Wow...time flies when you are having fun!

I can not believe how far behind I am in BLOGLAND? I have been pretty good at reading all of my blogging friends blogs, not always commenting though so I am apologizing now...and so sorry for not updating my own blog.

Summer definately kept us busy. Enjoyed every minute of it though. We had lots of play dates at the water park, a trip to Vegas for a week for Kaylee's dance finals, a weekend up at the cabin in Huntington Lake, therapy appointments for Brayden, graduation from Physical therapy for Brayden since he mastered WALKING and is now RUNNING! Busy, but so much fun too!
Here are a few pics from Las Vegas....

Some girl time in Vegas...Myself, my mom and sister in-law waiting for The Lion King to start.

Kaitlyn, Kaylee and Alyssa all dolled up to go see Lion King, which was amazing!

Las Vegas strip at night...so much fun! Jared and I celebrated a night alone for our 11 year anniversary. He surprised me with a suite at the HOTEL of Mandalay Bay...absolutely beautiful!

Kaylee and me at the Hard Rock Cafe....yummy!

We had a great time and Kaylee's dance group took 1st place. I am going to have to post many more posts to catch up with pics...but for now I will end with this.

Summer time has begun! and so I am behind in BLOGLAND!

So I am trying to pick up all that I have not blogged about...I LOVE to have a copy of my blog at the end of the year, so I have to include all the fun pics about our fun adventures and happenings! Kaylee turned 6 on May 28th...and we had a "GLAM" party that any girl would LOVE! Right down to having a line dance from Hannah Montana the MOVIE taught to the girls from cousin Alyssa...


We had 18 girls invited and 16 came...she had so much fun! We did nails, make-up, crafts, tattoos, danced and played outside since the weather was BEAUTIFUL that day! May 28th happens to be my birthday too! So it was very special to share this day with my girl!

Happy Birthday Kaylee! Can not believe you are 6 years old...can't wait to see what this next year brings for you...We love you with all of our hearts!

The LAST week of school is so eventful! Something EVERYDAY to do for the kids and one of those days was a field trip to the zoo! So I loaded the little ones I watch and joined with all of my mommy friends at FC! Had to share a pic of our new wagon...LOVE this wagon! Folds up like a stroller, canopy is easily removable...storage bin for diaper bad, etc...cup holders galore and sooo easy to pull! Thank you Mimi for the best birthday gift ever!!!

Our bunch of youngsters in our group...so fun!

With end of the year happenings, Cody got a couple of awards...he made Honor roll and made High Honor roll 2 quarters before...he also got the Presidential P.E. award...We are so proud of both of them this year! Can't believe we now have a 1st grader and a 4th grader?

On June 12th came another birthday...Cody turned 9 years old! He wanted his party at Laser Quest and had a blast! Had to be the Easiest party we have ever done! I even got to play both sessions and had so much fun! (Boys are just so simple...and could really careless about all the decorations and such, so I was much more relaxed with this party...)

The night before Cody's birthday, Papa and Grammy took us out for Cody's birthday to Red Robin...and Brayden definately LOVES his Papa!

Of course we had to have the famous birthday song... Happy Birthday my sweet handsome Cody! We love you so much!

With the end of year happenings...on comes the end of the year DANCE recital. This year Kaylee danced with a competition team and of course LOVED it! Because she was in comp...she got to also do the opening dance for every dance retital of the week, which she LOVED! She did a COMP Jazz routine called "Trouble"... a Tap routine called "Stupid Cupid" and the opening number with about 100 dancers called "Forever on the Dance Floor". All shows were so much fun!

This was her Tap outfit!

Her cousin Alyssa is also a very talented dancer and was in 5 dances...she is also on a few dance comp teams and they got to do the opening act together .

Some of Kaylee's dance girls!

Our friends Marissa and Corbin came to see Kaylee one of the nights and surprised her with a special rose...Can you tell she felt special?

