Acting Mommy

Today, I was acting Mommy. As some of you may know, I offer to watch Hannah what seems like a lot to me. Take her everywhere, do as many things as possible and I love it. People always tell me, "You're going to be such a great Mom" or "You definitely chose the right major." And I've come to the conclusion two is definitely true and one will have to wait for some years down the road to find out.

Shawn had a meeting today at Easter Seals and Ben had work. I got BOTH girls. You see that word BOTH, it's a first. And get this, Shawn let me take the mommy-mobile to DSA Play Group at you guessed it, Easter Seals.

This was a huge step for Shawn, letting me drive not only her car but with Natalie in it! I must say I feel kind of honored! No worries, everything turned out just fine!

I got to drive this sexy beast! And you see that back up job...it was me! I'm awesome! 

Our day started off a little flustered! I wasn't ready and it was near time to leave, luckily I had my mama to the rescue!!! <3

I went to pick up Natalie. She was turned around, in her seat, watching...BACK TO THE FUTURE! That's right, my girls awesome! 

Getting ready! I love her face here! 

We were on our way to play group. I was going to know one father and his two children. I'm usually pretty good at putting my fears away and facing people, but this was a little harder. I arrived to be directed to the play room where I was greeted by an eager Physical Therapist, Colleen. As most people do, they assume the girls are my children, so I had to say a few times these were my nieces. I assumed they were thinking something along the lines like this: "Oh my goodness, she looks so young, has two children and one has Down syndrome.' And then I told my sister that and her thinking went something like this: 'How is she so young and has a child with Down syndrome?' All these families I met and all the children, well it was a bit overwhelming but I handled it!

We went home and picked up Mumsie and headed to lunch!

We went to lunch with Mumsie at Cracker Barrel! 

 Mumsie got Natalie to sleep for me because let me be honest, I'm still not exactly too comfortable with putting her to sleep. And thanks to my mom, Hannah and I enjoyed some pool time!

And we ended our day like this! It was HEAVEN! 

Cute, wedgie baby butt! 

Happy Friday!

Blue Gold Game, Let's go BLUE!

Saturday June 23rd I attended my first ever DFRC Blue Gold Game. And for my first time going, I was overwhelmed with all the excitement and fun.

This year one of our friends, Kayla, was the Blue All Star Buddy of the Year! She would get to walk across the field with her one buddy Maura the ambassador, watch her other two buddies Lizzy and Kate cheer, and her two other buddies Chris and Lance play in the game!

Lance going to kick the ball and Chris is in there somewhere! 

As people call them, the twins, Lizzy and Kate! 

Maura carrying Kayla after a long day! 

The DFRC's is dedicated in raising funds and consciousness in support of programs that enrich the lives of Delawareans with intellectual disABILITIES.

The person with an intellectual disABILITY must be five years old to have a buddy, which means Natalie has four more years to go! I can not wait for her to be able to participate. The relationships the family and your child builds with these amazing buddies is beyond believable.

I want to share a photo with you. This is Amy, Kayla's mom! Look at that smile. I was capturing photos of Kayla when her buddies took her on the field to be with Chris and Lance after the game was over. I want you to look at that smile on her face, the pure joy. I can't say for myself but one of the greatest things I think in a moms life is seeing your daughter being accepted. This picture captured it all!

I arrived early to help Rick, Amy and Kayla set up. The Rohe family later joined me along with cousin Steven!

Natalie chowing down, as usual! She's such a good eater! 

And the big sister, eating as usual too! 

I grilled. I know, no worries, the food turned out fine...I think! 

One of her favorite outdoor activities, blowing bubbles! 

In the moon bounce. Look at that smile, it melts my heart! 

Steven getting ready to go in the moon bounce obstacle to help Hannah! 

Must make it to the top...

...to be able to capture a moment like this! 

There was a train! 

AND A LIFE SIZE BEAR! Oh my! 

That's JJ. Hannah is oh so nicely sharing with him! 

Such a beautiful family! 

Daddy and his girl! 

SHE LOOKS ADORABLE! 

Oh that smile! 

Mommy and her sleepy girl! 

Daddy and his big girl! 

I like this picture! I captured it myself! 

Kayla and I!

And I'll leave you with this photo. The big buddies were instructed to go find there little buddies, take a picture and wish them good luck. Music played as everyone ran towards each other. The ending result, tears in my eyes and this beautiful shot.  

