These pictures say it all…….the joy of being a child in springtime. Emma Sage just loves being outside, free to jump and jump and jump! Her three favorite activities these days are jumping on the trampoline, swinging on her swing [doing it her own special way,,,,on her stomach, running with her sweet little legs along the ground to launch off into the air in front of her,,,,,,swing back and then start over with her little legs running along the ground as she swings forward so she can launch herself off again]…………and gardening. We have been busy planting spring bulbs and tubers, our beans are in [and tee-pee support made] [[looking forward to the hot summer days when the tee-pee will be covered with bean vines and we can sit under it to cool off from the sun and read books and pick beans/peas to munch on them.
Enjoy these spectacular spring days, of moist, fresh earth, the sweet smell of blossoms, the amazing colors, every shade of green and tree and shrub blossoms in colors so true you stare in awe of this spectacular show.
{{If you noticed Emma Sage has two different colored socks on in the picture,,,you are observant and you have found her latest thing,,,,she has to dress herself from head to toe and *she* picks out what she is going to wear [even if it doesn't match]
Emma ~ One who Heals
Sage ~ One with Great Wisdom
Emma Sage is our little girl that is blessed with a little extra ~~ chromosome that is ~~ on her 21st pair.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Monday, April 25, 2005
"I'm Tired,,,,I'm so Tired"
There is a character in ‘One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo-Nest’ that walks around and all he says is “I’m tired,,,,,I’m so tired”…..Well, I feel like that character and if I weren’t so darn tired, I’d set off to research who he was or better yet, go check out the movie from the library and watch it to find out the characters name. I don’t know his name, but I sure know his compliant!!! I am one tired Momma.
We had talent show last week,,,,,amazing, exhilarating, wonderful and very moving to watch three of my children up on stage performing. What a way to make a Mother’s heart swell with such love and pride. Greta and Emma Sage did a dance/tumbling routine to the song ‘Locomotion’ by Grand Funk Railroad! To say they brought down the house is an understatement. It was so, so cute and everyone was in awe of our little girl performing on stage, in front of a packed house, with lights, noise and a routine to remember. Remember she did and the performance was one that tugged on every heartstring in the auditorium. Then to make my heart swell larger and my tears to flow a little more, Otto and his pal Mike got on stage and performed an original song that they wrote, both the words and the music and played on their guitars and sang to the audience! Again the crowd roared for those two amazing young boys. [you can read the lyrics on Otto’s blog at http://ottorichard.blogspot.com ]
Then comes the grand finale’…….the 8th Grade Dance Team, starring 9 talented and wonderful young ladies, including our Greta! Well, these girls had been working hard, practicing a few times a week for a couple of years a night, even over spring break and they got on stage and lit the room up!!! WOW!! Greta can really dance [she has such an air about her up on stage] and then she was able to highlight the routine with her gymnastic skills by doing multiple back-handsprings, and ending with a back tuck and a contortion move. The noise from the audience was deafening! The talent show ended with a beautiful song where the children, one by one, lit a flash light/fiberglass candle…..it reminded me of the ‘We are the World’ video and was very moving!
So……my kids are tired, but Mommy is doing well until this point.
We go to a tricky tray after the show….lucky kids’ win a few neat baskets and we head home. All this time, poor Katrina is in pain as her hand is swelling from her lacrosse injury on Thursday evening. Rick had taken her to the emergency room on Friday [at her doctors request sent them over from the doctor’s office]. They X-rayed it and sent her home, no pain killers, no cleaning the gash that was on top of the knuckle of the fractured hand, just wrapped in an ace bandage. Well, the poor kid didn’t sleep again on Friday night and was a real trooper all day on Saturday while we got ready for the talent show. We had called the doctor and they were trying to get a hold of the Ortho specialist, no luck, called in a pain killer late afternoon. [to read the rest visit http://www.katrinaleigh.blogspot.com]
So since I’m so tired, I’m going to end this hear and pick up writing the details after I get some sleep.
