#itsanorangeday

There’s more to this orange story.

The night before the big day while he was picking clothes out an idea struck.

So I snapped a couple of pictures then posted this on Instagram.

“This boy turns 9 tomorrow! Wear orange and help us celebrate! #itsanorangeday”

The next day when pictures popped up with friends and family wearing their orange-y goodness I almost got teary. It was so much fun. And in one of my (many) trips to the school I noticed a few teachers sporting orange for The Boy too. Of those said teachers one had to raid her sons closet to find her orange. Isn’t that awesome? So much love for one boy. Makes my heart happy.

I just had to share the #itsanorangeday pictures

I showed The Boy each one and he was so excited with each and every face he saw.

And all that orange.

It made for a very happy boy.

Anniversary In The First

While we had two first dates and two proposals when it came to a one year anniversary there was only one.

We had just moved into a new apartment and my very pregnant sister had come down the night before to help us unpack. She was quite done with being in the pregnant state so we were doing our best to keep her busy and keep her distracted.

And to feed her spicy food. Which if I recall right wasn’t all that spicy.

It did the trick, though. The morning of our first anniversary she called us to tell us they were headed to the hospital. We got ourselves ready then headed the same direction.

Little did we know it was going to be an all day affair. That dear little girl was in her own world and taking her dear sweet time. Much as she does today. It was a long day for all of us, especially my sister.

She finally made her presence known sometime after 9 o’clock at night and she was oh so very worth it.

Not many can say they spent their first anniversary in this way. While it may not of been what we planned it far exceeded it.

And just for fun. A special Happy Birthday to this dear sweet girl’s younger brother.

We love you Mad Man Max!

Found

Good news. I found the camera cord.

Turns out I was right.

It was me.

I had tucked it away in such a safe place. Safe from the likes of me.

I knew I was right.

Now I can go back to missing these squishy faces.

Happy Day

To this little girl, on this very special day.

Hugs and kisses from the Kansas Cousins

PS. While it may not seem possible, she is even cuter in person.

Thirteen

To save you from laying awake at night wondering what 13 children 8 and under would look like.

This is it.

Need A Lift?

*No missionaries were harmed in this little "pick me up"*

Some days are just like that, don't you think? You just need a little lift to get you the rest of the way.

Our nephew, Elder Bush, is currently serving an honorable mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is such a wonderful example to our kids. We are so proud of him and all of his hard work!

Fairytale Town

To continue with our California Adventure. We piled the kids up in the car and drove to Sacramento to play at Fairytale Town. What is Fairytale Town? Well it is essentially a big park. Filled with lots of things for kids to play on. They have A Big Shoe to slide down (the lady that lives there wasn't there that day). There is Old MacDonald's Farm, Sherwood Forest, The Three Little Pigs, Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's Garden, The Crooked Mile (my mom's personal favorite from when she was a kid) and more and more. It was fun to revisit a place I went to when I was a kid.

See? There I am, the one in the blue hat. My cousin was visiting us from Utah (she's the one next to me). And there is my Pesky Little Brother too.

Something I remember doing was going to the Gift Shop and you can get these plastic keys and at all the stops there was a "Key Box" you cut put it in and hear a story or a blurb. Sadly all of the "Key Boxes" were under construction for the 50th Anniversary Celebration so I didn't get to play with any keys while I was there. Those kids didn't know what they were missing!

Here is them, on the very same turtle. Have funny is that?

After Fairytale town we found a park to have a picnic lunch. It was a lovely day for a picnic. Then we went to the playground for mom's. IKEA. It was absolutely lovely, and I did find a few treasures for myself (shockingly enough). To round out the day we made a quick stop to In-N-Out for one last taste before we left a couple of days later.

On the way home we were all, of course, exhausted. The first hour a few of the kids slept soundly and a few others sat quietly. After that magic hour was up the screaming angels woke up Miss Thing and helped her cry and scream the rest of the way home. It was a good thing she was in the back and I was in the front...

The Ups and Downs of Outings

Seeing as the weather was often quite wet or plans of venturing out where somewhat destroyed. One, day though, we decided the weather was nice so we needed to get these kids (and moms!) out of the house. We took 30 minute, or so, drive to the Old Faithful of California. It's a small geyser that also has lots of sheep and goats (and supposedly lamas, but there were none to be seen). We were surprised to find a number of adults just sitting around the geyser. We felt a little bad, okay not really, for interrupting their solitude with our six children. It was funny to watch their expressions as the water shot up and out of the ground. Most liked it, some didn't. You can't please everyone!
We took a short drive, when we left, through Calistoga. They have lots of fun shops and restaurants down their main street, at the end of which was a fun little Sushi place (more on that later). We continued our way home, it really is a pretty drive and pretty place to live. Lots and lots of green (something I'm missing here in Kansas).
We deemed this one a successful outing!
With success, though, also comes failure. Our less successful outing came in the form of a walk around the block. We thought we were being good moms', again getting our kids out of the house. It started to backfire when we got kicked off the golf course by the Lady Golf Marshall with a cozy blanket wrapped around her legs snug in her golf cart. So, sure, it's probably not the best idea to be on the golf cart trail but is walking down the sidewalkless street with 6 kids any safer? She claimed there were many golfers out (we saw not-a-one) took our names and our parents names (sorry mom and dad you've been blacklisted!) and sent us on our way. This started to further down the path of backfiring when whining ensued and Miss Things' diaper was a little loaded down, she kept grabbing the back of her pants to pull it up. It kept me laughing but wasn't that comfortable for her (I'm guessing). Finally I took noisy Little Miss out of the stroller and carried her the rest of the way so Miss Thing could sit. We finally made it home, seriously thinking twice about ever leaving the house with 6 kids again!