Some more friends came another night...So much fun! She was seriously on Cloud NINE!

We are looking forward to going to FINALS in Las Vegas next week...she will be performing and we will be vacationing for the week while we are there.

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Jared and I were able to have a weekend get away with Jared's parents to Napa Valley. We had such a wonderful time...stayed at the Napa Inn by the River, took the boys to the Bass Pro Shop, went shopping downtown, ate at our FAVORITE restaurant Rutherford Grill and then went to the NASCAR race on Sunday...Jared's dad company helps sponsor the event, so we were able to get VIP treatment at the Savemart tent...meals, drinks, desserts all day long and SHADE! Wonderful time with my husband...we so needed that weekend!

Jared's parents...Sherry and Gene (Just love these two!)

And a BIG thanks to my mom and her husband Skip for taking such great care of our kids while we were gone...Brayden didn't even want me when we got home! :( So that tells you they had a great time!
So my little man is sure growing up these days...he is signing more, understanding so much, he is just like a sponge right now...Below are some pics from Therapy today...PT that is.

Somebody LOVES to play basketball!

He is getting stronger and stronger everyday with walking...he is still taking about 6-8 steps independently...but doing it so much more. He can climb stairs now standing up , holding onto the rail of course. He met all his goals these past 3 months, so we made new ones today and his PT seems to think he is going to get this walking thing down and doing it all the time very soon!

Brayden used VELCRO today for therapy...he LOVED it! And it is so good for his muscles. He has been using Thera Putty at OT also...

And Last but definately not LEAST...we had to say good-bye to his Speech therapist today...we have only had ST for 5 months, but she has seriously helped so much! She is retiring and I'm happy for her, but so sad at the same time! Brayden loves her...well Brayden LOVES everyone really...but he did so good with her and that is what is so hard for me as a parent...I can only HOPE the next therapist is just as good! We will miss you Mrs. Linda Crane! Thanks for starting us out though with so much! We will continue all you've taught us!

So hopefully I can keep up now, but I am not making promises! We have a vacation coming up...so I will forsure be blogging about that when we get back...Until then, please know I may not make a comment every time, but I am still reading and praying for so many right now in our BLOG land family! For those friends and families of mine following Baby Sofia...please check out her blog at www.savingsofia.blogspot.com She is home and doing so great with her new family!

A girl of inspiration...

This beautiful girl is my niece Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn is my oldest niece and I have a little bit of extra bondness of love with this girl. When I was 20 years old...she was born. I have always loved this girl so much as I was her babysitter when mom and dad had to work. I would dress her up everyday, do her hair cute, take her shopping and show her off! Yep, she was my first niece and I spoiled her with lots of kisses and hugs! I feel so fortunate to of had the close bonding time with her, that may be why I feel so connected to her today! I don't get to see her all that much just because she is busy and I am now busy with my 3 little ones...but when she opens up to me, like she did tonight, there is that closeness I feel again, like I did 14 years ago.

Kaitlyn is special and yes, I am going to brag a little about her. I have other nieces and nephews that are awesome too but for right now, I am focusing on her. She is beautiful inside and out and has a heart of gold. She is such an example to so many and I am so proud of her role she has taken. She wrote a message to me tonight on FB to tell me that I am an inspiration to her and our little boy Brayden has taught her so much. Because of Brayden and him having Down syndrome, she feels she has changed as a person. Coming from a 14 year girl means so much. Kaitlyn is very involved with the latest trends, high technology things, cheer, running, friends, shopping, but yet takes time out of her day at school to stop by and say "hi" to AJ....AJ is a 8th grader with Down syndrome. AJ loves to see Kaitlyn and gives her a big hug when he does. She talks with AJ and plays basketball or jumps rope with him. She takes time out of her busy time and social time with her friends to make AJ's day! When she told me this, tears welled up. What a true example to so many she is being. The other day as she was visiting with AJ, a few other peers were making fun of him and she turned around, walked up to these peers and said", how would you feel if someone made fun of you? You don't know him...his name is AJ. He loves to play basketball and jump rope and he is more ALIKE us than different. So if you don't have anything nice to say, please don't say anything at all." Wow! Kaitlyn told me a couple of years ago, she probably wouldn't of done this...not because she didn't care back then, but because she truly knows how special people are with Down syndrome and she wants to bring awareness to more people her age and make a difference.

