Project 365::213
brothers.Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Project 365::211
Some friends of ours gave us their share of the CSA this week b/c they are out of town. We went over to Broadturn Farm today to pick it up. Freshly picked Farm goodness! Thank you Scott and Kelly:)Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
A day at the lake.
It seems like it's been forever since we have gotten to Spend a day up at the lake, swimming and having fun. Well, yesterday was just that, the kids ran and played and I think Trevor and Vernonica stayed in the water for about 4 hours straight. Even Breanna dunked her feet in, the water was so warm. The guys decided the docks needed to go in and we had a great dinner to celebrate Josh's birthday. All the waiting and construction was worth it, the place is beautiful. Next year, after the grass is planted Mom and Dad MIGHT just get to relax a little and enjoy their dream. It was so great to visit with Pop-pop, I'm so glad he made the trip! Enjoy the pics!
It seems like it's been forever since we have gotten to Spend a day up at the lake, swimming and having fun. Well, yesterday was just that, the kids ran and played and I think Trevor and Vernonica stayed in the water for about 4 hours straight. Even Breanna dunked her feet in, the water was so warm. The guys decided the docks needed to go in and we had a great dinner to celebrate Josh's birthday. All the waiting and construction was worth it, the place is beautiful. Next year, after the grass is planted Mom and Dad MIGHT just get to relax a little and enjoy their dream. It was so great to visit with Pop-pop, I'm so glad he made the trip! Enjoy the pics!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Farm Camp 2008
Trevor had SOOO much fun at Farm camp this year---so much so that he may go back for another week toward the end of the summer. The best parts of farm camp were:
Trevor had SOOO much fun at Farm camp this year---so much so that he may go back for another week toward the end of the summer. The best parts of farm camp were:
- Tye dying and screen printing t-shirts
- Drip, Drip, Drop
- Laying down in the creek waterfall (it was hot!) and fishing with nets (Trevor caught one!)
- Two PB&J sandwiches per day
- catching baby chickens
- collecting eggs for Hannafords ("Mom, it's like we are working for the store!")
- Doing our play at the end
- picking strawberries and peas and eating them-YUMMY!
Here are some pictures the camp counselors e-mailed us from the week. There are only a few of Trevor, but you can get a good idea of some of the things they were doing at camp--enjoy!!
some exciting developments....
Despite my struggles over Breanna's support person, she has had a GREAT week. The teachers were raving about her at school that when she was doing activities included with the typical preschool, she just did phenomonal. She cuts with regular scissors while sitting at the table doing crafts (just like all the other kids) and interacts with a few other little girls. On the home front, she is no longer yelling at us and is ASKING for what she needs. She still torments her little pain in the butt brother (but what 3 year old doesn't?). AND, get this--yesterday she was watching a video and she pointed to the sheep and said....."THEEE....P" with a really exagurated P sound (which I'm sure is VERY hard for her). I was totally amazed:) Today--I took her to get her hair trimmed and she just sat there like a big girl and licked her lollipop. No fight. again-AMAZING! Good week.
Despite my struggles over Breanna's support person, she has had a GREAT week. The teachers were raving about her at school that when she was doing activities included with the typical preschool, she just did phenomonal. She cuts with regular scissors while sitting at the table doing crafts (just like all the other kids) and interacts with a few other little girls. On the home front, she is no longer yelling at us and is ASKING for what she needs. She still torments her little pain in the butt brother (but what 3 year old doesn't?). AND, get this--yesterday she was watching a video and she pointed to the sheep and said....."THEEE....P" with a really exagurated P sound (which I'm sure is VERY hard for her). I was totally amazed:) Today--I took her to get her hair trimmed and she just sat there like a big girl and licked her lollipop. No fight. again-AMAZING! Good week.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Struggles
This week I just can't get caught up on the chores. There are 5 loads of laundry and socks waiting to be folded, and folded clothes in baskets waiting to be put away in the kids dressers (who needs dressers, right?). There is stickiness ALL over the floors and mail to be gone through.
I'm struggling with Lucas being SIXTEEN months already. He is at a very hard, getting into everything, crying ALL the time stage. Talk about separation anxiety--I can't even get a foot away. I also read the development newsletters and for some reason I can't believe all the things he should be doing and understanding already. He still seems like such a baby. He's right on track developmentally, but I just can't see it b/c Breanna's development was so slow, or maybe it's just part of being the baby of the family, who knows. I wish I had more time to do fun things, this summer is just flying by! It's so hard because we WANT to do so much with Trevor, he is at such a fun age. However, most of the time we can't even bear to leave the house with the "twins"--LOL!.
Breanna's swim teacher called and left a message today to "talk" about Breanna's lesson. What could this mean?
Another thing, the stove place called today--we won't be getting the pellet stove we ordered 2 months ago. The company called and basically said it would be at least a year until they could fill their orders. That left me all morning thinking about what to do instead of getting caught up on my chores. I just wanted to call that CEO and tell him off.
My biggest struggle right now is trying to decide if Breanna's home support person is going to work out for us. It really goes day to day and it's so hard for me to judge what she "should" be doing or how she should be b/c this is our very first experience with it. I don't want to offend her in any way b/c I like her as a person, I'm just not sure how to give constructive feedback. Breanna had a really bad day today--so I'm not sure how to handle that. She is very "feisty" and needs a lot of direction with her behavior at times that our staff person doesn't seem to know how to handle. Breanna is running the show most of the time and while that may encourage her communication, she IS only 3 (WITH DS) and needs ALOT of direction from adults. Sometimes I feel like a kid myself raising kids (even though I'm 33) I just don't know.....
