Happy birthday William

OK OK OK....I Know it has been three weeks since I updated. It has been crazy!!! I have tons of pictures to share and lots to tell you all....but today is a special day....

today is .......

WILLIAM'S 40TH BIRTHDAY!

We started the day as usual busy and getting the girls up and out of the house in 45 min for school. They were so excited that today was Daddy's birthday....I cooked him a sausage and cheese omelet and biscuits..yummy~ we added a candle to the top and made him blow it out..

Today I went and met him for lunch and we went to Jason's Deli...yum yum! Tonight we are getting a sitter and going to dinner with April and Wade. I was going to have a party on Saturday but he told me he had to go to Huntsville Fri night for a Saturday meeting...so hmm..Im not doing a party Sat late afternoon if Im not sure he will be 100% home. So it looks like his party will have to be after his actual birthday.

The girls are doing great...growing like little weeds. Hard to believe that Giovanna and Gabby will both be EIGHT 8 yrs old in a month! wow!!!! Where did the time go? I promise to update within the day or two and show plenty of pictures. All four girls started baseball and are playing on the Miracle League team..AWESOME and Lily is playing soccer with her school. So sports are filling up alot of time around here....they love it!

To my sweetheart!

21 yrs ago I was waking up to a day that would
change my life forever.....
waiting to marry the man of my dreams.
Happy Anniversary William...
Im so glad the Lord put us together....
not only to change our lives
but the lives of SIX beautiful children!
What a blessing you are to me..
I love you forever

WE are sitting here at the table, done eating but girls are eating their yogurt..I look at William and said "Man it is so quiet in here!" Lily's reply: Well Im talking in my head! Rewind about 5 min earlier and I said to her...Lily you are never quiet except when you sleep...you are always talking.....too funny!!! Sh...e's right...she probably was TALKING in her head!!!!

We are alive....alot is going on...I will post soon.

WHY?

I am so sad right now! Why do people feel the need to use the "R" word??
Our girls are people too, and you know what they are very special people, to many! They are 3 of the most awesome things that have ever happened to our family, and well LEAVE THEM ALONE!

Please learn what the NEW "R" word is..........RESPECT!!!

RESPECT ALL THOSE WITH ANY DISABILITY....

BETTER YET

RESPECT EVERYONE!

so as you watch THIS, please know how terribly SAD and ANGRY it makes not only parents to children with a disability, but to also those WITH the disABILITY!

for those who dont know...the "R" word is Retard! and friends, that is NOT what our girls are!

This is a logo I found online...this is not the one for our dance...

Guess what will happen in our house on Friday night??? If you guessed a dinner and dance with the girls you guessed right. WE feel honored to accept tickets for the first annual Father Daughter dance being held at the Marriott Legends in Prattville. The Millbrook Chamber is hosting it. We were asked if William would like to take the girls and be blessed with the $250 worth of tickets....well yes he would but only problem is there is no way he could do it with all 4 by himself in that setting. Sudden loud noises just freak Giovanna out and with our "run away Bella" that would call for a intresting night for him. So they have generously invited me to go along. There will be other women/moms there too so I wont be sticking out totally....well at least I hope not. Im going to let William and the girls have their night but I will be there to keep a eye on the run away and help ease the noise for Giovanna.

I told the girls all about their special dinner and dance with Daddy and they are SO EXCITED. We will do our hair, dress up and even get to buy new shoes for the night....oh this will be fun! I will be sure to share pics of it all with you probably on Saturday.....so stay tuned!!!!!

Daddy with four little Valentine princesses this will be fun!

Lyndsey today with our cat

Lyndsey age 12 mths

This is our little princess....Lyndsey....Well she is now our oldest princess but Still a Princess! During our life at this point in time, all we could think about was....when are these babies gonna grow up?....well today is the day that it has hit me! Lyndsey is all grown up! She left for her first offical big move....she is off to KANSAS. This will be her first military duty station. She is excited and nervous what this stage in life will bring but ready for it to finally start. She has had a long road this last year with her military training and all the hard work has finally payed off. She is headed to the road of her first really big job. She has held down a full time job since she was 16 but this journey is all too different. We are so proud of her. She is making a huge step and it is so neat to watch "this baby girl" grow up into a beautiful young woman. God has really blessed us.


Lord, I come to you right now as a Momma Bear. I ask you to please protect my daughter as she is embarking on this huge step and send people into her paths to help her. Remind her of you everyday. HElp her make wise decisions and bless her when she does....help redirect her steps when the decisions arent made wisely. Lord give her peace and patience as she has to learn the ways of people in her job, in her dorm and in a new area of the united states. Lord I give her back to you....she is yours....help my heart keep from hurting as she is so far away from us. Guide her ways and keep her strong. I love you Lord....Amen....


William called to tell me that they have finally made it to Ft Riley and they are heading over to the inprocesing station now to get her signed in.

WEll its been a few days and things have been nuts.

Giovanna is feeling better but her and Bella just take turns with illness. Bella isnt feeling good again. Coughing and running a low grade temp. Im watching her to see if i need to take her to the Dr too.

Lyndsey started packing her things and preparing for the big move. She is due to be in Kansas by WEd night..

Michael come home over the weekend and the two of them went skydiving! they loved it! I will try to post the links to their video's on youtube already. They have tried to spend some good quality time together because it will be almost a year before they get to see one another again. Michael wanted to go out there with us this summer, however he will be gone the whole month of July for his summer annual training with the Army Reserves. WE are planning on heading out there either June or July...just waiting for her to get settled in and then we will plan it.