Stickers and Pizza and Fun...Oh My!

I had every intention last week of posting a number of little blurbs about our recent California Adventure. By Tuesday, though, I was ready for the week to be over. I entered survival mode and did everything I could just to make it through. Well make it through I did, and I even lived to tell the tale. The Boy's ear has stopped bleeding (first freak out of the week, an ear infection which of course didn't phase him), I got to sleep in until nine (9!) on Saturday, I found out that Little Miss weighs a whopping 13 lbs 8.5 oz. Yes, things are looking up this week.
So for the first snip-it of the California Adventure. We decided to take the kids (all 6) to the sticker factory in Petaluma then treat them with pizza and games at Chuck-E-Cheese. The tour of the factory was short and sweet, perfect for our group, then the kids got to play with stickers. I'm quite sure that was the favorite part. Next we hit the "Cheese". I think the kids had a lot of fun with all the little rides. The pizza, I'm sorry to say, could best be described (in my view) as pizza flavored cardboard. Sorry to all you "Cheese" fans, but it's true. I think the kids enjoyed it, which is what matters of course. Enjoy!

Coming up next, an Old Faithful Fun Outing

The Same But Different

It is already Day 4 of this challenge and I'm totally at a loss on what to post. I feel like I should be putting up some posts in relation to DS, seeing as that is what got me into this challenge in the first place. I've been thinking long and hard about it and I just kept coming up blank, then it hit me. When William was born I remember having so many emotions, more than I thought would be possible to feel at one time. Over and over we were told what he couldn't or wouldn't do. This probably broke my heart the most. I just wanted him to grow up like any other little boy, without labels or limitations. Many prayers were offered on his behalf with those specific words in mind. Now almost 5 years later I feel like that defines him entirely. If I were asked the question, "what's it like raising a child with Down Syndrome," my honest answer would probably be, "I don't know." William is my oldest child, I know no different. He is rambunctious, stubborn (to the core!), wild and crazy, loving, concerned about others...the list could go on and on. But to me all of these things are qualities of a any 4 year old boy.
Of course there are things we struggle with from day to day. I wish, more than anything, he could sit down and have a conversation with me and I suppose we do sometimes, in our own way. I am reminded of a conversation I had with my cousin about a year ago. He was 6 (or 7) at the time. William was signing for a drink and I responded to him "you want a drink?" which he nodded "yes." Then this is how my conversation with Max went:
Max:How can you understand what he is saying?
Me: Oh because I'm his mom, he uses his hands to talk instead of his mouth.
Max: Was he born that way?
Me: Yeah
Max: Just like I was born with allergies?
I love how kids can put things into perspective for us. It was then I realized that we are all born with "things." Max has allergies, I still have one of my baby teeth still in because the adult tooth is laying crooked in my gums, I have a niece born who partially blind, we all have things were were born with. We are all very different and yet just the same too.

Earrings and Umbrellas

Last night I called my sister, Amy, to wish her the happiest of birthdays. As is customary towards the end of our conversation one of us said, "Well I should let you go..." which leads us into a slew of last-minute-quick-stories to really end the conversation. One such story was "Evelyn picked out something beautiful for me." Then Evelyn gets on the phone and our conversation went something like this:
Me: What did you get your mom for her birthday?
Evie: Earrings.
Me: What do they look like?
Evie: They have diamonds.
Me: Wow! Where did you get them?
Evie: Target.
(Now this isn't too surprising. A love affair with Target is something, in our family, that is passed down from generation to generation. Some people pass down things like dishes, recipes or dresses, we pass down Target. It began with my mom and as is right and good Amy is passing it on to her daughter.)
Me: Oh you love Target. What is your favorite thing about Target?
Evie: They have umbrellas there.
At this point I was giggling so much that I did not get to hear what else Target offered besides earrings and umbrellas. Well, Amy I hope you enjoy your diamond earrings and that Evelyn gets her umbrella! Happy Birthday Sis!

Welcome to the World!

On Sunday we added someone new to our family. My brother and his wife welcomed baby no. 4, Miquelyn Allred. She's 7 lbs. 5 oz. and totally beautiful (I may be slightly biased). My excitment for them is somewhat selfish, one of my kids will finally have a cousin that is close to their age that they can play with. I can't wait for her and Mary to meet eachother...again.

So welcome to the world baby girl!