It's been far too long!

Oh, how I love to blog.  And oh, how little time in the day there is to do it!  Somehow, other things take priority, like laundry, dirty diapers, kids, dogs, life.  But here I sit hoping to update a bit that's been going on in the world of us.

A while ago, my little N got some braces for her legs.  Her tone is so low that she can put her legs around the back of her neck without touching her legs to move them back there, which is really cool to see, but doesn't help her learn to walk at all.  So, thanks to Shriner's Hospital she got these braces for her feet and legs....

...AND these cute shoes!!  It's really hard to buy shoes for kids with braces so I guess they decided to give them with the braces so they are fit properly.  She doesn't fight us to put them on her and she is walking around more thanks to a walker that was donated to the Early Intervention program that sees her.  It's a bit tall for her, but at least she doesn't have to crawl everywhere or wait to be carried.  I can't wait for good weather so we can go outside.  I think she will really take off, then.  (She has been sick the past few days and I sure miss her!!)

 

 

I found this old picture of Alex from a 6th grade dance in some computer files I was looking through and guess who he is dancing with?  Yup!  That's Ashley that took him on his first date!  Even then she was 2 feet taller than him!

 

 

 Meet Dex.  He's the cute, little guy on the left.  He is actually my son's family dog, but they are moving soon and can't take him with them.  He has been hanging out with us during the day because while they are at work they put him outside, and it's been just too dang cold, so I've told them to just bring him when they bring the girls.  It's really sad that he's so much smaller than my cat - even though he's closer to the camera in this picture - but I thought it was cute they were trying to snuggle on the bed together.  I don't know if you remember, but when they first got Dex he surprised Moose while he was sleeping on the chair and Moose attacked him.  Dex was a beaten man after that, but they both seem to have forgotten that.  He's a good little dog.  Follows me everywhere!

 

 

And then there's my sweet Gracie Goo.  Here she is laying on her favorite couch, which she has completely taken over.  A few months ago she started freaking out;  standing in the backyard, even in the snow (she hates the cold and wet!!) and just looked around like she had no idea where she was or how she got there.  And she would get so scared of every day sounds that she would just hide in the back bedroom instead of on her couch.  I found out that Danes have a higher chance of getting Alzheimer's.  Yup!  My dog has Alzheimer's and my cat is a diabetic.  Between all of Alex's meds and insulin, giving the cat insulin and the dog Prozac, it's surprising I'm not standing out in the rain wondering where I am and how I got there!!

 

 

And now meet J & L....

 

...and Little J. 

 

  I signed Alex up with a group called "I Run 4" that matches up competitive runners with people with special needs that would never be able to run competitively.  Well, J, L and Little J are Alex's runners!!  They have been so sweet to keep in contact and tell Alex (via Facebook through me) all that they are doing to stay active.  J and I have talked quite a bit through e-mail, too.  It's so nice to have another adult to talk to!  They are awesome and I'm so glad Alex was matched with them.

 

So this may seem weird to some people, but the kids and I just HAD to make a thank you card for our garbage man!  He's been on this route since Alex was little, so at least 14 years, and every week if we are watching him, he makes a point of waving and honking at the kids.  They get so excited when they hear him come up the street so they can wave and yell at him.  So they all colored a picture around the THANK YOU and while he was dumping our cans M took the poster out and gave it to him.  It's good to know there are nice people still in the world.

 

 

N and A have gotten in the habit lately of climbing into our upstairs fireplace.  Don't panic!  It hasn't been used in years!  But, still, it's nothing but a dark, dirty hole.  And that wall has always been a problem for me because it takes away valuable space for seating.  So, my daughter, her husband and I came up with an idea;  let's make the hearth a seating area!  With their help, and some help from George and my dad we created this beautiful bench that the kids LOVE to sit on to read books and color.  The lights that shine on the bench were on some bookcases downstairs, but the lighting downstairs is so much brighter than upstairs so we've never used them down there.  We brought them upstairs, and voila!  No more dark hole, no more hard, cold hearth for the kids to bonk their heads on and hello comfort!!  I'm pretty proud of it if I do say so myself! (See the before and after below!)