We had talent show last week,,,,,amazing, exhilarating, wonderful and very moving to watch three of my children up on stage performing. What a way to make a Mother’s heart swell with such love and pride. Greta and Emma Sage did a dance/tumbling routine to the song ‘Locomotion’ by Grand Funk Railroad! To say they brought down the house is an understatement. It was so, so cute and everyone was in awe of our little girl performing on stage, in front of a packed house, with lights, noise and a routine to remember. Remember she did and the performance was one that tugged on every heartstring in the auditorium. Then to make my heart swell larger and my tears to flow a little more, Otto and his pal Mike got on stage and performed an original song that they wrote, both the words and the music and played on their guitars and sang to the audience! Again the crowd roared for those two amazing young boys. [you can read the lyrics on Otto’s blog at http://ottorichard.blogspot.com ]
Then comes the grand finale’…….the 8th Grade Dance Team, starring 9 talented and wonderful young ladies, including our Greta! Well, these girls had been working hard, practicing a few times a week for a couple of years a night, even over spring break and they got on stage and lit the room up!!! WOW!! Greta can really dance [she has such an air about her up on stage] and then she was able to highlight the routine with her gymnastic skills by doing multiple back-handsprings, and ending with a back tuck and a contortion move. The noise from the audience was deafening! The talent show ended with a beautiful song where the children, one by one, lit a flash light/fiberglass candle…..it reminded me of the ‘We are the World’ video and was very moving!
So……my kids are tired, but Mommy is doing well until this point.
We go to a tricky tray after the show….lucky kids’ win a few neat baskets and we head home. All this time, poor Katrina is in pain as her hand is swelling from her lacrosse injury on Thursday evening. Rick had taken her to the emergency room on Friday [at her doctors request sent them over from the doctor’s office]. They X-rayed it and sent her home, no pain killers, no cleaning the gash that was on top of the knuckle of the fractured hand, just wrapped in an ace bandage. Well, the poor kid didn’t sleep again on Friday night and was a real trooper all day on Saturday while we got ready for the talent show. We had called the doctor and they were trying to get a hold of the Ortho specialist, no luck, called in a pain killer late afternoon. [to read the rest visit http://www.katrinaleigh.blogspot.com]
So since I’m so tired, I’m going to end this hear and pick up writing the details after I get some sleep.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Talent Show 2005!
Talent Show 2005!
Wow! What an amazing weekend for us. Rick and I got to watch our children participate in their school talent show! Greta and Emma Sage did a dance/gymnastics routine to ‘The Locomotion’ by Grand Funk Railroad and the title of their routine was called ‘My little baby sister’ and it was a tribute from Greta to her sister, as this will be the only year that the two of them are enrolled in the same school system and could participate. It is an under-estimate to say that they brought down the house,,,,but the cheers and roar of the audience was incredible for them after they finished their routine. I had tears streaming down my face as I was just so over-joyed by the love these two share with each other. Katrina was so proud of her sisters bringing friends to the show to watch. Otto and his best friend Michael wrote and performed an original song. All I can say is ‘Absolutely Incredible’! I will pos the lyrics to the song on Otto’s blogspot.
Greta also performed with the 8th grade girls dance team and WOW’d the crowd with her gymnastics skills by performing a few back-handsprings, back-tucks and flips. The girls practices for a long time and their routine was top-notch! What a gift of performing Greta has.
At not even four years old, Emma Sage was incredible on the stage. She knew the whole routine and loved every moment of the show…..what a little show girl we have on our hands. She is quite the little performer and she truly made our hearts soar this weekend.