This week I just can't get caught up on the chores. There are 5 loads of laundry and socks waiting to be folded, and folded clothes in baskets waiting to be put away in the kids dressers (who needs dressers, right?). There is stickiness ALL over the floors and mail to be gone through.
I'm struggling with Lucas being SIXTEEN months already. He is at a very hard, getting into everything, crying ALL the time stage. Talk about separation anxiety--I can't even get a foot away. I also read the development newsletters and for some reason I can't believe all the things he should be doing and understanding already. He still seems like such a baby. He's right on track developmentally, but I just can't see it b/c Breanna's development was so slow, or maybe it's just part of being the baby of the family, who knows. I wish I had more time to do fun things, this summer is just flying by! It's so hard because we WANT to do so much with Trevor, he is at such a fun age. However, most of the time we can't even bear to leave the house with the "twins"--LOL!.
Breanna's swim teacher called and left a message today to "talk" about Breanna's lesson. What could this mean?
Another thing, the stove place called today--we won't be getting the pellet stove we ordered 2 months ago. The company called and basically said it would be at least a year until they could fill their orders. That left me all morning thinking about what to do instead of getting caught up on my chores. I just wanted to call that CEO and tell him off.
My biggest struggle right now is trying to decide if Breanna's home support person is going to work out for us. It really goes day to day and it's so hard for me to judge what she "should" be doing or how she should be b/c this is our very first experience with it. I don't want to offend her in any way b/c I like her as a person, I'm just not sure how to give constructive feedback. Breanna had a really bad day today--so I'm not sure how to handle that. She is very "feisty" and needs a lot of direction with her behavior at times that our staff person doesn't seem to know how to handle. Breanna is running the show most of the time and while that may encourage her communication, she IS only 3 (WITH DS) and needs ALOT of direction from adults. Sometimes I feel like a kid myself raising kids (even though I'm 33) I just don't know.....
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Convention Highlights.
Well, this is our second DS convention since Breanna was born, and both times it has been life changing. This time we were fortunate enough to see some Nationally recognized speakers and advocates. Because of all the traveling, we didn't get to see some of the keynote speakers, but we were able to purchase a CD with an audio of the entire conference. I'm really looking forward to getting that. At the end of the weekend Josh and I were just busting at the seams full of hope and inspiration. One of the best things was that Breanna's teachers and therapists also gave up their weekends at home (and the Scarborough 350th celebration!) to go as well. She is So lucky to be in the program she is! We went to 4 workshops (the second day Josh and I split up so we could see more), and came home with PILES of information.
The most inspiring workshop I went to was one on friendships. A 24 year old girl, Katie, with Down syndrome spoke as well as her Mom about their journey in life. She currently attends college (that's right-REAL COLLEGE!) and has a ton of friends. It was really great. b/c form day one this is the thing about DS that has made me so sad at times. I'm just afrad Breanna will not have the type of real friends that us women really count on. According to Katie's Mom, it was a tough road to get where they were, but at the end, Katie was joking with us and showing us pictures from her FACEBOOK account. I was in Awe. No, her speech wasn't like mine, but who cares, she was totally amazing. We also enjoyed another workshop about sibling relationships and a group from England gave a great presentation on inclusion in schools from which I came away with some GREAT ideas for our future IEP meetings. Here are some highlights of what we have learned:
Well, this is our second DS convention since Breanna was born, and both times it has been life changing. This time we were fortunate enough to see some Nationally recognized speakers and advocates. Because of all the traveling, we didn't get to see some of the keynote speakers, but we were able to purchase a CD with an audio of the entire conference. I'm really looking forward to getting that. At the end of the weekend Josh and I were just busting at the seams full of hope and inspiration. One of the best things was that Breanna's teachers and therapists also gave up their weekends at home (and the Scarborough 350th celebration!) to go as well. She is So lucky to be in the program she is! We went to 4 workshops (the second day Josh and I split up so we could see more), and came home with PILES of information.
The most inspiring workshop I went to was one on friendships. A 24 year old girl, Katie, with Down syndrome spoke as well as her Mom about their journey in life. She currently attends college (that's right-REAL COLLEGE!) and has a ton of friends. It was really great. b/c form day one this is the thing about DS that has made me so sad at times. I'm just afrad Breanna will not have the type of real friends that us women really count on. According to Katie's Mom, it was a tough road to get where they were, but at the end, Katie was joking with us and showing us pictures from her FACEBOOK account. I was in Awe. No, her speech wasn't like mine, but who cares, she was totally amazing. We also enjoyed another workshop about sibling relationships and a group from England gave a great presentation on inclusion in schools from which I came away with some GREAT ideas for our future IEP meetings. Here are some highlights of what we have learned:
- studies show that children who have a sibling with a disability are generally kinder, show more empathy and have fewer behavior problems.
- kids with DS are visual learners, they cannot learn by listening, so put EVERYTHING in pictures, and Math is usually VERY difficult for them.
- kids with DS who are included in regular classrooms from the age of 4 on are typically 2 years ahead in reading a writing by the time they are teens vs. kids in self-contained classrooms/schools. ("ie if you want to learn French--go live in France")
- Parents can help (and need to intervene) in the way of helping the child with DS form friendships and it is important to include these social skills as a part of her IEP.
- Kids with DS DO go to college, get married and drive cars, but to define success, it is up to Breanna to be all she can be in her dreams, she WILL be her own person.
- It helps if you have a vision for your child and all the people working with her should be working on/toward the same thing.
Workshops or not--it was just such a comfort to be in the same room with people who are all going through the same thing or people who have "been there". It was such a great opportunity for Josh and I to get this information (Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids!), because if we don't care and become the experts on this disability...who will!! Plus-we got to spend a little time (and two GREAT lunches!) in this big city of Boston:)
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