Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!!

Today, around the world, we celebrate Down syndrome!! That little extra chromosome that has brought so much extra to our lives!!! It's funny to think back to when Ella was born...I never would have imagined that I would be celebrating Down syndrome, that I would even be thankful for Down syndrome, but I am! I am thankful for all that Down syndrome has brought into my life, acceptance, awareness, compassion, unconditional love, joy (I could go on and on,) and for all the incredible people and friends that we have met both in real life and online throughout our journey! I am so so so thankful for my Ella Grace!!!

I got so much joy today out of looking at Facebook, almost every post I saw was celebrating Down syndrome. One post really stood out to me though, it said
"From my friend Mary Wasserman: "When we began our journey with Down syndrome in 1961, we were alone. The test of courage for parents then was to make a choice to place your child in the state mental hospital or take your child home. 50 years later we are celebrating World Down Syndrome Day. The test of courage for parents today; listen to doctors and terminate your child with Ds or - embrace the opportunity to bring this life into a world that celebrates all people with Down syndrome. Forward with hope!!!"

Just an interesting perspective!!!!

New Puppy!

We got a new puppy yesterday, well technically it's Hunter's puppy though you know who will be taking care of it....ME! She is a really sweet pup so far. Her name is Ruby (after Ella's favorite show Max and Ruby) she is a mini weenie dog, and is 9 1/2 weeks old. Here are some pics with some videos at the end!

We didn't tell Hunter we were getting the dog. Here is the video where we told him : ) Notice he starts breathing really fast, so cute!

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And here is Ruby playing around.

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Here are the codes in case you can't see the video HERE and HERE.

Ella had dance class today and we were invited in at the end to video tape the girls doing their dance so that they can practice at home. The class has a few....behavior issues, and thankfully besides staring at them from time to time, and trying to tell on them to the teacher Ella was able to stay on task!


The 2 girls on the right are having a meltdown.

This is the dance they will be doing for their recital in June.

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Here is a link to it in case you can't view it above...... HERE

16

Tomorrow is Ella's Valentine's Day party at school (she doesn't have school next week due to conferences.) So tonight we sat down to work on her V-day cards to her classmates.

I showed her one time where to write her name, under the FROM:
And Ella worked......

And worked....

And worked....

And worked....

Until she wrote her name on all 16 cards. Completely by herself!! Quite an accomplishment!! She was very proud of herself and I was too!!!! Way to go Ella!!!
Here she is this morning before school being "sassy!"

AND in case you didn't know I have another blog where I am posting pics of both kids daily, you can visit it HERE!

Ella's Fashion Show

We went to the Children's Museum downtown today (see pics HERE )
which is in our mall downtown. So after we were done we grabbed a bite to eat and then walked around the mall. I of course had to stop in BabyGap and found a few cute things. Well, Ella decided she wanted to have a fashion show...so we did : ) She was so stinking cute announcing herself and prancing around. Luckily I had my camera on hand to get a few shots. She especially loved the "rockstar" sunglasses!

Reptile Man

Yesterday Hunter came home from school begging me to take him to see Reptile Man tomorrow (today,) "it only cost one dollar per person!!! Please please please." What is a mom to do...so of course I took Hunter and Ella to see Reptile Man tonight. Reptile Man is apparently popular and has been on TV shows such as Bill Nye the Science Guy, which I remember from when I was a kid. It was interesting, the guy was actually quite funny. Ella was not a fan of all the yelling by the 2 million kids (not really but sounded like it) every time the guy pulled out a new reptile, but she did like the alligator, tortoise, snakes "it's beautiful!" Hunter of course loved it!!!

I love this picture. Hunter was very into showing off his little sister to all his friends, and she was so excited to sit with him (until the screaming started.)

Hunter and Lucy the alligator
Ella standing next to Hunter and Lucy. She freaked out and wouldn't hold it. The Reptile Guy was so sweet. He actually brought the alligator up to Ella right after the show so she could pet it, and was so sweet to Ella and talked to her for quite a bit!

The kids with the tortoise.

Ella had a change of heart and really really wanted to go hold Lucy. The Reptile Man helped her out, she was good until Lucy moved and she freaked again, of course I hadn't gotten a picture yet. Luckily Reptile Man sweet talked Ella into trying again!

So, this is one of the snakes, the largest one he brought. That is one of our little friends in the center, Isali. Anyhow see the size of that snake????

Here is my crazy child face to face with that same snake. Talk about making me nervous. Though the Reptile Man did say that all of his snakes have had their venom surgically removed and that this is the sweetest snake he owns and he tells me "it's okay mom, it won't hurt her." My kid is afraid of screaming/shrieking kids but an 8 foot snake....no problem.

And just as a bonus picture here is the Reptile Man and some really creepy tortoise!!! Look at that mouth.

ANOTHER snowy day!

It snowed a lot yesterday and really early this morning. All of the school districts around us closed for today, but ours just had a two hour delay. Needless to say Hunter was quite disappointed!!! The roads really weren't too bad though. It rained a little this afternoon and is supposed to warm up tomorrow, so I think our snow is not going to be around for long!

My snow lover. 24 hours on antibiotics and his ear doesn't hurt at all....oh how I wish Ella responded to antibiotics the way Hunter does!!!

Goof!

Climbing up the snow mound by the driveway from Daddys electric shovel, using her face to help!

Hunter and the neighborhood kids sledding on the snow pile made by the plow.

Climbing

She climbed her way to the very top and was quite proud of herself!!!

Sliding down

Ella is yelling "my foot stuck!!!!" She was getting tired, I know it's hard to walk in deep snow, I'm guessing it's really really hard when it's up to your waist. LOL

She freed herself and said "this is too hard work, I go inside." Ha ha