What did we do before Down syndrome???

Today on Kelly's Korner, it's Show Us Your Life Special Needs.

This is so near and dear to my heart! I cannot imagine my life without Emily. She is such an AMAZING person with a big heart!! She loves openly and innocently. She's trusting and loves Ava as much as I do. She's caring and thoughtful. She is the BEST sister!! Here are some of my favorite pictures!!

Have a great weekend!!

Love,

S.

Megan's Bridal Shower

Saturday we went to Medina for Megan's bridal shower. And I forgot my camera...I was so mad! I didn't realize it until we were around Sandusky so there was no turning back. I took a couple of pictures with my phone, but that's about all I got.





Here is Ava and Hannah. They played so well together! It was so cute!!








They had champagne glasses for a toast and guess who needed to drink out of it. No worries...it's only water!






Hopefully I can steal some pictures from Megan once they get uploaded to Facebook.


Love,


S.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Friday was John's birthday!! We celebrated with my family before the homecoming parade!

The infamous donut cake!


Opening his gifts


Daddy's gift from Ava. We make a birthday cake hand painting. And when I say we, I mean my neighbor Kelly and Ava. I'm just not crafty...I have the ideas, just cannot execute them.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!! We love you very much!!

Love,

Sara and Ava

Genoa Homecoming

Friday night was the annual Genoa Homecoming. This has been something that I have never missed in my ENTIRE life! There have been many changes to it, but it's still great! It's kind of like a class reunion! I couldn't wait to share it with Ava!! They have a parade and afterwards we walk up town and there are rides and food and this year they added fireworks!

We made it to the parade which she LOVED! I was so happy! I knew it could go either way and it went the way I wanted it to. We went up town but the lines were so long for rides, she didn't get to go on any. We managed to get our food and walk around for awhile. Afterwards we went to a friends house and hung out by the fire and was able to see the fireworks from their house. Ava was so good and had the best time! She loved the swing set at our friends house!!

Sorry for all of the pictures! I couldn't decide which ones to put on. They were all so cute!

Have a great week!

Love,

S.

Empty Nest Syndrome

A couple of weeks ago, John and I noticed that there was a birds nest on the light fixtures outside our back door. It looked empty, so John pulled it down and this is what we saw!!


I flipped out! I made it put it back right away (after I took the picture)! I was so afraid the Mama bird wouldn't come back and they would die. But no worries...She came back and kept feeding them and we've been watching them for the past couple of weeks!

We noticed on Monday that it looked kind of empty and it was awful quiet...Yep! They flew the coop! This is all that is left...:(

I feel bad that these 2 eggs that didn't hatch. I hope we didn't have anything to do with it!

We're looking forward to a good weekend! Lots of stuff going on! Have a great one!

Love,
S.

Happy Memorial Day!!!

We had an absolutely fabulous weekend! It was sad to see it come to an end! We celebrated with family and friends all weekend! Many parties, cookouts, and lots of laughs!!

The fun started on Thursday night for me. One of my dear friends, Erica, was in town visiting. There were 5 of us girls in high school that were the bestest friends. And even though we are older and with families, we have maintained that friendship. Erica lives in Arizona, is married, and has 2 kids. However, both of her kids were sick so she just came over to visit. Amy and Sara came over for the fun, too!!


Ava and Ella had fun while the adults visited.


On Saturday, we had a family party at our house. My cousin Brad and his wife, Patty were visiting from Colorado Springs. So we had the whole family over to see them! It ended up warming up so the kids took full advantage of the pool!

Uncle George and cousin Will came up on Saturday and stayed for the rest of the weekend! Daddy and Uncle George completed a project that I had wanted done for awhile. I'll save that for the next post. My neighbor, Kelly came over and we worked with Ava on her colors. Who cares that it was with plastic dishes???

After Ava went to bed and Uncle George crashed out, the rest of us stayed up to play Euchre. It was sooo much fun! I had such a great time!!

Sunday brought Morgan Feather's birthday party. I took Will with me so that he could swim with Ava. What a great sport!!

Sunday night, we went with our neighbors to El Camino. We came back home and played games! It was another great night!

Monday was finish up the project and swim in the pool ALL DAY!!! We all got sun and Ava is so DARK!! She looks like a little chocolate bear!!

Ava loves the pool! I'm convinced she will be swimming before she is potty trained!! Hope you had a great weekend!!

Love,
S.