A princess party

Libby was invited to a princess birthday party for her friend Caitlyn, who also has Down syndrome and is turning 5. I think this was our first actual party that Libby was invited to that wasn't family, so I was excited to see how she did.

We were told to dress in a princess dress or party dress so all the girls showed up absolutely adorable!! Thank you to Emily Ann for giving us so many adorable dresses to choose from - as you can see, we chose the Cinderella dress. Libby did very well with the others, took part in the tea party (except I didn't give her any tea), loved the dance party, and the ice cream cake - only one issue where Libby "helped" by opening one of the gifts when she broke free. All in all, it was a GREAT time!!!

Here are some pictures of my little princess:

















Dancing the Chicken Dance:
















The tea party
















What, No Tea?? Just because I can't drink out of an open cup yet?????
















Libby and Chris

















Our "almost" 7 year old!!!

A fun evening with friends

Scott and I used to chaparone some high school trips right when we were married (he did it for years before as well).

There were a set of sisters that we got to know and just adored - we had gone to school and were friends with their older brother.

We were able to get together with Deidre, her Mom, Karen and Deidre's adorable little baby Alexis (Andy was out of town). We haven't seen each other for about 3 years (Deidre came to Libby's baby shower, and then moved to California and back to Denver during those years).

Here are pictures of Deidre and her sister Kali holding an infant Christopher:






































Also, some pictures from Saturday night:

I don't know what it is, but Chris just LOVES playing with babies -- and that Libby's just kept hugging poor Alexis!!

































It was nice having "Grandma Karen" here as well!!



















Look at this smile! Just Beautiful!!!

Christmas Pictures 2008

I'm a little delinquent, but I'm gettin' them up before Valentine's Day!!! Here are some pictures from our trip to Omaha this past Xmas -- what a GREAT trip it was - honestly, one of the better years!!!

Picture of Chris being COOL (not that he even has to try!!)
















Both kiddos on Santa's lap!!






















Christmas morning - the chaos begins!!!






















Chris being a "goof"






















Here's a picture of Scott with Barbee - I had made her a quilt out of the boys' old baby clothes that she can use with the grandkids!!!
















Picture of Libby playing with Chris' drum machine -- I think she might like it better than him!!!
















Picture of the 4 Davis grandkids
















The best part -- Chris had gotten a Steve Spangler Coke/Menthos kit in his stocking and he and Grumpa Marty took it behind their house to set it off. The geyser was HUGE (click on the picture to see it bigger) -- the cutest part was when he wanted to "try it again" and it didn't work the 2nd time (with the same Coke & Menthos) -- science at it's best!!!!!

I'm just stunned......

So, I barely have enough time in the day to do the things I need to do (taking care of kids, etc.). Today (and tomorrow), Chris is off of school for conferences -- he seems to be off at least a day a week for the next 4 weeks -- that should be against the law!!!

Anyway, I am always rushing to get stuff done so I have those magic hours between 8-10 p.m. for ME. The kids are in bed and I try to have everything done so I can read, watch TV, or whatever I want to do.

I started this blog quite a while ago and really do try to keep up with it. (I'll try to get those Xmas pics posted before Valentines day!!) My dear, sweet husband turned me on to twitter - I'm kimdavis99 - and now, gosh darn it, I'm on facebook. I've got something like 50 blogs that I keep up with, and now here I am finding friends from high school, my wonderful Down syndrome world, and now, I've been finding amazing friends from my time at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln - in the marching band. Those were some of my favorite years of my life and I've thought of these folks often, even "Googled" them, but most of the time, I get kicked off the computer by my 6 year old.

Here it is - 8:25 p.m. - and I'm at the computer just stunned at the people that I've hooked up with during the last few days. Now, I'm going to have to start digging out the old photos and getting them scanned in - Like I've got time for that!! :)

Lots to do, as usual, but for now, I'm heading back to facebook and will look thru my youth!!!

GREAT news!!

I know, I know, I've been VERY delinquent in my blog posting -- We had a week in Omaha for Xmas and the kids got sick from there and Libby just recovered from pneumonia, so I'm back.

Do you remeber this post and this post????

WELL, we thought we would be going to arbitration to settle on the van - I heard from the insurance company today and we found out that we are being held 0% responsible and will be getting 100% of our deductible back - woo hoo!!!

Before we had gotten the van, we had two 5-year old cars, so we had increased the deductible as they were both paid off. When we bought the new van, we kept the same deductible without thinking about it. Ironic enough, the bank that held the loan for the van had sent us a letter while we were on vacation that the deductible was too high and it had to be lowered for them to keep the loan.

Nothing like having to pay $5k last summer in order to start the process and get us a 2nd new van.

BUT, with the suck-y economy, it sure will be nice to get that $5k check back!!!

Woo Hoo!! It's a good day!!

We've been assigned a group

I had just received a call from the DU project leader (I also verified that I could blog about the study, just not the specifics of the name of the reading process that we'll learn about). Libby is in group A.

There will be 3 groups:

Group A
Group B
Control Group

This project obviously has a theory of what they're thinking will work well with kiddos that have DS. We won't be sure if that theory will be trained in group A or B until the study is over. They will then train those in the "other" group and the control group with the process that will hopefully work well.

I was able to drive down to the initial meeting with my friend Brianna, who's son Michael is a cutie and hopefully Libby's husband one day!! We're both excited to participate! The leader even explained the control group isn't necessarily a bad group to be in -- that group will just continue "as is" and to be honest, I am thrilled to be in a group that will be trained in a specific process, but I also would hate to learn one process, have it not work well, and have to learn and teach Libby another process. If that's the case, the control group will be good as you'll know which one is doing well and can start it once the info has been collected and shared with the group.

Anyway - training is in January - 2 different Saturdays, 4 hours each day -- daycare IS provided onsite in their early childhood center, so the kids will have fun while we learn.

DU is here at the house next monday for the entire morning to evaluate Libby, video tape her, and gain the knowledge in my daughter so they can measure how well (or not) she is learning based on the reading method we'll be using with her.

I'll update again about the study after the DU visit if there's any additional information.

Saying goodbye to EI

Since Libby was about 5-6 weeks old, we have had the same OT coming to the house - her name is Jamie and she is just amazing!! When Libby turned 1, we were able to start speech with Januea, who is amazing as well. When Libby was about 15 months old, Jamie (who is in her mid-20's) had to have emergency heart surgery, then while recuperating, a blood clot broke loose and she had a stroke (she OK now). During that time, a PT came in her place (named Jill -- isn't that funny how they are all J names!!) and we had Jill for about a year or so.

Libby turned 3 last Sunday - today was our last visit with Jamie and Januea, who came together this time. They did some of Libby's favorite games, then the party started -- who can resist a 3 year old with graham crackers, chocolate pudding, and sprinkles!! Libby absolutely loved it and had a blast!!!






























































The session ended with them giving her an adorable book about Libby - with pictures of Libby. We read it before she went down for her nap!! She's been looking a lot at Chris' baby book, so I know she'll love looking at pictures of herself.

It was a sad day saying good-bye to the group of folks that have helped her from birth, but the pudding party was a great ending!! We'll miss you Jamie, Januea & Jill!

(I was so proud that I didn't cry while hugging and saying good-bye, but yes, tears have shown up as I write this post!!)

Here's a pic of the book they made for her - it's adorable!!!