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And last, but not least, I wanted to share another little project.  Did you know the month of March is Special Education month?  And on the 5th is "Spread the Word to End the Word" Day (retard / retarded), and on the 21st (3/21 for TRIsomy 21) is National Down Syndrome Day!  Because it's such an important month in the life of Al and since he's been so bored since wrestling is over with I thought he could help make some posters to put up in the hallway near his classroom to make others aware of these happenings.  When I asked his teacher if he could put them up in their hallway, she said, "No!"  After the initial shock wore off and I said ok, she said, "I want the posters put up all over the school, not just our hallway!"  I asked TJ  to help since she's our resident artist - even though there's no drawings on them - and she came up with these amazing posters in a short amount of time.

 

 

And this one is my favorite!  Especially the part that says "4.0 stubent".  Classic!!  (We will put a picture of Alex in the bottom left corner)

We will make some more over the next few days so they can be hung up at school soon.  I will take pictures of the others so we can show them off.

 

So Happy Special Education / STWTETW / National DS month / day!!

Alex's first official date - a school dance!

 A few weeks ago I got a call from a girl that Alex has gone to school with all through the years, starting in first grade;  she wanted to ask Alex to the Valentine's girl's choice dance and asked me if that would be ok.  OK?  Of course it's ok! 

 

I remember this girl (Ashley) at another Valentine's dance, this one in middle school.  It was the only after school dance Alex had seemed interested in going to and his teacher was going to be there so I let him go.  I went to watch when it was about 1/2 way done and Alex had just asked Ashley to dance.  Now remember, my boy isn't known for his height, and Ashley is.  But this kind, sweet girl danced her heart out with him.  When the song was done, Alex said, "Let's dance again,"  and how Ashley handled that impressed me beyond measure.  She told him that she would love to, but he needed to learn to ask others and dance with others.  Then she asked him who he wanted to ask next and after he pointed out another girl, she encouraged him to ask her to dance.  She wasn't mean, yet firm.  She wasn't discouraging, but very encouraging.  Great girl.  So would I mind him going on his first real date, which also happens to be his first real dance with her?  Heaven's no!!

 

 

 So, this goon is on his date right now!!  We tried to take a few pictures before Ashley showed up, but he was so excited he looked like he was going to explode standing there. 

 

 His whole family was there waiting in anticipation for his date.  Look closely in the background....

 

 ...Alex is looking out the window waiting ever so patiently for his date to arrive!! 

 

She looked absolutely beautiful!  Her parents came with her because they wanted to meet Alex.  We took lots of pictures, of course, and I told Ashley's mom how sweet this was for her to ask him.  She told me that she wanted to ask him to last year's girl's choice dance because she wanted to be his first date, but that she wasn't 16 yet and they wouldn't let her.  Well, she waited a year until she was 16 and she is still his first date!!

 

 Alex gave her the corsage....

 

 

 ...and made her mom put it on her!  What you can't see is Mike is in the other room tying the tie that Ashley bought (so it would match her jewelry and sash) and struggling to get it the right length, since Alex is so short!

 

 

Then we took pictures....

... and more pictures....

...and more pictures...

...and even more pictures!  All that before they left to take pictures with their group! 

 



We kept snapping pictures even as they left because it was such a big occasion for us all! 

 

After dinner I met them at the school so I could give him his shots (which felt really awkward, like I was meeting someone for a drug fix in the school parking lot or something).  I asked Ashley if he was being good and she said he was being so good and even held her chair out for her at dinner, and all the other girls in the group chewed their dates out because Alex was the only one who had!  That's my boy!  I'm sure he's dancing up a storm.  No one dances as well as Alex and with a good friend by his side, he's going to have all the fun in the world!

 

Thanks to Ashley, and all the other friends in Alex's life who have helped him become the great young man that he is!

 

*If you want to comment on this, please comment on the blog, not on Facebook - I want Alex to see the comments in one place so it looks like a lot!!

