Easter!!!

Happy Easter everyone!  We love Easter so much around here.  We like when things have happy endings :).

Speaking of happy endings, let me tell you how Easter morning began here.  I had to go wake Ellie up at 8:00 to get everyone moving toward breakfast and mass.  When I got her up she was not her usual chatty, perky self.  Then when I brought her out to the den she went straight for the floor and laid down and closed her eyes!  I then picked her up and sat on the couch and she fell back asleep!  Throw in the fact that she was doing this weird breathing sound that was obviously voluntary but still strange, Jeff and I were thrown back in time 3 years to what to "look for" with a child with cardiac and respiratory diseases.

Thanks be to God after taking separate cars and giving her some more time at home, we made it to mass and after a little snack she was back to herself.

Then after nap you could say she was "bright eyed" and jumped right in to the fun that was underway!  We were so grateful - Jeff and I kept making little remarks to each other about how relieved we were that she was not sick or worse.  The other children were very relieved too as they were very concerned about how she was acting in the morning.

This was Ellie's year for Easter egg hunting!  It was indoors due to the rain and worked out great for her - she practically ran around the house grabbing the "low hanging fruit". 

What a cute picture this is - it was hard to get a good shot with all the movement!

Back at egg central, everyone dumps and goes through the loot!

I love how Jacob is hiding something in his cheek while trying to pose for the photo!

It's so nice that our kids put all their candy together in one giant bowl so their parents can eat some and they won't know what's missing they learn how to share.  :)

3/21

One of the many benefits of this blog is that it's a medium for me to document stories that I would either a-forget or b-never believe they actually happened.

We have a "prayer jar" with about 25 names in it of family members (including the 6 of us), extended family, friends, priests, etc.  Even the Pope made the jar!  Each night a child (we take turns) selects a name and we all go around and pray for what that person might be going through and if we don't know what to pray we just say "that they may receive the blessings they need".

Tonight, Julia picked Ellie.  We all prayed she was "safe, felt loved, learned a lot at therapy, ate well and had a fun Easter".  As we finished I remembered what today was.  Down syndrome is when there are 3 of the 21st chromosomes.  So, one day a year we celebrate individuals with Down syndrome (a tiny bit more than we celebrate them every single day).  3/21.  When I got out the book (the book you get when you have a baby with Down syndrome) and showed the kids they were all astonished Julia had picked her name.  We were supposed to "wear funny socks" today according to the movement so someone would ask us in public today about our socks and we could tell them about Ellie.

To have God divinely work Julia picking out Ellie's name was a way to celebrate Ellie at the end of the day without 3/21 going unnoticed.  He is in the big and the small things and I didn't want to forget that.

Oh, and today on the way to therapy with just the three of us girls, Julia said, "Mommy, when you go to heaven will I be Ellie's Mommy?"  I told her, "No, I will always be her mommy, but...", and before I could finish she said, "I'll just take care of her?" I said, "Yes, that's right you'll take care of her and you'll have your own children that will call you Mommy and they can call Ellie 'Aunt Ellie'".  The smile that came over Julia's face in the rear view mirror while stopped at a red light was something I was so glad I caught. It was as if she looked forward to it.  

Short Sleeves

I hope wherever you are the weather is as nice as it is here, or at least it will be coming to you soon!

Ellie stayed on her schedule with nap today with the time change. We'll see how tonight goes with going to bed with the sun shining outside the window!

Holey Ellie - improved!!!

Hello friends!  We're back after a couple weeks with an upgrade to Holey Ellie!  But, I'll get to that in a minute!

Firstly, Julia and Ellie happened to be nearby when Mommy was having a "moment" a couple weeks ago in the kitchen.  The kids had made me some cards for my birthday, emotions were running a little thick that week and a tear started to slip of my eye out as the girls passed through.  Ellie stopped and looked at me then reached up on the desk to get me a tissue!  She wanted to dry my eye for me!  Julia grabbed the camera and did a nice job capturing the gesture made by Ellie.

Everyone needs a hug after crying!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...Ellie's attire!  Here's the cute little ladybug ready for church!

Now, before you get down to the next photo, you should have some background information about our little blog here.  About a month ago our camera of 12 years (bought when pregnant with Jacob!) got dropped one too many times and called it quits!  It was sad to see an old friend go!  In the meantime we've been using our phone but shopping around for cameras.

May I present to you the first picture taken with our new camera!  TA DA!!!!!!!

Our girl looks great, doesn't she?!  Such bright colors, it's fun to take such clear pictures of such a sweet face!  We were realistic in buying a camera that was not the fanciest thing out there, but we also have a case to protect this one a little more.  Maybe this one will go another 12 years for us!

Xavier wanted in on the fun so he posed next to his birthday cake for his party today.  "X turns 9" - a play off Roman Numerals and his name :).  A lemon poppyseed cake decorated like the sun for his sunny, bright smile!

We'll be back soon with more pictures!!!