New House, New School Year, New School...

So as most of you know, we moved into a new house (in Orem) on the 15th of August. My parents bought my sisters old house and they wanted us to live in it. We were living in Lehi (renting) so it seemed like a good idea. Better to rent from your parents then someone else, right? I wasn't thrilled to have to move AGAIN, but it all worked out. It was just a few days before school started and a little bit crazy. We were seriously lucky to have anything to wear the first few days of school. Makenna and Maddie had to go to another new school (different ones at that) and I was kind of sad about that. This is the 3rd school in 3 years, but they seem to be doing pretty well. They both adjust really well, I guess. I wish I had some pictures of what the house looks like, but I have a dead battery on my camera. My dad remodeled the whole entire house, so it looks totally different. He is even building a salon in the basement for me to do HAIR. I am so thrilled. I have never had a place of my own to do hair. It will be so great. Anyone that wants to get their hair done, let me know.

We also found out that we are having a BOY baby due at the beginning of January. We are so excited!! Seth is 5 and so we are going to have to learn all the baby things again. Maddie and Seth call him baby Albert so I need some ideas on how we can convince them that Albert is just NOT a good name. They are so funny. I have been a major slacker with my blogging, but I will post pictures of the house soon.

I took the kids to Canada to visit my Grandparents the last week of July. It was so much fun getting to see the family and the kids had a great time. Here are a few pictures.

Princess Festival

Maddie got invited to a Princess Tea Party and I thought that's just what it was going to be. Little did I know that they have a princess festival and that's where we were going. All I know is that someone sponsored 25 of our girls with Down Syndrome to and have fun at the princess festival. Isn't that so neat? It was such a blast. There was a hunt to help the princesses and then a ball at the end. It was great. Maddie loved it. I will have to start saving up now to take her again next year. I took my niece Lizzy with me because she thinks that she is Cinderella. She was thrilled. Here are a few pictures of the fun day.

Seth's Broken Arm

Last night at the park (while Makenna was playing softball) Maddie ran away. We aren't just talking wandered, she really was gone. Joe and I were looking everywhere while Seth was playing on the toys and Makenna was playing softball. We finally found Maddie in the neighborhood on the other side of the baseball park, 30 minutes later, but it was really far away. She was really lost. I could kill her. Just as we found her, Seth fell a long way down from sone slider thingy and hurt his arm. I called my dad and he said that we should wait until morning so it wouldn't be an emergency, so we did. He cried and cried and finally fell asleep. We had his arm wrapped up and in a sling. What a sad little dude. We felt so bad. Then this morning we had his graduation and then had to go and watch Makenna do her end of the year dance thingy and so we waited until almost 2 o'clock to see grandpa. He sent us over to Orem Community hopital and found out that he had broken both the bones in his wrist. The poor little dude. He now has a blue cast and at least it doesn't hurt so bad. He is so sweet. I was so worried about finding Maddie that I neglected my boy. Actually it was the teenage girl that was helping him to play on that dangerous toy thingy that I should blame, right? Just teasing. It was an accident. I don't think that I can go back to the park with that rascal girl anymore. She is such trouble. It is so funny that most of the traumatic things that I post about all have a little bit to do with Maddie.

Dentist experience/ Baldness

Monday morning I had to be to the dentist office with Seth and Maddie at 7:30 a.m. They couldn't eat for 12 hours (standard) because they were going to be put out to get their teeth done.
Seth, because he had so many cavities and Maddie because she just can't do the whole dentist thing, period. My children are blessed to have such great teeth. NOT! They sometimes make you take them up to Primary Children's Hospital to do it, but there is an anesthesiologist that comes right to the dental office and puts them out right there. It was so handy. Expensive, but handy. Maddie went first and she came out of anesthesia pretty well. She started to move around and got right mad about being there. It wasn't very long until she was asking to watch a movie. Seth on the other hand took forever to wake up. They must have had to give him more because he had more work to be done. He slept for about 45 minutes until I could finally just pick him up and take him home. He was so mad in the car that he didn't get to have his teeth fixed. He didn't remember being in the chair with the dentist so he was sure that he didn't get his done. It wasn't until we got home that he finally realized. It was not an adventure that I hope to repeat anytime soon.
A few hours after the dentist I had to take Maddie to the dermatologist to find out why she has such huge bald spots all over her head. The doctor said that she has what is called
"Traction Alopecia" and it happens when a person has really weak hair (ie: red) and even more so because of her Down Syndrome. Black kids get it all the time from their moms pulling their hair so tight and it causes the hair to fall out in patterns. The doctor told me that since I have been putting it in so many ponytails (because she cut all her hair off) that it was causing it. I am so sad that I caused her to go bald. He told me that I can't put her hair in any ponytails for a few months and it will grow back. At least it isn't permanent. I really do feel badly about it.