William is home from his trip to Arkansas thank Goodness but will be leaving out again with Lyndsey on Tuesday driving with her to Kansas. He wants to go with her because it is a 19 hour drive and the middle of winter...snow + ice + Lyndsey = disaster! She has never had to drive on any of that and he wants to make sure she is safe and there. This will be crazy time for her while she gets settled and meeting all the new people she will be spending the next few years with.

this is michael's link to his skydiving trip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxynyzXNT1w


this is Lyndsey's link to his skydiving trip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BAsmVbERjg


ENJOY!

Hey all...I would sure love some extra prayers for Giovanna. She has had a slight cough for a few days, and running a fever at night for about two or three nights...last night she woke up at 3:30 with a 103.7 temp..burning up~ We took her clothes off gave meds and put cold rag on her..she drank a little juice and i held her. She was so tired but was crying to be held. I told William (which had just gotten home from a week long work trip) that she was getting sick again and we needed to get her to the Dr in the Am. He got online and made her appointment. I took her at 10 and they did blood work, flu test, chest xray and strep test. Her white blood count was higher than normal and her chest did show signs of pnuemonia. so we are once again on meds. This is the second time in 7 days she has been sick. Last week it was stomach bug and had to have IV fluids for dehydration and nausea. My poor girl. She is my one that when she shows the first stage signs of not feeling good you better react right away!

She is laying on the floor playing with her barbies and laughing at her sisters, but doesnt feel too great...

Here's to a great weekend!

WELL WELL WELL....its been two weeks!
WE are all alive and well now. The girls are doing great in school, Lyndsey is packing up for her big move to Kansas, her first duty station and well we are just busy!

Lets see, a week ago, lyndsey had a bad reaction to something in the tanning bed and I had to take her to PriMed for IV and meds...she is better.

Giovanna got the stomach bug and was bad throwing up, I knew she was getting dehydrated because she totally was refusing to drink for fear of throwing up...we took her to PriMed and sure nough she was in a bad state. She got IV fluids, med's for her nausa and she did recover after a few days. Praise the Lord!!! She is the one child that when she gets sick, you better watch it...because you will be in the ER or better yet a few days stay in the hospital.

Lily, Bella and Gabby are all doing well. Michael is back in FL and is recovering from Mono. He was a sick guy, weak and just totally not himself. He is hoping to get his application resubmitted for the Montgomery Police Academy and see where that may lead him. He is still in the ARmy Reserve unit in Dothan.

Rita (me) well Im just busy taking care of it all. I have started on my mission of living a healthier life, eating right and loosing my 78 pounds! Im 5 pounds down!!! Yippie for me! I am REALLY trying to get my walk/run up so William and I can run in a 5k. Well he totally can do this since he has run a marathon but I need him by my side as I TRY to do it! Pray for me...Im Fat and slow!....BUt not for long...this year of 2010 is the year of ME! Im gonna be one hot momma come my 41st Birthday!

Well that is my recap...sorry its taken me a while to do it.

Update on Bella's new preschool.

after speaking to the director and sharing my hopes and dreams for Bella and also sharing with her what i observed on Tuesday we have come to a decision. They are moving the EI children into a classroom and will pull about 4 or 5 other children into the room for the days they will be in session. She agreed that the complete craziness would NOT be good for our children. So today I happily toook Bella and will pick her up at 11:15. YEAH! She was excited to see the kids and to get to play with new friends...


Lyndsey made it home last night around midnight. She has finally graduated from AIT and will be moving to Ft Riley Kansas in just a few weeks. This will be her first duty station.......William will drive out there with her and then fly home. This will help her with the LONG drive and the nasty drive in the winter, snow ice etc. I know she is so excited to finally after one very long year get somewhere and be settled. She graduated AIT exactly one year from the day her journey started. Funny!

This is so awesome. Maddy is the daughter of another mom who helps advocate for the children of Reeces Rainbow. WAY TO GO MADDY...you have the whole down syndrome community rooting for you! you sound like a angel.

Tuesday:
Today Bella started the new Early Intervention "preschool" on Tues and Thurs. i took her in high hopes that this would be a good fit for her and she would enjoy going. She will still continue with her preschool at Glynwood and will move into kindergarten in the fall. Well I took her this morning and it is a total disaster! The class she is in has been in place since Aug when school started and they just today added the Special needs children to the class. Well this teacher has NO control what so ever! I talked to the special needs teacher who is coming along side her and will basically be in charge of our children with sp needs and told her bella would more than likely not be back on Thurs. Im going to call the head office and talk to them...I want them to come and see how out of control this class is and then tell me how this is going to be a good setting to put my daughter in that loves to "WATCH" the other children and "DO WHAT THEY DO!"


We will see.....

Good morning Monday!

All 4 little ones go back to school today and i have a full day! So much to do since I was sick last week everything was pushed back a full week....not good for a busy momma! I also get to fit the GYM in my schedule.....that is a FIRST for me!!!!

Michael will be home for at least a week. His medicines are helping him feel better but after the steroids are out of his system he maybe hitting rock bottom again. Yall have any suggestions for me to care for him....he has mono. Ive never had it so have no clue! Ive just been keeping him drinking out of ONE cup and not hugging on anyone in the house. Anything else??

Well if you want to follow along on the train wreck cleanup of my weightless ....come aboard and travel this LONG journey with me. I will need all the encouragement I can get...so please leave me some!

You can follow along here as i start my year 2010 off training away and loosing some weight as I go. I haven't really done anything like this for myself since BEFORE the twins were born and they are now 20 years old. Im ready to start on Monday and i will be posting ALL my dreaded pictures on my blog for the whole world to see so this will MAKE me stay on top of my goal of loosing 78 pounds this year!! That will be loosing 1.6 pounds a week for the next 49 weeks.....

At each 10 pound loss I will reward myself of some kind...stay tuned to see what rewards...BIG MOMMA gets first!