A match and another win for Alex!

I would love to give commentary to each of these pictures and videos, but the embarrassing part of this is I still don't understand wrestling!  All I know is if you pin the guy you win and if no one gets pinned the winner is determined by points and he's the guy the ref puts his hand in the air.  Lame, huh?  But, Alex had another match the other night and the opposing team didn't have anyone to wrestle Alex so a fellow Beetdigger  (an independent as the announcer called him) wrestled him and "lost" to him.  (I mentioned to one of the coaches that it would be OK for Alex to lose once in a while, and he said, "Tell that to the boys.  They don't want to be the one!"  Ha!  Never thought of it that way!

 

 

 

While watching this first video, listen to the coaches in the background telling him moves to do.  How cool is that that they have taught him well enough to yell out actual moves for him and he gets it?!! 

 

In this next video you can hear the wrestling managers (girls) giggling.  It's not to be mean, it's because this is so awesome that a big, bad wrestler (who is darn cute and I'm sure the love of many girl's dreams) will allow this little, bad wrestler (who is also darn cute and the love of many people) kick his butt!  One thing you can't hear or see in these videos is how Alex's opponent is telling Alex what to do to wrestle correctly.  Amazing!!

 

 

 

Notice at the end of this video I say, "I love this position!"  I call that Alex's signature move.  He seems to do it quite often.  If you can't tell what he's doing, he is on top of his opponent but holding his ankles.  I don't think it's very productive as an actual wrestling move, but it does tend to confuse the opponent which then lends to a certain win!

 

 

Two things to mention for this video below;  Yes, that is a coach on the left side of the screen telling Alex to pull his opponents hair!  All in jest I assure you!  And you can hear them telling him he needs to be on top...he has the kid pinned but he's just lounging next to him.  Again, not an actual wrestling move, but it sure adds to the entertainment value.

 

 

I have to add some comments here;  this cute, young man that gives Alex a medal is a brother to one of the wrestler's on Jordan's team.  I guess one day he told his parents he wanted to give Alex one of his wrestling medals because "he (Alex) would wear it all the time, and I won't"  Isn't that sweet!!  And, yes!  He does wear it all the time!  He's very proud!

 

You can see in the videos he doesn't have as much energy as he used to.  Who knows why... could be his weight gain, could be his diabetes wearing him down (he did test low just 20 minutes after this match),  or it could be his hip has slowed him way down.  Who knows?  All I know is his record is 1 loss and many wins!!

 

 

And now a little addition about his upcoming dance date....

 

...this video is a bit dark, but Alex likes to turn off the lights in the living room, turn on the lights in the kitchen, crank the tunes real loud and practice dancing with his shadow.  Look out, Ashley!  You're gonna go out with the mamba king!!!

 



Alex's first school dance

I got a phone call the other day from a girl that has gone to the same schools as Alex since first grade.  She wanted to know if it would be OK if she asked him to their high school's Valentine Dance.  Of course I said, "YES!"

 

A few days later we found this on our porch....

 

 (the bananas had letters on them to spell out the name of the girl who asked him)

It's been fun to watch his little brain process all of this.  For instance, we went to take his "answer" to her house and he couldn't figure out why I wasn't making him dress up since he was just in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms! I don't know if he thought the dance was tonight or what, but it has been fun to see how he's handling it. 

 

Here is how he answered her....

Inside the pinata was candy and some crumpled up pieces of paper, on one of which he had written YES and signed his name.  So she had to open the piñata and then go through all the papers to find the one that he had written on.

 

The dance is in a few weeks.  I will take lots of pics and do a post afterward with all the details!! 

 

My baby is going on his first date!  

LET IT DOE!!

I have shared before how talented my children are, and even though this isn't one of them, this reminds me so much of TJ that I just had to share! 

 

 First of all, she's the one who showed this video to me.  She is ALWAYS showing me music videos that she thinks I will like or youtube videos to make me laugh.  Well, this one is awesome!!!  And by the way, if you haven't seen Frozen, it's a must see!