Wow! What an amazing weekend for us. Rick and I got to watch our children participate in their school talent show! Greta and Emma Sage did a dance/gymnastics routine to ‘The Locomotion’ by Grand Funk Railroad and the title of their routine was called ‘My little baby sister’ and it was a tribute from Greta to her sister, as this will be the only year that the two of them are enrolled in the same school system and could participate. It is an under-estimate to say that they brought down the house,,,,but the cheers and roar of the audience was incredible for them after they finished their routine. I had tears streaming down my face as I was just so over-joyed by the love these two share with each other. Katrina was so proud of her sisters bringing friends to the show to watch. Otto and his best friend Michael wrote and performed an original song. All I can say is ‘Absolutely Incredible’! I will pos the lyrics to the song on Otto’s blogspot.
Greta also performed with the 8th grade girls dance team and WOW’d the crowd with her gymnastics skills by performing a few back-handsprings, back-tucks and flips. The girls practices for a long time and their routine was top-notch! What a gift of performing Greta has.
At not even four years old, Emma Sage was incredible on the stage. She knew the whole routine and loved every moment of the show…..what a little show girl we have on our hands. She is quite the little performer and she truly made our hearts soar this weekend.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
A beautiful spring evening out.....
We had open house tonight at the children’s school. What a wonderful evening we had. The day was bright, with a light breeze and Emma Sage wore the most adorable jumper with a barrette! Just precious!
We wend to Emma Sage’s classroom first and she was very excited to show us around. The whole time in the classroom as one of her classmates saw her we would hear a very excited “Mom, Dad, that’s Emma Sage!” and she was busy saying ‘Hello’ to all of her friends. Her teacher is very nice and Emma Sage was very proud to show us the sink in the bathroom! Too funny! They have a frog egg sack in a tank and some tadpoles have hatched…..Emma Sage thought it was great to use the magnifying glass to see the little critters. We talked about the stages of the frog and they had models of each step of the process from egg, tadpole to frog,,,,,,we need to go to our pond tomorrow and scoop up an egg sack and watch the process at home too!
Then we went for ice cream while we waited for the correct time to attend Otto’s open classroom and then his gym show! Otto has great teachers and lots of wonderful peers in his class. It was great to see how his writing has progressed through this school year and Otto was very proud of the things in his classroom that he got to show us. We then headed to the gym for the show!!! And what a patriotic show it was,,,,,red, white and blue and my favorite songs, “This is my country” and it couldn’t have sounded any more beautiful than being sung by 100 eight year olds! They performed to various songs and each class did a routine. Otto’s class used the parachute and Emma Sage clapped and clapped for her brother.
Here are a few pictures from the evening. My most favorite is of Emma Sage, Abby and Otto.
We wend to Emma Sage’s classroom first and she was very excited to show us around. The whole time in the classroom as one of her classmates saw her we would hear a very excited “Mom, Dad, that’s Emma Sage!” and she was busy saying ‘Hello’ to all of her friends. Her teacher is very nice and Emma Sage was very proud to show us the sink in the bathroom! Too funny! They have a frog egg sack in a tank and some tadpoles have hatched…..Emma Sage thought it was great to use the magnifying glass to see the little critters. We talked about the stages of the frog and they had models of each step of the process from egg, tadpole to frog,,,,,,we need to go to our pond tomorrow and scoop up an egg sack and watch the process at home too!
Then we went for ice cream while we waited for the correct time to attend Otto’s open classroom and then his gym show! Otto has great teachers and lots of wonderful peers in his class. It was great to see how his writing has progressed through this school year and Otto was very proud of the things in his classroom that he got to show us. We then headed to the gym for the show!!! And what a patriotic show it was,,,,,red, white and blue and my favorite songs, “This is my country” and it couldn’t have sounded any more beautiful than being sung by 100 eight year olds! They performed to various songs and each class did a routine. Otto’s class used the parachute and Emma Sage clapped and clapped for her brother.
Here are a few pictures from the evening. My most favorite is of Emma Sage, Abby and Otto.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
A new cousin to love.....