I Challenge You

I challenge you to run a 5k.

I am for three reasons.
1. It's number 24 on my bucket list
2. It's for the Down syndrome association
3. Motivation to get fit

I originally decided to do this as just a little something for me. But it turned into something a smidge bit bigger than that! Five people have joined and so far we've raised $140! I myself still need to join! I should probably Post-It Note that! :)

I'm doing this to motivate myself. Time to get my ass in gear and get in shape. And I've heard others say that. I challenge you to use this wonderful opportunity to motivate yourself!

Join here, we can all run/walk together and motivate one another! We don't care if you bring your dog so s/he drags you or you bring the jogging stroller to push...I prefer you leave the kid at home, I might need you to push me ;)

Must go rest up, my sister and I are running in the morning, because this 5k is motivating us!

día de los padres

In case you don't know, it means Father's Day but in actual Spanish translation it would be Day of Father's! I'm cool like that, I know some Spanish and don't forget I know English, and I'm learning my Sign Language because face it, I'm awesome!

Since I'm so fortunate that my sister has money, that I live next door to her, we made a master plan of BBQing for my dad (Ken) and Ben...HA that rhymes!...at my sisters house. She paid for the food! And get this, she had her husband cook on the grill! Hannah and I made cookies and cupcakes. Okay, well more like I baked while she slept, iced the cupcakes, dyed icing blue and yellow for her to decorate. She wasn't interested. I had this whole plan she would decorate the cupcakes all by herself as a surprise for Ken and Ben. That didn't happen. I did a background layer of white icing and did hand over hand with her to write a D for Dad and a P for Pops. With my help, she made squiggly lines and called it quits. So I finished decorating them.

We had SO. MUCH. FOOD. Hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue chicken, chips, tomatoes with mozzarella, coleslaw, deviled eggs, corn on the cob, cupcakes, ice cream, and cookies! 

IT WAS DELICIOUS! 

Many, many years ago, we took a family photo at the old beach house. Myself, Dad, Mom, Shawn and Ben. Since then we've had two more additions and it was time for a new one. (I liked my outfit and had no need to change, so I decided to suggest demand we take a new picture) But shhh, they don't know that!! ;) 

Ben and I fooled around with the self timer a few times to make sure it would work, adjusted the level of books on the table so we would all be in the shot...

This is how we practiced...

I think I look pretty good ;)

One of my typical faces! 

Generally it's my mom to complain how she looks, instead it was me. I felt like I looked like a giraffe. 

And here I felt 10x bigger than everyone else because I'm closer to the camera! 

BUT THEN YOU GET AWESOME BEAUTIES LIKE THIS! <3

I LOVE MY FAMILY! 

What is there to say? We're awesome! 

We hope everyone had an awesome Father's Day!!! 

Because we sure did!! 

Sweet Summertime

Oh Summer! How I love you! Since I have a special gift in my life... a majority of my family lives on the same street, summertime always meant sitting on someones front steps, talking about life, discussing memories etc.

As time has passed, it's gotten even better because now it involves Natalie and Hannah! I'm taking summer classes and three days out of the week I don't really get to see the girls. And if you know me you know two things; 1. I love being around them 2. I love capturing memories!

So since I have three days taken out of the week, I seem to be taking more and more pictures and capturing our outside memories.

I try to make memories with Hannah and I. Even though she most likely won't remember five years from now, I will. I'll remember how she likes to bring bear in his stroller, how she knows when we get to the corner of the street she needs to wait because cars are closer. I'll remember picking out my favorite flavor of a Slurpee so I can have some too. But most of all, I'll remember the smile I put on her face!

With Sweet Summertime here, we've been cutting lots of flowers and putting them in the vases! 

Sweet Summertime means our toes must look great. I decided to take Hannah to get a pedicure with me. Don't worry hers only consisted of painting, none of the other things! 

She really reminds me of pictures from my childhood...dirt finding her! 

Last year, she couldn't climb these steps. Now she goes up and down, and up and down, and back up and back down. 

Sweet Summertime and natural light means more self portraits!  

I must say, I'm really surprised she did that! Whatta copy cat! 

Again, reminding me of my childhood. Squirting Pops! 

You can't see it, but pure joy was lit up on her face. 

It's true!

Now go outside, enjoy this Sweet Summertime!