 

AND second of all, this reminds me of TJ when she was little.  She was (still is!) always singing and trying to get the other kids to harmonize with her.  But this little girl's voice is so blasted cute I can't stop watching this.   

 

So, sit back, get ready to grin and let it doe....

 

 

 

 

AWWWW! My boys!

Alex got a b-day / Christmas gift from Daddy Ernie and fam and obviously he knows what his boy likes!  I took this video last night of Mike and Al having a duel.  It lasted about an hour!  They had a great time.  Thanks B family for all you do for Al!

 

 

 

And I finally got a picture of Quincy that I like - I wanted his footprints put next to something for a size comparison, and a baseball was perfect!  Thanks to TJ for tweaking it for me to make it just right!

And last, but not least, a bit more recent pic of CR.  He was officially made a member of our family when he was adopted the week before Christmas and the weekend before Christmas he was sealed to Cali and Josh for time and all eternity!!!  He's a sweet man and gives us the best smiles!

I love all my boys - the young and old - and am a grateful woman to be surrounded by such amazing men!



TRADITIONS! (As said like Tevye says on Fiddler on the Roof)

This is the time of year when traditions are a huge part of every day life, so I thought I would share a few of our family's traditions.  If I were to think about it, I should probably re-name the title of this blog because these aren't your typical traditions, but they are things we do that make us a unique family and are sweet memories for all of us.

Such as - when you make a grilled cheese sandwich, you HAVE to cut it with the spatula / flipper you used while cooking it instead of a knife.  No, we are not suffering from OCD and just don't want to dirty another utensil, it's just the law of making a grilled cheese sandwich in our home.  (You also have to choose between having your sandwich cut into squares or triangles.  A small detail of the law.)

Music is a huge part of our lives.  Even though not all of us are thoroughly, amazingly filled with the talent of music, we all are known to sing at the top of our lungs, whether we know all the words or not!  Actually, when I think about it, those of us who AREN'T very musically talented sing louder and more often than those that are gifted.  But to continue with our traditions;  when you like a song you must put your thumb and pointer finger together, kind of in an A-OK sign, and shake it back and forth to the beat of the song.  That's the Maughan-universal sign for, "This song is the bomb!"  My dad (Scott, Papa GG) actually is the one who started this gem.  But it is forever linked to our family as a tradition.  Another musical custom we do is a definite Christmas time love; whenever we hear the song "Silver Bells" played - no matter the version, no matter where we are - we have added to the chorus by singing, "Silver Bells. DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG! Silver Bells. DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG!"  We are actually singing "ding" but it sounds more like "dang" when you do it obnoxious enough, which is the goal.  We have even been known to be alone when hearing this song and sending out a mass text to each other with only the words, "DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG, DANG!"  It has to be done!!

We also have a nasty habit tradition of saying words incorrectly, but it's completely on purpose.  Yes, it does seem like we are making fun of the person who originally said it wrong, but in actuality it's a sign of endearment.  For instance...molasses will forever in our family be known as "moles ass."  The story behind this is when our kids were little and my sister was babysitting them one time, they decided to make some cookies.  They couldn't find the molasses, so my sister (who is deaf) told the kids to go to the neighbor's house and ask to borrow their "moles ass."  When we got home, the cookies were delicious and a new word was a part of our vocabulary.  My sister has also added "What's your prob-a-blem" to our vocab. 

Alex is another person who has enlightened our minds with new words or phrases.  Probably everyone's most used is to say, "Look! A dolphin!!" while pointing in the opposite direction when trying to distract the other person to steal food off their plate, or get a head's start to run away.  And to answer your question, no.  There is no dolphin! 

And if you do something again, you've done it "two-twice." 

Another famous Al-dialogue is "It's funny so hard!" instead of "laughing so hard."

This is just a few of our quirks.  Yes, they are awesome!!!  And they are what makes us, well, us!

I may add to this list as I think of them or as my children remind me of other things, but this is a good start.  If you comment, please tell me some of your quirky family traditions that are unique to your family.  I would love to know others are as weird amazing as we are!!