Guess what? I have a new cousin! Her name is Rori and she is just as cute as can be. I love my new cousin, except when *MY* daddy is holding her and then I get a little jealous! We went to see Uncle Mikey and Aunt Victoria and Ronan today to take a peek at their new bundle of joy. She is so sweet and little. I loved holding her [as you can see by my picture] and I had to check out her fingers and toes!
Welcome to our world Sweet Rori,,,,,we love you!
Welcome to our world Sweet Rori,,,,,we love you!
Monday, April 04, 2005
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Defining Moments....
I have a quote on Emma Sage's website under 'Inspiration' that goes like this....
The most precious gift we can give a child is a positive and realistic self-image. Now how is this self-image formed? Not all at once, but slowly, experience by experience.” ~Dr. Hiam Ginott
and it has had me thinking about 'Defining Moments' in our lives where by experience or exposure, we have been profoundly changed or defined as a human being.
I would like to expand on this thought in an ongoing piece, but my first thoughts are focused on Trisomy 21/Down syndrome and the times in my life that my life experiences helped me form my thoughts on the topic.
I tried to think back to the first time that I was aware of Down syndrome. I couldn't come up with an exact moment or experience. I do know that I remember seeing a picture of a person with Down syndrome in a book at the library and reading the worlds 'Mongolian Idiot'.....it perplexed me the term, but never really stuck with me as something negative. I remember a few times as a young girl seeing a person with Down syndrome in the grocery store or at church. Again, those times don't stand out as anything negative. What I came up with as the first time that I truly acknowledge and began to understand what Down syndrome was, was during the TV show, 'Life Goes On', where one of the main characters 'Corky' had Down syndrome. I loved that show. I loved that family. I loved that character.
The next 'Defining Moment' for me was whne I started working at Smith Barney in NYC and a young woman who sat near me and we became friends, Barbara Patton, had a younger brother that had Down syndrome. Here was the first time in my life that Down syndrome was truly a part of my life,,,,a very small part, but a part that truly helped 'Define' who I am and my perceptions of Down syndrome. Barbara loved her brother,,,,as well as everyone in her family and community. She would tell of her adventures with her little brother over her weekends home and as the years unfolded, he also became an important part of my life. I loved hearing about him, the things he was up to, the unconditional love that he shared with everyone around him.
and 'Life Goes On'....
and 16 years later, our fourth child was born......blessed with Down syndrome, and the 'Defining Moments' of my life gave us the opportunity to welcome her into our hearts and home basking in love,,,,basking in joy,,,,basking in the knowledge that this was not a sad event, but a glorious event and that our little girl was a gift from GOD and we would learn so much from her life,,,,from her 'Defining Moments'.
The most precious gift we can give a child is a positive and realistic self-image. Now how is this self-image formed? Not all at once, but slowly, experience by experience.” ~Dr. Hiam Ginott
and it has had me thinking about 'Defining Moments' in our lives where by experience or exposure, we have been profoundly changed or defined as a human being.
I would like to expand on this thought in an ongoing piece, but my first thoughts are focused on Trisomy 21/Down syndrome and the times in my life that my life experiences helped me form my thoughts on the topic.
I tried to think back to the first time that I was aware of Down syndrome. I couldn't come up with an exact moment or experience. I do know that I remember seeing a picture of a person with Down syndrome in a book at the library and reading the worlds 'Mongolian Idiot'.....it perplexed me the term, but never really stuck with me as something negative. I remember a few times as a young girl seeing a person with Down syndrome in the grocery store or at church. Again, those times don't stand out as anything negative. What I came up with as the first time that I truly acknowledge and began to understand what Down syndrome was, was during the TV show, 'Life Goes On', where one of the main characters 'Corky' had Down syndrome. I loved that show. I loved that family. I loved that character.