Just another day in PARADISE.

Just when you think that life is going along pretty well, something happens to change your mind, right? I haven't had too terribly much of a Maddie problem lately, but yesterday at Grandmas house she got a little crazy. We were all together celebrating my 30th birthday, and after dinner all the kids got together downstairs to play. They had been playing really well for a while and all was great. I hadn't heard too much from the kids in a while and when I got up to go to the bathroom, I noticed that the light was on in the bathroom and someone was in there. I knocked and said who is in there? Well Maddie responded its ME. When I opened the door, there was Maddie completely nude with water EVERYWHERE!! As I was picking up her soaking wet clothes I noticed that her underwear was missing. I asked her where it went and she said toilet-all gone. She had flushed them down. Well then she had tried to flush it and that's where all the water came from. So lucky for us Cyndi had an old N.K.O.T.B. (vintage) t-shirt for her to wear and away we went. Today I got a call from grandma Helen and she wondered if it could have been possible for Maddie to have flushed all the toothbrushes? Well apparently the toothbrushes are M.I.A. and the toilet is still clogged. I asked her where the toothbrushes went and she said gone. I can't believe that she is doing the toilet thing. I don't know where we all were and how we missed her going into the bathroom. I don't know if Phil is going to have to take the toilet off or what, but its not going to be fun. I feel so bad. I just can't take Maddie anywhere!!

I have been changed "For Good"

I have been thinking about Wicked non-stop since I got the opportunity to see it with my Dad last week. My Mom bought tickets for her and my Dad, and at the last minute decided that I should go and see it with him for my birthday. She had already seen it twice, and thought that I should too. I have to tell you all about the first time that I saw it...
It was December of 2005 and I had been talking constantly about the play and the music. I was obsessed with it. I was super determined to see it, and didn't know how I was going to, but I wanted to so badly. Joe bought tickets to go to New York, to see Wicked and he Blue Man Group, and lined up babysitters all by himself and surprised me for Christmas. It was about the most incredible thing he has EVER done. It was so wonderful. It was freezing, but a fabulous trip.
My brother Mark, and his wife Kristen got us all hooked on the show in 2004 and they even got the chance to see it with Idina Menzel before she stopped doing it. They gave me a CD and I was enchanted!! My little brother even loved it. He wasn't really into that kind of music, but he listened to it all the time. His favorite was For Good. I know this is kind of long, but I really love that song and it means a lot to me.
The words go: I've heard it said, that people come into our lives, for a reason bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them and we help them in return. I don't know if I believe it's true but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you. Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
It well may be, that we will never meet again, in this lifetime so let me say before we part. So much of me, is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart. And now whatever way our stories end, know you have rewritten mine by being my friend. Like a ship blown from its moring by a wind of the sea. Like a seed dropped by a sky-bird in a distant wood, who can say if I've been changed for the better but because I knew you I have been changed for good.It is the most beautiful song. My little brother Dave passed away on April 21st 2005. I knew that I needed to sing a song at his funeral (call me crazy) but I just knew that I needed to. My brother Mark told me how much Dave loved that song and it clicked that it was the song that we would sing. Kristen played and sang it with me (during the time of the family prayer). I know that he loved it. I miss him so much. To this day I can't listen to that song without thinking of Dave. I know that because I knew him that I have been changed for good. We even had the words "you'll be with me like a hand print on my heart" put on his headstone. He was such a great guy and so funny too. I am feeling especially sad today because it has been 4 years tomorrow since he died, and it was such a hard time. I just wanted to say how much I love him and miss him. I love you Dave, I can't wait to see you again!