She is the first one to run up to Brayden when our family gets together and spends quality time with him doing whatever he wants to do. She is the first one to ask me what milestones he is working on? She wants to be involved and wants to help organizations to raise awareness! She wears her Down syndrome Buddywalk t-shirts with pride...this totally hip, beautiful teenager making a difference! Why wouldn't I be proud? She just told me tonight that she wrote a short report about Brayden and our Family...I can not wait to read it! She thanks God for her wonderful family and for bringing Brayden into our family! How does that make me feel? WONDERFUL! She wants to teach others that we are ALL special in our own ways...

There is a local High school forming a club called Club 321....This club will give everyone a chance to make new friends and enjoy some social events together. I told Kaitlyn about this girl starting this club and she right away emailed the girl and wants to learn about it to possibly start at her high school next year.

It is just amazing to me to see what an impact Brayden has made on others than myself, husband and children. Kaitlyn ....you are truly an inspiration as well to so many around you! You follow those dreams you have...they will come true...just like you said, "with Faith and determination, anything is possible." Thanks for being you! and thanks for our conversation tonight! LOVE you girl!

Blogging behind....

I have been soooo behind with my blogging! I just run out of time...there needs to be more minutes, more hours and more seconds in a day! For those of you able to update during the day...what is your secret? We have been great though! Brayden had his 2nd birthday on April 18th and we had a great family celebration at my mom's house...

He loved opening some presents...loved his cards the most! He is doing great and we are so proud of him!

One of his favorite gifts is the water table from his friends Chad (in picture above) and Brett. He also got a collapsable red wagon from his Mimi and Grandpa Skip and a bike trailer from his Grammy and Papa! So he is having some fun forsure!

Chad helping Brayden open his Water table....




Didn't waste time, got it out of the box and set it up...He LOVES it!

Tasting some water off his hands!

SO much fun!

Thanks Lott family for a wonderful gift!

School days have been busy for Kaylee and Cody. Cody has just started State testing this week and has it next week as well. His teacher has been out due to having surgery, so he has been missing her...but we hope she will be back next weeks sometime? We are proud of his hard work and good grades he continues to get.

Kaylee has been having some festive parties in her class along with an awards ceremony. They celebrated Rodeo days last week...we have an annual CLOVIS Rodeo in town every year, so they dressed up in western gear and had a western Rodeo feast...YEE HAW!

Check out how many little cowboys there are vs. cowgirls....only 6 cowgirls in her class...

They made horses on a stick...

Hanging with some cowgirl friends...Brooklyn and Gabby

ON TO AWARDS!

We are sooo proud of Kaylee...she has earned all of her kindergarten awards and is working on 1st grade level Math and Reading...she is in an Accelerated Reading program at school and takes tests weekly earning a 100% all the time. She challenges herself at home all the time and reads constantly.

Kaylee receiving her last award for Kindergarten...now she is ready for First Grade...can't believe it!

Cody got to get out of class to come and cheer on his sister. What a great big brother he is!

Two little kiddos I watch during the week got to come and be part of the fan club....

We have been so busy lately...I have been so bad with blogging...Brayden had his IFSP meeting a couple of weeks ago and it went FANTASTIC! We are so proud of his accomplishments and goals that have been met. I need to do a whole post on that in itself...Our baby is 2! I can hardly believe it! We have busy weeks ahead...school carnival, soccer tournament, dance competitions, dance recitals, box cart racing, birthdays for Kaylee and Cody...so again, I'm sure I will get behind in blogging. Hopefully I can catch up!