to volunteer...  "just put me where you need me"  is not a phrase to be taken lightly in the future.  I was given the task of "parachute games".  OK... this does sound like fun... but after the second wave of small children with energy to spare bounced over to my station, I was was sweating bullets, my face was flushed and could no longer feel my arms.  Other volunteers snapped pictures of me as I made parachute "mushrooms" and "popcorn" among a group of frenzied children.  I am sure that these pictures will only show off my best features.... not.  It looked like all the kids were having a wonderful time... hoola hoop contests, soccer ball obstacle course, scooter races, parachutes... I want to go back to kindergarten!  The morning was finished up with a game of simon says and then it was time for lunch.  They inhaled their food.  After saying good byes it was time to go home.  

Andrew had a really great year and I am very proud of all the things he learned not only academically but also about being a good citizen and kind person.  Thank you Mrs. Rajcevich for all your hard work and dedication to Andrew and all the kinder-bears who love to work and play and learn everyday!  

 

favorite things...

Besides going to the sensory room and gym class and riding the bus... I think one of Sam's favorite activities at school is going to the pool. Every other Friday Sam's class spends time in the school's pool. Sam loves the water... here is a pic of him working out in the pool.

Connoisseur, Consumer and all around lover of books

 *** update***

Sean is 20 lbs 14 oz and 29 inches long at his 9 month check-up

Sean is now 9 months old... I KNOW!  He is crawling ,pulling to stand and starting to cruise,  he bites (4 teeth), he chews on furniture and devours books... literally...he eats books.  He is absolutely delightful and is a happy easy going baby.  He is curious and into everything. One of his most favorite activities is pulling all the books off the book shelves, tasting each one and in general making as big a mess as possible before Mom swoops in and spoils all his fun by finger swiping all the bits of paper out of his mouth.  Like his older brothers, we are teaching him sign language and he is now signing "all done" appropriately at meal times, especially when I serve green veggies.  He has a fresh row of bruises across his forehead (mostly self inflicted)... he has learned to crawl but not yet how to duck. Sam's  "love 'em hard or leave 'em" approach has taught Sean that sometimes love hurts but as you can see so far Sean's skull is still round and intact so I should count my blessings.  

this picture cracks me up... 

check out the expression of the bug on the cover of the book Sean is eating

CUB SCOUTS

Andrew joined the Cub Scouts and I don't know if I am ready for this kind of commitment ....LOL.   I have yet to determine if scouting is controlled fun disguised as service or a nation wide cult ring.  Andrew is so excited and I guess that is what it is really all about.  They really do have a bunch of fun events planned and Andrew wants to do them all... today! Right Now as a matter of fact! I think all he hears is...blah blah blah blah Fishing Derby blah blah blah, Camp Out blah blah, SMENCILS blah blah blah... and he is ready to sign up.  Right now I think he thinks scouting is all about playing tag with your friends in the church parking lot and starting fires.  I get several emails from the Pack leader, treasurer, Den leader and like 50 other people daily about dues, this event or that event, what the scouts are supposed to wear and when they are supposed to wear it, smencils (don't ask) and up coming popcorn sales. Seriously... the squares on my calendar are only so big.  There are hand books to buy and to download, there is a uniform with tons of tiny little patches that need to be sewn onto it in just the right spot and of course there is stuff that needs to be sold (popcorn and smencils).  Upon the recommendation of the lady and the Boy Scouts Store, I bought Andrew a uniform shirt that is about 10x too big for him.  Obviously she is held in high regard as it would appear that everyone bought their child an extremely oversized cub scout shirt.   Next weekend is the big Fishing Derby that I believe got us into this whole thing so we will see how it goes.  In the mean time he does look very handsome in his cub scout uniform.

Mommy Needs a Cocktail

Saturday night... Mother's Day Eve... we hosted a cocktail party for our local Down syndrome parent's group.  Besides our Ds parent's group we also had lots of cops who participated in the police torch run for Special Olympics, the friends who played in our Special Olympics Kicking for a Cause kickball Tournament, and neighbors who always have a kinds smile or a high five for Sam.   We had about 60+ people, entirely too much food, cocktails and fun.  The bartender kept things running smoothly and everyone happy.  I kept pushing the food because it would have taken a small miracle to get the left overs all back into my fridge.  We also sold Mommy Needs A Cocktail tee shirts and The DDC (Down syndrome Development Council) gets 10% of the sales... so it was all for a good cause too.  A shameless way to justify getting over served... but what is a girl to do...LOL.  Sorry folks... I forgot to take pics.

And where were the kids you ask...

They had their own little party in the basement with the babysitter and 2 neighbor kids. They stuffed themselves with pizza, stolen treats from party, popcorn and watched movies.  

The morning after... which happened to be Mother's Day... was lovely.  The boys brought me cards in bed and lots of hugs and kisses.  We had some friends over for Mother's Day Mimosas and Andrew made everyone french toast and bacon.  All around it was a wonderful weekend.

questions to ponder...

1.  The baby is now crawling... who taught him that???

2.  The refrigerator up and died... Of course it was nothing dramatic, as to alert us to take immediate action...but when you can pour your ice cream out of the container you know something is not right.  So what do you think the odds are of getting it either fixed or replaced in time for our big party on Saturday? 

3. Currently everything is in coolers packed in ice... repair man is coming this morning.  Do you think this is the universe's way of telling me it is time to clean out my fridge?  Who knows... maybe Martha Stewart plans on attending my party and then won't I feel a huge sigh of relief when she goes for a cold one and I have the satisfaction of knowing that my fridge is clean?  See everything happens for a reason.  

4.  How many cocktails will it take for me to forgive my husband for not taking the day off before our big Mommy Needs a Cocktail Party this weekend?  

5.  How much pre-cleaning am I required to do before the cleaning lady arrives?  Who knew that you actually have to clean for the cleaning lady.  Obviously I was absent on the day they handed out the "Domestic Manners for Dummies" handbook.  Anyway... these saints are willing to clean behind my toilets and scrub the soap scum on my shower doors... I think I will make them some cookies or maybe a roast.