Life celebrations

This weekend we celebrated Ava being home with us two years!

While Liesel had riding lessons today,

Ava waited patiently for her turn....

She waved to the horsie every time he passed by, and cracked up when he cantered and made Liesel bounce

Then while Hope rode

Ava continued to wait patiently for her turn....

She does this funny thing with her legs when she's excited. She gets all stiff and she shakes her legs really fast, and then she laughs an evil sounding laugh that sounds something like 'mwa-ha-ha'.

That's what she did when it was finally her turn to ride.

Here she is, kissing Pepper goodbye (We're still working on the tongue).

This is Ms. Barbara. Our family has been visiting Ms. Barbara at a nursing home for about three years now. Since we don't have any grandparents living in town, we have adopted Ms. Barbara as our own!!  Today was her birthday and she came over for fajitas and birthday cake. Happy Birthday Ms. Barbara!!

Hope had the idea of playing a funny trick on Ms. Barbara......

Surprise!!!!!

Can you guess what was in the gift bag??????

TWO years....

Ava has had a growing week! She is getting around on her feet like you wouldn't believe! I'll have to post another video here soon. Two nights ago she fell on a chair and busted her two bottom front teeth, one ended up coming all the way out and the other is barely hanging by a thread. What cute and interesting combination of characteristics she has: loose teeth, learning to walk, no hair. She is growing up right before our eyes. Normally the kids losing their first teeth always makes me feel a little sad and nostalgic, I guess it confirms that they are losing their babyness and growing into adultness. (I'm sure neither babyness or adultness are actual words). I'm glad to have a child with Down Syndrome in our family, because that technically means I will never have to suffer empty nest syndrome.

Can you believe it's been TWO YEARS since she joined our family??

She had a rare fever last weekend, and I have to say, I was impressed by the fact that she kept asking for 'mama' and crawling up on my lap for comfort. There was a day that I didn't think that would ever happen. When she came to us, I remember thinking she was more like a zombie than a child, totally oblivious to her surroundings, hypersensitive to touch, and certainly not in tune to her family members' attempts at loving her.

And now, if you could just see how she snuggles and how she beams when her daddy walks in the door. I want to tell you that she looks at books and picture albums, and she points and she names the names she knows. "Cow", "Swing", "School", "Dad", and when she sees a picture of her she points to herself and grins so big. What a joy she has been to us!! Ok, the tears are starting to come. Truly, truly, I am so glad we said yes to that little mangy puppy of a little girl we met two years ago.

spam

I've been getting some really weird spam comments on here. Does anybody know how to fix that? It's irritating me!!

The way she eats

                                      

 Say the blessing.....

Decide whether or not the food looks appetizing

Yep, that works......Dig in.

Barbecue sauce makes everything more delicious (even chinese food)....

Who needs utensils?

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Mmmmmmm.

Dump food on the table. Throw the bowl on the floor.

Who needs a bowl anyway?

Pick out the green peppers.

That's better......

Delectable. 

Snow days

I've never been real fond of the cold and snow but we had a wonderful time being snowed in over the weekend. One of the advantages, or disadvantages depending on how you look at it, of living in the country, is that there is nobody to clear your road for you, thus sometimes rendering us housebound. Here's some pictures I took over the weekend.

BBRRRRR.........????

I love this dog in so many ways, I should probably devote an entire post just for her. Any dog who can withstand sleet and snow and subfreezing temperatures without scratching on my front door is always welcome around here. God gave her an extra thick wooly coat which makes her very content to stay outside and makes me very content to keep her here. (especially since she still reeks like the skunk who sprayed her two weeks ago).

The boys had fun sledding and building igloos....

While the girls enjoyed making Valentines for the grandmothers....:)

Liesel has decided she wants to be a writer instead of a vet when she grows up after realizing animals stink and are a lot of work.

And of course, whatever Liesel wants to do----Hope wants to do. 

John and Liesel have become quite the farm buddies. I love watching them walk to the barn and back together  to feed and water all the creatures and collect eggs from the hens.

She and Jude helped their dad build a little pen for Romeo, complete with heating lamps and rabbits for company. How cute and cozy does this look? The animals are all adjusting very well and seem to be very happy in their new home. And I just want to add: John got up twice in the night to go check on the little goat to make sure he wasn't too cold. And that is one of the many reasons why I love him so much.

My Wall of Photos

At least two of my blog readers have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much and have asked for more updates on our family (OK so those two blog readers are my parents. But anyway---)

So today I'm attempting to blog a little and post some photos over the last few weeks.

For several months I have been collecting frames from the Goodwill and painting them black with a goal of making a wall of portraits for my dining room. My decorating friend came over one day a few weeks ago and we made a day out of arranging them on my wall. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I personally don't think this picture on this blog does it justice, it looks much more beautiful in real life.

One of the second hand frames I found had this canvas painting in it. Hope keeps referring to it as "The Mona Lisa". ha!

Jude had fun doing his own paint job. ha! :) I can't figure out which room to display it in though. (kidding).

And while I was in the frame-collecting painting mode, I made this magnetic chalkboard out of an old frame, a piece of sheet metal and some chalkboard paint. The plates came from the Goodwill too, 50cents each! Have I mentioned how much I love the Goodwill????

Family portraits

John's aunt and uncle gave us a family portrait session for a Christmas gift. I planned on putting a bunch of them on here to share but they were taking soooooo long to upload, that I stopped at three. Here you go. Thanks Uncle Bob and Aunt Gwen!