The next 'Defining Moment' for me was whne I started working at Smith Barney in NYC and a young woman who sat near me and we became friends, Barbara Patton, had a younger brother that had Down syndrome. Here was the first time in my life that Down syndrome was truly a part of my life,,,,a very small part, but a part that truly helped 'Define' who I am and my perceptions of Down syndrome. Barbara loved her brother,,,,as well as everyone in her family and community. She would tell of her adventures with her little brother over her weekends home and as the years unfolded, he also became an important part of my life. I loved hearing about him, the things he was up to, the unconditional love that he shared with everyone around him.
and 'Life Goes On'....
and 16 years later, our fourth child was born......blessed with Down syndrome, and the 'Defining Moments' of my life gave us the opportunity to welcome her into our hearts and home basking in love,,,,basking in joy,,,,basking in the knowledge that this was not a sad event, but a glorious event and that our little girl was a gift from GOD and we would learn so much from her life,,,,from her 'Defining Moments'.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
My silly little girl.....
Life has been very busy and very full,,,,full of laughter, full of music and songs, full of sports, full of dance, full of artwork [filling every spot on the refridge and walls], full of snow [and all the fun things that go with that wonderful white stuff, from snowball tosses 'Emma Sage thinks throwing snowballs is just the greatest thing,,and laughs and laughs after she hits you', full of giggles, full of joy, full of learning new things everyday.
These pictures below are a few pictures that I was sorting through tonight that made me stop and reflect on the moments they were taken.
Many things have been happening. Rick is traveling lots, but we are having fun imagining what it is like to get a sun-burn in 90 degree weather when we can still see our breaths in the morning air. Emma Sage is loving dance and has her first recital on June 12th....it is such a sweet, free-form ballet routine to the song 'Colors of the Wind' and I know that not a eye will be spared from the tears of happiness that will flow from watching this sweet little group of 3 and 4 year olds. On April 16th Greta, Otto and Emma Sage are participating in our schools talent show. Greta and Emma Sage are dancing/tumbling to 'The Locomotion' by Grand Funk Railroad....again, I know my eyes will be flowing with tears of pride and joy. Otto and his pal Michael wrote a song [I'll post it later] and playing their guitars......it is such a nice song and they are both such serious musicians....they aspire to be performers, and I know they will reach their dreams. Then Greta is performing in a dance/tumbling routine with a group of 8th grade girls. She will be able to highlight her gymnastics skills and I know my heart will be full of pride. Katrina is on a youth group retreat this weekend. She had a great spring break, heading into New York City with friends on the train to shop and eat in Chinatown, playing lacrosse and just keeping her days full of adventure and learning.
And I'm one tired Momma,,,,but loving every moment, of every day that I am blessed with. Life is truly a blessing and I count mine and give thanks.
These pictures below are a few pictures that I was sorting through tonight that made me stop and reflect on the moments they were taken.
Many things have been happening. Rick is traveling lots, but we are having fun imagining what it is like to get a sun-burn in 90 degree weather when we can still see our breaths in the morning air. Emma Sage is loving dance and has her first recital on June 12th....it is such a sweet, free-form ballet routine to the song 'Colors of the Wind' and I know that not a eye will be spared from the tears of happiness that will flow from watching this sweet little group of 3 and 4 year olds. On April 16th Greta, Otto and Emma Sage are participating in our schools talent show. Greta and Emma Sage are dancing/tumbling to 'The Locomotion' by Grand Funk Railroad....again, I know my eyes will be flowing with tears of pride and joy. Otto and his pal Michael wrote a song [I'll post it later] and playing their guitars......it is such a nice song and they are both such serious musicians....they aspire to be performers, and I know they will reach their dreams. Then Greta is performing in a dance/tumbling routine with a group of 8th grade girls. She will be able to highlight her gymnastics skills and I know my heart will be full of pride. Katrina is on a youth group retreat this weekend. She had a great spring break, heading into New York City with friends on the train to shop and eat in Chinatown, playing lacrosse and just keeping her days full of adventure and learning.
And I'm one tired Momma,,,,but loving every moment, of every day that I am blessed with. Life is truly a blessing and I count mine and give thanks.
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